Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"It's RAW!"

Sokka cringed inwardly at the shout coming from the dining room. He could already envision Yue hurrying back to the kitchen with yet another returned plate, barely holding back the tears.

"Are you doing it on purpose?" Yue asked in a trembling voice as she shoved the returned plate back in the window. A few tears had already spilled out across her cheeks even if it was just the third returned plate of the evening. Usually, Yue lasted at least until five returned plates before she had a breakdown.

"Well, what's the problem with it?" Sokka asked, even if he could see the issue a mile away. The fucking burger was as pink as a cat's tongue.

"It's pink! Sokka, it's pink!" Yue exclaimed desperately. "I know you've given up, but could you just stop throwing me under the bus out there?"

"I haven't given up," Sokka snapped defiantly.

This was an old song and dance between him and Yue. They'd been dating for several years already by the time Sokka had come to work at the restaurant, bringing Yue with him. He'd been a semester away from earning his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering before putting it all on hold because his family needed his help. Two years ago, their grandmother back in Cape Kuruk had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his father had moved back to the Water Tribes in order to take care of Gran-Gran.

Together with his sister Katara, they both had been forced to put their dreams on indefinite hold in order to save the family business. Their father had managed to kept the restaurant just above the water on his watch, and Sokka wasn't going to let the whole thing go down in flames and ruin their family with crippling financial debt. So, Yue was wrong to accuse him of not caring, but Sokka was sure that Yue didn't even mean it. She was just frustrated and seeking an outlet.

Sokka's problem was not that he didn't care. Sokka's problem was that he cared too much, and yet it still wasn't enough. Whatever magic his father had spun to keep the place barely profitable didn't seem to be working with Sokka in the kitchen and Katara overseeing the restaurant as a manager. Sokka had placed his own dreams on hold only to fail miserably. He cared, but he was also becoming deeply disillusioned.

"Could have fooled me," Yue muttered bitterly. She looked deeply resentful, and it filled Sokka with an overwhelming feeling of guilt. This job had poisoned and ended their relationship, but at least they had managed to remain on good terms for Kya's sake. The restaurant couldn't fail for that reason alone. If he couldn't help Yue provide for their daughter who was about to turn three years old, then how was Sokka anything else but worthless?

"Everyone's all about eating fresh these days, anyway," Sokka grumbled. Internally, he had already accepted the blame. He simply had trouble showing it.

"Not that fresh, though," Suki piped up, approaching the window to take a look. Suki Arya was the sous chef at Northern Lights, and also Sokka's current girlfriend. They'd been together for almost a year and along with Kya, Suki was one of those rare bright lights in Sokka's life that kept him going. "Any fresher, and this burger would go moo at the customer," Suki chuckled, then looking over at Yue. "Do we need to redo the plate?"

"No, they walked," Yue sighed, shaking her head and walking away. "Anyway, I'm taking a break. Aang can handle things on his own for now."

"Damn, that's rough," Suki said, shaking her head. "I feel so bad for her."

"I know, but I'm not doing it on purpose," Sokka replied. He then let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "Sorry, that came out more defensively than I intended."

"Don't worry about it," Suki smiled at him. "Reset and start again, okay?"

"Okay," Sokka nodded, smiling back at her. Suki wasn't part of their friend group back in high school. It had been him, Katara, Yue, Toph and Aang all the way. Suki had befriended Yue and Katara in college, and Sokka had come to know her through his sister and his girlfriend at the time. It was only after Sokka had been dragged into the family business and Suki had somehow ended up helping out, that they had begun to develop a tighter bond, and it had come at the exact same time as his relationship with Yue had started to break apart.

Sokka had never intended for this relationship with Suki to become something more than just being close friends, but with Suki going through her own breakup at the same time, things had simply… happened. Sokka was aware that with Yue still at the restaurant, things could have become very awkward. And things had been awkward for a good while because Sokka and Suki tried to hide their relationship from Yue, not wanting to upset her. When the secret eventually came out, both Suki and Yue had offered to resign to make things less weird, but in the end, they had all agreed to try and work through the awkwardness. Unfortunately, success at diplomacy didn't translate to successful running of the restaurant, as hard as they might try.

"Move on to the next ticket?" Suki spoke up a while later, having decided that Sokka was good to resume working. "What are we having?"

"Two lasagna, two burgers," Sokka read the ticket. "Alright, it's redemption time," he said, reaching for the burger patty.

"You can do it," Suki gave him a thumbs up before returning to her own station to start working on the sides.

"Maybe we should start boiling the burgers," Sokka chuckled, throwing the flattened patties onto the hot grill. "I've heard it's a new fad."

"That sounds so gross," Suki shuddered. "We are not boiling the burgers."

"Yeah," Sokka chuckled. "I figured you wouldn't be a fan of that idea."

Suki Arya sighed inwardly as she sneaked a peak at her boyfriend working the grill nearby. Sokka was literally playing with fire again. He was simply running the grill way too hot and so the burgers ran an increased risk of being charred on the outside while still remaining pink and stone cold inside. The frustrating part was that Suki had shown Sokka what he was doing wrong, and yet, Sokka was stubbornly refusing to take criticism or suggestions. Suki didn't even believe that it was arrogance or misogyny that made her boyfriend act in such a frustrating manner. Sokka was clearly suffering from a savior complex, Suki had realized that much. Sokka believed that it was his mission to save the restaurant from bankruptcy and he was convinced that he could only do that as the head chef.

Of course, it wasn't that Suki was some kind of experienced or well-educated chef, but she certainly had a lot more experience than Sokka. Her foster parents had owned a diner and she'd spent plenty of time in the kitchen while growing up. She was not just a college dropout, she was also a culinary school dropout, but she'd picked up a thing or two during her time at the culinary school. And most of her part time jobs as a student had been with various restaurants around Caldera City, so she definitely felt a little more qualified for her current job than Sokka. Sokka's qualifications for a chef basically amounted to being enamored with fast food of dubious quality.

"Are we falling behind?" Suki asked after Aang, their busboy, dishwasher and prep cook in one person had brought up more tickets to the window. It appeared that Yue was still busy getting her nerves under control. Usually that involved either poring her heart out to Katara in the manager's office or sneaking out back to roll up a joint and let the devil's lettuce soothe her pain. Suki definitely didn't judge Yue for struggling to cope. This job could get very stressful at times, and Suki would occasionally sneak out to join Yue behind the restaurant for a quick smoke.

"Five tickets, I think we're still on top of it," Sokka replied, sounding a little strained. Tonight, food wasn't coming back as much as on some other nights, but still, Suki could tell that Sokka was taking it too personally. The financial burden hanging over their heads didn't help.

"What do we have going next?" Suki asked. "Talk to me. We need to stay on top of things." With only sixteen tables, Northern Lights wasn't a large restaurant. Suki knew that the only way to make a profit at a place like this was to turn the tables quickly, and yet they still often struggled with that. Suki wasn't completely sure what exactly was slowing them down, though. Perhaps they just weren't good enough and had bitten off more than they could chew.

"We have two crab, one lasagna, two chicken burger," Sokka replied, reading the next ticket. "Can you pass me some more chicken from the fridge?" Sokka asked. He then walked over to the wall and stuck his head in a chute. "Two crab and one lasagna please!" he shouted.

"Heard!" Toph, the blind girl working the microwave station, yelled back. Suki wasn't a big fan of microwaving half the items on the menu, but Sokka insisted that it was needed to make them faster. Most of the kitchens Suki had worked at had microwaved some of their food, so she didn't necessarily saw anything wrong with the practice.

"Sokka, I don't see any chicken breasts in here," Suki replied, having checked the fridges. "I think we might be out. This is really bad."

"I'm sure there are more in the walk-in fridge," Sokka said, looking at her. His stare turned a little pleading. "Please? I really don't want to deal with Jet right now."

"I'll talk to him," Suki sighed. Jet apparently had a lot of local contacts and thus he had been hired as the food manager, keeping the restaurant supplied and maintaining the cold room inventory. He was also Katara's boyfriend, which was the main reason why Sokka didn't harbor particularly warm feelings towards the guy, believing him to be poorly suited for his little sister. Suki understood Sokka's protectiveness, but she didn't agree with it. Katara was very much an adult and capable of making her own rational decisions. And even if Suki and Jet didn't always see eye to eye, Suki wanted to think that it was only because of professional reasons. Suki thought that the cold room was way too messy and she also didn't like how Jet became really ticked off when someone took stuff out of the walk-in fridge without informing him and messing up his inventory.

"Let me know if he gives you any lip," Sokka said as Suki was about to leave the kitchen.

"Don't worry about me, I can handle Jet just fine by myself," Suki snorted. "Provided I can find him," she sighed quietly, referring to one of Jet's least endearing qualities of always conveniently going missing whenever he was most needed around the restaurant.

"I feel like I'm at the end of my rope, Kat," Yue sighed, burying her head in her hands as she sat in the office of her best friend and the somewhat frazzled manager of Northern Lights. "I feel as if on nights like these I could really do with some help out there. Aang is trying, but he's already overworked."

"I want to help, I really do, but I'm buried here," Katara replied, both sounding and looking guilty, which wasn't a reaction Yue had been going for. "And you know that Jet thinks a manager shouldn't also be running the front of the house."

"I don't give-… I don't think that Jet knows more about running a restaurant than the rest of us," Yue replied, only barely managing to stave off a surge of anger and frustration. She didn't really blame Katara for her personal issues. Yue knew that her best friend was also struggling with her leadership role, suffering mentally when her efforts didn't seem to be pulling the ailing establishment out of the mire it was sinking into. It was unfair to expect that Katara would also tend to the front of the house. Besides, Yue desperately needed all of her tips. She just wanted a little extra help during the peak hours.

"You're the best waitress I know, love," Katara said softly, reaching out across the desk and taking Yue's hand. The gesture made Yue feel warm as she was briefly reminded of the days when she and Katara were dating. They'd gotten quite serious, or at least as serious as high school couples would, making all sorts of exciting plans for the future. But when Yue and Sokka had left for the college, leaving Katara behind, distance had eventually undermined their relationship.

Feeling alone and homesick, Yue and Sokka had started to gravitate towards each other, eventually finding comfort in each other's arms. Yue still felt horribly guilty every time she recalled the conversation in which she had revealed the truth of dating her brother to Katara. Katara hadn't wanted to see her face for months while she rebounded with a dorky guy from her class, a boy by the name of Haru Tamang. That romance had survived a couple of months into college before falling apart, and soon thereafter, Katara had finally forgiven Yue. They had been inseparable since, and their friendship was the main reason why Yue could never quit this job even if it threatened to drive her insane. She owed intense loyalty to the Enuaraq siblings and she loved both Katara and Sokka so much, even if their romances had failed.

"Kind of you to say, especially when I really don't feel that way," Yue sighed. Objectively, she knew that she was a good server. Most people really liked interacting with her and they left generous tips. Where Yue really struggled was with customers who were rude, nitpicky and looking to cause drama. Yue knew that she often caved in too fast under the pressure of such customers, and it was often a point of contention between her and Sokka. Yue knew that some of the plates she returned to the kitchen were actually perfectly fine and she had just given up on arguing with a rude customer. But more often than not, the customer complaints about the food were valid, at least as far as Yue was convinced.

"You'll get the hang of it, I know you will," Katara insisted passionately before her expression turned guilty again. "Believe me, I would like to hire another waitress, but-"

"No, please, I don't even want you to do that," Yue said hastily. She really couldn't afford to share her tips with anyone else, not unless business really picked up. She was already living paycheck to paycheck, barely able to afford a small two-room apartment in a seedy neighborhood for herself and her daughter. She knew that Katara and Sokka were doing all they could to help her. Katara hadn't paid herself anything in over a year, and Sokka only took out enough to pay his share to support Kya.

"I still want to do something," Katara insisted. "It's been a while since we last got together and did something. You know, outside of work. Let's make the next Sunday a day just for us, girls. We can take Kya on a picnic."

"That would be lovely," Yue managed a grateful smile. "Maybe Suki and Toph could join us for a proper girl's day out."

"Good idea," Katara nodded. "I know this job feels like it's too much at times. You don't need to tell me that. We all need an escape from it now and then."

"Indeed," Yue smiled in agreement. "Anyway, I should get back before even someone as patient as Aang is driven to exasperation by a customer who wants to argue about the arrangement of their Caesar salad. Besides, I think Jet is lurking at the door, so I'm guessing he wants to speak with you," Yue added with a sly wink.

"Only good news, I'm sure," Katara sighed, struggling not to roll her eyes and failing.

"We're out of… chicken breasts?" Katara groaned, gently massaging her temples in a doomed effort to fend off a headache. "Jet, we can't eighty-six the chicken. That's a death sentence for any restaurant." Especially this failing one, she thought to herself, electing not to say it aloud.

"I understand that, Kat," Jet tried his best charming smile. Katara hated how hard Jet's charm made it to be angry at her boyfriend, even if there was a real case for going off on him. For a food manager, responsible to keep the kitchen well supplied with ingredients, running out of chicken breasts seemed like a huge oversight. "I don't want to say it, but I don't exactly have the biggest budget to work with," Jet added.

Katara cringed at the subtle accusation in Jet's words. Of course, the restaurant wasn't bringing in enough money so they had to be frugal and cut costs, but in order to make money, you had to spend money. That was one of the rare things Katara had learned in collage which she saw actually reflected in lived reality. "Can you sort it out quickly?" she asked, reaching for the safe where all their cash takings were being kept.

"Not without money I can't," Jet replied with a shrug.

"Well, how much do you need?" Katara asked, removing what paltry amount was left in the safe. Jet leaned closer, counting the banknotes she was holding and then removing most of them. "That is some expensive chicken," Katara sighed.

"Hey, don't blame me, blame the economy," Jet shrugged again. Katara fell silent, wondering what to say to that, but nothing came to mind. She didn't want to start an argument. Katara had seen how the restaurant had eroded the relationship between Sokka and Yue, and she was determined not to let the same thing happen to her and Jet. "Anyway, I thought you didn't want me to get the cheap stuff," Jet continued a while later. "You're always going on about how our customers deserve only the best."

"I genuinely believe that," Katara nodded earnestly. "We already have enough complaints about the food. I don't want to considering cutting the quality further, even if we really need to find a way to cut costs."

"You're the boss, babe," Jet gave her one of his patented winning smiles. "You pick the direction and we'll follow."

"Right," Katara chuckled. "Maybe I'm coming at it from the wrong angle. I need to recalculate some of our prices. Maybe we can hike them just a little bit?"

"That's a terrible idea," Jet shook his head adamantly. "When was the last time you went out to eat at a rival restaurant? Or just looked at the menus on their websites? We already have higher prices than most places in the neighborhood."

"But how is that possible?" Katara let out a heated breath full of frustration. "I know that other restaurants have way more staff than we do. We're running the place with a skeleton crew and we're all so exhausted that we're pretty much becoming skeletal. How can these other places offer such low prices? It makes no sense!"

"Don't look at me, babe, I don't have all the answers," Jet shrugged. "But I suspect they lay in the way our kitchen is being run."

"Maybe," Katara muttered. Of course, Jet would point at Sokka's domain first and foremost, just as Sokka would point at Jet. She had given up on those two ever having a warm relationship. At least they had gone from actively threatening each other to something resembling a cold war, and that was probably as good as it was going to get. "Or maybe I just suck at being a manager," Katara sighed. "Let's face it, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't have any skills for this. I'm a medical school dropout, not a restauranteur."

"Don't get so down on yourself, Kat," Jet tried to soothe her. "You're better than you think. Besides, it's not like you don't have some skills for this. You told me that you had to take a statistics course at the med school, right?"

"Yeah, I also told you that I completely sucked at it and Sokka pulled me through the course," Katara groaned. "Anyway, this isn't helping."

"Come on, cheer up," Jet insisted, moving a little closer. "Let's see a smile on that pretty face, shall we?" he asked before leaning in with the intent to kiss her, but Katara turned away at the last moment, allowing only for a kiss on the cheek.

"Shouldn't you be making sure that our restaurant doesn't run out of something as basic as chicken breasts?" Katara forced herself to say.

"Aye-aye, boss lady," Jet offered flippantly, leaving the office with an unrepentant smile on his lips as Katara returned to glare at the excel sheet on the screen of her laptop, all the numbers only making her head spin, instead of offering solutions.

Jet emerged from the back entrance into the restaurant, quickly looking around to make sure that Suki or Yue weren't around, having come out for a quick smoke. Once Jet had made sure that he was alone, he pulled out his phone and selected Longshot from the shortlist of his most frequent contacts. "Hey, how's it going, dude," Jet spoke as soon as Longshot accepted the call. "More importantly, how's Bee?"

It took a while for Longshot to type his reply and for Speechify to do its text to speech conversion. "Bee took her pills. She's sleeping now," the robotic voice replied.

"Good, that's good," Jet breathed a sigh of relief. Life in Caldera City wasn't easy for a young trans woman and Smellerbee was really struggling with frequent bullying. It didn't help that the shrink had put her on an antidepressant which had resulted in Bee showing signs of suicidal behavior. She was now getting used to another antidepressant, but the side effects were so nasty that it had to be supplemented by benzos which left Bee sleepy and tired the whole day. The whole debacle was also costing them a pretty penny and these were all out of pocket expenses that they couldn't hope to get reimbursed.

"Did you call just to ask about Bee?" the robotic voice translated Longshot's text.

"No, I need you to run down to either Walmart or Aldi and pick up fifty pounds worth of chicken breasts. But don't go to Costco, they're too expensive," Jet lectured. "Anyway, do that and get them to the restaurant as quickly as possible. There's at least forty bucks for Bee's fund in it."

"You are playing with fire, Jet," Longshot replied.

"I know, but it's for the greater good, okay?" Jet said quickly. It was becoming harder and harder to convince himself that what he was doing really was for the greater good, though. Still, whenever he watched Smellerbee struggling like she was, Jet felt like he had no choice. Bee was as good as his little sister. He had to look out for her. Gender reassignment surgery was the best way to help Bee, and the doctors had set the costs for it at around twenty-five grand. Jet and his friends were slightly more than halfway there, but it was slow going and they were all praying that Bee would hold out long enough to see her dream come true.

"I don't understand how Katara and the others haven't noticed yet," Longshot commented.

"Kat may be the best girlfriend I've ever had, but she's not exactly good with numbers," Jet chuckled. "The only ones that could maybe catch on to my scheme are Sokka and Aang. But I've made sure to stoke Katara's pride just enough so that she won't ask the others for help with the finances."

"Devious," Longshot's Speechify voice replied. "I am in the car. See you in twenty."

"Alright, thanks buddy," Jet said, ending the call and leaning against the wall as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

Jet didn't exactly feel good about taking money from the restaurant, but once he had started doing it, Jet felt like there really was no way back. He couldn't very well tell Katara the truth now and expect her to remain with him. Also, when he had started this scheme, he and Katara weren't together yet and he hadn't been sure whether they would ever become a couple. Katara was aware of his reputation as a womanizer, and she'd been very reluctant to date him. It had taken many months of wearing down her resistance before she had finally agreed to go out with him, and the rest was history.

Also, Jet couldn't be sure that even if he had been honest about the reasons why he needed the money, Katara would have been able to do anything to help. She would definitely feel very sympathetic towards Bee because Katara was a true bleeding heart. But Katara's sense of justice and fairness would have demanded that the staff were paid in full before she allowed any extra funds to be used for charity, and Jet could tell that even without him running his schemes, there were no guarantees that this business wouldn't be in the red.

So, Jet had to continue the scheme until the goal had been reached. It was a delicate balancing act, taking out just enough money that it didn't outright kill the business. The Enuaraq home had already been foreclosed upon. Sokka and Katara had moved into the space directly above the restaurant, space that hadn't exactly been designed as living quarters. Sokka was still spending most of his free time a year later, trying to fix the place, with Suki now living with him and helping out. Unable to afford an apartment of her own, this had hastened Katara's decision to move in with Jet, much to his selfish approval.

Still, Jet was eager to raise the funds for Bee's surgery as quickly as possible so that he could put these lies behind him and stop endangering his relationship with Katara. At the rate they were raking in the cash, it would take more than a year to raise the twenty-five grand. What Jet really needed was to come up with a new scheme that would draw more customers to the restaurant, and hopefully generate more income he could help himself to for Bee's sake.

The evening was slowly drawing to a close and the kitchen at the Northern Lights restaurant was starting to wind down their operations. With his feet burning from exhaustion like every other evening, Aang Jetsun was busy loading up the industrial dishwasher while humming a cheerful tone and trying to keep his spirits high. Still, as much as he tried to maintain his optimism, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to ask himself the important question of just how exactly he had wound up here, helping his friends prolong the survival of a failing restaurant while not doing anything for his own future prospects.

Aang was far too loyal to ever leave his friends in a bind, and he could never imagine bailing on Katara, Sokka, Toph and Yue, his friends going back as far as the middle school. Toph was his best friend in the whole wide world and Katara was his first serious crush, one that had proved very difficult to get over. Even now, Aang still occasionally wondered if maybe he might get another chance once Katara finally realized that Jet was not good for her.

Of course, considering that Aang's first attempt at dating Katara in his freshman year of high school had lasted exactly two weeks before Katara unilaterally decided that they were better off as friends, Aang knew that his chances of getting with Katara were not realistic. Katara had gone on a date with a girl from her class, Siku Ikuma, only four days after breaking up with him, and they'd continued dating for the rest of that year. Still, Aang saw nothing wrong with indulging in some innocent daydreams of what might have been.

Aang was still struggling to accept the way his dreams of higher education had come crashing down. He'd been excelling on his way to a degree in social work, but then he'd been undone by his own activism. The Caldera University was stubbornly refusing to include any vegan options on its cafeteria menu, seemingly only to spite the growing number of students demanding these healthier options. This continued refusal had sparked a wave of protests, and when the campus security had tried to break up one of these protests, things had descended into a riot. Aang had no idea what exactly had caused a fire to break out, but it had spread through the cafeteria like wildfire, trapping dozens of people inside.

Most of the rioters had made a run for it, but Aang had not been able to force himself to flee when people trapped inside the cafeteria were crying out for help. Unfortunately, staying behind to help meant that Aang and a few other of the more compassionate activists had been apprehended by the pigs once they showed up. This was how Aang had ended up not only getting kicked out of Caldera University, but now he also had a misdemeanor charge and 250 hours of public service to his name. More than a year later, a minimum salary job that combined the duties of a busboy, dishwasher and prep cook was the best that Aang could do.

Aang finally finished loading up the dishwasher and pressed a button to start the washing cycle. He leaned back and looked over at the other side of the kitchen where Sokka and Suki were busy cleaning up, although much of their time went into cracking silly jokes and goofing off. Seeing his friends still being able to laugh and be merry despite the stress they were under warmed Aang's heart.

"You two need any help?" he asked, walking over to Sokka and Suki.

"Not really," Sokka said, shaking his head.

"Take it easy, Aang," Suki smiled. "You already do more than enough around here."

"I don't really mind," Aang shrugged completely earnestly.

"You can always go and help Yue?" Sokka suggested.

"Sounds good," Aang nodded with a smile. After the dinner service was completed, it was Yue who cleaned everything up in the dining room, including light mopping of the floors. Katara usually helped her best friend before they retreated to the manager's office to count the takings of the service, adding up cash register money and the credit card payments. "Looks like they're done with the cleaning, though," Aang said, having taken a peek into the dining room. It was sinking in darkness, but there was a pale light coming from Katara's office.

"Feel free to grab a beer and head upstairs, then," Sokka said, referring to their tradition to spend some time together in Sokka and Suki's living space above the restaurant following the evening's service. Destressing together and bitching about the particularly annoying customers felt very therapeutic and definitely brought them even closer as a group.

"Nice try with the beer, Sokka," Aang snorted, shaking his head. "I'll be upstairs in a bit. Let me just check on Toph first, though," he said, heading for the stairs leading down to the basement.

Toph let out a massive yawn as she leaned back and settled in more comfortably down in her little basement cove where she was surrounded by an almost a dozen of microwaves. It had been a fairly busy service, at least for Northern Lights, but it wasn't that Toph felt overly exhausted. It didn't take much effort to grab a piece of frozen food from one of the freezers, unwrap and shove it on the plate and then stick it into the microwave whenever Sokka or Suki shouted for service.

Of course, it was still a strange choice of occupation for a member of the wealthy Beifong family, but Toph had as good as burned the bridges with her parents and she knew it. She had been sent to Caldera City as a twelve-year-old to get a better education than what was available in Gaoling, and that was how she had met Aang and the rest of their friends. After finishing high school, Toph had been expected to go back to Gaoling, marry well and then spend the rest of her days wallowing in her disability and maybe popping out a baby or two. Needless to say, Toph preferred anything else over such a grim future. Working at a restaurant ran by her friends was actually something that suited Toph well, even if 'the microwave girl' was not the most glamorous of job descriptions. Then again, Toph also knew that hardly anyone else in Caldera City would care to hire a blind girl.

The minimum wage she was earning allowed Toph to barely get by, however, because of her disability it wasn't that she could particularly appreciate living in splendor anyway. Working at a restaurant meant that there was always food on Toph's plate, and with her and Aang renting a studio apartment nearby, they had a roof over their heads, which was all that Toph really cared about. The arrangement with her best friend was working perfectly, and would continue to do so unless one of them became serious about dating. Toph didn't really care about that, while Aang had made a few attempts at dating, but they hadn't lasted for too long. Toph had a theory that despite claiming that he was over Katara, Aang still kept using his first crush as a measuring stick for his dates and living up to Aang's idealized version of Katara was obviously an impossible task.

Still, while it was a tough and not at all glamorous struggle, Toph actually liked where she was at this point in her life, because it was so much better than any alternatives she could think of. So, when Aang climbed down the basement stairs to join her after the evening's service, he found his best friend resting with a smile on her face.

"So, do you think we did well tonight?" Aang asked, sitting down with Toph in her lair. Aang had helped with the setup down here, arranging the microwaves so that everything was comfortably within reach for Toph, and generally making her workspace as ergonomic as possible. "At least the place was really busy. It seemed like we were doing better than most evenings."

"You asking for the perspective of a blind basement dweller whose only job is to shove frozen food in the microwave?" Toph laughed. "I can't tell a bad or good day from a pimple on my butt cheek."

"Gross," Aang chuckled.

"I don't actually have pimples on my butt cheeks, I was just speaking figuratively," Toph snorted. "Anyway, I hope we did well. It's about time business picked up or else I'd have to start thinking we're incompetent or something."

"I think we probably are," Aang sighed.

"Shh, don't say that," Toph smirked. "As long as we don't say it aloud, I might be able to hold on to the delusion that this business will survive and I won't lose the only job that will probably hire a blind girl like me. Because if it all fails, I'll have to go back to my parents and do penance. It will probably involve crawling around on my knees and begging them to take me back."

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen," Aang promised. "Anyway, want to go hang out upstairs? I overheard Jet telling Katara that he has some kind of an amazing idea that will save the restaurant, and I think he'll probably want to tell us about that," Aang added with just a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Sounds exciting," Toph said, getting up to her feet. "I know you'll hate to hear this, Twinkletoes, but Jet sometimes has some pretty good ideas. Maybe the others should listen to him more." Aang didn't say anything, but just from his breathing, Toph could tell that the look on his face was most likely disapproving. "I know you don't like the guy and think he's bad news, but I think he's cool. Sorry. Do you think Katara really has such a bad judgment to get involved with someone shady?"

"I would never say that about Katara," Aang said defensively. "But she's made some bad choices before, right? I mean, Haru was a disaster."

"Oh, I thought you were about to put your own name forward as an example of her bad judgment," Toph chuckled.

"Hey!" Aang protested. "That's mean!"

"That's me," Toph only laughed louder. "Anyway, I think I was promised a party upstairs, so let's go? And there better be beer. I'm not behind the wheel tonight."

Katara stood before her friends, hands nervously linked behind her back as she waited for everyone to sit down. They had gathered in Sokka and Suki's place above the restaurant, space she'd called her home for almost half a year after their house had been foreclosed upon. It hadn't been the most enjoyable of experiences. It wasn't that she minded sharing with Sokka, but the wide-open space simply didn't feel like home to Katara. Sokka had started to break up the large space into individual rooms, but even a year later it was still a work in progress.

"Anyway, I'm sure you're all eager to find out how much we took in tonight," Katara said, managing to summon a smile. "We made one thousand and one hundred bucks overall," she said, her words prompting smiles and loud cheering.

"That's good news, isn't it?" Aang spoke up.

"It's… encouraging," Katara admitted. After having a terrible time of it lately, she didn't want to get too carried away just because for the first time in six months they were not in the red. "We're fifty dollars over our… what was it called again? Break-even point, that's right. I think it was at ten fifty."

"Seems like a cause for celebration!" Yue did a cheerful fist pump.

"Maybe, but you have to keep in mind that this was Saturday, the busiest evening of the week," Jet said, looking a little wary. "And we were in the red throughout the rest of the week. We shouldn't get carried away."

"I think Jet is right," Katara nodded in agreement. "But it's a step in the right direction. We can compare this to most of the past Saturdays and call it an improvement, and that's important."

"True," Sokka admitted. "But also, I really don't think we can do much better than this. I felt like we were hitting our ceiling in the kitchen."

"I don't know about that," Suki muttered. Katara could see that she clearly disagreed, but Suki probably didn't want to contradict Sokka in front of everyone. Katara resolved to probe Suki for details later, when she caught her friend in private.

"But I think we are all in agreement that we could do with some help, right?" Jet asked.

"That depends what you mean by help," Sokka frowned.

"Does this have anything to do with the idea you mentioned having, Jet?" Katara asked. "Would you like to tell us more?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Jet grinned. He pulled out his phone to start a YouTube video. It was an intro of a certain very popular cooking show that involved a bunch of knives being tossed at a celebrity chef, with energetic music playing in the background. The show's title appeared on the screen of Jet's phone, reading simply Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares. "Get it?" Jet asked, smiling broadly.

"You want us to go on Kitchen Nightmares?" Katara blinked. She had expected some crazy idea, because crazy ideas were Jet's domain, but this was wild even for him.

"Why not?" Jet shrugged. "It would really put us on the map. Just think of the crowds it would draw!"

"Yeah, because everyone would want to come and watch the freak show," Sokka groaned. "I don't know about this. I mean, I kind of see the point, but…"

"I don't like this," Yue sighed. "I think Ozai Nakamura is a horrible human being. I don't know if I would be able to serve him, especially if he starts to insult me or any of my friends."

"I'm not a fan of how that show is so drama focused," Aang frowned. "Ozai Nakamura would probably try to stir up some conflicts between us and I would hate to see that. Or he'd just do some deceptive editing."

"Those are all valid concerns and I share them," Katara nodded in agreement with Aang and Yue. "But it's also true that being on the show would help us fill more seats. And while I agree that Ozai Nakamura doesn't seem like a nice person, he is a very successful chef. Maybe he will actually give us some useful advice on how we can make our business profitable." Nobody had anything to say to that.

"Also, as an extra argument, you know that Ozai usually does some quick renovation work on every restaurant he helps. That would really help with boosting the property value in case-" Jet began only to be cut off by Sokka.

"Don't say it," Sokka snapped. "It brings bad luck." Katara didn't need to guess what Jet was about to say. Renovation would boost the property value in case they were forced to sell the business. Katara was not willing to discuss this possibility, though. Selling the restaurant would break her father's heart and Katara would never be able to do that. The restaurant had to succeed for the sake of her dad and for the memory of her late mother.

"Well, you know what I mean, anyway," Jet shrugged. "Also, sometimes he brings in new kitchen equipment if he sees that the kitchen is struggling because they don't have the tools to succeed with. And I think we could do with an upgrade, right?"

"Tell me about it," Suki muttered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "You know what, you've won me over, Jet. I know that Ozai will probably chew me and Sokka out more than anyone else here, but fuck it, it's going to be worth it for the sake of the restaurant. I'm in."

"Are we putting this to vote?" Katara wondered. She felt that as a manager this should be her call. Maybe some of the whispers going around the restaurant about her being too soft as a manager actually had a point. Katara didn't know how to treat her friends as staff and not as her friends, however. "Anyway, I know that the criticisms and the insults will be painful, but I think that if we can get over our hurt feelings, it should benefit the restaurant. I'm saying yes."

"Ugh, I guess I see the benefits, too," Sokka sighed. "Fine, let's do it. But if Ozai Nakamura pisses me off, I'm going to knock him out."

"Sure, you are, big boy," Toph snorted. "Also, I don't know anything about this show, nor do I care. I'll just sit quietly down in my basement and wait for the whole thing to blow over."

"Very well, Toph," Katara said, wincing inwardly. If Ozai Nakamura discovered that they had a microwaving station downstairs, he'd probably blow his lid and cuss them out. Katara hoped that maybe they could keep the microwaving on the down low, though.

"If everyone else is going along with this, then so will I," Aang nodded in agreement.

"I guess I will as well," Yue sighed reluctantly. "And hey, maybe Ozai will bring his daughter with him. She's such a snack, am I right?"

"She really is," Katara laughed. "Azula, that was her name, right? She's so glamorous and pretty. And slightly infuriating."

"Yes, but in that way where you want to bend her over your knee and spank her for being an entitled rich brat," Suki added, winking at Katara.

"That's exactly how I meant it, Suki," Katara winked back at her friend.

"Alright, keep it in your pants, ladies," Jet rolled his eyes. "As far as I know, she has a boyfriend. As do some of you, actually."

"I think he's talking about you, Yue," Katara smirked, enjoying Jet's brief annoyance as she, Yue and Suki burst into laughs. "Anyway, it seems we're in agreement. Jet and I will put together our application for Kitchen Nightmares and then on Tuesday we'll run it by you before submitting it. And then, with some good fortune, Ozai Nakamura will soon show up to scream at us."

"Come in, my favorite offspring, and take a seat," Ozai Nakamura spoke, sitting behind a large mahogany desk in his office. "Oh, and Zuko, you may also enter."

"I hate you," Zuko muttered under his breath as together with Azula they quickly took seats at their father's desk. The legs of their seats were at least a couple of inches shorter than Ozai's, so that they would always be looking up at their father like humble supplicants.

"You're way too thin skinned, Zuko," Ozai berated his son. "You know I only pick on you because you make it so easy for me, right? Whenever I emotionally torment your sister, she takes it so stoically even if she looks like she's dying inside, but that's no fun, is it?"

"Can we just move on to the reason why we're here?" Zuko asked, sounding a little desperate.

"I'll decide that," Ozai snapped irately. "With how much I've invested in both of you, you would think that I'd be allowed to enjoy a few minutes of abusing you both for my selfish entertainment."

"Your investment in us is not under the question, father," Azula spoke politely, as always keeping her cool when Zuko couldn't. "It is appreciated as always, but I'm certain I can help the family business more effectively than by simply being a tool for your entertainment."

Azula and Zuko had been raised to eventually take over Ozai Nakamura's culinary and entertainment empire from a very early age. They both had been studying under the best chefs of every culinary school on the face of the earth. On top of that, Ozai had made sure to drill ruthless business acumen into his children. Azula and Zuko had carefully curated public images and social media presence, crafted to appeal to their target audiences.

And even if Ozai privately spoke of Zuko as a disappointment and of Azula as his favorite golden child, Azula was yet to see any benefits of this favorable disposition – aside from being subjected to less verbal abuse. Ozai kept tossing scraps to both of them, stringing them along with promises of more substantial rewards in the future. Azula understood the ruthless tactic of their father. Even if he favored her, he didn't want Azula to become complacent, which was why he made sure that the competition between Azula and her brother remained fierce. Ozai was not above adding some extra oil to the fire between her and Zuko. On some level, Azula appreciated that their father only wanted her and Zuko to remain hungry for success. She had managed to convince herself that in his own way, her father wanted only what was best for her.

"Fine, but I want you both to know that you are no fun," Ozai sighed before pushing two identical looking tablets towards Azula and Zuko. "Shooting for the next season of Kitchen Nightmares will begin in a month. Since neither of you really convinced me with your appearances last year, I'm giving you another chance."

"Thank you, father," Azula said, while Zuko merely made a face. Azula and Zuko weren't being tested only in various roles at Ozai's many restaurants all over the world. Ozai was also getting them involved with his most popular TV show, Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares. The reward of being awarded with their own spin-off TV show was a very effective hook for both Azula and Zuko. Azula was sure that if judged purely on merit of her cooking skills and business acumen, she would have long since won the contest and had a successful show of her own. However, when it came to screen presence, Azula was worried that Zuko might have an advantage. Azula had read the internet comments on many of the previous episodes. There were many fans who considered her cold, heartless and fake, while her brother was seen as more authentic and sympathetic in a pathetic kind of way. Azula was determined to really crush it in this upcoming season of Kitchen Nightmares.

"On this tablet, you'll find information about the twelve restaurants which I have selected for the new season," Ozai said. "Both of you will join me for three episodes. In my infinite kindness, I will allow you two to select the restaurants you want to take on together with me. Azula, as the superior sibling, you will be allowed to pick first," Ozai grinned.

Azula smiled as she picked up the tablet and began browsing it. Deep inside, she knew that the way Ozai treated her brother was cruel and wrong. She knew it was sick to feel a warm elation in her chest at being called the superior sibling, but she couldn't stop her heart from swelling with pride.

Still, Azula quickly shut down all these thoughts, instead focusing on selecting the restaurants for the episodes she'd be a part of. Azula knew that she had to be strategic about this. She had to consider which of the episodes might draw the most viewership, which was why she went with choices that promised the juiciest and most scandalous episodes. By the time Azula flicked over to the final restaurant on the list, she already felt very secure in her choices.

The last establishment, called Northern Lights, was a small Caldera restaurant ran by a Water Tribe family. Their ancestors had probably been settled in the Fire Nation during the great war, which was not a terribly unusual story in itself. Choosing this restaurant didn't make too much sense because nothing suggested that this episode would be particularly fascinating. From the outside, the restaurant didn't appear too terribly maintained. It simply needed a little touching up. Still, Azula found it impossible to move away from the page, because all of a sudden, she was stuck staring at the attached picture of the restaurant.

In the picture, standing outside the restaurant was quite possibly the most beautiful girl Azula had ever laid her eyes upon. She had the largest and bluest eyes Azula had ever seen and they seemed to cut straight to Azula's very soul. She also had a beautiful, impossibly welcoming smile, and her dark hair appeared soft and silky, making Azula daydream about how wonderful it would be to run her fingers through this girl's hair, tangling it and messing up her cute traditional Water Tribe hair loops.

It was only a while later that Azula was brought crashing back to reality when she realized that the girl in the photo was leaning in against a young Water Tribe man who had an arm around her shoulder. They both appeared of a similar age. Azula briefly chided herself for being so easily distracted. Of course, such a beautiful girl would be taken, and besides, why was Azula even thinking about that?

Still battling her feelings of disappointment, Azula began to read the letter that had been included with the restaurant's submission. My name is Katara Enuaraq and together with my brother Sokka, we have been running-… Azula felt herself being jolted with utterly illogical hope yet again. Brother? The guy in the picture was Katara's brother? Azula had learned everything she needed to learn. She instantly ticked Northern Lights as one of her choices, quickly selected the two others and then handed the tablet back to her father.

"Interesting choices," Ozai remarked, having looked at her selections. "And slightly unexpected. Let me just remove them from your pool of options, Zuko," he said, taking back Zuko's tablet and tapping furiously before handing it back.

"Well, that's great," Zuko muttered irately. Apparently, at least a few of his choices had been the same as hers, which meant that he was now forced to pick again. Azula pettily felt validated, but she was also feeling a little conflicted because she knew that one of her choices had been purely emotional, and she usually didn't allow herself to act like that. She'd made her selection just because she'd been instantly taken in by a pretty face. Azula almost felt ashamed for acting so unreasonably and she briefly considered telling her father that she wanted to change her selections, but she also didn't want to risk angering Ozai.

"Alright, that only took a lifetime," Ozai sighed after Zuko had finally confirmed his choices. "And to think that you were complaining about me wasting your time earlier."

"Whatever," Zuko groaned. "Can we go now?"

"Abandoning your father at the first opportunity, how rude is that?" Ozai looked disapproving. "Well, I suppose I do have a busy schedule, but we really must arrange for some family time soon. We'll have a family picnic next Sunday, it is decided. And bring Mai and Chan with you, it's been a while since I've seen your SO's."

"Uh… very well, father," Zuko spoke, looking uncomfortable. Azula had to guess that his on and off whirlwind romance with Mai was in an off-phase, which fit with what little details she'd been able to press from Mai. This probably meant that Zuko would be crawling on his knees and begging Mai to take him back in time for next Sunday's picnic. On her part, Azula really hoped that Chan's football team had a game next weekend so that she would have an excuse for not bringing him.

"Anyway, get out of here, you two," Ozai said, shooing them away. "And remember, you two are in a direct competition. Don't go easy on each other just because you are siblings."

"I'm sure we can keep things civil, right Zuko?" Azula asked, offering her brother a hand. "And may the best girl win," she grinned while shaking Zuko's hand.

"Oh, I like that," Ozai nodded approvingly, much to Zuko's annoyance. "May the best girl win!"

Chapter Text

It was a hot September Tuesday when Ozai Nakamura's Lexus rolled into the parking lot of the Northern Lights restaurant in Caldera City. Technically, Caldera was supposed to be Azula's hometown, but with her father's business interests spanning the entire globe, Azula had been on a constant move since her early teens. As such, she had never developed a strong bond with any one place that she could call home. Caldera came the closest, but only because Azula had been born in the capital of the Fire Nation.

Getting out of the car, Azula surveyed the location of the restaurant. Often, that in itself posed an answer as to why a business was failing. Historically, this was not considered a glamorous district of the capital. A large number of Water Tribe refugees had been settled here during and after the great war, presumably including the Enuaraq family. A new business district was quickly expanding next to the residential district which was home to the Water Tribe diaspora. On the opposite side of the restaurant, there was a small but well-maintained park. This was not an area that would see the crowds of downtown Caldera, but it wasn't a ghost town, either. There were definitely enough potential customers in the neighborhood.

Next, Azula spent a moment to survey the restaurant itself. It was a rather simple looking two-story building with bits of missing plaster here and there revealing the need for some minor maintenance. It seemed as if the restaurant only took up the ground floor, because the windows of the second floor were covered by curtains. Large flowerbeds surrounded a cozy looking roof terrace which gave the building an almost homey feel. There was a large sign attached to the side of the building, spelling out the restaurant's name. Next to the restaurant's name was what Azula supposed was the restaurant's logo - a baby seal making a thumbs up gesture.

"It's not a bad name for a restaurant, but that logo is pure cringe," her father winced, shaking his head as they made their way towards the entrance. "It's way too tacky." Azula quickly nodded, even if she privately didn't hate the little seal. She actually thought that it was kind of quirky and cute.

Ozai opened the doors and strode inside, Azula following quickly. The place was smaller than she expected it to be. Azula didn't think there were as many as twenty tables and less than half of them were taken during what should have been a busy lunch service. Azula immediately saw the potential to free up space for more tables both inside and outside of the restaurant, which was a premium space that the owners had not utilized at all. Azula's trained eye also spotted some of the cameras that had been mounted around the dining hall. The filming crew that had been at the location for a few days already had followed them ever since they climbed out of the Lexus, remaining discreet and unobtrusive.

"Gross," Ozai snorted, looking around. "These Water Tribe rats need to remember that they're serving food to good Fire Nation folks here. We don't care about this kind of décor." Azula winced at the comment, but she couldn't deny that the blue, white and silver colors dominating the interior were a little overwhelming and perhaps too on the nose. Perhaps if scaled back, they would actually work, but she doubted that a Fire Nation supremacist like her father would agree.

"Hello, and welcome to the Northern Lights," Azula's thoughts were interrupted by the soft voice of a young woman. For some reason, Azula expected to turn around and face Katara Enuaraq, one of the owners of the establishment, but instead, she was confronted by a no less stunning Water Tribe woman. Azula had never seen a Water Tribe girl with naturally blonde hair, but one look at the beautiful tresses of this waitress told Azula that her elaborately styled blonde hair was all natural.

"Hello," Ozai returned the greeting, while Azula was still busy gaping at the tall blonde with the softest smile and innocent doe eyes. "Your name, darling?" Ozai asked.

"Yue," the waitress replied, blushing lightly. "Pleased to meet you, Chef Nakamura."

"The pleasure is all mine," Ozai grinned, leaning in to kiss Yue on both cheeks, leaving Azula to sigh inwardly. Her father always did this with every woman that was not an uggo by his standards. In truth, Azula found it annoying only because she lacked the lady-balls to be so bold herself. So, when it came to her turn to greet Yue, all Azula could do was to extend a very stiff arm for a handshake.

"Azula," she uttered, failing to project any of her usual confidence. Azula truly hated the way her repressed lesbian side often made her act like a complete klutz when she had to talk to a woman that she found genuinely stunning and physically desirable.

"I know," Yue smiled, her blush deepening slightly. "We are pleased to have you both here. We really need the help."

Ozai looked around the place with a derisive snort. "I bet you do," he smirked. "So, what is this place supposed to be, Yue? Something like Chuck E. Cheese?"

"Umm… no?" Yue's eyes widened in confusion.

"I'm only asking because of that hideous seal logo," Ozai continued. "That's something I'd expect a kid's restaurant to have."

"The seal is a national animal of the Water Tribes, Chef," Yue explained. Azula could tell that she was a little upset, but she was trying not to show it. "It's a cultural thing and most people don't seem to mind our little Seal of Approval," she added, bouncing back with a quick, but nervous smile.

"Well, I think it's terrible," Ozai snorted.

"Of course, Chef," Yue obediently agreed. "Where would you like to begin? Should I fetch the owners for you?"

"Please," Ozai nodded. "I'm dying to meet them." Yue quickly retreated, with Azula's eyes accompanying her all the way. Her waitress uniform consisted of a blue ascot with a tight white shirt and knee length blue skirt. It reminded Azula of a flight attendant's uniform and it certainly did Yue's curvy figure plenty of justice.

Yue returned not a minute later, accompanied by the two siblings Azula had seen in the picture included with the restaurant's submission to the Kitchen Nightmares. Azula supposed that Sokka was a strapping young man, rather handsome if one was interested in that sort of thing. Azula quietly decided that Sokka would probably make for a more fun fake boyfriend than Chan. He was wearing the traditional white chef's apron and he looked way too young to be the head chef of anything. His sister was… even more stunning in real life than she'd been in the picture that had captured Azula's attention. Katara had gone all out with business casual, wearing a dark blue blazer over a sky-blue mid-thigh length dress and matching wedge heels. It was clear that she was trying to project as much professionalism as possible, but Azula knew that it wasn't going to convince her father. As far as Azula herself was concerned, when dressed like this, Katara could put anything in writing before her and Azula would just sign it like hypnotized prey, provided that Katara kept prettily smiling at her.

Ozai proceeded to shake Sokka's hand and then to smooch Katara's cheeks, much to Azula's simmering annoyance. Azula quickly introduced herself to Sokka and then held out her hand for Katara. "Azula," she managed stiffly as Katara took her hand. The handshake was soft and warm, and Azula knew that she was being awkward as fuck for holding on to Katara's hand for longer than necessary, but she desperately did not wish to let go.

"I know," Katara replied the same way as Yue minutes earlier, also blushing lightly.

"Anyway," Ozai coughed, forcing Azula to finally release Katara's hand. "So, you two are the owners?" Katara and Sokka both quickly nodded at that. "Which one of you is actually running the place?"

"I am," both Katara and Sokka replied at once. Azula cringed inwardly at the uncomfortable moment. She instantly knew that the owners had just handed her father one of his favorite narratives, that of a dysfunctional family. Obviously, Ozai knew all about dysfunctional families. He had created one all by himself. Just by the smug look on her father's face, Azula knew that he was going to turn this into an episode about toxic sibling rivalry ruining the restaurant. Of course, Azula had no idea what kind of relationship Katara and Sokka actually had, but she strongly doubted that it was anywhere near as toxic as the relationship she had with her brother, not to mention that it was toxicity that their father strongly encouraged.

"Sokka, you're the head chef, not the manager," Katara frowned at her brother.

"Head chef is the beating heart of the restaurant, though," Sokka replied. "Anyway, you're more like the head waitress than a manager."

"What are you talking about?" Katara's cheeks grew dark with an angry blush. "I do the payroll and all the other things a manager does! That means I'm in charge!"

"Are you quite done?" Ozai asked, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, so we have a manager and a head chef. That's good enough." He then turned towards Katara. "So, what's wrong with the place? Why is your business failing?"

"We're just having trouble turning profit," Katara replied. "We need more butts in the seats, really."

"Well, obviously," Ozai sighed, looking around. Azula had to admit that it wasn't a particularly good answer from a manager, but she couldn't decide whether Katara was truly clueless or was she simply intimidated by the great Ozai Nakamura. Her father had the tendency to make other people around him very nervous, and for a good reason. "And why do you think you can't fill those seats?"

"I don't know… for some reason people aren't biting," Katara managed helplessly, looking a bit like a deer in the headlights. Azula winced at the answer, because she knew that with some clever editing, Ozai's team would be able to portray Katara as clueless or even a bit stupid.

"Illuminating," Ozai said sarcastically. "So, it's not an issue of your food being shit." Katara looked very uncomfortable at that statement, shooting an uncertain look at her brother. "How would you rate your food on a scale of ten?" Ozai turned to Sokka.

"Ten," Sokka stated proudly. He then hesitated briefly, probably having noticed the skeptical stare Ozai was giving him. "Maybe nine. But I wouldn't go any lower than eight."

"Alright, by the sound of it, Azula and I are in for a true gastronomic treat," Ozai said.

"Aren't we always?" Azula asked with fake enthusiasm.

"Indeed," Ozai nodded at her. "Well, we're going to sit down and eat, and afterwards we're going to have a little chat, how about that?" Katara and Sokka nodded nervously and retreated back to the kitchen, while Yue led Azula and her father over to one of the tables to get them seated. She returned a while later with menus that had at least six pages each.

"Not one of these again," Azula sighed. Oversized menu was the first clue indicating that the people running the restaurant were a little clueless. Azula had really hoped that Katara and her brother wouldn't have made this rookie mistake, but apparently it was too much to hope for.

"First sign of incompetently run business, indeed," Ozai nodded, starting to browse the menu. "What a mess," he groaned, a sentiment Azula was forced to silently agree with. Yue had stepped away to allow them to make their selections, but Ozai now waved to call her over again. "I'm trying to understand what kind of restaurant this is," Ozai told her.

"Uh… a half-empty one?" Yue blinked, looking a little confused.

Azula barely managed to fight back an amused snort, knowing that Ozai would not approve of it. "We're talking about the identity of the restaurant," Azula quickly interjected. "There are traditional Water Tribe dishes on the menu, but then it has a lot of other stuff as well. This is clearly not a fine dining restaurant, so is this supposed to be more like casual comfort food?"

"Yes," Yue nodded swiftly. "We have a little bit of everything. I think that's the idea."

"Every restaurant needs a strong identity and a little bit of everything isn't an identity," Ozai snapped. "But I guess we should speak with the owners about that. I should have known better than to ask a clueless server about that." Yue stepped aside again, but this time Azula noticed that her bottom lip was trembling and she was trying to keep it together by biting the inside of her cheek. Azula had to admit that Yue was possibly just a stupid airhead, but at the same time, Azula thought that Yue was unfairly hot and thus, Azula wanted to give the beautiful waitress the benefit of doubt, at least for now.

"Can I order-" Azula spoke up while browsing the confusing mess of a menu.

"I'll order for you," Ozai said decisively. Azula sighed inwardly. Ozai always liked to order the most disgusting items on the menu for her just because apparently audiences liked the sound of Azula gagging on horrible food. "Ah, there's the seafood section. How wonderful," Ozai grinned. "With any luck, it will be awful and you'll get terribly sick."

"I could actually die, you know," Azula whined. Ozai always ordered seafood for her in all these restaurants they visited while filming for the Kitchen Nightmares, because he thought that it was fun when Azula got severe food poisoning. It had happened three times in the past already and the gifs with Azula bent over a bucket or toilet sink had gone viral, spawning famous Vomiting Princess memes.

"Don't be so dramatic. You're going to be okay," Ozai chided her, continuing to browse the menu. "Ah crab cakes, an old classic, we're getting that for you. And lobster ravioli, got to have that." Azula winced. Upon entering, she had noticed the lobster tank at the far wall of the dining room. Fortunately, from where she sat, the tank actually looked maintained and no dead lobsters were floating at the top.

It took some ten minutes for her father to finally be done with the menu and decide on his selections. Azula was bracing herself for the worst as he called the waitress Yue over again. "I think we're ready to order," Ozai said. "I'll have the baked eggplant roll starter. I'll also have spaghetti meatballs. Finally, let's see how our Water Tribe chef handles some Water Tribe staples, so I'll go with reindeer sausage, mash and gravy, and finally I'd like the reindeer burger."

Yue looked very frazzled, trying to take all of that down quickly. "Anything else, Chef?" she asked once she had finished writing.

"That was just for me," Ozai said. "Azula will have the crab cake starter, the mushroom risotto, blackened salmon and lobster ravioli. I assume that the lobster is fresh." He nodded at the lobster tank at the back.

"Oh yes, the lobsters are very fresh," Yue spoke distractedly while still writing down Azula's order. Azula had a feeling that she hadn't actually fully digested her father's comment. "I'll be back with your starters shortly," she flashed them a beaming smile before hurrying off.

"So," Ozai spoke up, staring Azula down with that piercing gaze that always set her on edge and made her feel particularly small and insignificant. "I've had my PR team look into your recent activities. Your last public appearance together with Chan was more than two weeks ago. I trust everything is well? I appreciate a good breakup scandal, but it must be properly managed in order to maximize the publicity we could get out of it."

"Everything is fine between me and Chan," Azula was quick to reassure her father. "I would like to remind you that it's always been like this during the football season. It's not like he could come with me on that trip to the Earth Kingdom, not when he has either practice or a game daily."

"I suppose," Ozai frowned, still not appearing completely mollified. "I swear that didn't stop you two from attending events more often in the past."

"I don't know what to tell you, father," Azula shrugged. "You can always ask Chan whether everything is fine, but I'm confident he'll tell you the same."

Azula knew that Chan would tell her father that things between them were the same as always, even if that wasn't true. The truth was that Chan was being paid handsomely to pretend that they were the same happy couple as always. Every month, Azula transferred a significant amount of money to Chan's bank account as a payment to keep the lie going. When Azula had gotten together with Chan almost three years ago, she'd managed to delude herself for the first few months of their relationship. Still, after a while, convincing herself that she was happy became impossible, not when she was lying next to Chan in their bed late at night, staring at the ceiling and hugging herself while Chan snored and drooled on his side of the bed. It didn't take too long for Azula to realize that she could not keep lying to herself about being blatantly homosexual.

Azula still felt a sliver of gratitude towards Chan for agreeing to go along with her proposition. Most guys in his position would have probably dropped her like a hot potato. Obviously, all the money she was paying Chan helped to keep him onside. Also, Chan could have all the mistresses he wanted, as long as he kept quiet about it. In some ways, Chan had a lot of power over her and he could ruin her future prospects by telling the truth about their relationship to Ozai. In that sense, Azula had opened herself to blackmail and she did not like that. But she also felt confident in being able to handle Chan. Their agreement was mutually beneficial and it didn't seem as if Chan had any reason to break it.

This agreement with Chan also freed Azula to finally explore her true sexuality, even if she had to do it in secret. She'd made an account on a dating app for lesbians and within a few weeks she had hooked up with more girls than during the previous twenty-two years of her life. The freedom she had finally allowed herself to have felt intoxicating and liberating, like she was rebelling against her father in a way that was so important to her newfound identity.

"I think those are our starters," Azula said a while later, noticing Yue walking towards them, carrying their plates. The wait had been a little uncomfortable, both the silent parts as well as listening to her father rant some more about the restaurant's décor.

"Less than ten minutes," Ozai said, having checked his phone. "You know what that means." He gave Azula a knowing nod.

"Your starters," Yue smiled demurely, setting their plates down on the table. "The eggplant roll for you, Chef. And there are your crab cakes, Miss Azula. Please enjoy." Azula thought that she had seen Yue's smile broadening when their eyes briefly met, but she quickly waved off those thoughts, assuming that she was simply imagining things.

"Well, this looks like shit," Ozai commented, looking at his plate. He dug into the eggplant roll, ripping it apart and then finally taking a bite. He immediately spat the piece of eggplant right back on the plate. "Hideous. So bitter," he said, shaking his head. "I hope your crab cakes are better because this is a miss."

Azula stared at her plate where the crab cakes sat, looking all sad and grey. Azula picked up a fork and dug in. Just from the way the crab cake came apart, she could see that the texture was all wrong. Wincing inwardly, Azula took a bite and chewed. Unlike her father, she was not supposed to spit out the gross food because it was unladylike, and also because Ozai hoped that she would throw up on camera. The crab cake wasn't bad enough to make her throw up, but it definitely wasn't good. It was very much the opposite of fresh, hot on the outside and stone cold inside. Azula didn't need her culinary training to tell that it had been blasted in a microwave.

"How is that for you?" Ozai asked expectantly.

"It tastes bland and old," Azula replied. "And I'm reasonably sure it's been microwaved."

"Not a great start," Ozai sighed, waving Yue over. The waitress quickly walked up to their table. "Has this food been microwaved?" he asked.

Yue hesitated before answering, which was all Azula needed to confirm her suspicions. "I don't think so, Chef," she said unconvincingly. "We don't even have any microwaves in the kitchen," the waitress added. Ozai glared at her. "I swear, I'm telling the truth," Yue stuttered.

"No matter, we will find out for ourselves later," Ozai shrugged, while Azula was still wondering why Yue was so adamant in lying about the microwaving. "Take these away. And ask the chef if he knows how to cook an eggplant so that it's not bitter."

"I will, thank you," Yue replied bravely, picking up their plates and dashing back to the kitchen. She was back only some five or six minutes later, definitely too fast for their food being cooked to order. "Your spaghetti meatballs, Chef," she set the next plate in front of Ozai. "And your lobster ravioli, Miss Azula. Please enjoy."

Azula watched her father once again digging into his food. "Well, at least this donkey can cook his pasta proper al dente," Ozai snorted, having tasted the spaghetti. He then cut off a piece of the meatball and sighed. "Look at that. Is it worth even trying?" he showed the meatball to Azula. She could instantly tell by its dense texture that the meatball was definitely not fresh. "Agni, it's so rubbery. I wonder if-" Ozai seemed to have a sudden idea as he picked up a napkin and cleaned all the sauce off from one of the meatballs. He then rose to his feet and dropped the meatball from shoulder height, watching in disbelief as it hit the surface of the table, bounced several inches up in the air and then landed back in his plate. Ozai burst into laughter. "I must suggest that the Fire Nation Open use these instead of regular tennis balls!"

"That would be a better use of them," Azula said, bracing herself for the lobster ravioli. If there was anything potentially deadly on the menu, it was this. Fortunately, having taken her first bite, Azula immediately relaxed. This was perfectly harmless, gross store-bought ravioli. It was obviously inedible, but at least it would not make her vomit.

"That does not look good," Ozai shook his head.

"It's not good," Azula shook her head. "I don't care what the waitress is saying, this isn't homemade. It tastes like mushy baby food. It has to be store-bought."

"I knew it," Ozai nodded. "And what's with all the parsley? That's way too much parsley all over it. Gross," he shook his head, once again calling Yue over. Azula didn't exactly agree with her father on the issue of parsley. She didn't mind it at all. Sometimes her father came off as being almost parsley-phobic.

"Are you done with these?" Yue asked. "Shall I take them away?"

"Yes please, and the sooner, the better," Ozai rolled his eyes. "Also, you said that the lobster was fresh?" he asked angrily, pointing at Azula's disappointing ravioli.

"I'm sorry," Yue blinked in confusion. "I must have misunderstood you, Chef. You were nodding at the lobster tank, so I assumed that you were asking about the lobsters in the tank."

"What?" Ozai looked outraged while Azula was struggling not to laugh. "What else are the lobsters in the tank supposed to be if not fresh?" her father yelled. "Agni, you really are the stereotypical stupid blonde, aren't you?"

"Y-yes, Chef," Yue managed, her lower lip trembling again as she turned away. She was full on crying by the time she reached the kitchen. Azula couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Their next dishes, blackened salmon for Azula and reindeer sausage with mash and gravy were no longer delivered by Yue. Instead, they were brought over by a young man with his head fully shaved and covered in traditional Air Nation tattoos. "Hello, my name is Aang," he introduced himself cheerfully. "I'll be taking over the service from now. Yue had to deal with a small emergency." Azula was quite sure that the real reason for Yue's absence was that Ozai had simply gotten to her, which was in no way surprising. Still, it seemed that Yue had a very thin skin and to Azula, it felt like she wasn't well suited to dealing with customers because she fell apart very quickly.

"Okay, so far they're 0 for 4. I'm not about to give that donut half a point just for not overcooking the spaghetti," Ozai snorted, cutting off a piece of the reindeer sausage. Much to Azula's surprise, her father did not spit it out ten seconds later. Instead, he actually finished chewing and swallowed it. "Oh, miracle of miracles, not everything here sucks," Ozai exclaimed dramatically. "The sausage is actually good."

"Shocking," Azula remarked, then examining her own dish. She actually liked the neat presentation of her plate, but the blackened salmon looked overcooked. "Oh dear, this is way overcooked," she shook her head, having taken a bite. "And there's way too much garlic. It's another miss, I'm afraid."

"I'm not bloody surprised," Ozai snorted. "They had a winner with this sausage, but then they went and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. They had the audacity to serve a delicious sausage with hideous instant mash and gravy that's basically just pure grease. Damn. What a shame," her father shook his head.

"I'm sure they have left the best for last," Azula added sarcastically as the Air Nation lad whose name she had already managed to forget came over to pick up their plates and retreat with a muted apology.

"Well, it's been predictably dire so far," Ozai shrugged. It took a wait of less than ten minutes for him to receive his reindeer burger and Azula her mushroom risotto. "And here we go with the final insult," Ozai growled, having cut his burger in two to reveal that it was pink on the inside. "That donkey has a career in a crappy fast-food place where he can fry off hotdogs all day, because he clearly can't cook anything more complicated than a sausage. Serving me a burger that's still raw? What a complete twat!"

"This doesn't look any more promising," Azula sighed, looking at the risotto on her plate. The risotto appeared to be of a somewhat dubious color and held clear potential of food poisoning for Azula. It was only with great reluctance that she took a spoonful of the risotto and shoved it into her mouth. Azula was surprised that the taste of the risotto was actually not bad, however, the glue-like consistency of it was all wrong.

"That looks hilariously bad," Ozai laughed, reaching for her plate. "It actually sticks to the plate like glue," he said, looking amused. "Oh, I know what we should do. Sit still and don't move," Ozai ordered, getting up to his feet and coming over to Azula's side of the table. He then held the plate of risotto above Azula's head and flipped it over. Azula froze in terror, expecting disgusting gloopy clumps of risotto to fall on her head and become stuck in her hair, but much to her relief, the risotto held together in one sticky blob that seemed inseparable from the plate. This was just like her father to terrorize her with potential humiliation. Of course, everyone would have tuned in to see risotto flowing down her face and spawning memes of Risotto Hair Princess. Her humiliation was apparently great for ratings.

"Well, I guess you got lucky," Ozai laughed when the risotto still refused to drip down onto Azula's head. "Remember to thank the chefs for sending you such a crappy risotto. Anyway, I think it's time to visit the architects of this culinary disaster. You there!" he yelled at the Air Nation waiter. "Take us to the kitchen. It's time to yell at the chefs."

"Of course," Aang said, trying to maintain an air of cheerfulness as he led them to the kitchen. "I'm sorry that you weren't happy with your meals. Sokka and Suki are genuinely trying their best, I swear."

"Well, their best is clearly not good enough," Ozai ranted as they finally reached the kitchen. It was a rather cramped space, and Azula had expected to find it way more chaotic and rundown. Unlike most of the restaurants she had visited while doing the show, the surfaces in this kitchen appeared relatively clean from what Azula could see. The issues in this restaurant didn't seem to stem from the owners and staff being lazy. "Well, where do I even begin? That was absolutely miserable," Ozai began his tirade at the three people in the kitchen, the two owners and the other cook who was working together with the owner, Sokka. Suki appeared to be of a similar age to Azula, and just like all the other women working in this restaurant, she was also unfairly attractive. Suki had short auburn hair, a light smattering of freckles across her cheeks and the cutest slightly upturned nose. With gorgeous women like Katara, Yue and Suki around, Azula's inner lesbian was feeling like a little girl in a candy store.

"Was it really that bad?" Katara asked with naïve hopefulness. "I didn't think our food was the best in the neighborhood, but I thought it was at least average?"

"When was the last time you went out to eat at another restaurant in the neighborhood?" Azula countered with a question of her own. "I can assure you that you are way below the competition that's out there."

"Yeah, you need to pull your head out of your ass and get real," Ozai snapped. "Let's go over everything, shall we? The eggplant, crunchy and bitter, disgusting! Spaghetti meatballs, disappointing. How old were those meatballs? They were absolutely rubbery! The burger was undercooked. Did you hear me ask for steak tartare? Why would you send me raw meat? You're crazy!" Ozai stopped for a moment to draw breath before he unloaded with the second salvo. "But the sausage was the greatest insult of them all! How dare you ruin an actually perfectly cooked sausage with that disgusting instant mash and greasy gravy! You call yourselves chefs? You're a pair of pillocks!" Ozai glared at Sokka and Suki before turning to Azula. "Tell them about your meal, darling."

"Well, I had an equally miserable experience," Azula said. "The crab cakes were old and bland, and felt like they came straight out of the microwave?" she asked, looking around the kitchen, only to realize that there were no microwaves in sight. Sokka and Suki were acting very confused by her accusation, but Azula was certain that she was not mistaken and her food had been microwaved. "Anyway, the salmon was overcooked and I couldn't taste anything else but garlic. The risotto actually had a nice taste, but it was ruined by the glue-like consistency. Ugh, it's still sticking to my gums," Azula shuddered. "I think that was all. No, wait, the lobster ravioli. Those were storebought, weren't they? They did not taste fresh at all."

"You have fresh lobster available," Ozai jumped right back in. "What's the big idea serving us frozen, storebought crap? What's wrong with you, head chef?" he glared at Sokka. Sokka flinched, muttering something under his breath. "Speak up! I can't hear you!"

"I don't actually know how to work with lobster," Sokka admitted unhappily.

"And you call yourself head chef?" Ozai exploded. "Do you actually have any previous experience?"

"Hey, I'm not a complete dingus, okay?" Sokka shot back heatedly. "I studied for four months under Master Bato!"

"Well, the only thing he must have taught you was how to masturb-" Ozai's foul-mouthed tirade was interrupted by the Air Nation server boy dropping a plate that shattered in a remarkable bit of comical timing which drowned out the obscenities uttered by Azula's father.

"Call me names if you must, but I'm not going to stand here and let you insult Bato," Sokka huffed angrily. "He's an old friend of the family, and a very good chef!"

"To be honest, Sokka, Bato has spent the past fifteen years running a Water Tribe fast food joint where he blasts sea prunes in vats of boiling oil," Katara pointed out with a conflicted look on her face. "Also, your four months of apprenticeship under Bato was basically running a food cart for his business. I don't know how much of what you learned there helps with what you're doing now."

"Traitor," Sokka hissed at his sister. "Throwing your own brother under the bus." Azula glanced at her father, noticing that he was practically salivating at this exchange. No doubt he was already planning some deceptive editing to portray Sokka and Katara as being at each other's throats.

"I'm not throwing you under the bus," Katara snapped. "I just think that they need to know as much as possible in order to help us."

"Absolutely," Azula said. "That includes also telling us about any microwaving that might be taking place in this kitchen."

Katara opened her mouth to reply, but Sokka cut in first. "We're not doing any microwaving," Sokka said quickly. "In this kitchen," he then added in a weird way that made both Katara and Suki roll their eyes. The strange evasiveness about the microwaving was throwing Azula for a loop.

"Well, you can continue your childish bickering, if that's what you want," Ozai said. "Azula and I are leaving, but we'll be back later for the dinner service. We need more information before we can decide how or if this restaurant can even be saved. Come, Azula," Ozai turned and stomped out of the kitchen, leaving a reluctant Azula with no other options but to follow her father.

"Well, that somehow went worse than I expected, and to be fair, I did expect to get yelled at," Sokka sighed. It was a couple of hours before the start of the dinner service, and the entire restaurant staff had gathered upstairs to destress following their first encounter with Ozai Nakamura and his daughter. "I'm having second thoughts about all of this, you know. So far, he hasn't actually said anything constructive. Yelling about how everything sucks isn't helpful."

"I'm sure he'll get around to that, Sokka," Suki spoke up, sitting next to her boyfriend in the loveseat. "That's why he needs to see us during a normal service, too."

"It's not going to feel entirely normal, though, not with those cameras and filming crews everywhere," Katara frowned. Ozai's people had installed cameras some five days ago, and Katara wasn't sure if they had always remembered about their presence at the restaurant. The cameras were limited to the dining room, the kitchen and some of the hallways, but still, Katara was worried that they might have caught some candid conversations when they had forgotten about the surveillance.

"I don't like this, and I hate that man," Yue sniffed, sitting next to Katara on one of the sofas. Jet was leaning out of the window nearby, smoking, while Toph and Aang sat on the other sofa. "I wish we hadn't agreed to this."

"I'm sorry he was so mean to you," Katara said, putting an arm around Yue's shoulders and pulling her into a hug. She felt sorry for her best friend and ex-girlfriend, but at the same time, Katara also wished that Yue could somehow learn not to take everything so personally. Katara knew it wasn't easy, though, and she hated not being able to give Yue more support at the front of the house.

"It's going to work out just fine, you'll see," Jet said, pulling back from the window. He tossed the butt of his cigarette and a few moments later they could hear an annoyed yell from down on the street. "We just have to endure one week and you'll see that the rewards will be absolutely worth it."

"They better be," Sokka frowned, giving Jet a stink-eye. "It was your idea after all."

"Okay, let's not put it all on Jet just because it was his idea, it was a joint decision in the end," Katara felt obliged to come to her boyfriend's defense.

"Thanks, babe," Jet grinned at her. "Just remember that Ozai Nakamura yells at everyone regardless of what they do, so there's really no reason to take things personally."

"Kind of hard when you're being called a stupid blonde bimbo," Yue sniffed.

"Yeah, I hated that," Suki said angrily, with Katara nodding in agreement. "You're not stupid, Yue. You're one smart lady."

"I just get so easily flustered," Yue sighed. "Especially by someone like him. At least his daughter didn't seem as mean. And she looked just as glamorous as I expected."

"Yes, Azula has been the highlight of this visit so far," Katara remarked, grinning when she caught Jet's reproachful stare.

"Like I said, she's a total snack," Suki laughed, earning herself a shoulder bump from a slightly miffed Sokka. "And while she might not have been as critical as her father, she was awfully curious about us microwaving food. I have a feeling that she won't drop it."

"Guys, does it really make sense that we're trying to hide it?" Aang asked, looking confused. "We already agreed that they're here to help and they need to have an accurate picture of what's going on. It seems silly."

"I think it is silly," Katara shrugged.

"No way," Toph protested. "I've listened to some of the shows where he found out that the food was being microwaved. He always ends up throwing the microwaves out. If he did that, I'd be out of a job!"

"We would find something else for you, Toph, I promise," Katara said earnestly.

"We would try to, anyway," Sokka said, sounding less certain. "It's not just about Toph's job, though. I'm worried that if he found out about the scope of our microwaving operation, he might become so pissed that he would walk out on us. He sometimes does that to some of the really hopeless places."

"I don't think we're hopeless," Suki shrugged. "I just think that we have room for improvement and those two are the experts. Besides, they will be in the kitchen during the dinner service. We're not going to be able to keep Toph's microwaving station a secret."

"No, you're right," Sokka admitted. "Obviously, instead of being honest about our practices and telling Ozai and Azula the truth, we will instead attempt a needlessly convoluted plan to fool them. Hmm, but how to approach this…"

"Well, if you want my advice," Jet spoke up. Sokka's look clearly suggested that he didn't want Jet's advice, not that it was going to stop Jet. "You can't go through the kitchen. Why don't we have the servers write two tickets, one for the food that is cooked in the kitchen and another that goes downstairs to Toph."

"Yes! Brilliant!" Sokka exclaimed, snapping his fingers. He then remembered that the advice had come from Jet and his expression soured immediately. "I mean, I guess it could work. Yue, you can just bring one ticket to me and Suki, and the other to Toph."

"That sounds like a terrible idea," Yue sighed. "It's twice the work for me, Sokka. I might need Aang helping me full time in that case."

"Sure," Aang seemed all too happy to agree. "But I won't have enough time to wash the dishes and do extra prep during the service if we start running out of things. I guess I could go and do that extra prep now…"

"Sure, let's go and take care of that, Twinkletoes. I'll help you," Toph said, rising and dragging Aang off with her. "I'll even get you a bottle of your favorite root beer."

"I feel like we have that sorted," Sokka said, leaning back and stretching his limbs. "It seems like what we have is a fool proof plan. What could possibly go wrong?"

"What indeed," Jet snorted. "I guess I'll go and take one more look at the inventory. We wouldn't want to run out of anything in the middle of service. Both Ozai and Azula have been posting on social media about visiting our restaurant, so you can bet that the evening service will be busy. Which means I should probably be off," Jet said, his eyes lingering on Katara. "Unless you needed me for something else, boss?"

"Seriously, Jet?" Suki rolled her eyes. "Ozai Nakamura is visiting us, and instead of making sure that we aren't short on ingredients, you would rather squeeze in a quickie between services?"

"I'm sure he didn't mean that," Katara said quickly, her face burning lightly.

"Yeah, right," Sokka snorted. "Anyway, I'm going to have a short carb nap before the service. You coming?" he elbowed Suki lightly.

"I feel too hyped for a nap, really," Suki replied. "I'm way too restless to lay down right now." She looked over at Yue and Katara. "How about we crack open a bottle of wine and gossip about how unfairly gorgeous Azula Nakamura is?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Suki," Yue beamed, suddenly looking a lot happier.

"I'll join you for that," Katara laughed. "Let's objectify and rate the hell out of Azula based on every aspect we can think of. She'll be a high-scorer for sure."

"They really are weird about this Azula chick, aren't they?" Jet looked over at Sokka. Even if Sokka found their fixation with Azula annoying, he still wasn't going to agree with Jet, simply shrugging instead. "Anyway, I'm out of here."

"See you later, babe," Katara replied distractedly, watching Suki fetch a bottle of merlot and three glasses. In a few hours, they were all probably going to get yelled at once again. Until then, Katara figured that they might as well have some fun.

Chapter Text

Even though Katara had heard Jet mentioning that the dinner service would be busy because both Ozai and Azula had been posting on social media about visiting The Northern Lights, she was still completely taken aback upon logging on to the restaurant's website to take a look at the online reservations. It was very rare for the restaurant to not have a free table, so Katara had never developed the habit of regularly checking the website. Logging on to discover that they had been absolutely slammed with reservations was the cause of a minor panic attack for Katara.

With less than half an hour left before they opened the doors for dinner service, Katara did what she could to get on top of the reservations. It was only now starting to sink in that a ridiculous amount of people were set to show up, hoping to see the great Ozai Nakamura and perhaps become a part of the spectacle. Suddenly, the decision to drink the afternoon away and talk shit with Suki and Yue felt like a terrible decision, but on the other hand, they all had needed it to take off the edge. It was clear that Katara would have to get her hands dirty tonight, though. There was no way she could leave Yue to deal with the masses that would slam the restaurant. She would have to help out at the front of the house, managing the seating and making sure that the kitchen didn't become overwhelmed. It was going to be a long and difficult evening, but Katara was still hopeful of doing a solid job and impressing Ozai and Azula.

Steeling herself, Katara left the manager's office and stepped into the dining room. A small crowd was already forming in front of the restaurant, people peering in through the windows and looking curious and excited. Yue and Aang had just finished setting up for the service. They were now standing a little off to the side, near the cash register, talking in quiet voices. Aang looked all hyped up for the service, while Yue's hands seemed to be shaking a little and she appeared just a tad terrified. All that wine they had consumed earlier didn't appear to have steadied Yue's nerves.

"It's going to be a busy evening," Katara said as she walked up to Yue and Aang. "I've decided to help out at the front of the house. I'd be throwing you guys under the bus if I didn't jump in tonight."

"Thank you so much, Kat," Yue looked relieved as she pulled Katara into a quick hug. "I hoped you would, but I also didn't want to push for it. I know we're all under a lot of stress because of the show," she said, instantly appealing much calmer.

"I'm not all that stressed," Aang shrugged, radiating his usual naïve positivity. "All of this is good for us, right?" he asked, pointing at the growing crowd outside.

"Hopefully," Katara said. She really wished she had familiarized herself a bit more with Ozai's show before she had agreed to Jet's crazy idea of going on the Kitchen Nightmares. There was a lot of debate online whether asking Ozai Nakamura for help actually was a net positive for an ailing restaurant. Katara was still hoping that The Northern Lights would become a Kitchen Nightmares success story, though.

"Anyway, I'll go and check in with the others to make sure they're ready and then we can open the doors," Katara said. "And hopefully by that time the Nakamuras would have returned." Katara had no idea where Ozai and Azula had stormed off to after the lunch service, but it was probably to have a proper meal at a restaurant that didn't suck.

"The kitchen should have everything they need," Aang told Katara as she turned to leave. "I prepped like a madman earlier. Even Toph got in on the act."

Katara didn't reply as she entered the kitchen only to catch Sokka and Suki in the act of passionately making out. Katara wasn't sure if Suki's ass really belonged on the stovetop as she had her legs wrapped around Sokka's waist and they were busy sucking on each other's faces. "Let me guess," Katara spoke up in a reproachful tone. "You're also taking the edge off before the evening's service."

Sokka and Suki slowly separated, neither of them looking particularly embarrassed or guilty. "You should probably find Jet and do the same," Suki winked at her.

"I'd much rather know that Jet has done his job and we won't run out of anything during the service," Katara muttered. She had defended Jet in front of the others when they had started to make comments about this whole Kitchen Nightmares participation being a bad idea, but privately, Katara knew that she was going to be annoyed with her boyfriend if this whole enterprise ended up hurting the restaurant.

"I'm not going near the walk-ins because I'm not itching for a fight with Jet, but from what we have already prepped, I think we're in a good shape," Suki replied. "Anyway, I feel like it's pointless to get stressed. Ozai and Azula made it perfectly clear that they hate the menu. I doubt we're going to get a lot of praise tonight."

"No, I've already resigned myself to getting shouted at," Sokka nodded. "We're still at the stage of the show where nobody at the restaurant can do anything right, after all. It is what it is."

"I suppose," Katara sighed. "What about Toph, is everything settled with her?" Sokka nodded at her. "I still can't believe that you want us to attempt this childish deception."

"It's going to be hilarious when it all comes to light, though," Suki grinned. "It might make the episode go viral. Not many would think of doing something as crazy as setting up a whole microwaving operation in the basement."

"Hey, I'm pretty proud about the way we have it all set up," Sokka replied defensively. "It might be stupid, but it's also ingenious."

"Whatever you say, love," Suki laughed.

"Alright, I guess the kitchen is as ready as it's ever going to be, so I'm going to-" Katara said, turning around only to get the wind knocked out of her as Jet stormed into the kitchen and nearly knocked her to the ground.

"Shit," Jet exclaimed, looking apologetic as he quickly helped Katara steady herself. "Sorry, babe, I totally missed you there, my bad," he said, leaning in and pressing his lips against Katara's while she was still a little stunned.

"Why are you in such a hurry, anyway?" Katara asked once she had pulled away from the kiss. "Don't tell me that we're out of something after all."

"Never," Jet shook his head confidently. "I just saw Ozai's Lexus pulling into the parking lot. They're here."

"Alright," Katara nodded, trying to project all of her slightly shaky confidence. "Let's get this show on the road, I suppose."

It was slightly more than an hour into the dinner service and Azula was already deeply confused about the way The Northern Lights restaurant was being run. Azula wasn't stupid and she understood perfectly well that this was not a normal evening for The Northern Lights, and it wouldn't have been a normal evening for any restaurant, with people out on the street literally fighting just to get in. Azula was actually somewhat impressed with the front of the house staff and how they coped with this increased traffic. Katara had realized that she needed to jump in and help out, and as a result, she had managed to take the pressure off from both the servers and the kitchen by making sure that they didn't become overwhelmed. That part of the restaurant seemed to be functioning much better than most of the Kitchen Nightmares disasters.

The confusion for Azula mostly had to do with the kitchen. Dishes seemed to be flying out at a reasonable pace. Whenever Azula walked into the kitchen, Sokka and his cute sous chef, Suki, seemed to be busy working on the next ticket and Azula was struggling to find much to criticize. Obviously, Yue and Aang were still returning some dishes to the kitchen, but that was only to be expected because Azula had already established that the current menu of the restaurant was not manageable without compromising quality. Menu was a problem that was easy to fix, though, as long as the owners were not overly sentimental idiots who were too attached to their horrible dishes that only they themselves liked. Azula was more interested in trying to identify bad practices at the restaurant, and so far, she frustratingly hadn't found too much to criticize.

It was only a while later that Azula noticed something curious. Aang and Yue were delivering customer tickets to the kitchen normally, but then they had other stubs of paper that they didn't leave with Suki and Sokka. Instead, they were bringing these little pieces of paper with them as they disappeared somewhere in the backrooms. Intrigued, Azula decided to keep a closer eye on what the servers were doing. It didn't take her long to spot Yue emerging from the backrooms with some dishes that she then carried into the dining room.

Azula was delighted by her discovery because it appeared to validate her suspicions about the food being microwaved. It was sneaky of the staff not to do it in the kitchen, though. The servers were probably microwaving it themselves somewhere in the backrooms, where the film crew had not set up any cameras. Azula immediately decided that this was the perfect opportunity to catch the servers in the act and perhaps earn some praise from her father. Azula pulled out her phone and set it to record as she slipped into the backrooms while Yue and Aang were both in the dining room, tending to the customers and could not stop her.

Her brief investigation at first failed to turn up anything at all. Azula found plenty of space at the back of the restaurant, including employee changing and shower rooms which was definitely a luxury that not all restaurants had. Azula was still failing to find any microwaves, however. It was then that Azula came upon darkened stairs leading into the basement. Azula looked around for a light switch, but nothing in this oddly constructed building appeared where it should be. In the end, Azula was forced to descend into the pitch-black basement. The thought to switch on her phone's flashlight came to Azula a second too late as she twisted her ankle on the uneven stairs and dropped her phone, hearing its screen shattering on the concrete steps.

"Fuck me," Azula growled, cursing her bad luck. Her great idea of catching and filming the waitstaff red-handed while microwaving food was dead in the water, but she was still determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. Azula bent down and picked up the phone, slipping it into her purse. It was only a minor annoyance and one of her personal assistants would make sure she had a new phone within the hour or they would be fired. Right now, Azula was much more focused on finding the illusive microwave than fixing her phone, anyway.

Azula eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and tried to reorient herself. It was still pitch dark in every direction, but Azula could hear a soft hum and very faint lights from electronic displays somewhere to her right. She had to stumble her way there through a very narrow access corridor and eventually, it led her into a larger space. Convinced that this had to be her destination, Azula began to feel her way around the dimly lit room. Electronic displays were glowing at the back of the room and she slowly began to move towards them, only to be suddenly interrupted.

Azula yelled in absolute shock and terror as a pale face with strangely milky white eyes suddenly appeared mere inches from the tip of her nose. Azula lost her footing and landed with her ass on the rough basement floor, yelping in pain.

"It's not my fault!" a frantic woman's voice exclaimed nearby. "They made me do it! I'm a victim of human trafficking, here against my will!"

"Uh," Azula managed, staying put right where she was on the basement floor. "What is not your fault and what did they make you do? Come to think of it… who are you?"

"I'm Toph. Toph Beifong," the woman replied in a nervous voice. "Hey, you're that rich bitch Azula Nakamura from the show, right? I recognize your voice."

"Yes, I'm Azula Nakamura," Azula said, slowly propelling herself up from the floor. She decided not to take offense at being called a rich bitch because a) it was true, and b) that didn't seem to be a priority in her current circumstances. "Do you mind telling me what you're doing down here, Toph Beifong? You're not really a victim of human trafficking, are you?"

"Not really. I'm just down here, chilling," Toph replied defiantly, having recomposed herself. "What's it to you?"

"I'm investigating, and you're clearly not just chilling," Azula frowned. It was hard to take a good look at Toph in this dim light cast only by some electronic displays, but Azula had seen enough to realize something. "I think you're up to something down here. And you have no use for the light because you're blind."

"You must think yourself really smart," Toph snorted. There was a quiet whooshing sound and Azula yelped when something, most likely Toph's walking cane, whacked her across the shins. "Also, it's really rude to point it out like that, you know. Even if you're right."

"I'm always right," Azula said proudly, trying to ignore the pain. Apparently, Toph was not someone to mess around with because the whack from her heavy cane really stung. "Anyway, I have a pretty good idea as to what you're doing down here. Even in this pitch darkness I can see that we're literally surrounded by microwaves."

"Those aren't all microwaves," Toph replied defensively. "There are only like… ten of them?"

"Ten microwaves," Azula repeated incredulously. Her eyes were slowly getting used to the dim light and she could finally make out more details about the basement room she was in. The microwaves were stacked in neat racks on top of each other, keeping them within Toph's reach and making it easy for the blind girl to carry out the reheating operation. "This is… an impressive setup," Azula was forced to admit. "It's actually rather ingenious."

"I know, right?" Toph replied proudly. "Sokka and Aang came up with it, just for me."

"So, how do you normally operate?" Azula wondered. Her curiosity was quickly taking over and she felt the need to learn more about this bizarre operation.

"Well, Sokka and Suki would normally just shout their orders from above," Toph explained. "I would then grab whatever stuff needs reheating from one of the fridges at the back and toss it into the microwave. Once it's done, I would use a remodeled old dumbwaiter to deliver it up to the kitchen. Of course, we're not doing it this way while you and your dad are breathing down our necks. We didn't want to be too obvious about what we were doing."

"So, instead of the dumbwaiter, you had the waitstaff sneaking downstairs with orders and to pick up the food," Azula realized. "That is such a stupid and insane plan that I can't help being impressed," Azula admitted as she walked over to the large fridges at the back of the room, filling the room with a pleasantly calming hum. Azula opened them one by one, realizing that they were stuffed to the brim with frozen food. "Fucking Agni," Azula gasped once she was done inspecting the fridges. "Just how much are they microwaving at this restaurant?"

"Oh, from what I can gather, about 60-70% of all the food," Toph said. Azula's only response was a pained groan. "It's that bad, huh?" Toph asked. "Damn, your hard-ass of a dad will probably make us throw away all the microwaves now. That would be a shame. I kind of need this job."

"Well, despite what you might believe from watching… or listening to the show, microwaves actually have a place in a restaurant kitchen, even of that of a fine dining restaurant," Azula replied, sidestepping the issue of the microwaves being destined for fiery destruction. Ozai would definitely be interested in making a big spectacle about getting rid of the equipment. "It depends on how you use them, though. Reheating 60-70% of all the food is not normal," Azula said.

"I guess," Toph sighed. "I think they would probably struggle to get the food out fast enough if they didn't have me and my microwave wizardry."

"Well, at least this just made it clear that there are definitely some bad practices at this restaurant," Azula said. "Now that we know it, we can work on improving."

"That probably means my microwaving domain is going to be dismantled," Toph said reluctantly.

"This restaurant won't survive unless it implements the right practices," Azula replied. Toph's fear of losing her job nagged unpleasantly at whatever conscience Azula still possessed, but Azula also felt completely certain that making sure the restaurant survived was more important than preserving a job that shouldn't have existed in the first place. And it wasn't up to her to suggest that perhaps Toph could be assigned different duties at the restaurant. There wasn't much that a person with Toph's disability could do around a restaurant.

"Anyway… I should probably leave you to it," Azula began after an uncomfortable moment of silence. There wasn't much else to say, and Ozai definitely needed to be told about this. Azula knew that her father would be delighted about whatever ammo he could get his hands on, as long as he could use it to tear into the hapless owners. "So, I'm just going to-" Azula was in the process of turning around when at that moment someone switched on the lights in the room, blinding her. Azula blinked rapidly, trying to get accustomed to the light. At first, Azula figured that either Yue or Aang had arrived with a new ticket, but as she squinted at the shape standing next to the basement door, Azula saw a young man she hadn't seen before. He was leaning against the wall and eyeing her with a piercing gaze from underneath an unruly mop of dark brown hair. An unlit cigarette loomed in the corner of his mouth.

"Well, well, well," the newcomer drawled sarcastically. "It seems that Miss Nakamura has discovered our microwaving operation. What a surprise."

"And you are?" Azula asked sternly. She had no idea what to make of the guy. He seemed a little too slick to be a hard-working restaurant employee.

"Jet Patel, the food manager," the young man gave her a light nod. "Also, the reason why you're here."

"Is that so?" Azula remarked.

"It was Jet's idea to submit our entry to the Kitchen Nightmares," Toph said. "So, if I end up jobless, I'm totally blaming him."

"That sounds very fair," Jet rolled his eyes. "Anyway, if you need some lowdown on the place, I'm your guy," he winked at Azula. "Always happy to lend a helping hand to our esteemed guests."

"Could you suck up any harder?" Toph groaned.

"I'm just being nice to the people who have come all this way to help us out," Jet said defensively.

"Thanks, Jet, I'll keep the offer in mind, but I like to discover things for myself," Azula replied. She couldn't help being immediately wary of Jet. He had the charisma of a used car salesman and it was not giving Azula the best of vibes.

"Well, I still think there are some things you should know. For example, the way all of us here are really tight, almost like a family," Jet went on, offering her a crooked smile as he removed the cigarette from his mouth and stuck it behind his ear instead. "If you haven't noticed, Sokka and Suki are dating, and Katara is my girlfriend."

Azula had to fight very hard to shrug off the instant wave of powerful disappointment and annoyance. Azula had a pretty good poker face, however, and she was certain that she'd kept her emotions well buried. Still, now she knew where her instant antipathy towards Jet was coming from. "That sounds like completely useless and unnecessary information to give me," Azula replied with an irreverent shrug. "Your relationships are of no interest to me. I will be in and out of here within the week."

"Oh, don't mind Jet," Toph laughed. "It's just that Suki, Yue and Katara have been acting like total idiots and joking about how hot you are. Jet and Sokka are both probably really insecure by now."

"Very funny, Toph," Jet scowled at the blind girl, while Azula was simply standing there with her brain melting from this latest piece of information.

"I'm sure I would be very flattered if I was interested in women," Azula finally remembered that she was supposed to offer some kind of commitment to her fake heterosexuality. "And I guess the waitress, Yue, she's dating the other waiter?" Azula's curiosity got the better of her, forcing her to pose the question.

Toph and Jet both burst into laughter. "Hey, I shouldn't diss my best friend, but come on, Yue is way out of Aang's league," Toph laughed. "I don't even think he'd be pissed off hearing me say that."

"Also, Yue is a single mom with a perpetually crying three-year-old on her hands," Jet added. "There aren't many guys who will risk tapping that."

"Seriously?" Azula frowned. The information that Yue had a child was blowing her mind, but Jet's words still managed to annoy her. "You're a bit of a disrespectful asshole, aren't you?"

"You don't know the half of it, lady," Toph snorted.

"Nonsense," Jet flashed a blinding grin. "Everybody loves me."

"I'm sure," Azula rolled her eyes before pushing past Jet on her way upstairs, finding herself in an increasingly irritated mood. Obviously, she hadn't seriously expected that gorgeous girls like Katara, Yue or Suki would be both gay and available, but still, the revelation of Katara having such an annoying boyfriend was destroying some of Azula's most treasured head-canons.

As Azula had expected, Ozai was only too happy to hear Azula's report about the secret microwaving operation in the basement. Apparently, her father had not had much luck catching any egregious mistakes in either the kitchen or the dining room. As a result, Ozai was becoming very frustrated with the lack of juicy drama. Azula had definitely scored some points with her discovery, because Ozai actually rewarded her with some praise before rounding up the camera crew and heading over to investigate the basement for himself.

Azula was once again left to observe the dinner service on her own. For a while, she simply watched Katara and Yue charming the customers and doing a rather good job of it. There were still some complaints about the food, but with Katara stepping in when Yue was about to become overwhelmed by an argumentative customer, smoothed over most potential conflicts. The worst incident featured a complaint about a lobster roll and resulted in a customer walking out after he had dismissed the assurances of both Katara and Yue that his lobster had indeed been fresh. The whole incident had made Azula a little confused, because earlier in the day, Sokka had confessed that he didn't know how to work with lobster. And yet, at the same time, Azula had seen Aang retrieving a lobster of the customer's choice from the tank and delivering it to the kitchen. Once again, there was something fishy – or rather lobstery – going on, prompting Azula to investigate.

Azula found Sokka and Suki busy at work in the kitchen. Sokka had just fried off a couple of steaks, while Suki was getting ready to start on the sides. Azula watched them work for a few minutes, her trained eyes searching for more bad practices. Nothing seemed egregiously out of order, although Azula was left wondering why Sokka was only utilizing a small part of the large stovetop. Azula quickly checked some of the tickets piling up in the window, realizing that quite a few of them also had an order for steak.

"Are you working on only one ticket at a time?" Azula asked. "There are two more steaks on this ticket. You could be frying those off at the same time."

"Maybe, but I can't work on all the other stuff on that ticket, and all the mains are supposed to go out at once, right?" Sokka asked.

"It can still do that. Steak needs to rest before you send it, anyway," Azula shrugged. "Also, you should think strategically and combine similar tickets. It shouldn't be that hard." Azula noticed that Suki was nodding emphatically at that, while Sokka still looked skeptical. "It actually should be easy, considering that you are microwaving 70% of all the food."

"Ugh, found out about that, didn't you?" Sokka groaned. "I guess it was a bit silly to hope that you wouldn't."

"Very silly, but that wasn't what I wanted to press you about. I'll leave the yelling about microwaves to my father," Azula said. Sokka and Suki both sighed and shook their heads.

"What did you want to ask about, Azula?" Suki asked quickly.

"The lobster roll that came back," Azula said. "Can I see it?"

"I think we tossed it," Sokka shrugged nonchalantly.

"Seriously?" Azula sighed. She walked up to the waste bin and looked inside. The discarded lobster roll was balancing precariously on top of a pile of clearly overcooked pasta. Azula winced as she reached in and pulled the lobster roll out of the waste bin. It was a disgusting thing to do, but she had done far worse as a part of the show.

"If you want a lobster roll that bad, I can make you a new one," Sokka laughed. "You don't have to eat out of the trash can."

"Very funny," Azula scowled. She opened the roll and fished out a piece of the lobster, first smelling it and then putting it in her mouth. The chewy, stringy texture left no room for interpretation. The lobster in the roll was not fresh. "Alright, what's going on here? This is canned lobster," Azula demanded. "What happened to the one Aang delivered to the kitchen?"

"Well, I guess we've been caught once again," Suki snorted. "Come over here," she beckoned Azula to follow her as she stepped around one of the fridges in the kitchen. Azula looked to see a large bucket filled with water. The lobster was happily chilling in the bucket. It seemed to be winking at Azula with its beady black eyes.

"Cute fellow, isn't he?" Sokka chuckled, standing just behind the two girls. "We named him Clawdius. You know, a pun on the-"

"Yes, the ancient emperor, I know," Azula said distractedly. "So, you're making all that show about serving fresh lobster and then you're feeding people lobster from a can instead? And Katara and Yue are lying to the customers about it?"

"They might not be aware of this little scheme," Suki sighed, not looking particularly happy.

"Yeah, Yue and my sister have this unreasonable obsession with honesty," Sokka snorted. "I don't think it's such a big deal. Canned lobster is just as good as a fresh one."

"What? No, it's not," Azula barely held back from raising her voice. "Have you ever had a fresh lobster, you nincompoop?"

"Well, no, but that's beside the point," Sokka shot back. "Canned lobster is tasty."

"That's… that's NOT beside the point! That IS the point!" Azula shouted. "You are so frustrating with your terrible practices! If there was no difference between canned and fresh lobster, that customer wouldn't have walked out!"

"Well, sometimes we get some people who can taste the difference, but that's super rare. It's kind of like some people being able to taste artificial sweeteners in soft drinks and others not giving a shit, right? It doesn't mean one is better than the other," Sokka argued. Azula merely glared at him. "Alright, fine… maybe we shouldn't advertise that the lobster is fresh. It's just that a lobster roll used to be a really popular staple of the restaurant years ago, okay? My dad was really famous for it. And I actually gave working with fresh lobster a try, but… ugh, my attempt to kill that poor bugger didn't go so well. I really don't want to try again," Sokka shuddered.

"It was really distressing, watching him try to impale a lobster," Suki said, also looking uncomfortable. "I could probably do it, but it is kind of nasty. I get not wanting to do that. And because this is his dad's menu, Sokka doesn't want to take anything off from it. Even when he really should," she added with a sigh.

"I can't do it, Suki," Sokka sighed. "My dad would be so disappointed if we stopped serving our famous lobster roll."

"The problem is that the lobster roll that you're serving now will sooner or later become infamous," Azula snorted. "Look, I'm trying to be reasonable, but I'll give you a fair warning – my father will not care about your sentimental reasons."

"I had a feeling that might be the case," Sokka cringed.

"I mean, you are trying to run a successful business here, right?" Azula continued. "And you keep failing. You shouldn't have asked us here if you're not prepared to change things."

"I'm prepared to change some things," Sokka tried.

"I think this place is bleeding money too heavily for a band aid to work, Sokka," Suki spoke earnestly. Azula was starting to develop a healthy amount of respect for the auburn-haired girl. She definitely was far less in denial than Sokka.

"Your girlfriend is definitely onto something there," Azula said. Suki and Sokka both gave her curious stares at that. Azula blushed, realizing that they were probably wondering just how she knew about their relationship. "Anyway, I should get back to the dining room," she said, quickly excusing herself.

Things seemed to be calming down in the dining room as the evening's service slowly wound down. Ozai and the camera crew were most likely still filming down in the basement. Katara and Aang were finishing up the service between the two of them, with Yue nowhere to be seen. It made Azula wonder if a rude customer had caused yet another breakdown for the beautiful but overly sensitive blonde. Azula continued to observe the service for the next quarter of an hour, but once again nothing outrageous stood out to her. With more and more customers departing, Katara could allow herself to look around a little more, and often their eyes would meet, leading to shared shy smiles and plenty of blushing.

Katara's stare sometimes felt so intensely probing that it made Azula's legs go very weak at the knees. Azula was aware that she was also staring way too much, and with great reluctance, she eventually forced herself to leave the dining room, using the staff exit to make her way outside and clear her head in the crisp air of a September evening. It took Azula a moment to realize that she wasn't alone behind the restaurant. Yue was standing with her back turned towards Azula, speaking on her phone and sounding upset, almost angry.

"You can't leave me hanging like that for the third time this month, Meng!" Yue argued with someone on the phone. "If the CPS found out that Kya is being left alone for as much as two hours, I would be in serious trouble, do you understand that?" Yue ranted. "What do you mean, I'm not paying you enough? This is the first time you're telling me that! And I know perfectly well that I pay you the average rate for babysitting in this neighborhood. I'm not made of money, you know! I'll-… Meng! Meng? Argh!" Yue yelled, looking ready to throw her phone.

"Hey, uh… I probably shouldn't have heard that, but-" Azula began, but she was cut short when Yue yelped as she swirled around, almost dropping her phone. "Sorry about that," Azula apologized awkwardly.

"What? No, don't apologize," Yue recovered quickly, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have been out here, shouting angrily. I just got frustrated because of-" Yue then froze, blushing scarlet. "Uh, I shouldn't burden you with my personal issues. I'm sure you have more important things to worry about, like helping to save the restaurant."

Or impressing my father, Azula mentally told herself. Still, that wasn't the only thing she was interested in. Seeing that Yue was about to return to the restaurant, Azula also found herself interested in keeping Yue out here for a while longer. "Babysitter troubles?" Azula asked.

"Yes… yes, exactly," Yue said, looking a little surprised by Azula's interest. "Kya will be turning three in a couple of months, and even if she's a very calm child most of the time, she's much too young to be left alone for too long. Sure, she's usually sleeping tight when I get back home, but I doubt the CPS would be understanding of such negligence."

"Probably not," Azula agreed, even if she had little idea of the way the CPS operated. "I don't suppose Kya's father could help out with looking after her?"

"Uhm," for some reason Yue turned very red in the face. "There's no way you could have known that, but Sokka is Kya's father." Azula gaped at Yue like a fish ashore at this stunning piece of information. "Yeah, I know… we were together for a good stretch before we split up and then he and Suki got together. It's confusing, you don't have to tell me that. Still, Sokka supports us with as much money as he can spare, but he can't really help looking after Kya. He's even busier than I am."

"I guess I can understand that," Azula nodded. "It must be hard to handle everything all by yourself, though," she added, hoping that Yue would not detect her curiosity regarding whether the pretty blonde was currently dating someone.

"It's definitely not easy," Yue sighed. "Maybe once Kya is a little older, she can come to the restaurant after school and do her homework here. But right now, my day is basically dropping Kya off at the kindergarten and then coming here to prepare for the lunch service. After that, I'll pick Kya up and bring her home. Then one of my regular babysitters will come over and free me up to come here for the evening service. The problem is that my babysitters are not very reliable. I'm really upset with Meng right now. She lives literally next door and yet she keeps leaving early all the time. I can't take such risks with her."

"That seems very irresponsible," Azula agreed. She remembered her own childhood experience with constantly rotating babysitters because none of them were good enough for her father. Of course, her mother could have easily looked after her, but Azula accepted that she hadn't always been given that opportunity. Ozai had always insisted that Ursa accompany him everywhere, almost like he didn't want her to be involved in Azula's upbringing. He was more interested in Ursa remaining his eye candy in public, at least until he had finally gotten bored of her and eventually cast his wife aside in an acrimonious divorce.

"Anyway, those are my issues to take care of and I really shouldn't have burdened you with them," Yue said, once again looking about to leave.

"Maybe I can help you," Azula blurted out without much thought.

"Huh?" Yue blinked. "Are you offering to babysit my daughter?"

"Of course not, don't be silly," Azula snapped at the ridiculous assumption. She instantly regretted her outburst when she saw how hurt Yue looked at her words. "Ugh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be harsh," Azula apologized quickly. "But I did have an idea. Not many people actually know this, but I have a sister… half-sister to be precise. Kiyi is my mother's child from her second marriage. She and Ursa – my mother – live in Caldera City. I know that Kiyi is always trying to earn some extra cash by babysitting. She's more mature than most fifteen-year-olds, I can tell you that much."

"Are you saying that the half-sister of Azula Nakamura could do some babysitting for my child?" Yue asked, looking a little starry-eyed. "That would be… insane and amazing?"

"Well, all I'm saying is that I could ask her," Azula said. "If you gave me your phone number, I would make sure that she gets in touch with you and then perhaps you can work out something."

"I will be very happy to give you my phone number," Yue smiled broadly in a way that made Azula feel extra warm once again. They quickly exchanged phone numbers before Yue spoke up again. "When are you going to see your sister?" Yue asked.

"I… don't know," Azula replied somberly, her mood darkening instantly. "I was going to text her about this. I'm not actually allowed to see her and Ursa. Of course, I still do now and then, but I have to be very careful about it."

"Why? I don't understand," Yue asked, looking sad.

"My father doesn't approve of me interacting with that side of my family," Azula replied. "He still thinks that Ursa betrayed him by trying to have their marriage contract annulled. I know what you're going to say, I'm a grown woman and I can make my own decisions about who I want to see, right?" Yue nodded uncertainly. "Well, it's not that simple. You have to understand that one word from my father, and my career would be in ruins."

"That's awful. I'm so sorry to hear that," Yue exclaimed. "It seems like life of glamor and riches comes with its own difficulties."

"I suppose," Azula shrugged. "I didn't tell you this because I wanted pity, though." In truth, Azula wasn't really sure why she had told all of this to Yue. Maybe because it had been a very long time since she had opened up to anyone and she found Yue very easy to talk to. And also, because she found Yue highly fascinating and wanted to keep talking to her.

"Well, I'm honored that you told me, anyway," Yue smiled at her before reaching out and taking Azula's hand. "And thank you for helping me with the babysitting. I really appreciate it."

"Don't, uh… don't mention it…" Azula managed, momentarily forgetting to breathe until Yue released her hand and returned to the restaurant.

"Damn, can that man yell without needing a break," Sokka groaned, resting on one of the sofas in the upstairs apartment. He was lying with his head in Suki's lap, his girlfriend now and then affectionately messing up his hair. Suki was clearly taking advantage of Sokka being too exhausted to bat her hand away. Yue had rushed home to Kya immediately after they had finished the service, uttering a few unkind words aimed at her babysitter. She had promised to come in extra early tomorrow morning to clean up the front of the house. Jet and Katara were sitting on the sofa opposite to Sokka. Jet had pulled Katara tightly against him, but Katara's expression wasn't very happy and Sokka had a good idea regarding the reason. Aang and Toph were sharing the loveseat, with Aang worriedly watching Toph chug down one beer after another and getting slightly smashed in the process.

"I know, my head is still ringing," Suki nodded in agreement.

"I lost count of how many times he called me a donkey," Sokka sighed. "Now I'm worried that tomorrow morning I'll take a look in the mirror and see an actual donkey staring back."

"Maybe we need a donkey counter," Suki laughed. "I think it might have gone up as high as twenty donkeys."

"I kind of expected him to go off on us about the microwaves, I guess," Sokka admitted. "We really didn't need to give him that extra ammo about the lobster roll. Should have known that Azula would tell her father all about it."

"Just because she doesn't yell at you like her father, it doesn't mean that she's on your side," Jet said. "You can bet that she tells everything she overhears to daddy dearest."

"I don't understand the expectation that she wouldn't tell things to Ozai. They're here to fix the restaurant as a team," Katara said while fiddling around with her phone. She then set the phone aside and gave Sokka a very stern and disapproving look. "I have some things to say about the lobster as well. What's the big idea of throwing me and Yue under the bus like that? Nobody told us that the lobster was canned! I literally had no idea that Clawdius was going back into the tank at the end of every service!"

"It seemed like an insignificant detail that you would totally overreact about," Sokka shrugged. "How many complaints do we really get about the lobster roll?"

"Certainly not as many as about your pink burgers," Katara snorted.

"Or the gloopy risotto. Or the mushy ravioli. Or the-" Aang was only too happy to take the baton from Katara, but Sokka quickly cut him off.

"Alright, that's enough! We'll figure out something about the lobster roll, I promise," Sokka groaned. "I don't know what, not yet. Maybe we'll take it off the menu. At least for the week Ozai and Azula are here."

"That's… not really a solution, Sokka," Suki sighed. "Back me up on this, Kat," she added when nobody else said anything. Katara also failed to reply, too busy typing on her phone again, giggling as she did so. "Katara? Hello, are you there?" Suki repeated, sounding frustrated.

"She's texting with Yue," Jet commented, leaning in to spy on Katara's texts. Katara immediately shifted away from her boyfriend to make sure that he couldn't see the screen.

"She's being a little smartass," Katara chuckled, looking very amused.

"What about?" Jet asked. "I thought she was busy with her kid."

"She's trying to extort me for a raise," Katara snorted. "In exchange for giving me Azula's number. Apparently, they exchanged phone numbers earlier during the service."

"Damn, that girl moves fast," Suki wolf-whistled, starting to text frantically as well.

"What are you doing, Suki?" Sokka asked, frowning.

"Trying to see if I can cut my own deal with Yue," Suki laughed. "Katara isn't the only one who's after Azula's number."

Sokka reared his head to notice that Jet looked rather annoyed by the exchange. "Does this technically count as cheating?" Sokka asked, looking at Jet, feeling a strange camaraderie with the guy he normally wasn't too fond of.

"What?" Katara laughed, rolling her eyes. "Get over yourself. This is just perfectly normal celebrity worship. Azula will be gone by the end of the week. You two being all ridiculous about us having our celebrity crushes is not very cute. It's kind of insecure and pathetic."

"Ouch," Sokka winced. Maybe he was being ridiculous, especially given the common knowledge that Azula had a boyfriend and was straight. Then again, interacting with Azula was making Sokka question that particular bit of common knowledge for reasons that Sokka couldn't quite pin down. "Anyway, I sort of get why Kat is all tingly about this glamorous chick visiting the restaurant, but you, Suki? You're not also into girls, right?"

"Babe. Darling. My innocent sweet little love-donkey," Suki laughed, staring down at Sokka. "I've had more girlfriends than boyfriends during my dating life. I was sure that either Kat or Yue would have told you that."

"They probably mentioned it, but my selective memory chose to ignore it," Sokka laughed awkwardly. "Anyway, I guess what you're saying is that you three will continue to be annoying while Azula is here. Fair enough. I suppose we'll just have to endure it, right, Jet?"

"I don't know about that. I feel like some compensation might be in order," Jet gave Katara an eager stare, but his girlfriend appeared to be more fascinated by her phone at this moment, not reacting to Jet's comment.

"Ugh, maybe you should can your horny relationship bullshit. Some things are more important than that," Toph blurted out drunkenly. "Once Ozai throws out all of our microwaves, I'll be out of a job and on my way back to Gaoling."

"We'll think of something, Toph, please don't stress about it," Katara said, trying to sound reassuring. "We're not about to leave a friend behind in a deep ditch."

"Yeah, we'll think of something," Sokka echoed his sister. "Once Ozai and Azula are gone, we can sneak a couple of microwaves back in, it won't be a problem."

"I was thinking more of something else for Toph to do," Katara said uncertainly. "Bringing the microwaves back seems like returning to the bad practices that are making us fail, right?"

"Agree to disagree," Sokka shrugged. "I don't think it has anything to do with the microwaves. Anyway, what were the main reasons why we signed up for the show? Getting that sweet remodeling from rich guy Ozai Nakamura, as well as all the free advertising, right?"

"I'll be honest, I was also hoping for some meaningful change," Suki sighed. "I'm not proud of serving all this microwaved food. You shouldn't be proud either. Your father wouldn't be proud."

Sokka pulled away from Suki's lap, sitting up, truly feeling the sting of that comment. "That was a low blow," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry," Suki said, looking earnest. "But take a good look deep inside before telling me that I'm wrong."

The uncomfortable silence surrounding the room following Suki's comment felt suffocating to Sokka, especially when he realized that he really didn't have a good comeback to his girlfriend's pointed comment.

Chapter Text

Suki woke up the following morning not feeling particularly well rested. She had slept enough hours, but her sleep had been constantly interrupted, mostly because Sokka had been turning and tossing, as if Ozai Nakamura was tormenting him in his dreams, possibly turning Sokka into a real donkey and trying to brand him with a hot iron rod.

Suki fixed herself a quick cup of coffee while she waited for Sokka to wake up, but when her boyfriend continued his restless slumber, Suki decided to sneak downstairs and grab a shower. As someone who had come through the brutal foster care system, Suki was anything but high maintenance. She had very low requirements for living space and she rather enjoyed the apartment above the restaurant. It did have one major drawback, however. The space had never been intended to be used as an apartment, and as such had no access to plumbing. Always having to head downstairs to use the employee bathroom facilities was a slightly annoying drawback.

Fifteen minutes later, Suki was back upstairs and enjoying her cup of morning coffee, when Sokka finally crawled out of the little bedroom corner of the apartment. Sokka didn't look great and Suki felt mildly concerned by his pale and sweaty skin and slightly red eyes. Suki pushed another cup of coffee towards her boyfriend when he sat down with her.

"Thanks," Sokka said in a voice so parched that it made him sound like a late-stage lung cancer patient.

"You're welcome," Suki said, waiting for Sokka to continue. Obviously, that was never going to be a winning tactic with Sokka. Suki knew perfectly well that her boyfriend would never open up about something that was bothering him, unless Suki coerced or threatened him to do so. After Yue had broken up with Sokka, she had largely kept a very respectable distance, stating that no two relationships were alike and never really trying to advise Suki on how to navigate the relationship with her ex. The only thing that Yue had told her was to not allow Sokka get into his head. Over the months that Suki had spent as Sokka's girlfriend, she had come to realize just how right Yue had been with her sole warning.

"So, another crazy day in store for us, I expect," Sokka remarked, trying to sound cheerful.

"I think we should expect the entire week to be quite crazy," Suki said. She didn't like how Sokka was immediately trying to distract her with irrelevant small talk. "Did you sleep well? I don't feel very rested this morning for some reason," she said, trying to steer the conversation back towards the issue concerning her.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sokka said. "I'm sure I'll feel perfectly fine with some coffee in my system, though."

"You kept tossing and turning the whole time," Suki pointed out. "Were you having nightmares?"

"Uh, maybe? I guess," Sokka shrugged. "I can't remember."

"I think you're trying to bullshit me now," Suki said sternly. "What's bothering you? Are you still angry at me for yesterday?"

"No?" Sokka replied. "I was never angry at you. That's ridiculous."

"Okay," Suki sighed. "So, you're starting this new day being open minded and ready for some meaningful changes?" Sokka frowned, but didn't say anything. "That's not a very encouraging reaction. I seriously can't understand why you are so hung up about things that clearly are not working."

"The dream I had last night was about my dad visiting the restaurant after all the changes we made and him hating everything about it," Sokka said, finally caving under Suki's prodding. "The disappointment etched on his face… I don't know if you can understand just how painful that felt, Suki."

"Why wouldn't I be able to understand?" Suki asked. Sokka didn't reply, turning away to avoid her stare. "Oh… you think I can't understand just because I've never had that kind of relationship with a parental figure?" Suki asked, frowning. "I can still understand how painful that kind of disappointment would feel, thank you very much. I don't struggle with basic levels of empathy, you know."

"Yeah, well…" Sokka said, sounding defensive. "Dad's approval is really important to me. He left me in charge of the restaurant while he's looking after our gran. I can't let him down, Suki. I just can't."

"Okay, first of all, it's not like he left you in charge alone. Katara is here with the exact same motivation not to let the family down. You're making it sound like you're single-handedly the last line of defense at the restaurant, but that's just not true. We all want the place to succeed and we want to be proud of it," Suki spoke passionately. "And secondly, do you really think that your dad would not want you to embrace change? Do you think he would rather prefer that you stubbornly clung to the old ways that are no longer working? I haven't had the chance to meet your dad yet, but from what you, Katara and Yue have told me, he seems to be open minded towards changes. So, while you have embraced everything else your father left you with the restaurant, you haven't embraced his open-minded attitude."

Sokka remained silent for a while after Suki had finished her rant. Suki was starting to become worried that she had possibly gone a little too far when Sokka spoke up again. "Maybe you're right," Sokka finally admitted. "Maybe I have been too paralyzed with fear of failure. I can't promise that I will embrace every proposal that Ozai Nakamura makes. But I can promise that I'll consider everything he and Azula suggest."

"That's all I'm asking for, love," Suki smiled, leaning in and giving her boyfriend a peck on the cheek.

"I'll try not to be so stubborn, especially if it stops us from fighting," Sokka smiled, pulling her into a more serious kiss. "I'm in a dire need of a shower," Sokka admitted once they had parted again. "But I could pop downstairs quickly and after that we might have enough time for a-" Sokka froze before he had finished his suggestion, his eyes drawn to something outside.

"What is it?" Suki asked, already turning towards the window to spot Ozai Nakamura's Lexus pulling into the parking lot. "They're here awfully early," Suki said, quickly checking her phone. It was only a quarter to nine and the start of the lunch service was more than three hours away. "I wonder what this is about."

"Maybe it's one of those surprise kitchen inspections that we see on the show," Sokka replied. "I don't think we have anything to worry about, right? I remember us leaving the kitchen close to spotless last night."

"True," Suki nodded. She felt fairly confident about the kitchen being reasonably clean. "Of course, they will also want to inspect the walk-ins, and I have no idea about the state of those because they are Jet's domain."

"Well, if the walk-ins are filthy and messy, I will finally have a legit reason to kick Jet's ass," Sokka grinned.

"Uh… yeah, I'm sure Katara will love seeing her boyfriend and her brother fighting on camera," Suki rolled her eyes as she picked up her phone and sent Katara a quick text to let her know that Ozai Nakamura and his daughter were already at the restaurant. Katara sent an almost instant reply that she and Jet were on their way. "Anyway, Katara and Jet will be here shortly. In the meantime, I guess I'll go and play a good hostess to our honored guests."

"Shouldn't that be my role as the owner?" Sokka asked.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but," Suki grinned as she leaned closer to her boyfriend and sniffed him, scrunching her face in exaggerated disgust. "It's true that you desperately need a shower."

"Let's hope we hit the jackpot today," Ozai Nakamura said, getting out of the car. Azula hurried to follow her father, both of them closely shadowed by the camera crew. "So far, we don't have much to elevate this episode to above average. The microwave idiocy is good, but I'm not sure it's good enough to make this episode go viral. I have a plan for dealing with the microwaves, but it would really help if we could find something else that's completely outrageous."

"Kitchen inspections are usually good for that," Azula said obediently as they entered the premises using the spare key that had been left with the camera crew. Azula understood perfectly well what her father was saying. So far, The Northern Lights had not provided that single outrageous moment that would make the episode particularly memorable and Azula really needed that breakthrough moment in order to secure victory in her sibling contest with Zuko.

"I feel like there has to be more stupid shit hidden somewhere to explain why this place is failing," Ozai added. "Yes, microwaving so much of their food is awful, but I have a gut feeling that there must be more to it."

"I completely agree, father," Azula nodded. She didn't even have to pretend to agree with Ozai, not this time. Azula also felt that they were yet to discover the full picture of what was wrong with the restaurant. "We always find out the truth, though, don't we?" she summoned a quick smile as they entered the kitchen, followed by a cameraman.

"Alright, let's start with the fridges here," Ozai said, walking up to one of the several kitchen freezers and opening it. "Hmm," he frowned, looking a little annoyed. Azula joined her father to take a closer look, discovering a very tidy looking fridge with all the products neatly packed and labeled with dates. "I can hardly believe how well maintained this is," Ozai was forced to admit. "It's giving me flashbacks of Hama's Baking Company."

"I know what you mean," Azula sighed. Hama's Baking Company was probably the most famous – or rather infamous – episode in the history of the entire show. Hama was a Water Tribe restaurant owner who for some reason held a deep grudge towards her father. Her restaurant had been absolutely spotless, with fridges in impeccable order, and Ozai had spent a long time wondering why he was even called in to help, but then Hama had attacked him with a meat cleaver, revealing her plan to kill Ozai, grind him into mince and then put Ozai meat cakes on her restaurant menu. Hama was now serving time at the Boiling Rock high security prison, but Azula had heard that she was actually having a grand old time there, helping out in the kitchen, quite possibly making some prison guards disappear and baking them into meat pies.

"I can hardly imagine that donkey maintaining such an impeccable order in his kitchen, he just doesn't seem the type," Ozai frowned, slamming the doors of the fridge shut.

"That's because it's not him doing that," Ozai and Azula were surprised by the voice of sous chef Suki Arya. Engrossed in their inspection, they had missed Suki joining them in the kitchen. "That's actually my job around here," Suki continued. "Anyway, good morning, Chef Nakamura. And hello, Azula," Suki smiled at her. "We didn't expect you here this early."

"Good morning, Suki," Azula smiled back. "Yes, my father and I feel that we still don't have the full picture of what is wrong with the restaurant. Hence, this kitchen inspection. Would you like to join us for it? Would that be alright, father?"

"What? Yes, why not," Ozai shrugged distractedly. "Although we would really prefer the owners to be here for it."

"Sokka is getting out of the shower and will join us in a moment," Suki explained. "Also, Katara and Jet are on their way. In the meantime, I'll be happy to answer all and any questions you might have. I have been with the restaurant long enough to know everything."

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that all the kitchen freezers are in good order," Ozai said, quickly opening the other fridges and finding the same orderly stored and clearly labeled products. "Don't expect this to be in the show, so let me just say that at least this part of the kitchen is handled competently," Ozai said.

"Thank you, Chef," Suki said, blushing with pride. Azula felt an enormous wave of envy washing over her and trying to drown her. She had made a pair of important discoveries last night, and yet she had received far less praise from her father than what he had just heaped upon Suki. Still, once the immediate anger had passed, Azula found her respect for Suki rising by another notch. She really seemed like a very competent member of the staff, probably the most competent person in this establishment.

"Let's take a look at all this kitchen equipment," Ozai said, walking over to the ovens. "Well, this looks absolutely ghastly. It's ancient and does not appear to be working," Azula's father commented after a cursory examination of one of the ovens. He opened the oven, reaching in to examine it and much to Azula's surprise, retrieving a piece of cloth from the oven. "Is that a towel?" Ozai asked, sounding perplexed.

"Yes," Suki nodded. "That oven hasn't worked ever since I started working here. But we've been using it as an additional storage unit. You know, because the kitchen is so small and we need every bit of space."

"That's sad and ingenious at once," Ozai snorted. Azula found herself quietly agreeing with her father. "I hope these other ovens are in a better state? Although from the looks of them, they appear to be just as pathetic and rundown."

"A couple of them still work," Suki said. "But they're not very reliable. I doubt they ever reach the set temperature. That stovetop is the only one that works. Same for the broilers, only one is functional, thanks to Sokka jury rigging it."

"I suppose you're going to use the miserable state of your equipment as an excuse for microwaving so much of your food," Ozai gave Suki a stern stare.

"Well… it's one of the reasons," Suki replied, uncomfortably shuffling her feet. Azula could tell that Suki felt like they could still do better even with this failing equipment, and she was most certainly right.

"I think it's clear that this kitchen lacks the tools to succeed," Azula stated. Privately, she hoped that her father would decide to get new kitchen equipment for this restaurant. If the restaurant proved to be a success upon Ozai's revisit, it would be a feather in Azula's cap, and she strongly believed that Sokka and Suki would keep failing without better equipment. Still, even without her selfish reasons for wanting this place to succeed, Azula couldn't deny that on some level she just plain hoped that Katara's restaurant would thrive. "Why have you made no investment in fixing the equipment?" Azula decided to ask, even if she already could guess the answer. The cameras were always rolling, after all, and there was always the chance that Suki might say something interesting.

"We just don't have the money," Suki shrugged. "When Hakoda… Sokka and Katara's dad, and the original owner of the restaurant, returned to the Water Tribe, he withdrew a lot of money for his mother's therapy. He also mortgaged their family home and the bank foreclosed on the mortgage… I think it was a little more than a year ago. It's why Sokka and Katara had to move in to live above the restaurant."

"That couldn't have been easy," Azula said, hoping to keep Suki talking. It wasn't just the need to squeeze Suki for some juicy drama that drove her inquiries, however. Azula couldn't hide her genuine curiosity about this restaurant and its staff.

"It wasn't," Suki shrugged. "It was like a massive and unfinished studio apartment without any amenities at all. At least by now, Sokka has broken the space up in separate rooms, but that wasn't the case for the first few months. It made Sokka and Katara's dating life really challenging, too. I remember that it could get really awkward when I started dating Sokka, and poor Katara would have to escape to the roof terrace whenever we started getting frisky. I still feel bad that Katara moved out earlier than she should have, just to give me and Sokka more privacy."

"Earlier than she should have?" Azula asked, feeling a little confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the thing is, at first Katara wasn't sure about entering a serious relationship with Jet. I think she moved in with him before she had fully made up her mind. But I guess it worked out in the end. They've been together for a while now," Suki explained. She then suddenly blushed, looking flustered. "Also, I just realized that perhaps I shouldn't have said all that in front of the camera."

"Don't worry, you didn't say anything useful," Ozai said dismissively. "That wasn't the kind of juicy drama we can use on the show." Azula chose not to add anything to that. She was perfectly aware that the editing team of the show were not above cutting the footage with Suki's candid revelations in whatever way it suited them, all just to manufacture some drama.

It was at this point that more people entered the slightly cramped kitchen, first Sokka, his hair still damp from the shower, and a minute or so later, Katara, together with her boyfriend Jet. "So, what's the verdict on the state of our kitchen?" Sokka eventually asked after a round of greetings that seemed to only exasperate Ozai.

"Sad and pathetic," Ozai commented. "But also, nothing I can really yell at you for. When it comes to the state of the kitchen and the equipment here, you have clearly fallen into the accursed circle of needing money to invest in new equipment, but not having any money to invest because these rundown and crappy excuses for ovens are failing to generate any income."

"And I bet that since the bank already foreclosed on your mortgage, you have little hope of landing another loan," Azula added.

"You nailed it," Sokka admitted. "The only thing we could mortgage is the restaurant itself, but…"

"Well, what Sokka means is that our father would have to do that," Katara said, looking a little depressed. "But that means telling him that we are failing miserably, and neither I nor Sokka can bring ourselves to tell him the truth. We don't want to break our dad's heart."

"You really shouldn't have been given this responsibility of running a restaurant," Ozai shook his head. "You two are absolutely clueless about what you're doing, aren't you?"

"I don't think we're completely hopeless," Katara replied, sounding slightly defensive.

"Yes, I don't agree with that at all," Sokka nodded, frowning. "Maybe we're not getting everything right, but I think that with some help, this restaurant could be very successful, the way it used to be under our dad."

"We'll see about that," Ozai shrugged. "Anyway, it's time to inspect the walk-in fridges. Nothing exposes the owner's cluelessness as the state of a poorly maintained walk-in."

As Ozai led the way towards the walk-in freezers further at the back of the restaurant, Azula could see several pairs of eyes for some reason fixed on Jet. For his part, Jet looked to be his usual cocky and nonchalant self. Azula didn't know what to make of this silent exchange, but before she had formed any theories, they had arrived at the walk-in cooler to begin their inspection.

"This cooler is nowhere near cold enough," Ozai said, walking up to the thermostat to take a look. "50F degrees? Are you insane? Do you know what the temperature in the walk-in should even be like?" he exclaimed angrily, glaring at both Sokka and Katara.

"Lower than that… I guess?" Katara tried, cringing. Azula had to fight very hard not to roll her eyes at that comment.

"It should be around 35F, but definitely not above 38F. This is what happens when you have a pair of donuts as owners," Ozai growled, fiddling with the thermostat.

"Well, you know. Trying to keep the electricity bill manageable and all that," Sokka said. Azula didn't miss the dirty glare he shot towards Jet, however.

"I shudder to think what we're going to find here with the temperature set as high as that," Ozai said. He was looking excited now, most likely in the anticipation of discovering something truly gross. Beckoning Azula to join him in the inspection, they began to look through the crates of supplies at the front of the freezer. It seemed as if these particular crates were full of produce that had been delivered over the past few days, so they hadn't had the chance to spoil just yet.

As Ozai began to push these recently delivered crates aside in order to free access to the back of the walk-in, Azula mentally prepared herself for the worst. Indeed, it didn't take her father much time at all to start pulling out packages of spoiled food. "Now it's all coming to light, you dirty pigs!" Ozai growled, tossing a bunch of moldy salad leaves towards Sokka. "This is disgusting!" he added, handing a box of spoiled vegetables over to Azula and giving her an expectant stare.

Azula peered into the box, spotting several thoroughly rotten tomatoes. "Gross," she said, shuddering as she looked at her father, hoping that he did not truly expect her to pick up one of the tomatoes. The nod that Ozai gave her was unmistakable, however, so Azula was forced to reach into the box and grab one of the rotten vegetables. "This is so disgusting," Azula groaned as she watched the rotten tomato literally disintegrating in her hand, leaving her palm sticky and stained. Even worse, splatters of rotting tomato landed at her feet and splashed over her red stilettos.

"I agree, and there's more," Ozai said, sounding outraged, while clearly appearing happy about these discoveries. Over the next few minutes, Azula and the hapless owners were subjected to pieces of green chicken, foul smelling disintegrating fish, something that had once been an oyster, a jar of pesto that had grown fur and many other disgusting items getting shoved in their faces in hopes to trigger their gag reflex. When Ozai finally ran out of gross stuff to throw at them, Katara was swaying on her feet and had to be supported by Jet or else she would faint, while Sokka had gone completely green in the face. Knowing that a kitchen inspection was on the schedule this morning, Azula had made sure to skip breakfast, hoping that it would lessen the chance of her throwing up spectacularly. She was currently going through very unpleasant stomach contractions, the usual precursor of vomiting.

"When was the last time this was cleaned?" Ozai yelled, pointing at the back of the cooler now that all the spoiled food had been removed.

"It should be cleaned every day, with extensive cleaning around the back every week," Katara said. Azula noticed that she was refusing to look at Jet for some reason.

"Don't make me laugh," Ozai scoffed, examining the very furthest corner of the cooler. "Agni, that's black mold over there, isn't it? Azula, come and take a look. In fact, why don't you reach in and poke around a little? You're smaller and more agile, you should have an easier time reaching it."

Azula gave her father a pleading stare, even if she knew that it was stupid of her to expect that Ozai would soften. Hoping that her suffering would at least lead to increased ratings for the episode, Azula reached into the freezer, poking around the back of the mold covered surface. With her hand still covered with the juices of the rotten tomato, the black mold stuck to it like glue, so when Azula removed her hand again, she was horrified to see it covered in large black spots of icky mold.

"Disgusting," Ozai commented, quickly clearing the path for a cameraman to approach them for a proper closeup of Azula's mold covered hand. The contrast between the ugly spots of mold and her perfectly manicured ruby red fingernails was striking and oddly grotesque.

"Can I please wash my hand now?" Azula asked, struggling to suppress shudders running through her.

"Wait a minute," Ozai spoke up victoriously, pointing at something at the very bottom right corner of the fridge. "I think I can see something absolutely filthy sloshing around there. I want to know what we're dealing with here, so please, reach in and gather a handful of… whatever that is."

Azula felt a tiny spark of rebellion blossoming somewhere deep within the pit of her belly. It tried to convince her that this treatment was inhumane and that she did not deserve this humiliation. But the fear of losing was too much. She could not stomach the idea of coming second best to Zuko any more than she could cope with the fear of Ozai destroying her career if she as much as talked back to him. The brief spark of rising protest died as quickly as it had blossomed, and steadying herself as best as she could, Azula crawled into the freezer and reached in with the hand she had kept clean until now.

Her hand immediately touched something cold and disgustingly slimy. Bile rose in her throat as she scooped up the disgusting slime and pulled her hand right back out, letting the cameraman take a closeup, knowing that it would please Ozai. Hearing the disgusted reactions all around her, Azula finally dared to open her eyes and take a look for herself, instantly regretting the decision to do so. Her hand was covered with filthy smelling brown gelatinous mass mixed with bits of congealed blood. Azula could not keep it together any longer, allowing the nausea to overtake her. She dropped on her hands and knees, shaking as she tried to vomit, but not much actually came out as she shook with dry heaves.

"Did you get it? You better have it all, or else I'll have your head," Azula could hear her father threatening the cameraman, his voice coming as if through the fog. "This was better than anything I could have hoped for! Azula, you were perfect!"

Perhaps under any other circumstances, Azula would have felt delighted about this scrap of praise from her father, but right now, Azula was too nauseated to feel anything. She probably would have remained stuck with her hands and knees in the filth, if not for someone helping her back up on her feet. Azula eventually opened her eyes again, realizing that it had been Suki and Katara helping her stand up.

"I feel so filthy," Azula groaned, looking at her outfit. Her red jacket and miniskirt had escaped most of the damage save for a few spatters here and there, but her hands and legs were covered with a mix of slime, blood and mold, and her favorite red stilettos were destined for the garbage bin. It was a small mercy that she had twenty other pairs waiting back at the hotel. "I need to wash up, please," she said weakly.

"Of course," Ozai nodded his permission. "I think we have everything we needed from this little inspection. Once again, you were absolutely perfect, Azula."

"Are you okay to walk on your own?" Katara asked quietly, seemingly ignoring Ozai for the moment. For some reason, she looked really pissed off. Having stolen a quick glance at Suki, Azula realized that the other girl also looked very angry. Azula assumed that they were probably mad about the horrible state of the walk-in.

"Yes, I'll manage, thank you very much," Azula said, trying to quickly recompose herself. She knew that her father would not like her to appear weak.

"Come with me, then," Katara said, leading the way out of the kitchen, with Suki following them. "It might be hard to clean all of this at the sink. We do have showers here, though," Katara continued.

"That sounds like a good idea," Azula spoke gratefully. Of course, the showers would probably be a little filthy when compared with the facilities of the five-star hotel she was staying at, but Azula desperately needed to be clean. "Could one of you please get ahold of my PA and ask her to get a spare change of clothes for me?" Azula asked.

"I'll get right on that," Suki said, rushing off quickly.

"I'll show you where the showers are and then I'll get you some towels," Katara said. She still sounded very upset. Azula hoped that Katara would not dwell on the walk-in embarrassment for too long, but now she was struck with the sudden fear that perhaps Katara was angry at her for the part she had played in that whole spectacle. Somehow, the thought of Katara being angry at her actually hurt Azula more than the humiliation her own father had just put her through.

Katara was aware that in light of everything that had happened, she should have felt deeply upset about the state of the walk-in coolers. Still, twenty minutes after the incident at the walk-in, that wasn't where her thoughts were at as she and Suki sat in the employee locker room together with a still slightly wet and dripping Azula Nakamura. Azula was wrapped in a large towel, with a smaller towel wrapped around her head, waiting for her PA to rush to the hotel for a spare change of clothes, probably breaking the speed limit while panicking about getting fired for taking too long.

Seeing the way Ozai Nakamura had treated his own daughter in front of the cameras had filled Katara with white hot rage and she was seriously struggling to contain it. Nearby, Suki also looked upset, although she seemed to have things slightly more under control than Katara. Katara had to wonder if due to getting bounced all over the foster care system and never having stable parental figures in her life for very long, Suki didn't see Ozai's treatment of Azula being as awful as Katara saw it. Katara had grown up with her father's unconditional love taken for granted. To her, the behavior of Ozai Nakamura was abominable, and she felt that it was her obligation to call him out on it.

Still, looking at Azula sitting next to her, miserable and shivering, made Katara pause. It was important to remember that Azula was a grown woman who didn't have to stand up for this kind of behavior. Katara suspected that Ozai probably had means to coerce his daughter into accepting this abusive treatment, but she had to acknowledge that she had no idea about Azula's relationship with her father. Katara understood that simply telling Azula that what Ozai did was completely beyond the pale and that Azula shouldn't stand for it might not be actually helpful in the least.

"So… that was something," Katara eventually tried, the oppressive silence forcing her to speak up.

"Yes," Azula nodded stiffly. "I'm sorry about that, but please don't feel too bad. Basic lack of cleanliness is a problem in most restaurants."

Katara exchanged quick stares with Suki. "I wasn't necessarily talking about that," Katara said carefully after Azula had completely misread her comment, making Katara wonder if she had done so deliberately.

"Yes, the cleanliness of the walk-in isn't really our main concern right now," Suki added more directly.

"Ah," Azula remarked. She remained silent for a while before speaking up again. "You must be referring to the borderline abusive way in which my father just humiliated me in front of everyone."

"You're aware of it?" Katara gasped, the words just pouring out in shock. "Then why-"

"Shh, Kat," Suki interrupted her, holding up her hand. "Let Azula speak." Katara bristled at the interruption before giving Suki a grateful nod. Suki knew her well enough to realize that Katara could quickly get very heated and carried away when she allowed herself to become too emotional. And as angry as Katara felt right now, it was important not to lose her head.

"I'm not sure what you expect me to say," Azula shrugged. "It is what it is."

"So, the glamor of the celebrity lifestyle isn't as cracked up as it's supposed to be, huh?" Suki asked. "They don't write about this side of your life in the tabloid magazines."

"They probably don't know what's going on," Katara said.

"I very much doubt that," Azula said. "But the thing is that as much as people love gossip, scandals and the airing of dirty laundry, there are some things that make people uncomfortable and they wouldn't rather know about them. Most people don't want to know how the sausage is made, literally and figuratively. They have their own assumptions and head-canons about my father, my family, and the whole Kitchen Nightmares franchise, and they don't want the magic ruined by the inconvenient truth. And I can't blame them."

"But that's… wrong," Katara finished lamely. She realized that she had made many naïve assumptions about what Azula's celebrity life was like, and the reality of it being very different was blowing her mind. Katara had never expected Azula to be facing such struggles in her private life, and this realization was filling her with a deeply confusing mix of anger and protectiveness.

"Katara gets very passionate about her causes," Suki smiled at Azula. "There's clearly a rant building inside of her right now." Katara glared at her friend, wishing that she could object to her truthful statement.

"I had a feeling that Katara was one of those," Azula gave Suki a quick smile, one that left Katara feeling a little annoyed.

"I'm not sure what you mean by one of those, but I can assure you that Katara takes her activism very seriously and she's not just some keyboard warrior," Suki said. "She's led plenty of neighborhood rallies in the short time I've known her and she's won her fair share of battles. Without her, the park in front of the restaurant wouldn't even be there, and in its place, there would be a parking lot. Trust me, Katara is the kind of girl you want in your corner because she can be ferocious for the right cause."

"Stop, you're making me blush, Suki," Katara laughed uneasily.

"No, Suki is right," Azula said seriously. "You are the kind of person that I would want in my corner. But this thing with me and my father? That's private and for me to take care on my own, okay? You mustn't get angry on my behalf. You have to focus on fixing your restaurant. I'll be gone in less than a week, but the restaurant will be here, and you'll be relying on it to survive."

"She's right, you know," Suki spoke softly, looking at Katara. "We have to think about ourselves, first and foremost."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I can't also think about… well, worry about what's going on with Azula," Katara sighed. "Even if we'll go our separate ways at the end of the week, and it's quite possible that we'll never meet again." Katara couldn't tell if it was merely a trick of the light or something similar, but Azula's expression seemed to turn much sadder at those words. "I would still try to follow you on social media and express my support, what little it may mean. Or we could exchange texts, if that's alright by you. I would understand if you were too busy, though."

"I'm not always that busy. Definitely not too busy for a few texts now and then," Azula said, immediately appearing happier. "I should give you my number, though."

"Way ahead of you," Suki smirked. Azula gave her a curious stare. "Katara and I bullied Yue for your number last night."

"Devious," Azula chuckled, blushing lightly. She probably would have said more, but at that point Azula's PA announced her return by sticking her head through the doors and then passing a bundle of clean clothes to Azula. Katara and Suki respectfully left Azula alone, allowing her to dress.

"That was a little depressing," Katara sighed once she and Suki were alone again.

"I guess," Suki nodded, but she didn't look overly saddened. "Maybe I'm just a heartless and inconsiderate bitch, but I'm just so excited about her being open to staying in touch. That blows my mind."

Katara was about to reply, when she suddenly became aware of the sound of raised voices echoing from the other side of the restaurant. "What's going on there?" she wondered worriedly about the unmistakable sounds of a heated argument.

"That sounds like Sokka and Jet shouting," Suki groaned. "We better get over there."

"For the love of… why now?" Katara sighed, taking off after Suki and quickly arriving at the scene of an obviously nasty confrontation. Sokka and Jet had hands on each other, wrestling in the middle of the walk-in cooler. In the meantime, Ozai was observing the scene and almost salivating as he prodded the cameraman to keep filming.

"You literally had one job," Sokka growled, trying to get a better hold on Jet so that he could wrestle him to the ground. "One job! To keep the coolers clean and well stocked!"

"Oh, get off your high horse!" Jet argued back. He was clearly on the defensive in this fight, but he was proving difficult to handle for Sokka. Sokka may have had the advantage of strength and size, but Jet was wiry and slippery, and he kept evading Sokka's grasp. "You're the head chef and the owner. The buck stops with you on everything!"

"You would say that, you lazy good for nothing!" Sokka yelled back, finally managing to get a good grip on Jet's collar. Seeing that the fight was about to become bloody, Katara managed to shake herself out of the shock of seeing her brother and her boyfriend in a nasty brawl. She threw herself in between the two fighting boys, using her elbows to push them apart, caring little for her own safety and paying the price as she had to endure a few nasty shoves before Sokka and Jet realized what was happening, finally stopping their fight.

"What are you doing? What's wrong with you two?" Katara exclaimed. She was overwhelmed by everything that had happened this morning and the floodgates finally opened, making her burst into tears, not caring about the cameraman undoubtedly getting plenty of candid shots with her tearstained cheeks. "This is already so bad… the restaurant is failing! We have so many problems that we need to address. And you think this is the time to be fighting?" Katara sobbed.

Sokka and Jet both had the decency to look ashamed at Katara's words. Ozai Nakamura used this moment to spring into action. He quickly stepped in between Jet and Sokka, forcing the sobbing Katara to step aside. "This isn't the time to be fighting, you donkeys," Ozai berated them, acting as if he had been the one to break up the fight. "This is what's wrong with the place! It's so disjointed! You've all drifted too far apart from each other, and we need to bring you all back together if this is going to work! Do you understand what I'm saying?" Sokka and Jet both mutely nodded at Ozai, looking a little confused.

As Katara was trying to get a hold of her raging emotions, frantically wiping her cheeks, she had expected Ozai to go on, but instead Chef Nakamura fell silent. Katara turned around to realize that Ozai was looking at his daughter, Azula having returned to join them. She was wearing an almost identical outfit to the one that had been ruined, and she had somehow managed to maintain the same flawless appearance as before the incident, which to Katara felt like a miracle. She had seen just how rattled Azula had been earlier, even if she had tried to put on a brave face and be dismissive. But now, it was as if she had pushed the entire upsetting experience from earlier aside completely.

"Ah, there you are, Azula. Is everything alright? I was about to go looking for you," Ozai said. Katara was not convinced by his show of sympathy in the slightest.

"I am fine and ready to continue," Azula said. "Thank you for asking, father."

"Of course, of course," Ozai nodded distractedly. "Anyway, it is good that you are here, my darling, for we must speak with the owners in private."

"Certainly, Chef," Katara said. "But could I first have five minutes with Jet, please?" she added, grabbing her boyfriend's hand and dragging him away. Ozai didn't look pleased about it, but he elected not to say anything.

"Uh-oh, am I in trouble?" Jet asked cheekily after Katara had dragged him into the manager's office and closed the door behind them.

"Listen, I don't want to blame anyone for that fight, or get into another fight just now," Katara said quickly, trying not to get distracted by Jet's infectious smile. "Right now, all I want to know is what happened with the walk-in. Why was it in such a state?"

"Oh, I thought it was something serious," Jet laughed easily. "After our submission for the show was accepted, I simply stopped cleaning around the back of the walk-in. All that mold and slime is what happens when you stop cleaning your cooler for two months. Also, you know how Bee works at Walmart, right?" Katara nodded uncertainly. "I asked her to collect some rotten fruit and veggies from their warehouse and bring it over, just to make the fridge look even more disgusting."

"I'm confused," Katara admitted. "Why would you want us to look worse than we already are?"

Jet gave her a look like he thought that she had lost her mind. "To generate views, Kat. Obviously," Jet sighed. "We want this episode to really blow up, right? To do that, we need to somehow stand out among other struggling restaurants. And I had this idea to make us memorable by having a really gross walk-in cooler. Spirits bless Azula Nakamura for getting so sick that she threw up. Together with the fight, it might be enough to make the episode go viral."

"This is crazy… I'm getting headache from how stressful all of this is," Katara groaned, rubbing her temples. "My head is spinning so hard that I can't decide whether what you just told me made sense or not. I just wish you would have told us about your plan. Or you could have at least told me."

"Sorry, babe, but there's a good reason why I didn't tell anyone," Jet replied. "I wanted everyone's reaction to the dirty walk-in to be that of genuine anger and disgust. You would have never acted the way you did if you knew that it was all for show. And Sokka would have never fought me over that."

"That's another thing, though," Katara sighed. "Do you realize how upsetting it was for me to see you fighting my brother? You two not getting along is breaking my heart, Jet."

"Damn… in that case, I may have taken things too far. I'm really sorry, Kat," Jet said quietly, appearing regretful. "Forgive me, please?"

"I just about might," Katara frowned, softening when Jet leaned in for a quick kiss. "Anyway, I should probably go and see what Ozai Nakamura wants to yell at us next for," she said, wondering where this day that had gotten off to such a crazy and intense start was about to take them.

Chapter Text

"Now, before I do anything else to help this restaurant, I need something from the two of you," Ozai Nakamura ranted, jabbing his finger at Sokka and his sister. "I need your commitment to make these changes and stick with them. Without your commitment, I'm not taking another step."

"Of course, Chef. I'm ready to embrace whatever changes you propose," Katara was quick to answer.

Sokka sighed inwardly as all eyes now turned towards him. He wasn't surprised that Katara was more open to embracing changes, because in all likelihood, they would not affect her job as a manager, while Sokka was filled with uncertainty of whether he would be able to cope with whatever changes Ozai intended for the kitchen. Still, Ozai had been ranting at them for ten minutes straight, together with Azula trying to convince them that they were in denial about the state the restaurant was in. The back and forth arguing on top of everything else that had already happened this morning had by now completely eroded Sokka's resistance and he was willing to accept almost anything.

"I promise to be open minded about everything you propose, Chef," Sokka nodded.

"Good, I feel like we're finally getting somewhere," Ozai sighed, looking relieved. "I have a lot of changes in mind for this place, and trust me, each one of them are needed. But the first question you need to answer is regarding the identity of the restaurant. What are you trying to be? Because I sure as hell can't tell that by looking at the confusing mess that is your bloated menu!"

"I suppose it's grown a bit over the years," Sokka coughed uncomfortably. "I think our idea was to have a little bit of everything, but it's possible that we bit off more than we could chew with that."

"We definitely did, I see that now," Katara agreed with a nod. "A little bit of everything isn't an identity. I think Chef Nakamura is right to point out that new customers could become very confused when looking at our menu."

"That's all good and well, but you still haven't answered my question of what are you trying to be," Ozai said.

"Perhaps you need to approach it from the angle of who do you want to cater to," Azula suggested. She had been staying mostly silent during her father's lengthy tirade. Sokka wasn't sure what to think about her relationship with Ozai. At times she seemed almost afraid of him, and to Sokka that just felt inconceivable. "What kind of customers are you trying to attract?" Azula asked.

"Paying ones?" Sokka chuckled. Nobody else laughed at his joke, though. Instead, Sokka had to cringe under the reproachful stares from three pairs of eyes. Ozai, Azula and Katara clearly did not appreciate even the slightest attempt at levity to break up the tense and serious mood.

"Well, it depends," Katara replied, having thought for a while. "During the lunch hours, I think we should try to appeal to the people who are working in the new business district. These people have an hour or less for their lunchbreak, so the lunch menu should have items that can be prepared and sent out quickly, because these customers will not come back if they have to wait too long."

"Go on," Ozai said, urging Katara and for once not looking annoyed.

"As for dinner service, while we get our fair share of tourists, looking for things off the beaten path, most of our customers are locals. Mostly Water Tribe immigrants, but not just them," Katara continued. "But I don't think that it means they are necessarily looking for Water Tribe cuisine. I think it's fine for us to have some Water Tribe dishes, but many of our Water Tribe customers can make these very same dishes at home, and possibly more to their own liking than we could. I think our customers would be more interested in classic comfort food, hearty meals for reasonable prices. We are not supposed to be a fine dining restaurant."

"That's the smartest thing you've said since we've been here," Ozai said, nodding approvingly. Azula was also smiling and almost looking proud as she stared at Katara. Sokka thought that was a slightly odd reaction. "One of the most basic tenets of running a successful business is to identify your strengths and play to them. There is some talent in your kitchen, but not nearly enough to run a fine dining restaurant, you've got that right. For your location, classic comfort food definitely makes the most sense, especially if you can elevate it for added value."

"Thank you, Chef," Katara said, blushing from the unexpected praise. Sokka wondered if he could manage to earn a kind word from Chef Nakamura before the visit was over, but his hopes were not high. Ozai had seen through Sokka's fake confidence and realized that his training as a chef had been completely inadequate and he was flying by the seat of his pants.

"I'm glad we're in agreement," Ozai said. "Now, I have plenty to do, many calls to make to arrange all the changes I have planned." Sokka perked up at Ozai's words. This bode well for the renovation of the restaurant, something that Sokka had been looking forward to in particular. "I will leave the task of creating your new menu in Azula's capable hands," Ozai added.

"Really?" Azula looked shocked. "Th-thank you, father," she stuttered, clearly having been taken by surprise. "I won't let you and the owners down, I promise."

"I know you won't, or I wouldn't have given you this task, Azula," Ozai almost smiled as he nodded and turned to depart, leaving the still flabbergasted Azula to remain behind with Sokka and Katara.

Azula stood like frozen for a while with a starry-eyed look on her face before she snapped out of her daze and gave Sokka and Katara a nervous smile. "I'm sorry, I just got a little overwhelmed," she said, blushing with pride. "It's just that designing a new menu is such a rare honor and I still can't believe that father would-… anyway, I'm rambling. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

"We?" Sokka asked, feeling a little surprised. "I've watched a few episodes of the show, and Ozai… your father, he usually just hands down a ready to use menu to the owners and they get on with it."

"Actually, in many cases, the owners abandon my father's menu as soon as he's out of the door," Azula said, looking disapproving. "And then they wonder why the restaurant keeps failing."

"Why would they do that?" Katara wondered.

"There are plenty of reasons," Azula shrugged. "Despite stating that they're onboard with the changes, they actually aren't and they are still in denial. I hope that's not the case with you two." Katara quickly shook her head, and Sokka did the same a moment later. "And sometimes the owners just for some reason don't like my father's menu," Azula said. "Or the kitchen finds it too hard to execute. I suppose there could be many different reasons for it."

"But you're not going to give us a ready to use menu the way your father does?" Katara asked.

"I have been waiting for this opportunity and I have some ideas of my own," Azula said. "But it's important for me to see this restaurant succeed, so I don't want to give you a menu that you hate or can't execute. This is why I want to work together with you both to create something that you actually like."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Katara exclaimed, looking thrilled. Sokka thought that the way his sister and Azula were constantly exchanging awkward smiles was weird and a little confusing.

"I like the idea of having a say in this new menu," Sokka nodded. "Could we get Suki in on this as well? I trust her opinion." Also, Suki was the better cook in the kitchen, Sokka wasn't blind to that naked truth. If this wasn't Sokka's restaurant, Suki would be the head chef and he would be peeling potatoes, Sokka knew that. But this was Sokka's restaurant, and as Jet had rightly pointed out during their fight, the buck stopped with him. Sokka felt that he had to be the head chef not because he was the better cook, but because that responsibility was his to bear.

"Of course, she knows what she's doing in the kitchen," Azula replied, clearly approving of the idea. Sokka briefly left the kitchen to look for Suki. He found his girlfriend and Jet lurking just outside, listening in on what was being said and looking excited as they both burst into the kitchen. Sokka was very tempted to tell Jet to clear the fuck out of the kitchen, but he had seen the way his little sister had cried during his and Jet's fight earlier and Sokka didn't want to upset Katara again.

"So, I have a probably naïve and stupid question about our current menu," Katara said as the five of them stood in a loose circle in the kitchen. Suki had her phone out, ready to take notes on the new menu. "I have heard a lot about how a big menu is terrible and a sign of mismanaged restaurant, but I don't think anyone has ever explained why that is so."

"Hmm, well, I suppose it's not obvious to everyone," Azula said. Sokka felt as if Azula was actually toning down her haughtiness for some reason, like she was actively trying to be nicer. "Menu like yours could be handled adequately by a large restaurant with eight or nine cooks in the kitchen. Two cooks in this tiny kitchen? You have no chance. Even if your kitchen equipment was working, you'd still have to rely on microwaving frozen food with so many items on the menu."

"You're definitely right about that," Suki nodded. "I think we have close to a hundred items on the menu. And I think that when Sokka's dad opened the restaurant it wasn't more like thirty? Most of the items were actually added over the past two years."

"Let me guess, when things started to slide downhill, you panicked and started to throw more and more items on the menu, hoping to find that one hit that would attract a lot of customers," Azula grinned. Sokka was forced to confess with a reluctant nod. "I've seen it happen before and it never works."

"Maybe it would have worked if we had taken some items off the menu," Sokka admitted. "I mean, there are things that aren't selling particularly well."

"That might have improved your chances," Azula said, snorting and rolling her eyes. "Anyway, there are many other reasons why large menu is the death knell for a small restaurant like this. Large menu really slows down the kitchen and drives up costs. In order to prepare hundred items on the menu you need… how many different ingredients? You should know the answer to that, Mr. Food Manager," Azula turned to face Jet. Sokka could sense a slightly mocking hostility from Azula towards Jet. It certainly made Sokka like Azula a great deal more.

"I think we have slightly over two hundred different ingredients, yes," Jet replied.

"That's where you're losing so much money," Azula groaned. "You're killing yourselves there, believe me. Scaled down menu means smaller inventory and lower costs. You need less ingredients to cook thirty menu items, right? Am I making sense?"

"Perfect sense," both Suki and Katara said in unison, while Jet looked alarmed for some reason. Sokka supposed that Azula's ideas did make sense, but he was also worried about losing all those regulars who for some reason still loved his canned lobster roll.

"Also, with a smaller menu you will have a much easier job of optimizing the kitchen," Azula continued. "With this massive menu, I can understand why you have given up on trying to combine tickets, because the likelihood that people will order the same items is so low. But with a scaled down menu, you'll have a much easier time preparing entrees for three or more tickets at once, trust me."

"You're right," Suki said simply. "I've worked part-time jobs in kitchens where they handled multiple tickets with ease. It's going to be so much easier with a smaller menu."

"Fine, you've convinced me," Sokka finally gave in. "I'm on board, as long as we can create a menu that I'm happy with. And that the customers like." Sokka immediately found himself hugged by both Katara and Suki, who looked delighted by his decision. Jet was the only one who didn't appear happy, which was just fine by Sokka. Being hugged by Jet wasn't exactly on Sokka's bucket list.

"So, you must have ideas on this new menu already, Azula," Suki said a moment later. "Maybe you can give us the starting point from which we can work from."

"Very well," Azula said. She straightened out, assuming a more authoritative stance. "I think it would make more sense if you didn't distinguish between a dinner and lunch menu. Well, aside from smaller portions and lower prices for the lunch menu, but that's basic stuff. And if you want to add some lunch only items like sandwiches, wraps or salads, by all means, go for it. They can be prepped easily before the service and it won't slow you down."

"That sounds like a good idea," Katara smiled. "I like it."

"As for the size of the menu, I know that my proposal will sound shocking to you, but I really think it will work and I want you to try it," Azula said. "I think you should go with no more than six appetizers, eight entrees and then maybe six desserts. You don't actually have your own pastry chef, right? It's all bought in stuff, I presume?"

"Yes," Sokka nodded. "We get all of our desserts from The Jasmine Dragon bakery and tea shop."

"Really?" Azula looked very surprised for some reason. "That's a… remarkable coincidence." Sokka and the others looked on with interest, hoping for Azula to explain. "Umm, The Jasmine Dragon is owned by my uncle. If he hadn't fallen out with his brother, I'm sure The Jasmine Dragon would be a very popular chain by now, but as it is… well, there's a reason why crossing Ozai Nakamura is not a good idea. Anyway, I digress," Azula said, shaking her head. Sokka could tell that there was a lot of drama buried under that untold story, but it made sense that Azula didn't want to get into it now. "Their desserts are really good, so just go and put as many as you want on the menu."

"That sounds good, but I'm worried about such a limited menu," now it was Katara's turn to sound concerned. "There might be some potential customers who feel like nothing on the menu appeals to them."

"I understand the concern, but it is misplaced," Azula said dismissively. "We are talking about comfort food here, the chance that someone might not want one entrée out of eight options is ridiculously low. Also, you will find that it is much better to do a smaller number of dishes well, than half-assing a massive menu. And to further address your concerns, Katara, this is where the specials come in. You should always have at least a couple of appetizers and entrees on as specials, maybe even some desserts. This is a great way to introduce seasonal ingredients and also experiment and find out what works and what doesn't. If a special sells really well, then by all means, put it on your main menu and take off something that doesn't sell as well."

"It sounds so simple when you explain it," Katara explained, giving Azula an admiring stare.

"I think we should listen to everything Azula says," Suki nodded, frantically typing on her phone. "She's one of the smartest cookies around."

"Maybe we can make the menu just a little larger, though," Jet suggested.

"Don't you even start with me on that," Azula gave Jet a withering glare. "Get the basics right before you even think about expanding, how about that?"

"What Azula says just makes sense, alright?" Suki sighed, shaking her head. "Let's stop fighting her, guys! She has more experience than all of us put together, so let's stop arguing about this and instead just get down to pruning the menu!"

"Thank you, Suki," Azula said when Sokka, Katara and Jet raised no further concerns. "And yes, I suppose I would be willing to entertain the idea of allowing some of the dishes on your current menu to remain there, but not as they are now. They would have to be elevated and executed much better."

"Fair," Sokka admitted. "But the reindeer bangers and mash are not negotiable. You are not touching my sausage," he winked at Azula.

"Trust me, I want nothing to do with your sausage," Azula groaned, while Katara stared Sokka down with a fierce glare and Suki gave him a whack on the head.

"Anyway, Sokka's crudeness aside, I would love to keep at least some of the Water Tribe dishes," Katara said, looking hopeful. "And I think your father said that the reindeer sausage was actually good?"

"That's true," Azula admitted. "But again, that dish needs improvement. Remember, you need to be much better than what people can easily cook for themselves at home. Don't despair, however, for I have ideas. First of all, let's get rid of the peas as a side. Nobody likes the peas. They're traditional, which to me just sounds like a fancy way of admitting that they're gross."

"Thank you, I always thought so as well," Katara looked relieved. "When Yue or Aang take the plates back to the kitchen, the peas are always there, untouched. And it's the same for fish and chips. Why do we serve them with mushy peas if nobody eats them? Just because it's traditional?"

"That's exactly it. You're catching on now," Azula nodded. "Anyway, here are some ideas from the top of my head about how to make that dish fancier. Most importantly, you are never going to use instant mash again, or I'll find you and skin you alive. Next, mashed potatoes can be improved with a bit of chopped garlic and a handful of grated gruyere cheese. I always prefer the gravy to be strained and thickened, I don't like the onions swimming in there, being all slimy and gross. Instead, get some delicious caramelized onions and serve them on the side. Or even better, put them on top of the sausage. I'll show you what I mean later. We'll have to cook all the dishes and set a standard for presentation, anyway."

"Sounds great," Sokka said as his tummy let out a loud growl that echoed throughout the kitchen. "Also, that description reminded me of how hungry I am. All I've had this morning is a cup of coffee."

"Well, just tighten your belt for now. We have no time for food, because we have to… keep talking about food," Azula finished awkwardly to the chuckles of the others. "Anyway, I suppose you'll want to keep a version of the sea prune stew appetizer," Azula said. Katara was nodding eagerly at that, and Sokka was quick to express his own approval for the idea. "I have some ideas on how to improve it. Maybe as a sea prune chowder? Yes, I can see the appeal," Azula tapped a finger against her chin. "Also, you'll want a traditional Water Tribe dessert, because that way the customers will be able to get a full three course Water Tribe dinner. I don't think there's a better Water Tribe dessert than lightly grilled bread cheese with fresh cloudberry jam."

"Oh, you've had bread cheese?" Katara looked very surprised. "But of course, you have. You're so well-traveled."

"I like desserts that are not overly sweet," Azula explained. "It's one of my favorites for that reason. Anyway, I think we're off to a good start. Why don't we sit down in the manager's office and get on with pruning the old menu?"

"Sounds like a great idea to me," Sokka nodded, feeling encouraged about the whole process. One of his fears had been to have a strange and unfamiliar menu foisted upon him by Chef Ozai, but Azula seemed to be going for a different and more constructive approach. She appeared full of excellent ideas, and despite his earlier reluctance to changes, Sokka was starting to feel excited about this new menu they were putting together.

Jet snuck out of the restaurant manager's office feeling deeply concerned. Despite his attempts to drum up some drama during the filming process, Jet felt as if this whole endeavor – which had been his idea to begin with – was not going his way. The bloated menu of The Northern Lights had provided Jet with a fantastic cover for his embezzlement racket. There were months where he managed to set aside up to two whole grand for Bee's surgery. Azula Nakamura being so convincing and winning Sokka, Katara and Suki over to her side with this slimmed down menu was bad news for Jet. If these changes went through, the inventory would likely shrink down to one third of what it was now, and Jet would have way fewer opportunities to scam his way into some extra cash. Jet and his found family were closing in on two thirds of the funds they needed for Bee, and he had no right to stop now.

Jet conceded that perhaps he was overreacting. He had the utmost confidence in his powers of persuasion. After all, he had already managed to charm Katara into dating him, in spite of the warnings by his friends about Katara being a girl way out of his league. Jet felt confident that given enough time, he would be able to talk Katara into going back to a larger menu and then he could use that to quickly raising the remaining cash for Bee.

Still, there was more that Jet could do in order to help himself and the restaurant. The Northern Lights was Jet's golden goose. He didn't want to see it stop laying golden eggs from which all of them could benefit. If the restaurant was to really blow up following the broadcast of their episode, there would simply be more money flowing in. Perhaps when they didn't have to worry about their own day to day survival, Katara and the other bleeding hearts around the restaurant, people like Yue and Aang, could be convinced to donate to Smellerbee's gender reassignment surgery fund. But in order to make the restaurant go viral in a big way, Jet needed to generate more drama. And he was certain that Ozai Nakamura wanted the same thing, which was the reason why Jet went and sought out the legendary Fire Nation chef.

Jet found Ozai Nakamura out in the dining room, the camera crew giving the chef a wide berth while he was busy screaming at someone on the phone. "I swear, Zuko, if you weren't my son I would make steak tartare out of your useless ass," Ozai fumed. "I sent you to Ba Sing Se to sort the place out, not to make it worse! Now get back in there and don't call me again until the matter has been resolved. Do I make myself clear?" Ozai continued yelling for a little while before disconnecting the call. He still looked pissed as he turned and noticed Jet standing there. "Yes? What do you want?" Ozai barked, making Jet feel like his timing could have been slightly better.

"I wanted to discuss something with you, Chef," Jet spoke quickly, aware that Ozai Nakamura would only become angrier if he felt that his time was being wasted. "I really want the episode featuring The Northern Lights to attract a lot of viewers, and I know you want the same thing. And I think you'll agree that there hasn't been enough drama to make the episode go viral. I want to help you with that."

"You have my attention, Jeb," Ozai said, looking interested. "Do you have something in mind?"

"Jet, and yes, I have a few ideas that I think you'll find interesting," Jet nodded. "For some reason, creating drama comes very naturally to me. At times I feel like drama follows me around like a lost puppy."

"Fascinating," Ozai remarked. Still, Jet could tell that he had the chef's attention. "Why don't we step a little aside? Then you can tell me more about these ideas of yours, Jeb."

"Jet," Jet futilely corrected Ozai. "But yes, let me tell you more about what I have in mind…"

"I really want to thank you again and again for the new menu, Azula," Katara said. The two of them were sitting down in the dining room with less than half an hour left before the lunch service. "I feel like it's going to work out very well."

"Well, if you're happy with the menu, then that makes me happy too," Azula replied, taking a small sip of her still mineral water.

"That's so gay," Azula jumped at Toph's voice, the blind girl walking past Azula and Katara on her way towards the microwave den in the basement. Azula's father hadn't shut down the operation just yet, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before the microwaves went the way of the dodo.

"Anyway," Azula quickly cleared her throat, trying to stop herself from blushing at Toph's crude comment. It didn't help that Katara was giving her a deeply searching stare. "There's something I actually wanted to talk to you about," Azula recovered quickly. "They shouldn't need you at the front of the house during the lunch service, right? It would help if we could sit down in your office."

"Of course, I'd be happy to indulge you," Katara said with a light blush in her cheeks as she led the way back to the manager's office. Azula was aware that there was a lot of blushing going on whenever she and Katara interacted, and she wasn't in complete denial about the reason for it, at least not on her part. It was confusing because Katara, but also Suki and Yue, often acted like they… were into her? Which was silly and impossible because Katara and Suki had boyfriends and Yue had a kid from her past relationship with Sokka. Of course, none of this confusion really mattered because Azula would be out of here in less than a week. Sure, she had the phone numbers of all three girls, so she could stay in touch if she really wanted to, but-

"Azula?" she snapped out of her confusing thoughts at the sound of Katara's voice. "That's the janitor's closet. My office is this way," Katara added, looking very amused.

"Oh… I knew that," Azula hurried into the office, red in the face. She was quick to sit down and assume the most professional expression she could muster. Heat continued to burn her cheeks, however, when she realized that by now Katara probably thought her some kind of a weirdo because of the way she was acting.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Katara asked softly once she had sat down in her manager's chair behind the slightly ancient looking work computer.

"I know that if you have watched the show then you might think that it's enough for my father to just introduce a new menu and play the role of a TV therapist to bring together dysfunctional families and reunite them behind a shared goal. Any restaurant that's dysfunctional to the level you sometimes see on the show can't be fixed by a couple of minutes of inspirational pep talk," Azula explained. "And sure, The Northern Lights will be a lot better with this new menu and without microwaving most of your food. But I'm not sure that bloated menu and microwaves was the whole extent of your issues. I think my father would be happy to leave things at that, but it's in my nature to ask questions and keep digging."

"I think that's a good attitude to have," Katara smiled. "And what you said about your father not being able to fix all the restaurant's problems makes sense." Katara then hesitated for a moment. "I don't follow why you brought that up after saying you wanted to talk to me, though."

"Right, right," Azula said worriedly. She wanted to get to the bottom of the restaurant's issues, but she also didn't want to say something that would upset and anger Katara. "You're a student of medicine who's been thrust into a managerial role, though. How much do you really know about running a restaurant?"

"Only what my dad showed me before leaving. You know, managing the books and the payroll, all that boring stuff," Katara replied. A shadow crossed her face, suddenly making her look anxious. "Are you saying that it's my fault that the restaurant is failing?" she asked, sounding defensive.

"Whoa, I did not say that, Katara," Azula gasped, raising her hands in mock surrender. "As my dad always tells the owners, I'm here to help and that's the truth."

"Yes… yes, of course," Katara sighed, lowering her eyes. "Look, I'm aware that I sometimes don't know what I'm doing," she admitted, looking ashamed. "I just… really don't want you to think that I'm some brainless bimbo."

"I don't think that at all," Azula said quickly. "It would be absolutely remarkable if someone with no experience in running a restaurant got everything right on their first try. And you have some good leadership instincts. Last night, you identified the potential issue of Yue and Aang getting overwhelmed at the front of the house, and you stepped in. That was a smart decision and it stopped the dinner service from collapsing."

"Thanks," Katara said, her cheeks coloring intensely.

"I'm just stating the objective truth," Azula shrugged. "Anyway, it would make sense if you had also made plenty of terrible decisions as a manager." Katara suddenly looked upset again. "But maybe you haven't," Azula backpedaled hastily, cursing her inability to say the right things to Katara. "I just want to know about the things you have tried as a manager to help the restaurant succeed."

"Oh," Katara's anxiety faded almost instantly, her brow furrowing deep in thought. "I've done some events combining them with my activist campaigns. You know, using the restaurant as a gathering point for rallies and then handing out free samples and drinks, hoping that people will like the food and decide to come back and possibly become regulars. Sometimes it gave a nice little boost for a week or so after the event, but that was it."

"That's actually a very good idea," Azula said. "However, you need the actual food from the kitchen to be a quality product in order to convince these potential new customers to stick around. With your new menu, this is definitely an approach worth trying. Anything else you tried?"

"I've tried a lot of campaigns involving discount coupons," Katara admitted.

"Oh no," Azula groaned. "You didn't…"

"I'm afraid so," Katara sighed. "Nobody told me it was a terrible idea, and it took me way too long to realize just how much money we were losing with those coupons. That was really stupid of me."

"It's not just that you're losing money, you're also appearing desperate and taking a hit to your reputation," Azula said, shaking her head. "Discount coupons are a terrible idea for a restaurant. Please don't ever try that again."

"I won't, trust me, that's a lesson learned," Katara said quickly.

"Okay," Azula nodded. "I also want to ask if you know what your break-even point is."

"Yes, I know. Dad showed me how to calculate it," Katara said. "Although, I had to ask Sokka for help. I sometimes struggle with the numbers. But to answer your question, we're roughly a grand away from the break-even point for the week on average."

"That's four thousand per month. Not the worst we've dealt with, but obviously concerning and unsustainable in long term," Azula remarked, trying not to freak out about Katara's admission of struggling with numbers. For someone doing the books and payroll, that seemed like a massive red flag. "It's still a little worse than I thought you would be, because this really doesn't feel like one of those truly unsalvageable restaurants," Azula hummed thoughtfully. "I would like to look a little more deeply into the restaurant's finances… with your approval, of course."

Katara looked uncertain. "I don't know," she said, hesitating. "That seems like something I should discuss with Sokka first."

"Remember," Azula said, trying to project as much confidence as she could muster. "I'm here to help you, Katara."

"Well…" their eyes met, lingering for a while before Katara turned away, blushing. "I suppose that's true, and it's not like we have anything to hide. I had an empty flash drive somewhere around here…" Katara said, starting to dig through the drawers of her desk.

"I just want to be sure that we're not missing something important. I hope you understand," Azula said, waiting for Katara to hand her the flash drive, only for a knock on the doors to interrupt their conversation. The would-be intruder did not wait for Katara's invitation to enter before opening the doors. It was Yue, looking as gorgeous as ever in her server's uniform, her smile happy and radiant.

"Hi Kat, hello Azula," Yue beamed at them. "I thought I would find you here. I just wanted to quickly thank Azula before we start the service."

"What for?" both Azula and Katara asked in unison.

"I thought we were just talking about your half-sister maybe being interested in doing some babysitting for me," Yue said. "I certainly did not expect to get a text from her early this morning! You don't waste any time, do you?" she grinned at Azula.

"Oh," Azula blushed again. She was doing that way too much around these girls. "It's just that you seemed so unhappy with your current babysitter. I thought that the matter was urgent."

"Well… it is kind of urgent," Yue admitted confusingly. "I just didn't expect that you'd really come to my aid like that. I mean, we only met yesterday and you're already helping me with my babysitting woes."

"I agree, it's very sweet of you to go this extra mile to help out, Azula," Katara smiled. "I like people who are nice to my friends."

"Ugh, you two are completely ridiculous and making this little thing into something way bigger than it is," Azula sighed, quickly snatching the flash drive from Katara's hand. "Can we just move on, please?" Katara and Yue exchanged stares and burst into giggles much to Azula's added frustration. "Anyway, was Kiyi interested?" Azula eventually had to ask when her curiosity proved impossible to contain.

"Yes, and we agreed to meet on Sunday to talk everything out," Yue said. "She had way more questions than the average babysitter I've dealt with. But I have a pretty good idea why she's so detail-oriented," Yue added with another insufferably cute giggle. "Anyway, I better get ready for the lunch service. I can already spot some customers who need to be seated," Yue said before rushing out of the office.

"Ugh, that girl is way too much," Azula complained.

"You have to love her," Katara winked. "You know, we used to date in high school. It actually got really serious," she added in a more somber note, speaking words that made Azula's breath hitch and her eyes bulge a little from the stunning surprise.

"R-really? You're not joking?" Azula gasped. Katara grinned as she nodded. "Why'd you ever let a girl like that get away?" Azula asked.

"That's a good question," Katara sighed. "I had a really tough time letting go, and sometimes I still end up thinking that it was a mistake to break up. But it's also true that we work really well as friends. It's one of those things where I'll probably wonder what might have been for the rest of my life. But also, I don't want to dwell on it. We've both moved on."

"I'll say," Azula rolled her eyes. "Have you dated everyone in this restaurant?"

"No, I haven't dated Suki and Toph," Katara laughed.

"Wait, you've dated your own brother?" Azula asked.

"What?" Katara looked positively scandalized. "No, of course not! Spirits, thank you for that scarring mental image! I simply didn't think that needed mentioning. Maybe there's something about Fire Nation customs I am yet to learn…"

"I assure you, just because there have been certain well-publicized scandals throughout the history of the Fire Nation, my people don't have some kind of proclivity towards incestuous relationships," Azula huffed.

"Are you sure?" Katara asked teasingly. "Because I've seen some Kitchen Nightmares episodes with your brother, and he's pretty cute."

"What? You're ridiculous, Zuko is not cute, he's an ugly little troll!" Azula snapped in annoyance. "Anyway, I'm much cuter than Zuko," she huffed.

Katara gave her a very long stare before speaking up again. "I actually agree with that," she smiled softly. "You are cuter than your brother."

"Umm… thank you," Azula managed, feeling completely taken aback by the compliment. Still, she had done so much blushing throughout this conversation already that it was making Azula feel like she was making a fool of herself. She suddenly felt a desperate need to run, hide and regroup. "Anyway, uh, I think we're done here, so… I should go," she said, quickly running out of Katara's office, leaving the other girl sitting there with a puzzled look on her face.

"That was a nice lunch service," Aang said. He was sitting on one of the sofas in the upstairs apartment space together with Toph and Yue. Chef Ozai had dragged Katara and Sokka off to shoot some extra footage, while Suki and Azula were talking shop about the new menu and Jet had snuck off to do some nebulous Jet things. "Katara said we even turned profit."

"See, nothing is broken with the way the restaurant is being run now," Toph nodded. "There's no need for the bad man to get rid of my lovely microwaves."

"I suspect that we only had such a good lunch service because people showed up to gaze at Chef Ozai and Azula," Yue sighed. She still had to make the drive to get Kya from the kindergarten and take her home, before returning to the restaurant for the dinner service. Yue had a couple of hours to do that, however, so she didn't feel particularly rushed. "I think the customers were more interested in the spectacle than they were interested in the food. That would explain why we had almost zero complaints."

"I guess you're right," Aang conceded. "We haven't actually implemented any of the changes yet, so I guess it was too optimistic to think that we had turned the page."

"I wish we could just stay the way we are and somehow find a way to make money," Toph sighed. "Can't we just coast on the reputation of having been on the Kitchen Nightmares?"

"Don't worry so much about your job, seriously," Yue said gently. She could tell that Toph was very stressed about her future at the restaurant. "Katara said that she'll figure something out, and Katara never lies, right?"

"That's very true," Aang agreed happily. "Anyway, maybe Chef Ozai has forgotten about the microwaves. Maybe he won't make us throw away all of them. Maybe-"

"Maybe you shouldn't count on that," Aang was interrupted by Azula's voice as she arrived upstairs together with Suki. "My father definitely intends to deal with the microwaves. I think he wants to make some kind of a grand spectacle about getting rid of them."

"I knew it," Toph groaned. "My poor babies are doomed."

"There, there, Toph," Suki walked over to the younger girl and gave her an affectionate pat on the shoulder. She then looked over at Azula. "Anyway, welcome to my and Sokka's lair. What do you think?"

"It's-…" Azula began to speak while looking around the place, but she then froze as if her brain had short-circuited.

"Come on, surely it's not that bad," Suki sighed. "You should have seen what it was like when I moved in here. Now that was bad."

"I'm sorry, it's just so far from what I'm used to," Azula apologized, blushing lightly. "It feels more like a social club where people hang out, not like someone's living space."

"Well, for us it serves both purposes," Suki chuckled.

"We definitely enjoy hanging out here," Aang nodded. "It's a great place where to chill after another rough service, you know?"

"It's definitely nice to have a space like this," Yue agreed, looking over at Azula. "Is your dad still torturing Sokka and Katara? I hope they get a little break before the dinner service."

"I think they are doing the sibling reconciliation scenes," Azula explained. "I suspect that father is making them work together by cooking something from the new menu. Then it will go on tonight's menu as a special and a proof that my father's new direction for the restaurant is working."

"Sibling reconciliation scenes?" Yue asked. "But Katara and Sokka aren't really fighting, right?"

"Of course, they aren't, don't be silly," Azula shook her head. "That's just the narrative for the show that my father has decided to go with." She suddenly looked a little disappointed. "I'll admit, I was hoping for something more creative. I feel like people are getting a bit tired of the whole dysfunctional family narrative and they want something different. But father knows best, I suppose."

"It doesn't feel right to present Katara and Sokka as having a toxic relationship," Aang said, looking disapproving. "They have a great sibling relationship, actually."

"Well, how nice for them," Azula said with an unusual amount of bitterness that took Yue by surprise. "Anyway, I don't feel like anyone here really has the grounds for complaining about misrepresentation. Remember that my father is putting a lot of resources into the restaurant, mostly through the renovation and also some new kitchen equipment. All you have to do in return is to endure the occasional yelling now and then. As well as ham up a little bit of drama, but it seems like a reasonable price to pay."

"It's hard to disagree with that," Suki shrugged. "Anyway, I guess tomorrow will be the day for the renovations?"

"Yes, what is the plan going forward?" Yue asked curiously. "I appreciate what you and your father are doing for the restaurant, but Chef Ozai has not been very communicative about the schedule."

"That's just the way my father operates," Azula shrugged. "Everything is on the need-to-know basis, and most of the time it's just him who needs to know. As for your question, Suki, the idea that renovations are done overnight is just a fabrication for the viewers. In reality, it can take anywhere between two to five days to get everything done. I think my father plans to spend the next two days making changes to the dining room and exterior, and the third day will be used to overhaul the kitchen."

"So, we won't be running service for the next three days?" Yue gasped. "I guess we'll have to ask Sokka and Katara if they even need us here."

"Well, we're going to train the cooks on the new menu while the dining room is being renovated. Two days will be more than enough for that," Azula explained. "I think everyone working the front of the house should be present for it. You also need to familiarize yourself with the new menu. You'll be the ones selling it."

"That makes a lot of sense," Aang agreed, with Yue also nodding at that.

"I guess you can take the day off when we're overhauling the kitchen," Azula said. "There won't be much to do then."

"I must be the only one around here who's not excited about this whole overhaul," Toph said, taking a big swig from her bottle of beer. Yue was not a fan of this midday drinking even if it didn't involve more than a couple of beers, but she also didn't want to say anything about it and add to Toph's sour mood. "It's not like I'll be able to see this new décor, anyway," Toph added.

"You really need to drop this attitude, Toph. If the restaurant improves because of these changes, we will all benefit. Your friends will not abandon you, so you really need to stop wishing for us to stick with something that is doomed to fail," Suki said, far more directly than Yue would ever dare. Suki had this amazing ability to cut through the bullshit that Yue had admired from the first day of their friendship.

Yue still remembered that day as if it was yesterday. It had been during her first month as a college freshman and she had been returning a damaged book to the collage library. Even though the book had been ruined by a pair of bullies who had decided to torment Yue because she had spurned the advances of their friend, the librarian was not interested in her side of the story and proceeded to give Yue a verbal thrashing. It was then that Suki had jumped in on behalf of a complete stranger and she had made the librarian feel very small and apologetic. Suki and Yue had been inseparable since that day.

"I've been trying to tell her the same thing," Aang sighed. "Anyway, I love all the changes so far," he said with his usual air of optimism. "And I think that they will lead The Northern Lights to great success."

"I certainly hope so," Yue nodded with a smile, turning towards Azula. "How do you rate our chances to turn this around?"

Azula looked thoughtful for a moment, as if she was doing some mental calculations in her head. "I think you have about 70% chance of crawling out of this hole," Azula said.

"That's pretty good," Suki looked pleased. "And what about our chances if we don't stick with the changes?"

"You'll have 0% chances of success," Azula replied calmly. "Because if you don't stick with the changes, I will come back and I will murder you all in your sleep."

Yue burst into laughter at Azula's reply. "Oh, Azula… you're so funny," she giggled, then freezing when she noticed that Azula was giving her a strangely intense stare, almost as if she hadn't been joking. Which was ridiculous, of course… or… was it?

Chapter Text

As soon as Azula returned to her hotel room at the end of another long and exhausting day, her first course of action was to use Katara's flash drive on her laptop and start to obsessively examine the rather chaotically maintained excel spreadsheets. The lack of organization in Katara's bookkeeping was triggering Azula something fierce, but she tried her best to ignore it and instead focused on her primary task of discovering if there were any other previously unnoticed reasons why the restaurant was losing money.

It didn't take Azula long at all to find something that wasn't just a little suspicious but seemed completely scandalous and abnormal. Even with their old and bloated menu, The Northern Lights were clearly spending way too much on their food supplies. Azula only needed to check a dozen or so items to realize that for some reason Jet, the food manager, was overpaying almost twice for all of them. Also, all of these transactions were made in cash, which meant that Jet was not using any of the national wholesalers like a food manager at any normal restaurant would. There could be only one reason why someone would do something so brazen and outrageous, and that was to pocket a share of the money.

For the tiniest moment, Azula stopped to consider the possibility that Katara was actually in on it, helping her boyfriend embezzle. But looking back at their conversation earlier in the day, Azula simply could not imagine this to be true. If Katara was in on a scheme like this, surely, she wouldn't be so terrible at covering the tracks? Also, that just didn't fit with everything Azula had come to know about Katara. Katara was such a good girl that it was almost embarrassing. No, Katara wasn't in on this. Jet was taking advantaged of her. Azula knew it had to be true, and not just because she liked that explanation a great deal more.

Azula had found Jet rather annoying from their first encounter at the restaurant, and her feelings had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Jet had revealed himself as Katara's boyfriend. There had just been something about him that rubbed Azula the wrong way. Jet seemed like one of those altogether too slick guys who thought themselves more charming than they actually were. Certainly, that charm had worked on his coworkers at The Northern Lights, as he had clearly been taking advantage of Katara and the others for many months, but it wasn't going to work on Azula.

Feeling delighted with her findings, Azula rushed out of her hotel room and hurried to the elevator taking her to the penthouse where her father was staying. Father was surely going to be proud of her for discovering something as important as this. It would allow them to fix the restaurant properly, and it would also give Ozai the kind of drama that he was surely looking for. And when Jet's heinous scheme was revealed on the TV screens, it would make for one of the most memorable episodes ever, especially if it led to another round of fisticuffs between Sokka and Jet.

Ozai did not appear too pleased at the interruption when he opened the doors to let her in. He was wearing an elegant dark bath robe with a golden sash around his waist, a tumbler of scotch in his left hand. "What is it now, Azula?" he asked. "We have another long day ahead of us. You should be resting."

"I will be resting soon, father, but I have discovered something very important that I needed to tell you about," Azula replied quickly. Ozai's eyebrows rose to suggest some curiosity. "Jet, the food manager. He's stealing money from the restaurant. I don't know where he's buying from, but it's not from any of the wholesalers. He's spending twice on food than what they should be."

"So, he's buying somewhere cheap and pocketing the difference, hmm?" Ozai remarked, humming. "Well, isn't he one clever bastard. I assume you have proof of this?"

"Of course," Azula said. Even in her haste, she had remembered to bring the laptop with her, and she now showed it to Ozai. "Katara gave me her accounting files. It's all in here, every sordid little detail," she said, pointing out the relevant entries to her father.

"I see," Ozai nodded, having taken a look to quickly verify Azula's tale. "Agni, and Katara has not caught on with what's been going on for months?" Ozai burst into laughter. "I swear, gullible wenches like her are just asking to be taken advantage of."

"But now we can expose what's really been going on, right?" Azula asked, trying to ignore the way her father was talking about Katara. "This will be really good for both the show and for the restaurant, won't it?"

Ozai went silent for a moment before starting to pace back and forth, deep in thought. Eventually he stopped and faced Azula with a stare that she didn't expect, one full of annoyance and frustration. "You know, this would have been an excellent discovery yesterday," Ozai grumbled. "But now, this comes way too late, Azula. I appreciate you trying so hard, but as always, you're at least a step behind, my dear."

"But… why?" Azula gasped. The crushing disappointment from failing to please her father was threatening to suffocate her. Azula had to bite down hard on the inside of her lower lip to stop it from trembling. "Why is it too late, father?"

"Because I've already committed to a narrative, silly girl," Ozai sighed. "We've already done so much of the shooting for the narrative of a restaurant in dire straits because of a dysfunctional sibling relationship. I can't introduce something like this into the narrative now! How would that even work? It would distract from the sibling conflict way too much! Also, if we expose Jeb for stealing, Katara will probably kick him out."

"I should hope-… I would think so," Azula said, unable to hide a wistful smile.

"See, that's why it won't work, Azula," Ozai lectured. "These dysfunctional family episodes need to be carefully balanced. Everyone needs to be comparable levels of incompetent yet sympathetic. Being taken advantage of by her boyfriend will make Katara into too much of a victim and generate too much sympathy for her. We're not here to turn bloody Katara Enurat into a star."

"Enuaraq," Azula corrected quickly, wincing when Ozai glared at her.

"Whatever," Ozai growled. "Anyway, I hope you now realize why we can't use this information, Azula. It was a gallant effort on your part, but you would have been better served taking this time off to rest."

"At least I can tell Katara in private about what's going on," Azula said. "If I don't, then the restaurant is just going to keep failing even with all of our changes, and we don't want that, do we?"

"No, but if an owner can't spot such a blatant case of theft, then maybe they don't deserve to succeed," Ozai said. "So, I don't want you telling Katara or anyone else at the restaurant about what you have discovered."

"What? But… but why?" Azula gasped, feeling shocked.

"Because I said so!" Ozai snapped at her, making Azula shrink and take a step backwards. "Jeb and I have an understanding. He's a good egg and full of creative ideas. And you have to admire his gumption, pulling of a scheme like this! No, you are not to tell anyone about this, do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, father," Azula managed, struggling not to cry. Ozai was once again shooting down her dreams and stomping them into the mud. Azula was sure that the discovery of theft at the restaurant would have been a much more interesting narrative to pursue than the tired and overused dysfunctional family plots that the viewers didn't seem to care about by now. Even worse, the restaurant was sure to fail if the stealing was allowed to continue. That would be a stain on her reputation and it would possibly sway her sibling competition with Zuko in her brother's favor.

"And Azula," Ozai said sternly as he nodded towards the door, ordering her to leave. "Do not dare to disobey me on this. You know that I will be revisiting the restaurant a few months later. If you tell anyone the truth, I will find out."

"Of course, father," Azula forced herself to nod stiffly as she made her retreat.

A good cry later back at her hotel room, Azula still struggled to understand why her father had been so insistent that she kept silent about the truth. Of course, sometimes Ozai liked to simply demand something at random merely for Azula to reaffirm her loyalty, so the explanation could have been as simple as that. Or perhaps Jet was doing some kind of favor for her father and this was Ozai's way of paying him back? Or perhaps Ozai felt that Azula was caring a little too much about The Northern Lights and its staff, and this was his way of showing his disapproval? Whatever the answer was, searching for it made sure that Azula didn't find sleep for many hours that night.

Suki was feeling excited as never before in the morning of the third day of the Nakamura's visit at The Northern Lights. With Ozai overseeing the renovations of the dining hall and the exterior, Suki and Sokka would be learning the new menu by cooking together with Azula Nakamura herself. Suki was thrilled with the opportunity to learn from someone who had been classically trained in just about every major cuisine there was.

Even more so, Suki was delighted for Sokka's sake. There were some very large gaps in Sokka's culinary education, but despite admitting to it, her boyfriend was often frustratingly stubborn about accepting advice from her. Suki couldn't help but feel that just because she had not finished the culinary school, Sokka felt like he could dismiss her advice whenever he felt like it. Suki hoped that Sokka would at least listen and learn from Azula, because her education certainly couldn't be brought into question.

And so, a quarter past eleven in the morning, the entire restaurant staff gathered together in the cramped kitchen together with Azula, ready to experience the magic of their new menu.

Suki wasn't sure why, but Azula had arrived at the restaurant in an oddly subdued mood, not at all her normally talkative self. Fortunately, as they began to cook, Azula's frown quickly disappeared and she appeared happy again, immersed in something she clearly enjoyed doing. Also, for the first time, Azula had exchanged her elegant designer costumes for a strapping white chef's jacket and a matching hat. She looked almost like an entirely different person in her work outfit, but one that was certainly just as stunningly beautiful.

Katara, Yue and Aang were all present because they were all involved with the front of the house, selling the new menu, and so it made sense that they would familiarize themselves with it in great detail. Suki had also given Aang an additional task to film this entire experience so that in case any details later escaped their memory, they would always have a reference material to go back to and check exactly how Azula had taught them. Jet's presence also made perfect sense, because he was taking down a list of ingredients required for this new menu, something he needed to know in order to maintain adequate levels of stock. Toph had also showed up, mostly because she had nothing else to do, but also because she had heard that after dishes were cooked, the staff would get to sample each and every one of them.

"Alright, today we're going to focus exclusively on the entrees," Azula began, addressing her audience. "Tomorrow we will do the appetizers and whatever desserts we're not going to buy in."

"Sounds good," Sokka nodded. "What are we starting with today, Chef Azula?"

"The backbone of any respectable menu, obviously," Azula replied smugly, clearly appreciating Sokka's respectful tone. "We are not trying to position ourselves as a steakhouse, so we don't need multiple options for steak. That's why we only have the reindeer steak on the menu, and if you want to add an extra steak, I recommend that you do that as a special. Anyway, today, we are focusing on making the best reindeer steak you've ever had."

"I don't care that I just had breakfast, I want to dig my chops into that steak," Toph drooled.

"You won't have to wait too long," Azula smirked. She then pointed at a large, at least an inch thick reindeer steak resting on the cutting board in front of her. "This is the beauty we're working with today. Now, just to test you on some general knowledge… and everyone can answer this, not just your two cooks," Azula said, grinning at her enraptured audience. Suki could tell that Azula was absolutely thriving on the attention. "When do we salt our steak?" Azula asked.

"Just before we cook it so that it doesn't draw out all the moisture," Suki replied quickly. That was what she had been told at the culinary school and the restaurants she'd worked at before, so she was confident that she got her answer right.

"You always say that, Suki, but honestly, I have never been able to tell the difference when I forget to salt it beforehand," Sokka said. "I think it just doesn't matter."

"Well, that's concerning," Azula rolled her eyes. "Those answers are both wrong," she added to Suki's astonishment. "Anyone else care to guess?" The audience remained silent, eagerly waiting for Azula to educate them. "The right answer is that you salt your steaks as soon as you cut them. So, for you, it should be during prep. Suki, you're not entirely wrong about salt drawing out the moisture, that definitely happens." Suki felt a little better hearing Azula say that. "However, that's actually a good thing. You want the salt to draw out moisture, but then you just leave the steak alone for at least an hour, and all those salty juices will flow back into the steak and make it succulent. Which is what I've done with this beauty, here," Azula smiled, pointing at the steak in front of her.

"Okay, wow… that blows my mind," Suki admitted. "It actually makes so much sense. Why don't they teach that in the culinary school?"

"Because it sounds like you're trying to overcomplicate something really simple," Sokka chuckled. "But I guess we'll get to judge the results. Maybe Azula's steak really will be the best I've ever had."

"Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt, Sokka," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, let's get to the actual cooking part, shall we?" Azula said. "I'm not a big fan of all these stainless steel and nonstick pans you have here. Ideally, what you want for a steak like this is a solid cast iron pan. Luckily for you, in a few days, some of those might appear in your kitchen."

"Oh, that would be lovely," Katara exclaimed happily. "Thank you so much, Azula."

"You're very welcome," Azula replied, but instead of facing Katara, she actually looked away very quickly. Suki thought that for some weird reason Azula appeared a little… guilty? "In the meantime, I guess we'll make do with this stainless steel pan." Azula grabbed the pan and placed it over the gas burner. "Now, we want the steak to develop a lovely crust on the outside, and for that we'll need to use something with a high smoke point."

"What's a smoke point?" Yue asked.

At first, it almost looked like Azula was going to snap, but as soon as she looked at Yue, Azula's expression immediately softened. "The answer is kind of in the name, Yue," Azula said in a kinder voice than normally, at least Suki thought so. "The smoke point of oils is the temperature at which an oil stops shimmering and starts smoking, or burning." Yue smiled back at Azula, grateful for the explanation.

"I like to cook steak with clarified butter," Suki spoke up. "Will that do?"

"It would work, sure," Azula nodded. "But it's not the ideal choice. You just don't get as good a crust with clarified butter as with some of the oils. Personally, I like to use avocado oil to get the best crust, so that's what I'm going to use."

"Suki and her clarified butter," Sokka chuckled. "Azula, can't you tell her to use plain old butter like normal people?"

"You can't use regular butter, because it would burn!" Suki growled at her boyfriend. "You are such a dingus! I've explained this to you before. I've even showed you what happens!"

"Yes, you're being very ignorant now, Sokka," Azula nodded, agreeing with Suki, much to her delight. Suki felt that this was one of those occasions where Sokka really needed a little bit of humbling, because he clearly didn't know nearly as much as he thought he did. "Avocado oil has a smoke point of 400F, which is the temperature we want to get a nice crust on this steak. That would be impossible with butter because the milk protein burns at 350F and the steak would be completely destroyed. Do you understand that?"

"I suppose you know what's best," Sokka sighed. "I'd still eat that steak, though."

"Concerning," Azula stated. "Anyway, let's move on with the cooking. The pan looks hot enough, so let's just sprinkle both sides of the steak liberally with some coarsely ground black pepper and get this beauty on the pan."

"How long do you cook each side for, Azula?" Suki asked.

"Well, it depends," Azula shrugged. "This is a rather thick piece and I'm aiming for medium rare, so I think 2 minutes on each side and then I'll finish it in the oven, because I don't want to burn the outside while the inside is still raw. Thinner steaks can obviously be pan fried all the way."

"I don't like cooking steak in the oven, it doesn't feel right," Sokka said. "I think I'll just stick with pan frying them. Anyway, I think you should probably flip it, Azula," Sokka added, reaching for the pan.

"Don't!" Azula exclaimed, slapping Sokka's hand away. "No touching the meat while it cooks!"

"Sokka does love to flip his steaks every ten seconds for some reason," Suki sighed.

"Are you saying that Sokka has a habit of touching his meat too often?" Jet laughed, successfully getting Sokka to glower at him.

"Anyway, there's an actual valid reason for not touching the meat and letting it cook," Azula said. "It disrupts the Maillard reaction, which is obviously what we want taking place."

"The Maillard reaction?" Suki blinked. "What is that?"

"It sounds sexual," Sokka laughed. "Suki, I feel like there's a Maillard reaction between us," he added, waggling his eyebrows and making Suki chuckle at his exaggerated ridiculousness.

"It's like teaching kindergarteners," Azula sighed. "Maillard reaction is the process of the caramelization of meat protein. It's what gives us the nice crust that we want. When you flip your steak all the time, you disrupt that reaction."

"Right," Sokka said. "I get that. I don't understand why you didn't just say it like a normal person? Nobody is using words like Maillard reaction, it's so weird."

Azula blushed hotly at that comment. "Well, I'm sorry, but that's what the process is called and I can't change that in order to make it less weird for you, Sokka," she snapped. "You'll have to take that complaint somewhere else. Anyway," Azula said. "I think that's enough caramelization on both sides. Into the oven it goes." And with that, Azula shoved the stainless steel pan into one of the barely functioning ovens in The Northern Lights kitchen.

"Can I ask something?" Katara spoke up as they were all waiting for the oven to do its job. "That was a really big piece of steak. Is that the kind of portion size that we should aim at?"

"Well, that depends," Azula replied. "Steak represents a lot of value, so it's mostly a pricing issue. You have to decide what is the most that your customers are willing to pay for a fine steak, and then you have to give them a product that feels worth that kind of money. But aside from all those considerations… yeah, this is just how I enjoy my steak."

"So, what you're saying is that you prefer your meat really thick," Jet laughed.

"That's not funny, Jet," Katara berated her boyfriend as nobody apart from Toph and Sokka chuckled at the crude attempt at a joke.

"I didn't get that, but whatever," Azula shrugged, opening the oven doors and removing the stainless steel pan. "It's time for this baby to come right out. We're going to finish it in the pan," Azula said, commenting as she continued to work, putting the pan back on the gas burner. "What we'll need now is a generous amount of butter-"

"Wait a moment," Sokka exclaimed, watching as Azula dumped several large sticks of butter on the hot pan. "You said not to use butter because it will burn!"

"I'm glad you remembered, but as you can see, I've turned the heat quite low so the butter won't burn," Azula pointed out. "It's good that you're paying attention, though. Anyway, aside from a whole lot of butter, I also like to add a few sprigs of thyme, couple of crushed cloves of garlic and half a chopped shallot. Just drop everything into the pan and don't bother peeling the garlic, we're not going to serve it anyway. And now just baste, baste and baste some more."

"Damn, that smells absolutely amazing," Suki had to admit after Azula had been working on the steak for a while longer.

"I am so hungry," Toph whined, just like everyone else being driven crazy by the delicious aroma. "Only a reindeer steak can save me now."

"Stop crying, we're almost done here," Azula laughed, deftly removing the steak from the pan and transferring it to the wooden cutting board where it continued to sit and lightly sizzle, spreading more maddeningly teasing aroma. "Now we just need to wait for it to rest," Azula added to the groans of her audience.

"I was hoping you would tell us that all this letting the meat rest is just another myth that can be ignored," Sokka sighed.

"It's absolutely not a myth, although most people don't understand why it's being done," Azula replied. "People believe that the way to keep the meat juicy and succulent after cooking is to give it a good sear that would close the meat off and stop the juices from escaping. But that's bullshit, because you will lose juices anyway and the way of getting them back is by letting the meat rest. Right now," Azula continued, gesticulating proudly at the piece of steak. "All the juices are trapped at the very center of the steak. As the outside cools down, the juices will begin to distribute evenly again. Ten minutes should be enough."

"The delicate science of doing a steak right," Aang grinned as he was still busy filming everything. "I think that will be the name of this tutorial."

"That sounds about right," Suki chuckled as the group continued to suffer the painful wait until Azula finally declared the steak to have rested enough. Suki understood Azula's uncompromising attitude, however. She had made quite the statement that this would be the best steak they had ever tasted. Obviously, Azula wanted to do everything to make sure that those hadn't been mere empty words.

"Alright, let's cut into this beauty," Azula said, looking fondly at her creation before quickly cutting off several thin strips. She then turned the cut steak to face her audience. "And there you have it, perfect medium rare," she said proudly.

"That does look perfectly cooked," Suki gladly admitted. "Can we try it now?" Azula merely smiled and stepped aside as a gaggle of excited people quickly swarmed the cooking station and began to affectionately fight for pieces of the steak. "Wow, okay, you were not lying, this is amazing," Suki gasped, having fought her way to a piece. "It really melts in your mouth."

"Yeah, I was going to say that there's no way this girl who doesn't even look like a proper meat eater could cook the best steak I've ever had in my life, but…" Sokka said. "Sorry, dad, but while your steaks are really good, they're not quite on this level."

"I agree," Katara admitted, looking enraptured. "This steak tastes divine."

"I would probably agree as well if I could have gotten a bite. But it's all gone now," Yue sighed. She had somehow managed to miss out entirely. Suki found herself feeling deeply upset when she saw the disappointment on Yue's face.

Looking around the kitchen, however, Suki quickly identified the culprit. Toph was standing a little aside from the others, holding at least a third of the steak, busy devouring it as her cheeks and chin were smeared with the juices and the dripping butter. "Toph!" Suki exclaimed. "Don't be so greedy! Let Yue have a piece as well!"

"Do I have to?" Toph whined.

"Yes!" Suki exclaimed, with Katara and Azula also adding their voices in support.

"Oh, fine," Toph sighed, returning the stolen piece of steak. Soon, Yue also had a piece for tasting and she was chewing on the meat with a blissful look on her face.

"Oh my, I'm not even a big meat lover, but that was wonderful," Yue sighed. She then shot Suki a quick look conveying soft gratitude for interfering on her behalf.

"You're not going to give it a try, Aang?" Azula asked. "Oh wait… Air Nation, I'm going to guess vegetarian."

"Yup," Aang replied proudly. "Trying to go full vegan, actually. Maybe one day soon…" he added wistfully.

"A respectable choice," Azula nodded. "Anyway, I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy that. And I think you can see why this should be the king of your menu, right?"

"Absolutely," Katara said. "I think it wouldn't be wrong to charge something like $26 or even $28 for a meal like this. Or am I being too greedy?"

"No, that's a pretty reasonable price for a fine steak," Azula said. "Add some thickly cut fries, traditional red Rudolph sauce and some seasonal veggies as a side, and you have a dish that's not actually that hard to execute, but offers great value. However, speaking about it not being hard to execute…" Azula smirked before producing two slices of raw steak and looking at Suki and Sokka. "I think it's time to see how good your cooks are at listening and taking instructions."

"Uh-oh," Sokka gulped nervously.

"We're ready to give it a try," Suki grinned, elbowing her boyfriend in the ribs. "Aren't we, Sokka?"

"Yes, we're ready to nail it," Sokka nodded, more confidently now.

"Good, that's what I want to see," Azula smiled as she handed them each a piece of meat. Suki immediately noticed that they were of different thicknesses so that they couldn't copy each other. "Also, I'll have yours medium, Suki. Sokka, I want yours medium rare. Now… get cooking, you two!"

As the afternoon slowly drew to a close, Sokka found himself torn between feeling both accomplished and a little frustrated. Certainly, being tutored by Azula Nakamura herself was hugely beneficial. Sokka had no doubts that they had gotten lucky with Ozai Nakamura allowing his daughter to design the menu and do the training. Ozai was clearly far too intimidating to be a good teacher and Sokka knew that he would have spent his time in the kitchen walking on eggshells and feeling too terrified to learn or remember anything. Not that Azula was not intimidating in her own way, and she definitely had plenty of just reasons to snap at Sokka during the long day of teaching the new menu, but still, something was going on that was making Azula act softer and Sokka couldn't quite figure out what it was.

At least it wasn't as if Sokka hadn't managed to do anything right throughout the day. He'd managed to repeat a couple of Azula's dishes to a level where he received a passing grade, and considering that Azula's bar was very high, Sokka felt pretty good about that. But privately, he was smarting a little bit about all the praise that Suki was getting from Azula, and from how his girlfriend constantly outdid him on recreating the new entrees. He wanted to be proud of his girlfriend, and he really was, and yet… couldn't he just outdo Suki at least once? Surely that wasn't too much to ask for. The task of saving the restaurant felt so much more daunting when he could only be the second best in his own kitchen.

So, at the end of the day, Sokka's increasing frustrations and famed Enuaraq stubbornness had landed him in an argument with Azula about the final entrée they were practicing, crispy salmon with asparagus in a Hira'andaise sauce. Azula still insisted that the best way to cook the salmon was to pan sear it skin side up for a couple of minutes and then let the oven do the rest of the work. Sokka was determined to prove to Azula that he could do a better job by just pan-frying the bloody fish all the way. He was now on his third attempt after Azula had determined his first try to be way overcooked and the second to be dangerously raw.

"Sokka, if you would just let go, we could all head upstairs, relax and maybe have a glass of wine," Katara sighed. She was not the only one in the kitchen who looked rather peeved with him. "It's been a long day, already. Just do the dish the way Azula showed you, please?"

"No, no, it's alright, Katara," Azula said, smiling way too politely. "By all means, let him try. I'm absolutely enjoying this."

"I know it's possible to execute a perfectly fine pan-friend salmon," Suki said. "I think Azula's point is that finishing it in the oven is a lot simpler because it's a reliable and automated process. You don't have to constantly watch it and you can start working on the next ticket."

"Yes, exactly," Azula agreed with Suki, because of course she did. Over the years, Katara, Suki and Yue had formed this feminine hive mind, always ganging up on Sokka and giving him a hard time. He wasn't really all that surprised to see Azula now being naturally pulled into this hive mind as well. Certainly, what Suki and Azula were saying made a whole lot of sense, but Sokka was not willing to give up without a fight.

"Fine, this will be my last attempt, whether I fail or not," Sokka grudgingly agreed much to the relief of the others.

It was then that the kitchen doors opened and the larger-than-life figure of Ozai Nakamura entered, looking his usual impatient self. "Hello, father," Azula spoke up quickly. "I am pleased to report that we have made good progress with the new menu. How are the renovations going?"

"Yes, can we go and take a look, pretty please?" Katara asked politely.

"Absolutely not," Ozai shook his head adamantly. "I need your reactions upon seeing the renovations to feel genuine, so spoiling the surprise early is unacceptable. If I believed that you could act your way out of a paper bag, maybe I'd allow it, but-… by Agni, what is that dolt doing to that poor salmon!" Ozai exclaimed, pointing at Sokka's frying pan.

"I'm pan-frying it?" Sokka tried to explain, feeling very confused.

"You can't pan-fry a piece of salmon that thick, numbskull!" Ozai ranted. "Azula, what is the meaning of this? I thought you were tutoring these muppets! Agni, I have to do everything myself these days, don't I? Get out of my way, boy," Ozai barked, pushing Sokka aside as he took his place at the stove. "All of you, gather around and see how it's done, because I'm only going to show you this once. I'm going to need a new pan-"

"Father, I have already showed him the proper way to do it-" Azula tried to argue, but Sokka's attention was already elsewhere as with great horror he suddenly realized that an impending disaster was about to unfold. Sokka had set aside one of the frying pans he had used earlier, but he had somehow forgotten to switch off the gas burner underneath it, so by now the pan was blisteringly hot… and Ozai Nakamura was reaching right for its handle.

What followed was a scream of pain that reminded Sokka of the old Tom & Jerry cartoons he had watched as a child. Ozai's yelling was the exact copy of Tom's screams of pain after jabbing himself in the buttocks with a massive needle attached to a pool cue. The kitchen was momentarily taken over by utter shock as they all watched Ozai Nakamura jumping around like a madman and wildly waving around with his still sizzling arm. Despite his shock, Sokka still noticed that the expression on Azula's face wasn't that of concern for her father, but rather one of sheer terror.

"You absolute moron!" Ozai finally stopped screaming in pain only to yell at Sokka. "I'd tear you limb from limb if I didn't have to rush to the hospital to take care of this, you utter twat! And don't even think I wouldn't do it! Azula, tell these fools what happened to the last donkey who pulled this stunt with me!" Ozai yelled before quickly running out of the kitchen, rudely almost knocking Toph off her feet.

"Oh, shit…" Suki groaned. "What did we just do?"

"I think we just managed to majorly piss off Ozai Nakamura," Jet snorted, shaking his head. "Great going, Sokka."

"It was a complete accident," Sokka replied defensively, even if he knew that he had messed up. "As long as his hand isn't permanently scarred, maybe he won't hold it against us… and won't try to kill me. I hope. What do you think, Azula?" Sokka asked, only then realizing that Azula still looked pale as a sheet, trembling slightly. He quickly poured a glass of water and pressed it into Azula's hands, urging her to take a drink. Azula did so, gratefully.

"My father is a consummate professional," Azula replied a while later, once she had recomposed herself. "He's not going to do anything that would sabotage the show. The renovations are all paid for and arranged already, so everything will go ahead as planned, you don't have to worry about that. He will simply be extra unpleasant towards you, that's all."

"Well, I guess I kind of deserve that," Sokka sighed.

"By the way, Azula," Katara spoke up then. "What did your father mean when he said that you should tell us about the last guy who burned him?"

"Oh," Azula managed, looking very unsettled again. "That was actually my brother, Zuko," she sighed. "So, if any of you were wondering where he got his scars from…"

Silence descended upon the kitchen following Azula's words, but it felt like the only proper reaction to Sokka. None of them had any idea how to react to a revelation that was equal parts stunning and horrific.

"Did that really just happen?" Yue asked nobody in particular as the shellshocked group of restaurant employees had gathered upstairs in their hangout space. "Did we just send Ozai Nakamura to the hospital?"

"All I have to say is that I just heard the most comically epic scream of pain ever," Toph chuckled, seemingly unbothered by the seriousness of the situation.

"And I have it all on film, too," Aang said.

"You kept filming throughout it all?" Jet asked, sounding very interested all of a sudden. "That might be worth a lot to the right people."

"That's not really our focus right now, Jet," Katara said, her voice carrying some light reprimand. "We need to understand how or if this will change things going forward. Azula says that it won't change anything, but… oh, and speaking of Azula, she must be feeling absolutely terrible right now. I'll send her a message of support right away," Katara sighed. Obviously, instead of hanging out with them, Azula had rushed after her father to the hospital right away.

"That sounds like a great idea, Kat," Suki nodded. "I'll do the same." Yue immediately pulled out her phone to send Azula her sympathies as well.

"I think Ozai will get over it," Jet shrugged. "Maybe he'll give Sokka extra hard time until the end of his visit, but what Azula said made sense to me. I trust her when she says that Ozai wouldn't suddenly do something to sabotage us. His reputation is tied to the success of the restaurants he's helping, right?"

"That does make a certain amount of sense," Katara said. "Thank you for remaining rational about this, babe. I think the rest of us were just freaking out because of what happened," she added, leaning in to give Jet a kiss on the cheek. Jet turned to face her in search for a kiss on the lips, but Katara was already distracted by an incoming text. "Oh, Azula texted me back already," she gasped.

"Me too," Suki smiled broadly.

"Same," Yue nodded happily, having checked her phone. "How many hearts did you get?" she asked her friends.

"Five," Suki replied.

"I got five as well," Katara chuckled.

"Me too," Yue grinned. "She's so diplomatic!"

"Spirits, you really are the local chapter of the Azula Nakamura Fanclub, aren't you?" Sokka groaned. Jet looked a little annoyed about having to vehemently agree with Katara's brother on this.

"Hey, what's the harm in it, Sokka," Suki winked. "It's not like we're planning to abduct Azula before she can leave."

"Or are we?" Katara laughed, ignoring Jet's peeved expression. "We could keep her locked up in the restaurant's basement and share her between the three of us."

"Okay, now you're taking it a little too far," Jet snorted.

"I'm being purposefully annoying because you and Sokka have been acting so unreasonably jealous, as if we were seriously trying to seduce the confirmed straight girl," Katara sighed. "Is it that hard to accept that we're just having a bit of harmless fun? She's leaving in three or four days, for crying out loud."

"So, if Jet or I wanted to flirt with Azula, you wouldn't mind?" Sokka asked.

"You already tried, remember?" Suki sighed. "She shot down your sausage joke."

"Well, it was horrible," Jet smirked. "Anyway, I have no interest in flirting with Azula Nakamura, she's just not my type. I already have everything I need," he leaned in to give Katara a quick kiss.

"Speaking about the Nakamuras, that was quite the bomb Azula dropped," Aang said. "Did I understand her implication right, by the way? Her brother accidentally burned Ozai's hand and in return, he burned his son's face? That's horrific if true."

"She made it sound like it was true, and I have no reason to doubt her," Sokka shrugged. "Which just makes what I did so much scarier for me. If Ozai did that to his son, just think of what he might do to me!"

"He'll do nothing of the sort to you, Sokka," Suki spoke firmly. "He'd open himself up to criminal prosecution and civil lawsuit if he did anything of the sort."

"But why was there no investigation and prosecution when he did it to his own son?" Yue asked, feeling confused.

"Probably because Ozai Nakamura can literally get away with murder," Toph shrugged.

"Now I'm scared again," Sokka sighed.

"I don't think that's it," Katara argued. "Ozai Nakamura seems to have an extraordinary amount of power and control over his children. Obviously, we haven't met Zuko, but from what I have seen with Azula and her fear of Ozai… I think if she were to burn her father like that, she'd accept whatever punishment from him, including permanent scarring, and she'd think that she deserved it. Maybe it was something similar with Zuko."

"Well, that's incredibly depressing," Suki said, looking very downcast. "What a fucked up and miserable family, huh?"

"Yeah, you really wouldn't think that about them from reading the tabloids, would you?" Yue nodded, feeling similarly depressed. "Anyway, who's up for getting vibe checked?" she asked, determined to shake off the gloominess. The relieved nods and cheers of her friends confirmed that everyone was willing and ready to move on to something lighter. "We've now tasted all of the new entrees on the menu," Yue said. "Let's do a quick poll on which one is our favorite dish."

"Oh, fun! Good idea, Yue!" Toph nodded eagerly. "I mean, I loved all of them with the exception of the wussy vegetarian stuff," she grinned, giving Aang a shoulder bump. "But you just can't beat a good steak, I'm sorry, and the one Azula cooked for us was insanely juicy and tender. That has my vote."

"Another vote for the steak," Jet said. "Everything on this very limited menu was great, but steak was head and shoulders above all the other stuff."

"I would normally also go for a steak, but-"

"But since Jet already voted for the steak, that means you can't support it," Katara cut off her brother to the amusement of everyone, even Sokka himself.

"No, I was going to say that if there's a burger on the menu, I know what I'm ordering 99% of the time," Sokka chuckled. "Especially a burger like ours! Dragon Burger is the perfect name for it and it'll be a hit with the Fire Nation natives. It'll sell like hotcakes."

Yue wasn't a big fan of the Dragon Burger. She wasn't a big meat eater to begin with, and aside from that, it had simply been too spicy for her liking. The dragon meat was actually a spicy lamb mince and the patty was drenched in hot chili sauce, while the burger itself was stuffed full of jalapeno slices. Despite not loving the item herself, Yue was still sure that it would be a hit with many of their customers.

"I'll have to go with the glazed duck breast in orange sauce," Suki said. "At first, I was really worried that we don't have a chicken entrée, but when we made that duck breast, I no longer had any concerns. I mean, it's so good!"

"I'll support you with that vote, Suki," Katara smiled. "It was really excellent. And you and Sokka both came really close to the way Azula cooked hers, so I'm feeling very good about it being there on the menu."

"I wish we had a few more vegetarian options on the menu," Aang said. "Now I only had a choice between two dishes, but fortunately they were both amazing. The mushroom risotto was amazing and so creamy, but I'll have to go with the vegetarian curry. Sweet potatoes, chickpeas and red peppers with mango chutney is a killer combination, yum-yum," Aang gushed, licking his lips.

"We'll see about adding more vegetarian options if there's a demand for them, Aang," Katara promised with a smile before turning towards Yue. "What about you? You started this conversation, but you haven't voted yet."

"Alright, then," Yue smiled. "After tasting all these new dishes, I really feel like I'm going to try and commit to becoming a pescatarian. Just like Aang, I loved both the vegetarian mains, but I loved both the fish entrees even more. The beer-battered cod is obviously a classic, but my vote goes to the salmon. As long as Sokka promises to stick with Azula's way of preparation," she added with a chuckle.

"Believe me, I have learned my lesson," Sokka replied earnestly. "Whenever I even consider doing something contrary to the way Azula showed us, I keep hearing the sounds of Ozai Nakamura screaming like Tom after Jerry has dropped a bowling ball on his foot…"

Chapter Text

The second day of renovations at The Northern Lights passed without Ozai Nakamura’s presence at the restaurant. According to Azula, her father had decided to remain at the hospital and request second, third and thirty-third opinion from every available specialist on mild burns in Caldera City. Even though a couple of these specialists had suggested using skin grafts, the majority opinion was that it was not necessary and that Ozai’s burns would heal normally over the course of the next few days. Azula claimed that the news had mostly soothed her father’s temper, although she still remained jumpy and nervous every time when she texted her father or answered his calls from the hospital.

In Ozai’s absence, Azula had to oversee both teaching the new menu and the ongoing renovations of the dining room and the exterior. Fortunately, mastering the appetizers and the desserts was far simpler than getting a handle on the new entrees, and so with a little bit of extra effort, Azula managed to stay on top of everything. Katara was both impressed and concerned about how hard Azula was trying, though. She seemed almost desperate not to miss any details, like she was terrified that Ozai would be disappointed if he found something to criticize when he returned to the restaurant.

Azula had also informed Katara and the rest of the staff that during the third day of the renovations, Ozai wanted them to stay away from the restaurant. Ozai planned to be back on the scene for the installation of the new kitchen equipment as well as putting on the final touches in the dining room. This meant that Katara and her friends got an unexpected day off and since it was Sunday, plans were quickly made to spend it together as a group.

The September weather in Caldera City was still perfectly summery and there had been a push from Katara and Yue to hit the beach. However, the others, mostly led by Sokka, had instead suggested a day at one of the local parks, with Yue and Katara getting outvoted.

Now, Katara and Yue were busy setting up blankets and laying out all the picnic supplies while keeping an eye out for Kya and making sure that she didn’t eat too much of her Play-Doh. Katara always became very emotional around the adorable little girl and not just because she bore the name of her mother. Katara knew how much Yue struggled financially, but still, Kya’s patch-covered clothes were always clean and tidy, and Yue tried to ensure that Kya had plenty of toys, even if most of them were used. It filled Katara with so much regret that she could not do more to help her friend other than to buy the occasional toy or a new dress.

Nearby, Jet, Suki, Aang and Toph were busy with a game of their own creation. It involved creating a large square in the grass that the participants were not allowed to leave or they would forfeit the game. At the start of the game, Toph would stand in the center of the square, wielding her white walking cane, while Suki, Jet and Aang tried to keep their distance from her while remaining as silent as possible. The point of the game was to avoid getting whacked by Toph’s walking stick, and it was not an easy feat to achieve, because Toph’s hearing was out of this world. At first, Katara had rather disapproved of this game because she felt that it was turning Toph’s disability into entertainment. But Toph clearly enjoyed playing a game that allowed her to whack other people with a stick, and also, as she had rightfully pointed out herself, it wasn’t like there were all that many games that she could actually partake in considering her disability.

This left only Sokka unaccounted for, and obviously, as always during their picnics, Katara’s brother had assumed the grill duty. Right now, he had six prepared skewers of meat and vegetables ready to go, as soon as he was happy with the temperature of his charcoal grill being uniform and high enough.

"This is shaping up to be a wonderful day," Katara sighed happily as together with Yue they worked to quickly finish setting up everything necessary for the picnic. "Although, I must confess, I can’t stop thinking about what we’ll see when we return to the restaurant tomorrow."

"I know," Yue smiled at her. "I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful. I’m especially happy for Suki and Sokka," she said, looking up to smile at Sokka nearby. The grilling station was close enough for Sokka to overhear everything and join in on the conversation, and between the three of them, they were also making sure that Kya didn’t wander up too close to the grill. "They really deserve an upgrade of a new equipment," Yue added.

"Hopefully Ozai doesn’t cheap out on us," Sokka nodded. "If we get what all the other restaurants receive during kitchen overhauls, we’ll be set for success."

"I don’t think Ozai will cheap out," Katara shook her head. "Like Azula told us, this is great advertising for all those equipment manufacturers. It makes sense that they would want to show off their best stuff." Katara’s expression then clouded a little. "Speaking of Azula, I feel a little sad that she’s stuck at the restaurant with her dad. That can’t be fun when he’s probably in a terrible mood. And it’s not like there’s much for her to do, anyway, the renovations are more Ozai Nakamura’s specialty. I actually thought about inviting Azula to join us at the picnic… now I regret I didn’t."

"Why didn’t you?" Yue asked. She was grinning broadly for some reason.

"Well… I wasn’t sure she’d want to join us," Katara sighed. "Also, I know how important it is for her to please her father. I thought that maybe being away from the restaurant would be too stressful for her."

"Well, hopefully not," Yue smiled. "Because I invited her to join us."

"You did?!" Katara exclaimed, shocked by Yue’s boldness. "What did she say?"

"She said that she’ll try to make it," Yue said. "Which is, you know… not completely committed, but I’m still hoping that she shows up."

"That would be really awesome," Sokka nodded. "I bet she would show up to an informal picnic wearing one of her fancy business suits. Or maybe wearing stilettos and a miniskirt, sticking out like a sore thumb. That girl is amazing, but also so awkward."

"Who’s awkward?" a very familiar voice suddenly spoke up nearby, making Katara, Yue and Sokka yell from surprise. The whole sudden chaos made Kya join in as she burst into tears.

"Azula!" Katara exclaimed happily. "You made it!" she said, looking over at their glamorous new friend. Even if Katara thought that Sokka’s characterization of Azula as very awkward made a lot of sense, it seemed that Azula at least possessed the good sense to change her wardrobe before joining them. She was wearing sneakers, torn jeans, cute t-shirt with a maniacal looking cartoon bunny wielding a machete and a caption saying ‘Rancid Vibes Only’ and a baseball cap. This clearly implied that going out while remaining unrecognized was something that Azula was very used to doing. Katara was overcome with a powerful wave of curiosity about all the reasons why Azula would be so good at it.

"I’m also happy you came," Yue smiled, having picked up Kya and rocking her in order to stop the tears. "I wasn’t sure you would," she said as the others were also now on their way to greet Azula.

"I said I would join you, so… here I am," Azula shrugged. She was holding something behind her back, a pink box that she now offered to Yue. It led to a rather awkward exchange because Yue was still holding Kya, and so she had to set her daughter back on the ground before she could accept the gift.

"Oh… wow!" Yue exclaimed. "Look at this, everyone!" she waved the box around. "It’s Kya’s first Barbie, yay!"

"Ugh, don’t make such a fuss… I just didn’t want to show up empty handed," Azula sighed. "And since I had no idea what three-year old’s actually like, I had to consult my mother. Seems like her advice was actually sound, for once."

"Oh, it really was," Yue smiled. She passed the box over to Katara. "Could you please open it for Kya, Kat? I need to thank Azula properly," she said, surprising Azula with a sudden hug and a big smooch on the cheek. Katara had to laugh at the way Azula went dark crimson at that. Sometimes, Katara had to wonder about the way Azula was acting. She wasn’t always giving very strong straight vibes, but then again, Katara had made some wrongful assumptions about people’s sexuality in the past, and those lessons learned had made her more careful.

After a bit of a struggle, Katara finally managed to remove the doll from its packaging. "Here you go, Kya," she smiled, handing the doll over to the speechless Kya. The little girl immediately went away to a place where nothing else but her new doll existed.

Even the attempts of her own mother to get Kya’s attention fell on deaf ears. Yue had to sit down next to her daughter and gently shake her shoulder for Kya to stop paying all of her attention to the Barbie doll. "Kya, aren’t you going to thank the lovely lady who brought you the doll?" Yue asked, sounding a little exasperated.

"Thank you," Kya muttered, trying to get back to exploring her gift as soon as possible.

"You didn’t even look at her, Kya!" Yue exclaimed reproachfully. She made Kya look up and straight at Azula. "Now say, thank you, Azula," Yue said.

"Thank you, Zula," Kya repeated quickly, grabbing the doll once again as Yue released her.

"Sorry about that," Yue apologized to Azula. "She’s a terrible little rugrat, but I can assure you that she loves the gift."

"Well, I can see that," Azula smiled faintly as she watched Kya’s antics with the doll. "My mother will be pleased to hear that her recommendation worked out. I should make a note that dolls make appropriate gifts for three-year old’s," Azula said, retrieving her phone and quickly making an entry in her notes app.

"Hey, Azula!" Suki cried, together with the others having made their way over to the grill area. "What a lovely surprise to see you!" The others also greeted Azula with various degrees of enthusiasm, leaving their guest looking a little overwhelmed from her reception.

"Who won the game?" Katara asked.

"I don’t know, but I know who lost," Aang sighed, rubbing his shins. "It’s like Toph has a particular talent to overhear me when I’m moving about." Toph cackled at that.

"I’m pretty sure I got hit the least times," Jet said. He then leaned in towards Katara. "Any reward for the deserving winner?" he grinned, angling for a kiss.

"Sure," Katara giggled, but instead of giving Jet a kiss, she instead grabbed a pickle and stuffed it into Jet’s mouth, much to the laughter of the others. Fortunately, Jet was a good sport about it, quickly devouring the pickle.

"What game is that?" Azula inquired, looking curious.

"We call it caning," Toph laughed.

"Ugh, please, I asked you not to call it that," Suki groaned, not being the only one with that reaction.

"What’s wrong with the name?" Azula asked. "Do you have some kind of ethical concerns with caning as a form of corporal punishment?"

Suki burst into laughter. "That’s not really the issue," she chuckled. "I just don’t like the implication that Toph is caning us. You know, like the sex term?" Azula clearly was drawing a blank. Katara thought that her cluelessness was ridiculously adorable. "I guess you don’t really practice BDSM with your boyfriend, then," Suki chuckled.

"Oh, that’s what you meant," Azula tried to rally. "Yes, no, of course I’m all into that. Caning, yes, I’m like… the expert at it, that’s me," she finished unconvincingly.

"Uh-huh," Sokka rolled his eyes. "How about you come and help me out with these skewers, expert?" Azula looked extremely relieved for the opportunity to retreat and get involved in an activity that she actually knew something about.    

The others all took their places on the picnic blankets, with Katara, Yue and Suki sharing one of the blankets. Jet was forced to sit with Aang and Toph on another blanket, but he appeared in a good mood nonetheless. Katara wouldn’t have accepted any sort of complaining from her boyfriend, anyway. He had already received plenty of attention from her the night before, so he had no room for whining.

"She is such a dork," Suki whispered, leaning in with Katara and Yue as they kept stealing glances at the grill where Azula and Sokka were working. "It’s amazing!"

"I know, right?" Yue giggled, looking thrilled. "And she showed up! I almost didn’t expect her to come! This is so cool!"

"Best picnic ever," Katara nodded in agreement as they kept watching and listening in on Azula and Sokka by the grill.

"Honestly, you’re running this way more competently than your restaurant kitchen," Azula remarked, after she had examined the grill. "The temperature is perfect and uniform across the whole grill. The meat has been prepared adequately. I love the marinade, by the way."

"It’s my dad’s recipe," Sokka replied proudly. "I learned to grill from him. Back in the Water Tribes, we would normally have fresh game meat, but I think this marinade works with every kind of dark meat."

"I agree with you," Azula nodded with appreciation. She stuck her finger in the Tupperware marinating container and scooped up some of the juices, then licking her finger. "There’s one distinct flavor in the marinade that escapes me right now… is it juniper berries?" she asked.

"Yes, correct," Sokka laughed. "Wow, you really are good. I’m impressed."

"Thank you," Azula smiled. "Anyway, I think those skewers are ready to go on the grill."

"Would you like to do the honors?" Sokka asked.

Azula shook her head. "No, the grill is all yours," she said. "But rest assured, I’ll be yelling at you as soon as I spot you doing something wrong."

"I would expect nothing else," Sokka replied gallantly as he transferred the skewers onto the hot grill.  

It didn’t take more than a minute for Azula to give Sokka a stern rebuke. "Agni, you’re at it again, aren’t you?" she grumbled. "Why are you turning the skewers already? There’s no reason for it! You’re interrupting the-"

"The Maillard reaction!" Katara and the rest of their friends echoed like a chorus.

"Yes, uh, exactly," Azula stumbled a little, all flustered from the interruption. "Anyway, leave the meat alone for a while so that it becomes nicely brown and crispy."

"Is Sokka touching his meat again?" Toph commented. "He needs to stop doing that, especially in a public park with all the children running around."

"That joke wasn’t funny when Jet made it, and it’s since aged like milk on a hot window sill," Sokka rolled his eyes. "Anyway, remember that I made the offer for Azula to oversee the grill and she refused."

"Alright, fine, I’ll take care of it," Azula sighed, lightly shoving Sokka aside. A few minutes later, Azula reached into the pocket of her ripped jeans and took out a digital thermometer that she used to take a quick reading of the still sizzling meat. "Internal temperature of 148F. These are more than ready to be eaten," Azula declared to the cheers of her audience.

"Hold it!" Suki yelled when some of their friends made an instant surge for the grill. "Those still need to rest, don’t they, Azula?"

"Of course," Azula nodded approvingly. "It’s meat, and cooked meat always needs to rest." 

"Do you always carry a digital thermometer with you when you leave the house?" Katara asked, feeling curious. "Just on the random chance that you’ll end up spontaneously cooking?"

"No, that would be too weird," Azula replied. "Yue mentioned that you have plans to grill during your picnic. I thought a thermometer might come in handy. Also, salmonellosis is highly unpleasant, so it makes sense to be cautious."

"I’ve never poisoned anyone but myself with my cooking, I swear," Sokka chuckled.

"I have concerns about this dubious endorsement of your skills," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, these have rested enough, three minutes should be okay. Come and get them."

After a brief spell of chaos around the grill, everyone ended up back sitting on the blankets again. Katara had grabbed a skewer for herself, but since she didn’t feel confident about being able to eat it all by herself, she began to look around for someone to share with. Jet had grabbed an entire skewer for himself, and so had Sokka, neither of them looking like sharing was on their minds. Yue was already happily sharing with Suki. Aang had his own grilled vegetable skewer that he looked very happy with. Toph was the only one who didn’t push the meat and veggies off the skewer and onto a paper plate. Instead, she was eating right off the skewer like a wild animal, with fat and juices dripping all over her cheeks. If Katara hadn’t seen Toph doing this before without any issues, she would have been terrified about her younger friend cutting herself, but Katara had accepted many years ago that Toph didn’t need her babying.

It was only then that Katara realized that Azula was not eating, standing a little aside from the others and simply smiling serenely as she watched Katara and her friends feasting. "Azula, why aren’t you eating?" Katara asked.

"Thank you, but I’m just not hungry," Azula spoke quickly.

"Not even a few pieces?" Katara teased. Azula looked uncertain now. "I need someone to share with, there’s no way I can finish all of this by myself. And you deserve to enjoy the food since you cooked it," Katara tried again. Azula looked even more tempted. Katara patted the empty spot on the blanket next to her. "Come here and sit down with us," she said, trying a slightly sterner approach. Much to her surprise, it actually worked. Azula walked up to her and sat down, a little timidly and taking almost exaggerated care. Katara quickly transferred some of her food onto another paper plate and handed it over to Azula.

"It’s really good, Azula," Yue said. "I guess my commitment to pescatarian lifestyle will get pushed aside for one more day."

"I would have been happy to grill some fish for you," Azula replied, smiling at Yue. "By the way, Yue?" Azula asked a moment later. "Didn’t you say that you were meeting Kiyi today?"

"Yes, I gave her my address and she promised to stop by later in the afternoon," Yue nodded.

"I was just thinking that I could text her now. I’m sure she’d be happy to join us," Azula suggested. "I doubt she has any serious plans for the day, anyway. She’s a fourteen-year-old, it’s not like she has some kind of social life that needs to be respected."

"Umm, right," Yue replied. "Well, if you think that it’s a good idea then sure, text her." Azula looked pleased as she pulled out her phone and fired off a quick text.

"You mentioned your father disapproving of you seeing your mother and your half-sister," Katara remarked. "Did you suggest this because you wanted to see Kiyi? When is the last time you’ve actually seen her face to face?"

"I think it was back in spring," Azula replied. "April, so it’s been a while."

"Five months?" Katara gasped. "That’s awful. I know Sokka is such a dork, but still, that year when he went off to start the college while I was still stuck in high school was the worst year of my life."

"It would be nice to see Kiyi more often," Azula admitted. "But I don’t know if we could have the kind of relationship that you have with Sokka. I probably wouldn’t know how to. Seeing your sibling every day and even working side by side with them? Zuko and I would be trying to stab each other with chef’s knives fifteen minutes later. Maybe it would be easier with Kiyi because I could lean into the age difference and just order her around. Anyway," Azula said, glancing at her phone again. "She’s on her way. She actually lives only a few blocks from this park, so you’ll get to meet my annoying kid sister in a few minutes."

After some ten minutes of speculating about how alike Azula and her half-sister would look, their peaceful little picnic was crashed by a crazy biker, slamming on the brakes before hitting the blanket Jet, Aang and Toph sat upon. The biker then jumped off their bike and ran right up to Azula, tackling her into a hug.

"Azula!" the teenage girl shouted. "I hate you so much," she exclaimed, continuing to hug Azula.

"Why do you hate me, Kiyi?" Azula asked, looking crushed.

"I don’t really hate you," Kiyi sobbed, refusing to let go. "But I hate that you haven’t found a way to see me and mom since April. I’m holding that against you, at least until you bribe me to drop it."

"I’ll think of something," Azula said, finally managing to get Kiyi to stop hugging her. As the two sisters separated, Katara and the others finally had the opportunity to get a better look at Azula’s half-sister. In many ways, Kiyi looked a lot like Azula, and Katara imagined that the similarities would have been even more striking when compared with the fourteen-year-old Azula. Kiyi had a slightly rounder face and wider cheekbones, and she was wearing her hair a few inches shorter than Azula. She seemed to be very smiley and happy-go-lucky, unlike her older sister who often acted twitchy, nervous and looked to be riddled with fascinating anxieties.

"So, these are your new friends?" Kiyi finally looked around to face the others. "They look cool, if old. Except that one," she pointed at Yue’s daughter, looking at the new arrival with her mouth flapping wide open and the Barbie doll having fallen from her hands. "You must be Kya, right?" Kiyi grinned. "I think we’ll get on really well. I mean, even our names are kind of similar. I’m Kiyi, by the way."

"H-hi," Kya stumbled, looking a little taken aback by this stranger who had stormed their peaceful picnic. "Ki-yi," Kya tried to repeat the name of the stranger, smiling shyly as Kiyi gave her excited thumbs up. "Hi, Kiyi!" she repeated, a lot more confidently.

"It’s nice to see you two establishing a connection," Yue jumped in, smiling as she extended her arm towards Kiyi. "Hey, I’m Kya’s mom. But feel free to call me Yue. I definitely prefer that to Kya’s mom or Miss Taqqiq."

"Works for me," Kiyi nodded. "So, it’s just Kya who needs babysitting? You don’t have any other kids?"

"Just how old do you think I am?" Yue laughed. "No, it’s just Kya."

"Well, that shouldn’t be hard at all, she looks very chill," Kiyi grinned. "Assuming we can come to an agreement," she added a bit more seriously. Katara was immediately made aware of yet more similarities with her older sister. It seemed like Kiyi had an overall healthier and more fun based approach to life, but she could also flip a switch to become Azula-like serious on a dime.

"Yes, why don’t we take a little walk?" Yue suggested. "I can tell you all about my requirements of a babysitter and what I’m able to pay you, and then you’ll tell me if that’s acceptable to you. Deal?"

"Deal," Kiyi nodded, looking all businesslike. "Anyway, Azula, could you fix me with some grub while I’m talking bidness with Yue here? I just got out of the bed forty minutes ago and I hadn’t been fed yet because mom is working today. Thank you!"

"What an annoying brat," Azula sighed fondly as Yue and Kiyi walked off, talking animatedly. Katara had a feeling that the pair would have little trouble coming to an agreement. Meanwhile, Azula got up from the blanket and walked up to the grill. She picked up another Tupperware container with marinated meat from the cooler bag and set to work on making a couple of skewers for her baby sister.

"I think the grill might need some topping up," Suki said, having checked the temperature of the weakly glowing coals. "Yeah, this is no longer hot enough, we need to get it started anew," she said, carefully adding a new layer of coals and then blowing softly to ignite them.

"Do you need help from the grill-master?" Sokka asked, burping as he lay on his back, looking lazy and perfectly content not to move.

"I think I can handle this," Suki chuckled.

"That’s great," Sokka nodded. "Be a doll and make me another skewer, though? I’m still hungry." Jet, Toph and Aang immediately voiced their own requests for extra skewers, only for Azula to meet their demands with a fierce scowl.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m only making the two for my sister," Azula scoffed. "You want more, you come and make your own, it’s so easy a child could do it."

"Perhaps it’s best if Kya doesn’t attempt it, though," Katara laughed. She was busy looking after Kya as the girl had resumed playing with her new doll.

"You’ll make one for your starving boyfriend, won’t you, Suki?" Sokka whined.

"And Aang will make one for me," Toph announced. "Because I’m disabled."

"Nice try pulling that card," Aang laughed. "You know I’m not going to touch meat, right?"

"It’s alright, Toph, I’ll make an extra skewer for you," Suki said. "And for my lousy good for nothing boyfriend, I guess," she added with an exaggerated sigh.

A while later, as the new skewers were happily sizzling on the grill under the watchful protection of Suki and Azula, Katara picked Kya up in her arms and walked over to the pair, curious about something Azula’s sister had said earlier. "Azula, I noticed that your sister said your mom was working today," Katara said. "It made me curious about what she’s doing, because not that many businesses are open on Sundays."

"That’s a complicated story," Azula replied. "She actually works for my uncle."

"At the Jasmine Dragon bakery?" Suki asked. Azula nodded. "That’s a pretty cool place to work at. You know, I actually worked there one summer when I was like… sixteen? It was very chill." Azula looked like she didn’t exactly approve of how chill the place was.  

"I still find it a little strange because my mother hadn’t worked a single day of her life by the time that she turned thirty-three," Azula said. "She definitely owes a lot to my uncle. I don’t see how she would have been able to walk away from my father if Iroh hadn’t assured her that he’d always have a job lined up for her. I have to imagine that she was the worst employee ever to begin with. But I also have to give her some credit. She swept the floors of the Jasmine Dragon for three long years while trying to learn the ins and outs of the kitchen. And by now, she’s a fairly accomplished pastry chef."

"Wait, wait, wait," Katara gasped. "Are you saying that the desserts we are buying in from the Jasmine Dragon could actually be made by your mother?"

"They very well could be, yes," Azula nodded. "Of course, she’s just one of like seven or eight pastry chefs on staff, so I couldn’t say with any degree of certainty."

"Well, it still blows my mind," Katara said, watching Azula flip the skewers, revealing a beautifully crunchy looking crust. "Can I just say that your family situation is weirdly fascinating?"

"I’ll agree to that," Suki chuckled, giving Katara a sly wink, almost as if to say that perhaps the family situation was not the only thing that was fascinating about Azula.

The day of revealing the restaurant renovations was finally upon them. Sokka thought that it was quite ridiculous how even though he lived above the restaurant and had already spied on some of the renovations that had been done, he and Suki still had to go along with the whole theatrical performance of being completely surprised. A limo had picked them up outside the restaurant slightly past nine in the morning, with the rest of their friends and Azula already inside. They had then been driven around the block for a while, while Azula made sure that everyone was wearing a blindfold. The most ridiculous part of this charade was that Toph was also instructed to wear a blindfold, because Ozai had told Azula that he didn’t plan to waste a single second of the show’s runtime to explain that an inconsequential employee of the restaurant was legally blind. 

Eventually, the limo rolled into the restaurant’s car park and they were all once again herded outside to stand there until Ozai walked out of the restaurant to address them. "Welcome, welcome," Ozai spoke, sounding excited. The cameras were rolling, so Sokka wasn’t surprised that Azula’s father had decided to rein in his temper during the scenes where he wanted to appear at his most generous. "Are you ready to see your new restaurant?" Ozai asked, receiving excited cheers in response, as instructed by Azula. "Remove your blindfolds and take a look," Ozai ordered.

Sokka did as he was told, unable to stop a completely earnest gasp at what he saw. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with the old sign, but the new one was a clear improvement. Sokka had no idea where Ozai had managed to find a graffiti artist on such a short notice, especially one so talented. The artist had painted a large part of the exterior wall in the soft colors of a beautiful aurora borealis. The large white letters of the restaurant’s name stood out very effectively in contrast with the graffiti.

"That is… wow, that is amazing!" Suki gasped, and she was hardly the only one with such a reaction.

"It really is beautiful," Katara agreed, looking delighted. "Aww, but I miss our little seal of approval. It’s too bad we couldn’t keep it," Katara then sighed, looking sad.

"Yeah, that’s a shame," Yue agreed, giving Azula a quick glance. "I guess your father was completely against keeping the seal."

"I’m sorry, I tried, but father didn’t even want to hear about it," Azula said, looking very apologetic. "It’s like he has some kind of personal enmity towards seals," Azula added quietly, using the opportunity to talk openly since Ozai had already entered the restaurant ahead of them.

"Think nothing of it," Sokka replied. "This is great." Inside, Sokka felt his gut clenching with guilt and sadness. The loss of the old sign was hitting him way harder than he was willing to show. It had been something that he and his dad had created together from the scratch. Aside from cooking and hunting, another one of Hakoda’s passions was woodworking, and Sokka had obviously gotten into it as well. They’d made the sign when Sokka was sixteen, and the memory of them working together, especially on that silly little seal, was a treasured one. But he had promised not to resist changes, so… there was nothing else to do but to grit his teeth and soldier on.

"Come on in and check out your new dining room," Ozai ordered. "Isn’t this amazing?" he asked, waving his arms around and expecting their tacit approval.

As everyone gasped and cheered at the changes made to the dining room, Sokka expressed the bare minimum of excitement that was expected of him while he tried to figure out what had actually been done to the dining room. It didn’t seem like the renovations had been particularly extensive, but with Ozai already investing heavily into the kitchen, Sokka didn’t feel like he had any right to complain. The new light fixtures looked very nice. The walls had been repainted, sticking with the light color theme of white, blue and silver, but toning it way down. Sokka was the most impressed with the new hardwood floor that still smelled pleasantly of pinewood. As someone who was not a stranger to renovations, Sokka recognized quality work when he saw it, and he also knew that the floor would have cost several thousand to get it done. There had been several other changes, including new furniture, and Ozai was now bragging about how it had given him the opportunity to increase the number of tables in the restaurant.

"Are you happy with the changes?" Ozai asked, clearly expecting more praise. "You look happy."

"We’re extremely happy, Chef Nakamura," Katara gasped. "I especially love all the paintings and photos of Cape Kuruk." It was only when Katara said it, that Sokka realized that he had completely missed the detail his sister was pointing out. Indeed, the walls of the restaurant were lined by various paintings and artistic photos of their hometown, making Sokka instantly experience a heavy hit of nostalgia. "They are all so beautiful, they take me right back to my childhood and make me feel like I’m back home," Katara gushed. Sokka could not agree more with his sister. "How did you know that we’re from Cape Kuruk?" Katara asked. "I don’t think we ever talked about that."

"You’re asking the wrong person about that," Ozai snorted. "That part of the renovations was left to Azula. She came up with the idea."

"But how?" Katara asked, turning towards Azula. "We’ve been talking a lot, but I don’t remember telling you about Cape Kuruk." Azula blushed at the comment, failing to reply while looking like she was desperately searching for an answer.

"My daughter has this hobby of stalking people on social media," Ozai said, rolling his eyes. "I’m sure she probably looked up one of those things that young people use these days such as Facebook."  

"I’m just happy you like the changes," Azula said quickly, looking embarrassed and very eager to move on, especially when Katara kept giving her very curious stares. Sokka found it hard not to laugh at the exchange. Azula was such an awkward walking disaster at times, and Sokka couldn’t quite figure out the reason why. At a distance, Azula seemed so worldly, but closer up, she often betrayed herself as someone very sheltered, at least regarding some things.

"And finally, let us proceed into the kitchen, because I have some even more exciting things to show you," Ozai ordered, herding them towards the kitchen and what was definitely the most exciting part of the tour for Sokka. "I have been convinced by the passion of the staff and your determination to succeed," Ozai continued. "But there’s a big problem here that if not addressed would prevent this restaurant from becoming a success. This is why I present you with a brand-new Vulcan commercial kitchen equipment."

As everyone gasped at the impressive looking brand-new kitchen equipment, Sokka found himself tearing up a little. He still remembered his father installing the old ovens. It was one of Sokka’s earliest memories of the kitchens. The ovens had served them well for almost twenty years, but there was no denying that the time to say farewell to the old equipment was well overdue. Sokka didn’t even recognize what all of this new equipment was for, but just imagining himself and Suki creating delicious entrees on these beauties was enough to make him feel very emotional, and one look at his girlfriend told him that Suki was feeling the same way.

"What we have here is a six-ring burner with a phenomenal convection oven," Ozai continued his presentation that obviously also served as advertisement for one of the show’s main sponsors. "Next, we have a Vulcan versatile chef’s station that is perfect for kitchens with limited space like this one. It will allow you to perform multiple cooking techniques on the same station, absolutely amazing! And lastly, a must for every well-equipped kitchen, a state-of-the-art Vulcan fryer. This is everything that a modern kitchen needs to be successful."

"This is amazing!" Suki exclaimed happily. "And look at how much space it has opened up in our kitchen! We can finally turn around without the risk of knocking something over!"

"Yes, this new equipment is way more ergonomic when compared with the old ovens," Sokka was forced to admit. "Thank you so much, Chef Nakamura," he added, still making sure to stick to the back of the group and keep plenty of space between himself and Ozai. Ozai may be acting polite in front of the cameras, but Sokka was still concerned about getting shoved into a fryer after the filming had stopped.

"Yes, this is more than what we could have hoped for. More than what we deserve, really," Katara exclaimed, sniffling and dabbing at her eyes. Sokka understood his sister only too well. It was hard not to become overwhelmed by the generosity they were receiving. Sokka was starting to feel increasingly guilty about burning Ozai’s hand, even if by most accounts, he was very much the opposite of a nice man. However, it was hard to dislike someone who might have very well saved the family business from going belly up.

"With this new equipment, you will never have to microwave your food ever again," Ozai continued. "In fact, if I ever catch you microwaving something in this kitchen when I come back in a few months, I’m going to be really pissed off, you know that, right?" Everyone nodded fearfully at that. "And speaking of the microwaves-"

"Oh no," Toph sighed mournfully. "I knew he had something horrible planned for my poor babies."

"I want you all to follow me outside, around the back," Ozai stated, leading his daughter and the procession of restaurant employees out through the back door and into the cul-de-sac of the back alley.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sokka gasped upon the sight that awaited them in the back alley. There was a large makeshift barrier in front of them and some twenty yards ahead of it, a dozen of microwaves had been stacked in a large pile.

"What’s going on?" Toph asked worriedly. "Talk to me, someone."

"It looks like your microwaves have been lined up for execution, Toph," Jet commented aptly.

"You are right on the money there, Jeb!" Ozai commented. Sokka absolutely loved the way Ozai kept calling Jet and how much it annoyed his sister’s boyfriend. Sokka definitely intended to use Jeb as Jet’s nickname after Ozai had departed. "Today, we are executing the final bad practices at this restaurant, and we’re doing it in a spectacular and explosive way!"

"What does he mean by explosive?" Toph cried.

"I mean exactly that, explosive!" Ozai laughed maniacally. "Everyone, get behind that barrier and keep your heads low! I’m not joking! Kitchen Nightmares Limited is not responsible for any injuries you suffer during the filming of the show, remember, you all signed the waivers!"

"I think we better do as Chef Nakamura says," Yue spoke worriedly, quickly running to hide behind the barrier and dragging a distraught and reluctant Toph with her.

"Everyone in position! We’re looking good to go!" Ozai shouted as they all covered behind the makeshift barricade. The camera crew had hunkered down at the exit of the back alley while keeping the film rolling. "Fuck it, I almost forgot something," Ozai then snapped his fingers, hurrying to add something to the funeral pyre made of microwaves.

"Oh no!" Yue cried, leaning out to peer over the edge of the barrier. "It’s the seal of approval!"

"No! You can’t destroy the seal!" Katara cried in a distraught voice. In a temporary bout of insanity, both Katara and Yue stepped out from behind the barricade, ready to run and try to save the seal. Sokka was so stunned that he failed to stop them in time, and it was up to Azula to quickly tackle the crazed pair and pull them back behind the barricade.

"Are all Water Tribe girls this insanely suicidal?" Azula growled, looking even paler than usual, most likely from fear. "My father is about to light up the explosives, you crazy fools!" Sokka peered from behind the barricade to see that Azula was not joking. Ozai was standing next to the pile of microwaves with a stick of dynamite in his hand. He quickly lit it, tossed the dynamite on top of the unfortunate seal of approval and then legged to hide behind the barricade.

"Can someone tell me what’s hap-" Toph began when suddenly the blast went off, deafening them all. There was the sound of glass breaking somewhere nearby and a chorus of car alarms erupted from the restaurant’s car park. "What in the ever-loving fuck was that?" Toph cried.

"That was the sound of a dozen microwaves failing to survive a meeting with a stick of dynamite," Jet commented. "Damn, that was amazing! Totally a viral moment there, Chef Nakamura."

"I should hope so, Jeb, I should hope so," Ozai nodded. Sokka finally dared to rise and take a look around. The cul-de-sac was slightly on fire and littered with parts of broken microwaves, making the scene appear slightly post-apocalyptic. "And that, as they say, is that," Ozai said proudly, rubbing his hands.

"I’m sure this viral moment will be worth all the legal trouble that it will bring over the next few years," Azula muttered under her breath, a comment that clearly was not meant for her father to overhear.

"Alright, gather around, everyone," Ozai ordered a moment later. By now, Sokka was starting to relax slightly. Perhaps the revenge for burning Ozai’s hand wasn’t coming, after all. Surely, Ozai was going to take the high road over the whole incident. "As you know, Azula and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon, but we still have plenty of things to do before that. This evening we will be relaunching the restaurant with a dinner service to make us all proud."

"We are all ready to do our best, Chef Nakamura," Katara said with determination. "With all the tools that have been given to us, we have no right to fail." Sokka agreed with the sentiment expressed by his sister, but he did not share her confidence, not yet. He only had a few hours to figure out how the new equipment worked before the most important dinner service of his life. It was immediately putting a lot of pressure on Sokka.

"You’re right about that, Katara, but there’s something else we need to do before the dinner service," Ozai said. "We need to create a buzz around the restaurant. Fortunately, I have been reminded that there is no shortage of beautiful and determined young ladies working at this restaurant, and I know that you three," he pointed at Katara, Yue and Suki. "Are willing to do everything it takes for The Northern Lights to succeed. This is why I have made the arrangements to throw a bikini car wash in order to advertise the restaurant. Azula will be in charge of helping you get ready."

"I… I had no idea you were planning this, father," Azula looked stunned. Sokka immediately had to wonder where the idea had come from. Jet looked very pleased with himself, so Sokka immediately had to guess that his sister’s boyfriend was to blame. "Are you sure this is a good idea in the current political climate, father? There might be backlash," Azula tried to argue.

"What? Nonsense. Everyone loves a bikini car wash," Ozai laughed. "Also, I’m not asking the blind girl to join in, am I? See, I’m being progressive."

"Uh, not sexualizing someone with a disability is an insanely low bar, father," Azula continued to argue, much to Sokka’s surprise. He wasn’t a fan of Ozai’s plan, not by a longshot, but with everything that Ozai had just given them, and with Sokka having burned the man’s hand, Sokka didn’t dare to speak up. It was still strange that Azula was pushing back this much. For some reason, she seemed very against this particular idea, whether it came from Ozai or Jet.

"I’ve had enough of your impertinence, Azula," Ozai growled at his daughter. "All of your arguing has given me another brilliant idea. You are going to join the girls of The Northern Lights in this bikini car wash. Now, I’ll hear no more arguments – the four of you, go and get ready. You have forty-five minutes before the limo picks you up again. And you better look like the centerfold girls that you are!" Ozai shouted after the retreating foursome. "The future of the restaurant depends on this sexy bikini car wash!"

Chapter Text

Azula's first and immediate reaction to her father's strong insistence of her participation in the sexy bikini car wash to advertise the restaurant was a mix of horror and outrage. It was, however, consistent with her father's actions in the past. Ozai never seemed to pass on an opportunity to sexualize her in order to promote the show. Of course, Azula wanted the episode to have excellent viewership ratings just so that she could shove them down Zuko's throat, but at the same time, she felt both peeved and depressed that her father did not actually seem to respect her talent as a chef, but instead saw her merely as an eye candy that could pull in the viewers through her physical appearance.

This was why shooting these shows with her father was so difficult, both mentally and physically. Azula had to endure a lot in order to prove herself, and half of the time, she felt like she was going to snap and crumble under the pressure. Azula's mental and physical health both took hits during these weeks of shooting the show. Her sleep cycle was ruined and she had to dig out her emergency sedatives in order to get the necessary hours of rest. Her gastritis was also acting up, and she had made it worse by eating too much grilled meat the previous day, something she should have avoided, but Azula had found it impossible to turn down Katara's offer to share.

Speaking of Katara and the other girls, they had also been understandably upset by Ozai forcing this idea of a bikini car wash upon them. Katara and Yue were particularly reluctant, but they also felt a debt of gratitude towards Azula's father which compelled them to go along with the idea. Suki was more into the idea and didn't seem to have any problems with showing off her goods for the benefit of the restaurant. In the end, Azula, Katara and Yue were all won over by Suki's argument that instead of bitterly complaining about their fate, they instead have fun with the whole thing and own this bikini car wash like the queens that they were.

It took Azula a while to get out of her offended mindset, but once she had managed to do so, she had actually found merit in Suki's suggestion. Of course, after the four of them had switched into their sexy bikinis, Azula had for the most part stopped thinking completely. It was a while since Azula's last hookup with a girl, and since she found Katara, Yue and Suki all stunningly attractive, the experience of a sexy bikini car wash was both amazing and painful at once for Azula. She was definitely enjoying the views a great deal, but not being able to do anything about it and feeling her unabated arousal growing rapidly was a woefully frustrating part of the experience.

Suki definitely took things the furthest with some of her particularly wild posing and the way she liked to stick her chest out, making Azula's cheeks burn. Suki was also the one who tried to involve the rest of them into games of playful splashing and give the viewers the best show possible. Yue and Katara were trying to behave with a little more restraint, although Suki often succeeded in pulling them along with her sexy shenanigans. Still, for Azula, looking at the scantily clad Yue and Katara was in many ways even harder, even when they were not doing anything particularly titillating. The knowledge that Yue and Katara had been a couple in the past was by now embedded in Azula's brain. Watching Yue and Katara giggling, splashing and stretching was filling Azula's mind with an inescapable stream of mental images of Yue and Katara together in far more intimate situations, and Azula's own treacherous imagination was quickly sending her towards spontaneous self-combustion.

In the end, Azula had no idea how she made it through this particular trial. Suki's eagerness to splash them all with copious amounts of cold water had definitely helped a lot in keeping Azula from catching fire. Still, getting splashed with all that water was hardly the main reason why Azula was soaking wet by the time the cameras stopped rolling and they were brought back to the restaurant to change out of their bikinis and back into their normal clothes. Azula had immediately seized the opportunity to lock herself in a bathroom stall and quickly rub one out, but it had hardly sated her desperate thirst.

With a lengthy dinner service ahead of her, Azula knew that she was in for a tough and frustrating day, and there was only one solution to her woes, a solution that was particularly risky whenever her father was around. Azula had hoped that it wouldn't come to this and that she would survive the week and then attend to her needs once she was clear of Ozai, but it was not to be. Katara, Yue and Suki had proved too tempting and Azula was now in a dire need of a hookup. It was not something that could wait, either.

As Azula finally left the toilet stall to rejoin Katara, Yue and Suki, she did so with burning determination to do something about her raging horniness, and she was determined to do it tonight, even if she had to scale the drain water pipe of the hotel in order to escape the notice of her overbearing father.

Katara was well aware that the Kitchen Nightmares show always presented the restaurant relaunch and the respective dinner service as a major success that reflected positively on all the changes that Ozai Nakamura had made to the restaurant. A couple of hours into their relaunch service, and Katara had no idea just how Ozai and his crew intended to edit all the footage to make this experience feel like success and not the absolutely chaotic mess that it clearly was.

Once again, the news that this was Ozai and Azula's final evening at the restaurant had blown up on the social media, swarming them with bookings. The issue was further compounded by a large crowd of people showing up and expecting a table even if they hadn't made a booking. Katara had been forced to once again jump in and help out Yue and Aang at the front of the house, but even she was struggling to keep on top of the situation.

Their woes were further compounded when the mayor of Ba Sing Se, Kuei Faon, currently visiting Caldera City for talks with the Fire Nation elites, dropped in unannounced with a retinue of at least dozen people. Apparently, the unexpected visit had been arranged by Ozai, a fact that he hadn't shared with anyone, including his own daughter. Ozai had then yelled at Yue to quickly find a table for Mayor Kuei and his party, causing Yue to have another tearful breakdown when she hadn't been able to comply fast enough. Katara was forced to take care of the situation and she ended up asking some of the guests to leave early, and not everyone was understanding of her request. Katara felt horrible that she had been forced to upset some of their potential regular customers in order to please this Ba Sing Se elite just because Kuei moved in the same circles with Ozai Nakamura. Katara just didn't see how pleasing the mayor of Ba Sing Se was going to actually help the restaurant in any way.

On top of all of these troubles at the front of the house, the kitchen was struggling to keep up. Sokka and Suki were tight-lipped and unwilling to engage in lengthy explanations, trying to focus and keep up with the tickets flying into the kitchen, but they kept falling behind more and more. According to a very stressed and tense looking Azula, there were several issues at play in the kitchen. The chefs were still learning to execute the new menu, and their lack of experience with it was slowing them down. The fact that they were only now starting to get used to the new equipment was also working against them.

On top of everything, Azula claimed that Sokka was still simply not moving fast enough and not thinking like a proper head chef when it came to organizing the kitchen and combining multiple tickets. Katara was deeply concerned about Azula's comment how that wasn't something she could fix on the fly, and it was really down to either having the right instincts or not. It didn't bode well for the situation going forward after Azula and Ozai had left. Katara was aware that as the restaurant's manager, it was up to her to sort out the situation in the kitchen, but it was easier said than done with Sokka, her brother and co-owner being right in the middle of all those issues.

At some point, the kitchen had fallen behind so badly that Ozai had ended up yelling at Azula to jump in and help. Azula had then put on a chef's jacket and joined Sokka and Suki on the line. With her help, the kitchen had soon recovered and the food started to fly out at an acceptable rate. Of course, this was not something that Ozai was going to include in the actual show. It definitely wasn't a good sign that they needed Azula's assistance in order to keep up with the tickets, and it definitely would not have made the restaurant look like a success story.

Katara really hoped that they would be able to figure out a way for the kitchen to work faster and smoother, because if they kept struggling like this, Katara feared that the temptation to bring back Toph's microwaving station would grow quickly. Toph had been given a night off, something she wasn't too happy about, but nobody had been able to figure out on a fly just how Toph could help at the restaurant unless she was microwaving frozen food.

Katara was frustrated with Jet's absence throughout most of the dinner service. They didn't seem to be in danger of running out of supplies, so Jet had presumably done that part of his job right. Still, there were other ways in which Katara was sure her boyfriend could have helped with. The pile of dirty dishes was rapidly building up in the kitchen and none of the cooks had a moment of spare time to load up the industrial dishwasher. As much as Katara hated to admit it, this was unfortunately one of Jet's worst habits. Whenever the going got tough and they needed someone to step up and pitch in with some extra effort, Jet always seemed to fall off the radar completely, showing up much later and always having a prepared excuse for not being around. Not being able to fully rely on Jet was something that regularly made Katara question the long-term future of their relationship, but it was one of those conversations that she just kept postponing again and again.

It was at some point towards the end of the dinner service that Katara noticed something rather unusual as she was seating more customers at their pre-booked table. Ozai Nakamura, together with the entire camera crew, suddenly walked out of the dining room and left the restaurant altogether. Ozai and the cameramen then rounded the corner of the restaurant and disappeared from Katara's view, leaving her wondering about what was going on.

After she had seated the new group of customers, Katara's curiosity quickly got the better of her and she decided to sneak out through the back entrance and spy on what exactly Ozai Nakamura and his camera crew were up to. As she left the dining room to head outside, she ran straight into Azula, coming out of the kitchen, no longer wearing the chef's jacket.

"Oops, sorry," Katara apologized, blushing after she had almost bowled Azula over in the narrow hallway. "Sokka and Suki have the grip on the situation?" she asked quickly.

"The tickets have slowed down to a more manageable rate, yes," Azula nodded. "Sokka and Suki should be able to cope with this. Still, I would advise you not to disturb them needlessly."

"Oh, of course, I wasn't actually heading for the kitchen. I was going to sneak out around the back," Katara said. Azula raised an eyebrow at that, forcing Katara to explain. "It's just that I saw your father and the entire camera crew walk out and then round the corner of the restaurant. I want to know what they're up to… unless you know?"

"Sorry, I have no idea what's that about," Azula shrugged. "There's not much that father tells me, actually," she added, sounding worryingly bitter.

"I'm sorry about that," Katara said softly, reaching out to briefly touch Azula's hand. "Want to come with me and take a look at what's going on?" she asked.

"Yes, I'd like that," Azula nodded with a shy smile, setting to follow Katara through the winding corridors leading outside.

Katara and Azula emerged in the dark alleyway to be confronted with a chaotic scene in front of them. A violent brawl appeared to be taking place there, with Ozai watching over it excitedly and occasionally encouraging the brawlers to put in more effort. The camera crew were standing right behind Ozai, filming everything.

It took a while for Katara to gather her bearings and realize that Jet was one of the three people involved in this chaotic fight. Seeing that her boyfriend was up against two other guys who both seemed to be bigger and tougher than Jet, Katara made a surge forward to try and break up the fight, only for Azula to suddenly hold her back.

"Wait a moment," Azula hissed at her before turning towards her father. "Father, what's going on here?" she asked.

"An amazing bit of action is what's going on here!" Ozai replied, not taking his eyes off the brawlers. "Jeb is really earning his keep tonight! He's fighting off the debt collectors, this is amazing!"

"Debt collectors?" Katara gasped in shock. This was the first time she was hearing about their business being threatened by predatory debt collectors. Were things even worse than she suspected and this was something that Jet had been keeping from her?

"Just keep out of this, Katara, please," Azula whispered harshly at her, still holding the squirming Katara back. "My father will intervene before anyone gets seriously hurt, I promise."

Azula's words didn't feel particularly reassuring to Katara, not after some of the things she had experienced at the hands of Ozai Nakamura. Still, as she kept standing there, wracked with indecision, Katara's eyes slowly became more and more used to the darkness of the back alley and she suddenly realized something once she had taken a closer look at the men Jet was wrestling with. "Wait a moment!" Katara gasped. "Those aren't debt collectors! Those two are 'Pipsqueak' Pete and Harry 'Longshot', Jet's best mates!"

"Are you sure?" Azula blinked, relaxing her hold on Katara.

"Yes, of course, I'm sure!" Katara exclaimed. "They're just pretending to be tax collectors!"

"It doesn't matter, keep filming!" Ozai ordered the camera crew. "They're really selling the performance, this is great! By the way, we should have more than enough footage by now, so you three can wrap it up!" he called out to the brawlers.

The fight ended when Pipsqueak and Longshot pushed Jet towards a pair of trash cans. As Jet went down, Pipsqueak and Longshot took down the back alley running like wind, making sure to appear absolutely terrified of Jet. "And don't let me catch you here again!" Jet yelled after them once he had picked himself up from the ground.

"And so, the evening's dinner service has been saved due to the heroic efforts of Jeb Patel," Ozai narrated as the camera crew got in the last few shots before returning to the restaurant. "Excellent work, Jeb," Ozai nodded, turning to follow the crew. "Now we have everything to make this episode a viral one."

"I suppose you think that this was your way of contributing tonight?" Katara did not mince any words after she was left alone with Jet and a rather uncomfortable looking Azula. "Putting on some kind of stage show in the back alley, while the rest of us are struggling to keep the ship barely above water? Even Azula had to jump in on the line and help out in the kitchen, for spirit's sake!"

"Whoa, babe, you know I'm useless in the kitchen and you always chase me out of the dining room as well," Jet replied, looking a little surprised by her anger.

"Yes, because you keep flirting with the female customers," Katara sighed. "Anyway, there was plenty for you to help with back inside, but as always, you were nowhere to be found. It's… sometimes it feels really tiresome, Jet."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I thought I was helping by doing this," Jet managed to look properly apologetic. "Did you hear what Ozai said? The episode is bound to blow up now and bring in more and more customers to the restaurant. I was only trying to help the best I can. And honestly, Katara? First and foremost, I'm doing this for you."

"I suppose…" Katara softened slightly. "I wish you'd ask me what I need help with before deciding to pull of one of your crazy schemes. Anyway, can we head back inside now? Let's just make sure that we finish this dinner service on a high, okay?" Jet nodded and took her hand as they went back inside. Azula had already walked ahead of them and Katara had assumed that it was because she felt uncomfortable watching Katara near-fighting with her boyfriend. However, Katara had caught Azula's expression when the other girl entered the restaurant, and Azula's face had been contorted by… anger?

Katara thought that was a strange reaction and she wished that she could press Azula on what she was angry about. However, as she had told Jet just now, the focus had to be placed on this final hour of the dinner service. Finishing on a high note would hopefully set them up for a solid continuation once Azula and Ozai left the restaurant tomorrow.

After the conclusion of the dinner service, Azula once again ended up hanging out with the restaurant staff in Sokka and Suki's lair above the establishment. Azula's plan initially had been to return to the hotel, log on her dating app and try to arrange a hookup. Then she would get herself ready for her midnight date before sneaking out undetected for a night of mindless drinking and casual sex. Still, since Ozai hadn't insisted that she returned to the hotel with him, Azula had found it impossible to refuse Suki and Katara inviting her to hang out with the group once again.

On this occasion, it was just the five of them, Azula, Suki, Sokka, Katara and Jet. Unfortunately, Yue had to rush home right after the service to relieve her babysitter, robbing Azula the pleasure of her company. Aang had also left early, stating that he didn't want to leave Toph alone for too long. Apparently, being told not to come in tonight had given Toph a major case of the blues and Aang wanted to cheer up his best friend.

So, Azula now found herself in the middle of slightly tipsy conversations, while at the same time trying to browse her dating app and set up an encounter with one of her regular contacts in Caldera City she had hooked up with in the past.

"It's too bad that you have to leave as early as tomorrow," Katara sighed, looking sad as she faced Azula. "I wish you could stay a little longer. Although, I suppose Sokka will be relieved to see the back of your father."

"I'm sure Chef Ozai has gotten over his burned hand by now. He's above petty revenge for an unfortunate accident," Sokka spoke confidently, perhaps a little too confidently for Azula's liking.

"Maybe Jet should have put in a word for you, Sokka," Katara spoke up, sounding a little venomous. She was on her second large glass of wine, but it didn't seem to be having a soothing effect on her. "After all, he seems to have found a new best friend in Ozai Nakamura."

"Hey, I was just doing what I could to boost the popularity of the restaurant. That had nothing to do with my feelings towards Ozai Nakamura. I still hate him for his Fire Nation supremacist ways," Jet replied defensively, shooting a quick glance at Azula. "Sorry, Azula."

"I know people often take issue with my father's views, but it just feels a little hypocritical when they're also happy to accept Ozai Nakamura's generosity and advice at the same time," Azula shrugged. "Anyway, I'm not going to throw a hissy fit if you want to trash talk my father. I just might think that you're a hypocrite."

"Well, I think Ozai Nakamura is not exactly what I would call a nice man, but I believe I speak for everyone here when saying that we're incredibly thankful for everything you two did for us and for the restaurant," Suki said. It seemed like she was destined to fill the role of the peacemaker for the evening because Katara was too busy being annoyed with Jet.

"I have visited plenty of restaurants where I felt that the owners and the staff did not deserve my father's help, but I definitely didn't feel that way about The Northern Lights," Azula smiled briefly. "I guess that's my way of saying… you're welcome."

"I think everything worked out overall," Sokka said. "I can't believe that I am forced to admit that Jet had an actual good idea to send an application for the show," he sighed, raising his glass at Jet with reluctant respect. "Also, I think we could do with another bottle."

"Well, we have plenty to choose from," Suki chuckled, getting up to handle the refills. As always, at the end of the day, there were plenty of opened wine bottles at the restaurant that could use polishing off and Azula had by now realized that this was a very enjoyable part of these evening hangouts.

As Suki refilled everyone's glasses, Azula sneakily returned her attention to the dating app, sending quick messages to her Caldera City sweethearts. One of them was a girl her age by the name of Zirin Sakai. Zirin was an exotic dancer with voracious sexual appetite, and Azula had enjoyed the few occasions when the two of them had hooked up. There was only one thing that bothered Azula slightly when it came to Zirin, and that was Zirin's constant pushiness about how Azula should just come out of the closet and be open about her sexuality. Their sex was usually very hot and intense, and promised exactly the kind of fiery encounter that Azula was after tonight, and she felt prepared to tolerate another lecture from Zirin as long as her needs were being taken care of.

Azula's other Caldera City hookup was slightly older than her, a woman in her early thirties by the name of June Miura. June was absolutely gorgeous, a confident and successful bar owner who seemed to have her life largely figured out in a way that made Azula a little envious. June was an attentive lover who was very skilled between the sheets, even if she maybe didn't have Zirin's intense energy. Azula had learned a lot from June during their occasional encounters over the past couple of years. And while tonight Azula felt more in the mood for Zirin's insatiable lust, she was aware that touring often took Zirin away from Caldera City, so she still sent the shamefully crass and rushed text message of 'u DTF tonite?' to both women.

"So, Azula," Sokka began anew once everyone had their glasses refilled. "Be honest with us. Do you think we have a shot at salvaging this?" he asked.

Azula hesitated, having been caught flatfooted by the question. She desperately wanted to say that yes, The Northern Lights was now on a path to success, but she was well aware that Jet's schemes could prove lethal for the restaurant. Azula briefly wished that she had the courage to go against her father's wishes and just tell Katara and the others about what was going on with Jet, but she found herself unable to go through with it. This just wasn't the right moment for it, anyway. She didn't want to spoil her final evening with the group by creating some crazy drama of everyone turning on Jet.

"Yes, I think you're well on your way towards success now," Azula decided to go for fake encouragement instead. Truly, she must have momentarily gone mad to even think about challenging her father's wishes. The truth would surely put an end to Katara's relationship with Jet, and while on some basic and petty level Azula took delight in the mental image of Katara slapping her boyfriend and announcing that they were breaking up, Azula acknowledged that she had no right to mess with the relationship of a girl that she was unlikely to meet again after tomorrow. There was so much about Katara's relationship with Jet that she just didn't know, and Azula also had to admit that perhaps she didn't have all the facts about the situation. Maybe Katara was actually happy with Jet. Maybe it wasn't Azula's place to ruin what they had. Still… the need to at least give Katara a hint that she needed to pay closer attention to how Jet ordered the supplies was ever growing, and Azula still hoped that she could think of a way to say something without incurring the wrath of her father or outright accusing Jet of stealing.

"It's not going to be easy," Suki sighed. "We'll have to hit the ground running. We're still learning the new menu and figuring out how the new equipment works. Right now, it's really slowing us down, while at the same time your father increased the number of tables, so we need to be even faster than before to keep up."

"It might take a couple of weeks, but you'll get used to it," Azula replied, sensing doubts in Suki's words. Azula was not a big believer in Sokka's leadership abilities, not when it came to the kitchen, anyway. She knew that Suki needed to stand strong and be a real rock in the kitchen, pushing Sokka to improve. Azula wasn't convinced that Suki would be able to do it, given Sokka's stubbornness. "The one thing you can't afford to do is to take shortcuts. Shortcuts are the slippery slope leading to relapse and failure. You can't let that happen," Azula added before quickly checking her app again, but there were no replies from either Zirin or June, much to Azula's annoyance.

"I'm very serious about not letting that happen," Katara said firmly. She then gave Azula the most adorable puppy-eyed stare. "I really wish you could stay for a few more weeks. We would all benefit so much from your insights," Katara said wistfully. Azula noticed that Jet looked rather annoyed by Katara's words. It made Azula wonder if Katara was pettily needling her boyfriend for his secret schemes earlier. Azula quickly decided that Katara's petty side was incredibly sexy.

"I'm sure Azula's schedule is way too busy to hang around with us," Jet said. "You probably have the next ailing restaurant lined up, right?"

"Yes, some hopeless looking gastropub in Gaoling," Azula shrugged. "But I'll have almost a week off before father and I travel to the Earth Kingdom." Azula knew she badly needed this week to recover from the intensity of working together with her father. Her nerves were frayed, she was way jumpier than usually and the burning pain caused by the flareup of her gastritis needed to settle.

"Well, I hope they will appreciate you as much as we do," Suki said, smiling at Azula. She then lightly elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs. "Don't we, Sokka?"

"Oh, sure," Sokka nodded happily. "You did an awesome job, Azula. I'm glad it wasn't just your father doing all the work. You're pretty intense in a slightly scary way, but at least you're not as frightening as Ozai Nakamura," Sokka chuckled. Azula rolled her eyes at that comment. She knew that Sokka should be counting his lucky stars for having such a cute sister, an amazing sous-chef girlfriend and a sexy waitress ex who had kept Azula's nastier side from rearing its ugly head. Without Katara, Suki and Yue at the restaurant, Azula was sure that she would have bitten off Sokka's head by the end of the second day of her stay. Sokka was certainly a funny guy, but he was also incredibly frustrating to work with.

"Well, I have big hopes for this episode. If it does well, then that will be all the reward I need," Azula said. "And obviously, it would be very helpful if the restaurant succeeded as well. I won't hide that I have a vested interest in seeing you succeed, so you better not squander the opportunity you've been given. Maybe father will decide to take me with him when he revisits the place, and if I see that you have gone back to your old ways, I will be pissed off," Azula threatened, even knowing that it was unlikely that Ozai would bring her along for a revisit. Her father usually did those episodes while flying solo.

"Well, you threatened us with that before," Sokka laughed, but he quickly fell silent when Azula turned to glare at him. "It was very effective," he muttered quietly.

They were on their third glass of wine when Katara and Suki both began to yawn quite a lot. In order to keep the two girls from falling asleep, Sokka decided to make them watch some weak zombie slasher that in Azula's opinion totally lacked any edge. Katara and Suki were still yawning a lot, barely remaining awake, and Jet and Sokka soon began to yawn as well. The general sleepiness made it a lot easier for Azula to sneakily browse her dating app. She let out a quiet groan of frustration after reading a text from Zirin. Apparently, Zirin was all the way on Ember Island, doing a series of shows with her exotic dance troupe, and she regretfully informed Azula that even if she was DTF, the distance between them made it an impossibility. As for June, there was still no word from her.

Azula briefly considered forgetting about her existing contacts and diving straight into the wider dating pool of random hookups provided by the dating app, but she quickly dismissed that idea. At the end of this week of getting pushed around by her father, Azula's confidence was hitting the rock bottom. Meeting a random new person for the purpose of casual sex felt too scary and overwhelming, and Azula definitely was not feeling brave enough to go for that. Instead, Azula scrolled through her general list of contacts, considering her options when her fingertip stopped at the entry for Yue Taqqiq.

Azula had definitely developed a bit of a crush on the beautiful blonde. There was something intoxicating about Yue's soft kindness, masking the palpable inner strength underneath. Azula knew that it was a bit weird for her to sit with Yue's friends, pretending to watch a movie with them, while at the same time feeling greatly tempted to text Yue and see if maybe she was up for… well, there was no disguising what it would be, was there? It would be a one-night stand because it couldn't be anything more than that.

While acknowledging that she could be very oblivious about other people and their feelings, Azula felt that she wasn't wrong to assume that Yue liked her. Yue had invited her to a picnic with her daughter and her friends, and she had been acting very friendly and welcoming from the first moment their eyes had met. Most importantly, Yue was a confirmed bisexual. Even with her confidence at a serious low point, Azula wanted to believe that Yue might be interested in hooking up. At least, Yue was very kind and would never make fun of Azula or humiliate her, so Azula found herself feeling safe as she began to type a quick text to Yue.

Azula was nearly done with her awkward proposal to meet up, when doubts began to creep in with increasing vigor. Her horniness was surely eroding all rational thoughts if she thought that randomly hooking up with Yue was a good idea. Yue was currently at home, probably putting her daughter to bed. She had more important things to do than to satisfy Azula's raging need for physical stimulation. Besides, as a single mom who was struggling financially, Azula doubted that hooking up was really on Yue's mind. She was probably looking for an actual working relationship, something that could provide stability for herself and her daughter. Yue surely had no time for the neurotic mess that was Azula. Azula's fingertip quickly found the delete button, erasing the message she'd been ready to send.

Perhaps this is for the best, Azula thought to herself, even as she found herself gripped with bitter doubt and uncertainty. Perhaps it was unwise to reveal the secret of her homosexuality to even more people. Even if she trusted Yue not to hurt her, Azula couldn't imagine Yue keeping this from Katara and Suki, and then soon enough the entire restaurant would know the truth. It would then also give someone like Jet heavy ammunition to use against her, meaning that she would never be able to reveal the truth of his scheming without facing serious repercussions. No, it was best not to try and have some ill-advised last-minute affair with a sweet girl like Yue who deserved far better than someone as issue-riddled as Azula.

Sighing deeply, Azula returned to watching the crappy zombie slash fest. Someone next to her was already snoring, and it seemed as if Jet was the only one still awake way over at the other end of the sofa. Perhaps it was time for Azula to make her way back to the hotel and then once again try to quench the flame stoked within her, even if she had to do it all by herself. Azula was already resigned to this plan of action, when suddenly the notification on her phone dinged, alerting her of an incoming message. Azula quickly checked her phone, smiling when she saw a response from June.

Rising to quietly bid the others goodnight, Azula quickly snuck back downstairs, calling an Uber as she waited outside the restaurant. Luck hadn't completely abandoned her after all, and at least she was going to get her fix tonight.

Yue arrived early at the restaurant on what was a dreary September Tuesday for Caldera City. The past week had felt like a wild adventure out of this world, with Azula and Ozai visiting and trying to improve their little restaurant. Judging by the long faces of some of her friends, Yue was hardly the only one who felt sad about this adventure coming to an end. She doubted that anyone was going to miss Ozai Nakamura and his arrogant, rude and sometimes downright nasty ways, but the same certainly couldn't be said about his daughter. Azula had proved a much different person in real life than Yue had anticipated, and she was having real trouble accepting that after getting a glimpse past Azula's carefully curated mask, she would not be given the opportunity to take another look.

Yue was quick to admit that she had become quite fascinated by the walking and talking contradiction that was Azula Nakamura. Certainly, Yue had plenty of challenges in her own life that demanded constant attention, but for some reason, she had still ended up obsessing about all the issues that Azula was clearly dealing with, and the idea that they had only scratched the surface with everything that was going on with Azula utterly fascinated Yue. Yue had the tendency of gravitate towards caretaker and silent protector roles in her relationships, which was probably why she had become so taken with the neurotic mess that was Azula.

The feeling that she had sensed something like a tiny spark between herself and Azula only contributed to the feeling of sadness. As the whole group of friends sat down and waited for the arrival of Azula and Ozai to shoot the final farewell scenes, Yue spent this time wistfully wondering if perhaps she had missed an opportunity to become even closer with Azula. Having Azula's contact information was promising, but in case Azula would not answer, Yue was ready to exploit her connection to Azula through Kiyi, perhaps keeping touch with Azula that way.

Yue also had to wonder if they had completely missed something about Azula, or perhaps Azula was oblivious when it came to understanding herself, but at times Azula's behavior suggested that she was at least bi-curious. Perhaps Yue was completely off the mark with this speculation – and it wouldn't have been the first time when assumptions had led her astray – but she still felt like some of Azula's stares had implied attraction. It was these memories in particular that made Yue feel bitterness about possibly having wasted an opportunity. She recalled being unable to sleep late last night after putting Kya to bed. She had been rolling around in her bed until two in the morning, typing countless texts to Azula only to erase them all before sending. Come the morning, and the imminent farewells were making Yue curse her indecision and cowardice.

"They're here," Suki commented as she stood by the upstairs window, watching the car park. "Time to go and say our goodbyes."

"I guess we have to," Yue sighed, reluctantly getting up from the sofa.

"Cheer up, love," Katara smiled, trying to put on a brave face, even if Yue could see that Katara was miserable because of Azula's imminent departure, and Suki also wasn't her usual fount of cheerful determination. "We're going to stay in touch with her. We'll bombard her with texts so hard that she'll end up blocking us all."

"That sounds counterproductive to staying in touch," Sokka snorted, rolling his eyes.

"But very on brand for us as obsessed Azula Nakamura fangirls," Katara argued.

"You'll be over this whole fangirling in a couple of weeks," Jet laughed. "I know that for certain. That's why I'm not at all annoyed by your obsessing." Yue refrained from saying anything to that because she was quite certain that she wasn't going to forget Azula in a hurry, and also, she suspected that Jet was way more annoyed than he let on.

Ozai had initially intended to shoot the parting scenes outside of the renovated restaurant, but with the weather being unusually lousy, wind and rain pelting the windows, everyone ended up moving into the new and beautifully decorated dining room. Despite her downcast mood, Yue had to giggle every time she saw the 'for display purposes only' label that Ozai had placed on the lobster tank while giving them a long and tedious lecture about deceptive practices. At least Clawdius would now be able to enjoy his tank without constantly getting removed from it just to make the customers believe that he was about to get tossed into a pot of boiling water for their enjoyment.

Ozai then gave a short motivational speech while mostly facing the cameras, something that was supposed to inspire them to reach for greatness with all the valuable tools he had given them. Yue didn't really listen to the pep talk. She had seen enough episodes of the Kitchen Nightmares to have heard it all before. Instead, she kept shooting wistful glances at Azula again and again. Azula looked beautiful as always, wearing a black trench coat. She appeared to have gone unusually light on the makeup, which made her look a little different, but certainly no less beautiful. Given how sad Azula looked, Yue wondered whether that was a strategic decision in case she ended up crying.

Following his speech, Ozai proceeded to say farewells to the staff, shaking the hands of all the guys and smooching the cheeks of all the girls that he generously considered not to be 'uggos', or at least that was the prevailing explanation for his sexist ways. Given his rude dismissal of Toph for the sexy bikini car wash, Yue was ready to throw hands if Ozai ended up insulting her friend again, but apparently when it came to kissing, Toph ended up passing the muster of Ozai's standards. Just like Yue, Katara and Suki, Toph didn't look particularly happy about getting cheek kisses from Ozai Nakamura, though. Ozai then left the restaurant together with the camera crew, leaving Azula to say her farewells in private.

Azula began by shaking hands with Jet. There were no words exchanged between the two of them, but Yue could still see that Azula's entire posture radiated tension, and perhaps even some slight hostility. Yue wasn't sure what to make of that reaction. Certainly, Jet's behavior as of late had been rather frustrating, what with all the schemes he had pitched to Ozai Nakamura. Still, Yue felt like Katara had already adequately punished her boyfriend by needling him with her fangirling over Azula. There didn't seem to be any reason for Azula to feel so antagonistic towards a guy she was unlikely to meet again.

Azula then exchanged perfectly polite farewells with Toph and Aang. "I hope that Katara and Sokka will find ways for you to contribute without asking you to microwave most of their food," Azula told Toph before turning to Aang. "Keep it up with the vegetarian lifestyle, Air Nation, and best of luck if you decide to go full vegan."

"Thanks," Aang grinned broadly. "I'm going to give it my best shot!" Azula smiled briefly before moving on to Sokka.

"I really hope you'll stick with the new menu," Azula said, shaking Sokka's hand. "Don't get discouraged if you fail to master it right away. And if it's still not working out after a couple of weeks, don't turn to blaming the new menu for that. Maybe consider some other changes around the kitchen."

"I'll think about that," Sokka replied. He wasn't looking very happy at that comment, though. At first, Yue wasn't too sure what Azula had alluded to with her words, but then she realized that perhaps it had been a veiled suggestion that Suki deserved to be given a go as the head chef. It didn't surprise Yue that Sokka wasn't taking that suggestion well. "Anyway, thank you for everything you've done for us, Azula," Sokka then said, managing a genuine smile.

"Just make good use of my advice and I'll be happy," Azula said, moving on to Suki. The pair shook hands, even if Suki looked very tempted to just give Azula a massive hug. "You really impressed me this past week, you know. One day, I'll have a fine dining restaurant myself, or even a chain like my father. If these louts don't appreciate your talents, just drop me a line and I'll find you a job at one of my kitchens."

"That sounds great," Suki laughed, smiling gratefully. "Did you hear that, Sokka? You better appreciate me right, or else Azula is going to poach me."

"Yeah, yeah," Sokka grumbled, bumping his shoulder against Suki's. "Point taken, although I'm surprised you don't feel appreciated after last night-"

"Shut up!" Suki exclaimed, red-faced. "That's not for the others to know!" she added to the laughter of their friends.

"Yes, please, spare us the details," Azula sighed, moving on to Katara and taking her hand. Katara also appeared to be struggling against the instinct to give Azula a mighty hug, but Yue figured that Katara probably didn't want to make Jet even more jealous than he already was. "I really enjoyed working with you. It's not often I get to work with an owner who doesn't fight me at every turn," Azula said. "Your strength is working the front of the house, and I hope you'll put it to good use. Also," Azula leaned in closer to speak quietly, but Yue was near enough to be able to overhear. "Please, talk to Jet about ordering food from national wholesalers. Every restaurant does so for a reason."

"Thank you, Azula. I'll remember everything you said," Katara promised solemnly. It looked like Katara had plenty more that she wanted to say to Azula, but a lump in her throat made it hard for her to speak. "I'll never forget y-… what you did for us," she eventually managed before resolutely turning away. Yue didn't need to see her friend's face to imagine tears running down Katara's cheeks.

"You're a really good waitress, Yue," Azula said, after she had very reluctantly walked away from Katara. "You're so good with people. All you need is a bit more confidence to handle the occasional jerk and you're going to rule the front of the house. I know you can do it."

"Thanks," Yue smiled, starting to tear up. "I'm going to miss you so much," she exclaimed, feeling no hesitation as she threw her arms around a slightly surprised Azula and pulling her in for a hug. "Let's stay in touch, please?" Yue whispered into Azula's ear.

"Yes, we… we can do that," Azula managed. She had been hesitant to hug Yue back, but now Yue felt Azula's hands gingerly settling on her back as the Fire Nation girl buried her face in Yue's shoulder. "I should have-" Azula began to say quietly, only to be interrupted by a very impatient sounding car horn. Yue could feel a panicked jolt coursing through Azula as she immediately broke off the embrace, looking a little terrified as she muttered a quiet apology before dashing outside.

Yue and her friend all rushed after Azula, waving her final farewells as she got into her father's car, but not before facing them one last time and waving briefly. Then she climbed into the car and Ozai immediately started the engine to take them both away, pulling out of the car park.

"Well, I guess that's that," Sokka spoke up, looking relieved and relaxed for the first time in days. "See, I was right in thinking that Ozai Nakamura would prove to be the bigger man who holds no grudges. All this time I was panicking for no reason, worried that he might want to exact revenge on me for the burning accident."

As Sokka was talking, however, instead of driving off, Ozai suddenly and unexpectedly put the car in reverse before driving straight over Sokka's unfortunate left foot. Sokka howled in pain as Ozai opened the car window to lean out and give him the middle finger. "And that's for burning my hand, you asshole!" Ozai shouted before driving off, this time for real.

"Well, I have no idea what just happened," Toph spoke in a deadpan voice. "But judging by Sokka's screaming, I'm going to guess that Ozai Nakamura holds grudges after all."

Chapter Text

This time, I'm back in Caldera City, where The Northern Lights restaurant is in trouble. Twenty years ago, Hakoda Enuaraq, a hard-working Water Tribes immigrant opened the restaurant together with his wife. The restaurant enjoyed some initial success and continued to thrive even through the tragedy that befell the Enuaraq family.

After Hakoda lost his wife some ten years ago, he brought in his children to help. The restaurant continued to prosper, but then, four years ago, Hakoda Enuaraq moved back to the Water Tribes for personal reasons, leaving the restaurant to his two children, Sokka and Katara.

Ever since then, The Northern Lights has been on a rough downward slide. With the siblings struggling to step into the shoes of their parents and spending more time arguing and fighting than doing actual work, it will be up to me and Azula to try and make this stubborn pair of misguided owners see the light, set their differences aside and save the family business.

Katara sighed heavily, having watched Ozai Nakamura's introductory narration to the episode focusing on The Northern Lights. Katara already knew that Ozai was going to present her and Sokka as responsible for all the problems at the restaurant, and while she was only happy to take the fall for the issues that actually were her fault, Katara knew that Ozai's deceptive editing would make her and Sokka appear so much worse than they actually were. Still, Katara had agreed that for the sake of boosting the restaurant's popularity, she would make this personal sacrifice. Now, on a late November Sunday evening, as Katara and her friends gathered in the hangout space above the restaurant to watch the episode premiering on TV, Katara started to suspect that she might regret her decision to go along with the farce of Ozai Nakamura's storytelling.

"This is going to be rough to watch, isn't it?" Sokka also sighed as they watched the first few scenes of Ozai and Azula arriving at the restaurant. Seeing Azula on the screen caused an unexpectedly bitter sensation in Katara's chest that actually startled her. As Katara had expected, keeping in touch with Azula had proven difficult. Katara herself worked very long hours and often did not have the time to look at her phone for many hours straight. Azula seemed to be even busier, worryingly overworking herself just to please her demanding father. Also, Azula was traveling all over the world and they were often in completely incompatible time zones that made staying in touch difficult. It was no wonder that they had largely fallen out of touch, much to Katara's disappointment.

"Well, we already knew that," Katara replied to her brother. "The only question is how bad is he going to make us look."

"Probably really bad," Sokka snorted. "I don't think he likes me very much, not even after flattening my foot with his bloody Lexus."

Following the scenes of Ozai making disparaging comments about the restaurant's décor, it was time for Ozai and Azula to be introduced to the owners. Katara already knew that Ozai was going to make good use of the awkward moment when both she and Sokka had stated that they were the ones in charge, and then they had both bickered with Sokka saying that Katara was more like the head waitress, and Katara shooting back that Sokka was just a chef. Ozai really capitalized on this moment to exaggerate how terrible their sibling relationship was and how the main problem at the restaurant was the clash of their massive egos.

"I wonder if he's going to show himself being incredibly rude and mean to me," Yue wondered as they watched Ozai and Azula sitting down to try the food and make comments about the restaurant's bloated menu.

"Only if he was being mean in a funny way, I guess," Toph commented, keeping up with the events of the episode as Aang helped to fill in the gaps for her.

"No, he cut those comments out," Yue said a while later. "He's such a coward beneath all that fake swagger, isn't he?"

"I don't know about that, but I think it was a really entertaining food tasting part of the show," Jet chuckled. "Say what you want about the man, and I certainly have no love for Ozai Nakamura, but holding that bowl of risotto over Azula's head was a stroke of genius. It would have been even better if it had dribbled down into her hair."

"No, it wouldn't have!" Suki protested, punching Jet in the shoulder. "What a terrible thing to say! Did you not see how terrified Azula looked in that scene? I feel so sorry for her." Katara obviously agreed with Suki, but she didn't want to say anything and make it seem like they were ganging up on Jet. Her relationship with Jet seemed to have improved slightly, but it was still occasionally rocky and Katara was not looking to start some drama over Azula. Jet had been acting all jealous and insecure for a couple of weeks after Azula had left and Katara had no desire to go through that yet again.

"Suki is right, and besides, Ozai wouldn't show something that would make it look like he's humiliating his own daughter," Yue added, also looking upset. Because they had agreed to share everything when it came to being a part of Azula Nakamura's fan club, Katara knew that neither Yue nor Suki had enjoyed more success keeping in touch with Azula, but Yue seemed to be taking it a little bit harder than Katara or Suki. At least, Yue had an extra avenue of communication through Kiyi, who was by now Yue's primary and most trusted babysitter, but Kiyi herself seemed to be having trouble consistently reaching Azula. Also, Kiyi had lately began stopping by at the restaurant at least once per week, with Katara and Suki always making sure to interrogate her for any Azula related news.

Once the segment of Ozai and Azula tasting the food was over, it was time for the scenes of them visiting the cooks in the kitchen, where Ozai did some half-hearted yelling at Sokka before leaving the restaurant in disgust. Ozai's narration once again kicked in to the scenes of him driving off, making several nasty comments about the food and comparing it unfavorably to the worst of fast-food slop.

"I still think he exaggerated how bad the food was," Sokka snorted. "Also, I notice how he cut out tasting some of the items that were actually good. I mean, we know for a fact that he liked the sausage."

"I don't think he had to exaggerate anything about that risotto," Jet pointed out.

"Whatever," Sokka rolled his eyes. "Asshole," he then added quietly.

The show then continued with the scenes from the dinner service on the first day of Ozai and Azula's visit, with Ozai observing and making plenty of scathing comments. With many customer complaints and dishes frequently being returned to the kitchen, there was plenty of footage for Ozai to choose from, and he had made sure to select some particularly embarrassing moments, including highly unflattering customer comments that made Katara's cheeks burn with shame.

"The way this is presented is so mean-spirited," Aang sighed, sounding very depressed. "I really don't like this at all. I know we had some complaints, but I still think most of our customers were happy even before the restaurant overhaul."

"You're so thin-skinned, Twinkletoes," Toph laughed. "You all are. It's like everyone except for Jet didn't know what kind of show the Kitchen Nightmares was. It's there to bash you for the amusement of the audience, right? It's like a freak show with the hope that the curious viewers will then flock to see whether the freaks have improved."

"We'll see how thick your skin is when Ozai gets around to bashing your microwaves," Suki pointed out.

"Anyone saying bad things about my babies will be in for a world of hurt!" Toph exclaimed, immediately sounding very defensive.

Katara felt terrible about the fact that they had held out only for a couple of weeks before bringing back the microwaves. As time passed, the kitchen had still struggled to keep up with the tickets because Ozai had increased the number of seats. While Suki rarely complained openly, Katara sensed that she was becoming more and more frustrated with Sokka's excuses of how he was still finding it hard to get used to the new kitchen equipment. Suki didn't seem to have any such problems, and seeing this, Katara had dared to suggest that Suki and Sokka swap places in the kitchen.

Sokka's dramatic response to that suggestion more or less ensured that Katara was never going to bring it up again. After being told off for sticking her nose where it didn't belong, Sokka had then dramatically announced that he would sooner walk out of the restaurant than surrender the reins in the kitchen. Katara and Suki had both been mad for weeks after that argument, but they had also been forced to back off. Sensing that he had gotten his way, Sokka then brought back the basement microwave station, although fortunately in a limited capacity and only to pitch in with some of the items that were slowing them down when cooking fresh. Unfortunately, Katara and Yue had to immediately deal with some less than happy customers as a result of their meal having been microwaved.

"I'm guessing the moment of Ozai discovering the microwaving station will be next," Yue guessed.

"I think there's more stuff from the dinner service to cover," Jet pointed out as they watched some particularly deceptive edits that were supposed to demonstrate the terrible lack of communication between Katara and Sokka.

"By the spirits," Yue gasped after she had watched the scene. "I remember that moment! Sokka wasn't even talking to you at that point, Kat! He was asking me about my messy handwriting on a ticket I brought up to the window."

"I know, I don't remember us having this conversation," Katara said, shaking her head as she watched a shot of herself standing still and staring off into the distance, as if being in a world of her own and apparently not listening to Sokka. "Where is that shot from, I wonder?" she asked. "I don't believe I had a moment of time to stop and look like a silly lost sheep during that entire service."

"I don't think you were even in the kitchen in that shot!" Aang said. "That was a really bad edit, or maybe they just didn't have anything better to make you look lazy."

"That looked like it was a shot from your office, Kat," Jet spoke, agreeing with Aang. "I guess one of those cameramen must have snuck up on you between services because Ozai needed a shot where you were being idle."

"Sounds about right," Katara sighed. "Great, now everyone will think that I'm both lazy and stupid."

"Oh, boo-hoo, that's so much worse than people thinking I can't cook," Sokka grumbled.

"Well, I'm sure you proved all of them wrong by bringing back the microwaves," Jet cut in, prompting some chuckles.

"Alright, do you want a fight, asshole?" Sokka challenged, causing the chuckles to instantly die down. "Because I'll be happy to kick your ass."

"Nobody is going to fight here, let's make that clear," Katara spoke with as much authority as she could muster, happy to see Suki nodding to back her up. Katara wasn't happy about Jet making that comment, but she had to admit that Sokka had kind of walked into that savagery, and it wasn't even undeserved.

"Also, could you all kindly shut up so that I can listen to the show?" Toph asked, sounding annoyed as she looked anxious for the microwave drama to come up next. Toph didn't have to wait much longer. Of course, the scenes were once again heavily edited to make it appear as if Ozai himself had discovered the microwaving station, after which he then spent several minutes angrily ranting about it. Almost all of Toph's responses had been edited out much to her annoyance. Katara suspected that it was because she had given Ozai plenty of lip and obviously Ozai didn't want to show a blind Earth Kingdom girl giving him attitude.

Next part of the episode focused on Ozai creating and implementing solutions to fix the restaurant. Once again, Azula's input was very much marginalized and her onscreen appearances limited, something that Katara found hugely annoying. While Azula was shown teaching Sokka and Suki the new menu, the menu itself was still being presented like Ozai's creation and Katara was sure that Azula would be deeply unhappy about that.

Ozai also made sure to devote a lot of time to the scripted melodrama of fixing the sibling relationship which featured all the sappy scenes that Katara and Sokka had been forced to act out. Now that they knew what kind of man Ozai Nakamura truly was, seeing him act as their relationship manager felt very gross to Katara, even if it was all completely staged. It felt so wrong to see herself on the screen admitting that she had become too power hungry and allowed the position of ownership to go to her head, and then seeing Sokka say something very similar. It was all so far from the real problems besetting the restaurant that the fakeness of it all felt almost funny in a way.

"So, that's how relationship manager Ozai Nakamura solves problems between siblings," Suki chuckled as they were watching the lengthy segment with Ozai and the owners. "He forced you to make some reindeer sausages from the scratch. If only that worked so well with real issues, right?"

"I think it would have been even more fun if Ozai had made you two actually hunt down a reindeer," Toph chuckled.

"Ugh, let's not go there," Aang winced. "I don't want to think about Sokka and Katara slaughtering an innocent animal."

"You know that both Sokka and my dad are avid hunters, right?" Katara sighed. "And I know how to handle almost any game animal, including reindeer, because I've actually done it together with… my mom," she hesitated a little towards the end, noticing Sokka shooting her a quick sympathetic glance. Time had worked its healing magic over the past ten years, but the hurt was never going to fade away completely. Katara was by now fully convinced of that.

"Anyway, I just want to know one thing," Toph spoke up again. "Did Ozai actually show you making the sausages from scratch? I want to know if he showed you stuffing those sausage casings. I imagine it kind of looks like putting a condom on, am I right?"

"Yeah, he showed Katara stuffing some sausages," Suki snorted, sounding amused despite Katara shooting her an annoyed look of betrayal.

"Hey, Jet, would you say that Katara's technique there looked familiar?" Toph laughed. She was clearly having a ball with this line of questioning.

"Don't you dare," Katara spoke up quickly when she saw Jet opening his mouth to answer.

"I was just going to say no comment," Jet smirked at her.

"Aw, spoilsport," Toph sighed. "I'm just going to assume that Katara is pretty skilled at handling a sausage and leave it at that."

"Yes, let's move on from this disturbing line of questioning," Sokka groaned as they watched the scenes of Katara and Sokka cooking a sausage dish together. Once they were done and Ozai had declared their effort to be acceptable and indicative of their improving relationship, Katara and Sokka then used the teleprompter to read some sappy and generic lines about how despite their constant arguing deep down they loved each other and agreed to set their differences aside for the sake of both the restaurant and family. The two siblings were then shown embracing with Ozai's narration cutting in as he declared that the fake rift between Sokka and Katara had been healed by his ridiculous farce.

"I can't believe we spent almost six minutes on this bullshit personal drama," Suki snorted as the episode was interrupted for an ad break. "It's so annoying because so many more interesting things end up getting cut for drama that only appeals to old geriatrics."

"I'm sure Ozai has his bullshit focus groups that are telling him to stick with the drama," Jet shrugged. "Old geriatrics probably make for a huge part of the viewership."

"You're probably right," Sokka admitted reluctantly. "I'm just glad that he didn't show me burning his hand. Although, I suppose he could still deceptively edit it in someplace later."

"He's not going to do that," Jet shook his head. "Don't you remember that hilarious squeal he let out when he grabbed the hot handle? If Ozai were to show that, people would never stop laughing at him."

"And I still have it on my phone," Aang said. "I think that's where it's going to stay. If we were to post it online, Ozai would probably have us all killed when he comes to revisit the restaurant."

"Yes, let's not make Ozai Nakamura even more mad than Sokka already did," Yue agreed as the episode resumed once again, now moving on with the reveal of the renovations carried out at the restaurant.

Ozai was absolutely milking the whole thing, patting himself on the shoulder for his generosity, but Katara couldn't really hold it against the man. They were all very grateful for the investment Ozai had made, especially in the kitchen. Sure, Sokka still occasionally complained about the new equipment and how it was slowing him down, but on this matter, Katara trusted Suki's opinion more, and Suki claimed that the new equipment was working like a charm. Katara felt that Sokka's criticisms about the rest of the renovations had more merit. It seemed that in some places, Ozai's crew had used very cheap materials and made rushed repairs, so already two months after the renovations, Sokka was forced to now and then take care of some crumbling plaster here and there.

"Don't tell me he's actually going to show himself using dynamite to blow up my poor microwaves," Toph sighed as the proud showcase of the restaurant renovations came to an end. "I can't believe he had a permit to do that."

"I think being a billionaire is the same as having a permit for almost anything," Yus sighed bitterly. "Probably including murder."

"Agreed," Jet nodded. "Anyway, he wouldn't have done it if he thought he couldn't show it. Besides, that whole scene has exactly the kind of big dick energy that Ozai is always trying to project."

"Forget the microwaves, I'm still sad about our poor seal," Katara sighed, watching Ozai laugh gleefully as he placed a stick of dynamite right on top of the poor seal of approval. "I would say that we need to bring the seal back, but I don't want to do it before the revisit. That would just make Chef Ozai really mad."

"Yes! Let's bring back the seal!" Yue exclaimed happily, jumping on the idea as they watched the pyramid made from about a dozen microwaves explode in a shower of bent metal and plastic. Katara had felt so surreal while hiding behind the barrier and shielding herself from the blast, and watching the scene on the TV screen brought that feeling right back.

Katara was then confronted with a very different kind of surreal and also deeply embarrassing feelings, when the show continued with scenes from their sexy bikini car wash ahead of the restaurant relaunch. Katara had figured that Ozai would probably only show a select few scenes from the whole embarrassing event, so she was utterly shocked when the gratuitous display of sexy female bodies barely covered by the skimpy bikinis and dripping with soapy foam and water lasted for almost two minutes, ensuring that by the end of the segment, Katara's face was burning red hot from having watched some very revealing angles of all four of them.

"I swear, Suki, I was only looking at you this whole time," Sokka squeaked unconvincingly after the near-pornographic display finally came to an end.

"Did they just show the bikini car wash?" Toph asked, sounding both amused and intrigued. "I feel like Sokka protests way too much," she continued, having received a quick confirmation from Aang. "That must have been fun watching your little sister shaking her ass for the cameras. Can I get away with an incest joke without getting fired?"

"No!" Katara and Sokka both yelled at once, desperate to silence Toph.

"I thought you looked seriously hot during that shoot, babe," Jet gave her a hungry stare. "Obviously, I only had eyes for you."

"Obviously," Katara snorted.

"Well, I wasn't looking at all. It would have been disrespectful," Aang stated. Katara knew for sure that he had at least taken a few peeks because his entire face was beet red.

"We really should have simply refused to do it," Yue groaned. "What were we thinking?"

"Ah, come on," Suki smiled, squeezing Yue's shoulder supportively. "It wasn't that bad. What's the harm in it, really? Besides, we looked absolutely hot and we pretty much stole the entire episode with this segment."

"That may be true, but Suki, you're going to be stuck in the safety of the kitchen, while I'll be out there, interacting with the customers and getting to hear all their comments. It's going to get very old very quickly," Yue sighed.

"Well, if anyone dares to be a disrespectful jerk to you about it, just tell me and I'll do horrible things to them with my carving knife," Suki promised.

"And I'll help, too," Katara nodded. Having seen scenes from the sexy car wash, Katara felt so embarrassed that she was tempted to stay away from the front of the house for the next couple of months. But hearing Yue's legitimate concerns, Katara immediately realized that she couldn't leave Yue hanging out to dry all by herself. Shared embarrassment would hopefully be embarrassment lessened in this case.

"Is anyone else slightly concerned by how many closeups of Azula's tits and ass there were?" Sokka asked a while later. "It just feels really uncomfortable that Ozai would use his own daughter like that."

"I think you're overreacting," Jet shrugged. "It's not like Ozai is editing this himself."

"Yeah, but he clearly has a say of what goes in and what doesn't, so it's all probably done at his request," Sokka argued.

"I never got a sense that there could be more to it than him just wanting to exploit Azula's looks," Suki said decisively.

"I agree with Suki, and I also think we should not continue this line of conversation. It makes me really uncomfortable," Katara spoke insistently. Yue turned towards Katara, shooting her a quick and grateful smile.

The show soon entered its final stretch to show the immediate benefit of the changes implemented by Ozai Nakamura. The disastrous service of the restaurant relaunch was edited extensively to make it appear smooth and flawless. All of Azula's contributions were cut to instead show that Sokka and Suki were ably coping all by themselves. The same approach was applied to the chaos in the dining room, cutting all the customer complaints about their waiting times. Katara was particularly annoyed by the focus on Kuei Faon and his group, as if pleasing the mayor of Ba Sing Se had been the goal of the entire episode. Perhaps an endorsement from a celebrity was nothing to scoff at, but given that Kuei was an Earth Kingdom elite, Katara wasn't sure how much that endorsement actually mattered. She supposed that presenting the changes to the restaurant as a success story was a positive thing, but the spin with which it was done still left Katara with a sour taste in her mouth.

Of course, Jet's fight with the debt collectors also made it into the final cut of the episode, much to Jet's delight. Katara had to admit that the scripted brawl at least had some comedy value and they all got a good laugh from seeing Jet pushed into the trash cans by his buddies.

"I can't believe that you got to declare victory in a fight after getting shoved into a garbage can," Sokka snorted as they watched Jet picking himself up and then chasing Longshot and Pipsqueak down the back alley after his friends had decided that for some reason, they were suddenly outmatched. Ozai's narration was especially hilarious, making Jet appear like some kind of a hero from bygone age who had just slain a dragon while defending the castle with a beautiful princess.

"It must have been my fierce and intimidating presence," Jet replied smoothly, probably thinking himself incredibly suave.

"Of course," Suki laughed. "There was a banana peel stuck to your pants when you were chasing Pipsqueak and Longshot. Very intimidating."

A few minutes later, the episode finally came to an end with Ozai and Azula parting with the staff and leaving The Northern Lights. Obviously, the scene of Ozai driving over Sokka's foot and causing some painful hairline fractures was also cut because even rich assholes like Ozai Nakamura did not want to open themselves up to a potential lawsuit. The final scenes of the episode saw Ozai's Lexus driving away accompanied by his narration.

Our time at The Northern Lights has come to an end. During the past week, Azula and I did everything we could to overturn the fortunes of this ailing family business, but whether it succeeds or not, will be up to the young sibling owners of the restaurant. If they can keep a lid on their bickering and stop being at each other's throats all the time, they have all the tools needed for success at their disposal. Instead of fighting, Sokka and Katara would do well to listen to their dedicated staff, hard-working and loyal employees like Jeb Patel. I remain hopeful that the owners will use their potential to succeed, but it will be down to Sokka and Katara to wisely put in all the necessary work so that on my return visit, they are met with my… seal of approval. Ozai's narrative briefly cut out as the camera panned over to the smoldering remains of the wooden seal of restaurant's former logo. A fucking seal giving thumbs up? What will these donkeys think of next? And with that, the credits began to roll, signaling the end of the episode.

"Is it over? It sounds like it's over," Toph was the first to speak up. "It seemed like a fun episode with lots going on. Even if I threw up in my mouth a little from all the brownnosing Jet must have done with Chef Ozai."

"You're just jealous, little dumpling," Jet chuckled. "Anyway, I agree that it was a really fun and engaging episode. I'm giving it twenty minutes before it starts trending in a big way on all the social media."

"I guess I'm the only one who didn't enjoy that," Aang sighed. "I get why we needed something like that. And all the renovations will help a lot, I'm sure. Also, Azula had some really good advice for the kitchen. But it was still hard to watch when it was presented in such a way, you know?"

"Yeah, I do know," Suki nodded. "I guess I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, though, so I'm not like… shocked about the way it was presented. Okay, I was a little surprised by the whole sexy bikini car wash, that was not something I expected. But eh, I think the good will outweigh the bad, right? We have to believe that."

"I want to think so as well, Suki," Yue said. "And if it's for the good of the restaurant, then I'm willing to tolerate all the inevitable customer comments about how I should lose my waitress uniform and instead serve them while wearing that bikini from the car wash," Yue added with a sigh.

"Yes, that's not going to be fun," Katara sighed. "It definitely didn't feel good to be presented in such a light. I really feel like hiding for the next month or so."

"Yeah, same here," Sokka groaned. "I'm hunkering down in the kitchen for the next month. I was hoping for some kind of a redemption arc as a cook, but at the end of the episode, I think most viewers will still think that I suck at my job."

"And most viewers will come away thinking that I'm a dumb slut with a massive ego who's also a terrible sister," Katara frowned. "I guess we might not quite reach the infamy of Amy's Baking Company, but that's a small comfort."

"You're really overreacting," Jet said, shaking his head. "There's no bad publicity, remember? Also, guys will just flock to the restaurant now, hoping to meet the sexy owner, the sexy waitress and the sexy sous-chef. Speaking of which, Suki, you should consider making more appearances in the dining room."

"Sure," Suki smirked. "Next you'll suggest that I also get myself a new and sexy chef's jacket. Or maybe a chef's bikini," she added, laughing.

"Of course, Jet would say that," Katara sighed. "Did you know that he actually ordered the Cooking in the Nude book series thinking that it was porn involving food?"

"You promised not to tell that story!" Jet gasped, looking shocked. "Betrayed by my own girlfriend!"

"Whatever, you're such a dork," Katara snorted, even as she was already browsing the social media sites, trying to see if Azula had posted some kind of reaction to the episode. Considering Azula's investment, Katara was absolutely certain that she must have been watching the premiere, although it was also entirely possible that Azula would have been privy to some early screenings.

Katara couldn't spot any activity on Azula's social media, so she decided to try her luck with a quick text. "Did you watch the premiere?" Katara typed quickly. "I'm pretty upset right now."

"Me too," Azula replied faster than ever before. She had clearly been watching the episode as it aired. "I only got a screen time of 9 minutes and 37 seconds in a 45-minute-long episode. I think my father hates me."

Katara stared at her phone display, not sure how to react to that statement. Of course, Azula would have thought of that first and foremost. "I'm sorry to hear that. I thought your scenes were very nice," Katara replied. "I'm upset about how stupid and clueless the show made me appear."

There was a pause in conversation that made Katara wonder if Azula had become distracted by something else, but then she saw the notification that Azula was typing. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew that would happen," was all Azula said.

"I suppose I did, but it still hurt to see," Katara replied.

"The people who matter know you're not stupid, Katara," Azula wrote back. "I only started to get to know you, and I know that you're very smart and hard-working." Katara felt her face becoming very warm as she read Azula's latest text.

"That's very sweet," Katara wrote back. "Thank you for making me feel better." She contemplated adding a heart emoji to her text. In the end, Katara actually went for three hearts. Azula didn't reply for a while, making Katara worry that maybe she'd scared Azula off for some reason. "Anyway, I hope the episode will blow up and you'll get the recognition you deserve," she decided to try and continue the conversation.

"Thank you," Azula replied quickly. "How is the restaurant doing, by the way?" Katara cringed as she read Azula's question. She had been fearing Azula asking about the restaurant. They had gone back to several of their bad habits and Katara knew that Azula would be very angry if she found out. And even if Azula wasn't really someone who was a part of her life, Katara still desperately did not want to lie to her. "Please tell me that you will at least survive until my father revisits in the summer," Azula texted after Katara had failed to come up with an acceptable answer. "If you close the doors before then, I'll come to Caldera and hunt all of you down one by one."

"Are you texting with Azula?" Yue asked, making Katara snap out of her phone conversation.

"Yes, sorry," Katara replied quickly, blushing when she realized that she had completely missed out on the past few minutes of the conversation between her friends.

"What is she saying?" Suki asked, sounding very curious.

"Can I tell you after we're done texting, please?" Katara replied, trying to quickly refocus on Azula's latest text. Azula was threatening to hunt down and kill every one of them. For some reason, Katara felt weirdly into that idea, perhaps only because at least then she'd get to see Azula again. "Is that a promise?" she sent her reply, then mentally slapping herself when she realized that maybe she was being inappropriately flirty and it was scaring off the straight girl Azula.

Katara had to do a double take when a few seconds later, instead of texting, Azula was calling her. "Oops, sorry, I have to take this," Katara quickly jumped up from the sofa and stepped a little to the side, accompanied by the curious stares of her friends.

"Is that Azula?" Yue gasped, giving Katara an excited stare.

"Put her on the speakers," Suki said, looking hopeful. The others were all nodding in approval of that idea, even if Katara herself was not very keen to do that.

"I don't want to scare her off or something, you know how twitchy she can be," Katara explained hastily when all she wanted to do was to answer Azula's call. "I'll tell you everything later," she added, before finally accepting the call. "Hi!" Katara exclaimed in a voice that was several pitches higher than her normal voice. "I mean… hello, Azula, and how are you?" she coughed, having made sure to temper her excitement and get her voice back to normal volume.

"Hey, I'm fine, but never mind that," Azula said. "I am calling because I wanted to make sure you're not mad at me. And also, because I want to know how the restaurant is doing."

"Why would I be mad at you?" Katara asked, surprised.

"Well, you said that you were upset after watching the episode," Azula replied. "I just wanted to remind you that I have no influence over the way these episodes are edited. If my father allowed me to have more input, I would have made sure I had more screen time than this."

"Don't worry, I understand all of that," Katara spoke softly. "It's fine, really. I'm sorry you didn't get more screen time."

"Well, it is what it is," Azula said in a voice that suggested she was more hurt by it than she let on. "Anyway, I want to know all about the restaurant," Azula spoke in a firm and insistent voice, her words making Katara wince. "Please, tell me that you're at least breaking even by now."

"We are definitely a lot closer to breaking even than ever before," Katara said. She wasn't going to lie to Azula, and this wasn't technically a lie. "We had a couple of weeks where we were only like two or three hundred short of breaking even. That's not bad, right?"

"Well, it's not good, either," Azula sighed. "I'm concerned. Please, at least tell me that you've kept all the changes."

"Oh yes, we certainly have," Katara said, again speaking the truth. "All the dishes you put on the menu are still there, and everyone loves them."

"And how many items from the old menu have you added back by this point?" Azula asked pointedly. "Katara?" she asked again when Katara struggled to figure out how to answer in order to lessen Azula's ire.

"Oh, damn," Yue groaned, looking up at her from the sofa. "I would love nothing more than for Azula to call me, but if she's just going to chew me out about the restaurant stuff… suddenly I'm relieved that she called Kat."

"Remember, you don't have to tell her anything," Jet spoke up, frowning. "We don't owe her or Ozai any favors."

"I hate to say it, but Jet is right," Sokka shrugged. "They helped us, sure, but what we do with their help is for us to decide."

"We have added a few items back to the menu, yes," Katara reluctantly admitted.

"They always do," Azula sighed. "How many?"

"I honestly don't know, Azula. I don't really handle the menu," Katara cringed. It was technically the truth, but she knew that the number of dishes they had added back to the menu was between twenty and thirty. The absolute majority of these additions were done at Sokka and Jet's insistence, but Katara had also added quite a few, after hearing the complaints of some of the customers when they could no longer find their favorite meal on the new menu. Katara's soft heart had caved after Auntie Ashuna had cried about no longer being able to order cod poached in milk, and she had promised to call Kanna in Cape Kuruk to complain about this injustice. Katara and Sokka had both been terrified about this threat and they had instantly put all of Auntie Ashuna's favorite meals back on the menu.

"I see," Azula spoke curtly, sounding displeased. "Is Toph still at the restaurant, and what is she doing these days?"

"She's… okay, fine, she's microwaving some of the stuff," Katara sighed. "But we only have a few microwaves now. And we're microwaving far less stuff, I promise."

"Of course, you're microwaving stuff," Azula snorted. "It wouldn't be possible to handle an expanded menu if you weren't microwaving some of the dishes. Why are you doing this to yourself, Katara?"

"I… I don't know," Katara admitted. "No, actually I do know. The first couple of weeks after you left were rough, but we wrote it off to Suki and Sokka getting used to the new menu and equipment. But then they got into the gear and everything was running at what I would call peak efficiency. And yet, we were still a couple of hundred short from break-even point even during the weeks that felt really good and busy."

"I see. You thought that this was as good as it gets, but because it wasn't good enough, you panicked and started to make changes, but all you did was to dig yourself deeper in the shit," Azula remarked. Katara thought that Azula's voice sounded a little odd. It was like all the annoyance had gone out of it, and instead she sounded guilty for some reason. "Of course… I should have known that this would happen," Azula added, now sounding deeply regretful.

"What do you think we should do?" Katara asked desperately. She hated disappointing Azula, but at the same time, she was confused about the way Azula was reacting to the news.

"You should try to limit your losses as much as you can and try to survive until the summer when my father comes for a revisit," Azula replied.

"Okay… and what do you think will happen during the revisit?" Katara asked, her confusion only growing. "Your father will have some kind of amazing suggestion that will magically fix everything?"

"What? Yes… yes, I think that help is on its way," Azula replied, sounding rather evasive. "You just need to hold out a few more months, okay? Please, promise me that you'll try to survive for as long as you can. And don't even think about deceiving me. Remember, I can always send my spy into the restaurant to dig up the truth. Kiyi will happily accept being my eyes and ears."

"You don't have to ask her that, I'm giving it to you straight, Azula. And obviously, we're doing everything we can to hold on," Katara replied nervously. Azula was acting very strangely and Katara couldn't explain it.

"If I find out that you are moving even further away from all the changes we made, I'm going to show up to personally kick your ass, and trust me, you don't want that," Azula said.

"Actually, I kind of do want that," Katara blurted out before her brain could cut in and stop her treacherous tongue. "Azula, I-" she continued quietly when Azula fell silent on the other end of the line.

"I, uh… I need to go," Azula finally spoke up. "Good luck, Katara. With everything." Then she disconnected the call, leaving Katara standing there, seriously rattled by the entire conversation.

"What did she say?" Yue asked, looking up at Katara with her eyes wide with excitement. "What did she say, what did she say?" she repeated demandingly while Katara was stuck processing the slightly confusing call.

"Yes, Katara, what did your girlfriend say?" Sokka asked teasingly, obviously doing his best to annoy Jet. Jet's response was to chuck a cigarette butt at Katara's brother, hitting him on the chin.

"Well, that was weird," Katara said. "Maybe together we can make sense of this. After I admitted that we have gone back to some of our old ways-"

"Because we're a bunch of idiots," Suki commented, looking pissed. Katara could tell that things between Suki and her brother had become much tenser. Suki had been absolutely livid about moving away from Azula's changes to the menu and she loathed the idea of them microwaving stuff. It had been the source of constant conflicts between her and Sokka, and things seemed to be getting worse and worse. On a few occasions, Katara had noticed that her old bed in the upstairs hangout space was unmade, suggesting that Suki and Sokka had taken to sleeping in separate beds following one of their shouting matches.

"We very well might be, and I expected Azula to really chew me out after I told her that," Katara said. "And she started to chew me out, but then, for some reason she completely changed her tune. By the end, she was sounding kind of… guilty and a bit depressed? I don't know, maybe she had something else going on at the same time," Katara shrugged helplessly.

"That sounds weird," Toph said, scratching her head. She didn't seem too bothered by the whole thing, though. For Toph, both Azula and Ozai probably sounded like bad news, because they both were threats to her microwaving business.

"Azula is a perfectionist, right?" Aang remarked. "Maybe she thinks that she didn't do enough to help us succeed, and maybe that's why she feels guilty?"

"You might be onto something," Yue said. "But I don't think Azula should feel guilty for our continued failure. She did so much for us. I should let her know how grateful we are, and that this isn't her fault at all." Yue pulled out her phone and began typing.

"Oh, and there was another weird moment," Katara said, snapping her fingers as she returned to sit next to Jet. "For some reason, Azula made it sound like it was absolutely crucial that we hold on until Ozai comes for a revisit."

"When does Ozai plan to be here?" Jet asked.

"Sometime during the summer," Katara replied. "I don't know, if we somehow manage to limit our losses, maybe we can make it, but it's going to be rough."

"Maybe you're reading too much into it, sis," Sokka shrugged. "We all know that some of you are a bit too overfocused on Azula, not that I'm one to name and shame," Sokka rolled his eyes as he glanced at Suki. "Jet, remember how you claimed that their obsession was only going to last for a couple of weeks? That egg on your face must feel really uncomfortable by now." Jet muttered something under his breath, looking for another cigarette butt to chuck at Sokka.

"No, I disagree, I think something weird is going on with Azula," Yue said insistently. It looked like Azula was not responding to her texts, but then again, that wasn't unusual for Azula. "I can just feel it."

"If Azula keeps mum about what's going on, maybe you can use Kiyi to learn more?" Suki suggested.

"That seems fair, because Azula mentioned using Kiyi to find out what's going on at the restaurant," Katara smiled.

"I don't want to use Kiyi, I don't like how it sounds," Yue frowned. "I can ask for her help in finding out more, though. We're as good as friends by now. I'm sure she won't refuse. If anything, she'll be excited to help. She low-key worships her big sister."

"That sounds good," Katara nodded at her friend. "And I agree with you, Yue, I also think something weird is going on. I have the same feeling as when reading a book and knowing that there's a twist coming, but not knowing what it might be, or whether it's going to be for better or worse…"

Chapter Text

Azula arrived at the Nakamura Corp headquarters in Ba Sing Se jittery with nerves ahead of the upcoming meeting with her father. Season 8 of Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares had finished airing three weeks ago, and it was finally time for a debrief and evaluation as her father decided which one of his children had performed the best and had proved themselves deserving of having their own spinoff show.

Azula didn't know what she would do if she were to lose this competition to Zuko. She'd been the heir apparent since early childhood, or at least Ozai had always implied it. And yet, she was still constantly pitted against Zuko in various contests, with this sword hanging over her head, threatening her status as a favorite. Perhaps it was Ozai's way of keeping her sharp and hungry. In any case, for almost fifteen long years Azula had never once failed to beat Zuko and she wasn't going to start a losing streak now.

Still, Azula was concerned ahead of this meeting. She had seen the episode ratings on the internet, and they had been uncomfortably close. Azula's episode at The Northern Lights had blown up as predicted, and another episode at a Gaoling gastropub had done well, but the third one had proved to be a dud. However, Zuko had struck some accidental fortune by stumbling into a couple of viral episodes as well. The episode on the family run southern Earth Kingdom restaurant had exploded on social media, because the family running this establishment had accidentally revealed themselves as being… dubiously close. Zuko had lucked out with running into some absolutely deranged characters in his episodes, resulting in good viewership numbers. In short, Azula wasn't confident that she had this in the bag, and that was a very unusual and uncomfortable feeling for her. She could only hope that the in-depth analytical data her father had access to would elevate her over Zuko.

Once Azula had arrived at her father's office on the twenty-fourth floor, she was further upset by Ozai's secretary telling her to wait. Her annoyance only grew when she clearly heard the voices of her father and brother coming from the office. Ozai didn't sound happy, however, so perhaps that was a good sign for Azula as she settled in to wait impatiently, perfectly manicured fingernails tapping agitatedly against the windowsill as Azula stared down at the antlike shapes of normies crowding the streets below, going about the dull routines of their dismal lives.

Ozai had built these massive headquarters from which to oversee his global culinary empire almost twenty years ago, moving away from Caldera City. Ba Sing Se had a population that almost rivaled the entire Fire Nation, and Ozai had eight restaurants in the capital of the Earth Kingdom alone. Business wise, moving his HQ to Ba Sing Se had been a no-brainer, Azula freely admitted that. She thought that the people who accused her father of lacking loyalty to the Fire Nation were insane, because Ozai was still a Fire Nation supremacist at heart.

Azula paused her musings in order to glare at the secretary once more. The insipid woman merely shrugged apologetically. Ozai was still busy schooling Zuko over something probably trivial, forcing Azula to sigh as she continued to wait, trying to distract herself with wandering thoughts in order to avoid becoming more stressed than she already was.

It was the middle of March and spring was finally in the air, not that Azula truly had the time to appreciate it. She had been insanely busy ever since the turn of the year. Ozai had her traveling all over the Earth Kingdom, solving problems and putting out fires at his restaurants all over the place. On top of all that, Ozai had also made her a judge in one of his MasterChef shows. Of course, in true style of her father, after getting Azula all excited, he had then slyly mentioned that it was for his MasterChef Junior show, news that immediately deflated Azula's enthusiasm. Certainly, it still meant regular appearances on the TV screen, but it was at the cost of enduring a bunch of smelly little rugrats and having to tell them that their horribly bungled dishes were actually commendable efforts, because for some reason Azula was not allowed to be vicious to children and eviscerate these little twerps the way they deserved it.

This just wasn't what Azula wanted. Ozai was still feeding her crumbs, making sure that she remained a minor celebrity, most of the time not even referred to by her name, but simply as 'Ozai's daughter'. Azula wanted to be a proper A-list celebrity in her own right, and having her own prime time slot TV show would get her there. She could not allow Zuko to take away something she so clearly deserved.

Finally, the doors to her father's office opened and Ozai stepped outside. "Is she here?" Ozai asked his secretary before looking up and noticing Azula. "Ah, there you are," Ozai said impatiently. "Well, are you coming or not?" He added, making Azula feel like she was late for the meeting.

Azula quickly followed her father and took the free seat at his heavy mahogany desk. Only then did she look up at her brother, sitting there and looking a bit like a whipped dog. Azula blinked in surprise when she noticed that Zuko was wearing half of a brioche bun as a tiny little hat, while the other half of the bun was tied to his chin. "Are you trying a new look, Zuko?" Azula burst into laughter. "I think it fits you."

"That's not Zuko you're talking to," Ozai spoke sternly. "Who are you?" he looked at Zuko.

"An idiot sandwich," Zuko sighed despondently.

"That's right, you're an idiot sandwich," Ozai repeated. "Do you know why your brother is an idiot sandwich, Azula?"

"Well, where do I even begin?" Azula smirked.

"I know, right," Ozai laughed, winking at her. "But no, let's be real for a moment. There's a specific reason for this dressing down. You see, I sent Zuko to Omashu to investigate the rumors that one of my head chefs there had a drug problem. But it seems like the idiot sandwich here was under some misapprehension about how to sort this problem. Zuko, you were supposed to fire the guy, not to engage in a weekend smoke session with the entire kitchen staff!"

"Wow, that's… something," Azula shook her head, feeling both horrified and yet somehow strangely impressed. Addictions were a serious problem in the culinary industry. The long hours, the incredible amounts of stress and the physically demanding work in a hot kitchen pushed many cooks past their breaking point. Azula herself was no stranger to both marijuana and alcohol, but she never engaged in substance use before or during service. That was a sure way to ruin one's career as a chef.

"Anyway, enough about that," Ozai said dismissively. "You're both here for a different reason, and that is your Kitchen Nightmares contest, so let's get to that. And Zuko, get rid of that bun, you look ridiculous."

"Thank you, father," Zuko grumbled, quickly removing the brioche bun with another weary sigh. Azula regretted not having taken a quick picture while she had the chance.

"First of all, I want to say that Season 8 of Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares has been a smashing success," Ozai began proudly. "We have beaten the viewership records of the previous two seasons, which is obviously good news, so congratulations to me for doing such a stellar job. And I suppose you two deserve some credit for pitching in on some of the episodes." Azula and Zuko exchanged quick stares, neither of them saying anything. Of course, Ozai would not miss a chance to put them both down at once.

"Anyway, I suppose you are mostly interested in the viewership of the episodes in which you took part," Ozai continued, fiddling with his laptop. "I have the data right here in front of me, and let me tell you that I'm in complete shock from what I'm seeing." Azula felt absolutely sick to her stomach after hearing these words, while a cautious and slightly nervous smile appeared on Zuko's face. "Azula, the total viewership across the three episodes you did is 10.67 million viewers. It's respectable and slightly above the season average. Zuko, your three episodes scored a total viewership of 10.63 million."

Azula let out a sigh of relief, feeling the pressure on her chest ease, allowing her to take a deep breath. "I was worried there for a moment," she admitted, smiling. "Sorry, Zuzu, but my winning streak continues."

Azula was shocked when her father slammed his fists on the desk, forcing both her and Zuko jump in fright. "How dare you?" Ozai yelled at a very confused Azula.

"Father?" she managed, feeling stunned.

"Look at him!" Ozai pointed at Zuko. "You beat the idiot sandwich by the slimmest of margins! 10.67 to 10.63! You have a lot of nerve to declare that a victory! That's not a victory in my eyes!"

"But-" Azula thought about protesting, but the fiery anger in her father's eyes made her back down in a hurry. Azula sagged in her seat, feeling her heart sink in her stomach. She had disappointed her father. Was there anything else she could do that was worse? Surely, she didn't deserve to have a show of her own, or any other nice things.

"We'll get back to what it means for your competition in a bit," Ozai said sternly. "First, we're going to look at some additional data about the audience breakdown. It's something that's important to consider going forward and thinking about the kind of content that's suitable for you. Let's start with viewers above 60 years. Zuko, you have an edge with the geriatrics. Azula, old people hate you."

"The feeling is mutual," Azula rolled her eyes.

"I never thought that old people liked me all that much," Zuko shrugged. "I mean, grandpa Azulon threatened to kill me how many times?"

"Yes, he loved to do that, didn't he?" Ozai laughed heartily. "Ah, good times."

"No, they weren't," Zuko scoffed.

"Shut up," Ozai glared. "I say those were good times, and my word is the law around here. Anyway, moving on with more stats. There's a really clear breakdown in the age group between the ages of 40 to 60. Nearly all women in this age bracket want you, Zuko. So, whenever you run into issues with your gloomy goth girlfriend, be aware that you can always find a milf to hook up with."

"I'll keep that in mind," Zuko replied, grinding his teeth.

"Azula, obviously all the men in this age bracket are lusting after you as they go through their midlife crises," Ozai laughed. Azula physically shuddered at this piece of information, a reaction that her father seemed to find particularly amusing. "The breakdown in the age bracket of 25 to 40 is very close, but slightly leaning towards Azula. And the younger viewers skew towards Azula even more, but it's a small and not a very significant part of the audience, so it doesn't really matter. But it just proves that I was right to put you on the jury of MasterChef Junior, Azula."

"Of course, father," Azula nodded obediently. "But what does this have to do with the competition between me and Zuko?"

"We'll get there, don't rush me," Ozai scowled. "There's another peculiar statistic that I wanted to bring up first. The number of viewers identifying as queer has increased by 85% over the past three seasons. And for some reason, they almost unanimously seem to favor you, Azula."

"That's… uh, that's very strange and disturbing, father," Azula managed, cold shivers of fear running through her. She noticed Zuko giving her a sidelong stare, almost looking like he was about to say something. Azula couldn't imagine that Zuko knew her secret, though, because he would have surely told Ozai the truth that was certain to ruin Azula.

"I'll say," Ozai nodded. "That's not a part of the audience we should be chasing, anyway. Everyone knows that homosexuals can't cook. Peculiar, though. Whatever it is that you're doing that attracts these queers, you should probably stop."

"As soon as I figure out what it is," Azula quickly promised, desperate to move on.

"Anyway, let's get back to the competition," Ozai said. "As I said before, I refuse to acknowledge such a paltry advantage as a victory. Therefore, I declare this contest having ended in a draw that should leave you feeling ashamed, Azula."

"Works for me," Zuko said, predictably looking satisfied. This was the first time in fifteen years he had avoided being crushed by Azula, so obviously he was more than happy to take the draw.

"I'll except your verdict, father, but what does it mean going forward?" Azula asked. She knew that there was nothing to gain by pushing against Ozai's decision. It would only earn Azula her father's ire and she didn't want that. On the other hand, she was starting to suspect that Ozai simply didn't want to give either her or Zuko this spinoff show, and so he was looking for ways to back out of what he had promised.

"We will obviously need a new contest to settle this once and for all," Ozai declared predictably, making Azula suspect that her theory of Ozai not wanting to give either of them a promotion was correct. This new contest would probably be something lengthy and complicated, and would further delay the launch of the spinoff. "Fortunately for you two, I have already figured out what I'll want you to do."

"What is it, father?" Azula asked, the first to lose her nerve after Ozai had gone for a dramatic pause. She was sure that this new contest would be something humiliating, but hopefully it at least wouldn't involve sexy bikini car washes.

"Starting from the 1st of April, I will want each of you to take over the running of a currently failing restaurant," Ozai explained. "You will run this failing business for the next six months straight. During these six months, I will test your leadership skills in various ways, and at the end of this time period… so, on the 1st of October, I will evaluate how well you have performed. This will mean both the finances of the restaurant, the quality of food, your review scores on Yelp and TripAdvisor, and several other criteria that I will keep secret for now."

"That sounds… interesting," Azula said, feeling very intrigued. This was way better than what she had expected. Running her own restaurant was a very compelling prospect, and she welcomed the chance to show what she could do in a managerial position. Also, there was no way that she could lose this challenge to someone like Zuko who had already proved to be a disastrously bumbling administrator. The only drawback to Ozai's plan was the length of this assignment, full six months that would keep Azula out of the spotlight and elbow deep working non-stop to save some rundown dive.

"I agree," Zuko nodded, also looking excited. "Which restaurant are you giving me, father?"

"I am giving you nothing, you donkey," Ozai snapped. "The part of the assignment is that you find yourselves a failing business and convince the owners to let you run it. You two were supposed to establish your own ties in the industry by now, so show some hustle and work those connections! I'm not going to hand everything on a plate for you! If you fail to find yourself a restaurant by the start of the next month, that's it, you have forfeited the competition."

Zuko and Azula exchanged confused stares. Azula's mind was still reeling with all the possibilities offered by her father's surprising plan when Zuko spoke up again. "What about taking over a restaurant that recently closed and reopening it?" Zuko asked. "Would that count?"

"I mean, you can't have a more failed restaurant than one that's closed, right?" Ozai rolled his eyes. "Obviously, that works."

"Alright, great," Zuko looked mighty relieved. "In that case, I might have something."

"Don't tell me that you're thinking about The Blue Spirit," Azula snorted. The Blue Spirit was a Caldera City restaurant owned by Mai's family, Ukano and Michi Syun. Mai's parents hadn't been involved in the day to day running of the restaurant. They were rich Fire Nation elites who had bought it to get their daughter interested in entrepreneurship, handing it over to Mai, who had then brought in Zuko to help her. But with Zuko traveling all over the world on Ozai's behalf, Mai had quickly lost interest in the place and it had eventually closed due to neglect.

"And what if I am?" Zuko shot back irately.

"I mean… I don't really care," Azula smirked. "But I know that you're currently in the doghouse with Mai. I look forward to hearing about you crawling on your hands and knees, begging her to take you back and then end up only pissing her off even more when she realizes that you only did all of that because you need her to reopen the restaurant."

"I…" Zuko was about to utter a sharp retort, before sagging in defeat. "Ugh, I hate how Mai still tells you things like that," he groaned. "We haven't broken up, just to be clear. We're just taking a little break, but I think it might be time for it to end."

"Of course," Azula laughed. "And obviously, Mai tells me everything, and so does Ty Lee. We may not see each other often these days, but we're going to be besties until the day we die, you can be sure of that."

"Charming," Ozai commented on their exchange with a bored yawn. "Azula, do you have any ideas yet?"

"I do, actually," Azula said excitedly. She had made her decision as soon as her father had explained the terms of the competition. There was only one restaurant she wanted to go back to and fix properly. "Do you remember The Northern Lights? The restaurant in Caldera City we fixed back in September?" Azula asked. Ozai nodded, still looking bored. "From what I hear, they are still in a deep financial hole," Azula said.

"I'll have my people confirm that," Ozai said. "After all, I have to be certain that the restaurant is actually failing. But if everything checks out, I don't see why you couldn't choose it, if the owners agree to let you take over. And it would be very convenient for me if you were both in Caldera."

"And only a ten-minute walk from each other," Azula smirked, shooting a quick glance at Zuko. The proximity of The Blue Spirit offered plenty of possibilities, including that of sabotage. Azula wondered whether Zuko was thinking the same, before deciding that her brother was too dimwitted to think of that.

"Well, I suppose that settles it," Ozai said. "You have your arrangements to make, so I suggest you go and get to it. There's not much time left before the contest begins and you still have plenty to take care of."

"I'm going to call Mai right away," Zuko said, getting up to leave, but not before bowing respectfully to their father.

"There's just one thing I wanted to ask about, father," Azula spoke after Zuko had taken his leave. "Can I please tell Katara that Jet is stealing from the restaurant? If I'm not allowed to fix that issue then I won't be able to make the restaurant profitable." Ozai gave Azula a blank stare. "He was supposedly buying in very expensive produce, but he actually bought it very cheap and pocketed the difference."

"Sounds vaguely familiar," Ozai hummed. "Oh yeah, I remember now. It was the asshole who burned my hand!"

"No, that was Sokka," Azula explained. "I'm talking about Jet Patel, the food manager. Although you kept calling him Jeb. You didn't allow me to tell the owners about his embezzlement because you didn't want to ruin his relationship with Katara."

"I did? Well, whatever, I don't give a shit. Handle this however you want, and please don't bother me with such trivialities in the future, Azula," Ozai spoke dismissively. "You can go now. I have a lot to do."

Azula wandered outside of her father's office in a confused daze. Of course, her father didn't even remember who Jet, Katara or Sokka were, while she had obediently stuck with the order that Ozai himself had long since forgotten about. Azula suddenly realized that the only reason why Ozai had forbidden her from telling Katara was that he simply saw it as yet another petty test of her loyalty. Realizing that she could have told Katara the truth months ago without any repercussions made Azula absolutely sick to her stomach, and she felt like punching herself in the face for her stupidity.

Azula was still internally screaming at herself when she ran into Zuko out in the hallway. Zuko had just finished talking on the phone, grinning like an idiot. "Well, I just spoke with Mai," Zuko announced. "She said that she's been missing me and she wants me back."

"Mai said that?" Azula gave her brother a skeptical stare. "In those exact words?"

"Well, no, I translated from Mai-speak," Zuko admitted sheepishly. "But that's what she meant. Anyway, I'm out of here. Are you coming?" he asked.

"Yes," Azula nodded as they proceeded towards the elevator together. There was no reason for her to continue hanging out with Zuko now that the meeting had concluded, but Azula supposed that she was not above showing some civility towards her less gifted brother. And with anger and self-hatred still ripping her at the seams, perhaps there was a way in which Zuko could actually be helpful. "Zuzu, could I ask you for a favor?" she asked sweetly.

"A favor?" Zuko blinked, completely taken by surprise. "Why would I hand out any favors for you?"

"Just hear me out, okay?" Azula asked as they both came to a halt some ten yards before reaching the elevator. "You're actually going to enjoy this."

"I very much doubt that," Zuko grumbled, but at least he was still sticking around.

"Oh, you will," Azula smiled. "I want you to hit me."

"I'm sorry, I may have misheard you there," Zuko said. "Did you say that you want me to hit you?"

"Yes, that's right," Azula nodded insistently. "I may have done something incredibly stupid and I was going to punch myself in the face, but then I realized that I could never hit myself as hard as I deserve, so I figured that you could help me with that. I know you've dreamt about hitting me plenty of times."

"I haven't, actually," Zuko protested. He then blushed. "Well… not as often as you think, anyway. And no, I am not going to hit you. You're such a weird freak, you know that, right? Besides, this is probably one of your schemes. If I were to hit you, you'd just run to the cops and get me detained, and then you'd win the competition by default."

"I'm not trying to pull a scheme, Zuko, honest," Azula groaned. "Okay, fine, you don't have to punch me in the face or somewhere where it would leave a mark!" Azula thought for a moment. "Just punch me in the stomach."

"I don't want to," Zuko frowned. "This is sick."

"Come on, when are you going to get another opportunity like this, you idiot?" Azula decided to try a little bit of goading. "I'm practically begging for it and you still won't do it? Pathetic loser."

"Shut up!" Zuko exclaimed, pushing her and then throwing a very weak punch at Azula's midsection, one she barely felt.

"What the fuck was that?" Azula laughed. "That was weaker than a mosquito bite, you pussy! I swear, you couldn't fight your way out of a pap-" Azula didn't get to finish her sentence as Zuko struck her again. This time it was a proper punch that left Azula utterly winded and gasping, unable to draw breath.

"Uh… are you okay?" Zuko asked, looking concerned. "Fuck, I knew this was a terrible idea!"

Azula was trying her best to tell her brother not to worry, but no words came out of her mouth, only gasps as she kept failing to draw breath. Everything soon went black and when Azula opened her eyes again, she was lying on the floor, with Zuko looming over her and holding something incredibly foul smelling against her nose. "Argh, get that away from me!" Azula yelped, batting Zuko's hands away and quickly jumping up to her feet, instantly regretting her haste as pain shot through her entire body.

"It's just some smelling salts, dumbass," Zuko sighed at her. "Anyway, what the fuck were you thinking, provoking me like that? I knew you were insane, but that was next level idiocy. Are you okay now?"

"Yes, obviously," Azula lied. She was in a lot of pain, but that had been the idea to begin with. She deserved to be in a lot of pain because she was an idiot who had let down Katara, Yue, Suki and the others at The Northern Lights. "That was a very precise hit to the solar plexus. I don't recommend the experience."

"No shit," Zuko rolled his eyes. "Can you walk?" he asked, reaching out to support her. Azula batted his hand away and made an effort to walk on her own, but her legs almost gave out under her and she ended up embarrassingly leaning in against Zuko after all. "Listen, I know we're in a competition and there will probably be bad blood between us again soon," Zuko spoke as he helped her make the last few steps to the elevator. "But that doesn't mean we have to treat each other like shit all the time, right? We can be civil towards each other now and then, I'm sure."

Azula considered Zuko's words for a moment. She supposed that her brother had a point, but at the same time, competition and survival of the fittest had been beaten into both of them since early childhood, and it was definitely easier to compete against someone you had convinced yourself of hating. But Azula also couldn't deny that sometimes not being at each other's throats felt… nice? "That's not a terrible idea, Zuzu," Azula was forced to admit as they finally made it into the elevator. "I propose a truce at least until the start of the contest," Azula proposed, offering her brother a handshake.

Zuko shook her hand without much thinking. "I accept," he said, smiling. Azula also smiled, even if she knew that the truce was not meant to last. Still, she supposed that it was better than nothing.

It was a quiet March afternoon between the services at The Northern Lights restaurant. Katara was busy loading up the industrial dishwasher in the kitchen. Nearby, Suki and Sokka were prepping for the evening service, replenishing some of the ingredients that had been used up during the lunch. Aang had been recruited into helping and he was currently busy chopping onions nearby, a big grin on his face. Katara found it rather unfair and annoying that the onions didn't seem to be affecting Aang, but a couple of yards away from the prep station, Katara's eyes were watering and tears were spilling all over her cheeks.

It was just the four of them at the restaurant for now. Toph had quickly finished doing inventory downstairs, making sure that she had enough frozen crap in her fridges to reheat. She had then gone for a walk in the park directly opposite to the restaurant. Jet was out on a supply run. They were running out of money faster than ever, and as a result, Jet was forced to do more and more last-minute shopping. It was not his fault, of course. Because of their money issues, the walk-in cooler was the emptiest it had ever been. As for Yue, she was busy collecting Kya from kindergarten and spending time with her at home until Kiyi showed up to take over her babysitter duties.

Katara wished that she could summon some kind of enthusiasm for the evening service. Sadly, by now the question was no longer about turning things around and making a profit. It was about how much money they would lose every time they opened their doors for service. It was slowly draining Katara of all joy, not just for her job, but for life on the whole. Katara felt like she had become stuck in a rut, a grim mire from which there was no escape. If something didn't change this very instant, Katara wasn't sure how much more of this she could take before she lost her remaining sanity.

It was at the conclusion of this grim thought that Katara heard the buzz of an incoming text message, the screen of her phone flashing momentarily. Katara quickly finished loading the dishwasher and pressed a button to start a new washing cycle before picking up her phone and checking the message, almost dropping the phone when she saw who was messaging her.

"I don't fucking believe it," Katara gasped, seeing Azula's name pop up on her phone screen. It was at least two long months since Azula had last been in contact with anyone at the restaurant. It was hard not to be upset about losing all contact with Azula, but Katara knew better than to take it personally. Kiyi had admitted to having trouble reaching Azula herself because her older sister was absolutely swamped with work, and Katara had to accept that explanation. And yet, here was Azula, messaging her after months of silence.

"What is it, Kat?" Suki looked up from her pots and pans. She was making orange sauce ahead of the evening service and the delicious aroma was constantly reminding Katara that she needed to eat something before the service.

"It's Azula," Katara exclaimed. The others all looked shocked and excited. "And she wants to speak with us," Katara said.

"That's amazing!" Suki beamed happily. "Call her and put her on speakers?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Katara said, having read the follow-up text by Azula. "I misunderstood that. Apparently, Azula has something that she wants to discuss with me and Sokka?" Suki's face fell immediately. Katara made a mental note to later give her friend a big hug as an apology for falsely raising her hopes.

"Do you know what it's about?" Sokka asked, looking very curious. He was busy working on some lasagna that would later be split into portions, frozen and delivered downstairs for Toph to reheat.

"Not a clue," Katara shrugged. "But you know, Azula is like an international woman of mystery. Anyway, she wants to do a Zoom call with both of us. And she wants to do it now."

"I would honestly tell her to take a hike because I'm busy, but I won't because I'm too curious," Sokka sighed. "Oh well, I guess the lasagna can wait. Let's go to your office?"

"Sure, but I might need time to set everything up," Katara said. "It's been a while since I last did a Zoom call."

"I'll just set it up so I don't have to stand around and wait for twenty minutes," Sokka grumbled.

"Perfect, I knew you'd want to do it," Katara chuckled as the siblings proceeded towards the restaurant manager's office, where Sokka quickly set up a Zoom call with Azula Nakamura.

"You can let her know that we're ready," Sokka said after he had finished fiddling with the Zoom settings and together with Katara they had taken their seats at the desktop screen. Katara quickly fired off a text and moments later, Azula was connecting to the Zoom call.

"Where are you?" Katara blurted out as soon as Azula's face appeared on the screen and she took in the strangely empty, soulless feeling white room Azula was in. "Uh, I mean… hi, long time no see!" Katara quickly added, blushing.

"Hey," Azula smiled in reply. "It's good to see you, too. I'm in Ba Sing Se. This is supposed to be my office at the Nakamura Corp HQ, but I can't remember when I last spent any time here. I guess it shows."

"It really does," Sokka said, looking rather impatient, while Katara was willing to simply wax lyrical about anything that would keep Azula on the call. "Anyway, we were all very surprised to hear from you again, and even more surprised that you wanted to talk to me and Kat? What's going on?"

"I'll explain in a minute," Azula said. "But before we start, please tell me that the restaurant is still failing."

Katara felt her mouth falling comically open at Azula's shocking comment, while Sokka simply looked deeply upset. "What the fuck, Azula?" Sokka glared at the screen. "Why would you wish failure upon us? That's such a bitchy thing to say!"

Azula's eyes widened and she suddenly looked terrified, as if she had only now realized that she had committed a faux pas. "Damn it, I didn't mean it like that!" she exclaimed hurriedly. "Please, will you just let me explain everything from the start? I have a proposition for you two, but it requires certain context that you need to be aware of. Will you please hear me out?"

"Of course," Katara spoke, smiling encouragingly. Sokka still looked mildly annoyed, but he didn't hesitate before giving Azula an encouraging nod.

A few minutes later, Katara sat in her seat, blinking at the screen wide-eyed as she struggled to process Azula's lengthy explanation. "And that's how I ended up in this situation where I need to find a failing restaurant," Azula finished her tale. "And that's the crux of the proposition I have for you. What do you think? Do you accept?"

"Yes!" Katara exclaimed with literally no time spent contemplating her decision.

"Uh… can we not be so hasty about this?" Sokka asked, looking conflicted. "I think we should discuss it first."

"What is there to discuss?" Katara burst out heatedly. "We reached the point of being willing to try just about anything a long time ago! Now, Azula herself is offering to come and fix the restaurant properly, and you want to waste time discussing something? Stop looking this gift horse in the mouth!" Katara then blinked, giving Azula an apologetic stare. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to compare you to a horse." Azula merely rolled her eyes before snickering adorably.

"I'm not questioning Azula's ability to get us back on our feet," Sokka argued. "It's just that this taking over and running the restaurant as a boss for six long months is… I don't know, it sounds excessive."

"Agni, it's really hard for you to surrender even an inch of your power, isn't it?" Azula sighed. "You two will still remain the owners, while I'll be something like the executive manager."

"I'm not sure…" Sokka appeared unconvinced, much to Katara's eternal frustration that was starting to accumulate inside of her, building up to a massive rant.

"Is it the job title that bothers you so much?" Azula snorted. "By all means, call me a special consultant instead, if you prefer that. The only thing I care about, and the only firm condition I have is that you don't challenge the changes that I want to make."

"So, effectively you would be the boss, regardless of your job title," Sokka said. "Don't misunderstand me, I know that having you here is the best chance we have of saving the restaurant."

"It really is," Katara nodded firmly. "And that should be all that matters to us."

"I suppose you're right," Sokka sighed. "I should just get over my ego, I guess. It's probably not common for owners to be as involved in the day-to-day operations of the restaurant as we are. Most owners probably bring in a competent executive manager and take the backseat. As long as they can afford to hire a competent manager in the first place, of course."

"Well, it's your lucky day because I'm the most competent manager you could ever hope to find, and I'm offering to fix your place at no cost," Azula said confidently. "As far as I'm concerned, this is a match made in heaven. We both need one another, but if you decide to turn my offer down, I'm sure I can easily find another restaurant that will love to have my expertise."

"Alright, you've won me over," Sokka finally relented. "You're our new special consultant slash executive manager. Also, this decision was in no way influenced by the knowledge that Katara would kill me if I turned your offer down."

"I would never kill you, Sokka, you know that. Now, serious maiming on the other hand…" Katara chuckled, playfully cuffing the back of Sokka's head. "I'm overjoyed to have you back with us, Azula," she then beamed at the screen again. "When do you want to start?"

"Well, our competition with Zuko kicks off on the 1st of April, so I would rather not waste a single day," Azula replied. "Zuko will be reopening a restaurant that closed recently, so he will have way more to do to get everything up to speed. He'll have to hire new staff, and he's likely to fall behind. I plan to use this time wisely and get a jumpstart on him."

"I see," Katara remarked, exchanging a slightly confused look with Sokka. This kind of fierce competition with a sibling felt very wrong to Katara, but then again, so much about Azula's life that they had discovered seemed deeply fucked up, and Katara was sure that they had only scratched the surface. "Anyway, April is just five days away, and you're still in Ba Sing Se."

"I know," Azula nodded curtly. "There's a lot to do and I need to start making my arrangements. First order of business is to find myself a nice rent apartment in Caldera for the next six months."

"Is, uh… is your boyfriend coming with you?" Katara decided to ask, cursing the way she sounded so awkward.

"What? No, of course not," Azula looked very surprised, shaking her head. "Chan is in the middle of the football season. I think? Anyway, he's too busy with his own career to spend six months away from the team in Caldera City."

"I see," Katara allowed herself a small smile. "I just thought that you might miss him because six months is such a long time. But I'm sure he'll visit often."

"Hmm? Oh, yes… yes, I'm sure he will," Azula replied. Katara thought that for some reason Azula looked the opposite of excited when thinking about her boyfriend Chan Takahashi visiting her, but maybe she was just imagining things. "Anyway, I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement. I will have the Nakamura Corp team of lawyers draw up a contract for us and you'll have all the legalese mailed to you within a day or two. I'll be sure to list my job title as special consultant, just to soothe your fragile ego, Sokka."

"Gee, thanks," Sokka snorted. "Anyway, thank you for thinking of us when this whole thing went down. Like you said yourself, there are probably dozens of restaurants who'd love to have you."

"Yes, I was so happy to get your text," Katara grinned happily. "Sokka and I both really appreciate this opportunity, and I can't wait to see you at the restaurant again," she added, leaning in against Sokka's shoulder as they waved their goodbyes to Azula. "What a stroke of luck, right? This just might save us!" Katara raved. "I can't wait to tell the good news to the team!"

"Yes, I'm sure Jet will be delighted to hear about this arrangement," Sokka grinned evilly.

"Oh… damn it, you're right," Katara gasped in realization. She had once again gotten carried away as soon as Azula came into the picture. "He was insufferable at the end of that single week – although I'm sure he'd rightly point out the same about me – but now it will be whole six months of Azula at the restaurant. I will really have to tone down my excitement, I suppose." Katara then gave her brother a searching stare. "But won't you also have an issue with Suki fangirling?"

Sokka's expression darkened slightly. "I wouldn't let something like that stand in the way of us saving our restaurant," Sokka replied. "But also, there's something else you should know. Suki and I had a serious talk a few days ago. We agreed that maybe we should consider dating other people. Not that I worry about Suki and Azula for obvious reasons, but… yeah, Suki is kind of free to see other people, I guess."

"I'm so sorry, Sokka," Katara sighed, pulling her brother into a tight hug. The feeling that Sokka and Suki were slowly drifting apart had been growing over the past few months. Their clashing visions for the direction of the restaurant had led to some nasty fights, and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before their failing business would destroy yet another relationship. Certainly, Sokka had not said that he and Suki were breaking up, but starting to date other people was an ominous sign. "I really hoped that you two would pull through," Katara whispered into Sokka's shoulder.

"Well, it is what it is," Sokka replied, clearly struggling to keep his voice from breaking. "Let's just hope that we can at least save the restaurant and avoid taking another loss."

"You really didn't have to skip work in order to play taxi for me," Smellerbee told Jet after she'd gotten into the car and strapped herself into the driver's seat. "Ever since the surgery, you and Longshot have been watching over me like a pair of protective hawks. It's like you don't get that I was way more likely to run into some kind of trouble when I was pre-op."

"Sorry," Jet replied sheepishly as he started the engine of his car. "We're just really excited for you." Bee had undergone the gender reassignment surgery almost two weeks ago, and while she was still dealing with some physical discomfort from the surgery, mentally she was the happiest Jet could remember. Bee's therapist also saw it as a sign that the surgery had clearly been the right path to take. It made Jet almost feel justified in taking the money from the restaurant, because the cause had so clearly been worth it. "Anyway, did you get it?" Jet asked before pulling out of the parking lot.

"Sure did," Bee grinned, waving her new ID card in front of Jet's face. Jet caught her hand and held it still so that he could take a closer look.

"Nice," Jet also grinned. "Happy with your choices for this awesome new identity?"

"I think so," Bee nodded. "I've been stuck with this Bee moniker for more than ten years. It made sense to pick something that sounded similar, right?"

"Whatever you say… Beatrice," Jet chuckled, wincing when Bee punched his shoulder.

"You're still calling me Bee, dork," Smellerbee, or Beatrice, said. "Anyway," Bee's voice turned more serious. "I know I've said it many times before, but I really want you to know how grateful I am for everything you did for me."

"Don't mention it," Jet shrugged as they continued on their way back to Bee's studio apartment which she shared with Longshot. "We couldn't have done this without the whole crew pitching in, especially Longshot. You knew we would make this a real group effort, right? We Earth Kingdom orphans will always look out for each other."

"True that," Bee nodded earnestly. "I'm just relieved that you can now stop taking from the restaurant. I would have felt so bad if you and Katara broke up because of it. I've heard you say that she's the best thing that has ever happened to you, and I agree."

"Yeah, Katara is great," Jet said uncomfortably.

Smellerbee frowned, giving Jet a searching stare. "I mean, you literally have no reason to keep… ugh, and I hate to even use the word, stealing," Bee said. "So, you're not doing that anymore, right?"

"Of course not, who do you take me for?" Jet managed a reasonably convincing laugh that seemed to put Bee at ease. Unfortunately, it did nothing to silence Jet's screaming and flailing conscience. Obviously, he should have stopped taking from the restaurant as soon as Bee's surgery had been paid for. But taking from the restaurant had become as natural as breathing for Jet, and his feeble willpower had always been his Achille's heel.

Jet knew that the stealing had to stop. He just needed to borrow a little more for the big party they were planning for Bee during the weekend, but Jet swore to himself that after this one last time, he was forever done with swindling Katara and Sokka.

Chapter Text

Waiting until the end of the dinner service before telling the staff about their arrangement with Azula proved an absolute torture to Katara. Suki and Aang had hounded both her and Sokka after their Zoom call with Azula, but with the dinner service about to start and Yue, Jet and Toph still absent, they had just about managed to hold on to their resolution to break the news when everyone was present. Still, the rumors that Azula had called her spread through the restaurant like wildfire, and it had made the service very difficult, mostly because of Yue constantly pestering Katara and making it almost impossible for her to say anything and not be faced with a counter inquiry about Azula.

Katara was relieved when the dinner service finally ended and she did not even bother to count the evening's takings before heading upstairs to share the news with her friends. It was clear that any further delays would result in Suki and Yue carrying out their threats of physical violence unless they were told what Azula had wanted to discuss with her and Sokka.

"Very well, all you impatient people," Katara grinned, then dodging when Yue threw an old stuffed toy seal at her. "And all you violent people," she smirked at Yue. "I can confirm that yes, Sokka and I spoke with Azula earlier, and you will be excited to know that she had an amazing proposition for us. Azula has agreed to come and help us fix the restaurant, and this time she's going to do it properly."

"Azula will be our special consultant for the next six months," Sokka added during a pause in Katara's speech, further stunning their dumbstruck looking friends.

"Well, regardless of Azula's job title, we have agreed that during that time, we will commit to any change that Azula insists on implementing," Katara explained, wanting to make this point absolutely clear in case Sokka was intent on muddying the waters. "That was the only condition Azula had if she was to come here."

"Yes!" Yue exclaimed, once she had recovered from the surprise. She jumped up from the sofa, pumping her fist and then letting out a squeal of happiness that left the rest of the team momentarily deafened. Suki took a few extra moments to recover, but then she also got up to her feet and grabbed Yue, the pair breaking into spontaneous and wild dancing. Katara was very tempted to jump in and join them, but the worryingly thunderous expression on Jet's face stopped her.

"Ah, this is the best news ever!" Yue cried breathlessly after she and Suki had come to a full stop. "Azula is coming back, Azula is coming back!" she added in a singsong voice. "Ah, Kiyi is also going to be so happy. This is amazing!"

"It really is," Suki nodded, with just as much excitement as Yue. She then looked at Sokka. "And you're really willing to give up all this control, especially over the kitchen?" Suki asked.

"I feel like I have to," Sokka replied with a shrug. Seeing the way Suki immediately stiffened at those words, Katara cringed inwardly, knowing what Suki was going to say next.

"So, you wouldn't surrender control in the kitchen to me, but one call from Azula Nakamura, and she gets to run things," Suki said, rolling her eyes. "Fair, that's very fair. Sure, she knows way more than I do about saving restaurants, but still, thanks for the vote of confidence, Sokka."

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Sokka sighed. Suki didn't look appeased, and Katara couldn't really blame her.

"I think this is crazy," Jet said, not looking happy at all. It seemed that Sokka was right and her boyfriend was going to have an issue with this decision. "I'm not questioning that Azula has the expertise, but handing the reins over to her for six months? You can't be serious."

"We're very serious," Sokka replied. His bad mood from Suki's earlier accusation seemed to have lifted instantly upon seeing how annoyed Jet looked at this decision. "It's a unique opportunity, Jet. Six months does seem like a very long time, but it has to do with Ozai Nakamura's sick competition for Azula and her brother. They both have to take over a failing restaurant and turn it profitable, and whoever does better by the end of these six months will be the winner. I think Azula mentioned that her brother will be taking over a restaurant nearby."

"Yes, it's just a few blocks away from here," Katara nodded.

"I just want to say one more time for the record that I think Ozai Nakamura is a heartless monster for what he's doing to Azula and her brother," Yue stated passionately to the nods of everyone around.

"I think we're all in agreement on that," Suki nodded. "Anyway, I'm excited to work with Azula," she said. Katara suspected that it was largely because Suki knew that Azula saw her as a head chef material, more so than Sokka. "And be honest, Jet, you're just jealous of Azula because she's glamorous and we all have fangirl crushes on her."

"I was not jealous for even a second," Jet argued, but Katara was sure that her boyfriend was lying blatantly. "I was just embarrassed on your behalf, but especially for my girlfriend. You were making absolute fools of yourselves, the way you were chasing after Azula."

"I know you were not really jealous, nor did you have any reason to be," Katara decided to placate her boyfriend. She didn't want to deal with six months of bitter jealousy from Jet. Not that she would have to deal with it for six months, as it would finish off their relationship way before that. "And I know I was a bit of a brat during Azula's first visit, but I did apologize for it. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again, please trust me," she said.

"That's great, but honestly, I wish you would believe me when I say that's not the reason why I am against this," Jet shrugged. Katara frowned at that comment. She wasn't immediately sure why else Jet would be against Azula's return to The Northern Lights, but now that she thought about it some more, Katara realized that Jet hadn't just looked annoyed when she had broken the news. For some reason, he had also looked very worried.

"Well, I am obviously very concerned," Toph spoke up, distracting Katara's thoughts. "I don't have good experience with any of the Nakamuras. They're all racist towards microwaves. I want you to know that I will defend my babies with my life. And while Azula is a scary bitch, she's not her father. I'll face off against Azula any day of the week."

"There will be no facing off against Azula, Toph," Katara sighed. "Like you said it yourself, with Azula you don't have to worry so much, unlike with Ozai. We'll talk things out with her and if she wants the microwaving to stop, then we'll find something else for you, trust me. I don't want you to stress about this when there's literally no reason for it."

"Well, alright," Toph agreed reluctantly. "But I'll hold you to this promise, Kat."

"And no offense, Toph, but I kind of hope that Azula gets rid of the microwaves," Suki said, not sounding terribly apologetic. "It was clearly a mistake to go back to that."

"I don't think that's the reason why we're failing," Sokka immediately shot back. Toph and Jet also immediately began to grumble in protest, forcing Katara to intervene.

"Alright, alright, we've had this argument before!" Katara exclaimed, raising her voice, something she probably didn't do enough as a manager. "Only for like one hundred seventeen times. There's literally no reason to rehash these grievances when Azula is already on her way and things are going to change anyway, right? Can we at least agree on that?" There was some more grumbling, but eventually the others all settled down and dropped the matter.

"Well, all that arguing aside, I'm very excited about the inevitable changes," Aang spoke brightly with his usual optimism. "Lately, I feel like we've all been stuck in a rut. It's probably because none of the changes we've tried have really worked. I don't see how Azula coming to shake things up could be anything but a good thing, right?" Everyone seemed to be in agreement with this, perhaps with the slight exception of Jet who still couldn't resist an eyeroll.

"I think all of us should adopt Aang's positive attitude," Yue said happily. "Also, I have a proposition. Kat, do you think you could find out when exactly Azula will arrive at the restaurant? I think it would be a great idea if we threw her a welcoming party."

"Yes!" Suki nodded, giving Katara a pleading stare. "Let's have a welcoming party!"

"You don't need to tell me twice," Katara laughed, happy to agree. "A welcoming party it is."

Chan Takahashi had a deeply shocked look on his face as he took in the sight of Azula's suitcases stacked in a neat pile in the foyer. "What is this?" Chan gasped, pointing at the suitcases. "Are you leaving me?" he exclaimed dramatically.

"What are you talking about?" Azula shook her head as she stood at the mirror nearby, trying to decide which one of her countless trench coats to wear. "I told you I was going away for work, right?"

"Yes, but why do you need so much stuff this time?" Chan blinked. "You always travel light, with only three suitcases, not… eight?"

"Nine, actually," Azula corrected her pretend boyfriend. "Well, I usually don't go away for six months."

"Six months?!" Chan shouted. "What is this about six months? This is the first time I hear about it! I thought it was one of your regular week-long work trips!"

"Oh," Azula blinked, feeling slightly foolish and guilty. "You know, I had this feeling for days now, as if I had forgotten to tell you some important details. Well, now I know what it was. Yes, my father is sending me to do this new thing in Caldera. It's going to keep me there for six months."

"That's ridiculous even for a fake relationship," Chan shook his head.

"Maybe we can spread rumors that we're having a lot of webcam sex or something like that," Azula shrugged.

"Do you think we could have a sexy Zoom call?" Chan asked hopefully.

"No," Azula said. Chan's face fell in disappointment. "Don't be so glum. We haven't slept together for almost two years. There's no reason for you to constantly act like you miss me. Just think about all the options for hooking up you'll have with me out of your hair. But by Agni, be discreet or I'll scoop out your eyes using your ball cup."

"For fuck's sake, you can be such a frightening bitch," Chan paled at the mental image. "Don't worry, I'll be discreet. As long as you remain discreet yourself."

"You really shouldn't question me," Azula rolled her eyes. "I'm extremely subtle when it comes to hooking up, trust me."

"I'm sure you are," Chan sighed. "I guess you want me to bring these down to the car," he pointed at the suitcases. Azula didn't feel like dignifying something so obvious with an answer, instead choosing to glare at her boyfriend until he started moving. "Are you taking daddy's plane again?" Chan asked.

"Yes, I am taking one of my father's private planes," Azula shrugged. "If there's a way to avoid the crowds of peasants at the airport, I am obviously going to take it." Azula wasn't exactly concerned about her carbon footprint. She often made use of Ozai's private planes, as did Zuko. Instead of a carbon foot print, Azula had a carbon flipper print and she was damn proud of it.

"My girl loves sticking it to the poor," Chan chuckled as he began to haul Azula's suitcases down the stairs, loading them in the back of Azula's Range Rover. "Let me drive you to the airport, at least," Chan said after he was done with the luggage. "I can then take the car back. Also, if we're going to spend the six following months apart, let's at least have a very public and proper farewell kiss. Hopefully one of those paparazzi who lurk around airports will take an interest and we'll get some tabloid coverage."

"I suppose that makes sense," Azula admitted reluctantly. Chan was always trying to use Azula's thirst for fame and relevancy to get as little as a kiss or any other scraps of attention from her. It was honestly a little pathetic, but it was a small price to pay. In a situation where Azula wasn't sure if she would ever feel safe coming out, Chan played an important shielding role for her.

They were soon on their way to the airport, with Azula constantly having to frown at the way Chan was handling her car as his driving skills left much to be desired. "You know, I've been thinking," Chan began.

"Didn't the team doctor say that thinking is dangerous for you after all those concussions?" Azula snorted.

"Ouch, the burn," Chan laughed good-naturedly. "Anyway, I just wanted to say that you going away for so long actually presents me with a problem, now that I think about it. Whenever I'll want to make a public appearance, who am I supposed to bring with me? I'll have to go alone and that's just embarrassing, right?"

"I don't know, what are you driving at, Chan?" Azula sighed. "Can't you take a relative or one of your teammates?"

"I could, but a big part of our arrangement is the perk of being able to appear in public with you," Chan pointed out. "I'm getting so many new social media followers whenever we're seen together in public. And now, I'm going to be denied that for six months. I feel like maybe I deserve some kind of extra compensation."

"I can't afford to pay you more," Azula shrugged. "Once I've defeated Zuko and claimed my own Kitchen Nightmares spinoff show, we can talk about it. Although the deal we have is already extremely generous towards you." Chan gave her a pointed stare that lingered at the hem of her very short skirt. "Ugh, no, I am not sleeping with you, idiot," Azula barked. "It's like you don't understand what the word lesbian means."

"Sorry," Chan at least had the presence of mind to apologize. "But you have to admit, our sex was hot."

"Well, obviously, because I was there and that makes it hot by default," Azula rolled her eyes. "Doesn't mean it was enjoyable, at least not for me. You know, to paraphrase that old joke, I literally did lay back and thought of… well, not of the Fire Nation, but of work and all sorts of new recipes I wanted to try."

"Ouch, brutal," Chan burst into laughter. "I am destroyed."

"Good," Azula smirked. "Anyway, is this a man thing to obsess about women they can't and won't have? Lure of the unattainable?"

"I suppose," Chan shrugged. "What about that sexy Zoom chat, though? Or phone sex, at least? Have a heart, babe."

"Forget it, Chan," Azula sighed, shaking her head. "And stop being so obnoxious, or maybe I'll carve out your heart and serve it with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."

"Well," Zuko remarked, surveying the slightly spooky looking dining room of The Blue Spirit, all the tables covered with white linens. "This doesn't look too bad. It shouldn't take us more than a week to get it all running again."

"Provided we can find some reinforcements quickly," Mai remarked, standing next to him. She was wearing a very short black latex skirt together with fishnets that never failed to draw Zuko's eyes and Mai knew it perfectly well. Her choice of clothing seemed to confirm the impression Zuko had already gathered when they spoke on the phone. It seemed that Mai was genuinely happy to see him again after a break since the start of the year. "Anyway, the restaurant has only been closed since February, so less than two months," Mai continued. "I don't know why you expected it to be a complete mess."

"I don't know, maybe because I've seen too many filthy restaurants lately," Zuko shrugged. "Anyway, it was really nice of your parents to pitch in and help with the reopening."

"Come on, Zuko, you know why they're doing it," Mai snorted, making Zuko look away uncomfortably. It was true that Ukano and Michi Syun loved him, or rather, they loved the fact that he was the son of the multibillionaire Ozai Nakamura. Mai's parents were already a part of the Fire Nation elite, but in their daughter's union with Zuko they saw a chance to elevate themselves onto the top tier of the world's wealthiest and most influential people.

When a few years ago Mai had gone to her parents with the idea of borrowing some money to open a restaurant to run together with Zuko, Ukano had been more than happy to open his wallet and The Blue Spirit was born. Zuko had even been given the honor to name the restaurant, and he had nostalgically chosen the title of his favorite childhood Saturday morning cartoon based on the adventures of a folklore hero of the Earth Kingdom. They'd enjoyed some success with the restaurant, despite Ozai often calling Zuko away. Recently, however, his father's demands had finally caused both the restaurant and his relationship with Mai to fall into complete neglect, and they had amicably agreed to take a break from their relationship. Mai had closed the restaurant soon after, having trouble finding a chef of Zuko's caliber. Also, Ukano and Michi were suddenly no longer that interested in supporting their daughter now that Zuko was out of the picture.

"True," Zuko nodded. "I'm just glad that you agreed to take advantage of their renewed generosity."

"What can I say?" Mai shrugged. "I like money." She gave Zuko a sharp stare. "That doesn't mean it was an easy decision to let you slink back, Zuko. After all, I know you wouldn't have come back if you didn't need the restaurant for that stupid competition with Azula."

"Ah, come on, Mai," Zuko sighed. "You know that my dad is the harshest taskmaster there is. It wasn't my choice to leave to in the first place." Mai looked skeptical at those words. "I'm being serious, Mai. I was looking for any excuses to come back, I swear. When my father dropped the shocking news about this contest with Azula, I immediately thought that this could be a chance for us to… you know, reconnect," he added, blushing lightly.

"Sweet words," Mai smirked, giving him a light bump with her hips. "Let's see if they get you anywhere."

"You don't think that we needed a break?" Zuko asked seriously. "I wasn't a fan of how much we were arguing towards the end."

"Maybe," Mai shrugged. "I didn't like how you just decided that we were in need of a break, though. But that wasn't what I was the most annoyed with. I was seriously pissed off because it felt that the most important reason why we broke up was the whims of your father."

"I don't think he is specifically against our relationship. He always treated you well during the family gatherings, didn't he?" Zuko asked. Mai nodded reluctantly. "I think he's just very inconsiderate, but that's simply how he has always been." Zuko stopped to think for a moment. "That sounds like I'm defending my abusive father, doesn't it? Yeah, I shouldn't do that, that's fucked up."

"That's not exactly surprising with you, Zuko," Mai smirked, shaking her head. "But I'm intrigued that you've been given six months off the leash. Perhaps-" Mai was about to continue, but then seemingly decided against it. "Well, I suppose we'll see."

"You can't just stop there, Mai," Zuko protested.

"Watch me," Mai looked amused as Zuko was treated to rare laughter from his ex-girlfriend.

"Seriously, though," Zuko said earnestly, reaching out to briefly touch Mai's hand. "Thank you for giving me another chance, Mai."

"Don't mention it," Mai blushed lightly, turning to look away as she moved to retract her hand, but the contact lingered just enough to fill Zuko with feelings of powerful longing. "At least this is going to be an entertaining venture," she said. "It was a boring winter with little to do and parents constantly riding my ass about getting up from the sofa and doing something constructive. I suppose after you left and I had to close the restaurant, I was struck with some kind of curse of apathy. More so than usual, anyway. But with how chaos always seems to follow in your footsteps, I'm sure things will heat up again. Also, Azula is back in Caldera as well and nothing beats a healthy little competition between best friends, right?"

"Right," Zuko said, trying to withhold a frown. He hoped that Mai's old friendship with Azula wouldn't become a factor in this competition. Azula was so wicked and manipulative that it would be just like her to try and use her friendship with Mai to gain an advantage. Then again, Mai was clever and perceptive, and she probably would notice if Azula tried to manipulate her. Perhaps Zuko was worrying over nothing. "So, where do you think we should start?" Zuko asked instead. "There's plenty to do before we can open this place to the public."

"I don't intend to do any menial labor myself, of course," Mai yawned. "Tomorrow morning, I'll get in touch with a cleaning company and they'll take care of everything. Also, I should probably call in some handymen. Some repairs are long overdue, and the sign outside is barely hanging on. It would be a PR nightmare if it fell and squished someone during the grand reopening."

"That would be terrible," Zuko agreed. "Maybe we could get a brand-new sign? This one looks a little worn down and we need something bright and attractive to get the attention of potential customers." The Blue Spirit was on a street in a pedestrian zone that was technically a part of downtown Caldera, but this street skirted the edge of the downtown and saw slightly less traffic. Wedged in tightly between a beauty salon and a massage parlor that actually was a massage parlor (or at least that's what Zuko had been told), The Blue Spirit was a cozy little place that needed to put in an extra effort to stand out from the crowd.

"I will consider that," Mai remarked. "I trust I can count on you to whip the kitchen back into shape?"

"Sure," Zuko smiled. "Shall we go for our old distribution of roles? It seemed to work really well." Back when Zuko was working full time at the restaurant, he had taken care of everything that had to do with the kitchen, working as a head chef, ordering food, cleaning, prepping, the whole spiel. Mai had taken on the role of the manager, overseeing the front of the house, doing the bookkeeping, the hiring and firing, basically all the admin. They were both good at their respective roles, and as long as Zuko didn't try to correct Mai's bookkeeping or Mai didn't interfere with the menu, they were golden.

"It would be stupid to try and fix something that's not broken," Mai shrugged. "We will need to bring in more people, of course. I'll get busy with the hiring tomorrow. Now, I'm thinking we should only have a skeleton team for the relaunch and the first couple of weeks. Then, if everything looks solid, we can hire more people to plug the holes. Until then, we should go with all hands on the deck approach. If you need help with prep or cleaning, I'll wrangle the waitresses into doing it."

"Sounds good," Zuko nodded. Mai was not necessarily very business-oriented the way Azula was, but Mai could still be ruthlessly practical the way Zuko knew he could never be and that made him a bad manager. Thankfully, when the situation called for it, Mai could do the job more than adequately. "I'll still need a sous chef, though," Zuko said.

"Obviously, it's on my list," Mai said. "I'm not going to risk everything with you as the lone chef. Blame my past experience of seeing you dash off as soon as your father calls."

"That's not happening this time," Zuko protested unconvincingly. "Anyway, I'm glad we're getting another cook. We also need someone to work the dining room."

"If I get only one waitress, I might have to pitch in when things get busy, and I don't want to serve customers," Mai made a face. "I'm getting two waitresses. And I'm going to see if I can get Ty Lee to run the front of the house as the head waitress."

"Ty Lee?" Zuko asked, feeling surprised. "Isn't she still working at the Sea World? I thought she was in charge of the sealion show or something."

"She was, but apparently there was some kind of an accident and she might be looking for a new job," Mai explained. Zuko gave Mai a questioning stare, but his ex-girlfriend merely shrugged. "Sorry, the last we spoke, Ty Lee was in a terrible rush and had no time to explain. I'll give her a call later."

"That sounds weird," Zuko said. He didn't know what to think about Ty Lee as the head waitress. He supposed that she had what it took to charm the customers. Zuko only hoped that Ty Lee had become slightly more mature since their high school days.

"I'll let you know if I learn anything new," Mai replied. "Anyway, unless you're eager to get started in the kitchen, there's not much more we can do here today. Why don't we get out of here and get started properly tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds good," Zuko said. "Shall we go and get ourselves a few drinks?"

"Why not?" Mai shrugged. "Also, that was almost smooth coming from you," she added with a grin.

"Hey, I'm not completely hopeless," Zuko protested as they left the restaurant and crossed the street to enter a small and cozy cafeteria. They were soon seated and served with liquor infused coffee. With them both being awful at small talk, however, the conversation was stalling. "Listen, I… uh, had something I wanted to ask, even though it might be a bit premature," Zuko finally decided to say.

"I like it when you're being bold, Zuko," Mai chuckled. "Even when it ends in a disaster, at least it's entertaining to watch."

"Ugh, you're not making it easy," Zuko groaned. "Anyway, I was just thinking. I have the hotel booked until the end of the week and I was planning to do some apartment hunting later today. But I was also thinking… last time I was here, I didn't have to rent an apartment."

"Oh, wow," Mai blinked in surprise. "You're not wrong thinking that's a bit premature."

"Sorry," Zuko apologized quickly, blushing. "You're right. I'll just rent an apartment."

"Oh, I didn't say you should do that," Mai winked at him. "Play your cards right, Zuko, and maybe you'll be able to move out of the hotel without having to rent an apartment of your own…"

The 1st of April fell in on a drizzly Caldera Tuesday as Azula arrived at The Northern Lights a little more than an hour before the lunch service. Azula parked her rent Tesla in the restaurant's car park and got out, frowning as she noticed that the restaurant's windows were sinking in darkness. It almost seemed as if nobody was in, even if Katara had told Azula that they would be opening for lunch. Then again, Azula recognized Yue's car parked nearby, which meant that the restaurant was open after all.

Azula walked up to the entrance and tried the door handle. The doors opened and Azula stepped into the dimly lit dining hall. Her eyes were still adjusting to the darkness when suddenly she was startled by the sound of a small explosion very close by. Azula's heart leapt into her mouth as a series of explosions from firecrackers went off, filling her nostrils and the entire dining room with insufferable acrid odor and smoke.

"Surprise!" multiple voices yelled as the lights went back on and Azula was rushed and surrounded by excited looking restaurant staff.

"Agni, thank you for the heart attack," Azula groaned. "I thought I would find you hard at work fixing the restaurant, not wasting your time on something like this-"

"Oh, shut up, you," Azula was surprised at Yue's forcefulness as the grinning blonde pulled her in for a tight embrace. Suki was next to give her a fierce hug, but that was it when it came to hugging. Azula had long since admitted to herself that she secretly loved hugs from the very few people she actually liked, so she was a little disappointed when Katara limited herself to a warm handshake, same as the rest of the staff.

"We're so glad to see you at The Northern Lights once again," Katara spoke, smiling. "I hope you'll excuse us for throwing you a little surprise welcoming party," she said, leading Azula over to a table nearby and forcing her to sit down in front of a gorgeous looking key lime pie.

"That… actually looks lovely," Azula admitted. She had been unusually nervous this morning, just from thinking about meeting the beautiful ladies at The Northern Lights, and so she had decided to skip the breakfast, something that Azula's stomach now reminded her of as she stared at the delicious looking pie. "Is that from The Jasmine Dragon? It looks very professional," she remarked, watching Suki quickly cut the pie into generous slices.

"It's mine, though I'll admit that I'm not much of a pastry chef," Suki smiled. "I hope it's good. It should be, I had a couple of helpers with very strict quality standards."

"That's us," Yue spoke proudly, placing an arm around Katara's shoulders.

"Well, let's test it, then," Azula said, giving her welcome cake a try. "Oh, this is delicious," she had to admit a while later. "Good idea to balance the tartness of the filling with extra sugar in the crust," Azula added before taking another bite.

"I'm glad it meets with your approval," Suki said proudly, looking pleased.

"Delicious," Azula nodded as she quickly tore through her slice and then did something she allowed herself only rarely and that was to have a second helping of a dessert. Privately, she justified herself with the knowledge that it was going to be a very long day and she would need all the energy she could get. With their combined efforts, the pie was quickly reduced to only a few Graham cracker crumbs, but then Sokka hoovered them all up in his mouth before starting to lick the plate clean like the man-pig that he was.

"I know you're eager to get started," Katara smiled even as she was checking her phone. "But there's really no rush. We can just sit for a while longer and catch up, right?"

"You're acting awfully relaxed for someone with their livelihood on the line," Azula remarked, feeling surprised by Katara's attitude. She had felt way more urgent and determined on the phone and during the Zoom call.

"Well, the truth is that we're expecting another guest for this surprise welcoming party," Yue smiled. "And there she is," Yue added as the restaurant doors opened one more time. Azula turned her head to regard the new arrival, feeling surprised when she saw her half-sister standing there, looking very excited. Kiyi had clearly been pedaling on her bike very hard all the way here because her hair was all disheveled and her cheeks were red from the effort.

"Kiyi?" Azula asked in surprise as she got up from her seat. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Azula!" Kiyi yelled, running up to her sister and wrapping her arms around Azula's midriff. "I need to be back in twenty minutes, so I have… maybe ten minutes to hang out?"

"This really wasn't necessary, Kiyi. I was going to get in touch with you and Ursa soon, anyway," Azula chided gently. She then glared at the others. "Why did you let me have a second slice when you knew that Kiyi was coming? Now we don't have any pie for my sister! What's wrong with you?"

"Uh, Kiyi can have an entire pie to take with her if she wants to," Suki said. Kiyi looked like she was definitely interested in this idea. "We have… like seven pies in the fridge. They're almost just as good, but they didn't quite pass Katara and Yue's quality control. I'm going to fetch one of them for you, Kiyi," Suki said, disappearing towards the kitchen.

"Anyway, I think you can stop trying to squeeze the life out of me," Azula sighed, looking down at her kid sister who was still stuck to her like glue. "I'm guessing that Yue must have told me that I was coming to Caldera."

"Yeah," Kiyi gave Azula a reproachful stare, finally releasing her. "Because obviously you're telling me nothing."

"I was going to just show up unexpected one day. I wanted my arrival to be a surprise," Azula lied. Her tunnel vision had once again kicked in and she had seen nothing but her mission to fix the restaurant, and so she had completely forgotten about Ursa and Kiyi, and perhaps arranging something with them, but now her negligence was making her feel increasingly guilty.

In the end, Azula's guilt forced her to cave in as Kiyi managed to extract a promise to spend time with her and Ursa on Azula's first day off at the restaurant. However, it was very likely that she wouldn't have to fulfil this promise for a good while yet, because Azula didn't intend to take any days off until the restaurant was functioning properly. And with Kiyi eventually departing to return to her classes at school, Azula felt that it was finally time to get around to what she was here for in the first place.

"I know there's not much time left before we have to open for lunch, but I still want to do a quick inspection before we begin," Azula began, speaking in her best authoritative voice. "I'll want to have a brief chat with all of you. I want to know exactly where we stand. Everyone, please take your stations and I'll do a quick tour together with the owners. We'll start at the front of the house."

Suki, Toph and Jet walked off, leaving Azula with the two owners as well as Yue and Aang, the resident waitress and busboy. Azula was about to continue with her questioning, when Katara suddenly surprised her with a sneaky hug out of nowhere. "I'm so glad you're back," Katara whispered in Azula's ear before quickly releasing her.

"Umm, thank you," Azula managed, feeling very distracted by the hug. Still, as taken by surprise as she was, Azula couldn't help but notice that Katara had embraced her as soon as Jet had left the dining room, which was definitely an interesting observation.

"This isn't going to be a quick inspection if you'll keep doing that," Sokka sighed, glaring at his sister. "I'm not winning any points with Suki by not helping her finish prepping right now."

"By all means, go and help her, dingus," Azula snorted. "I didn't know we have fallen behind with the prep. I don't really need you both for the inspection, anyway."

"I bet you don't," Sokka rolled his eyes before retreating. Katara was blushing at the comment, while Yue was grinning like mad and Aang looked confused.

"Ahem… anyway," Azula cleared her throat. "So, how has it been working with customers these past few months?"

"Not as bad as it used to be, actually," Yue said. "Overall, we are microwaving less, and that means we also get less complaints about it. I would say maybe 30% less complaints?"

"I think on average we're returning like six to eight orders to the kitchen per service," Aang said.

"I'm glad there's been an improvement, but that's still pretty bad," Azula winced. "At least you seem to have kept the morale up." Yue nodded at that, smiling, but Azula noticed Aang frowning and averting his eyes. "What?" Azula asked, giving Aang a demanding stare.

"It's nothing, really," Aang replied evasively.

Katara sighed. "Aang is thinking about leaving, and I can't blame him," she explained. "Most of the nights, Yue can handle the dining room all by herself, and since Aang is earning less in tips, he can no longer survive on what I can pay him."

"Believe me, the last thing I want is to abandon all of my friends," Aang sighed, looking guilty. "And I know Katara and Yue are giving everything they can, but it's just… really tough."

"I've given him a small raise, but it's not enough to make up for the loss of tips," Katara said. "It really sucks, because Aang does a lot of extra work at the restaurant."

"And I'm sharing as much as I can from my tips, but there's only so much I can do," Yue spoke gloomily. "My landlord raised the rent again. Kya and I are barely hanging on and avoiding becoming homeless."

"It sounds absolutely dire," Azula said. This was worse than she had imagined. The guilt ripping her chest apart intensified painfully from the realization what these people were struggling with daily. "Alright, we need to address the money flow of the restaurant immediately before I do anything else," Azula decided. "Yue, Aang, don't worry, I'm here to help and I have a plan." Yue and Aang both looked relieved and reassured at that. "Let's head for the kitchen, Katara," Azula said then.

Sokka and Suki were hard at work in the kitchen, busy cutting enormous quantities of various vegetables for both the lunch and dinner services. Azula was pleased that the kitchen looked spotless and the staff had retained their usual good discipline in taking good care of their workplace and making sure that food was not prepared in unsanitary conditions. "I'm guessing Sokka is still the head chef," Azula whispered to Katara.

"Of course," Katara responded with a quiet sigh.

"I'm not bloody surprised," Azula shrugged. She spent a while observing the way Suki and Sokka worked. Suki's technique of julienning carrots and bell peppers was not perfect, but still quite good. Watching Sokka chop onions, however, made Azula cry, and not because of the released enzymes and sulfenic acid getting into her eyes. It was Sokka's knife technique that made Azula's eyes tear up a little. He was trying to chop the onion very finely while cutting it against the grain, and doing so with pondering slowness.

"Ready for inspection, boss-lady," Suki looked up from the cutting board and grinned at her. "You'll find everything shipshape in here, and not just because we knew you were coming."

"I'll have a look all the same," Azula said, doing a cursory inspection of the ovens and other kitchen equipment, finding all the surfaces clean on a satisfactory level. She then moved on to inspect the fridges, discovering that Suki had maintained her good practice of clear labeling of the freezer's contents. "Fair enough, it seems like I have nothing to criticize here," Azula said. "Other than the obscene amounts of frozen food, obviously. I'm going to guess that the basement freezers are also stuffed with frozen lasagna, mac and cheese, crab cakes, risottos and everything you've given up on cooking fresh."

"Guilty as charged," Sokka chuckled. "It's all still tasty and I'll continue to claim that."

"Of course, you will," Azula snorted. "Damn it, I forgot to grab a menu from the dining room," Azula snapped her fingers. "Katara, could you-"

"One menu, coming right up," Katara dashed off, returning moments later with a menu that had grown from one page when Azula had left in September, to three pages now.

"Well, this is an abomination," Azula commented as she started to browse through the menu, spotting several items that had no place on it and ought to be removed as quickly as possible. "Cod poached in milk?" Azula wondered, feeling mildly disgusted by the mere concept of the dish. "That sounds revolting."

"It's Auntie Ashuna's favorite," Katara explained… or at least, she seemed to believe that her words formed a logical explanation, which to Azula it clearly didn't.

"Well, I'm happy for Auntie Ashuna," Azula rolled her eyes. "How popular is that dish, anyway?" Katara and Sokka exchanged guilty stares, while Suki just looked mildly infuriated with them both. "Alright, let me rephrase it," Azula sighed. "Has anyone other than Auntie Ashuna ever ordered it?"

"I don't think so," Sokka admitted.

"Not true," Katara argued. "Someone else once ordered it, but then they changed their order at the last moment."

"You two are insane," Azula sighed. "This is no way to run a restaurant. It's almost like the restaurant is running you!" She returned to studying the menu. "Agni, I can't believe it, you snuck the fucking lobster roll back on the menu," Azula glared at Sokka. "It's not fresh by any miracle, is it?"

"Of course not," Suki replied. "Honestly, though, people actually order it quite a lot. I just don't think many of them come back for more. There's definitely a customer interest in a lobster roll, but I suspect they also expect it to be good?"

"How unreasonable of them," Azula rolled her eyes. "You might be onto something with the idea of a fresh lobster roll, Suki. I'll give it a thought." Suki's smiled broadened and she looked rather pleased with herself. "Let me guess, the canned lobster roll is also one of Auntie Ashuna's favorites."

"It is, yes," Katara admitted.

"I see," Azula sighed, heading out of the kitchen, with Katara trailing her. "I think I'll probably have to deal with this Auntie Ashuna myself. She sounds like a menace." Katara looked a little horrified at that, but she somehow managed to remain silent as they entered the walk-in freezer for a brief inspection, even if Jet wasn't someone that Azula needed to hear from. She already knew what the problem with Jet was, and Azula had a plan for how she was going to deal with that issue.

"It feels very drafty in here," Azula remarked upon the state of the freezers, which were considerably emptier than during her first visit.

"Well, while the menu has grown, it's still way smaller than it was back before your first visit," Katara said. "But also, because we've been struggling for money so much, Jet has to do a lot of last moment supply runs."

"And I bet those cost extra," Azula said. Katara nodded mutely. "Don't fret," Azula tried an encouraging smile, briefly touching Katara's hand. "I have an idea. Well, actually I have a lot of ideas already. And I also know where we need to start. The restaurant is going to be fine, Katara. You're going to be fine."

"I knew that from the moment we had our Zoom call," Katara smiled nervously. "Still, thanks for saying it."

"Don't mention it," Azula smiled back. "Anyway, let's go and have a chat with Toph. I want to see if there are any changes to how the microwaving station is being run."

After Azula and Katara had climbed down the stairs leading to the dark basement, Azula discovered that not much had changed regarding the restaurant's microwaving practices, with the sole exception that the whole operation was downscaled considerably. Instead of ten microwaves, there were now only three, and Toph was standing in front of them, assuming a defensive posture.

"You are not touching my babies!" Toph threatened as Azula and Katara approached.

"You can cut the dramatics, I'm not going to do anything to your microwaves," Azula sighed. "First of all, microwaves have their place at a restaurant, even if it shouldn't play as prominent role as here. Also, there's no reason why I would dramatically destroy the microwaves by lobbing explosives at them the way my father did. And I'm definitely not hauling them upstairs all by myself. So, you can relax, the microwaves are not in any danger."

"Well," Toph relented slightly, but she still remained suspicious. "I don't believe you'd just be okay with us microwaving shit after being so against it the whole time."

"Obviously, at some point, we will be stopping with this whole approach of microwaving most items on the menu," Azula replied. "But there are other issues I plan to address first. Still, you should probably start thinking about other tasks you could perform at the restaurant. And Katara, you're still the manager. This is also a task for you. It's up to you to find something else for Toph to do around here."

"Or else what?" Toph challenged. "You're going to fire me?" Katara looked horrified from the mere thought, and it made Azula sigh inwardly. She loved Katara's softness in their interactions, but when it came to Katara's managerial skills, it was definitely a big downside.

"I'm giving you both plenty of time to figure it out, so that we don't have to let anyone go," Azula said. "In the future, running the microwaves will not be a full-time job. I think it's fair to give you both an early warning about this."

"It is very fair," Katara said quickly, trying to cut Toph's protestations off at the pass. "I know that the way we've been operating is all wrong."

"Says you," Toph snorted. "Anyway, good luck with finding another job for me, Katara. Oh, here's an idea. Maybe I could be the world's first blind waitress."

"Maybe not a waitress, but I know you won't let your disability stand in your way, Toph," Katara said. "You never have. You've just become too comfortable sitting down here in the basement and shoving frozen lasagna into a microwave."

"Well, thank you for the inspiring pep talk, but I have to get ready to do some actual work now," Toph said curtly. Azula normally wouldn't have stood for someone shutting down conversation like that, especially when Toph was expected to listen and take orders from her. Still, Azula was willing to let it slide for now. Her battle today wasn't with Toph.

"I hope you know that I will not drop this," Azula said as together with Katara they left the basement.

"I understand," Katara nodded. She was looking very sad, and Azula was overcome with a powerful urge to reach out and take Katara's hand. It was only at the very last moment that her brain kicked back into gear, warning her about being too obvious with her affections. "It's almost time to open for lunch," Katara said as they stood close at the top of the stairs. "Do you still want to audit me as well?"

"I think I'll give you a pass for now," Azula smirked. "However, I would like to use your office to conduct a… let's just call it an employee performance review."

"Really?" Katara's blue eyes widened in surprise. "And who would you like to interview?"

"The one person that has been evading me thus far," Azula said, narrowing her eyes. "Katara, I need you to track down Jet. It is imperative that I speak to him right away."

Chapter Text

Azula Nakamura did not like Jet Patel, and it wasn't even because he was the boyfriend of Katara Enuaraq – or at least that was what Azula had managed to successfully convince herself of.

Over the years, Azula had met plenty of guys like Jet. She recognized his type as soon as they were introduced back in September. Where Azula was a rabid workaholic who often had no idea how to be happy unless she immersed herself in various tasks and worked long hours, Jet was a lazy coaster who was never around when there was any work that needed doing. Jet Patel was a parasitic leech who benefitted from the hard work of others, while contributing very little himself. Azula felt like she would have ended up disliking Jet even if he wasn't Katara's good for nothing boyfriend.

Still, sitting in Katara's office at The Northern Lights and facing Jet on the opposite side of the desk, Azula was determined to put her personal feelings aside and do what was best for the restaurant. Jet's misappropriation of the restaurant's funds had to be stopped, however, Azula was cautious about starting her tenure at the restaurant with nasty drama, imploding relationships and perhaps the staff becoming split into two opposing camps over the inevitable fallout. It was for this reason that Azula had come up with a plan that was so cunning that she felt like sticking a tail to it and calling it a fox.

"Well, boss?" Jet smirked at her after Azula had spent a while ignoring him, hoping that it would make Jet nervous. It seemed like Jet was one unflappable bastard, however. "Katara said you had something urgent for me. This doesn't feel urgent."

"I'm sorry, I'll be with you in a moment," Azula replied, fiddling around her laptop some more before closing it and turning towards Jet with her best corporate smile. "Jet, you seem like a smart guy," Azula began with fake flattery. "I'm sure you're aware that this restaurant is facing some difficulties and in order to survive, our first step should be to reduce our expenses. You're the food manager. You must have some ideas on what we can do to cut costs."

Azula noticed that Jet puffed out his chest a little more as she was speaking, suggesting that he was very much susceptible to her flattery. "I appreciate you asking for my advice," Jet replied. He had come off a little guarded upon entering the office, but by now he appeared fully relaxed. "But food prices are what they are. I'm always on the lookout for bargains, but I can only do so much. It's possible that slightly raising our prices might be our only option."

"I would really hate to do that," Azula sighed. Of course, she wasn't going to do a price hike. She wanted to save the restaurant, not to deliver a death blow to it. "Anyway, I will be recalculating all the prices, just to be sure that Katara hasn't made any oversights, but it will take time. In the meantime, I would prefer to focus on cutting our costs."

"And I'm with you 100%, boss," Jet smiled. "I'm just telling you that it might be challenging."

"True, I don't doubt that," Azula frowned. "I haven't done a thorough analysis of our food costs yet, but at the first glance, the expenses look a little too high to me," Azula continued. This was a lie, of course. Katara was yet to give her the latest information regarding the restaurant's cash flow, but Azula expected that it would paint a similar picture to what it was back in September – Jet taking out inadequate amounts of money to supposedly buy produce. "Remind me, where do you actually buy the supplies?" Azula asked.

"The local farmer's market," Jet replied quickly. It sounded like a scripted answer to Azula. She just couldn't imagine Jet haggling with the local farmers at the market, trying to cut a deal. That just seemed like it would be far too much work for someone like Jet. "They have the best prices, as you probably know yourself. It's also why I sometimes can't produce receipts, right? Sure, it's risky, but if it helps the restaurant, I'm willing to take the risk."

Azula knew perfectly well what Jet was trying to convince her of. She was supposed to believe that Jet had suppliers that were willing to sell him produce in bulk, with cash quietly changing hands, no receipts being printed and no VAT being paid. It was a risky scheme that would certainly allow them to keep the food costs low, but it just didn't fit with the picture of huge withdrawals that Jet was making from the restaurant's till. It was clear that Jet was still pocketing the difference between the actual food costs and what Katara was giving him, and now he was trying to present himself as some kind of a hero who was trying to save the restaurant.

"Well, I'm afraid I am not very keen on taking risks, Jet," Azula said. "After all, now it would be my reputation on the stake in case you got caught while pulling off one of your schemes. This is why we're going to make some changes to how we're ordering supplies around here."

"What do you mean?" Jet asked, suddenly sounding nervous.

"Every other restaurant I've worked with other than The Northern Lights has always ordered their supplies from national food wholesalers," Azula began.

"But the quality-"

"Is perfectly adequate, let me assure you, or else all those other restaurants would have gone out of business. There's really nothing to worry about," Azula shook her head. "Starting from today, we're going to order all our food from Sysco."

"But I've heard they're the worst!" Jet protested.

"Not in my experience," Azula shrugged. "In any case, I've already made my decision that we're going with Sysco. You just need to give them a try and I'm sure you'll love Sysco once you realize how easy it is to order from them. Everything is done online and you won't have to spend more than fifteen minutes on ordering food every day." Jet looked very skeptical at that.

"Anyway, I am convinced that this will really help the restaurant. I have already created an account and a password for you," Azula continued, smiling as she handed Jet a little note with the relevant information. "Also, I have spoken with some of my contacts in Sysco and I have negotiated a 10% discount applied to all orders made from this account. Now there's really no reason not to take advantage on such an amazing deal, right? All you have to do is to download their app on your phone and you'll be all set."

Jet looked devastated at the news. "But… but-" he was still trying to offer some kind of protest, but the way Azula had delivered the news had clearly left him stunned.

"I know you're overjoyed at the good news," Azula smiled. "Trust me, so am I. And just think about all the additional benefits. You will no longer have to leave the restaurant for hours in order to do all that haggling and negotiations in person. This will be very helpful because there's so much to do around the restaurant and now, you'll be around to help out more! And Jet? If at any moment you find yourself with some free time and it seems like there's nothing to do around the restaurant, please, seek me out. I'll come up with ways for you to contribute. Because I know how much you love to help," Azula added, winking and shooting finger guns at Jet.

"I… uh, that's great?" Jet managed, still failing to recover from his stunned state.

"It's really great!" Azula's smile broadened as she gestured for Jet to leave. "Well, I won't keep you any longer. You should download that Sysco app and start playing around with it. You're a clever guy, you'll figure out very quickly how to order. And remember, if you have any questions, I'm here to help."

"Sure… yeah, thanks," came the strained reply as Azula watched a very confused Jet staggering out of the office.

As Jet closed the doors behind him, Azula leaned back with a satisfied grin on her lips. Toying with Jet had been a pleasant distraction, even if she was a little irked that Jet still didn't seem to realize just how much he owed her. By disclosing the truth, Azula could have taken away both his job and his relationship with Katara. Instead, Azula had handed Jet a solid piece of rope, and now it remained to be seen whether Jet would choose to save himself with it or whether he would instead decide to hang himself.

"Well," Mai sighed boredly, taking a sip of her third cup of coffee of this job interview marathon. "So far, this has been absolutely dire."

"Meh," Zuko agreed reluctantly. Hiring the new staff of The Blue Spirit was not going as smoothly as he had hoped. They'd already spoken with eight applicants today, and not a single one had proved promising. "Is it really too much to ask if I want my future sous chef to have more experience than just flipping burgers?"

"And I want to set at least some standards for our waitresses," Mai said. "When an applicant tells you that they were fired from The Waffle House for stabbing a customer, it's not exactly the kind of glowing endorsement that I'm looking for. And the other candidates weren't much better."

"No, I'm pretty sure one of those girls was as high as a kite, and the other was just completely drunk," Zuko rolled his eyes.

"She was totally shitfaced," Mai nodded. "I couldn't understand a word she was saying from how she was slurring her speech."

"Anyway, we have more applicants to get through," Zuko looked at the stack of remaining CV's. "Maybe there will be a hidden gem, against all odds. After all, we just need two hires, how hard could it be to find a sous chef and a good waitress in a city as large as Caldera?"

"Apparently, it's next to impossible," Mai groaned. "Anyway, I think our next applicant is here," she said as someone entered the cozy premises of The Blue Spirit.

"Hello, I'm here for the job interview. I'm On Ji Takeda," the newcomer introduced herself. Zuko had been casually browsing through the CV of this new applicant, but as he looked up to regard On Ji, Zuko actually blinked from surprise. This girl was seriously cute, with large and soulful grey eyes and thick brown bangs, suggesting that she was not a native Calderan, but instead came from the outer archipelago. She was wearing a short black and white polka dot dress that showed off a pair of very nice legs, as well as modest cleavage.

"Welcome, On Ji," Mai said, offering the girl a seat. On Ji quickly sat down, thanking Mai.

"Oh, someone with actual culinary education," Zuko remarked, having browsed On Ji's CV some more. "And actual work experience that's not limited to fast food. Jeong-Jeong's Flaming Grill and Piandao's Fingerlicking Chicken Restaurant are two legit places. That's already a big plus in my book."

"Those were your two last workplaces in the Fire Fountain City," Mai said. "You quit Piandao's restaurant only three weeks ago. Why this change, quitting what seems like a good job and making a move to the capital?"

On Ji hesitated, blushing lightly. "It's rather embarrassing, really," she admitted. "And also, private, but I understand that keeping secrets or being evasive might work against me. The truth is that my ex-boyfriend is a rather… violent person. He never raised his hand against me, but he kept confronting everyone I tried to date back in the Fire Fountain City. He even beat up a couple of my prospective boyfriends and scared them off. I saw no alternatives than just packing up and moving to another city. But it's been hard to get used to Caldera and I'm starting to run out of money. That's why I really, really need this job," On Ji finished her sad tale, giving Zuko a particularly soft and pleading stare, accompanied with some batting of eyelashes.

"Well, we still have other candidates to speak with," Mai said quickly.

"True, but judging by how horrible all the others have been, I think you stand a really good chance, On Ji," Zuko said. "Actually, I'd be willing to give you a trial run. When can you start?" he asked.

"Whoa, really?" On Ji blinked, looking stunned, but then recovering and breaking into a broad and beaming smile. "Thank you, thank you so much! I won't let you down! I can start as early as tomorrow! No, in fact, I can start right away! You want something cooked, just point me to the kitchen right now!"

"I love the enthusiasm," Zuko chuckled. "Don't you agree, Mai?" he asked, turning to look at his girlfriend and feeling surprised upon seeing Mai glaring at him furiously for some reason.

"I do agree," Mai eventually said, grinding her teeth. Some of her obvious anger faded as she turned to speak with On Ji, making Zuko suspect that Mai was angry with him, but he had no idea why. "There's no reason for you to cook anything today, On Ji. But be here at nine tomorrow morning, and we'll iron out the details… such as the insignificant matter of your salary," Mai said, shooting another angry stare at Zuko.

"Oh yes, I forgot to ask about that," On Ji chuckled awkwardly. "But honestly, I just need a job that lets me pay the rent and survive, and I kind of assumed that a sous chef position would allow that. Anyway, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity! I can't wait to get started tomorrow morning!" she got up and bid them farewells before leaving, giving Zuko yet another soft stare as she did so.

Zuko had to admit that On Ji really did have a beautiful smile, but the way Mai was glaring at him forced Zuko to quickly snap out of these thoughts. "I have this feeling as if you're mad at me for some reason," Zuko remarked.

"For some reason?" Mai snapped irately. "Agni, Zuko, how can you be so… so infuriating? A pretty girl makes eyes at you and you immediately hire her? With almost no questions asked? And without even asking me if I agree with your decision? Even if I'm the actual owner of the restaurant?"

"Well, your parents are the actual owners, they're just letting us play around with the restaurant," Zuko corrected Mai, which may have been the wrong thing to do, because now it looked like there was actual steam coming from Mai's nostrils, suggesting that she was as mad as a dragon.

"That was so not the point I was trying to make, you idiot!" Mai hissed. "Anyway, this girl better be good, or else I'm going to be seriously pissed off with you, Zuko."

"She'll work out great. I have a good feeling about her," Zuko said confidently.

"Right," Mai rolled her eyes. "Anyway, as much as you deserve continued chewing out, our next applicant has arrived," Mai said as the next candidate entered the premises of The Blue Spirit.

Katara thought the lunch service was progressing well. Sure, all of their bad practices were still in effect and no corrective actions had been taken just yet, so the customers were not getting the kind of experience that Katara wanted them to have and she was feeling guilty about that. And yet, at the same time, everyone seemed to be moving about with a spring in their step, a surge of confidence inspired simply by Azula's presence. Yue's smile was particularly bright as she tended to the customers. Aang moved with such speed that he actually seemed to become a blur. In the kitchen, Suki was actually singing as she cooked and Sokka was humming along with her. Everyone's spirits seemed up and so was Katara's. Azula's arrival had filled her with hope that the restaurant would be saved.

Then again, maybe not everyone was so happy. The lunch service was nearing its completion when Katara spotted Jet entering the dining room and heading straight for her, just as she had finished chatting with a group of Water Tribe tourists who had stopped by for a quick bite. "Kat, I need a minute with you," Jet wasted no time as he quickly caught up with her.

"I'm in the middle of something here," Katara replied. Even though Katara was determined to try and keep Jet happy because of how annoyed he was by their decision to hand the reins over to Azula, Katara wasn't pleased with him barging into the dining room when they had agreed that he would not do so during the service.

"Yue's got it, don't worry," Jet said, reaching out and taking her hand. "Come on, I just need a moment, please?" he asked, a little forcefully. Katara made a weak attempt to pry her hand free, but Jet wouldn't release it. Katara knew that she could easily free her hand, but she understood how bad it would look in front of all the customers. Already, some customers were looking at them with concerned stares, so Katara decided to play it cool, summoning a quick and easy smile as she allowed Jet to lead her away from the dining room.

"What was that about?" Katara hissed as soon as they were out of sight of the customers.

"It's about an emergency," Jet replied. "I told you that it was a mistake to let Azula take over, and she has already made her first horrible decision. She wants me to stop doing business with all of my contacts at the farmer's market and instead order from a faceless wholesaler."

"I see," Katara remarked. She immediately remembered Azula giving her this advice about ordering from wholesalers back in September, just as she was leaving. Still, Jet had convinced her that the inferior wholesaler quality would result in a hit to the restaurant's reputation from which it would not recover. Also, Katara couldn't deny that it was important for her to support the local farmers instead of buying from a faceless conglomerate. She wasn't swayed by Jet's arguments that he was finding great bargains with the local farmers, though. Katara wasn't completely ignorant of what the food prices were, and their costs for buying produce appeared high. Still, she trusted Jet's argument that they had to pay for quality, and she wanted to support the local farming communities, so she had continued to let Jet run things his way. But now that Azula was here, she clearly wanted to change things and it was leading them towards their first serious butting of heads.

"I told you about all the downsides of that, right?" Jet asked impatiently. "We can't do what Azula wants. It's going to ruin us."

"I don't know… maybe," Katara replied evasively. This was clearly something that Azula felt about very strongly, judging by how it was the first change that she wanted to implement. Katara didn't want to immediately push back against it. She didn't want their cooperation to start off with a conflict. "I mean, it seems like most other restaurants do that and they don't go out of business, right?"

"True, but we have to be better than the average in order to survive," Jet argued. "That's what Ozai Nakamura said."

"Look, I think you have a point, Jet," Katara conceded. "But Azula is doing us such a massive favor by coming here and offering to fix the restaurant at no cost. I don't want to immediately look the gift horse in the mouth and start complaining. I think what we should do is to try Azula's way and see if it works or not. And if it doesn't work, well, we're just going to change it back to the old way."

"If we haven't closed the doors by that point," Jet sighed.

"Jet, Azula isn't here to destroy the restaurant," Katara spoke patiently. "That would make no sense. She has literally zero motivation to allow for that to happen."

"Well, I don't think she should be here at all," Jet said bitterly. "Because if she continues to be here, I'm not sure I'll be able to remain."

"Really?" Katara gasped, her eyes widening in shock. She had not at all expected that this one change would immediately push Jet to the point of threatening to leave. "You would turn your back on the restaurant because of this? Turn your back on me?"

"I don't want to," Jet said, looking guilty. "But I don't know if I could stick around and watch her destroy everything we've worked towards. And also, I don't particularly like the way you seem to trust this rich bitch over the people who have stuck with you through thick and thin."

"I think you're being overly dramatic, Jet," Katara replied, forcing herself to remain calm. "It's not about who I trust. It's about Azula Nakamura being someone who has made a career of fixing broken restaurants together with her father. She has an actual track record of having fixed places worse than ours. I'm not sure how you can argue against that kind of experience?"

Jet looked like he was about to burst into angry yelling, but he somehow managed to maintain his composure. "Alright, fine," he spoke much more calmly. "I guess I won't be able to convince you with just my words. Fine, I'll order from the wholesaler, just like Azula wants. And then you'll see for yourself what a terrible decision that was."

"Well, if you end up being right, then I will apologize and together we will ask Azula to reconsider her decision," Katara promised as she watched Jet turn around and stomp off. Katara let out a heavy sigh at her boyfriend's stubbornness. Truly, Jet was more like Sokka than either of them would ever care to admit. Katara just hoped that her brother wouldn't be the next to decide that he had to stir up some kind of drama with Azula.

"Alright, one more to go," Zuko sighed despondently, watching yet another clearly unsuited applicant leaving the restaurant after they had failed to impress him and Mai. "You have to admit, Mai, after so many terrible candidates, my decision to hire that On Ji girl is starting to look good," Zuko pointed out.

"We'll see, but you probably shouldn't boast about that," Mai snorted. "Because you just reminded me that I should still be annoyed with you."

"Nonsense, you love me," Zuko boldly winked at his girlfriend. Or at least he hoped that after moving back in with Mai and having properly reconnected during the past four nights, he had earned the right to once again refer to her as his girlfriend.

"You are so delusional, Zuko," Mai rolled her eyes at him before picking up the final CV. "Anyway, I hope this Jin Huang will not be absolutely horrible. Honestly, I am still reeling from the audacity of that previous applicant. I knew I'd seen her somewhere on social media, but it still took me a while to identify her as the wiener pussy girl."

"Oh yes, she was trending a few months ago," Zuko said. The girl in question had been filmed by the security cameras of some fast-food place, showing her sticking a wiener up her pussy and then serving it in a hot dog to an unsuspecting customer. "Anyway, since this Jin Huang is our last applicant and we're still lacking a waitress, I say we hire her as long as she doesn't look totally insane."

"And the bar just goes lower and lower," Mai sighed as they watched their final applicant enter the restaurant.

Zuko immediately concluded that this Jin Huang girl was a bit of an oddball. Her long brown hair was styled in a pair of slightly sloppy twin braids, with the rest of it left looking a little wild and unkempt. Her large and expressive olive-green eyes identified her as a native of the Earth Kingdom. She was wearing a collection of clothes that seemed to be very much at odds with each other, both in color and function, creating a very chaotic impression and making Zuko wonder if this girl was possibly some kind of circus performer, even if her CV made no mention of such a career choice.

"Hi, I'm Jin!" the girl introduced herself in a bright voice, pointing at the seat left unoccupied by the previous applicant. "May I?" she asked.

"Uh… sure," Zuko replied, exchanging slightly perplexed stares with Mai. "So, Jin," Zuko began, pausing when he noticed the strangely intense stare that Jin had fixed upon him. "I see from your CV that you have plenty of job experience, including waitstaff. Which I guess is good because we're looking for a waitress," Zuko finished lamely. The way Jin was looking at him was a little distracting. Perhaps he was just imagining things, but her stare looked almost… adoring?

"It's a very colorful CV," Mai remarked. "You have held more than a dozen of different jobs over the past year. In… one, two, three… seven different cities across the Earth Kingdom?"

"What can I say?" Jin replied, not looking away from Zuko even as she was speaking to Mai. "I love traveling."

"We're looking for a permanent employee not some kind of journeywoman," Mai scoffed. "Why would we hire you when you might be gone in a few weeks?"

"Oh, don't you worry about that," Jin said, giving Zuko another dreamy stare. "I plan to stick around Caldera City for the next six months at least."

"Well, that sounds exactly like what we need," Zuko said happily. He was planning to be in Caldera for the next six months himself. Jin staying here for the same length of time seemed like such a wonderful coincidence.

"You have previously only traveled around the Earth Kingdom," for some reason Mai was still pressing on with the interview. "What made you decide to come to the Fire Nation? Why did you come to Caldera specifically?"

"Well, I can tell you why I didn't come here, and it definitely wasn't to obsessively stalk my celebrity crush," Jin laughed brightly. Zuko found himself laughing along with this quirky girl. She had quite the sense of humor. "What can I say?" Jin continued. "I guess I just wanted a change of scenery."

"Very good," Zuko nodded. "I think we've heard everything we needed to hear."

"Exactly," Mai nodded in agreement. "And obviously, our answer is-"

"You're hired," Zuko said happily. "When can you begin?" he asked.

"YES! Yes, yes, yesyesyes!" Jin cheered excitedly, looking deliriously happy. "Oh, I can get started right away, just point me towards whatever needs doing!"

"There's no need for that," Zuko shook his head. "Just be here at nine tomorrow morning and we'll work out the details."

"Yes… like your salary," Mai spoke in an incredulous voice. "Again."

"Oh, I'll be happy with whatever," Jin spoke, giving Zuko more dreamy stares. "Also, I'm going to sleep in one of those cardboard boxes outside the restaurant just to make sure I'm here on time tomorrow morning."

"Please don't do that, or you'll be picked up by the police," Mai sighed. "Or maybe that might actually be a good thing," she muttered quietly.

"Well, regardless, I'll be here right on time, you can count on me, I'm as reliable as they come!" Jin exclaimed. "And once again, thank you so much for giving me a chance, Mr. Nakamura."

"It's just Zuko," Zuko smiled at the girl. "We'll see you tomorrow, Jin." Jin squealed from happiness and seemed to literally float out of the restaurant, the way cartoon characters did when they were in love. "Oh wow, what a stroke of luck, right Mai?" Zuko chuckled, turning towards his girlfriend.

"Stroke of luck?" he was surprised to see Mai giving him a shocked stare. "Zuko, that girl was absolutely insane!"

"What?" Zuko laughed incredulously. "No, she wasn't. She was just… weird? Quirky? Anyway, weird and quirky is in right now, so I think she'll work out really well. Customers are all about weird and quirky these days, you'll see."

"Alright," Mai sighed. "Just know that if your weird stalker ends up stabbing me or feeding me rat poison, I'll be holding you personally responsible."

"Sure, Mai, whatever you say," Zuko laughed, shaking his head. "You know, you have a great sense of humor, despite what most people say." Mai's reaction to his words was merely an emphatic roll of the eyes.

Jet Patel was in a rotten mood. Azula Nakamura starting to flex and bark her orders at him was making Jet's worst fears about this change of leadership come true. He'd had a free rein spending the funds of the restaurant as he saw fit, and while Jet had promised that with Bee's surgery paid for, he would eventually stop stealing from Katara and Sokka, Jet wanted to make that decision on his own terms, not because he was told by Azula bloody Nakamura.

There was only one way Jet was going to respond to Azula starting to throw her weight around. Jet wasn't going to take it lying down. Azula Nakamura had to go, and for that to happen, Jet needed to convince Katara and Sokka that bringing Azula in was a terrible idea. But in order to get the owners back on his side, what Jet clearly needed was a clever scheme, and it was for this reason that Jet was currently in the process of calling his as good as little sister, Beatrice 'Smellerbee' Wong.

"Hey, Bee?" Jet spoke up as soon as his call was answered. "Can you talk?"

"Sure, my fifteen minutes just kicked off," Bee replied, referring to her regular break at Walmart. "What's up? How did it go with that Azula chick?"

"Not good," Jet said. "She wants me to order exclusively from a wholesaler, the controlling bitch."

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea, Jet," Bee tried carefully.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Jet spoke hurriedly. He was aware that Bee was very much against his continued embezzlement, but because Bee was so overcome with gratitude for his help, she didn't quite dare to push Jet too forcefully into quitting his bad habit. "I promised to stop and I will, alright? But I don't want anyone to think that I did it because Azula Nakamura made me, okay? She doesn't get to just come in and order me around, there's no way I will stand for that."

"What are you thinking, Jet?" Bee sighed.

"I'm thinking that it's time to pull another amazing scheme," Jet said proudly. Bee let out a heavy sigh in response. "Listen, just hear me out, it's brilliant. I just made an order of some vegetables from Sysco, bell peppers, tomatoes and onions. What I want to do is to show Katara and Sokka that these vegetables are of terrible quality."

"And how are you going to do that?" Bee asked. "I hear Sysco are pretty solid."

"Well, this is where you come in, girl," Jet grinned. "I want you to look around your warehouse over there and find me the worst possible looking bell peppers, tomatoes and onions. It's Walmart, so there's bound to be plenty of gross and rotten stuff lying around. Feel free to roll them around in the mud and stomp on them for good measure. Then you can bring the veggies over to me and I'll slip them into the Sysco crates before showing them to Katara and Sokka."

"Devious," Bee replied. "And you're sure you really want to go through with this?"

"It's an amazing scheme, I'm telling you, Bee," Jet said, brimming with confidence. "I mean, what could possibly go wrong? At the end of the day, Azula Nakamura will be out of here and booking her flight back home."

A day filled with nothing but job interviews had put Mai Syun in a very sour mood. She was generally not a fan of human interactions, aside the bare minimum that was necessary to function within a society, and having to suffer through more than a dozen of painful interviews had inflicted huge mental fatigue on Mai. And on top of all that, Zuko had successfully managed to annoy her by making some utterly ridiculous decisions regarding their new hires.

Mai was not at all impressed about getting saddled with two girls who had been so clearly making eyes at her boyfriend throughout their interviews. Even worse, one of them looked like an unhinged stalker with history of following Zuko around the Earth Kingdom. But most infuriatingly was that all of this had completely escaped Zuko's notice and he seemed both blissfully ignorant and happy with the hires. Also, he was totally unaware of just how much his ignorance had managed to piss off Mai.

"This is starting to look better and better," Zuko said excitedly, pacing back and forth the restaurant's dining room. "I think I have the menu nailed down by now, and tomorrow I can start training On Ji on how to execute it. And you can start training Jin. Although, really, it should be Ty Lee's job if she's going to be the head waitress. When is she arriving, anyway?"

"In a couple of days," Mai shrugged.

"Good, that's good," Zuko nodded. "Anyway, did you find out more about that Sea World incident?" Zuko asked.

Mai was about to answer, but she was interrupted by someone entering the restaurant and reminding her that she had forgotten to lock the front door after the departure of the final applicant. Mai turned to regard the newcomer, coming face to face with a rather handsome young man with shoulder length hair and rather puppy like expression in his dark eyes. For some reason, the guy seemed familiar to Mai, but she couldn't immediately place him.

"I'm sorry, am I late?" the newcomer spoke up hopefully. "I really hope I'm not late."

"The job interviews are all done," Zuko spoke curtly, frowning at the new arrival. "We already have everyone we needed to hire. Also, I don't believe we ever received an application from you?"

"Well, I just figured that I wouldn't need to officially apply, seeing as how tight Mai and I were back in the college," the young man replied with a blinding smile that gave Mai's memory a slight jog.

"Oh… right," she spoke slowly, memories starting to come back to her, those of a cute but slightly obnoxious guy who had shared some classes with her and had unsuccessfully tried to ask her out on multiple occasions. "Yes, I remember you… you were… that guy! From that… class we shared?"

"Exactly! You remember perfectly!" the young man grinned. "The name is Ruon-Jian, by the way," he added quietly.

"Right, Ruon-Jian, and you were looking for a job?" Mai asked. "Were you thinking about the sous-chef or waiter position?"

"Neither, really," Ruon-Jian answered with an irrepressible grin. "I kind of hate both of those jobs. But I was thinking that maybe you could find something else for me. I'm a real hard worker," he added, giving Mai a wink that seemed to infuriate Zuko.

"Well, we have nothing to offer, so just clear the fuck out, bucko," Zuko glared at Ruon-Jian.

Mai only needed a moment to come to a decision as soon as she saw Zuko's jealous reaction. Zuko wanted her to suffer through him having a couple of fangirls? Well, Mai could put Zuko through the same. "Wait, don't be so hasty, Zuko," Mai said. "We might actually have something for Ruon-Jian. Once the restaurant really takes off, I will probably need help running things. I think I could do with an assistant manager. And Ruon-Jian has a college degree-"

"Yes, I totally do," Ruon-Jian said. "That Ruon-Jian who got thrown out of college for doing blow off the tits of the dean's wife was a totally different Ruon-Jian. Not me."

"See?" Mai said. "The perfect assistant manager. Ruon-Jian, you're hired. Please report to the restaurant at nine tomorrow morning."

"Awesome! I won't let you down," Ruon-Jian exclaimed, giving Mai another blinding grin that made Zuko look like he was one step away from throwing hands. "Can't wait to work together with you, Mai," he said, then looking at the fuming Zuko. "And I guess you as well, angry dude. I'll see you both tomorrow!" And with that, Ruon-Jian tap-danced his way out of the restaurant, leaving Mai grinning at the steaming Zuko.

"What was that?" Zuko barked angrily. "You just hired that ponce without consulting me, even though we were not looking for an assistant manager!"

"Well, considering that you hired On Ji and Jin without asking for my opinion, I figured that you deserved to enjoy a taste of your own medicine, Zuko," Mai pointed out calmly.

"What? That wasn't what happened! I totally… I-" and with that, in typical Zuko fashion, his anger deflated just as quickly as it had risen. "Ugh, I guess I did jump the gun with those two hires," Zuko eventually admitted. "I just got carried away after seeing so many awful applicants. Lesson learned."

"I should hope so," Mai snorted. "Perhaps by some miracle the hires will actually work out. And if not, we can always fire them on the spot. Maybe this Ruon-Jian guy will have some hidden talents, who knows?"

"I sincerely doubt it," Zuko frowned. "Anyway, I hope Ty Lee will arrive soon, because we will definitely need her help corralling all these weirdos. And also, you were about to tell me more details about that Sea World incident."

"Oh, right," Mai said. "Yes, apparently there was a fire during the sealion show and three people died. The Sea World decided to just fire everyone associated with the sealion show, even before any investigation was completed. So, Ty Lee ended up with her ass on the street and just enough money in her pocket for a plane ticket back to Caldera."

"Wait, wait," Zuko for some reason looked very confused. "There was a fire? At the Sea World?"

"Yes, that's what I said," Mai nodded. "Keep up, Zuko."

"A fire?" Zuko repeated incredulously. "At the sealion show? With the-"

"Yes, with the whales and everything," Mai nodded again. "Is something the matter, Zuko?"

"I mean… a fire?!" Zuko blinked. "Aren't those shows usually held out in the open? With lots of water everywhere?"

"Well, yes, I would imagine that a whale would need a lot of water, Zuko," Mai sighed. "In fact, I don't think you can have whales in a place where there isn't a huge amount of water."

"It's just… such a weird place to go on fire!" Zuko exclaimed. Mai merely shrugged at him. She wasn't sure why Zuko was becoming so invested in this pointless story. "It's the weirdest thing I've ever heard, Mai! I suppose if maybe they had those cheap plastic seats…"

"No, I've been to the Sea World, it's all stone steps," Mai shook her head.

"Then what went on fire?!" Zuko yelled in frustration.

"Calm down, Zuko," Mai berated her boyfriend. "You're making it sound like Ty Lee is lying about what happened. That just makes no sense. If she was going to lie, why would she use something so unlikely?" Mai asked. Zuko shrugged helplessly. "Anyway, just forget about it. Next you're going to accuse her of being some kind of arsonist who's going to burn down the restaurant."

Zuko blinked, looking mildly horrified. "Ha-ha, Mai, that would be completely ridiculous," he said in a deeply strained force. "But what a good idea for me to forget all about this insane story. That is exactly what I will do."

Azula was not at all surprised when later that day, she was interrupted in Katara's office by Katara and Jet together hauling in a heavy crate of vegetables. When Azula had handed Jet that string of rope earlier, she was already willing to bet good money that he would choose to strangle himself with it, and true to Azula's expectations, here was Jet Patel, ready to do just that.

"Azula, we have a problem," Katara opened the conversation, speaking in a grave voice. Jet was nodding along, looking deadly serious. Azula had to admit that he was at least a passable actor.

"I agree that we have a problem," Azula nodded in agreement. "It's just not what you think it is."

"What?" Katara blinked, giving Azula a questioning stare. Katara then shook her head, pointing at the crate of miserable looking vegetables. "Anyway, check this out," she said, sounding very concerned. "Jet has always warned me about ordering from wholesalers. I thought that he was just being paranoid, but look at this. We can't work with produce like this," Katara said, pointing at the crate.

"It's a sad sight, for sure," Azula agreed, having glanced at the miserable looking peppers, tomatoes and onions. "Now, I want you to take a look at something else," Azula said, turning her laptop to face Jet and Katara, showing a high-resolution photo she had taken less than an hour ago. It showed Jet together with a short haired younger girl, likely one of his friends, clearly messing around with one of the crates with Sysco labeling, removing nice looking vegetables and replacing them with rotten and squished looking ones.

"That's… no, that can't be," Katara looked absolutely stunned, facing Jet in search of answers. "Please tell me this is not what it looks like…"

"You've been spying on me?" Jet hissed, glaring at Azula.

"Obviously," Azula didn't even bother to deny it. "You have a history of stealing from the restaurant. I knew I couldn't trust you, and so I spied on you. I can't believe it never occurred to you that one of the windows upstairs offers the perfect view at the back alley where you carried out your little scheme of deception."

"Wait… wait…" Katara spoke in a trembling voice. She looked absolutely sick from what she was hearing, grasping her chest and hyperventilating. "What… what did you mean by history of stealing? Azula, what did you mean?" she implored weakly.

"What I'm going to tell you now will probably be a little upsetting for you to hear, Katara," Azula said. She wasn't experiencing any joy as she said those words, however. Somehow, in her mind, she had built up herself as some kind of a hero liberating Katara from a relationship built on deceit, but now that she saw how destroyed Katara looked from her words, Azula was gripped by fear and concern for her friend. Still, she was in too deep and now there was nothing else to do but to reveal the whole truth. "Jet has been taking large sums of money from you for many months now, pretending to buy high quality ingredients, but instead buying stuff cheap and pocketing the difference."

"Is this true, Jet?" Katara asked in a trembling voice, facing her boyfriend.

"No! Of course not!" Jet tried to protest his innocence. "I don't know what she has against me, but it's clear that Azula will say anything to force me out of the restaurant!"

"Katara, I can prove every word of what I'm saying," Azula spoke insistently. "And these pictures that I took less than an hour ago prove that Jet is willing to lie and manipulate you to get his way. Katara, you must have suspected that your food costs were out of control. I know that you're not that blind or ignorant."

"I… it's true, I did have… concerns, but Jet…" Katara gave Jet a look full of hurt and betrayal. "He always managed to convince me that there was nothing to it, and so I chose not to dig any deeper. Maybe because something inside of me warned me of what I might find. Spirits… how could I have been so blind?"

"Kat, please, don't tell me that you're going to trust this stranger over me?" Jet was not going to give up easily, however, as he stepped closer to Katara and took her hand. "Just think of everything we've been through together! Don't let her poison and ruin what we have!"

"I don't know, Jet," Katara shook her head, trying to remove her hand, but Jet didn't look willing to let go of it. "I don't think it's Azula who is poisoning and ruining this. I have a feeling that it might be you."

"I wish it wasn't so, but it's true, Katara," Azula spoke firmly as she glared at Jet. "And you should let go of her hand, now."

"You're such a snake in the grass, aren't you?" Jet hissed, releasing Katara's hand and taking a few steps towards Azula, his expression menacing. "If you weren't a girl, I would-"

"Oh, please," Azula laughed. "Don't let the sexism stop you, my friend." Jet paused, struggling with indecision. Azula could see that he desperately wanted to punch her, and yet the antiquated ideas of chivalry were all that was holding him back. "What's the matter?" Azula taunted him. "I remember you once fought a couple of tough guys in the back alley to protect the restaurant. Oh no, wait, those were your friends in a pretend fight and you lack the balls to throw a real punch."

The taunt proved effective and Jet finally came at her, at which point Azula's expensive lessons in self-defense instantly kicked in. She dodged Jet's swing and retaliated, grabbing Jet's crotch and twisting her hand sharply. There was a sound of more than just cloth being torn and Jet's eyes became wide and unfocused as he went down in a heap with a howl of pain, grabbing his crotch and rocking back and forth, whimpering.

Azula's attention was on Katara who appeared to have frozen with shock, when the others rushed into the office attracted by Jet's cries of pain. They were led by Sokka, with Suki, Yue and Aang all trailing him. "What's going on?" Sokka demanded, staring at Jet, still writhing on the floor. "Also, if we're beating the crap out of Jet, how dare you start without me?"

"I have just exposed Jet for stealing from the restaurant over the course of many months," Azula coolly informed the others, earning shocked gasps from Suki and Yue. "He is no longer an employee at The Northern Lights and should be removed from the premises."

"With pleasure," Sokka smirked, grabbing Jet by the collar, hauling him up and then dragging the whimpering former employee away to unceremoniously throw him out of the restaurant.

"I'll call the ambulance," a rather disturbed Aang muttered, quickly running off.

"It's probably a good idea, yes," Azula admitted. She didn't exactly fear that Jet could sue her in case she had seriously hurt him, because she could easily expose his theft of the restaurant's funds, but she also had no desire for Jet to suffer needlessly. She just wanted him out of the restaurant and out of Katara's life. And speaking of Katara, Azula turned towards her friend, discovering that she had finally recovered from her shock. "Listen, Katara, I know you're probably a little upset, but-"

Azula didn't get to finish, however, as Katara unexpectedly grabbed her and with surprising force, literally threw Azula out of the office before pushing Suki and Yue out as well. Katara then slammed and locked the doors right in front of Azula's face.

"Katara? Katara, I didn't want to do this, but I had no choice!" Azula tried, rattling the doorhandle in desperation.

"Come on," Suki spoke, taking Azula's hand and dragging her away from the doors. "Don't force it now," Suki said, leading a very reluctant Azula away.

"Yes, listen to Suki," Yue said, slipping a comforting arm around Azula's waist. "Katara needs time and space right now, okay? It must be a lot for her to take in."

Azula didn't want to agree with Suki and Yue, even if she accepted that they were probably right and Katara simply needed space to process the news. As Azula allowed the pair to lead her away, the loud sobbing coming from Katara's office made it very hard for her to accept what had just happened as some kind of victory.

Chapter Text

Azula's return to The Northern Lights was supposed to be the beginning of the happier times for everyone working at the restaurant, but especially for Katara and Sokka, the siblings who had been under so much stress for a very long time, working tirelessly to keep the family restaurant afloat. Katara had never imagined that at the end of Azula's first day back at the restaurant, she would find herself a completely broken mess, lying in a bed that wasn't hers, staring numbly at the ceiling and feeling betrayed and depressed.

Her relationship with Jet was over, of that there could be no doubt. Katara had always known that this was a relationship with an expiry date that they both kept postponing because outside of work they continued to have fun together. Jet was a funny guy who wasn't too bad to look at, and he had the kind of tragic past that tickled Katara's nurturing instincts. But at the same time, Jet wasn't someone that Katara could ever fully open up to emotionally about her hopes and fears, or about the lingering trauma of her mother's violent death. With this breakup, Katara was not losing some kind of crucial emotional connection that would cripple her, but the realization of just how Jet had manipulated and lied to her was still devastating, and it was filling Katara with bitterness and making her question her naïve tendencies to believe in the innate goodness of other people.

Katara had cried the entire afternoon, but now as the evening slowly approached, the tears had finally dried up and instead, a devastating numbness was setting in. Katara hadn't eaten the entire day, but the sick feeling of betrayal was still heavy in her gut, making it impossible for her to experience hunger. Katara knew that she ought to get up and at the very least wash her face and make herself less scary to look at after hours of ugly crying, but she simply couldn't muster the motivation to do it. So, Katara remained unmoving on the bed even when she overheard the voices coming from the stairs, Sokka and Suki having returned from their mission to retrieve Katara's stuff from Jet's apartment.

"Hey, how are you doing, sis?" Sokka soon poked his head around the corner to look at her, his expression dropping when he saw that Katara had remained collapsed on the bed, just the way they had left her. "Stupid question, obviously you're still a wreck."

"Thanks," Katara grumbled. "Did you take care of it?" she asked, not wanting to know any details regarding Jet right now.

"Well… yes, and no," Sokka admitted, stepping into the room. He was carrying a single large bag, while himself looking rather disheveled. Katara managed to briefly overcome her apathy to give Sokka a questioning stare. "We ran into some problems," Sokka sighed, placing the heavy bag next to Katara on the bed. "This is all I managed to grab."

Katara quickly checked the bag to discover that it was filled exclusively with her clothes, underwear and some other basic stuff from her wardrobe. "What happened?" Katara asked, her concerns spiking. She still had some of her stuff left behind at the apartment above the restaurant, but by now she had moved most of her belongings over to Jet's place. Sokka had recovered very little of what she needed, but his appearance suggested that it might have not been entirely his fault. "Did you get into a fight?" Katara pressed. "Was Jet-"

"No, Jet wasn't there," Sokka quickly shook his head. "I'm pretty sure he'll be spending at least a few more days at the hospital. Unfortunately, his friends showed up while I was stuffing your things into the bags. You know, those two big guys he's always hanging out with."

"Longshot and Pipsqueak?" Katara asked. "They attacked you?"

"Well, they didn't exactly attack me, but they tried to get me to leave and they stopped me from taking more of your stuff," Sokka explained. "So, there might have been some pushing and shoving, and I might have come off second best there. They made me leave behind some of the bags I had already filled. This is the only one I managed to grab as I legged it."

"I was ready to go back in there and back Sokka up in a fight, but he didn't want to do it," Suki said, also having popped into the room and perched on the edge of the bed. "I still think we could have taken them, Sokka."

"Not a chance," Sokka shook his head. "Besides, I wasn't going to endanger you, Suki. You were there as my getaway driver, not as some kind of an enforcer."

"I'm glad you didn't try to fight them," Katara sighed. "Longshot and Pipsqueak aren't some thugs. They're nice guys who maybe listen and rely on Jet a little too much. I bet he asked them to make sure nobody gets into his apartment. But if Jet will be at the hospital for a few more days, then I suppose we can try again tomorrow. And this time I'll be coming with you."

"Yeah, about that…" Sokka spoke up reluctantly, looking guilty as Katara gave him a questioning stare.

"What Sokka is trying to say is that in his haste to get away, he forgot that he had left the key in the hole, so… we can't go back tomorrow," Suki said. Katara groaned in exasperation, covering her face with her palms.

"Well, at least we brought back something," Sokka said, reaching into the bag and pulling out an item that turned out to be one of Katara's pale blue bras. Sokka quickly dropped it. "And I think I should be commended for surviving the traumatizing experience of handling my sister's panties and bras," he said.

"Oh, really?" Katara scoffed. "And yet, you think I should have no issues mending your boxers? Even though that's literally where your balls are?"

"Umm, point taken," Sokka admitted guiltily. "I wish I could have done more to help, of course. It sucks that you have to deal with this. But at least you'll always have a place here, you know that," he tried to smile encouragingly, suggesting that Katara would always be welcome to find refuge at the apartment above the restaurant.

"It can only be a temporary solution," Katara insisted, even if she didn't actually have any other options when it came to having a roof over her head. "I could not impose myself on you two, not with everything that's been… well, you know," she finished uncomfortably. "Spirits, I would totally lose it big time if you two broke up as well," her emotions suddenly burst forth, breaking a dam that had been holding them back, causing Katara to literally shake with another bout of ugly crying.

"Hey, stop that, there's no need for it, I promise," Suki reacted quickly, embracing Katara in a tight hug. "Sokka and I have been doing a lot better recently. Haven't we, Sokka?"

"I would say so," Sokka managed a small smile despite still looking concerned about how hard Katara was crying. "Suki hasn't been sleeping on the sofa for the past few nights," he added, giving Katara a sly wink.

"That's right, and last night was particularly fun," Suki continued. "We found the best possible use for that leftover whipped cream and caramel sauce, didn't we?"

"Eww, shut up!" Katara exclaimed, wincing in discomfort after Suki had definitely entered the TMI territory. Still, Katara had to admit, getting grossed out about her brother's sex life was an effective way of making her forget that she was supposed to be crying.

"See, that did the job of stopping the tears," Suki chuckled, pulling away but not before affectionally tousling Katara's hair. "Anyway, I wouldn't feel right leaving Kat all alone tonight. I've been through the heartbreak rodeo myself a few times and I know how crappy it feels. I'll keep you company on the sofa, Kat."

"Seriously, you don't have to, I'm not some big baby who's not in control of her emotions," Katara tried to protest, but Suki appeared unimpressed.

"You think you'll both fit on that sofa?" Sokka asked, raising a curious eyebrow. "You'll be… awfully close, won't you?"

"Are you for real, Sokka? That's where your mind went?" Suki laughed incredulously, taking a swat at her boyfriend, but Sokka managed to pull back just in time. "Anyway, if you don't want me cuddling with your sister, then you'll have to take the sofa yourself while Kat and I make ourselves comfortable here on the twin."

"Actually, now that I have thought about it, perhaps I do deserve to sleep comfortably on the twin, while Sokka struggles on the sofa," Katara mused thoughtfully. "I mean, who's the failed supportive brother who couldn't even retrieve all of my stuff?" Sokka looked crestfallen at her scathing reproach, but he perked up when Katara pulled him in for a hug. "I was just kidding, silly," Katara smiled. "I'm so grateful to have a place with you and Suki."

"Always," Sokka whispered, looking a little choked up.

"Anyway, I've had enough thinking about Jet and how depressed I am about being played like a cheap fiddle. I'm not going to think about it anymore, not tonight," Katara sighed. "But that makes me think about Azula. Sokka, I feel like I'll have to ask her to leave."

"What? Why?" Sokka gasped in surprise.

"What do you mean, why?" Katara asked. "From what she told me, it sounded like she knew that Jet was stealing way back in September. She needed until April to tell us the truth? That's… a betrayal of its own," Katara let out a heavy sigh. It hurt so bad to know that Azula had not been truthful with her. It was probably worth exploring why Azula's lack of truthfulness felt almost worse than Jet's betrayal, but Katara did not want to let her thoughts wander there, not tonight.

"I understand that it doesn't look good, but… I mean, she told you eventually, right?" Suki argued. She looked almost a little panicked at the idea of Azula leaving, which was also an interesting reaction that Katara did not feel emotionally prepared to analyze. "That has to count for something."

"I agree," Sokka nodded. "I respect your feelings, Kat, but… it would be crazy to ask Azula to pack her bags after she has just arrived. And she is here to help, you said so yourself."

"I'm not contesting that," Katara said. "I'm just saying… given what I know now, it's going to be very hard for me to work alongside her."

"Yeah, I suppose I see your point," Suki admitted reluctantly. She did not look at all happy, though. Katara figured that Suki probably saw her chance of getting the head chef promotion in Azula, but perhaps there was more to it than that. "I'm just thinking… why would Azula not tell us the truth about it back in September? She was very nice to us. I feel like there has to be some reason for her to have kept silent."

"I think you might be onto something, Suki," Sokka nodded in agreement. "Maybe you should just talk things out with Azula, Kat. Perhaps it was all just a misunderstanding. It would be very sad for everyone involved if we simply told her to take a hike without giving her an opportunity to explain herself."

"Hmm… yes, I suppose that's true," Katara sighed. "Very well. I don't know if I'll feel ready to face Azula tomorrow, but I promise to give her a chance to explain herself before we make any decisions about her future at The Northern Lights."

Despite Mai's excellent advice that he should stop obsessing about the weird Sea World incident Ty Lee had been involved in, Zuko was having a hard time dropping the matter. Various conspiracy theories continued to evolve in his paranoid mind, threatening to consume all of his thoughts as he considered one theory after another. For a while, he had been a firm believer of this being a start of a widespread animal uprising, suspecting that the dolphins had started the fire by vigorously rubbing their beaks together, but then Zuko had dropped this theory in favor of one that centered around Ty Lee led eco-terrorist plot to free the animals of the Sea World.

Unfortunately, Mai was not proving to be a receptive audience to Zuko's many theories about the Sea World fire. In fact, the more Zuko kept bringing his obsession up, the more annoyed Mai seemed to become. Still, Zuko couldn't drop the matter and this was why he had snuck out of Mai's bedroom in the middle of the night, hiding in the toilet while browsing his phone and frantically trying to learn all he could about the Sea World and incidents involving fire.

"Twelve exits," Zuko repeated to himself as he looked at the aerial photo of the Sea World arena used to host the sealion show. "By Agni, there are twelve exits!"

Zuko jumped slightly when the doors to the bathroom tentatively opened and revealed Mai, standing there outside in the hallway and eyeing him with a sleepy stare. "What are you doing?" Mai yawned.

"Huh?" Zuko blinked, struggling to come up with an answer now that Mai had caught him.

"What are you doing on your phone in the middle of the night, Zuko?" Mai repeated her question.

"I'm, uh… masturbating," Zuko blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Oooookaaaay," Mai said slowly, staring Zuko down before turning to walk away. "Weirdo."

Zuko let out a breath of relief he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Whoa, I really dodged the bullet there," he told himself before continuing to browse his phone.

Jet was lying on a sofa back at his apartment, curled into a ball and covered with a blanket. The previous day had been the worst in his recent memory, provided he didn't think too far back to the loss of his family back in the Earth Kingdom. As the heavy-duty painkillers were slowly starting to wear off, the dull, pulsating pain in his groin reminded Jet just how horrible the previous day had been, culminating in the loss of both his job and his girlfriend and resulting in an ambulance ride to the hospital and an emergency surgery to save his ruptured ball sack.

Obviously, there was no going back to The Northern Lights even if Jet had wanted to do so, especially not with Azula Nakamura there. Sokka would most likely just throw him out immediately, with Suki, and perhaps even Yue helping him, as they were the ones most protective of Katara. Also, Jet wasn't as oblivious as to not realize that he had hurt Katara beyond a point of possible reconciliation, and he couldn't really blame his now ex-girlfriend for not being in a forgiving mood. As for Azula… obviously, she was to blame for everything that had happened, and also, she had crossed a line by almost ripping his balls off. Jet was already fantasizing about various scenarios where he got to exact his payback on Azula, even if getting back up to his feet was Jet's first order of priority.

"Can you believe this idiot?" Smellerbee sighed, standing over him together with Longshot. "I tried to warn him that it would end like this." Longshot signed something that Jet couldn't see from his vantage point on the sofa. "Yeah, and fleeing from the hospital was just the cherry on top," Bee nodded, shaking her head.

"Hey, they can't issue me with a medical bill if I'm not there," Jet said defensively. "And I didn't want to get saddled with a bill of a few thousand dollars. Screw that."

"I get that, but you could have at least waited a day or two before legging it," Bee groaned. "You literally ran away from the hospital with a needle and thread still hanging from your balls."

Longshot made a face at that. "Did he really do that?" he signed, looking disturbed.

"Well, as good as," Bee sighed. "I think the surgeon did a really good job, but this idiot just made it worse and aggravated his injuries by walking around when he wasn't supposed to."

"There might have been some actual running involved, too," Jet confessed. Bee did not look any happier at that confession.

"Anyway, when he arrived back home, his crotch was all bloody again and the stitching had become loose, so what do you think happened next? That's right, this idiot called me and I rushed over to fix up the stitching," Bee said. She turned a withering glare upon Jet. "I hate you so much for making me look at your penis. I feel like I took 2d6 emotional damage from that."

"I'll buy you something nice, how about that?" Jet grunted.

"Alright, I have some things in mind already," Bee grinned, looking a lot happier. "Anyway, you better hope that an infection doesn't set in, or you'll be stuck with gangrenous, pus-filled balls until you die horribly."

"I'm sure I'll be just fine," Jet said, shuddering from that mental image. He then reached out for a glass of water and some painkillers on the nearby TV table. "Better take some more of this ibuprofen just in case, though," he said, watching Longshot sign something. He didn't get all of the message, but it had something to do with going to the hospital.

"Oh, I think there's about 50% chance that he'll have to go back," Smellerbee snorted. "Hopefully not, though. I think we're running out of places Jet has yet to flee from without paying."

"I fully trust your medical training, Bee," Jet managed an encouraging smile.

"I don't have medical training, Jet," Bee glared. "Working as an assistant for an unlicensed veterinarian for three months doesn't make me a qualified medical professional." The dodgy veterinarian had eventually been picked up by the cops after one too many malpractice complaints. Fortunately, Bee had escaped any fallout by fleeing through the lavatory window and avoiding arrest. And despite what she claimed, during those three months she had picked up some rudimentary medical skills which as Bee herself often said, allowed her to treat Jet and other animals.

"Assuming you're going to survive this," Longshot signed at Jet. "What's the plan?"

"Ugh, well I guess I will have to find another job," Jet groaned. The very idea of working seemed to intensify the pain he was experiencing before the ibuprofen kicked in. "Fortunately, lying around here as I suffer terribly has already given me an idea," Jet spoke dramatically.

"Wait, wait, let me get something," Smellerbee quickly interrupted him before running out of the room and returning moments later with a bucket of popcorn. "Okay, you can begin now."

"Right," Jet rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I know that Azula only came to Caldera City because she is in some kind of stupid competition with her brother that she's desperate to win. It seems like she and her brother don't get along, which isn't surprising because she's a massive bitch. I think her brother's name was Zuko? Anyway, he doesn't like Azula and neither do I, which means we already have so much in common. That's why I was thinking of looking up Zuko Nakamura and offering my services to his restaurant. I can even tempt him with having insider information on The Northern Lights. That should persuade him to hire me."

"What an amazing idea, Jet," Longshot signed, possibly sarcastically.

"Yes, I'll go order more medical supplies right away," Smellerbee sighed as together with Longshot they turned to leave the room. "You want to mess with the bad bitch who can rip your balls off just like that, it's your funeral."

Jet grumbled as he tried to settle in more comfortably on the sofa. Sometimes he couldn't understand why his friends had so little faith in his brilliant schemes, but he was determined to prove them wrong once and for all.

It was a quiet morning at The Blue Spirit restaurant as the skeleton crew slowly prepared the establishment for their grand reopening, scheduled a week from now. Zuko had spent the first part of the morning subjecting On Ji to some basic skill tests, such as examining her knife technique, knowledge of ingredients and also testing her palate. On Ji was far from the ideal assistant that Zuko would have wanted, but she seemed like a potential diamond in the rough, so Zuko had decided that she might be worth the investment of the time and effort required to properly train her.

Once he was done testing his new sous chef, Zuko had given On Ji the task of replicating a couple of items on the restaurant's new menu. On Ji was currently busy tackling this task with great purpose and determination, leaving Zuko to focus on other things, such as perfecting some of the dishes on the menu he was still not completely sold on. Still, try as he might, Zuko just couldn't put the whole Sea World incident out of his head. Instead of providing reassuring answers, the information he had managed to dig up had only raised more and more questions. His thoughts kept spiraling and returning to this maddening mystery and Zuko was frustrated that nobody else seemed to find it as fascinating as he did. He had even shared the story with On Ji, and while she had agreed that the Sea World was a very weird place to go on fire, twenty minutes later she had forgotten all about it. Well, it wasn't as easy for Zuko to forget. Mai's brilliant advice that he simply stop thinking about it clearly wasn't working.

"What are you working on, Zuko?" On Ji asked brightly as she was busy deboning a rainbow trout. "It looks like you're trying to perfect a giant pile of mashed potatoes?"

"Uh, yes," Zuko replied distractedly. "I am giving it a… unique twist."

On Ji approached him to take a closer look. She gasped, pointing at the pile of mashed potatoes. "It's the Sea World, isn't it?" she exclaimed. "You're building the Sea World out of mashed potatoes!"

"There are twelve exits, On Ji!" Zuko exclaimed dramatically. "Twelve exits! And only two hundred people!"

"Whoa, Zuko, you're getting a little obsessed with this," On Ji paled, taking a step back. "You don't want to go close encounters crazy. You need to let it go."

"Just hear me out," Zuko implored her. "To have killed anyone, that fire would have to start here… here… and here," he said, stabbing the mashed potatoes with his fork. "And then it would have to close in like this," Zuko said, using the fork to spread the potatoes towards the center. "But how would it even spread? There's no wood in the Sea World arena. Why there's no wood, you might ask? Because it rots. And why does it rot? Because of…" Zuko grabbed the gravy boat and poured gravy all over his mashed potatoes. "All the water!" he finished off his presentation.

"Ooookaaaaay," On Ji's eyebrows rose as she walked all the way back to her station and resumed working on her trout. "Damn, that mash looks tasty, though," she said a while later.

"Doesn't it just?" Zuko smiled happily. "I know what I'm having for lunch…"

Azula freely admitted that her first day at The Northern Lights had not gone according to the plan. She had made some serious miscalculations when predicting the reactions of her new coworkers, which perhaps was not too surprising considering that a great many people had told her that she was terrible at reading social cues and had very poor general understanding of why her fellow human beings behaved the way they did. Azula definitely did not expect Jet to self-sabotage himself the way he did, and she had also not expected Katara to be as devastated by the fallout as she was.

Katara was absent from the restaurant for the rest of the day, withdrawing to the upstairs apartment. Fortunately, with Azula there, Katara's absence did not have an adverse effect on the restaurant's performance. Yue and Aang ably took care of the front of the house, while Sokka and Suki were assisted by Toph's army of microwaves, allowing them to keep on top of the orders. Azula kept an eye on everyone, helping the two sides of the restaurant communicate effectively, jumping in where necessary to solve any issues. Azula also took over the food manager's job, finding it laughably easy to set up the inventory and compile orders, the whole process taking her less than half an hour.

Still, Azula could not take much joy from the fact that the restaurant seemed to be running smoothly. Thinking about Katara upstairs, heartbroken and crying, evoked unpleasant, sickening feelings in Azula's gut, and it took her some time to identify these feelings as guilt. Sokka, Suki and Yue made frequent trips upstairs and reassured Azula that Katara would be fine, and that she simply needed time and space as she came to terms with what had happened. When Azula offered to go upstairs and talk to Katara, however, Sokka, Suki and Yue all rejected this idea. Azula had very conflicted feelings about being turned away. She felt relieved because she had no idea what to tell Katara, but she was also terrified by the mere thought that Katara might be mad at her. Azula was also disappointed because she hated the feeling that there was something she couldn't fix. Still, Katara wasn't a dysfunctional restaurant, which was pretty much the only thing Azula knew how to fix. Katara was an actual human being, and Azula had a poor track record with their kind.

On the morning of her second day at the restaurant, Azula arrived at The Northern Lights with a brand-new plan of action. If everyone was convinced that it was a bad idea for her to talk with Katara about that whole mess with Jet, then Azula would not insist on it. Instead, she would just move on with why she was here for in the first place, and that was fixing the restaurant. Upon her arrival, Azula immediately informed Suki that she wanted to sit down with the owners at the manager's office and bring them up to speed with her plan of action. Azula then tried not to think about why Suki looked rather unimpressed with her after Azula had made her request. Suki still climbed up the stairs to inform Katara and Sokka, then telling Azula that the siblings would be down in ten minutes.

Ten minutes was exactly the time that Azula needed to finish preparing for the meeting. She sat down at the manager's office, opened her laptop and double checked all of her Excel tables, PowerPoint slides and other presentations she had prepared just in case Sokka and Katara would have any questions. Azula was nearly done when the doors to the manager's office opened and the Enuaraq siblings entered.

Azula's eyes skipped over Sokka almost completely, immediately focusing on Katara. Azula frowned, realizing that Katara was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Katara also wasn't wearing any makeup, but it definitely was not to any detriment of her looks. It wasn't the first time that Azula had to remark upon how unfairly beautiful her Water Tribe friend was. On this occasion, Katara's beauty was not muted by the lack of makeup, but rather by the profound air of sadness surrounding her as she sat by the desk, struggling to look up at Azula.

"Hey, so… I know yesterday was a very difficult day," Azula began awkwardly. "But for me, spending the whole day at the restaurant was incredibly informative. I discovered so many important details that have allowed me to come up with a nuanced plan of action as we move forward, and I wanted to discuss it with you. I think it would be very helpful if we could do that now. Whenever I have to deal with some kind of an… emotional distraction, I find it best to instead immerse myself in my work so that I don't have to think about it."

"That's exactly how I prefer to deal with my issues, too," Sokka nodded sagely. "Unfortunately, Katara, Yue and Suki always end up yelling at me that it's not a healthy approach. Anyway," Sokka cleared his throat. "I fear that by calling it an emotional distraction, you might be downplaying the issue just a little bit."

"I, uh… was afraid that might be the case," Azula admitted uncomfortably. Katara still wouldn't look at her and the cold treatment was threatening to send Azula spiraling. "I'm not very good at judging how severe the emotional impact of these things is," she confessed.

"I'll say," Katara finally spoke, looking up at Azula. Her eyes seemed to have lost some of their shine and her stare felt tired and a little dull. "You have all these plans of action, while I'm sitting here and thinking how I'm not even sure if I can move past what happened yesterday."

Azula felt her heart sink. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly.

"It's sad that I have to explain it, Azula," Katara sighed. "You learned that Jet was stealing from the restaurant back in September, didn't you?" Azula was backed in a corner and could merely nod at that. "That's… difficult to accept," Katara said in a tired voice. "The past few months have been incredibly stressful and I've often felt like I was going mad. We were all struggling so badly. To know that you could have stopped that with one phone call…"

Azula felt momentarily stunned by Katara's words. She couldn't understand how she had never considered things from this perspective, and the fact that she hadn't was making her sick with guilt. "I had my reasons for keeping silence," she replied quietly. "I'm not saying they were good reasons, especially not from your perspective. But I really wanted your restaurant to succeed. That's why I told you to push Jet to order from wholesalers when I left, but I can see now that I should have done more."

"I didn't know Azula told you that," Sokka looked at his sister.

"She did, and I tried to talk Jet into doing that, but you know how annoyingly persuasive he can be," Katara said. "Anyway, I thought it was just a general suggestion, not a codeword for 'your boyfriend is robbing you blind'," she added bitterly, looking at Azula. "Let's hear the reason why you kept quiet, then."

Azula sighed. "You probably won't like this," she said. "After I looked through the information you gave me, I quickly figured out what Jet's scheme was. And then I brought all of this information to my father because I thought that he would be impressed with me, and that perhaps he would want to use it during the episode. However, my father was not at all impressed, and he also argued that it would not fit with the overall narrative of the episode. My father warned me to keep quiet about it and never tell anyone, especially you. And then he also warned me not to tell you after the filming. I don't know why, maybe he just liked Jet? My father told me that if he were to find out during the revisit that you and Jet broke up because I told you the truth, he would be very angry with me."

"That's fucked up," Sokka muttered.

"Oh… is that why you were asking me all those weird questions if we can hold out until your father revisits us in the summer?" Katara asked with sudden realization.

"Yes, that's right," Azula nodded. "I was going to tell you the whole truth once my father was done with the revisit episode."

"Well, I guess you had the right intentions," Sokka shrugged. "Also, can I just say that your family is pretty fucked up? Your father acts like an insane dictator and you're constantly at war with your brother. That's not how a normal family should function."

"It's not," Katara nodded in agreement. "Azula, I won't pretend that I understand all the nuances of your relationship with your father. It's clearly very complicated and… problematic. For you to fear him the way you do… there's something deeply wrong about it. Just thinking about it makes me feel less upset with you. And yet, at the same time… you have to understand how the idea that we had to suffer for months just because you were afraid of what daddy would think feels a little bit… pathetic?"

Azula cringed at Katara's scathing words, but she could not find it within herself to argue. "When you put it like that, it is pathetic," Azula admitted. She felt utterly humiliated for having to make such an admission in front of Katara and Sokka, but the worst part of it all was that Katara wasn't wrong. "I can't undo it, though," she said. "I can only try and make up for my mistake, if we can move past it."

"I… don't know," Katara admitted. "I'm trying to move past it, but it's hard."

Azula was balancing on the edge of spiraling into a full-blown panic mode by now. "Please, Katara," out of all other options, Azula was reduced to pleading. "I can only save the restaurant if you allow me to stay and work to fix things. Please? I don't want to leave you and the restaurant when things are like this…"

"Kat," Sokka spoke up in a soft voice, giving his sister a pleading stare. Azula had never liked Katara's brother more than in that very moment.

"Alright, fine," Katara finally relented, managing a small smile. "Only because I know myself and I know I would regret not giving you another chance, Azula. Sometimes I'm guilty of giving people too many chances, but I haven't given you even a single one, and you deserve at least that. Very well, let's… let's work together and try to move past this."

"Thank you," Azula managed. She wanted to say so much more, but she was also on the edge of bursting into tears, which was something she desperately wanted to avoid. The relief of having dodged the worst disaster of her career was massive, though. If Katara had kicked her out, it would have meant that she forfeited her contest with Zuko, and she would have lost all of her future opportunities as well as her status as the favorite child. Also, the thought of no longer being friends with the crew of The Northern Lights, and in particular with Katara, Suki and Yue would have been a very bitter pill to swallow.

"Well, I'm glad we got that sorted out," Sokka said, looking relieved. "Can Azula tell us about her plan of action now, please?" Katara nodded at Azula, allowing a shadow of a smile to touch her lips.

"I just wanted to reassure you that there will be no need for any additional hires following yesterday's events," Azula began. She felt hugely relieved for multiple reasons – for being allowed to stay, and for finally being able to move on to something she was comfortable talking about, such as fixing the failing Enuaraq family business. "With my system of ordering from a wholesaler in place, there is no need for a food manager. The process of ordering shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes every day, and it can be done by anyone, a manager or the head chef. I will take it upon myself to do it for now, but in time I will train both of you and Suki how to do it as well."

"That sounds good," Sokka said. "So, we were employing Jet in a role that shouldn't have even existed? That's great to know," he sighed.

"It shouldn't have existed in a restaurant of this size and scope," Azula said. "Many of my father's restaurants have food managers. But we are talking about establishments that have kitchen staff of almost two dozen people." Katara and Sokka exchanged stunned stares. "Anyway, we're becoming sidetracked. I wanted to tell you my plan of action."

"Lay it on us, Azula," Sokka said. "Let me guess, you're overhauling the menu."

"Not just yet," Azula smiled. "Changes are coming, you can be sure of that. However, I want to see where we are financially without Jet's stealing before I make any changes. This is why for the next week and a half I will not be making any changes just yet. I know you're surprised," she added, having seen the siblings exchange confused stares. "You can be sure that I will not stand for this much microwaving. But I also wanted to give Katara enough time to think of an alternative role for Toph."

"Aang and I have actually been brainstorming and cooking up an alternative plan already," Sokka said. "But we need more time before we're ready to present our ideas together with Toph."

"Good initiative, Sokka," Azula said. This wasn't the first time that Azula had noticed Sokka showing some good managerial skills. That was something to keep in mind, especially considering that Azula was very uncertain whether Sokka was a head chef material. "Toph just needs to be pushed out of her comfort zone. She can do so much more around the restaurant even with her disability. Christine Ha won a whole season of MasterChef and she's almost completely blind, so Toph has no excuses."

"That's true," Katara nodded. "I feel like my poor leadership is to blame for Toph becoming so complacent." Azula wished that she could disagree with that statement, but she appreciated that Katara at least owed up to her shortcomings.

"So, for the next week and a half, I would simply ask everyone to continue in their current roles," Azula continued. "I will be making my observations and essentially carrying out an employee audit. This will allow me to make educated decisions on what sort of adjustments are needed. Perhaps some of you simply need extra training," she said, giving Sokka a meaningful stare. "Or perhaps some of you are in the wrong role and need to be rotated elsewhere."

"Employee audit… that sounds exciting," Sokka frowned. "Will you be carrying around one of those menacing clipboards that just stresses everyone out when you take notes on it?"

"That's a great suggestion, Sokka," Azula grinned evilly. "I will make sure to have a menacing clipboard."

"Will you be auditing us as well?" Katara asked, looking a little worried.

"Of course," Azula nodded. "I'm not trying to make this restaurant successful only for the six months that I'll be here. Sure, winning the competition with my brother is everything to me, but I also want to set you up for future success. If I only cared about the competition, I would make myself the head chef, probably like Zuko is doing at his restaurant. Then in six months, when we leave for Ba Sing Se, there will be nobody to replace the star chef."

"That makes a lot of sense," Sokka admitted. "I like this plan. I'm not sure I'll love this whole audit thing, but it sounds like it's for a good cause."

"Audit isn't the only thing I'll be doing," Azula continued. "As you suspected, I'll start reworking the menu. I also want to recalculate some of the prices. They mostly seem right, except for a few items that appear bizarrely overpriced."

"Umm," Katara blushed darkly. "I suspect you'll find that those are the calculations I did on my own without Sokka's help. I'm sure that his prices are the ones that look right." Azula sighed inwardly at Katara's comment. She didn't like the conclusion she was slowly arriving at, namely that Katara had no place being the general manager. And Katara definitely wasn't the only employee of The Northern Lights that seemed to be misplaced in their current role.

"The important thing to remember is that I'm here to help," Azula said. "Anyway, that was me bringing you up to speed with everything that I have planned in the near future. If you have any questions, anything at all-"

"No, that all sounded good and seemed to make sense," Sokka shrugged. "If that's all, then I should really run and join Suki for prepping. Her mood turns nasty when she suspects that I'm slacking off and finding ways to skip on prepping."

"I'll go and see what else needs helping with," Katara added as the two siblings rose to leave the office.

"Katara, could I have a minute with you alone?" Azula blurted out, surprised at her own boldness. Katara froze on the doorstep at her question. Sokka gave his sister what looked like a concerned stare, but Katara gently pushed him to keep walking before turning around to return to the office.

"What is it?" Katara asked simply.

"I'm sorry if I'm overstepping, but… I noticed that last night, Sokka returned almost empty-handed from what I guess was a trip to pick up some of your things?" Azula asked. "I just realized that when I saw you wearing the same dress as yesterday."

Katara blushed lightly. "Yes, Jet's friends chased Sokka off and wouldn't allow him to get my things," she explained. "And we lost the key, so there's no point in going back. Suki and Yue have been texting Jet about giving back my stuff, but he's ignoring them."

Azula felt her blood starting to boil with raging anger, but she forced herself to get a grip and calm down. Perhaps after she had nearly torn off Jet's balls it would be for the best to rein in her violent tendencies, at least in front of Katara. "So, you are left almost without any belongings?" Azula asked.

"I had some things left upstairs, but not much," Katara said. "But yes, right now it feels like I'm left with almost nothing."

"Katara, I want to help," Azula spoke firmly. "And I hope you'll let me, because this is at least partly my fault, too." Katara gave her a curious stare. Azula withdrew one of her credit cards and pushed it towards Katara. "I want you to take the rest of the day off and just hit the stores downtown. Buy whatever you need. The daily limit on that card is… well, suffice to say, it won't be a concern."

Katara looked shocked. "I couldn't, Azula… this is too much," she protested.

"You understand that my father is one of the richest men in the Fire Nation, if not the richest?" Azula asked.

Katara hesitated. "But it's your money I would be spending, not that of your father," she pointed out.

"It all comes from him, anyway," Azula shrugged. "I can always tell him that I needed all of this stuff for my new apartment, and he'd be happy to foot the bill, I'm sure."

This seemed to convince Katara as she reached out to pick up the credit card. "Alright, but I'm going to pay you back every dollar," Katara promised. "Once the restaurant is finally turning profit and I can start paying myself a salary, that is."

"I wish you wouldn't insist on it, but I can't stop you from paying me back," Azula sighed.

"Exactly, you can't," Katara smiled, broadly and genuinely for the first time during the conversation. She looked ready to dash out of the office, only to hesitate at the last moment. Katara turned towards Azula, blushing yet again. "I was just thinking," Katara said, a little shyly. "I'm going to feel very guilty buying all this new stuff for myself when many of my friends are still struggling terribly, especially Aang and Yue."

"Well, buy something for them as well," Azula shrugged. "And if you're buying something for Yue, I trust you won't forget about Kya."

"I won't," Katara promised. She stopped on the very doorstep, turning around to smile broadly at Azula. "You know, just giving me money wouldn't have made me feel any less hurt, but… being so nice to my friends? That goes a long way towards making me forget why I was supposed to be mad at you in the first place," Katara spoke before dashing out of the office, leaving Azula sitting there with the silliest imaginable grin on her face, as the realization that she just might have salvaged her relationship with Katara started to set in.

The evening was turning very late at The Blue Spirit restaurant, but many hours after all the others had gone home, Zuko was still busy in the kitchen, having convinced Mai that his new menu needed some extra work. Zuko wasn't working on the new menu, however. His obsession with the Sea World incident hadn't waned one bit, and he had just finished creating an exact replica of the Sea World arena, made from matches, playing cards and all sorts of garbage commonly found in a kitchen, such as potato peels. He had even carved small figurines of spectators and sealions out of raw potatoes to have a more accurate reimagination of the events.

Ready to finally test his theory about this mystery fire, Zuko started to place the potato spectators in their seats around the arena. "Oh, I'm so excited about this sealion show!" he narrated the excitement of the spectators before taking another potato figurine which he had dubbed Ty Lee, placing it in the center of the arena. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome," he said, throwing his voice to sound more feminine. "Luigi, Joe and Slippery Pete!" with that, Zuko placed the three sealion figurines next to Ty Lee while making exaggerated seal noises.

"Now, let's see…" Zuko spoke to himself as he carefully considered the scene before lighting up a match. "If the fire had broken out here," he said, lighting a part of the arena on fire. "Then the spectators in this part of the arena wouldn't even see it… until it had spread all the way over there, blocking them in! They would have been completely cut off and without any means to escape! So, that's how they must have horribly died in a fire while screaming in agony," Zuko smiled, feeling relieved at having finally solved the mystery. "Damn, that's a real monkey off my back. Ty Lee isn't a master arsonist, after all," Zuko told himself happily.

Zuko's state of happiness quickly turned to concern, however, when he realized that the replica of the arena was quickly being overtaken by roaring fire, threatening to burn down the entire kitchen. Zuko tried to use his bare hands to smother the fire, but it was a ridiculously bad idea because the blaze was too fierce and too hot by now. Yelping in pain, Zuko dashed to retrieve the fire extinguisher before the fire had spread uncontrollably and the restaurant was reduced to ashes.

Thirty minutes later, Zuko was sitting in the back of the ambulance with his hands heavily bandaged as a very worried Mai arrived on the scene. "Zuko, what on earth happened?" she immediately asked, facing him with a deeply concerned stare. "I would think that you of all people would be especially careful with fire!"

Zuko winced at the reminder, not that it was undeserved. He wasn't sure if he could tell Mai the embarrassing truth, however. Besides, Mai's complete lack of interest had led him down this rabbit hole to begin with. "I just had a little incident," Zuko shrugged his shoulders. "It's not a big deal."

"It's not a big deal?" Mai looked incredulous. "The fireman I spoke to certainly didn't think so! You could have died!"

"Well, it doesn't matter, because it's already in the past. In fact, I have a great suggestion for you, Mai," Zuko snapped. "Stop thinking about it. Just try to forget all about it!"

Mai glared at Zuko, but didn't say anything. Instead, she turned towards the nearby paramedic. "Can I take this dumbass home now?" she asked. The paramedic nodded. "Let's go, Zuko," Mai glared at him again. "Or will I have to drag you home by the ear?" Zuko quickly moved to follow Mai at this very effective threat. Perhaps he had spiraled way too deep down this particular rabbit hole and perhaps arguing with Mai right now was not in his best interests, unless he wanted to find himself moving back into a hotel.

Chapter Text

Selfishly, Yue greatly enjoyed some of the perks that came in the wake of Katara's breakup with Jet. Obviously, Yue hated to see her best friend and ex-girlfriend devastated in the immediate aftermath, but a couple of days later, Katara was already in a much better mood. After dropping Kya off at the kindergarten, Yue often came to the restaurant early and spent time hanging out with Sokka and Suki, sometimes waking the pair up with mugs of freshly made coffee. Now that Katara had moved in with Sokka and Suki, Yue loved the opportunity of being able to sit down with her two best friends, enjoy a cup of coffee and just spend a while gossiping before the start of another busy day at the restaurant.

The previous day had been Yue's best in a long while, even if it was hard to think of it that way when Katara was still down in the dumps. Still, Katara inviting her along on her shopping spree with Azula's credit card had been amazing for Yue. For the past two years, Yue had done all the clothes shopping for herself and Kya exclusively at thrift stores, so being able to buy things at a proper shop was mind-blowing. It almost took Yue back to her high school days, before she had launched her rebellion and her father had cut her off financially. Yue had made some wonderful additions to her and Kya's wardrobes, and most importantly, she had bought herself two new pairs of shoes, something she was in dire need of. At the end of the day, Yue's heart was melting at the generosity of both Azula and Katara. This help had come at a time when she had already made an OnlyFans account, but before she had actually uploaded any sort of embarrassing content that she really didn't want to create.

Together with Katara, they had bought a lot of stuff not just for themselves, but also for Suki, Sokka, Aang and Toph. Yue's car was absolutely bursting at the seams by the end of their shopping trip, and everyone at the restaurant was delighted to receive unexpected but welcome surprise gifts. It struck Yue as quite remarkable how Katara knew not only everyone's exact measurements, but also what clothes everyone wanted and needed. Then again, it seemed like that was the kind of thing that Katara somehow would know. As far as Yue was convinced, there was nobody better and more practical at buying clothes for her friends than her beloved bestie.

After they returned to the restaurant with all of their purchases, Azula had looked very uncomfortable at all the gratitude she received, and she had fled very early during the evening. Still, Yue couldn't help but find Azula's social awkwardness incredibly cute and endearing. Azula's reign at the restaurant had gotten off to a very rocky start on that disastrous first day, but now, a couple of days later, there was a much happier vibe surrounding the place, which was more in line with what Yue had expected from Azula's arrival.

"Let's see that text again," Yue was yanked out of her daydreaming by Suki's voice as she leaned closer to Katara to take a better look at her phone.

"Yes, I can't stop staring at it," Katara laughed, scrolling the text messages on her phone. "I'm going to take a screenshot, print it out and ask Sokka to make a frame so I can put it on my office wall."

"That would be amazing, you need to do this," Yue agreed emphatically. During the shopping trip yesterday, Katara was constantly agonizing whether they were spending too much of Azula's money, so she had sent more than twenty texts to Azula, asking if it was okay to buy this thing or that. Azula had eventually become annoyed with Katara's behavior and she had sent Katara the best text ever, an enraged exclamation of 'SHUT UP AND SPEND MY MONEY BITCH' followed by a string of angry emojis such as 😡😡😡 😖😖😖👿👿👿🔪🔪🔪. Azula had then proceeded to block Katara's number, but of course she had unblocked her a few hours later.

"I nearly died when I saw that text," Suki laughed heartily. "Especially when Azula later confessed that it was the first time she had ever used emojis in a text message."

"How does it feel to be the one to take Azula's emoji virginity?" Yue asked, waggling her eyebrows at Katara.

"That sounds way dirtier than it has any right to sound," Katara blushed. "I love it."

"And I love this dress on you, girl," Suki winked at Katara. "Come on, strut your stuff for us, babe." Katara got up to her feet and spun around a few times, letting them take a good look at her new dress that was a good couple of inches shorter than what Katara usually wore. It also fanned out slightly, so when Katara did her spins, it rose up just enough to give them a brief glimpse at her panties.

"That's hot," Yue laughed, instantly feeling a little warmer and not just from the coffee. By now, her romance with Katara felt like ancient history, but moments like these made it impossible to forget just how beautiful Katara was. "So, since Azula bought almost everything you're wearing right now, does that make her your sugar mommy?" Yue grinned.

"I think it totally does," Suki nodded in agreement.

"Maybe," Katara winked, sitting back down with them. "But since she paid for all of our stuff, I think that makes her our sugar mommy."

"I can live with that," Suki chuckled.

"By the way, Suki, how did our gift work out?" Katara asked, giving Suki a meaningful stare.

"Why do you think that I had the opportunity to try it out?" Suki asked, blushing and looking evasive. Katara and Yue had bought cute and sexy lingerie for Suki, together with some other gifts. It had never even occurred to Yue that maybe it was weird for Sokka's ex-girlfriend and Sokka's sister to buy sexy lingerie for Sokka's current girlfriend, but by now they were so close that it just felt like a natural thing to do. Both Yue and Katara were rooting for Suki and Sokka to pull through their relationship crisis, and they were both always looking for ways to help. It was the main reason why Katara felt bad about moving in with the couple, because she was afraid that her being there would make things weird or harder for Suki and Sokka.

"Because I noticed you sneaking out in the middle of the night, and you were gone way longer than if you had just gone for a pee," Katara replied. "Also, there were sounds and I discovered that the earplugs just weren't doing the job. I had to spend the next half an hour blasting Olivia Rodrigo at almost full volume."

"Sorry," Suki muttered, red-faced. "But uh, yeah, I think your gift was warmly appreciated," she confessed.

"That's great to hear," Katara looked very happy, with Yue nodding excitedly. "I hope it means that you also agreed to remove the permission to see other people."

"Well… no, not as such," Suki admitted uncomfortably. Yue could tell that it was because Suki knew how much Yue and Katara wanted her and Sokka to work out, and she felt bad about disappointing them. However, Yue thought that it was telling how Suki was still sharing the twin bed with Katara instead of sleeping there with Sokka and letting Katara have the sofa. It was good that Sokka and Suki were still having sex, but it was clear that things weren't completely back to where they had been before.

"Why not?" Katara pressed.

"I don't know," Suki shrugged. "I think we're both in a sort of waiting mode to see how everything works out at the restaurant." Yue realized that Suki was referring to the uncertainty of the kitchen situation. Suki clearly thought that she could do a better job leading the kitchen and she was way too opinionated to keep her thoughts to herself. Sokka obviously disagreed with his girlfriend's opinion and at times appeared very irked by her growing ambitions. The fact that Azula had dropped some hints that she believed in Suki more than she believed in Sokka was sure to stir up even more tensions going forward. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried to keep Suki and Sokka together, their relationship was headed for a real trial by fire.

"Surely you must have had a real good time if Sokka is still sleeping at this hour," Yue pointed out, grinning at the snoring coming from the adjacent room where Sokka was still happily sawing logs.

"Obviously. I mean, you know that Sokka lays solid pipe," Suki winked at Yue. Katara groaned at the lewd expression, face palming. "Breaking up would suck, but… I can't allow him to hold me back forever, you know? The frustration would poison the relationship, anyway."

"That's true," Katara admitted, nodding in understanding. "Smart of you to realize that, Suki. I still hope that things will work out, though. Maybe Azula will think of a solution. She's so clever."

"She is," Yue smiled. "And speaking of Azula," she continued, licking her lips. "Let's assume the hypothetical that she might be bi. Suki, I guess you could theoretically go after her, right?"

"That's one heck of a hypothetical," Suki laughed. "But sure, if… and that's a massive if, Azula was not completely straight, I'd definitely go after her."

"Well, you know, sometimes I just have to wonder how straight she really is," Yue said thoughtfully. She didn't want to hype herself up too much for something that was unlikely to be true, though. Such thoughts could only lead to disappointment. "But if she wasn't straight… girl, you would face fierce competition from yours truly," she grinned, tossing her hair.

"Oh, interesting," Suki's eyebrows rose. "You know I always welcome competition, Yue. And there would be nobody more worthy to battle for Azula's affections than you."

"Umm," Katara spoke up, raising a tentative hand.

"Damn, I forgot all about you, Kat, that's totally my bad," Suki hastily apologized. "Yeah, I didn't think you would be sitting around moping about the breakup."

"Nope, I want to move on and forget all about Jet as quickly as possible," Katara nodded firmly. "I want to explore what's available out there and I want to hook up. And even if I don't think Azula is available, it's nice to think about it," she added dreamily before shaking her head. "Damn, I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to still be a little bit mad at her," Katara sighed. "Not so much about her withholding the truth anymore, I'm quickly getting over it. I'm just frustrated by how she allows her father to control so many aspects of her life even though she's an adult. It feels so wrong."

"It just feels so wrong because Hakoda is such a wonderful parent, Kat. Azula's situation doesn't feel that unusual to me," Yue sighed. Arnook Taqqiq was nowhere near as understanding of Yue's wild college years as Hakoda had been of Katara's. Yue refusing to honor her arranged marriage with Hahn Adjuk and becoming pregnant and deciding to keep her child with Sokka – a decision she had never regretted no matter how tough the times got – had been the final straw for her father. He had completely cut her off from all financial support and he had made sure to let Yue know that for all practical purposes she was as good as dead to him.

"I suppose we all have very different experiences with our parents," Suki said. "I know foster parents aren't exactly the same, but I faced wildly different attitudes during my time in the system. We don't know what Ozai Nakamura did to his children while they were growing up. We know nothing of the ways in which he broke them to make them so compliant. But I am not going to blame Azula for the way she acts towards her father, because I know how hard it is to break such a learned behavior."

Katara and Yue exchanged slightly guilty stares. "I did not blame her as such," Katara said, slightly defensively. "I was just frustrated because I hate that she's not thinking for herself when it comes to her father."

"Agreed," Yue nodded. "Anyway, all this talk just made me want to give Azula the biggest hug yet when she shows up later." Suki and Katara broke out in grins at that, nodding in approval.

For the next few days of her stay at The Northern Lights, Azula focused her attention on auditing the kitchen staff. It wasn't just that she herself felt most comfortable fixing the issues there. The kitchen was the beating heart of any restaurant, and this particular one was sputtering and not performing to the level that was necessary for the restaurant to succeed. It was important to address the problems in the kitchen first before Azula moved on to the other parts of the restaurant.

Azula very much enjoyed this part of her job. Azula's well-trained eye allowed her to quickly spot the issues and she relished the process of eliminating them one by one. Azula had already started to make some small changes to the menu, but since she did not want to confuse the staff too much, she kept the adjustments very light at first. She kicked a couple of entrees off from the menu, but many more would have to be removed over the coming weeks. Still, removing the items gradually allowed Azula to see what was selling and what wasn't, so that she could make informed decisions.

Azula had also further reduced the amount of food that was being microwaved. She had no issues with Toph reheating soups in the microwave, and there were a number of menu items that didn't suffer as much from microwaving, so Azula was willing to let Toph continue in her role, at least for now. But there were several items on the menu that Azula immediately demanded to be either taken off the microwaving roster or removed from the menu altogether. Lasagna needed to be finished in the oven and fish cakes in the cast iron pan, the panko crusted camembert had to be deep fried to order instead of being limply reheated, but most importantly, it was the greatest crime of all to microwave a risotto. Risotto was a tricky dish because its consistency had to be watched at all times, and the rice could not be allowed to become mushy. Microwaving obliterated the rice into mushy paste and made the whole dish look and taste like wallpaper glue.

As expected, Sokka had decided to keep all of these items on the menu, which certainly increased the load on the kitchen staff. However, having to microwave less freed up Toph, and she was moved from the basement to her own brand-new station upstairs. Azula was glad to hear the plan that Sokka, Aang and Toph presented together, which was to turn Toph into a full-time prep cook. This would have been one of Azula's suggestions for Toph, and she was pleased to once again see Sokka arriving at the same idea independently of her.

While Toph still appeared a little nervous, over the past few days, Sokka and Aang had worked hard to set up this new workstation for their friend. They had come up with several creative assistive technologies to help Toph work and make her workspace as safe as possible. Azula was impressed with how they seemed to have thought of almost everything, starting from how the workplace was organized so that everything was within Toph's reach. The boys had also modified some of the kitchen equipment to make it safer for Toph. Finally, they had also acquired a food scale, thermometers and other implements that gave oral readings. With everything in place, Aang was already busy showing Toph the ropes of what it meant to be a prep cook.

Most of Azula's free time between the lunch and dinner services was dedicated to further training Suki and Sokka. Aang and Toph were doing their own prep cook thing at same time and Katara and Yue also liked to hang around the kitchen because they were curious, wanted to remain updated on any menu changes and had ideas of their own they were eager to share. With so many people in the small kitchen, it felt very crowded, but at the same time, it created this feeling of a small and tightly knit unit working towards a common purpose. Azula had done teambuilding exercises in many of her father's restaurants, but this felt very different because now she herself was a part of the team. Azula found that she rather enjoyed this new and strange feeling of being a part of something greater than just herself and her own ambitions.

When it came to the training of the two chefs, Azula wasn't at all surprised that Suki needed very little instruction. Suki had all the training she needed to handle the current menu. Of course, it didn't mean that Azula had nothing new to share with Suki, there was always the occasional tip or trick that Suki didn't know, but that was it. If they were to at some point decide to become a fine dining restaurant, then Suki would certainly need additional training on some of the advanced cooking techniques, and Azula would be happy to provide this training, but for now, Suki could be trusted to handle the current menu with ease. In many ways, Suki was the least problematic employee of The Northern Lights. Suki's issue was the growing frustration from being denied the head chef promotion that she so richly deserved, and Azula knew that it would be a difficult issue to tackle.

Unfortunately, Sokka as the current head chef of the restaurant was a problem that was creating a major headache for Azula. Lack of any sort of culinary education, delusional belief that he knew anything about food and stubborn conviction that only he could save the family restaurant was a dangerous combination that Azula didn't know how to tackle. What she did know was that as soon as she began to ask pointed questions that required sometimes very basic culinary knowledge, Sokka flipped and flopped and often couldn't provide an answer that made any sense. And the worst part about working with Sokka was that he often stubbornly tried to argue even when it was clear that he was speaking out of ignorance.

Still, Azula realized that convincing Sokka to step down from the head chef's position would be difficult and since she was not eager for more drama during her first week at the restaurant, Azula decided to make an earnest effort to see if she could help Sokka become a passable head chef. The first step on this path was to show Sokka how to correctly use the various kitchen implements at his disposal, because the frightening gaps in his culinary education were just that severe.

Azula had already noticed during her first visit that Suki knew how to use the Microplane grater correctly while making orange or lemon zest, or when grating ginger. Sokka, on the other hand, used the grater like some dingus on TikTok, putting the ginger on top of the tool instead of the other way around. This often resulted in accidents that Suki laughingly described as Sokka 'making pink ginger' when he inevitably ended up grating his fingertips. Unfortunately, Suki's advice together with these painful lessons hadn't convinced Sokka that he was doing something wrong, and it took Azula adding her own voice to Sokka finally deciding to use the grater correctly and immediately admitting that it was probably the right way to use the tool because now he could actually see what he was doing.

Next, Azula had to teach Sokka a lesson about knives, something that was considered the absolute basics at any cooking school. While Suki correctly used the five basic knives in any chef's arsenal, Sokka stubbornly stuck to his father's favorite chef's knife, and he was using it for everything. While it was true that a solid chef's knife was the best choice most of the time, the problem was that Sokka wasn't even using his chef's knife well because his technique was appalling.

Together with Suki, Azula had just spent an hour illustrating how much easier it was to slice a roast or butterfly a chicken breast while using a slicer instead of a chef's knife, as well as showing the various uses of serrated, boning and paring knives. At the end of her lecture, when Sokka finally stopped arguing, Azula felt like they had made a breakthrough. As all this new knowledge was still sinking in, Azula then proceeded to show Sokka the proper technique when using a chef's knife, something that Suki hadn't been able to teach her boyfriend. It was truly sad to watch how Suki managed to do most of the prep because her knife technique was just that much better than Sokka's.

"Alright, I think you have figured out how to properly hold the chef's knife," Azula said, sighing inwardly. It had taken way too long to teach Sokka the correct way to hold the knife. For some reason, he had gotten into the habit of holding it in such a tight grip as if he was about to stab someone to death. Certainly, a knife needed to be held firmly, but it was also important to keep your grip as relaxed as possible. Twenty minutes later, Sokka was finally holding the chef's knife somewhat acceptably. "Everyone, let's hear a round of applause for Sokka," Azula sarcastically told their audience, with the spectators giving Sokka some unironic clapping.

"Awesome," Sokka grinned. "Now, can you teach me that cutting technique that Suki uses? I want to go wild on these carrots and celery the way she does. She tried to teach me, but it just didn't stick."

"Not for the luck of trying on my part," Suki rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'll give it a try, anyway," Azula sighed. "At least you're holding the knife correctly by now. Sort of. But enough about that," she said, picking up her own chef's knife. "Okay, so you hold your chef's knife like that and then you hold your other hand like this. What does it look like?"

"It looks like your hand," Sokka remarked logically.

"Ugh, I know it's my hand, you dumbo," Azula groaned. "Look at the shape of my hand and the way I'm holding it. What does it remind you of?"

"Looks vaguely claw-shaped to me," Sokka said.

"Yes, thank you, very good," Azula allowed herself a small smile. "That's why the technique is called The Claw. Let me show you first without actually cutting anything. So, you hold your hand claw-shaped like that and you place the chef's knife here, firmly against the first knuckle of your index finger, just like that. Okay, yes, that's correct," she said, seeing that Sokka had managed to correctly replicate the way she was holding the knife against her finger. "Now just imitate a cutting motion as you move the claw gently backwards and follow it closely with the knife… yes, just like that," Azula continued to explain.

"This doesn't seem so hard," Sokka commented after managing to demonstrate an almost passable technique that made Azula feel like there just might be hope for him. "How about I try to slice something?" Sokka asked, sounding very eager.

"Not before I have demonstrated how to actually do it," Azula smirked, picking up a celery stalk. She pressed it down against the cutting board with her middle finger, forming the claw, and brought the chef's knife against the first knuckle of her finger with practiced ease. "There, this is the correct setup, and now you just start cutting and move the claw back ever so gently. And remember what I told you about the chef's nice, no pressing down on it, just gentle forward motion, got it? Just watch me," Azula said, slowly slicing the celery stalk in perfectly identical pieces.

"Very nice," Sokka remarked. "But you were really slow, not at all like Suki."

"Yes, because I wanted you to be able to see what I'm doing, dingus," Azula groaned. She grabbed another celery stalk and cut it finely at such a speed that her hands seemed to become a blur and the entire process took maybe three seconds at best.

"Whoa, that was amazing!" Aang exclaimed, sounding very impressed. Katara and Yue immediately started to applaud her, the others quickly joining in. Azula found herself blushing as she thoroughly savored the praise.

"Very nice," Sokka nodded. "Can I try it now, please?" he asked with a very puppy-like excitement.

"Sure, but don't go for speed right away," Azula warned him. "Get a grip on the technique first before you go for more, do you understand me?" Sokka frowned, but still nodded obediently. "Alright, go for it," Azula gave the permission. Sokka proceeded to cut another celery stalk into not particularly even pieces and not especially quickly, but it was still a rather admirable first try. "That's not bad at all," Azula admitted, feeling mildly impressed, especially because Sokka had already placed his own personal bar on the ocean floor. "Alright, keep it up. The only way to perfect your technique is to practice. And we have plenty of celery and carrots that need cutting, so have at it, tiger." Sokka made a comical little roar as he launched himself into the task with great enthusiasm. Azula observed him for a while, just to make sure he wasn't about to slice off his fingers, but Sokka's technique actually looked pretty solid, so Azula eventually relaxed, feeling like she didn't have to constantly monitor this would-be head chef.

"So, any more changes to the menu, Azula?" Katara asked, having noticed that Azula had relaxed and was no longer obsessively watching Sokka.

"Not today," Azula replied. "I decided against ruffling any more feathers since Sokka here is still salty about me removing the lobster roll."

"I'm not salty!" Sokka retorted, sounding very salty.

"I guess Azula was never going to tolerate your horrible canned lobster, Sokka," Toph pointed out.

"Let's not distract Sokka from his work or he'll end up chopping off his fingers," Azula warned. "Anyway, the only reason why I removed the lobster roll is because you were advertising it as made with fresh lobster, and I will have no false advertising around here. If any food critic or blogger noticed it, our reputation would be forever tainted."

"Wait, are you saying that if we advertised it as a canned lobster roll on the menu, you'd be happy to leave it on?" Suki laughed.

"No, because nobody would order that, obviously," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I know that my father would disapprove of me saying something like this on the show, but there's actually nothing wrong with using canned crab or lobster meat, as long as you don't falsely advertise it as fresh. Some brands offer very high-quality product, and there are various tricks to further improve it. And you don't really need fresh lobster to make a salad, a bisque or a gumbo. It's actually rather wasteful to use fresh lobster in those dishes. Tinned meat will do just fine."

"That's very interesting," Suki remarked, looking intrigued. "I'm getting a lot of ideas over here."

"That's good," Azula nodded. "Just because I'm more focused on kicking items off the menu, it doesn't mean that I'm not receptive to adding dishes that make sense. Not everything that you have added on top of my menu is bad, after all. I know you were concerned that I didn't put a single chicken dish on the menu, so your idea to add crispy chicken tenders as a starter was a very good one."

"Yes, it's by far the most popular starter," Yue said. "And a lot of people want it as their main."

"That's telling," Azula mused. "Feel free to come up with ideas for a proper chicken entrée, then. Anyway, Sokka, how are you doing over there?" she asked.

"I'm doing really well!" Sokka replied. His hands were moving very quickly as he seemed to have already mastered this new technique, slicing the crap out of a bunch of carrots like a true pro. "This is so much fun… and so easy! I can't believe it took me so long to learn this! Even a child could do this!"

"There, there," Azula spoke in a comforting voice, her arm wrapped around Katara shoulders as they watched the ambulance take off and disappear down the street. "I spoke with the paramedics and they told me that there's a good chance that Sokka will have full mobility in his finger once it has been reattached." For some reason, the words that had meant to comfort Katara only made her cry even harder.

"Poor Sokka," Katara sobbed. "All he wanted was to impress us, and especially you."

"Well, he succeeded at impressing me, that's for sure," Azula sighed. She had seen plenty of disturbing workplace accidents over the course of her still relatively short career, many of them much worse than Sokka almost slicing off a good chunk of his finger. Still, she wasn't going to forget this incident in a hurry. There had been a lot of blood all over the kitchen, as well as plenty of panic and fainting before the paramedics finally showed up to take Sokka to the emergency room.

"I should have gone with him," Katara repeated numbly something she had already said several times before.

"Katara, it's nothing life threatening. Sokka is going to be perfectly fine in a few days. Well, his finger will need a little bit longer to heal, but the point is that he'll be back and as good as new," Azula sighed, patiently explaining the same thing over and over again. "And there just wasn't enough room for both you and Suki in the ambulance, you saw that."

"I… I suppose," Katara managed before a fresh flood of tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Can we go back inside, please?" Azula asked. They were still standing outside the restaurant minutes after the ambulance had departed, and Katara's hysterics were starting to attract attention from the passersby.

"Alright," Katara muttered, allowing Azula to lead her back inside the empty restaurant. Someone, probably Aang, had quickly hung up a 'closed' sign, which was why the dining hall currently stood empty. Once back inside, however, Katara's tears still wouldn't subside. Azula started to become frustrated when her attempts to calm Katara down weren't working and she was running out of ideas of what to try. Azula was wondering if perhaps Katara needed a harsher treatment to snap her out of this state, but she didn't quite dare to be rough with Katara, or Agni forbid, slap or shake her. Instead, something else occurred to Azula that she felt was worth trying out.

"Let's go upstairs, okay?" Azula suggested, pushing Katara towards the stairs. They walked past the kitchen where Aang was still busy mopping up all the blood before disinfecting every possible surface. Toph had probably stayed with Aang. Unable to see what was happening, Toph had found the commotion more amusing than anything else, wondering why everyone was making such a fuss about Sokka slightly nicking himself with the chef's knife. Azula suspected that Toph still found the situation a little funny even after Azula had explained to her that a part of Sokka's finger was attached to the stump only by a few bits of skin.

Katara allowed Azula to lead herself upstairs and they sat down on one of the sofas. Katara was still sniffling a little as Azula retrieved her purse and began to rummage through its contents. "I have an idea how to help you relax and stop stressing," Azula said, an idea suddenly occurring to her. "But maybe it's not something we should do inside. Do you think we could go up to the roof?"

"Sure," Katara replied, giving Azula a curious stare and finally forgetting that she was supposed to be crying. "Also, we haven't shown you the roof, have we?" she asked. Azula shook her head. "Oh, then you really need to see it. The view is very pretty even if we're in the middle of a big city."

"Alright, let's go then," Azula smiled, letting Katara take charge.

"Hey, guys? What are you up to?" they were interrupted by a soft voice nearby. Azula and Katara both turned to see Yue addressing them. Earlier, Yue had fainted at the sight of all the blood pouring from Sokka's severed finger. Apparently, she was one of those people who could not tolerate the sight of blood. Still, even if Azula herself had high tolerance, and even fascination with blood, gore and violence, she didn't think badly of anyone who didn't share her obsession. In fact, Yue being such a softie felt both fitting and endearing to Azula. In any case, after Yue had fainted, Aang had quickly fetched the smelling salts to help her regain consciousness and then Aang had helped her upstairs to lay down for a brief spell. Azula assumed that Yue had probably fallen asleep, but here she was, still a little pale in the face, but otherwise recovered.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked, sounding concerned. Yue nodded, managing a brave smile. "We were going to climb up to the roof for a bit. Azula said she has something to help me take my mind off from worrying about Sokka."

"You're welcome to join us," Azula said quickly, noticing that Yue immediately looked very curious. "I imagine that what I have in mind will help you just as much as it should help Katara."

"How mysterious," Yue grinned. "Alright, let's hit the roof then."

Azula found herself unexpectedly impressed by the rooftop terrace. The open side of the terrace faced the large park in front of the restaurant, and taking in the view, Azula almost forgot that they were still in the middle of a busy and chaotic urban sprawl. If not for the intrusive sounds of a large metropolis with busy traffic, the rooftop would have made for a remarkable font of tranquility. All in all, Katara definitely had not overhyped the place when promising a pretty view.

"You have a better view up here than I have from the window of my rent apartment," Azula remarked.

"It really is something, isn't it?" Yue smiled. "Wait, are those gears turning and trying to find a business opportunity here?" she asked, gently tapping Azula on the side of her head. "I don't think Sokka and Katara would be interested." Katara quickly shook her head at that.

"No, for once I wasn't thinking about that," Azula said. "Anyway, I think we should sit down," she suggested.

"Sure," Katara nodded, looking around. "We need to do some tidying up, though. We're not really using the rooftop during the winter, and I think we might be the first ones to come up here this spring." Katara then proceeded to open a parasol over one of the tables. Since it was the Fire Nation, even the early April sun had a bit of a bite. Yue quickly wiped the table down, while Azula pitched in by doing the same with the chairs and soon enough they were sat down, with Katara and Yue giving Azula stares full of anticipation.

"Okay, so… here's what I had in mind when thinking about having a chill and relaxed evening," Azula said, retrieving certain items from her purse.

"Wait, is that… a joint?" Katara's eyes widened comically.

"I did not expect that," Yue gasped, looking shocked.

"Let me guess, you've never partaken?" Azula asked. She was aware that Katara and Yue were both very proper and appeared to be stereotypical good girls at the first glance, but in Azula's experience, most good girls still enjoyed weed, they just acted morally uptight about it.

"I mean… I have, obviously," Katara rolled her eyes. "I was dating Jet, duh. Don't tell me you couldn't identify the smell of weed that was constantly surrounding him like a thick cloud. I'm a much more casual enjoyer than Jet was, certainly, but I'm not exactly a novice."

"It's been a couple of months for me," Yue shrugged. "Jet sometimes liked to share and we would occasionally have a smoke session to celebrate the end of a work week. I used to be a really heavy smoker back in the college, though, when I was trying to do everything that my father would disapprove of. But when I realized that Kya was on her way… well, let's just say, my days as an active smoker are behind me."

"Oh, good, I was afraid I would be dealing with complete novices," Azula let out a relieved sigh. "From your reaction I assumed you had no experience with weed."

"I think we were shocked because we didn't expect you to carry around pre-wrapped joints?" Katara replied.

"Yes, I wouldn't have guessed that you smoked weed, Azula," Yue chuckled. "I have heard that your father's restaurants have very strict rules for drug use and they test employees all the time."

"They do, but I'm exempt from testing," Azula smirked. "There are some perks to being Ozai Nakamura's daughter. Anyway, I don't see why you would be so shocked. I want to relax and have a nice, chill time the same as anyone else. And just to be clear, I would never smoke during or before a work shift, only after. That's one rule I will always obey and insist the others obey as well."

"Makes sense to me," Katara replied. Yue also nodded in agreement. "Anyway, are you going to light up or not?" Katara asked.

"Alright, let's do it," Azula nodded, picking up her lighter. She tried really hard to appear effortlessly cool as she took a big hit, but the couple of weeks of not smoking had left a mark and despite her best efforts, Azula still broke out in a less than graceful coughing fit.

"Very suave," Katara winked at her as she took the joint from Azula. Katara took a slightly more conservative hit and almost managed to avoid coughing, but she still lost it a little bit towards the very end.

"Oh, I'll have to cough so hard," Yue cringed as she accepted the joint from Katara. She took a hit that appeared similar to Katara, but true to her own word, she had to cough way more than her Water Tribe friend. "Oh, I hate that…" Yue winced, her eyes watering slightly. "But I love the feeling after. Oh, wow… this is some good weed, Azula. Probably one of those fancy strains, am I right?"

"It has to be, it felt way smoother than anything Jet ever had on offer," Katara commented.

"It's a strain called Blue Dream," Azula chuckled before taking another hit herself. This time she almost avoided coughing. "I should have known from the name alone that you would enjoy it."

"It's great," Katara smiled, accepting the joint from Azula. "I'm feeling way less stressed already. Why was I so worried about Sokka, anyway? He's in the hands of medical professionals, Suki is with him, and the paramedics told you that his finger will be as good as new. Sokka is going to be just fine."

"Exactly," Yue nodded, taking a hit of her own and coughing only very lightly. "He'll be back with us soon, enjoying this amazing herb, as long as Azula remains willing to share."

"Certainly," Azula shrugged. "Speaking of herbs," she said, pointing at the many flowerbeds all around the rooftop terrace. "It seems like someone tried to make an effort to maintain the flowerbeds but then gave up?"

"Oh, right," Katara said, giggling a little even though nothing all that funny had been said. "Couple of years ago when I was living here, I spent a lot of time working on my rooftop garden. And I think it came out looking very pretty."

"It really was," Yue smiled, leaning in against Katara and resting her head on Katara's shoulder. "You're such a talented gardener."

"Thanks, love," Katara smiled at Yue. "Anyway, then I moved in with Jet, and Suki tried to take over, but she never had enough time to take good care of the flowerbeds, and so… well, they were abandoned," Katara explained. "I guess now that I'm living here again, I could try to resurrect the garden. But I'm hoping that I can move out soon because I don't want to third-wheel Suki and Sokka."

"Understandable," Azula nodded. She was really starting to feel the effects of the weed, but perhaps not as much as Yue. The pretty blonde was leaning in against Katara and looking like she was in dire need of cuddling. "I was thinking that we make strategic use of the flowerbeds. We could grow our own fresh herbs up here."

"Are you talking about herbs such as basil and rosemary or do you mean this super friendly herb that we're currently consuming?" Yue chuckled, watching as Katara took yet another hit.

"I was thinking the basil and rosemary kind of herbs, but our super friendly herb also has some uses in the kitchen," Azula laughed. "Seriously, though, I think growing weed on the roof would be a little irresponsible. If Zuko somehow found out about it, he could get the cops to shut us down and then he would win the competition. So, we're not doing anything as brazen. But this is definitely a fantastic spot to grow fresh herbs for the restaurant."

"Mhm, herbs…" Katara spoke dreamily, making Azula laugh, even if a part of her brain was screaming at her that it wasn't something worth laughing about. Still, as the high truly kicked in, everything started to sound very funny to Azula, and also, the previously hard plastic chair suddenly felt so comfortable that it made Azula feel like she was sinking into it.

Azula had no idea for how long the three of them had been talking and giggling about absolute nonsense, when she decided to light up another joint. When the joint made its way to Yue, her eyes lit up with excitement as she pondered upon something. "Hey, Kat?" she asked, grinning at her friend. "Want to try that thing we used to do?" Katara gave Yue a slightly confused, bleary-eyed stare, prompting Yue to lean in and whisper into her ear.

"Oh, sure!" Katara grinned, visibly excited as she turned her chair to face Yue. With rapidly growing curiosity, Azula watched Yue climb into Katara's lap and then lean back as she took a fairly sizeable hit. Azula froze as she then watched Yue press her lips against Katara's before exhaling and passing the smoke over to Katara. The pair remained lip-locked as Katara struggled not to cough, until Yue released her from this marijuana infused kiss, allowing Katara to exhale.

Yue appeared in no hurry to climb out of Katara's lap as she turned her head to face Azula. "Hey, you alright there, Azula?" Yue asked teasingly.

Azula needed an embarrassingly long time to react because she had gone completely rigid from having witnessed possibly the most arousing display in her life. Her entire body was on fire and cried out for some kind of relief. The panic of potentially outing herself as a horny lesbian would have normally kicked in a long time ago, forcing her to react, but the weed induced state of happiness had dulled her reactions. For a good while, Azula could do nothing but stare with naked desire in her eyes and in her burning cheeks.

"I think we may have broken her," Katara commented, laughing softly.

"What? Uh, no, I was just… well, that was something," Azula admitted, lost for words, and not just because she was experiencing a very intense high. "I guess I didn't expect you to… kiss like that," she said, blushing.

"Why wouldn't we? We're both free women," Katara shrugged.

"Exactly," Yue nodded with a grin. "Want to try it with me? We promise not to tell your boyfriend. Who you never mention, talk about or call."

"I… no, I couldn't," Azula stammered at the unexpected suggestion, desperately wanting to accept Yue's tantalizing offer. It was only at the very last moment that her panic of getting outed prevailed. It took an embarrassingly long time for Azula to digest the other part of what Yue had said, making Azula very worried that her fake relationship with Chan was for some reason not fooling these sexy and extremely perceptive Water Tribe girls. "Anyway, I try not to bother Chan during what I'm sure is a very busy football season," Azula said defensively.

"Azula, it's the second week of the off-season," Katara winked at her. "We checked."

"I… well, I'm sure he has a lot of training to do, anyway," Azula sputtered, trying to save her blushes. "If you want, I can call him right away," she said, quickly fetching her phone.

"You don't have to, we're not really interested," Yue said, shaking her head. She finally climbed out of Katara's lap and took her seat again. "Anyway, I only offered to shotgun with you because you looked so keenly interested," Yue added with a sly wink. "I know you're very concerned about people misidentifying your preferences, but honestly, doing that with another girl doesn't have to be sexual. I'm sure it wouldn't turn you gay," Yue snickered.

"Uh, sure, that did not look sexual at all," Azula muttered under her breath, making Katara and Yue exchange amused stares. Azula was sure that if she wasn't already incredibly gay, what she had just witnessed would have turned her into a raging homosexual. "Anyway, I want you to know-"

"This is a raid!" came a sudden yell, startling Azula, Katara and Yue, as well as interrupting Azula's statement that would have surely convinced Katara and Yue that she was as straight as an arrow. "Stick your hands up and surrender all your weed!" Suki burst onto the roof with another cry, quickly snatching the joint from Yue's fingers and taking a big hit before anyone could react.

"Oh, it's you, Suki," Katara smiled, relaxing. "And you, guys," she added, watching Toph and Aang emerge on the roof, following Suki. "Come, hang out with us. Azula is treating us to her Blue Dream."

"Enjoy," Azula said, watching Suki exhale smoothly, without even the slightest hint of coughing. Somehow, she wasn't at all surprised at how cool Suki was in everything she did.

"Damn, this stuff is amazing," Suki gushed with a blissful look on her face as she offered the joint to Aang. "Come on, dude, you have to try this."

"Alright, just a little hit," Aang said, reluctantly accepting the joint. "I deserve to relax after scraping all that blood from the cutting board."

"Well, just pass it over to me after you're done taking your wimpy little hit," Toph laughed. "I'll take a big one for you. I also deserve to relax after laughing so hard about the way you were all running around in panic like headless chicken."

"To be fair, not all of us were panicking," Azula protested.

"True," Yue nodded. "Some of us just passed out right away," she added with an adorable giggle.

"Anyway, Suki, how is Sokka doing?" Katara finally remembered to ask. "Did you stick around until he was out of surgery?"

"Yes, they decided to keep him there overnight for observation," Suki replied. "Apparently, the surgery to reattach the severed digit was a smashing success."

"That's cool and all," Toph said. She had decided against passing the joint on, despite Suki whining at her. Azula was ready to retrieve the last of her pre-rolled joints just to keep everyone happy. "I know one of Sokka's dreams is to have a cool robot hand. He's probably looking at this as a missed opportunity."

"I assure you, he is not," Suki shook her head. "Actually, Sokka was pretty depressed, at least during our ride to the hospital. He was much happier after the surgery."

"That's the high from painkillers, probably," Azula chuckled.

"Oh right, so I guess that won't last," Suki sighed. "I think he's mostly bummed out from knowing that he won't be able to do much cooking for a while after he comes back."

"Damn, that means we're short of a head chef," Katara gasped, giving Azula a desperate stare. "Azula, you'll take over until Sokka comes back, won't you?"

"I'll help, but I won't be taking over," Azula replied. This was something she had decided upon immediately when it became obvious that Sokka would be out of commission and unable to lead the kitchen. "You already have someone more than capable of taking over," Azula smiled, nodding at Suki. "And I'll help out as the sous chef."

"Yes! I get to be the head chef!" Suki cheered, pumping her fist before doing something unexpected by pulling Azula up to her feet and then crushing her in the tightest of bear hugs. To top it off, Suki pressed a sloppy and wet kiss against Azula's cheek, making Azula's face burn once more.

Not for the first time, Azula had to admit that she was experiencing increasing difficulties of remaining closeted in the company of Katara, Yue and Suki.

Chapter Text

"Bestie!" Mai cringed, bracing herself as the pink tornado otherwise known as Ty Lee pulled her in for an affectionate embrace. "It's so good to be back," Ty Lee raved, having finally released Mai. "I've missed the Fire Nation so much. The Earth Kingdom just can't compete."

"It's good to have you back with us, Ty Lee," Mai allowed herself a small smile. It was a while since the two of them had seen each other. Face to face meetings had been rare ever since Ty Lee had dropped out of college to run away with a traveling circus. Ever since then, she had been touring both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. A few months ago, Ty Lee had met someone on Kyoshi Island and decided to try settling down, but the whirlwind romance had only lasted a couple of weeks. Ty Lee had been stuck on Kyoshi Island since then, working at the local Sea World and trying to save up for a ticket back to the Fire Nation. And now, after a whole host of crazy adventures she was finally back in Caldera, ready to turn a new leaf and embrace this latest work opportunity as the head waitress at The Blue Spirit.

"Nice and cozy place you have here," Ty Lee said, looking around. Mai had to admit that everything at their restaurant felt a little cramped, including the manager's office. Still, if the restaurant was any larger, Mai doubted they would be able to afford the rent. After all, they were in a prime location on a pedestrian street lined with various tourist traps. "When do you plan to open it?" Ty Lee asked.

"Starting next week," Mai replied. "We still need a few days to get ready. Zuko is still perfecting the menu and drilling his sous chef. And I don't doubt that you could jump in and start working right now, but I think Jin needs some instruction first. I have a feeling that she wasn't exactly honest about her previous work experience as a waitress. You two will need to find a way to distribute your duties. Hopefully without any input from me, I have no idea how to organize the front of the house," Mai shrugged.

"Helpful," Ty Lee laughed. "Jin, I guess that's the girl who let me in? The manic one with the wild hair and Harley Quinn like energy?"

"Yes, she's literally insane," Mai rolled her eyes.

"Well, so am I," Ty Lee shot finger guns at Mai. "I think we'll make for quite the dynamic duo."

"It should be fine, as long as you promise not to burn down the restaurant," Mai sighed.

"Ugh, I wish you wouldn't mention burning things down," Ty Lee sighed. "So, who are all the others at the restaurant? Like that handsome hunk lurking around your office? Isn't it too early for a side piece when you only just got back together with Zuko?" Ty Lee winked.

"Ruon-Jian is the assistant manager, not my side piece," Mai replied, feeling mildly frustrated. She really ought to have expected an in-depth interrogation from Ty Lee, because that simply was her style. "Although, I want Zuko to think that Ruon-Jian could be my side piece."

"Sounds healthy," Ty Lee laughed.

"Well, it's not my fault that Zuko hired Jin and On Ji, both of whom are head over heels for him," Mai shrugged. "We have truly set ourselves up for interpersonal drama in the worst possible way. Our hiring policies should probably be questioned."

"Maybe," Ty Lee grinned broadly. She appeared excited about all this potential chaos infusing her future workplace. "So, On Ji is the cutie I spotted in the kitchen, I suppose." Mai nodded at that. "And who's that scruffy looking guy who was asking around for Zuko earlier? He had a slightly wild and dangerous air about him. You know, like the neighborhood's drug dealer."

"He introduced himself as Jet Patel," Mai shrugged. "Anyway, he kept insisting that he had something urgent to discuss with Zuko. I don't know, I thought he was looking for a handout. I really hope Zuko doesn't spontaneously decide to hire this Jet character, or then we will be exchanging more than words."

"I don't know, maybe he should hire that guy," Ty Lee smirked. "I know I said he looked scruffy, but also kind of hot in a certain way? Like, when you know that getting with him might be a bad idea because you could end up catching some nasty disease, but you would still consider it because it could be really hot and still worth it, you know?"

"No, I don't know," Mai stubbornly shook her head. "That might just be your thing, Ty Lee, not mine."

"Whatever, you're just in denial," Ty Lee laughed. "Anyway, I have a good feeling about this group. I think we'll have a lot of chaotic fun running this place, especially now that you have added me into the mix."

"That doesn't really reassure me, Ty Lee," Mai sighed. "Although," she suddenly perked up, having thought of something. "It's just an idea, but if you could maybe come up with some ideas to distract Jin and On Ji from being all over Zuko, it would be appreciated."

"Oh, I can think of several ways of how to distract them," Ty Lee grinned, tossing her hair. "But I don't know, after my experiences at the circus and the Sea World, I'm a bit wary about workplace hookups. It just leads to-"

Ty Lee's words were cut off by the doors to the manager's office opening and Zuko's head poking inside. He gave Ty Lee a sidelong glance before looking at Mai and whispering at her even if Ty Lee could clearly hear it all anyway. "Did you ask her about… you know, eaworldsay irefay?"

Mai rolled eyes at her boyfriend. "First of all, step inside the office properly and say hi to Ty Lee," she chided him. Zuko promptly did as he was told, making an actual effort not to admire Ty Lee's prominent cleavage for too long. "Ty, I have a feeling that Zuko will simply not calm down until he finds out what exactly happened with the Sea World fire," she said, ignoring Zuko's shocked gasp of betrayal.

"Damn, I wish you wouldn't ask me to revisit that day," Ty Lee sighed. "It was very traumatic for me and my coworkers. And no, I don't think I can actually tell you much about what exactly happened. I was simply entertaining the spectators and having a lot of fun chucking fish to Slippery Pete, and the next moment fire was already upon us, surrounding us on every side. All I could do was to shove Slippery Pete into the water and then jump after him, saving us both."

"Wait, there really is a sealion named Slippery Pete?" Zuko gasped again. "How did I know that? This is uncanny!"

"What are you talking about, Zuko?" Mai groaned. "Anyway, will you calm down now that Ty Lee has told you that the fire was completely accidental?"

"Well, we don't actually know that from Ty Lee's account," Zuko pointed out.

"It's true," Ty Lee nodded. "It could have been arson. A lot of people seem to think so." Mai was silently mouthing 'shut up' to Ty Lee, but without any success. "But anyway, I had nothing to do with that fire, if that's what you were implying," she glared at Zuko. "I was really traumatized by it, and so were most of my coworkers. At least nobody was hurt."

"You mean your coworkers weren't hurt," Mai pointed out. "I read that several visitors died."

"Yes, but we already had their money," Ty Lee shrugged. "Anyway, that was an awful day and it cost me my job even if I had done nothing wrong, so I would really appreciate it if we could stop bringing up the Sea World fire."

"This matter is settled… isn't it, Zuko?" Mai asked, giving her boyfriend a warning stare.

"What? Oh… oh, right. Yes, sure, I suppose it was stupid to think that Ty Lee could be some crazy arsonist," Zuko seemingly needed a while to realize what Mai's stare was supposed to convey, but he eventually got it.

"Wow, thanks a lot, Zuko," Ty Lee snorted. "Anyway, Mai, as I was telling you before we were rudely interrupted," she grinned wickedly at Zuko. "I definitely had a lot of hookups both at the circus and at the Sea World, but over time it created a lot of hurt feelings with people who aren't as chill about sex as I am. I would go as far as to say that in both of my previous work places, I became something of a social piranha."

"A what?" Zuko burst into laughter. "Wait, did you say social piranha? That's hilarious."

"I think it's social pariah, Ty Lee," Mai corrected.

Now it was Ty Lee's turn to start laughing. "A pariah? Are you having me on? That's not even a word. It's piranha, silly."

"Ugh, it's social pariah. You are so ignorant, Ty Lee," Zuko argued, for some reason looking more annoyed than the situation warranted it, at least in Mai's opinion. "I guess that's what you should expect from someone who thought it would be a great idea to drop out of a good college and instead join a traveling circus," Zuko added.

"Stop being so rude, Zuko," Mai barked at her boyfriend. "Didn't you run into that guy who was looking for you earlier, Jet something? He seemed very determined to speak with you."

"Oh, that guy," Zuko replied, his annoyance with Ty Lee dissipating instantly. "I guess I'll go talk to him. He looks so much like my Ba Sing Se pot dealer. I wonder if they're related." With that, Zuko left the office, leaving Mai alone with Ty Lee.

"Sorry about Zuko," Mai apologized. "I don't know how it's even possible, but lately he seems to have become even more blunt and socially unaware. I literally can't take him anywhere."

"Don't worry about it. I know better than to be offended by Zuko," Ty Lee laughed good-naturedly. "After all, he's always been the pineapple of politeness."

Mai burst into a coughing fit as she struggled not to laugh. "Ty, don't you mean-" she began, stopping when she noticed Ty Lee giving her a wide-eyed stare. "No, actually, come to think of it, you're absolutely right. Zuko has always been a pineapple of politeness."

Jet had a good feeling about landing permanent employment at Zuko Nakamura's restaurant. Even getting snapped at by some bitchy goth chick and being told to wait outside didn't dampen his spirits. In any case, Jet wasn't the type to patiently wait outside until he was summoned. It was important to show initiative to his potential future employer, so Jet decided to sneak in around the back, eventually finding himself in a kitchen that seemed to be even smaller than the one at The Northern Lights.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you should be here," Jet was not greeted warmly by a very attractive young woman in a chef's uniform, giving him a disapproving stare. "This is a restaurant kitchen! We can't have people barging in from the outside and dragging in filth!"

"On Ji is right. I don't know who you are, but you need to get out," the other chef in the kitchen nodded in agreement, glaring at Jet. Jet recognized Zuko Nakamura instantly from the pictures he'd seen in the papers and on the internet. Somehow, the scarred side of his face looked very different up closely. Zuko seemed like a very intense guy from the photos, but the scar made him rather intimidating, in a very hot way.

"I'll go, but you should come with me," Jet said. "I think you'll want to hear what I have to say."

"Wait, you're that Jet guy who wanted to speak to me?" Zuko asked. Jet nodded quickly. "I was just about to step outside and talk to you. You didn't have to storm in here like some impatient asshole."

"Sorry, I guess I am a bit of an impatient asshole," Jet grinned disarmingly. "People say it's one of my most disarming traits."

"You must be consorting with idiots, then," Zuko snapped. "Alright, fine," he grunted when Jet refused to move. "Let's step out around the back. This better be good." Once outside, Zuko faced Jet with a firm glare. "Look, buddy, if this is some kind of a trick and my sister is already playing games, then you should know that I'm far too cunning to fall for any of her tricks-"

"Well, I'll admit that this has to do with your sister, but not in a way your paranoid mind seems to think," Jet smirked. "The restaurant she took over, The Northern Lights? I used to work there for a couple of years, until she showed up last week."

"Oh?" Zuko immediately looked very curious. "She fired you? What for?"

"She spun some wild tale to the owners about me stealing from the restaurant," Jet replied. "It was a complete fabrication, of course. She wanted to get rid of me from the moment of her arrival. She must have messed around with the numbers and convinced the owners that I was to blame for the restaurant's failures."

"I know that Azula can be ruthless, so that doesn't surprise me," Zuko shrugged. "What was your role at the restaurant?"

"I was the food manager," Jet replied.

"Kind of an excessive role at a small restaurant," Zuko said. "It's no wonder that Azula wanted to get rid of you. My condolences, but I don't know what you expect me to do about it. I can't exactly petition her on your behalf, we don't have that kind of relationship."

"I know, and that's why I'm here," Jet grinned. "I heard Azula talking about the competition she has with you, and with the way she treated me, I really want to see her lose."

"It sounds like she simply got rid of a position that shouldn't have existed in the first place," Zuko shrugged. "I think you're just being dramatic."

"I am never dramatic!" Jet exclaimed dramatically. "The owner of The Northern Lights was my girlfriend… now ex-girlfriend, thanks to Azula! Also, when she fired me, she also… well, she kind of kicked me in the balls, so don't tell me I don't have an axe to grind with your bitch of a sister!"

"Okay, yeah, those sound more like the feelings that Azula often inspires in other people," Zuko snorted. "Alright, so you don't like Azula. There must be hundreds if not thousands of people who can't stand her. I still don't know what you want me to do about it."

"I want to help you bring her down!" Jet exclaimed.

"How?" Zuko asked. "I'm competing against Azula, and I find her incredibly annoying and frustrating on a personal level, but she's still my sister. I want to defeat her, but I don't actually want to see her physically hurt. I hope you get that. If you came here thinking that I'm going to pay you for hurting her, almost like placing a hit on her, then you are sorely mistaken."

"No, I wouldn't want to actually hurt her," Jet insisted, even if he wasn't being entirely truthful. While he was recovering from his surgery, swimming in a painkiller inflicted daze, he had definitely experienced some very violent thoughts towards Azula, but maybe Zuko didn't need to know about those. "I wanted to offer my services to your restaurant and help you win the competition."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we don't need a food manager," Zuko said.

"It doesn't have to be as a food manager," Jet said. "I can help with whatever you need. People tell me I'm charming enough to be the best waiter in Caldera City."

Zuko gave him a deeply scrutinizing stare before blushing slightly and turning away. "Yeah, I don't know," Zuko shrugged. "I totally understand wanting to get back at Azula, but right now we don't really need any extra hands around the restaurant. And I don't want to put someone on the payroll just because they have a grudge against my sister. You have to bring something to the table."

"Well… I have a lot of information on The Northern Lights," Jet said. "I know the layout of the place. I know all about the owners and the staff there and I can give you the lowdown on all of them. It might come in handy if you maybe want to do something to get an advantage in this competition."

Zuko seemed to consider this new information with increased interest. "Hmm, that could be useful," he eventually admitted. "I'm sure that Azula will soon start plotting against us, as soon as she finds the footing at her restaurant. Maybe I could find a place for you, after all."

"You won't regret it," Jet promised, grinning broadly. Once again, his charm and winning personality had come through for him. "So, what do you need me as? As I said, I'd be a great waiter, but I'm sure I'd do just as well in the kitchen."

Zuko was shaking his head, though. "We don't need another waiter or another cook in the kitchen," he said. "But now that I'm thinking about it, there is something we are struggling with. This building is fucking old and so many things here are breaking down. None of the girls are any good with fixing that sort of thing, and Ruon-Jian is such a lily-livered little bitch boy that I'm surprised he can wipe himself after taking a shit. I've tried my hand at fixing some of these things myself, but I just get so annoyed and they end up broken way worse than before I started fixing them."

"Ah, got to love a short-tempered fiery guy," Jet smirked. "So, what… you want me as some sort of a maintenance worker? I guess I can do that."

"Maintenance worker, handyman, plumber, take your pick," Zuko shrugged.

"Wait… a plumber?" Jet groaned.

"Yeah," Zuko nodded. "The employee toilet has become clogged three times already, so fixing that would be your number one priority."

"Don't you mean number two priority?" Jet laughed. Zuko gave him a blank stare. "You know… number two? Taking a shit? Maybe it got clogged because someone keeps taking monster shits?"

"That could only be Ruon-Jian," Zuko said, going slightly red in the face. "Anyway, I don't think the shits are the problem. I'm pretty sure it got clogged because one of the girls tried to drown her tampon in the toilet. I pressed all three of them about it, but the only reply I got was three slaps to the face. I don't know why, it was a simple question," Zuko shrugged.

"Right," Jet was struggling not to laugh. Zuko came off like such a ridiculous mess that Jet couldn't help but be fascinated by this strangely hot angry guy in front of him. "Well, I guess I'll accept the offer. You've won me over, Zuko," he said, winking and grinning inwardly as he watched Zuko blush lightly. Zuko quickly looked away, though, trying to act nonchalant. "Just remember, I can do more than be just your maintenance guy or a plumber. I have a lot of contacts here in Caldera City. If there are any kind of supplies you can't find through your channels, I can probably get ahold of that stuff for you."

"Hmm," Zuko suddenly looked very intrigued. "What about supplies that are perhaps… not strictly legal?" he asked.

"Oh, I didn't expect Zuko Nakamura to ask me something like that," Jet chuckled, surprised. "But sure, like I said, I can find almost anything for you. I'm going to guess that you're asking about drugs. Is it weed you're after?"

"Fuck yes," Zuko nodded. "You can't imagine how frustrating it is to not have access to my regular dealer in Ba Sing Se. I haven't had a good smoke for two fucking weeks. Maybe that's why I feel so tightly wound."

"You think?" Jet smirked. "Anyway, I'll be happy to supply the restaurant with this amazing multi-purpose herb of the highest quality."

"Good… good, that's a relief," Zuko sighed. "I was afraid I'd have to delve into the seedy underworld of Caldera City in search for a dealer. Mai was really nervous to let me do that, though. For some reason, she was afraid that I might insult some hardened criminal and get stabbed. Like I wouldn't know how to be cautious and diplomatic."

"Yes, I have no idea how she would arrive at that idea," Jet said, somehow managing to avoid rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, I'm glad that's settled. Mai will also be happy to learn that I've found a source," Zuko smiled.

"Who is this Mai, anyway?" Jet asked.

"My girlfriend and also co-owner of the restaurant," Zuko replied, looking proud.

"Ah, figures that a handsome guy like you would be taken," Jet chuckled, shooting finger guns at a slightly flustered Zuko. "Anyway, maybe I can have a different job title than a maintenance worker? Weed supplier feels a bit too on the nose, though. How about herbalist?"

"Well, no, because you still have to do all those handyman jobs as well," Zuko said sternly. "Remember, fixing that clogged toilet is a priority. But maybe we can combine your job titles. How about herbalist/plumber? Or… plumbalist for short?"

"Plumbalist?" Jet blinked. "That totally sounds like a job title that will make my friends pee themselves from laughing too hard when they hear about it."

Following Sokka's return from the hospital, Azula's greatest challenge was to keep him from intervening in the kitchen. Azula somehow managed to accomplish this by redirecting Sokka to the manager's office and saddling him with the task of double-checking Katara's financial records. Katara had suffered exactly fifteen minutes of Sokka's nitpicking before she had fled the manager's office to declare that for the foreseeable future, she was going to join Yue in running the front of the house.

The kitchen was certainly functioning much better with Suki as the head chef and Azula as Suki's second in command. It was a slightly unusual experience for Azula to work as the sous chef, but she was doing so with the restaurant's future in mind. Azula wanted to establish Suki as the leader in the kitchen, and if that change was to stick, then finding a solid support structure should be much easier. Azula still wasn't sure if she wanted to let Sokka back into the kitchen even as the sous chef, and she wasn't sure if Sokka would even accept a demotion. While Sokka's finger was still healing, they could afford to kick this can further down the road, but Azula was aware that a decision would have to be made soon. Perhaps eventually even Toph could be trained to become the sous chef. She was certainly mastering her role as the prep cook with impressive speed.

It took very little time for Suki and Azula to develop a great chemistry in the kitchen. Suki wasn't used to calling out orders, so she had needed some guidance from Azula, but once Suki got the hang of it, she was directing the show like an experienced professional, calling out orders clearly and concisely. It didn't take Azula long to see that Suki had the exact right leadership qualities that were necessary for this role. Their chemistry had encouraged Azula to make further changes in the kitchen, removing several menu items that were clearly underperforming and weren't selling. It also allowed Azula to remove the final few items off the microwaving roster and they could finally claim that everything they put out was cooked fresh to order. Food was literally flying out of the kitchen by now, and Katara's decision to help Yue proved almost prophetic, because Yue would have struggled to cope all by herself. Tables were being flipped at record speeds for The Northern Lights, and by the end of their second day of working together, they had already set a new record for the most people served per day.

Azula was quite relieved that she could focus on the kitchen for now and leave the management and the front of the house issues for later. It wasn't as if Yue, Katara and Aang needed much guidance, anyway. The biggest issue was that in case of problems like dealing with a rude customer or somebody contesting their bill, Yue was still running either to Katara or to the kitchen for help, because she sometimes became flustered and caved in to customers using intimidation tactics. The front of the house needed someone empowered with the authority to handle these issues on their own. Katara wanted Yue to do that as the head waitress, but Azula still wasn't sure if Yue could develop the necessary backbone for this role. Still, that was an issue that could wait a while before it was addressed.

Also, interacting with Yue was proving quite frustrating for Azula. Following that smoke session on the roof, Yue often acted very flirtatious towards Azula. It was really throwing Azula for a loop. It was almost as if Yue wasn't fooled by her fake het act and Azula couldn't understand why. At the same time, Azula was immensely flattered by Yue's flirting and she desperately didn't want Yue to stop, even though she was terrified of her resolve breaking if Yue kept it up. As much as Azula wanted for something to happen between her and the beautiful blonde, she kept telling herself that it would only lead to more drama and hurt feelings at the restaurant, distracting them from their shared goal.

At least Suki and Katara weren't quite as flirty. Of course, Suki enjoyed winking at Azula as she cracked a lot of sexually charged jokes filled with innuendo as they worked in the kitchen, and Azula often caught Katara looking at her with a dreamy, slightly faraway smile on her lips, so maintaining the act became harder and harder with every passing day. Sometimes, Azula felt like these three girls had thrown the doors of her normally quiet and serene closet wide open, and they were dragging Azula out of the closet regardless of how hard she was kicking and screaming.

Azula was a little concerned for Katara, however. Her mood hadn't been great over the past couple of days. It wasn't just Sokka scrutinizing her record keeping that was getting on Katara's nerves. Even if Katara didn't like to talk about it, Azula knew that she was constantly texting with Jet, still trying to get some of her things back from his apartment. A tomboyish looking girl had delivered a couple of bags filled to the brim with Katara's clothes earlier this morning, but after going through her things, Katara had realized that a lot of her stuff was still missing. So, she had texted Jet to ask about it, and in reply, Jet had sent her a photo with three large trash cans on fire, explaining that in his anger, he had burned some of Katara's belongings. Azula could well imagine why the following exchanges between Katara and Jet had turned very heated and nasty, and also why Katara was in a rotten mood following that encounter.

Azula's second week at the restaurant was slowly coming to an end, and it was Friday afternoon between the services when she returned to The Northern Lights following a relaxing jog in the nearby park. Azula was aware that her coworkers considered her insane because she found jogging relaxing, but she didn't care. Azula enjoyed taking advantage of both the great location of the restaurant and the convenience of having employee showers that passed Azula's standards of cleanliness.

The others were all present, chilling between the services. The Water Tribe siblings were in the manager's office, discussing something, with Katara's voice occasionally rising to a higher pitch. Yue had given Kiyi a written note to let her collect Kya from the kindergarten and take her home, so that Yue didn't need to be in a mad rush between the services. Yue and Suki were currently relaxing upstairs, and as much as Azula was tempted to join them, the fear of Yue doing something to expose her fake straightness stopped her. Instead, once she was done with her shower, Azula headed straight for the kitchen to see if everything was in place for the dinner service. Toph and Aang were chilling in the kitchen. Toph had her feet up on one of the kitchen counters – something Azula wanted to slap her for – with her earbuds plugged in, probably listening to one of her true crime podcasts. Aang looked to have just sat down with a plate in his hand, ready to eat something he had prepared.

"What do you have there, Aang?" Azula asked curiously. Whatever Aang had been making smelled delicious, reminding Azula that her last meal had been almost seven hours ago, back at her apartment.

"Oh, I've been working on perfecting this vegan salad," Aang replied, looking surprised about Azula showing interest. "You know I'm really passionate about veganism. Experimenting with various flavors and trying to come up with new recipes is a hobby of mine. And I think I've really nailed this salad."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" Azula asked, grabbing a fork. Aang grinned, holding the plate out for her. Normally, Azula would find it offensive to eat off from someone else's plate, but Aang was someone who was very diligent about personal hygiene, so Azula felt comfortable helping herself to some of Aang's food. "Oh, that's… that's actually really good," Azula gasped, having finished chewing. "I have a lot of respect for people who make this dietary choice, even if they present an extra challenge to an aspiring restaurant owner."

"Thanks, Azula," Aang grinned at her. "I'm really pleased to hear you think it's good." He made an effort to take the plate back, but Azula ignored him.

"So, what do you have in there, aside from the obvious rice noodles and baked tofu? Great job with the tofu, by the way, it's always a challenge to give it such a great flavor and texture," Azula commented. "There are so many flavors in the dressing, it feels quite complicated. I can clearly taste lemongrass and what I think is toasted sesame oil?" Aang nodded at her. "I like the combination of arugula, iceberg lettuce and julienned carrot for some nice crunch. And I love the finishing touch with fried onions and toasted peanuts. This is one complicated salad, my friend," Azula finished, feeling quite impressed.

"Thanks!" Aang looked very happy as he reached for the plate. "Can I have it back, please?" he asked.

"Just a moment, I'm having all sorts of ideas right now," Azula said, pacing back and forth. "Anyway, this is so good, I think the others need to have a taste as well," she decided, reaching out and poking Toph's shoulder.

"What?" Toph asked, having removed her earbuds.

"This salad Aang made came out fantastic," Azula raved. "You have to try it."

Toph laughed. "No way, I'm not touching Aang's weird rabbit food," she shook her head and then stuck the buds back into her ears.

Azula groaned in frustration at Toph's stubbornness. She wasn't going to give up easily, though. Despite Aang's attempt to get his salad back, Azula simply discouraged him with a sharp glare, and having waited for a minute or so, she poked Toph's shoulder again. "Hey, Toph?" she asked once Toph had removed her buds. "Want to try something that I quickly whipped up?"

"Sure!" Toph grinned, looking excited. "What kind of a question is that? If I had the money to hire a single person in the world to be my personal chef, it would be you."

"Flattered," Azula grinned as she scooped up a generous spoonful of the salad and held it out for Toph. Toph didn't have to be told twice as she chomped down on the spoon and started chewing.

"Alright, that's really good," Toph admitted, once she had stopped chewing. "And I normally hate salad, but this is something I'd actually consider ordering at a restaurant."

"Hmm, funny you should say that," Azula remarked, giving Aang a pointed stare. She didn't get to say anything else, however, because at that exact moment Suki and Yue stepped into the kitchen, the two of them all smiles and giggles. "Hey, you two!" Azula immediately honed down on her next two test subjects. "Would you like to try this salad I just whipped up?" she asked, offering the plate to Suki and Yue.

"But… my salad…" Aang whined, watching Suki and Yue dig in and quickly tearing through the vegan salad.

"Oh, stop being such a baby, it's important to get feedback on this recipe," Azula chided him before turning her attention back to Suki and Yue. "So, what are your thoughts, girls?" she asked.

"It's fantastic," Yue gushed, looking very impressed. "Could we maybe put it on the menu as one of the appetizers? Or maybe even as a special? I think it's good enough to go on the menu."

"I'm tempted to agree," Suki nodded. "I mean, I would replace the tofu with strips of crispy chicken, but it's still really good the way it is. I agree with Yue that it might be a good vegan menu option."

"Interesting, very interesting," Azula mused, taking the plate back and heading towards the exit from the kitchen.

"Where are you going with my salad?" Aang chased after her. "Can I have my dinner back now, please?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Azula sighed at Aang. "We still have Katara and Sokka to poll. You can have it back after that."

"If there's anything left by then…" Aang groaned mournfully as they entered the manager's office to interrupt Katara and Sokka in the middle of what looked like a heated argument, probably about Katara's less than tidy and organized record keeping.

"Sorry for intruding," Azula said. "But I need your opinion on this dish I whipped up just now."

"Alright, hand it over," Sokka said, rubbing his hands in excitement. Aang let out a heavy sigh as he watched Sokka stuff his cheeks like an overzealous hamster before starting to chew. "I don't know, that's very mid for me," Sokka shrugged after sampling the salad. "What is that gross stuff in there? Is that… tofu? Ugh, that's terrible. Now, replace that with some meatballs and we're talking!"

"Sokka, you are such a barbarian," Azula frowned, pushing the plate towards Katara. Katara took a light bite to begin with, but then her eyes lit up and she kept eating while Aang just stood there, watching and suffering in silence.

"Whoa, this is really good, Azula," Katara gushed, as she quickly made short work of what was left of Aang's precious dinner. "This is definitely among the best salads I've ever had in my life."

"Well, the joke is on you, because it was actually made by Aang and not by me," Azula replied. Katara and Sokka both stared at her and Aang wide eyed. "That's right," Azula nodded. "This kid here just might have some hidden talents, and it's giving me ideas." Aang seemed to stand much taller from the praise, glowing with pride.

"What sort of ideas?" Sokka asked.

"It just reminded me that we don't have dedicated vegan options on our menu," Azula replied. "And sure, veganism is not popular in the Fire Nation, but it's slowly starting to pick up here as well. I think it would be wise to add some menu options for vegans and vegetarians."

"Gross," Sokka winced. "But I guess it would be a smart business decision. I guess I don't mind it if you think it's a good idea."

"I think it's a great idea," Katara smiled. "Let's go for it, Azula."

"Thank you," Azula smiled. It was good to have the owners on board, even if she would have pushed on even without their approval. "But this whole episode has convinced me that perhaps Aang deserves a shot at promotion. You don't want to stay a busboy/dishwasher/prep cook for the rest of your life, right?" Azula looked at Aang.

Aang quickly shook his head. "Toph has already as good as stolen my prep cook job," he said. "I can do more as a part of the kitchen staff."

"Well, you just might get that chance," Azula said. "Over the next week, I want you to come up with… let's say, two starters and two mains as vegan options for our menu. They have to be not only delicious and flavorful, but also easy to execute in the kitchen, because there's a good chance that you might be making them yourself in the future."

"Oh! That sounds amazing!" Aang looked thrilled.

"Next Friday, you will present your dishes to me, Katara and Sokka," Azula continued. She then thought of something. "No, not to Sokka, he has no appreciation for vegan cuisine. Let's make it Suki instead."

"That's more than fair," Sokka admitted.

"Thank you for giving me this chance, Azula. I won't let you down!" Aang promised. "Even if you did steal my salad," he added before dashing out of the office. "I'll start working on my ideas immediately!"

"The enthusiasm is bloody infectious," Azula snorted, shaking her head. Inside, she was pleased with this turn of the events. In many ways, Aang was the least problematic employee at The Northern Lights and his unselfishly helpful nature still at times made Azula wonder whether it could actually be real. Azula didn't want to get ahead of herself, but her mind was already wondering whether Aang could prove himself as Suki's sous-chef in the future. The big issue there was that Aang would not work with meat or fish, but perhaps they could get around that. Perhaps Toph would continue stepping up even further, but Azula also admitted that it was too early to speculate. "Anyway, what have you two been up to?" Azula asked instead.

"Sokka's been revising my price calculations," Katara answered, her smile immediately dissipating. "He's been doing a great job depressing me."

"Yeah, because most of your calculations are just… incomprehensible gibberish," Sokka groaned. "Seriously, I'm not surprised that months later you can't make any sense of them yourself."

"It made sense when I was doing them," Katara muttered. " Besides, like I told you, they're wrong because Jet gave me the wrong prices for some of the ingredients."

"That's not it," Sokka shook his head. "I mean, having the wrong prices made things even worse, but even when I corrected the prices, your calculations still made no sense. Let's face it, Kat, but you absolutely suck at this."

Azula expected Katara to fire back an angry retort at Sokka's comment, but when no reply came, Azula looked up to see Katara standing there, shaking lightly, her lower lip trembling. She then turned around and ran out of the office and up the stairs, leaving Azula and Sokka exchanging surprised stares. "Should we… I don't know, go after her?" Azula asked uncertainly.

"Nah, she's going to be fine," Sokka shrugged. He then paused. "Although, Kat has been a bit moody as of late. Maybe I went a bit too hard on her. Yeah, maybe it would be for the best if you talked with her."

"Me?" Azula blinked. "I didn't make her cry, you did!"

"Yeah, but she's probably really annoyed with me right now, so me trying to talk to her would only make things worse," Sokka reasoned logically. "She really likes and respects you, though. You could help."

"Yes, if I knew what to do in situations like these!" Azula huffed in frustration. "Maybe you haven't noticed it, but I am not exactly very good at knowing what to say when someone is upset or crying."

"Well, when it comes to my sister, what you say is not that important," Sokka said. "Sometimes, all you need to do is to just listen as you let her talk. You can listen, can't you?"

"I… guess?" Azula sighed. A part of her wanted to dash out of the restaurant, jump into her rent car and drive off before panic gripped her, but on the other hand, the idea of Katara crying and being unhappy felt insufferable and it persuaded Azula to climb all the way upstairs and eventually find Katara up on the roof, gripping the railing. She didn't seem to be crying, not at this moment, but even with Azula's poor ability to read people, she could see that Katara was deeply upset.

"If you've come to apologize then I don't want to hear it," Katara snapped as Azula stepped closer.

"Uh, sorry?" Azula tried, wincing.

Katara turned towards her with a horrified look on her face. "Oh, spirits, I didn't mean to snap at you, Azula, I'm so sorry," Katara exclaimed.

"Don't worry about it," Azula managed a small smile, coming to stand next to Katara. "That was some… dramatic storming out, just now," she said, deciding to follow Sokka's advice which was to encourage Katara to talk.

"Well, the thing is that I don't always react well to that type of aggressive criticism," Katara sighed.

"It seems to run in the family," Azula smirked. "I'm sure that with time Sokka's stubbornness will become legendary."

"I don't think it's so much about stubbornness with me. Although, some people have also accused me of that," Katara said. "It's more that I just become depressed. You know, for some reason I had actually convinced myself that all these years I had been doing a decent job. I knew that the kitchen was having massive problems, so I thought it was all on them. But to know that I also have played such a huge role in contributing to the restaurant's downfall, well… that's really getting me down. If I'm such a terrible manager, then I also shouldn't be allowed to do this job in the future. And if I can't do that, what can I even be trusted to do? Wash dishes?"

"Okay, loads to unpack there," Azula said. "First of all, you should know that without Jet's stealing, the restaurant would have always operated with profit. Not the kind of profit you should have, obviously, but you wouldn't have been in the red. I think that's an important perspective to keep. The restaurant was never failing because of you. And it could never succeed just because of you, either. This has to be a team effort."

"Motivational speaker Azula?" Katara gave her an amused wink.

"Oh, shut up, you know it's true," Azula growled, giving Katara a playful shoulder bump. "Anyway, if you feel like you can't be the general manager, I would be happy to help you find a more fitting role. But for the next few weeks, I would like to ask you to help out more in the dining room, because I really want to see what Aang can do in the kitchen. Do you think you could do that?"

"Of course," Katara smiled. "I love working side by side with Yue. I know that as an owner I shouldn't be working as a waitress, but it's probably my favorite thing to do at the restaurant."

"Interesting," Azula mused. Katara truly was a people person. Perhaps it made sense to somehow make use of it. Ideas were already forming in her head.

"Anyway, thank you so much for coming up here to talk to me, especially when you didn't have to," Katara smiled at her before unexpectedly leaning in and lowering her head on Azula's shoulder.

Azula relished every second of their physical contact, at the same time feeling intensely grateful that Katara couldn't see the sheer expression of delight on her face at that moment.

"So, I've been doing some research, girl," Ty Lee told Jin with a serious expression on her face. The two waitresses of The Blue Spirit were huddling together over the cash register in the corner of the dining room. "I think Zuko was trying to pull a fast one on us. According to my research, you shouldn't say Bone Apple Tea. The correct phrase is bon appétit," Ty Lee said.

"Are you sure?" Jin blinked. "What even is bon appétit?"

"I honestly have no idea, but I think it's in an old Earth Kingdom dialect," Ty Lee shrugged. "Weird, but go figure."

"It's very weird," Jin said. "I'm not surprised Zuko would know things like that, though. He's so smart. And hunky," she added dreamily.

"Uh, I guess," Ty Lee smiled. She was aware that back in high school Zuko was in high demand with quite a few girls, so Jin's fixation didn't come as a surprise. Ty Lee had never felt any great pull towards the kind of angry intensity that Zuko emanated, however. "Speaking of hunks, though," she added, grinning as she watched Jet poke his head into the dining room and shoot her a conspiring wink. "I may have something planned with Jet. You should let me lock up the place for the night," she winked at Jin.

"Oh? Oh… I see," Jin blinked, taking a moment to figure out what Ty Lee had meant. "You move fast, girl," she chuckled, high-fiving Ty Lee. "Good on you. Hope you'll have fun."

"I have a good feeling about it," Ty Lee grinned. "It's been a hot minute since my last hookup."

"Alright, I'll make sure to get out of your hair as soon as possible," Jin promised. "I'm just waiting for-" she hesitated slightly.

"You're just waiting for Zuko to depart so that you can follow him home in your car, which is a completely normal behavior," Ty Lee said.

"Oh, absolutely," Jin nodded earnestly. "Someone needs to make sure he arrives home safely and does not get into any accidents, because that would be awful!"

"Exactly, you're simply being a very loyal and responsible employee," Ty Lee nodded. So far, she had really enjoyed working together with Jin as they went through their preparations to open the restaurant come the next Monday. Ty Lee knew that she was supposed to be the head waitress and Jin's boss, but she considered it a mere technicality and intended to treat Jin as an equal, because that's what she felt like in relation to her fellow waitress. They had immediately hit it off, because of their similar easy-going and fun-loving personalities. Also, Jin was pretty hot in her own weird and dorky way, and Ty Lee would have totally loved to have her way with Jin in the janitor's closet. Unfortunately, Jin was a bit too bonkers insane for Zuko to notice anyone else. Not that there was anything wrong with being a little obsessed. Ty Lee didn't really buy into that whole deal with the red flags. Red was her second favorite color after pink, so as far as Ty Lee was concerned, she was quite fond of red flags, especially in her cocktails.

As the day slowly drew to a close, employees of The Blue Spirit began to depart. Zuko and Mai were the first to leave, holding hands, appearing in a good mood and for once not bickering. Jin snuck out soon after, followed by Ruon-Jian, speeding away on his yellow Vespa. Unfortunately for Ty Lee, she then had to suffer through a prolonged wait until On Ji finished cleaning up in the kitchen.

Stuck waiting for her promised ride on the Jet, Ty Lee checked her phone one more time, spotting a message she had missed earlier. The message was from Azula. Ty Lee had reached out the moment she had landed in the Fire Nation. She rather enjoyed the prospect of her and Mai competing against Azula. It was a rare and exciting new dynamic for them. During the high school years, Azula had been a good, but also controlling and at times overbearing friend, who would have never tolerated any competition from her or Mai. Ty Lee was eager to prove that she could help Mai run a restaurant that was just as successful as Azula's, and she was not at all worried that this competition might strain their friendship. They would always remain besties, and Azula inviting them to hang out together on Sunday was a proof of that.

Eventually, after a fair bit of waiting, On Ji was finally done in the kitchen, wishing Ty Lee a pleasant evening as she departed. Ty Lee quickly locked the front door, rushing to find Jet and running straight into his arms. They began to kiss in the middle of the dining room, and Ty Lee soon felt herself being lifted up and placed on the nearest dining table. She wrapped her legs around Jet's waist as their kisses deepened. Ty Lee felt her top getting insistently pushed all the way upwards, and then her bra fell by the wayside as well. Ty Lee definitely liked her own boobs, but certainly not to the obsessive extent as some of the guys she had been with. Jet proved to be no exception and Ty Lee braced herself for patient waiting until Jet was finally done being hyper fixated on her tits.

Eventually, Ty Lee became a little bored when Jet still failed to move on from her boobs. She wanted to get into the action herself, tugging on Jet's shirt and sliding her hands across his stomach. Ty Lee loosened Jet's belt and slipped her hand into his pants, grinning when she found Jet already in quite the worked-up state. Ty Lee took plenty of pride in her extensive experience which she now put to great use, forcing Jet to abandon her tits and look up at her with an expression of bliss on his face. Ty Lee decided to go for a slightly firmer grip that tended to drive most guys wild, however, this proved to be a mistake, because Jet's expression shifted from blissful to sheer agony as he let out a cry of pain, forcing Ty Lee to quickly withdraw her hand.

"Fuck… that's not going to work," Jet groaned. "Damn it… I've never hated Azula more than I hate her right now."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Ty Lee asked, tensing up. "Azula as in Azula Nakamura?"

"Yeah, who else?" Jet managed, straightening up despite still being in obvious pain. "The bitch busted my balls… quite literally. On top of getting me fired."

"Hmm, that sounds suspicious to me," Ty Lee mused uncertainly. "Would Azula do something like that without a good reason?"

"What, you're going to side with that complete bitch?" Jet yelled. "Why would you do that?"

Something within Ty Lee snapped, and she slapped Jet across the face, forgetting that he already was in considerable pain. "Azula is one of my best friends," Ty Lee spoke harshly. "Just knowing that she fucked you up like this makes me really wary of you, Jet. I'm starting to feel like it's actually a good thing that I didn't have sex with you."

"Well, you're probably crap, anyway," Jet retorted, turning to hobble away and leaving Ty Lee seething in anger.

Ty Lee quickly got dressed, still fuming as she left the restaurant. She had really wanted a good, satisfying hookup, so this disappointment stung and only added to her hunger. But perhaps it was also a good reminder not to sleep around with her coworkers. At least this way she was sure not to turn into the dreaded social piranha.

Chapter Text

Azula's second week at The Northern Lights was over. At long last, Azula felt like she could see the light at the end of the tunnel for the restaurant. Azula was eager to share the good news with the staff, and she was a little frustrated that her announcement of an employee meeting at the end of their work week late on Saturday evening was being met with dissatisfied grumbling.

"Alright, just forget that I used the words employee meeting to describe what I had in mind," Azula growled in frustration at her rebellious staff. Following another successful dinner service, they were once again hanging out together in the upstairs apartment. Katara and Yue were leaning in against each other in the loveseat. Suki was smushed in between Aang and Toph on one of the sofas, while Sokka was busy cracking open a bunch of beers nearby.

"So, how would you describe what you had in mind?" Yue asked, facing Azula with a cheeky grin.

"I don't know," Azula shrugged. "Debrief, maybe? All I know is that I have good news to share with you all," she said. "And perhaps a few more ideas and suggestions as we move forward."

"I like good news," Katara smiled. "That's something seemingly always in short supply around here."

"Well, let me change all of that," Azula replied gleefully. "I have made the calculations, and I wanted to announce that for this past week, the restaurant has been turning a profit!" There was much hooting and hollering following her announcement, with Sokka distributing the beers and everyone taking hearty celebratory chugs, even Azula, despite finding the taste of beer offensive to her palate. "Granted, it's still some way off from the target I've set for us, but it's encouraging that we're already no longer in the red and back in the green. I hope the owners will agree with my suggestion to redirect some of this profit to employee bonuses."

"That seems fair," Sokka nodded. "I mean, everyone has been working very hard and we all deserve it."

"And if we continue this way, Sokka and I could even start paying ourselves modest salaries," Katara spoke excitedly. "Ah, I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but I'll probably start looking for a cheap place to rent tomorrow."

"Those bonuses will come just in time," Aang said, looking relieved. "The landlord has been really coming down on us," he added, nodding at Toph. "Maybe now we can get him off our backs. And maybe we can also disarm some of those booby traps that were keeping him at bay."

"Let's not be hasty about this. Our landlord is still a total prick. Also, I hate the idea of not getting any use out of our Home Alone inspired booby traps," Toph shook her head. She had already received a small raise for her promotion to the kitchen staff. Azula knew that if Aang proved himself worthy of promotion, he would need a raise as well. Fortunately, for a restaurant with such a small core team, it wasn't a huge issue now that they were profitable once again.

"We got use out of one of the traps, remember?" Aang sighed, not looking particularly happy.

"Oh, that's right," Toph snapped her fingers. "He stepped on that large rusty nail and developed sepsis. Serves him right, because it happened just when he was on his way to serve us a notice of eviction. Anyway," Toph shrugged, taking another big swig of beer. "Just because we're earning more, that's no reason to suddenly be on time with our rent payments. It's still just a shitty studio apartment, right? Nah, let's keep the booby traps right where they are."

"Alright, but can we at least disable the swinging blade trap?" Aang sighed. "That one is just nasty. Besides, it's not even from Home Alone."

"Alright, fine… you can disable the swinging blade trap," Toph groaned. "Pussy," she added, chuckling.

"I feel like this employee meeting is getting completely derailed," Azula complained bitterly. "Can we get it back on track, please?"

"We agreed not to call it an employee meeting," Yue pointed out, winking at Azula.

"Alright, fine! This debrief is getting derailed!" Azula huffed in frustration. "Anyway, that was it, I didn't have some kind of a detailed investor report prepared for you. We're doing much better financially. That's the main takeaway."

"What do you think was the main reason for this improvement, Azula?" Katara asked earnestly.

"Honestly? Our food costs are way down compared to what they were when Jet was still here," Azula replied. "Also, we're flipping tables at a rate that I'm almost happy with. There's still room for improvement everywhere, but we're getting there. Next week, we'll continue fine tuning some of our changes."

"You said you were going to share your ideas and suggestions," Suki reminded her.

"I was planning to maintain my focus on the kitchen next week," Azula said. "I hope that by the end of the week I will feel ready to announce that the overhaul of the kitchen has been successfully completed."

"Those vegan options are coming along nicely," Aang grinned. "I'm feeling good about my presentation. Perhaps I won't even need the whole week to prepare and we can do the presentation early."

"And I probably need one more week of boring office work," Sokka said. "But I'm looking forward to returning to the kitchen as soon as I'm able to."

"I'm just relieved that your finger is healing well and seems to have retained all of its mobility," Katara sighed. Azula was trying her best to keep a neutral expression, but she noticed Suki giving her an anxious stare filled with desperation. Azula was still not certain how to keep Sokka out of the kitchen. Perhaps she would have to talk with Aang and Toph about booby trapping the kitchen to keep Sokka out, but Azula had a feeling that Katara would disapprove of her brother having his scalp singed clean off with a blowtorch or getting smashed in the face with a can of paint.

"Well, I hope to present the final version of the restaurant's menu by the end of the next week. We still need to kick a few items off the menu and I need a better understanding of what is selling and what isn't. And if everything goes well, we will be able to replace these underperforming dishes with our new vegan options," Azula said, giving Aang an encouraging stare and deciding to simply ignore the Sokka issue for now. They were all happy and relaxed ahead of their day off on Sunday, and Azula didn't want to start an argument that would surely become heated. After all, Azula still had an entire week during which she could just keep kicking this Sokka-shaped can further down the road. After all, this was a tactic used by politicians all over the globe and it always produced fantastic results.

"It all sounds very exciting," Katara smiled. Azula was particularly glad to see Katara happy, because she knew that Katara was feeling a little disillusioned about her role at the restaurant. Azula was definitely having more and more concrete ideas on where she saw Katara's place, but it was contingent upon getting Sokka out of the kitchen once and for all.

"Thank you," Azula said. "I have one more change that I want to introduce as soon as possible, and it's something that has been bugging me for a very long time. I'm talking about your insane decision to remain closed on Sundays."

There was immediate muttering from everyone present. "That's always been the tradition of The Northern Lights, ever since the early days when my father opened the restaurant," Sokka was the first to spoke up. "It was important for my dad as a family man to have that one sacred day of the week for his wife and children. That's the kind of tradition that I feel is worth preserving." Much to Azula's frustration, everyone was nodding along to Sokka's words.

"Besides, from what I have heard, it's the Fridays and Saturdays that are the busiest days for restaurants, and Sundays actually aren't that important," Katara added.

"Well, you couldn't be more wrong," Azula sighed. "While it is true that Fridays and Saturdays are generally busier, Sundays are not far behind and they are ahead of Monday to Thursday by a wide margin. Also, I did some research and discovered that 93% of the restaurants in Caldera City are open on Sundays, so we are really shooting ourselves in the foot by not opening on Sundays. I'll show you the data if you don't believe me. I just need to run and fetch my laptop. I think I left it in the car."

"Wait, Azula," Katara stopped her. "There's no need to show us the data. I believe that it lines up with what you're saying."

"Are you sure?" Azula asked, feeling a little disappointed. "I have prepared several highly informative graphs that further illustrate my points. I spent a couple of hours on putting it all together."

"Maybe you can show it to me later," Katara gave her a soft smile that made Azula's knees go weak and wobbly. "It's not about the data, anyway. I just don't know about working from Tuesday to Sunday. I know we're still in a crisis mode and this is the time for everyone to work really hard and maybe put in some extra hours, but I don't want to overwork my staff, who are also my best friends."

"Work and life balance is very important, Azula," Aang lectured. "I got that advice from a fortune cookie yesterday."

"All the kindergartens are closed on Sundays and I can't afford to pay for an extra day of babysitting," Yue exclaimed. She looked very stressed, almost on the verge of panic. "If I have to work on both Saturdays and Sundays, I… I would probably have to quit."

"Wait, you're all getting way ahead of yourselves," Azula shouted, having to raise her voice to cut through all the muttering. "Yue, you won't have to quit, I promise," she said quickly, wanting to reassure the worried looking blonde. "And none of us will have to work six days a week, not unless we want to. Which is something that I will totally do, but I won't expect anyone else to follow my example. I'm doing it because I'm just that determined to win the competition with my brother."

"Also, because you're totally bonkers," Sokka snorted. "And I mean that as a compliment," he added, winking at her.

"Whatever," Azula huffed. "Anyway, my plan goes like this. We all have Mondays off, right? All of you can have your second day off during the week. For example, Yue you could have Monday and Saturday or Sunday off. Katara, you could be free on Tuesdays. Toph, how about a Wednesday off work? Aang, would you like a free Friday? Do you see what I mean? The only restriction is that we can't have, for example, both Katara and Yue taking their second day off at the same time. But we can still make a schedule that suits everyone. I'll be happy to help. I love scheduling."

"Of course, you would," Toph laughed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I actually don't mind the change, but then again, why would I? All days look the same to me, am I right?" There were some very hesitant chuckles at Toph's words. "Hey, I'm allowed to make that joke, and you're allowed to laugh, you pussies," Toph frowned.

"Anyway, I guess now that you have explained what you meant, I don't really have any issues with it either," Yue said, looking relieved. "We can try it, sure."

"Well, as long as the owners agree that it doesn't upset this important tradition started by their father," Azula said. It took her a few moments to realize that what she had said almost sounded sarcastic even if she hadn't meant it like that.

"I think this change is still in the spirit of what my father had in mind when he opened the restaurant," Sokka said. "The state of permanent crunch is a very serious issue in this line of work, you know that better than I do, Azula." Azula had to nod in response to Sokka's words. To disagree would be intellectually completely dishonest. "All of us here are already working between fifty to sixty hours per week, which is obviously insane. But at least this would keep our hours at a level where they are now, so… I'm happy to give it a try."

"Same here," Katara nodded in agreement. "I'm sure we can all come to an agreement on when we take our second day off, so I don't foresee this being a problem."

"Well, good to have you onboard," Azula said, feeling relieved. She was always prepared to fight Katara and Sokka for the changes she believed in, but it was so much better when she didn't have to do that. Relieved, Azula reached for her purse and retrieved the final few pre-rolled joints she had brought with her from Ba Sing Se. "Alright, I have nothing more to say, so I'm going to shut up now so that we can celebrate our successful week," Azula grinned, passing out the joints. "That's the last of my supply, so make sure to enjoy them and pray that I can find a new dealer soon…"

At first, Mai had not been sure what to make of Azula's invitation to hang out. The truth was that despite Mai considering Azula one of her best and oldest friends, their relationship had always been fraught with challenges. It hadn't been always easy to deal with their uneven power dynamics brought about by Ozai Nakamura's wealth and influence, and further amplified by Azula's forceful personality.

On top of all that, there was also the toxic rivalry between Azula and Zuko. When awkward attraction began to blossom between Mai and Zuko, Mai had first discovered just how jealous and possessive Azula could be. In a way, this competition between the restaurants felt very familiar to Mai. Back in high school, Azula and Zuko had competed for her time and company, in ways that could become frighteningly vicious. Over the years, Azula had definitely been a contributing factor to some of the many bust-ups between Mai and Zuko, however, Mai had never held any particular grudge towards Azula for these incidents because she had a pretty good idea why both Azula and Zuko were so badly fucked up. Also, whenever Azula did something shitty, she inevitably felt guilty about it, which was when Mai and Ty Lee would exploit this weakness by getting Azula to treat them like queens and literally throw money at them.

So, Mai was just a little wary ahead of this meeting with Azula, because there was always the distinct possibility that Azula would try to turn her on Zuko or attempt something else just as manipulative. Still, on the off chance that Ty Lee was right and Azula simply wanted to catch up with her oldest friends, Mai had allowed herself to be convinced to come along. So, here they were, sitting at a table in a street café in downtown Caldera, enjoying coffee with croissants on a bright and sunny Sunday morning.

Over the years, Mai had come to expect that Azula would show up to any event wearing one of her stylish suits, so it was a surprise to see her showing up in ripped jeans and a rather simple black leather jacket. Azula was also wearing very little makeup, which suggested that she was trying to maintain a low profile. The same couldn't be said about Ty Lee who was wearing a tiny pink sundress together with a matching pink scarf and heart-shaped sunglasses. The introductions had been warm with Ty Lee hugging Azula and then seeing that Azula and Mai would leave it awkward nods, Ty Lee had smushed them both together in a forceful hug.

"So," Ty Lee began with a determined look on her face. "It seems as if Mai and I once again find ourselves pulled into one of these crazy competitions between you and Zuko."

"Yes, on Zuko's side," Azula nodded, but despite her words, there didn't seem to be any venom in her voice.

"Let's be real, he has always needed all the help he can get against you," Mai snorted. "Ty Lee and I are just evening out the odds, making things fairer."

"Exactly!" Ty Lee exclaimed, nodding fiercely. "Besides, I don't really believe in this whole thing about taking sides. You're always going to be one of my true besties, Zula, and no silly competitions will change that. And I also think there's nothing wrong with a friendly competition. I don't think it has to change anything between us."

"I want to agree with you, Ty Lee," Mai said. "And hopefully Azula feels the same."

"Oh dear, there goes my fiendishly clever plan to recruit you both to my cause," Azula snorted. "No, I honestly don't care if you're helping Zuko or not. I know my brother and I am an expert on how to destroy him in our competitions." Mai's tongue was itching to make a quip that Azula's last competition with Zuko was clearly an exception, or else they wouldn't be having this restaurant war, but Mai decided against annoying Azula. There just was no reason to break the peace, not yet. "Is it so hard to believe that I simply wanted to catch up?" Azula asked. "It's been months since we last met, Mai. And Ty Lee, it's been… a year and a half since your silly little circus visited Ba Sing Se?"

"I miss that traveling circus," Ty Lee sighed wistfully. "But yes, it's been frightfully long. I'm glad we're doing this, though. We should make these meetings regular."

"I wouldn't be opposed to that," Mai nodded. "Provided this goes well."

"Why wouldn't it?" Azula smiled. "Anyway, it's not that I'm trying to learn some secrets about your restaurant, but there is one thing I'm very curious about. I know you were planning to open this coming Monday, but then last night you moved the opening back to Wednesday? That seemed like a very sudden change."

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged glances. Then Ty Lee burst into laughter. "Come on, Mai, we have to tell her about that," Ty Lee giggled. "It's too funny not to."

"Yes… I suppose I agree," Mai smirked. She turned to face the perplexed looking Azula. "A few days ago, Zuko hired a new employee. It's someone you know. A guy called Jet."

"Jet? Jet Patel?" Azula groaned. "Ugh, of course, Zuko would hire that asshole."

"Yes, and let me give you a heads up, Azula. Jet seems to be carrying a pretty big grudge towards you," Mai said.

"Seriously?" Azula looked surprised. "It's not like he has anyone else to blame but himself. He was stealing from the restaurant. He didn't exactly give me any choices but to fire him."

"He claims that you invented these accusations of theft simply because you wanted him out," Mai continued.

"That's bullshit," Azula exclaimed heatedly. "I can-… ugh, no, he's not worth the effort. You know what? If Zuko wants to let this wolf in sheep's clothing into his restaurant, why should I care? The strife that Jet will bring is only going to benefit me. But let me give you a friendly warning in return, Mai. Keep a close eye on the till and don't let Jet anywhere near the money."

"I'll keep that advice in mind," Mai replied. She was a little skeptical about some of Azula's claims, however, Jet was the kind of guy that simply rubbed her the wrong way, and Azula appeared earnest when talking shit about Jet. It definitely seemed like a good idea to be careful when dealing with Jet Patel in the future.

"Anyway, you were about to tell me about the postponed opening, but then you started telling me about Jet," Azula reminded her.

"Yes, because the two things are connected," Mai replied. "When Jet showed up looking for work, we had already filled out our kitchen staff and waitstaff. So, Zuko decided to hire him to do basic maintenance around the place, which also apparently included plumbing."

"Jet is your… plumber?" Azula gasped before bursting into the kind of laughter that made some of the other customers at the café glare at her.

"Sort of," Mai sighed. "We had some issues with the employee toilet. The piping in these old downtown buildings is ancient, so it's not a big surprise that the toilet becomes clogged ever so often. Come Friday evening, and Jet was walking around the restaurant, preening with undeserved sense of accomplishment and claiming that he had fixed the issue. But when we arrived on Saturday morning…"

"We could smell the disaster way out on the street," Ty Lee grimaced, gagging a little. "And listen, I have cleaned an elephant's diarrhea at the circus, but even that wasn't as gross and disgusting as all the sewage we had to clean up at the restaurant."

"You have my sympathies," Azula winced, looking a little pale in the face. Mai smirked at the reminder about how touchy Azula was when it came to personal hygiene. She would have probably fainted at the sight that had awaited them inside The Blue Spirit. "Don't tell me that you kept Jet on the payroll after such a disaster?" Azula asked.

"I was going to push Zuko into giving him a boot, because all that cleaning and then also having to pay an actual competent plumber to sort things out really pissed me off," Mai said. "But when I was ready to make my speech about firing him, Jet did something that made me reconsider."

"He pulled out a bunch of joints and handed them out like candy," Ty Lee giggled. "Ten minutes later we were all high and not sure why we were angry with him to begin with. And in all honesty, I'm willing to forgive. Supplying your coworkers with weed is a very important and irreplaceable role at any workplace."

"Yeah, I've heard that he's something of a weed magnate," Azula said, wincing slightly. "Listen… I hate to ask, but maybe you can do me a favor. You know, in the name of our old friendship."

"We're not killing Jet," Ty Lee insisted. "Or, I don't know, maybe we are, but it's going to cost you."

"What?" Azula stared at Ty Lee as if she had lost her mind, which was probably true. "I don't want you to kill Jet. All I want is for you to buy some Vitamin M from him. I don't have a local supplier in Caldera City, and my old stash just ran dry. Do you think you could buy some stuff from him if I gave you the money? But obviously, you can't tell him that it's for me, or he'll lace it with ipecac."

"Sure, I'll take care of it, Zula," Ty Lee smiled, pocketing a couple of fifty dollar bills that Azula slipped her.

"Anyway, we told you something about our restaurant, perhaps now it's time for you to share some stories about The Northern Lights," Mai suggested.

"I'm not sure what to tell you," Azula shrugged. "We've been hard at work overhauling things on the fly, and it's starting to pay off. We have quite the head start on you, Mai. You better make sure your opening isn't delayed any further, or you'll fall too far behind."

"We're handling it," Mai said, hoping that her fake confidence would fool Azula.

"Azula is terrible at telling funny stories," Ty Lee sighed. "We always have to drag interesting stuff out of you. Let's see," Ty Lee mused. "Alright, so Jet hasn't been talking shit just about you. I came across him when he was texting with someone, muttering and calling them ungrateful. From what I could tell he was texting with a girl named Katara?"

"He was talking smack about Katara? How dare he? Jet Patel is a complete asshole who doesn't deserve to kiss the ground Katara walks upon," Azula burst into a passionate rant before catching herself and blushing fiercely. "I mean, yes, Jet was in a relationship with Katara Enuaraq, one of the owners of the restaurant. Obviously, now that I exposed his thievery, that relationship is over."

Mai quickly glanced at Ty Lee, looking for the reaction of her friend. Azula sounded very passionate when speaking about Katara, and from the way Ty Lee was grinning, Mai suspected that Ty Lee had also made the same conclusion about why Azula became so heated. "Do you have a picture of this Katara?" Ty Lee asked innocently.

"What?" Azula looked a little surprised, blushing again. "Well, not as such, but… I think I have the photo she used in the submission for the Kitchen Nightmares stored somewhere on the cloud. Let me see," Azula said, tinkering with her phone. She then held it out for Mai and Ty Lee to see. "That's Katara and her brother, Sokka," Azula explained as Mai regarded the picture of a very beautiful Water Tribe girl.

"Oh my, she's very pretty," Ty Lee gushed. "You're so lucky, Azula."

"What do you mean?" Azula asked, sounding very worried.

"Well, now that Katara is once again single, there's nothing standing in your way," Ty Lee exclaimed dramatically. "It's spring and the air is full of love! You should just go for it, Zula!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, you madwoman," Azula countered unconvincingly. "Anyway, why don't we talk about your love life instead of making speculations about mine. Especially when I am still together with Chan, who is my boyfriend," Azula added, seemingly remembering at the last moment that she supposedly had a boyfriend.

"Don't give me that spiel, Azula," Ty Lee sighed. "Remember, I was there when you fell apart after realizing that you wouldn't be able to keep sleeping with Chan, and I held you when you were panicking about your true sexuality being exposed. Just… don't even try that with us, okay?"

"Okay," Azula mumbled in a very small voice, looking unusually chastised. "Anyway, I was honestly curious about your own failed attempt at settling down in a serious relationship."

"It just didn't work out," Ty Lee shrugged. "I guess monotonous relationships just aren't my thing."

"Don't you mean monogamous relationships aren't your thing?" Azula asked, looking a little frustrated, while Mai was struggling not to laugh.

"Yes, that's what I said, monotonous relationships," Ty Lee nodded confidently.

"Azula?" Mai cut in, seeing that Azula was about to correct Ty Lee again. "Just roll with it," she added, snickering. "Trust me… it's for the best."

Azula left her rendezvous with Mai and Ty Lee in an upbeat mood. She hadn't expected the meeting to go poorly just because they were on the opposing sides in this restaurant competition, but considering that they hadn't sat down like this for a very long time, it was hard to know just what to expect.

Overall, Azula had experienced a sort of comforting familiarity from hanging out with her closest childhood friends. Even Mai and Ty Lee knowing the truth of her sexual preferences failed to stress Azula out. In the past, she had angered Mai plenty of times while clashing with Zuko, because she felt that Zuko was trying to steal her best friend. Still, even at her angriest, Mai had never used the knowledge of Azula's homosexuality against her. There was no reason to think that Mai would use this information now, for the sake of a competition in which she was only involved by proxy.

Having agreed to schedule another meeting soon, Azula left the street café feeling unusually cheerful. Her next stop was The Jasmine Dragon bakery, and while normally Azula would feel a little conflicted about hanging out with her mother and uncle, on the back of this positive meeting with Mai and Ty Lee, Azula felt up to facing her family instead of simply asking Kiyi to sneak out and meet her at the nearby park or back at Azula's apartment.

It took Azula a while to drive across the city and reach her destination. This particular location served as the headquarters of Iroh's little network of charming little café's, attempting to lure in the guests and locals of Caldera City with its selection of aromatic teas and delicious baked goods. All the baking was done at this location, and several minivans with silly looking green dragons painted on their sides then delivered the freshly baked goods to The Jasmine Dragon cafeterias all across the city. From what Azula could tell, it was a very well-run operation and Iroh's business would probably be a lot more successful, if not for Ozai occasionally using his influence to keep his older brother in his place and pulling off the occasional nasty scheme to stymy the growth of Iroh's business.

As Azula got out of her car in the visitor parking lot, she was immediately hit by a powerful wave of delicious aromas of freshly baked goods wafting forth from the bakery. The smells were even stronger inside the building, making Azula salivate even if she had already enjoyed a pair of fresh croissants for breakfast. It was hard to pick out any single aroma from this overpowering bouquet, but the scent of cinnamon was particularly heavy in the air.

"Hey! You made it!" Azula was pulled out of her aroma-induced trance by Kiyi's voice, her half-sister charging at her and wrapping her arms around Azula's waist. "I'm going to tell mom that you're here," Kiyi said once she had released Azula from her grip. "You can wait for us at the office," she added, pointing towards the doors at the end of the hallway.

"Ugh, fine," Azula sighed, never one to miss the chance to complain about Kiyi's displays of sisterly affection that Azula secretly loved. As Kiyi dashed off to fetch Ursa, Azula was left with no other options than to head towards Iroh's office. "Oh," Azula gasped with surprise when she unexpectedly ran into her uncle, standing by his desk and looking ready to pour tea into the cups already laid out for them. "Uh… hello, uncle. I didn't think you would be in on Sunday," she finished lamely.

"Well, I heard something about a planned family gathering," Iroh smiled at her. "And I'm still a part of this family, aren't I?"

"Of course," Azula replied uncertainly. It wasn't that Azula had a bad relationship with her uncle. It was more that they had no real relationship to speak of, and that was hard to change considering her father's opinion on his brother. If Ozai even knew that Azula was here, speaking with Iroh, she would be treated to a massive tongue-lashing and threats of being disowned. The truth was that Azula had a lot of respect for Iroh because he had managed to build a thriving business in spite of great adversity. However, Azula had always been wary about getting too close with Iroh because she was concerned that her uncle was playing for Team Zuko a little too openly.

"It's very rare that the two of us get to sit down and have a talk," Iroh continued. "I hope you are not upset at me for seizing the opportunity."

"Not at all," Azula said. "It seems that your business is doing well, uncle."

"I can't complain," Iroh nodded, smiling. "Life has been treating me well enough. But I suspect the same goes for you. You look well, niece."

"Thank you," Azula replied politely, but any further pleasantries were interrupted by Ursa and Kiyi barging into the office. Ursa was wearing a hairnet and a rather bulky looking apron that was smudged with what looked like both jam and egg yolks. Still, despite the very unflattering clothing that Ursa wore, Azula couldn't deny that her mother had retained her striking beauty well into her forties. In her hands, Ursa carried a large tray with freshly baked goodies, including cinnamon rolls, poppy seed buns, chocolate covered profiteroles and soft and buttery looking pretzels.

"Ah, and there we have some freshly baked offerings to go with our tea," Iroh looked excited as he eyed the tray. "Sit down, everyone, and let's dig in."

"I would give you a hug if not for this messy apron and also knowing that you hate hugs," Ursa smiled at Azula as they all sat down in Iroh's office which looked more like a comfortable living room than someone's workspace.

"Azula actually loves hugs, she just doesn't want you to know," that dirty little traitor Kiyi said, grinning innocently.

"Hush, Kiyi, don't embarrass your sister," Ursa grinned at her favorite daughter. "Anyway, I hope that our esteemed visitor will find these humble offerings to her liking. We truly tried our best to impress you, impossible as it might be to impress a master chef. Still, it's good to finally have you with us, Azula. And it only took us three weeks of you being in Caldera and five attempts to arrange a visit."

"Whatever, three weeks is still better than the three years it took you to get in touch with me," Azula snapped irately.

Ursa winced, the pained expression in her eyes making Azula instantly regret lashing out. It was now almost five years since Azula had properly reconnected with her mother, upon finally earning her father's permission to travel around freely. Azula had thought that by now she was fully over these long-harbored feelings of abandonment, but Ursa still sometimes managed to say things that triggered Azula. She hated having such a thin skin, but it seemed as if on this issue it was something that would never change.

"I suppose I haven't earned the right to tease you, and perhaps I never will," Ursa sighed. "But that's fair," she said, reaching out and taking Azula's hand. "But I am very happy to see you, honey. We all are." Kiyi and Iroh both nodded along at that.

"I know," Azula said, relaxing slightly. "Thank you, mother." She reached out and picked up a pretzel, savoring a bite. It was as soft and buttery as it looked. "By the way, this is absolutely delicious," she gave the well-deserved compliment.

"I'm very proud of my team of bakers," Iroh said, patting his bulging stomach. "Although, their ever-growing prowess has not been good for my ability to maintain any sort of healthy diet." Everyone laughed politely at that before Iroh continued. "Anyway, Azula, I have heard about your latest competition with Zuko. I'm sorry, but I simply find it deplorable that your father still continues to pit you two against each other."

"Why would you expect that to change?" Azula shrugged. "You know that father believes in the survival of the fittest. And I intend to survive by proving that I am more fit than Zuko."

"Don't you wish it wouldn't be like that, though?" Iroh asked. "Wouldn't you rather have a normal relationship with your brother?"

"Is this where you tell me that I should concede and let Zuko win?" Azula asked. "Because I doubt that you're telling Zuko to do the same."

"Actually, that's where you're wrong, Azula," Ursa sighed. "Zuko stopped by for a visit yesterday and your uncle tried to tell him the same. You're both adults in your mid-twenties. We would love to see you both rejecting your father's toxic ideology and forge your own path in life, without feuding, but perhaps instead supporting each other."

"Do you really think that Zuko and I would know how to do anything else but to compete?" Azula shrugged, feeling incredulous. "Sorry, but by this point we're like two leopards who can't change their spots. And somehow, I doubt that Zuko was any more receptive to your idea than I am."

"Unfortunately, he was not," Ursa admitted, looking very downcast.

"Well, obviously," Azula said. "You and Iroh simply don't realize how much blood, sweat and tears we both have poured into our careers up until now. To just so casually walk away and start from the scratch? You know how our father would view that. He would probably do everything he can to make us fail. No, what you're asking for is completely unreasonable."

Iroh and Ursa exchanged disappointed stares. "Well, we tried," Iroh sighed.

"I know you mean well," Azula half-lied. She was almost fully convinced that Ursa was earnest in her wish to see her children getting along, but she was not entirely sure that Iroh was not simply trying to secure an advantage for Zuko. Perhaps this suspicion was unfair, and perhaps the perception that Iroh had been there for Zuko far more than he had been there for Azula was a little biased, but it was hard to let go of these preconceptions. "I just think you need to accept that Zuko and I will always be at each other's throats," Azula added, only then realizing that Kiyi had gone completely silent, looking like she was about to burst into tears. "Is something wrong, Kiyi?" Azula asked, feeling a surge of guilt from a source she could not immediately identify.

"My birthday is in three weeks," Kiyi sniffed. "I had hoped to invite both you and Zuko…"

"Ah…" Azula realized, mentally slapping herself. "You can still do that, I think? It's not like Zuko and I will immediately jump to violence. We've been in the same room without starting some kind of drama. It's happened before, so it could happen again."

"Alright, good," Kiyi stopped sniffling, clearing her nose. "Maybe we can teach you two how to get along," she said hopefully, despite Azula's obvious skepticism. Azula did not want to express this negativity, however, because despite how much she thought that Kiyi was being ridiculous right now, she didn't want to make her half-sister cry. Still, Azula was not enjoying how this reunion seemed to be all about her toxic relationship with Zuko, which was not exactly her favorite topic of conversation. At this point, she was eager to shift the gears.

"Do you want to go and hang out in the park?" Azula asked Kiyi. "That should cheer you up."

"Sure, but we're taking all these goodies with us," Kiyi grinned, pointing at the tray.

"But you haven't even finished your tea!" Iroh despaired, looking scandalized.

"I'll finish it later," Azula lied. She had no intention of coming back inside when she returned to drop Kiyi off.

"Just let them go and have their fun," Ursa smiled softly. "I should return to work, anyway. I hope you won't remain a stranger, Azula," she said, getting up to leave.

"I already said I would be there for Kiyi's birthday, right?" Azula sighed. Ursa merely looked amused as she walked away. Azula then patiently waited for Kiyi to find a Tupperware for all the pastries that she clearly didn't intend to leave behind. Azula and Kiyi then said farewell to Iroh and left the bakery, getting into Azula's car for a short drive to the nearby park.

"So," Azula spoke up while driving. Kiyi had strapped herself into the passenger seat next to her, busy munching on a poppy seed bun. It looked very tasty, but Azula really hated the way the poppy seeds stuck to her teeth and she could already see that Kiyi's teeth looked absolutely hideous, validating Azula's decision to stick with the cinnamon rolls and pretzels. "Is the babysitting business still booming?" Azula asked. "I know Yue is very happy with you."

"And I'm very happy with her," Kiyi nodded, speaking around chunks of the poppy seed bun. "I'm now Kya's primary babysitter. It was a no-brainer after Yue gave me a small raise."

"That was very nice of her," Azula said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. It sounded like Yue had rewarded Kiyi before getting a raise herself, which implied that Yue was not always the most pragmatic when it came to spending money. "I had a feeling that it would be a good opportunity for you."

"It's been very good. Almost crazy how nice both Yue and Kya are," Kiyi nodded. "Yue talks about you quite a lot, by the way."

Azula slammed on the breaks very suddenly, having nearly ran over an old scarecrow on a pedestrian crossing. "Damn it," Azula swore, angry at how easily she became flustered these days. The old scarecrow yelled at her for a bit before staggering away, letting them continue on their way. "Anyway, is she talking about me with you? What is she saying?" Azula pressed.

"She mostly just asks me a lot of questions, like she's trying to find out more about you," Kiyi explained. "She's especially curious about your boyfriend and other people you've dated in the past." Azula felt herself blushing lightly at Kiyi's words. "But mostly she talks about you with Katara or Suki. It's even worse when the three of them get together. They talk about little else but you."

Azula laughed awkwardly as they finally pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the public park. "That's utterly ridiculous, Kiyi," she shook her head in disbelief. "You make it sound like they're completely obsessed with me, and that would be just silly."

"Alright, it's time for my presentation on the object of our shared obsession," Yue Taqqiq spoke proudly, standing in front of a large whiteboard in the upstairs apartment above the restaurant. "Azula Nakamura."

"Okay," Suki laughed. She was sharing the loveseat with Katara, both of them grinning at Yue. "This seems like a totally normal thing to do."

"Shut up, I have a very scientific presentation to share with you," Yue laughed in response as she took a black marker and divided the whiteboard in two columns. She then wrote 'evidence for straight Azula' atop of one column and 'evidence for gay Azula' atop of the other.

"I thought you were going to draw the Kinsey scale, or something," Katara snorted.

"I've heard those tests are bullshit, anyway," Suki said.

"Yes, what I have in mind is far more scientific than the Kinsey method," Yue nodded, starting to write on the whiteboard. She put 'claims to have a boyfriend' as evidence for straight Azula before writing the same, only with boyfriend in parenthesis as evidence for gay Azula. "I know this Chan Takahashi is a real person because I've seen him in the papers and on TV, but I have barely ever heard Azula mentioning him," Yue explained.

"It is weird," Katara admitted. "Though, I am prepared to take Azula at her face value."

"Well, maybe," Yue shrugged. "But over this past week I have used the scientific method to gather more evidence for my research, and I plan to present it to you now."

"You used the scientific method?" Suki asked, looking ready to burst into laughter. "Wait, we need to hear more about this. What do you mean?"

"Well, I pulled questions from various online tests to determine if someone is gay or not," Yue explained proudly. "Then I texted these questions to Azula, but without telling what they were for. I have finally compiled all the answers, and I think you'll agree that they paint a clear picture."

"This is fantastic," Katara giggled like mad. "Please enlighten us, Dr. Taqqiq!"

"First of all, I present you the evidence in the shape of music that Azula is into," Yue said, writing on the whiteboard. "Her Spotify playlists have all the icons with sapphic following, Queen Taylor, Halsey, Allie X, and most importantly, Hayley Kiyoko."

"Damn, that sounds… incredibly gay," Suki gasped, with Katara nodding along.

"I'm glad you agree that the evidence is starting to pile up," Yue nodded smugly. "Next, we have more evidence from the movies. Most of Azula's favorites are gory body horror," Yue shuddered lightly. "Still, I think there's some evidence to be found here as well. I don't know much about these movies, but Hostel 2 is pretty gay, isn't it, Suki?"

"Extremely so," Suki laughed. "That's a dead giveaway, right there."

"Also, the sisters in Ginger Snaps are pretty queer, right?" Yue asked.

"Absolutely," Katara nodded. "We watched it together, don't you remember?" Yue blinked, trying to refresh her memory. "Back in high school? When we were dating? We decided to see if getting drunk would make us less scared while watching horror flicks."

"Oh, that's right!" Yue snapped her fingers. "I may not have been paying much attention to the movie," she winked at Katara. "And I don't know about the booze making us less scared, but it certainly made me hornier."

"I remember that as well," Katara chuckled, blushing lightly.

"Anyway, there's more," Yue said. "Azula loves the Scream franchise, obviously, including the TV show."

"Is that really gay, though?" Katara wondered.

"I mean, the show certainly had a lot of strong gay vibes," Suki clicked her tongue. "And the movies… it's possible that Azula is crushing on strong female protagonists. I totally get that. I would happily dress up as the Ghostface if it meant that Sam would homoerotically stab me to death."

"You're crazy, Suki," Katara laughed. "I mean, I would obviously do the same, but for Tara."

"Right," Suki rolled her eyes, turning to look at Yue. "Anyway, do you have more evidence for us, Dr. Taqqiq?"

"Oh, I could go on and on about the evidence of Azula preferring the colors of the lesbian flag, I could talk about her fashion sense, and so on," Yue replied. "But I think it's time to move on to imperial evidence."

"Don't you mean empirical evidence?" Suki grinned.

"Shush, don't question the expert!" Yue mock-glared at Suki. "It's the evidence you obtain by observing your victim."

"Hmm, it's kind of hot to think about Azula as our victim," Katara giggled insanely.

"Yes, anyway," Yue continued, refusing to be interrupted. "The next batch of evidence was obtained by measuring the victim's reaction to in-person interactions. Azula's reaction to smiling and prolonged eye-contact is blushing. Azula's reaction to subtle flirting is severe blushing. Reaction to touch and incidental body contact is positive, but hesitant. She's definitely hungry, but scared."

"Okay, the evidence feels overwhelming by now," Suki sighed.

"Is it, really?" Katara asked, not looking as convinced. "I think we should put greater stock on Azula herself denying it."

"Well, I have some additional evidence to convince you, Kat. And in order to exclude subjectivity, Suki helped me with these observations. We are both in agreement that Azula is blatantly checking all of us out at every opportunity, especially when we dress a little sexier," Yue explained. "Kat, when you wore that extremely short dress you just bought, Azula was literally eating you up with her eyes."

"Or eating you out with her eyes," Suki quipped.

"Also, I swear that every damn time Suki bends forward to pick up something in the kitchen, Azula is always staring at her ass," Yue chuckled. "Not that I can blame her, she's clearly a woman of taste," she winked at Suki, who shot her finger guns in return.

"And Yue, last night, when you opened the top buttons of your shirt and showed off your bra and the tops of your tits, Azula went totally red in the face and started sweating bullets," Suki laughed. "Come on, Kat. Azula is deeply closeted gay, or at least bisexual."

"It's hard to argue with that conclusion, I suppose," Katara admitted. "So, what should we do with this… knowledge?"

"Obviously, we need to drag Azula out of the closet, even if she's kicking and screaming," Suki said with determination. "It would be for her own good. I could go for it and kiss her, just to see how she reacts."

"Wait, no, that's potential sexual harassment at workplace if we have completely misread the signs," Katara protested. "We need to be very careful. Azula might have some valid reasons for not outing herself, and we should respect that."

"As easy as it is to get carried away where Azula is concerned, I agree with Kat," Yue sighed. "I think we need to be patient and encouraging, and perhaps we can get Azula to open up about it to us."

"I guess you're right," Suki sighed reluctantly. "But I have another question. If Azula admits that she's into girls, what do we do then?"

"What do you mean?" Yue asked, not sure what Suki was talking about.

"I think what Suki means is that if Azula is actually into girls and available, how do we avoid coming to blows if we all start chasing her," Katara said.

"Right, I didn't think about that," Yue sighed. "But you know how much I love you, guys. I would never want to endanger what we have for the sake of chasing Azula, no matter how alluring that might be."

"Well said," Katara nodded, rising together with Suki. The three girls then shared a tight group hug to cement their resolution. "If one of us manages to land Azula, I promise to be happy for them."

"Or we could make it a group effort," Suki suggested. "But then, whoever manages to get with Azula would have to share her."

Yue exchanged stares with Katara. "I mean… sure, why not?" Yue shrugged, laughing. "But do you seriously think that Azula would go for something as crazy as that?"

Chapter Text

"Come on, Aang, you're making the Dragons wait!" Sokka yelled impatiently, pacing back and forth in the small kitchen of The Northern Lights.

"Stop rushing me," Aang shouted back, reentering the kitchen. He had left for a few minutes to change into a very dapper looking grey suit that made him look very severe and official.

"Was the suit really necessary?" Yue sighed at Sokka. It was the break between services on Wednesday afternoon, and Aang was getting ready to present his vegan menu options to the three Dragons waiting upstairs, namely Katara, Azula and Suki. Yue had allowed herself to be recruited by Aang to help serve the dishes, probably because Aang was a bit nervous and didn't trust himself to carry all the trays up the narrow staircase. Agreeing to assist was an easy decision for Yue because aside from helping a friend, she was always interested to learn as much as she could about their menu options. Yue would never recommend anything she hadn't tried herself to a potential customer.

"What kind of question is that?" Sokka scowled at her. "Of course, the suit is necessary. You want Aang to impress the Dragons, don't you?"

"Stop calling them Dragons, you're talking about our friends," Yue groaned.

"Our friends who are also Dragons," Sokka retorted. "Anyway, don't listen to her, what does she know about a sales pitch, anyway?" Sokka clapped Aang on the shoulder. "So, how do you feel, little buddy? Do you feel ready?"

"My middle name is 'ready'," Aang shot back, trying to project confidence.

"You don't have a middle name, dumbass," Toph laughed. While to a casual observer it might have seemed as if Toph was treating Aang's big day as a joke, Yue knew better. She had seen with her own eyes how hard Toph had worked at her little prep station to make sure that Aang had all the ingredients to construct his dishes.

"True," Aang laughed uneasily. "I always say something dumb when I'm the center of the attention."

"Hmm," Sokka mused, looking concerned. "Maybe don't talk too much, then. Let the dishes do all the talking, how about that?"

"But what if they ask questions?" Aang asked, suddenly appearing nervous. "Azula is bound to ask me a lot of questions about the ingredients and the techniques I used."

"Sokka, back off," Yue decided it was time to intervene. "You're scaring Aang."

"Well, don't be scared, Aang," Sokka exclaimed, grabbing Aang by the shoulders and shaking him. "One of the most important moments in your life is right around the corner! You cannot get nervous now, because if you do, it will be a disaster, a DISASTER!" Aang began to scream in panic, looking like he was about to cut and run.

"Sokka!" Yue shouted, grabbing a nearby pot and throwing it at Sokka, fortunately missing by a few inches. Still, it worked as a distraction, forcing Sokka to finally release Aang. "What are you doing, you maniac? Leave Aang alone!"

"I was just trying to help," Sokka replied nervously. "Anyway, we really need to get going, even if I may have slightly overexaggerated the impatience of the Dragons."

"You think?" Yue sighed, picking up the trays with the starters. She then chased Aang and Sokka out of the kitchen and up the stairs, following them to face the illustrious Dragons. Yue had to admit that Azula, Suki and Katara appeared to take this very seriously. They were all dressed in formal business suits that must have been loaned from Azula. Azula and Katara were of a very similar size, so Yue was not surprised that Azula's clothes would fit Katara so perfectly. Suki was slightly taller and more broad-shouldered, but not by so much that Azula's suits wouldn't be a good fit. Yue was surprised that Azula would have some business suits that weren't bright red, so Katara had chosen dark burgundy and Suki was sporting very dark blue that almost looked black in the bright afternoon sun bursting in through the windows.

"Mighty Dragons, allow us to present you with the first starter," Yue grinned as she approached the severe looking panel of judges sharing the sofa and placing the tray on a table before them. "I hope it will be to your liking."

"Please, describe the dish," Azula said in a very business-like voice, staring down Aang.

Aang gulped as he stepped forward, or rather, was pushed forward by Sokka. "Okay, so… this is what I call the vegan grazing board," Aang began to explain. "Here we have homemade roasted garlic hummus, Omashu olives, two types of vegan cheeses, spicy tomato chutney, baby gherkins and caperberries, onion and beetroot crackers and artisan bread with rapeseed oil and raspberry balsamic reduction."

"I love the name," Katara chuckled as the three Dragons proceed to taste the dish.

"There's a lot of stuff here," Suki remarked a while later. "Granted, all of it is very tasty."

"It's intended as a starter to share between two people," Aang explained. "Or it could work as a main for one person. It's customizable that way."

"These sharing boards are coming back into fashion, so I like the idea," Azula remarked. "I'm leaning towards approving this dish. There's nothing on here that I find objectionable. Also, all the main types of food usually found on these sharing boards are represented. Unless you two have any objections, I'm happy to keep this as is." Suki and Katara both nodded in approval, making the smile on Aang's face grow big and bright. Also, while the Dragons were sharing their impressions, Yue had snuck closer and stolen a few bites herself, finding everything very tasty. Yue also gestured for Sokka to join in on the tasting, only for Sokka to make exaggerated silly faces that supposedly represented the deep personal affront he was experiencing from the mere concept of vegan food.

"I think we're ready to move on," Suki said after the Dragons had cleaned up the vegan grazing board, assisted by Yue.

"Right," Yue remembered what she was here for in the first place, dashing off to pick up the next tray and quickly deliver it to the Dragons. Yue removed the lid to reveal a rather elegant looking vegan salad.

"What are we looking at here, Aang?" Azula asked again.

"It's just a simple vegan salad. I decided to combine smoked aubergine with sweet red peppers and walnuts. Then we sprinkle some pomegranate on top of it all and serve it with toasted flatbread," Aang explained as the Dragons dug in and Yue once again snuck up to also have a taste.

"I like it," Suki said, having taken a few bites. "It's simple, but I think you have a good mix of flavors here. Especially the smoked aubergine. It adds something that's usually not found in vegan dishes."

"Agreed," Katara nodded. "The aubergine is tasty, and so is the overall dish. But I'll be honest, I kind of prefer the salad that Azula made us taste last week."

"Yes, I thought you would be trying a variation of that, but this is something completely different," Azula said.

"Sorry," Aang apologized. "It's just that you said to go for something that would be easy to execute. But then again, that other salad wasn't all that difficult to make either. Do you want me to go back to that?"

"It would have my vote, even if this is good as well," Azula said. Katara and Suki both nodded in agreement. "Alright, in that case, we're canceling this entry and instead we're approving the salad I stole… I mean, appropriated for a noble cause last week." Everyone laughed at Azula's slipup and Yue used the little break of merriment to slip downstairs and pick up the trays with the prepared mains.

"Yue?" Toph asked, doing some cleaning at her prep station. Yue could never stop wondering how unmistakably Toph always recognized all of them by their footfall. "How is Aang doing up there?" Toph asked.

"He's two for two with the appetizers," Yue replied joyfully. "I'm about to bring the mains upstairs."

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," Toph nodded. "Aang is one seriously talented kid, you know that, right? He deserves better than to be stuck washing dishes."

"I'm fully confident he'll nail these entrees," Yue said hopefully. "He's done great so far. If we had more vegan cooks like Aang, maybe the whole world would be vegan by now."

"Oh, don't even go there," Toph laughed, shaking her head. "You know that Sokka and I are unabashedly on Team Carnivore and that's never going to change."

"Yes, yes, I know you're both savages and proud of it," Yue chuckled as she grabbed the trays and ran back upstairs, placing one of the dishes in front of the Dragons, removing the lid and revealing what looked like a very appetizing vegan curry.

"Oh, I was hoping for a nice curry," Katara looked happy. "I've always wanted to have a curry on our menu that we could be proud to serve. Which wasn't the case with the who knows how many times reheated slop that we ended up serving."

"Unless you're going to serve a good curry, it's better to not serve one at all, especially in the Fire Nation, " Azula nodded. "Anyway, Aang, present the dish."

"Right," Aang nodded. Yue was pleased to notice that after the successful presentations of the starters, Aang appeared to have regained most of his usual confidence. "Well, this one really is very simple. We have a sweet potato, chickpea and red pepper curry with wild rice, poppadom and some mango chutney. Just let me know if it's too basic!"

"There's nothing wrong with simple," Azula shook her head before proceeding to dig in. Nobody batted an eyelid when Yue unashamedly sat down and also partook in the tasting, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be one of the Dragons.

"Oh, wow… this is perfect," Katara was the first to react, looking very impressed. "I don't think I could ever go full vegan, but I definitely see myself having many vegan meals at the restaurant if the food is going to be this good."

"I think the flavor profile is spot on," Suki said. "But it's just not spicy enough for my tastes. What do you think, Azula?"

"You read my mind, Suki," Azula nodded. "It's nowhere near spicy enough," she shook her head. "Remember that we're in the Fire Nation. You have to know your audience. You can't serve something so mild here and expect to be taken seriously."

By now Yue had also had a taste and while she thought that the curry was as close to perfect as it came in regards to heat, she understood where Azula and Suki were coming from. Seeing that Katara was about to speak up and disagree, Yue hurried to cut her off. "I think this would be the perfect curry to serve in Agna Qel'a, Kat, but I believe Azula and Suki are spot on about it needing to be spicier if it's going to work here," Yue said.

"Fortunately, heat levels are easy to adjust," Aang said, looking relieved. "As long as there's nothing else wrong with it?"

"I don't think so," Azula said. "Just crank the heat way up, and we'll have another solid vegan option on the menu. Now, let's see if you can make this four out of four," she added, gesturing at Yue to bring them the final tray. Yue did so, removing the lid to reveal a couple of appetizing looking vegan burgers.

"I will feel like such a fraud serving these," Sokka sighed, glaring at the delicious looking golden buns. "These abominations give honest burgers a bad name."

"You don't have to be here if all you're going to do is whine about vegan food," Katara glared at her brother. "Besides, you're being ridiculous and you know it."

"I know, but dunking on vegans is kind of fun because they are so thin-skinned," Sokka grinned.

"Maybe it's fun for a bored man-child with nothing better to do," Azula snapped, making Sokka pout at her. "Anyway, Aang, even though we can all see that this is clearly a burger, you should have the opportunity to present it properly."

"Thanks!" Aang grinned broadly. "What we have here is a vegan BBQ pulled jackfruit burger with gem lettuce, tomato, red onion chutney, vegan coleslaw, dressed salad, chips and onion rings. Also, I just want you to know that I'm not really big on burgers myself and despite Sokka's dramatic whining, he actually helped me a lot with this."

"Lies! Lies and slander!" Sokka cried dramatically. "I would never touch the abomination that is vegan food!" He then suddenly appeared completely serious. "For real though, everything that Aang has been presenting today is totally solid and I'd be happy to have all of these things on the menu. And in case someone is still confused, my anti-vegan whining is mostly just an act, I hope you all understand that."

"It's still really annoying," Katara sighed. "Then again, it's you, so I don't think anyone here is surprised."

"Hey!" Sokka glared at his sister before chuckling. "Anyway, how is the weirdo burger?" he asked curiously.

"It's really good," Katara said, having taking a bite out of the burger she was sharing with Azula. "I can't believe how jackfruit feels so similar to meat. It has such a meaty texture."

"I like it," Azula also looked approving. "Especially the choice of pulled jackfruit is inspired. It will really make our burger stand out among its rivals, because most of the other places that do vegan burgers will just go with boring black bean patties, and I think people are starting to get tired of those."

"They also make you fart up a storm," Sokka added sagely.

"That too," Azula snorted. "Also, I think that our burger needs a bit more crunch from somewhere, the lettuce alone is not enough. I would suggest some pickled carrots and maybe even bamboo sprouts."

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea," Aang nodded excitedly. "Does that mean the burger is also approved?"

"What do you think, Suki?" Azula asked.

"I think it's worthy of being on the menu," Suki replied. "But it reminds me of this one vegan burger I had many years ago while still back in the Earth Kingdom, and instead of the pulled jackfruit, it had this amazing huge portobello mushroom, grilled to perfection and then basted in garlic butter. It was fantastic."

"Suki, you're making me drool," Yue complained. She had just enjoyed a bite of the jackfruit burger, and while it was very tasty, Yue found the texture of the jackfruit very weird. The way it almost but not quite felt like meat was slightly creeping Yue out. The mushroom burger, on the other hand, sounded very appealing.

"I'd be happy to swap the jackfruit for mushroom," Aang offered, as always keen to please.

"You won't have to," Azula said decisively. "We're putting both the jackfruit and mushroom burgers on the menu. It's not going to make the job of preparing the burgers any harder, so it's literally a no brainer not to include both."

"That's a great idea," Katara nodded approvingly. "If we could become a hit with the local vegan community, that would be a big boost for our business."

"So, does that mean I've got the promotion?" Aang asked eagerly.

"Most certainly," Azula nodded. "Even if some of the dishes need further tweaking, I think my fellow Dragons will agree that we've seen enough to convince us that you deserve the promotion." Katara and Suki giggled and nodded in agreement. "You're starting the new position next week." Aang cheered and pumped his fist.

Sokka walked up to Aang and clapped him on the shoulder before giving his friend a fist bump. "Congrats on nailing that presentation and soothing the Dragons," Sokka laughed. "And welcome to the kitchen… where it feels like there might be too many cooks by now," Sokka said before turning around and walking back downstairs.

"You're going to have to do something about that," Yue said, shaking her head as she looked at both Azula and Katara. Yue had noticed that Suki was looking more and more miserable as Sokka's return as the head chef neared, and Yue was frustrated that Azula and Katara were being so indecisive about handling the issue. Then again, as someone often criticized for being too soft and indecisive, Yue freely admitted that she was throwing stones in a glass house.

"I have plans, don't worry about it," Azula replied hastily. Yue hoped that Azula was speaking the truth and really had something up her sleeve, because she hated to see Suki being so anxious and unhappy. Suki was a fantastic chef and Yue loved her for hardly ever having to return dishes back to the kitchen because of customer complaints. However, Yue also acknowledged that Azula was in a difficult situation because Sokka was one of the owners and couldn't be pushed around as easily as some rank employee.

"Anyway, the dinner service is about to begin and we need to change out of these awesome suits," Suki said. "So…" she glared at Aang. "Shoo!"

"Oh!" Aang jumped, looking startled. His head was still clearly in the clouds after receiving the coveted promotion. "Alright, I'm out of here. You coming, Yue?"

Yue found herself hesitating. Azula, Suki and Katara changing out of these sexy business suits was not a spectacle she wanted to miss out on. "You just… run ahead, Aang. I'll stay behind and make sure nobody walks in on our girls while they're changing," Yue rallied with a swift excuse. Aang shrugged and walked away with a massive grin on his face. Yue then turned around to face Azula, Suki and Katara all smirking at her. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Nothing," Katara laughed. "Well, it would be rude to chase her away, wouldn't it, girls?" Suki and Azula both seemed to be in agreement with that, slowly starting to undress and making Yue's day better and better by the moment.

Jet Patel approached the chaos of the opening day of The Blue Spirit restaurant with his usual attitude of staying out of everyone's way and doing as little as he could get away with. Currently, that involved fixing a light switch in a storage room that was used to keep cleaning supplies and didn't even need to have any lights. Also, the light switch had stopped working only because Jet had stabbed it with his pocket knife in order to create this perfect timewasting task for himself.

The past few weeks in Jet's life had been tumultuous and had made him question some of his choices. Bee and Longshot seemed very insistent that the whole debacle with Katara and Azula was a sign from some higher power that Jet should embrace a more honest way of living. Jet agreed that this whole mess very well could be the sign from a higher power, but it was a sign to tell Jet that his schemes were wholly inadequate, and in order to succeed in life, he needed to step up his game. At this interpretation of events, Bee had done some shouting at Jet, but had failed to convince him.

The way his relationship with Katara had ended was still a sore spot for Jet. Losing a gorgeous girl that would normally be out his league really hurt, and this girl also being amazing in bed only compounded the misery. At the height of his delusions, Jet had earnestly spent a while believing that Katara would come crawling back to him, but Katara demanding for all of her things to be returned and her hostile tone when talking to him had made it clear that the relationship was broken beyond repair. This was not an amicable separation and Jet was aware that if he was to show his face at The Northern Lights, he would probably have to dodge a shower of cutlery being launched at him.

Certainly, Jet was not quite as deluded as to deny that he had wronged Katara greatly. And he would have been happy to admit that and beg forgiveness, but Katara also seemed to believe that Azula Nakamura rupturing his ball sack was an adequate punishment, and that was something Jet simply could not accept. Azula had no right to insert herself in this situation, not to mention inflict upon Jet the worst physical pain he had ever experienced. Perhaps he deserved to be punished for his lies and theft, but not like this. Three weeks later, Jet still hadn't made a full recovery, and he had already reconciled himself with the horrible thought of having to see a specialist about his problem.

Normally, after breaking up with one of his girlfriends, Jet would have spent the next few weeks, or possibly months, by sleeping with as many women (and men) as possible, but that fucking bitch Azula Nakamura had made it impossible. It was especially annoying because he had been on the cusp of having sex with Ty Lee Watanabe, who was perhaps the sexiest girl Jet had ever laid his eyes on. His inability to perform had come as a complete surprise, because during the trial runs involving his hand, all the systems had been functioning normally, but when Ty Lee had gotten her hands on him, the excruciating pain had put a stop to that sexual encounter. Azula definitely deserved to be taken down a peg for putting Jet through something so undeservedly horrible.

The discovery that Ty Lee was best friends with both Azula Nakamura and Mai Syun, the co-owner of The Blue Spirit, was an especially unpleasant surprise, because Azula and Mai were not among Jet's favorite people, albeit for very different reasons. After Jet had shit-talked Azula to Ty Lee, both Ty Lee and Mai had been acting very hostile, but fortunately, Ty Lee had the memory of a goldfish and quickly forgot why she was supposed to be upset with Jet, while Mai could be plied with free weed quite easily. Still, it was very alarming to know that Azula had if not outright allies, then eyes and ears sympathetic to her at the restaurant. This was definitely important to keep in mind when it was finally time to deploy some of his schemes to bring down Azula and The Northern Lights restaurant.

Jet's plan at The Blue Spirit was pretty much the same as it had been at The Northern Lights – to ingratiate himself with the owner (preferably by sleeping with them if they were hot enough, and Zuko definitely met Jet's standards of hotness) and then enjoy the easy life by doing as little as possible. Both restaurants having co-owners definitely presented an additional hurdle, however. Just as Jet had quickly realized that Sokka was not a romantic option for him, he was quickly learning the same about Mai Syun.

Jet still hadn't figured out what exactly was wrong with those few women who for some reason could resist his manly charms, but he suspected that some kind of genetic deficiency was to blame. For some reason, when she wasn't high as a kite, Mai plainly didn't like him, and since keeping Mai permanently high was not a viable option, getting with her romantically seemed out of the question. This left Zuko as Jet's prime target to zero in on at The Blue Spirit.

Getting with Zuko would present some serious challenges, however. First, Zuko was currently with Mai, and while their relationship seemed contentious at the first glance, they also had a history that Jet didn't want to underestimate. Second, Zuko had a couple of fangirls at the restaurant, both of whom were eager to jump his bones. Both Jin and On Ji were various levels of obsessed with Zuko, while Zuko himself remained totally oblivious. And as for the third obstacle, Zuko was clearly confused about his very obvious bisexuality, which presented yet another hurdle for Jet to overcome if he wanted to end up with Zuko. Fortunately for Jet, he always relished a challenge, the tougher the better.

Understanding his new coworkers was key to Jet's plans, and he had spent the week since his hiring in getting to know everyone better. Their smoke sessions were especially invaluable, because they made people drop their guard quickly and reveal things about themselves that they would otherwise not share. The information Jet had gleaned was already helping him come up with various schemes on how to overcome the considerable opposition for Zuko's affections.

For example, Ty Lee was very trusting and easy to manipulate, and she had direct access to Mai's ear, so if Jet wanted Mai to believe something about him and Zuko, he only needed to casually mention it to Ty Lee. Jin was similarly easy to manipulate, however, Jet had discovered early on that she was literally insane and simply would not believe anything that cast even the slightest shadow of doubt over her precious Zuko. Getting Jin to back off would be very difficult, unless he created some kind of crazy situation where Jin ended up breaking the law or possibly even killing someone for Zuko – because Jet legitimately believed she was that insane. However, even though Jet had done many fucked up things in the past, intentionally getting a coworker arrested was too scummy even for him.

On Ji Takeda was a very pretty and charming girl, and a damn good sous chef, which made her particularly dangerous because Zuko was interacting with her the most and had already developed some appreciation for her that seemed to be only growing. On Ji also seemed mostly sane and had a sound head on her shoulders, which meant that she wasn't easy to manipulate. Jet figured that the best way to neutralize her was to somehow sabotage her efforts in the kitchen and make Zuko upset with her, but on the other hand, Jet didn't want to go too far and get the girl fired. That was another one of his lines that he was unwilling to cross.

Ruon-Jian Ogawa was a useful tool to have around the restaurant. He seemed to do very little while at the same time appearing particularly desperate to please Mai. And while Mai clearly found Ruon-Jian amusing at most, Jet had crucially realized that Ruon-Jian's mere presence triggered unreasonable levels of jealousy in Zuko. This could be easily exploited to undermine Zuko's trust in Mai, and Jet had already made some inroads in this endeavor. Something that was also working in Jet's favor was the realization that Mai was quite upset at Zuko for his obliviousness regarding Jin and On Ji, and she seemed to be using Ruon-Jian to get back at Zuko. Mai was playing right into Jet's hands without even realizing it.

When it came to Zuko himself, Jet was keeping his strategy simple. Even if he found Zuko stupidly cute, Jet forced himself to hold back on the flirting and suggestiveness because he didn't want to scare Zuko off. Instead, Jet resolved to make Zuko feel like he was irreplaceable. It was clear that Zuko's conflict with his sister was the key to exploit here. Mai and Ty Lee were Azula's friends, while Jin, On Ji and Ruon-Jian cared little about Zuko and Azula's mutual vendetta. Jet made sure to present himself as Zuko's one true ally in this fight against Azula, always with a ready ear to hear about Zuko's plans, while at the same time encouraging Zuko and pitching more and more of his own schemes to try and bring Azula down. As a result, Jet had already managed to worm his way into Zuko's circle of his most trusted people, especially when it came to this conflict with Azula. Jet felt like for once his scheming was coming along beautifully and nothing could interfere with his plans-

"Where is that good for nothing slacker?" Jet winced as Zuko's raised voice suddenly disrupted his so far very chill evening. "Why is Jet literally never around when we need him?"

"At least you have noticed that," Mai remarked acidly as Jet heard them approach. He quickly grabbed his screwdriver and pretended being hard at work as Mai and Zuko rounded the corner and spotted him.

"There you are!" Zuko shouted, sounding also a little bit relieved. "What the fuck are you doing here, Jet? We were being absolutely savaged out there! We got slaughtered, I'm telling you!" Zuko yelled dramatically.

"What's going on?" Jet put on his best surprised face. "I had no idea there was a crisis. I was just trying to fix this damned light switch."

"Why?" Mai shrugged. "I can literally grab those cleaning supplies while standing out in the corridor, there's no reason to fuck around with those lights right now."

"I just know that if I don't fix it, someone is going to enter this here storage room, trip and dislocate their ankle," Jet rallied magnificently. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question about what was going on," he said, trying to distract Mai from the very clear fact that he had been completely wasting his time.

"Some bitch poured her drink all over Jin's uniform for some reason-" Zuko began, only for Mai to interrupt.

"Because that poor bitch had the audacity to say that you're hunky within Jin's earshot," Mai snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Well, whatever, Ty Lee decided to stand up for her fellow waitress and between the two of them, they fought that bitch and threw her out," Zuko continued, seemingly completely missing the meaning of Mai's words. "And a while later, the cops showed up to speak with Ty Lee and Jin."

"And we were trying to find you to help out because you claimed to be such an amazing waiter," Mai said bitterly. "While Ty Lee and Jin were arguing with the crazy bitch and the cops, Ruon-Jian and I had to jump in as replacement waiters. And I hate customer service, Jet. It puts me right into my PMS mood. Especially when Ruon-Jian then also had to drop out."

"Why? What did he do?" Jet asked.

"He brought the wrong order to a table, and an angry child stabbed him in the thigh with a fork because he wanted curly fries instead of those big hand cut ones," Mai explained with a sour look on her face.

"Of course," Jet was about to burst into laughter, but the look on Mai's face made him reconsider. "So… you want me to help with waiting the tables now?" he decided to offer.

"No, the service is over, so forget it," Mai sighed.

"I hope things went better in the kitchen," Jet gave Zuko a hopeful stare.

"It went really well," Zuko nodded. "Everyone loved the food. Things were so busy, but that is a great sign for the kitchen. It's just a crying shame about the incident with On Ji."

"Wait, what incident?" Jet asked.

"Didn't you hear?" Zuko blinked. "A stray dog wandered into the kitchen and stole a prime piece of filet mignon. On Ji started to fight the mutt, but then it bit her. I had to rush her to the ER to get rabies shots in the middle of the service."

"We still have no idea how that dog got inside," Mai said, keeping her voice neutral. "It's almost as if some irresponsible idiot left the back door open and that hungry animal simply wandered in."

"Well, as far as I remember, the backdoor was always closed, so it's a real mystery, alright. I suppose we'll never know the truth," Jet said quickly. Of course, he had left the door open to air out some of the weed stench that was surrounding Jet after he had enjoyed his afternoon joint. Still, Mai and Zuko probably didn't need to know the inconvenient truth. "Anyway, why was On Ji even fighting that dog?" Jet asked instead. "She could have just let that poor mutt have the piece of meat."

"It's probably because On Ji didn't want to pass on an opportunity to impress Zuko," Mai snorted.

"Well, it was kind of impressive the way she tackled that poor mutt," Zuko laughed. "It actually dropped the meat and fled through the dining room, howling in fear. I don't think it's going to mess with On Ji again. Also, that filet mignon was only a little bit chewed. We served it to some food blogger who was very condescending towards Ty Lee."

"Okay," Jet said, not sure what to make of all this information. He was starting to regret having missed out on all this insane chaos during the service. "So, I'm guessing that the opening was a complete disaster, then?"

"What?" Mai stared at Jet as if he had lost his mind. "No, we took in almost twelve hundred, which is absolutely amazing."

"But we had our waitresses involved in a scuffle with the police, and the sous chef had to be rushed to the hospital," Jet blinked. "How could the dinner service be successful if something so crazy was going on?"

"Ty Lee has a proverb that I'm starting to believe in more and more," Mai snorted. "Ty Lee says that the way to become successful is through embracing the chaos. Maybe it makes sense to me only because I'm surrounded by chaotic people like Zuko and Ty Lee, but it does seem to be working."

"Hey, there's a method to my madness," Zuko scowled. "And sure, maybe it doesn't involve violent waitresses and stray dogs, but… err, actually, I don't know where I was going with this."

"Don't look at me, I have no idea where you were going with it," Jet laughed. "But it seems like we have a reason to celebrate our successful launch."

"That's right, we're about to hit the pub across the street to celebrate," Zuko nodded, snapping his fingers. "That's why we wanted to talk to you in the first place."

"Excellent," Jet grinned. "Let me just go and grab my jacket."

"No, you misunderstand," Mai spoke with what looked like an almost sadistic mirth on her face. "We wanted to let you know that there's a massive tower of dirty plates in the kitchen that someone needs to take care of before they can join us in the pub. And we all agreed that it should be you, because you hardly contributed during the service."

"But-" Jet attempted to protest, facing Zuko with the saddest imaginable stare, rivaling that of a hurt and abandoned puppy.

Zuko's resolve seemed to be wavering, but after shooting a quick glance at Mai, he reluctantly shook his head. "Sorry, but someone really needs to take care of those plates, Jet," Zuko said. "If you work fast, it shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours. And you want to work fast, because you don't want all those nasty bits of leftover food to congeal. Anyway," he shot finger guns at Jet before wrapping his arm around Mai's waist as they turned to leave. "Hope to see you later in the evening, buddy."

"Sure, sure," Jet muttered absentmindedly, even if deep inside he was seething. It seemed like there was a lot more work to be done before he managed to successfully drive a wedge between Mai and Zuko.

Despite The Northern Lights seeing an encouraging turnaround for the better, Suki was having a hard time enjoying their much-deserved success. With every day that passed, Suki felt like her coveted and hard-earned head chef position was about to be stripped from her. All of Sokka's talk about his imminent return to leading the kitchen felt doubly unfair because she had clearly done a great job in this new position, and yet Sokka stubbornly refused to acknowledge that. It felt like everyone had more confidence in Suki as the head chef than in Sokka, and perhaps that perception was something that was now forcing Sokka to double down and really dig his heels in.

So, on a sunny Friday afternoon between the services, Suki found herself hanging out on the roof terrace all by herself, not wanting to inflict her sour mood on her friends. Azula and Yue had taken Kiyi and Kya out to a nearby ice cream parlor, disappointed when Suki had refused to join them. Earlier, Azula had finally come up with the final version of their spring menu that everyone had agreed upon. Now, Katara was busy haggling with one of the local printers about having a fancily printed and laminated menu, as it would serve them for the next two to three months. Aang and Toph were chilling and doing some prepping in the kitchen, and as for Sokka, Suki really had no idea what he was up to.

Suki discovered what Sokka was up to sooner than she would have liked, because when she eventually proceeded downstairs to help Aang and Toph with prepping, she came across Sokka, working at his old station and busy preparing one of the dishes from their new menu, a stuffed chicken breast. It didn't seem to be going particularly well, given that Sokka had already maimed three chicken breasts while trying to butterfly them.

Suki had to bite down hard on her tongue not to make any sarcastic comments as she watched Sokka producing yet another failed attempt, as always cutting way too deep into one side of the chicken, so that when he opened it up like a book, one of the pages was almost transparent, with several holes in it. Instead of saying anything, Suki simply took another chicken breast and neatly sliced it down the middle, then placing the perfectly butterflied breast in front of Sokka so that he could continue working on the recipe.

"I really wish you would follow the old proverb of not trying to fix that what isn't broken," Suki sighed a while later, her resolve to stay quiet finally crumbling. At least Sokka wasn't making any more mistakes while forming the stuffed breast and wrapping it in layers of ham and bacon. "The kitchen has been working perfectly this past week. It's not broken and doesn't require you trying to fix it, you know." Aang gave her a very alarmed look as she spoke, clearly fearing an argument, but Suki felt like she could stay silent only for so long.

"Suki, we've been over this," Sokka groaned, looking frustrated. "I thought you understood why I have to be in the kitchen and I wish you would stop thinking of me coming back as a sign that I don't trust you as the head chef. I do trust you, and I think you've done a great job, but-"

"But you're still making me go back to being the sous chef," Suki frowned. "And yeah, your reasons for wanting to be the head chef? I've heard them before and frankly, I think you're being very misguided. Just because your dad was the head chef, it doesn't mean you have to do exactly the same. You can still contribute to the restaurant in many other ways. I'm sure your father would tell you the same thing."

"You can't speak for my father," Sokka said, a little sharply, but then softening. "Look, it's not just about following in my father's footsteps. It's also about the weight of responsibility. This is a family-owned restaurant, which means that Katara and I have to shoulder the most responsibility and work the hardest jobs. And being the head chef is one of those critical jobs. It's my responsibility to bear. No offense, Suki, but if the restaurant sinks, then you will be able to just move on to something else, while for me it will mean ruining our entire family fortunes. This is my burden to bear, okay?"

"Wait, you think I'm not responsible enough to be the head chef?" Suki gasped. "Also, how can you say that I could just move on? Maybe it's a good thing you told me that you don't think of me as family, so that there are no misunderstandings. Because I totally saw us as family, but I guess I was wrong."

"Well, legally-"

"Oh, you know, fuck legally," Suki snapped, cutting Sokka off. "And seriously, fuck you for saying something so insulting," with that, Suki pushed past Sokka and quickly made for the exit, feeling her face burn with hurt and anger.

"Great job, Sokka," were the last words heard by Suki before she left the kitchen, spoken by Toph while accompanied by slow clapping.

Suki hurried outside through the back entrance as fast as she could. Her fingers trembled slightly as she retrieved a cigarette and lit up. Of course, this conversation with Sokka would go badly, just as it always did, she should have known as much. There were some things that were impossible to discuss with Sokka because he could be so infuriatingly stubborn. Suki always ended up experiencing regret for even trying, but this was not something she could ignore any longer. She was suffocating, not just in their expiring relationship, but also professionally, and this was not a state of mind that Suki wanted to be in for much longer.

Still, feeling like she had no other options but to leave both Sokka and the restaurant was a painful thought, ripping Suki's heart asunder. The very idea of abandoning her friends, and also this new and fascinating thing they had going with Azula and that nobody knew what it was, felt unbearable. Suki thought of herself as the badass motherfucker who never cried, but now, sitting on an old crate with her back against the wall and inhaling the cigarette smoke that was supposed to calm her down, Suki still felt like breaking down and having a good fucking cry.

"Hey, Suki, are you out h-" Suki jumped at the unexpected sound of Azula's voice as the Fire Nation girl emerged from the back entrance and froze upon spotting her. Suki immediately turned away and quickly wiped her cheeks, trying to be subtle about it, but the way Azula had frozen suggested that she had seen the tears on Suki's cheeks. It was by now common knowledge shared by her, Katara and Yue that Azula was socially very awkward when it came to expressing genuine feelings and emotions, and Suki knew that something like comforting a coworker would pose massive challenge for Azula. Suki could tell as much from how Azula stood there on the threshold, looking petrified, like she was considering turning around and fleeing in fear.

"Just grabbing a quick smoke," Suki tried nonchalantly, but her voice failed to maintain any sort of steadiness. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"Yes, I… I just got back," Azula replied stiffly. "Yue is taking the girls back to her place." Azula then went silent for a long time and Suki expected that her next words would be to offer some kind of lame excuse before returning to the kitchen, and in all honesty, Suki wouldn't blame Azula for not wanting to get involved. Still, Suki felt a pleasant lightness in her chest when Azula eventually pulled up another crate and sat down next to her, their shoulders bumping lightly.

"Sokka's not backing down from coming back as the head chef," Suki spoke up after a few moments of comforting silence. "And I don't know if I can go back to being a sous chef, I just… don't think I could take that."

"What are you saying?" Azula asked, sounding worried.

"If there's something I don't want to do, then it is to leave," Suki sighed. "But I'm starting to feel as if I have no choice."

"Suki," Azula spoke in a very serious tone, one that Suki didn't hear her use often. She had also turned to face Suki, looking straight into her eyes. "At the risk of insulting everyone else at this restaurant, all of whom are good and hard-working people… now that Jet is gone, but I have to tell you something. You are the most important person at this restaurant. I know it's the Enuaraq family restaurant, and both Sokka and Katara are trying their best. But in my mind, I've always imagined you as the foundation, the rock I want to build this place around. I… don't think I can do this without you, Suki."

"That's… the nicest thing anyone's ever told me," Suki exclaimed, barely able to believe what she was hearing.

"Well, it's the truth," Azula gave her a slightly nervous smile. "Please, stick around for a while longer, and I promise I'll make you the head chef. I have a plan for how to address the situation with Sokka, but it will require your patience. Sokka wants to be the head chef, and I say we let him try. Starting next week, I'm going to push him hard… not unfairly hard, but I want him to show me that he can deliver the necessary quality while handling multiple tickets at once, the same way we did."

"He won't be able to do it," Suki shook her head resolutely. "His brain just isn't wired to think that way."

"I'm with you," Azula nodded. "I also think that he'll fail. And that's a part of my plan. When Sokka fails and the restaurant begins to suffer, it will be so much easier to get Katara on my side and between the two of us we will force Sokka to step down. I swear we're going to make it happen."

"It's going to suck for Sokka, but he kind of deserves it," Suki nodded. She smiled at Azula. "Thank you for believing in me." Azula returned the smile as their eyes met and they both froze. Suki suddenly felt like the air around them was charged with electricity, almost crackling with the magic of the moment. Suki was certain that there was no mistaking her intent as she began to lean forward slightly, watching for the reaction in Azula's eyes. Azula's ember orbs widened in surprise as she clearly understood what was about to happen, but much to Suki's astonishment, Azula did not move away in disgust. Still, this moment of hesitation cost Suki. Azula broke the eye contact and instead of letting the kiss happen, pulled Suki in for a fierce hug.

"You make it easy to believe in you," Azula said. "You're a very good cook, Suki."

"Thank you," Suki replied, lamenting her hesitation that had cost her the discovery of just how much Azula was into girls. "You're a good friend."

Chapter Text

The week of Sokka's return to the kitchen was off to a very frustrating start, immediately putting Katara into a bad mood. Tuesday had gone poorly, because even if Sokka had practiced the new dishes throughout the weekend, he was still failing to execute them in a timely manner, causing the kitchen to become backed up. The quality also left something to desire, with Katara and Yue receiving the unpleasant reminders of what it felt like to have customers raging and yelling at them, which was never the right thing to do even if their complaints about the dishes were mostly valid.

Sokka's response to criticism regarding both the speed and quality of his performance merely added to everyone's frustration. Sokka basically told everyone to take a chill pill and simply wait for him to get used to the new menu. Azula's plan of forcing Sokka to give up because of a constant string of failures was quickly backfiring, because Sokka remained annoyingly relaxed about the whole disastrous Tuesday. Azula herself was definitely failing to remain chill. She always started out by giving Sokka advice in a calm and composed way, but within a couple of hours, Azula was yelling and swearing like a sailor, looking dangerously close to popping a vein. So far, Azula's way shorter fuse was proving to be her downfall, and whenever she ran out of patience with Sokka, Azula ended up jumping behind the line to save the kitchen from collapsing completely.

Even though Katara had been worried about Suki, it seemed as if the talk she'd had with Azula the week before was helping Suki remain patient. Still, Katara could see that Suki was mostly going through the motions in her old role of sous-chef, carrying out her tasks with an almost robotic indifference. It pained Katara to see the passion that her friend had for cooking becoming extinguished and she hoped that they could eventually force Sokka to admit the truth that his stubbornness was hurting the restaurant.

Aang's vegan menu options felt like a bright spot at the start of this challenging week, because the customers were definitely responding well to these new introductions to the menu. However, Katara could see that Aang's excitement for his promotion was being overshadowed by this conflict that was making the kitchen dysfunctional. As a result of these bad vibes in the kitchen, both Aang and Toph were keeping very quiet and the overall mood around The Northern Lights was quickly turning sour.

Wednesday lunch service had not gone much better. Sokka had made some tiny improvements from Tuesday, but nowhere near enough to be on the necessary level as he still struggled to combine multiple tickets and relied on Azula to help with that, needing his hand held the way that Suki definitely didn't require. Azula had lasted more than halfway into the service before her nerves gave out and having cussed Sokka out like a seasoned sailor, Azula ended up jumping behind the line once again and they had somehow managed to reach the end of another rocky service.

This had been the last straw for Azula. Setting aside her failure of a plan to wear down Sokka's stubbornness, Azula had dramatically demanded that either Sokka swaps places with Suki for the dinner service, or she was going to walk out altogether. Katara didn't think for a moment that Azula's threat was real, because of how much she cared about winning this competition with her brother. Katara was certain that Sokka didn't believe it either, so she felt both relieved and surprised that Sokka actually agreed to swap places with Suki for the upcoming service that was about to begin.

So, as Katara and Yue were chilling in the dining room, ready to start the service, it came as a surprise to them when Suki suddenly sent them both a text, declaring the highest state of emergency and demanding that both Katara and Yue meet her on the roof terrace immediately. Disregarding the fact that they were supposed to open the restaurant's doors in five minutes, the two Water Tribe girls didn't waste a moment as they dashed upstairs.

"You don't suppose she's finally snapped and stabbed Sokka?" Yue asked nervously as they climbed the stairs.

"I hope not," Katara replied worriedly. "Annoying as he might be, Sokka is still my brother, which means that I would be honor bound to stab Suki, and that would make me very sad."

"I know," Yue agreed quickly. "Maybe she stabbed him in some non-critical spot, like his butt cheek or something," she added as the pair finally emerged on the roof terrace to face an excited looking Suki.

"Shut up, I haven't stabbed anyone," Suki began, speaking very quickly. "But I have the most exciting news ever to share with you. This will blow your mind, girls! This is way more important than the rumors of who Taylor Swift is going to date next! This would be even more important than the news of the Fire Nation deciding to reoccupy the Kiyoshi Island, and coming from me, that's saying something, right?"

"Right," Katara nodded, vibrating with Suki's contagious excitement. "Would you mind telling us what this is about before Yue and I lose our minds?"

"Well, it's about Azula," Suki said, cringing when Yue and Katara both squealed in anticipation. "And I swear, I didn't mean to spy on her-"

"Press X to doubt," Yue cut in, sending both herself and Katara into a laughing fit.

"Oh, shush," Suki glared. "Or I might decide not to share the story, and you don't want to miss out on this." Katara and Yue immediately reacted by summoning their most pleading stares, making Suki give in with a resigned sigh. "Right, so Azula was just standing by herself, fiddling with her phone. I wanted to talk shop with her about the dinner service, so I walked up to her, but she didn't even notice me. She looked pretty exhausted after fighting with Sokka all morning, and also, she was totally fixated on her phone. And well, I happened to catch a glimpse of what she was doing, and you are not going to believe me, but she was using a dating app to arrange a hookup!"

"Hah, I knew that boyfriend story was so fake!" Yue laughed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I can't blame her for needing a distraction after doing battle with Sokka for the second day running."

"I guess," Katara said, for some reason feeling just a little bitter. "I just assumed that Azula would be, I don't know, too classy for Tinder."

"Oh, but here's the kicker, Kat," Suki grinned wickedly. "She wasn't using Tinder. She was using HER."

"Well, that is better, I suppose," Katara said absentmindedly, before the implication of what Suki had just told them registered with her brain. "Wait, did you say HER? The queer dating app?" Suki nodded with a huge grin on her face.

"Yay! I knew it, I fucking knew it!" Yue shouted with joy, bouncing up and down excitedly. "She's so gay! Gay, gay, gay!" she sang before pulling Suki and Katara into a crushing group hug.

"Wait, I agree that this is promising news, but let's not get carried away," Katara was the first to seemingly regain her common sense several minutes later. "We have to remain calm and reasonable about this. We want Azula to hook up with us, not some random bitches on HER, right?"

"Absolutely, which is why we need a clever strategy to make sure that Azula realizes that we're the best option for her," Yue nodded with certainty.

"I think what we need is more information," Suki mused thoughtfully. "Is Azula just hooking up with a random girl on a dating app? Or maybe she has a secret girlfriend that she's keeping in touch with through this app? She was exchanging a lot of texts with this girl, so it almost seemed like she knew her previously."

"Yes, we need to know more, I agree," Katara said firmly. "Just because it would be very disrespectful to assume things about Azula's private life."

"Very true, Kat," Yue nodded. "We shouldn't assume anything. We need to learn everything we can about Azula's private life, but in a very respectful way."

"Well, from what I managed to catch, Azula is planning to see this girl tonight," Suki said. "I was thinking that we should follow Azula on her date."

"Yes!" Yue exclaimed joyfully. "That is exactly the sort of level-headed and rational plan I was about to suggest!"

"Wait… what?" Katara blinked, very confused by what she was hearing. "Isn't your plan essentially to… stalk Azula?"

"What?" Yue asked, her eyes comically wide. "No, why would you use a problematic word like that? We would be doing some totally innocent recon. Think of it as keeping Azula safe in case the date goes sour, okay?"

"That works for me," Suki nodded. "But girl, we're talking late in the evening after the dinner service. You probably can't leave Kya alone, can you?"

Yue's face fell immediately. "No, you're right," she sighed. "And I'm not crazed enough to risk with my daughter's wellbeing while chasing after Azula. I guess I'll have to sit this one out. But Suki," Yue seemed to remember. "Don't you also have that thing with Sokka?"

"What thing with Sokka?" Katara asked quickly.

"Fuck, that's right," Suki swore. "And it's not like I can cancel, we live under the same roof… for now." She then turned to face Katara. "Sokka wanted to have a serious conversation after the dinner service. One that's seriously overdue, were his exact words. I think we'll end up making the breakup official."

"Sorry to hear that, girl," Katara sighed, giving Suki's shoulder a supportive squeeze.

"Well, it's not working, I think everyone has accepted that by now," Suki shrugged. "Still, I guess that also eliminates me from our spy mission. Katara, this is going to be all on you."

"Are you serious?" Katara sputtered. "I'm the one least convinced that this is even a good idea, and yet I will be the only one actually doing it?"

"Yes?" Suki and Yue both said, exchanging amused stares. "Anyway, you're gathering important intel for the group," Suki continued. "Yue and I will be endlessly grateful for everything you end up discovering. Our great chase after Azula is now in your hands, Kat."

"Oh, that's very fair," Katara sighed, shaking her head. She was having serious doubts of whether spying on Azula like this was a good idea, because she was afraid that if Azula was to catch her in the act, she might very well decide to walk out on the restaurant in a fit of anger. Then again, Katara imagined being back at the apartment later in the evening, trying to ignore Suki and Sokka having yet another heated argument while at the same time trying not to think about Azula hooking up with some posh tart at a nightclub… that didn't sound like an enjoyable evening either, so perhaps this whole spying on Azula mission was still the best of her options.

With Suki holding the reins, Wednesday's dinner service proved to be the highlight of the week so far. Katara and Yue were having a much better time of it in the dining room because subpar dishes were no longer leaving the kitchen, and the waiting times, while still not great, were definitely improving.

The situation in the kitchen was still a little bit tense, however. Certainly, things were smoother because Suki was now controlling the pace and working on multiple tickets at a time. Still, Sokka was not experienced in the position of the sous chef and try as he might, Sokka kept slowing down the kitchen. Fortunately, Aang had proved himself a capable assistant and had jumped in to help his best friend. Between Aang and Sokka, they had managed to keep the pace up, and for once, Azula didn't need to don the chef's jacket and get her hands dirty.

With Azula subtly sneaking out at the conclusion of the dinner service and Yue leaving early to relieve her babysitter, Katara hoped that their usual post-service hanging out could be cut short. It helped that Sokka seemed determined to have his overdue conversation with Suki, and fortunately Aang quickly got the hint. After Aang and Toph had departed, it was easy for Katara to sneak downstairs for a quick shower, pretty herself up in case she had to follow Azula into some bar or a nightclub, and then sneak out without facing any annoying inquiries from Sokka.

Once outside, Katara quickly got into the car and briefly double checked her appearance before starting the engine. She hardly ever went heavy on the makeup, certainly not to the extent that Azula did, but a few light touches here and there always helped. April was drawing towards a close and the Fire Nation weather had already turned downright summery. Katara had decided to go with the tiny jean shorts that had always made Jet unashamedly stare at her ass all the time. She had paired them up with a matching denim jacket and very flattering blue tube top that made her look like the proverbial party girl.

It was almost a quarter past eleven when Katara pulled up a safe distance from the posh residential building where Azula was renting her apartment. Katara was relieved to see that Azula's car was still parked outside. Given how quick and efficient Azula was in everything she did, Katara had been legitimately worried that Azula would have already gotten ready for her date and left, ruining Katara's mission of espionage.

Katara didn't have to wait long because a couple of minutes after her arrival, a gorgeous looking woman in a sexy pink romper and matching stilettos swiftly walked up to Azula's car and got in. It took several long seconds until Katara's brain was jolted into realizing that the woman in question had actually been Azula, because Katara was so unaccustomed to Azula wearing something that wasn't either bright red or the white chef's jacket. Also, Azula had completely transformed her hair, leaving it all the way down, wild and flowing, making herself very difficult to recognize, which was clearly the intended goal here. Overall, however, Azula's appearance had very heavy DTF vibes, reminding Katara of her mission, and so she quickly started the ignition and set to follow her prey.

Despite having lived in Caldera City for the majority of her life, there were still parts of the large metropolis that Katara didn't know all that well. She knew the downtown well enough when it came to shopping, but when it came to nightlife, Katara felt very much like a confused and out of her depth tourist. She'd done her share of clubbing and partying during her college years, but ever since she'd been drafted to help out at the restaurant full time, there simply hadn't been enough time for partying. Considering how busy the restaurant was all the time, Katara had lost her urge to socialize on her days off. She still wanted to do stuff with her friends and her boyfriend, but most of the time it didn't involve interacting with crowds of strangers.

Katara very nearly lost the sight of Azula as she searched for a free spot in one of the crowded downtown parking lots. Despite it being a Wednesday evening, the city center was still abuzz with activity, and it was very fortunate that Azula had chosen to wear such an easily identifiable outfit, allowing Katara to catch up with her outside the parking lot. Azula was already walking away at her usual frantic pace, making it very hard for Katara to keep up, and she occasionally had to jog for a short distance in order not to lose Azula. Still, considering that Azula had a tendency to often stop and look around, lagging behind was a blessing in disguise. Azula was definitely acting a little paranoid… although, Katara had to admit that since she was actually being followed, maybe it was unfair to describe Azula's constant looking around as paranoid.

After a good deal of walking that involved crossing almost the entire downtown area, Azula finally seemed to have reached her destination, a rather garishly decorated establishment illuminated by blinding pink, purple and bright green neon lights. Before entering, Azula hesitated and quickly turned to look behind her, making Katara dive into a back alley and nearly crash into some garbage bins. Having waited for several long moments with her back pressed against a rough brick wall, Katara dared to peek out, finding the street empty. Deciding that Azula must have entered the establishment, Katara gave herself a couple of moments to steady herself and check her appearance before she followed Azula into the curiously named establishment of Kyoshi's Retreat.

The significance of that name together with the complete absence of men inside the establishment hit Katara very soon after entering. She winced inwardly upon realizing that she had ended up in a busy lesbian bar. The idea had been to not attract attention, but alone and dressed as she was, Katara immediately became worried that she might draw interest from some of the undoubtedly lovely ladies frequenting this place. Still, before she did anything else, Katara had to locate Azula. Looking around for the sexy pink romper, Katara soon managed to spot Azula sitting at one of the tables a little off to the side of the bar counter. Luckily, Azula was sitting with her back towards the bar, and she seemed to be fully immersed in conversing with her date, allowing Katara to relax slightly.

Next on Katara's agenda was to find the most secluded spot from which she could freely observe Azula and her companion. Katara hadn't yet gotten a good look at Azula's date, and she needed a better vantage point to do so. Muttering apologies, Katara pushed her way to the bar, where the bartender lady wearing the full makeup of the Kyoshi Warriors, an all sapphic girl goth rock band that was basically like Kiss only good, quickly took notice of Katara and happily poured her a drink. As Katara took her drink and thanked the friendly bartender, she observed that all the staff at this establishment were wearing the Kyoshi Warrior makeup, making them look very exotic and hot.

Katara had to spend much more time at the bar than she had intended before a table suited to her needs finally freed up and she quickly claimed it for herself. It was a welcome respite from the interest she was drawing not only from the bartender but also from a couple of other girls at the bar. At least now, Katara could finally get a better look at what Azula and her mysterious companion were up to.

Finally getting the opportunity for a better look at Azula's date, Katara felt her chest bursting with an unexpected wave of jealousy at the other woman's stark beauty. She was clearly of local Fire Nation stock, and in some ways, shared many of Azula's features. Her face seemed to be sharper, more angular than Azula's, but Katara didn't dare to stare too closely for more details. She could tell that the woman was older than Azula, perhaps by as much as ten years. At least Katara was sure that she was in her thirties, looking like she could be Azula's sugar mommy, if only Azula needed one.

As Katara continued to sit at her table, drinking one cocktail after another and watching Azula and her date enjoying their conversation, she couldn't stop herself from becoming overcome by growing bitterness. Maybe they had been stupid to think that Azula would notice them when she could hook up with women as beautiful as her date. Or maybe Azula simply was into older women and they didn't stand a chance to begin with. Or maybe Azula was one of those Fire Nation supremacists who only considered hooking up with their own ilk and deep inside she considered the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom immigrants beneath her. Katara cringed, shaking her head and wondering where such unflattering thoughts were even coming from. Azula had never said or done anything that came across as racially motivated, and Katara felt ashamed for letting her bitterness lead her down this path of unfair assumptions.

"Hey, hot stuff," Katara's thoughts were interrupted by a pretty but rather tipsy looking blonde, stopping by her table and giving her a slightly drunken grin. "Want some company?" the blonde offered unsubtly.

"I'm sorry, I'm waiting for someone," Katara replied quickly, giving the blonde merely a side glance as she continued to stare at Azula and her date.

"Sure, for the last half an hour, right?" the blonde winked at her. "Hey, don't feel bad or embarrassed, we've all been stood up at least once in our lives, even I."

"I haven't been stood up," Katara said, trying to ignore the obnoxious blonde. She couldn't let Azula and her date out of her sights. What if she missed something or the pair left while she was humoring this girl who was blatantly trying to hit on her?

"Sure, sure," the blonde grinned, sitting down with her uninvited, much to Katara's annoyance. "So, what's her name?" the blonde asked.

"Azula," Katara replied absentmindedly before catching herself. "Umm, I'm sorry, who's name did you ask me about?"

"Your date's name?" the blonde rolled her eyes. "The one that hasn't stood you up?"

"Oh, her. That would be… err, Yuki," Katara tried to came up with something, but her brain apparently couldn't do better than the cross between Yue and Suki's names.

"Cute name," the blonde looked like she wasn't buying Katara's story, though. Perhaps she was one of those drunks who became annoyingly persistent after several glasses. "So, who's Azula?"

"Azula?" Katara blinked. "She's, uh… she's nobody. I don't even know why I mentioned her."

"Is she one of those girls you've been staring at the whole time?" the blonde whispered conspiringly, leaning closer. "You're being really obvious about it, by the way."

"I'm not staring!" Katara hissed. "Now please, shut up and leave me alone!"

"Hmm, that's not very nice, so… no, I don't think I will," the blonde frowned. "I'm starting to think that maybe you're some kind of creepy stalker. And we don't tolerate stalkers at our nice little bar here, okay? That kind of masculine behavior has no place here."

"I'm not a stalker!" Katara glared at the woman. The heat hitting her cheeks and making her face burn in an obvious display of embarrassment was probably a dead giveaway, though. "Please, I'm asking you again, just leave me alone!"

"So that you can creep on other ladies in what is supposed to be our safe space?" the blonde glared right back. "I don't think so. Maybe you're a jilted ex? How do I know you don't intend to follow and stab them both to death?" The blonde turned towards the bar. "Girls, we've got a creepy stalker right here!" Even though the music in the bar was quite loud, the woman's words still managed to attract the attention of several regulars who were now staring at them with curiosity.

Katara knew that she had to shut this commotion down quickly before it attracted the attention of Azula and her companion. She didn't exactly have many options available to her, so Katara did the first thing she could think of, which was to grab the other woman and then try to silence her by stuffing a napkin down her throat. Unfortunately for Katara, even though the blonde was far tipsier, she was also larger and stronger, trying to shove Katara away as she started to fight back.

Several people were by now on their way to interfere, but Katara and her opponent were already in the middle of a nasty wrestling match which involved plenty of painful yanking on each other's hair. Bottles and glasses went flying as the table ended up being flipped, and by that point, Katara knew that she had successfully made a complete fool of herself and also probably ruined Azula's date night.

It took the combined efforts of both the staff and the bar patrons to eventually separate Katara and her opponent. Being held back by several pairs of hands, Katara kept glaring at the annoying blonde, trying her best not to look in Azula's direction, because she did not want to see the shock, anger and disappointment that would surely be there on Azula's face.

"Hey June," the blonde spoke up, looking at someone pushing their way through the crowd. "This little bitch was spying on you and your date."

Katara cringed visibly as she turned to see Azula's companion emerging from the crowd. Up close, she appeared not only strikingly beautiful, but also cutting a rather imposing and intimidating figure, so Katara figured that she was about to get the snot beaten out of her. "Hey Sally," June replied. She then did something surprising by reaching out and taking Katara's hand. "Also, piss off Sally, and try to remember what I told you about keeping your nose out of my affairs," June told the blonde woman who was gaping at her in shock. June then tugged on Katara's arm, gesturing for the others to release her. "Let the girl go. She's with me," she spoke in a commanding voice.

"W-what are you doing?" Katara whispered in a trembling voice as June led her away.

"Don't panic, I'm doing you a huge favor," June said. She kept a firm grip on Katara's hand, which was probably a good idea, because Katara was seriously considering simply dashing for the door and escaping into the night. Instead, Katara allowed June to lead her over to the table and force her to sit down next to Azula. "I'm going to get you something stronger to drink. You'll probably want to get totally shitfaced after this," June said, leaving Katara sitting with Azula, still unable to look at her friend she had behaved so appallingly towards. The shame of it all quickly became overwhelming and Katara broke down into tears.

"Uh, why are you crying, Kat?" Azula asked, sounding very confused.

"Why am I crying?" Katara repeated incredulously, finally daring to look at Azula through her tears. Strangely enough, Azula didn't appear angry? "Because I'm ashamed of how terribly I've behaved?"

"Hey, who hasn't started a bar fight at least once in their life, am I right?" Azula chuckled, reaching out to pat Katara's hand. "It's not a big deal, I promise."

"I'm not talking about the bar fight!" Katara exclaimed tearily. "I followed… ugh, let's just call it for what it was, I was stalking you!"

"Oh, I suppose you did," Azula admitted after a moment of thought. She still didn't look angry, though. "How did that come about, anyway?"

"Ugh, I'm so embarrassed to even talk about it," Katara sighed. "Suki saw you using the dating app earlier, and she told me and Yue about it. And we just wanted to make sure that you were hooking up… meeting another girl. But Yue and Suki were both busy, so we agreed that I would follow you and-" Katara broke down in a fresh flood of tears.

"Seriously, stop with the waterworks, okay?" Azula said, looking a little frustrated. "Anyway, you're a pretty good sneak, I have to give it to you. I had a feeling that I was being followed, but I didn't spot anyone until just outside the bar entrance. When I saw you enter and realized that it had been you, I was actually quite impressed."

"And you didn't think to confront me or anything?" Katara asked, feeling surprised.

"What would be the point?" Azula shrugged. "You had already discovered my dirty little secret. Besides, I had already reconciled myself with the thought that sooner or later you, Yue and Suki would probably find out the truth. The three of you seem to be unusually invested in my private life."

"Sorry," Katara muttered, lowering her eyes. "It's just that you're, well… fascinating, okay? But we're going to pull back, I promise. I'll make sure that Yue and Suki understand it as well-"

"Why would you want to do that?" Azula shrugged, tossing her hair and looking smugly pleased. "I love the attention."

"You're horrible," Katara laughed through the tears. "You need to stop encouraging me. It is clearly leading to unhealthy behavior, such as me stalking you."

"And what if I told you that I like beautiful women doing crazy and unhealthy things on my behalf?" Azula asked, smirking as she took a lengthy sip through her cocktail straw.

"I would tell you that you're probably very drunk," Katara snorted. Azula's reaction was so befuddling that she had no idea what to make of it. "I can't believe that after catching me stalking you, your reaction is basically… wow, that's hot. What's wrong with you?"

Azula burst into laughter, almost spilling her drink. "I'm sure you've already caught on to some of the things that are very wrong with me," she chuckled. "Trust me, there's more where that came from." She then cocked her head, giving Katara a very curious stare. "But that doesn't seem to… put you off?"

Katara shook her head resolutely. "Sorry, but it just makes you way more fascinating to me," Katara said earnestly. She was going to say more, but at that moment, June returned to the table, placing what looked like Shuhon Island Iced Tea in front of her.

"Well," June smirked as she sat down with them. "You two seem to have cleared everything up."

"I think we simply realized that we're both kind of insane," Katara chuckled uneasily as she took an eager sip of her drink. The iced tea hit her pretty hard, but then again, as June had correctly guessed, it was what she needed. Katara was still burning with embarrassment, wishing that the earth would open up and swallow her, but at the same time, she was intensely grateful to Azula for being so abnormally chill about this whole thing when she definitely was entitled to feel angry. Also, June had saved her from the confrontation with the other patrons, which made her pretty awesome in Katara's eyes.

"Knowing Azula, it kind of tracks that she would be hanging out with someone a bit crazy," June laughed.

"Would it be rude to ask how you know Azula?" Katara asked, feeling emboldened by the drink. June wasn't just stunningly beautiful, she also appeared rather approachable, encouraging Katara to pose her question.

"We met through the dating app," June replied with a shrug. "When was the first time we hooked up, Azula? Two years ago?"

"A little more than two years, actually," Azula corrected June. As far as Katara could tell, Azula wasn't seriously drunk, but she was just tipsy enough to lose her social awkwardness.

"Yes, and over those two years, we've hooked up, I don't know, about a dozen times?" June said.

"Nine times," Azula corrected June again.

"Of course, she would know the exact number," June laughed. "I think she probably keeps some kind of record of her hookups. And she probably also rates them, too. Damn, now I actually want to know how well I stack up against her other regulars."

"You're usually up there at the very top, with a healthy mix of eight and nine out of ten," Azula replied smoothly.

"Now I want to know what I have to do to get the full marks of ten," June laughed.

"Wait, uh, other regulars?" Katara blinked. "Just how many of them are there?"

"It's not exactly a girl in every port kind of thing, Katara," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, are you going to judge me for hooking up?"

"No, I'm just… this isn't a side of you that I ever expected to discover," Katara replied.

"You weren't really supposed to discover it," Azula sighed. "I'm usually better at separating my private life from my job. However, your little restaurant is a very different and special place, and by the nature of my assignment, we end up spending a lot of time together. It's been very hard to avoid becoming very… involved with the entire group."

"We do see ourselves as one big and usually happy family," Katara smiled. "I think we've all started to see you as a part of it."

"I can't deny that I've been enjoying it, too," Azula admitted. "Anyway, I feel like this conversation got sidetracked and I can't remember what we were even talking about."

"You two are adorable," June laughed. "And your restaurant does sound like a great place to work at. Azula said that she has never had such sexy coworkers than at this Northern Lights restaurant."

"She said that, huh?" Katara grinned, watching Azula's face turn deep shade of scarlet. "And what do you do for living, June?" Katara asked, suddenly realizing that she was paying way too much attention to Azula and completely ignoring her gorgeous companion.

"I own a bar," June replied. "But it's not a lesbian bar, I'm afraid. It's a very popular dive down by the harbor, so if you want to hang out with a bunch of old and salty sea dogs, you're welcome to visit Nyla's Tavern at any time."

"Sounds like a place with a lot of character," Katara smiled. "Also, can I just ask… are you open about your sexuality, or are you trying to keep it a secret like Azula?"

"I neither advertise nor hide it, really," June shrugged. "My dad and I have this don't ask, don't tell policy going on, and that's fine with me. It's not something I need to be able to talk to him about, you know? I just need him not to judge me, and that's enough."

"That sounds fair," Katara nodded. She gave Azula a curious stare. "No chance of you having that kind of arrangement with your dad, is there?"

"Fuck no," Azula shook her head, taking a heavy sip of her cocktail before gesturing at a passing server to bring her another one.

"I was afraid you would say that," Katara sighed, regretting to have even brought up Ozai, because Azula's father was definitely one of those topics that seemed to bring conversations to a screeching halt.

"Anyway, moving on from that," Azula said decisively a while later, after she had been delivered a new strawberry daiquiri and she had already taken a few big sips. "I wanted to compliment you on your outfit, Katara. I think it's really cute," Azula said, sounding considerably tipsier by now. "Don't you agree that it's a very cute outfit?" Azula asked, looking at June.

"I definitely agree," June nodded earnestly. Katara shuddered in delight, feeling very warm as she felt two pairs of eyes unashamedly roaming all over her scantily clad body. "Also, a terrible choice if your plan is to infiltrate a lesbian bar all by yourself and you don't want to attract attention," June laughed.

"Well, I had no idea where Azula was heading on her date, but you're not wrong," Katara admitted. She then looked back at Azula. "Speaking of cute outfits… it's not exactly your style, but damn if it's not effective. Also, not very low profile."

"Oh, I didn't want it to be low profile. There's a difference between not being recognized and not being noticed, you know?" Azula grinned. "Because I don't want to be recognized, but I always want to be noticed. You're not wrong about it not being quite my style, though. This whole date was on a very short notice, so I ended up borrowing an outfit from a childhood friend."

"She seems to have great taste," Katara said, feeling curious. Azula had never mentioned having childhood friends before.

"Umm, the jury is still out on that," Azula laughed. "Maybe I'll introduce you at some point and then you can be the judge of that yourself."

"Anyway," June spoke up a while later. "Maybe you two want to finish your drinks and then we can get out of here?"

"Of course," Katara said, trying her best to keep her raging jealousy from rearing its ugly head. Of course, June wanted to get back to her date with Azula. "It's getting late, so definitely time for me to be on my way," she said, noticing the immediate look of disappointment on Azula's face.

"I was sure you'd want to join me and Azula at my place," June suggested with an alluring smile. "I have a feeling that Azula would like that."

"Y-yes," a very red-faced Azula squeaked. "Please, join us, Katara."

Katara felt like the heat that had been slowly building within her throughout this entire conversation suddenly erupted and threatened to consume her wholly. She knew that she was supposed to reject this offer, but at the same time, Katara fully acknowledged that her resolve to do the right thing was very weak and easily subverted. There was just no way she was going to turn down such a tempting offer. "Uh… alright, I'm in," Katara managed, certain that her blush was just as intense as Azula's.

"Glad you agreed," June grinned, looking very pleased with herself. "There's only so much of you two fucking with your eyes that I can take, so I would say it's definitely time for things to get real."

Waking up in an unfamiliar bed with her head ringing slightly in the throes of a hangover was not an experience that Katara was very accustomed to. That wasn't to say that it had never happened to her before, but it had been years since it had happened last. Opening her eyes, Katara tried to focus her thoughts, which was not easy with the room spinning gently around her. Her first and immediate regret was having had one too many drinks the previous evening. It probably wasn't going to be her last regret regarding this unplanned hookup, but for now, just focusing on her headache seemed like the most comforting plan.

Katara had woken up all alone in the large bed, with June and Azula already up. Even though Katara was slightly worried that Azula in particular might be having second thoughts about everything that had happened, Katara wasn't planning to hide in June's bedroom until any potential storms blew over. She needed to get up, get out there and face the consequences of their probably ill-considered liaison.

Someone had thoughtfully gathered Katara's clothes in a neat little pile on the nearby chair, which definitely wasn't where these garments had been discarded last night. Just remembering the delightful way in which June and Azula had teamed up to playfully undress her sent a powerful jolt through Katara's very core. The delightful memories of the previous night, one more arousing than the other, began to assault her, distracting Katara as she dressed herself. In the end, Katara was rather grateful to escape the bedroom where everything seemed to remind her about their recent sexual escapades, and those memories made Katara blush heatedly all over when thinking about them.

Katara hadn't paid too much attention to June's modest two room apartment last night. Before she could take a good look around this morning, she heard June calling out her name as soon as she closed the bedroom doors behind her. Katara quickly made her way towards June's voice, entering a cozy looking kitchen. June was wearing her sexy chemise nightwear with an apron around it, smiling at Katara as she pointed at the kitchen island. "I know you're going to say you're not hungry, but you'll want to get all of this down," she smiled, pointing at the grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of orange juice in front of Katara. "It'll help with the hangover."

"Thank you," Katara smiled, sitting down and happily digging in, trying to ignore the slightly nauseating sensations. "Did Azula leave already?" she asked, trying to hide her obvious disappointment.

"No, don't worry, she's in the shower," June smirked. Katara tried to listen in, hearing the sound of running water as well as muffled singing from the bathroom nearby. "So," June continued, facing Katara with an amused stare. "Last night. That was… fun, right?"

"Umm… it certainly was," Katara replied, blushing heatedly.

"I don't know why I thought that it was going to be your first time with a girl, but it clearly wasn't," June continued. "That said, first ever threesome?"

"Yes," Katara admitted. "When I was with Yue… uh, my high school sweetheart, we were thinking about inviting another girl to join us, but the opportunity simply never came up. Also, I just had no idea about the… you know, logistics of a lesbian threesome. I don't know why I was worried that someone would end up feeling left out."

"You are impossibly cute," June laughed, shaking her head. "Well, I'm glad to have introduced you to the concept of the daisy chain. As you may remember from last night, none of us had any reasons to feel left out."

"That's definitely one of the things I don't need to think about right now, but it's also something that will be impossible to forget," Katara gulped, trying to focus on the delicious grilled cheese sandwich in front of her.

"I think all three of us will remember this last night very fondly," June laughed softly. "Also, if you're concerned about Azula having regrets over what happened, then you shouldn't worry," June added a moment later. "She might be a little afraid of what it all means, however, but I'm sure the two of you can talk it out. I honestly didn't think I would ever see Azula so into someone. It's disgustingly cute."

"I'm sure you're exaggerating now," Katara said, even if she desperately hoped that June was not exaggerating.

"Come on, Katara," June gave her a slightly exasperated look. "I woke up in the middle of the night and it took me a moment to realize that you two were going for another round while desperately trying to remain subtle about it," June laughed as Katara turned away in embarrassment. "And you didn't even think to wake me up to join you, so yeah, I would say, you're both seriously into each other."

"Right," Katara remarked lamely, as she heard the bathroom doors opening and closing nearby. A few moments later, Azula stepped into the kitchen, looking impeccable in her borrowed sexy pink romper. "Good morning," Katara greeted her awkwardly.

"Morning," Azula replied with a slightly forced smile. "Umm, June? I don't mean to be rude since this is your apartment, but could you give me a moment alone with Katara?"

"Of course," June nodded, turning to leave. "I need to get properly dressed, anyway."

"Thank you," Azula said, looking grateful as June left them alone in the kitchen. Azula then sat down opposite to Katara, not saying anything for a while. At some point, their eyes met, but Azula quickly looked downward, letting out a heavy sigh. "Agni, I really don't want to have this conversation right now," she groaned.

"We don't have to," Katara suggested hopefully. She was quite certain that she wasn't going to like whatever Azula had to say. "I can pretty much imagine what you're going to say, anyway."

"A tempting suggestion, but I don't want any misunderstandings between us," Azula said, still looking down and avoiding Katara's eyes. "And I don't want you to think that this wasn't fun. It was… definitely some next level fun, compared to what I'm used to," Azula blushed lightly. "It's just that… there's a reason I never do this sort of thing with a coworker, you know? Things can get very messy, and I'm sure none of us want that. So, if we could just-"

"Just leave it at this," Katara finished, trying her hardest not to sound bitter. "Sure, I hear you. It was just a hookup, not a start to something… I don't know, a relationship, right? I mean, who wants that," Katara laughed awkwardly. "We're way too busy saving the restaurant to afford such distractions."

"Well, I'm glad we're both happy with keeping things at that," Azula said, suddenly sounding very stiff, which surprised Katara. Wasn't she just saying what Azula wanted to hear? But now Azula looked annoyed for some reason.

"As you said, it would be for the best if we kept things professional," Katara replied. "Friends?" she asked, offering her hand to Azula.

"Friends," Azula replied, shaking her hand and managing a slightly forced smile. "Also, Katara, please remember that you can't tell anyone about what happened. I hope that's not going to be a problem for you," Azula added, looking a little worried.

"It might be a problem, actually," Katara said. "I don't know how I'm supposed to keep this from Yue and Suki. I mean, Suki already knows that you were planning a date with a girl, and then the three of us planned this spy mission together. Suki and Yue already know the truth, Azula. And even if they didn't know the truth, are you seriously asking me to lie to two of my best friends?" Azula looked very guilty at that, causing Katara's frown to soften.

"Well, no, I wouldn't want to upset your friendships with Suki and Yue," Azula admitted. "I was just thinking that… maybe they don't need to know that we, uh, had sex." Azula blushed adorably at that.

"I don't know about that. It would still require me lying to my friends," Katara sighed. "But when I talk to them, I can try to make sure that everything about this remains with them and doesn't spread."

"Thanks, Katara. I really appreciate that," Azula said, looking both grateful and relieved. "You know how important it is that none of this reaches the ears of my father, right?" Azula continued, still sounding a tad worried. "So, I just want to be perfectly clear that we're good. We are good, aren't we?"

"Of course," Katara smiled, reaching out to affectionally pat Azula's hand. "We're next level good, Azula."

"Alright, that's great to hear," Azula blushed lightly as she reluctantly removed her hand and rose from her seat. "I really should run now, though. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I think it would be for the best if we didn't leave together. I know it's unlikely, but what if someone snaps a picture of us leaving together and it sends the tongues waggling?"

"That just wouldn't do," Katara shook her head.

"Exactly!" Azula agreed happily. "So, please give it a few minutes after I've left before you leave as well, okay?" Katara nodded at that. Azula looked pleased as she walked off to exchange a few words with June before leaving the apartment. Meanwhile, Katara was left alone in the kitchen to try and digest everything that had happened.

With so much on her mind, it was only now that Katara remembered to check her phone, groaning when she noticed how many missed calls and messages had accumulated since last night. Yue and Suki had gone into panic mode and their inquiries about the investigation had turned into calls for missing person search when Katara had failed to respond to their text messages. Katara fired off a quick message to reassure everyone that she was alive and well, wondering just how she had gotten so carried away to not realize that Suki and Sokka would both start to worry after she didn't return home the previous evening. Already, Suki and Yue were replying to her text, bombarding Katara with demands for an explanation. It didn't help that somewhere in that pile of messages, Katara also stumbled upon a text from Suki which informed her that Suki and Sokka had decided to officially end their relationship. Even if by now it was a mere formality, it made Katara feel so much worse when she thought more and more about just what she had done.

So many things often felt like terrible ideas the morning after, and this little affair was starting to feel like one of these terrible ideas to Katara. She was only supposed to spy on Azula and learn more about who she was hooking up with. She definitely wasn't supposed to sleep with Azula. And sure, Katara didn't exactly regret the act itself because it had been the best sex she'd ever had, but Katara also knew that if the roles were reversed and either Yue or Suki had decided to take their shot when it was more or less agreed to be a joint operation, Katara would be pissed at them.

And as good as sex with Azula had been (also June was there too, Katara supposed), Katara still intended to apologize to Yue and Suki, and beg them for forgiveness as humbly as she needed to. She did not want to ruin the most important friendships of her life for what was essentially a one-night stand, because Azula had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to leave their hookup in the past and move on from it. And Katara knew that she had to move on from it as well… she just wasn't sure if she could do it as easily as Azula could.

Chapter Text

Katara knew that after she had given Sokka, Suki and Yue a massive scare by going MIA throughout the entire night, she was going to face an interrogation squad once she got back to the restaurant. There was no escaping this fate, so Katara saw no reason to delay this unpleasant experience, arriving at the upstairs apartment to receive a stern talking to from her brother and her best friends.

Sokka fired the opening shots, doing a bit of shouting first, then tearfully hugging Katara while expressing his relief and gratitude for her safety. He had then given her a long monologue about her responsibilities as a sister and as a friend, before finally demanding an explanation of just where she had spent the night. While Katara was ready to tell the truth of what had really happened to Suki and Yue, she didn't exactly want Sokka to know that she had slept with Azula and her gorgeous date. So, Katara had instead gone for an evasive story about going clubbing with Azula and then staying at her friend's place for the night. Sokka decided to buy it before retreating downstairs to start prepping for the upcoming services, while Suki and Yue remained behind, both of them giving Katara skeptical stares.

"I have so many questions for you," Yue was the first to speak up after Sokka had left them alone.

"Yes, that story didn't make any sense," Suki shook her head. "If you went clubbing with Azula, what happened with her date?"

"Ignore that story, I had to give Sokka a sanitized version because the truth is just so much more insane," Katara sighed.

"Insane in what way?" Yue demanded. "Come on, Katara, spill it, we're dying here!"

"Alright, I was always going to tell you the truth, even if you might hate me afterwards," Katara spoke reluctantly, before reciting the whole sordid adventure of the previous night to Suki and Yue, a story so wild that it made the eyes of her best friends go as wide as saucers.

"You… you had a threesome involving Azula?" Yue gasped, jumping up to her feet and starting to pace back and forth, appearing very animated.

"Damn it, Kat, you were supposed to just spy on her, not to sleep with her!" Suki glared at Katara. "That wasn't what we agreed upon. I barely got a wink of sleep last night, worrying where you were, and now it turns out that you've been having sex with Azula and her date."

"Yes, you really made us worried! And also, can I just say that it was really unfair that you used these circumstances for your benefit?" Yue nodded, looking very upset. Seeing Yue angry was a very rare sight, and Katara saw the reaction of her friends as an indication of how badly she had messed up. "I think we were all in favor of a friendly competition, but it just doesn't feel right that you decided to take your shot when we didn't expect you to do that."

"Yeah, you kind of blindsided us, Kat," Suki said sternly. "I thought we were better friends than this. It just feels like a very selfish thing to do."

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm really, really sorry," Katara apologized desperately. "I don't know what came over me. There's something about Azula that robs me of all common sense, and since I was also very tipsy, it just seemed like a great idea when it clearly wasn't." Katara thought for a moment. "Wait, that almost sounded like I blame Azula or the alcohol, but I don't. I could have said no at any time. I messed up, there's no two ways about it. I fully admit it."

"Well, admitting it is a good start," Yue said, looking a little less upset.

"How can I make it better?" Katara asked pleadingly. "You both being angry with me hurts so much. If there's anything I can do-"

"Well, you probably have Azula's ear now," Suki said, sounding a little bitter. "Maybe you can use that advantage to help me and Yue get with Azula as well. Then we wouldn't have any reason to stay angry with you."

"That sounds fair," Yue seemed only happy to agree. "Azula could make much more informed decisions after she has slept with all three of us."

"Uh…" Katara gulped, wincing at what she was about to say. "I'm sorry, but during the whole morning after, Azula gave me this whole big speech about how she usually never sleeps with coworkers and how this sort of thing can never happen again. So, as much as I would love to help you, girls, I… I may have ruined it for all of us."

Yue halted in her tracks, letting out a muffled cry of frustration at Katara's explanation. Suki got up from her seat and also began pacing before coming to a halt and letting out a string of expletives. "Of course, it figures that Azula would come up with that stipulation after she has slept with you," Suki glared accusingly. "That's just very convenient, isn't it?"

"It's not convenient at all," Katara replied. "She's not going to sleep with me, either."

"Yeah, but least you already got a taste, while Suki and I are left starving," Yue sighed. "This is so depressing," Yue sighed, sitting down on the sofa. Katara winced inwardly as she watched Yue's anger visibly dissipating, being replaced by a sad and heartbroken look.

"I know," Suki said, sitting down next to Yue and putting an arm around her shoulders. "With the way everything ended with Sokka, I was really hoping for some fun and sexy distractions with Azula, but I guess there's no hope of that now."

Katara felt a powerful wave of self-loathing rising within her as she took in the disappointed and sad faces of her best friends. What had she been thinking last night? In less than six months, Azula would be gone from their lives. Perhaps they would stay in touch, perhaps Azula would visit now and then, but given how busy she was, there were no certainties. The likelihood of them having something permanent was close to non-existent. That would require Azula to come out of the closet for Katara, anger her father and most likely be disinherited. Azula was never going to make that kind of insane life choice for her, and Katara knew that she had no right to ask Azula to do it.

Everything that had to do with Azula was essentially a pipe dream, but her friendships with Yue and Suki were very real. Katara wanted the three of them to remain friends for life, and she was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen. Even if deep down Katara didn't feel great about the idea of either Yue or Suki having sex with Azula, she was still going to help her friends over the incredibly miniscule chance of having a real relationship with Azula.

"I think you two are giving up too easily," Katara spoke up in a determined voice.

"What do you mean, Kat?" Yue asked.

"I mean that Azula has already proven several times that she has serious difficulties resisting our charms, right?" Katara smiled knowingly. "Just because she says that she doesn't hook up with coworkers as a rule, it doesn't mean that we can't get her to break these rules for us. I think if you two were to turn on the flirting, Azula will cave. And if you need my help to make that happen, well, you shall have it."

"You'd do that for us?" Yue gasped. "Whoa, I'm sorry for doubting you, Kat. You're a real one."

"Yes," Suki nodded eagerly. "Forget what I said about you not being a good friend, Kat. I was upset."

"Rightfully upset," Katara smiled.

"Yeah, maybe, but you're clearly an amazing friend," Suki smiled back at her. "And sure, you messed up, but if I'm being completely honest, were I in the same situation as you were last night, I would have probably struggled to turn down sex with Azula."

"Wait, are you saying that you would have done the same as I did?" Katara laughed incredulously when Suki nodded at her.

"Hey, don't laugh, I think I would have chosen to sleep with Azula as well," Yue admitted. "Even if I would feel terribly guilty afterwards."

"Yes, that's kind of how I feel right now," Katara sighed.

"Oh, please don't," Yue shook her head insistently. "You promised to help me and Suki. You're clearly a good friend."

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Katara asked hopefully.

Suki and Yue exchanged stares. "Alright, you're forgiven," Suki smiled. "As long as you promise not to mess up like that again."

"I'll try my best," Katara promised. "I'm so sorry that I allowed my thirst for Azula to make me forget my loyalty to my besties. It won't happen again."

"I believe you," Yue smiled broadly as the threesome joined in a warm and welcoming group hug. "Now, there's less than an hour remaining before the service begins, so Azula should be arriving at any moment. Let's see if we can really turn on the charm, Suki."

"Indeed," Suki grinned. "And hopefully, Azula will be in an amazing mood, having boinked Katara here…"

Azula arrived at The Northern Lights in a terribly downcast mood, which was an unpleasant surprise to Azula herself, considering that the previous night had been one of the most fun nights in her life. Sex with Katara (and June) had been amazing, but then she had ruined the morning after bliss by telling Katara that she could not keep doing something like this with her coworkers.

Obviously, Azula had done the right thing by drawing a line and establishing clear boundaries at their shared workplace, but knowing that didn't exactly make Azula feel better. Denying herself like this was bound to make the rest of her stay at The Northern Lights pure torture, where every time Azula looked at Katara, she would be reminded on just what she was missing out on. With Suki and Yue also there, equally tempting and attractive, Azula knew that her resolve would be tested, but she fully intended to persevere and not give in to her thirsty urges.

And really, what choice did she have? Azula knew that she was already taking way too many risks by hooking up with gorgeous women through the dating app. It was merely a matter of time before her father found out about one of her liaisons. Her only hope was that by the time Ozai discovered the truth, she would have decisively defeated Zuko and cast him into the oblivion of discarded spares. If Azula managed to fully ingratiate herself into her father's empire and become near irreplaceable, Azula figured that she stood a decent chance of surviving Ozai's ire when her sexual deviancy was finally exposed.

The continued tensions in the restaurant's kitchen merely added to Azula's foul mood, already soured by having told Katara that they couldn't keep hooking up. Azula had felt somewhat mollified the previous day after Sokka had accepted his demotion to sous chef, but Azula wasn't sure if this solution would stick. It wasn't as if Sokka had performed great as Suki's second in command.

Also, Azula was suspicious of the ease with which Sokka had accepted the demotion. Something felt off after he had so stubbornly fought to be reinstated as the head chef. Was Sokka up to something, or was she simply being paranoid? It didn't help that the first thing Azula learned when she showed up for the lunch service was Aang pulling her aside to whisper the news of Sokka and Suki finally breaking up for good. While that in itself was no surprise to Azula, she couldn't help thinking that the timing of the breakup felt suspicious. Was Sokka plotting to drive Suki out of the restaurant altogether? Azula couldn't quite believe that Sokka would do something so idiotic, but she resolved to remain vigilant.

Azula was definitely not at her best as the lunch service began because her thoughts were constantly returning to Katara and the night they had spent together. Azula felt as if Katara was also keeping her distance because she rarely appeared in the kitchen and most of the time it was Yue delivering tickets, bringing back the empty plates and picking up prepared orders from the window. Azula's mind was racing, wondering if Katara was upset with her for the conversation earlier this morning, and that thought really hurt and made it hard for Azula to focus.

Still, distracted as Azula was, at some point during the service she noticed a rather annoyed looking Yue returning a mostly untouched plate to the kitchen and quickly swiping its contents into the garbage bin before walking away. Perplexed by what she had seen, Azula immediately chased after the blonde waitress, managing to catch Yue before she had reentered the dining room. "Yue," Azula called out, catching the blonde by the hand and forcing her to stop. "Did someone just send their plate back?"

"They sure did," Yue nodded, not looking too bothered.

"And you just swiped it into garbage and didn't tell anyone?" Azula asked, feeling incredulous. She thought they were past this crappy communication where the waitstaff just took for granted that some of their food was going to suck. "You're supposed to tell the kitchen staff if there's a problem! They need to know!"

"Like they didn't know there was going to be a problem," Yue sighed, looking very frustrated.

"I'm going to need you to explain that," Azula glared.

"Didn't you see me making a fuss when I picked up the order?" Yue asked, giving Azula a searching stare, making Azula blush heatedly. She had probably been daydreaming about getting lost in Katara's kisses once again. "I knew that plate was going to come back, but Sokka told me to serve it anyway," Yue said.

"He did, huh?" Azula frowned. "Well, what was wrong with it?"

"He burned the fries," Yue snorted.

"He… burned the fries?!" Azula gasped. This was a shocking level of incompetence, even for Sokka. "How do you even burn the fries?"

"Don't ask me, I certainly have never done that," Yue shrugged. "That's the second plate that came back today, by the way. In case you also missed the first one."

"I'm sorry, I was busy with the… with the… err…" Azula flailed for some kind of excuse, but the only things that came to her mind all had something to do with Katara, which certainly wasn't something she was going to say, especially not to Yue.

"Well, I'm sure it was important, whatever it was," Yue chuckled, looking amused at Azula's helplessness. "Let me help you out, then. The mashed potatoes that go with the reindeer sausage had way too much garlic. That customer had an important business meeting later in the afternoon. I think he had a good reason for not wanting to knock someone unconscious with an overpowering garlic breath."

"I would have to agree," Azula admitted. "Anyway, thank you, Yue. I'll let you get back to it," she said, stepping aside. Yue flashed her a quick smile before rushing back into the dining room.

Azula returned to the kitchen with a growing determination to keep an exceptionally close eye on Sokka. Struggling to handle a new menu or failing to execute the more challenging dishes was one thing, but Sokka was ruining sides that should have been easy to handle for a small child. Azula still didn't want to believe it, but she was starting to suspect that perhaps there was some sabotage at work here.

It didn't take Azula long to realize that Sokka's mistakes early in the service had put the entire kitchen into the weeds and Suki was struggling mightily to pull them out. However, because Suki was both cooking and running the pass, it was very difficult to catch up, which meant that it was doubly important to never fall too far behind. Also, aside from handling sides, Sokka was also expediting, which meant that he had the final call on plating and quality control, and it was his ultimate responsibility for what went out. But with mistakes, or perhaps intentional sabotage early in the service, Suki now felt forced to pitch in with expo just to make sure that Sokka was not sending out any more crap. This further slowed down Suki and Azula could see the auburn-haired girl's frustration mounting rapidly.

Even if Azula was watching Sokka like a hawk, she was having a hard time detecting any obvious wrongdoing because it was simply very hard to tell where Sokka's incompetence ended and where possibly intentional acts of sabotage began. Still, when a few minutes later a customer sent back another plate, complaining about overly salty mashed potatoes, Azula knew that she had to do something.

"Sokka! This is inedible!" Azula yelled, having tasted the mashed potatoes herself. The amount of salt in the mash was making her eyes water.

"What?" Sokka looked surprised as he came over to have a quick taste himself. "What are you talking about? It's not that salty," he shrugged, walking back to his station.

"It's not fine, and I refuse to believe that you don't know it," Azula wouldn't let up. She followed Sokka to his station and scooped up some mash from the pot Sokka had just remade after he had ruined the previous batch by adding all the garlic in the world to it. "Disgusting," Azula shuddered, realizing that it had been completely ruined by an unreasonable amount of salt. She took another spoonful and forced Suki to have a taste while she was busy coating a steak in coarsely crushed peppercorns.

"That's way too much salt, Sokka," Suki said. Somehow, she managed to retain a calm tone of voice despite obviously feeling furious. "Are we seriously going down because of mashed potatoes? Like, are you seriously kidding me now?"

"I'll fix it," Sokka said with determination. "I'll add some cream to it. Or maybe some more cheese? Everyone loves extra cheese with their mash."

"You're going to fix the issue of mash being too salty by adding salty cheese to it?!" Azula shouted, feeling like she was about to lose it completely. Sokka had to be messing up intentionally, there could be no question about it. He could not possibly be this dumb, surely.

Sokka cringed at Azula's shouting. "Alright, maybe not cheese then," he tried. "But adding cream should help, right?"

"No!" Azula hissed. "No, it's not going to help, Sokka! You're breaking one of the simplest and most basic kitchen rules right now. You can always add more salt, but you can't take salt out of the dish!"

"Right," Sokka sighed. "Well, I'll start making a new batch then, I guess."

"No, you're not going to start a new batch. In fact, you're done," Azula snarled. She gave Aang a piercing stare that seemed to make him shiver. "Aang, jump in and take over from Sokka. You are coming with me, mister," she grabbed Sokka by the neck of his chef's jacket and dragged him out of the kitchen.

"Okay, can I just say that you are totally overreacting here," Sokka exclaimed, having wrestled himself free just outside the kitchen. "I got off to a bad start, but that's no reason to kick me out. This isn't one of your dad's Hell's Kitchen shows."

"I didn't kick you out because you were making mistakes!" Azula hissed at Sokka. "I kicked you out because you were sabotaging Suki!"

"What?" Sokka looked genuinely shocked at the accusation. In fact, his reaction seemed so earnest that it made Azula pause and reconsider whether she was going too far in accusing Sokka of something he genuinely hadn't tried to do.

"Come on, those mistakes were too basic even for you," Azula still decided to press on with her charges, on the off chance that she could be right about the sabotage. "You were trying to make Suki look bad!"

"I… I wasn't!" Sokka protested. Still, the brief but palpable moment of hesitation was all that Azula needed to feel validated about her accusations.

"Agni, I don't believe you!" Azula exclaimed. "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to get Suki to quit by acting like this? Is that what you really want, to see her leave the restaurant? Well, I won't let you send this restaurant down in flames, do you hear me?"

Sokka briefly looked horrified before straightening up and appearing defiant. "I was not sabotaging Suki and I definitely don't want her to leave the restaurant," Sokka insisted. "And now I'm going back in there," Sokka said, trying to head back into the kitchen, but Azula blocked his path. "Are you serious? I'm the owner! You can't keep me out of my own kitchen!"

"Watch me," Azula threatened, assuming a battle stance. "I'll fight you, and I'm not even joking. You're not going back into that kitchen."

"You're completely insane," Sokka snapped, finally also losing his temper. "Fine, you win, or whatever. I'm not going to fight you over this… not now, in the middle of service. But this isn't over and you know it," Sokka added before turning around and walking off, pushing past his sister, Katara standing behind them in the hallway with a shocked look on her face, probably from having overheard the end of their confrontation.

"What happened?" Katara gasped, walking up to Azula.

"What happened is that I'm just about done with your brother," Azula replied, still hot from the previous argument. "He was trying to throw Suki under the bus and sink our service!"

"I… are you sure?" Katara looked incredulous. "I know Sokka can be stubborn and his ego often gets in the way, but I just can't believe that he would intentionally do something that hurts our business. There must be some misunderstanding here, Azula."

"There was no misunderstanding, only sabotage," Azula snapped, her levels of annoyance only rising because Katara refused to take her word for granted. "Or are you the expert now? You weren't even in the kitchen!"

"Yes, of course," Katara said quickly, backing down. "So, what now?" she asked.

"Well, you're the general manager, aren't you?" Azula fixed Katara with a firm stare. "There's only one thing to do. You have to fire Sokka."

Katara looked horrified. "Are you crazy?" she gasped. "I can't do that!"

"Then what good are you as a general manager? These are some of the tough decisions that a GM has to make, Katara," Azula said sharply. Katara simply stared at her in a wide-eyed disbelief. "If you can't do this, Katara, then you can't be the general manager. I'm sorry, but that's the brutal truth."

"Fine!" Katara exclaimed. She was clearly fighting back tears. "Then I won't be the GM. It's already clear to me that neither you nor anyone else here believe that I can be good in that role, so whatever, I quit!" Katara turned around and dashed upstairs, leaving Azula standing there with a stunned look on her face.

"What do you mean, 'I quit', you can't quit being an owner, Katara!" Azula shouted after her, but in response, Katara merely slammed the doors of the upstairs apartment shut.

Azula sucked air through her teeth while punching the wall in frustration at the Water Tribe siblings and their drama. Obviously, Katara wasn't really going to quit, and nor was Sokka, but Azula needed to find more fitting roles for them both, and she needed to do it quickly before ruining her relationships with both Katara and Sokka. And Azula doubted that after this incident, either of the siblings would be very receptive to her suggestions.

Azula's anger slowly began to subside, but only to give room to swiftly growing frustrations. She still felt justified in chewing out Sokka for what she was still reasonably sure was an attempted sabotage. But she had definitely been too harsh on Katara, who had showed up at the wrong time only to catch the fallout from the previous confrontation. And sure, maybe Azula had been itching for a fight all morning, but Katara was the last person she wanted to fight with.

Ever since the early morning, after she had told Katara that they couldn't keep hooking up, Azula's annoyance and anger levels had been spiking. It wasn't annoyance with Katara, but rather with Azula herself, because shooting Katara down was the opposite of what she actually wanted. Angry with herself, Azula was only too happy to lash out, but she had never meant to lash out at Katara. Now she had made everything worse, and nobody else but her could fix this.

Still, fixing her mistakes would have to wait. Abandoning her fellow cooks in the middle of service was unacceptable to Azula, so she lightly punched the wall one more time before turning around and returning to the kitchen.

At the end of a very frustrating Thursday, Sokka was in a foul mood. The dinner service was presumably proceeding smoothly downstairs, while he found himself banished from the kitchen and stubbornly refusing to help out in other ways until Azula apologized for her unfounded accusations of sabotage and allowed him to return to the kitchen.

Still, even if Sokka continued to maintain that he had not tried to sabotage Suki, he had to admit to himself that the truth was a little bit more complex than that. He had accepted this demotion from the head chef in hopes that perhaps Suki might struggle just a little bit, or at least stop being so damn near perfect. And he'd certainly known not to add as much garlic to the mashed potatoes as he had done, but then again, Sokka liked his food extra garlicky, so he was just making it the way he liked. When it came to the burned fries, that mistake was also down to Sokka cooking to his personal preferences, when he should have been thinking about the customer expectations instead, but he was willing to sign a statement written in his own blood swearing that his intent had never been to outright sabotage Suki.

The truth was that after the break caused by Sokka slicing off a chunk of his finger, he was having a tough time settling back into the kitchen. The new menu still felt overwhelming even after a week of practicing, some of the plating choices continued to confuse him, and even more concerning, Sokka felt very apprehensive while working with his chef's knife again. Every cut and slice felt hesitant, and his fears of cutting himself made him work even slower than usual. The chill attitude he had employed over the first few days back in the kitchen was just a mask and deep inside Sokka had been extremely stressed. That was the real reason why he had oversalted the mashed potatoes. Due to his nervousness, Sokka had simply lost count of how many times he had already seasoned the mash, and his palate clearly couldn't tell the difference between a pinch of salt and half a dozen pinches.

The thing that stuck out for Sokka, and in a way hurt the most, was how nobody in the kitchen had stood up for him, not even Aang, his best friend. Certainly, nobody, not even Suki had jumped in to support Azula's wild sabotage accusations, but also nobody had said anything when Azula had dragged him out of the kitchen. Sokka refused to believe that the others feared Azula too much to even speak up, so it felt like they all agreed with Azula that Sokka's place just wasn't in the kitchen.

Under any other circumstances, this overwhelming skepticism from the others would simply force him to knuckle down and work even harder to prove them wrong. However, even if he was still mad at Azula for accusing him of sabotage, she had also said something that Sokka himself had not even considered for some stupid reason. Sokka suddenly realized that in this misguided competition for the position of the head chef, he hadn't considered the very real possibility that now that they had broken up for good, Suki could just up and leave because he was making the conditions in the kitchen intolerable for her. And the end of their romantic relationship wasn't supposed to bring an end to their friendship. Sokka would never want that, and he hoped that Suki would remain a part of his circle of closest friends forever, even if lately he had been making things very hard for her.

Sokka had no idea what any of this meant going forward. All he knew was that he was still desperate to help the restaurant succeed, so he wasn't going to let Azula push him out entirely. If everyone believed that the business functioned better without him in the kitchen… well, maybe it was time for him to face some hard truths. But if he couldn't be in the kitchen, then where did he see himself? Perhaps he could ask Azula, but what if she had already decided that he was worthless and needed to go?

And even if the tensions in the kitchen had been mostly of his own making, at the end of the day, the feeling of being ostracized hurt. Not that he could blame the others for the way they had acted. Reflecting on his own behavior, Sokka had to admit that lately he probably hadn't been very fun to be around. Perhaps he had been staring at some of the perceived issues at the restaurant for too long. Perhaps he had developed a tunnel vision, looking at things too narrowly and seeing himself only in the kitchen. Perhaps it was time to do something radical, like… like taking the rest of the week off? It would be something he hadn't done in… how many years, three, maybe four? He'd taken a few days off four years ago after getting his wisdom tooth extracted, something he still felt guilty for – and how sick was that?

An idea was starting to form in Sokka's mind and he was liking it more and more, convincing him that it was time to do something he hadn't done in years, such as hitting a bar on a Thursday night, enjoying a few drinks and if he was lucky, maybe meeting a cute girl looking to hook up. Katara wasn't the only one who was allowed to go clubbing on a workday evening. It was time for Sokka to go out and enjoy himself on a night full of wild entertainment, and hopefully, come the morning, instead of a hangover, it would provide him with a fresh perspective on the issues at the restaurant.

"Well, another day, another dollar earned, right?" Ty Lee said, propping her legs up on the desk in Mai's office. At the end of the dinner service, she was still dressed in her cute waitress outfit, with the two top buttons strategically unbuttoned and a push-up bra for added effect. Not that Ty Lee really needed a push-up bra, but she liked to go all out to create a lasting impression.

"Another successful day, as much as it surprises me," Mai admitted. She was wearing a suit of synthetic black leather. The overall vibe of her outfit made it easy to believe that hunting down customers who dared to leave a bad review was something she routinely engaged in after work hours. "Despite his many failings as a restaurant owner, I have to admit that Zuko is a damn good cook. It's helpful having this positive word of mouth spreading across the city."

"Is there any positive word of mouth about the service?" Ty Lee asked curiously. It hadn't taken much effort to get Jin onboard with the slightly more risqué dress code and Ty Lee loved her fellow waitress for it. Even if Jin had probably agreed only because she was hoping to catch Zuko's eye.

"Oh, everyone loves our waitresses," Mai nodded. "Even if one of them appears ready to engage in violence as soon as someone criticizes the chef's food. Ten bucks if you can guess who they're talking about." They both shared a laugh at that.

"So, everyone loves us, hmm," Ty Lee mused. "I wonder if it's too soon to ask for a raise?" she winked at her bestie.

"Just a little too soon," Mai rolled her eyes. "Let's keep the doors open for one full month before we talk about any bonuses, shall we?"

"Fair," Ty Lee laughed. "I guess you need to get used to the weird realization that this hasn't been a total disaster."

"That I fully expected it to be, yes," Mai snorted. "And why wouldn't I expect it? Zuko is a brilliant chef, but he's completely oblivious and has zero social skills or any kind of manners. Our two waitresses are constantly straddling the line of sexual misconduct towards the customers. My personal assistant is a randy college dropout who thinks of little else than getting into my pants. The sous chef seems competent, but she's thirsting after my boyfriend while being on the run from her violent ex. The janitor-"

"The plumbalist," Ty Lee corrected quickly.

"The plumbalist is the dodgiest character I've ever met and I would have never retained him on the payroll if not for his unprecedent ability to spontaneously produce high-quality marijuana," Mai sighed. "Honestly, we have no right to be successful with this roster, but somehow, it's actually working."

"Speaking of Jet and On Ji," Ty Lee said, giving her friend a conspiring wink. "Did you see those two sneaking out together earlier?"

"No?" Mai looked surprised. "I'm relieved to hear it, though. Maybe On Ji will stop making eyes at Zuko now."

"Maybe," Ty Lee shrugged. "She's not the only one making eyes at Zuko, though."

"Well, yeah, everyone knows about Jin, she's not exactly subtle," Mai snorted.

"I wasn't talking about Jin, actually," Ty Lee smirked. Mai gave her a tense stare. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how much time Jet spends around Zuko in the kitchen?"

Mai looked rather taken aback. "I thought it was just some neolithic male bonding ritual," she said thoughtfully. "Are you saying there might be more to it?"

"I mean… I'm pretty sure there is," Ty Lee nodded confidently. "I think Jet isn't as dumb as he looks. He's pretty perceptive, actually. Maybe he has picked up on something about Zuko. You know, that thing we both know about, but Zuko himself probably refuses to acknowledge."

"I still don't understand how he could possibly refuse to acknowledge the truth when we walked in on him vigorously jerking off to gay porn with two guys sucking each other off," Mai rolled her eyes.

"Well, Zuko is great at self-deception and making stupid excuses," Ty Lee laughed. "What did he say that time? 'Well, you know, I jerk off to the weirdest things.'"

"It's not even a lie, though," Mai laughed. "Remember that time when we walked in on him jerking off to the lava bug from Starship Troopers?"

"Yeah, that was gross, thanks for the reminder," Ty Lee shuddered.

"Anyway, it would be really annoying if Zuko at some point down the line came out as gay," Mai sighed. "I think it would justify violence. Wouldn't you say so?"

"Oh, definitely," Ty Lee nodded. "He better be at least bisexual. I think he is. I mean, I think what you have is real."

"I hope so," Mai said, suddenly looking a little uncertain. "Sometimes I feel like he takes me for granted. Sometimes I think I should just let him explore and figure out what exactly it is that he wants. But then I become gripped with fear that he won't come back to me, so… I don't know what would be the best."

"Aww," Ty Lee sighed. "I still think Zuko cares a crazy amount for you, and I think he'll eventually prove it." Mai gave Ty Lee a stare that was full of gratitude, despite being a tad skeptical. "Anyway, are you going to stick around for much longer?" Ty Lee asked. "If you are, then I'm going to make a cup of coffee for Jin."

"I'm just waiting for Zuko to be done in the kitchen. I have no idea what's taking him so long," Mai shrugged. "But sure, go ahead and make coffee for our crazy stalker as she waits in her car to stalk us again."

"Stalker is such an ugly word," Ty Lee frowned. "I prefer to use guardian angel instead. And I totally wish I had one myself. Of course, if they were as cute as Jin, I would invite them in and have steamy sex with them."

"And have your throat violently slit in the aftermath," Mai rolled her eyes.

"Nah, that sort of thing only happens on crime news," Ty Lee shrugged.

"Ty Lee, would it scar you for life to know that crime news actually reports on real life events?" Mai sighed, looking exasperated.

"Maybe," Ty Lee chuckled. "But whatever, okay, I can pass on the stalker. I'll settle for a love interest with a seriously sexy ex, or multiple exes, all of whom make me feel insecure and intimidated, but also kind of flattered that my love interest has chosen to be with me instead."

"That sounds a lot healthier, at least in comparison to the stalker," Mai said.

"Anyway, we were talking about Jin, so can we at least agree that she is harmless?" Ty Lee asked.

"I would have agreed with that statement if not for the Tuesday incident," Mai snorted. Tuesday evening, Jin had tried climbing the tall willow tree in front of Mai and Zuko's apartment complex, but a branch had snapped under her weight and she had fallen from the height of several yards, landing on the roof of her car and making a large dent. Ty Lee still couldn't believe Jin hadn't seriously hurt herself. "She might not be a danger to me and Zuko, but she's certainly a danger to herself."

"True, but she means well," Ty Lee smiled. "I totally believe her when she said that she only climbed the tree because she thought she saw a strange shadow lurking around your balcony."

"It was probably our neighbor's crazy cat," Mai said. "I don't know why, but that cat really has it in for Zuko. Whenever Zuko leaves some of his stuff out on the balcony, that menace of a cat will be there to spray all over it."

"Wildlife still hates Zuko," Ty Lee chuckled. "I guess some things will never change."

"It's probably because Zuko is such an animal himself," Mai laughed. She looked up to see movement just outside her office. "Anyway, it looks like Zuko is finally ready to leave. Jin will just have to do without her coffee, I guess."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Ty Lee smiled as Zuko entered the office with a large Tupperware under his left arm.

"Can we go already?" Zuko asked, sounding impatient as he looked at Mai. "It's getting late."

"I was ready to leave an hour ago," Mai growled, reaching out to power down her desktop. "Stop making it sound like you've been waiting for me all this time."

"What were you up to in that kitchen all this time, Zuko?" Ty Lee asked quickly before another lover's quarrel could break out.

"Well, I thought of a new pasta dish and I decided to make it for us to have back at home," Zuko replied, nodding at the Tupperware under his arm.

"Aww, you cooked dinner for Mai?" Ty Lee swooned. "That's so sweet!"

"Well, it's for Mai and me," Zuko corrected her. "I don't plan to go starving tonight."

"Sure, but why would you correct me on this?" Ty Lee sighed, shaking her head. Zuko was absolutely hopeless at romantic gestures, regardless of how many times Ty Lee had tried to help him over the years. "Cooking dinner for Mai is a positive thing! Take credit for it! You should have said that yes, you totally cooked a romantic dinner for Mai."

"Oh," Zuko managed. Ty Lee could literally hear gears whirring and creaking in his head. "Uh, what she said," he told Mai awkwardly, while pointing at Ty Lee.

"What she said? How romantic," Mai snorted as she rose to join Zuko. The kiss she gave her boyfriend was tender and lingering, however, and Ty Lee was happy to note that Mai appeared touched by Zuko's thoughtful gesture. "And what about you, Ty?" Mai turned towards her before leaving the office. "Any plans for tonight?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about how unbearable this dry spell of couple of weeks is becoming," Ty Lee chuckled. "So, I'm going to hit a nightclub or a bar and see if I can hook up with someone sweet and sexy."

"Well, good luck with that," Zuko snorted.

"I don't think Ty Lee really needs luck to hook up with whoever she wants to," Mai gave Zuko a light bop on the head before steering him out of the office and leaving Ty Lee to lock up before she left as well.

When Ty Lee finally left the restaurant, she did so in high spirits. Azula had texted her earlier in the morning, thanking her for the borrowed romper that had apparently gotten her epically laid. Ty Lee thought that it was a good omen, feeling excited and hopeful about scoring big herself when she went out later tonight.

"Can I just ask something one more time, because I'm not sure I understand?" On Ji asked, looking up at Jet. They were back at Jet's apartment, getting very cozy in his bedroom. On Ji was already down to her bra and panties, while Jet still had his pants on. "How is sleeping with you going to help me get with Zuko?"

"I thought I already explained," Jet sighed. "I know what Zuko prefers, we're like besties. I'm a good judge of whether you stand a chance of getting with Zuko, and I can give you important tips on what you need to improve on. I just get Zuko, you know? We're like two peas in a pod."

"Alright… makes sense," On Ji smiled nervously, starting to kiss him again. Jet used the opportunity to unhook her bra, but then she pulled away again, much to his frustration. "Although… didn't he cuss you out earlier this morning? I thought I heard him calling you the worst employee of all time."

"He was just trying to get a rise out of me," Jet laughed. "You know, we have something of a rivalmance going on. That's just how tight Zuko and I are. Now, let's get back to what we were doing, shall we?" Jet said impatiently, pulling On Ji close to resume the kissing while at the same time unhooking his belt and gently but firmly pushing On Ji's hand further down to help remove his pants.

Over the weekend, Jet had finally gotten in touch with a vet recommended to him by a trusted friend on 4chan. Apparently the procedure to finally fix his balls for good was very similar to repairing a cow's udder, which was apparently a very common injury because cows liked to jump fences, a fact not known by many. In any case, the procedure had been fairly cheap, but effective, and it had allowed Jet to move on to the next stage of his master plan, which was to get On Ji and Jin to fall for him, thus removing them as rivals for Zuko's attention.

"I'm sorry," On Ji asked again a while later, when she was down to her panties and Jet was already on top of her, with things about to become very interesting. "But what on earth is a rivalmance?"

"Look, it… it wasn't a great comparison, because Zuko and I aren't technically neither rivals nor in a romance," Jet sighed, wondering if they would ever get to have sex at this rate. "I was just trying to come up with a word to describe a really tight relationship between two guys who argue all the time and seemingly can't stand each other, but are actually closer than anyone else suspects."

Jet leaned in to hopefully cut off any other questions with a passionate kiss, but On Ji spoke up yet again. "So, kind of a bromance, only more contentious?" she smiled.

"Yes… yes, exactly that," Jet sighed in frustration. "By the way, you know what Zuko really hates?" he asked. On Ji shook her head. "A girl who talks too much when she should be focusing on her partner instead."

"Oh, my bad," On Ji blushed at Jet's words. "I'll shut up now."

"And you won't regret it," Jet winked at her. As On Ji's panties were finally pushed down to her ankles, Jet sincerely hoped that the vet would prove worth the two hundred dollars he had spent on having his equipment made fully functional again. It had been several painful weeks without any fun, and Jet fully intended to make up for the lost time.

Chapter Text

Sokka's wild night of fun and entertainment didn't get off to the best of starts. Sokka was clearly rusty when it came to knowledge about the best Caldera City locales. His first few attempts to find a quirky little dive that wouldn't be so skeevy as to scare off the ladies hadn't gone very well. In one of the pubs, he'd had to literally step over several bodies on his path towards the bar counter.

In the next dive, a dodgy looking character had offered Sokka to join an illegal cockfighting ring, operating out of the pub's basement. After Sokka had expressed his disapproval of this disdainful practice, he'd been chased out of the pub by an angry mob. Sokka had entered the next pub while still texting the Caldera police hotline, unaware that he was walking into a lesbian bar. Looking up from his phone, in his surprise Sokka had made an ill-advised comment about seeing so many ladies in one place, after which he had been chased out of the bar by a bunch of angry lesbians.

After a few more unsuccessful attempts, Sokka eventually ended up in a pub that appeared surprisingly normal, at least when compared to some of the colorful dives he had visited earlier. There were no currently ongoing barfights, and within the first five minutes at the pub, nobody had tried to entice him into activities of dubious legality. There was a welcome diversity among the patrons when compared to some of the previous pubs. Not everyone at the pub looked like a sad and horny git, there were plenty of couples in attendance, as well as a handful of single ladies, ranging anywhere from five to eight in accordance to Sokka's scale of attractiveness.

At first, Sokka decided to simply sit at the bar and enjoy a few drinks while getting used to the pub atmosphere. Sokka was aware that his game had never been great even when he wasn't totally out of practice, and so he definitely needed plenty of liquid courage if he was to approach some of the more attractive ladies among the patrons. Even if Sokka had been in relationships with some very attractive women like Suki and Yue, it hadn't truly given him a massive boost of confidence. When it came to dating Yue, he had essentially taken over from his little sister, which sounded incredibly sad when summarized like that. As for Suki, she had been the one doing the rather aggressive pursuing, not that Sokka had minded it one bit.

For a while, Sokka simply observed the curious social interactions taking place in the pub. Other guys would continuously approach the single ladies, more often than not encountering rejection and walking away with crushed expressions on their faces. Now and then, one of the ladies would chat up an attractive guy, and most of the time it seemed to work and they would leave the bar together. The more Sokka observed the social dynamics of this place, the more he began to remember why he had never truly gotten into the dating scene. It really was a rather brutal number's game, where it was all down to making as many attempts as necessary, while not allowing the countless rejections to linger and build up a deep and depressing feeling of disappointment. Considering how personally Sokka tended to take everything, he just wasn't sure that the whole dating scene was really his cup of tea.

Not that most of the other guys were having a great time of it, either. Many of them seemed to focus on the young lady sitting at the end of the bar, not too far from Sokka. At first, Sokka had put her down as a solid eight, but as he casually observed the attempts of the other guys to woo her, Sokka was forced to admit that a mark of eight was not doing this girl proper justice. She was surrounded by eager suitors almost all the time, so it was hard for Sokka to get a good look without coming off as a creepy stalker.

The girl in question clearly had a fantastic body and the tiny wildflower patterned dress she had chosen offered a very good look at her cleavage, which meant that not staring was definitely a difficult challenge. She wore her hair very effectively, a long-braided ponytail together with elegantly styled bangs that Azula would have been happy to steal and call her own. She certainly looked and behaved like a local, but when their eyes briefly met, Sokka suddenly wondered if he hadn't made a mistake with that assumption, because Sokka had never seen such wide and expressive grey eyes in a Fire Nation girl. It made Sokka think that perhaps there was some Air Nation ancestry in her family tree. In any case, her eyes were almost magnetic and made Sokka mentally erase the eight he had assigned to her, upgrading it to nothing less than full ten.

Unfortunately, even with a couple of drinks downed, Sokka still felt like this girl was way out of his league. Which was a real shame because she was damn cute. The girl in question was currently being courted by a couple of guys, looking ready to fight each other for the lady's affections. Sokka rolled his eyes before looking away. Of course, the general public in pubs would indulge in such animalistic mating rituals, there was nothing surprising about that.

When Sokka glanced again at where the girl sat, expecting her to now share the company of one of her courtiers, he was surprised to note that both of her suitors had left her alone for some reason. The girl in question looked either a little embarrassed or amused, it was hard to tell, but as Sokka kept staring, she suddenly did something surprising, looking directly at Sokka and winking at him. At least Sokka thought that she was winking at him, although he couldn't be sure, looking behind him to see if perhaps there was someone else the girl might have been winking at. He couldn't spot anyone else, though, and when Sokka looked back at the girl, he was now more certain than ever that she was looking at him, by now laughing softly.

Despite still not feeling particularly confident, Sokka saw this as his chance to approach this gorgeous young woman, but unfortunately, as he was taking his time getting out of his seat, a brawny hulk cut in front of him, trying to chat up the grey-eyed beauty. Sighing at his indecision, Sokka returned to his drink, looking around the pub in search for a girl that he considered more in his league. A while later, however, Sokka glanced at the pretty girl at the bar to notice that the hulking brute was now walking away, wincing and rubbing a side of his face. The girl was staring at Sokka again, appearing a little frustrated and letting out a sigh.

Fearing that he had somehow managed to annoy the girl, Sokka returned to finishing off his gin and tonic. He was surprised when the bartender placed a new gin and tonic in front of him, together with a little note. Blinking in surprise, Sokka picked up the note and read it… or at least tried to read it, because the writer of said note appeared to be in possession of particularly chaotic handwriting. The note appeared to say 'by me a drunk bug boy'.

After staring at the note for a while, Sokka finally realized that it was actually supposed to say 'buy me a drink big boy'. Sokka quickly looked at the pretty girl at the bar. She was smiling at him, giving him a little wave. Even to someone as slow as Sokka, it finally became clear that he was being extended an invitation, one that he really didn't want to pass on.

"A drink for the lady, please," he told the expectant looking barkeeper.

"What'll it be?" the barkeeper, a man who slightly reminded Sokka of his father – if his father were a Fire Nation man, that is – asked in a slightly frustrated sounding voice.

"Uh, I don't know…" Sokka hesitated again. What did the Fire Nation girls like, anyway? Even though Sokka had spent the majority of his life in Caldera, he had never dated a local girl, but he reasoned that Fire Nation girls probably had weird and quirky tastes. "Some absinth, maybe?" he asked.

"Look, buddy," the bartender glared at him. "This is a respectable establishment. Maybe you'd feel more at home at the gay bar across the street."

"Uh, definitely not absinth then," Sokka gulped. "What was she having earlier?"

"A margarita," the bartender replied.

"Alright, make it a margarita," Sokka nodded hastily, worried about making another unexpected faux-pas. He tried not to be too obvious about watching the bartender make the cocktail and place it in front of the gorgeous Fire Nation girl. She took a sip of the drink before slipping out of her seat and walking over to sit next to Sokka. Because she had been sitting behind the bar, Sokka hadn't been able to tell just how short her dress was, but seeing it now definitely caused a very interesting reaction in his pants. This girl was somehow even hotter than she had appeared previously, although Sokka wasn't quite sure how that was even possible. She had a killer body that somehow managed to be both a little curvy yet athletic at the same time.

"Hey," she addressed Sokka in a very cheerful and chirpy voice. "Thanks for the drink!"

"Right back at you," Sokka smiled, raising his glass of gin and tonic at her.

"So," the girl stated confidently. "You're clearly not a regular."

"Guilty as charged," Sokka cringed. "It's that obvious, is it?"

"Kind of," his charming companion giggled. "But it worked to get my attention. Which I hope you agree is a good thing, right?"

"A very good thing," Sokka nodded, only too happy to agree. It was such a relief that this girl seemed so easy going and happy to take charge of the conversation, because Sokka still felt a little tongue tied.

"So, if you're not a regular pub-goer, tell me what brought you here tonight?" the girl smiled at him.

"Oh, you know…" Sokka sighed. He wasn't sure what to say, really. There was so much on his chest that he wanted to vent about to someone, but at the same time, he retained enough common sense to realize that his companion probably wasn't interested in his extended life story. "Everything just became a bit too much. Mostly at work. So, I just wanted a break from the usual, I guess," Sokka chuckled nervously. "What about you?"

"Oh, I just wanted to meet someone nice to hook up with," she giggled adorably.

"Fair," Sokka grinned. "Honestly, I was kind of hoping to find someone who was looking to hook up, so…"

"A match made in a dingy pub!" the girl laughed. "Call me crazy if you want, but I immediately got good vibes when I noticed you. And I was hoping you'd notice me."

"Well, you're hard not to notice," Sokka admitted, making the girl blush lightly. Perhaps he was getting into it a bit more, starting to feel more confident. He wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing about projecting good vibes, but he decided to roll with it for now.

"Hey, that was pretty smooth," the Fire Nation cutie grinned. "Say… I want to hook up, you want to hook up… it seems kind of obvious what we should do, right?" her grin broadened. "What do you say we finish our drinks and get out of here?"

"To that I say, let's finish our drinks quickly," Sokka replied, winking at his companion, starting to feel better and better about his decision to take the evening off.

In Azula's opinion, the Thursday dinner service at The Northern Lights was their best yet. The kitchen had chugged along nicely without barely needing any corrections from her. Suki was as solid as ever, handling the proteins and running the pass with ease, while keeping her instructions for Aang and Toph clear and simple. Aang was performing admirably as the sous chef, even if Sokka had set the bar very low. The Air Nation boy was also taking care of the vegan options, and when those orders started to back up, Toph jumped in to help out.

Azula was starting to slowly wake up to the possibility that perhaps they had something like a diamond in the rough in Toph. She seemed to have an interest to do more than just simple prep cook tasks, an interest that Azula suspected was mostly driven by her fear of becoming expendable, like that time when she had feared for her job after Azula's father had nuked the microwaving station. It helped that Aang was a great friend who was only too happy to assist Toph around the kitchen. As a result, Toph could now be trusted to prepare most of the veggie sides, as well as help with plating. The only thing that still bothered Azula a little bit was Toph's occasionally lax attitude towards hygiene, but she hoped that their acerbic younger friend could be drilled to wash her hands more regularly than she liked.

Still, despite the kitchen enjoying a great service, Azula was in a downcast mood when they all gathered upstairs for one of their usual after service hangouts. Azula knew that she had taken things too far when she had snapped at Katara earlier in the day. Even though Katara had returned for the dinner service, acting like nothing had happened, Azula easily saw through the act. Katara was trying to pretend that she wasn't hurt by Azula's words, and somehow, that made Azula feel much worse than if Katara had sought confrontation, looking to come back at her.

Katara had clearly at some point confided in Yue about her spat with Azula, and now Yue was also acting rather standoffishly towards her, which didn't help matters. In addition to all that, Sokka hadn't showed up for the dinner service, and while Azula's initial reaction to that was relief, she knew that this wasn't a sustainable relationship to have with one of the owners. Sokka needed to be one of the pillars of the restaurant, even if it wasn't as a part of the kitchen staff, but right now his role at the restaurant was very much up in the air. Even worse, as they all gathered upstairs, they were surprised to discover that Sokka was nowhere to be found, having slipped out at some point during the service.

"I don't see how me saying that he could be abducted is ridiculous," Katara spoke tearfully, already panicking ten minutes after they had realized that Sokka was missing.

"It's a little ridiculous," Suki laughed. "I don't think we ever got as far as abduction theories when you went missing."

"Speak for yourself," Yue frowned. "I was very close to sending the cops after Jet for arranging a kidnapping together with his criminal looking friends."

"Jet is many things but he's not a kidnapper," Katara snorted. "Anyway, this could be very serious. Sokka usually doesn't disappear on us without a previous warning, right?"

"Well, he was a little upset, so…" Aang spoke up. Azula looked at the Air Nation boy, and as their eyes met, Aang cringed guiltily. "I'm not saying it to blame anyone, just pointing out that maybe he needed some fresh air to clear his head."

"Maybe he's been up on the roof all this time, laughing his ass off while we're panicking?" Suki asked before dashing up the stairs and then returning moments later. "Nope, he's not there."

"I keep telling you that this is totally unlike Sokka," Katara sighed. "I'm starting to get really worried!"

"Uh, this may be a silly idea, but… why don't you text him to ask where he is?" Azula suggested carefully.

"Probably because Katara knows how well that worked when we tried to text and call her throughout the previous night," Suki pointed out. Azula and Katara both winced at the slightly accusing tone, then blushing when they noticed each other's guilty reactions.

"It's not worth calling because Sokka has been abducted by aliens," Toph stated confidently. "And we all know that their flying saucers are padded with aluminum foil or some other material that messes with the reception. So, Sokka couldn't answer us even if he wanted to."

"Okay, now you're just mocking me," Katara snapped irately. "I'm going to text him right now, and he better answer me!"

"Well?" Yue asked after Katara had frenziedly fired off her text and they had spent nearly a minute waiting for a response.

"Nothing so far," Katara grumbled. Her phone buzzed lightly. "Ah, thank the spirits," she sighed in relief. Katara then read the text, her eyebrows furrowing. "He just told me to buzz off! How rude!" she exclaimed.

"Makes sense if he's decided to follow in your footsteps from last night," Yue pointed out with a sly wink.

"You mean Sokka's gone partying?" Aang asked. "And all on his own, without inviting us along? He must have been really upset…"

"It's not a bad idea to go out and blow off some steam now and then. It really helps with clearing your head," Azula said quickly. She didn't like how the conversation kept getting pushed towards the events of the previous evening. It might have been an experience that Azula would remember for the rest of her life, but that didn't mean she wanted a public discourse about her and Katara's hookup. "I'm sure Sokka will be back tomorrow, refreshed and with a much healthier attitude," Azula added.

"I hope so," Suki shrugged, not looking very confident. Azula couldn't really fault Suki for her skepticism, though. "Also, if Sokka wants to hook up with someone, that's perfectly fine with me, as long as it puts him in a good mood. I'm sure he wouldn't begrudge me from enjoying a hookup too, which is definitely something I wouldn't mind."

"Aang?" Toph spoke up, poking the shoulder of her best friend. "Was Suki looking at Azula when she said that?"

"She sure was," Aang was only too happy to confirm.

"Shut up, I wasn't!" Suki protested defiantly.

"Yes, stop making things up, Aang, she wasn't looking at me, she was looking… uh, over my shoulder?" Azula tried to help out, ending up feeling embarrassed by her weak protestations.

"Wow, you two really doth protest too much," Toph laughed boisterously.

"Anyway!" Katara suddenly cut in, looking a little annoyed. "Suki, wasn't there something you wanted to show us?" she asked, clearly wanting to steer the conversation elsewhere. If they hadn't already agreed that they couldn't keep hooking up, Azula would have totally assumed that Katara was just a tad jealous.

"Umm, I'm not sure?" Suki sounded confused. "I haven't gotten any new tats or piercings lately…"

"I think Kat means the rent apartments you were looking at?" Yue asked. "There was talk of you having some options lined up and you wanted second opinion on some of them? That's the main reason why I even stayed behind instead of rushing home to Kya."

"Oh, right," Suki coughed, sounding a little embarrassed. "I was totally distracted by Sokka's disappearance. I've got all the info about the rent apartments saved to my phone. Here, I'll show you," she said, sitting down on the sofa, the others all surrounding her, with the exception of Toph.

Azula had to concede that some of the apartments Suki was eyeing appeared quite nice even for her tastes, even if she would never consider any of them fit for her living space. At least now that Suki was going to receive a salary comparable to a competent head chef in a decent Caldera restaurant, she would have more options other than just crappy studio apartments.

"Hey!" Yue suddenly exclaimed when they were looking at one of the apartments that Azula definitely wouldn't have considered as the best option. "That's on my street! I'm pretty sure it is!"

"Really? I never realized," Suki sounded surprised. "Let me see… 36 Moonlight Avenue?"

"I'm at 28 Moonlight Ave," Yue said. "That's quite the coincidence. Anyway, what do you think about this one, Suki?" she asked.

"It was actually one of my favorites before we discovered that it's on your street," Suki smiled. "I'm really tempted to go for it now."

"Do it, do it, do it," Yue squealed. "I'd love for us to be next door neighbors!"

"Alright, I'll call the landlord tomorrow morning and see if the apartment is still available," Suki said.

"You're in a real hurry to abandon me, I see," Katara remarked, sounding a little hurt.

"Oh, please don't take it like that," Suki sighed. "If Sokka is hooking up with other people and I want to do the same, then the sooner I move out, the better."

"Good point," Katara said. "You just reminded me that I should start looking for a space to rent myself, and because of the very same reasons as you. As soon as I get paid, that is…"

"Very soon," Azula interjected quickly. They were nearing the end of her first month of stay at The Northern Lights, which meant that finally, after many years of not having taken a single cent from the restaurant, Katara and Sokka would finally get paid.

"It's going to feel weird when it's only Sokka living up here, but as long as it remains a place where we hang out, I guess that's fine," Katara mused.

"It'll be great having real places of our own, though," Suki smiled. "Anyway, are we all still on to help me with the move, if I can work everything out with the landlord by Monday?" Everyone except for Toph voiced their affirmation, including Azula. She wasn't exactly thrilled about helping with what seemed like very hard work, but then again, spending time with Suki, Katara and Yue on their day off from work was too tempting to refuse, even if no sexy shenanigans were on the table (because Azula didn't engage in such things with her coworkers). Also, Azula didn't really intend to carry heavy crates or anything like that. She had volunteered strictly in the capacity of an overseer, intending to organize and direct the others.

"Azula?" Aang asked after Suki, Katara and Yue had huddled closer together, discussing the possibility of Katara also finding an apartment in the same area as the other girls, with Azula having become a little lost in her own thoughts.

"What's up, Aang?" Azula asked, deciding to entertain the Air Nation boy.

"Did you see your dad trending on social media?" Aang asked.

"What? No, I did not," Azula shook her head nervously. Ozai trending on social media wasn't necessarily a good thing, and it immediately elevated her anxiety, which was possibly an unhealthy first reaction at the mention of one's parent. "Why would he be trending, anyway?" she asked. "He's spending the week at our summer cottage on Ember Island."

"Yeah, but it seems like while there, he decided to shoot and upload a video, and it… hasn't been received well," Aang said, looking a little amused. "He made a grilled cheese sandwich, and well… let's just say that it… fell short of expectations."

"Why would he upload such a video then?" Azula asked, feeling very confused. "I need to see this for myself," she decided, looking up her father's YouTube channel on her phone. One of the people responsible for maintaining Ozai's channel had indeed uploaded a new video. Also, it was getting ratioed into oblivion, which was definitely very unusual for her father's content. "The fuck is going on here," Azula growled, about to play the video.

"Why don't you put it on the big screen?" Yue asked, suddenly interrupting Azula. "If your father is about to have his fall from grace moment, I think we all deserve to see it."

"Fine," Azula shrugged. Aang turned on the large wall TV and Azula then had to impatiently wait until the bloody thing detected her phone and allowed her to connect remotely. "I'm sure people are exaggerating about how bad this video is. My father would never upload anything truly irredeemable. His assistants are smart and well compensated, and they wouldn't allow for that to happen."

"You mean the well-paid ass-kissers fearing to lose their cushy jobs would dare to tell Ozai Nakamura that he done fucked up?" Suki laughed.

"Your point… is well made," Azula was forced to concede. "Anyway, everyone shut up, I'm about to play the video."

With that, Azula started the playback of her father's latest upload, which was an episode of his 'Ozai Around the World' series of short video recipes. The video began by showing her father enjoying various outdoor activities on Ember Island, including fishing, scuba diving, paddleboarding and sunbathing, with the camera spending an inordinate amount of time zoomed in on his muscular bare chest.

"I don't want to say anything, but," Suki began in a voice that clearly hinted at mischievous teasing. "I didn't understand Ozai's legion of female fans, but maybe now I understand them a little bit better."

"Please, keep comments like that to yourself," Azula growled, feeling a touch nauseated by Suki's statement.

"I mean… objectively, he looks very good for a man who's about to hit his fifties," Yue commented. "It's a pass from me, though. I'm just not feeling it."

"Can we stop sexualizing my father, please?" Azula groaned.

"I'll pass as well," Katara said, ignoring Azula's protestations. "I respect everyone's kinks, but daddy kink is not my kink."

"Do you want me to strangle you, Katara?" Azula threatened.

"I bet it's Azula's kink," Toph laughed.

"Alright, you asked for it!" Azula growled, punching Toph in the shoulder. Toph merely laughed, punching Azula right back. The effortless punch to Azula's ribs stunned her and made her tear up, but she resolutely managed to stop herself from crying out. "Can we please watch the video already?" Azula asked.

"Yes, please," Katara grinned. "Anyway, it's not Azula's kink either," she said quickly as Azula resumed the video.

"Wait, how do you know-"

"We're watching the video NOW!" Azula yelled, interrupting Toph.

Azula and her friends were then treated to Ozai giving a lengthy monologue of just what a delicious grilled cheese sandwich meant to him personally, which Azula immediately dismissed as complete bullshit because she knew that her father would sooner be caught drinking the blood of one of his assistants than eating grilled cheese. Ozai then proceeded to introduce the fantastic ingredients he had chosen for his amazing grilled cheese sandwich.

"Oh no…" Azula groaned when she saw the two cheeses her father had selected. "He did not just do that…"

"Those are horrible choices," Suki laughed. "What are you doing, Ozai?"

"Why, what's wrong with those cheeses?" Katara asked.

"They're both well-aged, very dry cheeses," Azula explained patiently. "The kind of cheeses that simply don't melt well. Forgive me, father, for you have sinned, because this is a beginner's mistake."

"Whoa, this is getting worse and worse," Suki commented as they watched Ozai take a large loaf of country bread and cut two worryingly thick slices, all the while lecturing the viewers about how the secret of a great grilled cheese was not to cut the bread too thin.

"How does he expect the cheese to melt when the bread is so thick?" Aang wondered, scratching his head.

"It's not going to melt. It can't melt," Azula replied numbly, feeling completely dumbstruck. "That would require defying the laws of physics."

"Azula, how come your father can create all those incredibly elaborate and amazing dishes, but he fucks up something as simple as grilled cheese sandwich?" Toph asked, struggling not to laugh.

"I don't know… it's as if a regular grilled cheese is too basic for him," Azula sighed. "So, he's trying to be clever and then he overcomplicates it. This is just disastrous… no wonder he's trending on social media."

"I'm afraid it gets worse," Aang said as they continued to watch the video.

"Is he really going to stick a cast iron pan in an open fireplace?" Suki gasped as Azula and her friends watched Ozai do exactly that. Azula was briefly overcome by a wave of nostalgia as she remembered her much younger self playing in front of this very fireplace during the rare rainy summer days on Ember Island. She remembered once lining Zuko's collection of tin soldiers next to the roaring fireplace and then pushing them into the fire one after another because she simply enjoyed watching the way the little toy soldiers slowly changed into grotesque shapes as they melted. She also remembered Zuko beating her up after finding out what she had done.

"It's this whole new big TikTok trend, rustic cooking on live fire," Azula eventually replied, watching her father pour about half a bottle of olive oil into the cast iron pan while calling it 'just a touch'. "It's a very bad idea to do it this way, because unlike when cooking on the stove top, you have no way of controlling the heat. Grilled cheese needs to be done low and slow. He's going to burn the bread while the cheese inside is still stone cold."

"Spirits, look at how that pan is smoking!" Yue gasped at the video. "I remember what you were telling us about the smoke point, is this it?"

"Yes, exactly, you remembered," Azula smiled, giving Yue a fond stare. "The oil is already burning and he hasn't even put the bread in. Father, what are you doing…"

"I think he's finally realized that he has totally fucked up here," Suki sniggered as they watched Ozai place the sandwich into the much too hot pan and then press down on it with all of his weight in a vain attempt to flatten it and get the heat to penetrate deep enough to reach the cheese. It was clear to Azula that it wasn't going to work, and it was hard not to find Ozai's comments about 'pressing down lightly' and how 'beautiful' the sandwich looked absolutely hilarious.

Ozai then removed the pan from the open fire and flipped the sandwich over, coughing like mad when the smoke from the burning oil hit him in the face. "He's burned the bread!" Katara shouted, pointing at the screen. "Did you see that? He tried to hide it, but the bread was totally burned black!"

"Not only that, but did you catch a glimpse of the cheese?" Aang laughed. "It was still one huge solid block. It hadn't melted even a little bit." With everyone laughing like mad about the terrible sandwich, Azula felt a surge of embarrassment for her father's sake, however, she couldn't feel too bad for Ozai. He was the most renowned celebrity chef in the world and he truly should have known better. If he couldn't execute a grilled cheese sandwich, well, perhaps he deserved to eat the humble pie instead and become the internet's laughing stock for a few days.

Ozai placed the cast iron pan back onto the open fire and once again pressed down on the poor grilled cheese with all of his might, his face becoming red from the effort. Eventually, when the other side of the sandwich had also started to burn and become blackened, Ozai was forced to remove the pan from the open fire. He continued to press down with the spatula afterwards, lecturing the viewers about how it was going to get the cheese nicely melted. Finally, Ozai declared that the sandwich was ready and the cheese had melted. Boasting at how crispy the sandwich was, Ozai began to cut into it.

"Yeah, it's so crispy because you threw it into a raging fire, dude," Suki laughed.

"I like how he covers the sandwich with his hand so that we can't get a good look at what it's like on the inside," Yue chuckled.

"It's because the cheese hasn't melted at all, it's still completely solid," Aang snorted. "And the way he pretends that the sandwich is really hot inside by blowing on it? Come on, we can see that it's stone cold. Sorry, Azula, but this is more like a PSA on how not to make grilled cheese." Azula facepalmed at that rather accurate summary of the video.

"The worst part is how he keeps saying that it's a beautiful sandwich and how the cheese has melted," Katara sighed. "It's like he's gaslighting his entire audience. Azula? Surely, he had to know that this was a terrible video."

"I don't know what happened, I really don't," Azula shrugged helplessly. "I guess this is something that happens when you surround yourself with yes-men?"

"That's probably the explanation," Yue said, getting up from the sofa. "Anyway, it's getting really late for me. I need to relieve Kiyi of her duties and then drop her off." She looked at Aang and Toph. "Are you coming, rugrats? I can give you a lift when I'm taking Kiyi back to her place."

"We might as well," Aang said. He and Toph both got up to follow Yue. "Goodnight, everyone," he said as the trio proceeded down the stairs.

"I should probably leave as well," Azula muttered, still feeling a little stunned after watching the horrible grilled cheese video. Azula wondered if she perhaps should reach out to her father as he was becoming more and more embattled by the social media ridicule. Then again, there was the very distinct possibility that Ozai would simply take his frustrations out on her, so perhaps it was best to lay low for now and focus on the restaurant instead.

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Suki replied. Katara didn't say anything, aside from looking at Azula and giving her a slight nod. It served as a reminder that things weren't right between them, and Azula very much didn't want to leave it like that.

"Can I have a moment of your time, Katara?" she dared to ask.

"Sure, what is it?" Katara asked her, looking like she had no intentions to ask Suki to leave them alone.

"I'll just go and brush my teeth before bed," Suki wisely decided to leave them alone anyway.

"I didn't want to leave without apologizing," Azula said before she lost her nerve. "I was too harsh on you earlier today."

"You were, even if there's probably truth to what you said," Katara sighed.

"Still, I went about it the wrong way," Azula said. "It was not constructive. If you can forgive me, then my suggestion would be that once Sokka is done with his little walkabout or rebellion, or whatever he's up to… the three of us should sit down, put our minds together and come up with the kind of leadership structure that would remain functional once I leave Caldera." Azula didn't miss what looked like a brief flash of pain in Katara's eyes at the mention of her leaving. In all honesty, even thinking about leaving The Northern Lights felt more painful to Azula than she ever expected it to feel.

"Yes, that sounds like a very good idea, actually," Katara replied. "I wish we could have arrived at it without that little spat earlier, but I guess sometimes a bit of drama is necessary to push us in the right direction?"

"I guess so," Azula laughed awkwardly. "I'm just relieved you're not too mad at me, so…"

"Azula, wait," Katara exclaimed quickly just as Azula was already turning to leave. "I know Ozai is your father, and I respect your family bonds, but I hope you can understand why I will never think highly of your father. I think he's a sociopath, because only a sociopath would think that it's a good idea to upload such a disastrous video and then try to gaslight his own audience about it. I also think he's a very toxic person and a terrible influence on you, which does you so much credit for not being at all like him. But at the same time, I wanted to say that I'm sorry if watching that video made you feel bad or embarrassed. You don't deserve that."

Azula felt her chest swell at Katara's words. "It's okay, Katara. It didn't really affect me," Azula tried her best to downplay it, as she loved to do. "But thank you so much for saying it. You're amazing… an amazing friend, I mean," she said quickly, blushing.

"Thanks," Katara smiled, also blushing lightly. "I'll… see you tomorrow?"

"Yes, until tomorrow," Azula uttered swiftly before turning around and running down the stairs, feeling strangely elated. Sure, she could no longer keep hooking up with Katara and that hurt, but it seemed like them being friends was back on.

It was near midnight as Sokka and his new friend were making their way down a busy street of downtown Caldera. His charming companion was still getting chatted up by random guys on the street, so she had decided to hold Sokka's hand, something that Sokka wholly approved of. After leaving the bar, they had been walking for some ten minutes, with Sokka slowly becoming uncertain as to where exactly they were going, because he just wasn't sure who was leading who.

"So, uh… how far is your place, anyway?" Sokka asked eventually.

The girl immediately came to a stop and laughed nervously. "Umm, what? I, uh, thought you were taking me back to your place," she said.

"Damn, I totally would, but I'm sharing the apartment with my sister," Sokka said. The girl was giving him a slightly skeptical stare at the mention of a sister. "Also, my ex is probably still there, because we only broke up yesterday and I want to give her time to find a place of her own," Sokka was forced to confess.

"Oh, I see," the girl nodded in understanding. "So, that's why you were at the bar, trying to hook up. Bad breakup. I hate those."

"It wasn't really that bad," Sokka shrugged. "But yeah, that's why we can't go back to my place. And I'm guessing we can't go to your place because you probably have a boyfriend that you're currently mad at?"

"Ha-ha, what, no I don't have a boyfriend… or a girlfriend, not currently, anyway," Sokka's companion laughed, perhaps a little awkwardly. "We can't go back to my place because I have a… a roomie, yeah, and they might not be understanding."

"Right," Sokka smirked. The roomie story was clearly a lie, but then again, it didn't really matter whether his companion had a partner or not. If she wanted to cheat, that was on her, and Sokka didn't think it made sense to raise an objection based on moral grounds, not when she could just hook up with the next cute guy she came across. "I guess there's always the car option," Sokka suggested.

"I guess," the girl shrugged. She then seemed to think of something. "We're really close to my workplace, though. It's locked for the night, but I have the keys. We could sneak in through the back entrance. There's something exciting about storeroom sex at your workplace, right?" she asked giddily.

"I hadn't thought about it until now," Sokka admitted, laughing. He briefly considered whether this was all a ploy to lure him in and then the next morning he would find himself on the operating table with his organs harvested and placed in neatly marked coolers. Then again, Sokka had told himself that he was going to try something new tonight, and becoming an unwilling organ donor would certainly count as something new. "Alright, lead the way," Sokka said.

After a couple of minutes of traversing the impossibly narrow back alleys of the historic part of downtown, Sokka and his companion arrived at the supposed back entrance of what was probably some kind of store selling cheap souvenirs to the gullible tourists always crowding the city center. The girl unlocked the doors and led him inside, down a dimly lit corridor, before pulling him into a large and well-ventilated storage room. Barely any light fell into the room, but it was enough for Sokka to spot various containers and jars of canned food piled up everywhere. "Is this some kind of novelty grocery store?" Sokka wondered aloud. "Also, could we maybe turn on some lights in here?"

"But isn't this more exciting?" his companion asked teasingly. While Sokka was considering whether this was the moment when he would get stabbed to death, the girl suddenly pushed him against the wall, and then her hands were all over him, pulling him close. Sokka decided to dismiss all of his concerns about meeting a grim fate in the storeroom, allowing himself to be pulled in for a passionate kiss. As they continued to suck faces, his partner was not shy about letting her hands roam and she encouraged Sokka to do the same, an invitation he was only too happy to accept.

"Hah, I knew from reading your aura that I was in for a good time," the girl chuckled, pulling away from Sokka's lips. Her right hand was down in Sokka's pants, doing all kinds of exciting things that were driving Sokka wild. "Want me to go down on you, big boy?" she asked excitedly, undoing Sokka's belt and letting his pants fall all the way down.

"Are you serious?" Sokka asked in disbelief. This definitely wasn't something he expected to be offered during a hasty storeroom hookup. This girl was clearly a little crazy, but maybe that was not an altogether bad thing, especially if he stood to benefit from it.

"Hey, I love giving head to cute boys… and cute girls, if they're nice and deserve it," his partner merely laughed as she dropped on her knees. Sokka thanked the spirits for encouraging him to take particularly good care of all the personal hygiene matters before setting out on his nightly adventures. A while later, he wasn't thinking of anything else at all except about the amazing things this girl knew how to do with her lips and tongue.

Not long after, he finally had her against the wall, the pair moving as one. Her legs were tightly wrapped around his waist and she was moaning heavily into his mouth, rocking her hips against his. Normally, Sokka would take great pride in his staying power, but because of the surprise BJ and just how insanely sexy this girl was, he was really struggling to last the distance. The way she gyrated her hips against his, not giving him any respite, didn't help either. It was only at the very last moment before losing control, Sokka realized that in their shared animalistic lust neither of them had stopped to consider protection, so he barely managed to pull out just in time before finishing.

Feeling guilty for not being able to last longer, Sokka was about to utter an apology to his partner, but she cut in ahead of him. "You got your white sauce all over the other white sauce," she giggled, even while breathing very heavily.

"What are you-" Sokka began, stopping when his eyes fell on the large container labeled as white sauce. "Wait, are we in a restaurant?" he realized immediately.

"That's exactly right," his semi-naked companion admitted. "I'm doing some waitressing for my childhood best friend."

"That's funny, because I also work at a restaurant," Sokka said, in what was the weirdest after sex conversation he'd ever experienced.

"Oh, really?" his partner looked at him curiously. "And what is it that you do there? I don't get the waitstaff vibes from you."

"Uh, I… don't know what I'm doing at the restaurant, actually," Sokka admitted, aware that what he was saying sounded very stupid. His companion certainly looked deeply puzzled. "I used to be the head chef, but… I guess it wasn't going very well, so I'm now being moved out of the kitchen and off to do something else," he shrugged.

"That sounds rough," the girl said, her grey eyes full of sympathy. "Well, I hope this cheered you right up, though," she grinned, giving Sokka a quick peck on the lips.

"It certainly did," Sokka admitted happily. "Anyway, I should probably clean up here. We don't want to mess up the restaurant of your childhood friend. Also, this is probably… uh, unsanitary."

"Eh, don't worry so much about it," the girl shrugged, not looking too bothered. "I'll take care of it tomorrow morning. Or maybe I'll forget and then some customer will get to enjoy a salty surprise," she added with a wicked laugh.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you're a little bit crazy, aren't you?" Sokka chuckled.

"Only a little bit?" she winked at him.

"Well, it's hard for me to say, because I don't actually know you at all," Sokka winked right back. "By the way, uh," he then said, a little more seriously. "I like to think that I'm usually a bit better as a partner, but you're just so incredibly hot and I really got carried away. I imagine there probably wasn't that much in it for you, so… I'd be happy to go down on you, if you want me to."

"Aww, that's a very sweet offer," she smiled softly before pulling Sokka in for another kiss. "Totally unnecessary, though. I usually find it very easy to get off if the guy or girl know what they're doing, and you sure know what you're doing, so I actually got off twice. I can't remember when I last had this much fun," she added with a dreamy and thoughtful look on her face that made Sokka feel unusually good about himself.

"Well, I also had a lot of fun," Sokka replied, taking the opportunity to kiss her again and again. The feeling that this girl was definitely someone he'd like to hook up with again and again began to gain strength, but he didn't want to come off presumptuous by voicing it.

"Okay, so…" the girl said after they had finally separated, standing there a little uncertainly. "I know we both said that this was just a hookup, and I always stick by what I've said even if I had a lot of fun, but it still got me thinking," she rambled chaotically. "What I'm saying is that if we both had fun, maybe you'd like to hook up again? We don't have to, but I'm just saying that we could. It's not something I usually do, I tend to just move on to the next cute boy or girl, but I don't know… I'm getting good vibes and they're telling me to maybe try something new?"

"I'd love to see you again," Sokka confessed. "But maybe we could call it a date and not a hookup?"

"Oh, I don't know about that," his companion frowned. "Only if we can still have sex on a date."

"I think we can," Sokka laughed. "It would be a real shame not to end the date with sex. Also, if we're going on a date, I really should know your name."

"Oh, that's right," the girl gasped. "I can't believe that never came up! We're a pair of randy weirdos, aren't we? Anyway, give me your phone," she asked, extending her hand.

"Only if you give me yours," Sokka winked at her. Moments later, he was holding a smartphone in a fittingly pink case with little red hearts dotting it, typing his info in his companion's contact list. "There you go," he smiled, handing the phone back to her.

The girl was taking her time typing her details into his phone before returning it to Sokka. "Sokka," she read his name aloud. "Hmm, I feel like I know that name from somewhere," the girl mused. "Or maybe I've seen you on TV?"

"I really doubt it," Sokka said quickly. His appearance on Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares wasn't necessarily something he wanted to share with his new friend, because it wasn't exactly something he was proud of. Instead, he checked his own contacts list, discovering the girl's name surrounded by at least ten heart emojis. "Ty Lee," he read the name aloud, smiling. "A cute name for a very cute girl."

"You're a real cutie yourself," Ty Lee chuckled as they made their way out from the cramped back rooms of what had to be the tiniest restaurant in Caldera City. "It's a shame that I have to get up early for work. Else, I would have been happy to keep going because the night is still young."

"I hear you," Sokka nodded. "How about one more drink for the road, though? My treat. There's got to be a pub nearby."

"There's one right around the corner, and sure, I guess one more drink is fine," Ty Lee smiled as she locked the restaurant's back door, leading out into a dingy alley. "But we're not coming back here for another round of sex. Not that I wouldn't want that, but… you know. Maybe another time."

"Maybe another time soon?" Sokka asked hopefully. Ty Lee shot him a sly wink at that. "Is it alright if I text you tomorrow? That wouldn't be too overbearing?"

"Of course not," his new friend laughed. "If I didn't hear from you tomorrow then I probably would have deleted your name from my contacts, so you better text me often, mister!"

"Alright, then I guess I'll do just that," Sokka grinned, hoping that perhaps this was only the start of something new and exciting.

Jet's Friday had been very up and down. It had started off well when he had finally talked Jin into going on a date with him. Jin had only agreed when Jet had used the same pretext as with On Ji, which was to give her completely made-up tips on how to best capture Zuko's heart. But Jet's mood had then been soured by Zuko going off on him, accusing Jet of neglect. Tensions were running high in the kitchen after several customers had sent back their plates. Earlier in the day, Zuko had asked Jet to bring him a premade batch of white sauce from the storeroom, only to then blame Jet for giving him a sauce that had clearly gone off.

Still smarting from this verbal lashing by Zuko, Jet had been very much looking forward to spending a nice evening with Jin. She was completely insane, but she was also very hot, and Jet definitely wasn't above hooking up with crazy. However, Jet had then been frustrated yet again when Jin refused to accompany him back to his place, because Jin had to make sure that Zuko got home safely and was not targeted by an international cabal of assassins. So, here Jet was at eleven on Friday evening, sitting in Jin's car and helping her keep watch on Zuko and Mai's apartment. The only saving grace to this sham of a date was that Jin was still keen on making out, but only if she could keep an eye on the apartment.

"Are you sure that you can't take fifteen minutes off from watching Zuko's windows?" a very frustrated Jet asked after Jin had broken yet another tantalizing kiss. Somehow, even with all the annoying interruptions, they were both down to their underwear, but frustratingly, Jet just couldn't manage to get Jin distracted from her task no matter how hard he tried.

"Are you crazy?" Jin gave him a reproachful stare. "Have you no idea how quickly a trained team of professionals can perform a kidnapping?"

"Clearly not," Jet sighed. He started to kiss her again, refusing to give up easily and finally managing to slip Jin's bra off. When he began to kiss and caress her breasts while slipping his hand between her legs, Jin finally began to react with sighs and quiet moans, really getting into it. Jet felt like it was finally time to get to the most fun part, but when he began to lower Jin onto the backseat of her car, she stubbornly refused.

"I can't see the window of Zuko's apartment if I'm on my back," Jin pointed out logically.

"Seriously?" Jet sputtered incredulously. This girl was surely going to be the death of him.

"Oh, don't whine, just let me be on top, then I can still keep an eye on Zuko's windows as we have sex," Jin explained. After a brief struggle with naked limbs getting tangled up in the narrow space on the backseat, Jin finally pushed down her panties and sat astride a very excited Jet. "There's just one more thing I want you to do before we begin," Jin said with a very serious expression on her face.

"Just one more thing, huh?" Jet sighed.

"Yup," Jin nodded. She reached out and took something from the glove compartment, passing it to Jet. "I'll need you to wear this while we're having sex."

"What is… that?" Jet asked as he stared at what looked like a brown paper bag. There was a life-sized photo of Zuko's face glued to one side of the paper bag. "You want me to wear a paper bag with Zuko's face?"

"Pretty please?" Jin pleaded. Her eyes were glistening with hope and excitement. "Do it for me, and I'll show you the best time you've ever had."

Jet stopped to consider the situation he was in. Wearing a paper bag was perhaps the most humiliating thing he had ever done, but on the other hand, he was about to have sex with a seriously hot girl. The whole process of consideration took less than a second. "Alright, show me what you've got," Jet said excitedly.

"You won't regret it… Zuko," Jin giggled as she got to work. Jet wasn't sure if he was in for the best time of his life, but there was one thing he knew for sure – it was definitely going to be memorable.

Chapter Text

For Jet, there was nothing quite like the feeling of a well-hatched scheme coming together. Having made great progress with both Jin and On Ji, Jet was very happy with himself. Already, On Ji seemed way less obsessed with Zuko and more focused on Jet. As for Jin, it was harder to tell, considering her insane levels of obsession, but she seemed open to the possibility of hooking up again, and Jet was willing to take that as a win.

Of course, Jet's ultimate plan was to secure Zuko's affections for himself. It wasn't only about seeing Zuko as his meal ticket, however, just as it hadn't been with Katara. He'd had genuine and powerful feelings for Katara, even if he had proven unworthy of Katara's returned affections. And by now, Jet was becoming very intrigued by Zuko. Zuko's social awkwardness, obliviousness, poorly repressed anger and broodiness was an enticing combination of traits, and Jet was becoming desperate to get closer to Zuko.

Jet didn't really see Jin and On Ji as serious competition, not anymore. He felt the utmost confidence in being able to distract them from chasing after Zuko. The real obstacle in Jet's way obviously was Mai. Despite Zuko's relationship with Mai appearing a little strained at the first glance, Jet had by now realized that their bond was actually stronger than he had suspected. They had first gotten together when they were seventeen and sixteen, respectively, and had been dating on and off for nine years. Sometimes the off period had lasted for many months, even up to a year, but they were always pulled back together. That spoke of a connection that couldn't be underestimated.

The plan to break up Mai and Zuko's relationship relied on Zuko's intense jealousy. He already hated Ruon-Jian for lurking around Mai's office all the time, simping hard for his girlfriend. Jet was sure that an uptick in rumors regarding Mai and Ruon-Jian having a bit of a fling would light a fuse under Zuko, but Jet also didn't want these rumors to be traced back to him, because that would surely feel too suspicious. That's why getting good with both Jin and On Ji was absolutely crucial – aside from the fact that they were very pretty and Jet would never pass on sex with a hot girl – but in this instance, he needed Jin and On Ji to help spread the rumors about Mai and Ruon-Jian.

Of course, this meant that he had to keep working on both Jin and On Ji to make sure that they trusted him completely. Obviously, it didn't really feel like work since it involved hooking up with them again and again. Still, Jet always had many schemes cooking in his head and not all of them involved sex (although most did), and when he spotted Jin, On Ji and Ty Lee sitting down together during a break in service, having a conversation full of laughs and giggles, Jet suddenly came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea.

Ty Lee and Jin had enjoyed an amazing lunch service, pulling in some very big tips. Ty Lee was a genius at identifying the right customers it was safe to flirt with and who would leave huge tips as a result, and she was only happy to share her insights with Jin, so both girls took in way more than most waitresses. Also, Mai and Zuko had agreed to give On Ji a generous salary bonus for the month of April, because according to Zuko, she had really excelled and deserved a lot of credit for the restaurant's surprisingly fine performance. This meant that the three girls were in a great mood, which was perfect for Jet as he prepared to put his plans into motion.

"So, how are the celebrations going?" Jet put on his best smile as he walked up to the giggling trio. "Don't get too sauced, we still have the dinner service to take care of."

"Don't worry, we've got it under control," Ty Lee laughed dismissively. "Also, I hope we're not rubbing you the wrong way by celebrating. I heard you didn't get any bonus pay."

"Hey, just being able to work at a restaurant with ladies as attractive as you three is its own reward, okay?" Jet winked disarmingly as he sat down with the girls. Despite the attempt to get with Ty Lee having ended rather painfully for him, Jet hadn't given up on the idea of seducing the beautiful Fire Nation girl. He was hoping that the plan he was about to propose would get him closer towards that goal.

"Oh, I like compliments, keep them coming," On Ji giggled, smiling dreamily at Jet.

"Yes, thank you, Jet," Jin smiled. "But also, isn't Zuko the best owner ever? The way he decided to share the profits with the staff. That's such a lovely gesture," she added swooningly, in a way that suggested that she was nowhere near close being over Zuko.

"That's very true," Jet nodded, having quickly overcome his annoyance. "And seeing how we're all benefitting from the restaurant being profitable, I have a plan on how to make this place even more popular."

"Oh, really?" Ty Lee asked, looking curious. "Do tell."

"Well, you should know that I fancy myself something of an amateur photographer," Jet said. "And so, I was thinking how to get the buzz on the street going for real. And then it came to me – why not make use of the fact that The Blue Spirit has the sexiest ladies in Caldera among its staff? Why don't we create something like a nude calendar and call it 'The Girls of The Blue Spirit'? Then we could sell it here at the restaurant and I bet it would attract a lot of big spenders."

"You are literally so smart, Jet," Jin nodded in agreement. "A nude calendar is exactly what people coming into a restaurant want to buy."

"Uh… sure, Jin," On Ji snickered. "Although, I suppose there might be some overlap between hungry customers and horny costumers. It's not a bad idea, Jet. And if it succeeds, Zuko will be even more impressed with us."

"Well, I don't really care about impressing Zuko, but it could be a fun thing to do," Ty Lee grinned. "Considering me signed up!" she exclaimed much to Jet's delight.

"Wait, Ty Lee?" On Ji looked at the other girl in surprise. "Weren't you just telling us about your new boyfriend?" she asked, making Jet feel very annoyed again at the mention of a boyfriend.

"It's way too early to use that word, On Ji," Ty Lee giggled. "We've only been on like three dates. Besides, he's such a sweetheart, I'm sure he wouldn't mind me posing naked, especially for a good cause."

"If you're sure," On Ji shrugged.

"Anyway, with the four of us posing, that means we all get three pages," Ty Lee mused. "I call dibs on March, June and October."

"Wait, four of us?" Jet blinked. "I'm not taking nude selfies of myself, if that wasn't clear. The theme is the girls of The Blue Spirit, remember? And I'm not a girl."

"Debatable," Ty Lee laughed. "Anyway, I obviously included Mai."

Jin and On Ji exchanged stares. "Uh, I have no interest in helping Mai impress Zuko," Jin stated.

"I know, I know," Ty Lee sighed. "But come on, you have to admit that Mai is objectively a hottie, right?" Jet, On Ji and Jin were forced to nod at that, even if they did so reluctantly. "Also, she's our boss as much as Zuko is. If we do a nude calendar featuring the sexy ladies of the restaurant, and we don't even ask her, what do you think she'll do? I'll be safe because we're besties, but you three will be toast."

"That is a fair point," On Ji admitted, frowning. "I suppose we have to ask Mai. She might not want to do it, though. She doesn't seem the type who would do a nude calendar."

"Oh, you clearly don't know her very well," Ty Lee smirked. "Anyway, let's go ask her now! I'm excited and I want to press on with this idea!" The three girls rose from their seats and stormed towards the manager's office, leaving Jet bewildered in their wake. Once again, he had lost control of his own plan and it seemed to have taken a life of its own. There was nothing left for Jet to do than to hurry after the girls as they barged into Mai's office.

Jet arrived on the scene to witness Mai, Zuko and Ruon-Jian watching something on Mai's laptop. "You need to understand that my father is a master at gaslighting," Zuko was telling Ruon-Jian. "This is not the first time when I see him confidently presenting a pile of dogshit as nectar of the gods. And even though people can see that there's something not quite right with the dish, the way my father speaks with such charisma and confidence, it just convinces them that it's the best thing ever."

"Unbelievable," Ruon-Jian shook his head. "I guess the trick didn't quite work this time because there's just no way to hide that the cheese didn't melt at all."

"I'm sure even this terrible grilled cheese disaster convinced plenty of people," Mai snorted.

"You know it," Zuko nodded. "And I bet Azula is one of them. She must be raging at the amount of people calling our father out on this sham. Daddy's little fart sniffer is probably making one apology video after another for him," Zuko said, getting Jet to burst into laughter at his colorful description of Azula.

"I don't think she has made a single video, Zuko," Mai pointed out.

"Huh?" Zuko blinked, raising an eyebrow. "That can't be. Let's check her YouTube channel." Zuko poked around Mai's laptop some more. "Hmm, you're right. That's weird. Normally, she'd be the first to make apologies for Ozai. Father will be so mad at her that she's not leaping to his defense. I guess she might be too busy salvaging that crappy restaurant of hers."

"Don't assume Azula's enterprise is failing just because we're doing well, Zuko," Mai warned her boyfriend.

"Whatever, we are totally kicking her ass, I'm sure of it," Zuko shrugged confidently. "Anyway, I need to check if anything else needs prepped for the dinner service. Are you coming, On Ji?" he asked his sous chef, seemingly completely oblivious to the group of four people having stormed the manager's office for nondisclosed reasons.

"I'll be with you in just a moment, Zuko," On Ji replied while making dove eyes at Zuko, an effort that went both unnoticed and unappreciated.

"Don't take too long, I don't want to do all the prepping by myself," Zuko grumbled before stomping off towards the kitchen.

"Is there any reason why the four of you burst into my office out of nowhere?" Mai turned to regard the foursome, with Jet strategically keeping a little behind the three girls.

"Yes, and it's an amazing reason," On Ji replied proudly. "We have come up with a great way to help the restaurant increase its profile."

"The Girls of The Blue Spirit," Ty Lee continued excitedly. "A sexy yet tasteful nude calendar, sold only to the customers of the restaurant."

"That is an amazing idea," Mai nodded.

"And we want you to be a part of it, bestie," Ty Lee beamed at her best friend.

"That is a terrible idea," Mai shook her head.

"I told you she wouldn't want to do it," Jin said, looking very happy about Mai's reluctance. "Without Mai, we will all get four pages, which is even better for us!"

Jin's excitement at her refusal to take part appeared to give Mai a pause. She was still deep in thought when Ruon-Jian spoke up. "Perhaps you are being a little too hasty about turning down the opportunity, Mai?" he asked eagerly. "I'm something of a budding amateur photographer. I'm sure you will feel comfortable letting me take your nudes."

"There's no way you're a better photographer than I am, buddy," Jet exclaimed, feeling the need to interfere. If Mai was going to be a part of the nude calendar, there was no way he was going to let Ruon-Jian take her pics. It didn't matter that Mai couldn't stand him. She was still absolutely gorgeous and if there was an opportunity to get her naked, Jet was going to pursue it like a determined bloodhound. Also, Mai posing for him might drive another wedge between her and Zuko, further playing to Jet's advantage.

"You are?" Mai gave Jet a suspicious stare. "Let me guess, this whole thing is your idea?" she asked.

"Sure, it was Jet's plan to begin with, but we are all in agreement that it's a really smart idea," Jin gave Jet a supportive nod.

"I'm sure it is," Mai clicked her tongue as she rose from the manager's seat and began to pace slowly. "However, you have forgotten something very important. In the current political climate, a nude calendar featuring beautiful women would be seen as incredibly sexist."

"Do you really think so?" Ty Lee sighed. "Ugh, I hate all this negativity around sex, it's very depressing."

"You think there's no chance even if we make it as tasteful as possible?" On Ji asked, looking disappointed.

"No, I'm afraid that we'd get absolutely savaged on social media," Mai gave what Jet thought to be a very fake sigh. "However, I don't want to abandon this nude calendar angle altogether… it really is a good one, I feel."

"I've got it," On Ji snapped her fingers. "What if we didn't pose ourselves, but instead let Jet take nudes of… I don't know, whatever else is trending right now?"

"You're so full of great ideas, On Ji," Jet ground out, glaring at On Ji, who completely missed his meaning.

"Isn't she just?" Mai nodded. There was a rather wicked smile on her face as she briefly looked at Jet. "The only way a nude calendar is going to work is if we use photos of either unemployed men or grannies. It would give the calendar the necessary oof factor."

"The oof factor, you say?" Ty Lee mused, looking uncertain. "Interesting… I hadn't considered that."

"But will anyone actually want to look at the pictures of naked unemployed men or grannies?" Jet asked desperately. Mai was about to kill his brilliant plan just as he had almost scored a home run with it. "Also, remember our theme? The girls of The Blue Spirit? It's a very strong theme, isn't it?"

"Hmm, true," Ty Lee considered. She then beamed brightly, almost as if a light bulb had lit up above her head. "Why don't we ask our grans to do the calendar?" she asked excitedly. "Then our theme could be The Grans of The Blue Spirit!"

"That sounds amazing, Ty Lee," Mai nodded. "And we could make it very tasteful, too. You know, with potted plants strategically blocking out the riskier bits. It would be an erotic calendar for the whole family to enjoy."

"I'm sure my gran would love to do the calendar," Jin nodded. "She's very adventurous, and it's been said that I take after her. Unfortunately, she's back in Ba Sing Se, but I'm sure we can set up a video chat and figure something out, right, Jet?"

Jet was too stunned to reply, merely nodding, as On Ji spoke up. "My gran is in a nursing home here in Caldera," she said. "She's a little senile and might not understand what's going on, but she has always supported me. If I explain to her that it's for a good cause, I'm sure she'll agree to it."

"My gran will also love the idea," Ty Lee nodded. "I think she'll want to do it even if she's having a hip replacement in a few days."

"You know my gran on my mom's side, right, Ty Lee?" Mai asked. "She'll be up for it too, I'm sure. But I have to warn you, Jet, she has a slightly gangrenous arm, so you'll have to find the right angle to make sure it doesn't get into the frame."

"I don't want to take nudes of grannies," Jet whimpered.

"What?" Jin exclaimed, surrounding him together with On Ji and Ty Lee. "Oh, please don't tell us that you're backing out now? Please?"

"Yes, you can't quit on us, Jet," On Ji begged. "You know why it's so important for us that this succeeds and brings the restaurant a pile of money. You promised you'd help!"

"Yes, surely we weren't wrong about you, Jet?" Ty Lee asked. "You didn't propose this whole plan just because you hoped to snap nude photos of beautiful girls and perhaps entice them into having sex with you, right?"

"Uh… uh, of course not," Jet gulped. He was well and truly backed into the corner, and from the way Mai was smirking at him, it was all of her making, too. Mai was becoming a far more difficult opponent than Jet had expected, and she had put him into a difficult situation. Still, if he could force himself to go through with this terrible plan, there was still a possibility to have sex with Jin and On Ji, and maybe even Ty Lee. "Alright, girls!" Jet exclaimed with fake cheerfulness. "Let's go and round up those grans! The Grans of The Blue Spirit are back on the schedule!"

The rest of Katara's week following the threesome with Azula and June proved rather challenging. Things certainly got better after Azula apologized for snapping at her, but Katara still felt like there was a lot of unresolved tension in the air, and not just between her and Azula.

Katara was very eager to resolve at least the part of the tensions that concerned her future role at The Northern Lights, however, she was forced to wait on that resolution. Azula had clearly stated that she wanted to talk with her and Sokka at the same time, but then Sokka announced that he was taking the entire week off for mental health reasons. Katara's first reaction was to act very unimpressed with her brother's decision, and in her frustration, she had said a few things that she still had to apologize for. Upon closer reflection, Katara realized that what Sokka had said about not having taken a break in years was true and insanely unhealthy.

And even if it was clear that Sokka was spending a lot of his time seeing someone new, Katara was willing to accept that as a valid part of a mental health break, and she resolved to respect Sokka's wishes and not bring up any restaurant related matters for the rest of the week. Seeing Sokka in an increasingly better mood was also starting to make Katara jealous and reminded her that she also hadn't taken a break in a very long time. Katara resolved to take a few extra days off as soon as things at the restaurant settled down and they were running a tight and stable ship.

Yue and Suki were also having a difficult week. Within a few days, any lingering resentment towards Katara had faded and the three of them were back to being best friends. Still, because things between Katara and Azula were a little tense, Katara did not have any luck in helping her friends make inroads with Azula. Yue and Suki gave flirting with Azula their best, but it wasn't leading anywhere, and not because Azula was not responsive. At the slightest hint that there might be any flirting involved, Azula immediately excused herself, taking flight and making sure that she didn't end up in any sexually suggestive situations. Yue and Suki were both growing frustrated, but Katara kept reassuring them, firmly believing that Azula would not be able to keep her distance for much longer.

Suki had managed to secure the apartment she had her eyes on, just a few apartment buildings down on the same street from Yue, and the move was planned for the upcoming Monday to make use of their day off. Suki had already done most of her packing in preparation, and everyone in their friend group had promised their participation, including Sokka. Sokka's promise to help made Katara feel both happy and relieved, because she took it as a sign that Sokka wanted to remain good friends with Suki, as well as a part of their group. Seeing Suki so excited about the move was making Katara wistful about moving out and finding her own place, because living upstairs from her day-to-day workplace was certainly not conductive to a healthy life and work balance. Still, she'd have to wait a couple more weeks before she finally got paid and then actually managed to find a place she could afford to rent.

As the Sunday dinner service slowly drew to a close, Katara had already resigned herself to this having been a very weird week where a massive emotional high had been followed by a crushing low, ending in simply unremarkable average bleakness. However, as she and Yue were saying farewells to the final few guests, Katara received an unexpected text message from her brother. Aware that they were closing early on Sunday evenings, Sokka was asking her if she could meet him at one of the local bars on a short notice, promising to introduce her to someone.

This immediately piqued Katara's interest and for once she was happy to see her friends dispersing quickly following the end of the service. Azula slipped out almost immediately, and so did Yue, wanting to relieve her babysitter as quickly as possible. Suki decided to give Toph and Aang a lift, leaving Katara alone, and she used the time to quickly freshen herself up before jumping into the car. Sokka had sent her a link to copy into her satnav, so Katara had to wait a little until it calculated the route, and only then did she start the car and set out on her way.

Katara was very surprised that Sokka would already be asking her to meet this new girl that he was seeing… or at least, Katara assumed that it was a girl. Sokka was always claiming that he was bisexual and open to dating guys, but Katara knew for certain that he'd never kissed another guy. Still, Katara had not expected that Sokka would want to jump into another serious relationship so soon after Suki, and she had expected Sokka to just do some dating and hooking up for a while. It seemed as if she had completely misread her brother's intentions, however, because Sokka would never ask her to meet his potential new partner if he wasn't at least a little bit serious.

Katara was a little surprised when the directions provided by Sokka led her through the downtown Caldera and well into the harbor district, eventually guiding her towards a half-empty parking lot. Katara climbed out of the car, only then noticing the establishment she had parked next to, doing a double take as she took in the cheap neon lights spelling out the name of the bar as Nyla's Tavern. For a moment, Katara had to wonder whether Sokka had wandered into June's bar purely by accident, or if he was perhaps trying to pull some kind of a prank on her.

Still, Katara's curiosity quickly won over and she made her way towards the establishment. She quickly realized that June hadn't been kidding when describing her place as a bit of a quirky dive with certain character. That much was obvious from the outside, but it became even more apparent when Katara stepped inside the bar and found herself in a very colorful and odd setting. The entire place smelled like it had been soaked in rum for months and the sound of someone (badly) playing an accordion rose above the shouts and laughter.

Katara was still looking around for Sokka, trying to spot him among the very colorful clientele, when she was surprised to hear someone calling her name. "Katara!" it was June, having noticed her from behind the bar and gesturing for her to come over. "I did not expect to see you here, certainly not on your own and at this hour! But I am pleased to see you anyway," June spoke excitedly, smiling at Katara.

"Umm, hey June," Katara blushed lightly, having made her way over to the bar. "My brother is supposed to be here together with his date, and he asked me to join them, but I can't spot them in this strange crowd," Katara said, looking around. Most of the patrons looked like salty old sailors, but there was also a more colorful bunch of people who had dressed up as pirates. They all seemed to have pet parrots, who were flying around the bar, perching wherever they felt like and adding to the chaotic and loud atmosphere by swearing and insulting the patrons. "Umm, those people aren't real pirates, are they?" Katara asked uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure that kind of piracy is long dead."

"Of course," June laughed. "They're pirate cosplayers," she explained. "They were looking for a place to call their own, and since I encourage all sorts of general revelry, I was only too happy to welcome them. They're generous tippers. I think they feel a little bad for all the bird crap their parrots leave behind."

"That seems fair," Katara chuckled. The place looked very chaotic, but also charming in a way, as she began to take in the many pirate-themed decorations. It seemed like June was really embracing the pirate theme by turning her bar into looking like an old-timey pirate den. "Uh, what's up with that guy?" she then asked, pointing at someone hanging out with the pirate cosplayers, but looking very different. Instead of wearing a pirate costume, this cosplayer was wearing a full-sized parrot suit, while the parrot on his shoulder was dressed up like a little pirate with a peg leg, eye patch and everything.

"That there is a reverse cosplayer," June laughed. "I have my suspicions that he's actually a secret furry who doesn't want to admit to it."

"Well, it takes all sorts," Katara shrugged. "Anyway, it was nice running into you again, but I should really try to find my brother… provided he's still here."

"Best of luck, and holler if you need any help," June said, passing Katara a drink she'd been mixing. "Mai Tai, on the house," she added with a wink.

"Thank you!" Katara grinned, happily accepting the drink and leaving the bar in search for Sokka and his mystery date.

It took Katara a while to spot her brother in this busy place, but she eventually managed to find Sokka in one of the corner booths where he was sitting together with his date. The girl accompanying Sokka had her back towards Katara, so her first impressions were limited to that of a long-braided ponytail of brown hair.

"Katara, there you are! That's my sister," Sokka exclaimed as his date turned around to look at Katara. Katara felt a little surprised as she took in the girl's appearance, warm and wide grey eyes and a very friendly, easygoing smile. At the first glance, she didn't really seem like Sokka's type, insofar as Sokka had a type. She just had that vibe of a generic local party girl, even if Katara knew that she shouldn't jump to unflattering generalizations and assumptions.

"Hey, I had a bit of trouble finding-" Katara began to speak, but stopping when she saw Sokka's eyes widening in complete surprise, almost shock.

"Azula?" Sokka gasped, looking over Katara's shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"I believe I was invited?" Azula, for it truly was her, shrugged.

"Azula!" Sokka's mystery date exclaimed happily as she rose to her feet, forcing Katara to admit that she was objectively a gorgeous looking girl. "And Mai! You made it, besties!" she cheered, having spotted a slightly gloomy looking goth girl lurking directly behind Azula. "I was worried you wouldn't come," Sokka's maybe-girlfriend then proceeded to pull Azula and their other friend into a group hug, further confusing Katara, and a quick glance at Sokka told Katara that he was just as perplexed as she was.

"Uh, what's going on here?" Katara recovered enough to ask. "Azula, you know Sokka's new… friend?"

"Of course, Ty Lee is my childhood friend," Azula replied, having eventually managed to disentangle herself from the overly affectionate attentions of her old friend. "And I literally had no idea that she was dating Sokka."

"Sokka, isn't that the guy who owns our rival restaurant?" the goth girl, Mai, stated. "Ty Lee, you've been consorting with the enemy!" she pointed accusingly.

"Oh no!" Ty Lee cried, looking distressed. "Am I in trouble? Can I keep seeing Sokka, besties? Pretty please, with sugar on top?"

"Obviously, Mai is just teasing you," Azula sighed. "You can date whoever you wish."

"As long as they treat you right, because if they don't, Azula and I will team up to murder them," Mai said in a very serious tone of voice before walking up to Sokka and shaking his hand. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Mai," she gave a thin smile to a slightly intimidated looking Sokka.

"Oh wow… it finally clicked for me," Ty Lee snapped her fingers after she had been staring intently at Katara for several long moments. "I remember now where I saw Sokka before we met at the bar." She turned towards Sokka. "Azula showed us a picture of you and your sister when she was telling us about the restaurant she was working at. But since Mai and I were more curious about the girl that Azula had such an obvious crush on, I guess I just didn't look at you long enough to remember it later…"

"Shut up, Ty Lee," a very red faced Azula hissed, with Katara also feeling her cheeks burning lightly.

"Ty Lee, remember that we are not talking about the elephant in the room," Mai chuckled.

"There's an elephant in the room?" Ty Lee asked, looking around curiously.

"Never mind that, it must have wandered off," Sokka chuckled. "I'm still confused, though."

"Alright," Azula sighed, rubbing her brow and looking to have recovered from her earlier embarrassment. "Since I'm the only one who knows everyone here, why don't you let me do proper introductions?" she said, gesturing for everyone to sit down. Sokka sat between Ty Lee and Katara, but Azula made sure not to sit next to Katara, instead shoving Mai to take a seat to Katara's left, herself sitting down between her two childhood friends.

"I think you two have by now realized who Sokka and Katara are," Azula said, glancing at her old friends. "As for you two," she continued, looking at Sokka and then briefly at Katara. "Mai and Ty Lee are my oldest childhood friends. We were figuratively joined at the hip throughout most of the high school. We've drifted apart a little since then, mostly because my father has kept me very busy and Ty Lee decided to run away with the circus, but it hasn't stopped us from keeping tabs on each other, right girls?" Mai and Ty Lee both nodded at that.

"I have a question," Katara spoke up, turning towards Mai. "You spoke about us being a rival restaurant. What did you mean by that?"

"Oh, of course, you don't know," Mai smirked in realization. "Yes, it has to do with the stupid rivalry of the Nakamura siblings."

"Ahem, it's not a stupid rivalry," Azula protested. "Reminding Zuko of his proper place is always a worthy endeavor."

"Whatever, Azula," Mai rolled her eyes. "Anyway, The Blue Spirit restaurant is technically owned by my parents, but they're letting me and Zuko run it."

"Run it right into the ground, knowing Zuko," Azula cackled gleefully.

"Actually-" Mai began to speak, but then she cut herself off. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I said from the very start that I'm not getting involved in this whole drama between Zuko and Azula. And I'm sure Ty Lee feels the same."

"I do," Ty Lee nodded. "Azula and Zuko are just being their dramatic selves. Mai and I are pretty used to that. It's best to ignore them."

"Well, so far we haven't really felt any direct competition from you, so I don't see why we can't simply coexist peacefully," Katara shrugged. "If Sokka and Ty Lee want to keep seeing one another, I doubt it's going to create any tensions or something of that sort."

"Yes, I think so as well," Ty Lee nodded excitedly. "Also, once you and Azula have sorted out whatever dyke drama you have going on, maybe the four of us can go on a double date or something."

"Ty Lee, what did I tell you about the elephant in the room," Mai hissed.

"I'm still not seeing it," Ty Lee shrugged. "Like Sokka said, it must have wandered off."

"I don't know about going on a double date with my sister," Sokka frowned.

"Oh, I didn't mean anything nasty," Ty Lee said quickly, looking apologetic. "We don't have to end those dates with a foursome or a partner swap, I'm not weird like that." Katara and Sokka both choked on their cocktails at that statement and started coughing like mad, while Mai actually broke her stoic goth character and was laughing her ass off. Azula just sat there with her eyes wide, giving Ty Lee an incredulous stare. "I would have actually proposed a triple date, but I have a feeling that Azula and Zuko would just ruin it by trying to bite off each other's heads," Ty Lee went on, giggling innocently.

"Wait, so… you and Azula's brother?" Sokka put two and two together, staring at Mai.

"It's an ungrateful task, but someone has to do it," Mai let out a long-suffering sigh, making Azula snort at that comment. "I think of it as performing an important public service because Zuko… well, let's just say that he benefits from someone keeping an eye on him."

"So, you're dating Azula's brother, but you're still keeping a neutral stance in this sibling competition?" Katara asked, feeling a little incredulous.

"Listen, it's a skill that Ty Lee and I have developed since we were first introduced to Azula and Zuko at the ages of ten and eleven," Mai replied. "We've been walking that tightrope ever since."

"It wasn't always easy, especially at the start," Ty Lee sighed. "There was lots of drama, but I think we all learned from it. And eventually we had to come down hard on them and make it clear that we're not going to choose sides."

"Needless to say, that I didn't take it well," Azula said. "In fact, I accused Mai and Ty Lee of betrayal. I think it was the longest time we went without speaking, almost three months."

"But you apologized, so everything worked out in the end," Ty Lee beamed, leaning over to Azula to give her friend a quick hug, ignoring Azula's half-hearted attempts to bat her away. Katara observed the interaction with great interest, and perhaps just a tiny bit of jealousy. Mai and Ty Lee clearly had a very long history with Azula that was very important to all of them. It was something that Katara wasn't privy to and it made her feel a little left out. The slightly tactless comments made by Ty Lee also implied that they were well informed about Azula's private life, and it made Katara wonder if perhaps there was also some romantic past between Azula and one or both of these girls. Certainly, they were both currently dating boys, but that didn't have to mean anything. Still, the current vibe between the trio felt platonic, so Katara's jealousy remained at ease for now.

"Well then," Katara began after a brief pause in conversation. "If Ty Lee and Sokka intend to keep seeing each other, then I see no reason why we all can't remain on friendly terms, despite all this restaurant rivalry. But I just want to make it clear that even if I have no personal stake in Azula's rivalry with her brother, I will do whatever it takes to protect my restaurant if it ends up being caught in the crossfire."

"Right there with you, Kat," Sokka gave her a supportive nod.

"That is more than fair," Mai also nodded. "Also, you seem pleasant enough. I don't see why we couldn't be friends." Katara shot Mai a grateful smile at that comment. She had only just met this young woman, but she could already tell that being described as pleasant enough was a big compliment coming from Mai. "As for your brother," Mai continued, staring at Sokka and looking like she was desperately searching for words. "Well… suffice to say that Ty Lee thinks very highly of him," she said. "That's good enough for me, but my earlier warning still applies."

"The message has been received, scary lady, you don't have to repeat it," Sokka laughed, a little uneasily.

"You really don't need to intimidate Sokka, he's as sweet as a teddy bear," Ty Lee giggled, winking at Mai. "But just to be clear, Mai isn't joking with her warnings," she then told Sokka. "She's both an accomplished knife thrower and an archer. She's also… taken care of some of my poorly chosen suitors in the past."

Katara and Sokka exchanged slightly concerned stares. "Perhaps it's best not to ask what you mean by taken care of," Katara gulped.

"Yes, let's not spend time rehashing the past," Azula said hurriedly. "I'm sure that Sokka doesn't need any of these warnings. I would certainly vouch for him myself," she added, looking at Mai. "It's just… this is a conversation that Mai and I are used to having with whoever Ty Lee decides to start dating a little more seriously. Ty Lee is amazing, but… uh, let's just say that she's… not hard to take advantage of."

"I wonder if I should feel a little insulted by whatever you just said, Azula," Ty Lee said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. "Well, I can't figure it out. Maybe I'm not tipsy enough," she giggled, stealing a big sip from Sokka's drink.

"All I'm really saying is that Katara and Sokka are good people, and we don't need to be all guarded around them," Azula said. "I know, shocking statement coming from me, right? Telling others to lower their guard, what's wrong with me?" she chuckled.

"Well, we've all grown up and become better judges of character, I suppose," Mai said. "Or maybe you're just simping really hard for certain someone at this table," she added with a smirk, making Azula go all red-faced again.

"How, uh… how about a new round of drinks?" Katara asked in a hurry, feeling very flushed herself. It seemed as if Azula's friends were merciless with their teasing, but Katara couldn't deny that she found it all very exciting.

The past few days had been a true living nightmare for Jet. He had seen way too many naked grans than anyone should ever see during this shoot for the nude calendar, and Jet wasn't sure if he would mentally be the same ever again. After interacting with Jin's gran, it had become very clear to Jet where Jin got her crazy from. Jin's gran was way too enthusiastic about the photo shoot and she had kept Jet on the call for far too long. In the end, Jet had been forced to fake losing connection to the internet by unplugging a cable.

Mai's gran had been the worst and most sadistic, which certainly made a lot of sense. She'd kept showing Jet her gross gangrenous arm because she was clearly proud of it, for some reason expecting everyone to share her fascination. As for Ty Lee's gran, she had tried to demonstrate just how flexible she still was despite being scheduled for hip replacement surgery, and she had tried to do cartwheels to impress Jet, forcing him to physically stop and restrain her.

On Ji's gran kept constantly losing her train of thought and forgetting what they were doing, so when Jet was almost done taking the photos, On Ji's gran had suddenly started shouting about a creepy stranger taking nude photos of her. The staff of the nursing home had raced to her rescue, punches had been thrown and Jet had made a hasty retreat involving a leap from the second story window, returning to The Blue Spirit bruised and battered, complaining bitterly about a society that saw a man who just wanted to take naked photos of old ladies as some sort of weirdo.

Jet had then further traumatized himself by putting the calendar together and ordering a few trial copies from a friend who made his living printing labels for bootleg alcohol. But the worst part of this whole experience was yet to come. When Jet had brought the trial copies back to The Blue Spirit, Zuko had picked up one of the calendars to check it out, and his reaction had been to burst a blood vessel and punch the wall, threatening Jet to remove this filth from his establishment immediately and never mention it again if he wanted to keep his job. Jet had done so, while listening to Mai dying from laughter in her office.

Still, perhaps it wasn't all for nothing, because here Jet was back at his apartment on Sunday evening, with Jin and On Ji in the bed with him. Unfortunately, while Ty Lee had seemed sympathetic to the way he had been treated, she hadn't agreed to the proposed foursome because she was clearly starting to get more serious with the guy she was seeing, spelling bad news for Jet.

Jet, Jin and On Ji were already down to their underwear as the evening got off to a good start. On Ji was kissing him on the lips while Jin was cuddled up to his other side, kissing his neck. As Jet subtly unhooked On Ji's bra, he was sure that this would be one of the hottest threesomes he had ever partaken in, until…

"The doctor has already changed my catheter," Jet suddenly heard the voice of On Ji's gran in his head.

"This gangrenous spot looks exactly like the map of the Fire Nation," the voice of Mai's gran also intervened with Jet's attempt to focus on the two sexy girls in his bed.

"Look at how that hip pops out when I wriggle around like this," the cheerful voice of Ty Lee's gran sounded in Jet's head.

"Let me ride this rocking chair like I rode my seventh husband," Jin's gran laughed, disturbingly straddling the rocking chair.

Jet gasped and rose from the bed, knocking the two surprised girls aside. "Are you alright?" On Ji asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, what's up?" Jin added. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"No, it's… it's nothing," Jet replied shakily, trying to dismiss the disturbing memories of the naked grans. "Let's get back to what we were doing," he said, trying to sound confident as he leaned over Jin, pulling her bra down to reveal her breasts as he began to kiss her.

"The doctor has already changed my catheter." "This gangrenous spot looks exactly like the map of the Fire Nation." "Look at how that hip pops out when I wriggle around like this." "Let me ride this rocking chair like a rode my seventh husband." The mental images of all the naked grans began relentlessly popping into Jet's mind, regardless of how hard he tried to focus on kissing Jin. Eventually, all the images became fixated in Jet's head, refusing to go away. The mental images then began to slowly spin around, accompanied by the disturbing tune of circus music.

Jet pushed Jin aside and leapt out of the bed, looking distressed. "I'm sorry, but I… I just can't do it," he sobbed, running out of the bedroom.

"Whoa, what do you think is wrong with him?" Jin wondered, looking at On Ji in surprise. "Was it something we said or did?"

"I don't think so," On Ji shrugged. "Jet is just being weird again." She gave Jin an intense stare. "Anyway… just because Jet bailed on us, it doesn't mean we have to like… stop?"

"True," Jin agreed eagerly. "Now that we're both here, we might as well seize the opportunity, right?" she smiled, moving closer to On Ji. Soon enough, they were kissing passionately, determined to have a great time and completely unaware of Jet out in the living room, guzzling down a bottle of scotch in a desperate attempt to erase the disturbing mental images from his mind.

Ty Lee returned home a couple of hours after midnight, following the very successful date with Sokka where she had been introduced to his charming sister, Katara. After leaving Nyla's Tavern and bidding farewell to friends old and new, Ty Lee and Sokka had driven all the way up to a well-known hookup spot on a cliffside overlooking the city below. There, they had made love in the moonlight, without a care for the slightly uncomfortable cramped space in the backseat of Sokka's car.

Sokka had clearly been dying to ask whether he could come in after dropping Ty Lee off at her apartment. It seemed that he wasn't at all convinced by her roommate story, so Ty Lee knew that she would have to tell him the truth sooner rather than later. Still, this evening had been so perfect that Ty Lee didn't want to ruin it with shocking surprises for Sokka. Perhaps she would be able to find a more appropriate moment to reveal the truth in the coming days.

Determined and resolute, Ty Lee unlocked the doors of her apartment and stepped inside. "Honey, I'm home!" she exclaimed in a singsong voice, kicking off her shoes and stepping further into the apartment. Ty Lee then opened the bathroom doors and leaned in. "And how was your day?" she asked, grinning broadly.

Chapter Text

The first week of May was a very important one for Azula, and she was eager to get it off to a good start. As everyone got ready for the Tuesday lunch service, Azula did her best to mentally prepare her pitch to Katara and Sokka regarding their new roles. Azula really hoped that both siblings would accept the changes, because if either Katara or Sokka rejected her proposals, Azula had no idea what other roles she could find for the restaurant's owners.

Unfortunately, Azula was also starting this new work week feeling very exhausted and sore, and not because of any fun reasons. On Monday, they had all been recruited into helping Suki with the move to her new apartment. Azula had intended to be the one overseeing the effort without lifting a finger herself, but then Toph had also showed up with the same idea in mind. Azula had briefly contemplated how bad it would look if she ordered a disabled girl do all the heavy lifting while she did nothing except for barking orders, but then she had decided that Katara and the other girls of The Northern Lights would probably disapprove of such a plan, so as a sad little simp, Azula had submitted herself to carrying heavy boxes and furniture all the way up to Suki's third floor apartment.

Interestingly enough, not only had Sokka showed up to help himself, but he had also brought Ty Lee with him, using the opportunity to introduce her to the rest of The Northern Lights crew. Azula wasn't surprised that Ty Lee was warmly welcomed and accepted by the group, despite said group containing not one but two exes of Sokka. Azula had later caught Suki and Yue during a round of gossiping, where they both expressed surprise about Sokka dating a girl who seemed like a bit of a spazz, but Azula didn't feel as if it was said in a mean or derogatory way, because other than that one comment, Yue and Suki had been perfectly nice to Ty Lee. The fact that Ty Lee took on an impressive workload also went a long way in endearing her to the group.

Of course, Suki still had a lot of work over the coming weeks as she settled in, but much to Azula's relief, she had refused any more volunteering offers from her friends. Because of the exhausting move, everyone was moving slowly this morning, wincing, groaning and generally looking in pain. Azula considered her fitness levels to be top notch, but regular jogging didn't exercise the same muscle groups that were used to carry heavy loads up several flights of stairs. Azula's back felt very strained since the moment she had woken up and her arms felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets. It didn't help that Aang had scheduled Tuesday as his second day off and Azula had to put in actual effort as the sous chef to stay in sync with Suki as she called out the orders.

Still, despite everyone suffering a little more than usually, the lunch service seemed to be ticking along nicely… at least, until Yue walked into the kitchen to deliver a new ticket, but doing so with an extremely frustrated expression on her face. "I can't believe that woman," Yue fumed, looking unusually angry for her.

"What woman?" Azula asked, giving Yue a curious and slightly concerned stare.

"Auntie Ashuna," Yue sighed. "She's such a menace."

"What is she complaining about now?" Suki asked as she was busy pan searing a pair of salmon fillets.

"The menu, of course," Yue rolled her eyes. "Apparently she has a desperate craving for cod poached in milk and she's complaining about us taking it off the menu."

"That was one of those dishes Katara kept on the menu just for her, right?" Azula sighed. Katara's willingness to go to extremes to be nice and accommodating was only one of the reasons why she couldn't be trusted as an effective general manager.

"You remember well," Yue snorted. "Anyway, Auntie Ashuna is still out there, crying for her cod and making these snide insinuations about calling Katara and Sokka's gran to complain about them ruining her favorite restaurant."

"Katara should have thrown that old biddy out on her ass a long time ago," Toph shrugged, looking unimpressed. "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

"Why isn't Katara dealing with her now?" Azula asked.

"Sokka called her into the manager's office," Yue explained. "I think they're trying to figure out some details about the payroll."

"I see," Azula remarked. Sokka taking interest in managerial affairs without being prompted to do so seemed like a promising development. Also, this seemed like a fitting moment to speak with the Water Tribe siblings and introduce them to the planned changes, but perhaps first she could do something to help Yue. "Can you hold the fort without me for a while?" Azula asked. "Toph, you can jump in if Suki needs you, right?"

"I'll handle it," Toph replied confidently.

"We should be good, it's not the busiest of services," Suki nodded in agreement.

"Alright, lead the way," Azula told a very surprised looking Yue. "I want to meet this infamous Auntie Ashuna, and maybe also teach you a thing or two about how to handle problematic customers."

"Just remember, you can't get physical with her because Katara will disapprove," Yue warned, still looking very curious as she led Azula out of the kitchen and into the dining room.

"I think you misunderstand my intentions here, dear Yue," Azula shot the other girl a quick grin as they approached a table occupied by an elderly Water Tribe woman. At the first glance, she appeared to have a jolly cheer about her, but to Azula these first impressions also revealed someone with the potential to turn into a total Karen if she didn't get what she wanted.

"Who is this girl, Yue?" Auntie Ashuna looked disapproving as they approached her table. "I asked to speak with Katara."

"Hello, my name is Azula, and I've been recently hired by Katara as a consultant," Azula lied smoothly with a broad and completely insincere smile on her lips. "You must be Auntie Ashuna, Katara's favorite customer. She regrets not being able to attend to your complaint personally, but she has sent me to address your concerns."

"Well… I suppose you will do," Auntie Ashuna looked a little deflated by Azula's flattery. "I just felt like this airhead was not taking me seriously," Ashuna then said, frowning at Yue. Azula grit her teeth, trying to hold back a growing desire to grab this old biddy in a headlock and hold her like that until she apologized to Yue. "I've been coming here for twenty years, ever since the restaurant opened, and I have always been able to order the milk poached cod, a dish that most reminds me of home. And suddenly it's no longer on the menu? What would Kanna say if she knew about this scandal? It's shameful, downright shameful."

"I completely understand your disappointment, Auntie Ashuna," Azula continued bullshitting the old woman. "All of us here at The Northern Lights stand by the quality of our menu and believe that it is superior to the old one. Most of the customers who saw some of their old favorites go have been able to find new favorite dishes from the new menu. But of course, we also understand that in some cases, there's a strong emotional connection not just to dish itself, but to what it represents. I regret that the changes we have introduced have resulted in such a disappointment for you."

"Well… at least you seem to understand why I feel so insulted," Auntie Ashuna sniffed, looking more placated now. "I hope it means that the cod will be back on the menu soon."

"Most certainly not," Azula replied with a perfectly polite smile on her face, managing to hold back laughter at Auntie Ashuna's shocked expression. "I'm afraid that this dish simply is not compatible with the overall theme of the new menu. However, considering that you are one of our most valuable and important customers, I would like to offer a compromise. There's not much I can do during a busy service, but if you were to stop by in an hour's time, I would be delighted to personally prepare a cod poached to perfection for you. I fancy myself something of a reasonably good cook," Azula said, inwardly rolling her eyes.

"Oh, that's… a very kind offer," Auntie Ashuna looked very taken aback. "It's not necessary to go through so much effort, really. I guess I don't want my poached cod that much," she said, looking clearly uncomfortable.

"Nonsense," Azula spoke cheerfully. "Please, come back after the lunch service and let us treat you like the valuable customer you are. I'm sure that Katara would appreciate us taking good care of you."

"Well… if you insist," Auntie Ashuna muttered, looking a little guilty as she made a quick exit from the restaurant.

"Okay, whoa… I thought you were going to snap her neck, not butter her up like that," Yue remarked, giving Azula a slightly stunned stare.

"Listen, in this business, it's very important to know when to chew someone out and when to kiss someone's ass," Azula replied. "This woman is clearly important to Katara, and even if Katara wasn't our friend, it would still be crucial to treat personal friends of our boss with the utmost reverence, right?"

"Sure, that makes sense, I guess," Yue sighed. "I just hate her veiled threats to complain to Kanna and Hakoda if Katara doesn't kiss the ground she walks upon."

"Oh, I understand, this Auntie Ashuna is clearly an insufferable Karen," Azula snorted. "But she could probably spread very damaging word of mouth in the local Water Tribe community if we treated her badly, right? Also, if we butter her up, she's more likely to call Katara's grandmother and praise Katara to her. And finally, she clearly looked guilty for inconveniencing us to serve her after hours. Maybe she'll show up after the service today, but I have a good feeling that in the future, she's going to forget all about her precious cod and whatever other crappy dishes she misses from the old menu."

"Alright, that's seriously clever thinking, Azula," Yue smiled, looking very impressed. "I think I could really benefit from more advice on how to deal with problem customers. You are probably better than anyone at handling them."

"It would be my pleasure to help," Azula nodded. "If you're having trouble with someone, just come to me and I'll give you pointers. But now, I really need to catch up with Katara and Sokka. I'll be at the manager's office if you or anyone else desperately need me," Azula said before heading over to the office.

In the manager's office, Azula found Sokka working on the computer, with Katara standing behind him, her chin planted against her sibling's shoulder. The look on Katara's face clearly indicated that she was stumped. "Well, whichever way you cut it, I think the numbers look promising," Sokka said. "We should be able to put you on a proper payroll soon. And if my sister decides to abandon me and move out, she won't have to live in a shoebox. You might actually be able to afford something nice."

"That would be great," Katara said dreamily. Azula had entered the office so quietly that the siblings still hadn't noticed her. "And don't tell me that you don't want me to move out. You clearly want to have Ty Lee over at your place."

"Only because she doesn't want to invite me to her place," Sokka said. "I really wish I knew what was up with that mysterious roomie of hers."

Azula frowned, having heard Sokka's words. As far as she was aware, Ty Lee was renting her apartment all by herself. Azula couldn't imagine Ty Lee being up to something nefarious, however, so she assumed that whatever was going on was probably some kind of ridiculous misunderstanding. "Just ask her about it, dumbass," Katara chided. "You're being overly respectful again. This is something you can ask her to clarify, it's not one of those subjects you need to be incredibly sensitive about."

"Katara is right," Azula announced herself as she approached the Water Tribe siblings, startling the pair. "Ty Lee doesn't have a deceptive bone in her body. Just ask her firmly and she'll come clean about what's going on. But be ready to hear an extremely silly explanation."

Sokka chuckled at that comment. "Yeah, I'm starting to understand why you would say that," he said. "Anyway, Katara and I have been going over our finances-"

"Sokka has been going over our finances, really," Katara cut him off. "I have been trying to stare these numbers into submission, but for some reason that tactic never works."

"Can we just agree that Sokka has naturally slipped into the role that I have always thought he was most suited for?" Azula asked, pointing at Sokka.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka blinked at her. "I'm just helping out with the payroll."

"Katara, you know what I'm talking about, right?" Azula asked, glancing at Katara and hoping that Katara's pride would not stop her from admitting that Sokka would make for a better general manager than she did.

"I mean… Sokka is clearly better at some of the general manager duties than I am," Katara admitted after a brief pause. "I've always struggled to handle the paperwork. I would like to say that I'm better at working with people, but… I think you made me realize that I often wasn't strict enough, as that whole debacle with Jet showed."

"Hmm," Sokka looked thoughtful. "Well, I actually like crunching the numbers. And since I've been constantly helping Kat with that, I already know what to do there. What else would I have to do as the GM?" he asked, looking at Azula.

"Well, you would have to make sure that health and safety regulations are followed," Azula explained. "You would have to create work schedules for the staff. Hiring would also fall under you, although I would advise you to delegate that to either Suki or Katara. And there are many other important duties that a general manager needs to take care of, controlling the costs, managing inventory, doing marketing and promotions."

"You're a creative guy, Sokka," Katara smirked. "I'd like to see you having a go at promoting us. Let's see if you can do better than my terrible discount coupons that everyone mocked."

"I'm pretty sure I could do better," Sokka said proudly. "Still, I'm not sure. It sounds like something I could do, but at the same time, it feels like a bit of a white-collar job, no? I've never seen myself as one of that crowd."

"You don't have to be that kind of a GM, Sokka," Azula said. "In a small restaurant like this, it wouldn't even make sense. We would need you to be very hands on. What we need is a guy who can crunch numbers, handle all the paperwork, but who can also grab a wrench and fix a pipe that's about to burst. There's nobody else here who fits that profile better than you."

"I'm starting to like what I'm hearing," Sokka hummed thoughtfully. "I'll need to think about it some more, but you're making it sound very tempting."

"In the role of a GM, you'd be almost like a binding agent, holding the entire structure together," Azula decided to go all in with her pitch, keeping in mind how important it was for Sokka to feel as if he was irreplaceable. "Someone who can pitch in anywhere in time of crisis, like the last and most important line of defense. But it's even more important than that. You'd be in charge of charting the direction of the restaurant, just like the captain of a ship."

"Oh, a nautical metaphor! You are so winning me over with that," Sokka laughed. "Alright, fine, I accept. I'll be the GM!"

"You'll do great, Sokka," Katara smiled before giving her brother a big hug.

"Thanks, Kat," Sokka grinned back at her. "Anyway… you're fired," he winked at his sister.

"Hey!" Katara exclaimed, giving Sokka a light shove. "Why are you being such a jerk all of a sudden?"

"I'm not being a jerk," Sokka chuckled. "It's just that you're also still a GM, and we can't have two general managers. So, you need to be fired from your current position and rehired as something else… Azula?" he asked, looking over at Azula.

"Right," Azula nodded, mentally readying her pitch to Katara. "Anyway, I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel here, Kat. For the most of this past month, you have been working alongside Yue and you have clearly enjoyed it."

"True, I like waiting tables and making sure that the customers have a good experience," Katara nodded in agreement. "But you also told me that it isn't a job for the owner, so… I don't understand."

"Well, I don't mean for you to be a waitress," Azula began to explain. "In some parts of the Earth Kingdom, the role I intend for you is called maître d'hôtel or just maître d'. I think it would be very pretentious for us to use that job description, especially when the word hostess already exists."

"A hostess?" Katara frowned. "I thought it was exactly the same as a waitress."

"Not quite," Azula shook her head. "For us it would simply mean a clearer separation of roles between you and Yue. The hostess is primarily responsible for greeting the guests, seating them, handling the reservations and waiting lists, staggering the flow so that the kitchen doesn't get slammed with all the orders at once, helping with conflict resolutions, engaging with the guests and making sure they're happy. You'd be a step above Yue, and if we ended up hiring additional waitstaff, they would all answer directly to you."

"I… suppose I could do that," Katara said thoughtfully, but she didn't look very excited.

"What's wrong? You don't like the idea?" Azula asked nervously. She honestly believed that Katara had the makings of a great hostess, especially with a bit of extra training. "I would also like to teach you and Yue how to serve some of our dishes tableside. That would be another important task for you. And I know this amazing sommelier I wanted to ask about giving you two a lecture on wines."

"Yeah, Kat, Azula's going to teach you how to toss Sozin's salad tableside," Sokka laughed.

"Sokka, that's gross!" both Katara and Azula yelled at him in unison. "Yeah, I'm not tossing Sozin's salad tableside or anywhere else, but I would like to learn how to prepare the dish," Katara said.

"But you're not entirely sold on this role," Azula stated. "Why? I thought you'd be excited."

"I… I just thought that maybe as an owner I should help in a more impactful way," Katara sighed. "I know I'm probably being petty right now, but Sokka will be the new GM and I'll be as good as a waitress-"

"You're not being petty, you're just being ridiculous," Azula snapped, interrupting Katara. "You completely underestimate the importance of an amazing hostess. We already have so many return customers who are enamored with you and Yue, I know that for sure, I see the social media posts of some of our particularly thirsty customers." Katara was blushing deep scarlet at that comment. "Katara, every restaurant needs a face, because it's something that makes people come back almost as much as the quality of the food, and I can't imagine anyone better suited than you for this incredibly important role. We would be complete fools for not making use of your natural charm and beauty to draw in customers. Katara, I can't remember meeting anyone else as charismatic and genuinely warm as you. You would be absolutely perfect for this role of greeting the guests, making them feel welcome and wanting to come back."

Azula stopped talking when she noticed that Katara was staring at her with exceptionally wide eyes. She also seemed to be vibrating slightly. Azula suddenly froze, trying to rewind the words she had said in her head, and only then realizing that the way she had presented her pitch for Katara's new job had come out sounding more than a love letter to Katara. And it clearly hadn't escaped Katara's notice, because she suddenly darted forward, seized Azula by the shoulders and unexpectedly slammed her lips against Azula's.

Shocked, Azula did the only thing that made sense, which was to open herself up to the kiss and really lean into it. Azula had a feeling that neither of them would have done anything to break it if not for Sokka eventually speaking up. "Gross," Sokka said, barely holding back laughter. "Also, gay."

Azula and Katara quickly separated, both of them completely flushed. "Umm, sorry," Katara muttered, looking down at her feet. "It's just… when you said all those nice things about me, it was like something snapped inside me."

"Uh, it's… it's not a big deal… don't worry about it," Azula apologized awkwardly. "Does it… mean you're accepting the position?" she asked.

"I am," Katara smiled shyly. "And I'm looking forward to all the extensive… instruction I'll require," she added, batting her lashes at Azula.

"Umm, sure… well, I'm just relieved that you both ended up agreeing with my proposed changes," Azula managed despite feeling very tongue-tied, the taste of Katara lingering on her lips and making her a little dizzy. "But now, I … uh, I should go," she said, awkwardly turning around and making a quick escape from the manager's office, with Sokka's booming laughter ringing in her ears.

On his way to Ty Lee's place, Sokka couldn't help but feel both excited, but also a little worried. He was happy that Ty Lee had reacted well to his insistence of meeting her problematic roomie, but at the same time, with Ty Lee being such an odd and quirky girl, Sokka was trying to prepare himself for the possibility of being in for a nasty surprise. Given just how wild some of Ty Lee's views were, it wouldn't be beyond the wildest realms of possibility that she had some kind of a romantic relationship with this roomie while somehow deluding herself into thinking that it was acceptable.

Still, Sokka was determined to discover the truth, knowing that otherwise there wasn't a path forward for him and Ty Lee. And Sokka actually was interested in moving forward with this strange Fire Nation girl who was so unlike anyone he'd dated before. Sure, maybe Ty Lee wasn't his match intellectually, but it wasn't as if Yue had been particularly eager to discuss topics of scientific nature, and Suki's interest was also fairly limited. Also, there was something precious about Ty Lee's childlike and genuine curiosity, her earnestness and her spontaneous nature. There was no way of predicting what Ty Lee would think to do next, and Sokka realized that he enjoyed having someone like that in his life to break up the formulaic and predictable patterns.

Ty Lee was quick to respond to Sokka knocking on her doors, letting him in. They had agreed to meet in the afternoon between the services at their respective restaurants, so they were both in a rush. Ty Lee gave Sokka a nervous smile as she welcomed him into her rent apartment, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Alright, he's ready to meet you," Ty Lee told him.

He, hmm? Sokka thought to himself. This was starting to sound ominous. Ty Lee was sharing an apartment with some guy? Yeah, they were probably sleeping together, nothing else would make sense. Still, he had promised to meet this roomie, so Sokka stepped further into the apartment. "Hello, I'm Sok-" he began to introduce himself, only then realizing that the room was empty.

"He's not in there, silly," Ty Lee giggled. "Try the bathroom over here!" she exclaimed, pointing at the bathroom doors.

"You… want me to meet your roomie in the bathroom?" Sokka blinked. Ty Lee nodded firmly. "Uh, alright," Sokka shrugged, heading for the bathroom and stepping inside. Immediately, Sokka found himself staring into the black and beady eyes of someone or something distinctly non-human. The creature was very large and it sat in Ty Lee's bathtub, eyeing him curiously. It then let out an excited bark and leaned towards Sokka, starting to eat his face. Upon further consideration, Sokka then realized that the creature was not eating his face, but instead was licking him with a ridiculously slimy tongue.

"Ty Lee?" Sokka called out. "I would like to know… and I also want to say that never in my life did I imagine ever asking a question like this, but why is there a grown sealion in your bathtub?"

"It's not just any sealion, it's my friend Slippery Pete," Ty Lee beamed, slipping into the very crowded bathroom and giving Slippery Pete an affectionate pat on the head, making the sealion bark happily. "When I fled the Sea World after that horrible fire, I took him with me. I wasn't going to leave him behind to face a grim and uncertain fate," she finished dramatically.

"A grim and uncertain fate, why?" Sokka asked. He noticed that Slippery Pete also looked very sad and teary eyed, almost like he had been taking drama lessons from Ty Lee.

"Well… because Pete and I, we're kind of to blame for that Sea World fire," Ty Lee sighed. "It was a complete accident, though. We were doing our act like normal and it was going perfectly fine, but then someone bumped into me as I was chucking a fish at Pete. The fish then flew off target and when Pete chased after it, he bumped into a fire breather in the middle of his performance. Before we knew what was going on, there was fire everywhere. People got hurt in the panic…"

"I have no idea how anyone could point fingers at you for what happened, though," Sokka frowned. "It seems like a complete accident, a chain of unfortunate events."

"Tell it to the Earth Kingdom authorities," Ty Lee sighed. "We can never go back there because Slippery Pete and I are wanted for arson." Slippery Pete let out a mournful bark at that. "My good friend and I are both wanted criminals," Ty Lee cried, wrapping her arms around the sea lion's neck and giving him an affectionate hug.

"That's, uh, really rough," Sokka offered sympathetically. "But umm, it doesn't explain why Pete has been living in your bathtub?"

"Doesn't it, though?" Ty Lee asked tearfully. "One of my former coworkers texted me that there's a bounty on our heads, Sokka!"

"Okay…" Sokka considered. "I suspect that this former coworker was a jerk just messing with you, but even if they weren't, how would anyone recognize Slippery Pete?"

"What do you mean?" Ty Lee looked confused, and maybe even a little bit offended. "I will always recognize my baby in a crowd of barking sealions."

"Sure, but that's because you two share a special bond," Sokka rallied, refusing to give up. "I can assure you that nobody else will recognize Slippery Pete as a wanted arsonist. Come on, Ty Lee, you know that you can't keep a sealion as a pet, not in a tiny apartment like yours. He deserves to swim freely in the wild. Maybe even get himself a nice girlfriend."

Ty Lee smiled through her tears at that. "Right… no, you're completely right, Sokka," she admitted with a sigh. "I've always known deep inside that I'll have to let Pete go. I guess I just needed to hear it from someone who's… you know, not insane?"

Sokka laughed at that. "Well, in that case, I'll make all the arrangements, and tonight after work we'll bring this good boy to the beach and release him into the wild." Sokka reached out and patted Slippery Pete. "How does that sound, boy?" The sea lion's response to that was more barking and licking of Sokka's face.

Azula was actually relieved that Auntie Ashuna decided to show up for her milk poached cod, because it meant that Azula didn't have to spend the time between the services agonizing about her earlier kiss with Katara. At least now she could distract herself by blowing Auntie Ashuna's socks off by preparing the best milk poached cod she had ever tasted. Of course, it was still essentially fish in milk, so gross by definition, but Azula made sure to elevate the dish as much as possible.

Indeed, Azula truly enjoyed flexing her powers of manipulation on Auntie Ashuna. She made sure to let the old woman know how she had taken a couple of hours out of her day just to make this complicated dish for her, and how it didn't matter that she was going to have a fourteen hour work shift because of it. The extreme amount of ass-kissing paid off immediately, and Azula could see how devastated Auntie Ashuna looked as she slowly gummed down the poached cod that had by now been utterly poisoned by guilt. After Ashuna had finished her meal, she left while uttering constant apologies for burdening Azula with her request and promising to give the new menu a try.

Even if she had been forced to put in an extra effort, Azula felt very pleased in the aftermath of this little distraction. Not only was Auntie Ashuna going to be pleased with Katara, perhaps praising the changes at the restaurant to Katara's father and grandmother, she was also guaranteed to spread positive word of mouth in the local community. It was undeniable truth that ass-kissing under the right circumstances remained one of her most impressive tools of manipulation.

So, the confusing and dangerous kiss with Katara aside, Azula felt like she was having a good day. The Water Tribe siblings had agreed to give their new roles a try, and that was the most important development of them all. Azula felt very confident that both Sokka and Katara were now slotted in their proper positions, and the only remaining concern was that Katara had gone from technically being Sokka's boss to now being subordinate to her older sibling. Azula hoped that Katara would take to it well, but Azula also knew that if she ever ended up in a subordinate role to Zuko, her first step in that position would be to add all the world's strychnine to Zuko's next meal. Certainly, Katara and Sokka actually had a good sibling relationship, but Azula resolved to still tell Sokka not to abuse his status of being in overall charge of the business.

With these organizational matters finally settled, the dinner service on Tuesday evening was humming along nicely. Everyone seemed to be on the same page as the evening progressed, at least until deep into the service when Yue showed up in the kitchen, once again looking upset. "Azula, do you have a moment?" she asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Azula replied. The side dishes for the mains Suki had called out three minutes earlier were coming along nicely and Azula could afford a slight distraction to chat with Yue.

"I'm just looking for advice on how to handle a painful customer," Yue said. "There's this food vlogger out in the dining room, being completely ridiculous, and I can't figure out if I should kiss her ass or grow some spine and get mean, like everyone tells me to."

"Hmm, food vloggers can be tricky to handle," Azula clicked her tongue. "I don't have a one size fits all solution for their type. What is she being dramatic about, anyway?"

"She ordered the salmon special, right?" Yue sighed. "And while I was bringing the salmon up to her, the poached egg slipped off from the bloody fish. That's my mistake, sure, but is it really that big of a deal?"

"Did the egg break?" Azula asked. Yue shook her head. "Well, you haven't really done anything wrong, then. I might have been sloppy when plating and the whole thing was probably a bit unstable," Azula instantly turned into a simp once again, taking the fall for Yue. "Anyway, I best go with you and show you how to deal with an annoying food vlogger. Suki, the sides will be up in two minutes, can you deal with everything yourself?"

"I've got it, don't worry," Toph spoke up, jumping in before Suki could reply.

"Thanks, you're awesome, Toph," Azula spoke gratefully, quickly leaving the kitchen together with Yue. "Alright, tell me which one is the food vlogger, but remember, don't point," Azula said quietly as they entered the dining room.

"She's over there, by the window," Yue said, nodding subtly, but Azula had already identified the culprit.

"Got it," Azula replied. The girl in question looked like one of those insufferable foodies that had taken over social media platforms like TikTok, making insipid videos of the worst kind. Ozai had recently gained more than a million new subscribers by posting reaction videos in which he tore apart some of the worst TikTok food videos. Azula immediately made the decision that this was not a conflict that should be resolved by ass-kissing. This was a conflict that had to be resolved by swift evisceration.

"Here's what we're going to do," Azula said, taking her phone, unlocking it and passing it over to Yue. "Follow me and record everything. I promise that you're in for a treat, my dear."

"Looking forward to it," Yue grinned, quickly getting ready to start recording before following Azula to the complainer's table.

"I understand that you had a complaint," Azula asked the troublesome customer. The haughty and entitled looking girl was definitely a Caldera local in possession of the worst kind of resting bitch face, making her look like she was constantly sucking on a lemon.

"Yes," the girl replied, giving Azula a snide look. "Also, I asked to speak with a manager," she said, looking unimpressed by Azula's chef's jacket.

"I'm responsible for handling customer complaints, so I'm clearly the right person to speak to," Azula replied calmly and professionally. "Again, I ask you, what seems to be the problem?"

"I ordered salmon Benedict," the girl said stiffly. "This is how it was delivered to me," she pointed at the plate. Azula could clearly see that one of the eggs Benedict had slipped off from the salmon fillet. "I'm a very important food blogger. I have more than a hundred thousand followers on TikTok. I wanted to take a nice picture of my plate to post on social media, but I can't take a photo of this." Her face was full of disgust as she looked at her salmon dish.

"How terrible," Azula offered her fake commiserations. "And what would you like us to do?"

"Make me a new dish, obviously," the fake foodie declared. "You can give this to someone else. I haven't touched it," she added insultingly.

"So, even though it's not good enough for you, it should be good enough for everyone else?" Azula asked, wanting to make sure she had heard it correctly. The vlogger gave her a puzzled look, suggesting that she didn't understand what Azula was getting at. "I mean, we can make a new salmon for you, but you'll be paying for both dishes."

"Excuse me?" the girl asked haughtily. "This one is ruined!"

"Has it ever occurred to you to simply take a spoon and move the poached egg back on top of the salmon?" Azula asked.

"I shouldn't have to do that," the vlogger protested. "Besides, it's going to break if I try to move it."

"Only if you're so mentally deficient that you can't use a spoon like a normal person," Azula stated. The girl glared at her before picking up a spoon and making a big spectacle of trying to move the egg, but then clearly intentionally piercing it and making the yolk spill all over the plate.

"I told you it was going to break," the vlogger frowned. "Now you have to make me a new one. Or else, I'm going to post all about it on my social media. My TikTok followers will make sure that your shitty restaurant goes belly up."

"That was a mistake," Azula smirked. "Do you know who I am?"

The girl gave her a very unimpressed stare. "Obviously some kind of a psycho who has stolen a chef's jacket."

"I am Azula Nakamura," Azula stated. "My YouTube channel alone has almost two million subscribers, and I have almost six million followers over all of my social media put together. I could destroy your pathetic little vlog in a heartbeat."

"You're not Azula Nakamura," the vlogger gave her a disbelieving stare. "Azula Nakamura would never be caught in a cheap dive like this."

"Alright, have it your way," Azula laughed. "Yue, my phone, please," she asked, taking her phone back from the blonde waitress. Azula quickly made sure the recording was of decent quality and then hit the button to upload it. "There, you may want to check Azula Nakamura's YouTube channel. She just posted a new video. It's titled 'I destroy the career of a pathetic fake TikTok foodie'."

The vlogger girl looked very concerned now as she quickly checked YouTube and then released a shrill scream that made everyone at the restaurant glare at her in annoyance. "You can't do this to me!" she cried, rising from her seat and looking like she was about to bolt. "You're going to regret this!" the vlogger tried to run for it, only for Azula to roughly grab her hand and force her back into her seat.

"You still haven't paid," Azula growled threateningly. "Yue, the bill, please?"

"With pleasure!" Yue grinned, dashing off and returning moments later with the bill.

The pretentious vlogger had by now lost all of her haughtiness and she looked utterly destroyed as she took out her wallet and retrieved the money with shaking hands. "And a generous tip for the waitress for having to deal with an entitled twat like you," Azula added sternly. The girl looked close to tearing up as she retrieved another tenner and placed it on the table. "And now," Azula said, moving aside and letting the vlogger rise. "Get out, and consider yourself banned from this place. And one last thing," she added, grabbing the girl's hand and squeezing it roughly. "I will take down my video of you, but if your atrocious behavior is ever brought to my attention again, I will reupload it and destroy you for good. Do you understand?" the girl nodded tearfully. "Now get out!" Azula said, watching the vlogger take off, running clumsily on her stiletto heels. Azula was then treated to a rousing round of applause from all the other customers, suggesting that they were all very much aware that the foodie girl had been a real pain in the ass.

"That was amazing," Yue gushed as they both stepped out of the dining room and into the hallway connecting to the kitchen. "The way you handled that girl was just so impressive."

"I had a feeling that you would enjoy that," Azula chuckled.

"Oh, I more than just enjoyed it," Yue said in a husky voice as they both came to a halt in the hallway, facing each other. "I thought it was incredibly hot," Yue whispered with a burning intensity in her deep blue eyes. Mere moments later, Azula found herself pinned against the wall, surprisingly roughly, and then she felt Yue's lips against hers, needy and insistent, kissing her hungrily. Azula would have never expected the kind and gentle Yue to come for her with such aggressive possessiveness, but the fierce kiss was so incredibly arousing that it was making Azula forget that she wasn't supposed to be doing this.

And it definitely was not just any ordinary kiss, either. This was a very deep kiss that threatened to escalate then and there, out in the hallway. Their hands were all over each other, and Azula was aware that she was messing up Yue's uniform something fierce. Azula's chef's jacket had come apart and she had wrapped her right leg around Yue's waist, with Yue's hands all over her thighs, on the verge of starting to animalistically grind against each other. It was only someone speaking up loudly close by that reminded the two women that they were in a very public place and they separated, gasping for air.

"I, uh… I should… go," Azula managed, making sure not to look at Yue, lest her weakness paved way for more unrestrained kissing. Fortunately, Yue made no effort to detain her as Azula turned to quickly flee. She was in no shape to return to the kitchen right away, however, so instead she snuck into one of the storerooms to quickly fix her ruffled appearance before deciding to step out through the back exit to get a little bit of fresh air before heading back inside.

"Everything alright?" Azula was completely taken by surprise when she heard Suki's voice immediately after stepping outside and into the alley. She looked around to spot Suki sitting on an overturned crate with a cigarette in her hand.

"Umm, sure," Azula replied, trying to quickly gather her bearings. "I sent that annoying vlogger packing," she said proudly. Suki grinned at her. "Anyway, is everything under control in the kitchen?" Azula asked.

"Whatever you were doing out there in the dining room seems to have created a little lull in the kitchen," Suki explained. "It gave me just enough time to slip out for a quick cig."

"Fair enough," Azula nodded. "We all need a break now and then," she added, privately thinking that she definitely needed a break from being spontaneously kissed by beautiful women, especially if she was expected to maintain her policy of not mixing her work life with her relationships.

"So, I heard Sokka being really excited about his new position earlier," Suki said. "I don't know how you managed to get him sold on becoming the manager, but I'm glad you did. Not just because I think he'll be good in the role, but also because you just secured me a permanent head chef's position. And I realize I haven't thanked you properly."

"Seriously, it's not a big deal," Azula replied distractedly, looking around for another crate to use for a seat, but then Suki did something surprising by nudging Azula in the back of her right knee, making Azula lose her balance. She flailed for a moment before landing right into Suki's lap. The crate underneath them creaked ominously, but didn't break.

"It's kind of a huge deal for me, though," Suki grinned. "So… I hope this expresses just how grateful I am," she winked before pulling Azula closer. With complete disbelief, Azula found herself being kissed yet again, fiercely and insistently. While Azula was internally debating on whether to pull away and end the kiss, her instincts decided to take over and respond to the kiss in full measure. Azula had no idea how long the kiss would have lasted and where it would have ended if the crate under Suki hadn't given out and with surprised yelps, they ended in a heap on the ground amidst broken splinters of wood.

Azula used the moment to get away, jumping to her feet and dashing back inside the restaurant… only to almost crash into Sokka, walking towards her with his arms outstretched. "Hey, Azula, I just wanted to-"

"Sorry, gotta go!" Azula yelled in panic, sprinting past Sokka. She ran straight for the parking lot, jumped into her car and sped off in a hurry, breaking all possible speed limits.

"What's gotten into her? I just wanted to thank her for my new promotion," Sokka was left shaking his head, looking at Azula's car speeding away down the street. "What a crazy broad. It's not like I wanted to kiss her or anything."

"Spirits, is he heavy or what?" Sokka grunted, pushing a wheelbarrow containing a very relaxed looking sealion in it. They were making slow progress down the path lined with wooden planks, stretching from the parking lot down to the beach. Sokka had chosen one of the more remote beaches a few miles south from Caldera harbor. An hour past midnight, there was nobody around to question him and Ty Lee about a sealion in a wheelbarrow, which was definitely not a common sighting around these parts.

"Well, he is a young and healthy sealion," Ty Lee replied, walking alongside the wheelbarrow. "I can't believe we're doing this!" she gushed. "This is so exciting!"

"It is kind of exciting, I agree," Sokka said. "I never expected to be doing anything as weird as this. I feel like some kind of a sealion smuggler."

"More like a sealion rescuer," Ty Lee laughed. "You're our hero!"

"I like the sound of that. Still, I wouldn't want to do this for a living. It's way too much hard work," Sokka grunted as the wheelbarrow suddenly came to a halt, getting stuck in the sand and refusing to move from the spot. "Oh, come on!" Sokka exclaimed, noticing the problem. The path of wooden planks had come to an end well short of the actual beach. "This is as far as it goes?"

"I guess so," Ty Lee shrugged. "Any ideas?"

"Hmm," Sokka mused. "Sealions are supposedly able to get around perfectly fine on land. Maybe he could walk the rest of the way to the beach?" Still sitting in the stuck wheelbarrow, Slippery Pete gave Sokka a look that could only be described as disgusted. "I guess that's a no," Sokka sighed.

"There's no way, Sokka," Ty Lee shook her head. "I can't even see the water from here. Poor Pete will never find his way if we just leave him here. The sealion poachers will be sure to get him!"

"The sealion poachers?" Sokka wondered. Ty Lee nodded with a very concerned look on her face. "Well… in that case, I suppose we'll just have to carry him. Even if he probably weighs a ton." Slippery Pete barked jovially at that.

"Let's give it a try," Ty Lee agreed. They then spent several minutes trying to lift Slippery Pete, but all of their efforts resulted in failure because Pete was so slippery that they couldn't get a good grip on him. "There's only one way we can do this," Ty Lee eventually announced. "You'll have to carry him piggy-back."

Sokka gave her a skeptical stare. "That's going to break my spine, Ty Lee."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Ty Lee beamed at him. "I can then grab him by the backside and take some of the weight off you."

Sokka briefly considered the proposition. Obviously, it was insane, but the pleading expression in Ty Lee's eyes signaled his doom. A few minutes later, they were slowly moving towards the beach, carrying a happily barking sealion.

"I feel like I'm probably developing a hernia," Sokka groaned after they had slowly made some fifty yards or so.

"Well, you couldn't have gotten it from me," Ty Lee replied, sounding a little winded. "I had to take a full medical after coming home from the Earth Kingdom and the doctors gave me a perfectly clean bill of health."

"Umm, you're thinking herpes, Ty Lee, not hernia. Those two things aren't really alike," Sokka said. If he wasn't so bogged down by a sealion on his back, he probably would have burst into laughter. "Although, I'm very happy to learn that you don't have herpes."

"I'm also very pleased about that," Ty Lee agreed.

"Alright, I can't carry him any further than this," Sokka said some perhaps hundred yards later, lowering the sealion onto the sand. The threat of hernia was becoming a little too real, and the heavy weight of Slippery Pete was about to snap his spine like a twig.

"Well, at least we're closer to the water, I'm sure Pete can find his way now," Ty Lee said hopefully. Pete still wasn't moving, though, giving Sokka a hopeful stare, clearly wanting to be carried around some more. "Maybe I can encourage him and show him the way? Let me try it," Ty Lee said, taking off towards the shore. She kicked off her sandals and stepped into the water, splashing around for a bit before getting out again and waving at her sealion friend. "Look at all this water, Pete! Come on, buddy, come here and play! You're going to love it!"

Pete eyed Ty Lee for a bit, at first appearing skeptical, but then suddenly taking off, moving towards Ty Lee with surprising speed that made Sokka a little salty for having carried this lazy sack of sealion shit all this way, when he could clearly motor like a speeding semi. "Yes! That's it! Come to mama for one final hug!" Ty Lee cheered. Her arms were wide open as Slippery Pete ran towards her like in one of those moments that seemed right out of family friendly animal movies.

What happened next, wasn't quite out of a wholesome family movie. Instead of meeting Ty Lee in one final hug, Slippery Pete was so excited about the ocean that he simply barreled over Ty Lee, flattening her and disappearing into the dark waves. "Ty Lee!" Sokka cried in alarm as he rushed towards his girlfriend. "Are you alright?"

"Owie?" Ty Lee grinned weakly at him from down in the sand, looking a little bruised, but otherwise fine. Sokka reached out and pulled her back to her feet.

"You know, this is the most insane thing I have ever done for a girl," Sokka admitted, grinning at her.

"Aww," Ty Lee smiled at him. "This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." Her smile grew a little wicked at that. "Which means that you deserve a reward," Ty Lee said before tackling Sokka onto the sand, straddling him and removing her top in one smooth motion. Sokka decided to simply lay back and enjoy the satisfying conclusion to one of his wildest and most insane days ever… but as his new girlfriend leaned over him and began to passionately kiss him, Sokka decided that perhaps he could do with a bit more craziness in his life.

Chapter Text

A week or so later, Jet finally felt like he had recovered from the whole nude calendar debacle. With mental images of naked grans no longer haunting him, Jet was ready to move on with his next scheme. So far, his plans had not panned out quite as intended, but they had still produced results. For example, after all the meddling he had done, Jin and On Ji seemed to be hooking up regularly and had largely forgotten about their obsession with Zuko. Even Jin was no longer stalking Zuko every evening, which was a huge step for her.

Of course, this still didn't feel like a total win for Jet because he hadn't gotten his threesome and also, Jin and On Ji suddenly seemed way less responsive to his suggestions about continuing to get to know each other better. Jet was trying not to be too salty about it, though. The most important part of it all was that the two girls were now less determined to pursue Zuko.

Annoyingly, Zuko's relationship with Mai had thus far withstood all of Jet's meddling. With Jin and On Ji losing interest in him, there was also nobody that Jet could use to incite rumors about Mai possibly having a bit of a fling with Ruon-Jian. It seemed like Jet would have to abandon his current approach and come up with a new tactic, and fortunately, he knew just what to do.

Jet had gotten this job largely because he had mentioned his knowledge of The Northern Lights restaurant and his desire to get back at Azula for violently kicking him out. Zuko had a vested interest in bringing down the rival restaurant and his sister with it, and it seemed like nobody else at The Blue Spirit really cared about this rivalry other than Jet and Zuko. Surely it was time to make good on the fact that he and Zuko were on the same page about this, and hopefully by working together to destroy Azula, Jet would succeed in creating a stronger bond with Zuko.

It took Jet a few days to come up with a plan to present to Zuko, but finally, on Friday morning before the lunch service began, he was ready to proceed, catching up with Zuko in the kitchen where together with On Ji they were preparing for the upcoming lunch service.

"Hey, you two," Jet called out cheerfully as he entered the kitchen, making finger guns at Zuko. "Got a minute for me, boss man?" he winked.

"Kind of busy here," Zuko shrugged. "As long as we can talk while I keep prepping?"

"Sure, keep chopping away," Jet chuckled, trying to pretend that he wasn't a little annoyed for not commanding Zuko's exclusive attention. "Anyway, so, our little place has been doing really well, right?" Zuko looked up, giving him a roll of the eyes, probably for stating the obvious. "You know who else has been doing really well, though? The Northern Lights."

"There's no way they're doing as well as we are," Zuko snorted. "Anyway, why are you trying to spoil my mood by bringing up Azula? Are they doing so well that you're planning to crawl on your belly in front of her just so that she takes you back?"

"Not why I brought it up, boss dude," Jet sighed. "I just thought you deserved to know that they've been really trending on social media lately."

"Has Azula become desperate and started to appeal to her TikTok followers?" Zuko laughed. "She knows that father would disapprove if she did that. We're not supposed to tap into our celebrity status while fixing these restaurants. Ozai made that very obvious to us both."

"This chatter doesn't seem to come from Azula's accounts," Jet pointed out. "It's just… generally positive word of mouth."

"Jet is right about that," On Ji added, listening in nearby. "Not that I care about this rivalry, I just want to make this restaurant the best it can be. But it's true that there's a lot of buzz about Azula Nakamura's place." Zuko made a face at On Ji's words.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about, Zuko," Jet said. "I thought maybe you'd want to do something to make this word of mouth around Azula's restaurant a little less positive."

"What do you have in mind?" Zuko asked, suddenly sounding very interested, so much so that he stopped chopping the carrots he'd been working on.

"Imagine the headline in the local news sites," Jet said, waving his hands in front of Zuko. "Dead rat found in the ladies' restroom of a local Water Tribe restaurant! Outraged customers demand accountability from besieged owners! Celebrity consultant Azula Nakamura left red-faced by the scandal of facing emergency health and safety audit!"

"So… what, you want to start up a rumor?" Zuko frowned. "I don't think people will just believe us without any evidence."

"Oh, I think we can do a lot better than just spreading baseless rumors," Jet chuckled. "I think a dead rat should actually appear in their ladies' restroom. And, as it so happens, I already have the rat, here," Jet said, placing a plastic bag containing a dead rat on Zuko's chopping board.

"Eww, that's so gross!" On Ji went pale and ran out of the kitchen.

"Hmm… it's a dead rat, alright," Zuko hummed, scrutinizing the ex-rodent. Jet had wrestled it away from one of the stray cats who had made his apartment complex their residence. Jet often left out bowls of milk and some of the leftovers from the restaurant for the homeless felines. The strays had come to trust him over time, and so he had been able to obtain the dead rat with only minimal loss of blood.

"So, what do you think of my plan?" Jet asked hopefully.

"It shows promise," Zuko nodded approvingly. "Alright, go ahead and make it happen."

"Ah… see, you just hit on a big problem there," Jet winced, sucking breath through his teeth. Zuko gave him an inquisitive stare. "I can't go back to The Northern Lights. Katara is normally a gentle and forgiving person, but she can carry a grudge. And for what I did to her… yeah, she's definitely carrying a grudge. And Azula is likely to attack me on sight, so it can't be me planting the rat."

"So… are you saying it should be me?" Zuko asked incredulously. Jet nodded, giving Zuko his best winning smile. "Get out of here, I have a lunch service to run," Zuko scoffed.

"Come on, isn't sticking it to Azula more important than one measly lunch service?" Jet asked. Zuko hesitated, looking uncertain. "Also, On Ji did just fine soloing lunch on Tuesday, didn't she?" Jet continued to press. "I'm going to stick around and help her out if she needs me to."

"I suppose that might work," Zuko admitted. "It's true that On Ji is doing better than I expected and shouldn't have trouble handling lunch service. But you need to understand that Azula probably doesn't want to see me at her restaurant just as much as she doesn't want to see you."

"Maybe, but she's not going to violently eject her own brother, is she?" Jet asked.

Zuko thought for a moment. "I guess not," he eventually shrugged. "I suppose that would be too bad of a look for her."

"Also, aren't you a bit curious about what her restaurant is like?" Jet asked. "It might be useful to do some spying, right? Azula probably knows everything that's going on here. You know that Ty Lee can't keep her mouth shut about anything. Maybe that's how Azula has been able to catch up with us so quickly."

"It might be a good idea to learn the weak spots of Azula's restaurant, true," Zuko admitted. "If I go in as a customer during the lunch service, she'd have no grounds to eject me. Also, I could sample some of her dishes, just to get a feel of where she's at quality wise. Yes, I could learn all sorts of important information! I'm starting to like this idea."

"I told you it was a good one," Jet said, pleased about Zuko's reaction. "And I was about to suggest that you go in as a paying customer. And then, at some point, you could just get up and go to the toilet. I have drawn a layout of The Northern Lights just for an occasion like this, let me show you," Jet said, retrieving a messy drawing of the restaurant's floor plan. "So, the gent's room is here, and right across the hallway is the ladies, right?"

"Question," Zuko raised his hand. "Why can't I just drop the rat at the men's restroom? Why do I have to risk sneaking into the ladies?"

"To avert suspicion, my dear Zuko," Jet grinned. "If you were to drop the rat in the men's restroom, everyone would know that you had something to do with it. But surely Azula would not suspect you of doing something so silly as sneaking into the ladies' room."

"You are absolutely right about that," Zuko nodded confidently. "After all, I don't have any history of doing weird and embarrassing shit in order to upstage my ambitious younger sister. I have always been completely normal about this sibling competition."

"Umm… perhaps it's best that I don't press you for details," Jet chuckled nervously. "Anyway, if everything is clear, you should probably get ready. I think they've already started their lunch service at The Northern Lights."

"Sounds good," Zuko nodded. He reached out to grab the plastic bag with the dead rat, but then he stopped, hesitating. "This could be a problem," he said thoughtfully.

"What are you thinking about?" Jet asked.

"Well, I was going to put the rat into a grocery bag or something like that," Zuko said. "But then I realized something. Wouldn't it be really suspicious if I went to the bathroom with a grocery bag? Azula is frighteningly observant. She would immediately realize that something is off if I don't leave the bag at the table."

"Damn," Jet cursed. "You're right, that does sound like Azula." He thought for a moment, then snapping his fingers. "Well… I have an idea, but you might not like it," Jet grinned.

"Hit me," Zuko said. "We've come this far already and I don't want to stop now."

"If you can't put the rat in some kind of a bag, then there's just one other solution," Jet said. "We need to conceal it on your person, somehow."

"You mean…" Zuko looked down.

"Yep," Jet nodded. "Sorry, but you'll have to stick this dead rat down your pants."

"Shit, I was afraid you were going to say that," Zuko swore. "Oh well. It's definitely better than stuffing a live rat down your pants," he sighed. "Alright, I'll do it, but now I have a new task for you, Jet." Jet gave Zuko an expectant stare. "Go and get me one of those extra strong bars of soap. I don't want Mai to complain about dead rat smell when she goes down on me."

Zuko arrived at the parking lot outside The Northern Lights restaurant some twenty minutes later. He didn't get out of his car immediately, because first he had to perform the unpleasant task of shoving a dead rat down his pants. It wasn't the worst thing he'd ever done because at least the rat was well wrapped in plastic, but still, there already was slight lingering aroma. On the positive side, the rat down his pants made his package look absolutely enormous, which definitely made Zuko perk up.

In a slightly awkward gait, Zuko walked up to the entrance into the restaurant. While the place didn't benefit as much from its location as The Blue Spirit, it apparently still saw plenty of traffic. From the outside, Zuko could see that most of the seats were filled and there were only a few free tables left. Entering, Zuko had to acknowledge that there was a nice and cozy feel about the place, and he could see the typical signs of his father's renovations everywhere. Because Ozai usually skimped on quality materials, his renovations never lasted longer than a few years, but for now, everything seemed to be holding up reasonably well.

Zuko was then approached by a very pretty looking Water Tribe girl with dark curly hair and the bluest eyes he'd ever seen on a girl. "Hi, and welcome to The-" she suddenly cut her greeting short, giving him a shocked stare. Most of the time when this happened to Zuko, it was because of his scar, and it usually made him react with anger, but on this occasion, Zuko was certain that the girl's reaction was not because of the scar, but just from recognizing him and being surprised to see him there. "Welcome to The Northern Lights," the girl managed to recompose herself quite professionally. "Are you interested in having a lunch with us?" she summoned a slightly nervous smile.

"Sure, if I can ask for a table for one," Zuko said simply. 'Table for one' was the kind of request that many restauranters utterly loathed to hear, but the Water Tribe girl showed no such reaction.

"Of course," she smiled warmly. "Please, follow me." The girl then led him over to a cozy corner booth that would easily seat at least three people. "Make yourself comfortable, and our waitress will bring you the menu and some water in a moment, okay?" Zuko nodded, smiling back at the Water Tribe girl. She was definitely very charming and good at her job, even if she wasn't employing the kind of tactics that Ty Lee and Jin used to make some of The Blue Spirit customers happy with their sexy and slightly revealing uniforms. Zuko certainly wouldn't have minded if this Water Tribe girl showed off a little bit more than she did.

Zuko sat down and spent a few minutes taking in the atmosphere and observing the customers while he waited for the waitress to show up. From what he could see, the customers looked happy with both the food and the service, and as annoying as it was, Zuko couldn't really identify any obvious issues with this place at the first glance. It must have been run terribly at some point, or else the owners wouldn't have applied to Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares. Usually, his father's changes failed to reverse the fortunes of the restaurants he was helping, which was why Zuko had assumed that The Northern Lights would still be a poorly run dive, but Azula had obviously done a good job fixing the place up, as much as that thought rankled.

"Well, now… would you look at what the cat dragged in," Zuko was brought out of his thoughts by his sister's piercing voice. He turned to look at her, Azula looming over him with a pitcher of water in one hand and a menu in the other. "What brings you to my charming little restaurant, Zuzu?" she asked, giving him one of her probing and inquisitive stares.

"Hunger?" Zuko shrugged. "Anyway, are you working here as a waitress?" he chuckled.

"Don't be silly, Zuzu," Azula tutted. "I didn't want poor Yue to become overwhelmed by serving someone as important as you. So, I decided to tend to you myself."

"How very kind of you," Zuko replied politely. Even though the urge to immediately start sniping at his sister was very tempting, he reminded himself to stay calm and avoid provoking Azula. After all, it wasn't in his interests to get kicked out of the restaurant. "So, can I have that?" he pointed at the menu.

"Of course," Azula placed the menu in front of him before pouring him some water. Zuko made sure to watch her hands at all times. He certainly didn't trust his sister not to slip him if not outright poison, then certainly a strong laxative at least. "So, let me guess," Azula said, narrowing her eyes. "Your restaurant has already gone down the drain and you have no ingredients to fix even your own meals?"

"Nonsense, we're doing brilliantly," Zuko bristled. "Alright, fine, you caught me," he then chuckled awkwardly. "Call this professional curiosity. I simply wanted to know where your restaurant is at. Just treat me as yet another customer, okay?"

"Alright… if you say so," Azula drawled, giving him a slightly suspicious stare. "Yue will come over in a few minutes to take your order. Remember to be nice to my waitress, Zuzu."

"Aren't I always?" Zuko sighed, watching Azula stroll away. She didn't leave the dining room altogether, though, taking place behind the nearby bar, chatting quietly with the pretty hostess who had welcomed Zuko to the restaurant. Even if Azula appeared engaged in the conversation, Zuko knew perfectly well that he was being constantly watched by his sister, so he decided to act casually and focus on the menu for now.

Studying the menu, Zuko felt a little surprised that Azula had not drawn upon her considerable fine dining experience. The dishes on the menu at The Northern Lights felt like slightly elevated pub grub. Zuko had no idea why Azula was playing it so safe because with a menu like this her margins of profit were considerably lower than what they had at The Blue Spirit. Azula probably needed to turn over thrice the number of tables to come close to what Zuko was making. What Zuko saw made him feel even more confident about this sibling competition.

"Hi there, I'm Yue," Zuko's thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice belonging to yet another pretty young woman, a tall and busty blonde of Water Tribe ancestry. The Blue Spirit clearly didn't have the monopoly on all the beautiful ladies. "Are we ready to order?" she asked, smiling demurely.

"Sure, why not," Zuko shrugged. "I've never had a sea prune chowder so let's go with that. And I can't pass on a good reindeer steak, it's been years since I've had one."

"Great choice, you won't regret it," Yue nodded approvingly. "How would you like yours?"

"Rare," Zuko replied without thinking.

"The superior choice," Yue smiled. "Anything to drink, or should I just bring you more water? They say it's going to be a really hot day and we all must stay hydrated!"

"Fire Nation," Zuko grinned, pointing at his chest. Of course, a Water Tribe girl would be suffering from heat in May. Zuko had no idea how she planned to survive July and August. "I'll have a coffee, black, no milk, no sugar. And I'll take more water, too."

"Nice to have such a decisive customer," Yue smiled broadly while writing down his order. "Let me just take that," she then said, reaching closer to grab the menu. As she did so, Yue's expression quickly changed from smiling to surprised and not in a good way. At first, Zuko had no idea why the blonde had reacted like that, almost starting to get angry because he assumed that she'd become horrified by his scar. It was only a while later when Zuko realized that Yue's reaction was probably due to the dead rat in his pants. It definitely made Zuko feel a little concerned, because the rat was starting to really stink up the place. Perhaps he had already become numb to the stench of a dead rodent and was no longer able to tell how bad the smell was.

Even if Zuko was not happy to admit it, but when the food he had ordered was delivered to him after a very reasonable wait of less than twenty minutes, he had to admit that it was just as good as the level of service. The sea prune chowder was clearly an acquired taste, and not one that particularly appealed to Zuko, but from a chef's point of view, he could appreciate that it was both prepared and presented well. The reindeer steak was superb, however, properly rare and melting on his tongue. All in all, Zuko was not surprised why the restaurant was almost full during a lunch service, because Azula was clearly offering great value at reasonable prices.

"So, what did you think?" Azula asked, approaching his table after he had cleaned his plate despite feeling very full.

"Isn't this the only feedback that a chef really needs?" Zuko smirked, pointing at the empty plate.

"True," Azula nodded. "I'm pleased you're at least being objective and admitting that we're doing an excellent job here."

"Well, you know your stuff. I didn't really expect this to suck," Zuko shrugged. He was very surprised that Azula wasn't in the kitchen, though. He hadn't even expected to have any interactions with his sister, presuming that she was the head chef, just like he was at The Blue Spirit. Zuko couldn't figure out why Azula wouldn't be cooking. Sure, whoever she had in her kitchen seemed to be doing a great job, but with Azula herself taking charge, they probably could have transformed this place to a prime fine dining restaurant. Then again, Zuko was relieved that Azula wasn't doing that. It would have made her a lot harder to compete against, unlike now when she had decided to stay on a level below fine dining.

"Maybe I should pay a return visit to The Blue Spirit at some point," Azula said. "Almost like a diplomatic exchange if you will."

"You'd be welcome at any time," Zuko nodded. "Anyway, I should probably get going. You need to turn tables and I need to get back to my restaurant and resume prepping."

"Of course, I'll have Yue bring you the bill," Azula smiled, not particularly sincerely. She then winced and gave Zuko a sidelong stare. "Are you trying a new deodorant? And if not, perhaps you should invest in one?" Azula asked.

"Yes, it's… a new deodorant, sure," Zuko gulped. Azula looked very suspicious and for a moment, Zuko was certain that she was on to him.

"I'd get my money back if I were you," Azula eventually shrugged, walking away. A minute later, Yue stopped by with the bill and having quickly settled it, Zuko looked around, getting ready to execute the main part of his plan before leaving the restaurant.

The first step in Zuko's plan was to find the men's restroom. Azula accompanied his exit from the dining room with a scrutinizing stare, but Zuko was sure that she wasn't on to him, at least not yet. Once in the men's restroom, Zuko quickly slipped into an empty stall, pulled down his pants and removed the dead rat, which by now was looking unnaturally flat. Zuko then began to unwrap it from the plastic it was in, starting to cough as the pungent stench assaulted his nostrils. By now, the rat was definitely becoming very ripe.

Zuko then began to listen for sounds coming from the ladies' room on the opposite side of the hallway, waiting for an opportunity to sneak in and place the rat. It seemed as if everything was quiet and Zuko was getting ready to execute the next step in his sinister plan, when someone entered the men's restroom. Zuko desperately hoped that this customer would leave quickly, but having concluded his business at the urinal, the man stopped by the doors to Zuko's stall. "Are you alright in there?" the man asked in a concerned voice.

"I'm fine, go away," Zuko growled in reply.

"If you say so," the other customer said. "But if I were you, I'd see a doctor," the man added before leaving the restroom.

"Stupid smelly rat," Zuko muttered to himself. "This is another fine mess Jet has gotten me into. I should have known this would end badly," he sighed. Still, nobody had entered the ladies' room for the past five minutes or so, which was why Zuko felt safe to execute the next step in his plan. He crept across the hallway and entered the women's restroom, quickly starting to look around for a good place to plant the rat. Just dropping it in the middle of the floor would probably look too staged, so instead Zuko went into the nearest stall and placed the rat right in front of the toilet bowl.

Zuko was ready to leave, when a thought suddenly occurred to him. What if one of the employees were to find the rat first before a customer made a big drama about it? After all this effort, Zuko didn't want to risk it, so he took out his phone and snapped several shots of the dead rat next to the toilet bowl. Jet seemed to be the type who'd have several dozen social media accounts from which to troll and harass other users, so he'd probably know how to make a story out of this and get it trending.

Feeling satisfied with his sneaky efforts, Zuko casually strolled out of the restaurant, having waved at Azula and her two Water Tribe coworkers. Everything had gone smoothly and according to the plan. Only one final step of the plan remained, and that was to make sure he no longer stank of dead rodent before returning to The Blue Spirit.

Azula watched her brother leave The Northern Lights with conflicting feelings and a heavy sense of unease in her chest. On some level, she couldn't deny liking the idea of Zuko simply coming to have a meal at her restaurant, appreciating the service and being complimentary to her. The sad part was that not for a single moment, Azula believed that Zuko had been real with her, and of course, it went both ways.

It really bothered Azula that she couldn't immediately figure out Zuko's game. The visit had clearly been for a reason other than Zuko just wanting to have a meal. Azula couldn't figure out what the reason could be. Zuko could look up the menu of The Northern Lights on their website at any time, and that was the exact same reason why Azula had never felt the need to visit The Blue Spirit – that, and the fact that Jet worked there. If Zuko wanted to find out the quality of their food he only had to look up the customer reviews, which as of late were exceptional. Perhaps Zuko had wanted to see how they operated, but that didn't ring true either, because how much could he really tell by just sitting in a dining room and having a meal?

Not being able to easily discern Zuko's motives while suspecting foul play was really messing with Azula's head even long after Yue and Katara had gone back to tending to the customers, leaving Azula alone behind the bar. Azula knew that she had to refocus her thoughts elsewhere and away from Zuko's visit, because getting so hung up and obsessed about her brother's plotting was clearly unproductive.

Before Zuko had unexpectedly showed up at the restaurant, Azula had been carefully crafting a scheme of her own, but it hadn't been aimed at Zuko. After the deeply confusing day when she had been kissed by all Katara, Yue and Suki, Azula knew that unfortunately she had to do something, because this could not be allowed to go on. As much as Azula didn't want this attention to end, she knew she had to put a stop to it, but she also wanted to do it in a particularly gentle way because she did not want to upset the three girls she had come to see as rare and special friends, and she definitely was not fooling herself by pretending that she only saw Katara, Yue and Suki as friends.

In order to soften the blow, Azula had decided to make a real splash. She had rented a posh holiday cottage some fifteen miles from Caldera City, and the plan was to drive there on Sunday after the dinner service and spend the Sunday and possibly also Monday night at the cottage. Of course, Azula realized that she couldn't show clear bias by only inviting certain coworkers, so she had invited everyone. Azula was not particularly bothered by that, because even if everyone decided to accept the invitation, she felt confident about being able to pull Katara, Yue and Suki aside to explain to them why all the sexy shenanigans had to come to an end. Azula definitely was not excited about doing that, but apparently just telling Katara once that they couldn't keep hooking up hadn't really stuck, and perhaps Yue and Suki reasoned that the same rules for some reason didn't apply to them. In any case, come Monday, this would all be sorted out and going forward, Azula was sure that their relationships would remain purely friendly and professional.

Then, while Azula was still trying to hype herself up about her plotting, she was suddenly interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream ripping through the restaurant. Azula looked around the dining room in confusion, trying to identify who was responsible for this terrible racket, but all she saw were equally confused customers, with Katara and Yue also looking none the wiser.

When the screaming didn't continue, Azula briefly wondered if perhaps she had been a victim of collective auditory hallucination, and she was just about ready to ignore the entire episode, when suddenly a female customer rose from her seat. "I'm sorry, but I think that was my friend screaming," the middle-aged woman said, looking concerned. "She went to the restroom a short while ago."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure that she's fine," Katara was the first to react, heading down the hallway towards the ladies' room. Azula sprinted after her as quickly as she could. The concerned customer also decided to follow them, and the entire procession was rounded up by a slightly frightened looking Yue.

Azula followed Katara into the ladies' room to find the missing customer standing in front of a toilet stall and pointing at something with a look of abject horror on her face. "Look… look!" the shocked customer gasped.

Katara was the first to poke her head into the stall, also gasping and immediately pulling back, almost breaking Azula's nose with the back of her head. Azula rolled her eyes at Katara's reaction and readied herself for the worst as she bravely stepped forth and entered the stall, cringing inwardly when she spotted the problem – a disgusting, putrid dead rat, fouling up the stall by daring to lay there and rot next to the toilet bowl.

Following a brief moment of panic, Azula quickly recomposed herself, knowing that she needed to act fast. The customer was still freaking out, now being comforted by her friend. Azula knew she had to come up with a way to quickly contain the situation and make sure this did not spread. "Oh, not one of these again," Azula sighed, shaking her head and assuming an expression of stern disappointment. "I really wish these kids would just stop."

"What kids?" the friend of the distraught customer asked Azula, looking confused. "Lady, your restaurant has a rat problem!"

Azula's response was laughter that she hoped didn't sound too forced. "Well… I don't blame you for not noticing it. If you haven't seen one of these before, I suppose you have no way of knowing," Azula spoke confidently, pointing at the dead rodent. "This here is a joke rat."

"A… joke rat?" the shocked customer gasped. "But… but the smell?"

"Very realistic, isn't it?" Azula chuckled. "You have to admire how they make them so real, right? There's this shop downtown that sells all sorts of fake dead animals for people who love to play pranks. This is the third time in a month when some wise guy… or wise girl leaves a stinking fake rat here to foul up the place. It's incredibly annoying to deal with. Once I get my hands on whoever is responsible, you can be sure they'll regret it."

"That's horrible," the victim of the actually not fake at all rat said, her friend nodding in agreement. "I think it's very irresponsible for a store to sell items that can be used for such mean pranks. I'm just about ready to go and give them a piece of my mind."

"That's right, Orin, we really should do it! I'm with you!" the traumatized customer's friend expressed her full support in finding a store that Azula had just conjured up from thin air.

"They are certainly being very irresponsible, yes," Azula agreed politely. She hoped that the women would eventually give up on the idea of finding the prank toy store. It would be unfortunate if they realized that they had been lied to and then they might come back to stir up trouble. Still, it was vastly preferable to news of a dead rat in the toilet coming out in the middle of the service and causing a panic and mass walkout of the customers. Dealing with a couple of angry women later would be a lot easier than salvaging the damage that would come from these women running back to the dining room and telling the other customers that the restaurant had a rat problem.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't feel like finishing my meal," Orin, the lady who had discovered the rat, said, looking a little green in the face.

"Of course," Azula said quickly. "We will make sure that you can take your food with you as you leave," she nodded at Yue, the blonde keeping well away from any dead rats, prank or otherwise. "Also, Yue, I think we'll forego the bill on this occasion."

"Oh no, I wouldn't feel right not paying, after all it's not your fault that some horrible person is pranking you like this," Orin resolutely shook her head. "The service was so nice, as was the food, and also, you're handling this so well. We'll be happy to settle the bill fully." The other woman appeared a little reluctant, but in the end chose to go along with her friend.

"Yue, please go and take care of the customers, yes?" Azula asked politely.

"Of course," Yue nodded at her. "Please, follow me, ladies."

As soon as Azula and Katara had been left alone, Katara stepped into the toilet stall and bent down, much to Azula's horror about to scoop up the dead rat. Azula launched into action, propelling herself forward, wrapping her arms around Katara's waist and pulling her right back, eliciting a loud yelp from Katara. "What are you doing?" Azula glared at the other girl.

"I was… going to throw out the prank rat?" Katara asked, looking very confused. "No reason for it to stay there and stink up the place, right?"

"Seriously, Katara?" Azula had to laugh despite herself. Apparently, she was an even better liar than she thought. "There's no such thing as a smelly fake dead rat. That rat down there is just as real as you and me. Well, with the exception that it's dead and we're not."

"But…" Katara blinked. Azula could literally see the gears in her head turning. "You said… oh, it was just to get those ladies out, wasn't it?"

"Yes, of course," Azula smiled briefly. They both glanced downwards where Azula's arms were still around Katara's waist. Azula quickly dropped her arms, both of them blushing deep scarlet. "Umm… as I was saying…" Azula stuttered, completely blanking on what she had been about to say.

"Were you?" Katara smiled at her. "You were probably thinking that we need to clean this up."

"Yes, that's right," Azula snapped her fingers. "But obviously, not in the middle of the service, we don't want to look like we're panicking." Azula thought for a moment, then turning back towards Katara again. "Alright, we need to make sure that nobody uses this stall for the rest of the service, and also, we need to take care of the smell. Can you track down Sokka and get some red tape and a bottle of Febreze from him?"

"Sure, can do," Katara nodded and dashed off in a hurry. She was back in less than three minutes. Between the two of them, they soon had soaked the dead rat in Febreze, making it smell of roses instead of rot, and also the doors of the stall were securely closed by red tape.

"And now, let's just weather the rest of this lunch service, hopefully without any more surprises," Azula sighed. "After that, we can clean everything up and go from there."

After a nervous ending to the lunch service, during which Azula kept slipping into the ladies' room to spray more Febreze on the decomposing rat, they could finally deal with the situation adequately. Azula ripped the red tape from the stall doors and then Aang came running with a bunch of mops and a bucket of bleach. "Rattus rattus removal is here!" Aang cried excitedly, being followed by Toph, playing the sound of a fire truck on her phone. Within a few minutes, the ex-rat was safely packed in several plastic bags and the whole area around the toilet bowl had been thoroughly bleached.

While Aang was busy disposing of the putrid rodent, the others gathered in the dining room to discuss this strange emergency. Azula did not feel surprised when most of the eyes fell on her, as if expecting her to say something. "You must have some theories as to what just happened," Sokka eventually broke the silence. "You always do."

"Of course," Azula nodded. "I don't think it's a coincidence that Zuko came to visit us on the same day as a dead rat appeared in the bathroom. The two things must be connected."

"Are you certain about that?" Katara asked, looking uncertain and probably thinking that Azula was being crazily paranoid. "I didn't see your brother carrying anything when he came into the restaurant. And that rat was quite large."

"Also, would Zuko really go into the ladies' room?" Yue also sounded dubious. "That seems a little below him."

"Oh, you sweet summer children have no idea to the lengths Zuko and I will both go to undercut each other," Azula laughed. "Zuko would totally slip into the women's bathroom to plant a dead animal. He must have been carrying it around in his pocket or something. That would explain the weird smell coming from him."

"You sensed it too?" Yue gasped. "I thought I was having a… is there a word for smell hallucinations?"

"Phantosmia," Azula and Sokka both spoke up at once. They then laughed and shot finger guns at each other. "Anyway, I know for sure it was Zuko who did this. Fortunately, we were able to contain the incident and prevent it from causing more damage."

"Uh, Azula?" Aang spoke up, looking at his phone as he entered the dining room, having disposed of the rattus rattus. "So, I have this addon that alerts me whenever someone makes a social media post and uses The Northern Lights as a hashtag. And someone just posted this a few minutes ago," Aang said, walking up to Azula and showing her a Twitter post with a photo of the traitorous dead rat in the toilet.

"Fuck!" Azula yelled, grabbing Aang's phone to take a closer look. "Posted from an account belonging to someone called freedomfighter1998. Probably one of Zuko's troll accounts."

"freedomfighter1998, are you kidding me?" Katara bristled. "That is totally one of Jet's accounts. He used to get kicked off from Twitter every month for his vitriolic political posts, and whenever he created a new account, he always had freedom fighter as a part of his account name because imagination really wasn't his strong suit."

"So, Zuko and Jet are working together to sabotage us," Azula snarled, starting to pace back and forth. "Well, they're messing with the wrong bitch. It's definitely time for payback."

"We should put our heads together and come up with some kind of a fiendishly clever plan," Suki suggested, looking excited. "Something that would discourage those idiots from messing with us in the future."

"I appreciate your line of thought, Suki, but that would be an unnecessary overkill," Azula smirked. "I can speak from experience that it's important to keep things very simple with Zuko, and Jet is very much the same. It's important not to underestimate their stupidity. Working together makes them the modern reincarnation of Abbott and Costello… Laurel and Hardy… or maybe Cheech and Chong," Azula chuckled.

"We should hit them hard, though," Toph said. "If that rat photo starts to trend on Twitter, it might do a lot of damage to our reputation."

"I suppose that's true," Sokka sighed. "But Azula, I would like you to keep in mind that Ty Lee works at the restaurant you're planning to retaliate against."

"I know that, Sokka," Azula said. "Mai and Ty Lee are my best friends. I'm not going to do anything that could harm them. All I need to do right now is to check the address of a very special store…"

Zuko was delighted about how well his mission to sabotage Azula's restaurant had gone. Checking the social media at the end of the day, he saw that the photo of the dead rat at The Northern Lights had been reposted almost one hundred times and was slightly starting to trend. Zuko had to admit that Jet's plan had been a good one, and it was helping to convince Zuko to perhaps take Jet more seriously in the future.

As for Azula's inevitable retaliation that everyone seemed to be fearing, it had proved completely inept. A large crate had been delivered to The Blue Spirit, with words 'Definitely No Rats Here' written on its side. Azula must have thought him some kind of moronic teenager who couldn't contain his curiosity about what was in the crate if she thought that he was going to open it.

"Can you stop staring at the crate, Zuko?" Mai sighed, giving him an impatient stare. Jin and On Ji had already departed together, while the others were lingering behind, probably also curious about the mystery crate. "It's making me nervous," Mai continued. "Let's just leave it where it is for the time being and tomorrow morning, we can send it back to Azula."

"Yeah, let's just go," Ty Lee echoed her best friend. "It's getting late and I still want to hang out with Sokka for a bit."

"Nobody's keeping you here, Ty Lee," Zuko grumbled.

"Sure, but if you're going to be stupid and open the crate, I want to be here to see what happens," Ty Lee replied.

"I'm not going to be stupid," Zuko huffed. "But I'm going to gloat at Azula for being too smart to fall for her petty tricks," he said before sending a text to Azula. 'did u really expect me to open your crate of rats'

'zuko, there are no rats in that crate,' Azula replied immediately.

'a likely story,' Zuko texted back. "She says there really are no rats in the crate," he told the others.

"Are you sure?" Ty Lee asked, sounding dubious. "I'm pretty sure I heard squeaking coming from it."

"You know what, Ty Lee?" Mai sighed. "I already see it. This ends with Zuko opening the crate. And I don't want to be here when that happens, so… let's just get out of here," Mai said as she took Ty Lee's hand and they both left the restaurant.

Ruon-Jian stared at the girls uncertainly, looking like he wanted to follow them, but then he decided to remain behind. "I'm way too curious about the mystery box," Ruon-Jian admitted. "We're opening it, right?"

"Don't be an idiot," Zuko sighed, but then his phone lit up with another text from Azula.

'I swear on our parent's graves that there are no rats in the crate,' Azula wrote.

"Hah! She's trying to lure me into a trap, but I'm not falling for it," Zuko exclaimed, feeling very clever. 'nice try! our parents aren't dead,' he wrote.

'ok you got me,' Azula wrote back. 'then I swear on my darkest secret that I know you are aware of but we have never talked about and deep down I am thankful to you for never disclosing it to our father.'

"Oh shit," Zuko exclaimed, blinking at the screen. He hadn't expected Azula to drop something so heavy in a text. "Alright, uh… Azula just swore on something that I know she wouldn't be making jokes about. I'm starting to believe her that there are no rats in the crate."

"Are you sure about it, Zuko?" Jet asked, looking very concerned. "Azula could still be lying and this could be a trap full of rats."

"Well, if this is a trap, then I'm falling for it!" Zuko exclaimed dramatically, ripping the crate open.

The restaurant was immediately overrun by at least three dozen of small brown mice.

"Well, I'll be damned," Ruon-Jian chuckled, shaking his head, watching Jet and Zuko holding each other, having jumped on one of the dining room tables. "Your sister wasn't lying after all, because those certainly aren't rats."

Chapter Text

The Sunday dinner service was slowly coming to an end and the staff of The Northern Lights restaurant began to gather in the upstairs hangout area as soon as they were done with their chores. It was time for their little retreat to Azula's rented forest cottage, and Azula was full of nervous trepidation about the trip. The cottage had looked absolutely amazing on the website and Azula was looking forward to spend some time away from the crowds and recharge her batteries. But Azula was not looking forward to the conversation she planned to have with Katara, Yue and Suki. Quite the contrary, just thinking about it had put her in an abysmal mood over the past couple of days.

"Alright, are we all ready to go?" Azula asked, being the last one to arrive upstairs.

"Uh, did you miss my text from yesterday?" Aang asked, looking at her.

"I don't think I did," Azula muttered, checking her phone and already knowing that she had probably ignored Aang's text, planning to check it later and then forgetting to do so. She wasn't trying to be mean, but checking Aang's texts was of way lower priority to her than checking texts from Yue, Katara or Suki. Still, when Azula found Aang's text now, she was surprised to read that he had written her about having to bow out of their cottage trip because he had some urgent 'thing' on Monday. "What's this about a thing?" Azula demanded.

"Oh, it's just this thing that I'm doing," Aang replied evasively. "It's just a little thing, kind of like a hobby, think nothing of it. There's this gathering of likeminded people who share this hobby on Monday, and I really don't want to miss it."

"Right," Azula frowned. Looking around the room she saw mostly confused stares and shrugs. Only Toph was smirking like she knew what Aang was talking about. Then again, if Aang was going to be all mysterious, how much did Azula really care about it. Aang was a nice guy and a great coworker, but Azula didn't feel a particularly strong pull to forge an even closer friendship with him. "Well, whatever, be mysterious if you want to. I'm sure we'll learn all about this new hobby of yours soon, anyway."

"I'll tell you all about it eventually, I promise," Aang nodded earnestly.

"Aang, you know that you can tell us everything and we won't judge you," Katara spoke warmly.

"Speak for yourself," Sokka scowled. "I am totally going to judge you, and also, I will find out what you're hiding from us."

"Thanks," Aang smiled at Katara. He then looked at Sokka. "Sorry, I'm just trying something new and I still don't know if I'm going to stick with it or not."

"Alright, whatever," Azula sighed, shaking her head and refusing to become sidetracked by Aang being all mysterious. "Anyway, are the rest of us ready to leave? It's getting late and we still have a bit of driving to do before we get to the cottage. And we still need to pick up Kya, right?"

"Umm, actually," Yue blushed lightly. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you, but we've had some last moment rearrangements." Azula's heart skipped a beat, fearing that Yue had decided to bow out. Which would obviously upset Azula only because it would ruin her plan to have an earnest talk with Yue and the other girls, not because she would miss Yue's presence terribly.

"What sort of rearrangements?" Azula asked nervously.

"Kya won't be coming with us," Yue said. "Sokka wanted to have his day with Kya tomorrow, so he's going to relieve Kiyi and stay with Kya until we get back Monday evening or Tuesday morning."

"Wait, you're not joining us?" Azula glared at Sokka. This was a rather concerning turn of events for Azula. Kya's presence at the cottage was supposed to act as a shield against any sexy shenanigans taking place, but now that shield would be removed.

"Sorry," Sokka shrugged. "I wanted some time together with Ty Lee. I guess we both could have joined you, but I thought this was supposed to be just for the staff of The Northern Lights. Also, I think maybe Ty Lee doesn't feel as a part of the group yet."

"That's obviously a bullshit excuse. I don't believe that Ty Lee would say something like that. She has a very poor concept of boundaries and she instantly feels a bond with a group of people she's standing next to at a bus stop," Azula scowled.

"Alright, fine," Sokka sighed. "But when I told her about this posh forest cottage you rented for us, Ty Lee said that you're obviously making moves to score some bitches." Azula was about to launch into vehement protestations, when Sokka cut her off. "And Ty Lee also said that she would like to go roller skating."

"So, you decided to be a massive simp for her, I see how it is," Azula said, deciding to ignore the earlier slanderous suggestion.

"I have a feeling that Sokka was so keen on having his day with Kya because he wanted to show Ty Lee how good he is with children," Suki laughed.

"That's utter and complete slander, Suki. You're making it sound like I'm using my daughter as a prop," Sokka frowned.

"Well, you are good with Kya, so there's nothing wrong about showing that off," Yue chuckled. "And I know it's not really my business anymore, but… just be careful about moving too fast with Ty Lee, even if she's very nice and we trust her as Azula's childhood friend. And as your friend and mother of our child, I hope you're better at using protection in your current relationship."

"It's, uh, a work in progress," Sokka muttered uncomfortably.

"And if you're going roller skating, just please for the love of Tui and La, make sure that Kya is safe," Yue sighed. "Probably best to leave her at a kid's corner, if there is one."

"Sounds good," Sokka said. "Although, I was planning to have her go piggyback. She's definitely lighter than a sea lion."

"Why would you compare our daughter to a sea lion?" Yue glared.

"Uh, no reason," Sokka said quickly. "Anyway, I best be off to relieve Kiyi. It's so late I should probably give her a lift."

"I would appreciate that, Sokka," Azula smiled. "Even if I don't appreciate you bailing on our forest trip." Sokka gave her a nervous smile in return before running down the stairs. "Alright, can the rest of us leave now? The good thing is that at least now we can get by with only one car."

"Wait a moment," Toph raised her hand. "With Aang and Sokka bailing, I would now be stuck with four horny sapphic bitches in the middle of a forest?" There was some quiet muttering to oppose this description, but Toph waved it off dismissively. "Right, I really don't want to get caught in the middle when all that pent up sexual tension gets released. So, I'm out. Good news, Twinkletoes, I'll be available to help you with your thing."

"Thanks, Toph," Aang beamed. "That zipper on the back is still giving me trouble. Anyway, if you're really sure about not going on the forest trip, then we should probably get out of here and let the girls be on their way."

"Oh, I'm really sure," Toph said decisively. "My asexual ass would get permanent mental scarring from the sheer intensity of those sapphic vibes. Let's get out of here, Aang. And you, bitches, make sure not to scissor too hard or you'll start a forest fire," Toph added, laughing like a madwoman as together with Aang they headed back downstairs.

"So," Katara turned to look at Azula with the sweetest of smiles. "I guess it'll be just the four of us."

"Umm, I suppose so," Azula gulped. This was not going exactly according to her plan. Still, there were upsides to these developments, too. At least now she wouldn't have to think of some creative ways of how to get Suki, Katara and Yue alone for that serious talk they needed to have. "Also, I just wanted to make it clear that there will be none of the stuff that Toph was lewdly suggesting," Azula said.

"But of course, Azula," Yue nodded, looking at her with wide and earnest eyes.

"We wouldn't dream to engage in such scandalous behavior, Azula," Suki added with a sly wink.

"That's good to hear," Azula said, feeling relieved that her plan was still intact. "At least we are on the same page about that."

The forest cottage reminded Yue of some of the impressive hunting lodges back in the Water Tribes. On any other occasion, those memories would have probably made her feel very sad, but it was impossible to slip into a downcast mood when she found herself in such exciting circumstances together with her two best friends and Azula.

Even though the cottage was made from logs, it was so large that calling it simply a log cabin seemed disrespectful. The ground floor had kitchen and bathroom facilities, a cozy little bedroom and a vast open area suited for various activities. It had two additional sofas in case the three upstairs bedrooms were not enough, but with Aang, Toph and Sokka foolishly declining the invitation to join, sleeping arrangements would clearly pose no issues.

Yue already missed Kya, and she was certain that her daughter would have enjoyed her stay at the forest cottage. However, it was true that Sokka was way overdue some dad time with his daughter. Yue often had to push for Sokka to spend more time with Kya - not because he didn't want to, but because he had made himself so busy at the restaurant. Just because they had broken up, Yue hadn't stopped seeing the bond between Sokka and Kya as extremely important. However, Yue wasn't as hypocritical as to deny that on this occasion, she wasn't overly saddened by Kya remaining behind, because she was definitely open to engaging in some activities that Kya's presence would certainly preclude.

Azula's invitation a few days ago had come as a pleasant surprise. It was likely a result of her, Katara and Suki all kissing Azula on the same day by complete accident, something that had made them all laugh themselves to tears once they had shared their stories. For the next few days, Azula had been acting like a skittish doe whenever one of them approached her. So, Yue had no idea what Azula was planning, but she was certainly planning something and it was putting her on edge. Yue had been able to tell that from how Azula had gripped the steering wheel on the forty-five minutes long drive from Caldera.

They all had their own guesses as to what Azula was planning. Suki was sure that Azula was getting close to her breaking point and was planning to throw a sapphic orgy. That didn't make too much sense to Yue because Azula had apparently been serious about inviting Sokka, Aang and Toph. Yue was leaning towards agreeing with Katara's guess that Azula planned to tell them to tone down their advances and keep things professional. Still, that also didn't seem like something Azula would want to do in the presence of Sokka and the rugrats. All in all, Yue was very curious and impatient to see what Azula was up to.

After they had brought all of their belongings inside and settled down comfortably in the living room, Azula seemed in no hurry to get on with her plan. She looked relieved when Suki grabbed a bottle of rose wine from the cooler bag and opened it, while Katara hunted down four glasses in one of the kitchen cupboards. Soon enough, they were busy sipping wine and bickering about who would get which bedroom. The one downstairs was the smallest. The most desired upstairs bedroom had a queen bed and an in-suite shower and toilet. Then there was a room with a single bed and a larger one next to it with comfy looking twin beds. Needless to say, all four of them had their eye on the queen bed, and Suki's idea of having some sort of friendly competition to decide the matter was gaining traction.

Azula still looked a little nervous and anxiety ridden even on her second glass of wine, so Yue was not too surprised when eventually Azula pulled out a joint and lit up, passing it around in a circle with everyone taking solid hits. Soon enough, the tension disappeared from Azula's posture and she started to relax, laughing freely about whatever silly thing they happened to be talking about.

Still, Yue was way too curious about Azula's intentions. She wasn't about to let the weed make Azula forget what she had brought them here for. When Azula still wouldn't bring up her plan, Yue decided to just go for it and confront Azula directly. "So, Azula," she began, giving the Fire Nation girl her firmest stare. "What's the real reason why we're here?"

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about," Azula tried to laugh it off. "It's just me being nice to my friends and coworkers. It's good for the morale."

"I guess that's not impossible," Suki smirked. "But if that were all there was to it, then you wouldn't be so nervous, chugging wine like water and lighting up a joint right away."

"Ugh, fine," Azula sighed. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about, but… it's not really all that important," she added hastily. "It can wait until later."

"Are you sure about that?" Katara asked softly, giving Azula what looked like an encouraging stare. "Wouldn't it be best to get it out of the way so that we can focus on having fun afterwards?"

"Yes, but… I'm not sure you'll be interested in having fun afterwards," Azula frowned. "You'll be too busy being angry with me."

"Why would you say that?" Yue asked, feeling nervous. "Now you really have to explain, Azula."

"Alright, alright," Azula gave in. Before explaining, however, she decided to take a particularly big hit, one that made her explode in a nasty fit of coughing. It took Azula a long time to recover and when she did so, her eyes were a little red and watery. "Agni, that was horrible… anyway, guess I have enough liquid and inhalable courage in my system by now," Azula muttered. "Anyway, what I wanted to talk about has to do with what happened earlier this week."

"You were right," Yue exclaimed, high-fiving the grinning Katara.

"Bugger it," Suki grumbled, forking a tenner over to Katara. "Remind me never to bet against you, especially on things that involve Azula."

"Thank you, Suki," Katara beamed, accepting her winnings. "Also, sorry for interrupting, Azula. Please, do go on."

"Right," Azula sighed. "It's just that… after Katara and I…" Azula blushed heatedly, taking a big swig from her glass of wine. "I mean, we had a conversation afterwards, right?" she looked at Katara. "And I explained why we can't… I mean, I thought I had made myself clear. And I guess I wrongly assumed that Katara would have told you two…"

"You didn't assume wrongly," Suki smirked. "We just decided to mess with your head anyway."

"Yeah, we were just having fun with you, Azula," Yue nodded earnestly. "Honestly, it's so hard to resist pushing your gay panic buttons."

"That's very true," Katara nodded in agreement. "But I am sorry for disrespecting your wishes and kissing you back on Tuesday," she said, looking at Azula. "I just became overwhelmed by the occasion. But you can't blame Yue and Suki for giving it a shot. You should have established boundaries with them directly, not through me."

"I suppose that's a fair point," Azula told Katara. "And now that we have cleared it up, I… I hope I won't have to repeat myself again in the future." Azula didn't look particularly happy saying those words, and Yue was sure that she wasn't the only one who saw that.

"Sure, as you wish," Suki shrugged. "Is that a rule that you apply consistently, regardless of circumstances?" she asked. "No mixing of business and pleasure?"

"Yes, it's just a bad idea," Azula stated, not very confidently.

"Why do you think so?" Katara asked simply.

"I mean… I thought that would be obvious?" Azula shrugged. "You start a relationship with someone, then it goes sour and you can no longer work together at the same place and one of you is forced to quit-"

"Wasn't a problem for me," Yue shrugged.

"It won't be a problem for me and Sokka, either," Suki nodded in agreement.

"Also, Azula, what you're saying maybe makes sense if you're trying for a serious long-term relationship, but even then, as Yue and Suki have proved, it doesn't mean you can't remain friends or work together," Katara said. "But we've always known that you're in Caldera for six months. Well, slightly less than five months, now," she added, looking a little sad.

Azula looked very thoughtful and slightly taken aback, mulling things over in her head. "I suppose that's true," she was forced to admit. "It's just that… I've helped fix many restaurants in my admittedly still short career, but I've never been embraced as a part of the team like here. You included me in your inner circle. I never even knew what that would be like, to be a part of a group that's so close. I just… I don't want to ruin it, okay? I don't want one of you to… I don't know, expect more from me than I can give. I don't know when - if ever - I'll be able to come out publicly. Besides, like you said, Katara, I'll be gone in five months. I don't want that parting to hurt more than it already will."

Everyone was quiet after Azula had blurted out what felt like unadulterated stream of consciousness. Yue was having trouble deciding whether Azula was making fair points, and it looked like her friends were having similar thoughts. Yue couldn't deny that her crush on Azula had only grown in strength and the idea that Azula would eventually leave their lives already hurt to think about. Would it hurt more if she were to share intimacy with Azula? Or would it hurt more if nothing happened and she would regret forever missing that opportunity? It felt impossible for Yue to answer. Still, since it was going to hurt in any case, she much preferred to maximize having fun beforehand.

"I think none of us were under any delusions that you might not be leaving once your time here was up," Katara was the first to speak up. "You have a bright career waiting for you to get back to. We're all aware that this is just a temporary assignment for you. I'm pretty sure none of us were thinking about anything else than having some fun while you're here."

"Exactly," Yue agreed, even if she privately questioned the honesty of Katara's statement. She knew that Katara also harbored a huge crush on Azula, and Yue suspected that Katara secretly dreamed of a scenario where she could have more than just a short affair with Azula. Of course… deep down, Yue was harboring similar fantasies, but she was trying to push those thoughts aside for now. The fulfilment of her deepest desires wasn't even on the table, so she at least wanted to have as much fun as she could. "I feel the same as Katara," Yue said aloud. "I'm just looking to have fun."

"Likewise," Suki nodded. Yue suspected that their auburn-haired friend probably was not quite as gone for Azula as she or Katara, just because her breakup was very fresh, and she clearly still had a lot of love for Sokka even if the relationship was over. "Also, Azula… you're probably planning to hook up with random girls through your app, right?" Suki asked.

"Well, maybe now and then," Azula admitted.

"See, that makes no sense to me," Suki shook her head. "You're so worried about getting outed, but you would rather risk hooking up with strangers than have some fun with us, girls you can trust?"

"I-…" Azula began, only to hesitate and fall silent, looking very confused. "Wait, this is not going according to the plan," she frowned. "You're not supposed to convince me of the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve here."

"Well, maybe your plan needs rethinking in light of compelling new evidence," Suki winked. Yue really wanted to kiss Suki just about now, because while she and Katara mostly reacted emotionally to Azula's words, Suki was clearly doing the best job by presenting logical arguments to a slightly tipsy and stoned Azula.

"I'm very confused now," Azula confessed. "What exactly are the three of you saying?"

"Well, I don't want to speak for Yue and Katara, even if I think we're on the same page," Suki said. "I'm just saying that I'm open to hooking up with you, whenever we both feel like it."

"Same," Yue added quickly. "We're definitely on the same page here, Suki," she giggled.

"Well, you already know where I stand on this, because we already hooked up," Katara winked at Azula, making the Fire Nation girl blush. Yue felt a brief pang of jealousy blossoming in her chest at the reminder that Katara had already experienced something Yue still craved, but it was eased by the thought that if everything played out the way she hoped, perhaps she wouldn't have to wait too long to get what she wanted.

"I just wanted to add that we're not putting any pressure on you, Azula," Katara continued. "I feel like it needs to be said because I know all three of us have been coming at you a little strongly at times."

"True, but I would have never realized what you were doing if you didn't come on strongly," Azula said, making all the other girls laugh. "Hey, weed makes me more self-aware, what do you know?" Azula chuckled.

"Katara's right, though," Suki spoke up again. "Just because you're stranded here deep in the forest with three thirsty bitches, it doesn't mean that things need to happen, right? I mean, I wouldn't mind some action, but it's fair if we don't rush it."

"I couldn't agree more," Yue forced herself to say. "We don't want to overwhelm you, Azula. We know that together the three of us can be a bit much."

"Thank you," Azula looked grateful. "This went completely the opposite way of how I had planned for it to go. I… will need some time to wrap my head around what just happened. I'd like to take things slow if you don't mind."

"Slow is good. In fact, slow is often the best," Katara smiled, winking at Azula again.

"How did I end up in this situation?" Azula wondered, sighing. She didn't look disappointed, though. In fact, she looked a lot happier than earlier in the evening.

"I hope you're not complaining," Suki smirked. "Countless guys and girls would kill to trade places with you and get the kind of offer we're making to you."

"I definitely am not complaining," Azula said hastily. "But I'm also ready to talk about something else. I don't think I can deal with more suggestiveness and innuendos right now."

"Well…" Katara said, clicking her tongue. "We still have to decide on who gets which bedroom. I think we should play a game and have a nice friendly competition to settle the matter."

"There's a whole shelf of board games over there," Azula said, pointing at a bookshelf behind Yue and looking far too lazy to get up and investigate closer. "I think I can see Pai Sho, Monopoly, backgammon…"

"Oh, don't you worry about those boring board games, I have something way more fun in mind," Suki chuckled.

"Sounds great," Yue grinned. "Knowing Suki, I'm sure it will be in no way suggestive and filled with innuendos."

"Let me know if I understand this right," Katara said, looking thoughtful. "So, if we've done the thing, instead of taking a drink we just like… add a point to our score? And whoever gets the most points, gets the first choice of bedroom?"

"I mean… I think we should both drink and score a point, but other than that, you've got it," Suki replied. She was truly having a great time in the company of her besties and Azula, who was also quickly catching up to the level of a bestie. Besides, Azula was just adorable to mess with, and turning tables on her silly plan to put boundaries on their relationship had been so much fun.

Suki was definitely interested in a sexy romp with Azula, but despite being very direct about it, Suki knew that she couldn't get too carried away. She had already formed the impression that both Katara and Yue had caught quite serious feelings for Azula. And it wasn't as if Suki didn't want Azula, quite the contrary, but her breakup with Sokka was still very recent and Suki felt like she wasn't completely over it just yet. Katara had clearly moved past Jet and perhaps wanted a palate cleanser from the way that relationship had ended. And Yue had been too preoccupied with her job and with raising Kya to give new relationships a chance, which definitely made Suki feel very sad because Yue was wonderful and deserved only the best.

"So, shall we begin?" Yue asked, appearing very excited.

"Can I just ask something before we begin?" Azula asked, raising her hand. "So, uh… I'm going to guess you're going dirty with these questions, right?"

Katara and Yue exchanges glances, giggling. Suki sighed. "Yes, Azula," she said patiently. "That's kind of the nature of the game. Especially in the context of all of us being single and a little bit into each other."

"Oh, big assumption there, Suki!" Yue laughed, gently elbowing her.

"But am I wrong?" Suki grinned, winking at Yue. Yue blushed lightly, laughing even harder.

"Can I suggest that we write down our questions?" Azula asked. "I think it would be more fun."

"It would definitely be more weird," Suki rolled her eyes. "But perhaps I should have expected that this would be the strangest game of Never Have I Ever that I have played."

"Great, I'll be right back," Azula rose and dashed off to where they had dropped off their bags.

"That is one skittish bitch," Suki sighed, making Katara and Yue giggle.

"And that's on her third glass of wine and having taken some pretty big hits as well," Katara laughed, shaking her head. "We have our work cut out for us to make her feel nice and relaxed."

"I wonder if Azula is friends with Molly," Yue said. "But that was not a serious suggestion," she added hastily. "That's not a length I want to go to myself."

"We'll be fine, trust me," Suki smirked as Azula returned with a notebook and several ballpoint pens which she distributed among the group. Then they all giggled like schoolgirls while writing down their questions and passing them over for Suki to read them out. Suki shuffled the pieces of paper, which was mostly an empty gesture because she was confident about recognizing the handwriting of all the girls present.

"Alright, here we go… never have I ever," Suki said, drawing the first question. "Done butt stuff? Seriously, butt stuff? Who here is twelve?" Yue was blushing and giggling like mad. "Anyway, I can throw my question out now, because it was essentially the same, only not written like by a twelve-year-old."

"Your commentary aside, who's drinking?" Azula asked. She wasn't touching her glass, which didn't surprise Suki.

"Alright, fine," Katara sighed, taking a drink and wincing. Just for this game, they had opened a bottle of very fancy single malt whiskey that looked to have quite the punch, judging from Katara's reaction. Yue also took a big sip, coughing as she did so. Finally, Suki also downed her whiskey, feeling like she had just downed a mouthful of liquid peat.

"I'm guessing you two have done it with Sokka, and Katara with Jet," Azula said. Suki thought that she almost looked a little jealous, or perhaps that was just Suki's imagination.

"Umm, it wasn't with Jet," Katara said, blushing fiercely.

"Seriously?" Suki asked, feeling very curious now. "So, was it with that previous boyfriend of yours? What was the name of that boring milk toast?"

"You're thinking of Haru," Katara snorted. "But no, it wasn't with him either."

"Alright, I'm really confused now," Suki scratched her head. "If it wasn't with Jet or Haru, who then? I know you have dated Aang as well-"

"You have?" Azula asked, definitely sounding jealous now.

"Suki is being completely ridiculous," Katara said, looking mildly disturbed. "I dated Aang for two weeks when I was fifteen and we barely got to the first base. Thank you for putting some traumatizing mental images in my head now, Suki."

"Sorry," Suki grinned, not feeling terribly apologetic. "Still, I'm waiting to hear who was your partner in crime of doing butt stuff," she giggled.

Katara for some reason exchanged stares with Yue before replying, and her answer shocked Suki. "Actually, it was Yue," Katara confessed, making both Suki and Azula gasp in surprise.

"Whoa, I had no idea!" Suki exclaimed. She turned to look at Yue. "So, when you took the drink, was it because of doing it with Kat? You never did it with Sokka?"

"Umm, let's just say that Katara isn't the only Enuaraq I have pegged," a very red-faced Yue laughed, making Katara groan at her words. "Also, I've never been on the, uh, receiving end. Just putting that out there."

"Okay… you're full of surprises, Yue," Suki said excitedly. For some reason, the idea of Yue maybe being a secret dom made Suki feel all hot and bothered. And she clearly wasn't the only one who had that reaction, because Azula also suddenly looked very intrigued.

"Suki, any surprises behind you taking a drink?" Azula then asked.

"Not really," Suki shrugged. "Sokka sometimes needed a little coaxing to try new things, but usually he was open to experiments. Still, there's nothing really scandalous to share. I'm not going to drop a bomb like those two," she pointed at Katara and Yue.

"Hey, we were eighteen and super curious after we watched an inspirational video together," Katara laughed. "It was… fun, I guess?"

"So, why did you never do it with Jet?" Azula asked.

"Hmm," Katara frowned. "He certainly wanted to. But he was… I guess, a bit pushy about it? I don't know, I just found it a bit off-putting," she shrugged, looking at Azula. "And what's your stance on it?"

"I, uh… have never given it much thought?" Azula blushed again. "I mean… I guess I wouldn't rule it out?"

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere and being a bit adventurous!" Suki nodded approvingly. "Anyway, onto the next question." She drew another piece of paper. "Never have I ever… not had an orgasm with a guy?" Suki blinked, trying to digest the question.

"Who would ask something like that?" Yue laughed, obviously not touching her drink.

"Oh, I don't know," Azula grinned, taking a drink.

"Seriously, Azula?" Suki groaned. Of course, she and Katara also couldn't drink to a ridiculous question like this. Still, Suki was surprised that Azula was drinking, even if her relationship with this Chan Takanashi guy was fake. "Did you never even sleep with your fake boyfriend?" Suki asked.

"Oh, we had sex quite regularly when we started dating," Azula replied. "It was simply doing nothing for me. It was only when I started hooking up with girls through the dating app that I discovered… well, how good it can actually feel."

"That's kind of sad," Yue sighed. "I'm glad that at some point you stopped with the heteronormativity, at least behind the scenes."

"Not going to lie, trying to deny who I am almost broke me," Azula confessed, looking like she was recalling a particularly unpleasant memory, but then she quickly shook her head, recomposing herself. "Anyway, I just knew that all three of you would be drinking to this, so it would be an easy point for me."

"I suppose you could have felt confident about that," Suki admitted. "I know that there are stories circulating about Sokka's legendary pipe laying skills." That comment made Katara groan and facepalm.

"That's… one way to put it," Yue laughed. "But hey, I certainly never had any reason for complaints."

"I didn't exactly ask for details," Azula rolled her eyes.

"Well, you're getting them whether you wanted or not," Suki winked at Azula. "Also, you can be sure that Ty Lee is having plenty of fun in her new relationship."

"I'll be sure not to ask her about that, because she's just as happy to overshare as you, bitches," Azula groaned. She then looked at Katara. "Anyway, thank you for not providing an in-depth answer."

"Well, I wouldn't know what to tell you," Katara replied. "Jet had many flaws, and I still think he's an asshole, but I can't deny that he knew his way around a pussy. I had many issues with him, but sex wasn't one of them."

"Too much information!" Azula cried with a disturbed look on her face.

"How is that too much information?" Katara laughed. "That's just literally what happens in relationships that aren't fake. And unlike your relationship, ours wasn't fake."

"Unfortunately," Azula sighed. "Anyway, can we move on to the next question?"

"Sure," Suki said. "Since Yue and I had the same question, it means there's just one more left. So, never have I ever… had a three or more-some? Damn it, Katara!" Suki sighed, shaking her fist at her laughing friend as Katara and Azula clinked their glasses together and drank more of the single malt.

"Ugh, I knew I should have hurried up with crossing that off from my bucket list," Yue grumbled.

"Funny you should say that," Suki chuckled. "Because for a while Sokka and I had some serious conversations about asking you to join in."

"Damn it, I wish you would have," Yue sighed.

"Really?" Suki felt her eyebrows rising in surprise. It made her wonder if Yue would consider hooking up now, without Sokka being involved. "Anyway, in the end the timing never felt right, so… it is what it is."

"Well, too bad, because half-assed intent doesn't give you any points," Azula smirked. "Smart thinking there," she smiled at Katara.

"Thank you," Katara smiled right back at Azula. "And you two better get working on those bucket lists," she winked at Suki and Yue.

"Well, I'm certainly open to threesomes or maybe even foursomes," Suki grinned.

"Likewise," Yue added hastily. "Eventually, and no pressure, obviously."

"Obviously," Azula snorted. "Anyway, that puts me and Katara on two points and in the lead. Should we do some tiebreaker type of thing for the queen bed?"

"Or," Katara began with a devious look in her eyes. "That bed is so big that we could comfortably share it." Azula definitely looked interested in that proposal.

"Hey, whatever happened to taking things slowly," Yue butted in, looking a little disappointed with Katara. Suki could understand Yue's jealousy flaring up, especially after the reminder about Azula and Katara already having hooked up more than a week ago.

"Yeah, you were the one talking about how we were coming on a bit too strongly on Azula," Suki decided to back Yue on this. "I motion for Katara to be disqualified from this competition."

"Seconded," Yue flashed Suki a feral grin. "That makes Azula the winner. You can choose the bedroom, Azula."

"Hey!" Katara protested. She had been looking guilty moments ago, but now she appeared just a tad annoyed. "I don't agree with this disqualification! I vote against it. And with Azula also voting against it, that puts us in a deadlock."

"Uh, Katara?" Azula asked, grinning. "Why do you assume that I'm voting against it? If you're disqualified, it means that I win." Katara pouted at that, but Azula remained unmoved. "Anyway, I obviously choose the big bedroom with the queen bed," Azula declared victoriously.

"Alright, I guess we need to decide which one of us picks next," Suki turned towards Yue.

"Maybe we can settle it with rock paper scissors," Yue suggested. "Or… if you were to pick the room with twin beds, I could be your roomie? I don't want either of us to have to sleep downstairs, and this way Katara can have the smaller upstairs bedroom. Does that work for you?" Yue asked.

"Sure does," Suki replied, more than happy to take the deal. Having a roomie was infinitely more preferable to sleeping by herself, especially if she could get a roomie as amazing as Yue. "What about you, Katara?"

"That's perfect for me," Katara replied, no longer looking or sounding upset. "I actually wouldn't have wanted that huge queen bed all to myself. I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep in it."

"You're so weird," Azula laughed. "Anyway, I do feel a little tired. No wonder, it's way past two in the morning."

"Sure, bed sounds like a good idea," Suki nodded. "Still, there's only a third of the whiskey left, so how about we finish off the bottle?" Suki was happy that her suggestion was met with nothing but nods of approval.

Having swapped into her pj's, Katara lay on the bed in the smallest of the upstairs rooms, still vibrating even if it was half past three in the morning. The door to her room was open and she was listening to Suki and Yue talking outside in the hallway as she waited for her turn to use the bathroom. Behind the wall, she could hear the sound of running shower from Azula's in-suite bathroom. Katara shook her head at the idea of taking a shower at such an hour instead of waiting until morning like a normal person, but Azula was just weird like that. Or maybe Azula was in dire need of a cold shower, which Katara would completely understand.

It had been quite the evening, and Katara was struggling to digest everything that had happened. Katara was still feeling the high from the joint they had passed around, and she was more than a little tipsy from all the wine and whiskey. Together with the thought that Azula was open to hooking up with her, Yue and Suki brought on flashes of what felt like pure euphoria.

Still, now and then the euphoria gave way to more somber moments, during which Katara was reminded of Azula's eventual unavoidable departure in less than five months. Deep inside, that little spark of hope that Azula might reconsider and decide to stay after the restaurant competition came to an end refused to die, though. Katara knew that this spark of hope was very dangerous and needed to be extinguished, but she also knew that it would be very hard to do that. But the truth was that Azula's career was too important to her, and Katara understood that she or anyone else had no rights to try and dissuade Azula from pursuing her goals. Katara didn't want Azula to stay at any cost, especially not if that cost was eventually growing bitter and feeling unfulfilled, starting to blame and even hate Katara for the decision to stay.

And obviously, Katara understood that while all this potential hooking up sounded amazing, they would need to be careful with it. Already, she had made Yue and Suki a little upset for hooking up with Azula and June. Even if Katara sensed that Suki was mostly chill about the whole thing, it seemed like Yue's feelings could be hurt more easily and Katara desperately didn't want to do that. Katara knew that she would have to thread carefully and try not to hog Azula all to herself, as much as she wanted to do just that.

"Bathroom is all yours, Kat," Katara was pulled out of her musings by Yue's voice, her friend poking her head into Katara's room. Yue was wearing her white pj's with pink and blue elephants, looking absolutely adorable. "Goodnight!" Yue added, smiling.

"Night, Yue," Katara smiled back, getting up from the bed as she heard the patter of Yue's feet as she retreated to the bedroom she was sharing with Suki. Katara then spent the next few minutes on brushing her teeth and the rest of her bedtime routine. As Katara returned to her room, she noticed that light fell from Azula's room through the tiny gap at the bottom of the door frame.

Katara briefly hesitated, wondering if she should go and wish Azula goodnight. It seemed like the polite thing to do, especially given how Azula had shelled out for this gorgeous cottage. So, Katara walked up to the doors of Azula's bedroom and entered, freezing on the doorstep at what she saw. The blissful look on Azula's face and seeing where her right arm was under the duvet left no illusions about just what Azula was doing.

"Agni, please, just burn me to ashes here and now," an intensely red faced Azula muttered, looking like she wanted to crawl under the floorboards and disappear.

"Spirits, I'm so sorry," Katara exclaimed, feeling awful for her terrible faux pas. Being so comfortable around each other brought the danger of not even thinking of such small social graces as knocking before entering, and now she had made Azula feel incredibly uncomfortable because of it. "There's no reason to feel embarrassed, Azula," she tried.

"Sure… of course," Azula sighed. "Could you please leave, so that I can start working on killing myself?"

"Please don't do that?" Katara pleaded, trying to think of a way to make Azula feel less embarrassed. Because she was still feeling all high, tipsy and horny, Katara could only think of one solution. Leaning with her back against the doors, she slipped her hand inside her pj's and began to touch herself.

"Katara… what are you doing?" Azula gasped, desperately trying not to stare.

"Well, I figured that this way we'll both be either equally embarrassed, or not embarrassed at all," Katara smiled, trying to meet Azula's eyes as she continued to touch herself.

"That's… that's…" Azula tried to protest, fighting herself, but it was clearly a losing battle. In the end, she couldn't stop herself from looking at Katara, and as soon as their eyes met, Katara saw Azula's hand resuming its movements under the duvet.

Touching herself while Azula did the same, with their eyes locked in stares that felt like they penetrated each other's very souls was an incredibly intense sexual experience. It didn't take long before relief claimed Katara and she surrendered with a quiet gasp, Azula following suit mere moments later.

"You are absolutely crazy, Katara," Azula said, giving her a stare that held many conflicting emotions.

"And you love it," Katara winked. "Sweet dreams, Azula," she added teasingly before slipping out of Azula's bedroom, giggling as she ran all the way back to her room and quickly ducked under the covers.

Chapter Text

Azula arrived at the restaurant on Tuesday morning brimming with newfound energy and good vibes. They had spent the Monday night at the forest cabin before taking a very early drive back to Caldera. Monday had been yet another wild and crazy day, but fortunately, the other girls were holding on (if only barely) to their promise to take things slowly. Of course, Azula was actually very conflicted about taking things slowly, and a part of her wanted to jump into this new and exciting thing the logistics of which nobody had figured out yet. Still, Azula felt like insisting to take things slowly was the right thing, and so calling on all of her worn down willpower, she had done just that.

Still, even when trying to restrain themselves, their little group couldn't stop being all flirty with each other the whole time, and being tipsy and high as kites for the majority of their mini vacation only encouraged all this exciting flirting. Azula had already made the decision to rent the cottage for the next weekend as well, something that she knew the other girls would support fiercely.

Back at work, Azula immediately felt a lot less tense now that she had talked things out with her charming coworkers. Not having a freakout every time one of the other girls said or did something a little suggestive was definitely going to make her stay at The Northern Lights a lot less frustrating. And even if this new understanding between them carried with it an uncertainty of its own, it was also something exciting to look forward to. It helped that despite being a paranoid and suspicious person at heart, Azula had never caught even a whiff of deception from Katara, Suki or Yue, so the necessary trust was already there.

With less than an hour before opening for the lunch service, Azula's first order of business was to quickly do the rounds to make sure that they got this new week off to a good start. Suki and Toph were in the kitchen, busy prepping. Aang had already finished his prep and Katara was now busy interrogating him, trying to learn whatever she could about Aang's new hobby, but the Air Nation boy was being evasive. Azula soon lost interest in that conversation, instead heading off to find Sokka and Yue. She was a little surprised to find them in the manager's office, with Yue speaking with a raised voice.

"Hey, is everything alright in here?" Azula decided to enter the office and intervene, despite her natural inclination to avoid other people's drama. It was so weird how invested she was becoming in the lives of these people she never expected to care about. "How was your Monday with Kya and Ty Lee?" she looked at Sokka. "Did you have fun? Luckily for you, the Wi-Fi at the cottage was very spotty and Yue couldn't demand updates every ten minutes."

"I would never do that!" Yue protested. "And yes, they apparently had a very fun Monday. Too much fun, if you ask me!"

"What does she mean by that?" Azula asked Sokka.

"Some oversights may have been made," Sokka sighed.

"I had to listen to my almost four-year-old daughter at the breakfast table talking about fluffy and fuzzy fantasy creatures shooting and blowing up each other," Yue grumbled. "Apparently they're also enslaving one another and then putting the slaves to work in the mines."

"The whole thing was an accident, really," Sokka replied defensively. "I was going to make dinner for us, and Ty Lee said that she would distract Kya with a child appropriate video game. I guess I didn't look too closely because at the first glance it looked like one of those obnoxiously cute Pokémon games. It figured that Ty Lee would be playing one of those."

"Wait, was Ty Lee playing Palworld instead?" Azula began to laugh. "What an icon."

"It's not funny, Azula," Yue frowned. "That game is rated PEGI 12. I don't want Kya exposed to fuzzy creatures killing and enslaving each other."

"Of course, that's understandable," Azula said quickly. She didn't exactly believe that Kya would be traumatized for life by the cute and fuzzy pals blowing each other up, but she conceded that Yue had the right to raise her child the way she wanted. "Sokka, you have to realize that Ty Lee doesn't have a very good idea of what's appropriate for kids and what isn't. Sometimes, she will require just as much oversight as Kya."

"She's not that bad," Sokka chuckled. "We didn't have any other mishaps the whole day, so I think overall we did well. And important lessons were learned."

"I should hope so," Yue said, softening a little bit. "Anyway, Azula, how do you know about this Palworld game? Don't tell me you're a gamer?"

"Not a serious one, but I dabble," Azula shrugged. "You don't want to know how many hours I've spent in flights all over the world. And I can't sleep on a plane. The best distraction is to fire up my handheld and just kill something for hours."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Sokka nodded. "Anyway, how was your mini vacation?"

"It was pretty good," Azula smiled, exchanging a quick look with Yue. "Well, except that time when we got lost in the forest." They both burst into laughter.

"How did that happen?" Sokka blinked. "Sounds like there's a story behind it."

"You could say that," Yue chuckled. "We had a very lazy Monday morning, drinking, eating unhealthy snacks and playing all sorts of games, but come the afternoon we became restless and decided to go for a walk…"

"I think we should do some rotation of our appetizers," Suki said, walking side by side with Azula, with Katara and Yue ahead of them as they made their way alongside a bubbling forest creek.

"What are you thinking about, Suki?" Azula asked. She was having some difficulties focusing on the conversation because of all the THC and alcohol in her system. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to crack open two more wine bottles over breakfast, but they were on holiday and having fun was mandatory.

"I don't have our sales numbers, but you probably know them by heart," Suki said. "Still, I have a pretty good idea from what I see going out. The soups are all selling well, and so are the fish cakes. And who can go for more than a week without a garlic ciabatta?"

"Well, we already took out the chicken goujons and added a proper chicken dish," Azula replied. "It was clear that everyone wanted a chicken entrée."

"True, but I think you know there's one appetizer that's underperforming," Suki continued. "I'm talking about the breaded-" she suddenly slipped on a smooth and wet rock at the side of the creek, managing to steady herself at the last moment before taking a plunge in the crystal-clear and icy cold water.

"Camembert?" Azula asked.

"There's a bear?" Katara suddenly spoke up, looking around and appearing very nervous. "Where is it? Where's the bear?"

"A bear?" Yue looked on the verge of panic as she looked behind them and let out a shrill scream. "There! I saw something move!" she exclaimed. "It's a bear, run for your lives!"

Azula found herself oddly frozen with her legs turned to lead as she watched Katara and Suki take off down the forest path. She would have probably remained there, frozen and becoming a bear snack if not for Yue, grabbing her hand and pulling her along as they broke into a mad dash for what felt like an eternity. They were eventually forced to stop because they ran out of breath, finding themselves in thick underbrush, way off the beaten path.

"I think we gave that bear a slip," Yue managed while gasping for breath. "That was close, though."

"Too close," Azula nodded. "It's a good thing you and Kat spotted it in time."

"What?" Yue blinked. "You saw it first, didn't you?"

"Huh?" Azula asked, feeling very confused. "I didn't see any bears."

"But you were the first to call out?" Yue frowned. "I heard you say, come on, bear!"

"I didn't… wait-" Azula seized up, starting to laugh uncontrollably. "I said camembert, not come on, bear!" Yue stared at her with wide eyes before also starting to laugh.

"Oops," Yue giggled. "And now we're totally lost in the forest." She looked at her phone. "I've got no bars."

Azula looked at her own phone even if she already knew the answer. "Same," she shrugged. "Anyway, we're high as kites and drunk, so it should be easy to find our way back to the cottage."

"Exactly, so let's go," Yue grinned.

"How are you two not dead?" Sokka asked, giving Azula and Yue incredulous stares.

"I'm not exactly sure," Yue shrugged. "We wandered around the forest for some… three hours?" she said, looking at Azula.

"Closer to four," Azula sighed.

"So, you were giving me this big lecture about letting Kya watch Ty Lee play violent video games, while you got lost in the forest and almost robbed Kya of her mother?" Sokka said.

"Look, it sounds bad when you put it like that, so… could you please not put it like that?" Yue sighed, looking a little guilty.

"Right, so did you finally get reception? Suki and Katara found you?" Sokka continued to prod.

"Not exactly," Azula said, glancing at Yue and letting her explain.

"It was actually really funny," Yue giggled. "It was getting dark and we were starting to give up hope of finding the cottage or being found. So, we embraced and comforted each other that at least we're going to meet the end together. And then Suki and Katara came out of the cottage and asked us if we'd like to join them inside instead of standing outside just next to the porch and being a pair of dramatic bitches."

"We must have still been pretty high when we wandered up to the cottage without noticing it," Azula sighed, feeling a bit annoyed as she watched Sokka dying from laughter. "Mind you, that bright porch light should have been a dead giveaway, but for some reason I decided that it was the moon."

"Same," Yue was laughing so hard that she was starting to tear up.

"Well, it's not like Katara and Suki were much better," Azula sighed. "When they realized that we had become separated, they lit up another joint to calm down and stop stressing about it. They could have called the emergency services, but because they were so high, they couldn't remember the new phone number for emergencies."

"It's a tough one to remember, mind you," Yue said. "0118 999 881 999 119 725? Who can recall that, especially when high?"

"Agni, you misremembered," Azula glared at Yue. "It's 0118 999 881 999 119 7253. You would be so dead if you ever got into an accident! You really should-" Azula had to cut her rant short because her phone suddenly buzzed and yelled 'It's RAW!' at her. "Oh, shit," Azula paled. "That's a message from my father."

"Is that 'It's RAW!' only for text messages from Ozai?" Sokka laughed. Azula nodded, already busy reading the text. "That's actually fitting," Sokka said, but Azula was no longer listening.

"Okay, this is potentially bad news," Azula sighed, having read the text. "Yue, please tell the others to gather in the dining room for an emergency meeting." Yue paled slightly before running out of the office. Within a few minutes, everyone had gathered in the dining room, giving Azula worried and expectant stares, waiting for her to speak up.

"Alright, it seems that even though that story with the dead rat didn't blow up as much as Zuko hoped it would, my father has still caught wind of what he calls a shameful scandal," Azula began to explain. "The silver lining to this disaster is that he has also found out about the mice issues plaguing Zuko's restaurant, so he's equally pissed off with both of us."

"Well, that's a wash then," Toph shrugged. "Doesn't seem like a reason for concern?"

"Ah, but I wasn't done yet, Toph," Azula said. "My father has contacts everywhere, including health and safety boards all over the world. He has been in touch with the Caldera City officials. At some point during this week, both our and Zuko's restaurant will receive a visit from a health and safety inspector."

"Mildly irritating," Sokka said. "But we have cleaned up the dead rat and I don't think we have any other hygiene issues?"

"That may be so, Sokka, but father has also sent the same text to Zuko," Azula explained. "It means that Zuko will probably try to somehow sabotage us again just in time for the visit of this inspector. This is why I want all of you to be extra watchful this week. If you notice something weird going on around the restaurant, such as a customer behaving weirdly, let me know immediately."

"That sounds stressful," Katara sighed. "But we'll do our best."

"I know you will," Azula smiled. "However, now that I've thought about it some more, I recognize that while this is a nuisance, it is also an opportunity."

"How do you mean that?" Suki asked.

"Well," Azula clicked her tongue. "Zuko may attempt to sabotage us, but that won't stop me from sabotaging him in return. Indeed, it's time to come up with another clever plan to remind Zuko of his place in the pecking order."

"Listen up, gang," Zuko addressed the crew of The Blue Spirit, gathered in the restaurant's dining room, giving him attentive stares. "I have received an important message from my father. He informed me that at some unspecified point this week, we will receive a visit from the local health and safety inspector. Before Azula and I took up our current positions, father warned us that he would be constantly arranging various tests for us. This is surely the first of many such tests."

"How do you know it's the first test?" Mai asked casually. "Maybe it's only the first test that Ozai decided to tell you about."

Zuko blinked at Mai's words, feeling cold dread momentarily passing through him. Then he shook himself, trying to regain his composure. "Well, if you're right, then it's not worth worrying about, because we can't do anything about it," Zuko rallied. "But we can prepare for this visit of the health and safety inspector."

"Damn, the timing isn't good," Ty Lee winced. "We still haven't rounded up the last of those darned mice. Every now and then when I go into the storage rooms, I see one or two of them scurrying about."

"Painful," Zuko sighed. "That exterminator was a complete clown. Make sure we're not paying him a cent, Mai."

"Alright," Mai rolled her eyes. "We weren't going to pay him anything to begin with because you hired a homeless guy to catch all the mice in exchange for a meal. Since you decided that the rates charged by the real exterminator were complete extortion."

"Right, so… you're saying I should have paid the real exterminator?" Zuko asked. Mai didn't say anything, but she looked like she was in severe pain. "Anyway, we can bounce back from this. I know our little crew thrives on crisis, and believe me, this definitely counts as a crisis. But we'll come out of it stronger! Anyway, I have some new orders for all of you."

"Orders which you for some reason didn't share with your restaurant's co-owner ahead of this meeting," Mai said, looking annoyed and making Zuko feel a little worried that he had done something to earn his girlfriend's ire.

"Well, it's just a few extra things that shouldn't interfere with our regular duties," Zuko tried to placate Mai's visible annoyance. "Ty Lee and Jin," he began, looking at his two waitresses. "You're holding the fort at the front of the house. Be on a lookout for any suspicious customers, carrying big bags or any weird items. We don't want anyone bringing in extra mice. As things stand, we already have enough rodents. And be very vigilant! I'm sure that Azula will try some tricks to sabotage us ahead of the inspector's visit."

"Oh, did you hear that, Jin?" Ty Lee grinned at her fellow waitress. "We get to do some spying on our customers, like real sleuths!"

"That's so exciting!" Jin gasped. "It's like being on Charles Stiles: Mystery Diners, only in reverse where we spy on the customers! Hey, do you think we could get an obnoxiously loud spy drone that crashes to the ground at the most inopportune moment?"

"Umm, maybe we shouldn't get too carried away with drones," Zuko sighed. "Anyway, moving on. Ruon Jian?" Mai's obnoxious assistant looked up at Zuko, giving him an indifferent stare. "I'm putting you in charge of containing the mice situation at the restaurant. You should have more than enough time for it, since nobody can explain to me what it is that you actually do around here."

"I bring the intangibles, Zuko. I'm like the invisible glue that holds this place together," Ruon Jian replied proudly and nonsensically. "But sure, I'll take care of the mice. I actually have the perfect solution. My grandma's cat is possibly the best mouser in all existence. I'll try to talk my gran into letting me leave Killer at the restaurant for a few nights and all our problems will be history!"

"Alright, at least the cat has a promising name," Zuko said, feeling a little more hopeful. "Let's hope he lives up to it."

"Oh, he will," Ruon Jian said proudly. "Killer is probably the most aggressive and territorial cat in existence. This will work out perfectly."

"Excellent," Zuko rubbed his hands. "Also, you're in charge of disposing of all the mice droppings around the place. If the inspector sees any mice poo, it'll be curtains for us."

Ruon Jian looked less happy at that order, giving Mai a pleading stare. "Zuko's right, I'm afraid," Mai shrugged helplessly. "It's an important task. We don't want to be brought down because of a few mice droppings." Ruon Jian pouted but raised no further protests.

"On Ji, you might have to pull some solo services during the week, but I'll try to make things as easy for you as possible," Zuko continued. "I'll do some extra prep and cook everything that can be cooked ahead of time."

"Alright, but what will you be doing?" On Ji asked, not looking overly happy.

"Well, since I'm almost certain that Azula will try to sabotage us, I think it is only fair that we try to sabotage her in return," Zuko announced. "To that end, Jet and I have been making plans."

"Why am I not surprised?" Mai sighed, looking rather annoyed once again. "Anyway, what are your orders for me, Zuko?"

Zuko froze, not having expected the question. For some reason, he had assumed that Mai would want to be left out of this whole deal, just because she often acted disinterested. "Umm… I guess you could help me and Jet carry out the sabotage?" Zuko suggested.

"I thought that could be our thing, though," Jet complained in a whiny voice.

"You know, I just might help you with that," Mai said, suddenly looking a lot more invested. "I don't particularly care about your feud with Azula, but I don't mind a little competition now and then. And I actually agree that she's bound to try and sabotage us, that's just how Azula operates. So, let's try and beat her to the punch."

"Brilliant," Zuko grinned, feeling pleased. It was weird that Jet looked so disappointed about this turn of events, though. Jet had recently spent a lot of time pointing out to Zuko how he and Mai were rarely on the same page, especially where it concerned Zuko's relationship with Azula. Zuko would have assumed that Jet would be happy about him and Mai getting back on the same page.

"So, what is your plan to sabotage Azula, anyway?" Mai asked.

"Oh, we were going to get a jar of roaches and release them in The Northern Lights later tonight," Zuko grinned evilly.

"Roaches?" Mai groaned, looking disgusted. "Sorry, but I think I'll just go back to not involving myself in this affair. Call me again when your plans to sabotage Azula don't involve something as horrible as a jar of roaches."

"Alright… I guess it'll be up to Jet and me, then," Zuko sighed, feeling disappointed. Mai also looked very unhappy, which was in sharp contrast with the victorious looking Jet. "Alright, we all have our orders. Operation Insect Warfare is a go!"

"Alright, here we are," Azula said, turning around to face her three fellow conspirators. They were standing in the dark alleyway running behind The Blue Spirit, facing the back entrance of Zuko's restaurant. Azula and Suki both had jars full of sugar ants in their hands. Obviously, Azula had chosen a species of ant that emitted a particularly foul odor in case Zuko and his staff began to crush the scurrying insects.

"This is so exciting," Yue giggled, bouncing from excitement. "I feel like a hardened criminal!"

"Well, you're not exactly acting like a hardened criminal," Azula smirked. "I don't think hardened criminals bounce in excitement like that."

"At least our outfits are spot on," Katara said, assuming a stealthy pose. They were all wearing ninja outfits, because as was common knowledge, wearing black and obscuring your face was the best way to avert suspicion and remain undetected.

"We are definitely making them work," Azula admitted. The ninja outfits were very form fitting in a flattering way, so it was very hard not to get distracted staring at her three gorgeous companions. "Although, I still think there was no reason for you two to come, especially when you refused to carry the ant jars," she glared at Katara and Yue. "Also, I'm still a little mad about what happened with your sommelier training."

"Oh, come on," Katara frowned. "You can't blame us for not taking that guy seriously. He never noticed when we swapped the bottles and he couldn't tell his fancy three hundred dollar a bottle red wine from something everyone can pick up at the nearest gas station for a fiver."

"I see your point, but you didn't have to mock the man," Azula didn't let go.

"He deserved it for being such a snob," Yue said, shaking her head. "This wine has an earthy flavor," she said, mimicking the wine expert's voice. "Does that mean it tastes of mud?"

"It's silly how he used all those big words to describe wine in a way that was completely useless and uninformative," Katara nodded in agreement. "What does it mean when a wine is smooth? That it doesn't fight you on its way down? And what's a complex bouquet of flavors? Complex is just another word for confusing, so it's hardly an endorsement."

"You are so on fire, Kat," Yue exclaimed approvingly. "I have watched several YouTube videos exposing these so-called experts. This guy just proved how right those YouTube creators are."

"Agni, preserve me," Azula sighed, facepalming. "Obviously, wine experts in a way are scam artists. But you weren't supposed to expose or lay into the guy! I just wanted you to learn the scam because that's what the customers expect! Our customers don't want to hear things like here's your crushed grape drink, there's really nothing special about it, it's just tasty and gives you a nice warm buzz! I just wanted you to learn sommelier jargon, you frustrating gooses."

"Oh," Katara chuckled, exchanging stares with Yue. "Do you think you could ask him to come back?" she asked bashfully.

"Never mind," Azula sighed. "I'll find someone else. Truth be told, this guy was a bit too full of himself, so maybe he just wasn't a good fit for you. Anyway, we are getting sidetracked. We're here to sabotage Zuko, not to talk wine bullshit."

"Well, if we're going to sabotage Zuko, we need to find a way inside, and the door is locked," Suki said. "Is this where you reveal that you're also a master thief, capable of doing that lockpicking thing with a hairpin?"

"Hmm," Azula hummed thoughtfully. "Would that impress you?" The other girls all nodded earnestly. "Well, in that case I need to learn lockpicking. For now, I thought we could just use the key?" she asked, producing a bunch of shiny and newly made keys.

"Where did you get the keys from Zuko's restaurant?" Suki gasped.

"Oh, I had them made almost a week ago," Azula replied smugly. "When I was hanging out with Mai and Ty Lee, I happened to borrow Ty Lee's purse. Then I ducked into the ladies' room and made impressions of all the keys in her keychain. One of them should be a fit for the backdoor."

"How sneaky!" Katara looked very impressed. "I hope Ty Lee won't be mad at you."

"Oh, that kind of thing is more or less expected when we're competing against each other," Azula shrugged, not feeling worried. Ty Lee was too easygoing to hold a grudge over something so insignificant. "Anyway, let's try those keys," Azula said, trying to hand the jar of ants over to Katara at first, then Yue, but both Water Tribe girls refused to touch the jars. Azula sighed, placing the jar on the ground and then trying one key after another, until eventually one of them turned out to be a perfect fit and the doors opened with a light creak.

"Girls, if you're not going to help with the ants, could you at least make yourselves useful and provide some light?" Suki asked as they entered the dark and cramped back entrance of The Blue Spirit. Katara and Yue grumbled for a bit before enabling the torchlights on their phones, making it easier to navigate the rival restaurant.

"This looks like a good spot," Azula said, peeking into what looked like a chaotic and disorganized pantry. "Suki, you release your ants here. I'll go ahead and empty my jar in the kitchen."

"Kat, stay with me, I'll need the light. Yue can go with Azula," Suki said, seeing that both Katara and Yue had moved to follow Azula. Katara made a face at Suki's suggestion, but decided to stay behind without any further comments. If Azula didn't know how chill everyone was about their hooking up agreement, she would have assumed that some seeds of jealousy were starting to grow, but since it was a ridiculous thought, Azula quickly dismissed it.

With Yue providing light, they soon managed to track down the kitchen of The Blue Spirit. It was even smaller than the one at The Northern Lights, making Azula wonder how Zuko could even work in a cramped space like this. Everything was clean and tidy, however, making Azula experience a momentary flash of regret about ruining the tidiness by releasing a swarm of sugar ants in the kitchen. Still, feeling certain that Zuko would not hesitate to sabotage her, Azula steeled herself and began to look around for the best place where to discreetly release the ants. She was interrupted by an odd and slightly concerning sound coming from somewhere very close. It sounded like a cat's yowl, only somehow unusually threatening.

"What was that?" Azula asked nervously. "Tell me you heard it."

"I did," Yue replied. Azula could feel her trembling slightly as Yue pressed closer against her. "I think it came from over there," she nodded towards the far corner of the kitchen, directing the light from her cellphone over to the corner and revealing a hunched creature, staring them down.

"Oh, thank goodness," Yue immediately relaxed. "It's just a cat." She bent low, calling out to the cat. "Here kitty, kitty! Pspspspsps!"

"Wait," Azula reached out with her free hand, pulling Yue back. "I don't like the looks of that cat," she spoke warningly. Azula was a die-hard member of Team Cat, but this particular feline was giving her very bad vibes. "There's something off about it."

"Azula, don't be silly, it's just a cat," Yue chuckled. "It's probably scared of us."

"I don't think so," Azula shook her head. "Switch off the torch for a moment."

"What?" Yue blinked. "Okay…" Yue eventually did as Azula asked. The kitchen was now pitch dark as they looked over at the corner where the cat was sitting, glaring at them.

"Oh shit," Azula gasped, seeing a pair of glowing red orbs focused on her. "I told you there was something seriously wrong with that cat!" The cat clearly confirmed Azula's worst fears by starting to not only yowl loudly, but also hiss at them menacingly.

"Help! It's a demon-possessed cat!" Yue lost her nerve and wrapped her arms around Azula in panic. Unfortunately, it also made Azula drop the jar of ants and it exploded at their feet, releasing a swarm of crawling insects.

"Fuck!" Azula cursed. "Run for it!" she shouted, grabbing Yue's arm and pulling her along as they dashed for the exit, in similar rush than only a day ago while running from the imaginary camembert bear. In their haste, Azula and Yue bowled over Suki and Katara at the exit, making Suki drop and smash her jar as well. Fortunately, she had already managed to empty it, but they all still looked a little roughed up as they finally made their way back outside, having created way too much ruckus for Azula's liking.

"What's with the hasty retreat?" Suki complained.

"We were attacked… by a cat," Yue explained while Azula was busy locking the back door. "It might have been evil," Yue added after Katara and Suki burst into laughter.

"I don't know about evil, but it was either demonic or had rabies," Azula said. "Anyway, I guess that's that, mission accomplished, even if it was a bit of a bumpy ride."

"I suppose those broken jars will look very incriminating," Katara noted.

"True, but there's nothing we can do about that now," Azula said. Suki looked like she was about to say something, but Azula gave her a stern stare. "Trust me, Suki, you don't want to tangle with that cat. You really don't."

"If you say so, Azula," Suki grinned.

"Annoyingly, Zuko will probably change the locks after this incident. Oh well, I can always steal the new keys from Ty Lee again," Azula shrugged. "Anyway, round of drinks at my place to celebrate the successful mission?" she asked, earning only excited nods in response.

"Damn, it's locked," Zuko sighed, having tried the back door leading into The Northern Lights restaurant.

"I think it's normal for businesses to lock up for the night, Zuko," Jet shrugged, standing behind his partner in crime and holding a large jar of live roaches in his hands. "I don't know what you were expecting."

"Well, I'm sure you have a key, so this shouldn't be a problem," Zuko replied hopefully.

"Sure, I have a key, I just don't expect it to fit," Jet sighed, carefully placing the jar on the ground. "Azula is many things, but she's not stupid. She would have told Sokka to change all the locks… and see, this lock is clearly new. It's not really worth even trying the keys."

"Just pick the lock, then," Zuko suggested.

"What do you mean, just pick the lock?" Jet bristled. "I'm not some character in a lame role-playing game. People just don't go about randomly picking locks, Zuko."

"So, you're saying you can't pick the lock," Zuko frowned. Jet sighed heavily. "Disappointing," Zuko tutted.

"I suppose we can always break the window and pour the roaches in?" Jet suggested.

"No, someone might hear that," Zuko shook his head. "You said that the owners live above the restaurant, which means that we have to be very subtle." Zuko thought for a moment and sure enough, a brilliant idea was just around the corner. "There's a visible gap under the doors," he said. "If you hold the jar against the doors, then most of the roaches should pass through the gap and into the restaurant."

"Yes, and those that don't will crawl on me," Jet frowned.

"Can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, Jet," Zuko pointed out. "Besides, don't tell me that you're afraid of a few tiny bugs," Zuko said, climbing on top of a nearby crate, totally not because he was afraid of getting some roaches on himself.

"Why'd you climb on that crate?" Jet narrowed his eyes at Zuko.

"Because… because I was going to inspire you with a speech on why we must destroy Azula," Zuko rallied. In the dim light of the back alley, illuminated by the blinking light above the entrance, Zuko thought that he cut a particularly dramatic figure as he raised his fist against the night sky. "Beware, Azula, my wretched sibling, for the hour of reckoning is upon thee!" Zuko pronounced. "You will pay for your many transgressions against me, like that one time when I was in fourth grade and you placed all those sharp Lego pieces around my bed like a trap. One of them went right into my heel and it really, really hurt! For that, you will be visited upon by a plague of roaches!"

"Is this your idea of being subtle?" Jet smirked, looking up at Zuko while getting ready to release the roaches.

"I was just trying to provide inspiration," Zuko shrugged. "Are you feeling inspired?"

"Very," Jet chuckled. "You know, I really do a lot for you, Zuko. Some would say that maybe I deserve some kind of a reward," Jet winked at him. Or at least Zuko thought that it was a wink, but perhaps it was simply a nervous tick, something that Zuko often observed in people after they had spent a certain amount of time around him.

"We can discuss that after you have released the roaches," Zuko said.

"Alright, here goes," Jet said, removing the lid as soon as the jar was in place against the doors. The roaches poured out a lot faster than they had expected, and also, they didn't appear very motivated to go through the tiny gap under the doors. Soon enough, they were starting to swarm Jet and he lost his nerve, jumping several paces back from the doors.

"They're not going inside!" Zuko exclaimed angrily. "Do something! I don't know, shoo them!" he added helplessly.

"Shoo them?" Jet asked incredulously. Some of the roaches were catching up to him and he used the side of his boot to push them back. It seemed to work, so Jet tried to use the same technique to push more roaches through the gap under the doors.

"Careful, you're crushing them!" Zuko warned. Jet reluctantly removed his foot and backed away again, leaving behind a battlefield covered in dozens of crushed roaches. "Ugh, did at least some of them get into the restaurant?" Zuko groaned.

"I counted at least five or six," Jet said. "Hopefully, that'll be enough."

"Hopefully," Zuko sighed. "Well, we certainly scored a decisive victory over the roaches. Most of them are either dead or fleeing. Unfortunately defeating the roaches wasn't really our goal."

"I think we're still good," Jet tried to appear cheerful while wiping his boot clean from roach viscera. "They multiply like crazy. By the time the inspector shows up, Azula and Katara will be dealing with a horrendous roach infestation."

"Sounds good to me," Zuko perked up. Perhaps this wasn't a total waste, after all, and Azula would still get her comeuppance.

"Anyway," Jet said as they turned to leave the back alley. "How about we hit some pub and drink until this pathetic performance starts to feel like an amazing success?"

"I see nothing wrong with this idea," Zuko was only too happy to agree.

The health and safety inspector arrived at The Northern Lights during Thursday's lunch service. Even though Katara and Sokka had both agreed to show the inspector around, taking on their responsibility as owners, Azula insisted on handling the matter all by herself. This inspection had been arranged by her father, and so Azula wanted to be the one in charge as they hopefully passed it with flying colors.

Azula definitely felt very confident ahead of the inspector's arrival. It seemed that either Zuko had not even tried to sabotage them, or he had utterly failed in his attempt, because everything at the restaurant appeared completely normal. The inspector, a stern looking woman in her forties with her hair pulled back in what looked like a painfully tight bun, certainly looked impressed as Azula led her on a comprehensive tour around the restaurant. It seemed that her father had insisted that a very thorough examination was performed, because the woman certainly took her time in the kitchen, poking and probing around every corner, and fortunately walking away satisfied.

"And this is where all the goods that don't require refrigeration are stored," Azula explained as she led the health and safety inspector downstairs and into the basement. "As you can see, Miss Alyth, everything is neatly and tidily arranged."

"I can see that, yes," the inspector, Alyth, nodded agreeably. "I must say, I'm quite impressed with the state of the restaurant, Azula. I have been here during some of our routine inspections in the past, and I have never seen the place this tidy. I don't know your father personally, but I have heard of his legendary work ethic. It seems as if he has passed these important values right down to you."

"Thank you, Miss Alyth," Azula replied. She was about to lay more flattery on the inspector, but at that moment, Azula saw something on the wall behind the other woman's back that made her freeze in terror. A treacherous roach sat on the wall, wriggling its antennae at Azula and looking extremely pleased with itself.

"Is something the matter, Azula?" the inspector gave her a concerned stare after Azula had gone completely stiff. The other woman was about to turn around and look at where Azula was staring, forcing Azula to reach out and grab Alyth's hand in panic.

"Yes, I…" Azula began, her mind racing as she tried to think of some way to distract the woman and get her to leave without somehow spotting the traitorous roach who clearly did not intend to scurry off. Azula knew that she couldn't let Katara and Sokka down by failing this inspection, but even more importantly, she couldn't afford to fail because it would both disappoint and anger her father, and Azula felt terrified just from that thought alone. "I need to tell you something important," Azula said, having managed to pull herself together.

"Yes, what is it, Azula?" the older woman asked, giving her an encouraging smile. Her expression changed to slightly perplexed when Azula reached out and took her hand, though.

"I know this will sound crazy and very sudden, but," Azula began, taking a deep breath. "In the short time I've come to know you, I've fallen completely head over heels in love with you."

"What?" Alyth's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "But… but that's madness!"

"I know, but the truth is that I can't imagine living without you!" Azula declared dramatically, leaning in as if to kiss the other woman. Alyth shook off Azula's hands, turned around and quickly bolted upstairs with an astonished look on her face. Azula sighed, shaking her head and wondering what had possessed her to do what she had just done. She could only hope that Alyth would feel too embarrassed to share what had happened and the story would never make its way back to her father.

Before returning upstairs, Azula took out some of her frustrations on the annoying roach by smearing it against the wall. Then, hoping that Alyth would have left in a hurry, Azula climbed the stairs to catch up with Sokka and Katara in the dining room. Fortunately, there was no sign of the health and safety inspector.

"What happened with the inspector?" Katara asked, looking very surprised. "She literally flew out of here!"

"Uh, what happened doesn't really matter, as long as we passed the inspection, right?" Azula gulped. "I mean… I assume we passed. Did she say anything about that?"

"Yes, she yelled something about forwarding us all the paperwork later," Sokka shrugged. "I don't know what you said to her, but it must have been very convincing."

"Yes, that's me, being very convincing," Azula muttered, feeling her cheeks burn. Katara was giving her a slightly odd stare, but Azula really didn't feel like explaining, at least not now. Perhaps at some point later, when she was high as a kite and tipsy, Azula would probably end up sharing this embarrassing story. "Anyway, the most important thing is that we passed the inspection. Let's focus on that as we address the second most important thing."

"And what is that?" Katara asked.

"To call the exterminator, because we have a fucking roach problem," Azula sighed. "That sneaky little asshole Zuko got us after all…"

"So, how goes the inspection?" Zuko turned around to see Jet walking up to him with his usual mildly annoying swagger.

"Oh, brilliantly," Zuko replied, keeping one eye on the elderly inspector currently going through the walk-in freezer nearby. "Of course, instead of being here and helping me take care of this inspection, Mai is at the police station, trying to get Jin and Ty Lee released without them pressing charges."

"Well, you probably should have realized that they would be completely insane about this whole plan to treat our customers as potential saboteurs and spy on them," Jet pointed out. "Jin in particular was always going to pick a fight with someone."

"I suppose I did walk into that one," Zuko admitted. It was true that Jin took her loyalty to him and to the restaurant a little too far, and he probably should have seen this incident coming. "Also, Ruon Jian is still trying to find his bloody cat, while the inspector is already here. So, that's not great. That cat should have been gone yesterday. And lastly, On Ji is refusing to work until we have solved the ant issue and the exterminator is mad at me for calling his prices extortionist, so he's only coming in during the weekend, which was always going to be too late."

"Sounds like things are going great, then," Jet rolled his eyes. "Elmer Fudd here hasn't spotted the ants yet, though?" he asked, pointing at the inspector, too immersed in examining the freezer to pay their chatter any notice. "He might be a bit short-sighted."

"Given our luck, I'm sure he'll notice the ants at the very last moment before leaving," Zuko snorted.

"I'm done with the freezer," Elmer Fudd called out to them. "Everything looks nice and tidy. I'll just check the storage further down the hall."

"Go ahead and help yourself," Zuko shrugged. "You won't find anything interesting in there."

"I'm going to take a look all the same," the elderly inspector sounded resolute. "Some of those lockers looked promising."

"What does he expect to find in there?" Jet wondered.

"Beats me," Zuko shrugged again. "But clearly, my father has asked them to perform a very thorough inspection at my restaurant, while probably letting Azula off easy. Still, I'm going to enjoy rubbing her face in it when I win this competition with the odds so unfairly stacked against me."

"I'm sure all those assumptions are completely valid and-" Jet was cut off mid-sentence by what sounded like a demon-possessed feline yowl, followed by the loud and pained screams of the health and safety inspector.

"I shouldn't have looked! I shouldn't have looked!" Elmer Fudd shouted, running past them in the hallway with a cat attached to his head, biting and scratching. "Help! Help! It's eating my face!" the hapless man screamed, in his panic rushing out of the restaurant and then crashing into an Omashu food cart parked outside in the street. Elmer Fudd went down in a heap, while the food cart also toppled over, squishing its owner underneath it and causing a general mayhem out on the street. In the middle of it all, Killer carved a bloody swathe through the crowd before escaping, much to Rion Jian's dismay as he chased after his grandma's precious pet.

"Well, I think that's the end of the health and safety inspection," Zuko shrugged.

"Aced it," Jet grinned, offering his fist for a bump. Zuko happily accepted the invitation. "Are you going to call the ambulance, or shall I?" Jet asked.

"Do it," Zuko nodded. "And don't forget to add 3 at the end when you're dialing. Remembering that new number for emergencies is such a pain in the ass."

Chapter Text

It was the start of a new week at The Northern Lights, and Katara faced it in a buoyant and excited mood. She had spent the Monday moving into her new two room apartment in the same general area as Yue and Suki, around fifteen minutes of walk from her two besties. The apartment was slightly larger and a little more expensive than Katara had been looking for, but both Azula and Sokka had reassured her that she would be able to afford it, and so Katara had gone for it. After she had noticed that the swimming pool of the apartment complex looked clean and well maintained, Katara had been sold on her choice. The fact that none of the windows of her apartment faced the scorching afternoon sun was just an icing on the top.

The move itself had been a lot easier than Suki's. Katara simply didn't have many belongings to her name, mostly because of the way her breakup with Jet had unfolded. After everything had been brought up to the third floor where her apartment was, the place still felt rather empty, and Katara knew that it would take months if not years to fully furnish it and make the place feel like her own. Still, despite the move requiring less effort, Katara felt very grateful towards all of her friends for showing up to do some backbreaking work. Even Azula and Toph had worked hard, and Katara was especially pleased that Ty Lee had once again joined in together with Sokka, seemingly unbothered by the whole restaurant rivalry. Katara was quickly becoming quite fond of Azula's quirky and happy-go-lucky childhood friend.

Katara knew that Azula was a little annoyed that her plans for another forest cottage retreat had been scrapped, but it wasn't even because of Katara moving into her new apartment. Someone had simply beaten Azula to the punch in renting the cottage for the weekend, which made Azula go all salty and mutter about how she was just going to buy the cottage so that they could have it at their disposal whenever they felt like spending time there. Katara had later cornered Azula in private to press her on whether she was being serious, and Azula had confessed that she wasn't nearly wealthy enough herself to buy a cottage, and would need daddy's money to do something like that. And it had also led to Azula admitting that she wasn't at all sure if Ozai would give her money for such an exorbitant purchase. The conversation had really helped Katara understand just how much anxiety Azula was experiencing because she was questioning just where she stood with her father.

On the whole, Katara could sense that she wasn't the only one feeling a little frustrated because the whole thing of hooking up with Azula still hadn't gone anywhere. Azula was determined to make something happen the next time they all had a day off, but with a long week ahead of them, Katara wasn't sure she was willing to wait until the next Monday, and she had a sneaking suspicion that the other girls felt the same way. However, opportunities for sexy shenanigans were not easy to find, because they still needed to work very hard every day. With Aang having requested a rare week off, they would all be hard pressed to pitch in and cover for his absence.

Following a smooth Tuesday lunch service, instead of letting them rest and relax for a few hours, Azula had recruited Katara and Yue for some of the promised training at serving dishes tableside. Azula had shoved three whole chickens in the kitchen ovens, and now the roasted fowl sat on large cutting boards in front of Yue and Katara, smelling deliciously as Azula prepared to demonstrate the proper technique for carving a chicken. Katara had spent a lot of time in her childhood handling game meat brought home by her father, as well as gutting and cleaning fish, so she felt very confident ahead of Azula's lesson. Yue, on the other hand, clearly looked a little intimidated by the huge roast chicken in front of her.

"Alright, let's get started with this bird," Azula began, picking up a pair of knives. "These are the tools you will need. This here is a carving knife," she pointed at the exceptionally long knife with a lightly serrated edge. "And this is a boning knife," she pointed at the much smaller knife. "I should hope the names are pretty self-explanatory."

"So far so good," Yue chuckled, but Katara could still see that her friend felt a little nervous, so she shot Yue an encouraging smile. Working at a restaurant, neither of them needed to do much cooking of their own. They both ate well while at work, and there was always something tasty for Yue to take home for Kya. Usually there were enough leftovers to share between them all so that none of them really needed to cook even on their days off, but since Katara loved cooking, she usually still did it when she was off work. From what Katara knew, Yue tried to skip any serious cooking during her off days because she was always trying to maximize her mother-daughter time with Kya, and Katara certainly didn't fault her friend for that.

"Anyway, grab your boning knives because we're going to start with the legs," Azula continued, motioning for Katara and Yue to pick up their tools and prepare to assault their birds.

"I usually don't start with the legs," Yue quipped, giving Azula a sly wink.

"Oh, I don't know, it depends on the legs," Katara grinned, pretending to check out Azula's legs, even if they were well hidden by the chef's overalls. Azula was back in the chef's uniform for the entire week of Aang's vacation, handling the vegan menu options and assisting Suki, although by this point Toph was ably taking more and more kitchen responsibilities upon herself.

"Calm down, you two, I'm trying to teach you something here," Azula sighed.

"We're also trying to teach you something," Katara winked, making Azula blush heatedly.

"Fair warning, though, if you start cracking jokes about being either a leg or a breast woman, I will stab you with the boning knife and then slice you up with the carving knife," Azula threatened. "Now, may I go on?" she asked, earning two silent, but amused nods from Katara and Yue.

"Good," Azula sighed. "So, as I was trying to say, first we slice off the leg and the thigh. Go in with the boning knife here, like this," she demonstrated, confidently cutting into the roast fowl. "Press downwards until you meet the bone. This is where the boning knife comes into play, because now you have to pull a little back and go around the bone. Then you push down on the leg and watch the joint pop out easily, just like this. Anyway, now it's your turn to do it."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Katara smiled, repeating exactly what Azula had done. This was much easier than anything she had done as an eleven-year-old, helping her mother skin, cut and process the game her father brought back from his regular hunting trips. After her mother's passing, Katara had done it all by herself, but by then, the hunting trips had become very rare because Hakoda utterly threw himself into the restaurant, which Katara only later realized was his way to escape the grief that had shattered them all.

"I can't get the joint to pop out," Yue complained, looking frustrated with her mangled bird.

"That's because you're not being firm enough," Azula lectured, walking up to Yue. "You're cutting like you're afraid that the bird is going to spring up and peck you to death. Here, I'll show you," Azula said, placing her hand on top of Yue's and guiding her through the rest of the process. Eventually the joint popped out and the leg was successfully separated from the rest of the carcass. Also, with Azula standing very close and lightly pressing up against Yue, it looked as if Yue was enjoying the whole experience a great deal and watching it made Katara's jealousy bubble just a tiny bit.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have done such a good job, then I also could have received such a close and personal instruction," Katara muttered, making both Yue and Azula snicker.

"So, you're saying you need an incentive to do well?" Azula smirked at Katara. "I think I can help with that." Azula then walked back to her station, picking up her boning knife. "Anyway, getting back to the task at hand, now we remove the wings by doing the same as with the legs. Go down with the boning knife and pop out the joint, it's easy enough," Azula said, demonstrating the process. Katara easily replicated Azula's actions, and Yue also did reasonably well even if she was still a touch too hesitant.

"Alright, that's not too bad," Azula admitted. "Now that the wings and legs have been removed, it's time to get started on the breasts." Katara and Yue both exchanged stares and giggled, making Azula roll her eyes. "Alright, so this is what we call the keel bone," Azula said, poking the carcass of her roast fowl. "We remove the breasts by cutting alongside the keel bone, and the right technique to do it is like this… you cut down slowly while pulling the breast away from the keel bone," Azula demonstrated. "This way, as you reach the bottom, the breast just pops right out. And please, no dirty or immature comments," she added hastily, correctly sensing that Katara and Yue were both about to speak up.

Katara once again replicated Azula's technique almost perfectly, easily separating the breast from the rest of the carcass. Yue took a while longer to manage the same, and she looked a little red in the face once she had finished, but Azula deemed the end result acceptable, giving Yue an approving nod of the head.

"Alright, it's time to grab the slicer and finish the job," Azula ordered. "First we separate the thigh from the rest of the leg. And finally, we cut the breast into nice thick slices. That's it, your tableside carved roast chicken is ready to serve."

"It seems easy enough," Katara remarked. Working with the boning knife felt very natural to her. The slicer felt more like a saw just because of how long it was, so the process of carving was a little awkward, but Katara managed the task well enough.

"I think I can do it, but I would like to practice some more," Yue admitted.

"That's all well and good, my dear, but I don't have an endless supply of roast chicken for you to practice on," Azula replied. Yue pouted a little bit. "Alright, fine, I'll pop a couple of birds in the oven tomorrow," Azula sighed, making Yue brighten up. "Anyway, I think it's obvious that Katara did an overall better job, so… I guess you wanted a reward?" Azula looked at Katara.

"Unless your idea of reward is making me clean the kitchen," Katara laughed, watching Azula in anticipation.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so cruel," Azula smirked, sauntering up to Katara and leaning in for a kiss. Katara would have preferred for the kiss to last much longer, but Azula pulled back way too early for her liking. "Anyway, you two get to clean up the kitchen together," Azula laughed as she turned to walk away.

"Hey, since I won, I totally should be excused from cleaning," Katara called after Azula, but to no avail. She turned around to face Yue, her friend mockingly sticking a tongue out at her. "Oh, how very mature," Katara rolled her eyes.

Yue tried to glare, but ended up bursting into laughter soon after. "Whatever," she chuckled. "Let's just get this place clean before Suki shows up for service and yells at us for making a mess…"

It was a quiet Thursday afternoon in Caldera City and Azula was using the break between services to catch up with her childhood besties Mai and Ty Lee. With The Blue Spirit closed for a couple of days until the exterminator dealt with the mice and ant infestations, Mai and Ty Lee both had time on their hands and they had invited Azula to hang out with them. Azula had been happy to accept the invitation not only because she enjoyed spending time with her best friends, but also because she wanted to use the opportunity to learn just how much damage her sabotage had caused for Zuko's restaurant.

The mid-May weather was finally becoming suitably warm for Azula's liking, creating the perfect opportunity to sit outside on an open terrace at one of the many downtown cafés. As always, Azula arrived first, good ten minutes before the appointed time, choosing a table, ordering a coffee and spending time browsing her phone as she waited for her friends to arrive. Ever since the chaotic health and safety inspection, Azula had not heard any further news from her father, leaving her in an anxious limbo as she couldn't stop worrying whether Ozai was displeased with her or not. Perhaps the lack of communication was actually intentional in order to create this kind of anxiety, Azula certainly would not put it past her father.

"Azula, bestie!" Ty Lee's voice pulled Azula out of her musings as she looked up to see her friends approaching. Azula was immediately pulled out of her seat and smothered in a Ty Lee hug. Mai's embrace was way more reserved, but still warm. "So good to see you!" Ty Lee continued to gush. "Sorry about any lateness, we came straight from the beach."

"Yes, I can see that," Azula snorted. Ty Lee wasn't wearing much that counted as functional clothing over her skimpy bikini. Mai was wearing a black sundress with a white wildflower motif which seemed a little out of character for her until Azula noticed that the white wildflowers were splattered with tiny droplets of blood.

"Too bad you couldn't join us," Ty Lee made a sad face as she and Mai both sat down and Mai immediately flagged down a waitress to order coffee and ice cream for herself and Ty Lee. "Sometimes being stuck at work really sucks."

"I think this restaurant owner might disagree," Azula said, nodding at Mai. Mai and Ty Lee were always such complete opposites in the way they expressed themselves, but on this day, the difference between them seemed starker than ever. Ty Lee was so hyper that she was literally bouncing in her seat, while Mai appeared oddly downcast for someone who had supposedly enjoyed a fun day at the beach. "Closing the restaurant is probably hitting you hard, right?" Azula tried.

"It's not the end of the world," Mai shrugged. "We've been doing surprisingly well since opening, so financially this isn't going to slow us down."

"That's good, I suppose," Azula said, feeling a tiny bit disappointed. Closing The Northern Lights for a couple of days would have been disastrous when their profit margins were still quite vulnerable. It irked Azula that Zuko and Mai could shut down The Blue Spirit without it being much of a problem. "I hope you don't expect an apology. We agreed to be cool with this competition," Azula said.

"Of course, I don't expect an apology," Mai snorted. "I know that Zuko and Jet have been causing problems for you, as well."

"It's not you who Mai is annoyed with, anyway," Ty Lee added with a conspiring wink. "It's someone else, but they share your last name."

"Oh dear," Azula chuckled. "What has old Zuzu done now?"

"He just kept continuously annoying the exterminator, which is why it took us so long to get him to come in," Mai sighed. "I had to step in and do ass kissing. I had to do ass kissing, me. Do you realize how demeaning that experience was?"

"I'm just shocked that you did it and it worked," Azula remarked, feeling surprised.

"Yes, well," Mai frowned. "You know the contentious relationship I have with my folks. I can't let the restaurant fail because it would validate their already low opinion of me. They wouldn't have even allowed me to run this restaurant unless I had a man at my side, holding my hand. But Zuko is only of benefit to the restaurant for as long as he's in the kitchen, cooking. Anything he does outside of the kitchen is a flaming disaster."

"But it's not just about Zuko not being supportive enough around the restaurant, is it, Mai?" Ty Lee asked, giving her friend a meaningful stare.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mai replied. Despite Mai hiding her eyes behind dark shades, her tone of voice and posture gave away a flagrant lie. Ty Lee continued to firmly stare Mai down, until Mai gave in and let out a defeated sigh. "When did you become so perceptive, anyway?" she complained.

"She has always been perceptive," Azula said. "It's just easy to forget because most of the words coming out of Ty Lee's mouth form incoherent gibberish."

"That's not a very nice thing to say," Ty Lee glared at Azula before turning her attention back to Mai. "Anyway, spill the beans, Mai. We've always shared things about our relationships, there's no reason to stop now."

"Well, there are things about Zuko that I definitely do not wish to know, so sharing too many details might compel me to drink bleach," Azula said. "But still, I agree with the overall sentiment. Stop being a stubborn bitch and share," Azula demanded, looking at Mai.

"I just feel as if Zuko and I are falling back into the old pattern that keeps repeating with us," Mai sighed. "He keeps coming back to me, but then after a while he just starts taking me for granted. Or, I don't know, maybe he just gets bored of me." Mai almost looked a little vulnerable as she spoke, and it wasn't something Azula ever expected to get from her old friend. Azula was still contemplating how to respond when Mai quickly recomposed herself. "Whatever, ignore me, I was merely rambling," she said, trying to appear unconcerned.

"I agree that Zuko doesn't appreciate you enough," Ty Lee spoke sympathetically, patting Mai's hand.

"I don't really care about that, it's just Zuko being Zuko. I'm not one for big gestures, either," Mai shrugged. "But sometimes I feel like he just doesn't respect me as much as I deserve to be respected. Especially when he makes all those unilateral decisions about the restaurant, when he really should consult me beforehand. And also, the amount of time he's spending with Jet, and the way Jet always has Zuko's ear? Sorry, maybe I'm a petty bitch, but that annoys me."

"Have you told him any of this?" Ty Lee asked.

"Of course not," Mai snorted. "That would be the most awkward and painful conversation of my existence up to this point and I'm not ready for it."

"Wait, can we rewind to something you said?" Azula asked, her attention lingering on a particular detail. "What did you mean by saying that Zuko spends a lot of time with Jet?"

"I don't honestly know what I meant," Mai shrugged. "It just annoys me how quickly they've become joined at the hip. I guess it's because Jet is the only one at The Blue Spirit who's so passionate about that stupid rivalry between you and Zuko."

"I think it's mostly just because Jet hopes to bang Zuko," Ty Lee snorted.

"Ugh, please don't tell me that Zuko is actually interested in Jet," Azula groaned, feeling a little sick. "As if my opinion of my brother couldn't sink any lower."

"I think Zuko is oblivious about the game Jet is playing," Ty Lee said. "As he is about great many things."

"The way he's in denial reminds me of myself some three years ago," Azula chuckled. "And even if Zuko acknowledges something about himself, he'd still be too scared to come out of the closet, because he probably thinks that I would snitch on him to Ozai."

"None of this is of any comfort to me, you know," Mai sighed. "All of this makes me feel like I'm to Zuko what Chan is to you, and I don't know if I can accept that."

"You're wrong about that. You mean way more to Zuko than Chan means to Azula, I'm sure of it," Ty Lee shook her head sadly. "I know Zuko cares about you, but unless he's made to understand how he's being a negligent boyfriend, he's never going to do better."

"Well, I don't know if I want to do the whole relationship therapy with Zuko," Mai groaned. "Maybe it's a sign that I don't care enough, myself. But I guess that's a question only I can answer."

"I guess so," Ty Lee sighed, looking a little sad. Her downcast mood didn't linger, however, as she soon smiled brightly again. "Anyway, at least my new relationship is thriving. Sokka is the best thing that's happened to me in… well, since we became friends, I guess."

"I suppose I can understand that. Sokka seems to be a largely acceptable male," Azula conceded. "I would go as far as to say that he would make for a much better fake boyfriend than Chan."

"Hey, get your grubby paws off Sokka!" Ty Lee exclaimed, threateningly waving her ice cream spoon at Azula. "We all know you want the sister, anyway!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Azula muttered unconvincingly.

"You do realize that I hear about everything that takes place at The Northern Lights, right?" Ty Lee laughed. "I know all about you and your harem." Mai made a sound that sounded suspiciously like strained laughter, looking very amused.

"Don't call them my harem, you nitwit," Azula groaned. "I won't stand for my girls being slandered like that."

"Your girls, huh?" Mai remarked pointedly. "Good job defending yourself from the rumors, Azula."

"We really shouldn't tease her too much, Mai," Ty Lee winked at her taciturn friend. "We don't want to push her back into the closet. I want to be here for Azula's proper gay awakening, because I know it's going to be a glorious sight."

"You are utterly insufferable, Ty Lee. I hope you'll get a heat stroke and die," Azula glared. Ty Lee made sad puppy eyes at Azula in response, making her sigh. "Ugh, whatever, bitch. I guess I don't want you to die."

"Yay, she loves me," Ty Lee exclaimed as the conversation devolved mostly into nonsense, with Ty Lee talking nearly all the time, leaving Mai and Azula to listen, make the occasional quips and exchange long suffering stares.

When it was finally time to part and go their separate ways, Azula found herself getting hugged once again. "I'm sorry," were the words that for some reason escaped Azula's mouth while sharing an embrace with Mai.

"What are you apologizing for?" Mai asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Yes, are you alright, Azula?" Ty Lee added, smiling.

Azula considered her reply for a good while. "You know, it's weird, but… I've spent so much time at The Northern Lights, surrounded by people who genuinely care about each other. And I guess it's… rubbed off on me a little bit?" she tried, feeling embarrassed. "I don't know, maybe it's just made me more aware."

"Aware of what?" Mai pressed.

"Aware of how trapped you must feel by this rivalry between me and Zuko," Azula said. "I just never really considered how hard it must be to balance our friendship with your relationship with Zuko."

"It's not that hard," Mai shrugged. "I've made it clear to you both that I'm simply not going to get involved in it."

"I understand that," Azula said quickly. "But I just thought that… if you sided with Zuko and denounced me and our friendship, Zuko would literally worship the ground you thread upon. I simply realized that I'm part of the reason why your relationship isn't better."

"Wow, that's pretty deep, Azula," Ty Lee grinned. "I'm impressed."

"Listen, it is what it is," Mai shrugged. "But to be clear, I've never blamed you or been angry with you for the way things are. There's only one person I blame for this situation, and it's not you. And it's not Zuko, either."

"Oh… I see," Azula realized. She supposed that it made sense for Mai to dislike, or even hate Ozai. "So… still best friends?" she asked hopefully.

"Always and forever, dumbass," Ty Lee grinned, squishing her and Mai in a tight and reassuring group hug.

"I swear we're being haunted by a ghost," Katara said with a completely serious expression on her face. "There is no other explanation for what I have witnessed."

"Excuse me for being skeptical, but what you have witnessed was just some footfall and the sounds of someone leaving through the back entrance, right?" Toph asked with a smirk on her face. Friday's dinner service was coming to an end and with no new customers to welcome, Katara and Yue had popped into the kitchen for a chat as Suki, Azula and Toph began to clear down for the evening.

"Yes, that hardly seems enough evidence for a haunting," Azula nodded in agreement. "Sorry, Katara," she added quickly like a complete simp, probably having noticed the disappointment on Katara's face. Obviously, Suki herself didn't believe in the ghost story, either, but with Toph and Azula already being so skeptical, she didn't feel the need to dunk extra on Katara.

"Well, Yue actually saw it, so I think we have plenty of evidence," Katara replied defiantly.

"I definitely saw something, but Kat, I'm not sure it was a ghost," Yue said, still looking spooked. "It was more like a… creature? And a big one, too."

"So, what did this creature look like?" Suki decided to ask.

"I don't know if I want to tell you," Yue frowned. "You're just going to make fun of me."

"I swear I'm not going to laugh," Suki promised earnestly.

"Hmm, well alright then," Yue finally relented. "I know it's going to sound very silly, but the creature I saw down in the basement looked like a giant chicken." Toph burst into laughter at that, and Azula was also obviously struggling to contain laughter. "Toph! I'm being serious!" Yue exclaimed.

"Hey, I didn't promise I wasn't going to laugh," Toph wheezed. "This is amazing, though. A giant chicken! For once I actually regret being blind because I would love to see that!"

"Ugh, I knew this would be the reaction if I told you," Yue huffed, looking offended. "Well, I'm just telling you that I'm not going down to the basement anymore, at least not all by myself. Not until I know that the creature is gone."

"Likewise," Katara echoed her friend. "Ghost or creature, it doesn't really matter. Something or someone is messing about in our basement and it's freaking us out. Whatever it is, it could be dangerous, so I think a bit more seriousness is merited here."

"Maybe it's the demonic cat from Zuko's restaurant," Azula mused. "I wouldn't put it past that thing. It was clearly evil."

"It wasn't the cat," Yue shook her head. "The creature was way larger than a cat, and also, it's eyes weren't glowing red. Anyway," she spoke haughtily, turning around. "I better return to my customers. They clearly appreciate me more than you do."

"Same," Katara turned to follow Yue. "You guys are so joyless in your skepticism, denying yourself so many wonders and surprises of the spiritual world," she declared, heading out of the kitchen.

"Them bitches be so sensitive," Toph laughed as she was loading up the dishwasher. "Do you know if they're having their periods?"

"How would I know that?" Azula shrugged. "Then again, I saw them both viciously attack a box of chocolates earlier, so… perhaps?"

"Do you think maybe we were wrong to be so dismissive?" Suki asked a while later, as they were about to wrap up the tasks of cleaning the kitchen.

"No way," Toph laughed. "Ghosts? Creatures? Are you kidding me? It was probably some hobo wandering in through the unlocked back entrance."

"I suppose that could be it," Suki nodded in agreement. "Still, I think it might be a good idea to check out the basement. Azula, would you like to join me?" Suki asked, having hatched a clever plan while cleaning up her station.

"I don't think so, Suki," Azula shook her head. "It seems like a waste of time. You know how superstitious and easily spooked Yue and Katara are."

Suki had expected Azula to dismiss the offer, but fortunately, she was prepared for this eventuality. "I just thought that you might want to join in on the off-chance that this could be another braindead scheme cooked up by your brother and Jet," Suki said, knowing that this idea was sure to get Azula's attention.

"Wait, how did I not think of that?" Azula gave Suki a wide-eyed stare. "It totally has to be another one of Zuko's ham-fisted attempts at sabotage. Alright, you've won me over, let's go and explore the basement."

Suki grinned to herself as together with Azula they proceeded downstairs, slowly and meticulously moving from one room to another, making sure they didn't miss any signs of ghosts or giant chicken creatures. As Suki had expected, it was all a wild goose chase, and after examining the largest of the rooms that had once served as Toph's microwaving station, but had since been converted into a functional and well-stocked pantry, they came up with nothing.

"Of course, I should have known we would find nothing," Azula let out a bored yawn, looking disappointed. "Come on, let's get back upstairs."

"Wait a moment," Suki grinned, reaching out and grabbing Azula's hand. "There was another reason why I asked you to join in for this ghost hunt," Suki spoke huskily, pulling Azula closer. "I just wanted you all to myself for a bit."

"Oh," Azula managed, looking very flushed and excited. "A well-executed maneuver. I wholly approve."

"I thought you might," Suki grinned wolfishly as she pushed Azula up against the wall. Soon enough, they were passionately making out, forgetting all about any potential ghosts or creatures nearby. Suki was feeling a little frustrated that the whole hooking up with Azula thing hadn't progressed any further, so she poured all of those frustrations into kissing Azula with ferocious intensity. Fortunately, it seemed like Azula was very much into this fiercer treatment, because she responded with equal passion. Suki wasn't exactly a fan of having sex in weird places like dingy basements, so she didn't intend to take things much further, but there was plenty of satisfaction to be found in shared kisses and exciting over the clothes action.

They had been at it for at least good five minutes, when Suki was alerted by strange noises nearby, making her stop kissing Azula. It seemed as if Azula had also heard the sounds because she didn't whine about no longer being kissed. "What is that?" Suki whispered, holding Azula close as they listened to the sounds of someone rummaging about nearby.

"Too loud for a ghost," Azula whispered back. "It must be the creature. Although, it's probably Zuko or Jet."

"I'm going to sneak a peek," Suki whispered. She leaned out from behind a cover of shelves, trying to take a better look in the dim light, immediately pulling back when she saw the dark shape of a distinctly non-human creature. "Shit, Yue was right," Suki whispered, unable to believe her own words. "It definitely looks like a giant cock."

Azula nearly burst into laughter, forcing Suki to cover Azula's mouth with her palm. "You are shitting me," Azula whispered after Suki had removed her palm. "There's no such thing as a giant rooster."

"Take a look for yourself," Suki whispered, moving aside and letting Azula take a gander.

Azula pulled back, looking significantly paler and a bit frightened. "It does look like a giant chicken," she admitted. "What do we do?"

"Well," Suki reasoned. "There's two of us and one of them. I reckon we can take them."

"Alright," Azula nodded nervously. "On the count of three?" Suki nodded back. "Three, two… one," Azula counted quietly, after which they broke cover and yelled like a couple of crazy amazons as they charged at the very surprised looking giant bird. They crashed into the bird and all three of them went down in a heap, tearing off the large bird's head in the process.

"Did we get it?" Azula asked, slowly rising from the ground and fumbling around for her phone. Eventually, she managed to light the torch moments ahead of Suki. "Ah!" Azula exclaimed. "It ate Aang!"

"Uh, Azula?" Suki asked, struggling not to laugh. "I think if we were to employ logic and common sense, we would arrive at the explanation that this is Aang wearing a yellow parrot suit."

"Oh," Azula immediately calmed down, looking sheepish. "Uh, why is Aang wearing a parrot suit? What gives?"

"I imagine he should be able to explain it to us," Suki grinned, kneeling next to Aang and gently patting his cheeks until he opened his eyes and reared his head, groaning in pain.

"Ugh… what happened?" Aang moaned, slowly coming back to his senses. He seemed completely incapable of getting back up to his feet in the unwieldy parrot suit, so Suki did her best to prop him back upright. "Why did you guys attack me?" Aang asked.

"We didn't attack you," Azula retorted, looking very defensive. "Or at least, we didn't think it was you. We were attacking either a ghost, or a creature, take your pick. I presume this isn't the first time you've snuck in here while posing as a giant avian, so I think an explanation is in order! Both Yue and Katara are traumatized by your antics!"

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any problems," Aang looked deeply apologetic. "I suppose I might as well explain myself now that the cat is out of the bag."

"Don't you mean the parrot is out of the bag?" Suki chuckled.

"True, that also works," Aang laughed. "Anyway, so… I guess I should start by explaining why I was so insistent on having this week off. You see, this is the week of Caldera City's annual furry convention and… well, I'm taking part."

"Okay, wow… not what I would have guessed," Suki blinked, exchanging stares with an equally surprised Azula. "That doesn't really explain what you're doing here, though. The Northern Spirit is not hosting the furry con, at least not to my knowledge."

"No, but the exhibition center two streets down sure is," Aang replied brightly. "So, I've been using the back entrance to sneak in here to put on and take off my parrot suit. But the zipper on the back is always giving me so much trouble, and I guess I must have caused quite the ruckus trying to open and close it."

"Of all the possible explanations," Azula snorted, then bursting into laughter, with Suki and Aang also joining her, overcome by the bizarre situation. "So, why were you so embarrassed about admitting that you are a furry?" Azula said a while later, looking at Aang. "Did you think we would make fun of you?"

"Uh… yes?" Aang shrugged. "Sokka in particular always makes fun of furrydom. And I thought you would also think I'm being ridiculous," he said, blushing.

"I mean… maybe, but I have no beef with you being ridiculous in your private life," Azula shrugged. "You're still a good friend and an excellent employee, so I don't really care that you get your rocks off by dressing up as a giant parrot."

"It's not really about that, it's more about connecting with your inner spirit animal," Aang protested.

"I'm sure it is, Aang, but maybe save that for your fellow furry friends," Suki smirked, making Aang sigh. "Anyway, I think we should probably tell Katara and Yue the truth about this haunting."

"Must we?" Azula looked uncertain. "There's potential in letting them believe that we've been visited by a ghost… or a creature. Although, I suppose that would be a little mean."

"Just a little," Suki nodded. "I'm not a fan of gaslighting our friends."

"Yes, that doesn't sound good," Aang agreed, nodding vehemently. "I guess you better tell them."

"Hmm, you would like that, wouldn't you, Mr. Parrot Man?" Azula scowled at Aang. "Considering that this chaos is all of your making, I think Katara and Yue deserve to hear an explanation from a giant parrot. So, you're coming upstairs with us and then you're coming clean about this whole affair."

"Fine," Aang sighed. "I guess it was a little silly of me to imagine that I could keep something like this to myself…"

Despite trying to move on and not think about it, the conversation she'd had with Azula and Ty Lee would not leave Mai's head for the next couple of days. Even if Mai acknowledged that she was frustrated in her relationship with Zuko, she desperately wanted to avoid a heart to heart with her boyfriend, because a conversation about feelings and emotions was just about the most unpleasant thing that Mai could imagine.

Still, here Mai was at 2:30am on Friday night, holed up in her bedroom and trying to read a book, while doing her best to ignore the sounds coming from the living room where Zuko and Jet kept yelling like insufferable teenagers, while playing Helldivers on Zuko's PlayStation and laughing like maniacs every time one of their characters was eaten by giant bugs or ended up falling into lava. This was clearly not a normal situation, and by the time Jet eventually left, Mai's anger was simmering and about to reach a boiling point.

"Oh, you're not sleeping?" Zuko asked, finally dragging himself back to their bedroom. His dumb question irked Mai even more, because to her it just showed how little Zuko actually thought of her.

"Are you serious? How do you imagine me being able to sleep with all that racket you and Jet were causing?" Mai hissed at her boyfriend.

"Damn, sorry," Zuko had the decency to actually look apologetic. "You should have said something."

"Yes, because apparently I need to remind you that I exist, or else you'll forget," Mai frowned.

"I would never forget that," Zuko replied, starting to undress before getting into the bed with her. He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek, looking surprised when Mai pulled away and avoided it. "Wait… are you seriously pissed?" Zuko blinked, finally noticing the obvious. "Are we really going to have an argument at 3am in the morning?"

"I wasn't trying to start an argument," Mai snapped. "But I guess it's clear that a serious conversation is overdue."

"About what?" Zuko demanded.

Mai hesitated. She knew that the mature and right thing to do would be to explain the reasons why she felt frustrated in their relationship, and give Zuko a chance to correct his behavior, working on their relationship like rational adults. However, this relationship with Zuko was shaping up like a union in which she was having to do all the emotional pulling, and Mai wasn't sure that she was interested in doing all this work for Zuko. Obviously, all relationships required work, and she was willing to put in some of it, but she was not willing to work for Zuko. If Zuko couldn't figure this shit out for himself, then maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But first, Mai wanted to be sure that Zuko even wanted to try, and the key to that was to remind her boyfriend not to take her for granted.

"I'm not happy, Zuko," Mai said stiffly. "I haven't been happy for a while. I want to change things up."

"First of all, you're never happy, Mai," Zuko scowled. "Second, what does it mean to change things up? Are you breaking up with me?"

"Not unless that's what you want," Mai shrugged. "We can stay together, but I think we should let each other date other people too. Try out not being exclusive."

Zuko jumped out of the bed and started pacing back and forth. "This is about Ruon Jian, isn't it?" he near-shouted. "You want to hook up with that slimy bastard! Maybe you've already done it behind my back!"

"How dare you accuse me of cheating?" Mai glared fiercely, making Zuko wilt and back down slightly.

"Well, he clearly wants to smash you," Zuko glared back. "If this isn't about Ruon Jian, then what is this about?"

"Maybe it is about Ruon Jian," Mai was by now so annoyed that she decided to roll with the lie. "But I'm giving you an opportunity to hook up with one of your girls, whether it's Jin, On Ji or Jet that you want."

"I want you, Mai. But it's clear that my feelings aren't being reciprocated on the same level," Zuko snapped. He then seemed to remember something. "Wait, also Jet isn't a girl. I don't hook up with guys, you know that," he added, much too late.

"But you would like to, so here I am giving you the permission to do that," Mai said. "With how much time you and Jet are spending together, one might assume that you're dating already."

"Jet is the only one who understands how important it is for me to win this competition against Azula," Zuko snapped. "He's actually helping me, whereas your support has been very lacking."

"I made it very clear from the start that I will not be a part of your feud with Azula," Mai replied. "Also, you're an idiot to believe that Jet really cares about what winning your father's favor means to you. He's just exploiting your toxic relationship with your sister for his own benefit!"

"Bullshit," Zuko shook his head defiantly. "Jet has no ulterior motives here. He's just being a good and supportive friend."

"Sometimes I can't decide whether you're stupid or gullible," Mai groaned. "It's probably a bit of both."

"Are you done insulting me?" Zuko shouted at her. "Ugh, I'm done with this. I'm so over your bullshit. I don't deserve any of this." Zuko grabbed his pillow and duvet and turned to leave the bedroom. "I'll be on the sofa when you're ready to apologize for being a total bitch."

"Screw you, Zuko," Mai shouted after him as Zuko slammed the bedroom doors with such a force that it made the painting above Mai's bed fall down and smack her on the back of her head. Mai set the painting aside and just sat there for a good while, rubbing her aching head and struggling not to cry.

Over the many years of on and off dating, Mai and Zuko had broken up four times already before coming back together. Until now, their breakups had always happened for the same reason of Ozai blowing the whistle and Zuko running to his father like a good obedient puppy. Ozai had no respect whatsoever for Zuko's personal relationships and he enjoyed sending his son on assignments all over the place, making it impossible for Mai to follow Zuko while having a meaningful life of her own, meaning that all those past breakups could be seen as due to circumstances beyond their control.

Their current problems felt very different, however. For once, Mai couldn't blame Ozai Nakamura for her failing relationship, and it left Mai with an unpleasant sinking feeling in her gut.

Chapter Text

With another frantic week at The Northern Lights restaurant coming to an end, Azula felt just a touch frustrated. Her plans to rent the forest cottage for herself and the girls had been foiled yet again. She had ended up yelling at the owner of the cottage because the website had shown the property as available and her online booking had gone through, only for the owner to later contact her to apologize and cancel her reservation.

This continued streak of bad luck was starting to piss Azula off, and she was having trouble focusing during Sunday's lunch service because she was desperately trying to come up with some sort of alternative plan for their day off on Monday. Fortunately, Toph was more than willing to step up and take over after Azula's timing appeared woefully out of sync with Suki. At least the Caldera City furry convention was finally about to end, so come next week, their giant parrot would be back in the trenches with the rest of them.

Having made sure that between the two of them, Suki and Toph had everything under control in the kitchen, Azula was about to head off and check out how the others were doing. Before she had managed to leave the kitchen, however, Katara entered, but she wasn't carrying any tickets to hand over to the cooks. Katara looked around, speaking up as soon as her eyes landed on Azula. "Azula, there's a guy outside in the dining room, asking for you," Katara said, looking rather tense.

"That's… weird," Azula remarked, feeling a little surprised. She didn't exactly know many guys in Caldera City, except for her coworkers and Zuko. "Guess I'll go take a look," she said, leaving the kitchen with Katara sticking to her like glue. Azula paused at the end of the hallway emptying into the dining room, instead choosing to subtly observe the dining room first. She didn't want to blindly charge into a surprise and find herself on the back foot in case this was some trick by Zuko or a test by her father. Scanning the dining room, Azula quickly spotted a familiar face, telling her that this was neither a trick by Zuko or a test by Ozai. "That's Chan," Azula groaned. "I have no idea what's he doing here."

"Your fake boyfriend?" Katara asked. "He was supposed to be back in Ba Sing Se, right?"

"Yes," Azula nodded. "I guess I better find out what he wants," Azula sighed, entering the dining room and heading straight for Chan, standing by the bar counter. Curiously enough, Katara was sticking with her, even though there really was no good reason for her to do so. Still, Azula found it very flattering whenever Katara was being nosy or maybe even a tiny bit obsessive about her, so she was happy to let Katara tag along.

"There you are, babe," Chan exclaimed, grinning obnoxiously and looking happy to see her. "Looking good," he added, pulling Azula in for a kiss and a hug, neither of which Azula could really refuse in front of a crowded dining room. Azula felt very excited about the violent murder clear in Katara's eyes as she stared Chan down.

"So, you're the illustrious Chan," Katara remarked coldly. "I'm Katara, by the way," she spoke stiffly, offering her hand to Chan.

"My pleasure," Chan grinned, taking Katara's hand. His eyes widened in surprise and he winced in slight pain. Azula guessed that Katara must have squeezed his hand something fierce and it was majorly turning Azula on. "Anyway, I'm sure I don't need to say more. Knowing Azula, she can't stop talking about me."

"Oh yes," Katara nodded, rolling her eyes and looking like she was struggling not to laugh. "That's all we're hearing from Azula, Chan this, and Chan that."

"I knew it," Chan grinned winningly before turning back to Azula. "Damn it, babe, I've missed you so much. Did I already mention that you look great?"

"You did, thanks," Azula replied numbly. "I would have appreciated an advanced warning, though. You know I hate surprises."

"It's a lovely surprise, though, I'm sure you'll agree," Chan said, undeterred. "Listen, is there a place where we could catch up in private? I've missed my gorgeous girlfriend so much, but also, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Azula frowned at Chan's words, annoyed at having to guess what he was up to. Coming from Chan, it was most likely something very stupid, but still, Azula hated not knowing what she was dealing with. "Let's go to the office," she said, leading Chan away and this time Katara didn't follow, staying where she was, nervously chewing on her bottom lip.

"Cozy little place," Chan remarked as she let him into the empty office. Sokka wasn't really using the space all that much. Considering that he lived above the restaurant, it wasn't as if he always needed to sit in the office during the work hours when he could simply work on his laptop upstairs. After Katara had moved out, Sokka was now the sole inhabitant of the upstairs living quarters. There was growing chatter about Ty Lee possibly moving in soon, but even with Ty Lee being unconcerned about the restaurant rivalry, the idea of a Blue Spirit employee living above The Northern Spirit felt just a touch awkward to Azula.

"Alright, we're no longer in danger of being overheard, so you can drop the act," Azula turned around to face her pretend boyfriend, giving Chan a stern stare. "What is this really about?"

"Can't a guy just miss his gorgeous girlfriend?" Chan tried one of his trademark winks that had never managed to leave an impression on Azula. He then sighed when Azula fixed a firm glare upon him. "Listen, it's been two months since you left Ba Sing Se, and I'm having second thoughts about our deal," Chan said. "I can't go on dates. I can't go clubbing or have any sort of fun at all for four more months! That sucks, babe. You need to sweeten the pot."

"You want more money?" Azula hissed. "We had an agreement, Chan."

"Sure, but… I didn't expect that this whole arrangement would be so frustrating. There are only so many evenings I want to spend alone at our place, playing online co-op shooters with my buddy Ruon," Chan sighed. "I thought that you would see my point and take pity on me."

"Well, you thought wrong," Azula shrugged. "It's a cushy arrangement and you can still hook up with other women on the down-low as much as you want. I'm not going to pay you more than I already do."

"Maybe you should reconsider that," Chan said, losing the pathetic expression of a lost puppy. "It recently occurred to me that I hold all the cards in this situation. If your father knew about the nature of our arrangement-"

"Blackmail, is it?" Azula snapped angrily, cutting Chan off. "Bad move, Chan. You clearly have no idea how far I'm willing to go in order to protect my secrets."

"Oh, I know how scary you can be," Chan smiled insincerely. "I just don't think you'll do anything crazy, because I'm not really asking for much. I know you have the money. You can easily pay me twice the amount you're paying, and you would still remain loaded."

Azula didn't reply immediately. Chan clearly overestimated just how wealthy she was, or he was operating under the false impression that Azula could get more money from Ozai whenever she needed extra funds. And while Azula certainly could pay Chan what he was asking, it would mean that she would have to seriously curtail her other expenses. She wasn't willing to do that, especially if that meant giving into blackmail. It would simply enable Chan's greed for more.

"I have to think about this," Azula eventually replied. She needed time to consider her next move. Simply dismissing Chan was too dangerous, but she also couldn't be seen as giving in too easily. If Azula was going to pay, then she had to make Chan work for it.

"I thought you might need time," Chan nodded knowingly. "I have an early flight back to Ba Sing Se tomorrow morning, so I'll pop back in later this afternoon. I hope you'll come to your senses, baby. I'm really not asking for much here," he said, winking again before leaving the office.

Having stewed in helpless anger for a while, Azula eventually returned to the dining room, busy thinking about a way out of her predicament, various plots of silencing Chan in very permanent fashion coming to her mind. Back in the dining room, Azula immediately forgot about her issues as she noticed Yue in a heated conversation with a young man of approximately the same age as her. They were standing near the exit, both of them gesticulating wildly, and Azula was about to walk over and help resolve the conflict by tossing out this loser who had dared to start shit with one of her girls.

As Azula began her stride towards Yue and the problematic customer, she was halted by someone grabbing her hand. Azula nearly started yelling before realizing that she had been stopped by Katara. Curious, Azula followed the other girl back behind the counter. "Let Yue deal with this one herself," Katara spoke when they were out of the earshot of the customers. "That's Hahn Adjuk, her… childhood friend, I guess?" Katara frowned, looking a little uncertain. "Also, a guy she was really pressured to hook up with and get married to. Arranged marriages may no longer be a thing legally, but with how much Yue's dad was pushing her, it would have definitely counted as an arranged marriage if Yue had gone along with it."

"Gross," Azula muttered, feeling a burst of both anger and jealousy as she stared down this Hahn Adjuk. He wasn't exactly bad looking for a male, but Azula was certain that he was a complete asshole and she wasn't willing to entertain any other possibilities. "What does he want from Yue?" Azula asked worriedly.

"Beats me," Katara replied. She also looked concerned. "I'm sure Yue will tell us everything once she's done talking to him."

"Have they been dating in the past?" Azula asked.

"Not seriously," Katara shrugged. "Yue went out with him a few times in high school, but it was mostly to placate her father. She made sure to tell Hahn that she wasn't ready for serious dating in high school because she wanted to focus on her grades. Which wasn't really true, because we were very serious during that time, but Arnook Taqqiq would have blown a gasket if he had known about us."

"Doesn't that sound familiar," Azula sighed bitterly.

"I can imagine," Katara gave her a sympathetic stare. "Anyway, Hahn was really hoping that they would start dating seriously in college, but Yue chose Sokka instead. Hahn just hasn't been in the picture at all for years, ever since Yue dropped out of college and Kya was born."

"I see," Azula remarked. "Let's hope we're about to find out why this slimeball has picked this exact time to crawl back," she said, watching Hahn finally leave and Yue making her way over to them, looking concerned and agitated.

"Is everything alright?" Katara was the first to ask as soon as Yue had rejoined them. "I gave Azula a quick primer on Hahn, by the way."

"Oh," Yue blinked. "Alright, that's fair," she smiled faintly. "Anyway, that was… strange."

"What about it was strange?" Azula asked quickly.

"Hahn actually had a message from my father," Yue replied, looking a little hopeful. "Apparently, he's seeking reconciliation."

"That's good, right?" Azula asked again. She was well aware that while Yue's financial struggles had lessened, she still wasn't doing great. Arnook Taqqiq pitching in financially would be a great boon, and would definitely open more doors for Kya in the future, which was probably the main reason why Yue was even entertaining this reconciliation.

"I guess it depends on the terms," Katara remarked, giving Yue a searching stare. "Also, it seems weird that he wouldn't reach out to you himself, but instead would send Hahn to speak on his behalf. That doesn't seem like a good sign to me."

"Well… with my father back in Agna Qel'a and Hahn here in Caldera, I suppose this felt like a more personal way than a phone call?" Yue guessed. "I wouldn't read too much into it. My father is a very proud man. I'm not too surprised that he would have a hard time handling this in person. As for the terms, Hahn wouldn't get into it now. He asked me out to a restaurant later in the evening to discuss the details."

"It all sounds just a little fishy to me," Katara frowned. Azula felt inclined to agree with Katara, but she decided not to say anything for now. It seemed like Yue really wanted to hold on to the hope that the offer from her father was genuine.

"Well, I figure there's no harm in hearing Hahn out, is there?" Yue shrugged, clearly not wanting to argue. "The only problem is that I now need to find a babysitter on a very short notice. And I can't ask Kiyi or any of my other regular girls to come over late on Sunday evening. They all have school on Monday morning."

"I would be happy to sit with Kya, but Ty Lee was super insistent that I join her and Sokka tonight," Katara said apologetically. "I was a bit concerned that I would just feel like the third wheel, but Ty Lee is really determined about us getting to know each other better. She seems very serious about Sokka, which is a good thing."

"It's also very unusual for Ty Lee, but I agree on it being a good thing," Azula nodded. "Anyway, Yue… I guess I'm free tonight? I can sit with Kya for you. She seems to like me for some weird reason."

"You would do that for me? Oh, that's wonderful… thank you so much," Yue gasped, pulling Azula into a tight hug. "Kya will be thrilled. She's a big fan of yours, and not just because of all the expensive gifts."

"I'm not surprised at all that Kya would like you," Katara smiled. She was about to say more, but at that moment, she was interrupted by some guy approaching them from behind.

"Katara? Katara Enuaraq?" the young man asked. "My goodness, it really is you. Whoa, just look at you, you're even more gorgeous than I remember."

Azula needed just one glance to instantly develop a burning dislike for the man. She was a strong believer in the theory that a guy sporting a moustache without a beard was a red flag for sexual predation, and this man's unfortunate choices regarding his facial hair definitely placed him in that category. Also, he had dared to hit on Katara, which made Azula feel like throwing hands.

"Haru?" Katara turned towards the young man, visibly recoiling when her eyes fell on the moustache. "Haru Tamang, of all people… what brings you here?" Katara recovered to reply politely, much too politely for Azula's liking.

"Well, it's a restaurant, right?" Haru chuckled in an obnoxious way that made Azula wistfully imagine smacking him on the head with a cast iron pan. "Although, I'll be honest… I probably wouldn't be here if I hadn't decided to check the social media profiles of old friends and acquaintances a few days ago."

"Let me guess," Yue said, scowling. "You noticed that Katara has changed her relationship status on Facebook."

"Well, let's just say that I figured there might be an opportunity to reconnect," Haru smiled, looking undeterred. "What do you say, Kat? What time do you get off? We could go for a walk in the park, have some ice cream and reminisce about the good old days?"

"What good old days?" Katara frowned.

"I mean… when we were dating," Haru stuttered slightly. "We had some fun times along the way, didn't we?"

"Actually, we didn't really have all that much fun, Haru. As I seem to remember, that was the exact reason why I broke up with you," Katara said icily. "Do you remember what I told you when we broke up?"

"Well, I don't recall your exact words… many things were said, some of them a little nasty," Haru said, looking very uncomfortable. "I seem to recall that you were a little upset, which was perfectly understandable."

"I believe I told you that I'm breaking up with you because you were incredibly boring and had as much charisma as a bowl of oatmeal. And not even a nice bowl of oatmeal with some butter, sugar or jam. Just very plain and boring oatmeal," Katara spoke sternly. "Haru, when a girl breaks up with you, it's not to be taken as an invitation to try again three years later. I thought I had made myself quite clear."

Haru just blinked at them owlishly, slowly going very red in the face as he began to back away. "I'm, uh… just going to leave now…" he managed, turning around and all but running out of the restaurant.

"First good decision he made today," Katara snorted.

"What a loser," Yue accompanied Haru's retreating form with a cold stare.

"I didn't know you could be such a savage," Azula looked at Katara, aware that her expression was of the kind that was commonly described as having heart-eyes. "That was absolutely brilliant."

"Thank you," Katara grinned, bowing gracefully. "Anyway, tell us what Chan wanted with you," she asked simply and unabashedly.

"So, that was Chan?" Yue asked, looking a little anxious. "I don't think I like him very much."

Azula chuckled at the reaction, shaking her head. She briefly contemplated spinning some fanciful story to make sure that the girls wouldn't worry about her, but Katara and Yue were both very perceptive and stood a good chance of detecting the lie, so Azula decided to go with the simple truth. "Chan just wanted some extra money from me," she shrugged. "You don't have to worry about him. He's never been the smartest bloke, and all those concussions he's suffered during his football career haven't improved things. I can easily handle him."

"Alright, we trust you, Azula," Yue smiled. "But if you need any help, then know that we stand ready to support you. And I'm sure Suki feels the same way." Azula returned a grateful smile to Yue.

"Well, this day is off to an interesting start," Katara remarked a while later. "We've all been visited by either our exes or fake boyfriends. I wonder what we should expect to happen next."

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it," Azula rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it's going to be a perfectly normal and boring day."

At The Blue Spirit, Zuko felt rather distracted as he was doing some prep work ahead of Sunday's dinner service. The distraction was being caused by Zuko's normally reliable and dependable sous chef On Ji Takeda. For some reason, she was acting very strangely, constantly dropping things and just not behaving like her normal self. While Zuko was still pondering if or how to ask On Ji about what was bothering her, he was startled by On Ji crying out and dropping her knife, blood gushing from a nasty looking nick in her thumb.

"Damn it," Zuko muttered, quickly grabbing the first aid kit that was always at hand in the kitchen and rushed to help his distracted sous chef. At least the cut wasn't as deep that it would require stitches, and with a little bit of effort, the wound was quickly disinfected and bandaged, but it was clear that On Ji would be of limited use throughout the dinner service.

"What happened here?" Jet asked as he entered the kitchen, probably having overheard On Ji's cry from the pantry where he generally spent his time slacking off.

"On Ji cut herself, but it's nothing too serious," Zuko replied.

"Really? That's unusual," Jet remarked, looking at On Ji. "You're normally very careful."

Zuko thought for a while and decided to agree with Jet. "You know, I feel like Jet is right," Zuko nodded firmly. "I can tell that something is bothering you, On Ji. What's going on? Is someone at the restaurant pestering you? Is it Ruon Jian? Do you want me to kick his ass?"

"What?" On Ji blinked, looking shocked. "Agni, no! Ruon Jian is a totally nice and harmless guy who doesn't need his ass kicked. And no, nobody at the restaurant is pestering me. It's… it's alright, really, you needn't worry."

"Oh well, that's alright then," Zuko immediately relaxed, walking back to his station.

"Are you kidding me?" Jet gave him an incredulous stare. "Can't you see that she's clearly upset?" he pointed at On Ji.

"No, really, don't bother," On Ji protested. "It's a private thing and I'm dealing with it."

Zuko gave Jet another uncertain stare in search for a sorely needed social cue of whether to drop the matter or pursue it further. Jet gave him a stern shake of the head. "It doesn't seem like you're really dealing with it, though," Zuko decided to be firm and press ahead. "It's getting to you so badly that you cut yourself. I want to do what I can to make sure that my employees are working at their peak efficiency, so just tell me what's bothering you and then we can deal with it together."

On Ji looked very uncertain for a good while before speaking up again. "Well… I told you that I came to Caldera City because I was fleeing from my violent and abusive boyfriend," she said, clearly trying to hold back sobs. "But last night, I got a message from Hide… my ex-boyfriend. He's in Caldera, and he's found out where I'm working. He said that we're getting back together and that he's not taking no for an answer."

"What an asshole," Jet swore. "Makes the rest of us decent guys look like dicks, too."

"Agreed," Zuko nodded. "I would say go to the police, but I know that Caldera coppers don't take these cases seriously until it's much too late."

"I know, they're useless," On Ji nodded tearfully. "It was the same back in the Fire Fountain City."

"Well, if the cops aren't going to help, then clearly it's up to us to protect On Ji," Zuko said firmly. "Right, Jet?"

"What?" Jet blinked, looking a little taken aback. "I mean… yes, of course," he rallied quickly. "We can take this guy, absolutely."

"Oh, I don't know… Hide is a violent guy," On Ji looked very worried.

"Well, so are we," Jet spoke confidently. "I've been living on the streets for as long as I can remember, and I've been in hundreds and hundreds of scraps. I know how to fight dirty if necessary. And Zuko is a pretty vicious guy as well. He throws a mean punch, let me tell you. I'm never again bragging about getting Zuko killed in a videogame, because this guy came close to tearing my head off in a fit of anger."

"I don't remember that," Zuko frowned. "Anyway, I agree that we can take this asshole and make sure that he leaves On Ji alone."

"I guess there's no way I can talk you out of this?" On Ji sighed.

"Absolutely none," Jet shook his head. "Now, we need a plan to take care of this guy and I just happen to have one. On Ji, you'll send him a text, telling him to come meet you. Zuko and I will be hiding nearby, and when he shows up and starts acting like a prick, we're going to jump him."

"Ambushing someone isn't very honorable," Zuko frowned. Jet gave him a look suggesting that Zuko was out of his mind. "Although, I suppose it might be a safer way to take care of this guy. Also, if he beats up women, then maybe he doesn't deserve to be treated with honor." For some reason, Jet looked very relieved at hearing Zuko say that.

"Right, now we just need to pick a place for ambush," Jet mused. "How about the back alley behind the restaurant? It's the perfect spot for a fight. There won't be any witnesses that might interfere with us giving this guy an ass beating. Also, there are some good hiding places behind the trash containers."

"Sounds promising," Zuko admitted. "Let's go and scope out the place thoroughly before On Ji makes contact with her creepy ex."

The three of them walked out of the kitchen, Jet and On Ji ahead of Zuko as they proceeded towards the back exit. While walking, Zuko suddenly became aware of a conversation taking place nearby, with someone speaking in a voice that seemed vaguely familiar to him. "So, how is it, working for Zuko?" the familiar sounding guy asked.

"Go ahead, I'll join you in a bit," Zuko spoke in a low voice, ushering Jet and On Ji outside before sneaking back in to spy on the conversation that had captured his attention.

"Well, you know how it is with Zuko," Ruon Jian let out that annoying chuckle of his. "He's completely mental. Unpredictable and chaotic asshat."

"Yeah, that sounds like Zuko," the other guy laughed in a very familiar way, finally making everything click into place for Zuko. Chan? What is Chan doing here? And how does he know Ruon Jian? "Sorry that you're stuck working for that angry nerd," Chan added.

"Oh, it could be worse," Ruon Jian replied. "Zuko might be a pain in the ass, but the rest of the crew are good people. And then there's Mai." Zuko could practically hear Ruon Jian salivating at the mention of Mai. "Now that's one classy doll, am I right?"

"Zuko's Mai?" Chan asked, sounding a little incredulous. No longer my Mai, Zuko thought to himself. At least it seems like she doesn't want to be mine. Still, the way these two chuckleheads were discussing Mai behind her back was filling Zuko with murderous rage. "I guess she's hot, but to me she's always been more scary than hot," Chan said.

"She's both of those things to me," Ruon Jian replied. "Anyway, it seems like she and Zuko had a huge blowup recently. So, I think I'm about to score big time."

"Alright, good for you buddy!" Zuko could hear the two idiots high-fiving. "Just be careful, alright?" Chan added. "Whatever problems Zuko and Mai may seem to have, they always end up drifting back together." Maybe not this time, Zuko added mentally, feeling weighed down by rare feelings of regret.

"We'll see," Ruon Jian said. "Anyway, how did it go with Azula? Did you get everything sorted?" Zuko immediately perked up at the mention of his sister, hoping for some juicy rumor.

"Azula needed more time to decide what to do, but she will pay. She has no choice but to pay. I'm seeing her again after we're done here and I bet she'll have my money ready," Chan replied, sounding confident. Zuko was left guessing as to what Azula was paying Chan for, but he had his suspicions, and he'd harbored them for a while. Azula clearly had little genuine affection for Chan – or for anyone, she was surely too cold hearted to have feelings like normal people – but Ozai was always pushing very hard for both Zuko and Azula to be in a relationship, so Azula was probably with Chan just to appease their father. Maybe she was paying Chan to maintain their fake relationship.

"Hope it works out for you, bud," Ruon Jian said. "Every minute that she delays increases the risk of her discovering the truth, right?"

"Yeah, it's dicey," Chan replied, sounding a little worried. "The morning papers are already out in Ba Sing Se, so it's just a matter of time before someone shows them to Ozai. And then he's going to call Azula and that will probably be how she finds out."

"That's rough, buddy," Ruon Jian sighed. "At least the girl was hot, I hope."

"Oh, she was incredibly hot," Chan chuckled. "Once you see the pictures, you'll understand why I couldn't keep it in my pants. It's just so annoying that a pair of annoying paparazzi walked in on us. Now this sweet arrangement with Azula will be over, but I hope I can at least get one final payout before it all blows up."

"Well, I hope it works out for you, bud," Ruon Jian said. "Anyway, let's grab a pair of cold ones before you have to run again, huh?"

As the two idiots began to discuss banal things like beer and football, Zuko quickly snuck back into the kitchen, trying to process the information that had just fallen into his lap. So, Azula's relationship with Chan had indeed been a sham all this time, but now Chan had slept with some hot model and the photos of his indiscretion were about to leak. It was damn ballsy of him to try and get one last payout out of Azula before she found out and cut off his balls with a chef's knife.

Zuko got a hold of his phone and opened his contact list. His finger paused over the contact details for his father. Ozai would certainly find the news of being lied to all this time very interesting, and he would be absolutely livid with Azula for her trickery. This could very well be Zuko's best chance to reverse the course of history of having been the least favorite child for the past fifteen years or so.

Still, Zuko hesitated. Something about leaking these details about Azula's private life to Ozai felt gross. Azula would probably not hesitate before she destroyed him with something incriminating, but Zuko couldn't quite get himself to go through with this. At the end of the day, while Azula was a complete asshole, she was also his little sister, and she was being cheated on and scammed out of her money by this little punk ass bitch Chan, and Zuko could not stand for that.

"Zuko?" he heard his sister's voice on the phone after he had made the decision to call her. "This is unexpected. What's the occasion?"

"Azula," Zuko said simply. "Shut up and listen, because I have information for you, and I can assure you that you will find it very interesting."

Azula was sitting down in the office at The Northern Lights, browsing social media sites on her phone and cursing under her breath. At some point, she must have been swearing very loudly, because when the doors to the office opened, Katara and Suki entered with concerned looks on their faces.

"Is everything alright, Azula?" Katara asked worriedly.

"No, everything is most assuredly not alright, Katara," Azula hissed angrily. "I've been taken for a complete fool."

"What happened?" Suki asked.

"Come and take a look for yourselves," Azula said, beckoning the two girls closer and showing them her phone. She had just been reading a tabloid article about Chan's hookup with some dumb blonde, a no-name third grade wannabe actress who was probably looking for a scandal and the resulting publicity. The article was accompanied by several candid paparazzi shots of the couple passionately making out in Chan's car.

"Sounds like your fake boyfriend is not living up to his part of the deal," Suki remarked.

"And he had the cheek to show up here and demand more money?" Katara spoke angrily. "What a snake!"

"Yes, he was trying to use this limited window of time before the news broke to get more money from me," Azula nodded. "Needless to say, he's not going to see a single cent. As soon as he shows up, I'm going to give him a sound beating."

"I want to help," Suki announced.

"Me too," Katara said, looking very determined. "When is he coming back?"

"He's on his way," Azula replied. According to Zuko's text, Chan had left The Blue Spirit a few minutes earlier. It meant that Chan would arrive at The Northern Lights before the start of the service, and that certainly opened up some interesting possibilities. "I've got an idea, girls," Azula grinned wolfishly. "Instead of just beating him senseless, let's give him the fright of his life. This way I will make sure that he's too scared to ever tell the truth about our relationship, so… here's what we're going to do," Azula said, beckoning Suki and Katara closer.

Ten minutes later, when Chan entered the restaurant, Azula and her girls were ready to execute her plan of scaring Chan shitless. Katara directed Chan over to the office and he strode in confidently, flashing Azula one of his trademark grins that were supposed to impress her. "Have you had the time to think about my proposal, babe?" Chan got right down to business.

"I have," Azula nodded. "And I also have had the time to check up on the news from Ba Sing Se."

Chan's smile faded instantly. "So, you know," he sighed. "Still… considering everything that I could tell the papers about our relationship, I figured that you might want to be generous, anyway. After all, you can easily afford it."

"I will not be blackmailed, Chan, not by you, nor by anyone else," Azula spoke coldly.

"Blackmail? Who said anything about blackmail?" Chan laughed uneasily. "I was just suggesting a reasonable one-time donation before our paths part for good."

"There will be no blackmail and no donations, Chan," Azula said, rising from her seat and picking up a fierce looking meat tenderizer that she had borrowed from the kitchen. "And just to make sure that you don't get any ideas in the future, I will teach you a lesson not to mess with me. I think a broken elbow will do the trick. Get ready to sit out the next football season, bitch," Azula threatened, advancing on Chan with the meat tenderizer raised.

Chan let out a terrified scream and dashed out of the office, only to be confronted by Suki wielding her scary looking chef's knife. "Come here, little piggy, I'm going to bleed you dry," Suki grinned maniacally, making a swipe at Chan. Chan screamed again, scrambling away and dashing for the exit, but completely missing Katara as she broke her cover and emerged to smack Chan with a large rolling pin, sending him flying.

"My knee! My poor knee!" Chan wailed, rolling around on the floor. "My season has been ruined!"

"Well, that's what you get for messing with my girl Azula," Katara threatened, advancing on Chan and gripping the rolling pin. "You deserve to have your knees broken, you scheming bastard!"

Chan screamed in panic, scrambling up to his feet and hobbling towards the exit as fast as he could. "You lunatic lesbians are all completely insane!" he yelled as he made his way out on the street and retreating to the safety of his car.

"Agni, you crazy bitch! You agreed that we would just scare him!" Azula spoke incredulously, walking up to Katara.

"Well, I guess I lied about that," Katara scoffed, crossing arms on her chest and looking unimpressed. "Anyway, I think this will make for a more effective lesson."

"It's hard to disagree with that," Azula admitted. "Also, that was hot as fuck," she added, spontaneously pulling Katara in for a kiss.

"I thought I was pretty scary, too," Suki pouted.

"You definitely were," Azula agreed, only too happy to reward Suki with a kiss as well. These pleasant distractions were interrupted when Azula's phone suddenly rang, and she felt an instant spike of anxiety upon realizing that she was being called by her father. "Hello, father," Azula answered in a hurry. "It's good to hear from you," she added, watching Suki and Katara step aside, both of them looking conflicted, as always whenever Ozai was involved.

"Azula," Ozai spoke curtly. "I have been informed about the indiscretions of your boyfriend Chan."

"I know, father. In fact, I just spoke to Chan. He came all the way to Caldera City to… to apologize and beg forgiveness," Azula lied. "I threw him out. It's over between us."

"Good," Ozai said. "Do you need anything from me? I can ensure that Chan Takahashi's football career never takes off the ground."

"There's no need for that father," Azula said quickly. "I've already handled everything. Things are under control."

"Music to my ears," Ozai spoke, sounding pleased. "And Azula? Get over this quickly. My PA will email you with a list of eligible bachelors in Caldera City. I expect you to be dating one of them within a month."

"Y-yes, father," Azula cringed, fighting a sudden bout of nausea.

"Alright," Ozai said. He sounded slightly gentler now, but perhaps Azula was simply imagining something she wanted to hear. "Good job, Azula. You've handled this well. We'll talk later."

"Goodbye, father," Azula said as Ozai disconnected the call.

"What was that all about?" Katara asked, looking concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine," Azula replied, trying to appear unaffected by the conversation with her father. "Anyway, let's get ready for the service. Hopefully everything will go smoothly, because I still have an evening of babysitting ahead of me…"

"Alright," Zuko said in a very business-like tone as he and Jet were crouching behind some foul-smelling garbage cans in the back alley. "I can hear someone stomping through the alley. It has to be this Hide guy."

"It better be him, there's only so much more of this smell that I can take," Jet groaned, pinching his nose. "Lately, I've spent way too much time around trash cans."

"One could even assume it's your natural habitat," Zuko chuckled, ignoring Jet's scowl. It was time to focus on the task at hand as their quarry entered the scene, heading straight for the nervously waiting On Ji.

"There you are, babe," Hide spoke in a monotone growl that suggested very limited intelligence. "You look so pretty. I'm so glad you realized there was no running away from me."

"I didn't invite you here because I planned for us to get back together," On Ji replied in a trembling voice. "I asked you to come here so that I could tell you face to face that it's all over. You're going to stop stalking me, is that clear?"

Hide let out a booming laughter. "And how do you intend to stop me?" he asked, sounding amused. "Your place is by my side, On Ji. I'm here to remind you of that. You will be coming with me now."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," On Ji snapped. She sounded scared, but still determined. "You won't find me as easy to intimidate as back in the Fire Fountain City. I have friends now, good friends willing to stand up for me."

"I don't see any of your friends around," Hide retorted.

"Well, you couldn't be more wrong!" On Ji threatened bravely. "Boys! Come out and give this asshole a sound trashing!"

Zuko and Jet jumped out of their hiding spot and prepared to charge Hide… until they actually laid eyes on their quarry and hesitated, Zuko suddenly experiencing second thoughts about this entire plan. "I feel like maybe some crucial details may have been omitted during the concoction of our plan," Jet remarked.

"What do you mean?" On Ji asked nervously.

"Details such as maybe mentioning that your ex-boyfriend is a seven-foot-tall brute with the physique of an orangutan?" Zuko said incredulously.

"That's right, boys," Hide grinned at them, rolling up his sleeves. "It's time for some ass kicking!" Zuko and Jet found themselves picked up with ease and thrown into a pile of trash cans.

"Alright, now I'm really pissed off," Jet growled, emerging from a pile of garbage with a banana peel stuck to his head. "Maybe it's a bad idea to fight this mountain of muscles, but maybe I just love acting on bad ideas. All I know is that I'm sick of being thrown into trash!" Jet yelled and ran at Hide. Hide threw a mighty punch, but Jet was alert to the danger and dodged the blow. It seemed that Hide had the strength and the size, but not necessarily the agility as Jet kept dancing around him, not really landing any punches, but also easily avoiding all of Hide's attacks.

Zuko had by now also crawled out of his trash can, standing by and waiting for his moment to join the fight. Hide was definitely becoming frustrated by Jet's evasive tactics. Instead of trying to hit Jet, Hide was now trying to grapple him. At one point, Jet barely managed to evade Hide's grasp by rolling through Hide's spread legs. Once behind his quarry, Jet did the ultimate dirty street fight maneuver by darting in and sinking his teeth into Hide's thigh.

Hide bellowed in pain and bent down, trying to reach in between his legs to grab Jet. This was Zuko's moment to strike. He picked up a pair of trashcan lids and rushed Hide. With Hide's head lowered, Zuko slammed the lids together almost like playing cymbals, smashing Hide's head between them and marveling at the oddly hollow sound it produced. Hide was way too tough to go down from one blow, but it was definitely enough to stun him. With Hide rendered helpless, Zuko just kept smashing the lids together. "I'm auditioning for a band, motherfucker!" Zuko yelled, and after a dozen or so blows, Hide finally slumped to the ground.

Both Jet and Zuko then fell upon their downed opponent and threw in a few more kicks and punches for good measure. When Hide was truly down and out, Jet pulled over one of the foul-smelling trash cans and emptied its contents on top of Hide. "There, perfect," he rubbed his hands, looking satisfied.

"It worked! I can't believe it worked!" On Ji exclaimed, looking thrilled and relieved. "You guys really pulled it off! You're my heroes!" She ran up to the boys, kissing both Zuko and Jet in turn. "I owe you both big time!"

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing," Zuko shrugged. He felt strangely elated after the fight, like he still had so much more of this excess energy that demanded release.

"Well, we don't want On Ji to feel indebted to us, do we?" Jet suggested with a playful wink. "It would be a real burden to carry, right?"

"Are you suggesting something?" On Ji asked, looking very curious.

"I was thinking that maybe we could all head over to my place and do a bit of celebrating," Jet said eagerly, for some reason looking at Zuko in particular.

"Hmm," On Ji mused thoughtfully. "Alright, I'm down for it. This guy," she pointed at the unconscious heap of trash. "Is not going to bother me anymore, so for the first time in years I actually feel truly free. That's worth celebrating, right?" she said, giving Zuko a particularly intense stare.

At that, everything finally clicked in place for Zuko and he realized just what was being suggested. "I suppose…" Zuko began, his thoughts suddenly pivoting to Mai and he experienced a moment of hesitation. But Mai had told him that they should hook up with other people, so it wasn't as if Mai was waiting for him back home. Earlier, Mai had left with Ty Lee and Ruon Jian, so she was probably hooking up with Ruon right now. There was really no reason why he couldn't hook up with On Ji.

Of course, there was also the matter of Jet being involved in this hookup, and that was something that made Zuko hesitate further. Still, as long as a girl was present, it couldn't be considered gay as far as Zuko was concerned. And he'd been curious about Jet for a while. Maybe this was a convenient way to explore that without it being gay. "Alright, I'm also in," Zuko eventually caved, much to the enthusiastic approval from both Jet and On Ji.

"Let's be on our way," On Ji said eagerly. "And let's make it clear… it's shower time before any celebrations can begin. If there's one thing that I find off-putting, it's my partners smelling like the insides of a trash can."

At the end of a rather unusual and entertaining day, Azula found herself in even more unusual circumstances, sitting in the small kitchen at Yue's apartment and sipping tea while leafing through a rather forgettable murder mystery book. In all honesty, it was probably not that the book was poorly written, but the unusual events of the day continued to distract Azula and push her towards reflecting upon everything that had happened.

Zuko having alerted her to Chan's trickery had been unexpected, because this certainly was information that he could have used against her. Then again, Azula had never felt motivated to use the rumors regarding her brother's sexuality against him. Azula simply didn't see the need to descend so low in order to maintain her status as the golden child, but she hadn't expected that Zuko would also choose the high road when an opportunity to snitch to their father presented itself. Azula definitely felt gratitude to her brother for telling her about Chan's clumsy little plot, but it wasn't a feeling that she earnestly enjoyed. It made Azula feel as if she owed Zuko a favor, and that did not sit well with her. The sooner she could rid herself of feeling indebted, the better.

Azula felt rather accomplished when thinking about her efforts as a babysitter. She had spent a good hour or so teaching Kya the basics of Pai Sho, refusing to grow frustrated when Kya struggled to remember everything she was being told. Azula had picked up the game very easily at the age of four, but she had enough self-awareness to realize that the same could not be expected of every child. The important thing was that Kya tried very hard because she obviously wanted to impress Azula, and so Azula made sure to lavish plenty of praise when Kya succeeded in remembering the basic moves.

Putting Kya to bed had also proved much easier than Azula had feared. Obviously, Kya had hoped to stay up longer and spend more time with her new favorite person in Azula, but she also didn't dare to protest when Azula announced that it was time for bed. In order to sweeten the deal, Azula had then read several chapters of her murder mystery book to help Kya fall asleep. Perhaps it was the greatest condemnation of the book that it had been very effective as a sleeping aid, and Kya was now sound asleep in her room.

It was a few minutes past eleven in the evening when Azula was alerted by scraping sounds as Yue unlocked the front door and entered the apartment. Azula was a little surprised because she hadn't expected Yue to return before midnight, but apparently the dinner date hadn't gone very well, because Yue entered the kitchen looking shaken and very upset.

"I don't think I need to ask if everything went well," Azula remarked.

"No kidding," Yue ground out. She seemed to be visibly shaking. "I am so mad I want to scream."

Azula briefly considered how to react to this unexpected situation. It seemed like Yue could do with a joint to calm her nerves, but unsurprisingly, marijuana wasn't something that Azula had thought to take with her for babysitting. Getting Yue to talk about what had happened was probably something that Katara would suggest, so Azula decided to go with that. Still, it seemed like Yue needed something to steady her nerves first. "Do you have something stronger to drink?" Azula asked. "Let's pour ourselves a glass and then you can tell me what exactly happened."

Yue nodded wordlessly, walking up to a kitchen cupboard and retrieved a bottle of brandy, pouring some for herself and Azula. They clinked their glasses together and emptied them in one go. Azula winced as the amber liquid slid down the back of her throat, leaving behind an unpleasant burning sensation. She was not at all a fan of brandy, but for Yue's sake she was willing to tolerate it.

"I should probably start by explaining that when my father first extended the olive branch to me, he had the following stipulations. I'd have to marry someone respectable from the Northern tribe, with heavy implications that it should be Hahn. And also, I would have to give up Kya because my father would not acknowledge a child born out of wedlock as a part of the family," Yue explained once they had sat down at the kitchen table. "Well, he has now softened his stance," she added, clenching her fists.

"Softened how?" Azula asked.

"He's now willing to accept Kya as a part of the family, as long as I agree to marry Hahn and unite our families. And Hahn has also graciously agreed to raise Kya as his own," Yue scowled. "This is just… incredibly gross to me. The idea of accepting my child is being tossed around like some great concession! They still clearly look down on Kya because her father is from the wrong branch of the tribe, or because we weren't married at the time. Tell me they're not the worst!"

Azula paused before answering. She thought briefly what Ozai's reaction would be if she was in Yue's situation, stuck with a child from a partner that her father disapproved of. Ozai would probably disown her on the spot, and perhaps he would even go as far as send men to take care of her partner. Yue clearly thought that her father was behaving like a monster, so what did this comparison say about Ozai Nakamura? It was a very uncomfortable thought that Azula didn't want to face, but the truth was that lately, Azula was starting to evaluate her relationship with her father more and more critically.

"I'll be honest… I'm not the best person to ask for an opinion on parental relationships," Azula replied quietly. "All I know is that I hate to see you upset, Yue. If there's anything I can do to make you feel better, please, tell me."

"Well… maybe there is something that you can do," Yue replied, rising and pushing her chair aside. There was a rare steely resolve in her baby blue eyes as she sat astride Azula's lap and leaned in to kiss Azula with unusually aggressive desperation. Pulling away after several intense kisses, Yue leaned closer to Azula's ear. "Stay with me tonight," she whispered.

Azula shuddered from the raw need in Yue's voice, and as they resumed their kisses, she knew that there was no way she could ever turn down Yue's request.

Chapter Text

Azula woke up feeling rather disoriented because waking up in unfamiliar beds was not something that happened to her regularly. It didn't take long for her to realize that she was back in Yue's small but cozy apartment, sleeping on a slightly worn out and much smaller mattress than she was used to, also one that she had evidently shared with Yue.

It took a while for the memories from the previous night to flood back to Azula. She felt her cheeks growing very warm from the images drifting back to her mind. It had quickly become apparent that Yue hadn't been with anyone in a good while, not from her skills feeling rusty, but more from her overwhelming neediness. It was no wonder that Azula felt pleasantly sore this morning as she reached out to grab her phone from the nightstand, checking the time and realizing that she had woken up exactly three minutes before her alarm was scheduled to go off.

Following a brief struggle to get her limbs to cooperate, Azula finally succeeded in getting out of the bed. She dressed as quickly as she could, trying to listen in on the conversation on the other side of the door, but she couldn't quite make out the words of Yue and Kya talking in the kitchen. Since there wasn't much that Azula could do about her appearance before she had taken a shower, she bravely left the bedroom, uncertain of just what kind of situation she was about to walk into.

"Azula!" Kya exclaimed cheerfully, jumping out of her seat, rushing her and wrapping her arms around Azula's legs. "Good morning!" she greeted.

"Good morning, Kya," Azula smiled, even if she was taken aback by the little girl's enthusiasm. She reached out and briefly tousled Kya's hair, earning herself a soft giggle. "And Yue," she added, looking over at the other woman. Yue was still wearing her bathrobe and her hair looked damp from the shower. Her light blue bathrobe was dotted with fluffy white sheep and looked like the cutest thing Azula had ever seen. Yue was standing by the stove and trying her best to cook some pancakes, but despite concentrating so hard that she was sticking out her tongue, it didn't seem as if cooking was going well for Yue. Azula immediately saw the problem, realizing that the batter was just far too thin.

"Would you like some help with that, Yue?" Azula offered.

"I suppose that would be for the best," Yue admitted reluctantly. "I wanted to surprise both you and Kya, but as you can see, cooking just isn't one of my talents."

"That's fine, you have plenty of other talents to make up for it," Azula replied, smiling at Yue. "I was just wondering if I could take a shower first?" she asked.

"Of course," Yue smiled back. "I have laid out some towels for you in the bathroom."

"Thanks," Azula nodded, having to pry Kya off her before she was allowed to proceed to the bathroom. Azula quickly showered before going through her usual morning ritual to make herself perfectly presentable. For now, Azula's conscious mind was somehow managing to avoid confronting this strange, unexpected and possibly sensitive situation she had woken up to. Ever since the previous evening, Azula felt like she was covered by a veil making her happy and content, and she was reluctant to rip it off and confront the reality.

Azula eventually left the bathroom and returned to the kitchen. Yue had removed the hot pan from the stove, freeing the stage for Azula to work her chef's magic. Yue and Kya were currently sitting at the kitchen table and debating the merits of their preferred toppings to use once they had their pancakes. Their top choices were between maple syrup, chocolate sauce and acacia honey, and Azula had to chuckle at the way the pair solved their argument that the correct choice of topping was 'all of them'. Smiling, Azula quickly adjusted the thickness of the batter and began cooking. A few minutes later, the first batch of perfectly fluffy pancakes made their way to the table where Yue and Kya fell on them ravenously.

Yue and Kya were already on their third helping when Azula sat down to enjoy the fruits of her own labor. Yue and Kya just kept packing away more and more pancakes while Azula was still nibbling at her first, feeling a tiny bit nauseous when thinking about a second helping. "You don't like your own pancakes?" Kya gave her a surprised look. "They're the best ever!"

"I'm just not a breakfast person, sorry," Azula explained. "But don't let that stop you. I'm glad that you're enjoying your breakfast."

"We usually don't have much of a breakfast on work days," Yue said. "Kya has breakfast at the kindergarten and I always grab some snacks from the kitchen. Now and then Kya will ask for a bowl of cereal for breakfast, so that's the extent of my cooking," she laughed awkwardly. "But this felt like a special morning, so I wanted to do a little extra. I had no idea you weren't a breakfast person."

"That's fine," Azula replied. "It does feel like a special morning, I agree," she said, exchanging smiles with Yue.

In the end, due to Azula's pitiful contribution, Yue and Kya failed to conquer the stack of pancakes, but not for the lack of trying. "We need to leave soon," Yue said, having checked her phone. "Kya, go and start getting ready. I'll be with you in a moment," she told her daughter, giving Kya a firm stare when she was slow to get out of her seat. "We should be at the kindergarten at half past eight at the latest," Yue said, turning towards Azula. "The last thing I want to do is to rush you to leave, but-"

"I can drive you and Kya to the kindergarten and then we can go to the restaurant together," Azula suggested.

"Really?" Yue looked surprised. "I wasn't sure if you would feel comfortable doing that."

"Hmm?" Azula wondered, not sure what Yue was talking about. She was still stuck in her happy and content bubble, unwilling to burst it. "It just makes sense. This way you don't have to take your own car so you'll save on gas," Azula said.

"That's very true… I'm just surprised that you would think of that," Yue chuckled.

"Believe me… I'm as surprised as you are," Azula admitted. This atmosphere of domestic bliss was really messing with her in a weird way.

"What if someone at the restaurant asks about us arriving together in your car?" Yue asked. "Someone will definitely ask, come to think of it. What do you want to say?"

"Well, they know I sat with Kya last night, right?" Azula shrugged. "Let's just say that you arrived home after midnight and I decided to sleep over at your place since it was so late already."

"Alright," Yue grinned, looking very happy. "I'm so glad you're taking all of this in stride. I really enjoyed your company last night… and, well… every minute you've been with me here," Yue added shyly before leaning in and giving Azula a tender kiss that tasted of honey and chocolate. "I better go and help Kya get ready."

"Sure," Azula managed, distracted by the sweetness of the kiss. "I suppose I should get ready myself…"

Suki watched Katara pace back and forth at an alarming speed as they were supposed to be relaxing in the upstairs living space following the Wednesday dinner service. The service had gone smoothly and their takings were remarkably good for a midweek evening, but when Azula and Yue left together in Azula's car for the second evening in a row, it had clearly triggered something in Katara.

"You know, it's not really productive to pace back and forth like that," Suki remarked cautiously, sitting on the sofa and giving Katara a slightly concerned stare.

"I know, I'm just…" Katara stopped and paused, searching for words. "Agitated, I suppose! I can't figure out what's going on between them!"

Suki obviously didn't need Katara to explain who exactly she meant by them. She also couldn't deny feeling curious, as well as becoming increasingly frustrated by not knowing what was going on between their friends. "Have you thought of maybe confronting Azula or Yue about it?" Suki asked. "Or both of them?"

Katara looked like she had been about to resume pacing, but at Suki's questions, she appeared thoughtful and sat down on the other sofa, opposite to Suki. "That would be the reasonable thing to do, wouldn't it?" Katara laughed nervously. "And yet…"

"You're afraid to learn that they've decided to go for something serious together," Suki tried.

Katara looked momentarily devastated before recovering quickly. "I mean, they're making it look like that's what they're doing," she sighed. "What are we supposed to think when Azula has been staying at Yue's place for four nights straight?"

"Yes, it's very confusing," Suki nodded. "I mean… if Azula had reconsidered her future plans, surely she would have told us? And she has been so adamant about returning to her father after her stay at the restaurant is up. It would have been such a momentous decision for her to change her mind. No, she would have told us, I'm sure of it."

"But if she hasn't changed her mind about that, then what are they doing?" Katara exclaimed in a voice that came very close to breaking as she jumped back up to her feet and resumed her pacing. "If Azula is going back to her father, then Yue is just signing up for major heartbreak, isn't she? And what about Kya? How is she going to react to Azula being there for a few months and then just disappearing one day? That's going to upset her a lot, isn't it? I can't believe Yue would put her daughter through that just because she wants to get with Azula! It just seems so crazy! I can't understand what they're doing!"

"Maybe they're not thinking," Suki suggested, giving her friend another concerned stare. "Maybe they're just getting caught up in a moment. It happens, Kat."

"I know, I just-" Katara rambled, but Suki interrupted her, reaching out and grabbing her by the hand, pulling Katara down on the sofa with her.

"Damn, you're really broken up about this, aren't you?" Suki asked worriedly.

"It would be foolish to try and deny that," Katara sighed. "I suppose I was naïve too and I got caught up in the moment when I said that I could keep things casual, because I clearly can't control my own emotions. And if Yue and Azula decide to go for a serious relationship, I want to be happy for them, but… I'm not sure I could be, not when my heart is breaking."

"That serious, huh?" Suki gave Katara a compassionate stare, watching Katara nod at her. Katara always put her whole heart into everything she did. She couldn't even casually make a sandwich, so it had been pretty stupid to believe that she could keep things on the casual with Azula. "Well, whatever you need, I'm here for you, babe," Suki said softly, putting her arms around Katara.

"Thanks, Suki," Katara sniffed. "But don't tell me you're not the slightest bit upset about this. You really want Azula too, don't you?"

"I do, sure," Suki admitted with a smile. "But I don't think I'm in-" Suki stopped abruptly, reconsidering. She was more than certain that Katara was in love with Azula, but perhaps it was best not to say it out loud and spare Katara's feelings at least a little. "I'm just not feeling as passionately about Azula as you clearly do," she said. "I'll be honest, though, if I end up being the only one who didn't get to sleep with Azula, then I will be very annoyed."

"I understand," Katara said quietly. "You deserve to experience it. I'm also not going to lie, it would hurt just a little bit, but I would still fight for your right to have that."

"You're an amazing friend, Kat," Suki smiled, hugging Katara tightly. She stared into Katara's eyes, for the moment feeling lost in those blue pools of infinite sadness and longing. "I have an idea if you're willing to try something a little crazy," Suki said suddenly. Katara's expression changed to one of extreme curiosity. "We are both in need of a distraction to avoid thinking about Azula and Yue, so… what if we were to hook up?"

"Seriously?" Katara blinked, blushing lightly, but then assuming a determined expression. "Yeah, why not? I'm willing to try, if you are."

"Not going to lie, I'm pretty curious now," Suki grinned, leaning in with the intent to kiss Katara. The kiss was very intense and passionate, because Katara's very nature made sure that it couldn't be anything other than that. Still, when they parted a few minutes later, there was a look of uncertainty on Katara's face, and Suki was sure that the expression on her face matched it.

"How was that for you?" Katara asked.

"I mean, you're a great kisser," Suki said earnestly. "But… uh, and don't take it the wrong way, but that kiss made me think about my foster sister. I don't know if I've ever told you about Mingxia."

"You've mentioned her a few times," Katara said before chuckling nervously. "But wait, why did that kiss remind you of your foster sister?"

"It just brought back the memories of me and Mingxia at the age of sixteen," Suki explained. "Mingxia had crippling social anxiety. There was a boy she really fancied in high school, and he liked her, but she always turned down dates because she was so terrified that she'd be terrible at kissing and everything that follows it. I was already out as bisexual, so… well, long story short, we ended up practicing kissing a lot. Like, so much that stories about us started to spread. And like… it was really fun, but at the same time, it just felt like maybe a little too safe? Like there wasn't any real spice to it, you know?"

"Yes, I completely get you, actually," Katara nodded. "If I had a sister, that's what I imagine kissing her would feel like." She then blushed fiercely. "No, wait… that came out sounding very weird. I hope you get what I meant, though."

"I think what we both mean is that we love each other, but we work better as friends," Suki chuckled. Katara nodded once again. "Anyway, do you feel at least a little better now?" Suki asked.

"A little, yes," Katara said. "Still, I could do with a real distraction, even if it's not a sexy one."

"Well, we could always have a sleepover at either of our places, get something stronger to drink and binge watch It's Always Sunny in Ba Sing Se until we pass out?" Suki suggested.

"Sounds great," Katara grinned. "But just a few drinks and definitely no sniffing glue."

Suki laughed. "Yeah, I'm happy to pass on the glue," she grinned at Katara.

Azula had always been a very light sleeper. She had never truly hypothesized about why that was the case, but remembering her childhood and constantly waking up to her parents shouting at each other and occasionally throwing things, the explanation seemed obvious. Almost twenty years later, nothing had changed and Azula still woke up to the lightest sound such as the creaking of the floorboards or opening of the doors.

Despite being a light sleeper, Azula didn't startle easily, so when someone entered Yue's bedroom in the middle of the night, Azula was not alarmed because she immediately assumed correctly that it was Kya, probably having been woken up by a nightmare. "Mommy! Mommy?" Kya revealed herself by whispering frantically and trying to get her mother's attention, but when it came to sleeping, Yue was the complete opposite of Azula. When Yue fell asleep, one could detonate a nuke next to her and she would most likely sleep through it.

"What is it, Kya?" Azula decided to reveal that she was awake, trying to prevent Yue from being awoken needlessly.

"I had a bad dream and I can't sleep," Kya sniffed. "I don't want to be alone in my room."

Azula sighed inwardly, not immediately certain how to respond. Yue's bed was much smaller than anything Azula was used to and there wasn't a lot of space with her and Yue. Kya was probably hoping to spend the rest of the night feeling safe next to her mother, which was not something that Azula could relate to. Certainly, she had vague memories of having nightmares as a child and slipping into the bedroom of her parents, pleading to be allowed to stay with them. Ozai always berated her for being a crybaby before sending Azula back to her room, though. She couldn't have been more than six in some of those unpleasant memories.

"Want me to go back to your room and sit with you?" Azula offered.

Kya skipped over to Azula's side of the bed and gave her a pleading stare. "I was hoping I could stay with you," Kya spoke hopefully. She looked a little pale and her cheeks were tear-stained, so it was clear that the nightmare was not invented and it had given her quite the scare.

Azula sighed again, admitting defeat in the face of Kya's plea. As a general rule, Azula could not stand small children because they were loud, unreasonable, illogical and filthy. And yet, while Kya still had her exasperating small child moments, she had somehow managed to carve herself a place in Azula's difficult-to-move heart. There was no way Azula could do something as cruel as tell Kya to just go back to her room. That was one lesson of her father's that she refused to learn.

"Very well, crawl in," Azula said, helping Kya scramble into the bed and settle in the gap between her and Yue. "But remember, we're here to sleep, not to build a pillow fort or talk until the morning light. So, now that you're safe again, it's time to close your eyes."

"Aww, but I want to build a pillow fort now," Kya whined, but Azula remained unmoved. "Can we make a pillow fort tomorrow?" Kya wouldn't let go.

"No," Azula grumbled.

"Pretty please?" Kya made sad puppy eyes at her.

"Ugh, fine…" Azula groaned. "We'll make a pillow fort tomorrow evening, I promise. Can we go back to sleep now?"

"We can," Kya agreed happily. "Goodnight, mommy," she added before closing her eyes.

Azula froze at those words. Surely, Kya must have meant them for Yue, and yet when she stole a peek at Kya, Azula saw the little girl staring up at her. "G-goodnight, Kya," Azula replied shakily. Kya looked very satisfied as she closed her eyes and resumed sleeping, unaware of the highly agitated state those words had left Azula in.

The past few days had felt amazing, as long as Azula didn't stop to question just what she was doing, and simply enjoyed the bliss of Yue and Kya's company. But Kya's words had pierced the veil and the realization of how this small child was starting to view her immediately made everything feel far too real for Azula.

As the reality of the situation began to dawn on Azula, she couldn't believe that she had allowed things to go so far and become so serious. The worst part was that she couldn't even understand why she had allowed it. Azula had always told herself that she wanted to keep things casual with the girls at The Northern Lights, and yet, she had lost control so quickly and effortlessly, with Yue having to do very little to lure her in. Was it because deep down Azula actually craved something serious like this, something permanent, showering her with love and affection?

But Azula told herself that this couldn't be the answer. She couldn't want that, because she had no idea what such a relationship looked like, not truly. She certainly hadn't learned that during her childhood. As far back as her memory stretched, Azula could not remember any warmth in the relationship between her parents. And once Ursa was out of the picture, there was certainly no warmth in the relationship between Ozai, Zuko and her. Their celebrity father would never even stoop as low as to cook for them, not even for special occasions, they had a personal chef for that.

With such messed up childhood, what did Azula know about loving and caring relationships? She had inserted herself into the lives of Yue and Kya like an impostor, placing herself in a position where she was bound to hurt Yue and Kya because she was still leaving in four months. Perhaps Yue deserved to take some responsibility as well, because Azula had never given any indication that she could possibly reconsider leaving, that sort of uprooting of her life was simply not in the cards. But Azula didn't want to blame Yue, not when she knew how easy it was to get carried away, not when she saw that Yue and Kya clearly wanted and needed someone else in their lives.

How to get out of this situation without hurting Yue and Kya felt like an impossible puzzle to solve, and it kept Azula awake for the rest of the night as she waited anxiously for the alarm of her phone to go off and allow her to escape this uncertainty about what to do next.

Katara managed to keep her mouth shut about the situation with Azula and Yue for two more days, and when she finally ended up confronting Azula about it, the conversation happened without any previous planning. Following the lunch service, Katara climbed up on the roof, wanting to simply be by herself for a while so that she wouldn't end up spilling her frustrations onto some innocent bystander. However, once up on the roof, Katara ended up running into Azula, who had clearly arrived on the roof with similar intentions, leaning against the railing and smoking a joint, something Katara had never seen Azula do before a service. It almost seemed as if Azula was trying to calm her nerves, although considering how cozy she and Yue seemed to be as of late, Katara couldn't imagine what Azula was stressing about.

Katara walked up to Azula and leaned in against the railing next to her. "What's going on?" Katara asked.

"Not much," Azula replied. Despite being in the process of getting stoned, she still sounded rather tense. "Just having a smoke. Want a hit?" she offered the joint to Katara.

"No, thank you," Katara refused firmly. "Anyway, I'll give it to you straight. I didn't mean what's going on in general. I meant what's going on between you and Yue."

Azula didn't say anything for a long time, and when she finally replied, Azula's words sent Katara's blood boiling. "I… actually have no idea," Azula admitted quietly.

"What do you mean?" Katara demanded. "Feel free to tell me to mind my own business, but I really need you to explain that. We agreed to have this… casual thing, but then suddenly, it feels like everything has changed. I think I deserve to hear an explanation."

"I'm terrible at explanations," Azula sighed. "Anyway, that evening when I babysat Kya, Yue came back upset and… well, it felt like she needed me there. And after that, we just fell into this comfortable and familiar feeling pattern without actually discussing what it was. I know it sounds stupid, but I have no idea where it leaves us."

"But you're still leaving once you have won this competition against your brother?" Katara asked. Azula nodded hesitantly. "Maybe you should think about what your departure will do to Yue, and especially to Kya," Katara said. Azula turned away, looking uncomfortable. Katara reached out and grabbed Azula's wrist, squeezing it and forcing Azula to look at her. "I really care about you,
Azula," Katara spoke firmly. "But if you hurt Yue and Kya, I'm going to hurt you hundred times worse, I swear."

Azula withdrew her hand, rubbing her wrist and giving Katara a conflicted stare. "I didn't want to hurt anyone," Azula said. "I know I've messed up, though. I came up here to think of a way to fix it, but… I'm short on ideas. Maybe…" Azula gave Katara a hopeful stare. "Maybe you can think of something…"

"I don't think so," Katara shook her head. "This is your mess to fix. It doesn't help that often I don't even know what you want, Azula. You claim that you will always put your career above everything else, but you don't always act like that's actually what you want."

"It is what I want, I'm deadly serious about it, Katara," Azula said, but Katara was not convinced. "I know you're not exactly career oriented the way I am, Kat. And I know you're probably angry with me for putting my career above people who clearly care for me deeply. And you probably think that I should stay with Yue and Kya."

"Well, I don't know if I would say that," Katara blurted out spontaneously, causing Azula to give her a surprised stare. Katara blushed, looking away. "Of course, I want what's best for Yue and Kya. I love them both, but… I'm struggling to be objective here, because… I also want what's best for myself."

Azula looked confused. "I don't follow," she confessed.

"Ugh, are you really going to make me say it?" Katara groaned, feeling her cheeks burning. Because I want you all for myself, was on the tip of her tongue, but as long as Azula claimed that she was committed to walking away, Katara didn't really want to put her genuine feelings out there like that and open herself to heartache.

"Say what?" Azula pressed, still looking frustratingly clueless.

"Spirits, you can be such an idiot!" Katara exclaimed in frustration, losing her patience. "Yue is not the only one who might want something more serious with you if only the option of you staying was on the table!"

Azula blinked, then cringed as she digested the meaning of Katara's words. "We're all terrible at keeping things casual," Azula said quietly, making Katara snort. "But you are right, I am an idiot. I didn't realize that this was making you jealous and hurt."

"Yes, well…" Katara sighed, turning to look at the park across the street, just so that she didn't have to look Azula in the eyes. "It really threw me for a loop, realizing that you want something more serious with Yue, but you wouldn't want that with me."

"But that's not actually true," Azula tried, reaching out and touching Katara's hand.

Katara allowed the touch to linger, but not for long as she eventually withdrew her hand. "Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Katara shrugged. "How can I be sure you even mean what you say? Your actions and your words are completely at odds with each other the whole time."

Azula pulled back, looking a little hurt herself. "Fair, I suppose," she admitted. "Maybe you just don't understand how torn I am about… a lot of things in my life."

"Well, why don't you tell me, then?" Katara turned on Azula, passion and fire flowing into her voice. "I want to understand!"

"I think it's something that I need to figure out for myself," Azula replied, cringing slightly. "I'm sorry." She reached out and boldly took Katara's hands, forcing Katara to look into her eyes. "I know I've messed up, but I hope you at least believe me when I say that I never wanted to hurt you, Katara. I would much rather hurt myself hundred times over than cause you pain, I swear."

Katara blushed at the passionate declaration, unable to stop her heart from skipping a few beats. It didn't help that Azula was looking so painfully earnest at that very moment. "Well… no matter how hard we try, sometimes we can't avoid hurting the ones we… care about," Katara managed, struggling to get the words out.

"Do you think there's a way we can still go back to what we all agreed on?" Azula asked, not letting go of Katara's hands. "Just having fun while I'm here? Or was I too naïve to believe that we can make it work?"

"I think we were all a bit too naïve when we agreed on that plan," Katara sighed. "But I would take that over what we have now. I have no idea how you're planning to resolve the situation with Yue and Kya, though."

"I don't think there are any clever schemes or plans for me to pull there," Azula admitted with a sigh of her own. "I guess I'll just have to go with the approach that never feels natural to me, and that's… simply being honest."

Katara chuckled bitterly before unexpectedly pulling Azula into a hug. "I have a feeling that being honest might be the only thing that works here," she whispered in Azula's ear as they stood there embraced for a good while.

Azula needed a couple more days to build up her courage and do something about the situation with Yue and Kya. It took Azula until Sunday evening, when after the dinner service she drove Yue back to her apartment, as it had become a routine for them over this past week. As Yue was about to get out of the car, she noticed that Azula wasn't moving to unhook the seatbelt and follow her. Yue sat back down in the passenger's seat and gave Azula a worried look.

"What's wrong?" Yue asked, the soft concern in her voice making Azula feel like a complete monster.

"I… I was thinking," Azula began, finding it hard to force the words out. "Maybe I should spend the night back at my place."

"Why?" Yue's asked, nervousness creeping into her voice. "Have I done or said anything-"

"No! Agni, no…" Azula interrupted Yue, turning to face her. "I just feel like… we're getting in too deep. Yue, I'm still leaving Caldera City in four months…"

"I see," Yue managed. Her baby blue eyes were already pooling with tears. It was so painful to witness that Azula would have preferred to instead be beaten senseless by a goon with tire iron.

"In my defense, I never told you that I had changed my mind about it," Azula said. "But… I shouldn't have taken a week to reiterate it. That's very much my fault."

"I just thought that maybe… I mean, you seemed so happy…" Yue ground out, trying to fight off the sobs. "I thought that maybe if I didn't bring it up, you'd eventually forget all about leaving. So, it's not just your fault… it's my fault, too."

"How is it possible that we both wordlessly agreed to avoid such an important issue for so long?" Azula wondered. "It seems very irresponsible in retrospect."

"I don't know," Yue smiled weakly. "I think I simply got caught up living my wildest dream, you know? This is something I really wanted, even if it's not something you can give me. Thinking of the three of us as a family, it… it was so intoxicating. I wanted to believe so much that it is really happening, and I guess I somehow managed to convince myself."

"I understand," Azula nodded. "I also felt like I was stuck in this bubble of happiness. And I'm sorry for having to break it, but I'm not comfortable with losing my grasp on reality. It's dangerous."

"I suppose you're right," Yue sighed. "We would have been forced to wake up from this dream sooner or later." She paused for a moment, studying Azula's face. "What now?"

"I'm… not sure," Azula admitted. "I would suggest that we pull back to something more casual, but… it feels like an odd suggestion when I had imagined that by now you would be angrily yelling at me."

Yue shook her head firmly. "I'm not angry with you, Azula. Not when I'm equally responsible for allowing this to get out of hand," she sighed. "However, if you were to just drive off and leave me to pick up the broken pieces with Kya, I would probably be angry with you. My little girl is still up and awake, waiting for us to get back from the restaurant. She's called me five or six times during the service about this Pai Sho move that she wants to tell you about. Am I supposed to just break Kya's heart by telling her that you're not going to be there with us anymore?"

Azula winced at Yue's words. They had become carried away in a manner that was very irresponsible towards Yue's daughter. "I… suppose that Kya needs to hear the truth from me," Azula managed, hating every word coming from her mouth.

"I think she does, yes," Yue nodded in agreement. "Or, we can do it together, if you wish, but we need to get going. Kiyi might have noticed us arriving and she's probably wondering why we're not getting out of the car."

"Good point," Azula agreed, reluctantly getting out of the car and following Yue into the apartment complex.

Yue was still fumbling with the keys when the apartment doors were opened by Kiyi, Azula's babysitting sister letting them inside. "There you are," Kiyi said. "I'd like to stay and chat, but I still have to do my geometry homework, ugh." She turned towards Yue. "We've eaten, brushed our teeth and gotten ready for bed, but as always she refuses to sleep before saying goodnight to you. Also, Azula, prepare to be dazzled by some fancy Pai Sho moves."

"Thank you so much, Kiyi, you're a lifesaver," Yue smiled, rummaging through her purse before handing Kiyi her babysitting fee. "I don't know what I would do without you," she said, briefly embracing Azula's little sister.

"You'd be stuck with inferior babysitters, that's what you would be doing," Kiyi grinned before turning to face Azula. "Mom was complaining earlier about how you've stopped visiting." Azula grumbled at the comment. "I hope you haven't forgotten about the Friday, at least," Kiyi glared at her.

"Of course not," Azula replied quickly. Next Friday was Kiyi's birthday, and Azula had promised to take an afternoon off in order to attend the party. Her enthusiasm for the event was dampened by the knowledge that Zuko would also be there. As far as Azula was convinced, inviting both her and Zuko was a recipe for disaster, but Kiyi had insisted, and Azula did not quite have it in her to turn down the invite.

"Okay, just making sure," Kiyi nodded. "Anyway, text me the details of when you need me next. Just remember that I have drama club on Mondays, alright?" she told Yue before leaving the apartment.

"So," Yue began once she and Azula found themselves alone in the kitchen. "We can do this together if you wish," she said, nodding at the doors to Kya's bedroom.

"No, it's on me to explain," Azula shook her head. She wasn't sure just how she was going to explain the situation to a four-year-old and the inevitable conversation terrified her, but Azula felt honor bound to handle this all by herself. Yue and Kya both deserved as much. "Well, wish me luck," Azula said, heading straight for Kya's room.

"Azula!" Kya literally bounced up and down on the bed, knocking some of the Pai Sho tiles on the floor as Azula entered.

"Hey, kiddo," Azula said, quickly picking up the scattered tiles before sitting on the edge of Kya's bed. "You seem a little too excited for someone who should be fast asleep already."

"But I have to show you something first before I can sleep!" Kya protested. She quickly placed some of the Pai Sho tiles back on the board before proudly demonstrating the moves she had come up with. Azula felt mildly impressed by Kya's efforts. A solid player like Azula immediately saw ways to counter Kya's ideas, but it was still impressive creativity by a very young child who had only recently learned the basic moves.

"Those are very good moves, I agree," Azula said after Kya was finally done with her demonstration. "But now you should get ready for sleep while I put the board and the tiles away."

"Okay…" Kya reluctantly agreed, settling in comfortably and hugging her favorite seal plushie. "Can we play a game tomorrow before kindergarten?"

Azula sighed, sitting back down on Kya's bed and placing a comforting hand on the little girl's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kya, but I won't be here in the morning," she said.

"Why not?" Kya rose up in the bed, looking alarmed.

"Because…" Azula began, stopping when she couldn't find the words to continue. "I'm… it's hard to explain. But I want you to know that I care about your mom and I care about you. But that's also why I can't stay with you and your mom the way I have been staying here this past week."

"I don't understand," Kya looked distressed. "You don't like it here with me and mommy?"

"I do like it here, Kya, but… staying wouldn't be fair to you and to your mom," Azula sighed. "In a few months, I will be heading back to the Earth Kingdom."

"Leaving? You're… leaving?" Kya repeated incredulously. "But I thought-"

"I should have explained it to you from the very start," Azula said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "I'm very sorry for not doing that. I never wanted to upset you, little one."

"I don't care! Never needed you anyway. Mom and I have always been fine by ourselves," Kya said stubbornly, turning away and hugging her seal plushie again, falling silent.

Azula's first reaction at Kya's words was relief. The little girl was so smart for realizing that she and Yue didn't need a fuckup like Azula in their lives. Azula was about to open her mouth and express her agreement with Kya's words, when she suddenly noticed that Kya was pressing her face against the seal plushie because she was full-on crying, a realization that felt like a gut punch to Azula.

"Kya…" she tried carefully, once again putting her hand on the little girl's shoulder. "I may not be with you and your mom physically all the time, but I still want to be involved in your life as much as I can," Azula said. She wasn't even sure how she was going to fulfil this promise, but she was serious about trying her best. "I'll visit as much as I'm able, and I will help your mom make sure that you lack for nothing while growing up. I'll continue to be there for you, I promise."

"It's not the same," Kya whimpered. "But it's okay. My dad wouldn't stay with me and mom. Why would you?"

Azula felt like she had just been stabbed between the ribs at those words. "Kya, it's not because your dad doesn't love you," she said quietly. "He still tries to provide for you as best as he can. It's just that… when you're an adult, things can become very complicated. We don't always get to do what we want."

"Is it because you also have a parent telling you what you can or can't do?" Kya asked.

"I…" Azula froze from how Kya had accidently hit the nail on the head. "Sometimes that can be a factor, yes," she admitted.

"That's dumb," Kya sighed. She still looked very upset. "I want my mommy," she spoke up tearfully.

"I'll go find her for you," Azula said, getting up from the bed. "And I'm sorry, Kya. I'll do my best to make it up to you, I promise," she said, turning around to leave and starting to break down before even reaching the doors.

Yue had obviously been listening in on the other side of the doors. "So, that went about as well as expected," she spoke gloomily.

Azula was full-on sobbing by now. "That… might just have been the most difficult conversation I've ever had," she admitted. "And that's compared to some dressing-downs by my father which left me feeling utterly worthless and pathetic."

"It's not a conversation that you needed to have, though," Yue pointed out, looking upset. "That was entirely your choice to have it. You could have stayed-"

"I couldn't have, and you know it," Azula cut Yue off. "I thought I had explained myself sufficiently-"

"You explained yourself, sure," Yue interjected quickly. "The trouble is that I just don't buy your explanations."

"Come again?" Azula frowned, staring at Yue.

"I think it's pretty obvious that deep down you actually want something like this, a loving and caring family. I think you want it more than you want your successful career and the approval from a cold and uncaring father," Yue said firmly.

"I… it's all very easy for you to say that!" Azula tried to defend herself, even if she knew that it was coming off half-hearted. "You haven't worked as I have to become famous and successful! I did all of that from the age of twelve! I sacrificed my teen years in order to have this career and I'm simply not ready to throw it away, even if it means that you're going to hate me for it. I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

Yue continued to stare at her without flinching. "No, I think you know that what I said is the real truth," she insisted. "But I can also see that you're not ready to face it and take the step that I want you to take. I just hope that by the time you're ready to do the right thing, it won't already be too late."

Azula didn't know how to respond to that, which wasn't something that happened to her often. "I'm sorry that I can't do what you want, Yue," she sighed in defeat. "The last thing I wanted was to hurt you or Kya. But I guess that's what I always end up doing to the people I care about. I think you can see that pattern in my relationships with my friends and my family."

"Don't even try to throw a pity party for yourself, Azula," Yue glared at her. "Your problem isn't that you're a bad friend, sister or daughter. Your problem is that you refuse to let anyone in." Yue let out a heavy sigh. "And no, I don't hate you, you won't ever have to worry about that. I know you didn't want to hurt me or Kya. This was just… an unfortunate situation. We're both to blame for getting carried away, really."

Seeing the tears appear on Yue's cheeks forced Azula to take a step forward and the next moment they were embracing and crying in each other's arms. After a while, Yue pulled away, wiping her cheeks clean. "I should go and stay with Kya, now," she said quietly. "And you should be on your way, Azula. I'll see you on Tuesday, okay?"

"Okay," Azula nodded, swallowing heavily as she turned to leave. As Azula climbed into her car and drove off, she already knew that this would be one of those sleepless nights where she wouldn't find a moment of peace. Not just because of how she had messed up with Yue, and especially with Kya, but also because Azula knew that she would find it hard to dismiss some of the things that Yue had told her.

But even if Yue was right and Azula was starting to experience some doubts about her chosen path, one thing was clear to Azula. Even if she wanted a relationship full of love and affection, she simply was not good enough to have that with one of the girls of The Northern Lights.

Chapter Text

The days following Azula and Yue's breakup felt very unusual for the staff of The Northern Lights restaurant. There was no anger or resentment to be felt, but instead the group of friends and coworkers treated each other with extra softness and empathy. Everyone seemed to understand that there were no villains to blame in this situation.

Azula clearly felt like she was the villain, however, because not only did she act very apologetic towards Yue, but she also sent one expensive gift after another to Kya. Yue actually ended up talking about it with Azula and asking her to stop, because in Yue's own words, it wasn't Azula's gifts that Kya wanted, it was Azula herself. This statement, while true, did nothing to make Azula feel less guilty.

Suki, while not taking anyone's side, was acting increasingly protective towards Yue. Even though Yue seemed to be holding up reasonably well, Suki still insisted on helping Yue out with some of her chores, becoming Yue's driver and just being there for her friend, offering a strong shoulder to lean on.

Katara felt a little relieved that Suki had been so quick to jump in and help. Obviously, she would have done the same for Yue, however, Katara found herself in a tricky situation. As much as she wanted the best for Azula and Yue, there was a treacherous and selfish part of her that couldn't stop feeling just a touch jubilant about Azula and Yue's brief romance failing to last. This ugly selfishness made Katara feel very guilty and upset with herself, even if she never allowed these selfish feelings to affect her behavior and she continued to be as supportive as always towards all of her friends.

The others who were not as involved in this drama, were obviously still exposed to its ramifications at the restaurant. In response to all of that, Sokka had simply grunted something about dumb lesbians and their drama before returning to his work and muttering how everyone should just get on with it. Soft-hearted as he was, Aang obviously felt terrible for everyone involved in the drama and went out of his way to try and help in any way he could. Toph had tried to act nonchalant and dismissive at first, but Katara had eventually realized that Toph was actually rather frightened about this drama both tearing up their circle of friends as well as having an adverse effect on the fortunes of the restaurant. Katara had taken Toph aside before Wednesday's dinner service to reassure Toph that the fallout was not as bad as she feared. Katara had been surprised by Toph doing something as unusual as actually thanking her for taking the time to explain.

Perhaps as a testament to the strength of their friendships and the good practices implemented at the restaurant, their operations didn't take a hit due to all this drama. As the group of friends gathered upstairs above the restaurant at the end of Wednesday's service, they were pleased to hear Sokka announcing that they had just matched their record for Wednesday evening earnings, proving that the restaurant was still in fine form.

The mood among the group appeared to be improving as those not expected to drive this evening ended up helping Sokka polish off the opened wine bottles that would otherwise have to be poured out. Katara allowed herself to enjoy a couple of small glasses of white wine, while also drinking generous amount of water, because she still had to make the drive across the city back to her new apartment. Suki was following Katara's example, because she also had to drive, first dropping off Yue and then returning to her apartment. Even though Yue wasn't behind the wheel, she obviously didn't want to return to her daughter being so tipsy that she swayed back and forth. With Aang being an almost complete teetotaler, it was up to Sokka and Toph to do all the heavy lifting, especially considering that Azula had left shortly after the end of the service.

"I didn't realize that we were so dependent on Azula when it came to packing away all this wine," Sokka chuckled, looking at the remaining few bottles that seemed frighteningly full to Katara. "Azula knows that she's still welcome to join us up here, right?"

"I'm pretty sure she knows that," Suki shrugged.

"I've told her that I'm not angry with her more times than I can count," Yue sighed.

"I think she's just feeling very angry with herself," Katara said. Several pairs of eyes turned towards her, expecting her to continue. "This is just speculation, but I suspect that Azula feels too guilty about what happened to hang out with us right now."

"Well, hopefully she stops feeling that way," Aang said, looking downcast. "Azula is our friend and we want her here with us. Maybe we can think of a way to make her feel less guilty?"

"I'm all for it, if anyone can think of a way to do that," Yue said. She glanced quickly at Suki next to her. "But also, I should relieve Kiyi soon, so maybe we could finish our wine and-"

"Of course," Suki nodded quickly, downing all the remaining wine in her glass in one go. "Ready to go," she announced.

"I wasn't rushing you like that!" Yue protested, shaking her head. She then quickly emptied her own glass and rose from her seat. "I guess that's us leaving. See you tomorrow, everyone!"

"See you, girls!" Katara waved at her friends as they disappeared down the stairs. "I should get going myself," Katara said once Yue and Suki had left. "Want me to drop you off, rugrats?" she looked at Aang and Toph.

"What? And let all this delicious wine go to waste? I think not," Toph protested.

Katara, Sokka and Aang all exchanged concerned stares, having realized that Toph was already rather sauced. Sokka quickly put the two almost full bottles away, doing so quietly to make sure that Toph didn't overhear anything suspicious. "Actually, we're on the last bottle, Toph," Sokka then said.

"Aww, seriously?" Toph pouted. "Well… in that case, I guess it's okay if Katara drops us off. I just need a few minutes to finish my drink."

"Good call," Aang nodded approvingly, looking relieved. Katara could imagine that it was probably quite challenging for Aang to deal with Toph when she was so tipsy that she lost all sense of balance. With Toph's disability, being intoxicated definitely put her in an even more vulnerable situation.

"Let's hope that Azula will feel like joining us tomorrow," Sokka said wistfully. "I know she's not going to be with us forever, but it already doesn't feel the same without her. It would be great if we could just go back to the way things were."

"I think we all want that," Katara nodded, feeling a pang of guilt when she realized how selfish her reasons were for wanting to go back to how things used to be. With Azula being so guilt ridden, it seemed to be overriding all the sexual tension between her and Katara. There was no way that Azula was in any mood to reciprocate Katara's flirting, and she was even farther away from entertaining any casual encounters with the girls of The Northern Lights. Obviously, Katara felt terrible for even thinking about hooking up with Azula during this sensitive drama, but her heart had no way of denying what she wanted.

"Tomorrow evening, I'm just going to tackle that flighty bitch if she tries to leave early, and then we're dragging her upstairs with us by force, if necessary," Toph declared drunkenly.

"Sure, we are," Aang rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I think we're ready to leave once Toph has finished her drink."

"Good," Katara nodded. "I think Sokka will want us out of here soon, anyway. Ty Lee is bound to show up any moment now."

"Actually, she's not coming," Sokka replied, checking his phone and frowning slightly. "She just texted me that her friend Mai needs cheering up and they're going to do a pub crawl and get shitfaced. And I guess… that's fair, but I just don't love the late notice. Makes me wonder what's going on with this Mai chick…"

"Ugh," Mai grunted as she watched Jet and Zuko leave the restaurant together, laughing, bro fisting and cracking jokes about spending the evening doing totally no homo stuff like guzzling beer and playing video games. "Who does Zuko think he's fooling at this point?" she sighed. "They're so gay it's painful to watch him still trying to pretend otherwise."

"I hear you, bestie," Ty Lee nodded. Together with Jin, they were mopping up in the dining room, following another successful Wednesday dinner service. "I'm so pissed off at Zuko for treating you like this," Ty Lee said, frowning. "If you wanted to somehow get back at him, I would totally have your back."

"Hmm," Mai mused, perching on one of the dining room tables. "What did you have in mind, Ty?"

"Well, I was thinking about taking a photo of Zuko and Jet being all cuddly and adding a caption 'No Homo, really?' to it," Ty Lee replied. "Then we could send that to Ozai Nakamura and watch a nuclear bomb go off."

"Brutal," Mai chuckled. "However, I'm not that insanely mad at Zuko. Outing that idiot to his asshole father is too low of a blow. Even Azula wouldn't do it, and that's saying something."

"True, I suppose," Ty Lee admitted. "Still, we should do something to cheer you up. How about a girl's night out? Let's go hit the local pubs and get shitfaced, just like we used to in the good old days!"

"A girl's night out?" On Ji asked suddenly, peering out of the kitchen window. "Sing me up for that, please."

"Aren't you like… Team Jet and Zuko? You just had a threesome with them, didn't you?" Mai scowled at her sous-chef. After her little hookup with Zuko and Jet had come to light, Mai had been acting increasingly cold towards On Ji.

"Well… about that," On Ji blushed, looking uncomfortable. "It's kind of embarrassing to talk about, but… Jet and Zuko were all over one another when we hooked up, and they totally ignored me. It was like… I was only there so that they could claim that it wasn't gay, but it totally was. So, I'm actually really annoyed with Zuko and Jet right now."

"Seriously?" Mai shook her head, struggling not to laugh. "Damn, that's… rough. It seems like I was being bitchy to you for no reason. Anyway, you're welcome to come along, On Ji."

"What about me?" Jin asked. "Can I come?"

"Wait, you're also no longer Team Zuko?" Mai gave Jin an inquisitive stare.

"Uh, I don't know… this gay Zuko twist has thrown me for a loop," Jin admitted. "I have no idea what to think about it. Is it just a phase or is it something permanent? I need to be sure about that before I start saving up for a black-market gender reassignment surgery."

"I'm glad we can always count on you for a completely reasonable reaction to any situation, Jin," Ty Lee grinned.

"That's me," Jin replied proudly. "Anyway, until I have all that figured out, I guess I'm temporarily putting my Team Zuko membership on pause. And also, I can't believe that Zuko and Jet would treat my girl On Ji so rudely, like, she totally deserved some nice spit-roasting in that situation. So, I'm totally up for a girl's night out, especially if it involves trash-talking Zuko and Jet."

"I'm also up for it," Ruon-Jian announced, emerging from the office and joining the ladies of The Blue Spirit in the dining room.

"Ruon, you're not a girl," Mai rolled her eyes.

"But I know all the best pubs in the neighborhood," Ruon-Jian replied proudly. "Also, I have all the tips and tricks on how to persuade the local bartenders into giving us discounts. I'm the best Caldera City pub crawl guide you could ever think of!"

Mai exchanged skeptical stares with the other girls before eventually relenting. "Alright… fine," she sighed. "Consider yourself promoted to the status of an honorary girl for the evening. But if this pub crawl doesn't end up being an amazing experience, I'm docking your pay for the next week."

"I promise you won't regret it," Ruon-Jian proudly puffed out his chest. "This pub crawl comes with Ruon-Jian's seal of approval guaranteeing unforgettable experience."

"Okay, okay, that's enough of a sales pitch. Let's just be on our way," Mai shook her head. She looked over at Ty Lee, typing furiously on her phone. "You coming, Ty?" she asked.

"Yeah, just telling Sokka that I'll be home late," Ty Lee replied without looking up. "Go ahead, I'll lock up here and catch up with you. There's no way I'm missing out on a pub crawl with my bestie and my favorite coworkers!"

"So," Zirin Sakai spoke up, seductively batting her eyelashes as she looked at her companion across the table. "Aren't you going to ask me about my stint on the Kyoshi Island?"

"Of course," Azula nodded quickly. "How was Kyoshi Island?" she asked, stifling a yawn. Zirin had spent the past six months doing shows at select Kyoshi Island casinos together with her exotic dance troupe. Azula had been to the Earth Kingdom's most attractive tourist haven plenty of times. Her father owned two restaurants on the island and Azula was regularly dispatched to inspect their operations. Azula was very familiar with the inner workings of the Kyoshi Island and she could very well imagine what performing at one of its casinos would be like.

"Glamorous," Zirin beamed. "Some of the best tips we have ever earned, I swear. Only the Ember Island comes close. Also, one of our girls managed to snag herself a millionaire. Too bad I'm still waiting for mine."

"I'm sure you'll bag one at some point," Azula agreed distractedly. After Zirin had returned to Caldera two days ago, she had reached out to Azula on the dating app just to ask if Azula was still in the Fire Nation. After Azula had responded, a date had been quickly arranged. Azula had spent the past three days feeling buried under crushing guilt over the entire situation with Yue and Kya. She felt like she was due a break from being miserable, and hooking up with someone she didn't have any great emotional attachment to seemed like the perfect distraction.

"You know, Suki is originally from Kyoshi Island," Azula spoke up after a little break in conversation, caused by the waitress delivering them another round of cocktails.

"Ah yes, your amazing sous chef who's as good as some of the chefs in your father's restaurants," Zirin snorted.

"Well, she's our head chef now," Azula corrected her date. "But yes, I would say that with more training, she could be better than most head chefs in the culinary empire of Ozai Nakamura. And it really is remarkable that she's so good considering her upbringing and lack of good education. Did I tell you that she was put through the whole meat grinder of foster care system back in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Yes, you already told me that story an hour ago, Azula," Zirin spoke stiffly.

"Oh," Azula frowned. "I'm sorry. It's just fascinating to me."

"I've also been up to some fascinating adventures since we last spoke," Zirin said. "I should tell you about that one time when the mayor of Kyoshi Island invited us to perform on his birthday, but we had no idea that the birthday party would be on his private yacht. It was the biggest yacht I have ever seen. It even had a swimming pool on the upper deck!"

"Ah, one of those," Azula nodded knowingly. "My father is having a yacht like that built for him, custom specs and everything. I think it has an extra-large swimming pool. You know who would love a swimming pool like that? Yue and Katara. Those Water Tribe girls are totally crazy about water and swimming," Azula said, smiling dreamily.

"Obviously," Zirin groaned. "Why don't you go ahead and tell me some more about what Katara and Yue would like? It's all I've been hearing about for the past hour or so."

"Well, they mostly like wholesome things, but I haven't given up on trying to corrupt them," Azula smiled wistfully. "I think I have a better chance with Katara, though. She already has interest in true crime, so I think I could get her hooked on horror as long as I'm strategic about it. And even though they both at first appear like stereotypical dutiful good girls, they know how to let their hair down and have some fun. I suppose Yue is a bit more grounded, but then again, she has to be, she has her daughter to think about. Katara, on the other hand-"

"Azula, I was being sarcastic," Zirin groaned. "I really don't care. At this point, I already feel like I know everything there is to know about Katara, Yue and Suki."

"You forgot Kya," Azula frowned. "She's very important, too."

"Ah yes, the only preschooler in the whole wide world that you don't find annoying, and also the budding Pai Sho genius," Zirin rolled her eyes.

"That's right," Azula nodded. "Wait, why are you acting so annoyed?" she asked, having realized that Zirin looked like she was not happy with her.

"Because you won't shut up about these three girls you're clearly obsessed with?" Zirin exclaimed, looking very frustrated. "Do you know how a date works, Azula? You're supposed to show at least some interest in your partner and what they've been up to! You're not supposed to give me the extended life stories of your three bloody crushes!"

"But… I already know everything that you've been up to, Zirin," Azula protested. "You're an exotic dancer and I've seen you perform. You've been doing the same thing for the past few months. I'm sorry, but that's just not all that exciting?"

Zirin rose from her seat, looking furious. "Whatever, Azula. Consider yourself blocked on the app." Zirin grabbed her cocktail and splashed it in Azula's face. "Don't try to contact me again, idiot," she snarled, turning to walk away.

"What the fuck is her problem? That was so unbelievably rude," Azula complained, quickly wiping herself down. The other patrons at the bar were giving her amused stares, however, so Azula hastily paid her tab and made herself scarce before someone had decided to take a photo of her disheveled state and upload it on social media.

Out on the street, Azula briefly considered calling an Uber and returning to her apartment. Still, ending the evening this way would feel like a defeat, instead of the distraction she had been seeking, and Azula wasn't in the mood of taking another L. Also, she was feeling rather tipsy and adventurous having enjoyed three cocktails and then having another one thrown in her face.

Obviously, if Azula was going to have any further adventures, she needed a partner in crime because adventuring on her own would just be sad. Azula gave her list of phone contacts a quick combing through. Ty Lee would have been the perfect accomplice on this occasion, but at this point of the evening she was most likely already on top of Sokka. Perhaps Mai would do instead of Ty Lee. Azula decided to send Mai a quick text, feeling disappointed when she got a reply that Mai was busy drinking with her coworkers.

Once again, it seemed like the girls of The Northern Lights were Azula's only hope. Obviously, it was way too early to ask Yue out on a wild night of adventuring, not to mention that there was no way Yue would leave Kya unattended. It was between Suki and Katara, and Azula was already searching for a coin to flip when she remembered that Suki had said something about driving Yue back home. This left Katara as her only option, but if Azula was perfectly honest with herself – and it was a lot easier to be honest now that she was a little sauced – Katara would always be her preferred option anyway.

"Hey, Katara," Azula spoke on the phone after she had decided not to bother with texting. "What are you up to?"

"Azula?" Katara sounded very surprised. "I'm, uh… getting ready for bed?"

"Good, good… great, even," Azula said, trying her best not to slur her speech. "Wanna hang out?"

"Azula, I'm already in my pajamas. I just tucked myself in with a nice book," Katara sighed.

"Wait, is that yes or no?" Azula asked, feeling confused.

"Azula, are you drunk?" Katara asked, sounding concerned.

"What? Pfft, nope," Azula scowled. "It's just that… the night is still young and I want us to hang out. I want to have an adventure." Azula desperately tried to think of something that would capture Katara's interest, snapping her fingers at a brilliant idea. "Have you ever been bowling? I just realized that I've never been to an actual bowling alley. I want us to go bowling, Katara."

"Spirits, you are fucking sloshed," Katara groaned. "Where are you? I'll come pick you up."

"I'm on… the corner of… two intersecting streets," Azula managed, struggling to read the street signs.

"Helpful," Katara sighed. "Listen, please remain where you are, okay? Promise me that you won't try to drive under any circumstances, do you hear me? It'll take me some ten minutes to get ready. Please, use that time to find out where you are and send me a text with your location, okay? I'm on my way, Azula."

"Sure, Katara," Azula said. "I'm going to try and find us a bowling alley," she said determinedly after Katara had already disconnected the call.

"All good?" Suki asked, looking up at Yue as she emerged from Kya's room where she had spent the past quarter of an hour putting her daughter to sleep. "It seemed to take less time than yesterday," Suki remarked.

"It did, yes," Yue let out a relieved sounding sigh, sitting down with Suki at the kitchen table. "I hope she's starting to get over the worst of it. I'm such an idiot for not realizing that Kya would really build up the idea of Azula staying with us permanently in her head."

"Just give it another week or so, and I'm sure Kya will be in a good mood again," Suki smiled encouragingly. "And maybe she'll even accept Azula's gifts. I spotted all those boxes in your bedroom."

"Yes, I wasn't going to listen to Kya when she was mad and burn them," Yue chuckled. "Sooner or later, she'll cave and want to play with all that stuff. There's no way she'll be able to resist a genuine Barbie dollhouse for long."

"Agreed," Suki nodded. "So, Kya is starting to cope with what happened, but what about you?" she gave Yue an inquisitive stare.

"Me?" Yue smiled serenely. "I'm not so bad, really." Suki gave her a skeptical look. "Obviously, I'm disappointed and a little depressed, but… I was being honest when I told Azula that I couldn't be angry with her. If anything, I'm really sad for her, the way she's so deep in self-denial," Yue sighed. "And also, I keep reminding myself that Azula is only going to be with us for four more months. I don't want that time to be filled with awkward bitterness and regrets of what could have been. If that's all the time we're going to have with Azula, then I don't want to remember it for that. I'd rather remember it for all the fun we had together."

"That sounds like a… really wise way of looking at things," Suki admitted, feeling both surprised and impressed. "You're way more kind-hearted than I am, by the way," she smiled, reaching out to squeeze Yue's hand. "If I was in your place, I would have been tempted to kick Azula's ass."

"That never entered my mind, really," Yue chuckled ruefully. "But promise not to go all protective on my behalf. I really don't want you to try and kick Azula's ass. She doesn't deserve that."

"Alright, I won't try then," Suki grinned. "I know she didn't mean any harm. Azula is just… pretty woeful at relationships. Or even at understanding normal human emotions. Like earlier today, I caught her talking with Katara about how she wished we could just rewind the tape and go back to our earlier agreement about casual hookups."

"Well, I can't blame her for wanting that," Yue shrugged. "I'd like to go back to that, too. It's just that… I don't know if I can, right? The thought of kissing Azula right now just feels way too painful. I don't want to rip all my wounds open when they've only just began to heal. Maybe give it a few weeks or a month, and we can go back to being casual without it feeling painful, I don't know. They say time heals all wounds, but I don't know if that's even true."

"Maybe you should take some time off work," Suki suggested. "I can't remember when you last went on a vacation. I know it was because money was so tight that you couldn't afford to take time off, but things are better now, aren't they? You could take Kiyi out of the kindergarten for a week and just have some time off with your daughter."

"Hmm… tempting," Yue mused. "I could probably afford it now, too. But the truth is, I love being at the restaurant and hanging out with you and the rest of the group. It's still my favorite place to be despite things being a little awkward with Azula right now."

"Fair enough," Suki admitted. "Just keep that idea in mind, alright?" she said, gently patting Yue's hand.

"I will, Suki," Yue beamed brightly. "And thank you for looking out for me, you're such a dear. But also, you really don't have to sit around all this time while I put Kya to bed. It must be really boring."

"I have ways to occupy myself, don't worry," Suki smiled. She glanced at her phone on the table, her expression sobering slightly. "I've been texting and talking a lot with Mingxia, lately," Suki said.

"Your foster sister?" Yue asked, looking curious. "You haven't mentioned her for a while. What made you reach out?"

"Oh, I was just… talking with Katara, and her name came up," Suki replied a little distractedly. "Anyway, it made me realize that I hadn't spoken with Mingxia in more than a year, so I decided to text her."

"How is Mingxia doing?" Yue asked, looking genuinely curious and also relieved that they were moving on from discussing Azula.

"Not so good, I'm afraid," Suki replied, her expression darkening. "She fears getting evicted from her rent apartment any day now. Her crippling social anxieties limit what jobs she's capable of doing, and she also can't seem to hold onto them for long."

"That's terrible!" Yue gasped. "Is there any way we could help her?"

"We?" Suki smiled at the other girl.

"Well… you know," Yue blushed lightly. "Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Suki. I thought that went without saying."

"I appreciate that, but honestly, I should be the one helping Mingxia get back on her feet," Suki sighed. Yue gave her an inquisitive stare. "Most of the abuse that Mingxia had to endure from our foster parents happened after I had already left, so…"

"So, you feel guilty for not being there for her?" Yue spoke softly, reaching out and touching Suki's hand. "You're being too hard on yourself, Suki. It's terrible that something like that even happened, but it should have never been on you to protect her. You were barely more than a kid yourself."

"I suppose," Suki sighed, squeezing Yue's hand. "I was really set on that culinary school, though. Mingxia knew it was my dream and she always encouraged me to pursue it. If only she hadn't been forced to stay behind for her senior year in high school, we could have both gotten out together. I had no idea that the abuse would become so bad once I was gone."

"That's terrible," Yue looked very upset. "Maybe you can convince Mingxia to move to the Fire Nation? What if we paid for her ferry ticket?"

"I'm working on that, but seriously, I'm not letting you pay for Mingxia's ticket," Suki protested. "I'm in a much better situation financially than you are. Why are you so desperate to get involved, anyway? Not that I don't appreciate it, but-"

"I'm just looking to pick up a good cause that could serve as a distraction, honestly," Yue admitted.

"Alright, I get that," Suki smiled. "I'm still not letting you help financially, though. But if I can persuade Mingxia to move to Caldera, I'm sure there will be other opportunities to help her. What that girl needs the most is to feel like there are some people in her corner, really."

"I'd be happy to do that for her," Yue nodded, smiling.

"Thanks," Suki said, squeezing Yue's hand again. "You're a pretty amazing friend to have, I hope you know that."

"Right back at you," Yue winked at Suki as they both lost the track of time in more familiar banter that lasted well into the night.

Azula was having quite the entertaining evening, even if not everything had gone her way. After tracking her down, Katara had done some yelling at her, because instead of waiting for Katara at the spot they had agreed upon, Azula had drunkenly wandered off in search of a bowling alley. By some kind of drunkard's luck, she had actually managed to find a bowling alley that was open all night, but she had also made Katara spend an extra half an hour searching for her, freaking out when she couldn't find Azula.

It hadn't been easy to talk Katara into playing bowling half an hour past midnight, especially when Katara was dead set on insisting that Azula was drunk and needed to be brought back to her apartment and thrown into her bed. Still, Azula had somehow managed to convince Katara and they had ended up bowling… or at least, Katara had been bowling, while Azula had mostly made an ass out of herself.

Katara actually knew how to play from her student years and she had tried to give Azula some tips, however, Azula was sobering up way too slowly to pick up any of Katara's advice. Also, all that leaning back and forth during bowling made Azula a little queasy, so the game had ended with Azula throwing up all over her bowling ball. Needless to say, the staff at the bowling alley were less than impressed with Azula, but she had handled the situation by throwing a wad of cash at the staff, after which they had been more than happy to clean up the mess Azula had made.

Azula was a little unclear on what had happened afterwards, but when she eventually sobered up fully, she found herself and Katara strolling through the central park of downtown Caldera, both of them holding cups of steaming hot coffee in their hands. Despite the noise never truly dying down in the city center, it felt like a quiet night. There weren't many other people in the park at this hour, except a few drunken hobos sleeping on or under the benches. The time was quarter past three in the morning, and while the sky was still dark, Azula could see the crack of dawn starting to form at the horizon.

"Are you starting to feel a little better?" Katara asked, her voice soft, but also a tiny bit amused.

"Yes, I think so," Azula nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "It's been a weird evening, hasn't it?" she chuckled awkwardly.

"You could say that," Katara laughed. Azula was relieved upon sensing that Katara didn't seem annoyed with her. Azula possessed just enough awareness to realize that she must have been a handful to deal with while drunk. "This is nice, though," Katara added, looking at her.

"Yes, it is," Azula agreed, smiling. "Very peaceful. I don't think I've ever been in the central park at this hour. There's something charming about all these colorful characters hanging about the place."

"And speaking of colorful characters," Katara remarked, nodding towards a scrawny looking middle-aged man in a heavy overcoat approaching them. Upon reaching the two young women, he rather predictably threw his coat open and flashed them, proceeding to make enthusiastic pelvic thrusts in their general direction.

"Thank you, but we're really not interested," Azula replied as she removed the lid of the plastic cup and then proceeded to pour scalding coffee all over the flasher's crotch. The man froze, his facial expression changing with his eyes suddenly bulging out of their sockets as he let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran off, crying out in agony.

"Well done," Katara nodded approvingly. She removed the lid of her cup and reached out to pour some of her coffee into Azula's now empty cup. "There, you deserve it."

"Thank you," Azula smiled gratefully, then glancing back at the unfortunate flasher, still screaming somewhere in the distance. "You wonder why they do it, really. Especially with a penis so small," she remarked.

"Who knows," Katara laughed, looking like she was really enjoying herself.

"Anyway, aside from that incident, I maintain that this is really nice," Azula said. "I'm having fun, just hanging out with you."

"Likewise," Katara smiled. "Even if I'm trying not to think of what time it is and that my alarm is scheduled to go off less than four hours from now."

"I'm going to suggest something scandalous," Azula said, having pondered the issue for some time. "Let's skip the lunch service tomorrow and instead sleep in."

Katara mock-gasped. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Azula Nakamura?" she grinned. "Anyway, that sounds like a great idea, but do you even know how to sleep in?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure," Azula admitted. "I would just turn off my alarm and hope that my biological clock doesn't kick me to wake up at seven in the morning." Katara nodded approvingly. "And sure, laugh it up… it's true that I would never suggest something like skipping work, but I'm trying a lot of new things today. I've bowled for the first time in my life-"

"And threw up on your bowling ball," Katara added unhelpfully. "Seeing that was a first for me, by the way."

"Yes, yes," Azula said impatiently, hoping to move on quickly. "Also, being up past three in the morning of a workday is a new experience for me. Agni, father would disapprove most sternly of my slipping standards," she sighed.

"I suppose he would," Katara frowned. "How does knowing that makes you feel?"

Azula considered Katara's words for a good while. She had expected to feel goosebumps crawling all over her skin from the fear of her father's disapproval, and she was surprised that for once the feeling of terror was strangely absent. "Actually… knowing that my father would disapprove somehow makes it feel even better. More exciting," Azula added, speaking a little nervously and glancing around, as if expecting Ozai Nakamura to jump out from the nearby bushes and scold Azula for her lack of professionalism.

"You realize that this kind of fear of parental disapproval is not exactly normal, right?" Katara asked, carefully eyeing Azula.

"Oh, believe me," Azula laughed nervously. "I know that my family is very messed up. The relationship with my father is just one of many things that's probably not very normal," she shrugged. "Still, I don't believe that your father would just automatically approve of anything you decided to do."

"Obviously not," Katara nodded in agreement. "But I know that my father places mine and Sokka's happiness above any other considerations. Can you say the same about Ozai? When was the last time he asked if you were happy?"

Azula felt a sharp stab in her gut upon realizing the painful answer to Katara's simple question. "He's never asked me that," Azula was forced to admit. "But I don't think it's because he doesn't care," she hurried to explain. "It's just that… my father assumes that happiness comes from fame and success. And he clearly wants me to have that, which means that he wants me to be happy… in his own way."

"Now you're just rationalizing his terrible, and I would go as far as to say, downright abusive parenting," Katara replied heatedly, her temper starting to show. Then her shoulders relaxed slightly and she let out a weary sigh. "Ugh, no, I don't want us to get into an argument about this, not now," she said, much to Azula's relief. "I just wish my dad was here and you could see for yourself what a normal relationship with a parental figure looks like."

"You must really miss your dad," Azula remarked, watching a bittersweet smile forming on Katara's lips.

"Sokka and I haven't seen him since last summer," Katara sighed. "Of course, we see him regularly on our Facetime chats, but I meant in person. But Gran Gran's hip is healing slower than expected, so I don't know when dad will be able to come back to Caldera. I'd love to take a week or two off and hop on a flight North, but I'm not going to do that while the restaurant is still on shaky ground."

"I understand that," Azula nodded. Katara's words had piqued her curiosity and also given her an idea. Azula now felt a little obsessed with the idea of watching Katara and Sokka interact with their father. Also, Katara deserved better than to be cut off from her dad for almost a whole year. Maybe there was a way to persuade Hakoda to come back to the Fire Nation at least for a few days if not a week. Surely, it would be possible to find someone else to look after Katara's grandmother for a short while. And if Hakoda was not willing to leave his mother even for a week, Azula was sure that she could spin a convincing lie to persuade Katara's dad to hurry back to Caldera City. She could claim that the restaurant was about to go belly up or had just burned down, or some other innocuous lie that totally wouldn't lead to ridiculous drama.

"Anyway, there's the car park," Katara said a while later as they reached the end of the pathway. "Are you ready to be taken back to your apartment?"

"I suppose," Azula sighed. "For some reason, I still feel like the night is young and I don't want it to end. We could hang out at my place? Or do a sleepover?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure," Katara said hesitantly. "A sleepover just now might not be a good look."

"Oh," Azula realized, mentally slapping herself. "Well, I didn't mean that kind of sleepover. I have a guest bedroom, after all. Not that I wouldn't want the other kind of sleepover with you, but I totally get what you're saying, I agree that it just wouldn't be a good idea right now, we wouldn't want to hurt more feelings and… and I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"You are," Katara grinned, taking Azula's hand and gently patting it. "Here's what we could do, though. I could drive you home and come up for a cup of tea before we got you all tucked in for the night. And I suppose I could stay for another hour or so and we could talk some more. That sounds like a good compromise to a sleepover, right?"

"It sounds great," Azula nodded happily. "Thanks, Katara. You always have the best suggestions."

"Exactly, I wish people would listen to me more, but at least you have the right idea," Katara laughed, wrapping her arm around Azula's waist as they walked up to Katara's car, still giggling as they drove off into the night.

Mai groaned, rearing her head, having been awakened by a random ray of sunlight, poking in through a gap in the blinds and stabbing her in the eye. She felt very disoriented and the pounding headache did not help Mai get her bearings. The pub crawl with her coworkers had clearly led to overindulging and a nasty hangover that was guaranteed to make Mai's day a challenging one. From what Mai could tell, at least she had ended up in her own bed, but she also felt uncomfortably sticky and overheating, as if trapped in a hot oven.

Reaching out for her phone on the nightstand, Mai discovered an unexpected source of heat – and probably also stickiness – as her arm smacked a warm body lying next to her. With bleary eyes, Mai squinted at the person beside her, groaning inwardly when she realized that it was none other than Ruon-Jian.

So, she had slept with Ruon-Jian. Mai's head fell back on the pillow as she contemplated the consequences of that drunk decision. Zuko would probably fly into a fit of rage even if he was clearly screwing or getting screwed by Jet, but Zuko was also a massive hypocrite who lacked any modicum of introspection. Also, Ruon-Jian was going to be annoyingly smug about it all. Even worse, he might foolishly assume that she was now his girlfriend. Ruon Jian would need to have his self-esteem crushed swiftly in order to be reminded of his proper place.

Sighing, Mai decided that it was time to get out of bed and try to cure her hangover before doing anything else, but she ended up unexpectedly rolling on top of another warm body on the other side of the bed. The person trapped underneath her grunted in displeasure, but failed to wake up, so Mai quickly rolled off of them. It didn't take Mai long to realize that she was boxed in by the naked bodies of On Ji and Ruon Jian, suggesting that the night before had ended up in an orgy of which she had only vague recollections.

Those vague recollections seemed to involve someone else, however, someone other than On Ji or Ruon Jian, making the orgy of the previous night at least a foursome. As Mai was still trying her hardest to remember, she became aware of some sounds and stirring on the floor beside her bed. Someone else was awake and in the process of getting up.

Please don't let it be Ty Lee, please don't let it be Ty Lee, Mai thought to herself frantically. Obviously, her bestie was drop dead gorgeous, but the complications of sleeping with Ty Lee would have been too terrible to deal with. Mai was yet to meet this Sokka Enuaraq fellow, but he seemed like Ty Lee's first decent choice of a partner for a serious relationship, and Mai desperately didn't want to ruin it for her best friend. That was why Mai let out a sigh of relief when instead of Ty Lee, she observed Jin Huang's disheveled hair appearing in her sight, followed by the rest of Jin.

"Thank Agni, it's just you, Jin," Mai said, feeling like she had dodged a massive bullet. Jin blinked owlishly at her. "Well, I was afraid that I might have slept with Ty Lee, which would have been really bad," Mai explained. "But fortunately, it was just you, and I know that sleeping with you isn't going to lead to any serious ramifications because you're literally insane and happy to go along with almost anything."

"I feel like I should object to that characterization," Jin mused, thoughtfully nibbling on her fingertip. "Eh, I really can't, though," she then shrugged cheerfully. "But hey, at least I wasn't the one to say yes to Ruon Jian's marriage proposal."

"Who would do something so stupid?" Mai laughed.

"Uh… you did, sweetheart," Jin pointed out unhelpfully, making Mai groan as her headache intensified immediately. This day was clearly going to be even more challenging than Mai had expected it to be.

Chapter Text

Despite his initial doubts, Sokka was truly enjoying his time as a hands-on general manager of The Northern Lights. Having always had a good head for numbers, Sokka found the administrative work to be a total breeze, even if it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world. While listening to some of his beloved tech review podcasts in the background, handling the daily bookkeeping chores felt almost pleasant.

And while the admin work was important, what Sokka loved most about his new job was the more practical side of it. Maintenance to keep everything running smoothly was very important and could sometimes take a lot of time because kitchen equipment had the tendency to break down now and then. Sokka had the necessary engineering aptitude for creative solutions required to repair some of the equipment, which was especially handy since other restaurants would be forced to call in a certified technician and spend hundreds or even thousands of the hard-earned dollars on repairs.

Aside from the necessary maintenance work, Sokka also took on important renovation projects. After Toph's microwaving station in the basement had been permanently shut down, it freed up space that first needed to be renovated. Sokka had converted a part of the large space into another walk-in freezer for ingredients with longer expiry date, while the other side of the room became a neatly organized storage space for canned goods.

Once Sokka was done with the basement overhaul, Azula had sat him down for a chat regarding her idea of expanding the number of tables. With summer knocking at the door, Azula was convinced that they should make better use of the free space just outside the entrance into the restaurant. Sokka had then drawn up plans for a cozy little extension to the restaurant in the shape of a roofed terrace. With the kitchen staff feeling comfortable of being able to handle four more additional tables, Sokka considered the project greenlit and began his work. Two weeks into the project, he was still in the process of buying building materials and also working on securing all the permits for the extension, having to deal with exhausting amounts of bureaucracy.

Still, on this fine Friday, Sokka had scheduled himself some much-needed maintenance work that he had set aside for far too long. Armed with his toolbox, Sokka arrived in the kitchen in the middle of the lunch service, ready to tackle the task of fixing some leaking pipes that Suki had complained about a few weeks ago.

"Hello, hello, hello, Sokka the Handyman is here," Sokka announced himself with exaggerated pompousness as he strode into the kitchen where Toph, Aang and Suki were working like a well-oiled machine, pushing out one dish after another at a pace that felt truly astonishing to Sokka. "Well, it's time to do something about those leaky pipes," he said, rolling up his sleeves.

"Uh, Sokka?" Aang piped up, beckoning him closer. Curious, Sokka approached his best buddy and leaned in closer. "Maybe this isn't the best time for the repairs. Why not do it some other day?"

"Why would I do that?" Sokka frowned. "I have a very meticulously planned schedule for the next two weeks. It says that I should fix those pipes today, so that's what I'm going to do."

"Well… in that case, just be careful," Aang whispered, looking a little upset. "Suki is in a very foul mood. She's already snapped at me three times! I'm just about ready to burst into tears, I swear!"

"Why would Suki snap at you, what did you do?" Sokka asked, feeling surprised.

"It was all about plating!" Aang complained bitterly. "I'm never sloppy with plating and I'm doing everything the same way as I've always done, but she still finds reasons to chew me out. She's being very mean," Aang sighed.

"Right," Sokka said, patting Aang's shoulder. "Hang in there, little buddy. You have nothing to fear now that I'm here. Hey, that rhymed," Sokka chuckled.

"I'm more afraid for you," Aang said worriedly.

"Well, that's very cute, but I need to get to work now," Sokka rolled his eyes before returning to his toolbox and the dodgy piping that Suki had complained about earlier.

"Do you really have to do that now of all times, Sokka?" Suki complained, glaring at him.

"Well, you wanted me to fix this, so I'm fixing it," Sokka shrugged.

"Ugh," Suki grunted. "Alright then, but keep in mind that I'm not in a great mood. At least try to be quiet about it, okay?"

"You won't even know I'm here," Sokka grinned as he grabbed a hammer from the toolbox and began his inspection of the pipes. "Ah, I'm starting to see the problem here," Sokka nodded sagely as he began hammering at the pipes with reckless abandon.

"Stop this right now or I'll gut you like a suckling pig and serve you up with some fava beans and a nice chianti!" Suki bellowed from the top of her lungs at this sudden cacophony of noise as a result of Sokka's work. Sokka immediately pulled away from the pipes and yelped, noticing that Suki was holding up the chef's knife in a very threatening way, looking like she was possessed by a demon. Suki then blinked, shaking her head and lowering the knife. "Oh… sorry, but you see what I mean? You really don't want to get on my nerves today," she said apologetically.

Aang ran up to Sokka, looking worried. "Do you see what I mean now?" he asked. "She's been like that all morning!"

"Uh, what's gotten into you, Suki?" Sokka asked, looking up at his ex-girlfriend.

"Just, you know… not feeling great," Suki replied, looking at Sokka in a way as if he was supposed to understand what she meant. Sokka and Aang exchanged blank stares, both of them shrugging. "Ugh, I'm just dealing with stuff… you know, it's my time of the month," Suki sighed.

"Oh… I see," Sokka snapped his fingers as the memories of Suki having some not great days while they were together suddenly fell into place.

"What time of the month?" Aang wondered. "The weekend?"

"Twinkletoes, you're killing me," Toph wheezed nearby, listening in on the exchange.

"Well, you know, it's high tide," Suki said, giving Aang a forceful stare.

"But we're a couple of miles away from the coast?" Aang scratched his head.

"I'm closed for maintenance," Suki tried again.

"Closed for maintenance?" Aang frowned. "What does that even mean?" Toph actually fell over from laughing too hard, wheezing sounds coming from somewhere behind her work station.

"I've fallen in with the communists," Suki said with a growing feeling of helplessness.

"Well, they do raise some very convincing arguments," Aang nodded severely.

"Carrie, Aang! First scene in Carrie!" Sokka yelled, no longer being able to suffer this embarrassing exchange.

Aang froze, considering this new information as recognition slowly dawned on his face. "Oh… oh!" Aang gasped. "Yes, uh, I see… well, that's… a thing, yeah."

"Yeah," Sokka nodded in uncomfortable agreement as he quickly grabbed his hammer and threw it back in the toolbox, deciding that it would be a good idea to make himself scarce. "You know what… maybe I'll come back to look at those pipes some other time," he said, quickly scrambling for the exit while accompanied by Suki's withering glare.

It was an early Friday afternoon as Azula slowly pulled into the small parking lot adjacent to the apartment building where Ursa and Kiyi lived. She groaned in frustration upon noticing that Zuko had already parked his stupid car next to Ursa's old and rundown Ford Mondeo, robbing Azula of any acceptable parking spots. Grinding her teeth, Azula pulled out of the parking lot and ended up leaving her car at the side of the street, swearing to stab Zuko in the groin if she were to get an illegal parking ticket.

Azula was about to enter the apartment building with Kiyi's present tucked under her arm, when she noticed a familiar looking bicycle belonging to her uncle chained up near the entrance. So, Iroh was here as well, although Azula supposed this shouldn't have come as a surprise to her. After all, this was meant to be more of a family event, and Kiyi would be throwing another party tomorrow, meant exclusively for her group of friends.

As Azula climbed the stairs to the third floor, she was struck with the sudden and irrational fear of Zuko having brought Jet with him. She quickly dismissed this thought, however. If Zuko was still together with Mai, he would have certainly brought her along to a family event like this, but from what Azula had heard from Mai and Ty Lee, Zuko was still in denial about what kind of relationship he was having with Jet. So, there was no way that Jet could be attending, which was probably a good thing because Azula wasn't sure if she could avoid getting violent with the guy who had swindled Katara before going on to steal Mai's admittedly very stupid boyfriend.

"Azula! You made it!" Kiyi cheered excitedly as she opened the doors to let Azula in.

"Of course, I said I would attend, so here I am," Azula replied, a little annoyed that Kiyi would question the word she had given. "Anyway, this is for you," she said, handing Kiyi her birthday present. "You'll find it a far more superior gift than any others you might receive today."

"Alright, Azula," Kiyi chuckled awkwardly, still looking happy as she accepted the gift. "Anyway, mom doesn't want me to open the presents right away, so… I guess we're having the cake first for some reason," she shrugged, leading Azula further into the apartment and towards the living room where Iroh, Ursa and Zuko were sitting around a heavily laden table, crammed with all sorts of delicacies from The Jasmine Dragon bakery, with an exquisite looking chocolate birthday cake with fifteen candles in the middle of the table.

"Glad you made it, Azula," Ursa said, smiling at her. Iroh also greeted her with a welcoming smile, while Zuko limited himself to a grunt as Azula quickly sat down as far from her brother as she physically could. "How have you been? Everything going well at the restaurant? If not for Kiyi updating us, we'd never know what you're up to."

"I'm doing fine, thanks," Azula spoke, a little curtly. "You know, you can visit me yourself, Ursa. You don't have to rely on Kiyi's intel."

"Alright," Ursa replied, looking slightly taken aback. "I wasn't sure if you wanted me showing up at your restaurant."

Azula shrugged, trying to appear indifferent, even if deep inside she found herself desperately craving this opportunity to show off all the changes she had introduced to the restaurant and perhaps even earn herself a rare praise from a parental figure. "It's a free country, I can't exactly stop you from showing up," Azula said. "But if you want a tour of the restaurant, you need to give me a warning in advance. I am, after all, very busy."

"Of course, you are, dear," Ursa smiled softly. "My hours at the bakery are very long, but I have the next Tuesday off, so-"

"But mom, Tuesday is our weekly brunch day at The Blue Spirit," Zuko whined petulantly, though it didn't stop him from flashing a winning stare at Azula.

"And it's going to remain that," Ursa said quickly, not looking best pleased with Zuko's comment. "I'm certain that I can find time for all my children."

"Whatever," Azula shrugged. She glanced at the slightly concerned looking Iroh, who so far had only been listening in without spouting any of his insufferable proverbs. "What about you, uncle? I noticed the bike downstairs. I can't believe you are still bolstering the ranks of the menace of public transportation system, otherwise known as cyclists." If there was a collective of people that Azula hated the most, it was most definitely cyclists. Regardless of whether it was Caldera City, Ba Sing Se or Omashu, cyclists were arrogant assholes with delusions of grandeur who foolishly believed that they owned the streets. They clearly did not realize that the only thing stopping Azula from running them down was Azula not wanting to wash all that blood off from her precious car. It was a common fantasy for Azula to contemplate actually stealing a car so that she could spend an enjoyable evening running down annoying cyclists by the dozens.

"I'm doing very well, niece, thank you for asking," Iroh chuckled. "And cycling is going great. I've already lost twelve pounds, so I'm not stopping anytime soon."

"I still think it's not worth the public humiliation of being one of the Caldera cyclists," Azula frowned. Honestly, just imagining Iroh's bulky frame on that little bicycle of his was both hilarious and disturbing. Azula wasn't sure how the bicycle didn't immediately disintegrate under Iroh's weight.

"Hey, I'm one of the Caldera cyclists, too," Kiyi frowned.

"Yes, but you ride your bike on the sidewalk and not on the street, so the only people you're a menace to are the pedestrians," Azula grinned. "I approve of cyclists like you, Kiyi."

"Well, that's alright then," Kiyi grinned back at her. "But if Katara or Yue asked if anyone wanted to go cycling with them, you would be the first to raise your hand."

"Quiet, you little traitor," Azula hissed, trying to fight off the blush from creeping into her cheeks. "Anyway," Azula rallied, briefly glancing over at Zuko and contemplating whether to acknowledge his presence by engaging in some pleasantries. Zuko visibly perked up when their eyes met, looking ready to respond, so Azula jumped on this opportunity to insult her brother by pointedly ignoring him. "How are you, birthday girl?" she asked, instead turning back to Kiyi and laughing inwardly at the way Zuko seethed from being overlooked.

"Feeling pretty good," Kiyi nodded happily. "Of course, I'll be feeling even better once I'm allowed to open my presents. Or have a slice of my birthday cake," she added, giving her mother a pointed stare.

"Well, now that everyone is here, I suppose we could cut the cake," Ursa allowed. "But first we need to light the candles so that Kiyi can make her birthday wish."

"I'll do it," Azula said, grabbing a matchbox that was sitting on the side of the table and started to light the candles.

"I'll do it way faster," Zuko grinned, retrieving a lighter – which Azula was pretty sure she had seen Jet use when he was still hanging around The Northern Lights – and also began to light the candles.

"Nobody asked for your help," Azula snapped, leaning closer to pettily blow out some of the candles Zuko had already lit.

"Stop that!" Zuko protested, trying to respond the same way, and the two siblings ended up in a struggle over the cake.

"Hey! Those are my candles to blow out, not yours!" Kiyi protested.

"Yes, stop this nonsense!" Ursa raised her voice, something that Azula couldn't remember her doing much, if ever. "Both of you, sit down and take deep breaths before you do something as silly as destroying the cake. Iroh, could you please light the candles?"

"It would be my pleasure," Iroh said, taking the matches from Azula and quickly finishing the job that Azula and Zuko had almost messed up. "There you go, princess," he grinned at Kiyi, inviting her to make a wish by blowing out the candles.

"Yeah, and I have a pretty good idea what to wish for," Kiyi sighed, glaring at both Azula and Zuko as she leaned in, closed her eyes and then proceeded to blow out the candles.

"Well done," Ursa smiled. "Do you want to cut the cake yourself?" she asked, offering Kiyi a knife. Kiyi nodded eagerly, and a few minutes later, everyone had a slightly mangled and rather unevenly cut slice of cake in front of them. Azula decided to save her criticisms of Kiyi's performance for another day, however, as she eagerly sampled a spoonful of her cake, finding herself greatly impressed.

"This is delicious," Azula was forced to admit. "You've really outdone yourself, Ursa."

"Thank you, but I didn't make it all by myself," Ursa smiled. "Iroh helped me put it all together. You probably recognize his patented chocolate cream recipe. Honestly, I was a little worried by just how much alcohol it contains. I think your uncle poured like half a bottle of Baileys and another half bottle of Amaretto into the cream, but you can't argue with the results."

"Oh, there's alcohol in this cake?" Kiyi asked, her eyes shining. "I'll have many more slices then!"

"You realize that most if not all of the alcohol has already evaporated in the process of cooking, right?" Zuko laughed.

"Don't ruin it for Kiyi, Zuko," Azula frowned. "Anyway, the cream isn't really heated to a temperature where most of the alcohol would evaporate, you should know that. So, there's definitely some booze in the cream, Kiyi. If you're going to have more slices of the cake, you're going to sleep like a baby tonight."

"Hmm, that's actually a good argument for letting her have lots of cake," Ursa said thoughtfully.

"I'm definitely having more of this cake, but not before finally opening the presents," Kiyi said, giving her mother a pleading look. "Please don't tell me that I have to wait for something else."

"No, I suppose you can go and open the presents now," Ursa smiled.

Kiyi dashed over to where she had gathered the presents in a medium-sized pile. Azula was flattered to see Kiyi reaching for her present first. Her little sister was clearly smart enough to recognize that Azula would get her a present that would eclipse all of her other gifts. Kiyi quickly ripped off the wrapping paper, gasping when she realized what Azula had gotten for her.

"Oh wow, you got me the Steam Deck!" Kiyi cheered, hugging the box that contained the best handheld gaming device ever to be created.

"Not just any old regular Steam Deck, too," Azula said proudly. "I got you the brand new one with the spiffy OLED screen."

"Oh, please… showoff," Zuko muttered irately, giving Azula a sour stare.

"You're the best sister ever," Kiyi cheered, proceeding to give Azula a bone-crushing hug that left Azula slightly winded just because it had caught her unawares. "Now, between your and Zuko's presents, I'll be able to play all the most important games on my handhelds."

"Wait, you already know what Zuko got you?" Azula blinked.

"Oh, of course, Zuko can't keep a secret if his life depended on it, I thought you knew that." Kiyi and Azula both burst into laughter at that, making Zuko sigh and grumble. "I'm pretty sure that this is a Nintendo Switch, isn't it, Zuko?" Kiyi asked, picking up Zuko's gift. Zuko nodded reluctantly.

"Of course, it is," Azula smirked. "The inferior gift by the inferior sibling."

"Come on, Azula," Kiyi said pleadingly as she opened Zuko's present and retrieved the box containing the Switch. "It's still a really neat little gadget."

"You really don't need to appease Zuko's fragile ego, Kiyi," Azula lectured. "He knows he's been completely outclassed."

Zuko approached them, squaring up against Azula. "It's just like you, desperately trying to outdo me and not realizing how it makes you look like a fake and pretentious little bitch," Zuko snarled at her.

"Oh, whatever. Just take yet another L and move on, Zuzu. You're pathetic," Azula rolled her eyes, leaning towards Zuko as if she was going to shove him. Zuko stood his ground and instead shoved her. Azula stumbled backwards and barely managed to maintain her balance. Ursa and Kiyi both cried out in alarm, but Azula was already seeing red. She struck the scarred side of Zuko's face, making sure to really dig her nails in as deep as she could.

Zuko cried out in pain as he touched his badly bleeding cheek. "That really hurt, you bitch!" he yelled, throwing a punch with no restraint. Zuko's fist struck the left side of Azula's face like a hammer. For a moment, Azula blacked out completely. When she regained her bearings, Azula realized that she was sagging against a wall with Ursa hovering over her and Iroh pulling an enraged looking Zuko away from her.

"I hate you! I hate you both, and I hate your stupid gifts!" Kiyi cried out before running off and slamming the doors to her room.

"Zuko, I'm so disappointed in you right now," Iroh chided his nephew. Azula couldn't decide how to feel about that comment, because on one hand, she enjoyed hearing Iroh berate his favorite nibling, but on the other hand, the comment implied that Iroh wasn't disappointed in her because he simply didn't expect any better from the likes of her.

"This isn't about Zuko, this is about the both of them, but also, it's about Ozai!" Ursa shouted. "Look at how he has conditioned them to fight like animals in a cage match! It's disgusting! I'm not as angry at them as I am at Ozai right now!"

Azula winced, trying to think of some way to defend herself and her father, but nothing reasonable sprang to her mind. "I told you that it was a mistake to invite both me and Zuko at the same time," she offered lamely.

"It wasn't a mistake until you both decided to make it so," Ursa sighed. "Now you've upset Kiyi and ruined her birthday party. I hope you're both proud of yourselves."

"I'll apologize to Kiyi," Zuko said.

"I will do so as well," Azula nodded. "You go first, Zuko."

"You should both apologize together," Iroh said, helping Zuko clean his bloody cheek. "I don't know how you two possibly missed it, but what that little girl wants above everything is to see her big brother and big sister getting along."

Azula and Zuko exchanged guilty stares. "I understand, uncle, but it's just… not easy for us," Zuko sighed heavily.

"Of course, Ursa and I are aware of the wretched competition that Ozai has forced upon you," Iroh scowled. "We understand the challenges."

"But Kiyi isn't a part of your competition," Ursa said. "She doesn't deserve to get caught in the crossfire."

"And the same goes for me and Ursa," Iroh added. "We were hoping that you could at least suspend your animosity while spending time with your family." Iroh then appeared like he had been suddenly struck by a great idea. "Maybe that's actually a solution that we can all agree on," he said. "How about we declare this apartment a neutral ground? A place where you set your differences aside?"

Azula and Zuko exchanged long stares. "Alright," Zuko eventually nodded. The cloth he held against his cheek was by now quite thoroughly soaked in blood. "I agree to a ceasefire whenever we're hanging out with the family."

"I also agree," Azula said quickly. She tried not to show it, but her cheek where Zuko's punch had landed hurt very badly, and talking made the pain feel so much worse.

"I guess we should tell Kiyi, together with our apologies," Zuko said. Azula merely nodded, following him to Kiyi's room. It took Zuko explaining that he and Azula had agreed not to fight for Kiyi to eventually open the doors to her room and allow her siblings to enter.

"You guys are such idiots," Kiyi said, shaking her head sternly. "You're fighting about the importance of your gifts as if they're what really matters. All I really wanted for my birthday was to see you two dolts getting along. What do you think I wished for when I blew out the candles?"

"Oh," Zuko gulped as he and Azula exchanged more guilty stares.

"Damn," Azula muttered. "Being made to feel like an immature idiot by my wiser than her years kid sister. This is so embarrassing."

"Well, you deserve to feel embarrassed," Kiyi snorted. "Anyway, your arguments were terrible. Obviously, the Deck is the superior device from tech standpoint. All the cool nerds at my school have it. It's a great gift, Azula. But the Switch is still relevant, and you know it. I've always wanted to play the Zelda games, and now I can do that, so your gift is just as great, Zuko."

"I suppose I can see that," Azula admitted. "The Zelda games are classics for a reason."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Zuko nodded. "Also, Jet said that the Zelda games would be great for a girl of Kiyi's age because there's very little challenge involved."

"Well, I don't know who this Jet is, but he sounds like a moron," Kiyi frowned, her words making Azula laugh. She instantly regretted laughing, however, because her cheek exploded in a torrent of excruciating pain. "Anyway, Zuko, that cloth is so soaked, it's starting to drip blood all over my carpet. And Azula, your cheek is all purple. You guys should probably go to the emergency room."

"That's probably a good idea," Zuko sighed heavily. "Azula knows the weak points to go for. She knows that the scarred side of my face heals much slower."

"I admit to nothing," Azula shrugged. "But I suppose there's no escaping the ER visit. But I'm telling you, Zuko, if my cheek is broken and they make me wear something that looks like one of those early ice hockey goalie masks, I'm going to be really pissed off."

"Alright, enough arguing!" Kiyi glared at Azula. "Actually… if you want me to forgive you for almost ruining my birthday, here are my conditions. You will go to the ER together and you will be polite to each other. Azula, Zuko has to hold that cloth against his face so he obviously can't drive. You'll take him in your car."

Azula wanted to protest that she didn't want to have Zuko's blood all over the interior of her car, but one look at Kiyi's stern expression told Azula that arguing would only end in a losing battle. Kiyi was truly her sister from how she could be quite intimidating when she put in the effort. "Alright, Kiyi, I'll take Zuko in my car," Azula sighed.

"Smart decision," Kiyi beamed. "While you're getting ready, I'll tell mom to get some of the cake and other goodies to take with you. I suppose my dumb siblings still deserve a treat for their amazing gifts…"

Sokka stepped back from the fixed piping in the kitchen of The Northern Lights, regarding his work with a sense of pride and accomplishment. It had been a truly smart and safe decision to rearrange his meticulously planned schedule and handle this task between the services when the kitchen was empty and Suki wasn't around to try and bite off his head. With everything sorted, Sokka picked up his toolbox and turned to leave the kitchen, running into Aang who was entering at the same time. Aang looked very upset and sniffling as he nearly crashed into Sokka.

"Whoa, what's going on with you, little buddy?" Sokka asked, concerned.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Aang snapped, quickly running behind his work station.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Sokka asked, feeling very puzzled. "You're not usually this emotional. Talk to me, Aang."

"Well, I was just talking with Yue out in the dining room, and I offered her to help set the tables for the dinner service, but in response she just snapped at me!" Aang sobbed. "She was being so mean!"

"That… doesn't sound like Yue at all," Sokka scratched his chin. "Not that I'm questioning your side of the story," Sokka added quickly, having noticed that Aang was giving him a reproachful stare.

"I don't know what's gotten into both Suki and Yue," Aang sighed. "Usually, they're so nice to me and everyone else."

"Well, we know what's up with Suki, but usually she's not this mean when she's having her period, I know as much from our dating experience," Sokka nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Something might be up, indeed."

"Do you think they could be possessed?" Aang wondered.

"What? No, of course not," Sokka waved dismissively. "Let's not get carried away with goofy explanations." Sokka thought for a while. "You know what we should do? We should talk with Kat. If anyone knows what's going on with Suki and Yue, it'll be her."

"Great idea, Sokka," Aang nodded in agreement. "I saw Katara walk into the office earlier. I think she wanted to work on the design of the new menus."

"Excellent," Sokka rubbed his hands as together with Aang they went over to the manager's office. "Also, let's be polite and knock on the off chance that Katara is also in a terrible mood," Sokka said, stopping at the doors. "We wouldn't want to do anything annoying and risk setting her off, right?" he added, proceeding to give an exaggerated string on knocks mimicking a particularly annoying song that was currently on repeat at every radio station.

"What?" Katara yelled as she opened the doors and Sokka froze in mid-knock. "What's wrong with you, messing with the doors like a complete idiot and not letting me work? I hope you interrupted me for a good reason, or Tui and La be my witnesses, I'm so going to kick your asses!"

Sokka and Aang exchanged terrified stares. "I just… wanted to ask you something important?" Sokka managed humbly.

Katara blinked, shaking her head and looking like she had snapped out of a brief daze. "Uh, sorry, I think I might have overreacted a little there," she said apologetically, stepping aside and welcoming Sokka and Aang into the office. "I've just been in a very irritable mood today," Katara added.

Sokka and Aang exchanged stares once again, this time knowing instead of terrified. "Why are you in such a bad mood, Kat?" Sokka asked carefully.

Katara hesitated slightly before answering. "Well, if you really must know, it's because I'm having my period, and this time it's seriously kicking my ass even with ibuprofen," she grumbled.

"I see," Sokka remarked. "So, we came here because earlier Suki snapped at both me and Aang, and she also said that she's having bad period pains. And then when Yue was mean to Aang earlier, could that also be because she…"

"Oh," Katara smiled in realization. "Yeah… I guess over the years our periods ended up synchronizing. I hear that often happens with female friends and coworkers, so it's nothing to be surprised about." Katara gave Sokka and Aang sympathetic stares. "I'm sorry that you two are getting snapped at, though, you don't deserve that at all. It must be tough to deal with us when we're being so grumpy and snappy, but I want you both to know that I really appreciate your patience with us. You're the best brother and best friend a girl could ever hope to have," Katara smiled at them both.

Sokka suddenly felt overwhelmed by a powerful feeling of love and appreciation for his amazing sister. Katara really was one of a kind, and Sokka had never made his sister aware of how much she meant to him. She cared so much about everyone even when she was dealing with this annoyance, causing her severe pain. Maybe it was time for Sokka to finally tell his sister how much he truly appreciated her. "I love you, Kat," Sokka exclaimed, pulling his very surprised looking sister into a hug as he felt tears pouring down his cheeks. Aang was also crying his heart out as he watched the two siblings embrace.

"Uh… not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but… are you sure you're feeling well, Sokka?" Katara asked, giving Sokka a curious stare. "It's really not like you to become so emotional," Katara remarked, then looking at the equally tearful Aang. "And that goes for both of you."

"I don't know what's going on," Aang shrugged while continuing to weep. "I've been feeling very strange lately."

"Me too," Sokka sobbed, still clinging on to his sister. "I just suddenly realized how I've never told you just how much I appreciate you, and it made me feel so sad," Sokka admitted, finally releasing Katara as she gave him another peculiar stare.

"Maybe it's something in your diet," Katara frowned, looking thoughtful. "Ever since we placed those snack vending machines in the lobby, you two have been all over them every day. This is probably just something caused by your abnormal sugar intake."

"That's ridiculous," Sokka protested. "My diet has been the same healthy one for the past fifteen years," he said, aware that his diet of mostly meat as well as plenty of sugary drinks and snacks at the expense of any fruit and vegetables would not be called healthy by any dietary specialist.

"Please, I know what you live on, Sokka," Katara rolled her eyes. "As for Aang… well, just tell me what you had for breakfast?"

"Smarties cereal," Aang explained.

"Spirits, I didn't even know Smarties made a cereal," Katara groaned.

"They don't, it's just a couple of Smarties rolls in a bowl of milk," Aang grinned.

Katara and Sokka exchanged shocked stares. "I rest my case," Katara announced. "It's too much sugar, that's all there is to it."

"No, that doesn't make any sense, Kat," Sokka protested. "I've lived essentially on meat and sugar for years and we've never had this kind of problem."

"Well," Katara paused, giving both Sokka and Aang searching stares. "The only other explanation that I can think of is-… no, that's too silly, that couldn't be it," Katara stopped, shaking her head.

"What?" Sokka and Aang both demanded, speaking at once.

"Well," Katara blushed, looking a little embarrassed. "I feel ridiculous for even saying this, but… remember what I said about me, Suki and Yue ending up synchronizing our periods?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with us?" Aang shrugged.

"Well, I was just thinking that maybe this synchronizing has also somehow affected you both," Katara suggested.

"What?" Sokka burst into laughter. "That's impossible! Aang's a man! I'm a man! We're men!"

"I understand that, Sokka, but you can't really argue with the symptoms, can you?" Katara insisted. "Tell me in more detail how you both have been feeling lately. I've already noticed some weight gain with you, Sokka."

"Great, thanks," Sokka groaned. "I suppose that I have been a little easier to annoy than usually. I just wrote it down to having a mother of all headaches for the past two days."

"I've also been much easier to irritate lately," Aang confessed. "It just feels like my anxieties are acting up all at once. It's making me feel very… delicate, and also, I think I'm ugly," Aang sobbed dramatically.

"Well, there you have it, you have all the classic symptoms of PMS," Katara grinned sadistically. "I'm glad you're getting to experience the joys of being a girl. Strap in, lads, because it's going to be a fun ride for you two."

"No, this is a ridiculous theory and I refuse to accept it," Sokka vehemently shook his head, turning to leave and dragging Aang out of the office with him. "Come on, Aang, we have to prove that Katara is totally wrong about this."

"But wait, Sokka!" Aang protested. "We didn't even tell Katara about our breast tenderness!"

"Shut up, Aang! Spirits, you're so embarrassing!" Sokka roared over Katara's laughter as they made a very undignified escape from the confrontation.

Several hours after the disastrous argument with Katara, Sokka returned to the manager's office to find Aang researching facts about men and PMS on the internet, just as Sokka had asked him to do. "Did you find anything?" Sokka asked, starting to pace back and forth along the office.

"Nothing conclusive so far," Aang shook his head.

"Damn it," Sokka groaned, sitting down at the manager's desk. "You don't believe that theory, do you?" he asked.

"Of course not. Katara is so silly," Aang snorted. "Sugar," he added with derisive laughter.

"Yeah," Sokka laughed as well, then stopping abruptly. "Wait, what?" he blinked. "You seriously believe that we're having a period?"

"Of course, don't you?" Aang asked.

"No! I'm a man, you're a man, we're men! We're not having a period!" Sokka ranted.

"Well, I don't know how else to explain the symptoms, though," Aang shrugged. "But you're also right in that we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. That's why I decided to ask for a second opinion."

"Uh… what do you mean by that, Aang?" Sokka asked with a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach.

"Well, I just posted all of our personal information along with our symptoms to the furry discord and I asked my friends there whether they think we have PMS or not," Aang helpfully explained.

"You… you did what?" Sokka exclaimed. "Spirits, what have you done? We'll become the laughing stock of the internet!"

"Oh, come on, my furry friends would hardly use this sensitive information to make fun of us," Aang replied cheerfully, but then the expression on his face changed and he appeared horrified. "Oh no, they totally would! What have I done?" he exclaimed frantically, typing on the keyboard and then groaning. "There already are over a dozen memes of us and they're spreading like wildfire…"

Sokka leaned in to take a look at the memes and groaned when he saw one of them, which had his and Aang's faces photoshopped onto two elderly ladies under a caption that said 'Lady Problems?' "Tell me why I shouldn't strangle you here and now, Aang," Sokka threatened.

"Because I'm your best buddy?" Aang spoke pleadingly, looking at Sokka with big soulful eyes.

"Ugh," Sokka grunted, quickly giving up on the idea of physically assaulting Aang. "Anyway, I guess there's nothing we can do to stop the spread of the memes." Aang gave him another apologetic stare. "However, we can fight the symptoms of the PMS."

"I thought you said that this couldn't be PMS," Aang said.

"Yes, I know what I said, but whatever it is, we need to fight it, so… I went to Katara and asked if there was something that she and the other girls did if the symptoms threatened to get on top of them," Sokka explained. "So… what would you say to a big girl's party, Aang?"

"I don't know, how big are the girls?" Aang asked, looking confused.

Sokka groaned. "No, you dunce, I just meant a big party with our girls where we do insufferable girly things," Sokka explained. "It sounds horrific, I know, but apparently it does wonders in staving off the PMS symptoms."

"Sure, I'm in," Aang agreed readily.

"Alright, great," Sokka nodded. "Anyway, it's my turn with the bottle," he said, holding out his hand. Aang sighed and pulled out the hot water bottle from under his shirt, passing it over to Sokka, who immediately slipped it under his shirt. Maybe he didn't have PMS, but the hot water bottle was still helping with his breast tenderness.

"Well, that was humiliating, having to explain just how we came by our injuries," Zuko sighed, leaving the local hospital's emergency room with Azula in tow. The scarred side of Zuko's face was heavily bandaged, while Azula looked like one of those old timey ice hockey goalies because of the silly mask she was wearing.

"Yes, the hospital staff are probably convinced that you're a terrible brother for punching your poor and helpless sister in the face," Azula smirked.

"Pfft, they loved me," Zuko argued. "I signed twice the number of autographs than you did."

"Big deal, impressing some bored nurses," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyone can appeal to the lowest common denominator."

"Whatever, Azula," Zuko grumbled. "Anyway, since I left my car back at mom's place, can you at least take me back there without being a complete bitch about it?"

"I could do that, but there was something else that I wanted to address first," Azula smirked. "As you may have noticed, we have fulfilled our promise to Kiyi by visiting the ER together without too many arguments. Also, we are no longer on neutral ground, and we're still relatively close to the ER, which will become relevant in a moment."

"Huh?" Zuko blinked. "Why is that relevant?"

"I'll show you why," Azula said, lifting her right leg and then driving her stiletto heel right through Zuko's foot. Zuko cried out in agony as he crumpled to the floor, grabbed his mangled foot and started to roll around, whimpering.

"What did you do that for, you crazy bitch?" Zuko cried.

"This is what you deserve for dumping my best friend in favor of that complete and utter asshole Jet Patel," Azula said sternly. "Not to mention for making me wear this ridiculous looking mask," she added, turning around and walking down the hospital corridor, leaving her whimpering sibling to crawl back to the nearby emergency room.

"I can't believe I'd never seen Steel Magnolias before," Aang wept as the credits of the movie began to roll. It was late Friday evening, and together with Sokka, Toph, Katara, Yue and Suki they were hanging out upstairs above the restaurant, having a big girlie party to soothe their PMS symptoms. Everyone except for Toph was wearing a white bathrobe, and those with hair also had a towel wrapped around their heads after enjoying a hot shower to reduce the period cramps. Aang didn't really have the cramps, and neither did Sokka, but they had still gone along with it, hoping that it would stave off the symptoms they did have.

"Good, isn't it?" Yue smiled through the tears. "What should we watch next?" she asked.

"Well, let's see what we have here," Suki said, rising from the sofa and walking over to a shelf with the DVD collection that had been put together mostly by Sokka, but the others had also contributed to it over the years. Following the breakup, Suki hadn't felt petty enough to collect her DVD's and she had just left them there for everyone's enjoyment.

"Did you really think that was good?" Sokka hissed, leaning in closer to Aang as the three girls stepped aside to discuss what to watch next.

"Of course," Aang nodded excitedly, frowning when he noticed Sokka rolling his eyes. "Didn't you?" Aang asked.

"No!" Sokka groaned. "It was… heartwarming," he explained, making a face. "I hate things that are heartwarming!"

"Well, I loved it," Aang shrugged. "It made me feel like a princess, and I refuse to believe that it didn't do the same for you."

"Well, I'll admit that it made my breast tenderness disappear completely," Sokka said.

Toph burst out laughing, sitting in a chair well away from the others, claiming that she wanted to maintain a distance in order not to catch the stupid from them. "You are two of the most ridiculous people in the history of ever," Toph wheezed, having listened to their banter.

"Yeah, whatever," Aang shrugged. "Anyway, Toph, you're a girl. How come you haven't synchronized… you know, your time of month with the other girls?"

"Because that's not actually a thing, you dunderheads. It doesn't happen," Toph sighed. "And also, even if it could happen, it wouldn't happen to me because I'm completely immune to suggestion. I just have that sort of brain, impenetrable as a rock."

"And just as smooth," Sokka quipped, making Aang burst into laughter.

"Oh, now you're going to get it," Toph growled, falling on Sokka and giving him a solid walloping, by accident also managing to catch Aang a few times. Fortunately for Aang and Sokka, the other girls quickly raced to their rescue and calmed things down.

"We couldn't agree on a single movie, so we each chose one," Yue announced. "I went with Bridget Jones's Diary. Although, I could only maybe watch the first half of it, I need to get back to Kya soon."

"Well, I picked When Harry Met Sally," Katara said. "Meg Ryan is just so wholesome."

"I think Dirty Dancing is the best choice, though," Suki argued. "Watching them dance really makes those cramps feel less painful, you know?"

"I guess then we should go with Dirty Dancing," Aang said. "Although, I'm tempted to say that we should watch all three of them." Sokka groaned, using a moment when nobody was paying him any attention in order to thwack Aang on the side of the head for his suggestion.

"I'm going to need much more wine if we're watching Dirty Dancing," Toph groaned. "That movie is so insufferable to even listen to."

"Alright, Dirty Dancing it is," Suki announced victoriously, inserting the disc into the DVD player. She had just grabbed the remote control of the player, about to press the play button, when she was interrupted by voices of people coming up the stairs. Soon enough, the newcomers revealed themselves, Azula and Ty Lee arriving upstairs and gawking at a bunch of ridiculous looking people wearing nothing but bathrobes and towels around their heads.

"Right, I may regret asking, but can someone tell me what is going on here?" Azula demanded. For some reason, she was wearing one of those silly looking ice hockey goalie masks from the 1960's.

"Oh, Sokka and I are having our first period, and the girls are helping us deal with it," Aang explained, helpful as always.

Azula just stood there frozen for what felt like a very long time, during which her broken brain visibly attempted to reboot, only to experience failure again and again. "Well, I've decided that I can't deal with this now," Azula ended up announcing. "Whatever insanity is plaguing you, make sure to get rid of it by tomorrow morning when I show up for my shift," she added before turning around to leave.

Ty Lee was left behind at the top of the stairs, nervously wringing her hands. "So, uh… I know I can get pretty cunty when I'm on my period, and I just don't know if I can deal with an annoyed boyfriend tonight, so… rain check, maybe?" she spoke awkwardly, then turning around and dashing down the stairs. "Azula? Bestie? Let's hang out! How about a sleepover?"

"Wait up, Ty Lee!" Sokka reacted, jumping up from the sofa and chasing after his girlfriend. "I'm not actually having a period! I'm a man! This has all been a stupid misunderstanding!"

"Did Sokka just run out on a busy street wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a towel around his head?" Suki asked a while later.

"Yes, and he's probably being arrested for indecent exposure right about now," Katara sighed.

"Well, at least you still believe the PMS theory, don't you, Aang?" Yue giggled.

"Of course," Aang nodded earnestly. "And I think Sokka does as well, but he's simply more in denial. It's probably because he's less in touch with his feminine side than I am."

"Whatever," Toph snorted. "I'm just going to tell you one thing, Twinkletoes. If you think you're going to put us through this imagined period charade every month, I'm going to get my chef's knife and stab that feminine side of yours, and that's my very violent promise to all of you…"

Chapter Text

Zuko was not having a great start to his week. The scratches left on his face by Azula's nails had healed over the weekend, but the foot injury still bothered him greatly. The ER doctors had done an x-ray of his foot and while it wasn't broken and didn't require a cast, it still hurt a lot and Zuko required a walking stick to get around. It made Zuko a lot less efficient in the kitchen and forced him to rely upon On Ji more than before.

Unfortunately, it came at a time when The Blue Spirit restaurant was going through a time of turmoil and division. Zuko and Mai's relationship troubles had created factions within the workplace, with Zuko and Jet in one corner, and everyone else in the other. As a result of all this drama, communication with On Ji was breaking down at a crucial time when they really needed to be on the same page.

Zuko was aware that as the co-owner of the restaurant, it was up to him to sort out these issues, but it was easier said than done when his fellow co-owner did not appear very cooperative. Zuko didn't really know how to approach Mai when they were going through a crisis. Usually, he just laid low and waited for the drama to blow over, and then a few months later they'd just effortlessly get back together as if nothing had happened. But the reality of Zuko's current situation was that he couldn't afford to wait months for things to blow over, because if he did that, he would be handing the victory in this restaurant competition over to Azula.

And it wasn't as if Zuko wanted for the relationship with Mai to be over. He still loved Mai and wanted her. It was just that Mai often made being with her harder than it should be. With Mai, they didn't really get each other just from meaningful stares, like in some idiotic romcom. Zuko found it hard to talk about his feelings and Mai was generally not the most talkative person. Zuko often felt like he was failing to please Mai in their relationship, and the thought of asking what he should be doing differently just seemed so very embarrassing, so the struggles of communication just kept festering and festering.

It didn't help that Zuko had completely blown up after learning about the drunk orgy involving Mai and their coworkers. It hadn't been Zuko's idea to start seeing other people. Just because he had acted on it by fooling around with On Ji and Jet, and then a few more times with Jet alone, didn't mean that Zuko wasn't going to get angry and jealous when Mai had sex with their coworkers. Mai should have known that Zuko would become jealous and she should have been more respectful of his feelings.

Things became even worse when Ruon Jian blurted out about Mai accepting his marriage proposal. Zuko had fired him on the spot before chasing Ruon Jian down the main street while wielding the large industrial blender as a club. Once Mai had found out what Zuko had done, she had yelled at him before rehiring her darling Ruon Jian. Mai had also stated that she had no intentions of marrying Ruon Jian or anyone else for that matter, but that hadn't stopped Ruon from clinging on to his delusions that he and Mai were currently engaged.

With all this drama surrounding Zuko, he had decided to channel his rage in the only productive outlet that he could think of, which was to crush Azula in their restaurant competition. A few days ago, The Northern Lights had posted their menu changes for the month of June, and among the new introductions, Zuko had noticed that Azula's restaurant was now offering a roll made with fresh Mo Ce Sea lobster. This was a menu item that could prove to be a big hit, which was why Zuko had dispatched his last remaining loyal ally, Jet, to acquire said lobster roll so that Zuko could sample it.

While waiting for Jet's return, Zuko's thoughts inevitably turned to his… boyfriend? Zuko frowned when thinking about Jet in those terms, still feeling uncomfortable with the idea. He preferred to think about Jet as a friend with benefits, because at least that way he didn't have to deal with all those confusing questions regarding his sexuality. And it wasn't as if Zuko found it easier to discuss his feelings with Jet, they never did that because it would just be very embarrassing. Still, he and Jet often understood each other wordlessly, just like true bros would.

Zuko still didn't want to think of himself as bisexual, but he told himself that it wasn't because he feared his father's disapproval. Zuko simply didn't believe that this little fling with Jet proved anything, because Jet was merely an exception that confirmed the general rule that Zuko liked girls. Besides, Jet was slightly androgynous and also a bit of a submissive man slut, so in some ways there wasn't that much of a difference between sleeping with Jet or a girl like Mai. Zuko was convinced that his logic about all of this was absolutely foolproof.

Fortunately, Zuko didn't have to entertain these confusing thoughts for much longer, because shortly after Jet arrived in the kitchen, carrying a brown paper bag and sporting a broad grin. "Mission accomplished," Jet declared, placing the paper bag on the kitchen counter in front of Zuko.

Zuko nodded, opening the paper bag and fishing out half of a lobster roll, with still visible bite marks. "Where's the rest of it?" Zuko narrowed his eyes at Jet.

"Come on, I was always going to have a bite after going through all this effort," Jet winked.

"You could have always gotten another roll for yourself," Zuko sulked. "Anyway, did you have trouble getting it? Did you use a disguise with fake nose, glasses and a moustache?"

"What? No, only a complete dork would use Groucho glasses," Jet laughed. "I found a couple of college kids who agreed to go and buy me a lobster roll in exchange for a joint."

"Smart thinking," Zuko nodded. "Alright, let's give this roll a taste," he said, biting into the slightly mangled looking lobster roll.

"Pretty good, isn't it?" Jet asked. "It's certainly a lot better than the crap I remember Sokka making with the canned lobster."

"I hate to agree with you, but this is a damn delicious lobster roll," Zuko was forced to reluctantly admit the unpleasant truth. "And the lobster is definitely fresh. Azula might not even be lying about it being the authentic Mo Ce Sea lobster. Damn, I was afraid of this," Zuko cursed. "The Northern Lights could become famous for this item, it's that good."

"That's not good," Jet frowned. "Why don't we come up with a lobster roll of our own, though? We could beat them at their own game."

"I mean… I'm sure I could make a better lobster roll than this, but I don't think I could match the price Azula has set for hers," Zuko sighed. "It's the cost of this location, really. We have higher rent, higher cost of utilities, higher labor expenses. It makes it impossible to compete with items that are designed for mass appeal."

"We could offer a better price if we could get some ingredients on the cheap, right?" Jet asked.

"Yes… what are you thinking about, exactly?" Zuko asked, feeling uncertain.

"Well, I know a guy who knows another guy, and that guy knows a guy whose father is a fisherman," Jet explained. "I could cut us a deal to get fresh lobster cheaply."

"Hmm, that sounds promising," Zuko perked up. "But it would have to be the Mo Ce Sea lobster, not the inferior lobster from the local archipelago. I really have to stress how important this detail is, Jet."

"Oh, I totally get you, Zuko," Jet flashed Zuko his best winning smile. "Local lobster, who even deals with that crap, am I right? I'm totally talking about authentic Mo Ce Sea lobster and nothing else."

"Great, I knew you'd understand," Zuko nodded, suddenly feeling very excited about this lobster roll idea. "Do you think you could go and have a chat with your guy? I want to implement this new item as soon as possible."

"Right you are, Zuko," Jet flashed him finger guns and a smile, literally moon walking out of the kitchen and leaving Zuko smiling softly about the antics of his boy-… no, friend with benefits.

Ever since Kiyi's birthday, Azula had been in a lousy mood, and not just because she had been instructed by the ER doctors to wear her novelty hockey goalie mask for a whole week. Azula had somehow endured wearing it for three days before tossing the stupid thing. She was sure that the hairline fracture of her cheekbone was healing perfectly fine without wearing the mask. Both the pain and the swelling had gone down significantly, and while chewing and talking in general was still a little uncomfortable, Azula preferred to suffer a little bit of pain than go back to wearing that ridiculous mask.

Knowing that she was partly responsible for ruining Kiyi's birthday didn't improve Azula's mood. She'd spent plenty of time texting and talking with Kiyi over the weekend, and while Kiyi insisted that they were cool, being forgiven so easily didn't sit right with Azula and she felt like a bigger gesture was necessary. For now, nothing had come to her mind, but Azula was determined to set things right.

At least things at the restaurant were looking up. Katara and Sokka were both over the moon about Azula reintroducing the lobster roll that many years ago, when Hakoda Enuaraq was running the restaurant, had been the pride of The Northern Lights and the talk of the town. This new menu item had been met with very enthusiastic response from their customers, but before Azula and her coworkers could crack open a few bottles of champagne and celebrate their success, Azula had spotted something very worrying on social media, which was also the reason why she had called an emergency employee meeting on Wednesday afternoon between the services.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news I must urgently share with all of you," Azula opened the meeting, concerned faces looking up at her. "Let me show you what I mean," Azula continued, fiddling with her phone which she had connected to the large flatscreen TV in Sokka and Ty Lee's upstairs love nest. The Twitter page of The Blue Spirit restaurant appeared on the TV screen, advertising a new item on the menu of Zuko's restaurant.

"Ugh, your brother is launching his own lobster roll?" Sokka groaned. "Such a dick move!"

"Well, it is Zuko," Azula shrugged. "He's only capable of making dick moves."

"Of course, he's undercutting us by a whole dollar," Katara sighed. "How is that even possible? Azula, I thought you said that we got a great deal on the lobster!"

"We do have a great deal on the lobster," Azula frowned. "I used my personal connections and called in a favor to get a discount from the wholesaler. It makes no sense that Zuko could compete with that price."

"Could he be price dumping?" Suki wondered. "Either to just spite us, or simply to generate traffic and lure customers away from us?"

"I don't believe so," Azula shook her head. "Price dumping is too risky and Zuko would be shooting himself in the foot. I don't think he can afford to go in the red over this. After all, my father will rate the overall profitability of our restaurants."

"So, how else can you explain it?" Yue asked. "Maybe Zuko also called in some favors to get a great price on the lobster."

"Maybe he's skimping on the lobster?" Aang suggested. "We cram those rolls very generously."

"That's how it's supposed to be!" Katara argued passionately. "We're supposed to give our customers good value for their money! If Zuko is cutting back on the lobster, then we should expose him for the fraud he is."

"I like the way you think, Kat," Azula smiled appreciatively. "I also decided that in order to understand just how Zuko can offer this crazy price, we must take a closer look at his lobster rolls. Which is why I have arranged for a delivery, and it should be here any moment now," she said, briefly checking her phone for any texts from Ty Lee. Her friend had texted about leaving The Blue Spirit some ten minutes ago, so she was due to arrive any moment now, unless she had become distracted by a shiny red ball or anything with glitter, triggering Ty Lee's magpie-like instincts.

Not long after, someone entered the restaurant while singing along to a merry tune. "Hey guys, I'm here!" Ty Lee shouted as she dashed up the stairs, arriving shortly. She was wearing her sexy Blue Spirit waitress uniform which apparently made a lot of annoying male customers asking if her melons were on the dessert menu. Still, Azula appreciated the outfit, especially when imagining Katara, Yue and Suki wearing it, and these thoughts made Azula briefly retreat to a very happy place.

"Bestie, here's your order," Ty Lee spoke cheerfully, tossing a brown paper bag at Azula. It hit Azula in the chest because she had been daydreaming, and she scrambled to recover quickly as if nothing had happened. In the meantime, Ty Lee went over to Sokka and gave him a sloppy wet kiss before settling right into his lap.

"Are you helping Azula with industrial spying, Ty Lee?" Katara asked curiously as she watched Azula retrieve a couple of lobster rolls from the bag.

"Huh?" Ty Lee blinked. "I don't think that's what I was doing. I mean, everyone is free to order food at the restaurant, that doesn't really count as spying. I meant it when I said that I was staying out of this silly competition between Azula and Zuko."

"I think that's perfectly fair," Sokka shrugged, accepting one of the rolls that Azula passed over to him. He quickly unwrapped it and took a bite, afterwards looking like he was about to cry. "It's so much better than ours," Sokka exclaimed dramatically. "Our lobster roll is doomed! Doomed!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Katara snorted, grabbing the roll from Sokka. "Everyone knows you have a horrible palate, Sokka. You're probably dead wrong about how good it is," she said, taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully. Katara then shrugged. "I mean, it's not bad. But I don't think it's any better than ours," she added, passing the leftover roll to Yue.

"Interesting," Azula frowned, unwrapping the other roll and taking a closer look at it. "The lobster looks… fine, I guess? Zuko's gone way heavier on mayo than we do, though. Still, the bun hasn't become soggy, so it seems to be working out," she mused, finally allowing herself to take a bite.

"What do you think, Azula?" Yue asked, looking very curious. She had just taken a bite from the roll Katara had given her. "I think it's very good, but I like ours a little better."

"Hmm, hard to say," Azula spoke thoughtfully, having finished chewing. "I hate to say it, but Zuko has really nailed the dressing," she grumbled. "I don't think he uses tabasco to add heat to the mayo. It's a subtler, more flavorful heat. But it's the lobster that I'm most curious about. It's definitely fresh, but it tastes a little odd? I can't figure it out, has he overcooked it?" Azula asked, passing the roll over to Suki, who quickly took a bite.

"Alright, I'm pretty sure your brother uses harissa for the sauce and not tabasco," Suki spoke, once she was done sampling the roll. "It's a smart choice. We could swap to using harissa as well." Azula nodded at that. "As for the lobster… I'm not sure. It's definitely not as soft as ours, right? It could be a bit stringier because it's overcooked, I suppose."

"I'm just struggling to believe that Zuko would make such an error after nailing everything else," Azula frowned. "Lobster is hard to overcook, really." She paused for a moment, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "Unless it's… no, it couldn't be," Azula shook her head dismissively.

"Come on, spit it out," Katara gave her an intense stare.

"It's a wild theory," Azula said. "I'm not sharing it until everyone has had a taste," she added, urging Suki to pass the roll on.

"It's lobster," Aang glared at Suki after she had given him the roll.

"Yes, and I'm giving it to you so that you can pass it on to Toph, dumbass," Suki snorted.

"Yeah, hand it over, dumbass," Toph snatched the lobster roll out of Aang's hands, leaving him blushing. Toph then eagerly took a large bite and started chewing very loudly and messily. "Oh, damn… that's some good dressing," she burped a moment later. "But isn't your slimy brother selling this as a genuine Mo Ce Sea lobster roll?" Toph asked.

"That's right," Azula replied, wondering if Toph was sharing the same suspicions she was having about Zuko's roll.

"Well, that's funny because this isn't Mo Ce Sea lobster," Toph replied confidently.

"Are you absolutely certain of that?" Azula asked, wanting to make sure.

"I'm certain," Toph shrugged. "I don't really care whether you believe me or not, though, so… whatever."

"You're so frustrating," Azula sighed. At least Toph shared her suspicions, so that was something. However, Toph was someone who consumed worrying amounts of junk food and wasn't really known for having an amazing palate, so Azula wasn't sure whether she could trust the blind girl's opinion without verifying it. "Anyway, I was wondering about the same possibility," Azula mused. "Because if Zuko is cheating with the ingredients, it would explain how he's able to set this impossibly low price."

"You wouldn't know anything about what kind of lobster Zuko is using?" Katara asked, looking at Ty Lee.

"Nope, Zuko and Jet keep everything about it under the wraps," Ty Lee replied. "But even if I knew what they were using, I wouldn't tell you because I'm staying neutral in this… sorry, sweetheart," she winked at Katara.

"I respect that," Katara smiled before turning to look at Azula. "So, what do you want to do next? Should we call out Zuko for cheating with a targeted social media campaign? Or do you think we need more proof for that?"

"We definitely need more proof," Azula nodded reluctantly.

"And how do you propose we obtain said proof?" Sokka asked.

"Well, I want to take a closer look at the lobster Zuko is using," Azula mused. "That means yet again breaking and entering into my brother's restaurant. Who's with me?"

"Uh, I'll have to take a raincheck on this one," Sokka snorted. "I'm not about to break into my girlfriend's workplace."

"Aww, you're so sweet, honey bear," Ty Lee gushed, giving her boyfriend a bone-crushing hug. "Obviously, I'm not breaking into my own workplace, either."

"I wasn't really asking you to begin with, Ty Lee," Azula rolled her eyes.

"Oh, whatever, you wish you had my acrobatic skills at your disposal," Ty Lee smirked. She then glared at Azula. "And no using a copy of my keys to enter the restaurant this time! It wasn't very nice of you to do that. I've been keeping a very close eye on my new keys since then, so good luck repeating that trick."

"You're so smart for being cautious, Ty Lee. I will surely never be able to trick you like that again," Azula replied, barely managing to keep a straight face. She had already made a copy of Ty Lee's keys some two weeks ago. All it had taken was to sneak back into the restaurant in the middle of the night, fish the keys out of the back pocket of Ty Lee's jeans and then make an impression of the keys, just like she had done before. And sure, Azula had suffered some mental damage because she had become the unwilling witness to Ty Lee and Sokka having sex, but compared to all the emotional scars she carried already, this was hardly a scratch.

"Breaking in last time was so much fun," Yue smiled fondly. "I'd love to join, but I promised to watch a movie with Kya. And Suki was going to join us, but I would completely understand if you'd rather go with Azula's heist."

"What are you talking about, I'm not going to miss our movie night," Suki frowned. "I haven't seen Princess Bride since high school, and I also want to see how Kya reacts to it."

Yue grinned broadly. "Yes, that should be fun," she nodded. "I'm still a little worried that she's too young for it, but then again, I first saw it when I was four, and she's a brighter kid than I was at her age."

"How, uh… how is Kya doing?" Azula dared to ask, wincing inwardly as the painful memories resurfaced instantly.

"She's doing much better," Yue smiled softly. "Suki enticed her to pick up Pai Sho again. Even though she probably regrets it after being defeated," Yue giggled. Suki let out a long-suffering sigh. "I think it should be alright for you to visit again, Azula. In fact, you probably should, if you were serious about wanting to be a part of Kya's life."

Azula gulped audibly at the idea of facing Kya again, merely out of fear of saying or doing something that would yet again upset and break the heart of that precious little girl. "Give me another week… or two," Azula said nervously. "I don't think I'm quite ready for a visit just yet," she admitted. Yue appeared understanding about Azula's reluctance. Also, Azula wondered if she was just imagining things, but for some reason following this exchange with Yue, both Katara and Suki were giving her some uncomfortably tense stares.

"Hey, are we having an awkward moment here? The blind girl can't tell," Toph laughed after nobody had said anything for a while. "Anyway, you probably wouldn't have much use for me on a stealth mission, so needless to say, I'll pass. But maybe Twinkletoes will join you. He's probably thirsting for an adventure."

"Well, I would, but… we would be breaking the law, and I'm not comfortable with that," Aang sighed. "Also, I have a date with a hot parrot, so I'm going to be busy anyway."

"Oh, did you finally strike gold in the limited furry dating pool?" Sokka laughed, offering Aang a fist bump. "Nice!" he grinned.

"I wish," Aang sighed. "By hot parrot I just meant my own fur suit."

The explanation made Sokka groan, while everyone else just burst into laughter. "You're such a loser, buddy," Sokka sighed.

"What are you talking about, he's adorable," Suki laughed, giving an affectionate rub to the top of Aang's bald head. "Besides, everybody loves a loser."

"Oh, it's just like that song!" Yue said, breaking into a song, with Suki quickly joining her. "I think you'll find, everybody loves a loser. So, you'll be fine, you won't be lonely long," the pair sang together, their voices complementing each other very nicely in Azula's opinion.

"Great, that makes me feel so much better about myself," Aang sighed.

"Were we supposed to make you feel better?" Azula smirked, finally turning towards Katara as their eyes met. "Once again, it seems like you're my only hope, Kat."

"As if you even had to ask," Katara grinned. "I love our wild adventures, obviously. I will play the role of your shotgun riding bestie for yet another ill-considered escapade."

"Ill-considered? You wound me, Katara," Azula said, trying not to show just how delighted she was to have Katara alone with her on this upcoming adventure. "If you would follow me, I will explain to you the glorious complexity of my scheme that will leave you dazzled and astounded," Azula spoke, rising from the sofa and offering her hand to Katara.

"Alright… I guess I'm off to be dazzled and astounded," Katara laughed as she rose and took Azula's hand, leaving to hatch a dastardly plot that was sure to bring Zuko's restaurant down to its knees.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Azula's car as it sped through the nightly Caldera City, Katara was brimming with joy and excitement, very much looking forward to going on another wild caper with Azula.

Over the past week or so, Katara had been in a rather downcast mood. She was trying her best to be understanding about Azula and Yue's failed attempt at a relationship, but patience had never been one of Katara's greatest virtues and it was just so damned hard to put a pause on her attempts to pursue something more with Azula. It didn't help that she could tell how Azula was very much open to some casual fun, but she deliberately held herself back out of respect for Yue. Also, Katara was still panicking about the exchange between Azula and Yue earlier in the day, which had reawakened Katara's fears that Azula might still reconsider about wanting to be with Yue.

So, it came as a great relief to see Azula so excited for this upcoming adventure, and seemingly very happy about doing it only with Katara. Butterflies were still fluttering around in Katara's stomach after Azula had told her that she was Azula's favorite partner in crime, and how fondly she recalled their weird drunken bowling alley adventure. And now, here they were, having changed into clothes that were clearly a part of Azula's clever disguise, consisting of dark grey trench coats and matching fedoras, making them appear like some secret service agents from old timey movies.

Azula parked her car at the side of the street a short walk away from The Blue Spirit restaurant and then they were on their way, eventually slipping into an alley that led up to the back entrance of the restaurant. Once they had reached the back doors into The Blue Spirit, Azula paused and retrieved something from the pocket of her coat, passing it over to a very curious Katara. "There," Azula spoke solemnly. "The last and most crucial part of your disguise."

Katara looked at the item she had been given and blinked in surprise when she saw a pair of dark rimmed glasses. A comically large plastic nose was attached to it, together with fake moustache and bushy eyebrows. "Groucho glasses?" Katara asked.

"Yes," Azula nodded, looking dead serious. "They're a perfect fit with the trench coats and fedoras."

"I suppose," Katara said, as they put on their silly disguises. "I think they would have been an even better fit if we had dressed up like a pair of fat plumbers."

"I considered that, but at the end of the day, I just wouldn't have been able to force myself to wear a fat suit," Azula shrugged, looking at Katara.

Katara burst into giggles at Azula's appearance. "You know, these disguises are going to make it really hard for me to remain serious and focused on the break in," Katara remarked.

"I don't know what you mean, there's nothing funny about them," Azula said stiffly, facing Katara and eventually bursting into laughter herself. She quickly cut herself short, though, appearing slightly embarrassed. "Anyway, let's try and be professional about this," Azula sighed.

"Alright, professional infiltrators, that's us," Katara nodded proudly. "So, how are we getting in this time?"

"Same as before," Azula said, withdrawing a set of keys. "Getting a copy of Ty Lee's keys is way easier than stealing candy from a toddler."

"You're not worried that she'll be mad about it?" Katara winced, watching as Azula quickly unlocked the doors.

"Not particularly," Azula shrugged. "Ty Lee might be mad for a few minutes before something will distract her and she'll forget why she was supposed to be angry in the first place."

"Come on, she's not that ditzy," Katara argued, following Azula into the dark restaurant.

"Oh, she really is, but that doesn't change the fact that she's one of my closest and dearest friends," Azula said, waiting for Katara to enter and close the doors behind her. Azula then retrieved her phone and switched on the flashlight. Katara decided not to bother with her own phone, because it gave her the excuse to stick very close to Azula, the pair constantly bumping into one another.

"That's actually rather sweet," Katara smiled as they slowly made their way down the narrow hallway. "Anyway, where should we start our search?"

"The walk-in freezer," Azula replied. "At the end of the day, all the unused lobster would have been brought back there, so we should be able to find plenty of evidence. Stay close, I know the way."

Katara obviously decided to use the opportunity to stay even closer to Azula, at least until she suddenly thought of something that made her freeze. "I just thought of something," Katara gasped. "What if that demonic cat is still prowling around the restaurant?"

"Oh, don't worry about Killer, apparently he's back with his owner," Azula chuckled. "I made sure to interrogate Ty Lee about that. You're not the only one who was freaked out by that feline abomination. Anyway, we're almost at the walk-in, it's just through these doors," Azula said, leading Katara the rest of the way to the freezer.

"This brings back some ancient memories of my dad storing lobster in our old walk-in," Katara recalled fondly.

Azula paused for a moment, giving Katara a curious stare. "Just out of interest, do you remember if your father had a special method for storing them?"

"Well, before we got the lobster tank, he would wrap every live lobster in a moist paper towel and put them in the coldest parts of the fridge," Katara replied, having to think back as far as her early teen years. "That way they kept for a couple of days."

"Smart man," Azula smiled. "Let's see if Zuko knows anything at all about handling live lobster," she said, opening one of the fridges. Azula didn't get to investigate it, however, as at that moment the lights outside of the walk-in came on, startling the two girls.

"Would you look at that, a pair of thieves in my restaurant," came the drawling voice of a tall girl with an elaborate oxhorn hairstyle and an expression on her face that somehow managed to be both amused and bored at the same time. "I have to give it to you, Azula, you have really exceeded my expectations for the ridiculousness of your disguises," Mai smirked.

"Who is this Azula you speak of?" Azula tried throwing her voice, with Katara barely managing to avoid bursting into laughter. "I don't know of any Azula, but in want to hear more about her because she sounds like a completely amazing person that could do no wrong," Azula added modestly.

"It's not going to work," Mai snorted. "Seriously, Groucho glasses? Just how high or drunk were you when you came up with that idea?"

"Damn you, disguise vendor, you have advised me poorly for the last time!" Azula cried dramatically.

"Alright, are you done with the drama?" Mai glared.

"I'm done, yes," Azula agreed obediently, removing the Groucho glasses while looking a little embarrassed.

Katara did the same, offering a shy smile to Mai. "Evening, Mai," Katara said.

"Good evening, Katara," Mai replied politely.

"This is no time for pleasantries, we're here on a mission," Azula reminded them both. "There's two of us against one of her," she said, looking at Katara. "Even though Mai probably has like a dozen knives, we can still take her, so let's do this!"

"Right you are," Katara nodded, taking a few steps towards the still relaxed looking Mai. Then Katara froze, Azula's words finally registering fully. "Wait… knives?" she gasped. "She has a dozen knives on her?"

"I would say that's quite accurate," Mai nodded. She gave Azula an amused stare. "It's amazing how you can get bitches to literally do almost anything for you without thinking. Like, she was actually ready to jump me," Mai glanced at the blushing Katara. "I honestly know of no other person who has the kind of accidental rizz as you do, Azula."

"What do you mean, accidental?" Azula huffed.

"Never mind," Mai rolled her eyes. "Anyway, let me guess, you're here to investigate the lobster supply."

"That's right," Katara admitted, ignoring Azula's warning stare. It seemed as if Mai already knew everything about their plan, so while Azula still wanted to claim ignorance, Katara figured that it was best to play it straight with Mai. "How did you find out?" Katara asked.

"Do you really need to ask?" Mai smirked. "Azula, I never thought you would make such a critical mistake like discussing your plans for breaking and entering in the presence of Ty Lee."

"That little traitor," Azula hissed. "I knew she was more loyal to you than she is to me."

"Whoa, that's absolutely untrue. You're such a dumbass!" Mai snapped. "Ty Lee is actually completely earnest about her neutrality. But at the same time, you know that she can't keep a secret. She let a few words slip, and then it was easy for me to coax the entirety of your plan from her."

"Well… I suppose that was a tactical own goal, yes," Azula admitted reluctantly. "So, how do we resolve this? And I must warn you in advance, you're not taking me or Katara alive."

"Umm," Katara blinked, giving Azula a wide-eyed stare. "How about we deescalate instead of doing the opposite?" she proposed nervously.

"Yes, listen to your girlfriend, Azula," Mai smirked. "If you would just hear me out, you would realize that I'm not actually here to ruin your plans."

"Wait… you're not?" Azula exclaimed. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, but Katara couldn't focus on Azula's words, but rather on how Azula had completely failed to deny Mai's assertion that Katara was her girlfriend. Katara felt an unstoppable silly grin spreading on her face as her heart kept skipping and leaping with joy within her chest.

"It shouldn't be too hard for you to figure it out," Mai replied, looking at Azula. "If there's something fishy going on with the lobster rolls, then it's a scheme that's been cooked up solely by Zuko and Jet."

"And you have a vested interest in seeing a scheme with Jet's participation crash and burn," Azula smiled, nodding at Mai's words.

"But exposing this scheme could hurt your restaurant," Katara said, realizing what the other two were talking about. "Would you still do that only to bring down Jet?"

"Absolutely," Mai shrugged. "I am not in the difficult situation where I'm relying on the restaurant for my survival. I was interested in it mostly because I wanted to run it together with my boyfriend. I thought it was something that we could bond over with. But since it seems that Zuko would rather run the restaurant with Jet… you're damn right I'm eager to bring them down, so let's take a closer look at those lobsters, shall we?"

"Right you are," Azula said, giving Mai a look full of gratitude and understanding. Azula then dove into the freezer, retrieving a tray with several carefully wrapped lobsters. Azula grabbed one of the lobsters and began to unwrap it, with Katara coming over to help with another.

"Well, I don't know much about seafood, but even I can see that this is a lobster," Mai shrugged. "I guess there's no cheating going on after all," she sighed.

"Wait a moment," Katara spoke up. She didn't involve herself in the restaurant kitchen that much these days, mostly because it was ticking along beautifully without her interference, but even she could see that these lobsters were a little different from the ones that Suki was mass slaughtering in the kitchen of The Northern Lights. "These lobsters look a little off compared to ours."

"Very good eye, Katara," Azula grinned victoriously. "They look different from ours because these aren't authentic Mo Ce Sea lobsters. These just look weird, like they're from some kind of an illegal lobster farm."

"That's how Zuko can set such a competitive price," Katara snapped her fingers. "He must be getting these lobsters on the cheap."

"Exactly," Azula nodded. She grabbed her phone and snapped several photos of the illegal lobsters. "Zuko's lobster roll scheme will be dead in the water once I unleash a targeted social media campaign on his ass."

"That sounds good," Katara smiled. She wasn't exactly happy about contributing to the worsening relationship between Azula and her brother, but she had her restaurant to think about first and foremost. "And thank you for being a good sport about the break-in, Mai," Katara told the other girl.

"Well, if this will be as bad for Zuko as Azula thinks, then he'll probably be mad at Jet," Mai said, looking pleased. "So, it seems as if we are all getting what we wanted."

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Katara agreed. She then looked at Azula. "Do we have all the evidence we need?" she asked.

"Oh, absolutely," Azula nodded. "I think we can be on our way." She then turned to face Mai. "We're still on for our weekly thing with Ty Lee, right?" she asked, slightly awkwardly. Mai sighed, giving Azula a bored nod. "Alright, then I'll see you on Friday."

"See you," Mai replied. "And feel free to bring your girlfriend along," she winked.

"It's kind of our thing, though," Azula shook her head. "I'm sure Katara understands."

"I completely understand," Katara nodded quickly. She was feeling absolutely ecstatic from Azula once again not protesting Mai referring to Katara as her girlfriend. "Someone needs to keep an eye on the restaurant, after all."

"Exactly," Azula smiled. "Anyway, let's go, Katara," she said, taking Katara's hand and releasing it only once they were outside the restaurant, in the dark back alley.

"That went well, even if not quite according to the plan," Katara said, smiling at Azula as they walked back to the car. "I'm sorry about the disguises not working out. I still had fun wearing the silly glasses, though."

Azula chuckled softly. "It's alright," she replied. "The disguises were never meant to fool Mai, or anyone else who knows me well. They might have been helpful while we were making our getaway, but given the way things went down, there's no real reason to use them now."

"True," Katara nodded. "We make a pretty good team, though, don't we?" she asked, grinning.

"The best," Azula agreed. "And I'm glad you had fun," Azula said, looking like she wanted to say more, but it took her a while to eventually continue. "Also, the fun doesn't have to stop. As I told Mai, my plan is to make targeted social media posts to attack Zuko and then use an army of Twitter bots to amplify the message. But if you were to help me, it would go twice as fast, and we could also crack open a couple of wine bottles and share some devil's lettuce."

"That sounds great," Katara agreed happily. As difficult as it was to keep herself in check with Azula, it seemed as if her strategy of letting Azula initiate things was starting to bear fruit. "I am in no hurry to see the night end," Katara said. "So, you may take me home with you, darling," she added in a sultrier voice that made Azula's cheeks redden. When Azula didn't say anything, Katara reached out and took Azula's hand in hers. The way their fingers interlaced so naturally, gave Katara a surge of hope that perhaps, just perhaps, she could succeed where Yue had failed at winning Azula over.

Zuko yawned as he put down the controller of his PlayStation 5 console. "I think I've squished my last bug of the evening," he said, looking over at Jet who was still spraying hordes of bugs from his portable plasma cannon.

"Give me a moment and we can do something else," Jet said hurriedly, trying to focus on completing the mission. Zuko had a pretty good idea of what Jet meant by something else, but it also reminded Zuko that he had been sitting down in a fixed position for almost three hours, and he was also about to burst and pee his pants.

"Sure," Zuko spoke before quickly making his way to the toilet to repair his bladder. Zuko was still washing his hands at the sink as the phone in the back pocket of his pants buzzed. Remembering that he had missed a lot of notifications while playing Helldivers 2, Zuko decided to finally check why his social media were blowing up at this time of night. He pulled out his phone and opened Twitter, blinking when he saw strange activity on the usually very quiet account used by The Blue Spirit restaurant. Zuko's stomach sank when he opened one of the posts, realizing that it featured a photo of very familiar lobsters. The sinking feeling turned into smoldering rage, however, when Zuko read the caption under the photo.

"Jet!" Zuko roared, charging out of the toilet. "We need to talk!" he shouted, making his way back into the living room of Jet's apartment, where a startled looking Jet rose to face him. "Have you seen the restaurant's Twitter? It's blowing up because of the lobster!" Zuko yelled.

"That's a good thing, right?" Jet shrugged. "We want positive word of mouth."

"The word of mouth is not positive, you fool!" Zuko seethed. "Someone is accusing us of using inferior lobster instead of genuine Mo Ce Sea lobster! They're calling me a cheat!"

Jet froze for a moment before responding with nervous laughter. "Zuko, buddy, that lobster is the genuine thing," he spoke, regaining his confidence quickly, but Zuko was already too suspicious to fall for it. "Remember what I told you about why they look a little off?"

"Oh, sure," Zuko rolled his eyes. "You said that they have shrunk in size and slightly changed shape and color because of all the negative aspects of the climate change, impacting the natural habitat of the Mo Ce Sea lobster."

"Yeah, exactly!" Jet nodded. "It's sad that more people aren't aware of this."

"Maybe they're not aware because it's complete bullshit?" Zuko snarled, scrolling to a photo on his Twitter and showing it to Jet. "There, a side-by-side comparison between a freshly caught Mo Ce Sea lobster, and the mutated abomination supplied by you!"

Jet gulped audibly. "Damn… but it's really not my fault! I didn't know what a real Mo Ce Sea lobster looked like, so I had no idea they were selling me a bullshit story!" Jet exclaimed dramatically. "And at the end of the day, aren't we both to blame for letting ourselves be deceived so cruelly?"

"We're both to blame?!" Zuko yelled, enraged. "You tried to take me for a ride, and I should seriously kick your ass right now!"

"But you're not going to do that, right? I mean, we're best buddies, and a little more than that," Jet shot him a crooked grin, expecting it to work, but instead it just made Zuko see nothing but red.

"Yeah, that's why it hurts so much!" Zuko shouted, throwing a punch that connected solidly with Jet's jaw. Jet instantly became completely limp and went down in an unmoving heap. "Jet?" Zuko asked, a little worriedly, after Jet hadn't moved for a good while. "Jet… you… you alright there, buddy?"

Azula stirred herself awake at the unwelcome sound of her phone ringing insistently. Azula's head was very fuzzy as a result of heavy consumption of alcohol and marijuana over the past couple of hours, and it took her a while to gather her bearings. She was very relieved that throughout this difficult process, her phone finally stopped ringing. Nobody had any right to disturb her at 4am in the morning.

It took Azula some time to realize that she was back in her apartment, lying down on her bed while still fully clothed. When she turned to her side to notice Katara splayed out on her bed, passed out and looking painfully beautiful in such a vulnerable moment, Azula instantly remembered everything that had happened during the past couple of hours. It had been a blast to create angry customer posts directed at the account of Zuko's restaurant and then unleash a swarm of bots to spam these posts with likes. It seemed as if Katara had really enjoyed this wild evening, and that meant everything to Azula.

Azula's phone suddenly rang again, which annoyingly distracted her from watching Katara sleep. Azula picked up the phone, blinking when she saw who was calling her. "Zuko?" Azula answered the call. "The fuck you are doing, calling me at this hour?"

"Shut up, Azula, this is really important," Zuko spoke, sounding very nervous for some reason. "Listen, I know we don't have a good relationship, but something terrible just happened and… and I need your help, okay? It's something that we need to keep in the family. I figured that even if you hate me, you wouldn't want your brother to end up in a prison." Azula's weed deranged mind made her burst into laughter at this ridiculous comment.

"I'm not joking, dumbass!" Zuko burst out, sounding panicked and possibly close to tears. It made Azula sober up slightly. "I need your help! And if you're not going to help me because we're siblings, then you still owe me a favor over the whole Chan thing. I'm calling it in."

"Okay, calm down, I'll help," Azula uttered quickly. "You need to tell me what you need help with, though."

"I need you to get over here stat," Zuko said, his next words shocking Azula to her core. "I… I think I just killed Jet."

Chapter Text

Mai Syun lounged on the living room sofa, wearing nothing but a lacy black negligee, yawning as she browsed social media sites on her phone, watching Azula's campaign to bring down Zuko's lobster roll slowly gathering steam. It was three in the morning, but despite feeling exhausted following another sexy romp with Ruon Jian and On Ji, Mai found herself unable to sleep. Her morbid curiosity about the eventual fallout from this latest confrontation between the Nakamura siblings kept her awake, and she couldn't help but wonder just how bad it was going to get.

As Mai had predicted, Zuko had thrown a jealous hissy fit after learning that Mai was making good on their agreement to date other people. Even though Mai had immediately pointed out Zuko's hypocrisy, he hadn't calmed down fully and was still angry at her. If Zuko learned that Mai had helped Azula and Katara bring down his fake Mo Ce Sea lobster roll, Zuko would probably see it as the ultimate betrayal and there would be no coming back from that. Mai was by now having serious second thoughts whether helping Azula had been such a great idea after all, but she had allowed her annoyance with Zuko to guide her decision making. Mai tried to comfort herself with the thought that despite Azula's bitchy streak and occasional nastiness, she had never used anything Mai had told her in confidence against Zuko, and Katara was obviously too obsessed with Azula to consider sharing the secrets of Azula's childhood friend.

Mai acknowledged that her strategy to get Zuko back was very risky and possibly flawed. Despite all of his aggressive bluster, Zuko was a painfully sensitive guy and it would be all too easy to push him past the point of no return. It wouldn't even matter if objectively Zuko had treated Mai unfairly plenty of times in the past, and that he was doing so again. Mai knew that she couldn't count on Zuko to be fair, especially when it came to trust and loyalty. Zuko could become very paranoid about the few people he trusted turning on him, so Mai knew that Zuko would likely see her actions as an act of betrayal. But if the alternative was to be always taken for granted, what else was there to do?

Still, Mai didn't want to give herself a complete pass over this breakdown in the relationship with Zuko. Mai knew that she was often too closed off emotionally, and she could be spiteful and stubborn, which was why she had continued to have casual sex with her coworkers. It was no longer even about using them to make Zuko jealous, because after the initial flareup once Zuko had found out, the method seemed to have lost its efficiency. Now she was doing it mostly out of spite because Zuko had literally moved in with Jet.

At least Ruon Jian and On Ji were both pretty good in bed, or at least they were less selfish lovers than Zuko. The drawback of this casual sex was that it kept feeding Ruon Jian's delusions of marrying her, which was why Mai always made sure to never have Ruon Jian over without inviting someone else along, usually On Ji. The sous chef of The Blue Spirit was still salty at both Zuko and Jet, which explained her eagerness to join in on the fun. Mai suspected that On Ji was probably also hoping to get Zuko jealous, but in Mai's eyes, On Jin just wasn't in the game, despite what the other girl thought herself.

So, Mai knew that she was playing a risky game with Zuko, but a part of her still felt like she had to do it. Mai had always believed that eventually she and Zuko would somehow figure out a way to have a functional relationship, but by now they were both in their mid-twenties and still struggling to make it work. Despite how much losing Zuko for good would hurt, perhaps it was time to put everything on the line, and either finally make it work or move on before she died of old age while waiting for Zuko to grow the fuck up.

Still, seeing the angry responses on the Twitter page of The Blue Spirit piling up, Mai became very concerned that perhaps she had gone a little too far in her attempt to stick it to Zuko. At least it was Jet who was going to catch the immediate fallout of Zuko's rage. It wasn't as if Zuko was going to kill Jet, but there was no telling how bad things could get if this entire scheme had been Jet's idea to begin with.

Azula was once again experiencing trouble trying to gather her bearings and get a firm grip on her surroundings. She remembered leaving her apartment not too long ago – but not before pressing the softest of kisses against Katara's forehead while the other girl was out cold from all the booze and weed that they had consumed.

Then Azula remembered having a long internal debate of whether to try and make the short drive to Jet's apartment or simply call an Uber. She had gone with the safest choice of calling an Uber, but only because she had remembered about the Groucho glasses still in the pocket of her coat. If she was going to help Zuko clear up all traces of murder, then it was important that she couldn't be identified on her way to Jet's apartment, and so the disguise worked brilliantly to make her unrecognizable.

Azula had forgotten to remove the disguise when knocking on the doors of Jet's apartment, so she had ended up giving an already panicking Zuko yet another scare. Seeing how her brother was on his last nerve, Azula had then forced him to sit down and they had smoked a big fat joint to steady their nerves and make sure they remained completely rational while figuring out the best way to dispose of Jet's body.

"Alright, are you done with your panic attack?" Azula asked, looking at her brother as he took another big hit from the doobie. Zuko then proceeded to break down in a series of hacking coughs before looking up at Azula with reddened and watery eyes.

"Yes," Zuko wheezed. "Or… maybe not," he added, wringing his hands nervously. "Agni, what am I going to do!" Zuko exclaimed dramatically.

"I reckon about twenty to twenty-five years," Azula quipped.

Zuko looked like he was about to burst into tears. "What if I told the police that it was an accident?" he asked. "I could say that Jet tripped as he was getting up from the sofa."

"And punched himself squarely in the face as he was falling?" Azula gave Zuko a skeptical stare.

"You're right, I'm done for," Zuko cried, jumping up from his seat and walking up to the prone form of Jet. "This is so typical of Jet, always getting me into trouble! Seriously, I should kick his ass some more!" Zuko glared, looking like he was about to assault the unmoving body.

"Wait, hold on!" Azula rushed to intervene, dragging Zuko away from Jet's body. "Agni, if you're so aggressive even after smoking a joint, I'm very concerned about your levels of anger management," Azula rolled her eyes. "Remember, we need to remain rational about this! That's why you called me over, right? You needed someone with rational solutions."

"Sure, rational solutions, sounds good," Zuko eventually nodded in agreement. The two Nakamura siblings stood over the corpse for a while, deep in thought. "Let's eat him," Zuko said suddenly.

"Wait… what?" Azula blinked. "Listen, it's way too early to throw out casual suggestions of cannibalism. We should explore other options first."

"Like what?" Zuko looked at his sister.

"Well, I'm not actually convinced that Jet is completely dead," Azula frowned. "What if he's just stunned? I think you should give your boyfriend the kiss of life."

"I will most certainly not," Zuko shook his head. "You're just waiting for an opportunity to snap a quick photo of me kissing another guy, and then you're going to send it to father and get me into trouble."

"What, into more trouble than accidental manslaughter?" Azula rolled her eyes. Still, it looked like Zuko wasn't going to budge on this. Azula let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, step aside, I'll do it myself," she said, trying to step around Zuko in order to approach Jet. For some reason, Zuko kept blocking her off, though. "What's the matter?" Azula exclaimed in frustration. "Are you going to let me do it or not?"

"I'm not letting you make out with Jet," Zuko snapped jealously.

"Wait, so you're not going to do it yourself, and you won't let me do it either?" Azula exclaimed, completely incredulous. "You're just going to let your boyfriend die?"

Zuko looked very torn at Azula's accusation, eventually caving with a sigh. "Alright, fine… I'll do it," Zuko said. "But not a word of this to father, got it?" he warned.

"Trust me, I recognize that we have bigger concerns right now," Azula rolled her eyes again as Zuko finally got down on his knees next to his boyfriend and started to vigorously blow air through Jet's parted lips and into his lungs. "Well, how is he looking?" Azula asked after Zuko had been at it for a few minutes.

Zuko pulled back and regarded his efforts. "He's certainly looking fatter," Zuko remarked. "Mind you, at least some color has come back to his cheeks."

"Yes, but I don't think it should be bright purple," Azula observed worriedly. "I don't think this is working." She thought for a moment, eventually snapping her fingers as an idea came to her stoned mind. "What if we shocked him back to life?" she mused. "Obviously, we don't have a proper defibrillator, but we could always improvise. Why don't we just tear out electrical wiring from the wall and shock him with electricity?"

"That might just work!" Zuko exclaimed hopefully, dashing off to grab some tools with which to assault the wall socket. Meanwhile, Azula quickly popped into the kitchen and after a short search, managed to find an unused pair of rubber gloves in a compartment under the sink. Having put on the rubber gloves, Azula returned to the living room, where Zuko had successfully ripped out a large chunk of electrical wiring, as good as destroying large parts of the wall in Jet's living room.

Using the rubber gloves, Azula safely got hold of the electrical wiring and removed the wall socket still dangling at the end of the wires. She walked up to Jet's prone body holding the wires in her hands. Azula was about to use the electrical wiring to shock Jet, but then she remembered what had happened when she had offered to do mouth to mouth on Jet. "On second thought, I don't want to make you jealous yet again, so maybe it's best if you do it," Azula said as she thrust the wiring into the hands of the unsuspecting Zuko.

Zuko was immediately shocked by the electrical current, making his hair stand up on his head. "Damn it, I forgot you don't have the gloves," Azula exclaimed, quickly grabbing the wiring out of Zuko's hands. Zuko just stood there with an absent look on his face, steam rising from the top of his head, his hair making him look like a spiky hedgehog.

"That was actually… somehow enjoyable?" Zuko spoke up unexpectedly. "I feel like the people who hook up car batteries to their nipples might be on to something."

"That… sounds like something you should take up with Jet once we have successfully revived him," Azula said, feeling mildly disturbed as she dropped down on her knees and began to work, applying shock to various parts of Jet's body, starting from his nostrils and ending up with his crotch. However, no matter how hard Azula tried, it seemed to be of no use. Jet remained unmoving. "Well, that was pointless," she exclaimed in frustration, tossing the wiring aside. "He's definitely dead, so let's focus on getting rid of the body."

"I've been thinking," Zuko spoke up. "Tomorrow is trash collection day. You know how those garbage truck drivers never actually bother to check what's inside the dumpsters? They just hook them up to the truck and empty everything into the compressor. If we tossed Jet's body into one of those big dumpsters, with a little bit of luck, he'd end up on the landfill and nobody would be the wiser!"

"That's actually not a terrible idea," Azula admitted, feeling vaguely impressed. "Wait a moment," she suddenly paused. "If tomorrow is trash collection day, those dumpsters are probably already overflowing and there won't be any room for a body in there. We should first check if there's any space before we haul Jet's body all the way downstairs."

"Very smart," Zuko nodded, acknowledged his sister's clever suggestion. "Let's go check the dumpsters first," Zuko said, leading Azula down the stairs and over to a small roofed enclosure where several bins of different sizes and colors had been placed, encouraging responsible recycling. As Azula had suspected, there were no specifically designated bins for dumping the bodies killed by your raging sibling with anger management issues.

"Alright, here's hoping there's some space left," Zuko said, opening the largest of the dumpsters, looking very startled after he had done so. Curious about Zuko's reaction, Azula also approached the waste container, blinking when she spotted a wild-haired girl sitting inside the dumpster and reading the riot act to a pair of slightly ashamed looking raccoons. "Uh… hey there, Jin," Zuko awkwardly greeted the girl, much to Azula's surprise acting like he knew her.

"Umm… hi Zuko," the weird girl called Jin replied, looking just as startled as the Nakamura siblings. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here. Well, let me tell you what I'm definitely not doing here. I'm definitely not looking for any of your personal items to place on the little shrine devoted to you that I definitely haven't built in the basement of The Blue Spirit."

"Oh, good," Zuko looked relieved. "Because that would be a little too weird even for you." Jin laughed awkwardly. "Anyway, so if you're not doing that, what are you up to?"

"Well," Jin began, licking her lips nervously. "I'm… helping you recycle properly. You know how terrible Jet is about responsible recycling, right? I just found this replaceable razor cartridge among the organic waste," Jin tutted before giving Zuko a curious stare. "By the way, is this yours or Jet's?" she asked, holding up the cartridge.

"Uh, I think that's mine," Zuko replied.

"Excellent," Jin grinned, quickly pocketing the item.

"And what's with the racoons?" Zuko asked, as Azula wisely decided not to interfere. This Jin girl was giving off vibes that were a little too deranged even for Azula.

"Oh, they're just messy," Jin sighed, lightly bopping one of the raccoons on the nose. "I'm trying to teach them the importance of responsible recycling, so that they're at least better at it than Jet. We're off to a promising start."

"Okay," Zuko said, sounding slightly confused. "I'll let you get back to it," he added, closing the dumpster and retreating, Azula quickly setting to follow him back to the apartment. "Ugh, what rotten luck," Zuko cursed while walking. "There's no way we can dump Jet's body in there with Jin lurking about."

"Obviously not," Azula agreed. "Anyway, my mind is still reeling from you having such a dedicated stalker. I'm actually very jealous about it," she admitted.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get one of those sooner or later," Zuko said as they arrived back at the apartment.

"Hopefully," Azula nodded. "Still, we need to solve the issue of how to get rid of the body," she said.

"I'm still in favor of eating him," Zuko stated with conviction.

"I mean, it would solve the problem," Azula replied, recognizing the internal validity of Zuko's argument. "It's just that I'm not sure whether I'm stoned or drunk enough to actively engage in cannibalism."

"That can be easily solved," Zuko said. "Let me quickly raid Jet's weed and booze stash." Azula waited patiently for a few minutes before Zuko returned with a baggy of weed, a bottle of scotch and also some cutlery.

"Very thoughtful and efficient of you to fetch knives and forks already," Azula remarked as Zuko quickly rolled a joint for them to share.

"Well, we're going to need them in a moment," Zuko said as he lit the joint and took a long drag before passing it over to his sister. They spent the next quarter of an hour gulping down the scotch almost like it was water, while finishing off the joint. As they rose to approach Jet armed with cutlery in their hands, Azula experienced the severe effects of both a powerful high and mild alcohol poisoning as the room spun around her dangerously fast. She somehow managed to retain her balance, following Zuko as he made his way over to the inanimate corpse.

"Where do you want to start?" Azula asked, standing over Jet's body and feeling a little indecisive.

"I have no idea… there's so much to choose from!" Zuko exclaimed, actually sounding a little excited as he rolled Jet over. "I guess I'll start here," he said, ramming the fork into Jet's left buttock with force. Azula thought it was fascinating how the fork went in almost up to the hilt, meeting little resistance. Apparently, Jet had quite the buttery ass.

"Shouldn't you have… I don't know, pulled down his pants first?" Azula asked, a little incredulous.

Zuko didn't reply immediately, looking like he was lost in thought… or simply lost, which wouldn't have been surprising considering how drunk and stoned out of his mind he clearly was. "Wait a minute," Zuko finally said, clambering up to his feet and forgetting all about the fork that was left sticking out of Jet's butt cheek. "I have an even better idea," Zuko said. "Eating him here would get really messy and we'd leave bloodstains all over the carpet, right?"

"Right," Azula nodded. "What are you thinking?"

"Well, I was thinking… we don't have to eat him ourselves. We could have someone else eat him for us!" Zuko exclaimed.

"Brilliant!" Azula rubbed her hands, feeling relieved. "To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to have Jet in my mouth." She blinked, making a face upon realizing what she had said. "Yuck, that sounded really gross. Anyway, what was your idea, Zuko?"

"Well, I figured I would call Bumi's Kebab Palace and ask the man himself if he maybe needs a supply of meat. Everything goes into kebabs, right?" Zuko asked.

"Alright, you do that," Azula snorted. "Meanwhile, I have an even better idea of how to dispose of the body," she whispered to herself as Zuko went into the kitchen to make the phone call. While Zuko was talking with Bumi, Azula decided to act on her absolutely amazing weed-inspired idea. She quickly rolled up the carpet in Jet's living room, dragged the corpse into the center of the room and then rolled the carpet over it. Just like that, the dead body was gone!

"Damn," Zuko exclaimed, returning to the living room and looking upset. "Bumi said their family Alsatian got run over yesterday so he's good on meat for another week or so. Aren't we unlucky?"

"What do you mean?" Azula looked up at her brother.

"I mean, what are we going to do about the body now?" Zuko gave Azula an exasperated stare.

"What body?" Azula asked with a proud look on her face.

Zuko cast a glance around the room with incomprehension on his face, to be replaced by sheer amazement. "Azula, that's absolutely-" he began to speak while walking towards her, only to trip on the body under the carpet and almost breaking his face against the edge of the table. "That's absolutely pathetic and won't fool anyone," Zuko glared at her.

"Hey, don't knock my great idea," Azula huffed. "Anyway, it's early days. I was thinking that we could flatten him out some more, then he would be less noticeable under the rug."

"That sounds fair," Zuko nodded in agreement as they walked up to where Jet's body was lying under the carpet and spent a couple of minutes enthusiastically jumping up and down on Jet, trying to make him flatter. Because of all the weed they had smoked, both Azula and Zuko got winded very quickly, however, and had to put a stop to these strenuous activities. "You know, I'm not sure we actually accomplished all that much," Zuko remarked, looking at the hump under the carpet that somehow looked bigger than before. "I don't think this is going to work."

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right, but unfortunately, I have to agree," Azula sighed, feeling a little annoyed when her amazing idea was proven to be less than amazing.

"We'll have to think of something else," Zuko said, sounding a little desperate. "We can't give up! I can't go to prison, Azula! Do you know what they do to handsome young guys like me in there?"

"Alright, just calm down!" Azula snapped, getting tired of her sibling's dramatics. "I actually just came up with an even better idea while you were busy panicking!" Zuko stopped his whining to give Azula a pleading stare. "There's a bus station just outside the building, right?" Zuko nodded quickly, while looking a little confused. "So, I had this idea. Why don't we stick Jet on the bus?"

"Great idea!" Zuko cheered. He then paused, thinking. "No, wait, stupid idea. The conductor will notice that he didn't pay his fare."

"Ugh, you misunderstand me," Azula groaned. "I meant that we stick Jet on the roof of the bus. As soon as the bus comes in for a stop, we push him out of the window and he should land right on the roof."

"That's an even stupider idea," Zuko glared. "You don't get conductors on the roof!"

"Exactly!" Azula shouted. "That's what makes the plan so flawless! Nobody will find him by the time the bus gets to the depot, and even then, they won't know where he came from. They will just assume that he's some rando with a hobby of… I don't know, bus-surfing?"

"Alright, I'm convinced," Zuko finally caved in. "Anyway, if we're going to do it, we better act first, because there's a bus at the traffic lights!"

Azula and Zuko quickly pulled the carpet off from Jet's body and then dragged the corpse over to the window. As the bus came in for a stop, they had successfully managed to squeeze Jet partway through the open window. "Alright, on the count of three," Azula said. Zuko nodded, and they got ready to push Jet all the way through the window, but before they could finish the count, the corpse suddenly stirred and let out a loud groan, shocking the two siblings.

"My head…" Jet moaned, dangling precariously out of the window after the Nakamura siblings had released him and taken a few steps back. Eventually, Jet managed to pull himself back into the apartment, standing up very unsteadily. Azula thought that it was rather remarkable how Jet could stand up at all considering all the physical abuse they had inflicted upon him. But then again, perhaps it was unsurprising that Jet could endure insane amounts of punishment and was very hard to kill, because his closest living relative was probably some kind of gross giant roach.

"Jet, buddy, you're alright!" Zuko exclaimed, looking hugely relieved.

"I'm not so sure about that… I hurt all over," Jet groaned. "What happened?" he asked.

"You had a really bad trip, mate," Zuko lied quickly. "I don't know what it was that we smoked, but you went absolutely crazy. You tried to throw yourself out of the window!"

"I don't remember any of that," Jet rubbed his brow, looking very confused. He reached behind his back and with a yelp of pain removed the fork that was still lodged into his buttock. "And why is there a fork up in my ass cheek?" Jet asked, wincing in pain.

"This is what I meant by a terrible trip, Jet," Zuko said sagely. "You actually attempted to engage in auto cannibalism. You must have thought your ass was a burger."

"That's insane," Jet groaned. It was only then that he actually seemed to notice Azula's presence in the room, staring at her wide-eyed. "Also, what is Azula doing here?" Jet demanded.

Zuko and Azula both paused, exchanging uncertain stares. Zuko eventually spoke up. "Azula… uh, what Azula?" he said, managing to sound surprisingly convincing. "Maybe you need to lie down, Jet?"

"You mean that's not Azula standing right over there?" Jet pointed at her. Zuko managed to appear very sad as he shook his head.

"Hi, Jet," Azula raised her hand and waved at Jet. "That's right, Zuko can't see me, because I'm a figment of your imagination."

"Damn, I see what you mean about a horrible trip," Jet shuddered. "I really need to lay down, but before I do that, I'm going to flush my entire drug stash down the toilet. We don't want a repeat of this. I mean, throwing myself out of the window is one thing, but I'm drawing a line at hallucinating your bitch sister," Jet said, hobbling past Azula and out of the living room.

"That was a close call," Azula said. Zuko nodded at her, looking even more relieved. "I should make myself scarce because we don't want to push our luck, right?"

"Right," Zuko nodded gratefully. "And thank you for helping me out, Azula. I really mean it."

"Obviously," Azula snorted. "I wasn't going to let my brother end up in jail. Who do you take me for?"

Zuko looked greatly touched by his sister's words. "That is an unusually sweet sentiment from you, Zula," he smiled.

"Oh, I didn't mean it in a sweet way, obviously," Azula rolled her eyes. "I don't want you to end up in jail because I can't stand the thought of you escaping all the torment that I intend to put you through in the future."

"Of course," Zuko groaned.

"Also, I hope you realize that it was me who took down your fake lobster roll," Azula announced proudly.

"I figured," Zuko sighed. "I couldn't imagine anyone else who would be capable of pulling such a bitch ass move."

"Exactly," Azula grinned, making finger guns at her brother. "Until the next time, Zuzu, may it not come soon."

Zuko didn't say anything else as Azula quickly made her exit before Jet returned and became suspicious. Once outside of the apartment building, Azula called for an Uber and settled in for a wait. It was already past 5am and the sun was rising behind the little enclosure with all the trash bins. Azula noticed that the strange Jin girl was still hanging around. She was carrying a plastic bag with all kinds of junk, probably her haul of Zuko's trash, and the raccoons were still following her around, but now the original pair were joined by two more raccoons, a trio of crows and a squirrel.

Since Azula had nothing better to do while waiting for her Uber, she decided to go over and see what Jin was up to. "Hey, so… it seems like your lecture on recycling is going down well," Azula said as she walked up to Jin.

"I would like to think that they're getting the message, but I'm not actually insane enough to believe that," Jin chuckled. Azula was surprised to discover that the girl actually had some self-awareness. "Still, the raccoons came back and they brought friends, so… we're having fun."

"To each their own, I suppose," Azula shrugged. "You're very weird, but also, seemingly harmless."

"Uh, thanks, I suppose," Jin grinned, giving Azula a long stare. "And you're very pretty. Still, I wish Zuko and Jet would realize that they don't have to hire a prostitute when they want to have some three-way fun. I'd be down to join them anytime if only they promised to be nice."

"What are you talking about? I'm not a whore!" Azula bristled. "I'm Zuko's sister!"

Jin gasped, clutching at her chest. "You're the evil witch we're supposed to compete against!" she exclaimed dramatically.

"Hey, I'm not evil-… well, actually, I can't really object to that after trying to throw Jet out of the third-floor window," Azula admitted. "Alright, I suppose I'm a little evil, yes."

"But maybe not, though," Jin gave her a scrutinizing stare. "I'm not getting a very evil vibe from you. Also, I know that Ty Lee thinks the world of you, and she's the sweetest girl I've ever known. She wouldn't like you so much if you were rotten to the core."

"Uh… thank you," Azula managed an awkward smile, noticing that her ride pulled up at the side of the street. Azula slipped her hand into the pocket of her coat, retrieving the Grouch glasses. "Hey… do you want these?" she asked Jin.

"Is there anything connecting them with Zuko?" Jin asked.

"Well, I used them to successfully give Zuko a small fright," Azula chuckled.

"Alright, that counts," Jin exclaimed happily, snatching up the glasses. "Thank you! You're actually really nice! Guys, let's give three cheers for Azula!" she told the raccoons. Azula rolled her eyes as she turned to leave, but she couldn't stop herself from smiling at Jin's menagerie making cute animal noises at her.

A short drive later, Azula arrived back at her apartment. It was already half past five in the morning and after an insane day, Azula was literally dying on her feet. She kicked off her shoes and shed her coat, but she had no energy to undress herself any further as she stumbled into her bedroom to find Katara still out cold. Azula slumped down on the free side of the bed, waking Katara up as her friend stirred lightly, moving closer to Azula.

"Where did you go?" Katara muttered, still sounding half-asleep as she reached out and wrapped her arms around Azula's waist.

"I had to help out my brother," Azula replied, looking on with fascination as in her half-asleep state, Katara pulled her close, settling into the position of being the big spoon for Azula. "He killed Jet during an argument, and I had to help him get rid of the body," Azula added, feeling like she had to explain further.

"That was very nice of you," Katara whispered softly, soon after dozing off and starting to softly saw logs with her face pressed into Azula's mussed up hair. As for Azula, she simply felt too tired to worry about being caught in this emotionally vulnerable position with Katara. Instead, she allowed herself to be held, feeling safer and more comforted than ever as she drifted off to dream of talking raccoons and a strange new hobby of bus-surfing.

Suki snapped out of her sleep to face the white noise of the static on the TV screen in front of her. Perhaps starting their watch of Princess Bride with a four-year-old at eleven in the evening was not the smartest idea, because one after another they had all fallen asleep during the watch. Suki had lasted the longest, but at the end of another exhausting day at work, sleep had overcome her as well, and now she found herself lounging on the sofa with Yue collapsed against her from one side and Kya from the other.

Having checked the time, Suki was surprised to see that it was almost three in the morning. She felt slightly guilty looking down at the little girl next to her. Kya deserved to be sleeping comfortably in her own bed, and Suki was going to make that happen. Both the mom and her daughter had changed into their PJ's before sitting down to watch the movie, so all Suki had to do was to pick Kya up and carry the girl over to her own bed in the adjacent room. Suki managed to do so without waking Kya up, even if she ended up stepping onto a dropped Pai Sho tile that went deep into her heel, nearly making her curse aloud.

Having settled Kya down onto her bed, Suki pulled the duvet over her and made sure the girl was comfortable. Kya was smiling in her sleep, probably dreaming about the adventures of Westley and Buttercup. Suki couldn't stop thinking what an amazingly cute kid Kya was, not that she expected Yue's child to be anything else other than utterly wholesome. Seriously, Azula was all kinds of crazy for walking away from the opportunity to become Kya's parent. Sure, Kya had her annoying moments like any small child, but on the whole, she was surprisingly low maintenance and especially now that she had been taught Pai Sho, Kya could often entertain herself for hours just sitting by the game board and studying one of her Pai Sho books bought for her by Azula.

Looking down at Kya, Suki felt a brief pang of regret about never even bringing up the question of having a child with Sokka. Suki had always assumed that Sokka would say no, either because things hadn't worked out with Yue, or just because they were both busy and overworked, and simply didn't have the time to be good parents – which was obviously a bullshit excuse because Yue somehow managed to do a good job as a single parent. Still, seeing how much joy Kya brought into Yue's life, it was difficult not to have regrets, especially when at the end of the day, Suki now returned to an empty apartment, with nobody waiting for her there.

Suki shook her head, refusing to indulge in her maudlin thoughts any longer. It was pointless to think of these past decisions and regret roads not taken, especially when it was in her power to change things going forward. Suki wasn't someone who dwelled on things, so she resolved to stop thinking about it as she returned to Yue, still fast asleep, sunken on the sofa now that she no longer had Suki to lean against.

For a moment, Suki considered waking Yue up to bid her goodnight before heading back to her apartment, but Suki simply didn't have the heart to wake Yue. The thought of carrying Yue to her bed just like she had done with Kya occurred to Suki, and she was having a hard time dismissing the idea. Sure, Yue was neither small nor very light, but Suki prided herself in being both physically strong and scrappy, so with a little bit of effort, Suki managed to gather Yue in her arms in order to carry her bridal style.

Suki came very close to bumping Yue's head against the door frame several times, but eventually, they managed to arrive safely in Yue's bedroom, where Suki lowered her best friend on the bed without waking her. Suki was then momentarily caught staring at the sweet smile on Yue's beautiful face, finding it very hard to pull herself away and leave. Once again, Suki found herself thinking how crazy Azula was to walk away from both Yue and Kya. Of course, it was possible that Azula could still reconsider and come back, but for some reason, that thought made Suki feel very conflicted, like she wanted to oppose that even while realizing that it could be a very good thing for everyone involved.

Still, Suki couldn't stick around any longer, watching Yue sleep without feeling like some weirdo. She reached out, brushing the errant strands of blonde hair out of Yue's face before turning to leave, only to find her arm suddenly seized. Suki almost failed to suppress a scream as Yue reached out and tugged roughly on her arm, saying nothing, like she was acting in her sleep. Suki was caught frozen, unsure of what to do, but Yue kept yanking her arm, more and more insistently. Suki eventually gave in, allowing herself to be pulled down onto the bed, where Yue embraced her from behind, squeezing her tightly, almost as if she mistook Suki for her favorite plush toy.

Suki felt a little tense to begin with, but she eventually relaxed when Yue's grip on her eased slightly. Still, she didn't think that she would be able to get out of the bed without waking up Yue, so it seemed that she was now stuck there, having to spend the night as Yue's plush toy, getting squeezed and cuddled with. Unsurprisingly enough, Suki was more than happy with this fate.

Katara was having a strange but exciting Saturday morning. She was over the moon having awoken in Azula's bed, cuddling with the target of her romantic obsession. Katara had tried to make the moment last for as long as she could, but she had eventually been forced to let go of Azula, because peeing Azula's bed would have been the opposite of romantic.

Katara's memories of the previous night were rather fuzzy because of all the weed and booze she had consumed, but waking up fully clothed suggested that nothing too sexy had happened between her and Azula. Still, Katara wasn't disappointed about that. If they were to have sex again, Katara wanted to have all of her facilities fully intact for it. Also, it seemed like taking small and slow steps with Azula produced far more promising results. When Yue had jumped in at the deep end, pulling Azula in with her, it had just ended up scaring Azula. Perhaps if Katara made her presence feel almost natural to Azula, they would become even more inseparable than they already were.

Katara had woken up at half past ten in the morning, already late for the lunch service, not that she was in a state where she felt capable of handling a shift. Also, she just didn't have the heart to wake Azula, especially considering that Azula had been up all night, helping her brother with something that Katara couldn't remember. It was now a quarter past twelve and Azula was still fast asleep, leaving Katara in a state of uncertainty whether she was supposed to stick around or leave discreetly.

In the end, Katara decided to stay, having convinced herself that Azula might be feeling poorly after waking up and might need her help. She was confident that the restaurant could handle a lunch service without her and Azula, so she had texted her rather unimpressed brother to inform him about their absence. Sokka had sent her a collection of whiny texts in response, but things had worked out perfectly fine in the end when Ty Lee had unexpectedly offered her help. Apparently, Zuko had canceled the lunch service at his restaurant, so Ty Lee was very happy to help out at The Northern Lights and earn some generous tips. Ty Lee had also sent Katara a photo of herself in The Northern Lights uniform which made Katara experience some interesting but very conflicting feelings towards her brother's new girlfriend.

While Katara was waiting for Azula to wake up, she started to experience a severe bout of hunger. Katara rarely ordered takeaway, so she decided to raid Azula's kitchen, hoping that her friend wouldn't mind if she helped herself. In the end, Katara decided to whip up a quick frittata from all the supplies she could scrounge in Azula's fridge. As the frittata was happily sitting in the oven, Katara spent the time waiting by engaging in some not too intrusive investigation of Azula's apartment.

Obviously, Katara wasn't surprised to discover that Azula's wardrobe was ridiculously large, and many articles of clothing in it appeared to have never been worn. Aside from the wardrobe, Azula's apartment was almost a little ascetic, but perhaps that wasn't surprising because it was after all a rent apartment and Azula wasn't making any plans for a permanent stay in Caldera City. Still, Azula had a rather large and varied collection of books, as well as a gaming console that appeared to be seeing regular use. Katara briefly wondered what kind of games Azula would be into. She decided that Azula was probably into competitive shooters where she could make teenage boys cry and throw their controllers in a fit of rage after she had humiliated them.

One thing that Katara failed to spot were any kind of family photos or something of similar sentimental value. Obviously, Katara didn't expect Azula to have a wholesome photo of herself and Zuko on display, but Azula was rather defensive of her father, and yet there were no photos of Ozai, with or without Azula. It gave Katara hope that perhaps Azula's connection to her father wasn't as unshakable as it sometimes felt.

"Something here smells good," Katara almost yelped when her musings were interrupted by Azula's voice. Katara turned her head to regard Azula standing in the kitchen doorway, yawning widely. She looked very disheveled, hair sticking in every direction, and the clothes she had worn yesterday were all rumpled, giving Azula a rare non-perfect appearance. Katara found it irresistibly cute.

"I was so bold to assume you wouldn't mind me cooking," Katara smiled at Azula. "I'm making a frittata and there should be enough for two. Also, good morning, sleepyhead."

"Morning," Azula yawned. "Anyway, I'm glad you decided to cook because I'm starving." She gave Katara a curious stare. "Also, I'm intrigued to try your cooking."

"I'm very conscious about being judged by a celebrity chef," Katara joked. "Please, don't set your bar too high, though, I'm just an amateur cook. Although, it is my father's recipe, so I hope I'll do it justice."

"Can't wait to try," Azula nodded, pouring herself some coffee. "Smells like it should be ready about now?"

Katara checked the timer on her phone. "Good nose," she smiled, winking at Azula. Katara then quickly removed the frittata from the oven, pleased to see that it was not jiggly and the firmness was even across the whole surface. "I know you chefs are all about letting the food rest, but-"

"Screw that, I'm hungry," Azula interrupted, her almost childish excitement making Katara laugh softly. "You can let your half rest if you like, I want mine now."

"Alright, alright," Katara chuckled, quickly cutting the frittata into smaller pieces and transferring equal amounts onto two plates. Azula snatched her plate before Katara could even make a move to pass it onto her friend. "Is it any good?" Katara asked, a little anxiously, as she watched Azula dig in.

Azula didn't reply until her mouth was empty again. "I may be a little biased because I'm starving, but this could legitimately be the best frittata I've ever had," Azula said, giving Katara an inquiring stare. "What's your secret?"

"Well, there is one trick to making a good frittata, but the secret is my dad's, not mine," Katara smiled. "My dad told me that people usually pour the egg mixture into the hot pan with the filling and then stuff it in the oven, but then because of the way heat is distributed, the edges of the pan burn before the middle is fully cooked. So, he taught me to pour the egg mixture into a cold pan, and only then add the filling."

Azula looked stunned. "I'm shocked I didn't even know that," she exclaimed, surprised. "Your father is a very smart man."

"He has his moments," Katara laughed. "The downside is that this method doubles the number of pans one has to clean afterwards."

"Pfft, don't concern yourself with that, it's what the dishwasher is for," Azula shrugged before continuing to munch happily. "I'm still a little tired, though," she admitted a short while later. "Do you think I could finish my breakfast in bed?" Azula asked.

Katara thought it was rather ludicrous that Azula even asked if she could do something in her own apartment, before realizing that Azula was worried that Katara might think that she was being disrespectful to the meal she had prepared. "Of course," Katara nodded. "And I should finish my own half and be on my way. You might be pleased to know that while the restaurant is ticking along nicely without us being there, the others probably still expect us to show up for the dinner service." Azula snorted, rolling her eyes. "Also, I really need a shower and a fresh change of clothes," Katara added.

"You can grab a shower here," Azula suggested. "And I can lend you whatever clothes you like." Katara wanted to protest, but Azula verbally steamrolled her, continuing. "Actually, I can think of several of my outfits I would really want to see you in," Azula said. She then hesitated, blushing lightly. "Or… well, that I think would suit you nicely."

"You're making it very hard for me to refuse," Katara admitted.

"That's kind of the whole point of my offer," Azula grinned victoriously. "Then it's settled. Let's keep hanging out and I'll drive us to the restaurant later in the afternoon. In the meantime, let's have breakfast in bed while watching some silly game show and mocking dumb people for wasting their 50/50 or calling a friend for completely trivial questions that even Ty Lee would know an answer to. Oh, and I suppose you might want to hear the story of how Zuko almost killed Jet last night."

"I vaguely remember dreaming about something like that," Katara said, feeling confused. "Are you saying that it wasn't a dream?"

"Zuko and Jet probably wish it was," Azula laughed before linking arms with Katara. "Anyway, come on, girlfriend. This is one story full of physical abuse and gaslighting that even someone as soft-hearted as you will enjoy a great deal…"

Chapter Text

As was the custom for the crew of The Northern Lights, they often chose to spend their days off hanging out together, usually doing something outdoorsy. On this particular hot June Monday, the group of friends had decided to follow Ty Lee's suggestion to visit an amusement park on the outskirts of Caldera City. Ty Lee insisted that she was feeling a little nostalgic for her days with a traveling circus, and a visit to the amusement park would be similar enough to hit her nostalgia vibes. Nobody, not even Azula raised any complaints about the idea of hanging out at an amusement park, though the poor thing looked terrified at Yue's idea to pick Kya up from the kindergarten early so that she could come along as well.

Katara was very relieved to see that the potential tensions between Azula and Kya eased almost instantly upon them seeing each other. Kya had only recently turned four, and Katara didn't believe that at that age the little girl would truly hold on to her resentment for too long. Also, Azula had plied her with plenty of amazing and expensive gifts, which certainly helped break the ice. It was great to see Azula looking so happy and relieved when they began exploring the grounds of the amusement park while holding Kya's hand, although it did feed into Katara's ugly fears about Azula possibly deciding that she wanted to be with Yue after all.

Still, Katara didn't want to spend their rare day off as a group of friends, wallowing in bitter jealousy and paranoia. She wanted to focus on having fun, and a couple of hours after their arrival at the amusement park, Katara considered her mission thus far being accomplished.

At first, the whole group had tried to stick together, but it quickly became clear that not everyone favored the same activities, and so over time, the group crumbled apart and coalesced again as people split up and then ran into each other again while waiting in queues for various rides.

They had started their day off by invading the bumper car track. Soon enough, their competitive attempts to force each other off track had forced all the other customers to leave in a hurry, making it a private attraction for the group of friends. Of course, not all of them were equally competitive, especially Katara and Yue who were the first to become bored and bow out, frowning at Sokka's comment that they only did so because they sucked at driving. Ty Lee was the next to join them on the sidelines. Ty Lee was really good at driving her little bumper car, but she simply couldn't focus on a single activity for too long before becoming bored.

Even though Aang didn't appear to be having a lot of fun, he stuck with the activity for as long as Toph wanted to do it. Toph was having a whale of a time even if she couldn't see where she was going. Since she could never get a driver's license to sit behind the wheel of a real car, this was the closest Toph was going to experience, and she was making the most of this opportunity, getting into everyone's way and causing chaos and mayhem.

Azula, Suki and Sokka stuck with the bumper car madness the longest, getting carried away by their competitive streaks. Kya had chosen to ride with Suki, strapped in as her excited copilot, and after almost an hour of crazy racing, Suki and Kya declared themselves the winners, an assertion that would be bitterly contested by Azula and Sokka throughout the rest of the day.

Afterwards, the group had gotten together at the main rollercoaster ride of the amusement park. Katara generally liked rollercoasters as long as they weren't too crazy, but this particular rollercoaster had a very nasty full 360-degree roll that quickly made Katara feel very sick. Yue also got off the ride green in the face, while Aang had unfortunately emptied the contents of his stomach during the ride, so the three of them decided to sit out repeat rides. While Yue was looking after Kya, Katara quickly ran off to fetch a bottle of soda for Aang, hoping that it would settle his upset stomach.

Ty Lee, Sokka, Azula and Suki did a few more rollercoaster rides before declaring that they'd had enough. Toph clearly couldn't get enough because she decided to spend the rest of the day on the rollercoaster. Toph clearly loved the sensations and due to her disability, she had no clue as to how terrifying the ride actually was.

The group then decided to split up again because Azula and Suki wanted to do a haunted house, while Katara and Yue weren't interested in scares and wanted to do the Ferris wheel instead. In the end, Sokka decided to go with Azula and Suki, a decision that he appeared to regret because Azula and Suki both later had a ball, sharing pictures of a terrified and faint looking Sokka. Ty Lee decided to join Katara and Yue for the Ferris wheel experience because she was a bit of a scaredy cat. Their Ferris wheel experience was marred slightly when an overzealous attendant refused to let Kya on the ride despite Katara clearly remembering how she had been taken on a Ferris Wheel by her parents at a similar age. With Aang nursing his upset stomach and keeping an eye on Toph, he became the designated babysitter for Kya while she was busy snacking on some consolation cotton candy for not being able to go on the ride.

"This is so much nicer than that crazy rollercoaster," Yue sighed happily as their passenger car ever so slowly inched towards the top.

"I completely agree," Katara nodded. "And nobody is screaming, either. We can just relax and enjoy some girl talk."

"Well, I do love some rollercoaster action, but this is very nice, too," Ty Lee chuckled. "Speaking of girl talk, have you heard the story about Azula getting into a fight at a Ferris wheel?"

"What? We haven't heard that, have we?" Yue shook her head, looking at Katara.

Katara nodded quickly. "Do tell, Ty Lee," she said.

"It happened when Azula and I were both seventeen," Ty Lee began the story. "We were at an amusement park in the Fire Fountain City with Mai and Zuko. I saw Zuko giving the Ferris wheel attendant some cash so that he would stop the wheel when Zuko's car was at the top because he wanted to do some romantic gesture to Mai. I told Azula about it, and can you guess what she did?" Katara and Yue exchanged stares, both shaking their heads. "Azula said that she didn't want to get stuck on the Ferris wheel because of Zuko's romantic bullshit, so she went and paid the ride attendant twice what Zuko had paid to make sure he didn't stop the wheel."

"She did not," Katara burst into disbelieving laughter.

"Spirits, Azula can be so nasty," Yue shook her head, but even so she looked just a little amused.

"She can, but we love her anyway," Ty Lee laughed. "Anyway, you can imagine how pissed off Zuko was afterwards. It was the nastiest fight I had ever seen between them. We tried so hard to keep them apart, but in the melee, both me and Mai caught several punches as well. Azula had a black eye and Zuko had a busted lip, so I'm very relieved that this amusement park visit is going better."

"I don't think anyone will be fighting today," Katara said, shaking her head at the crazy story.

"Anyway, what should we do next?" Yue asked once they were on their way back down.

"Well, I really want to do the log flume ride, but only if someone does it with me," Katara said.

"Hmm, you know I love water slides, bestie, but I'm not sure about getting wet today," Yue frowned.

"I'll go with you, Katara," Ty Lee offered, smiling. Katara was struck with ever growing fondness for the cheerful Fire Nation girl, her ever present cheerfulness and the way she was always up for literally everything. "We can also check out all those smaller stalls on our way to the water slide."

"That's an awesome suggestion, Ty Lee," Yue nodded excitedly. "Maybe we can even win some prizes? I'd love to get something for Kya. For a four-year-old, she has been very patient and understanding about not being able to go on all the rides."

"That certainly deserves a reward," Katara agreed. While Kya had definitely earned a lovely new plush animal, Katara wondered if she could perhaps win something for Azula. Maybe if she gave Azula a cuddly plush, she could then somehow wrangle Azula into going on the tunnel of love ride with her, although Azula probably considered the tunnel of love to be too cheesy for her tastes. Still, Katara reasoned that it was worth a try, anyway.

Soon, they were off the Ferris wheel and on their way to the flume ride, their path sneaking through the various stalls filled with attractions that let the participants win various prizes. Ty Lee stopped at the first stall, retrieving her phone and then starting to laugh. "What is it?" Katara asked, feeling curious.

"I think this is supposed to be my boyfriend trying to impress me," Ty Lee wiped tears of laughter from her cheeks before showing the picture to Katara and Yue. It was a photo of a screaming Sokka being launched over the head of a mechanical bull.

"Well, I suppose he gets A for effort," Katara snickered at her brother's silliness.

"Yes, I don't think he ever tried to impress me this way," Yue grinned.

"Alright, then I guess I'll be impressed," Ty Lee chuckled, posting a quick comment in the group chat that consisted mostly of heart emojis. "Anyway," Ty Lee said, putting the phone away and looking around. She then pointed at a nearby stall, its shelves lined with prize plushies. "Let's try that one! I'm something of a crack shot with airsoft guns," she said proudly.

It turned out that Ty Lee wasn't quite the crack shot as she had let them to believe, but Katara also had to admit that at least Ty Lee did better than she or Yue would have done. With one last shot left, Ty Lee still had a chance to win a prize if she could make her shot count. "So, which one should I go for?" Ty Lee asked, preparing to take aim.

"Kya would love that plush dolphin to go along with her favorite seal," Yue said, tugging on Ty Lee's arm.

"But that plush dragon also looks really amazing," Katara argued, reasoning that if Kya didn't want the dragon, then it would be something that she could give to Azula as a romantic gift.

"Well, I can't go for them both, so make up your minds," Ty Lee laughed as Yue and Katara were pulling her in opposite directions.

"Careful, there!" the gruff middle-aged woman who owned the stall grunted at them, not looking at all impressed with their antics. "And stop waving that gun around like a maniac! You'll take someone's eye out with it!"

"Hey, we have everything under control," Ty Lee argued, with Katara and Yue still all over her, making it hard for Ty Lee to take aim. "If you could just-" a shot suddenly went off as Ty Lee tried to shake herself free. The shot was followed by a piercing scream of pain.

"You stupid bimbos!" the stall owner yelled, clutching the left side of her face. "You shot me in the eye!"

"I'm going to guess there are no prizes for that," Ty Lee gulped, quickly dropping the airsoft gun.

"We're really sorry," Yue apologized frantically, looking frightened. "We didn't mean for it to happen."

"Obviously, we'll pay for everything," Katara added, feeling both ashamed and guilty. She felt slightly relieved when the stall owner removed her hand from the eye, revealing that the pellet had struck her upper cheek close to the corner of the eye, but it hadn't hit the eye itself. Still, there was a nasty bruise and quite a bit of blood pouring down the angry woman's cheek.

"Oh, you're definitely going to pay, assholes," the woman glared at them. "I know ancient magic. I'm going to put a gypsy's curse on you for this." She assumed a stance that made her look like a beginner fencer. "Before the moon rises three times-" the woman proclaimed loudly before making a very long and dramatic pause.

"Yes?" Katara, Yue and Ty Lee asked in unison, leaning forward.

"YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" the stall owner declared.

"Wait, you can't do that to us!" Ty Lee protested.

"Yes, remove this curse at once!" Yue joined in.

"This isn't fair at all," Katara nodded. "I already said we're going to cover your hospital bill," she added hastily. "Please, pretty please, remove this gypsy's curse from us? Surely, we don't deserve to die?"

"I'll think about it," the woman glared at them, not looking like she had softened one bit. Katara had to concede that the woman's anger was quite reasonable, because she was obviously in a lot of pain. "You better hope that this doesn't leave a scar, or else I'm letting the curse get you! In the meantime, try not to die, I guess!" she added before rushing out through the back door of the stall, ignoring the pleas of the three cursed girls to take pity on them.

"What are we going to do now?" Yue exclaimed, wringing her hands nervously.

"I don't know," Katara admitted. "Obviously, I've never been cursed before. Not to my knowledge, anyway."

"Let's get back to the others," Ty Lee suggested. "They might have ideas on how to solve this. Sokka is so clever, I'm sure he'll have a suggestion."

"Yes, and I'm sure he's going to treat this with the seriousness that it deserves," Katara nodded hopefully as they set out in search of the others.

Ten minutes later, the group had reconvened in the large square at the amusement park entrance, where Sokka, Azula, Suki and Toph were losing their shit, almost falling over themselves after they had listened to Katara, Yue and Ty Lee recounting their tale of woe about getting cursed. The only ones giving their story any credence seemed to be Aang and Kya.

"I don't understand what's so funny here," Yue glared at their friends, weeping from laughing too much. "Clearly, the best approach is to track down this lady and demand that she removes the curse."

"But we need the rest of you to do this," Katara insisted. "It's not safe for us to be running around while cursed. We need to hide someplace safe where nothing can happen to us."

"I'm not too worried about that," Ty Lee shrugged. "Despite the curse, I feel fine. So, I think I'll head to the hospital, try to find this mean lady and ask her to remove the curse. And I'll do it on my own, in case nobody is willing to help me," she added, giving her boyfriend as stern a stare as someone as perpetually cute as Ty Lee could manage.

"Alright, fine… let's go to the hospital and find the wandering gypsy," Sokka sighed. "But I think we'll have better luck finding a curse removal specialist at the hospital."

"Oh, do you know if they have one?" Ty Lee blinked, looking surprised. "That would come in really handy now. We need to look into this," she nodded, heading straight for her boyfriend's car, with a slightly exasperated Sokka following her.

"Alright, can someone drive us home?" Katara asked after Sokka and Ty Lee had already left. "Azula?"

"Sure," Azula nodded. She then hesitated, as if she had thought of something important. "If you want to be all by yourselves, that is. I mean, if the curse strikes, there will be nobody around to help you," Azula pointed out, very logically.

"Damn, that's a good point," Katara said, looking at Yue. "What should we do?" she asked.

"I don't know, we should probably stick together, and it would be even better if our friends could look out for us," Yue mused. "Also, I just realized… I don't want the curse to endanger Kya. Would it be possible for someone to look after her tonight?"

"I'll text my mother," Azula offered. "She and Kiyi could take her in for the night. They would probably have a good time together."

"Baby, would you like to have a sleepover with Kiyi?" Yue asked softly, kneeling next to Kya and tousling her daughter's hair.

"Ooh, can I?" Kya gave her mother a puppy eyed stare. "Kiyi's mom always has so many snacks for us! And we can build a fort in Kiyi's room!"

"You can certainly do all that," Yue agreed, looking relieved at how little persuasion was required to sell Kya on the idea. "I'll come pick you up in the morning, hopefully with this whole curse business resolved and behind us," she added, hugging her daughter and kissing her cheeks. "Suki, I don't suppose you could take Kya to her babysitter?"

"Sure," Suki shrugged. "But I want to go on record saying that you're being really ridiculous about this." Yue glared at Suki. "Although… maybe I shouldn't be so dismissive of something as serious as a curse," Suki quickly amended herself.

"Whipped," Toph snorted, shaking her head.

"Whatever, Toph," Suki glared. "Anyway, where are you going to stay? I'll stop by to help keep you safe."

"I was going to ask Azula to take us back to the restaurant," Katara said. "There's plenty of room in the apartment above. We should be safe there."

"Yes," Aang nodded sagely. "Because, as we know, no strange and unexplained accidents ever happen at our restaurant. It's as normal as any place could ever hope to be."

Ty Lee had always held a great dislike for hospitals. They were not at all cheerful places and their auras were almost universally heavy and grim. Now that Ty Lee also had this gypsy curse to worry about, she really hoped that they could wrap up their business at the hospital as quickly as possible.

After arriving at the hospital, Ty Lee and Sokka had decided to split up in order to cover more ground. Sokka had offered to find the injured stall owner and settle things with her, hopefully getting the surly woman to remove the curse. Ty Lee figured that it was a good idea to let Sokka handle it, because the injured woman didn't hold an unreasonable grudge against her boyfriend.

In the meantime, Ty Lee was left wandering around the hospital in search of someone who could help with removing the curse. The receptionists had given her strange stares after she had made her inquiries with them. One woman had decided that asking for curse removal was a codeword for getting rid of an STD, and she had given Ty Lee completely wrong directions. So, Ty Lee was now trying to find a specialist on her own, thus far without much luck.

After a fair bit of searching, Ty Lee arrived on the floor where several GPs had their practices. This seemed as good of a path to pursue as any other, because surely despite Sokka's skepticism, people probably got cursed on a daily basis, so most GPs probably had experience handling curses. Since Ty Lee had never bothered to choose a GP after coming back to Caldera City, she decided to randomly try the first door she came across.

Entering the large waiting room, Ty Lee groaned upon seeing how full it was. While Ty Lee was normally well behaved and would not even think of cutting in front of the queue, she also couldn't afford to sit there for hours while the curse slowly killed her. Under these circumstances, Ty Lee decided that some trickery was morally justified, and through the use of sweet smiles and sharp elbows, she eventually battled through the crowd to reach the nurse's desk.

"Hey, so I urgently need to see the doctor," Ty Lee spoke up once she had managed to attract the nurse's attention.

"You and everyone else in this room," the nurse rolled her eyes. "Do you have an appointment?"

Ty Lee paused momentarily. She didn't like lying because it left dark and ugly stains on her generally bright pink aura. However, having a dark and ugly aura was surely better than having no aura at all because she was dead. "Sure, I have an appointment," Ty Lee replied cheerfully.

"What's your name?" the nurse asked curtly.

Ty Lee cast a quick glance at all the scattered documents on the nurse's desk, picking out a random name she spotted in the files. "Name's Ishida," Ty Lee said confidently.

The nurse gave her an amused smirk. "Well, aren't you looking great today, Miss Ishida," she said. Ty Lee was about to reply before the nurse continued. "Probably because you have grown two new legs."

Ty Lee laughed nervously. "Did you hear me say Ishida? Because I clearly said Matsuda," she tried again.

"Well, that's even more remarkable, Miss Matsuda," the nurse chuckled. "You died at six o'clock this morning, and also appear to have changed sex."

"Alright, fine, so maybe I don't have an appointment," Ty Lee sighed.

"Well, why don't you make one?" the nurse glared at her.

"Because I didn't know I would need it," Ty Lee exclaimed. "And now it's an emergency because I only have three days left to live!"

"Why, what's wrong with you?" the nurse finally looked interested.

"I don't know, that's why I need to see the doctor," Ty Lee said, deciding not to mention the curse outright because so far everyone she had mentioned it to at the hospital had given her weird stares before walking away at a brisk pace.

"Well, how do you feel?" the nurse continued to question her.

"Honestly, I feel great," Ty Lee admitted the truth. Obviously, in her mind, it proved nothing, because the curse was probably slow acting.

"Look, there are some genuinely ill people here in need of attention," the nurse glared at her. "I can put you down for an appointment next Friday."

Ty Lee stepped away from the nurse's desk, letting out a heavy sigh. "So, this is it, isn't it?" she exclaimed, feeling greatly aggrieved. "The Fire Nation makes such a big fuss about encouraging their expats to come back, but when we do, we can't even get to see a doctor! We're left to be slowly killed while we wait! Don't we all deserve better?" There were mutters of agreement in the busy waiting room as Ty Lee's impassioned speech found receptive ears. "I think we deserve better! I pay my tax-" Ty Lee paused briefly, blinking. "Well, that's not important. What I was saying is that I demand to see the doctor because I'm too cute and too pretty to die!"

At that moment, the doors to the doctor's office flew open and a tall man with a stern looking moustache and bald pate ran out to break up the commotion, doing so by grabbing Ty Lee by the ear and literally dragging her into his office, just like the principal at Ty Lee's high school had done to misbehaving students. In the doctor's office, Ty Lee found herself rather aggressively poked and prodded for several minutes before the doctor finally stepped away, glaring at her. "There's obviously nothing wrong with you, at least not physically," the doctor sighed. "In fact, you're probably the healthiest young woman I've seen over the past ten years. I would be impressed if I wasn't so mad at you for causing all that ruckus and stirring up drama."

"There's nothing wrong with me?" Ty Lee gasped. "Are you quite sure, doc?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" the doctor near-yelled at her. "Now, will you please finally leave, or do I have to call the security?"

"Thank you, doc, I'm leaving, I promise!" Ty Lee exclaimed happily as she skipped out of the doctor's office, bursting with joy as she made her way to the elevators at the end of the hallway. Maybe the curse really was a bunch of nonsense as Sokka thought.

Ty Lee stopped at the end of the hallway and pressed a button to summon the elevator. While she was waiting, an elderly man in a wheelchair rolled up to her. As the elevator doors opened with a soft chime, Ty Lee politely stepped aside and allowed the disabled man to enter first.

"Thank you, miss… yaaaaaargh!" the old man screamed as together with the wheelchair he fell into the elevator shaft and plummeted towards his doom, yelling all the way. Several seconds later, there was a nasty crash, making Ty Lee wince. The elevator doors then closed in her face, revealing an 'Out of Order' sign she had missed earlier.

"How terrible," Ty Lee cringed. "That could have been me!" She thought to herself for a moment, finally snapping her fingers. "Of course! Obviously, I'm not dying from an illness, I'm the very picture of perfect health! The curse will strike through an accident! The only question is… how?"

Azula was having an absolute ball with this whole gypsy curse mess. Watching Katara, Yue and Ty Lee lose their minds while seriously believing that the gypsy's curse was real was peak comedy gold. Together with Sokka and Suki, they were having a hard time not constantly laughing about the way the curse victims were gripped with panic over the smallest things, whether it was someone's phone suddenly ringing or Suki opening a window, with Yue complaining that she might accidentally fall out, or Katara worrying that the window might fall in. In short, the three girls were being absolutely ridiculous and Azula found it the cutest and silliest thing ever, while also immediately sensing an opportunity to have even more fun at the expense of these superstitions.

The cursed trio had spent the last quarter of an hour to clear up the middle of the living space to make sure that nothing would fall on top of them, after which they had constructed themselves a pillow fort of an impressive size, only occasionally peeking their worried noses outside. Meanwhile, Azula and Sokka were sitting on a nearby sofa, watching this comedy unfold over a bottle of Chardonnay. Having dropped Kya off at Ursa's place, Suki was also back at the restaurant, whipping up a meal for the cursed trio. Azula was having a hard time keeping a straight face as she tried to imagine the reactions once the meal was served.

"This is an amazing pillow fort. It's even better than the ones we used to build with Mai and Azula," Ty Lee said, sounding bored. "But the problem is that there's nothing to do in here."

"Why don't you follow our example and read a book?" Katara asked. She and Yue were both busy reading. Sokka had grabbed a couple of desk lamps and an extension cord to make sure the girls had plenty of light inside their pillow fort.

"I'm afraid Ty Lee isn't one for books, Kat," Azula laughed.

"Yeah, Azula is right," Ty Lee admitted. "I once tried to read a book and ended up falling into coma."

"I don't believe it," Yue said. "What was the book, do you remember?"

"I'm not sure," Ty Lee replied. "Oh, wait… I think it was called 'Under the Bridge with Dick and Harry'."

Azula sighed. "No, Ty Lee, you tried to read the Unabridged Dictionary. That's why you almost fell into coma because it was so boring."

Sokka burst into laughter. "I could find you some fun audio books to listen to," he suggested. "Maybe that'll be better for you than reading?"

"That might work," Ty Lee said. "As long as they have plenty of pictures."

Azula and Sokka exchanged stares, having to bite down on their fingers in order not to burst into laughter. "Sure, Ty, I'll get you one with the most pictures," Sokka chuckled. "Something with princesses and dragons should work perfectly fine."

"You're catching on quickly," Azula grinned at Sokka. "But don't make the mistake assuming that Ty Lee only loves wholesome things. She has layers, too."

"Yes, I'm just like an ogre," Ty Lee agreed. "Also, I seem to have an appetite of an ogre, because I'm starving. Are you sure Suki hasn't forgotten about us?"

"Yeah, I'm also getting very hungry," Yue echoed Ty Lee's statement. "Could one of you please go and check up on Suki?"

"Will do," Azula offered. Normally, she would have never agreed to move from the comfy sofa and would have simply bullied Sokka to do it, but Azula was very curious to see how the meal was coming along, so she got up from the sofa and proceeded downstairs to the kitchen, where Suki was busy operating a huge industrial blender to mix up something that looked like particularly foul grey sludge. "Whoa, that looks even worse than in my wildest nightmares," Azula remarked.

"I know, right?" Suki grinned. "The funny thing is that the taste actually is not that bad. And why would it be, there are only delicious things in this, right? But the texture and how it looks visually makes all the difference."

"Yes, it looks suitably gross," Azula said as she peeked at the grey sludge. "I feel like you've blended it more than enough by now. You've reduced everything to the consistency of a cream."

"Yeah, it's probably enough," Suki agreed. "Grab some bowls and let's make sure our sludge has a nice presentation. I'm thinking mint leaves."

"That should make for a nice touch," Azula grinned. Soon enough, Suki was carrying a tray with three bowls of foul looking slop up the stairs, with Azula trailing her.

"Ladies! Dinner is served!" Suki called out in a singsong voice once she had placed the tray on a coffee table near the pillow fort.

Katara, Yue and Ty Lee carefully poked their noses out from the fort, eventually daring to approach the coffee table, lured by their hunger. The three girls were left bewildered, staring at the bowls of unappetizing grey slop. "What is this?" Yue asked uncertainly. "You agreed to make us cheeseburgers with fries."

"And I did," Suki replied proudly. "These are your cheeseburgers and fries."

"Is this a joke?" Katara looked unimpressed and even a little bit angry.

"Yeah, this doesn't look like any cheeseburger I've ever had," Ty Lee frowned.

"Well, obviously," Suki sighed. "I had to put it all through a blender, didn't I?" The cursed trio stared at Suki as if she had lost her mind. "You're worried about deadly accidents, right? Have you any idea how many people in the Fire Nation die every year from choking on their food? More than a dozen! Cheeseburger and fries are definitely choking hazards, so I had to blend your food because I care about my friends."

Katara, Yue and Ty Lee exchanged stares. "You know what? That's good thinking, Suki," Katara was forced to admit. "You did the right thing," she added with a sigh, grabbing her spoon and preparing to dig in, with Yue and Ty Lee reluctantly following Katara's example.

"This is… lovely," Yue shuddered, having managed to swallow a spoonful of the slop. "You're very thoughtful, Suki."

The three girls were still far from being halfway through their meal when they were starting to turn green in their faces. "I don't think I can have any more of this without throwing up," Yue groaned, pushing her bowl aside.

"Same here," Ty Lee nodded. "Also, I think we were promised some milkshakes? I really need one to wash down… whatever that was."

"It had the consistency of wallpaper glue," Katara winced. "A milkshake would really hit the spot right now."

"But you've already had your milkshakes," Suki pointed out innocently. "I blended them in with the burgers and the fries." The cursed trio all as one fell over, making retching sounds.

"So, this is how we die," Yue exclaimed dramatically. "Poisoned by Suki."

"I feel like you're being a trifle unfair to Suki here," Azula pointed out, trying to hold back her laughter. "She was trying to help you, but all you're doing is criticizing her."

"No, you're right," Katara admitted, once she had gotten the grip on her nausea. "I'm sorry for being ungrateful, Suki. It's just that we need some solid food. I'm prepared to take a risk and order pizzas for us all."

"That hardly seems safe," Sokka shook his head. "Remember, you only have to go like this for three days. If you make it through safely, the curse will just expire on its own, right?"

"Right," Yue nodded. "But since when you're such an expert or believer in curses, anyway?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Sokka.

"Well, I was convinced by my girlfriend almost falling into an elevator shaft," Sokka replied smoothly. "Anyway, people have survived without eating for up to a week, so three days shouldn't be that hard as long as you keep yourself hydrated."

"Of course, then there's the matter of potty breaks," Suki pointed out, struggling to contain her glee.

"That's right, the staff toilets are downstairs," Ty Lee sighed. "That trip could be dangerous. We could fall down the stairs and break our necks."

"True, but we'll have to chance it at some point anyway," Yue admitted reluctantly. "We can't last for three days without going to the toilet."

"Ugh, all this talk about toilets is reminding me how much I actually need to go," Katara groaned, wincing as she crossed her legs, looking very uncomfortable. "You know what, I'll just take that risk because I'm about to burst," she said, getting up to her feet and heading for the stairs.

"Just be careful, Kat," Azula called out after her. Katara turned her head to face Azula, smiling, and then promptly walking into a piece of furniture, stabbing her toe on a table leg.

"The curse is real!" Katara squeaked, dashing back to the pillow fort and diving inside. "I'm so going to hold it in." Ty Lee looked to be in agreement with Katara, also disappearing into the fort to hide.

"It can't be healthy to hold back from peeing for days," Yue shook her head. "Maybe that's how the curse is going to kill us by having our bladders explode?" she wondered, giving Azula, Suki and Sokka a deeply concerned stare. "Listen, you have to find that woman from the amusement park and convince her to remove the curse," Yue pleaded. "I know she wasn't at the hospital Sokka and Ty Lee checked out, but it's not like Caldera City has that many hospitals she could have gone to. If you three were to split up, I'm sure you would find her quickly enough."

"I'm sure we would," Azula said. "But I wouldn't feel right about leaving you unprotected. What if something happens to you while we're gone?"

"If the curse is really going to kill us, then you sticking around isn't going to make much of a difference," Katara argued from within the pillow fort. "You trying to remove the curse and leaving us unprotected is a risk I'm willing to take."

"Alright, if you say so," Azula said, trying to sound ominous. "Suki, Sokka, shall we be off? I'll make a list of all the Caldera hospitals and plan our routes if one of you takes the wheel." Suki caught on immediately, while Sokka seemed reluctant to follow, reacting only to Azula's furious winking.

"Let's take my car and I'll drive," Sokka said once they were outside the restaurant.

"Fair enough," Azula nodded. "But I hope you realize we're not actually going to waste our time chasing shadows around the city's hospitals, right?"

"I knew you had some kind of a plan," Suki rubbed her hands.

"I wasn't so convinced, because remember how much of a simp Azula is for Yue and Katara," Sokka chuckled. Suki burst into laughter at that, making Azula frown. "Anyway, what are you thinking?"

"I figure that we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to really prey on the superstitions of our gullible but very cute friends," Azula grinned. "So, I was thinking that we could go over to my place and put together a scary Grim Reaper costume. Then we could pretend that Death itself has come to claim the souls of these three cursed victims."

"Devious," Suki smiled, licking her lips. "If we could stop at my place, I have this Grim Reaper skull mask from Halloween a couple of years back."

"And I know where we can borrow a scythe," Sokka grinned, looking to be all in on the plan. "A word of caution, though," he warned. "Those three are going to be really pissed once they discover that we have pranked them. Now, I don't think Ty Lee would be mad enough to break up with me-"

"She won't," Azula confidently shook her head. "She's always been a good sport about things like these."

"Katara and Yue might not be, though," Suki pointed out. "Those two can hold a grudge."

"Don't worry about it," Azula replied nonchalantly. "If you're that worried, I'll be happy to claim all responsibility. Let them be mad at me."

"Do you want Katara and Yue to torture you or something?" Suki chuckled.

"Oh, don't threaten me with good time, Suki," Azula smirked.

"Wait, are you hoping for them to torture you?" Sokka started to laugh. Azula felt her cheeks becoming very warm. "You're one kinky bitch, Nakamura."

"No comment," Azula managed a curt reply, glaring impatiently at the chuckling Sokka and Suki. "Let's be on our way already, shall we?"

A couple of hours later, their work on the Grim Reaper costume was complete. With Sokka's help, Suki had done most of the work by sewing a cowl onto a large black makeshift robe. Azula had been mostly useless throughout the whole process, although she felt like she had done important work feeding Katara fake information about searching the various hospitals and coming up short. Also, she had almost peed herself while laughing at Katara's story about how the three cursed girls had valiantly braved a toilet run. It sounded like peak drama, with Ty Lee slipping on the stairs and the paper towel dispenser inexplicably falling on Yue's head, further strengthening the belief of the three girls that the curse was real.

It was already close to midnight when Azula and her co-conspirators arrived back at the restaurant. Obviously, Azula wanted for it to be dark outside to amplify the scariness as the Grim Reaper made its appearance. It took some effort for them to get ready with Suki riding piggyback on Sokka, and Azula then climbing onto Suki while draping the large Grim Reaper costume over them. The extra height now made the figure appear more otherworldly, although Azula was a little worried that they looked a bit more like Slenderman than the Grim Reaper, but she supposed that the skull mask and the scythe helped.

Making up the stairs in their getup was definitely a challenging proposal and Azula was concerned about Sokka's back giving out, but apparently Sokka's practice of carrying around fully grown sea lions had given him the necessary stamina to endure. Huffing and puffing, the Grim Reaper arrived at the top of the stairs to face the pillow fort. The upstairs apartment was sinking in darkness, with the cursed trio seemingly having fallen asleep. Azula grabbed her phone to play a previously prepared record with ominous sounds on a loop, like creaking floorboards, doors opening and terrified screams in the distance.

"Anyone else heard that ominous creaking sound?" Katara was the first to react, speaking up worriedly.

"I sure did," Ty Lee replied nervously, her head poking out of the pillow fort, followed by the two equally concerned Water Tribe girls. "Is… is somebody there?" Ty Lee exclaimed, having spotted the tall shape hanging around near the stairs. "W-who are you?"

Azula burst into villainous laughter. "I am Death!" she roared, throwing her voice to sound more terrifying.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Ty Lee apologized politely. "WHO ARE YOU?" she yelled at Azula.

Azula rolled her eyes. Sokka and Suki were cracking up inside the costume, under her. "I'm Death, not deaf!" Azula roared.

"Oh no!" Yue exclaimed. "The Grim Reaper has come for us!" She tried to pull back at the same time as Katara and Ty Lee, so they ended up crashing into the pillow fort and it collapsed all around them.

"That's right!" Azula roared. Her throat was going to be ruined come tomorrow, but it was definitely worth it for the laughs. "I have come to claim your souls!"

"Please, Death, we're too young to die!" Katara whimpered, reemerging from the ruined pillow fort. "Is there anything we can offer instead of our souls?" Katara begged.

"Hmm, let me think," Azula paused. She hadn't prepared anything for this kind of bargaining, so she needed to improvise. However, she wasn't quick enough to come up with an idea before Suki beat her to it.

"You can save your souls if all three of you start making out right here and right now," Suki spoke in a gruff voice.

"Hey, that's not what we agreed on," Sokka hissed inside the suit, with Azula finding herself in agreement with Katara's brother.

Meanwhile, the cursed trio appeared a little stunned by the request, staring uncertainly at the Grim Reaper. "Oh well, I've been wanting to do this for a while now, anyway," Ty Lee reacted the first, grabbing Katara's shoulders and starting to kiss her. Soon enough they were full-on making out with hands unashamedly all over each other.

"Hmm, you sounded different just now," Yue remarked, appearing a little suspicious as she stared at the Grim Reaper. "Still, I want to keep my soul, so save some sugar for me, girls," she decided before yanking Katara away from Ty Lee and starting to kiss her ex-girlfriend. Ty Lee wasn't going to be content with just watching, because she kept getting in between Katara and Yue, stealing passionate kisses from both of them.

"That's my girlfriend making out with my sister," Sokka grumbled unhappily. "It's wrong and it needs to stop."

"Oh, don't be so uptight, Sokka, it's just a bit of harmless sexy fun," Suki hissed. Azula was very conflicted about what she was witnessing. On one hand, she was definitely becoming very hot and bothered because the display in front of her was incredibly arousing. But on the other hand, Ty Lee wasn't a part of their agreement of casual fun, so seeing her childhood friend moving in on what Azula considered her territory filled Azula with bitter jealousy.

"I'm telling them to stop," Sokka warned. His next words came out muffled and Azula assumed it was because Suki had slapped her hand across Sokka's mouth to silence him.

What followed was Suki making a very sudden and sharp move that almost threw Azula off her back. "Ow!" Suki yelled. "He bit me!"

Katara, Yue and Ty Lee stopped their passionate making out session to stare at the Grim Reaper. "Is, uh… is everything alright?" Ty Lee asked.

"That voice sounded very familiar…" Yue remarked, appearing even more suspicious than before. "I could have sworn-"

Meanwhile, Suki and Sokka were still struggling, with Suki clearly annoyed at having been bitten. "Keep it steady, you two! You're going to make us-" Azula's sentence remained unfinished as the struggle between Suki and Sokka eventually unbalanced them, and after a lot of very dramatic flailing at the top of the stairs, the Grim Reaper ended up tumbling down the steps. "Fall down the stairs," Azula summarized, spread-eagled on the floor below, with Suki and Sokka lying next to her, looking dazed.

"I don't believe this!" Ty Lee exclaimed, appearing at the top of the stairs. "It's Azula, Sokka and Suki!"

"I knew those voices sounded familiar!" Yue shouted.

"They were the Grim Reaper?" Katara asked, looking incredulous. Then her lips contorted into a wicked grim. "Let's get them! It's revenge time!" The trio had clearly forgotten all about the curse as they charged down the stairs and pounced on their helpless victims. Ty Lee fell on Sokka, Yue pinned Suki to the ground and Katara tackled Azula before she could get up. "Let's tickle torture them to death!" Katara yelled.

"Ugh, Suki isn't at all ticklish," Yue sighed after her efforts to torture Suki weren't producing any meaningful results. "But also, she has a bleeding headwound so maybe she doesn't need any more punishing."

"Thanks," Suki groaned weakly in response.

Meanwhile, Ty Lee was having a little more success in tickling Sokka, although Sokka seemed to be graciously allowing it before eventually seizing Ty Lee's hands and stopping her. "Okay, that's enough," he said before fixing his girlfriend with a glare. "Anyway, what was that about having wanted to kiss my sister for a long time?" Sokka asked.

"Oh, that… that may have come out wrong," Ty Lee chuckled nervously. "It's just that I have been dying to know what it is about Katara and Yue that has made Azula so fixated on them. And, well… now I definitely know the answer to that," she grinned. "But don't worry, Sokka, my curiosity has been satisfied. You're my one and only teddy bear, I promise," Ty Lee added softly, reaching out and shutting down any further complaints by kissing her boyfriend.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm having a great time with my victim," Katara grinned, mercilessly tickling Azula and getting some impressive results because Azula was ridiculously ticklish. Tears were pouring down Azula's cheeks as she couldn't stop laughing while begging Katara to stop.

"Please, enough," Azula begged. "I actually have something for you that might soothe your anger."

"Speak, lowly worm," Katara ordered as she sat on top of Azula, pinning her victim to the floor.

"Remember that nice cabin we rented a month ago? And the asshole owner who later canceled our reservation?" Azula asked. Katara nodded curtly. "Well, he called me earlier to apologize, and to make us an offer. Apparently, someone canceled on him, so he's offering the cabin this weekend for us at half price. I took him up on the offer, because I figured you'd want to go."

"That sounds amazing," Yue spoke up. "I'll be happy to go back there."

"Me too," Suki echoed the girl on top of her, still sounding a little dazed.

"Can we go, too?" Ty Lee asked, giving Sokka a hopeful look.

"If I hadn't just seen you making out with my sister, I might have said yes," Sokka replied. "Anyway, I think we'll be looking after Kya while her mother gets up to acts of wicked depravity." Yue burst into giggles at that.

"Sounds like everyone is excited about this cabin trip," Azula gave Katara a hopeful smile. "Does that mean I might be forgiven?"

"Hmm… yes, well played," Katara admitted with a reluctant smile before leaning in to give Azula a quick kiss. "Consider yourself forgiven."

Chapter Text

At the end of yet another grueling but rewarding week of hard work, Katara was very much looking forward to the return to the forest cottage. Their previous visit to the cabin had been all sorts of spicy fun, and Katara was hoping for at least a repeat of that experience, or even better, an escalation of sexy shenanigans. A slow Sunday evening allowed them to close the restaurant a few minutes past eight, and then Katara, Yue and Suki piled into Azula's already pre-loaded car and off they went, making the slightly less than an hour drive to the forest cabin.

Whenever Katara did something only with her besties Suki and Yue, she always felt a little guilty for excluding the others, but on this occasion, it helped to know that the rest of their friends had exciting plans of their own. Toph and Aang had left the restaurant carrying a stupid amount of leftover food and wine that wouldn't otherwise survive until Tuesday. Toph planned to go back to the amusement park on Monday because she had become addicted to the rush of the rides, and Aang wanted to accompany his best friend. Aang had talked about wanting to complete the rollercoaster ride without throwing up, but Azula speculated that Aang actually had an eye on the mascot of the amusement park, an anthropomorphic lady fox. Katara hoped that Aang wasn't in for a disappointment of discovering that just because the costume itself was that of a female fox, it didn't mean that it was worn by a cute girl and not by a sour-smelling neckbeard boiling in his own sweat.

Sokka had also made plans for Monday, which included taking Ty Lee and Kya on a wildlife spotting boat tour departing from the marina of Caldera City and making a wide circle around some of the islands of the archipelago before returning three hours later. Katara had gone on this same tour some six years ago with her dad, and she had loved it. The boat was huge and very comfortable, having three decks and all the possible amenities, including a well-stocked cafeteria serving delicious home-made ice cream and lemonade. The tickets cost a pretty penny, but after a couple of profitable months for the restaurant, they were finally in a spot where they didn't have to count every cent. It was an experience that almost felt surreal to Katara after spending so many years in near poverty.

Ty Lee was very much onboard with this wildlife spotting tour because she was hoping to reconnect with her sealion friend, Slippery Pete, who had returned to his natural environment, hopefully thriving there. Katara wasn't so sure if Pete would recognize Ty Lee several months later, but Ty Lee was a very memorable person, so perhaps it wasn't so unlikely.

Katara was especially glad that Ty Lee got to do something that was surely going to cheer her up after she had been down throughout most of the week. Ty Lee wasn't happy with the current vibe at The Blue Spirit restaurant, and she was desperately trying to think of ways to fix the drama tearing her workplace apart. The lobster roll scandal had failed to break up Zuko and Jet. Zuko might have been insanely angry at Jet for the whole scheme of supplying cheap low-quality lobster, but he was also feeling guilty and simping hard after having knocked Jet out in a fit of anger. So, the bromance was still going strong, and it was splitting the restaurant right down the middle.

Since Ty Lee loved to chaotically rant about everything that went on at work, she had also told them that lately, Mai had stopped showing up for work, only coming in twice a week to make sure that Ruon Jian was staying on top of the admin work. Ty Lee had come back to work at The Blue Spirit at Mai's invitation, and she probably wouldn't have done that if she didn't think that she would be working alongside her best friend, but now Mai was largely absent and as a result, Ty Lee was having way less fun at work. Ty Lee was trying to think of some way to snap Mai out of her funk, but so far, nothing she tried had produced meaningful results.

Lastly, Kya also seemed happy to let her mother go and get up to some wild shenanigans on her day off work. Of course, Kya had also been plied with plenty of treats and gifts to ensure her compliance, but perhaps it hadn't even been necessary because she seemed very keen on staying with her dad and going on this wildlife spotting tour with Sokka and Ty Lee. While Yue was definitely spoiling her daughter whenever she could, Kya was still growing up to be fairly independent and self-sufficient, and it was rare for her to throw temper tantrums whenever her mom wasn't around to coddle her.

Kya had also enjoyed the whole adventure with the supposed gypsy curse, because it had allowed her to do a sleepover with Kiyi, who was quickly becoming something of a hero, role-model and as good as an adopted older sister for the little girl. Kya's obsession with Kiyi had also created an issue where Kya became a terrible little gremlin to her other babysitters because she tried to make a point that nobody else could look after her as well as Kiyi could. This behavior was giving Yue a mild headache as she was quickly losing more and more backup babysitters. Yue had tried to explain to Kya that Kiyi couldn't physically handle the load of being her only babysitter, but the message hadn't sunken in yet. Right now, the solution was for Yue to occasionally bring Kya with her to work where the staff collectively looked after her as much as they could.

Still, all these concerns could be set aside for a day and a half as the four ladies finally arrived at the forest cottage and began to settle in. Azula once again hijacked the posh bedroom with in-suite bathroom, but the others were happy to let Azula have it, because she had been the one to secure this little getaway. Yue and Suki once again claimed the second largest room with twin beds, and Katara happily settled in the single room between the two larger bedrooms.

The day had been long, and with all the traveling and settling in, by the time they all came back downstairs to crack open a bottle of wine and make themselves comfortable, it was already half past ten in the evening and they all appeared a little exhausted and sleepy. It was quickly agreed that the best way to round off the evening was by watching a movie, and as it tended to happen, Azula and Suki ended up overwhelming Katara and Yue with their insistence on watching yet another horror flick. Admittedly, Katara allowed herself to be easily convinced because she saw strategic opportunities in clinging to Azula following jump-scares and some of the more gory and disturbing kills, and Yue probably voiced her assent with similar ideas in mind.

In the end, Katara had to admit that she actually rather enjoyed 'Abigail', as some of its themes and the ending had an almost wholesome vibe to it. Also, she had seized on several opportunities to cling to Azula, which had made the viewing experience even better. Katara had noticed that with Yue sitting between Azula and Suki, she had sometimes clung to Azula and sometimes to Suki, which was certainly an interesting observation.

"Well, I rather enjoyed that," Yue was the first to speak up as the credits rolled. "Although, it sucks that Sammy died. I really hoped that she would make it."

"She had a pretty cool death, though," Suki pointed out. "And she got to kill some idiot as a vampire, that's pretty badass."

"True," Azula nodded. "Still, you were a little naïve to hope that Sammy would make it. Characters like her always die in these movies."

"I think Yue just liked her because she looks a bit like Kathryn Newton," Katara laughed.

"You might be onto something there, Kat," Yue admitted. "And it's a nice compliment to say that I look like Kathryn Newton because she's gorgeous."

"She really is," Azula nodded, smiling.

"I don't know who would disagree with that," Suki shrugged. "Although, it would be a hard choice between her and Melissa Barrera. I just wish Melissa would have some badass piercings, that would make her insanely hot."

"You and your piercings," Katara laughed. "You think everyone needs them in order to be hot."

"I definitely don't think that," Suki protested. For some reason, she seemed to be focusing her stare on Yue at that moment. "But I'll admit that I am considering a new piercing."

"Oh, that's exciting," Yue looked very intrigued. "What were you thinking about?"

"Tongue," Suki replied. "But I'm a little worried about it," she admitted. "What if a piece of metal in my mouth messes up with my ability to properly taste the food? So, I'm still thinking about it."

"That's a legitimate concern," Azula remarked. Katara expected Azula to just outright tell Suki that it was a bad idea, but slightly surprisingly, Azula refrained from making any further comments about it. "How many piercings do you have already?" she instead asked, looking curious.

"Oh, this is getting interesting," Suki grinned. "See if you can guess it."

"Well, I don't want to just blindly guess, not when I can actually count," Azula smirked. "Although it's hard to tell with ears, you could have seven or eight holes in there."

"I'll make it easy for you," Suki said. "I haven't removed any of my piercings."

"Alright, then," Azula said, rubbing her hands as she rose from the sofa to approach Suki. "Okay, that's three in your left ear and two in the right, that's five already. Two in left eyebrow, one in the right, we're up to eight. Nose and a couple in lower lip, that's eleven."

"Doing well so far," Katara cheered. "But these are the easy ones."

"Oh, we're getting there," Azula smirked. "I've seen your navel piercing before, so that's twelve. And with the nipple studs, I think we're up to fourteen."

"Wait, how do you know about Suki's nipple piercings?" Yue asked, frowning lightly.

"Well…" Azula hesitated. "When you two were convinced that the restaurant's basement was haunted, Suki and I went to investigate, and while there, we just started making out. And when I was feeling Suki up, I could easily tell that she has nipple studs." Azula looked over at Suki. "Anyway, did I guess it right? You have fourteen piercings?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Suki drawled mysteriously. "What if I have a pierced clit, or labia?"

"I guess Azula didn't find that out during your basement making out session," Katara remarked.

"No, unlike me, she was really shy about stuffing her hand down my panties," Suki laughed. "Anyway, that was a fun little distraction, until we were pussy blocked by our resident giant parrot."

"Sucks for you, I guess," Yue replied, sounding a little tense.

"It did suck for me, especially considering that both you and Kat have already hooked up with Azula," Suki replied, making Katara and Yue exchange slightly guilty stares. "So, I was actually going to let Azula do a very thorough inspection of my piercings, upstairs, in her bedroom. What do you say, Zula?"

Azula went very red in the face at this unexpected proposition, and instead of responding to Suki, she instead turned to look at both Katara and Yue, appearing very uncertain. On her part, Katara was feeling more conflicted than ever. Everything within her screamed to protest against this, and at that moment, she was very mad at Suki for coming up with this idea after Katara had made all these plans for her own move on Azula. And yet, at the same time, Katara knew that she couldn't deny Suki this opportunity without risking damage to their friendship. Their agreement about casual hooking up among their little group was still in place, and Katara protesting about it now after she had already hooked up with Azula once would make her look like a selfish, petulant and altogether, a bad friend.

"Go for it," Katara ground out, managing a very forced smile. "You two deserve to have some fun, too."

"Yes," Yue nodded, looking very stiff and tense. "It is only fair," Yue forced herself to add, even though she looked like she very much didn't care about fairness at that particular moment.

"Very well," Azula said with an odd look on her face, almost as if she had expected or hoped for Katara or Yue to put up a fight. "Let's go, Suki," she said, accepting the hand offered to her. "Also, you better have a piercing down there or else I might sue you for deceptive advertising," Azula spoke as the pair walked up the stairs, leaving Katara sitting with a very straight back and fighting herself against glaring daggers at the retreating pair.

As soon as the doors to Azula's bedroom upstairs fell shut, Katara bolted up from the sofa and began pacing back and forth. As for Yue, she left the living room without saying a word, returning shortly afterwards with a bottle of scotch in her hand. Yue quickly opened the bottle and poured a generous amount of the amber liquid in their wine glasses, pressing one of them into Katara's hand. The pair exchanged a look full of understanding before swallowing the contents of their glasses and wincing as the whiskey burned in their throats.

"So, what are we supposed to do while they're-" Katara exclaimed irately, cutting herself off because she didn't want to finish the sentence.

"I don't know," Yue shrugged helplessly as she sat back down. "I can't even think about sleeping right now. I suppose if we drunk all this whiskey, we might knock ourselves out."

"I guess that's one option," Katara fumed. "At least then we wouldn't be able to overhear anything."

"I suppose we could watch another movie," Yue suggested. "That could also help drown out any noises. Although, I can't see how I could possibly focus on a movie just now."

Katara nodded absentmindedly, another idea entering her mind as she glanced at Yue. Yue was her ex, her first real girlfriend and someone she considered her best friend alongside Suki. Katara knew that she would always love Yue for as long as her heart kept beating. But now, because of this rivalry over Azula, Katara couldn't deny that things felt a little tense between them, and that simply didn't sit right with Katara. Perhaps, through a more drastic solution, they could get rid of these tensions between them.

"Or, alternatively…" Katara spoke in a husky voice as she reached out to play with a lock of Yue's hair. "We could just follow their example…"

Yue's cheeks reddened instantly, making her appear even more desirable. "Really?" she sounded surprised. "I wasn't sure you'd be open to that…"

"Why not?" Katara shrugged. "It's not like we're looking to get back together. We're both seeking a pleasant distraction for one night, yes? Also, when we made this arrangement of casually hooking up with Azula, I figured that also makes it okay for us to hook up with each other."

"A fair point," Yue acknowledged. "So, a hookup?" she gave Katara a very intense stare. "You don't think it might be a bad idea?"

"I don't see the harm in it," Katara said, not that she was in the mood to seriously consider all the potential ramifications of hooking up with Yue. Right now, she was mostly interested in finding a powerful distraction, one that a strikingly beautiful woman like Yue could definitely provide.

"So, you're saying that I'm overthinking it," Yue smirked as Katara was already leaning in.

"You definitely are," Katara whispered before claiming Yue's lips in a searing kiss that lasted a good while and left them both panting upon separation. "Wow," was all Katara could say. "It's all starting to come back to me now."

"No kidding," Yue gasped. "I had forgotten what an amazing kisser you are." Hearing that, Katara moved to straddle Yue, kissing her again and again, hands roaming all over each other's bodies and tugging at their clothes.

"Right back at you," Katara exhaled, leaning in to nibble on Yue's earlobe while her hands slipped under Yue's top. "I'm really getting in the mood very quickly…"

"Spirits, me too," Yue replied with equal passion in her voice. "Let's go upstairs."

"Agreed," Katara smiled. "Your room, though. I don't know if I want to be next doors to Azula and Suki."

"I was actually going to suggest your room," Yue replied with a wicked grin on her lips. "I'm pretty sure we're going to be louder than those two… at least I intend to make sure that you're very loud, Kat."

"Challenge accepted," Katara grinned. "My room it is."

"And there we go," Zuko said proudly, sitting down on the sofa in Jet's living room and staring at the repaired wall they had been working on for the past week. Even if Zuko could have easily afforded to pay someone to carry out the repairs, he considered it a matter of honor to handle it himself. After all, the damage caused was largely his fault, with some contributions from his deranged sister. But Azula hadn't actually told him to rip the wiring out of the wall in a way that would completely destroy all the plaster and tear apart the wallpaper.

"As good as new, right?" Jet chuckled, sitting next to Zuko and offering him one of the beers he had just cracked open.

"Well… sort of," Zuko laughed uneasily. He wasn't really all that skilled with DIY as his father had never considered those skills important for Zuko to learn. Zuko had picked up a few things here and there while living apart from his father, but he still wasn't very good with DIY, and sadly wall repairs was one of the things he clearly wasn't great with. The reason why the fixed wall didn't look even more sad and depressing was mostly down to Jet actually having some talent as a handyman, a talent that he displayed very rarely due to extreme laziness.

"I appreciate the effort," Jet said more seriously. "After all, I am to blame for all those laced drugs that caused us both to flip out."

"Think nothing of it," Zuko spoke hastily. "Water under the bridge." He still couldn't bring himself to tell Jet the truth of what had happened that night. It was a little odd that Jet hadn't asked why the lobster roll had been hastily taken off the menu the following day, but perhaps all that beating Jet took, had dislodged some of his memories. But even more likely was that Jet was well aware that the whole lobster roll mess was his fault to begin with, and he simply felt relieved that Zuko was not bringing it up and was willing to let the matter die.

"Well, I look at this as a proof that we work well together," Jet winked, nodding at the slightly shoddy looking wall.

"Maybe," Zuko conceded. "But I would still insist that we move the bookshelf over there to cover most of that mess."

"Sure," Jet shrugged, not looking terribly interested. "But we don't have to do that now. After so much heavy work, I think we deserve to chill and relax."

"Do we?" Zuko frowned. "Last time you said we should chill and relax, for some reason it involved playing Elden Ring, and I almost punched a hole in the other wall."

"Well, I can't help it if you suck at gaming," Jet laughed. "You can always watch me play and take notes to get good."

"Yeah, that sounds riveting," Zuko rolled his eyes. "How about we do something else instead?"

"Hmm," Jet mused, stuck thinking intensely. "We could watch the Miss Fire Nation beauty pageant, get drunk and play Fuck Marry Kill with the contestants," Jet eventually suggested.

Zuko considered the offer for a while. "Alright, that actually sounds fun," he admitted, getting up from his seat. "I'll go fix us some snacks first, though," Zuko said, heading for the kitchen. On his way, Zuko felt the phone in the back pocket of his jeans vibrating. Dreading another frightening social media notification, Zuko quickly checked his phone, letting out a relieved breath upon seeing that it was merely a notification of 'this day in your history' from the cloud storage of his phone's photo gallery.

Curious, Zuko unlocked his phone and checked out the photo that had been randomly selected for him. It was a photo of Mai, taken exactly one year ago at an executive picnic hosted by his father. Mai was wearing a sumptuous black dress and matching fingerless gloves, with black veil covering her face. Mai was wearing only a few subtle goth accessories, probably because she knew that Ozai disapproved of her usual style of clothing. The expression on Mai's face was that of a faint smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Lost in the memories, Zuko started browsing the photo gallery with other shots from the event. He had obviously focused on taking pictures of his girlfriend because she looked spectacular, but there were shots with the rest of his family, both Ozai and Azula. His sister looked as irritatingly perfect as always, dragging her toy boyfriend around like a lost puppy on a leash. The vacant look in Chan's eyes really made the comparison with a lost puppy work perfectly.

As Zuko looked through these photos, he suddenly realized something that hadn't occurred to him before, and it was how Mai's expression always seemed to be the same, that almost smile. Zuko had always interpreted it as an expression of boredom, but now he was no longer so sure. Now, Mai's expression seemed to him almost indulgent or tensely patient, as if she didn't want to be there, but had still showed up, perhaps because she knew how important it was for Zuko?

This realization bothered Zuko more than he had expected it to, and so he began to browse photo galleries of more past events that Ozai had insisted he brought his girlfriend to. Strikingly, Mai always wore the same patient expression of silent suffering. Zuko didn't like how this thought of Mai making all these sacrifices, regardless how big or small, made him feel. It probably had something to do with how it had never occurred to Zuko to indulge Mai in something that he himself didn't want to do. He had always made excuses, claiming to be busy when Mai asked if they could have dinner with her family. He had also tried to stand in the way of Mai's friendship with Ty Lee and Azula, mostly because he was paranoid about his sister messing with his relationship, but he had never truly considered that Ty Lee and Azula were Mai's only real friends. It was truly starting to feel like Zuko had been the one doing all the taking, while Mai had been doing most of the giving in their relationship.

And what if their co-ownership of The Blue Spirit was yet again Mai indulging Zuko's whims, and not something that she actually had much passion for herself? She had pleaded with her parents to give her this opportunity to run the place with Zuko, and what had he done in return? He'd broken up with Mai and made the working conditions at the restaurant so toxic that Mai no longer wanted to be there, even if the place was technically owned by her parents. Zuko really didn't like how breaking everything down to the brass tacks made him look, and it was starting to fill him with overpowering feelings of guilt over how he had left things off with Mai. Perhaps he could still do something to-

"How are those snacks coming along, Zuko?" Jet yelled from the living room, interrupting Zuko's trail of thought. "The pageant is about to begin and you're going to miss stuff! Also, one of these bitches is hilariously cross-eyed, you've got to see it!"

"I'm coming!" Zuko shouted, pocketing his phone and rushing to get the snacks, for the moment putting his guilt over the breakup with Mai aside.

"Damn," Katara muttered, still breathing hard as she disentangled from the tangle of limbs that she and Yue had ended up in. "That brought back some memories, didn't it?" she smiled weakly, settling more comfortably into the pillows and looking down at Yue.

"Sure did," Yue managed, still panting quite hard. She reached out to run her hand along Katara's side, glistening with perspiration. "Makes me wonder why we ever broke up in the first place," Yue said.

"Is that a serious question?" Katara wondered.

"No," Yue shook her head. She then paused for a moment. "Well… maybe," she admitted. "I mean, we've always been in agreement about blaming the distance, right?" Katara nodded at that. "Just makes me think, if the distance hadn't been an issue, would we have stayed together?" Yue asked.

"It's impossible to say," Katara sighed. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, but… probably not," Yue said thoughtfully. Katara felt a little surprised by Yue's words, fixing her with a firm stare as a way to demand an explanation. "I feel like we both want to play a similar role in a relationship. I don't want to generalize or force us into some boring stereotypes, but I think we both have a bit of a nurturing streak when it comes to relationships, don't we?"

"I suppose," Katara admitted. "So, you're saying that we're just too similar to be together?"

Yue once again fell silent for a while, busy thinking. "Not necessarily," she said eventually. "I think we work together really well. I had that feeling of being able to finish your sentences when we were dating. It was very harmonious. But at the same time, I almost feel like… maybe we're better as best friends?"

"Best friends sounds great to me," Katara smiled. Her smile then faded, giving way to a more serious expression. "And as best friends, maybe it's time we addressed the elephant in the room. Or, the elephant in the adjacent room, to be more precise."

"Oh," Yue's expression clouded slightly. "You mean Azula and Suki."

"Among other things," Katara sighed. She was relieved that at least the distraction had worked perfectly. There had been some very passionate sounds coming from Azula's room just as Yue and Katara had started to get busy with their foreplay, but fortunately, by the time the two Water Tribe girls had worn themselves out, Azula and Suki had also fallen silent.

"Not going to lie that my feelings are a little bit hurt," Yue admitted.

"Likewise," Katara agreed. "And it doesn't feel right, because in my mind, I know that Suki deserves to hook up with Azula, and I would be a bad friend to deny it to her. But at the same time… I'm sorry, but I can't deny having feelings for Azula. And I know that technically makes us rivals, because-"

"Not necessarily," Yue interrupted her, making Katara look at her in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"It's… confusing and hard to explain," Yue sighed. "I'm not sure why my feelings are hurt, whether it was because Azula hooked up with Suki, or because Suki hooked up with Azula."

"I'm not sure I under-" Katara began, stopping when her brain caught up with her tongue. "Wait, I do see what you mean. How did I not realize it earlier? We've all seen you and Suki becoming closer over the past month."

"Well, it's not quite like that," Yue blushed heatedly. "Like… nothing sexy has happened. But Kya and I have come to rely on Suki a lot, and we both love it."

"Have you talked about it with Suki?" Katara asked.

"Goodness, no!" Yue exclaimed. "I'm honestly afraid to." Katara gave her best friend a sympathetic stare, waiting for her to explain further. "I just think Suki might find it weird to think about something more than friendship after we've already been friends for so long. And also, we're both Sokka's exes, that also would make it very strange, wouldn't it?"

"Not for this group of friends, I would say," Katara chuckled. "Anyway, I think you're worried over nothing, Yue. I've seen the way Suki sometimes looks at you, especially as of late. I think she would be open to something more. Also, Kya obviously loves her, so that's another point in her book."

"Are you sure that you're not encouraging me just because it would leave you with an uncontested path to Azula?" Yue asked, giving Katara a skeptical side-eye.

Katara blushed hotly at the insinuation. "Alright, fair enough, I'm not exactly unbiased in this situation," she was forced to admit. "But I guess you'll have to make a decision soon, because those who wait too long can sometimes end up with nothing and I really don't want that to happen to you, Yue. You and Kya deserve the world."

"Thanks, Kat," Yue smiled, pulling Katara closer for a soft kiss on the lips. "And I'll be completely honest with you. I feel like… my heart might be leaning towards Suki, but one of the reasons why I haven't said anything is that I'm just not completely sure what my feelings for Azula are. I don't want to give Suki the wrong idea because what if Azula reconsiders about giving us a chance? I don't know if I could say no to that, and then I would end up having deceived Suki, you know?"

"Alright, I get that, babe," Katara said, snuggling closer against Yue's side. "It's like… there are almost too many beautiful women in our lives, right? What a headache!"

"Yes, a real third world problem to have," Yue chuckled. "Anyway, regardless of how it all pans out, I want to have your back throughout it all, Kat."

"Same," Katara replied. "Which is a funny way to put it, considering that I just had all of you, not just your back." The pair burst into laughter at that, not caring whether the ruckus they were making woke up their friends in the adjacent room or not.

Shortly after the large cruise boat had departed from the Caldera City marina, Sokka could already tell that the wildlife spotting tour was going to be a success, judging from the broad smiles on the faces of both Kya and Ty Lee. The boat was amazing and the tickets were well worth their price, because even with a swarm of summer tourists descending on Caldera City, there was plenty of room on the boat for everyone. There was even a cozy kid's corner on the upper deck that had immediately captured Kya's attention. Most of the kids had been drawn to the foam ball pit, but Kya had gone straight for the massive sorting tree, working to solve it together with another girl and making a new friend, while Sokka and Ty Lee sat at a nearby table, sharing a large milkshake.

Sokka supposed that some more judgmental people would probably condemn Yue for abandoning her daughter on a rare day off from work in order to indulge in all sorts of depraved orgies with the other girls, claiming that such behavior was unbecoming of a responsible mother. Sokka had never harbored such thoughts because he knew that Yue worked as hard as anyone at The Northern Lights, not counting the hours and regularly pulling six days a week. If Yue's idea of fun was to get ravished by equally horny sapphics, then she had certainly earned her right to do so. It wasn't as if Sokka had anything to complain about, since this left him to spend the day with two of his currently favorite people in the world.

Grinning, Sokka reached out to gently swipe his thumb across Ty Lee's chin, wiping away stray droplets of the milkshake. The pure, undiluted affection in Ty Lee's large grey eyes as she stared at him never failed to send Sokka's heart racing. At first, Sokka had thought how Ty Lee wasn't the kind of girl that he usually went for, but as time passed, Sokka began to realize that he had only felt that because of a very surface read of his girlfriend. As Azula had told him on several occasions, despite the fact that Ty Lee had some wacky beliefs and often said outlandish and silly things, she wasn't at all stupid. The problem was that Ty Lee had an incredibly short attention span and it took a huge effort to keep her focused on one thing at a time.

Still, Sokka saw this as an interesting problem to tackle, and he already felt like he was making progress by having found some audiobooks by expert naturalists that had captured Ty Lee's interest. Ty Lee absolutely adored animals and absorbed facts about the natural world like a sponge. It was both amusing and endearing to cuddle up with his girlfriend at the end of a long day and listen to her ramble about all the fascinating animal facts she had learned recently.

As Sokka enjoyed the milkshake while lazily talking with his girlfriend, Kya and her new friend had finished playing with the sorting tree and now the other girl was trying to teach Kya how to handle the hula hoop. Sokka smiled at his daughter's dogged determination to get it right, even though Kya was just a little too small to get a grip on the hula hoop. As Kya and her friend were playing with the hoops, some Earth Kingdom tourist started to yell at her kid who was going crazy in the foam ball pit. The pouting kid was on the way back to his parent, clearly not looking where he was going and Kya ended up striking him on the upper arm with the hula hoop. The contact was very light, but the older looking boy immediately took an exception to it and shoved Kya. Sokka felt blood rushing to his temples as he saw his daughter landing on the soft mat, unhurt, but looking shocked.

Sokka was still getting up from his seat to interfere when Ty Lee was already next to the bratty boy, moving as fast as lightning. She got in the kid's way, stopping him from leaving. "Apologize for pushing her," Ty Lee insisted, pointing at the slightly confused and disoriented looking Kya.

The boy looked a little scared, but said nothing, stubbornly refused to apologize. By now, his mother was on her way, screeching at Ty Lee. "Your little brat struck my boy first, I saw everything!" the Earth Kingdom Karen cried. "My sweet little pumpkin has nothing to apologize for! If you only looked after your own daughter-"

At this point, the other woman put her hands on Ty Lee in order to push her away from the boy, which proved to be a very bad move. Sokka couldn't quite tell what Ty Lee was doing because she was moving so fast, grasping the woman's arm and twisting it behind her back. Sokka could see Ty Lee whispering something in the other woman's ear from behind, and he could only guess at what was being said from the way Karen's eyes widened in fear. Ty Lee must have done something else as well because the other woman cried out in pain before Ty Lee finally released her. The Earth Kingdom Karen instantly muttered a quick apology at Kya before grabbing her kid and storming off in a hurry.

Sokka wasn't quite sure what to make of that exchange, but his first concern was with his daughter. Sokka walked up to Kya and picked her up, giving her a comforting hug. "You okay, poppet?" he asked, seeing that the girl looked a little upset.

"I don't understand why they were so mean," Kya sniffled.

"Don't think about them, sweetie," Sokka tried to comfort his daughter. "Ty Lee and I will always be looking out for you. Did you see how Ty chased them off?"

"Yes!" Kya cheered up immediately. "That was awesome!" She turned to Ty Lee. "How did you do it?"

"Yes, you didn't hurt on threaten that other woman, did you?" Sokka wondered.

"Sokka, you know I'm all sweetness and light, and I would never do anything as mean as that," Ty Lee grinned, not particularly convincingly.

"Well, whatever you did, I agree with Kya that it was awesome," Sokka said, hi-fiving with his daughter.

"I'm glad you approve," Ty Lee smiled. "Anyway, how about we get some ice cream for you, Kya? It'll help you forget all about that rude boy and his mother, right?" Kya nodded excitedly and Ty Lee quickly ran off to fetch some ice cream for the little girl.

Half an hour later, with the ice cream devoured, Kya was back in her best mood as the boat left the open waters and entered the archipelago proper, coming up to the first of the smaller islands where they could observe several colonies of cute seals, barking at them as the boat sailed past. Earlier on, they had already witnessed dolphins swimming alongside the boat, the sight making Kya almost dangerously excited.

And Kya wasn't the only one getting a little too excited, because having seen the seal colonies, Ty Lee had assumed that sealion sightings were also likely. It was clear that Ty Lee still missed her sealion friend from the burned down Sea World, and she was constantly calling out Slippery Pete's name and doing some rather complicated whistling that was supposed to make Pete reveal himself by doing his signature trick, a triple backflip. Sokka thought that it was highly unlikely that they would come across Slippery Pete, but he obviously didn't want to discourage his girlfriend and dash her hopes.

"This is great," Kya spoke excitedly as they waved to even more barking seals, while Ty Lee had dashed off to the other side of the boat to call out to what she believed was yet another potential Slippery Pete sighting. "I only wish mom and Suki were here to see this," Kya added wistfully.

"Mom and Suki?" Sokka asked, feeling a little curious. "But not Katara and Azula? Aren't they your favorites, too?"

"Well, sure," Kya conceded. "But mom and I both like Suki best right now."

"You do, hmm?" Sokka remarked, wondering what exactly he had missed. It hadn't completely escaped him that Suki and Yue had recently become closer than they had ever been, but for some reason he had never considered that his two ex-partners could be getting together. It was a slightly odd thought, but certainly not an uncomfortable one. "What do you like best about Suki?" Sokka decided to prod further.

"She's just… so cool," Kya gushed. "And she always has time for me. Also, even if she's badass, she's not so good at Pai Sho, so I can beat her most of the time."

"I agree that Suki is very cool," Sokka chuckled. "And what do you think your mom likes about Suki?" he asked.

Kya blushed slightly, leaning in closer to her dad. "I think mom wants Suki to stay with us and not go back home in the evening," she whispered.

"I see," Sokka remarked, noticing that Kya looked a little worried. "What's wrong, poppet? What are you afraid of?"

"Azula stayed with us and then she went away," Kya sniffled. "I don't want Suki to stay with mom only to then go away. Mom and I were both so sad when Azula did that…"

"Ah… of course," Sokka sighed. "I don't think Suki would go away, kiddo. But I don't blame you for being worried. These things can get very complicated," he tried to explain, while already pondering whether to have a discreet conversation with Suki. Sokka definitely wanted the best for everyone involved in this situation, especially for his daughter, but he also knew that matchmaking wasn't exactly his forte. Katara was way smarter about this relationship stuff, so maybe he could first have a word with his sister.

"Ugh, false alarm," Ty Lee startled Sokka when she spoke up suddenly, having returned from her Slippery Pete watch. "And now we're about to turn back, so I guess this reunion wasn't meant to be."

"Sorry about that, love," Sokka smiled, putting an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.

"Hey! What's that?" Kya exclaimed, pointing at something in the water, a large shape quickly catching up to the boat. The large creature then revealed itself by jumping out of the water and launching into an impressive series of backflips, barking excitedly as it easily caught up with the boat again.

"It's him! It's Pete!" Ty Lee exclaimed, bouncing excitedly near the railing and forcing Sokka to hold his girlfriend around the waist out of fear that she might launch herself overboard. "I knew I would find you again, buddy!" Ty Lee cheered, waving at her friend who happily barked in return.

"Look!" Sokka called out, pointing at another similar shape as it swam up to Pete. Another sealion head then popped out of the water, joining in to bark at the boat. The two sealions continued to swim alongside the boat, doing more and more backflips. The other sealion seemed to be a little smaller and wasn't as good at doing backflips, while still making a commendable effort.

"It's a girl sealion!" Ty Lee gasped. "Pete has gotten himself a girlfriend! Good job, buddy!" she cheered, giving her sealion friend thumbs up. "And he's taught her backflips, just how I taught him. Aww, I think I'm going to cry," Ty Lee sobbed, tears of happiness flowing down her cheeks. With Kya sitting on his shoulders, Sokka embraced his girlfriend as they continued to watch the two sealions playing in the water, eventually barking their farewells as the boat continued on what was surely the best and most successful wildlife spotting tour of all time.

Having woken up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes the following morning, Katara decided not to disturb Yue as she slumbered peacefully next to her. Instead, Katara got out of the bed, dressed herself and proceeded downstairs to make herself a cup of morning coffee. It was nine in the morning and the cabin was sinking in comforting silence, with Azula and Suki also not making a single sound. Being the first one up and about was a new experience for Katara, and she used the opportunity to do some tidying up while her coffee was brewing and her friends slept soundly.

A few minutes later, holding a mug of coffee in her hands, Katara stepped out on the porch. She let out a muffled yelp upon almost running into someone already standing there, managing to silence herself when she realized that she had almost crashed into Azula. "Goodness, you scared me!" Katara exclaimed, having nearly spilled hot coffee all over them both.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. I had no idea you were up and about," Azula replied quickly.

"You didn't?" Katara wondered. "I know I made some noise while tidying up. You must have been very deep in thought."

"No, I was just-…" Azula began, her words trailing off as she blushed lightly. "So," she began a while later. "You and Yue, hmm?"

"Yes?" Katara shrugged, curious about Azula's reaction. "But also, you and Suki, right?"

"It was just a little fling, I thought that was clear," Azula said hastily. "I didn't expect that you and Yue would immediately be all over each other," she added, sounding a little upset.

"Well, that was our own little fling," Katara said. "It doesn't mean we're getting back together. Although, there's nothing that would stop us from doing that if we so chose." Azula nodded, looking a little less tense as they continued to stand there on the porch, slowly sipping their drinks. "By the way, what was the count in the end, fourteen or fifteen?" Katara asked. Azula gave her a confused stare. "Suki's piercings," Katara sighed.

"Oh!" Azula blinked. "The bitch was totally blowing hot air in our faces about possibly having pussy piercings. She's got nothing down there."

"Disappointing," Katara chuckled. "Well, I hope you still had fun."

Azula looked a little hesitant before replying. "It was fun, yes," she replied curtly, causing Katara to glare at her and force Azula to elaborate. "It was like my body was there, having fun, but my thoughts were elsewhere," Azula said.

"And where were your wandering thoughts?" Katara prodded.

Azula blushed fiercely, averting her gaze. "Just… you know, thinking that we should rent this cottage a few more times," Azula said awkwardly. "And then… well, maybe we could try… different sleeping arrangements. If you would be up for that…"

Inwardly, Katara was cheering wildly at Azula's awkward proposition, but outwardly she managed to remain cool and collected as she gave Azula a very controlled smile. "If you were to secure the cottage for another weekend, I will see what I can do to accommodate your proposal," Katara said.

"Oh, good… that's good," Azula managed, smiling nervously, while Katara could barely restrain herself from jumping from joy. Azula was definitely showing some signs of jealousy and possessiveness, and to Katara it felt like she was finally making progress in tearing down some of the walls Azula had built around her.

Chapter Text

"Well, this definitely feels like a very well-run operation," Ursa Noriko said, looking around the spotless kitchen of The Northern Lights restaurant.

"Indeed, Azula runs a tight ship," Katara chuckled, nodding in agreement. Even though Azula had mentioned that Katara's presence was not necessary, Katara had insisted on joining Azula as she gave her mother a brief tour of the restaurant.

"We all run a tight ship. It's not like I'm implementing some outrageous changes without consulting you and Sokka. You are the owners, after all," Azula shrugged. "But sure, I'll take the credit," she grinned, turning to face her mother. "I'm sure you'll agree that my way of running a restaurant is far superior to Zuko's."

Ursa rolled her eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh. "All I can say is that you and Zuko have distinctly different styles of running your business," Ursa said, sounding a little tired. "I'm not going to say that one of you is better than the other. Zuko's way clearly works for him."

"Of course, I knew it was too much to expect any intellectual honesty from you, mother dear," Azula snorted.

"Azula!" Katara glared at her. "Where are your manners?"

"Oh, don't mind her barbs, my dear," Ursa chuckled, patting Katara's hand. "I haven't always been the best mother for my children, so the attitude is not undeserved. But I'm trying to be better as I move forward, and that includes supporting all my children instead of pitting them against each other in a sick and revolting competition. Hopefully with enough time, Azula will realize that she doesn't have to compete for my love, because it will always be there for her, unlike the conditional love of her father."

"I'm sure it's so easy to make yourself sound better than Ozai when you weren't even around to raise me," Azula argued, with admittedly a rather half-hearted defense of her father.

"Don't you think I would have wanted to be there?" Ursa sighed. "You think I could have done battle with Ozai and his army of lawyers? How about some intellectual honesty about that?"

Azula ground her teeth upon realizing that she couldn't really argue Ursa's point. So, instead she turned to face Katara. "See, this is why I didn't want you to tag along," Azula sighed. "Mother and I always end up arguing."

"You really don't have to, though," Katara said, her eyes sad and almost tearful. "I just think it's so depressing. If you only knew what I would do to have my mother here with me, to be able to talk with her. I will never have that luxury of choosing to have a good relationship with my mom because she's never coming back."

"Sorry," Azula muttered, feeling chastised and a little ashamed.

"I didn't mean to make you feel guilty," Katara said quickly. "I just wanted you to know why it pains me to see you arguing with your mom."

"I feel terrible about causing you distress," Ursa said, taking Katara's hand and squeezing it comfortingly. "My daughter and I will be more civil going forward, I promise. Won't we, Azula?"

"Of course," Azula quickly agreed. "Although there's not much going forward, because the tour, such as it was, is over. And I'm sure you have other plans for the day that you're eager to get back to, mother," Azula said.

"So desperate to get rid of me, are you?" Ursa chuckled, while Katara gave Azula a mildly disapproving stare. "It's a rare day off for me, actually. That's why I pestered you into giving me this tour. Spending my day off work by catching up with my oldest daughter and learning what she's been up to was my main plan for the day."

"That's all fine and wonderful, mother, but we have a business to run here and as lovely as entertaining you has been, we really should get back to it, shouldn't we, Katara?" Azula asked hopefully.

"What?" Katara blinked. "No, this is going to be a slow day because of the heatwave, you said so yourself. It's too hot for most people to even go out to eat, right? So, feel free to spend some extra time with your mom."

"Thank you, Katara," Azula ground out, trying to sound at least slightly genuine. She wasn't fooling her mother, though, with Ursa snickering into her palm.

It wasn't even that Azula was terribly opposed to giving Ursa the tour or to spending some time with her mother. It was just that Ursa had picked a particularly bad day for an extended visit, and she had been very relentless in pestering Azula about the tour. Since Azula had already blown Ursa off several times before, she sensed that there was a genuine possibility to really damage the relationship with her mother if she refused again. So, Azula had caved and agreed to show Ursa around on a day when Azula expected a visit from someone very special, an occasion that she was already very nervous about.

Ever since their latest retreat to the forest cottage when Azula had hooked up with Suki, and Katara had enjoyed her little fling with Yue, Azula was feeling increasingly frustrated. Sex with Suki had been very good, but on some level Azula regretted letting it happen because she hadn't realized just how conflicted she would feel about Katara and Yue hooking up. Finding out that the ex-girlfriends had spent the night together had felt bad, and it had also spoiled the memory of her time with Suki.

It hadn't even taken Azula her usual weeks to figure out just why she was feeling so rotten. All it took was a moment of rare honesty for Azula to admit that what she truly wanted was to hook up with Katara. That one night together with Katara and June still constantly lingered on Azula's mind as one of her most cherished memories. But in a way, that one time hadn't satisfied Azula at all, because she'd been forced to share, and what Azula truly wanted was to have Katara all to herself, at least once. The threesome had felt more like an appetizer, but then she had been denied the main meal, and Azula was dying for her full entrée.

So, as Azula was waiting for the forest cottage to become available yet again, she'd been thinking about other ways to do something nice for Katara. And less than a week ago, having accidentally overheard Katara Facetiming with her dad, Azula had been struck by the most genius idea. Katara hadn't seen her dad in over a year and it was obvious that she missed him terribly, in ways that Facetime calls just couldn't satisfy. Now that the restaurant was once again running smoothly and efficiently, Azula felt confident about letting Katara's father see what they had done with the place. So, Azula had looked up Hakoda Enuaraq's e-mail address on Katara's laptop and then she had reached out to him in secret to arrange a surprise visit. So, maybe she'd spun some tall tales to make sure that Hakoda couldn't resist the invitation, but it was all for a good cause. Hakoda would arrive in Caldera City with the afternoon flight, so there was still plenty of time to get rid of her mother, but still, Ursa picking this particular day for her tour was a little unfortunate mostly because of Azula's already frayed nerves.

"So," Azula impatiently picked up the thread of conversation once again. "Was there anything else that you wanted to see, mother?"

"No, I think I've seen all there is to see," Ursa smiled. "I was thinking that we could sit down to a cup of coffee and enjoy the pastries I brought you. And maybe just… I don't know, talk?"

"I suppose that sounds acceptable," Azula nodded. Hakoda wasn't scheduled to arrive for several more hours and surely, she would be able to get rid of Ursa by then, using the start of the lunch service as an excuse.

"Why don't you two go upstairs and sit on the roof terrace? It's lovely up there and you'll have privacy," Katara suggested. "I'll bring you coffee shortly-" Katara was then interrupted by a loud scream coming from the dining room. "What in the world?" Katara blinked, rushing to investigate, Azula hot on her heels.

Upon arriving in the dining room, Azula was treated to a shocking surprise upon seeing Sokka fiercely hugging an older Water Tribe man that could only be none other than Hakoda Enuaraq. "Dad?" Katara asked in a shocked voice, rubbing her eyes as if she was unsure whether she was hallucinating. "Dad!" she then exclaimed, rushing forth to join Sokka and her father in a family group hug.

"But… but you weren't supposed to be here until later in the afternoon," Azula gasped as she watched the family reunion with great confusion.

"I took the liberty of contacting the airline and they were able to exchange my flight to an earlier one," Hakoda said, somehow managing to overhear Azula's muttering over the cheerful exclamations and joyful sobs of his children. "I thought it made sense considering the emergency," Hakoda added unhelpfully.

"What emergency?" Katara immediately pulled away from her father, looking alarmed. "Is it Gran-Gran? Has something happened with our grandmother?" she looked a little panicked.

"Gran-Gran is fine and in good spirits, Katara, please calm down," Hakoda tried to reassure his daughter.

"But who's looking after Gran-Gran if you're here?" Sokka asked, also looking confused.

"Your celebrity consultant over there," Hakoda said, nodding at Azula. "Hired an expensive private nurse to look after Gran-Gran while I'm here. So, please don't worry about your grandmother. She's being looked after far better than I could ever hope to."

"Alright, now I'm even more confused than before," Sokka confessed. "Why is Azula hiring a private nurse for Gran-Gran? Can someone just tell me what's going on here?"

"The young lady isn't just paying for the nurse, she also paid for my flights," Hakoda smiled.

"That still doesn't tell us why she did it," Katara frowned, looking at Azula with a piercing, inquisitive stare. "Azula, do you want to tell us something?" she asked.

"Let's not gang up on Azula, guys," Hakoda said softly. "She's not to blame for being honest and telling me the truth about the state of the restaurant. I understand that you were only trying to save me and your grandmother from worrying about the state of the business."

"What?" Katara gasped. "But… the restaurant is doing really well, dad! I've been sending you all those pictures and videos to show all the changes we've made… we've been thriving!"

"It's true, dad," Sokka nodded. "The restaurant is in the best shape it's been in five years. We're really riding the top of the wave right now."

Now it was Hakoda's turn to look at Azula in confusion. "Well… now I'm the one who doesn't quite understand what's going on here," he said, laughing nervously.

Faced with an array of stern and probing stares, Azula briefly considered her options, among which fleeing or playing dead seemed the most attractive at the moment. She quickly dismissed all these ideas as unfeasible, however, instead blushing and awkwardly shuffling her foot like a chastised nine-year-old. "I… may have dramatically embellished the state of the restaurant in order to provide an added incentive for your visit, Mr. Enuaraq," she confessed.

"That does sound like something my daughter would do," Ursa intervened with an untimely and obnoxious chuckle.

"Ah, you are Azula's mother?" Hakoda turned to look at Ursa. Azula could have sworn that for some reason his eyes lit up slightly. "My apologies for the lack of proper introductions among all this confusion," he said, walking up to Ursa and offering his hand. "Hakoda Enuaraq."

"Ursa Noriko," Ursa smiled, shaking Hakoda's hand and definitely not releasing it quickly enough for Azula's liking. "A pleasure."

"No, the pleasure is all mine," Hakoda grinned. He then turned back towards Azula. "And young lady, if you thought that I needed extra incentive to come and visit my children, then you were greatly mistaken. Still, I am extremely thankful for the nurse and the expensive plane tickets. For that, you have my gratitude."

"Yeah, thanks Azula, you're a good sport," Sokka nodded gratefully. "It's been well over a year since we've last seen dad in person, way too long."

"I am also incredibly thankful," Katara smiled. "Although, we're going to have a little talk later about all these lies and contacting dad behind my back," Katara added, her smile fading slightly as she gave Azula a meaningful stare. "But now, I think we want our dad just to ourselves because we have so many things to catch up on."

"Agreed," Sokka said. "Shall we go upstairs?"

"Have fun catching up," Ursa smiled. "Azula and I will get out of your hair."

"Of course," Hakoda nodded, giving Ursa a slightly wistful stare. "But perhaps you could stop by for a visit tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'd love to," Ursa agreed, smiling broadly as Hakoda, Katara and Sokka proceeded upstairs for a proper family reunion and catching up.

Once the Enuaraqs were gone, Azula allowed the groan she had been withholding to escape her lips. "I think you did a really nice thing there, Azula," Ursa said, looking at Azula with a nasty, patronizing smile on her lips.

"Ugh," Azula grunted. She then glared at her mother. "You know, this is actually all your f-" she then stopped herself before unleashing the meritless accusation at her mother. Blaming Ursa was one of Azula's most common go-to excuses, but right now, she couldn't bring herself to use it, not when the gaffe was so obviously hers. "I feel like such a loser," Azula sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I bet Katara hates me now."

"Don't be ridiculous, my dear," Ursa approached her, patting Azula's hand. "Perhaps Katara is a little mad, but did you see how happy she was to see her father again? Just let her spend some time with her dad, and you'll see that the happiness will override any annoyance she might feel about your… interesting approach to bring Hakoda here."

"Do you really think she won't hate me because of this?" Azula asked hopefully.

"Definitely not," Ursa shook her head. "I can see that Katara likes you a great deal, and she likes you for who you really are… and that definitely includes the occasional awkward and dramatic gesture."

Couple of days into Hakoda's visit and Katara still felt like she was floating on a cloud of pure happiness from having her father where she could speak to him in person and hug him. Even though Hakoda already knew about the changes that had been made to the restaurant, it was a completely different thing to show her dad how everything worked in practice. Katara was delighted to see how impressed her father was upon seeing the restaurant performing as a well-oiled machine during dinner service, and she was further thrilled upon hearing Hakoda's admission that they were operating more efficiently than even during the restaurant's heyday more than a decade ago.

At first, Katara had been full of resolve to give Azula a proper chewing out for the way she had gone behind everyone's backs and used deception to bring Hakoda to Caldera City. But as days passed, Katara's frustrations with Azula gradually faded due to the sheer happiness of being able to spend time with her father. If anything, Katara had come to realize that at its core, Azula's gesture was incredibly sweet, even if her actions could be considered as rather dubious. Katara had already thanked Azula for reuniting her and Sokka with their father, but she was very eager to express her gratitude in much warmer ways following the conclusion of Hakoda's visit.

Of course, Hakoda's sudden appearance had caused a lot of buzz around the restaurant, and it had slightly stressed out some of their friends. While Aang and Toph remained completely chill, Suki and Yue appeared a little tense to begin with, confessing to Katara that they were worried that Hakoda would have a negative view of them because they both had ended their romantic relationships with Sokka. Katara thought that it was a ridiculous concern to even entertain, and the fears of her friends were soon put to rest when Hakoda treated both Suki and Yue with the warmth that Katara assumed as a given coming from her father.

Katara still felt a lump forming in her throat when she remembered the sweet moment on her father's second day of visit when Yue brought Kya with her to the restaurant to properly introduce the girl to her grandfather. Last time Hakoda had met Kya, she had been way too small to remember it, but now she could actually speak to her grandfather and play a few games of Pai Sho with him. Katara knew she would never forget the sight of her father tearing up when facing the adorable little girl who was named in honor of the love of his life.

Surprisingly, the one person stressing the most about Hakoda's visit was Ty Lee. Katara had expected Sokka's new girlfriend to take it in her usual stride, but for some reason she appeared unusually nervous and more scatterbrained than ever. Even Azula, one of Ty Lee's best friends, failed to make sense of this nervousness, eventually speculating that perhaps Ty Lee was so tense because she was desperate to impress Hakoda, which apparently wasn't the way Ty Lee normally operated.

Still, it was a start of yet another busy day at work with more opportunities to show her dad just how well the business was ticking along in his absence. Not wanting to impose on either her or Sokka, Hakoda had decided to stick with the hotel, so Katara now began her mornings by making a slight detour to pick up her father on the way to work. Katara's brain was still operating in a money saving mode from all those years of near-poverty, so she was a little frustrated that Hakoda refused the offer to stay at her apartment, but her father could be an unusually stubborn man and wasn't likely to change his mind.

It was a quarter past ten in the morning when Katara arrived at the hotel lobby where Hakoda greeted her with a much appreciated to-go cup of coffee. "Why don't we sit down for a bit and have a chat before heading out?" her father offered, pointing at the seats on the terrace outside. "It's not as if we're in any hurry, are we?"

"I suppose not," Katara shrugged. "Although, Azula did say that she had some kind of activity planned, and she wanted you and Sokka to be there for it."

"My interest has been piqued," Hakoda admitted with a fond chuckle. "Your celebrity consultant is certainly a force of nature, isn't she?"

"Oh yes, definitely," Katara agreed instantly, smiling softly.

"Is that intensity what you like so much about her?" Hakoda asked, giving her a more serious look.

"Umm," Katara stammered, blushing madly. Was she really about to face the chat about Azula? Katara didn't believe that she had been very obvious with her attraction to the Fire Nation girl, so it seemed unlikely that her father would have noticed anything by himself. It was more likely that someone had mentioned it to him and Katara strongly suspected her blabbermouth of a brother. "I suppose I do like that about her, yes," Katara had no choice but to admit.

"Understandable," Hakoda nodded, smiling. "I think that's something you've always wanted, someone that would challenge you and match your own intensity. Which makes it even more astonishing that you stuck with that no-good ex-boyfriend of yours for so long."

"You don't need to bring up Jet again, dad. He's in the past," Katara sighed. Hakoda had never been a member of Team Jet, but then again, Katara hadn't expected him to be. Jet wasn't the type of boyfriend who scored many points with parents. In fact, parents were more likely to reach for their shotguns to ward Jet off from their daughters and sons.

"Fair," Hakoda nodded. "I won't lie I'm happy to hear that Jet is in the past. And yet, at the same time, even though I have developed a soft spot for Azula already… I'm concerned whether she is the future."

"Dad, you're seriously jumping the gun here, it's not like we're even dating," Katara sighed.

"That's not quite what I meant," Hakoda said patiently. "I'm talking about Azula's future plans and how they might not be compatible with what I suspect are your dreams and wishes."

"How do you know about all of that anyway?" Katara narrowed eyes at her father.

Hakoda blushed slightly. "I have been talking with Azula's mother," he confessed.

"Been talking with her a lot, have you?" Katara frowned. Following her father's invitation, Ursa had stopped by the restaurant on the following day, and then every day since. Katara wasn't exactly a big fan of her dad getting cozy with Azula's mom, even if on a personal level she liked Ursa a great deal.

"Are you insinuating something, daughter?" Hakoda smirked. "I'm merely making a friend, and also, I have to get all the rumors from somewhere because clearly there are certain things that a parent must know but isn't going to learn from his children."

"I don't see how Ursa would be a useful source for rum-" Katara began, stopping when she realized something that made her groan. "Ugh, Kiyi. Of course, Ursa would hear everything from that little gremlin."

"Exactly," Hakoda grinned. "Anyway, I may like Azula, but I'm still worried for you in this situation and I'm sure you can understand why."

Katara sighed. "I suppose because you've heard from Ursa that Azula fully intends to return to her father come September, and you think that I'll be left with a broken heart."

"Isn't that a cause for concern?" Hakoda asked, giving Katara a probing stare.

"Maybe, but that's not going to stop me from… you know, having feelings," Katara shrugged, blushing slightly. "I'm not deluding myself with false hopes that Azula will abandon everything in order to stay here. I want to believe that there's a slim chance that she might do it, but… I'm trying to remain realistic about it, okay?"

"Makes sense, and I'm glad you're keeping things in perspective," Hakoda smiled. "That said, I do hope that Azula will stay. She's a good fit, both with the restaurant and with you."

"Ugh, once again with jumping the gun, and also, stop making me blush," Katara sighed, checking her phone at the faint buzz of an incoming message. "And speaking of Azula, I really ought to take you to the restaurant now before she starts freaking out. Azula doesn't take well to anyone being late."

"I didn't think she would," Hakoda laughed as they made their way to Katara's car, followed by a short drive to The Northern Lights. Once they arrived at the restaurant, Katara was a little perplexed to find the front door locked up, but then another text from Azula directed her towards the back alley. Proceeding towards the back entrance, Katara and Hakoda found the entire restaurant staff, as well as Ursa, Kiyi and Kya having gathered there. There were also some power tools and generous amounts of various supplies, such as plywood and several cans of paint.

"It's about time you two showed up," Azula spoke impatiently following an exchange of morning greetings. "I believe it is long overdue that we corrected a certain error committed during the renovation process," Azula began one of her long-winded explanations. "Something important was stripped from the restaurant-"

"Are we bringing back the microwaves?" Toph wondered aloud.

"No, I am definitely not talking about the microwaves," Azula sighed. "Something else was removed from the restaurant. Since the original inception of this feature was created by Sokka and his father, I thought you two would enjoy the opportunity to work on restoring this missing feature to the restaurant."

"What is she talking about?" Aang whispered, looking around. He wasn't the only one appearing a little confused. Next to Katara, Hakoda also looked clueless.

"Wait… all this plywood, you wouldn't be talking about-" Sokka snapped his fingers in realization, but Katara still managed to beat him to the answer.

"The Seal of Approval!" she exclaimed joyfully, literally bouncing from joy and rushing forward to smother Azula in a fierce hug. "I had almost forgotten about the sign outside missing something very important!"

"Oh, that's true," Sokka grinned, looking at Hakoda. "And we did make that old sign together, didn't we?"

"That we did," Hakoda nodded with a nostalgic sigh. "And I'm guessing that now we'll get to do it again."

"But wait, Azula," Yue spoke up, looking very curious. "You've never brought up the Seal of Approval before. I'm surprised that you would even remember about it."

"Well…" Azula blushed lightly. "It just didn't feel right that my father tore it up for no good reason. And I do remember that you all liked the silly thing," Azula said, her eyes meeting Katara's and lingering for a few faint moments. "Also, it seemed to be a hit with the customers, so I believe it makes sense to bring it back."

"I still can't believe that your father blew up the old seal with a stick of dynamite," Suki shook her head. "That was insane even for him."

"It was certainly a little wild," Azula admitted. "But the seal is making its glorious comeback now, in more ways than one. Check this out, everyone," Azula said, dragging out a box filled with laminated sheets of paper that she quickly distributed to everyone present.

"You had new menus printed?" Sokka wondered. "I like these, they're very posh looking."

"And they have a cute little seal worked into our logo," Katara squealed, hugging Azula again and squeezing her tightly, not caring about some of the looks and smirks they were receiving. "Thank you for this incredibly sweet and thoughtful gesture."

"Umm, you're… very welcome," a very red faced Azula stammered before managing to recompose herself. "Anyway… Sokka, Hakoda, the floor is yours, if you want to get started on the new seal sign. Everyone else, you're welcome to join in and help, provided you're actually helping instead of creating chaos."

"I think Sokka and I have the next step covered," Hakoda rubbed his hands. "But we'll definitely need some help painting the seal. What do you say about that, Kya?" he smiled at his excited looking granddaughter. "This could be a great way of keeping it a family affair and also getting the next generation involved."

"I'll do it!" Kya declared proudly. "Can Kiyi help? And I want mom to join in, too."

"Of course," Hakoda said. "Everyone is welcome to join. Especially you, Yue, for you are and always will be family."

"Thank you, Hakoda," Yue sniffed, wiping away an errant tear escaping across her cheek.

"It makes sense for this to be a real team effort," Ursa smiled, nodding approvingly. "There's such a strong sense of family about this entire place. I've felt it from my first visit here."

"Yes, but not in the same spirit like when some corporate stooge refers to the staff as family because he expects them to work plenty of unpaid overtime," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, much as I approve of this being a total team effort, lunch service is fast approaching and we need another team effort to handle that, so… could I have at least some of you back inside, starting the prep?"

"Sure thing, boss," Aang chirped as he rushed back to the restaurant's kitchen together with Toph and Suki.

Yue was about to follow them back inside, but Katara stopped her, seizing Yue's hand. "I'll set up the dining room on my own, don't worry," Katara smiled. "Just stay out here with Kya and the others."

"Are you sure?" Yue asked, looking uncertain and conflicted.

"Absolutely," Katara spoke firmly. "I just love seeing my dad embracing you and Kya as a part of the family. Which is obviously how I've always seen you both."

"Thanks so much, Kat," Yue sniffed, overcome with emotion as she returned to Kya's side, leaving Katara free to enter the restaurant with Azula following her inside.

"Do you want my help setting up the dining room?" Azula asked hopefully.

"Well, I don't exactly need it, but I'm not going to refuse help," Katara smiled. "It's sweet of you to offer. But not as sweet as the gesture with the Seal of Approval and the menus. That was… genuinely touching. Thank you so much."

"Eh, it was… nothing, really," Azula shrugged awkwardly. "I'm sure it'll pull many new customers."

"I'm sure that was your main motivation," Katara grinned. She then surprised Azula by pulling her into another hug, but this time also generously smooching Azula's cheek in a way that left her blushing furiously. "And rest assured, Azula… the gesture was definitely not nothing."

For the past week or so, Mai had become used to taking care of The Blue Spirit restaurant's finances by working from home. Not only was she no longer exposed to Zuko and Jet's constant chaotic bullshit, the chores only took her between an hour or two every day, leaving her with plenty of time to lazy about and do absolutely nothing. Certainly, a part of her still missed some of the crazy shenanigans that always seemed to surround the restaurant, but Mai hoped that within a few more weeks, this longing would be completely eradicated.

This was less likely to happen now that on this Thursday morning, Mai was back in her little office at The Blue Spirit, only because Ty Lee had requested an emergency face to face meeting. Mai had agreed because she had recently been the reluctant witness of Ty Lee gradually slipping further and further into an insane freakout while trying to impress the father of her current boyfriend, Sokka. Ty Lee had been bombarding Mai's phone with endless texts, asking for advice and exhausting the whole world's supply of crying emojis while whining about how Hakoda Enuaraq probably thought that she was the dumbest ditz in Caldera City.

Mai always hated being in the position where she had to advise people. Because she acted so in control the whole time, people tended to assume that Mai had shit figured out, which couldn't be further from the truth. In rare moments of honesty, Mai admitted to herself that she was kind of a disaster, but fortunately, she was also really good at not thinking about it too much.

With Zuko and On Ji being the only ones present and doing prep in the kitchen, Mai decided to spend her time fruitfully by doing some basic admin stuff, but she was stopped by the discovery that over the past week, Ruon-Jian had turned her workplace into a pigsty. Chocolate wrappers, lollipop sticks and a mountain of crumbs, mostly from Cheetos, littered Mai's workplace. Resolving to murder Ruon-Jian upon his arrival, Mai was forced to do some emergency cleaning before she could even start thinking about work.

Mai was still busy cleaning when someone else entered the restaurant. A very familiar voice spoke up shortly just outside of her office. "You in there, Mai?" Ty Lee asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately," Mai sighed. She had just stepped into a partly melted chocolate candy that had fallen to the floor several days ago, and Ruon-Jian hadn't bothered to pick it up. It wasn't improving Mai's mood any.

"That's awesome," Ty Lee sounded relieved. "Alright, I'm coming in. I need you to tell me what you think about my new look, and I want you to be totally honest," Ty Lee said before entering Mai's office.

"Right…" Mai felt her eyes widening as she took in Ty Lee's unexpected appearance. She had completely redone her hair, swapping the heavy braid for a slightly messy bun with a pencil sticking out from it. Ty Lee wore barely any makeup when compared to her usual style, and a pair of thin framed glasses were hanging from a chain around her neck. Ty Lee was wearing a grey buttoned-up cardigan sweater together with polka-dotted maxi skirt that stretched down to her ankles and almost completely covered the stockings and pumps she was wearing. "Alright, you wanted me to be honest," Mai said. "This librarian look is so not you, Ty Lee."

"Yes!" Ty Lee pumped her fist happily. "That was the goal, thank you so much! I want to appear like the complete opposite of me, so this is clearly working out great!"

"If you say so," Mai sighed. "I still think you've got this strategy to impress your future father-in-law all wrong, though."

"Well, actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, seeing how you-" Ty Lee began, but she was interrupted by Zuko and Jet emerging from the kitchen at that very moment, arguing and gesticulating wildly.

"Wait, is Mai here?" Zuko suddenly spoke up, coming over to investigate and for some reason actually looking happy to see her. "Welcome back," Zuko smiled awkwardly. "The place just doesn't feel the same without you. And also-" Zuko and Jet both blinked, facing Ty Lee with slightly surprised stares. "What's up with her?" Zuko asked.

"She's trying to impress Hakoda Enuaraq," Mai explained.

"Good luck with that," Jet rolled his eyes. "Maybe try offering him a blowjob instead of whatever it is that you're attempting."

"Is that what you did when you were courting Katara?" Mai quipped. Zuko burst into laughter at the joke, making Jet glare at him. Zuko quickly silenced himself, looking a little guilty.

"Pfft, I didn't waste my time trying to please Hakoda," Jet snorted. "It wouldn't have worked anyway. Once, when I was starting to make some progress with Katara, the old man chased me around the block while wielding a baseball bat with nails in it.

"Valid reaction, to be honest," Mai shrugged.

Zuko laughed again. "What, surely you can't argue with that," he smirked when Jet glared at him again. "Anyway, I don't think it's a bad look, Ty Lee, just very unusual for you," Zuko grinned. "Also, I demand to see how you look with those glasses on."

Ty Lee sighed and placed the glasses on the tip of her nose. "I shouldn't really wear them because they're so strong, they make my head spin," she said.

"I mean, the whole librarian thing is pretty hot," Jet was forced to admit.

"Sure, hypothetically speaking," Zuko nodded, shooting a quick glance towards Mai. "It's just really unusual on Ty Lee. But it's not at all bad." Ty Lee looked rather pleased at the compliments.

"Those look like prescription glasses, Ty Lee," Mai said. "Where did you even get them?"

"Well… a few days ago, one of our customers left her purse behind," Ty Lee said. "She came to fetch it the next day, but I went through it beforehand and decided to keep the glasses."

"You stole our customer's glasses?" Zuko gasped.

"Certainly not!" Ty Lee protested. "It was a well-earned payment for finding her purse. At least I like to think of it that way." Ty Lee then paused, shaking her head. "Anyway, this is a total distraction from what I wanted to talk about," she said, looking at Mai. "I actually wanted to ask you for advice because I realized that you probably have a lot of experience trying to impress Zuko's father, right?"

Mai sighed, exchanging knowing stares with Zuko. "Yes, I remember trying that when Zuko and I had just started dating," Mai sighed, looking at Zuko. "Do you remember how that went?"

"Poorly," Zuko snorted. "Because you didn't realize that my father actually didn't care one bit about who you were as a person, as long as you were a socially acceptable match. The only thing that was going to make him like you was if you spent hours upon hours blowing smoke up his ass."

"And I'm just not the kind of person to do that," Mai shrugged. "So, I very quickly stopped caring about impressing Ozai. I was just there for Zuko, and Ozai tolerated my presence. It was good enough for us both, I suppose."

"Sounds about right to me," Zuko nodded. "Anyway, I don't think Mai can really advise you on this, Ty Lee, because this Hakoda guy is clearly a very different man from my father. But I know that all parents universally hate fake ass bullshit, so I'm not sure the librarian outfit is going to help."

"Shockingly, I agree with Zuko," Mai said, allowing herself a small smile directed at her ex-boyfriend. It had the added satisfying effect of making Jet frown.

"Well… I put so much effort into the outfit, I'm going to give it a try anyway," Ty Lee said with determination.

"Good luck with that," Zuko snorted. "Anyway, we're going to dash out for an hour or two. Jet managed to get my car impounded and we're going to get it back. I hope you'll still be around when we get back, Mai," he added before leaving the office.

"It was so not my fault, that water hydrant was totally obscured by those evil bushes!" Jet protested, following Zuko outside.

"And I should probably get changed into my uniform," Ty Lee said, trying to leave the office but instead walking into a wall.

"For crying out loud," Mai sighed, shaking her head. "Just take off those damned glasses, Ty Lee!"

"Okay, this was a really cool idea to spend the day here," Kiyi grinned, sipping on her mango and passionfruit boba tea. Together with Azula, they were sitting at a table in one of the cafes at the Arcade, which was a part of Caldera City's Museum of Video Games. Azula was having a Frappuccino because she hated boba, and she also couldn't pass the opportunity to annoy the baristas, knowing that they generally disliked making a Frappuccino. "This goes a long way towards making up for completely ruining my birthday," Kiyi added.

"I did not ruin your birthday," Azula immediately protested. "You got the coolest gift ever, remember."

"Okay, sure," Kiyi conceded. "But why did you invite me to hang out on your day off, then?"

"Well… I suppose I wanted to make up for slightly ruining your birthday," Azula admitted.

"Alright, that's better," Kiyi chuckled. "Still, if you wanted to make up to me, you could have let me win at least some of the games," she pouted. Azula had won every arcade game they had tried so far, from Space Invaders and Pac-Man to Donkey Kong and Street Fighter. "Anyway, I can't imagine what it was like, having to actually leave your house and go outside if you wanted to play videogames. That's probably why you have such a big advantage over me."

"Wait, that wasn't my experience growing up, you dolt," Azula frowned. "People who hung out at the arcades are like… in their fifties now. How old do you think I am?"

"Ancient," Kiyi winked. "Anyway, as I was saying, this was a great idea to come here. I'm really enjoying myself."

"Obviously," Azula nodded confidently. "I bet my idea is way better than whatever Zuko thought of to make up for ruining the birthday. If he even did anything at all."

Kiyi opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it just as quickly, pondering for a while before opening it again. "Yeah, I'm not going to say anything, because you're just going to turn it into a ridiculous competition between yourself and Zuko," Kiyi frowned.

"Ugh, you're so boring," Azula sighed. "You're also correct, not that it matters."

"Well, if you're making it up to me, then maybe you should listen to me bitching about something that annoys me," Kiyi said. "I shouldn't have to listen to you bitching about Zuko."

"What do you want to bitch about?" Azula asked.

"Ursa," Kiyi sighed. Azula perked up immediately. Ursa was her second favorite topic to bitch about, even though it was a very distant second following Zuko. "It's so annoying that she finally takes a week off in almost two years, and then she spends it by hanging out at your restaurant every day. All because she's making friends with Katara's dad."

"Yes, it's been sickening to watch," Azula said. For a while, she sat there with a thoughtful look on her face before speaking up again. "You know how everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't live my life for my father, but for myself? I wonder if we should apply that to Ursa as well."

"Of course not," Kiyi snapped. "Mom needs to dedicate her life to her children, especially to me. That's the kind of commitment everyone makes when they decide to have children."

"You know, that makes a lot of sense," Azula agreed with a nod. "I don't know what came over me to suggest otherwise."

"Anyway, I think it's only fair that I get to interrogate you now," Kiyi said with a demonic grin on her lips. "I want to know if there has been any progress with Katara."

"Uh, what?" Azula blushed, trying to feign ignorance. Kiyi glared at her. "I mean… not particularly? Maybe once Hakoda leaves I will figure out some way to advance my plots and schemes, but while Katara's dad is here, she's too preoccupied to pay attention to me."

"Yeah, right," Kiyi rolled her eyes. "You know that you could easily land your girl if you were just clear and honest about the way you felt for her? It's obvious that she's got it bad for you."

"Being clear and honest?" Azula gasped in shock. "You should know that I don't operate like that, Kiyi."

"Of course not," Kiyi laughed. "You're obviously going for a needlessly overcomplicated plan with very slim chances of success, but with great potential for humorous embarrassment."

Azula thought for a while. "Yes, that seems about right," she eventually admitted. "Anyway, if you're so smart about relationships, you should know why I'm not going in too hard with Katara. I just don't want things to become too serious when I'm going to leave anyway in a few months. I don't want to break her heart the way I did with Yue and Kya."

"Ugh, I guess I get that," Kiyi sighed. "I just seriously don't understand why you'd want to leave. I've never seen you happier than here in Caldera."

Azula's expression darkened slightly. "It's just… ugh, it's pointless for me to even try to explain," Azula sighed. "You don't know the relationship I have with my father, so you wouldn't understand."

"I'm not so sure you understand it either," Kiyi shrugged. "But whatever. I don't want to ruin this awesome afternoon with Ozai talk, that's gross."

"That's probably a good idea," Azula smiled. "But it's not just about me leaving. I also think that if Katara and I became serious, it would hurt Yue again, and I just don't want to add to that."

For some reason, Kiyi burst into laughter, forcing Azula to glare at her younger sibling. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Kiyi wheezed, trying to recover. "I guess with how obsessed you've been about Katara, you just haven't noticed that Yue has started to fall more and more for Suki."

"Are you sure?" Azula blinked, looking shocked. "Hmm… it's true that they have been spending a lot of time together. I just thought that Suki was comforting a friend through the heartbreak that I caused."

"Well, maybe it began like that, but I can reassure you that it's so much more by now," Kiyi grinned. "So, don't worry about Yue too much. Actually, if you went after Katara a bit more, maybe that would also finally push Yue and Suki together."

"Hmm… if you're right about that, then this might provide me with an opportunity," Azula mused thoughtfully. "Yes, I feel like the needlessly complicated plan you mentioned earlier just became even more complicated…"

Chapter Text

"So," Suki began, turning towards the girl sitting in the passenger seat of her car. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrified and anxious," Mingxia, Suki's foster sister from their old life on Kyoshi Island replied, just about managing to keep the stutter out of her voice.

"Don't be," Suki sighed. "You'll soon see that all my friends are wonderful and supportive people," she added while parking at her usual spot in the car park outside The Northern Lights.

Mingxia had arrived late last night with a ferry from Kyoshi Island, with very little advanced notice. Unfortunately, she had failed to find stable employment before her next payment of rent was due, and the landlord had proven to be completely merciless, kicking her out on the street with barely anything to her name. As soon as Suki had heard about it, she had bought a ferry ticket in Mingxia's name to get her foster sister to Caldera City immediately.

As soon as Suki had picked Mingxia up at the marina late last night, she had instantly regretted not having intervened earlier, but because of the distance, it had been difficult to judge just how bad Mingxia's situation was. The truth was that Mingxia didn't look well at all. She was much thinner than Suki remembered her, suggestion severe malnutrition. Mingxia was very jumpy, with eyes constantly shifting around as if she was looking out for all sorts of dangers, suggesting possible untreated anxieties. At least from the first glance Suki hadn't seen any signs of physical abuse, which would have had her schedule a boat trip back to Kyoshi Island to crack some skulls and exact bloody revenge.

With very little time having passed since Mingxia's arrival the previous evening, there hadn't been many opportunities to talk about any future plans. For now, Suki was determined to have Mingxia stay at her tiny apartment, an arrangement the other girl seemed happy with, appearing very satisfied with sleeping on the hastily procured air mattress. Right now, Suki simply didn't want to leave Mingxia alone, which was also why she had texted both Katara and Sokka, asking if she could bring Mingxia with her to the restaurant where she could help around the kitchen.

Certainly, it was a little inconvenient that this whole drama blew up just as Suki was becoming so used to spending more and more time with Yue and Kya, but she was never going to refuse helping someone she had grown up with and survived the foster care grinder together. Also, Suki wanted to believe that someone as kind-hearted as Yue would understand and sympathize with Mingxia's situation, especially when she had stated her intentions to help earlier.

"Well, it seems like not everyone is here yet," Suki remarked, looking around the car park before getting out of her Honda Civic. "That's probably for the best, we don't want to overwhelm you with introductions."

"Sorry," Mingxia muttered, hesitantly following Suki towards the restaurant's entrance. "I hate being such a wilting flower."

"I don't think you're a wilting flower, Min," Suki said, opening the doors for her foster sister. "You're just someone in a really tough spot. I'd struggle in your situation, too."

"Somehow I doubt that," Mingxia shook her head, making the short and choppy twin braids bounce wildly. "You were always the toughest of our foster care bunch."

"Agree to disagree," Suki shrugged, leading Mingxia through the restaurant's dining room before spotting Yue, emerging with a stack of cleaning supplies to touch up some of the spots missed while clearing down the previous evening. "Yue, meet Mingxia," Suki was quick to introduce the pair.

"Hey, so glad to finally meet you!" Yue gushed, quickly coming over to greet Mingxia, taking her hand despite the other girl making a hesitant gesture as if trying to pull away from the handshake. "Listen, Suki has told us that things have been rough, but that's all in the past. Now that you're here, we're going to make sure that things only get better."

"Uh… hey, and thank you," Mingxia managed, looking slightly overwhelmed and taken aback by the immediate friendliness of the blonde girl.

"Min is still trying to gather her bearings," Suki said, shooting Yue a quick apologetic smile. Thankfully, Yue appeared completely understanding. "I was going to start by showing her the kitchen."

"Of course, don't let me keep you!" Yue smiled. "We'll have plenty of time to talk later, I'm sure!" she added as Suki and Mingxia continued on their way.

"Well, she's certainly… friendly," Mingxia remarked once they had left the dining room and were walking down the corridor leading towards the kitchen. "I didn't expect that. She's the girl you used to hate, right?"

"What?" Suki laughed, shaking her head in bemusement as she held the kitchen doors open for Mingxia. "I don't think I've ever hated Yue? Why would you say that?"

"I'm pretty sure you didn't like her when you started working here?" Mingxia said, sounding a little confused. "I remember that from a few years ago when we still spoke on the phone almost every day. You always had some kind of issue with her, I mean, you complained about that girl a lot."

"Are you sure?" Suki frowned. "I don't remember doing that at all. Why would I complain about Yue?"

"Well, you seemed to-… ah!" Mingxia exclaimed in fright when someone else entered the kitchen, Aang emerging from the walk-in freezer, carrying boxes of fresh vegetables while whistling a merry tune.

"Whoa!" Aang gasped, almost dropping the boxes. He carefully set them down next to his work station and then looked around the kitchen, grinning when he spotted Suki and her foster sister. "Oh hey, you must be Mingxia!" he spoke excitedly. "I'm Aang! Sorry about giving you a scare just now!"

"H-hey… and it's nothing. I shouldn't be so j-jumpy," Mingxia stuttered, seemingly finding it impossible to relax.

"Aang is our sous chef and he's also in charge of the vegetarian and vegan dishes on the menu," Suki explained.

"Really?" Mingxia looked curious. "Are you a vegan yourself?"

"That's right," Aang nodded. "What about you?"

"Vegetarian," Mingxia managed a small smile. "I can't give up proper cheese, sorry."

"That's alright, as far as I'm concerned, going vegetarian is the most important choice. Making that next step to becoming a vegan is just a cherry on top," Aang chuckled. "Hey, have you had breakfast already?" he asked. "Or maybe I could impress you with one of my dishes?"

"We planned to have breakfast here," Suki said when Mingxia was slow to reply.

"Y-yes, but I don't want to impose," Mingxia added. "You clearly have a lot of work to do."

"Eh, prepping the veggies goes really quick, I have plenty of time to do that and also whip up something for you," Aang shrugged. "But you can help if you wish?" he suggested with a welcoming smile.

"He's not going to bite you, Min," Suki sighed having noticed the uncertainty gripping Mingxia's frame. "Aang is a vegan pacifist and probably the nicest and kindest out of all of us here. He once accidentally stepped on a spider and cried for three days straight."

"Hey, I'm not that overly emotional!" Aang protested, laughing. "But I did feel terrible for that spider, it's true."

"Well… alright, I'll help," Mingxia finally relented, relaxing slightly.

"Min has worked in some of the fast-food joints on Kyoshi Island," Suki smiled. "She should be pretty useful in the kitchen," she added, watching Aang fetch a spare chef's coat and an apron for Mingxia. As she was watching, the kitchen doors suddenly opened with Yue poking her nose in and once she had managed to attract Suki's attention, gesturing for Suki to step outside.

"What's up?" Suki asked, finding herself face to face with Yue in the empty corridor.

"Umm, not much, just getting ready for the lunch service," Yue replied awkwardly. "Do you think Mingxia will settle in well?" she asked.

"I think so," Suki shrugged. "I left her to bond with Aang. He's good for that."

"True, true…" Yue remarked absentmindedly, making Suki feel a little frustrated, because Yue had been the one to call her outside, ostensibly to tell her something. "So… Mingxia said something loud enough for me to overhear and I can't move past that until I know the truth. She said that you used to hate me?" Yue finally got around to asking the question, looking hurt as she did so.

Suki groaned, slapping a palm against her face. "And I guess you didn't hear my answer where I told her that she was mistaken," Suki sighed. Yue gave her a questioning stare. "I swear that I've never hated you. But there was a time when I was… I don't know, intimidated by you?"

"What?" Yue gasped, looking very surprised. "I don't believe you could be intimidated by anyone, not even Azula! Why would you feel intimidated by me?"

"Well, it was over Sokka," Suki snorted, feeling a little embarrassed for having to explain something like this. "When we started dating, for the first few months I just felt like… I don't know, a bit threatened, because you were still around and you got on so well, sharing custody over Kya. And with you being so glamorous and beautiful, well, I had a lot of anxiety about Sokka feeling like he was settling for a downgrade with me."

"That… that's preposterous," Yue exclaimed, blushing heatedly. "I can't believe you felt threatened by me. I was such a mess! I still am, honestly." Their eyes met and the blush on Yue's cheeks darkened even more. "But… thank you for the lovely compliment."

"Hey, I'm just telling how it is," Suki shrugged, feeling her own cheeks burning slightly. "Anyway, that feeling of inferiority didn't last too long and I eventually got over it. And we've never looked back, right?"

"Right," Yue nodded, grinning. "I'm glad we cleared that up, though. The thought that you might have hated me… well, it just felt very unpleasant."

"I could never hate you, silly," Suki sighed. "I'm sorry about the misunderstanding."

"It's all good now," Yue smiled, then pulling Suki into a quick hug. "Anyway, we should probably get back to our chores, and you need to look after Mingxia. Oh, and let me know if you want to do something together later, I'll be happy to join in and make her feel properly welcome."

"I was counting on it," Suki smiled back at her best friend before returning to the kitchen, where Aang had managed to get Mingxia set up at Toph's station and she was currently working on turning yesterday's mashed potatoes into something that would soon become delicious cheesy and crispy potato croquettes.

Suki used the opportunity to start her own prep and for the next twenty minutes or so, they worked in silence. The only interruption was Sokka and Ty Lee briefly checking in for introductions with Mingxia before Sokka gave his girlfriend a lift for her shift at The Blue Spirit. Ty Lee was still persisting with her librarian outfit for the time being, which everyone found rather amusing. It had never occurred Suki to do something like that in order to impress Hakoda Enuaraq.

"Any idea what plans Toph has for her day off?" Suki asked, eventually becoming bored of the silence.

"Sleeping in, I think," Aang chuckled. "She took two nearly full wine bottles home with us last night and drank most of it. Judging by how she was snoring up a storm, I think she'll be sleeping in until noon. And once she wakes up, she'll probably be hungry and then she'll make her way over here to scavenge the kitchen for lunch leftovers."

"So much for a day off if she ends up at work anyway," Suki shrugged, shaking her head.

"Toph was the blind girl, yes?" Mingxia spoke up. Aang and Suki both nodded. "And this is her work station, right?" Mingxia asked, with Aang and Suki nodding again. "I hope she won't mind me working here. I'll try to leave everything as it was."

"I'll help you with that," Aang offered. "Sokka and I built this station for Toph together, so I know where everything goes."

"Thank you," Mingxia smiled. "You're a great friend. Toph must be so happy to have you."

"Ah, it's nothing, really," Aang blushed. "And I know Toph appreciates me, even if she doesn't always show it."

"I often feel like we on the whole don't appreciate you enough, Aang," Suki smiled. "You're just an awesome little guy, I hope you know that." Aang was very red in the face from all the compliments, but he was also beaming with happiness, which Suki thought was well deserved.

The next one to show up at the restaurant was Ursa Noriko, Azula's mother. "Morning, Mrs. Noriko!" Suki responded cheerfully to Ursa's greeting. "I'm afraid that Hakoda and Katara haven't arrived yet!" she added, watching Ursa become a little flustered at the mention of Hakoda. "Nor has Azula, for that matter."

"That's perfectly fine, my dear," Ursa replied distractedly. Over the past week, she had become a permanent fixture at the restaurant, supposedly because Azula had invited her as a consultant for the dessert menu they were developing. In reality, Ursa seemed to be spending a lot of her time getting to know Hakoda Enuaraq. Katara and Azula both seemed to be in denial about how far that relationship had progressed, but Suki was willing to bet her entire monthly salary that by now Ursa had visited Hakoda's hotel room at least several times already.

Truth be told, Suki didn't mind the presence of Hakoda and Ursa. While it wasn't as if they were children who needed adult oversight (despite what some of their behavior might suggest), Suki rather enjoyed having this parental presence around the place. Suki wasn't one to scrutinize her own feelings too closely, but she supposed it was because she had only so few positive parental experiences from her time in the foster system. Even though she was now in her mid-twenties, a quiet want to have parental figures in her life had never truly gone away.

Another reason why Suki was glad to have Hakoda around was because his embracing of Yue and Kya as family had made Yue positively glow with happiness. Yue was still suffering bouts of depression from her father no longer acknowledging her or Kya, and to Suki it was clear that Hakoda's acceptance of the pair had done wonders for Yue.

"You are quite handy with that knife, Mingxia," Ursa remarked, having watched Suki's foster sister work following their introductions. "Have you worked in a professional kitchen before? Or do you simply love to cook?"

"I, uh… I've worked as a prep cook here and there on Kyoshi Island," Mingxia explained in her usual hasty and rambling way. "But I don't really like cooking. Baking, though…"

"Really?" Ursa suddenly looked interested. "I don't know if anyone has told you yet, but I'm a baker at The Green Dragon."

"S-seriously?" Mingxia gasped, nearly taking off her finger in surprise, almost in the style of Sokka. "I l-love your croissants! And cinnamon buns! And… and everything, really!"

"It seems like you're quite enthusiastic about baking," Ursa remarked. "Maybe you could channel that enthusiasm in seeking employment as a baker."

"Oh… no, I really couldn't," Mingxia stuttered. "I don't have the experience… or the education," she said, lowering her gaze and avoiding Suki's stare. Suki cringed from the feelings of guilt at the pit of her stomach. Lately, she had started questioning whether her foster parents shipping her off to the culinary school hadn't been done just to get her out of the way and make it possible for them to abuse Mingxia. The reaction of her foster sister made Suki suspect that Mingxia was harboring similar suspicions.

"Wasn't there something about The Green Dragon offering apprenticeships?" Suki asked suddenly, sensing an opportunity to help her foster sister. "Maybe you could find a spot for Min?"

"No, really, I couldn't ask for that, it would be too much," Mingxia protested.

Ursa hesitated slightly. "It's usually for younger applicants who have finished high school, but don't have the opportunities to go to a trade school," she replied. "But I could discuss it with Iroh. If he knew the specific circumstances, I'm sure we could figure something out."

"I don't even know how long I'll be here for," Mingxia still wouldn't let go. "I wouldn't want to start something I can't finish."

"You're here to get back on your feet again, with a little help from me and my friends," Suki spoke firmly. "And this could be an important part of that."

"I agree," Ursa nodded. "I would love to personally take you under my wing." Mingxia looked at Ursa, then back at Suki, her lower lip quivering. Then she burst into tears and ran out of the kitchen.

"Is she going to be alright?" Aang asked worriedly. "Should we go after her?"

"I'll go, but I want to give her a few minutes first," Suki sighed. She then shot Ursa a grateful stare. "Thank you for the offer, Ursa. Mingxia really needs a lucky break like that. She'll make for a good student, you'll see, it's just that you can't go too hard on her."

"Yes, I sort of formed that impression already," Ursa smiled softly. "But don't worry, I like to think of myself as a very patient person. Raising Kiyi and dealing with Zuko and Azula's constant competitions taught me all the patience I'll ever need," she chuckled.

"Well, that makes a lot of sense," Suki snorted. She spent a few more minutes dry brining the steaks before placing them back in the fridge and then setting out to find Mingxia. The dining room had been set up and was now empty, with Yue nowhere to be seen. Since she had nobody to ask whether Mingxia had stormed out of the restaurant, Suki decided to instead check out the ladies' room. Her instincts proved to be correct, as she found Mingxia standing by the mirror and wiping her face clean, but Suki hadn't expected to find Yue standing next to her foster sister, a comforting arm around her back. Of course, Suki already knew that Yue's compassion and warmth knew no bounds, and it was the one thing she loved most about her friend. But still, seeing Yue extend comfort and compassion to the closest person Suki had to a family… well, it made Suki's heart flutter in a way it hadn't done for some time.

"Everything alright here?" Suki eventually cleared her throat.

"I think we're going to be alright now," Yue replied softly.

"Thanks to Yue," Mingxia added quietly. "Sorry about storming out like that, Suki. I feel foolish, acting like a silly drama queen in front of your friends like that, but I just became so overwhelmed…"

"For a good reason, though. Ursa's offer is very exciting," Yue smiled. "By the way, are you done with your prep, Suki? I was thinking that the three of us could spend some time on the roof terrace before we open for lunch."

"I still have a few things to take care of, but you two should go ahead and I'll join you as soon as I can," Suki said. "You've given me the incentive to speed things up in the kitchen. And Min… remember to relax," she grinned. "After all, I'm leaving you in the care of someone I have complete trust in."

"I think I'm starting to see why," Mingxia added, smiling at Yue. For once, all anxiety seemed to have bled from her voice.

"Keep up, you slowpoke!" Katara ground her teeth at Azula's impatient shouting as she struggled to keep up with the other girl. For whatever mad reason, Katara had decided to join Azula on her afternoon jogging in the nearby park, an activity that the rest of their friends considered insane. Fifteen minutes into a hard run, Katara was seriously reconsidering her life choices because she was panting heavily, sweat pouring down her face as she struggled to keep up with Azula.

"Let's take a break," Katara gasped, earning herself a disapproving frown from the Fire Nation girl. Katara wasn't much of a jogger, but she still considered herself more fit than the average person because she did long hours of physical labor at the restaurant and it kept her in great shape, but she definitely hadn't counted on Azula running like some kind of psycho or Olympic athlete.

"You said you wouldn't have any trouble keeping up," Azula spoke accusingly as she reluctantly came to a halt and allowed Katara to catch up with her.

"I thought we would be jogging like normal people, not sprinting for fifteen minutes straight," Katara complained, snatching a water bottle out of Azula's hands. "Are you trying to show off?" she asked suspiciously before starting to hungrily drink with big gulps.

"What? No, I'm not showing off, that's ridiculous," Azula protested, unconvincingly. "Anyway, don't you have your own water bottle?" she asked. Katara held up her bottle which by now was already empty. "How did you manage that?" Azula wondered, stepping around Katara and poking her in the back.

"What are you doing, Azula?" Katara glared.

"Checking for a hump," Azula grinned. "You must be part-camel if you can store that much water."

"Oh, shut up, you," Katara growled, playfully pushing Azula away. "Anyway, I'm going to sit down for a few minutes. Feel free to continue if you want to… but then don't be surprised if I don't join you tomorrow."

Azula looked very worried at that as she sat down on the bench next to Katara. "Sure, we can rest," she quickly agreed. "And I'll keep the pace slow when we resume, I promise."

"Good," Katara smiled, leaning back and closing her eyes, enjoying the brief respite. It was a slightly overcast afternoon, an important prerequisite for her to join, because she would have probably already died if she had tried jogging in the sweltering peak heat of a Fire Nation summer. The park was relatively empty at this hour, save for a few groups of seniors sitting on shaded benches and young mothers pushing around baby strollers. In the tree providing shade to Katara and Azula's bench, a pair of ravens perched hopefully, expecting them to pull out some crumb-producing sandwiches, but soon flying away disappointed.

"Is Kiyi still going on with her wild theories about your mom and my dad?" Katara asked a while later.

"Yes, she's worse about it than ever," Azula chuckled. "I haven't been able to dissuade her from these conspiracy theories, even though it's clear that there's nothing going on. Ursa is just way too old for another relationship. She missed that boat years ago. Everyone can see that."

"I hope that's not your best argument, Azula, because your mom is still a stunningly beautiful woman," Katara frowned. "I just don't think my dad is looking for a relationship at this point in his life. If he was interested, then he surely wouldn't have waited so long. It's been more than ten years since… since we lost mom."

"Sorry," Azula muttered awkwardly, briefly touching Katara's hand. "I still don't know the right way to respond when you mention that."

"It's fine, there's no correct way of responding that I expect of you," Katara smiled briefly. "Anyway, going back to those wild theories. I know it's all bullshit because I straight up asked my dad and he denied everything. And I know he wouldn't lie to me."

"Well, there you have it," Azula shrugged. "Case closed."

"Exactly," Katara smiled. "Anyway, I think I'm good to continue."

"Wait," Azula stopped her. "There's something I wanted to say, actually," she continued, looking a little nervous and excited. "I managed to secure the forest cottage for the weekend after your dad goes away."

"Azula, that's wonderful!" Katara exclaimed. "Have you told the others yet?" she asked.

Azula hesitated, blushing slightly. "I haven't, no. You're the first one to know," she admitted.

"I'm flattered," Katara smiled. "But aren't you going to tell Suki and Yue?" she asked, wondering if Azula maybe wanted it to be a private romantic getaway just for the two of them. As much as that thought made her giddy and excited, Katara had to remind herself not to do anything that would upset her best friends. "They're going to be very upset if we don't tell them," Katara said, a little reluctantly.

"That's true," Azula admitted. "Of course, we're going to invite them as well," she added, trying to sound as if that had been the plan all along. "Still," Azula continued, glancing at Katara. "I'm working on some very secret plans that I hope you in particular will enjoy," she added mysteriously.

"Oh, you've got me all quivering with anticipation," Katara laughed. "Are you sure there's no way I can coax some spoilers from you?" she asked. Azula firmly shook her head. "Well, it was worth a try," Katara grinned. She then leaned in, surprising Azula with a soft kiss on the cheek that left them both blushing.

"What was that for?" Azula laughed softly.

"Well, you've been very nice to me lately," Katara smiled. "The whole gift of my father's visit, and now with the cottage? It's enough to make a girl feel very hopeful."

Azula's blush intensified tenfold. "You deserve nice things," she managed, a little awkwardly. "A-anyway, are we here to jog, or to chat the day away?"

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to tell me about the cottage, remember?" Katara rolled her eyes. "Ready to continue whenever, just remember that you promised to take it easy. Also, I still think that you were showing off earlier."

"I might have been, yes," Azula admitted. "Did it work?" she asked hopefully.

"You are such a dork," Katara laughed, playfully punching Azula's shoulder as the two girls resumed their afternoon jog.

Hakoda Enuaraq sighed at the continued insistent knocking on the doors of his hotel room. He definitely had not called for room service, and it seemed very odd for the staff to just blatantly ignore the 'do not disturb' sign he had placed on the doorknob. Still, waiting to see if the intruder would go away seemed to do no good, so having made sure that he and the room were both decent, Hakoda proceeded to open the doors to confront the intruder. He was very surprised to see none other than Yue Taqqiq on his doorstep, together with her adorable little girl, holding her mother's hand.

"Yue? I did not expect to see you until tomorrow," Hakoda blinked, remembering to step aside and let the pair enter.

"I understand, and I'm sorry for intruding at this hour," Yue apologized. "I saw the sign and I assumed that you were probably packing," she added, quickly looking around the room, probably wondering why Hakoda had placed the 'do not disturb' sign on the doors when he clearly was yet to start packing for his flight back to the Water Tribes tomorrow morning. "Anyway, I just figured that tomorrow there will be a big commotion as we see you off as a group. And I wanted to have a word with you in private before that."

"Of course," Hakoda smiled encouragingly. "What's on your mind, dear?"

"Well… really, I just wanted to thank you for the kindness you've showed to me and Kya over these two weeks," Yue said, giving him the softest stare. "It was a wonderful surprise to have you in our lives again, although we are saddened to see you leave."

"It was no less kindness than you deserve," Hakoda said earnestly. "I'm sorry for not reaching out sooner, but with the distance, I was not fully aware of your situation. And as I told you earlier, I expect us to stay in closer contact in the future. I want to know what's going on with you, and especially with this little tyke," he reached down to affectionately tousle the little girl's hair.

"I'll make sure to call often," Yue promised. "And I'm sure Kya will love to Facetime with you."

"Yes, but you will need to visit again, pawpaw," Kya giggled.

"Oh, I will, and hopefully this time you won't have to wait almost two years for the next visit," Hakoda laughed.

"That's wonderful to hear," Yue confessed. "I was so sad when you left for the Tribes last time because I… I guess I was starting to see you as a father figure…"

"Ah… I understand," Hakoda sighed. Katara and Sokka had told him enough about Yue's poor relationship with her father. Hakoda had never met Arnook Taqqiq personally, but even so he already knew that the man was a complete tool for not wanting someone as amazing as Yue and her daughter in his life. "I hope that situation improves in the future, but until then, I'm happy to be there for you and Kya, as much as I'm able."

"Thank you so much, Hakoda," Yue sobbed, giving him a quick hug. "You don't know how much it means to us." She swiftly wiped her eyes, recomposing herself. "Anyway, I know we shouldn't keep you for too long, but Kya had one more request of you."

"Yes!" Kya cheered, producing her Pai Sho set. "How about one more game, pawpaw?"

Hakoda chuckled, shaking his head as they sat down and began to set up the board. Given the circumstances he found himself in, a lengthy Pai Sho game was definitely not ideal at this moment, but there was no way that Hakoda was going to deny the little girl's request. The only solution now was to end the game quickly, which probably meant that he would have to find a way to lose because Kya was already a very handy and hard to beat player at her tender age.

It was about fifteen minutes into their game and Hakoda was on the brink of defeat, when suddenly there was another knock on the doors. "I feel like it's time for me to accept the inevitable and resign," Hakoda told the jubilant Kya as he got up from the bed and walked up to open the doors. "Uh… I did not expect you two to show up…" Hakoda exclaimed upon seeing Sokka and his girlfriend Ty Lee standing outside.

"I know, I know, we should let you pack and rest before the long flight tomorrow, but Ty Lee had something that she needed to tell you in private, so-" Sokka began, peeking into the room past Hakoda. "Hey, and it looks like you already have guests. The more the merrier, I say!" he exclaimed joyfully, pushing past Hakoda and entering the room.

"Hi dad!" Kya raved excitedly as Sokka picked her up and spun the little girl around. "I beat pawpaw at Pai Sho!"

"She's improving frighteningly quick," Hakoda admitted, then turning towards Ty Lee, languishing a little behind. She had gotten rid of all the supposedly sophisticated outfits she had been wearing the entire week, finally wearing something that actually seemed to be her style, white denim shorts and a pink crop top that was so small that it struggled to hold its contents, an observation that Hakoda couldn't help making even if he desperately tried not to stare. "So, you wanted to tell me something, Ty Lee?" he instead asked kindly.

"I, uh… I just wanted to apologize for acting like a fool all this time," Ty Lee sighed, lowering her eyes in shame. "I tried to pretend that I'm something I'm not, but as you could tell from yesterday's disaster, I'm… just a basic, dumb bimbo, there's no way around that. I was hoping to make it seem like I'm smart enough for Sokka, but… yeah, that was a complete failure on my part."

Hakoda felt rather taken aback by Ty Lee's confession. Maybe she hadn't seemed like an obvious match for Sokka, but she had always projected such confidence, and yet here she was clearly admitting serious and unexpected insecurities. It was true that the previous evening had been a disaster, however. Ty Lee had been wearing a classy evening gown, talking about how she was into classical composers like Tchaikovsky and Brahms, but when Sokka had mentioned that he was more of a fan of Vivaldi, Ty Lee had chewed him out for always wanting to talk about football. Everyone had burst into laughter at that embarrassing gaffe, and Ty Lee had awkwardly laughed it off as well, but it had clearly been a hurtful moment for her.

"I don't think you're lacking in intelligence, Ty Lee," Hakoda spoke honestly. Ty Lee gave him a skeptical stare. "And there's no such thing as being smart enough for someone. After all, I married a woman who was clearly way smarter than I was, and yet we spent almost twenty happy years together," Hakoda added, forcing back the bitterness of grief that still popped up every time he was speaking about Kya. "Besides, you really are a smart girl. Just a few days ago, you gave me fifteen facts most people don't know about sealions from the top of your head. I don't know anyone else who could have told me some of those things! You spoke like a true zoologist, and they are some of the smartest people in the world."

"Huh… I never thought about it that way," Ty Lee admitted, allowing herself a small, hopeful smile. "That makes me feel a little better, actually."

"I'm glad, because everything I said is true," Hakoda nodded firmly. He gave the girl a measured stare. "Why do you worry so much about others perceiving you as lacking in intelligence?" he asked.

"Because people have been telling me that I'm stupid all my life," Ty Lee sighed. "And I've been brushing it off year after year, after year. But it piles up, I guess? And when your own parents keep telling you that you're dumb, a failure, won't amount to much, are the least successful from your identical septuplets… I guess at some point you start believing it."

Hakoda sighed inwardly. Some of these girls that his children had befriended were truly cursed by having the worst kind of parents, and it made Hakoda wish he could stick around and help in a supportive parental role that these young adults in their twenties still clearly needed on some level. "You're still so young, Ty Lee. You have your whole life ahead of you, and I have all the faith that you'll prove your parents wrong," Hakoda smiled. "Like I said, I think you're a clever girl, and I hope my opinion counts for something. And I know for a fact that Sokka and your friends all think you're smart, too."

"Absolutely, Ty Lee can be quite cunning and creative when she puts her mind to it," Yue chuckled.

"You're just plain smart, Ty," Sokka added. "We're a good match because I could never solve all those morning paper crosswords without you answering all the nature related questions."

"Oh, you guys," Ty Lee sniffed, throwing her arms around Hakoda in a fierce hug. The embrace was certainly affectionate, but it also made Hakoda feel a little awkward and he did his best not to think about the scant clothing Ty Lee was wearing. Nobody else appeared bothered, however, clearly accepting the gesture as a part of Ty Lee's overly affectionate nature.

"Well, I'm glad we cleared that up and you won't be moping any longer about this supposed failure to impress my dad," Sokka spoke up, looking relieved.

"Hey, I already apologized about acting silly this past week," Ty Lee stuck out tongue at her boyfriend. "Besides, I seem to remember that you got something out of this whole deal as well."

"Oh, definitely," Sokka grinned. "We're keeping that librarian outfit of yours for… reasons."

"Too much information, guys," Yue laughed, playfully covering Kya's ears.

"You say that all the time around your friends and I never understand why," Kya complained.

"That's probably a good thing, poppet," Hakoda sighed.

"Anyway, now that we've all had our heart to hearts, how about a rematch at the Pai Sho board?" Sokka suggested. "But since Kya is such a pro, I'll be teaming up with my dad."

Hakoda sighed inwardly at his son's suggestion. This visit was becoming uncomfortably long already, and he really needed to cut it short without offending anyone. Thankfully, at least he could always count on Yue to display some tact and good manners. "Guys, we barged in on Hakoda without any previous warning," Yue spoke up. "Sokka, I think we should let your dad relax and do his packing in peace. We've taken up enough of his time as it is."

"I guess that's true," Sokka shrugged. "Alright, we'll be on our way, then. We'll be there at the airport tomorrow morning to see you off, dad," he added, but instead of heading for the doors, Sokka instead made a beeline for the toilet, causing Hakoda to panic.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hakoda exclaimed, almost jumping into Sokka's path and stopping him.

"Uh… I need to pee?" Sokka blinked. "If that's alright with you?"

"You can't, though," Hakoda said, having to think fast. "I… uh, had a terrible stomach upset earlier. You don't want to go in there."

"Ugh, that sucks," Sokka frowned. "I'll speak with Suki about our food hygiene. That is not acceptable and should have never happened."

"Oh, it's not because of something I ate at the restaurant," Hakoda replied, trying to come up with something cogent. "I… bought some dodgy ceviche from a street vendor."

Sokka gave him a look that clearly implied suspicion of Hakoda having lost his mind. "Anyway… I really need to go, so I'll just hold my nose. It'll be alright," Sokka shrugged, trying to push past Hakoda, but Hakoda wouldn't let him enter the toilet.

"You don't understand, I seriously clogged it," Hakoda said hastily. "It was so bad that I ended up breaking the toilet and now it won't flush. I was, uh… actually waiting for the plumber to show up."

"Well, in that case, we really should be on our way," Yue said hastily, helping Kya collect the Pai Sho tiles and then, after a round of affectionate farewells, the children were finally on their way, leaving Hakoda to once again place the 'do not disturb' sign on the doorknob before locking the door. As soon as he had done that, the doors to the toilet opened and out stepped Ursa Noriko, stark naked and looking a little blue in the face.

"My goodness, those kids are certainly very sweet, but they can also be a little frustrating," Ursa managed to say despite her teeth chattering lightly. "I regret not having grabbed a blanket because now I feel frozen like a popsicle."

"That, at least, should be easy to fix," Hakoda grinned, picking Ursa up bridal style and carrying her back to the bed.

A while later, with the task of warming Ursa up sufficiently accomplished, the pair were cuddling under the duvet. "Have you ever visited the Water Tribes?" Hakoda asked conversationally.

"I have not," Ursa shook her head. "Is that an invitation?"

"Most certainly," Hakoda nodded.

"I'd love to," Ursa smiled. The smile then turned to a slight frown as she thought of something. "But Kiyi would never forgive me if I didn't bring her along. Visiting the North is something she's long dreamed about."

"Well, she obviously should come with you," Hakoda smiled.

"Are you certain?" Ursa asked, giving Hakoda a questioning stare. "I'm sure you've noticed by now that she can be… a lot. Especially now that she has started to suspect something between us."

"Please," Hakoda laughed. "I've raised two kids. I know what it means to be a parent."

"I suppose," Ursa chuckled softly. "But Sokka and Katara are so polite and well-mannered. I'm sure they were perfectly obedient children."

"Of course," Hakoda rolled his eyes. "I mean, to Sokka's credit, the boy was very easy to raise, but Katara? Now that's an otter of a different color."

"Really? Sweet, lovely, compassionate Katara?" Ursa looked very surprised.

"Well, the thing is… she took her mom's death particularly hard. Obviously, we all did, but… Katara was just… not the same for a very long time," Hakoda sighed. "And the way Katara eventually dealt with her grief was by throwing herself into a different social justice cause every week, because she simply needed to constantly occupy herself with something. And I was supposed to be onboard with all of her causes, or else I risked being labelled as an out of touch boomer."

Ursa laughed at that. "Fair enough, I can see Katara being like that," she said, then growing more serious. "I'm sorry that you all had to go through something so traumatic with Kya's death. And by the way, I haven't asked you about the details because… well, Azula had already looked into it and she told me everything." Hakoda gave Ursa a questioning stare. "Well, you've seen the way Azula is hyper-fixating on your daughter. Borderline stalkerish research of Katara's social media footprint is just one of the things that Azula will do when she becomes seriously invested."

Hakoda laughed awkwardly. "Azula certainly is… something," he shook his head. "But I don't doubt that in this instance, she means well. I'm just… still afraid that she's going to break my daughter's heart."

"I wish I could promise that she won't," Ursa sighed. "But the kids need to figure these things out for themselves. And… well, maybe the kids won't be the only ones who will need to figure things out," she said, giving Hakoda a slightly nervous smile.

"That seems very possible," Hakoda nodded, smiling. This trip would have been amazing only because of seeing Katara and Sokka again, but instead, so many other things had happened to somehow make it even better. Not only had Hakoda reconnected with his granddaughter and her mom, he had also come to meet someone special who made thoughts about future seem particularly exciting.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you two don't want to take part as contestants?" Azula asked, glancing at Katara and Yue. She was busy preparing for a quick between the services entertainment for The Northern Lights crew, a taste test contest based on one of her father's successful TV cooking shows. "I have plenty of earmuffs and blindfolds for everyone," Azula said.

"I think I'll have way more fun as a spectator," Yue smiled in reply. Together with Katara, they were sitting at one of the dining room tables, watching Azula go through her preparations. "Also, this way I'll save myself from the embarrassment of getting everything wrong."

"I think you would do quite well, actually," Azula shrugged. "I'm not saying you have an executive chef's palate, because that's obviously not the case, but you definitely have an above average palate. The same goes for Katara."

"Thank you for that slightly backhanded compliment," Katara chuckled. She was watching the collection of earmuffs and blindfolds that Azula had laid out on the nearby table. "That's a lot of blindfolds," Katara remarked with interest.

"Yes, are those from your personal collection?" Yue winked at Azula. "Seems like those might have some interesting uses in the bedroom."

"Shut up," Azula blushed. "Anyway, if you want to borrow a blindfold, I don't mind sharing. But for now, I need to finish my preparations," she said, looking over the ingredients she had gathered. There were nine containers with finely chopped ingredients, which Azula had further split into three groups of three each, based on how challenging it was to identify them. The easy category featured chicken, carrot and coconut. The medium difficulty of ingredients contained fig, zucchini and cheddar cheese. Finally, the advanced difficulty had harder to identify ingredients like white asparagus, black truffle and boiled egg whites.

"Just remember not to feed some meet or cheese to our vegan contestant," Yue warned. "Competition or not, I doubt Aang would appreciate it."

"Don't worry, as always I've thought of everything," Azula grinned confidently. "I ordered some flavored baby food just for this very purpose," she explained, looking over the prepared ingredients one more time before covering the tray. "Anyway, since I'm ready, do you mind summoning our contestants?" Azula asked, looking at the two Water Tribe girls.

"We're on it," Katara nodded, and together with Yue they raced out of the dining room, returning with more contestants in tow than Azula had expected. The kitchen staff were accompanied by Sokka and Mingxia.

"Alright, it seems as if we have some extra contestants," Azula smiled. "But that's fine, this wasn't meant exclusively just for the kitchen staff."

"I don't mind bowing out if that's a problem," Mingxia quickly offered. "It's just that Suki told me that this might be g-good for me. Exercise my palate before I start this apprenticeship with your mom."

"Sure, it's not a bad idea, and you're very welcome to join," Azula nodded. She was a little curious about this girl from Kyoshi Island because thus far, Azula hadn't determined just how much potential Mingxia had. "Same goes for you, Sokka."

"Obviously," Sokka nodded. "I aim to demonstrate my superior palate and once again prove what a terrible mistake you made by kicking me out of the kitchen."

"Sokka, you have the palate of a drunken crack-smoking hobo," Toph laughed. "You're just going to make a fool out of yourself."

"I'm sure Sokka will get at least a few of them right," Aang felt the need to defend his best friend.

"I wouldn't bet on it, Aang," Suki chuckled.

"Anyway, if we could turn down the chatter, I'm going to briefly explain the rules," Azula spoke loudly to silence the contestants. "I'm sure you've all seen the competition on TV, but I figured that we all could do with a refresher. You will all be given a pair of blindfolds and earmuffs. When I tap you on the shoulder, open your mouth and I'll use a spoon to feed you the sample. When I tap you on the shoulder again, you give me the answer. Clear so far?"

"Clear as mud, boss," Suki mock-saluted.

"Ugh," Azula groaned. "Anyway, Katara and Yue will be keeping score for us." Katara raised her notebook and pen, while Yue cheered and waved a tiny cocktail flag. "And they will also laugh at your terrible answers." Azula then picked up the blindfolds and earmuffs, starting to distribute them among the contestants. When she got around to handing the items to Toph, Azula was surprised by Toph kicking her in the shins. "Ow!" Azula yelled. "What was that for?"

"For giving me the blindfold, you idiot," Toph snorted.

"Oh," Azula cringed. "Sorry, force of habit."

"Whatever, bitch," Toph laughed, clearly not actually offended, but merely delighted about the opportunity to engage in legitimized violence.

"Alright, here we go with the first ingredient, chicken," Azula said as she began to feed the samples to the contestants. In case of Aang, she stuffed a spoonful of chicken-flavored baby food in the Air Nation lad's mouth. "How hard can this be? Seriously, if they get this one wrong, they shouldn't be in the kitchen," Azula remarked once she had finished delivering the samples. She now returned to the start of this little queue of five, ready to hear the answers.

Toph and Suki delivered correct responses, but Aang then failed, identifying the flavor as salted tofu. "I suppose that's not very fair because Aang just doesn't stand a chance of guessing it," Katara shrugged as she wrote down the scores. "He's never had chicken in his life."

"Well, if these limitations make a vegan chef less versatile, then the scores should reflect that," Azula replied, refusing to accept Katara's criticism. "Anyway, moving on," she said, proceeding to tap Mingxia's shoulder.

"Is that… jackfruit?" Mingxia guessed.

"Oh, crap," Katara suddenly exclaimed. Azula turned towards her for an explanation. "Shit… we just fed Mingxia chicken. I only just remembered that she's a vegetarian."

"Ugh, that's horrible…" Yue groaned. "We're such awful friends. I knew that, too! Alright, she only mentioned it once, but I shouldn't have forgotten."

"Well, I hadn't even heard about her being a vegetarian," Azula said defensively. "I hope she'll accept our apology without any further drama." She then walked up to Sokka. "Let's see what this culinary genius thinks I just fed him," Azula chuckled, tapping Sokka's shoulder.

"Well, that was easy," Sokka declared confidently. "That was unmistakably a banana!"

"What?!" Azula yelled. "How… how is it possible to mistake chicken for a banana? They don't even have a remotely similar flavor or texture!" Sokka was still grinning victoriously, wearing his earmuffs and ignorant of Azula's ranting.

"I had no idea how badly Sokka has destroyed his palate with the junk food he's eating all the time, but apparently it's really bad," Katara laughed while helping Yue quickly wipe down the table. Yue had been drinking at the very moment when Sokka delivered his answer, and she had ended up spraying the table with soda.

"Anyway, I guess that puts Suki and Toph in the lead, which isn't surprising. Although, I totally expect Suki to win this. I will be disappointed if she doesn't," Azula nodded.

"My girl has it in the bag," Yue agreed confidently, sending a fond stare towards Suki.

"Right, here we go with the second ingredient, coconut. Very distinctive in both taste and flavor, it would be an absolute travesty to get this wrong," Azula said as she went from one contestant to the next to spoon feed them the samples. This time, everyone got their responses right, at least until it was Sokka's time to answer.

"This one's even easier than the last," Sokka laughed. "The answer is potato."

"How is the coconut a potato?" Azula was outraged as Katara and Yue were busy dying from laughter. "It's a completely different texture! Is he trolling us?"

"No… no, he really isn't," Katara wheezed, leaning in against Yue. Yue herself was shaking with laughter, almost about to fall over. "Trust me, for someone who kept bringing horribly prepared dishes back to Sokka because of customer complaints only to be dismissed because there was 'nothing wrong with the food', this makes perfect sense."

"I have to agree," Yue coughed. "We love Sokka, but he destroyed his taste buds by eating three packs of flaming hot Cheetos every day during his teen years."

"I guess that would do it," Azula sighed. "How likely is he to guess the next one on our ingredient list? It's carrot, by the way," Azula added as she resumed the task of feeding the contestants.

"Very unlikely," Katara laughed. "I'm bracing myself for another hilarious answer."

"He'll probably think it's some kind of a fish," Yue joined in. "I know, he'll say salmon! The carrot becomes salmon!"

"I refuse to believe someone's palate could be so horrible," Azula snorted as she got ready to collect the answers. Everyone once again guessed correctly as Azula approached Sokka, feeling very weary.

"How very kind of you to feed me my favorite food," Sokka grinned. "The unmistakable taste of hotdog!"

"Help!" Katara cried, laughing so hard she was soon hacking up a lung. "I'm going to pee myself!"

"I might have already done that," Yue wheezed, crossing her legs and shaking as she desperately tried not to die from laughing too hard.

"Alright, I think we need to remove Sokka from this competition before we proceed onto the next tier of ingredients," Azula frowned. "If he failed to identify even the basic ones, there's no chance he would succeed going forward. Also, I don't want you two to keel over from laughing too hard," she added, looking at Katara and Yue, struggling to recover from their bout of hysterical laughter.

"Aww, I was hoping to get even more ammunition to tease Sokka with," Katara pouted as Azula approached Sokka with the intent to remove his earmuffs.

"Valid, but on the other hand, my throat feels really raw already," Yue said.

Once Azula had removed the earmuffs, Sokka took off the blindfold himself, grinning broadly. "Impressive, right?" he stated confidently. "Three for three, baby, slam-dunk!"

"What are you talking about, you nincompoop?" Azula glared at Sokka. "You got everything wrong!"

"Eh?" Sokka looked very confused, then laughing awkwardly. "Ah, I see what you're doing, very funny. Well, you're not fooling me. I know I got everything right, banana, potato, and lastly, hotdog."

"It was chicken, coconut and carrot," Azula growled. "How did you-… you know what, never mind! You're eliminated for this pathetic performance, anyway. I have never seen anyone with worse palate than yours! It's remarkable for all the wrong reasons and probably demands urgent medical attention!"

"She's messing with me, isn't she?" Sokka glanced at Yue and Katara.

"No, it was as terrible as Azula says," Yue chuckled. "But thank you for providing us with endless laughter."

"Honestly, that didn't even feel real," Katara sighed. "Now that I know how bad Sokka's palate is, I almost struggle to believe that our restaurant was able to survive his leadership in the kitchen."

"Ungrateful brats, all of you," Sokka frowned as he sat down at one of the tables to watch the competition unfold. The frown didn't linger on his face for too long, however, as he apparently was able to find the funny side in his amusing failure, chuckling at Katara's teasing about the chicken that tasted like banana.

Meanwhile, Azula was ready to continue the competition by making the contestants sample cheddar cheese. Suki and Toph once again guessed correctly. Mingxia thought it was provolone cheese. Aang figured that the cheese flavored baby food somehow tasted of dill, an answer that rather baffled Azula.

"That's embarrassing," Sokka shook his head. "I would have gotten this one spot on."

"Don't be ridiculous," Katara laughed. "You would have thought the cheese was a strawberry or something." Everyone including Sokka himself snickered at that.

Next, Azula had everyone sample the zucchini. It was a tricky ingredient to identify because of its subtle flavor and soft texture, making it easy to mistake it for other similar vegetables. Azula was very impressed when her entire kitchen staff, as well as Mingxia, all identified it correctly. This put Suki and Toph both at five out of five, while Aang and Mingxia had three correct guesses.

The last ingredient of the medium difficulty tier was fig, which was another slightly tricky one. While fig had a very distinctive flavor and texture, it was a relatively rare ingredient and one they didn't use at The Northern Lights, so it was possible that the contestants simply hadn't tasted a fig in a very long time. Aang and Mingxia both went with dried apricot as their answer, which seemed like a reasonable guess. Suki surprised Azula by going with dried plum, also getting it wrong. Toph was the only one to get her answer right.

"Alright, this is not shaping up quite as I expected," Azula said as she removed Aang and Mingxia's earmuffs, since they were now too far behind to stand a chance at winning. "Three out of six for both of you, so not bad at all," Azula informed the two eliminated contestants.

"I'm happy with that," Mingxia smiled demurely as she took a seat at one of the tables, Aang coming to sit alongside her.

"Did you say Toph is winning?" Aang asked, receiving a quick confirmation from Sokka. "Yeah, I'm not surprised about that. Toph has an insane palate."

"Why have I never heard about that? It might have been important to know," Azula wondered, getting ready for the final round, preparing the samples that would be fed to Suki and Toph. White asparagus, black truffle and boiled egg whites were all tricky ingredients to identify, but for very different reasons. The Northern Lights used regular green asparagus for several of their entrees, mostly with fish. White asparagus was essentially the same as green asparagus, only sweeter, so it was easy to get it wrong. Black truffle was an expensive high dining ingredient that The Northern Lights didn't use, so Azula suspected that Suki and Toph wouldn't even recognize it. Boiled egg whites were obviously a very common ingredient, but the trick lay in them having nearly no flavor at all, only being possible to identify by their texture.

Azula decided to go with the egg whites first, expecting that Suki would be able to get it right and potentially claw her way back into the competition. And while Suki got the answer right, so did Toph, which meant that Suki still lagged a point behind.

"How is Toph doing it?" Yue wondered, looking bewildered. "She hasn't gotten a single one wrong yet! It's starting to feel like some kind of black magic."

"I have to admit, it is very impressive," Azula nodded. "But let's see if they pass the asparagus test," she said, feeding the finely chopped white asparagus to both Suki and Toph.

Having given the two contestants some time to come up with their answers, Azula approached Suki first, praying for her head chef to get this one right. "Asparagus," Suki said, after Azula had poked her shoulder.

"Alright, that's a partial answer," Azula said. "If Toph also goes for asparagus, they both get a point. If Toph says something like cabbage or artichoke, then obviously only Suki gets a point. But if Toph says white asparagus, then only she gets the point."

"That seems fair," Aang spoke up, the others also nodding.

Azula approached Toph and shook her shoulder. "Asparagus," Toph said confidently. Azula let out a sigh of relief, but then Toph opened her mouth again. "White asparagus, actually," she added.

"She's done it!" Sokka roared, jumping to his feet. "Eight out of eight! What a queen!" The others laughed at Sokka's display, but joined in giving Toph a standing ovation as Azula removed the earmuffs of the final two contestants.

"I didn't win?" Suki wondered at the small crowd chanting Toph's name. "Well, how did I do, then?"

"Six out of eight," Azula replied. "Actually, I would say six and a half, because asparagus was partially correct. It's a really good score, so you have nothing to be ashamed about."

"I suppose," Suki frowned. It was clear that she had expected herself to do better, or at least not to lose to Toph. Holding herself to the highest standard imaginable was a quality that Azula approved of, so she was glad to see her head chef being a little disappointed. "I can't believe Toph got eight out of eight. That's insane."

"Yes, it is," Azula said. "It's beyond impressive and better than I would have done," she was forced to admit.

"Wait, eight out of eight?" Toph asked. "I thought you said there were nine rounds?"

"There were, but you had an unassailable lead before the last round, so I decided not to bother with it," Azula explained.

"Well, I want you to bother and give me that last sample," Toph demanded. "I want to go for nine out of nine."

"Alright, but don't blame me for ruining your perfect streak," Azula said, picking up a spoonful of black truffle and feeding the ingredient to a very expectant Toph.

"Hmm," Toph mused, having chewed on the exotic mushroom for a good while. "This feels familiar," she said, in the face of Azula's skepticism. "Is that black truffle?"

"Yes," Azula said, feeling dumbfounded. "How were you able to guess it? I don't think you've ever worked with black truffle here."

"Well, you're forgetting that I haven't always been dirt poor, but I actually come from old money," Toph smirked. "I remember my parents taking me to the poshest restaurant in Gaoling for my sixteenth birthday, and I had this amazing black truffle and parmesan linguine."

"But that must have been more than… eight years ago?" Suki asked, sounding astounded. "How can you remember the taste of something you've had only once and such a long time ago?"

"Wait," Toph replied, chuckling awkwardly. "You mean that's not normal? Are you saying that you don't remember things like that?"

"I dare say that most people don't have such advanced taste memory," Azula said. "Especially not Sokka." Sokka groaned at that.

"Sorry, but the mocking will never stop, Mr. Banana Chicken," Katara laughed. "Anyway," she sobered slightly, giving Azula a firm stare. "We have something to say to Mingxia, don't we?"

"That's right," Azula nodded reluctantly, turning towards Suki's foster sister, eyeing her curiously. "So, the sample that you thought was jackfruit… unfortunately, that was chicken." Mingxia gasped. "Please accept my sincere apologies," Azula said. "I completely dropped the ball on that. For what it's worth, it was an honest mistake."

"Well… it's a little upsetting, but I suppose I never told you that I was a vegetarian, did I?" Mingxia said, managing a slightly strained smile. "You couldn't have known."

"We both knew," Yue said, pointing at Katara. "It just didn't occur to us to mention it to Azula, so it's our bad, really."

"Oh well, water under the bridge," Mingxia offered magnanimously. "Just don't make that mistake again."

"I feel like you're letting Azula off way too easy for being an inconsiderate jerk," Toph chuckled. Before Azula knew it, she had been kicked in the shins once again.

"Stop that!" Azula protested. "Or I will reconsider my suggestion to the owners about giving you a raise!"

"Wait… a raise?" Toph laughed, then reaching out to awkwardly pat Azula on the head. "Let's forget there was any kicking involved. Nobody saw anything, right?"

"Tell that to my poor shins," Azula muttered.

"Anyway, what was that about a raise for Toph?" Sokka reared his head. "I'm not sure that's within our budget. We barely have enough for my Rolex wristwatch, a brand-new sports car and all the designer clothes and fur coats that my girlfriend has been looking at."

"Ignore him," Katara scowled. "That's a very inappropriate joke, Sokka." She then turned back towards Azula. "What did you have in mind, Azula?"

"Well, it's clear that Toph's palate is a national treasure and an asset we have to utilize wisely," Azula mused. "In the future, every new dish we add to the menu will have to be greenlit by Toph, because she has the superior palate. Also, we need to put Toph in charge of quality control. Because of her near perfect taste memory, she's the one best suited to solve disputes with customers."

"The customer is always wrong!" Toph declared, laughing. "Anyway, I love all of this. Not only am I getting a raise, I'm also getting even more free food. What could possibly be better?"

"It would be even better if I could get that new sports car, or at least a Rolex," Sokka said dreamily, earning himself a few chuckles.

"Oh, shut up, dummy," Azula sighed, lobbing a piece of chicken at Sokka.

Sokka caught the chicken mid-air, swallowing the piece whole. "Yum! Tastes like banana!" he declared amongst the amused laughter.

Even though Katara was already missing her dad following his departure back to the Water Tribes, Azula sharing the news about having secured the forest cottage for another weekend had helped in distracting Katara from her sadness. As the week progressed, Katara was becoming more and more excited when looking forward to Sunday's trip to the cottage, dying from curiosity about the special plans Azula had alluded to.

And finally, here they were, on the forest road leading to the cottage, with Katara sitting in the front next to Azula in the driver's seat, accompanied by Suki and Yue, looking equally animated in the backseat. Whenever the four of them took these short mini vacations, Katara always had to know that the friends left behind would also be having a grand time, because otherwise Katara just wouldn't be able to properly enjoy herself. With Sokka and Ty Lee appearing more than happy to take care of Kya, and with Aang and Toph inviting Mingxia to hang out with them, Katara felt as if she had no immediate concerns to worry about, and she was quickly getting into the right relaxed mindset for their forest retreat.

Azula seemed to be in more hurry than ever to get to the cottage, and her driving on the narrow forest road left Katara feeling a little shaken. They arrived at the cottage a quarter past nine and the sun was still a few hours from setting. Being fellow speed monsters and adrenaline junkies, Azula and Suki looked energized from the crazy drive and they did the most work bringing the supplies from the car's trunk into the cottage. Katara and Yue took their time recovering from the wild journey, eventually following their friends into the house, welcoming them for yet another hopefully unforgettable weekend.

As always, they kicked off their stay at the cottage by cracking open a pair of wine bottles, lounging on the downstairs sofas and simply chatting about whatever nonsense came to mind. It was at some point during this idle chatter that Katara was about to put her phone away, only to notice that she had an unread message from Azula, sent some twenty minutes ago, shortly after they had arrived at the cottage. Katara opened the message, blinking when she realized that Azula had sent her pictures of some fruits and berries, namely cherry, strawberry and raspberry. The pictures were accompanied by a cryptic message that read as follows: 'Remember the order, it's important. And not a word to the others.'

'Lol, what?' Katara snickered to herself, quickly sending her confused reply. Azula took one look at her phone, but instead of replying, she gave Katara a stare that looked downright warning. It left Katara feeling incredibly confused, but since Azula appeared dead serious about whatever was going on, Katara decided to cease her inquiries, suspecting that perhaps it had something to do with Azula's secret plans. Fortunately, Suki and Yue were distracted with their own side conversation and hadn't noticed the exchange between Azula and Katara. Suki was busy ranting to Yue about how the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel was going to be shamefully safe and sanitized compared to the original movie, so that they would be fine taking Kya to see it with them. Yue looked rather enraptured while listening to Suki's passionate outburst.

"Anyway, if you're quite done bashing a movie that hasn't even come out yet, maybe we can get around to this evening's entertainment," Azula commented, once Suki was done with her rant that looked to have left her slightly out of breath. "It's a game of sorts. And I think it would be best if we played it upstairs, in my bedroom."

"Alright, now you're talking," Suki grinned. "Shall we undress right here and now, or wait until later?"

Azula sighed, shaking her head, as she watched Yue hit Suki in the face with a pillow. "While I appreciate the enthusiasm, maybe let's not jump the gun until you know what I actually had in mind?" Azula rolled her eyes. "Any of you ever heard of Edible Beauty?"

Katara and Suki both shook their heads, while Yue appeared uncertain. "I think so, but I'm not sure," Yue mused. "I do remember them being in the news for some reason. They're a cosmetics company, right?"

"That's right," Azula nodded. "They're both vegan and cruelty free, which is important to someone, I guess. What is important to me is that they're paying me bucketloads of money to promote them. And they also send me a lot of free samples, some of which are actually passable enough for me to consider using. Just now, they sent me samples from their latest lipstick line."

"Oh," Yue beamed happily. "You want us to experiment with different lipsticks? That's so much fun, I'm always game for that."

"I actually think Azula had something slightly different in mind," Katara smiled, starting to realize just what Azula's wicked plan entailed.

"See, Katara's getting it," Azula grinned. "I was thinking that we could have our own, slightly more risqué and not safe for work taste test. I would put on a lipstick without telling you what flavor it is-"

"And then we'd have to kiss you and guess it from eating the lipstick off your face?" Suki laughed. "Alright, that's… actually a really awesome idea. I just hope that lipstick doesn't give us all raging indigestion. That wouldn't be very sexy or romantic."

"Don't be ridiculous," Azula blushed. "It's all natural oils, waxes and pigments. They're not actually kidding about the edible part."

"Okay, it does sound like a fun game," Yue agreed. "I suppose we could play it downstairs, but maybe a bedroom setting is a more appropriate setting."

"Definitely," Suki nodded. "Anyway, what's the main prize? I'm curious to know since I'm obviously the favorite to win."

"Just because you have a great palate for food doesn't mean you have a great palate for lipstick," Katara added in a slightly prickly tone. She had by now realized that Azula had essentially texted her the cheat code for winning the game, and until Suki had made her cocky comment about being the favorite, Katara was having an internal struggle about actually using Azula's tip. But Katara was also desperate to win, and Suki's little remark merely served as a reminder that she and Yue had both shared intimacy with Azula quite recently, while Katara had been left out in the cold for months, and had, in fact, never had Azula all to herself. So, in that single moment, Katara dismissed all moral considerations about cheating being bad and decided that she was going to do whatever it took to win this naughty little contest.

"Oh, rivalry is heating up, I love it," Azula laughed. "Anyway, the main prize will be something for me and the winner to arrange privately. It could be many things, but all of them amazing, that much I promise."

"Okay, then what are we waiting for?" Suki exclaimed, the first to get up to her feet. "Let's go upstairs and get this show on the road!"

With Suki leading the way, the four girls all but ran upstairs, heading for the largest of the bedrooms which Azula always made sure to claim for herself. Once there, Katara, Yue and Suki perched on the massive queen bed, allowing Azula to take charge of the evening's entertainment.

"I left the blindfolds and earmuffs back at the restaurant, but no matter, this should work perfectly well without them," Azula said. She grabbed one of her many vanity cases and rummaged through it. "Alright, I have some flavors here that shouldn't be too hard for you to guess. To make it fairer, we'll go with a set order in which you will give your answers. First round, Yue will answer first, then Katara, and Suki, you'll be the last. Second round, the order will be Katara, Suki and then Yue. And in the final round, it'll be Suki, Yue and Katara."

"What happens if I want to give the same answer as Yue already gave?" Suki asked. "Can I do that?"

"You can," Azula nodded. "That's where some strategy comes in. You definitely have advantage in the round where you're answering last. You can copy the previous answers or you can decide to take a risk and diverge. I think it will be fun to do it that way."

"Sure," Yue agreed, smiling. "It seems like this method will also give me and Kat better chances against Suki." She then paused, looking at Azula. "Anyway, I'm ready to start. I think you said I was going first, right?"

"That's right," Azula nodded, then turning away to apply the dark red lipstick that Katara thought fit her perfectly. "Alright, I think we're ready to commence," Azula smiled, moving closer to Yue on the queen bed. For the briefest of moments, there was a slight hesitation between them, which Katara thought was only natural considering the very serious feelings that had blossomed between the two women not that long ago. Still, the hesitation passed quickly as they relaxed into a very soft looking kiss that neither of them appeared eager to break for the longest of time. Excitement mixed with light sprinklings of jealousy within Katara as she couldn't take her eyes away from the pair kissing, mesmerized and frozen as she dreamed about taking Yue's spot in Azula's arms, heat rising in her core from these thoughts alone.

"Whoa… okay…" Yue gasped lightly once she and Azula had separated. "I think I can tell the flavor. Do I give my answer now?"

"Not just now, let's wait until everyone has had a taste," Azula replied, sounding very composed despite her eyes still being a little glazed. She then turned away to reapply the lipstick before facing Katara with an inviting stare. "Alright, your turn, Kat."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Katara grinned, swiftly taking Yue's vacated spot next to Azula. She reached out to cup Azula's cheek before leaning in for a kiss. It didn't take long for Katara to identify the sweet taste of cherries on Azula's lips, just like how Azula had tipped her off. Obviously, just because Katara was certain that she had the right answer, she wasn't going to cut the kissing short. Katara put in as much effort as Yue had done before her, not letting go of Azula's lips until they were both starting to struggle for breath.

"That was certainly very enthusiastic," Suki laughed, pulling Katara away so that she could take her place. Meanwhile, a rather frazzled looking Azula was once again making good use of the brief pause to recover and reapply her lipstick.

"I'm definitely not complaining about the enthusiasm," Azula chuckled.

"Good, because you're about to get some more of it," Suki grinned, pulling Azula in for a kiss. Suki was definitely the more insistent and forceful kisser, but she also didn't make the kiss last as long as Katara and Yue had done. Suki appeared to release Azula once she had made sure that she had the right answer. "That should be an easy one to guess for everyone, I suspect," Suki smirked.

"We'll see," Azula said. "So, what's your answer, Yue?" she asked.

"It's cherry," Yue spoke confidently.

"Interesting," Azula remarked, turning towards Katara. "Kat?"

"I also think it's cherry," Katara replied, more than certain that Suki would also get it right. It was a little unfortunate that she hadn't been able to make good on her insider knowledge just yet, but the following rounds were sure to be more challenging and provide better opportunities for her to win the contest.

"Obviously, it's cherry," Suki laughed. "Only Sokka wouldn't get that."

"Well, Sokka won't get to kiss me, so your point is moot," Azula snorted. "Anyway, I did expect that everyone will get this, but let's see if your good fortune will hold in round two."

"Wait," Suki called out as Azula was already reaching into her vanity case for the next lipstick. "I had a rather wicked thought," Suki said, grinning at Azula. "Would you be willing to up the ante?"

"I'm not keen on changing the rules of the game midway through the contest, if that's what you're asking," Azula frowned.

"No, it's not really about the rules," Suki chuckled. "I was just thinking. You said that it's edible vegan lipstick, all-natural bullshit, right?" Azula nodded uncertainly. "So, in theory… you could apply it pretty much anywhere, right? We don't necessarily have to taste it off your lips?"

"Uh… what are you thinking?" Azula asked, blushing lightly.

"Take your top off," Suki said boldly. "I want to taste it from your tits." Azula blinked at Suki. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you're going to chicken out?"

Azula's pause didn't last very long before she confidently took off her top, followed by her bra, tossing both articles of clothing aside. "I hope that answers your question, Suki," Azula said coolly as she took the lipstick tube and began to draw circles around her nipples.

"Is this really happening?" Yue asked incredulously, looking at Azula with very wide eyes.

"Come on, it's not such a surprising development," Katara laughed. "The intent behind these retreats has always been to engage in sexual depravities, right?"

"Good point," Yue laughed awkwardly.

"Suddenly, I'm feeling very overdressed," Suki said, unashamedly eyeing Azula's breasts, with Yue and Katara doing the same. Suki then rose from the bed and quickly stripped herself completely bare.

"You're very quick to get naked around Azula," Yue remarked, sounding just a little jealous to Katara's ears.

"I am merely trying to set an example for the rest of you," Suki laughed. Yue rolled her eyes, but when Katara decided to also join Suki, Yue felt sufficiently peer-pressured to strip naked as well, though she and Katara both left their panties on.

"I certainly appreciate the view," Azula spoke up, her face looking rather flushed. "But aren't you forgetting about the contest? Katara? It's your turn to go first."

"With pleasure," Katara smiled, moving closer to Azula and surprising Azula with a kiss on the lips before slowly tracing her path downwards, kissing Azula's neck and collarbone, and only then moving on to the other girl's breasts. According to Azula's texted cheat code, the next lipstick was supposed to be strawberry. The flavor was much subtler than for the cherry lipstick, but already knowing what to expect, Katara was able to recognize it quickly enough. Still, she wasn't going to abandon Azula's breasts anytime soon, at least not before drawing at least a few sighs of pleasure from the Fire Nation girl.

"I think we'll have to pry Katara away from those titties with force," Suki laughed.

Katara released Azula's nipple from her mouth with an audible pop. "Hey, I'm not stopping you from joining in," she laughed before resuming her efforts.

"That's a good point, actually, what was I waiting for?" Suki grinned, diving in to join Katara. With double the stimulation, Azula's reactions quickly became more gratifying. Katara soon felt Azula's fingers becoming entangled in her hair, tugging insistently. Azula's breath became more ragged, low throaty moans escaping her mouth. Satisfied with what she had achieved, Katara eventually pulled away, and a while later, Suki did the same.

"Okay, I'm pretty confident I know the answer," Suki stated. "But I suppose Yue still wants to have a go."

"You're damn right I want my turn," Yue demanded. She was forced to wait a little longer than before because Azula needed some time to recover and then reapply the lipstick to her left breast. Once Azula was ready, Yue pounced on her as if she had been starved. Katara supposed that watching her and Suki have a go at Azula's breasts together had been quite the stimulating view, which certainly explained Yue's hunger.

"Damn, that's so hot," Suki gasped as neither she nor Katara could take their eyes off from Yue and Azula. Suki was already unashamedly touching herself, and even though Katara felt hot all over with flashes of arousal, she had just enough self-control left to avoid touching herself. Still, the sight of Yue sucking on Azula's nipples was making Katara feel like she was about to literally catch fire, and she wasn't sure how much of this she could take before bursting into flames.

Much to Katara's relief, Yue eventually released Azula's breast and pulled away to sit on her haunches. "Hmm, this is a tough one…" Yue mused, looking a little uncertain. "It's a much subtler flavor, isn't it?"

"Don't give anything away, remember that you're the last to answer in this round," Azula chided the blonde girl. "Katara has to answer first."

Even though Katara already knew the answer, she decided to act very uncertain, hoping to throw off her competitors. "It's tough… I'm not really sure about this one," Katara sighed dramatically. "This is a totally wild guess, but I'm going to say… strawberry?"

"Interesting," Azula smirked. "Suki?"

Suki frowned, looking deep in thought, probably pondering on whether to copy Katara's answer or take the risk and diverge. "I'll go with strawberry as well," Suki eventually decided against risking it.

"Hmm, I guess I could also say strawberry and then we'd be all tied before the final round," Yue mused. "But then Katara will have the last say in the final round, which could be a big advantage. And if you don't take chances, you're never going to win anyway, right?"

"Reasonable," Azula shrugged. "What is your answer?"

"I'm going to say… watermelon?" Yue tried.

"Sorry, Yue," Azula smiled. "Good try, but Suki and Katara got it right, it was strawberry."

"Damn," Yue grumbled. "Oh well, I guess I'm not totally out of it just yet."

"Not at all, we have at least one more round to go," Azula said. "Hopefully without any more depraved suggestions involving other of my body parts you want to taste the lipstick from."

"Well, since it's supposedly so healthy and natural, I don't see why we can't taste it from your pussy," Suki laughed.

"That sounds neither healthy nor hygienic," Azula frowned.

"I'm not telling you to stick it inside, dumbass," Suki grinned.

"I… suppose it could be safe as long as I apply it carefully?" Azula mused thoughtfully. She looked to be slowly coming around to the idea, because suddenly her denim shorts and lacy red panties came off in a hurry. "Let's face it, I'm too horny not to go for it," she laughed, setting to work and then leaning back against the pillows and winking at Suki. "Well, come on then, you wanted a taste, big girl."

Watching Suki dive in and settle between Azula's legs was a sight that drove Katara absolutely wild with a mixture of arousal and jealousy, but once Azula really started to respond to Suki's efforts by moaning and arching her back, both Katara and Yue could no longer refrain from touching themselves. The heat was reaching unbearable levels and Katara knew that it would only take a few more insistent touches to get herself off.

Fortunately, Suki eventually pulled away, smirking as she looked at the panting Azula. "Damn, I might have shot myself in the leg with this suggestion, because this was 90% pussy and 10% lipstick flavor," Suki laughed.

"Good," Yue remarked, having managed to recompose herself. "I think it will give me and Kat a better shot at winning this." With Yue's turn next, she had to wait longer than before for Azula to recover and get herself ready for a repeat performance. Soon enough, Yue was in position, setting to work and coaxing reactions from Azula that drove Katara and Suki absolutely wild.

"Oh shit," Suki moaned at the sight before her, boldly and unashamedly pleasuring herself. Katara still somehow managed to hold herself back, even if her hand occasionally slipped inside her panties. "Whoever of us wins this thing has to ask for a foursome as a prize," Suki continued, panting hard. "Anyone who doesn't do that is neither a team player, nor a good friend…"

"We'll see about that," Katara managed to reply, struggling to hold herself in check and just about managing to do so until Yue eventually released Azula.

When it was finally time for Katara to settle between Azula's legs for her turn in this improvised very-NSFW taste test, her focus was not at all on identifying the flavor. Katara already knew that the answer was raspberry. Her true goal now was to give Azula the kind of experience that she wouldn't forget in a hurry. Since the combined efforts of Suki and Yue already seemed to have pushed Azula close to the edge, it made Katara's job of getting Azula off all that easier. It didn't take long at all for Azula to be thrashing and moaning under her, trying to lift her hips off the bed. Katara would not be distracted, however, single-mindedly sticking to her task until Azula surrendered with a loud cry and went limp in her arms. As Katara pulled back, licking her lips in smug satisfaction, the stunned faces of both Suki and Yue didn't escape her attention, nor did the fact that Yue had managed to lose her panties during Katara's turn with Azula.

"Alright, I think you're the first to answer this time around, Suki," Katara spoke up a while later, when Azula still appeared out of it.

"Well, shit," Suki laughed awkwardly. "I have to admit, I really have no idea. The lipstick flavor seemed a little tart, so it could be a lot of things… maybe pineapple? Yeah, I'll go with pineapple. It's a popular flavor, after all."

"Alright, you're next, Yue," Katara said, cheering inwardly after Suki had guessed wrong, handing the competition to her.

"Ugh, so… pineapple would have been my first choice too," Yue admitted. "But if I go with that answer and it's the right one, then I'll still be behind Suki, right? So, I need to risk and pick something else," Yue mused, rubbing her chin. "It kind of tasted like kiwi fruit, but I haven't seen any cosmetics flavored like that, so I don't think that's right. I'm going to say… raspberry?"

"Okay, it's my turn now. I'm also going with raspberry," Katara announced. "Azula?" she poked the still unresponsive Fire Nation girl. "What is the correct answer?"

Azula slowly reared her head. "It's raspberry," she managed. "Katara wins."

"Damn, so close," Suki cursed. "Alright, Katara, prove that you're a real one and ask for a foursome," she said, making puppy eyes at Katara.

Katara felt a little conflicted even if she knew that there was no way she was going to listen to Suki's plea. It was easy for Suki to make the request when she had already hooked up with Azula, and so had Yue. "I'm sorry, I really love you girls, but the prize I want is Azula all to myself," Katara stated without hesitation.

"Granted," Azula smirked, finally having recovered enough to sit up in the bed. "Love you girls, but… get lost!"

"How rude!" Suki exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do then?"

"Why not do the same what Yue and I did while you and Azula hooked up?" Katara suggested. Suki and Yue both froze, pausing as they processed the idea. Mere moments later, Suki grabbed Yue's hand to pull her off the bed and then they both ran out of the room in a hurry. "They left all of their clothes behind," Katara laughed.

"I expect they won't need them until tomorrow afternoon," Azula snorted. "But enough about Yue and Suki. Let's focus on us."

"Good idea," Katara nodded. "I already know where to start," she grinned, leaning back on the bed, finally pushing her panties right off and then holding out the tube of raspberry lipstick to Azula. "Why don't you come and have a little taste…"

Chapter Text

"It's hard to believe how quickly everything has happened for you two, but I'm certainly happy to see it," Katara said, smiling at Yue and Suki. The trio of friends were sitting on the roof terrace above The Northern Lights restaurant, a large parasol protecting them from the scorching August sun. Nearby, Kya appeared very busy as she inspected Azula's little herb garden, also doing some watering. The little girl looked very serious and professional as she went about her task, the picture of professionalism perhaps slightly ruined by her large yellow watering can in the shape of a duck.

It was a quiet afternoon between the services and having finished serving lunch, the staff of The Northern Lights had dispersed to make the best use of their free hours before the dinner service. Azula had driven across the town to meet with her childhood besties, Ty Lee and Mai. Downstairs, Sokka and Toph were playing Black Myth Wukong, or rather, Sokka was playing while Toph was gleefully reacting to the sounds of kills or Sokka's annoyed shouting after again and again dying to a frustrating boss. Aang had taken off on his bike to bring a vegan meal to Mingxia at The Green Dragon bakery where she was successfully undergoing tutelage under Ursa.

"Well, after that night at the cottage, I just couldn't imagine it going any other way," Suki grinned, taking the hand of a very content looking Yue. "Also, some practical considerations helped," she added. "I was starting to feel really bad for Mingxia having to sleep on that air mattress, and now she has my bed all to herself. My entire apartment, really."

"Also, Kya has finally stopped asking if Suki can stay the night with us, because she's doing exactly that," Yue laughed, squeezing Suki's hand. "I feel like it's working out really well."

"That's amazing," Katara nodded. "You know, with all of us more or less seriously chasing after Azula, I really had no clue how strongly you two felt about each other." After Katara had heard about Suki moving in with Yue, she had felt both happiness and relief, but a slight tinge of uncertainty hadn't gone away just yet. After all, not that much time had passed from when Yue had seriously contemplated future together with Azula. Katara didn't want to think that Yue would use Suki as a rebound, but relationships and feelings were complicated and not always easy to figure out.

"I think Azula walking out on Yue really opened my eyes about how I really felt about her and Kya," Suki confessed. "I think it had been building for a while, but that served as an awakening."

"For me, it would be silly to deny that I became really attached to Azula," Yue smiled bittersweetly. "In her, I also saw a better future for myself and Kya. But the way Suki has been there for us this past month, it's been so amazing. I no longer have to hope for a better future for myself and Kya, because Suki is already making our lives better here, in the present."

"You are such a corny but adorable sap," Suki laughed, leaning in to kiss Yue's cheek. "Also, she's too bashful to mention just how much of a factor our off-the-charts sexual compatibility was," Suki winked at Katara. "Seriously, the words 'magic fingers' came up to describe my skill level."

"Shut up!" Yue exclaimed, turning red in the face as she gave Suki's shoulder a playful shove. "Don't you dare going into TMI territory, or our relationship will prove to be a very short one!"

"I'm not even going to speculate," Katara laughed. "All I know is that back at the cottage, Azula for some reason got up at an ungodly hour and caught you doing emergency laundry at 6am in the morning."

"Don't say anything!" Yue threatened, seeing that Suki was already opening her mouth. "I'll deny everything! Also, I'll divorce you!"

"You can't divorce me!" Suki laughed. "We're not even married… yet," she winked.

"Anyway, I already had my moment of too much information when Azula started spinning her own wild theories for what you two were up to," Katara smirked. "I had to attempt some emergency distraction in order to get her to shut up."

"Yes, we have a pretty good idea of the tactics you must have used," Suki grinned.

"How are things with Azula, anyway?" Yue asked, looking at Katara. "I understand that you've as good as moved in with her."

"I guess you could say that," Katara smiled softly. "But things are good. Really good, in fact."

Katara hadn't been sure what to expect after that wild night with Azula at the cottage. It had been as exhausting and satisfying as Katara had hoped for, but she wasn't sure if it meant anything for the future, and she hadn't wanted to spoil the mood by bringing it up. But then, the next day, after finishing work at the restaurant, Azula had waited for her, offered Katara her hand and simply asked 'Shall we go?' Azula had then driven them back to her apartment where they had watched a movie before making passionate love and falling asleep in each other's arms. Doing all of that had simply felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Over the week that followed, they had settled into that routine of an established couple without really discussing it. When a few days in, Katara brought over some toiletries and clothes, together with a few other essentials, Azula didn't even bat an eye, instead merely showing Katara where to put her stuff. Katara knew that she was putting off a very serious discussion of what was actually happening between them, but for now she was also desperate not to do anything that could burst their happy bubble.

"Has she said anything about staying, though?" Suki cut straight to the chase.

"Not really," Katara admitted. "I'm considering the tactic of us just naturally becoming inseparable, without actually confronting Azula about it. I know, I know… that's a very not me thing because I'm always so direct, right?"

"I'll admit, it does surprise me," Yue nodded. "Don't you think you should apply more pressure on Azula to stay?"

"I agree with Yue," Suki spoke firmly. "We could help. Maybe we should concoct a very elaborate and complicated plan-"

"No!" Katara exclaimed, loud enough to startle Kya nearby, the girl almost dropping her yellow duck-shaped watering can. "Girls, I really don't want to blow this, okay?" she sighed. "I'm still trying to figure out how to best go about it. Azula is… a challenge to understand, but I don't think she can be browbeaten or guilt tripped into changing her mind. I think maybe I should just make her feel like she doesn't want to leave."

"No offense, Kat, but that seems like a risky strategy to me," Suki frowned.

"But obviously, if you end up reconsidering and decide that you want our help, Suki and I will do everything we can to help change Azula's mind," Yue offered.

"Exactly," Suki nodded, making finger guns at Katara. "Just holler whenever you need the heavy artillery brought out. We will entertain every option to keep Azula here, including kidnapping and holding her tied to the bed at that forest cottage."

"This is no time to bring up one of your sordid little fantasies, Suki," Yue snorted, slipping her hand under the table to pinch her girlfriend's thigh and making Suki yelp. "Anyway, despite Suki being completely ridiculous, I hope you got the point, Kat. We're completely behind you."

"Thanks, girls," Katara smiled as the three of them clinked together their glasses full of apple cider. "It's comforting to know that regardless of what the future brings, at least I'll always have you in my life."

"This one would look absolutely amazing, what do you think, Mai?" Ty Lee asked, with Mai leaning in close to her. The two of them were joined by Azula as they sat down at a table in one of their favorite Caldera downtown cafeterias. While Ty Lee and Mai were obsessing over something on Ty Lee's phone, Azula was busy overwhelming the waitress by making a ridiculously complicated order of coffee and snacks for herself and her besties.

"I think it's rather fetching, yes," Mai seemed approving of whatever Ty Lee was showing her. "Although, maybe it's a little too conservative?"

"Hmm, fair point," Ty Lee conceded as the waitress finally departed, shaking her head and looking like she was experiencing an early onset of migraine.

"What are you two whispering about over there? I hate being left out of the loop," Azula demanded to know.

"We're looking up wedding gowns," Mai replied.

"Oh?" Azula blinked, feeling taken by surprise. "I had no idea things had progressed so far with Sokka."

"Things are great with Sokka, but we weren't looking for my wedding dress," Ty Lee grinned. "We were looking up gowns for you and Katara."

Azula's reply was to choke on the mineral water she had been drinking and then spray most of it out through her nose. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she protested while trying to quickly clean up the mess she had made.

"Oh, come on, little Miss Denial," Ty Lee laughed. "You two have been acting more married than most spouses."

"I haven't seen it for myself, but I trust the stories Ty Lee has been sharing," Mai smirked. "It tracks with what little I know about Katara Enuaraq. Let's face it, Azula. An opinionated good girl with a little bit of a wild and crazy edge is the best possible match for you."

"This is ridiculous," Azula sputtered. "Katara and I are good f-" Azula then hesitated, but not just because of the incredibly skeptical stares that Mai and Ty Lee were giving her. Considering how the week since that fated night at the cottage had progressed, calling Katara a good friend was on a level of self-deception that Azula somehow hadn't sunk to. "I mean… Katara and I are just having fun until I have to leave," Azula sighed. "That's the truth and Katara accepts it."

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged stares. "You really think it'll be as easy as that to leave two months later?" Ty Lee asked, clear disbelief in her voice.

"I don't expect it to be easy," Azula attempted an unconcerned shrug, even if she didn't think that it would fool her best friends. She had no illusions that her heart would be shattered into thousands of pieces once it was time to leave Caldera City behind, but Azula had already decided that even this short time with Katara was worth the inevitable heartbreak. It wouldn't be the first time she had given up something she desperately wanted in order to obey her father's wishes and follow the career path he had laid out for her. What Azula was less prepared to deal with was her departure breaking Katara's heart, but so far, she had managed not to think about it too much.

"Honestly, I think Katara deserves better than someone who's going to leave her for her toxic daddy," Mai shrugged. Azula flinched at the sharp tone in Mai's voice. It wasn't often that Azula found herself on the receiving end of Mai's barbed wit, and it was never a pleasant experience. "This is why I am happy to have finally moved on from Zuko," Mai continued. "I kept making the same mistake over and over again, assuming that at some point, I will be more important to him than daddy's approval. But this desperation for approval is clearly a failing that you both share."

"That's a little harsh, Mai," Ty Lee frowned, looking a little saddened.

"Whatever, she's not wrong, it's just that I don't care," Azula shrugged, clearly caring about what Mai had just said, trying to brush off the sting of her friend's words, but finding it very hard to move past it. "Anyway, I didn't know that you had moved on from Zuko," Azula said quickly, hoping for a change of topic. "Last time we sat down together, you were still unsure of whether you wanted him back or not."

"Also, don't lie that you weren't happy when Zuko started to talk to you again now that you're back and more involved at the restaurant," Ty Lee added.

"Well… maybe, but I won't be taken for a ride again," Mai sighed. "What happened earlier today just proves that I'll never come first for Zuko."

"Wait, what happened today?" Azula asked, her curiosity sparked.

"He got a text from his father," Mai shrugged. "Ozai wants to do a video call with him later tonight. So, Zuko decided that we'll be shutting down early because he needs to hurry back home and sit down for a nice long chat with daddy, restaurant be damned."

"Your dad hasn't been in touch with you, Zula?" Ty Lee asked, looking concerned.

"What? Well… of course he has been! Obviously!" Azula laughed nervously. She was gripping her glass so tightly that her knuckles had gone white, there was suddenly so much tension and anxiety gripping her from the mere idea of Ozai contacting Zuko, but not reaching out to her. "Umm… any idea what he wanted from Zuko?" Azula managed to form a nervous question. "He didn't tell me anything. Just that he wants to have a video call with me later, too," she lied shamelessly.

"Zuko wasn't very specific when he literally ditched us ahead of the evening service," Mai snorted. "I suspect that whatever Ozai wants to tell you both, he'll do it later via the video chat."

"Yes… yes, that makes complete sense," Azula nodded anxiously, still agonizing about why Ozai had not reached out to her first… or at all. Had she done something to displease her father? The answer to that question was yes, obviously she had, but how could Ozai have learned about what she had been up to with the other girls, and especially lately with Katara? Had someone snitched on her?

"Whoa, you're alright there, Zula?" Ty Lee asked in a concerned voice. "Just remember to breathe. You're starting to hyperventilate."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous!" Azula laughed with an unnaturally high pitch as she just about managed to maintain a grip on her rising anxieties. Perhaps she was panicking over nothing. Ozai was probably calling Zuko just because her brother had somehow fucked up once again, and now he would find himself on the receiving end of their father's screaming disapproval. Yes, that explanation made perfect sense to Azula.

"Let's just not bring up Ozai Nakamura for the rest of our little get together, okay?" Ty Lee suggested hopefully. "He really kills the vibe." Ty Lee's frown was then quickly replaced by a beaming smile. "But you know what really boosts the vibe? Me doing so great lately. Let's talk about that instead."

"How about we don't?" Mai groaned. "I don't know if I can take any more stories about what an amazing honeybunny Sokka is."

Azula shuddered at that. "Obviously, we're still happy for you, Ty Lee," she said politely.

"I wasn't even going to get into anything embarrassing or TMI," Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "But I was telling Mai that she might soon lose her best waitress. No shade to Jin, love you girl," she added with a grin.

"And I was telling Ty Lee that it doesn't really matter because The Blue Spirit will be shut down as soon as Zuko leaves anyway, and that day is fast approaching," Mai shrugged.

"At least this time you won't be left completely out in the cold when Zuko runs back to his father," Ty Lee tried an encouraging smile. "This time I'll be there for you to lean on. As well as the rest of the friends we've made at the restaurant."

Mai scowled, but eventually cracked a wry smile. "I suppose that is something."

"Good on you, Mai, but can we rewind to you quitting your job, Ty Lee?" Azula asked. "What gives?"

"Well, Sokka has been encouraging me to consider putting my passion for nature and animals to good use," Ty Lee said. "But places like zoos won't really consider me without proper education. So, I might be going back to school. I don't know, I haven't really decided yet."

"That's actually not a braindead idea, congratulations Ty Lee," Azula chuckled. "That kind of education won't be cheap, though. You might need a part time job anyway, and waitressing has always been one of the top student jobs."

"Yeah… that's actually true, isn't it?" Ty Lee blinked. "Oh well, I guess I'll be rocking that waitress uniform for a while longer. Even if I might not be doing it at The Blue Spirit." Ty Lee looked a little sad at that before perking up again. "Hey, but maybe The Northern Lights could use another waitress."

"Sleeping with one of the owners seems like a pretty easy way in," Mai grinned.

"Exactly!" Ty Lee agreed vehemently. "You know, I think we're all going to be fine. Although… if you're really intent on leaving, Azula, I just wanted to say that I'm going to miss our get togethers. It feels like we only just reunited after our years of being high-school besties, so that's going to be sad…"

"She's not wrong about that," Mai nodded, turning to look at Azula.

Azula winced, feeling an unpleasant tightness in her chest at the very thought of leaving her best friends behind yet again. "No… Ty Lee definitely is not wrong there," Azula admitted with a sigh.

"Ah, there you are. Still as good with technology as your grandfather Azulon, and he's been dead for seven years now," Ozai Nakamura's berating voice reached Zuko's ears well before his father's face appeared on the laptop screen. It wasn't often that Ozai would request a Teams meeting with Zuko and usually it happened only if Zuko had done something that required massive amounts of chewing out. So, while Zuko was waiting for this online meeting, sitting in the living room of Jet's apartment, his anxiety levels were spiking through the roof as he wondered what exactly he had done to deserve his father's inevitable ire.

"It is good to see you too, father," Zuko managed to reply politely, hoping that his voice would not betray the nervousness gripping him.

"I'm sure it is," Ozai nodded. "Do you know why I insisted on this face to face, Zuko?" Zuko mutely shook his head. "Because Ukano and Michi Syun have been in my DM's all week now, pestering me to interfere in your relationship with their daughter."

"Really?" Zuko blinked. This he certainly hadn't expected. "Mai and I haven't been dating for at least three weeks now. I guess she wasn't in any hurry to tell her parents." That part of the breakup didn't surprise Zuko, as Mai had a distinctly cool relationship with her parents.

"Well, they're losing their shit, terrified that Mai is throwing away their golden ticket into high society," Ozai laughed. "Whatever. I didn't think she was a good match for you, anyway. You better not be all mopey because of the breakup."

"Oh… no, not at all," Zuko replied, making a subtle hand gesture outside of Ozai's view. On cue, Jin and On Ji entered the living room, wearing nothing but their skimpy underwear. With Jet's help, Zuko had chosen a strategically clever spot for his laptop to make sure that Ozai could see the girls over Zuko's shoulder. This whole thing was staged because Zuko had been struck with sudden fear that perhaps someone had snitched to Ozai about him and Jet, so they had scrambled to come up with some fake-ass 'Zuko is completely straight' evidence.

"I see," Ozai smirked, eyeing both On Ji and Jin. "Nice going, son. Maybe you're not a completely lost cause, after all."

"Thank you, father," Zuko replied, breathing a sigh of relief. At least Ozai didn't know about him and Jet, and that lifted a huge weight off his shoulders.

"Don't thank me just yet," Ozai scowled. "I'm still pissed that both you and Azula have completely dropped off the high society grid in Caldera. You dumped your longtime girlfriend and I didn't even see a single tabloid article about it! You're a Nakamura! Our name should always be on people's lips!"

"I'm sorry, father, but I suppose Azula and I both want to focus on nothing else but winning this competition," Zuko said. Obviously, it wasn't the entire truth. Zuko had never been a social butterfly the way his sister could be, but he had still attended all the important functions back in Ba Sing Se. Right now, Zuko desperately didn't want to be under the scope of the press because things were becoming seriously gay with Jet.

"And yet somehow I easily manage to accomplish both without offering any excuses," Ozai rolled his eyes before falling silent. Zuko wondered why his father had stopped talking, instead merely staring very intensely at the screen. Zuko then peered over his shoulder to realize that Jin and On Ji had started to make out. "Anyway, at least you still remember how to have fun," Ozai eventually broke his transfixed stare. "Every time I ask your sister whether she's dating someone, she immediately becomes very evasive."

"I don't really know that much about Azula's private life, father," Zuko replied honestly. He was delighted to hear that for once Ozai seemed more frustrated with Azula than he was with him. "I'm too focused on beating her in this restaurant contest."

"Yes, from what I understand, this race is much more closely run than I had anticipated," Ozai nodded. "In the remaining two months, I will take a more direct involvement that will help me decide which one of you is declared the winner. At some point during the next week, your restaurant will be visited by a trusted food critic who will report his observations to me."

"I'll make sure the food critic gets the best welcome possible," Zuko promised.

"Well, you better make sure of it, because they will be traveling incognito," Ozai smirked. "Then, a few weeks after that, I will send Zhao to do a full audit of the restaurant's finances. His report will be very important in determining the victor of this contest."

"But I hate that scummy old rat-face," Zuko whined.

"Shush," Ozai warned. "Everyone hates Zhao, but he does good work for us, so we tolerate his rat-face." Ozai then paused for a moment before continuing. "And finally, I will visit your and Azula's restaurants myself to form my own impressions. Together with the reports from Zhao and the food critic, these will be the three key factors when it comes to determining the winner."

"Heard, father," Zuko nodded. His thoughts were already on the food critic's visit next week. Zuko desperately tried to think of someone in Ozai's employ that could have been chosen for this mission, but nobody came to mind. In any case, his father was definitely way too clever to choose someone that Zuko might recognize.

"Good, then we understand each other," Ozai nodded. He may not have looked pleased, but at least he didn't seem angry. "We'll speak later. Right now, you have whores to get back to," Ozai finally said, disconnecting the call.

"Wow, your father really is a nasty piece of work," On Ji frowned, finally letting go of Jin.

"I don't know, I think he's kind of hot," Jin giggled. "You can really see where Zuko gets it from."

"Right, I have no idea what you're talking about," Zuko shrugged. "Jet?" he shouted instead. Jet immediately stormed into the room. "Did you catch all of that?"

"Absolutely," Jet nodded. "Sounded like crucial information to me. I think it might be time to sit down and strategize."

"Thank goodness," On Ji breathed a sigh of relief. "That means I can be done with this dehumanizing experience."

"Wait," Jin protested upon seeing that On Ji was about to leave. "I thought there would be sex involved!"

"Well… there could be…" Jet spoke up, giving Zuko a hopeful stare.

"Eyes on the prize, Jet," Zuko replied sternly, shaking his head. "I feel like Azula is on the ropes and this is my moment to shine, I can smell it in the air. Finally, I have this amazing opportunity to defeat my sister and I'm not going to squander it for a quick gangbang."

"Bollocks," Jin cursed. "I should have done like you, On Ji, and asked for money."

"I told you to do that," On Ji sighed, shaking her head. "At least that way you would have made up for what you didn't make in tips because of the canceled service." On Ji then turned to Zuko and Jet. "Seriously, guys, just pay her. We just did you a pretty gross favor, Zuko. I know you understand that because you're not that much of a jerk."

"Fair enough," Zuko shrugged, looking at Jet. "Just get my wallet and pay her, okay? I need to sit down and start working on our plans to deliver a knockout blow to Azula in this competition."

Following her meeting with Mai and Ty Lee, Azula did not immediately return to The Northern Lights for dinner service. Instead, she made a short drive over to her mother's apartment. It was more than a social call, however, because she had something to request from Ursa. Suki and Yue had asked to have the following week off from work because they wanted to take a little vacation to celebrate the start of their relationship that was becoming more serious by the minute. The pair had already made plans to take Kya on a boat cruise, and Azula was struggling to deny the request.

In any case, Katara and Sokka, the actual owners of the restaurant had already approved the vacation requests, perhaps without the necessary consideration for the holes left behind by Suki and Yue's absence. Azula couldn't help out in the kitchen while also helping Katara manage the front of the house. This was why Azula was here to speak with Ursa about loaning Mingxia to the restaurant for one week to help out in the kitchen, while Aang and Toph together carried the head chef's load and Azula helped out Katara.

Now, at her mother's place, Azula had posed the question to Ursa, but she was yet to receive the answer. Ursa had been just about to answer when her phone had started to ring and she had rudely decided to take the call, blushing and looking very nervous as she apologized and hurried out of the room. With Ursa's apartment being rather small and Azula possessing excellent hearing, she still managed to overhear most of the conversation without even trying to listen in.

"Thank you for being so understanding," Ursa sounded very emotional as she spoke with someone on the phone. "I really wanted this to work out, believe me, but Kiyi… she just wouldn't even entertain the idea. And you know that my relationships with Azula and Zuko are complicated to say the very least. I'm very worried about messing things up with Kiyi too, I hope you understand that."

The conversation continued for a few more minutes, consisting mostly of Ursa trying to explain herself, apologizing and expressing hope that she and the person she was talking to could remain friends. By the time the conversation ended, Azula had already understood the gist of it. Apparently, Ursa had recently met someone and had been hopeful to start a relationship, but Kiyi had slammed her foot down on the whole idea.

Obviously, Azula thought that Ursa was once again demonstrating pathetic weakness, because what kind of wimp would allow other people to dictate who they could or couldn't be with. However, being this weak was typical Ursa behavior. Ursa had always allowed herself to be pushed around, like back in Azula's youth when she had meekly allowed Ozai's lawyers to bully her out of Azula's life.

"So, about Mingxia!" Ursa spoke unnaturally loudly as she reentered the living room, her cheeks still a little wet from crying. Apparently, they weren't discussing the recent phone call even if Ursa had to know that Azula had overheard some of it. Well, that suited Azula just fine. Nothing terrified Azula more than the possibility of having a heart-to-heart talk with her mother. "Yes, she has made some remarkable progress over the past few weeks. I don't think further development will be harmed if she helps you out at the restaurant for one week. In fact, a brief change of scenery can sometimes be very helpful."

"Hmm, you said a smart thing," Azula smirked. "I'm impressed, mother."

"I have my moments," Ursa smiled. "Anyway, I think this will work out just fine, as long as Mingxia herself is happy to do it." Ursa paused for a moment, giving Azula a scrutinizing stare. "I'm going to assume that you have already asked her."

"Well, not exactly," Azula shrugged. "I was just going to bully her into agreeing. She seems a bit spineless, so I was sure to easily have my way."

Ursa sighed, rubbing her temples and looking very frustrated. "Please don't do that. I'll talk to Mingxia myself, no gratitude necessary," Ursa said.

"Whatever, I wasn't going to-" Azula began, but she was interrupted by the sound of the front doors opening, followed by loud and excited chatter entering the apartment in the shape of Kiyi and Kya. Azula figured that Kiyi must have collected Kya from the restaurant ahead of the dinner service, because Kya was still wearing her little biker's helmet that she was always required to wear when riding with Kiyi on her bike. Certainly, Azula thought that Yue was very brave to allow her four-year-old daughter to go on the bike with Kiyi, but apparently Kiyi had earned that much trust with Kya's mom.

"Hey, Azula is here!" Kiyi exclaimed happily, bursting forth to give her older sister a hug. "Thanks so much for that tip for the monkey game, it worked like a charm! I made that stupid bat boss look like a total clown!"

"Glad to hear it," Azula replied proudly. She didn't really have much time for gaming these days, but past experience had allowed Azula to come up with a solid strategy just based on Kiyi's description of the boss fight. "Hey there, Kya," she waved to the little girl who had been busy taking off her shoes, but now followed Kiyi into the living room.

"Hi Azula!" Kya beamed happily, allowing Azula to pull her into a hug. It truly felt that by now, all those hurt feelings from Azula's breakup with Yue were finally a thing of the past.

"It's great that you're here," Kiyi spoke excitedly. "I can finally show you how much ass I'm kicking in the monkey game."

"Maybe you should instead ask Azula for help with your homework," Ursa suggested. "She's the only one here qualified to help with your trigonometry problems."

"Sure, we'll get right on that, mom," Kiyi sighed, excitedly tugging on Azula's hand and pulling Azula towards her room. Ursa shook her head but said nothing.

"I wanted Azula to play a few games with me," Kya said, clutching her Pai Sho set under her arm. It seemed like she hardly went anywhere without her Pai Sho board and tiles.

"I really should be returning to the restaurant, though," Azula protested weakly, ending up being pulled into Kiyi's room. "Although, I suppose I could watch a little bit of you playing Wukong, and then play a few Pai Sho games with Kya…" Azula relented, much to the joy of the two younger girls.

It all made Azula aware that there even more people than just Ty Lee and Mai who would miss her once it was time to depart Caldera City… and that realization did not feel particularly good.

Mingxia was nervously bouncing on her heels as she hesitantly knocked on the doors of Toph and Aang's studio apartment. The hour was already late and Mingxia knew she was breaking the laws of hospitality by intruding on her friends, but the news she had received were so amazing that she wanted to share them with her closest new friends she had made in Caldera.

"Mingxia, that you?" Toph asked, opening the door and somehow already having sensed who it was on the other side.

"Yes, sorry about the lateness," Mingxia replied. "I just got some awesome news that I wanted to share with you both. Can… can I come in?"

"Well, this isn't the best of times," Toph replied, looking a little hesitant and making Mingxia's heart fall a little. "Hmm, you know what, though?" Toph then seemed to reconsider. "Actually, come right in. You're going to learn the truth sooner or later."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Mingxia asked, feeling puzzled as she stepped into the small foyer and removed her shoes.

"Oh, nothing," Toph grinned broadly. "Go right in."

"Thank you," Mingxia replied, stepping further into the sparse but comfy studio apartment and looking around. She couldn't see Aang anywhere, and instead of the Air Nation lad, Mingxia was confronted with something shocking. On the other side of the room, a massive yellow rooster was flexing in front of the mirror. Mingxia yelped, dashing across the room and assaulting the rooster, tackling the feathery abomination to the ground. "Where is Aang, and what have you done with him!" she demanded angrily.

"Hey… it's me, Aang… could you please stop crushing my windpipe with your knees, maybe?" the flattened rooster pleaded.

"Eh?" Mingxia blinked, reluctantly climbing off from the dastardly avian. "Are you in there, Aang?"

"Yes…" Aang sighed, removing the head of the giant bird costume. "One of these days I need to figure out why all of my friends are so keen to attack completely friendly looking giant yellow birds…"

"Sorry about that," Mingxia chuckled awkwardly, getting up from the floor and pulling Aang up as well. "But why are you wearing this suit? Are you a mascot for the neighborhood's softball team or something?"

"That would be a more reasonable explanation than the one you're going to get," Toph laughed, having joined them in the apartment. "Aang is a part of Caldera City's furry scene," Toph then explained.

"Oh… I've heard about that," Mingxia said, feeling very confused. "It's just… you don't really fit the profile of a stereotypical furry?"

"I didn't know there was such a thing as a stereotypical furry profile," Aang chuckled.

"True, I shouldn't be generalizing," Mingxia apologized. "But what drew you to furrydom, if that's not a secret?"

"It's a sexual thing for him," Toph inserted with a shit-eating grin.

"What? Shut up, no, it's not," Aang protested, looking rather red in the face. "It's totally a spiritual thing for me. I believe very strongly in the concept of reincarnation and I feel like I have made a powerful connection with my past lives. I am experiencing this incredibly close link with the element of air and flying. It makes me believe that I was a bird in several of my past lives."

"Oh… hence the bird costume," Mingxia realized.

"Exactly," Aang grinned. "So, what are your thoughts on the whole thing?"

"Hmm, I've never given it much thought, really," Mingxia confessed. "But I support you, Aang." Aang smiled gratefully at her. "I can see how it also could help people with serious social anxieties like myself," Mingxia continued. "I've always had much easier time forming friendships online than in real life because I'm just terrified about meeting new people. But I think wearing a costume that hides your face is almost as comforting as internet anonymity, you know?"

"Wait, are you saying you might be open to trying on a costume?" Aang cheered. "That would be so awesome! I'm pretty sure I could hook you up with something."

"Well… no rush, it was just an idea," Mingxia tried to backpedal because Aang was clearly way more excited about the whole thing than she was. Still, she didn't want to disappoint Aang because he was a really sweet guy. "Let's take time with it. I need to be fully comfortable with the idea if I'm to try it."

"Heard," Aang nodded. "I'll try to rein in my excitement."

"Ugh, I can't believe you finally converted someone to furrydom," Toph groaned. "This was not how I expect that conversation to go. Anyway… Mingxia actually came here because she had some exciting news for us."

"Yes!" Mingxia exclaimed happily. "I wanted to let you know that I have been recruited to work with you guys in the restaurant's kitchen next week!"

"Oh?" Toph snorted. "Yeah, we already knew that."

"Yes, Azula told us that you'll help out while Suki and Yue are away," Aang nodded. "I think she mentioned it like a week ago?"

"But… I only learned about it today, and from Ursa, not Azula!" a very surprised Mingxia blinked. "Why was I the last to find out?"

"Azula must have assumed that you would want to help out," Aang shrugged. "Azula is nice, but she sometimes takes things and people for granted. But I'm sure she means well," he added optimistically.

"It would have been weird to grow up with Ozai Nakamura and not have his megalomania rub off on you," Toph shrugged. "Anyway, welcome aboard, Mingxia."

"Yes, we'll have an awesome time rocking that kitchen," Aang nodded excitedly. "And we'll do such an amazing job that Azula won't even notice the absence of her head chef."

"I hope so," Mingxia smiled, a little nervously. The last thing she wanted to do was to disappointed these kind people who had taken her in and helped her get back on her feet when she was at her lowest. Now that she had the opportunity to pay back a little of what she owed, Mingxia was absolutely determined to do her best.

"So… what brings you around, Jet?" Bee asked, staring at her old friend and not looking particularly pleased. Jet was sitting down with her and Longshot in their shared studio apartment, only now starting to realize that he hadn't visited in nearly a month. "Mighty kind of you to remember about your old friends."

"He probably just needs something from us," Longshot commented, using his Speechify text to speech convertor. Apparently, it had received some updates, because the software no longer used its metallic sounding robot voice, having been replaced with something that sounded more like Alexa.

"Very funny, Longshot," Jet laughed off the accusing comments from his friends, even while cringing inwardly because, obviously he was here because he needed something from them, specifically from Bee. "What, a guy can't miss his oldest and dearest friends?" he chuckled amiably.

"Sure," Bee shrugged. She did look a little less pissed off, though. "You didn't even ghost us this much when you started dating Katara. And she was much nicer than this rich Nakamura boy. Never thought you'd become so obsessed with someone like him."

"It seems like Jet just can't get enough of that sweet QUESTION MARK!" Longshot added.

Jet and Bee both burst into laughter. "It's true, I do love me some question mark," Jet grinned.

Longshot sighed, glaring at his phone. "This latest update also installed a bloody profanity filter on my phone," he typed quickly.

"Well, just text us what you meant, I'm curious now!" Bee urged. Longshot quickly sent them both a text message. Bee groaned, having read it. "I wish I hadn't asked," she groused.

Jet laughed, blushing a little bit. "Well, sure, the bussy is that good," he admitted with a chuckle. "Anyway, I would invite you guys around a lot more, but you know how it is. Also, Zuko seems to hate you, so."

"Throwing your boyfriend under the bus now, nice," Longshot rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, what do you mean he hates us," Bee glared. "We've only met him twice, both times very briefly. He doesn't know us, so why would he hate us?"

"Okay, fine, he doesn't hate you. We're really getting bogged down in minutia here," Jet sighed. "It's just that… we haven't really put labels on anything yet. And sometimes Zuko acts really uncertain about the whole thing, probably because he knows that his asshole dad would disapprove of us. I haven't invited you to visit since I know that you guys would be cracking lewd jokes all the time around us, and I thought it might scare Zuko off."

"If your toxic personality hasn't scared him off, then our jokes won't either," Longshot pointed out.

"Hmm, good point…" Jet admitted. "Alright, let's hang out together next weekend, how does that sound? Maybe we'll also have something to celebrate."

"Like what?" Bee asked, looking skeptical.

"Well, it has to do with an amazing opportunity I have for you, Bee," Jet grinned.

"I told you he wanted something from us," Longshot signed quickly.

"Of course," Bee rolled her eyes. "What is it now, Jet?"

"Well, it has to do with the restaurant contest between Zuko and Azula," Jet said excitedly. "We have a foolproof plan to help Zuko win when a food critic visits next week to review their restaurants."

"Seriously, you're still obsessing about getting back at this Azula chick?" Bee snorted.

"Well, she is a major bitch," Jet shrugged. "But also, she stands in the way of Zuko inheriting his daddy's empire, so… she has to go down."

"Alright, but what do Longshot and I have to do with a food critic?" Bee asked, looking confused.

"Well, it's actually more of an opportunity for you alone, Longshot isn't really a part of the plan, I'm sorry to say," Jet said, glancing at a somehow very relieved looking Longshot.

"Somehow I feel like Longshot is the lucky one here," Bee sighed. "Dare I ask what the plan is?"

"Alright, I'm glad you asked, because it's a stroke of genius," Jet replied proudly. "Since the food critic is traveling incognito, Azula won't recognize them, so-"

"Are you suggesting that we kill the food critic so that I can take their place?" Bee asked, cutting Jet off.

"No, that's not… hmm, although… no wait, murder is bad. I think," Jet hesitated for a moment. "Ugh, stop distracting me, Bee. We don't do anything with the real food critic because we also don't know who they are, obviously. But you were half right with your guess. We will spare no expenses in getting you all dolled up so that you look like a high society snob, or a TikTok influencer. Then you'll stroll into The Northern Lights and act like a food critic. We'll get Zuko to give you tips on how to act. Ordering one of each is what food critics normally do, I think."

"Hmm," Bee looked thoughtful. "I do like the idea of your rich boyfriend spending a fortune so that I can dress up and gorge myself on delicious food. But I get to keep the fancy clothes, okay?" Jet nodded quickly. "Okay, I'm in," Bee said. She then snapped her fingers, like she had just remembered something. "Wait, Katara might recognize me, though."

"We'll make the disguise really convincing, trust me," Jet said. "You can pick out your own wig and whatever else you want."

"That sounds awesome," Bee grinned, now also looking excited. "I get to be like a spy and do an infiltration mission? What's not to love?"

"Exactly!" Jet exclaimed, looking even more encouraged and confident about the whole thing. "And like I said, come next weekend, we can all celebrate together when Azula Nakamura finds herself knocked down a peg or two!"

Chapter Text

The tenday of Yue and Suki's absence from The Northern Lights restaurant had kicked off well. With Mingxia helping with prep and acting as the sous-chef, Aang and Toph had kitchen running on all cylinders. Sokka was on high alert, making absolutely sure that nobody lacked for anything they needed in their daily tasks, aware that he could no longer rely on Azula to bail him out, because Azula was helping Katara out in the dining room. To Sokka's credit, thus far he had done a bang-up job.

Katara was delighted to receive endless updates from Yue, Suki and Kya's vacation, usually in the form of stunning photos. While it made Katara wistful about taking a little vacation of her own, hopefully together with Azula, she still felt very happy knowing that her besties were having the time of their lives. Katara made it a point to print out several new Suki and Yue's vacation photos every morning and attach them to the kitchen wall. It made Katara feel like her best friends were with them at least in spirit, and the photos also seemed to boost the overall morale around the restaurant.

When it came to Azula and their undiscussed relationship, Katara had mixed results to report. She was very happy with the way Azula had paid for Yue, Suki and Kya's flight to Kyoshi Island and then also for the flight back from Yu Dao. Azula had presented it as a purely practical decision of wanting to get her best waitress and head chef back as quickly as possible instead of having them travel by slow ferries, but Katara knew that there were more than just practical considerations at work, and Azula was just being a big sweetheart in disguise.

Katara also really enjoyed working side by side with Azula, serving the customers of The Northern Lights, and not just because Azula looked absolutely ravishing in the waitress uniform. Azula also had a rather distinctive approach to serving customers. As long as their guests were respectful, Azula always remained perfectly polite, but she simply didn't project that genuine warmth the same way Yue did. Obviously, just like Katara and Yue, Azula also instantly became the subject of constant flirting, and her response to it often made Katara snicker to herself. Whenever it was a man flirting with her, Azula usually became very standoffish and cold, but on the few occasions when another girl tried some pickup lines, Azula would become incredibly flustered and tongue tied, forcing Katara to take over her table.

Still, not everything was great between her and Azula. The previous evening, their lovemaking had been interrupted by a call from Azula's father, and much to Katara's dismay, Azula had immediately rushed to answer. As Katara had listened to Azula nervously respond to Ozai's demanding inquiries, she felt gripped by a cold and chilling fear of whether her plan of getting Azula to stay with her was doomed to failure, because the more Katara listened to that conversation, the more she started to realize just how firmly under Ozai's thumb Azula still was.

At least after Azula had finished that embarrassing conversation she had possessed the good sense to apologize to Katara, but the vibe of the evening – or perhaps more than the evening – had already been ruined. Things were still a little tense this following morning as Azula had gathered the entire restaurant staff in the upstairs apartment in order to discuss some very important news that Ozai Nakamura had shared with her during that cursed phone call.

"The reason why I called an emergency meeting this morning is because I have received very important information from my father," Azula opened the proceedings, looking rather tense and anxious. "At some point this week, our restaurant will receive a visit from a food critic who will be gathering information for my father. They will be traveling incognito to make sure that we can't identify them. Of course, it won't stop us from implementing important strategies to deal with this new challenge."

"Of course," Sokka nodded. "Because you have a strategy for everything."

"I'm not sure why we even need some special strategy?" Katara shrugged. Azula had already told her about the food critic the evening before, but Katara still struggled to understand why Azula was so unusually nervous about this test. This nervousness seemed to betray a lack of confidence that didn't befit Azula at all. "If we all do our best the same as we do every day, I'm sure the food critic will walk away perfectly satisfied," Katara added confidently.

Azula looked at Katara as if she had completely lost her marbles. "Ha!" Azula finally exclaimed before exploding in shrill laughter. "You're very funny, Katara. Very funny, indeed!"

"What did I say that was so funny?" Katara scratched the back of her head, feeling very confused. The rest of the staff appeared similarly confused, exchanging uncertain stares.

"I mean… you're not technically wrong, I suppose," Azula said. "However, if we simply limit ourselves to providing our usual level of service, then we place ourselves at risk of losing this competition, and that's not a risk I'm willing to take. What if Zuko and his staff manage to identify the food critic and give them the royal treatment? Our normal service will then feel way short of the mark. No, we must strategize."

"Oh boy," Toph groaned. "I don't suppose there was any chance that Azula was going to be normal about this."

"I'm completely normal about it, thank you very much," Azula snapped. "Anyway, the most important part is identifying the food critic. That will be up to me and Katara, working the front of the house. Well, it will be mostly on me, I have way more experience with food critics than you have," Azula looked at Katara. "But I'll make you a list of telltale signs on how to spot a food critic, just because I can't be everywhere at once and I'll need your help."

"Sure," Katara agreed, smiling at Azula. She might not have been fully happy with Azula right now, but she still wanted to help the Fire Nation girl. "You mean stuff like them ordering one of each item on the menu?"

"Yes, that would be the most obvious tell, but most food critics won't be as transparent as that," Azula said. "Another important clue is that the food critic is highly likely to be a man, because my father believes that most women have inferior palates. Anyway, I'll put together that list for you after we're done with this meeting."

"I'm sure between the two of us, we'll manage to spot this food critic," Katara offered supportively.

"I really hope so," Azula nodded. "Anyway, after we have done that, I'll immediately let the kitchen staff know which table is the food critic. Toph, I will want the highest level of quality control for that table, do you hear me? The standards have to go way up for the food critic, is that clear?"

"Hearing you loud and clear, Madame Control Freak," Toph snorted. Aang and Mingxia both snickered at that, before quickly falling silent and exchanging guilty stares.

"Can I help in any way?" Sokka asked.

"You certainly can," Azula nodded. "I have a strong feeling that this food critic won't be anyone local. My father will want to send someone he trusts, so it will probably be someone from his base of operations in Ba Sing Se. It's likely that they will be traveling alone, so I will want to know ahead of time about all the bookings of a table for one. Also, if they're flying in from the Earth Kingdom, they're probably going to either rent a car at the airport, or arrive with a taxi. So, keep an eye for any single bookings arriving with a rent car or a taxi."

"Whoa, that's very clever, I actually like that strategy," Sokka nodded approvingly. "I will be watching our online bookings and the parking lot like a hawk."

"Good, I'm glad you all understand the importance of this," Azula said. "I know that the timing is not ideal with Suki and Yue being away, but I fully believe that if we all pull together, we can do an amazing job impressing this food critic."

"You can count on us, Azula," Katara promised. It was a promise she fully intended to live up to, despite deep inside hating this wretched sibling competition that seemed bound to eventually take Azula away from her.

"This trip has been totally awesome!" Kya raved, sitting on her mother's lap in a crowded bus filled with mostly Fire Nation tourists.

"Don't speak as if it's over," Suki smiled, sitting next to Yue and Kya. "We still have three full days here in Yu Dao before our flight back."

"That's true," Yue nodded in agreement. "We still have so many planned activities, I can't imagine how our tour guides are going to fit everything in."

"As long as I get to go to the amusement park, I'll be happy," Kya said expectantly, bursting into giggles when her mother affectionately tickled her.

Yue couldn't have been happier with the way the vacation had gone so far. She hadn't been able to take any time off in years. The last time Yue had gone on a proper vacation was when she was still dating Sokka and had been heavily pregnant with Kya, so she hadn't been able to really live it up during that week off. To now have ten days off to herself and the two most important people in her life was a true blessing that on some mornings still felt too good to be true for Yue.

Going on a cruise from Kyoshi Island and traveling all the way north alongside the Earth Kingdom coast had been Suki's inspired idea. They'd spent a couple of days on Kyoshi Island with Suki showing them around and playing the role of a very knowledgeable guide. Yue was very curious to learn as much as she could about the place where Suki had spent her childhood, a period of time that obviously had many difficult challenges, but had also provided plenty of happy memories.

Then they had boarded the cruise ship and the journey had begun in earnest. The sights of the Earth Kingdom shoreline were majestic, always accompanying them to the right from the bow. They also made plenty of stops along the way, heading ashore while accompanied by the guides of the Fire Nation tourism company who were making a killing chartering these well-reviewed cruises. Yue already knew that some of these experiences would stay with her for the rest of her life, such as traveling through the famous Lover's Pass to explore the picturesque city of Omashu.

The best part of the journey had certainly been a stop at Mount Makapu, which was a recently active volcano. A world-renowned fortune teller, the mysterious Madame Wu, made her home in a nearby village, and Yue was beside herself upon learning that they would all get free readings. She had been even more delighted after she and Suki both received very similar readings that strongly implied that they were on this cruise together with their soulmates. Of course, Suki had spoiled the mood a little by speculating that the tour guides had probably given Madame Wu plenty of information about her customers ahead of the readings, but Yue refused to accept that explanation. In her mind, Madame Wu was as real as they came.

Their extended stay in Yu Dao was perhaps a little less exciting than the rest of the journey, but Yue was still having an amazing time with Suki and Kya. Yu Dao was a very modern city and it had been a mere fishing village seventy years ago when its development had suddenly exploded. As such, it didn't have any particularly interesting history, however, it had plenty of more modern attractions.

The city had suffered some damage in the most recent military conflict between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom some twenty years ago, and in the wake of the war, the diplomatic solution had been to turn Yu Dao into a semi-independent demilitarized buffer zone between the two bitter rivals. It wasn't a decision that anyone was particularly happy with, but that everyone could at least live with. Overseeing the harbor of Yu Dao was a massive thirty feet tall statue of the Air Nation diplomat who had conducted the final peace negations between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. Yue obviously approved of the peaceful settlement, but she found the statue tacky and the very embodiment of hubris.

"Starting to get sleepy," Kya yawned in Yue's lap, leaning in against her mother's chest.

"And no wonder, it's been a long day," Suki chuckled. "You must be exhausted after chasing all those ducklings."

"I know I'm exhausted just from trying to keep up with this little energizer bunny," Yue grinned, embracing her daughter. "I can't wait to get back to the boat and collapse on our bed."

"Well, maybe you don't have to fall asleep right away, though," Suki said with a hopeful glint in her eyes. "Admittedly, this nature preserve visit took longer than I thought it would. It's already dark outside."

"Yeah," Yue nodded. "We would already be back on the ship if not for these annoying border checks." Because Yu Dao was no longer technically a part of the Earth Kingdom, border checks had been set up on every major road crossing from Yu Dao into the Earth Kingdom. They had spent nearly an hour in a border crossing this morning, and now that the bus had come to a halt, Yue assumed that they were once again dealing with a border check, even if she couldn't see much outside in the dark.

"I wish they would hurry up already," Suki sighed. "It's obvious we're just a bunch of tourists and not some sinister smugglers of contraband."

It took ten more minutes of waiting until the driver returned to the bus. Yue was a little surprised that he was accompanied by two fully armed border guards who for some reason remained onboard even as the bus started moving again. Still, Yue didn't think too much of it because they seemed to be amiably chatting with the driver and didn't appear to be on high alert or anything. Perhaps their shift had ended and they were simply catching a free ride back to town? Whatever it was, Yue was too exhausted to entertain theories about it, when all she could think of were the soft bedsheets in their luxurious cabin on the cruise ship.

After the bus had been driving for some time and Yue had started to fall more firmly asleep, out of the corner of her eye, she somehow managed to notice that Suki was busy checking something on her phone, while at the same time looking around frantically. "Hey, what's wrong?" Yue reached out to briefly touch Suki's hand.

Suki looked around with a worried expression on her face before showing Yue the screen of her phone. It showed a map application centered on their location. Yue frowned in annoyance when she noticed that they were much further away from the city than she had thought. "We're heading away from the city," Suki whispered frantically. "The bus is going in the wrong direction."

"That's silly," Yue said, shaking her head. "Anyway, these map applications are notoriously unreliable. And the wi-fi on this bus is really spotty, too. No wonder the poor app is confused."

Suki rolled her eyes, looking frustrated. "Damn, you've picked the worst possible time to become a sceptic," she hissed. "Anyway, if you want another clue that something is wrong, where are our two tour guides? Explain this to me, detective."

Yue pulled herself up in her seat and then turned around to look at where their tour guides had been sitting all throughout the day trip, but now their seats were empty. Suddenly, Suki's infectious concern struck Yue with full force. "What do you think is going on here?" she whispered to her girlfriend.

"I don't know," Suki shrugged. "But I'm going to find out," she spoke bravely, getting out of her seat before Yue could stop her. Ignoring any potential danger to herself like the badass motherfucker that she was, Suki took several steps towards the front of the bus before the border guards reacted, one of them turning to face her.

"Can I help you, miss?" the man asked in a polite tone. Yue's heart skipped a beat when she noticed that despite the outward politeness, the man's posture had changed and he had immediately become more tense and alert, his hand moving closer to his weapon. "You really should be in your seat."

"Yes, you could help me by telling us who you really are," Suki demanded, her words shocking Yue. "Because I know for certain that you're not actual border guards."

"Very observant," the man smiled at her, looking genuinely amused. "I was wondering how long it will take for anyone to notice."

"You still haven't answered my question," Suki spoke firmly, her voice not betraying any hint of nervousness, making Yue both insanely scared, but also proud of her girlfriend at the same time. "Who are you guys and where are you taking us?" A chatter began to rise throughout the bus as more and more passengers became aware of Suki's conversation with the armed men.

"I suppose that now that the cat is out of the bag, there's no sense keeping the truth from you," the fake border guard grinned, looking very pleased with himself. "You're right, we're not actual border guards. We're the Earth Kingdom Unification League. Oh, and also this is a hostage situation. Don't panic and nobody will get hurt."

The bus immediately exploded in panic. The only one seemingly not freaking out was Kya, looking up at her mother with wide eyes and appearing excited. "Is this some new attraction, mom?" she asked. "Also… what's a hostage?"

Despite feeling confident in her strategy to deal with this food critic situation, Azula couldn't help but feel nervous to the point of light wooziness. A couple of days had passed since the call from her father, and Azula desperately hoped that the critic would show up sooner rather than later. Two years ago, the weight of Ozai's expectations had put her in a hospital for three weeks with dangerously bleeding stomach ulcer. Her father had obviously shelled out for the best medical care possible, but ever since that incident, in situations where Azula was put under sustained stress, the ulcer tended to flare up. This uncertainty of the food critic showing up at an unspecified time was not doing Azula any favors, and she was starting to experience random bouts of abdominal pain.

Obviously, Azula was not completely delusional and she understood that this was not a healthy situation to be in. Still, the coveted finish line was so close now, less than two months away. There was no way that Azula would throw away the prize she had worked for all her life, not now, not at the cost of some slight discomfort and trivial health concerns. Just a little bit more, and she would no longer have to worry about Zuko's competition for the Nakamura food empire, nor about losing the status of the favorite child in her father's eyes.

At least Azula did not have to worry about the commitment of her friends and coworkers at The Northern Lights. The kitchen was ticking along swimmingly, with Aang slowly mastering the skill of cooking various proteins even if he wouldn't taste them, while Toph held the entire kitchen staff accountable to her high-quality standards. The Enuaraq siblings were equally dedicated to their tasks, with Sokka watching both the online bookings and the parking lot, while Katara was being her usual force of nature in the dining room, engaging every guest and trying to squeeze any tidbits of information that might help to identify the food critic. All of them were determined to avoid failure, and Azula had full confidence in her team.

It was during the Thursday dinner service, that they finally seemed to catch a break. Azula had just delivered a regular looking ticket to the kitchen when Katara stormed in after her, looking very nervous and excited. "I might have something here," Katara exclaimed urgently.

"The critic?" Azula realized immediately. Katara nodded. "What makes you think that?" Azula asked.

"Well, she arrived alone, without a reservation," Katara explained. "But mostly, it was her order," she said, passing Azula the ticket.

"Alright, she really has ordered as good as one of everything," Azula spoke, trying to get a grip on her excited nervousness. "That's a dead giveaway." She then paused, thinking about something. "Still, I didn't expect father to trust the opinion of a female food critic, so that's a little odd. Let's go take a look at her, shall we? Where did you seat her?" Azula asked.

"Table 16," Katara replied as they left the kitchen together, returning to the dining room and then doing their best to discreetly observe the young woman sitting at the table Katara had seated her at. Azula was immediately a little confused about the woman's appearance because she was wearing a very obvious pink wig, large black shades and way more makeup than was strictly necessary. Was it someone Azula actually knew and that was why they had put on a rather silly looking disguise? Azula didn't know what to think, but there was no arguing with the order the customer had given to Katara because it spoke for itself.

"Interesting," Azula mused. "She could be one of those reviewers who are big on TikTok. I don't actually know most of them because, well… TikTok is gross. Still, there's no arguing with the subscriber numbers some of them get. They make even my father a little jealous."

"I may have seen her on TikTok," Katara nodded in agreement. "There's something familiar about her, I feel like I've seen that face before."

"Yes, it's probably TikTok, then," Azula said, feeling reassured. "Don't look, I think she's spotted us examining her," she then added hastily, having noticed that the food critic was looking their way.

"She seems to be sweating bullets and looking really nervous, like she's thinking about bolting," Katara said, having stolen another quick glance.

"Well, it is rather hot in here and she's clearly dressed too warmly," Azula shrugged. "Anyway, I better get back to the kitchen and make sure they handle Table 16 properly," Azula said, turning around to hurry away, only to be stopped by a customer at a nearby table, beckoning her over.

"Excuse me, miss?" she was addressed by a timid looking man with slight rodent-like features, wearing a well-worn suit. "Could I bother you for a-"

"I'm sorry, but I have urgent business in the kitchen," Azula interrupted the man. "I'll be back to take care of you shortly," she said before hurrying away.

Once Azula had returned to the kitchen, she wasted no time beating around the bush. "Alright, listen up, everyone!" she shouted. "Table 16 is the food critic! All attention and priority on Table 16 ticket! Highest quality standards, remember?"

"Ugh, having to cook one of each is so hard," Aang muttered. "It's really going to set us back on the other tickets…"

"The other tickets don't matter!" Azula exclaimed. "Well, they do matter, just… not as much as Table 16. It's okay if we let something slide on the other tickets, as long as we get everything right for the food critic, we'll be golden. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sure, royal feast for the critic, slop for the other guests," Toph laughed.

"Ugh, that's not what I meant and you know it!" Azula growled. "Anyway, get cracking on Table 16! I'll do both the expediting and the serving."

"Don't you have other customers that need attention, too?" Aang asked worriedly. "Or… are you going to hang around here, looking over our shoulders?"

"The other customers will just have to exercise a bit of patience," Azula waved off Aang's concerns. "Katara will handle them. She'll just charm all of their complaints away."

"You are so embarrassingly gone for Katara," Toph laughed, making Azula blush, especially when Aang and Mingxia carefully joined in with their muted laughter. Azula was quite relieved when a few minutes later, the first appetizers were ready to be delivered and she could just grab them and make her way back to the dining hall.

"Here are your appetizers, ma'am," Azula spoke politely, attempting her winningest smile as she set the plates down in front of the food critic. The eccentric looking woman merely nodded at Azula, maintaining her poker face. Azula decided to leave the critic be for now, backing away, but remaining in the dining room to observe the critic's reaction. From the way the woman sampled the food, having only a few bites of one dish before moving on to the next, Azula could tell that she was the real deal. They had successfully identified the food critic, and now the only part left was to impress and butter her up.

"Excuse me, miss?" Azula's observations were once again interrupted by that annoying mousey little man who seemingly just loved to complain. "My steak is a little too well done. I ordered a medium rare, but this is closer to medium. Could I please request a new one?" the irritating customer whined.

Azula sighed inwardly, turning to face the pain in the ass customer and his supposedly wrongly cooked steak. Even from a distance, Azula could tell that it was a little over medium rare. Still, she was never going to interrupt the kitchen's work on the food critic's ticket with a refire for this vastly less important customer because it would cause the kitchen to become dangerously backed up. "That's a perfect medium rare, sir," Azula insisted, even knowing that she was completely and utterly wrong. Still, her attention was fully on the food critic and she was cheering inwardly upon noticing that the eccentrically dressed woman seemed to be really enjoying her appetizers.

"Umm, I would have to disagree-" the irritating customer tried to insist, but Azula had no time for his pointless complaints just now because she had to rush back to the kitchen and oversee the preparation of the food critic's entrées.

"I don't know who died and made you the expert, but I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree," Azula snapped, turning around. "I'm sorry, but I'm needed back in the kitchen," she added snootily before strutting off.

"How is it going with the critic?" Aang asked immediately upon Azula stepping back inside the kitchen. "Is she digging the food?"

"It's hard to say, she's got quite the poker face," Azula frowned. "I'm hoping for the best, though. I'm very confident in the quality of what I put in front of her."

"As you should be," Toph nodded confidently as the kitchen staff continued their work on the food critic's entrées. "If she doesn't love the food then she's clearly not here to judge this contest in good faith."

"I agree with you, but all the same, I'm here to double check everything you're pushing out, just to be sure," Azula said. "Not because I don't trust you, but-"

"But because of how much this competition means to you, we get it," Aang nodded.

"But also, because you're paranoid," Mingxia added innocently.

"I am not paranoid," Azula protested, as together with Toph they proceeded to finish the critic's entrées, Toph carefully tasting everything and Azula doing all the plating. "Alright, our food has never looked as good as this," Azula said proudly, still feeling very nervous as she picked up the food critic's order for delivery.

Once again, the eccentric looking woman showed little reaction as Azula replaced her appetizer plates with the entrées. "I hope you enjoyed your appetizers," Azula tried politely. The woman once again merely nodded, although she did appear satisfied. "I'll leave you to enjoy your entrées, ma'am. Just let me know if you need anything," Azula added, refilling the food critic's wine glass before retreating to continue observing their most important guest's reaction from a safe distance.

"Excuse me, young lady?" once again, Azula's observations were interrupted by the same picky customer as before. "Do you have time to address my concerns now?" the man whose appearance made Azula think of a rotund, offended hamster, complained once again.

"Yes, what is it now?" Azula sighed dramatically. "Are you a professional bore or something?"

"Well… no," the man replied, wilting slightly under her glare. "I'm a food critic, though," he added timidly.

"Ha!" Azula exclaimed, a little too loudly, startling some of the nearby guests. "You, a food critic? Don't make me laugh. That over there," she pointed at the eccentric young woman sampling several entrées at once. "Is the real food critic, actually."

At that same unfortunate moment, Katara suddenly ran up to the food critic's table, for some reason looking very upset. "You!" she exclaimed angrily, pointing accusingly at the woman. "I know who you are! And a food critic you are not!"

"Uh, miss?" the annoying customer, possibly also the real food critic, gave Azula a concerned stare. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked. "You seem to be a little wobbly, maybe you should sit down."

"No, thank you, I think I might just faint instead," Azula replied, her head spinning faster and faster as everything became a blur before her eyes. "Yep, definitely going to faint," she managed before blacking out. The last thing Azula heard before losing consciousness was Katara calling out her name.

"Have I made myself perfectly clear here? We are counting on your cooperation in this. It's the only way to make sure nobody gets hurt." Suki shook herself back to full attention with the leader of the terrorist cell (although they preferred to call themselves the Yu Dao Freedom Fighters) staring firmly at her.

"Sure, I suppose," Suki replied quickly, trying to project a degree of defiance into her words, despite being frightened if not for herself, then for the sake of Yue and Kya. Yue seemed to be holding up well for now, but Suki was sure that she was merely putting up a brave front for Kya's sake. As for the little girl, she definitely did not understand the gravity of their situation, treating it all like a big adventure, and right now, that certainly was for the best.

The hijacked bus had arrived at its destination after traveling through a long underground tunnel and emerging in some kind of a bunker. It was most likely an old abandoned Earth Kingdom army base, the compound now converted into the headquarters of this Earth Kingdom Unification League. Soon after the panicking tourists had been herded off the bus, Suki, Yue and Kya had been separated from the others. Apparently, because of Suki's brave actions on the bus, she had been identified as someone with authority among the group of kidnapped tourists, and the cell leader had just given her a long speech about how it would be best for everyone if Suki made sure that the abductees kept their shit together and didn't do anything stupid. Suki didn't exactly disagree with the sentiment, but the entire conversation made her suspect that this group wasn't very experienced or good with the dirty business of kidnapping people.

"What exactly do you hope to achieve with this?" Yue suddenly butted into the conversation, having kept mostly silent until now, focusing her attention on Kya.

"Well, since you asked so kindly, what we want is a voice at the table to discuss Yu Dao's future status," the cell leader replied. The middle-aged man gave off strong vibes of former Earth Kingdom military, which made complete sense to Suki. It was possible that after the demilitarization of Yu Dao he had been dismissed from service, causing lasting embitterment.

"Engaging in kidnapping doesn't seem like the right way to go about it," Yue continued. "Many people will find it distasteful to negotiate with terrorists."

"We are not terrorists, we are patriots!" the cell leader replied heatedly, looking upset and personally offended by Yue's words. "This is why I'm trying to make sure that no blood is spilled. If we were just another terrorist organization, we would be treating you much less humanely."

"I guess you felt that you needed to do something big and flashy to get your name out there, right?" Suki guessed. "I've never heard of this Earth Kingdom Unification League."

"Exactly, most people have never heard about us, not until now," the cell leader nodded. "That all changes tonight. We're putting our name firmly out there. The powers that be will have no other option but to recognize us and take us seriously."

"I'm sure this is a great plan and everything will go as smoothly as you have imagined," Suki said, just about resisting a roll of the eyes.

"Mom?" Kya piped up, looking at Yue. "I'm starting to get bored of this game. Can we do something else?" She looked around the quarters of the cell leader, her eyes stopping at the Pai Sho board on the writing desk. "Oh, you play Pai Sho, mister?" she asked the bemused terrorist. "I bet I could beat you."

The cell leader burst into booming laughter. "You think you could beat me?" the man asked, shaking with amusement. "Don't make me laugh, little girl." He turned to look at Yue. "Don't you have some dolls to distract her with, woman?"

"A grown-up man, scared of a little girl," Kya snorted petulantly. "How very sad." Some of the League guards in the room with them snickered at Kya's comment, making their leader glower with rage.

"Alright, let me teach you some manners, little girl, because it's clear that your mother has failed in that regard," the cell leader rose, fetching the Pai Sho board and starting to set it up for a game. Yue and Kya went to sit down at the table with the angry cell leader, with Kya perched in her mother's lap as she stared down at the board.

"How about some added stakes for the game?" Suki asked, an idea suddenly occurring to her, borne of her absolute belief in Kya's talent that had been sharpened by constant practicing and playing with crack players like Azula.

"What do you mean?" the cell leader narrowed his eyes at Suki.

"How about… if Kya wins, the three of us get to walk free," Suki suggested. "If you win, I'll personally guarantee full cooperation from all of your hostages."

"That sounds acceptable because there's no chance of me losing to a three-year-old," the terrorist leader snorted.

"I'm four, meanie," Kya scowled as the game of Pai Sho began.

Suki could see that the ex-military man was a decent enough player, but he was clearly too arrogant in underestimating Kya. It was all over in less than fifteen minutes, leaving the cell leader staring at the board in disbelief with his mouth flapping open and shut as if he was a fish ashore. "How… how is that possible?" he demanded, looking ready to flip the table.

"Kya is a budding Pai Sho genius, it's simple," Suki shrugged, grinning broadly. "Also, I guess we'll be on our way."

"Not so fast," the terrorist leader exclaimed. "You can't really believe I would just let you go."

Suddenly, there was a lot of loud muttering in the room coming from the other League members, looking upset and unimpressed. "Boss, that's not cool," one of them spoke up. "You've been boasting all this time about once having beaten a Pai Sho grandmaster, and now you get schooled by a three-year-old?"

"Ugh, I'm four!" Kya grumbled. "Why does nobody listen to me?"

"Such a cute kid, and you would break a promise made to her?" another guard shook his head, looking annoyed. "That's pretty low, boss."

"Argh, shut up, you morons!" the cell leader growled. "I can beat her! I know I can! Alright, little girl, how about a rematch?"

"Sure, I'll happily beat you again," Kya smiled innocently.

"But you need to raise the stakes if we're to accept," Suki added hastily. "If Kya beats you again, then you'll release all the hostages."

The cell leader hesitated for a moment, clearly being more cautious now. Still, the looks on the faces of his underlings must have convinced him that there was no other option than to accept the challenge if he didn't want to be forever branded as a coward. "Fine, I accept," the man growled, taking his place at the Pai Sho board. The game was much more tightly contested and lasted longer this time around, but the end result was the same and never in doubt, as Kya emerged victorious yet again.

"Well, that was completely disheartening," one of the cell members sighed. "I just can't follow a man who is repeatedly humiliated by a three-… sorry, four-year-old. I'm out of here."

"Yeah, me too," another League member added. "I only joined because I thought it would impress my girlfriend, anyway. My heart was always set on the local pumpkin grower association."

"I only joined because the local medieval folk dancing society had no membership spots left," the third guard said. "I'm going to see if there's an opening now."

"Yeah, and I only cared about having a dental plan," a very young lad with braces nodded eagerly. "Let's get out of here. And let's free those folks on our way out."

"You… little girl, you just ruined the entire organization I've been building for the past ten years!" the former cell leader groaned, glaring at Kya.

"Well, maybe you should have done something more worthwhile with your time," Suki snorted, as together with Yue and Kya they prepared to follow the deserting guards. "Like becoming an eggplant farmer or something more productive."

"That's right," Yue beamed proudly as she gave her precious daughter a tight hug. "Let this be a lesson to you, old man. Never pick a fight with my daughter and her family, because it never ends well for those who try it."

"Precocious four-year-old Pai Sho genius resolves a tense hostage situation," Katara read the title of a newspaper article, not quite daring to believe her eyes as she looked at the photo of a very smug looking Kya, being held by both Yue and Suki. "That's not quite where I expected Yue and Suki's vacation would go."

"At least it's less of a disaster than our encounter with the food critic," Azula groaned nearby. She was lying face down on the sofa, not in any hurry to get up after finally regaining her consciousness.

"Debatable," Katara snorted, looking over to where Sokka lay motionless on the floor, with Ty Lee worriedly hovering over her boyfriend. "Is he coming to or what? I did not expect that we would have more than one person fainting on the same day."

"Extreme measures may be required," Ty Lee said, applying a few gentle slaps to Sokka's cheeks, but it failed to produce any reaction. "Well, I didn't want to resort to this, but I'm afraid you're not giving me much of a choice, Sokka," Ty Lee sighed, grabbing a pitcher of ice water and dunking it in her boyfriend's face. Sokka immediately flew upright with a startled yelp.

"What… what's going on!" Sokka demanded to know, but his confusion cleared up almost immediately. "Oh right, I was freaking out about my daughter being placed in a life-threatening situation! I will have words with Yue once they make it home safely!"

"Calm down, it's not like Yue or Suki placed Kya in that situation," Katara rolled her eyes. "The article clearly states that their bus was abducted in a fake border checkpoint under the cover of darkness. That could have happened to anyone."

"Exactly," Ty Lee nodded in agreement. "Also, I think we should focus on the fact that Kya is both a celebrity and a hero, and she's only four! That's your daughter we're talking about, Sokka. You should be damn proud!"

"True," Sokka finally relented. "All's well that ends well, I suppose."

"I knew those Pai Sho lessons would pay off in the end," Azula said, her voice still a little weak, but also carrying a degree of pride. "Anyway… Katara, I wanted to ask, what happened with that fake food critic?"

"Oh," Katara snapped her fingers. "Yes, I completely forgot to tell you after you regained consciousness. I finally recognized her! It was Bee… or Beatrice, a friend of Jet's!" Katara had been dead set on confronting Bee on the spot, but when she had seen Azula fainting, she had forgotten all about fighting with Bee and rushed to her girlfriend's aid. During all the chaos, Bee had slipped out and made a runner.

"Ugh, damn it…" Azula cursed. "Of course, that whole plot was orchestrated by Zuko and Jet. Great… after that failure, I'm doomed to lose this competition."

"Aren't you being overly dramatic about it?" Katara asked. "Surely your father will not make his decision based only on the report of this food critic, right? I know we didn't do well, but maybe we can still come back from it."

"Well," Azula paused, deep in thought. "I suppose there's still a chance that Zuko somehow fucks up the food critic's visit even worse than we did…"

"I think I have detected a slight issue with our plan regarding the food critic," Zuko said in a very tense voice. He was sitting in the passenger seat of Jet's car, while Jet was driving with an equally tense, almost manic look in his eyes, fingers tightly gripping the steering wheel.

"What's the issue?" Jet asked, sounding very frustrated.

"By focusing all our attention on foiling Azula, we sort of forgot to make any preparations for the critic's visit at The Blue Spirit," Zuko sighed.

"That doesn't mean you should have punched him in the face," Jet said accusingly.

"He insulted my food!" Zuko yelled angrily.

"How dare he," Jet rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what are we going to do about him?" Jet asked, pointing towards the back of the car. While none of them were speaking, it was just about possible to make out faint sounds of struggle and muffled cries for help coming from the car's trunk.

"I don't know, alright? We need to figure out something!" Zuko exclaimed desperately. "But for now… just keep on driving!"

Chapter Text

"So, to make sure there are no misunderstandings, Zhao will arrive in Caldera City on Wednesday," Ozai Nakamura spoke, his face looking paler than usual on the screen of Azula's laptop. Azula was sharing a sofa with Zuko during this Teams meeting with their father, but they made sure to maintain a respectful distance from each other. "I suggested to Zhao that he should start with auditing your restaurant first, Azula. At least you don't have a history of punching the man."

"Not yet," Azula replied brightly. She may not have history of punching Zhao Sakamoto, but she definitely had history of stepping on his foot with her stiletto heel and also kneeing him in the balls. Zhao had earned it on each occasion for being way too loose with his hands. "I mean, we will be happy to receive Zhao at The Northern Lights, father," she added politely.

"Of course," Ozai nodded. "Zuko, I trust there will be no fisticuffs this time around."

"That depends entirely on Zhao himself," Zuko muttered.

"What was that?" Ozai frowned.

"I meant to say that we'll be very nice to the old rat-face, father," Zuko recovered.

"Hmph," Ozai muttered. "Well, whatever. I don't really care as long as I receive the results of his financial audit. I'm still waiting for the reviews of my food critic, so make sure not to lose Zhao as well!" Azula and Zuko exchanged slightly nervous stares, sensing the mounting frustration of the family patriarch. "Are you two absolutely sure that you don't know anything about that food critic? It's like he disappeared from the face of the earth!"

"He probably never even made it to The Blue Spirit," Zuko said with certainty. "I suspect he's living it up somewhere on the company dime."

"I have to agree with Zuko," Azula nodded, having managed to overcome her natural aversion to agree with her brother on anything. "I don't think he made it to The Northern Lights, either. Besides, I wouldn't know if he did or not. Remember, neither Zuko nor I know what he looks like."

"I suppose that's true," Ozai shrugged. "Oh well, who cares. I'll be visiting you soon myself. I might as well do an extensive review of your menus once I'm in Caldera." Ozai paused, briefly stroking his beard. "Anyway, that's all I had for you. If there are still any weaknesses in your restaurants, make sure to address them quickly because my inspection of the way you run your business will be thorough and brutal." And with that, Ozai Nakamura disconnected the video call.

Azula reached out and closed the laptop. "Well, that was informative," she shrugged. "Crazy about that food critic, though. What do you think happened to him?" Azula asked, looking at her brother.

"How would I know?" Zuko shrugged. "You heard me speaking to father. The guy never showed up at The Blue Spirit."

"I'm sure he didn't," Azula snorted. The disappearance of the food critic was an incredible stroke of luck for her, because she had fumbled that visit horribly and the critic was sure to give The Northern Lights the worst review in the restaurant's history. Still, having finished his overcooked steak, the critic had eventually left, so there was no reason why he wouldn't have showed up at Zuko's restaurant.

"Speaking of which, you haven't been ordering anything from Bumi's Kebab Palace lately, have you?" Zuko asked.

"Agni, why would I do that?" Azula shuddered. "Especially with those rumors that he'll put just about any meat into his kebabs."

"Yes, those rumors sure are wild," Zuko nodded in agreement.

"Indeed," Azula said, frowning. "Wait… why did you preface that with 'speaking of which'?" Zuko blinked at her. "We were talking about the food critic. You changed the topic to Bumi's Kebab Palace as if it would follow from that."

"Oh," Zuko blinked more furiously. "I just meant… that the food critic would… give Bumi's Kebab Place a way worse review than he would give either of us?"

Azula peered at her brother, feeling very confused. Then she simply shook her head and grabbed the laptop. "Whatever, continue being weird if that's what you want to do," she shrugged, rising from the sofa. "I better get out of here before someone starts a rumor that we can like… tolerate being around each other."

"Ugh, vile lies and slander," Zuko made a face, getting up to follow.

"Mai, I'm leaving, and I assume Zuko is too," Azula announced, poking her head into the drawing room, where Mai was perched on a couch with a book in her hand. Ozai had insisted that he wanted to speak with both Azula and Zuko at the same time, but Azula didn't want to invite Zuko to her apartment, and she definitely wasn't keen on stepping inside Jet's apartment. In the end, they had managed to negotiate Mai's place as a neutral ground, even if Mai was not particularly happy when she was informed about the arrangement.

"So, you're finally done simping to daddy," Mai smirked, setting her book aside and coming over to join them. "I hope it went terribly."

"Ouch, that's a lot of vitriol, what gives," Zuko frowned.

"Well, since we're no longer dating, I no longer have to be overly mindful of your feelings, Zuko," Mai snorted. "Now I can freely say that Ozai Nakamura is a terrible human being."

"I'm not sure I prefer you this way," Zuko muttered. "I really liked it when you were validating this toxic parental relationship Azula and I have with our father."

"Are you saying you want me back as your enabling girlfriend?" Mai chuckled. Azula also had to laugh when Zuko's face turned bright red and he began to sputter. "Yeah, I don't know if I'm available, Zuko. Also, even if I were, I don't think I would go back to pretending that the way Ozai keeps you both on a leash is good or even normal."

"You're certainly entitled to your opinion," Azula shrugged.

"I'm entitled to my opinion?" Mai turned to face her, looking surprised. "Well, isn't that generous? You're having second thoughts, aren't you? Because Azula of old would be all in my face, getting defensive on daddy's behalf, if she had heard me talking smack about Ozai Nakamura."

"Whatever," Azula shrugged again. "I don't have to justify myself to you, Mai." Azula tried her best not to show how disturbed she was upon inwardly realizing that there was a surprising lack of willingness to fight over this characterization of Ozai, and her relationship with him.

"You're weak, Azula," Mai snapped before turning to Zuko. "And so are you, Zuko. But that's fine. Just crawl back to Jet. I'm sure he'll tell you everything you want to hear."

"That's unfair, Mai, and you know it," Zuko protested.

"Anyway, it's mighty big of you to criticize our relationship with Ozai, when you haven't really stood up to your own parents in any meaningful way," Azula snapped, watching how Mai's cheek trembled slightly from her words, making Azula realize that she had scored a hit. "But I don't want to part on bad terms," Azula offered magnanimously. "Thank you for allowing us to use your apartment, Mai. You're a good friend."

"Yes, thank you, Mai," Zuko nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow at the restaurant."

"Right… catch you later, dumbasses," Mai quickly recovered to flash a brief smile before closing the door behind the two siblings.

Azula and Zuko walked down the stairs in silence, heading towards their cars in the parking lot. "Do you think there might be something to what she said?" Zuko finally broke the silence when they had almost reached the parking lot.

"Nah," Azula spoke dismissively, deciding to placate Zuko with a quick lie. "There's nothing whatsoever to it. Mai is just projecting her own daddy issues onto us. Think nothing of it, Zuzu."

"Alright… if you say so," Zuko frowned, not looking fully convinced.

"I do say so," Azula nodded, opening the doors of her car. "I'll see you later, brother… hopefully when father presents me with the prize for winning our competition."

As promised, Zhao Sakamoto arrived in Caldera City on Wednesday, and shortly before opening for Thursday's lunch, Zhao's unwelcome face made an appearance at The Northern Lights restaurant. The mood around the place was a little tense after Azula had taken her time to stress to the staff just how important Zhao's financial audit was in terms of the competition between her and Zuko. The tension was not quite on the same level as with the mysterious food critic, but still, Azula's friends and coworkers looked a little uneasy as they anticipated Zhao's arrival. It was clear that Azula's characterization of Zhao had immediately made some of her friends adopt an antagonistic stance towards her father's personal accountant, but it wasn't as if Azula had in any way exaggerated Zhao's character flaws in her stories about him.

From the way Katara and Yue reacted to Zhao's arrival, Azula deduced that if Zhao had decided to sit down and order some food, he would definitely be at risk of Katara or Yue accidentally spilling hot soup in his lap. With the two Water Tribe girls always wearing their hearts on their sleeves, neither of them could disguise their obvious disapproval and dislike of Zhao Sakamoto as Azula led him through the dining room and into the manager's office where he was to carry out his financial audit of the establishment.

While Azula had enjoyed working the front of the house with Katara very much, she was still delighted to have Yue back with them. Azula wasn't quite as deluded as not to realize that she didn't have Yue's charming tableside manner that had made her such a beloved feature of The Northern Lights, and a part of the reason why they were quickly developing a growing base of regular customers. On her part, Yue seemed rejuvenated by her vacation with Suki, and the way the cruise had brought the two women even closer, solidifying their relationship and making them inseparable. The only slight drawback of that memorable vacation was Yue still having to occasionally chase off some irritating reporter trying to get close to Kya, looking for a scoop regarding the anti-terrorism activities of Yue's daughter.

Lately, Azula was struggling to understand where things stood between her and Katara. Katara was still all but living with Azula at her apartment, and they were having passionate sex on the regular, so everything appeared to be going well. Still, Azula couldn't fight off the nagging sensation that something wasn't quite right. It was almost as if Katara was just a little emotionally distant? The faint sensation was difficult to quantify, but it was a feeling that persisted ever since that fateful phone call with her father that Azula had chosen to answer at the most inopportune time. Katara had accepted her apology, but Azula felt as if she hadn't been fully forgiven. But it wasn't as if she could bring up any of this to Katara because she had nothing concrete apart from a gut feeling, and that gut feeling was telling Azula that maybe Katara was simply starting to become bored of her.

After returning from her vacation, Suki had been pleased to learn that she had been ably covered by the combined efforts of Toph, Aang and Mingxia. Still, everyone around the restaurant was happy to have their head chef back with them, with Toph and Aang slotting back into their regular assignments and Mingxia returning to The Jasmine Dragon to resume her mentorship with Ursa. Just like Yue, Suki was brimming with energy following their shared vacation, and soon after her return, the kitchen was firing on all cylinders, working with previously unseen efficiency.

It was probably a good idea that Zhao had not requested a tour of the restaurant, because just like in the dining room, he would not have found any friends in the kitchen of The Northern Lights. Azula figured that she would probably have to take care of Zhao's meals personally, because she couldn't trust her friends in the kitchen not to make Zhao's order revolting on purpose.

Sokka had been a little bemused that even though he was the acting general manager, Azula had made it clear that she didn't want him involved in her dealings with Zhao. Still, Sokka hadn't made a fuss regarding Azula's decision to handle Zhao all on her own, in fact, he had looked rather relieved about the whole thing. Sokka was comfortable with numbers, and he seemed happy to do the managerial tasks, but it was clear that his heart truly lay in the practical hands-on tasks around the restaurant. Recently, Sokka was spending most of his time renovating a part of the basement, after the two owners had agreed with Azula's suggestion to set up a little bakery of their own. There were savings to be made by not buying most of the baked goods ready made from The Jasmine Dragon, especially because in a few months they would have a professionally trained baker available for hire.

With everyone else going about their daily tasks at the restaurant, it was left to Azula to entertain Zhao as he was going through a pot of coffee at a slightly alarming rate, poring through their financial records and doing his accounting magic, honed across many years of helping Ozai Nakamura dodge paying most of his taxes.

"So," Azula began, having kept quiet while Zhao was typing away on his laptop. Azula had little to fear when it came to the financial figures of the restaurant, but Zhao's methods and past behavior still filled her with anxiety. "How are things looking?" she asked.

"Well, your records appear to be in good order, not that I expected anything else," Zhao replied, only shooting her the briefest of glances. "I'm already preparing myself for the chaos that awaits me at Zuko's restaurant," Zhao added, shuddering.

"I don't think Zuko does his own bookkeeping, though," Azula snorted. "I agree that if he tried to do it, it would descend into utter chaos."

"Quite so," Zhao nodded. "In any case, I've only just started. It's too early for me to make any conclusions, although I did expect these numbers to be stronger."

"What do you mean?" Azula asked nervously, walking up to Zhao so that she could peek into his laptop. "I hope you're aware that we were in a major financial hole when I started working here."

"I'm aware, and I'm not denying that you've made a good recovery, but is it good enough to impress your father? Who's to say?" Zhao clicked his tongue, then looking up at Azula with a sleezy grin on his lips. "By the way, I heard that you broke up with that loser Chan."

"That's ancient history," Azula shrugged.

"Well, it was inevitable," Zhao nodded sagely. "I always knew that you needed a real man, not a boy."

"Oh really," Azula's eyebrows rose. "And I suppose you have some ideas about the kind of man that I need?"

"Someone like me, obviously," Zhao stated confidently. Azula burst into laughter. Zhao glared at her. "What's so funny about that? I've got the charm, the looks, the experience, I'm held in high esteem by your father. You could do way worse than me, babe," Zhao added, wrapping his arm around Azula's waist. "Also, I can make this financial audit appear really glowing. But… I can also make it appear rather miserable."

"Ah, Zhao, you're always so predictable with your blackmailing schemes," Azula grinned, reaching upwards as if to stroke the side of Zhao's face, but then removing her hand at the last moment, much to Zhao's visible disappointment.

"I notice you're not saying no, though," Zhao tried to rally.

"Well, I have to weigh my options first, don't I?" Azula smirked.

"I hope you'll make the right de-" Zhao suddenly stopped speaking, sniffing the air. "Hmm, what's that smell? Is that coming from the kitchen? Damn, it's making me hungry."

"Actually, that's your beard burning," Azula laughed, stepping away from Zhao. "I just set it on fire."

"Aah! Help! Help, put it out, put it out!" Zhao yelled as his beard well and truly caught fire. His panicked running back and forth along the small office was definitely making things worse, not better.

"Stand still so I can put it out then!" Azula shouted, having retrieved the fire extinguisher and preparing it for use. Zhao finally got a grip on his panic and managed to stop himself, even if he was already badly singed and in terrible pain. Azula then quickly covered Zhao in firefighting foam, continuing to spray him well after the fire had been put out, not stopping until she had achieved the desired effect. Azula then set the fire extinguisher aside, picked up her phone and snapped several candid pictures of Zhao. "I know Summer Solstice is many months away, but you look like you're already getting into the spirit of the season."

"You're going to pay for this," Zhao hissed, busy wiping the foam away. "I'm going to make this audit report as unflattering as I possibly can!"

"I don't think you will, though," Azula stated confidently.

"Why wouldn't I?" Zhao glared at her.

"Because I anticipated that you will get up to something like this, and so I asked three highly reputable Caldera City accountants to do their own independent audits a few days ago," Azula smirked. "By the way, their reports are quite glowing. If you dare to submit anything worse than their reports to my father, I will not hesitate to expose your schemes. When my father sees reports from three reputable auditors disagreeing with your findings, he will know that you're lying to him, Zhao. And you will lose all of my father's trust. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"

Zhao was shaking with rage, but had to back down eventually. "You think you're so smart, but one day even you will slip up, Azula, and that will be my moment to pounce," Zhao threatened. "But fine… you have won this round. I'm man enough to admit when I'm defeated," Zhao said, reaching out to grab his laptop. "I'll finish my report at the hospital's burn unit, you ungrateful little witch." And with that, Zhao sighed and headed for the doors.

"Don't forget to ask for that nice arnica cream, Zhao," Azula smirked triumphantly, waving goodbye to her old nemesis. "I heard it heals all wounds!"

The whole financial audit nuisance had definitely started off on the wrong foot for Zuko and The Blue Spirit restaurant. Just before the lunch service, some clean-shaven Fire Nation gentleman with awful facial burns had showed up at the restaurant, claiming to be Zhao Sakamoto. Zuko had laughed in his face before together with Jet escorting the man from the premises, not shying away from liberal use of violence. Shortly afterwards, Zuko had received a phone call from a very amused Ozai Nakamura, shouting at him to let Zhao in and allow his father's personal accountant to start the auditing process.

Obviously, by then Zhao was already in a very rotten mood, not at all happy with the treatment he had received from Zuko and Jet. Zuko had been forced to offer some very humiliating apologies and then go out of his way to do whatever it took to soothe Zhao's temper and make sure that Ozai Nakamura's personal accountant did not absolutely screw him over with an unfavorable financial report.

It was now late in the afternoon, and over the six hours that Zhao had spent at the restaurant, he appeared to have done very little, while completely paralyzing their operations and forcing them to shut down the service. Zhao was currently set up in the manager's office, having ejected Mai and Ruon-Jian, but instead of working hard on his laptop, he was receiving a foot bath and massage from Jin and a vigorous shoulder rub from Ty Lee. Zhao had also put a strain on the kitchen by forcing Zuko and On Ji to prepare one complicated snack or cocktail after another, and then Zhao demanded that On Ji hand feed him as he worked. He had also insisted that On Ji change out of her chef's clothing and slip into a sexy waitress uniform to match Jin and Ty Lee. Needless to say, the girls were absolutely pissed off about this treatment, and Zuko had been forced to throw massive wads of cash at all three of them, just to stop them from walking out.

Still, there were no expenses that Zuko considered too high in exchange for a favorable audit report, especially if it trumped the financial report of Azula's restaurant. So, Zuko was resolved to do whatever it took to make Zhao and also the restaurant's staff happy, even if it cost him an arm and a leg. Currently, Zuko was hanging out in the kitchen, with only Jet for company. Some twenty minutes ago, Zuko and On Ji had finished working on a very complicated ice cream dessert that On Ji then brought to Zhao. It was a blessed relief to have a little lull from Zhao's endless requests, but Zuko did not doubt that many more requests would follow.

It wasn't long before On Ji returned to the kitchen, and when she did so, Zuko's sous chef appeared rather disheveled, the top of her waitress uniform liberally covered with ice cream stains. "What happened?" Zuko blinked.

"Exactly what you would expect," On Ji scowled. "He wanted me, Jin and Ty Lee to eat that ice cream dessert off each other's tits."

"The scoundrel!" Jet gasped, shaking his fist dramatically. "I cannot believe he would do that!"

"Why are you acting so affronted?" Zuko shrugged, glancing at his sort of boyfriend. "It's not like you to take allegations of sexual misconduct seriously."

"Oh, it's not about that," Jet shrugged. "I'm just pissed that I didn't get to see it."

"Ugh, you're almost as much of a pig as Zhao," On Ji sighed. "Anyway, Zuko, we're going to need more money for tolerating something like that."

"Of course," Zuko winced, retrieving his much suffering wallet and fishing out three fifty-dollar banknotes to be distributed between On Ji, Jin and Ty Lee. On Ji quickly grabbed the money and pocketed it.

"Thanks," On Ji flashed him a quick grin. "Anyway, I'm going to do a quick uniform swap because this one is all sticky."

"Alright… I'm just glad that there are currently no more requests from Zhao," Zuko remarked hopefully. Much to his relief, On Ji nodded at him. "Great, let's hope that he finally does some actual work now."

"Oh, I wouldn't count on that," On Ji rolled her eyes. "After we were done with the ice cream performance, he dashed off and locked himself in the men's bathroom. There were some freakish grunting noises coming from it when I walked past."

"Well, can't say I blame the guy after getting a show like that," Jet chuckled.

"Gross," Zuko shuddered. The mental image of Zhao jerking off in the bathroom of his restaurant was definitely something he neither needed nor deserved. "That rat-faced asshole is going to ruin me financially before we're done with this stupid audit," Zuko groused after On Ji had left him alone with Jet.

"It's definitely messed up, but what other options do we have other than to go along with whatever he asks for?" Jet wondered, also not looking pleased.

"I don't know… yet," Zuko admitted forlornly as the kitchen doors opened yet again and the representation of all his troubles strode in, Zhao Sakamoto looking very smug and spry in his step. "Zhao… how is that audit coming along?" Zuko grumbled. "Isn't it about time you did some actual work?"

"The audit is coming along well," Zhao chuckled amiably. "These things can't be rushed, my boy. And also, remember, the better time I have while working, the better that end report will look for you."

"That's what you keep saying, but in the meantime, I'm getting financially buttfucked," Zuko scowled. "Can you at least not occupy my waitresses and my sous chef so that we can actually open the place tomorrow?"

"Hmm, that would decrease the quality of my stay here, though," Zhao smirked. "No, I believe I will require their services until I have finished my work on the report. Chin up, Zuko. I usually don't take more than a week with my auditing."

"A whole bloody week?!" Zuko roared. "Are you insane, man? This will ruin us financially!"

"Well… boy," Zhao turned on Zuko, facing him with a nasty glare. "Perhaps you should have considered it when you punched me in the face that time during your father's birthday party. Oh yes, Zuko, I haven't forgotten. I have earned the right to live it up here for a week on your dime, boy."

"You were hitting on my girlfriend!" Zuko shouted angrily. "You were literally drooling all over Mai!"

"You knocked out two of my teeth and broke my rib!" Zhao spat back. "Hardly deserved for a little bit of innocent flirting, and by the way, your girlfriend was very receptive. And now that she's your ex-girlfriend, I may just decide to take it way further than simple flirting," Zhao laughed, turning to walk away.

"You asshole!" Zuko yelled, grabbing the nearest object which turned out to be a frying pan and smashing the back of Zhao's head with it. Zhao went down in a limp, unconscious heap.

"Damn it, not again!" Jet exclaimed in panic, dashing over to where Zhao had fallen. "You can't just keep knocking out people who piss you off, Zuko!"

The frying pan fell out from the fingers of a shocked Zuko, landing on the floor with a loud clatter. "Nonsense, man, I never touched him," Zuko exclaimed defensively.

"Yeah, but the frying pan did, and you were touching it at the time," Jet rolled his eyes. "Shit, I hope we won't have to call Bumi's Kebab Palace again. At this rate, I think we should ask for some kind of loyalty discount."

"Maybe he's not dead," Zuko suggested just as Mai and Ruon-Jian rushed into the kitchen. With Zhao having occupied the manager's office and the restaurant closed down, the two of them had been working in the dining room, probably overhearing the commotion in the kitchen.

"What happened?" Mai demanded upon her arrival on the scene.

"Sweet Agni, you killed Mr. Sakamoto!" Ruon-Jian panicked, pointing at Zhao's corpse.

"Actually, it was the frying pan that done it," Jet snorted. "Anyway, he might not be dead. Zuko was just about to check."

"Ugh, fine," Zuko rolled his eyes before dropping onto his knees and performing a quick examination of the body on the floor. There was both a faint heartbeat and breathing, so Zhao was clearly still alive. "He's going to be alright," Zuko let out a sigh of relief, getting up to his feet.

"Which is more than can be said about us," Jet pointed out. "Once Zhao comes to, he's going to annihilate us. Not only will he make a terrible audit report to bury us, he'll probably also call the cops."

"So, are you saying that we should just-" Zuko began hesitantly.

"Wait, what were you going to say?" Mai interrupted him, looking scandalized. "Were you really about to suggest that we should just finish him off?" Ruan-Jian gasped at Mai's words, dramatically clutching his chest.

"No?" Zuko protested fervently. "I would never suggest something so… awful? You of all people should know that killing people is… bad?"

"Bad or not, this still leaves us in a major pickle," Jet said. "If anyone has an idea, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it."

"Hmm," Mai hummed, giving Zhao's limp frame a dirty stare. "I might have something."

"Really?" Zuko asked, looking hopefully at his ex-girlfriend. "What's the plan, Mai?"

"There's no time to explain everything, so I'm just going to tell you what I need you and Jet to do," Mai replied hastily. "Stay here and watch over Zhao. If he starts to stir, knock him out again. Basically, I need you two to keep him unconscious until I tell you otherwise. Can you do that?"

"Sounds good to me," Jet shrugged. "Of course, you have to understand that neither I nor Zuko will be assaulting Zhao again, but the frying pan sure will."

"True," Zuko nodded, grinning. "This might even be enjoyable. But I would feel better knowing what your plan is, Mai."

"You will know in good time, Zuko," Mai promised. "Right now, I must hurry, and I need you to come with me," she said, grabbing Ruon-Jian's arm. "It's time to roll up our sleeves and get cracking."

Over the next couple of hours, Zuko and Jet kept watching Zhao like a pair of bloodthirsty hawks. Every time Zhao began to stir, they would use the frying pan to knock Zhao unconscious yet again. At some point, Jin, On Ji and Ty Lee had also joined them in the kitchen, and they were definitely very eager to bash Zhao's head in with the frying pan. By the time Mai and Ruon-Jian returned almost two full hours later, carrying Zhao's laptop and a stack of printed sheets, they had already smacked Zhao five more times. Zuko wasn't sure how many more hits Zhao could take before suffering permanent brain damage.

"Alright, we're done," Mai announced. "You can start reviving him."

"Not before you tell us what you and Ruon were working on," Zuko insisted.

"Well, we pooled together our accountancy knowledge and created this," Mai pointed at the stack of printed sheets. "An extremely glowing financial audit of The Blue Spirit restaurant, compiled by Zhao Sakamoto."

"Nice!" Zuko cheered. His joy deflated almost instantly, though. "Wait, won't Zhao remember that it's not his report?"

"Well, that depends on how hard you struck him," Mai shrugged. "We can always pummel him some more, if necessary." The statement drew many cheers from Jin, On Ji and Ty Lee.

"I guess we can do that," Zuko shrugged. He then gave Jet an expectant stare before pointing at Zhao's limp body. "Alright, Jet, give him the kiss of life."

"I think not," Jet frowned. "You hit him first, you should do it."

"I don't want to," Zuko protested. "Coin toss?" he asked. Jet looked annoyed, but eventually nodded, pulling out a coin. "Tails," Zuko said, pumping his fist when Jet revealed the coin to show that Zuko had won the toss.

"Ugh, disgusting," Jet grumbled as he got down to his knees and started doing some chest compressions on Zhao. "This would be way less disturbing if the fucker still had his resplendent beard to cover his ugliness," he complained before doing some very reluctant mouth to mouth that eventually forced Zhao to reawaken with a loud gasp.

"My head…" Zhao groaned. "Where am I?"

"Don't you remember?" Zuko asked, together with Jet supporting Zhao as he carefully got up from the floor.

"Ugh, Zuko Nakamura? What are you doing here?" Zhao fumed.

"You're in my restaurant, Zhao," Zuko reminded helpfully. "My father sent you to Caldera to do an audit of The Blue Spirit, remember?"

"An audit?" Zhao blinked, scratching his head. Recognition slowly began to dawn in his eyes the longer he thought. "Oh yes, that's right… the audit. I guess I better get around to it…"

"But you already finished your audit, Mr. Sakamoto," Mai piped up, pointing at the stack of papers she had produced together with Ruon-Jian.

"Really?" Zhao looked surprised. "I don't remember having finished it." He scratched his head yet again. "Come to think of it, I have a hard time remembering anything. What happened? Why did I end up on your kitchen floor in such a state?" Zhao demanded.

"You really don't remember?" Zuko asked while frantically trying to come up with some kind of cover story. "You must have hit your head harder than we thought."

"I'll tell you exactly what happened, Mr. Sakamoto," Mai interjected. It looked like Mai had an idea, and since Zuko was still drawing blanks, he was willing to let his ex-girlfriend take over. "You had just finished your very successful audit of our restaurant, so we decided to throw a party in your honor. During the party, Jet challenged you to a limbo competition."

"I did?" Jet blinked, but shut up when Zuko stepped on his foot.

"Yes, Jet challenged you to a limbo competition, and you actually managed to beat him, Mr. Sakamoto," Mai continued insistently. "But then you decided to show off, went too low and lost your balance. The next thing we knew, you had knocked yourself out on the floor."

"Well… that explains the pounding headache," Zhao winced, touching the back of his head, covered with nasty looking bumps. "I wonder what possessed me to accept a limbo challenge."

"Half a dozen tequila shots?" Ty Lee suggested.

"Ah yes, that would do it," Zhao snorted. "Anyway, so you are saying that I already finished the audit?" Mai quickly nodded. "That's great news. I wasn't looking forward to wasting my time on something so boring," Zhao said, picking up the stack of printed sheets and casually browsing them. "Hmm…" he hummed thoughtfully. Zuko and everyone else in the kitchen tensed nervously. "It looks like I might have gotten a little sloppy here and there," Zhao continued, leafing through the papers, but he eventually stopped and shrugged. "Oh well, it looks good enough for Ozai's pointless little competition." He then noticed something on the last page. "Odd that I didn't sign it, though."

"Well, we kicked off the celebrations a little early," On Ji interjected, beaming as she quickly presented Zhao with a pen. Zhao scratch his chin, shrugged and then signed the audit report, much to Zuko's silent jubilation.

"I suppose my work here is done," Zhao eventually said.

"Yes, you wouldn't want to overstay your welcome, would you?" Ty Lee suggested, quickly rounding up all of Zhao's things and handing them over to the slightly confused looking accountant.

"It's best that you run along now," Jin nodded in agreement, together with Ty Lee and On Ji starting to firmly guide Zhao towards the exit. "Now that you're done here, you can go home to your wife and kids."

"And ask your wife to prepare a cold compress for those bumps on your noggin, they don't look so good," On Ji added as between the three of them they already had Zhao on the threshold, opening the front doors for him.

"That's a good idea," Zhao nodded. "No, wait… I don't have a wife! Or kids-" he added just as he was forcefully pushed out of the restaurant, with doors slammed directly behind his back.

"Well, that was a complete mess," Jet remarked, shaking his head at what they had just witnessed.

"But a very successful mess, thanks to Mai's quick thinking," Zuko gave his ex-girlfriend a grateful stare. "I'm so relieved I could ki-… uh, express my most heartfelt gratitude to you, Mai."

"You're quite welcome, Zuko," Mai smiled faintly, but instead of facing Zuko, she seemed to be directing a smug, almost challenging stare at Jet. Zuko quickly turned to look at Jet, noticing that he was glaring right back at Mai.

"Uh, anyway…" Zuko spoke awkwardly, hoping to break up the tension. "It doesn't matter how we did it, the end result is a very flattering audit report for us, so… I think we should do exactly what we pretended to have done with Zhao."

"It's party time! Let the celebrations commence!" Ty Lee shouted, grabbing a bottle of champagne and quickly opening it, spraying both On Ji and Jin in the process. Jin immediately took it as a sign to get rid of her waitress uniform, and after a brief pause, On Ji followed her example, stripping off her clothes as well.

"Oh well," Zuko shrugged as the kitchen around him instantly became a setting to a wild and chaotic party. "I'm glad that there's at least one thing that never changes around this place. The chronic insanity of The Blue Spirit is actually kind of comforting."

Katara let out a huge yawn, setting the newspaper aside and giving up on the crossword she had been trying to solve while Azula was on the phone with Ty Lee. At the end of another long day, Katara's energy reserves were severely depleted and she was slowly falling asleep, with all of her remaining focus on Azula's phone conversation and not on the crossword. It was no wonder that she had just solved the crossword's clue of 'ironmonger' by writing down the word 'Harry', after the neighborhood's local ironmonger.

"Ugh," Azula grunted, tossing her phone away in disgust after finally ending her conversation with Ty Lee.

"Bad news?" Katara asked. From what she had overheard, Azula had tried to squeeze out as many details as she could about Zhao Sakamoto's audit at Zuko's restaurant, and the news that Ty Lee had shared clearly were not good for Azula.

"Zuko somehow blundered his way into a lucky break," Azula sighed, collapsing dramatically into the pillows. "I can't believe it, but for the first time in almost twenty years, I'm actually experiencing a real anxiety over possibly losing to Zuko. I don't like this feeling, not one bit."

Katara paused, debating on how to continue. Supporting Azula in this competition when it ultimately meant losing Azula to the Nakamura culinary empire was becoming harder and harder with each day. That said, regardless of her private thoughts, Katara didn't want to openly root for Azula to lose either because it would definitely upset Azula a great deal. So, for the past couple of weeks Katara had adopted a neutral stance on the competition, trying not to get involved. Still, this kind of passive neutrality and keeping her thoughts to herself definitely went against Katara's outspoken nature, and even someone as unobservant as Azula was starting to notice that something felt off.

"Wow, I'm really feeling the support right now," Azula sighed before Katara had managed to come up with something to say.

"I'm sorry about the bad news. You know I don't like seeing you upset," Katara spoke up calmly, refusing to react to Azula's mildly accusing statement. "But you have to understand that I'm in a difficult position here, right?"

Neither of the pair spoke up for a brief while before Azula eventually broke the silence. "Be honest, do you want me to lose?" Azula asked.

"What do you think the answer might be if that's the only way you're going to stay here in Caldera?" Katara sighed.

"I see," Azula said, sounding rather offended. "That upsets me, actually."

"Sorry, that's what I was trying to avoid," Katara spoke softly. "But… what else did you expect me to say? This entire situation is of your making, Azula. I've been very clear about what I want and what I'm offering to you."

"I don't know if you've been all that clear," Azula frowned. "Lately you've been kind of inscrutable and withdrawn."

"And why do you think that is?" Katara asked, her frustrations starting to mount. "Should I really wear my heart on the sleeve for someone who keeps repeatedly stating how they're going to leave me in a few months? I've opened my heart to you wide enough, I'm not opening it all the way when you're not playing for keeps. Besides, all this time you've been maintaining that we're just having fun while you're still in Caldera, but now you're going to act all disappointed that I'm not all in?"

Azula looked a little shocked about Katara's outburst that had been building for a long time. As seconds passed, however, Azula's shock slowly began to subside to be replaced with a guilty expression on her face. "Damn… no, you're right, I've been trying to have my cake and eat it too," Azula eventually admitted, looking downcast. "It's just that after you subtly moved in, I've been walking around with these rose-tinted glasses on, forgetting all about the position I've placed you in," Azula sighed. "I've been trying to think of ways we could… I don't know, make it work. After I've won the competition, I mean."

"I don't know," Katara frowned, feeling skeptical. "It seems like you're still trying to have your cake and eating it too." Azula looked at her, clearly needing Katara to elaborate. "Your father isn't suddenly going to change his mind and become accepting if you were to come out, right?"

"I wouldn't count on it, no," Azula said. "But I was thinking-"

"That we continue our relationship in secret?" Katara asked. "I don't want to hide, Azula. I won't be your mistress in the shadows. I think I deserve better than that."

"You do," Azula admitted forlornly. "But then… what is left for us to do?"

"I don't know, but this is as far as I can go right now, Azula," Katara sighed. "I know I'm going to get hurt in the end, but I don't want to make the pain worse if I can avoid it."

"I'm sorry…" Azula whispered, looking desperately miserable.

"Hey, I don't blame you for anything," Katara smiled sadly, reaching out to lightly touch Azula's arm. "I knew what I was getting into. I'm a grown ass woman, making my own stupid decisions. Still," Katara added, feeling convinced that she was making the right decision even if it bordered on making her physically ill. "I think it would be best if we pulled back a little. Go back to being just friends for the rest of your stay here."

"If you think that's for the best," Azula managed, somehow managing to hold back the tears.

"I don't want to do it, but I believe it is for the best," Katara sighed. "Besides, with your father arriving soon, you would have asked me to move back to my apartment, anyway. You wouldn't have risked him actually catching us in the act."

"Guilty as charged," Azula admitted, looking ashamed. "I honestly have no idea how I would have gotten around to asking that." Azula gave Katara a slightly frantic stare. "You're not going to leave right away, are you? I'll move to the sofa so that you can have the bed…"

"Calm down and breathe, silly," Katara smiled, reaching out to squeeze Azula's wrist. "I'm already in my pajamas, at the very least I'm going to stay the night. And obviously, we can still share the bed." Azula appeared at least marginally more relieved following Katara's words.

"Alright, I guess we can look at it as a sleepover," Azula said, settling in more comfortably in the pillows as Katara also took a moment to tuck herself in. "Even though it already feels like the world's saddest sleepover," Azula sighed, expressing a sentiment that Katara could not disagree with.

Chapter Text

It was almost time for Halloween. The crew of The Blue Spirit had invited Azula and her friends from The Northern Lights to celebrate Halloween together. Azula wasn't sure about accepting the invitation, but Ty Lee had talked her into it because Ty Lee was such a nice and swell girl that she could get cats, dogs and mice to get along.

So, the day before Halloween, the two groups got into their cars and drove over to a spooky Halloween cottage they had rented. It was kind of like the cottage that Azula and her harem had been using for purposes of hot and steamy lesbian sex. But this cottage was more out of the way and they had to drive for like six hours just to get there. Also, it was a lot bigger than Azula's cottage and it had cool stuff like sheds and barns and swimming pools and hedge mazes and all sorts of fun stuff.

Zuko was driving one of the cars. He was a bit scared about going on this trip with Azula because the two didn't get along. But Ty Lee convinced Zuko that this trip would be a good opportunity for sibling bondage and Zuko had become way more excited. Jet was also there in the car. Jet was in a really bad mood because he had a huge zit on his brow that he kept picking at. Also, Jet had forgotten his cigarettes at the restaurant and he kept whining about wanting to smoke.

Mai was also there, looking totally smoking hot as always. Jin was also coming along because she was as always looking to get laid by Zuko, or maybe by both Zuko and Jet, because she was a silly goose who couldn't get over Zuko. Ruan Jian was also there, hoping to score with Mai, but he wasn't going to have any luck there. Also, On Ji was coming along because why not, and obviously Ty Lee was there too because this trip was her whole idea. Between the five of them, it was a bit of a tight squeeze in the car, but they managed.

Azula was driving the other car. She was in good spirits mostly because Katara was coming along. Azula had major hots for Katara, but things between them were complicated. Azula was being kind of a dumb bitch about the whole thing. Suki and Yue were there too. They were sucking faces every time they thought nobody was looking. It was actually pretty sweet, and hot too. Aang and Toph were tagging along because otherwise they would have been bored. And then there of course was that dreamboat Sokka, constantly texting with his totally awesome girlfriend in the other car.

They were driving through a forest that was kind of creepy and had bad vibes. Also, the weather was kind of foggy and overcast, making the vibes worse. Also, they hadn't seen any houses or other people for an hour or something. It made them all realize just how remote this cottage really was, but they all thought it made the cottage even cooler.

They were still a few miles from the cottage when they came across this old and abandoned looking gas station. Zuko realized that he was running low on gas because he was a dummy who forgot to feed his car before the trip, so they stopped at the gas station. Even though the place looked abandoned, those pump thingies still worked just fine, so Zuko and Azula refueled their cars. Some of them then went into the shop to see if there was someone around that they could pay for the gas.

The shop was dusty and kind of falling apart. It didn't seem like it had seen any visitors for weeks. There weren't many goods left on the shelves, and what was there looked like it had spoiled by now. The place was an abandoned mess.

"Well, there's nobody here," Zuko said. "I think it means we don't have to pay for the gasoline."

"I think we should leave the money we owe here on the counter," Ty Lee said, because she was very sweet and always tried to do the right thing. "Otherwise, we might earn bad karma or something like that."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ty Lee," Jet laughed, picking at his zit. "In fact, I'm going to look around if they have some cigs I could steal."

"You do that," Azula rolled her eyes. "The rest of us are getting out of here," she added. But Azula then yelled in fright when a figure suddenly popped up right behind the counter! It was a horribly old hillbilly looking dude, the kind of disturbing old man you see in some movies. He only had a few rotting teeth left. He was chewing tobacco and carried a half full spit jar.

"Were you going to leave without paying?" the old man screeched at them.

"Agni… you scared us, you fucking old lunatic," Azula cursed. "We were going to leave, yes, but only because we thought nobody was here. Since you're here, obviously, we can pay for the gas." Azula then gave the old man some money, which he snatched with a greedy look in his beady eyes.

"Can I get some smokes, old man?" Jet asked. He just couldn't get over forgetting the cigs.

"I don't sell cigarettes," the old man frowned. "Terrible habit, smoking," he warned, spitting into the jar before popping some more chewing tobacco into his mouth.

"Right," Zuko said. "Well… we'll be on our way, then. I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, sir, but it really wasn't."

"Wait!" the old man screeched as the group was about to leave. "Tell me you're not heading to the Old Farmhand's Cottage further up the road."

"That's right, we are," Ty Lee replied politely because she was so gosh darn nice. "What do you know about it?"

"What don't I know about it!" the old man exclaimed mysteriously.

"Yes, but do you actually know anything important?" Azula demanded, looking in a hurry as always. "I don't want my precious time wasted by an old scarecrow."

"Oh, it's nothing important…" the old man cackled. "Only knowledge that will keep you from meeting horrible death!"

"Alright, my curiosity is completely satisfied, goodbye," Azula snorted, leaving the shop.

"Yeah, I don't need any cryptic warnings from a Bumi lookalike," Zuko nodded in agreement, following his sister. Jet also went after them, leaving Ty Lee alone with the scary old man.

"Will you tell me what you know, good sir?" Ty Lee asked kindly.

"Of course," the old man gave her a toothless smile. "Because you are so pretty and kind, I will tell you about the dreadful secrets of the Old Farmhand's Cottage. Do not go inside the shed or the barn! But since you are a bunch of stupid kids, you will do it anyway. Well, if you do go in there, don't touch any of the Farmhand's tools in the shed! And if you go into the barn, be careful of the pig! Do not, and I must insist, do NOT under any circumstances feed it after midnight. If you do, you will unleash greater evil than the world is ready for."

"Oh wow, that does sound very important, thank you so much, sir," Ty Lee said. She then turned to leave. "I will make sure that my friends take these warnings seriously," she said, turning to look back at the old man, but he was gone! Ty Lee ran behind the counter to search for the old coot, but there was no sign of him. The scary old man and his cryptic warnings had vanished without a trace, leaving Ty Lee shivering. Suddenly, she had a really bad feeling about this trip.

A couple of hours later, they were all settling in at the Old Farmhand's Cottage. Ty Lee was still very worried because nobody was listening to her warnings about the haunted pig in the barn and the cursed tools in the shed. Well, everyone except Sokka, because he was the best boyfriend ever and he always took everything Ty Lee said totally seriously.

Anyway, eventually the group scattered to do some exploring of their own. Jet kept searching for cigarettes, hoping that the previous guests had left behind some. He was going through every room, searching drawers, but finding nothing. Ruon-Jian was out in the backyard, playing with a wood chipper that he totally wasn't going to fall in later. Jin and On Ji were bouncing on a trampoline out in the front yard, going higher and higher. Mai was chilling by the swimming pool, wearing a sexy red bikini just like the one Selina Gomez wore in Spring Breakers.

All the others had joined Ty Lee and Sokka in exploring the shed and the barn, but they were being totally ridiculous and disrespectful to Ty Lee's warnings not to touch the farming tools. Jet and Zuko were already engaged in mock dueling with pitchforks. Suki then challenged them both and kicked their asses like a bad motherfucking bitch that she was.

There was also one of those old timey thingies that people in the past used to make butter, a handmade churn. Azula, Katara and Yue were having fun with that one. Katara and Yue were pretending to be sexy milkmaids by unbuttoning their tops and making sure they had a nice titty window on display. Azula was taking a lot of sexy photos of them working the churn.

Aang was one of the few who seemed to be taking Ty Lee's warnings seriously. He had taken Toph with him to the barn to check out the sus pig. They reported back that the pig looked pretty normal and not at all haunted or demonic. But then Toph grabbed a scythe and pretend to be the Grim Reaper, while Aang took a bucket and said that he was going to bring the pig some water from the nearby well. So those two were now also cursed by touching the tools!

"Guys, I think you are all being really irresponsible," Ty Lee said after everyone had finally gotten bored of playing around with the tools in the shed. "You really shouldn't have done that, you know."

"Ah, don't be a boring stick in the mud, Ty Lee," Azula replied haughtily. "Anyway, we're going back to the cottage to have sex or something. I guess you can stay here and worry about some curse or whatever."

"Yeah, let's go everyone," Zuko agreed with his sister. "Ty Lee is just being silly."

"I don't think you're being silly at all," Sokka said. While everyone had left, he had remained behind with his awesome girlfriend. "I think you're onto something, Ty Lee. I'm really happy to have a girlfriend who is as beautiful as she is smart."

"Aww, thanks Sokka," Ty Lee smiled, kissing her boyfriend. "But let's go back to the cottage. We need to do research on the history of this place."

"That is such an intelligent idea, Ty Lee," Sokka said, looking very impressed. "We need to be prepared if something bad happens, right? We can't be just having sex like our irresponsible friends."

"Well," Ty Lee grinned. "We can take breaks from research to have sex. I think that's allowed."

"Yet another great idea!" Sokka cheered. "Truly, I have the best girlfriend ever."

"Oh, Suki you're the best," Yue moaned. She was lying on the floor of the shed, squeezing her titties and tugging at Suki's hair as Suki ate her out.

Sometime past midnight, Yue and Suki had sneaked out of the cottage and into the shed to smoke some weed while they were fucking. It was some really good weed and they were running low on supply, so these greedy bitches didn't want to share.

"Alright, baby, my turn now," Suki said after she had made Yue cum again. They swapped places and Yue went down on her girlfriend, making Suki moan like crazy.

"Let's roll another joint after I make you cum," Yue said while she was busy eating Suki's pussy. The sex was so good and Suki was making so much noise that neither of them saw or heard that they were no longer alone in the shed! A shadowy hand reached out from the shadows to grab one of the pitchforks. Earlier in the day, the pitchfork had been all rusted and crappy, but now its sharp looking tips glistened in the moonlight.

"Anything for you baby," Suki cried. She was grinding her hips against Yue's mouth, but then she opened her eyes to see a dark shape looming over them both. Suki cried out again, but no longer in pleasure. "Watch out, babe!" Suki yelled, but the pitchfork was coming down in a hurry. It went straight through her chest, nailing her to the wooden floor.

Yue cried in horror and tried to get away. She was really scared though, panicking, and then she tripped. The creepy weirdo with the pitchfork was on her in a hurry, menacingly raising the bloody tool. "Help!" Yue cried, but no help was coming. The Farmhand drove the pitchfork through her back, pinning her to the floor, similarly like Suki. Yue was dead almost instantly, a huge pool of blood starting to form under her.

"Let the blood flow!" the Farmhand laughed maniacally as he raised the bloody pitchfork in the air. "Tonight, me and my mother, the Demonic Pig will feast well!"

"This is kind of sick," Zuko frowned, looking at the large pig in its enclosure. The pig had just finished eating some leftover food from the dinner they had all had at the cottage. Which Ty Lee had cooked because aside from being very smart, very beautiful, the best girlfriend ever, she was also a really good cook, something that you all probably didn't know until now.

"Funny though," Jet laughed. "We made the pig a cannibal, that is hilarious." Among the food leftovers, there had been some spare ribs, braised pork belly and also some chops. The pig had devoured it all with great enthusiasm. In fact, it was hungrily looking around for more.

"I guess," Zuko shrugged. "I still wonder about that warning Ty Lee gave us. You know, about not feeding it after midnight."

"What about it?" Jet shrugged. "You know Ty Lee is just a silly little goose, right?" he added like the mean dunderhead that he was.

"I mean, sure, but still, it seemed like an oddly specific warning," Zuko frowned.

"Yeah, didn't Ty Lee tell us that she recently watched Gremlins for the first time ever?" Jet asked. Zuko nodded. "Well, there you go, an explanation. But this isn't a Mogwai, Zuko," Jet said, pointing at the pig. "It's a stupid fucking pig. It's not going to turn into a demonic entity to devour us. Calm down. In fact," Jet grinned, approaching Zuko and starting to kiss him. His hand slipped into Zuko's pants, making Zuko moan. "Why don't you go back to the cottage and get ready for me? I'll be with you in a moment," Jet said.

"Why do you need a moment?" Zuko whined.

"I wanted to check out the cottage basement first," Jet said. "That's the only place I have not searched for smokes yet, and I really need my tobacco fix."

"Alright, but be quick," Zuko said, like the thirsty homo that he was. The pair left the barn and went back to the cottage. None of them saw that as they left, the pig's eyes were by now glowing with a scary and demonic red light!

Anyway, Zuko and Jet parted again when they reached the cottage. Zuko went back up to his room and Jet went into the basement. The basement was pretty big and had all sorts of crap in it, most of it moldy and old and covered with spider webs. Jet kept looking around in every corner, hoping to spot a pack of cigs, but he was having no luck.

Then Jet walked over to something that looked like a big furnace. It hadn't been used in years and it was covered by a lot of soot. If Jet had worn anything pink like smart people do, he would have gotten it all sooty and icky. Anyway, Jet didn't think the old furnace was very interesting and he was about to turn and leave. Suddenly, there was a flash of white at the very back of the furnace! Jet had spotted something that looked just like a pack of cigarettes!

Jet quickly jumped into the big furnace and picked up what he thought was a pack of cigarettes. It was a pack of cigarettes! Jet was so happy as he pulled out a cig and lit up. He let out a puff of smoke and grinned in satisfaction. "Ha, those fools who told me to stop looking for cigs were so wrong," Jet told himself smugly. "I will enjoy seeing the look on their faces once I show them what I have found."

Jet continued to enjoy his cigarette, but then suddenly, the doors of the chamber he had entered slammed behind his back! Jet was trapped in the incinerator!

"Hey!" Jet yelled, banging on the doors. "Let me out, you jackasses! This isn't funny!"

Jet started banging in panic when he realized that the incinerator was starting to heat up quickly. It was definitely heating up faster than normal, so maybe they were demonic flames? Anyway, things weren't looking good for Jet as he was yelling in pain and starting to turn a little crispy. The pack of cigs burst into flames in his hand, and then Jet himself was on fire too, screaming as he quickly turned into something that resembled a large burned marshmallow, you know, the kind of disaster that happens when you try to make smores while totally wasted. Well, anyway, the point is that Jet was dead and Zuko sadly wasn't going to have any hot gay sex before the Farmhand and his Demonic Pig surely got him as well.

"Ugh, stop pacing around, you're being way too loud!" Toph complained at Aang. Aang was standing at the window of their room, looking out at the barn.

Oh, and by the way, Aang and Toph were sharing a room with twin beds because they were best friends who did everything together, not because there was something sexy going on. Because there wasn't, seriously.

"Sorry," Aang apologized, but he didn't move away from the window. "I just thought I saw something in the barn."

"Dude, it's midnight, and it's dark outside," Toph sighed. "You probably just thought you saw something. Maybe the moonlight played tricks on you."

"You ever heard of red moonlight, Toph?" Aang asked.

"Red moonlight?" Toph frowned. "I guess not. But then again, I'm blind and maybe moonlight has been red all along and you have been lying to me all this time!"

"We haven't been lying," Aang sighed. "But I'm pretty sure that I saw some freaky red glow coming from the barn. I've no idea what that's about, so I'm thinking about going over to investigate. It's probably Jet playing some kind of prank on us. I want to make sure he doesn't scare one of the girls too badly."

"Always the white knight," Toph laughed. "Anyway, make sure to take your phone and keep recording. Maybe you'll blunder into a viral moment," she said as Aang put on his sneakers and left the room.

Toph then tried going back to sleep, but something was keeping her awake. Also, as time passed, Toph started to get a little worried that Aang was gone for a very long time. "I better go see what that dumbass has gotten himself into," Toph said as she got out of the bed once again. "Obviously, I don't believe there's some kind of serial killer going around murdering people, that would be just ridiculous," Toph stated while getting dressed. "But maybe Aang got caught in one of Jet's stupid traps or something. I better go and get Aang out of whatever mess he's in. Then we can have a good laugh about it. Also, I can mock him later for being silly," Toph said. She was talking to herself a lot, but maybe she did that whenever she was worried, who knows.

Anyway, Toph ended up at the barn and went inside. "Aang?" she called out once, but there was no reply. "You fucking with me, Twinkletoes?" Toph called out again, starting to become annoyed. She really hated it when people turned her blindness against her and used it to prank her. "I'm going to skin you alive if this is all a big prank, do you hear me!" Toph yelled, slowly moving through the barn as she kept searching for Aang.

"Ah, finally!" Toph exclaimed as her fingers finally touched what felt like Aang's hand. It was weirdly cold and clammy, but Toph didn't think about that in the moment. She couldn't see that Aang was already dead, hanging from hooks on the wall, his chest ripped wide open!

"Alright, let's go back to the cottage, dumbass," Toph ordered, taking Aang's hand and tugging on it. Aang seemed to be resisting. Because he was hooked to the wall, but Toph couldn't see it. Because she was blind, remember? Anyway, Toph kept pulling at Aang's hand, grunting with effort, until something finally came loose. Aang's ripped open ribcage and stomach parted and Toph was suddenly covered from head to toes in Aang innards!

"What the fuck?" Toph yelled, at first not realizing what was happening. Maybe she thought she was covered in eels or something. But she soon realized that the stickiness covering her was Aang's blood and she started screaming on panicking. Toph tried to shake off the innards that were covering her, but she was getting more and more entangled in Aang's intestines. While she was trying to rip off the intestines that were starting to strangle her, Toph failed to notice an open shaft in the floor. Also, because she was blind, duh. Anyway, Toph fell into the shaft, but the intestines got caught in some kind of hook or whatever. Toph didn't even reach the floor below, but she was left hanging mid-air, with Aang's intestines wrapped around throat, slowly strangling her to horrible death!

On Ji and Jin were still going on the trampoline. Probably because it was a magical trampoline. Or maybe it was cursed and it wouldn't let them get off. Also, they were going higher and higher on the trampoline. Not as high as planes go, that would have been ridiculous, but pretty high. Like, they could see everything on the other side of the cottage, and everything that was happening on the property.

On Ji and Jin could also see Ruon-Jian fooling around with the wood chipper. Yeah, he was still at it, even if it was a couple of hours after midnight. That means he'd been at the wood chipper for like six hours? Oh well, he seems like the kind of guy who would be really into wood chippers. Anyway, Ruon-Jian was testing out various settings of the wood chipper, feeding it more fresh logs and clapping like a small child.

Suddenly, On Ji and Jin saw a dark figure carrying a pitchfork run up to Ruon-Jian from behind! It stabbed Ruon in the back with the pitchfork and pushed him into the wood chipper! Ruon-Jian's body exploded in a massive shower of blood and gore.

"Oh no, they killed Ruon-Jian!" Jin cried, hugging On Ji up in the air. "We need to warn our friends!"

"But how?" On Ji cried. "We can't seem to get off this probably cursed trampoline!"

"Let's call for help!" Jin suggested.

"No, keep quiet!" On Ji warned, hushing her friend. "What if that killer overhears us?"

But it was too late. The killer had already overheard them. The Farmhand was slowly moving towards the trampoline. Jin and On Ji started screaming for help, but their friends were either asleep or having sex, or maybe watching a horror movie where a couple of dumb bimbos were currently being killed off.

"Please, leave us alone!" Jin and On Ji both begged as they bounced off the trampoline and went upwards again. The Farmhand had reached them by now. He then pulled the trampoline from under the two girls. He then replaced it with a thingy full of huge and sharp spikes!

Jin and On Ji screamed in terror as they saw that they were about to fall right on top of the sharp spikes! They tried to wave their arms and legs, making like birds to try and stop their fall, but it didn't work. Humans can't actually fly, trust me, I've tried. Anyway, they fell down onto the spikes, where they were impaled with sickening wet crunching sounds and then they too died horribly!

Zuko was fighting the Farmhand. After Jet hadn't returned, Zuko couldn't decide whether to go looking for him, or just jerk off and go to bed. But in the end, he went to search for Jet. He didn't find Jet, but he ran into this creepy old farmhand who looked like he had died like two hundred years ago, and maybe he had.

"You will pay for trespassing on my farm!" the Farmhand snarled as he lunged at Zuko. "I will kill you! And then I will feed your spleen to my mother, the Demonic Pig!"

"Just my spleen?" Zuko wondered. The Farmhand tried to impale him with a pitchfork, but Zuko dodged. The pitchfork got stuck in the wall. "What's wrong with the rest of me?" Zuko demanded.

"You are a filthy degenerate!" the Farmhand growled. "My pig mother hates homos and will not consume your kind! Except for the spleen."

"That makes me mad!" Zuko yelled. He got really mad and punched the Farmhand in the face. The Farmhand was taken aback by Zuko's rage and stopped attacking. Zuko fell on the Farmhand and started unloading on him. "Take that, you homophobic hillbilly asshole!" Zuko yelled as he was kicking the shit out of the evil Farmhand. It looked like Zuko was going to tear the Farmhand limp from limp.

But then the Farmhand remembered that he was evil and kind of tough, and had all sorts of demonic powers, probably because his mother was a demon possessed pig. The Farmhand started to fight back. When Zuko ran out of steam, the Farmhand started to kick him about. The Farmhand kept punching Zuko in the face so hard that his fist went through Zuko's head and came out on the other side.

That was it for Zuko because he was now dead. He never got to have that sweet bondage time with Azula that he had hoped for. Oh well. At least he had brought the Farmhand down to like 30% of his health, so Zuko still did well.

Katara and Azula were in the cottage, kissing. Katara was sitting in Azula's lap and Azula had her hands under Katara's sweater. Sokka was sitting in a chair nearby, studying Farmhand lore, but mostly thinking about his hot and amazing girlfriend. Ty Lee had briefly stepped outside to do something. They didn't know who else of their friends were still alive. No, actually, they didn't know anyone had died, so ignore that. They were just having a nice evening at the cottage.

Then Ty Lee ran inside. She was wearing a really cute pink top with a cute baby sealion. But the top was all covered in blood, and so was Ty Lee herself. But she still looked really hot. Maybe even hotter than usual being all soaked in blood.

"Oh no!" Ty Lee cried. "Someone pushed Ruon-Jian into the wood chipper! He's completely dead and I'm covered in his blood!"

"Oh no!" Katara cried too. "I'll get the laundry started," she said, getting up from Azula's lap. Katara was always so kind and helpful, and she cared so much about everyone.

Anyway, Ty Lee took off her bloody top and changed into another sexy outfit that made everyone drool just from looking at her. Then they went out to look for their friends. They found the second largest pig they'd ever seen, eating the corpses of Jin and On Ji in front of the cottage. The pig's eyes were burning with red demonic light and it was all covered in blood from rolling around in the blood of their friends.

The pig wasn't interested in them because it already had food, so Sokka decided to be brave and really impress his girlfriend by sneaking up on the pig and punching it in the face. But then they were ambushed by the rotting old zombie like guy that Ty Lee had seen pushing Ruon-Jian into the wood chipper. It was the dreaded Farmhand!

The Farmhand started to chase them all around the property. It was like one of those Scooby Doo chase scenes, with music and everything. Also, the Farmhand wasn't very fast so they were able to give him a slip. Ty Lee then decided to call for a war council as they were hiding out in the attic. As the leader of the group, it was up to her to come up with a plan on how to defeat these evildoers.

"Alright, so Sokka and I have been studying Farmhand lore," Ty Lee told Azula and Katara who looked really impressed with Ty Lee. "Well, we were also having a lot of amazing sex," she added, kissing her hot boyfriend. "But we also studied."

"That's very impressive, Ty Lee," Katara smiled. "Tell us what you have learned."

"Alright, so, once upon a time, there was this pig farmer who came to really like one of his pigs. Like… really, really like it," Ty Lee began to explain. "What he didn't know was that it was because the pig was possessed by a suck a bus demon. And it was secretly seducing the farmer into sleeping with it!"

"How very unnatural," Azula paled. "And this rotting corpse chasing us, is that this original farmer who fucked his pig?"

"No, the original farmer is long gone," Ty Lee shook her head. "He was just a regular hillbilly, really. But after he had fucked the demon pig, the pig gave birth to a child who was half human, half demon. That's the guy who has been chasing us! That's why he keeps calling the demon pig his mother."

"Wow, that's such a smart explanation, and it makes perfect sense, too!" Azula gushed, praising Ty Lee. "I can't believe I ever questioned your intelligence, Ty Lee."

"Right?" Ty Lee grinned. "Anyway, I have a bold plan on how to defeat the Farmhand and his pig mother."

"Please, tell us, Ty Lee!" Katara pleaded.

"The diaries we read said that the demonic spirit inside the pig makes her too strong to fight," Ty Lee explained. "However, she can be defeated in another way, through a holy ritual that only you two can perform," she said, pointing at Azula and Katara.

"We will do it," Azula said, taking Katara's hand. "No questions asked."

"Yes, we trust you, Ty Lee," Katara added.

"Turns out this demonic pig is very homophobic," Ty Lee continued. "It just hates the gays. So evil, right? But that's also the pig's weakness. That demonic spirit can be exercised through the Ritual of Holy Scissoring!"

"Does that mean that Azula and I have to… well, you know?" Katara asked, blushing. Ty Lee nodded. "Alright then, let's not waste any time," Katara said, starting to take off her clothes. Azula didn't have to be asked twice to follow. Soon they were on the bed. Yeah, there was a bed in the attic, so what. Katara was on top of Azula, grinding against her lover. Azula slipped her hand between Katara's legs and started to finger her-

"Excuse me, but are the next two pages of this… story really a very detailed description of me and Katara having sex?" Azula asked, looking down at the pages in her hand with a bewildered look on her face. "Like… did you seriously spend time writing this, Ty Lee?"

"I have no idea whether to be uncomfortable or turned on," Katara confessed. She was sitting opposite to Azula, staring at her own copies of pages in her lap. "And I'm also flabbergasted at the very notion of writing a porn scene that involves your friends."

"I'm just disturbed about still being in the room while you two started having sex," Sokka groaned. "I thought you said you were going to edit that part out!" he looked at his girlfriend.

"Whoops, I must have forgotten," Ty Lee confessed with an impish grin. "Anyway, can we get back to the story? We're about to hit the epic finale!"

"Only if we're allowed to skip the graphic sex scene," Azula said. Katara was nodding along fervently, and so was Sokka.

"Oh well," Yue said, appearing a little disappointed as she shared a look with Suki. "We can always read that scene later in private."

"We certainly will," Suki grinned. "Ty Lee has a knack for writing porn, so it's bound to be very inspiring."

"Can we just get back to the story?" a very red-faced Azula near-yelled in frustration.

"Alright, alright… sheesh," Ty Lee chuckled. "So, I guess we're skipping the sex scene. Oh well, your loss. Anyway, so while the two of you are busy scissoring, Sokka and I were heading out to look for the Farmhand and defeat him while you took care of the demonic pig-"

Ty Lee and Sokka were looking for the Farmhand. Suddenly, the Farmhand jumped out right behind them and ambushed them! The Farmhand kicked a surprised Sokka down a flight of stairs.

The Farmhand then lunged for Ty Lee with his rusted garden sheers! But Ty Lee expertly dodged the old creep and made a graceful leap down the stairs. She masterfully stuck the landing and then helped a bruised Sokka up to his feet.

The Farmhand chased after them downstairs. He had swapped out his garden sheers for the pitchfork and he kept lunging at Sokka and Ty Lee with the pitchfork. The Farmhand was kind of slow, so as a master acrobat Ty Lee had an easy time dodging his lunges, but Sokka was having a harder time.

"Stand well back, Sokka," Ty Lee told her adoring boyfriend. "I know exactly how to take care of this hoodlum!" She charged the surprised Farmhand and took a running leap, landing behind the monster. Ty Lee then unleashed a magical move called chi-blocking at the Farmhand's back which was meant to paralyze the villain. But much to Ty Lee's shock it did nothing to the Farmhand! "Oh no!" Ty Lee cried. "He may be a Farmhand, but he's also a zombie! And zombies don't have a chi flow!"

The Farmhand used Ty Lee's surprise to grab her. He then threw her with all his unholy might. Ty Lee slammed into the nearest wall and went down, stunned. "Oh no!" Sokka yelled in fury and rage. "I'll save you, Ty Lee!" he charged the Farmhand and knocked him down, starting to punch the Farmhand in the face, picking up where Zuko had left off.

For a while, it seemed like Sokka would finish the Farmhand off. But then the Farmhand recovered and pushed Sokka off from him. The Farmhand then pulled out another weapon as he came at Sokka anew. Now he was attacking Sokka with Zuko's severed leg! The Farmhand struck Sokka repeatedly over the head with Zuko's leg and then he slammed Sokka into the wall! Then the villain took out his garden sheers and was about to cut off Sokka's head from his shoulders!

"Looks like this is it!" Sokka cried dramatically. "Remember that I will always love you, Ty Lee! And I was actually going to propose to you later…"

"Oh, that is IT!" Ty Lee roared as she bounced back to her feet. She was really mad now! (But still cute.) "Nobody is getting in the way of me being proposed!" she yelled, running at the Farmhand. Ty Lee jumped in the air and delivered an epic spinning kick to the Farmhand's jaw. The kick was so powerful that it knocked the Farmhand's head clean off from his shoulders. The severed head rolled into a dark corner where it continued to growl and curse, while the headless body was shambling around, looking for its missing head.

"Why isn't he dead?" Sokka asked.

"Because he is sustained by the demonic energies of his mother, the pig," Ty Lee lectured wisely. "As long as the pig is alive, the Farmhand cannot be destroyed."

"Hopefully Azula and Katara take care of the pig, then," Sokka said hopefully.

"They will," Ty Lee nodded confidently. "But we should still do something about the body," she pointed at the headless Farmhand. "If he finds the head, he'll come at us again."

"Let's take care of him together," Sokka said, picking up the pitchfork what the Farmhand had dropped. Ty Lee also held on to the pitchfork as they charged the shambling headless zombie and pinned him to the wall together. "I love you so much, Ty Lee," Sokka said before kissing his girlfriend.

"I love you too, Sokka," Ty Lee smiled. Their part of the job was done.

Azula and Katara had been having sex for like hours. They were starting to get really exhausted. They were still busy at it, but then they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. Azula and Katara stopped what they were doing and looked up to see Mai standing there and staring at them.

"Mai! You're alive!" Azula exclaimed happily.

"Why wouldn't I be alive?" Mai wondered, surprised.

"Because there's this crazy Farmhand and his demonic pig running around, killing everyone," Katara explained. "They've killed all our friends except Sokka and Ty Lee, and we were sure they got you, too."

"A pig, you say?" Mai frowned. Then she produced a massive pig's head, still dripping blood all over the floor. It's dead eyes still had a reddish glow to them. "Could it be this pig?" Mai asked.

"Yes… we were having all this lesbian sex in order to stop it, but… I guess you did our job for us?" Azula said, looking confused.

"Yes, Mai, how did you know to kill the pig?" Katara asked.

"I just came across it and didn't like the looks of it," Mai shrugged. "I also thought it's head would look nice mounted on my office wall, so I killed it. As you do."

"Right," Azula and Katara exchanged confused stares as Ty Lee and Sokka burst into the room.

"We killed the Farmhand! And you killed the Demonic Pig! We are victorious!" Ty Lee cheered. "Also, Mai is alive!" she added, hugging her bestie.

"Actually, Mai killed the pig, so we totally shagged ourselves into exhaustion for no reason other than pleasure," Katara said.

"Well, it was still for a very good reason because all this amazing sex convinced me that I don't want to leave you, and instead I want to marry you and stay in Caldera City with you and our friends," Azula said.

"Yay!" Katara cheered and they started kissing again.

And that was the story about the evil Farmhand and his demonic pig mother. The survivors went on to live happily ever after. A couple of months later, Sokka and Ty Lee got married, and so did Azula and Katara. In fact, they had one of those joined ceremonies for two couples to get married at once, so it was really romantic and stuff. Also, Katara and Sokka's dad Hakoda Enuaraq traveled to Caldera for the wedding. During the wedding, he and Mai met, fell in love and also got married, because I just love it when everyone who survives ends up with someone, so this is totally what happened. And that's a wrap!

"Alright, so was that any good?" Ty Lee asked, anxiously looking around the room for reactions to her Halloween story she had just shared with her friends.

"I thought it was really good," Yue was the first to reply. Suki was also nodding, sitting next to her girlfriend. "Although, I'm a little depressed that since I died, Kya would have to grow up without her mom. That's very sad."

Ty Lee looked very sad, too. "Oh, that's right… I hadn't considered that," she admitted. "Well, maybe Kya doesn't exist in that alternative reality."

"Hmm… that's almost more depressing, erasing my baby daughter from existence," Yue sighed.

"Ugh," Ty Lee groaned. "No, you're right. But that means I would have to let you and Suki live."

"Travesty! If it's a horror story, then I want to die horribly!" Suki laughed.

"Well, if Azula and Katara are okay with swapping places, then I could let you survive," Ty Lee mused. "Suki and Yue would get to have that long lesbian sex scene and they would live, while Azula and Katara would get to have sex in the shed and die horribly."

"I mean… I guess we could swap," Azula said. She was looking a little disappointed, though. "Although, I don't really see myself as someone who would die first in a horror story."

"Yes, true…" Ty Lee nodded in agreement. "Also, I want you and Katara to survive, because I want you to realize that you want to marry Katara and stay with her."

"Yes, that message was certainly delivered very unsubtly," Azula rolled her eyes.

"It's not Ty Lee's fault that everyone sees it except for you," Katara commented, refusing to look at Azula. For her part, Azula at least had the decency to look very guilty.

"Alright, definitely something to consider for the next revision," Ty Lee said. She looked around the room and at the others who hadn't made any comments yet. Sokka was sitting next to her, with Toph and Aang sharing the loveseat and Mai standing by the window, looking outside. Ty Lee and Azula had invited Mai to hang out with The Northern Lights crew, and since Zuko and Jet were still joined at the hip, Mai had agreed.

"I thought it was a really fun and creative story, Ty Lee," Aang said. He had appeared absolutely terrified during the reading of some scenes.

"Yeah, it was way better than I expected," Toph agreed. "Besides, I loved my death. Hanged in Aang's intestines? Hilarious!"

"I'm going to have nightmares about that," Aang gulped.

"You did fine, Ty Lee," Mai added her opinion. "Butchering that pig just because it looked at me weirdly is so me. You definitely understand your characters, Ty. Although, I have some reservations about marrying this Hakoda character and becoming Katara and Sokka's stepmom."

"That's… a terrifying thought," Sokka shuddered. "Anyway, you already know I loved the story, babe," he added, kissing Ty Lee's cheek. "Even if I personally wouldn't want to be in the same room with my sister while she and Azula are… getting to know each other."

"Alright, alright, I will take your suggestions to heart, I promise," Ty Lee chuckled.

"Also, you probably want to spend a bit more time editing the story," Azula remarked.

"I don't think so, Sokka already did a bang-up job with that," Ty Lee scowled.

"No offense, but maybe you should consider turning to someone who doesn't want to sleep with you," Azula rolled her eyes.

"But I don't know anyone like that," Ty Lee laughed, tossing her hair.

"Also, are you saying I have some sort of bias here?" Sokka frowned.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying, or else you would have told Ty Lee that two pages of explicit lesbian sex describing her friends going at it was not the best idea," Azula snorted. "Ty Lee, remind me to introduce you to the technique of fade to black."

"Fade to what?" Ty Lee asked.

Azula was about to offer her explanation, but before she could do that, the scene suddenly shifted to pitch blackness, meaning that it was time for this extremely silly Halloween chapter to finally come to an end…

Chapter Text

Yet another busy Friday dinner service at The Blue Spirit was slowly coming to a close. With only a few desserts left to serve for the remaining tables, Zuko felt comfortable leaving this task in On Ji's capable hands as he snuck outside to breathe some fresh air and clear his head. Zuko also quietly hoped that by the time he came back inside, On Ji would have already taken care of most of the post-service cleaning up, the most boring task in the world that Zuko strongly resented by now.

Following their lucky break with Zhao's audit, things had been going well for Zuko. He felt like he was surging ahead of Azula in this contest, a feeling that was incredibly satisfying but also deeply unusual for Zuko. Of course, Zuko wasn't going to relax this close to the finish line, because Azula could still pull of some scheme to undermine his success. Azula probably felt backed in the corner and desperate, which meant that she was becoming particularly dangerous.

Then again, perhaps Azula was relying on the personal visit and inspection by their father. Azula had always enjoyed a better relationship with Ozai than Zuko had, so she probably reasoned that she could sway their father to decide the competition in her favor. It was a legitimate worry for Zuko, and it made his anxiety regarding Ozai's visit that much worse. Their father would be arriving within a week, and Zuko's stomach was already tied into knots from merely thinking about it.

Having spent a good ten minutes sitting on a stack of wooden pallets, Zuko eventually got up to return to the kitchen, only to be nearly bowled over by a frantic looking Jet, rushing out of the restaurant's back exit. "Agni, where's the fire?" Zuko grunted, eyeing his boyfriend. "Did that dodgy looking lobster give someone food poisoning after all?"

"What? Oh… well, one guy did throw up in the bathroom, but this isn't about that. This is about something way more important," Jet insisted.

"There's something more important than a customer potentially dying?" Zuko wondered.

"That actually wouldn't be such a bad thing. Remember, Bumi gave us that loyalty discount for any more mystery meat we send his way," Jet reminded him. "Anyway, you're distracting me. What I wanted to tell you is that I managed to crack Jin's phone."

"Good on you," Zuko rolled his eyes. "Why is that important, again?"

Jet sighed. "Don't you remember? I told you last week how I overheard her telling On Ji about how she rates her sexual partners based on their performance, right?"

"Right," Zuko nodded. He had already dismissed that conversation a long time ago. Jin was totally obsessed with him. Obviously, she considered him the greatest lover on earth.

"Well, apparently she keeps her ranking system somewhere in the notes on her phone," Jet continued his explanation. "That's why I wanted to crack her phone. I needed to see those rankings!"

"You were so desperate to see if you ranked second after me?" Zuko chuckled.

Jet burst into bewildered laughter following that comment, making Zuko raise an eyebrow. "Is that what you really believe?" Jet grinned. Zuko shrugged, but his confidence in Jin's obsession with him remained unshaken. "Anyway, I have now seen those rankings for myself," Jet continued. "She had an older list too, from when she was still living back in the Earth Kingdom. It was a… remarkably huge list, too. Not that I'm judging Jin for her proclivities, game recognizes game, after all. It was actually pretty impressive. Anyway, she started new rankings after coming to Caldera City, and for now it's only the restaurant staff on her Fire Nation list."

"Okay," Zuko frowned, still unsure why Jet was so obsessed about Jin's ridiculous ranking system. "So, did you come second after me or not?"

"You're not first on that list, Zuko," Jet sighed, shaking his head. "Ruon-Jian is first on Jin's list." Zuko barked out a disbelieving laugh at that. "Then it's Mai in second place, ahead of On Ji. I'm fourth. You, my dear Zuko, are dead last on Jin's list."

"Good one," Zuko chuckled, certain that he was being pranked. "I must commend you on your commitment to the bit, too."

"I'm not kidding," Jet fumed. "And I knew you wouldn't believe me, which is why I gathered proof," Jet said, pulling out his phone and showing it to Zuko. It was a screenshot of a Notes app, ranking names in the order that Jet had just given him.

"I don't believe this!" Zuko burst into righteous rage. "My honor and reputation are both being called into question by this ridiculous list! How dare Jin cast these aspersions that I am anything but an amazing lover!"

"I'm feeling equally insulted," Jet nodded in agreement. "After all, we showed her an amazing time during all those magical threesomes we invited her along for. It's ridiculous that she did not appreciate our amazing performance!"

"Do you think that maybe she felt a little left out because of how much time we were spending on each other while ignoring her?" Zuko asked uncertainly as he and Jet exchanged long stares. Eventually, they both vehemently shook their heads. "Nah, that couldn't be it," Zuko decided, with Jet fervently nodding in agreement.

"I think Jin simply doesn't recognize greatness when she sees it," Jet said. "I mean, ranking Ruon Jian at the top of her list? That's ridiculous!"

"Exactly!" Zuko nodded. "I mean, I did hear through the grapevine that Ruon is ridiculously well hung. Apparently, he made several local horses so mad with envy that they threw themselves off the nearest bridge. Still, we both know that size isn't everything, right?"

"Right," Jet agreed eagerly. "Also, Mai in second place? She's not really that great, is she?"

"Well…" Zuko began, his thoughts drifting back to some of his most cherished private moments with Mai, memories that made him feel a little hot and bothered, not to mention incredibly conflicted about giving up on his relationship with Mai.

"Uh, never mind that, maybe that's not something you should be thinking about now," Jet said hastily in an attempt to shake Zuko out of his memories. "Anyway, I know that On Ji is a lot of fun in the sack, but there's no way she's better than either of us. It's obvious that Jin doesn't know what she's talking about."

"At least we're ranking above Ty Lee, that's something," Zuko sighed.

"Ty Lee isn't even on the list!" Jet groaned. "I guess we shouldn't expect her to sleep with Jin now that she's for some reason decided to go steady with Sokka."

"Well, even if Ty Lee was on the list, I'm sure we'd be above her," Zuko tried to cheer himself up. "She's probably crap in bed."

Jet rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I can't quite delude myself to the extent that you seem capable of doing, Zuko. There's no way that Ty Lee isn't amazing between the sheets, not with that body of hers. Also, she's a fucking gymnast. I can imagine her doing things that make me pitch a tent just from thinking about it."

"Well… whatever," Zuko fumed. "This is a slight on our reputations and we can't leave things standing like this, right?"

"Absolutely," Jet nodded. "We need to climb these ratings and take our rightful places at the top. Which means that we need to invite Jin along for another threesome and really shower her with attention, right?"

"Oh… yeah, that's right," Zuko said after a pregnant pause.

"Wait, were you thinking of a different plan?" Jet asked.

"Well, I was considering just bribing her to place me atop of her silly list," Zuko said. "But your plan is way much better and also more fun. Let's do that. Operation Impress Jin with Our Sexual Prowess is a go."

Suki was having trouble hearing anything over the loud cacophony of excited barks, meows and squawks that had erupted as soon as she, Yue and Kya had entered the local animal shelter. The animal caretaker, a young woman in her mid-twenties, who had tried to give them a tour, was forced to give up when Yue and Kya literally got stuck at every cage, cooing over its furry inhabitant. Suki was happy to accept the caretaker's offer to be close at hand whenever they had any questions, and otherwise they were allowed to roam around and check out the animals at their own pace.

Following Kya's heroics in saving the terrorist hostages in Yu Dao, Yue had eventually agreed that it was time to fulfil one of her daughter's dearest wishes for a pet of her own. Suki was very happy when Yue also got her involved, consulting with Suki whether she would be okay with them having a pet, and Suki was certainly more than happy to say yes to the idea. As a child, Suki had never had a pet of her own in any of her foster families. In one of the homes, her foster parents had a very aggressive dog guarding the yard. Said dog also made sure that Suki and her foster sisters didn't sneak out late in the evenings whether it was for dates or just meeting with friends, so having a proper pet was also going to be a new and exciting experience for Suki herself.

Seeing that Yue and Kya had been spending a lot of time at one of the cages, Suki decided to wander over to them and see what had captured their attention. In the cage that Yue and Kya were admiring, were three little kittens. One of them was completely black, the other was mostly black with a few white spots, and the third one appeared to be equal parts black and white. The kittens were just adorable and still very young, meowing, bumping into each other and acting a little clumsy.

"Is it time to go and fetch the caretaker?" Suki asked, sensing that Kya already had her heart set on one of these little furballs.

"Yes, I believe we're close to making a decision," Yue nodded with a broad smile on her face as Suki left to fetch the animal care lady.

"Ah, I'm not at all surprised that you want to know more about these three," the caretaker smiled knowingly. "We only got them a week ago. Crazy story, too… you might have read about it in the papers."

Suki and Yue exchanged stares. "I don't remember reading about anything like that," Suki said. "The papers usually don't write about kittens being put up for adoption?"

"Oh, sorry," the animal care lady apologized. She opened the cage and retrieved the squeaking furballs, handing one each to Suki, Yue and Kya, helping Kya hold hers properly. "It was a slightly more dramatic story than that. There was this man who wanted to get rid of these little darlings. You know, the horrible old-fashioned way, bag and drowning."

"That's terrible!" Yue exclaimed, looking distressed. "I'm glad someone stopped him!"

"In this case, I like to think of it as a divine intervention," the caretaker explained. "This man had stopped his car on a bridge. I imagine that he intended to throw a bag with the little darlings into the water below. But, as soon as he had climbed out of the car, he was struck by a passing semi and killed on the spot."

"Good," Yue nodded with a steely look in her eyes. "It's no less than what he deserved."

"Agreed," Suki said. "I guess that's why the story made the papers." The caretaker nodded at that. "Anyway, which one of these three are you thinking about, Kya?"

"Which one?" Kya asked. "I was thinking that we should adopt all three of them."

"Yes, I completely agree," Yue echoed her daughter's sentiment. She seemed to have completely forgotten her promise to Suki that they would limit their choices to only one pet, either a cat or a small dog. "These three are family. You can't break up a family. Especially one that has been through something so traumatic!"

Suki sighed, shaking her head. "Look, this just isn't what we agreed on," she tried to argue, looking at Yue and Kya, who were staring back at Suki with huge, very sad and watery eyes. They held up their kittens who sensed the opportunity to start meowing sadly, making Suki's resistance shatter instantly. "Argh, this is so unfair," Suki groaned. "Our apartment is too small for three kittens!"

"Well, our apartment is too small for many things, love," Yue smiled. "I think this will simply give us an added incentive to think about a larger apartment now that we're financially more stable."

"I guess…" Suki frowned, having to reluctantly agree.

"Also, we have to adopt all three of them because I already gave them names," Kya declared.

"What names did you choose, little lady?" the animal care lady asked kindly.

"I chose the names of Pai Sho tiles. Because I love Pai Sho and I'm good at it," Kya explained. She pointed at the completely black kitten. "This one is Rose." She then pointed at the equally black and white furball. "That's Lily… after White Lily tile." She then pointed at the last kitten. "And that's Chrysanthemum."

"That last one is a bit of a mouthful compared to Rose and Lily," Suki laughed.

"We'll call her Chrissy for short," Kya grinned. "And I think they like the names, too."

"They certainly do, because the names are very fitting," the animal care lady agreed, with Yue nodding along. Suki wasn't sure how the caretaker could tell the kittens liked their names because they seemed to be just meowing randomly.

"Those are great names, Kya," Yue smiled, looking beyond happy, which also meant an end to any further protests from Suki.

"It seems as though you have made your decision," the shelter caretaker smiled. "Shall I wrap them up for you?" she asked before placing the sad looking kittens back in their cage.

"Uh, I'm sorry?" Suki blinked. "Wrap them up?"

"Oh, just something we say at the shelter… shorthand for preparing the release forms and handling all the paperwork," the woman chuckled. "I'll need some form of ID from one of you, adults."

"Of course," Yue said, reaching into the purse for her Water Tribes passport. "Do we have to go with you, or can we keep exploring?" she asked.

"We promise not to adopt any other animals," Suki spoke hastily, making the others chuckle. The caretaker took the cage with the excitedly squeaking kittens away, leaving Suki, Yue and Kya to look around. Or, actually it was just Suki and Yue, because Kya had somehow managed to inexplicably disappear in an instant. "Now, where did that irascible rascal ran off to," Suki grumbled, starting to look around for the crafty four-year-old.

Suki and Yue began to comb through the rows of the packed shelter, creating even more loud excitement among its inhabitants, eventually coming across Kya as she stood in front of a larger kennel, looking absolutely enraptured. Suki's immediate reaction was to sigh internally, fearing that Kya might have fallen in love at the first sight with one of the larger dogs like a Labrador that they would definitely have no room for in their current apartment. However, when Suki and Yue walked up to the kennel to also take a look at its inhabitant, they both gasped loudly upon finding themselves face to face with a very severe and self-important looking pig.

"Goodness," Yue gasped. "It's a piggy! I didn't expect to find a pig in here!"

"Hopefully it's not demonic," Suki chuckled wryly, earning herself a restrained giggle and elbow to the side from Yue, and several confused looks from Kya.

"It most certainly is not a demonic pig," the animal caretaker surprised them with her comment, having appeared unnoticed behind them. The woman grinned as she handed Yue her Water Tribes passport. "Our noble friend here has a very interesting life story, in case you're curious," she added.

"I want to hear it!" Kya demanded.

"Sure, but I just want to make it absolutely clear that we're not adopting the pig," Yue felt the need to clarify.

"Oh, I understand that, but don't worry, the story comes without any hooks attached to it," the animal care lady replied. "So, you might be interested to know that Sir Cunningham, here," she continued, pointing at the proud looking pig. "Is actually a very valuable service animal."

"Sir Cunningham?" Suki laughed. "I love the name, it's perfect for a pig." Yue had to repeat the name to herself several times before she caught on and burst into laughter. She then explained it to Kya, who also started giggling.

"His previous owner certainly had a refined sense of humor," the shelter caretaker replied. "The man was a very famous Fire Army major with a no-nonsense attitude and a raging hard-on for discipline. So, as you can imagine, Sir Cunningham here is very well trained and has been taught to maintain excellent standards of hygiene."

"He does look very shiny and clean for a pig," Yue said in a voice full of admiration.

"Indeed," the animal care lady nodded. "The Fire Army major was one of those types who would have died on the job unless the army hadn't forced him to retire from active service due to 'poor eyesight'. The truth is that he was completely blind from some kind of explosion. I think it had something to do with a phosphorus bomb going off almost in his face?"

"That's badass!" Suki exclaimed. Yue also looked enraptured by the story because she completely forgot to admonish Suki for using a swearword around Kya.

"So, did he get a service pig to help with his disability?" Yue asked.

"Exactly," the animal care lady replied. "That stubborn man tried to hide his disability until his final breath. That's why he didn't want a service dog like most blind people. He thought that people would immediately recognize his disability. When he discovered that a pig could also be trained to serve as a service animal, he was desperate to get one. Sir Cunningham made the last three years of the major's life much more bearable."

"How old is he?" Yue asked.

"Sir Cunningham recently reached adulthood by turning six," the lady explained. "This breed of pigs can easily live up to eighteen years, so he has a good ten quality years ahead of him."

"What's with all these questions anyway, Yue?" Suki asked, feeling a little suspicious.

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you're not thinking what I'm thinking," Yue smiled at her.

"I mean… I do have a sudden craving for pork chops with my patented apple sauce and caramelized onions," Suki chuckled.

"That's not-… ugh, you can be so mean!" Yue glared, reaching out to pinch Suki's arm. She immediately softened, though, giggling. "That was horrible, Suki. Anyway," she turned back toward the animal care lady. "We have a friend with the exact disability as the major. I wonder if Sir Cunningham would fit as a pet and service animal for her."

"I don't see why not?" the animal care lady shrugged. "As long as she's not allergic to pigs. Sir Cunningham has a sunny disposition and takes well to just about anyone." The pig was currently proving the caretaker's point by having wandered up to the bars of the kennel, eating a boiled potato out of Kya's hand.

"I don't think Toph is allergic to pigs. She's been handling pork for years," Suki quipped.

"Hilarious," the shelter lady deadpanned. "Will you be taking the pig, then? Shall I wrap him up for you?"

"Yes, please!" Yue replied excitedly.

"Wait a moment," Suki exclaimed quickly, feeling alarmed by Yue definitely getting too carried away. "Where are we going to keep the pig? I assume you mean it as a gift for Toph's upcoming birthday, but it can't stay in our little apartment until then."

"Yes, I would not recommend that for another important reason," the shelter lady warned. Suki and Yue both looked at her for an explanation. "Pigs eat just about anything. Sir Cunningham is very well behaved, but I don't think he has exactly been trained to not eat kittens."

"Oh, ouch," Suki cringed, while Yue looked horrified. "But maybe we can find room for him elsewhere. What about the restaurant's basement? Toph doesn't really go down there anymore, right?"

"Nobody goes down there aside from Sokka, especially now that he's making all those renovations," Yue said. "But I think some of the storage rooms down there would be comfortable for a pig."

"That sounds suitable," the shelter lady said. "I'll go prepare the paperwork for Sir Cunnigham. Along with some additional information that should be useful for new pig owners. I have a feeling it might come in handy."

"Absolutely," Suki said. "Come to think of it, we'll come with you," she added, taking Yue's hand. "Lest we run into something else that we absolutely must adopt…"

"Aww," Yue pouted, motioning for Kya to follow them back to the shelter's offices where their kittens were already waiting for them in a brand-new cat carrier.

"Bye-bye piggy, we'll be back for you soon!" Kya waved at Sir Cunningham as she hurried after Suki and Yue. The pig accompanied their retreat with a soft oink of approval.

"It's just not fair," Ty Lee complained. It was a break between services at The Blue Spirit and she was sitting down with Mai at the manager's office. They were both sipping their lattes with feet propped up on Mai's desk.

"What's not fair?" Mai asked lazily.

"Jin's sex performance rankings," Ty Lee replied. After Jet had cracked Jin's phone and taken screenshots of Jin's ranking list of her sexual partners, it had become all the talk around the restaurant. It was also the reason why Ruon-Jian was now strutting around, preening with an underserved sense of accomplishment.

"Don't tell me you care about that silliness," Mai snorted.

"Why wouldn't I?" Ty Lee protested. "I feel slighted for not being included. I bet I would be on top of those ratings. Ugh, this is such a downside of mahogany, I can't defend my reputation of being the best at sex."

"I think you mean monogamy, not mahogany," Mai laughed. "Anyway, I hope you're not thinking about doing something stupid like sleeping with Jin, just to prove a point. You're always going on about how great Sokka is, surely you don't want to ruin that?"

"Of course not, why would you say that?" Ty Lee asked, looking horrified.

"Well," Mai said, a little hesitantly, as if she was about to bring up an uncomfortable topic. "Let's face it, Ty Lee. You've tried steady relationships before, and most of the time they failed because you became bored. Sorry if that's too real for you, but it's true."

"And you think it's going to happen with Sokka, too?" Ty Lee asked, feeling more worried than offended.

"I hope for your own sake that it doesn't happen," Mai shrugged. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but he actually seems good for you. Still, you can't blame me for being a little unconvinced… and worried."

"Well, I totally intend to prove you wrong, Mai," Ty Lee said resolutely. "I'm definitely not going to do anything that makes Sokka upset. Like cheating on him, because that would be bad." Mai gave Ty Lee an inscrutable stare at that comment. "Anyway, I still want to have sex with Jin because I deserve to prove how good I am in bed, but I wouldn't do that in a way that hurts Sokka."

"I have a feeling that these two desires of yours are incompatible," Mai snorted. "Unless Sokka would be into watching you and Jin have sex. Some guys are really into that. Or maybe he would be up for joining you and Jin."

"Those are… some of your best ideas ever, Mai," Ty Lee exclaimed, bouncing with such excitement that she nearly toppled over her chair. "I should talk it over with Sokka." Ty Lee thought some more, then snapping her fingers as another idea occurred to her. "Also, with Sokka's birthday coming up, maybe I could arrange it as his birthday present? Maybe it's something he would enjoy?"

"No harm in asking, right?" Mai shrugged.

"Exactly," Ty Lee nodded excitedly. "I feel a lot better about this idea now that Jin is no longer living in cardboard boxes or trash bins, but has an actual rent apartment and is showering regularly. She actually looks like a fine catch now!"

"Well, if there was someone who needed to straighten out their life, it was probably her," Mai said. "Now she just needs to let go of the last of her Zuko obsessions. Zuko seems dead set on going steady with Jet, anyway," she added, looking conflicted and just a little bit sad.

"Eh, Zuko has always been a silly bugger," Ty Lee shrugged. "Anyway, maybe I'm getting too invested in these sex performance ratings. They're probably all wrong anyway. I mean, how could someone like Ruon-Jian rank above my totally smoking hot bestie who's obviously absolute fire between the sheets," she grinned, playfully punching Mai's shoulder.

"Actually," Mai began with a slow smile.

"Oh no… is it really true what they're saying about Ruon's dong?" Ty Lee gasped, her eyes widening with shock.

"Let me put it this way to you, Ty Lee," Mai grinned. "Ruon-Jian has no actual useful skills that we can use around the restaurant, and he has the personality of a doorstop. So, there has to be another reason why I keep him around, right?"

"Right," Ty Lee nodded. "You are talking about his enormous penis, yes?" she asked, wanting to be completely sure.

Mai burst out in an uncharacteristic bout of laughter. "Never change, Ty Lee," she chuckled before quickly recomposing herself.

"Why not just go steady with Ruon, then?" Ty Lee asked. "He would absolutely love that. He still keeps talking about your imminent wedding, you know?"

"I do know," Mai rolled her eyes. "And I'm sure he would love that, but remember what I said about him having the personality of a doorstop. And personality is rather important if you want to go steady with someone."

"True," Ty Lee nodded. "It's why I'm not worried about getting bored of Sokka. He always has something new and exciting going on. He's a real big ideas guy."

"Yeah, the biggest idea I've seen Ruon have is to switch the channels on my TV," Mai snorted. "See, for all of Zuko's faults, boredom definitely wasn't the issue with him. Just like you said about Sokka, Zuko always had something going on. Sometimes I felt like maybe there was too much drama, but-"

"But now you miss it," Ty Lee finished after Mai had suddenly fallen silent.

"Ugh," Mai grunted, getting up from her seat and starting to pace. "I don't want to be missing that or anything about Zuko. It's ridiculous that I can't move past it. Me, the girl who never cares about anything too deeply. Everyone knows that's me, right?" Mai ranted.

"Right, I remember that time years ago when I was dating a fire breather in a traveling circus, and he dumped me before kicking me out in the middle of a forest. And when I called you at 3am in the morning, you instantly jumped in your car and drove fifteen miles to pick me up. So shut up about not caring about anything or anyone," Ty Lee stated. "If anything, maybe you care too much and you're terrified about getting hurt. I think that's why instead of fighting for Zuko, you would rather pretend that you don't really care. You're so afraid that he has already chosen Jet over you."

"But he has chosen Jet over me," Mai sighed. "Anyway, that was quite the rant. Where did that come from?"

"Don't tell me I wasn't spot on," Ty Lee grinned. Mai shrugged and let out another sigh. "Exactly. I don't always read people right, but come on, Mai. I know you."

"I suppose you do," Mai admitted with a small smile.

"You bet," Ty Lee beamed. "And since I know you so well, I also know what you need right now. A night of heavier than usual drinking, just you and me, and several bottles of hard liquor. I'll let Sokka know that my bestie needs me tonight and then we can punch our livers together, what do you say?"

"I say that you do know me well, Ty Lee," Mai smiled at her best friend.

Between the restaurant services, Katara had retreated to the upstairs apartment, settling in comfortably in one of the sofas with a pencil and notebook in her hands. There was still so much left to plan for the big birthday celebrations on Sunday, and the to-do list in Katara's notebook was growing steadily, even if many tasks had already been completed and crossed out. With Sokka's birthday being on Saturday and Toph's on Tuesday, both of which were important opening days for the restaurant, everyone had agreed to simply close early on Sunday and then throw a big joint party for the birthday pair.

Of course, Katara had not counted on Yue and Suki throwing an unexpected spanner in the preparation works by completely out of the blue picking up a service pig at the animal shelter and then using the restaurant basement as the temporary home of Toph's future pet. Before actually meeting the friendly hog Sir Cunningham, Katara had been very skeptical about this idea, but seeing how well behaved and clean the pig was, Katara was starting to warm up to Toph having a pet pig.

Katara hadn't been at all skeptical about Yue and Suki adopting not one kitten but three little baby cat sisters. The entire group of friends were showing up at Yue's apartment every day to deliver new treats and toys, and just generally freaking out and obsessing over Rose, Lily and Chrissy. Kiyi had already done two sleepovers at Kya's place, and she was currently on a charm offensive to convince Ursa that she deserved a pet of her own. Ursa had agreed on the condition that Kiyi first improve some of her grades. Kiyi was now hanging out at the restaurant every day after school, trying to get Azula or Sokka involved with her homework.

"Hey, uh… Katara?" Katara was just about to return to her to-do list for the birthday party, when she was interrupted by Azula addressing her in an unusually hesitant voice. Or, it would have been unusual before Azula had asked her to move out. After the breakup – which wasn't technically a real breakup because they had never defined their relationship as being an actual couple – Azula was always walking on eggshells around Katara, acting like she was being wracked with guilt over what had happened, but the attitude was only serving to for the first time make Katara properly annoyed with Azula.

"Yes, what is it?" Katara forced herself to reply without sounding too harsh. She'd been trying to treat Azula's delicate family situation with her usual soft understanding, but over the past few weeks, Katara had started to run out of sympathy. At first, Katara had felt that she could not compete with the wealth and fame that would come Azula's way once she was confirmed as the chosen heir of Ozai Nakamura, but now Katara firmly believed that she had been selling herself short. Katara knew she had a lot to offer to Azula, and if Azula couldn't see that then maybe she didn't deserve her. Katara was growing increasingly angry about coming second to Ozai Nakamura of all people, and only because Azula couldn't find her lady-balls to stand up to her daddy.

"I'm having some difficulties in choosing a gift, and I thought maybe you could help me," Azula said, sitting down opposite to Katara. She was wearing one of her incredibly effective red miniskirts, making Katara curse her weakness when she simply could not stop staring. "Finding one for Toph was easy-"

"What did you get her?" Katara asked, interrupting the other girl. "Unless you want to keep it a secret, of course."

"Well, I don't think you're going to tell Toph, so there's no reason not to tell you that I got Toph a custom-made Torture Me Elmo doll," Azula explained. "When I read the description that it came with its own breakable spirit and detachable retinas, I knew that Toph would love it."

"Gruesome," Katara chuckled. "I'm sure Toph will love it, it sounds right in her wheelhouse. I was sure they were called Tickle Me Elmo dolls, though?"

"Well, this one is like a custom-made parody version," Azula smiled. "It comes with a whole host of toy torture implements and the doll has a selection of custom cries depending on how you choose to torture it. It's all highly ingenious."

"Sounds very well adjusted," Katara rolled her eyes. "But you said you were having trouble picking a gift?"

"Yes, I'm not quite sure what to get for Sokka," Azula admitted. She shuffled nervously in her seat, involuntarily pulling the miniskirt a little higher up her thighs and accidentally exposing Katara to way more than she was entitled to. "I was wondering… if maybe we could share the costs and get him something together. I'm sure you have plenty of ideas as to what your brother would like."

"Oh," Katara immediately felt like she had been doused with cold water. "I don't think that would be entirely appropriate." Azula gave her an uncertain and slightly worried stare. "I mean… we're no longer playing pretend girlfriends after you asked me to move out, so it would be a weird look," Katara shrugged.

"It wasn't what I wanted, but I thought you understood the situation," Azula said, but her defense came off very half-hearted. "You're mad at me, I understand. I expected that. Although, I thought you would blow up at me back when I told you that you'd have to move out before my father arrived."

"Back then I was just… sad. The anger has been building since then, I suppose," Katara replied, forcing herself to remain calm. "I just can't go back to… I don't even know what. Being friends, I guess? Well, it's not working for me. I guess I'm just too mad at you."

"I did try to be honest about my intentions-" Azula began, but Katara was in no mood to listen.

"It's not about that. You just don't get it, Azula," Katara snapped, shaking her head. "It's… about how easily you roll over for your dad. I mean, you won't even fight for us! I guess it just didn't mean that much to you. I must not mean much to you."

"That's… that's not true," Azula stuttered, all color having drained from her face. Katara didn't respond, simply glaring at Azula. The other girl remained like frozen for the longest time, and Katara almost started to worry about having broken Azula permanently. Eventually, Azula spoke up with a resolute look on her face. "Alright, I have made a decision," Azula said. "When my father comes to Caldera City, I'll tell him that I want to date another girl. You have my promise."

"It would be a start," Katara said. She was still skeptical that Azula would do it, because she seemed to have a deeply unhealthy fear of Ozai, but it was probably a big step for her to even make such a declaration.

"Is it enough to stop you from being angry with me?" Azula asked hopefully.

"I guess so," Katara chuckled. Azula looked like such a miserable loser right now that it was impossible to stay mad at her. "We're still not getting a shared gift for Sokka. You'll have to buy him something yourself."

"Oh, pfft, that's not a problem, I already have a dozen ideas for Sokka's gift," Azula smirked. "Seriously, Sokka is the easiest person ever to shop for."

"But… you said you needed help-" Katara blinked.

"Oh, that was just a pretext for speaking with you," Azula coughed awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm going to run and pick up Sokka's gift now. Just don't forget that you're no longer angry with me!"

"Ugh!" Katara grunted, sighing and rolling her eyes as Azula made a quick exit. "Why do I always fall for complete human disasters?" she chuckled to herself.

"Good morning, kids!" Sokka spoke cheerfully as he entered the kitchen of The Northern Lights where Toph and Aang were already busy prepping for the day's services. Suki was yet to show up, but Sokka was generally permissive of her arriving a little later because he understood that settling in with her new family and now also having to play parent to not just a very bright and inquisitive young girl, but also three kittens, meant that Suki had a lot going on in her life right now.

"Good morning, dad!" Aang and Toph answered as one, laughing as they heard Sokka let out an exasperated groan.

"Ugh, I guess I walked into that one," Sokka chuckled. "Still, crack jokes all you want, because I'm in an amazing mood today. The business is booming, my girlfriend is all sorts of amazing and tomorrow is my birthday. Life is good."

"We've been on a roll lately, haven't we?" Aang grinned, nodding in agreement. Toph was making a face nearby, no doubt annoyed by their happy wholesomeness, but Sokka decided to just ignore her.

"We have," Sokka replied. "Things have been going great." He then paused, scratching the back of his head. "Although, something just happened and it made me very confused."

"Confused sounds perfectly normal for you, Sokka," Toph snorted. Sokka stuck his tongue out at Toph and then also very maturely blew a raspberry.

"What made you confused, Sokka?" Aang asked.

"Well…" Sokka hesitated slightly. "I'm not sure I should be telling you about this, but… you're the only ones currently here and I need a second opinion on this thing. So, I just received a whole bunch of pictures from Ty Lee-"

"Only you would get confused by your girlfriend sending you nudes, weirdo," Toph laughed.

"They're not nudes!" Sokka protested. "Well… not exactly, anyway. The photos are a little risqué, sure, but her waitress unform mostly stays on."

"Spicy," Aang chuckled. "And yet, it's hard to understand what about that made you confused, Sokka."

"Well, it's the fact that it's not only her in the pictures, it's Ty Lee together with the other waitress, her friend Jin," Sokka explained.

"Okay, that's unexpected," Aang nodded in agreement. "Are they… making out, or something? Is there anything inappropriate going on?"

"I wouldn't say that, but… the way they're posing in the photos is… maybe a little explicit and suggestive? Here, I'll show you," Sokka said, retrieving his phone.

"I'm not sure I should be looking at those pictures, Sokka," Aang said, at first trying not to look when Sokka shoved the phone in his face, but then curiosity got the better of Aang and he took a peek at a picture of Ty Lee and Jin both playing with the second button of their uniform top, the first button already opened and showing off some very generous cleavage. "Oh… oh wow…" Aang gasped, his eyes growing wide. Then he unexpectedly yelped in pain, dropped the frying pan he had been holding and started jumping around the kitchen, whimpering.

"What's going on with you, Twinkletoes?" Toph demanded, sounding both worried and annoyed.

"I just poured some boiling oil all over my legs," Aang whined.

"That's not the most effective way of deep frying yourself, you know," Toph snorted. "Anyway, Sokka, next time keep your porn to yourself. As you can see, it makes our kitchen a hazardous work environment."

"Ugh, it's not porn, I think Ty Lee and Jin are just being nice and friendly because tomorrow is my birthday," Sokka sighed. "See, Ty Lee even sent me a text message afterwards, asking whether I have decided what I want for my birthday gift."

"Right," Aang said, busy applying an ointment to a nasty looking red spot on his left calf. "So, you're confused because…"

"Well, I wasn't completely sure what the photos and the message meant," Sokka shrugged. "I almost feel like maybe Ty Lee is trying to tell me something? Maybe she's made a reservation for us at her restaurant? It would be a little awkward to eat in the enemy territory, so to speak, but maybe that's her gift?"

"You're pretty dumb, you know that?" Toph sighed. "I can't believe it's the aromantic bitch who has to spell it out for you, but I'm pretty sure your girlfriend is trying to sell you on a threesome with her hot bitch friend."

"What?" Sokka blinked. "That can't be it. You make Ty Lee seem like some sort of sexual deviant when she's nothing but the sweetest of girls."

"Nothing says that sweet girls can't also be sexual deviants, right?" Aang asked, still busy applying the burn cream to his leg.

"I guess you would know, Aang," Toph laughed. "All the girls think you're such a sweet boy, and yet you get off by dressing up as a large yellow parrot."

"Ugh, I keep telling you it's a spiritual, not a sexual thing for me!" Aang protested.

"Whatever," Sokka shook his head at the argument between his friends. "I guess I'll text Ty Lee and see if I can get another hint at what she meant with her message." Sokka quickly sent the text, hardly able to contain his excitement as he quietly hoped that Toph's guess would prove correct. Ty Lee's response left very little room for interpretation, and also made Sokka go rather red in the face from its frankness. "Alright… uh, you might have been right, Toph," Sokka admitted, coughing awkwardly.

"Told you so," Toph laughed. "Just remember that it was me who set you up for a sweet threesome with Ty Lee and her presumably hot waitress friend."

"You angling for a bonus, Toph?" Sokka chuckled. "Anyway, I guess it's time for me to continue with the basement repairs. I was honestly crazy to agree to do it all by myself, but at least I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel."

"Well, have fun with that," Toph shrugged. "Oh, by the way," she spoke up just as Sokka was about to leave the kitchen. "I thought I heard some weird noises coming from the basement earlier. Have either of you heard anything?"

"What sort of noises?" Aang asked, giving Sokka an alarmed stare.

"It's hard to describe," Toph mused. "Like some kind of weird murmuring."

"Oh…" Sokka snapped his fingers, having quickly thought of a way to distract Toph from discovering her gift prematurely. "I didn't mention it before, but I got myself a new power drill. It makes strange noises, especially when I start it up. It kind of goes oink-oink-oink…"

"A power drill that goes oink-oink-oink?" Toph asked, scratching her head. "Never heard of anything like that."

"I think it's a brand-new design, isn't it, Sokka?" Aang tried his best to salvage the situation.

"Exactly," Sokka nodded. "It's one of those new Hog Industries power drills," he added, grinning as he left the kitchen… not to return to his repair works in the basement, but to instead quietly slip upstairs to give those exciting photos that Ty Lee had sent him a particularly thorough inspection.

Chapter Text

"Alright, I think we have everything set for our romantic evening that will convince Jin that we are the greatest lovers in her life," Zuko said proudly, looking around Jet's apartment. "The table is set, the turkey is sitting in the oven, champagne is in the ice bucket and the caviar is ready to be served. Are we missing anything?" he asked, turning towards an equally proud looking Jet. "Have you scattered the rose petals in the bedroom?"

"I most certainly have," Jet nodded. "All the other bedroom stuff is also prepared, blindfolds, silk strings, whipped cream, a jar of honey-"

"Alright, alright, I'll take your word for it," Zuko said hurriedly. "Still, I wonder if we could make the atmosphere a little more romantic. We have flowers, candlelight and sappy music, that's all good, but maybe we can do more."

"We could dim the lights?" Jet suggested.

"I didn't think your lights had a dimmer switch?" Zuko wondered.

"They don't. I was thinking of using a hammer," Jet shrugged.

"Uh, how about we skip the dimmed lights then," Zuko frowned. "I think the setting is plenty romantic as it is. Now we just need Jin to arrive."

"Oh, she'll be here," Jet chuckled knowingly. "After we put our seductive moves on her over the past few days, she's going to melt like butter for us."

"Hmm," Zuko didn't appear convinced. "And yet, to a casual observer, it might have appeared that she only agreed to this date after I promised her a raise."

"Merely a coincidence," Jet snorted, briefly glancing at his phone. "Anyway, is she running late? Wasn't she supposed to be here already?"

"Well, what time is it, anyway?" Zuko wondered, peering at his phone. "Yeah, she's running late, that's a little rude." Zuko then noticed something. "Wait, what's this? A text message… from Jin?"

"What does it say?" Jet asked, leaning in to look over Zuko's shoulder. "Is she letting us know that she'll be late?"

"No… ugh, it's much worse," Zuko growled, feeling very tempted to smash his phone against the wall. "She's apologizing for taking a rain check. Apparently, she had simply forgotten that she had already promised Ty Lee to attend her boyfriend's birthday party."

"Jin chose Sokka's birthday party over us? That's fucked up!" Jet fumed. "Probably one of those girl solidarity things with Ty Lee. Women, sometimes you just got to hate them, am I right?"

"Yeah, I wish we could do without them because sometimes they're just the worst," Zuko sighed. "And we worked so hard to prepare, too! But you know what hurts the most, literally? The fact that I allowed you to pull out my nose hair! With pliers!"

"It had to be done, Zuko," Jet nodded severely. "If Jin had seen that, she would have been tempted to pull on it and expected the butler to come in."

"Normal people at least have a pair of tweezers for that," Zuko grumbled.

"Hey, it's not my fault that my Manscaped shipment was stolen by my neighbor," Jet complained. "The bitch uses it to groom her cats and refuses to hand it back."

"Oh, whatever," Zuko rolled his eyes. "Well, since Jin has cruelly stood us up, let's just eat that damn turkey and drink the fucking champagne. And let's do it while bitterly complaining about how all women are conniving bitches."

"Exactly," Jet nodded, attempting a brave smile. "Jin has no idea what she's missing out on, so it's really her loss. We can still make a nice evening out of a bad situation, am I right?"

"I think so, yes," Zuko nodded. "After all, we wouldn't want to let all that whipped cream in the bedroom going to waste, right?"

The birthday party, held in the large apartment above the restaurant, was slowly kicking into a gear. Despite having been in a largely downcast mood for the past couple of weeks, Azula was determined to have a good time at the party. After she had slightly patched things up with Katara, Azula had been feeling a little better, at least when she was not thinking too hard about the promise that she had made to ask her father for a permission to date another girl. It was a promise that she intended to honor, but since thinking about it was liable to send her spiraling towards a full-blown panic attack, Azula planned to do her best to keep herself distracted with the help of both booze and weed.

Most of the guests were already present, save for Aang who had gone to fetch Mingxia, and Ty Lee who was running late after having to close up at The Blue Spirit. Yue, Suki and Kya had brought the latest additions to their little family with them, and everyone was busy obsessing about the kittens. Azula couldn't deny that the three little fur bundles were absolutely adorable and it made her wish for a lifestyle that would be more compatible with being a cat owner. Currently, two of the kittens were fast asleep, with Lily having curled up into a ball and Rose using her sister as a pillow. Chrissy was the only one up and awake, receiving plenty of attention and petting from her adoring fans.

Azula had already presented both Toph and Sokka with their gifts, both of which had been received very well. Toph was ecstatic about her Torture Me Elmo doll and had already spent some time playing with it and laughing herself silly. As for Sokka, he had given Azula a bone crunching hug after she had presented him with a particularly expensive Gundam action figure for Sokka to assemble and paint. Obviously, Sokka was a massive mecha anime geek and already had a dozen of Gundam figures on display, which Azula had keenly noticed. This latest action figure was sure to keep Sokka occupied for a long time, and Azula suspected that Ty Lee might not appreciate that, but since the birthday boy himself appeared happy, Azula didn't really care about what Ty Lee would think.

"I think I've figured out a way to also get myself an adorable kitten," Kiyi said. She was one of the guests currently sitting around the cat basket and playing with little Chrissy. She hadn't been specifically invited to the party, but since she had been hanging out at Yue's place earlier, Kiyi had just tagged along with the others and obviously nobody took an issue with that.

"I thought you already had a way to get yourself a pet, Kiyi, and it was by studying hard and improving your grades?" Katara asked. She had immediately assumed the role of the party hostess, looking after the guests and making sure that nobody was lacking for drinks or snacks. Nobody had asked Katara to do that, but somehow, she always took it upon herself to oversee and organize. Seeing Katara rushing back and forth, barely sitting down for more than a minute, filled Azula with a strong urge to simply grab Katara's hand and pull the other girl down on the sofa with her. Still, given where she stood with Katara right now, Azula didn't dare to act quite so bold.

"Sure, but that's going to take ages and I want a kitten now," Kiyi stated. "So, I've decided to blackmail my mom instead."

"That's an awful thing to do, Kiyi," Yue looked scandalized. "I think you should stick with improving your grades. It will make you feel like you truly earned your reward."

"Well… I already feel like I deserve to have a pet," Kiyi frowned, clearly disagreeing with Yue. Azula found herself smiling and nodding faintly, expressing silent approval of her sister's methods. "Also, don't worry, it's not some kind of bad blackmail. Maybe I shouldn't have even called it blackmail, it's actually something good, I think."