The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 56 [~|~] Realizations

Azara walked through the swamp, calmer after her slight breakdown back at the mirage of her mother. Shaking her head, Azara sighed and continued pushing her way through the vines when she heard a familiar voice from behind her. Turning around, Azara spotted Sokka walking towards her. She narrowed her eyes and raised her hands, prepared to unleash a volley of fire blasts at another mirage. "Stop with the stupid mirages, swamp!" she yelled as Sokka slowed down, his hands raised in surrender.

"Hey, it's me," Sokka replied softly, causing Azara to relax slightly, but her offensive form remained with her shoulders tensed.

"Prove it! Say something that only the real Sokka would say," she demanded, her eyes staring deep into his own.

"Uh . . . what would the real me say?" Sokka contemplated, rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Uh, boomerang? No, no, that's not good enough. Uh, meat? No, that's too easy." Azara relaxed as Sokka continued to argue with himself over the best phrase to use. Chuckling to herself, Azara shook her head lightly and stood up.

"Alright, you convinced me," Azara replied, trudging through the mud towards him.

"But I didn't come up with a phrase yet," Sokka pointed out as Azara moved to stand next to him.

"That's the point, scatterbrain," Azara spoke sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. "Also, what the hell happened back there?"

"I don't know, one minute we were sleeping and the next, the vines pulled us away. And I've seen some weird stuff out here," Sokka noted, blinking repeatedly as memories of the mirage reappeared in his mind.

"I hate this swamp," she sighed in agreement, staring down at the mud.

"Did you see a vision too?" Sokka questioned as Azara turned to meet his gaze.

"I thought I saw . . . my mom," Azara supplied, wrapping her arms around herself. Sokka's eyes widened in surprise. From the limited glimpses into her past that she had provided him with, Azara's relationship with her mother was difficult to define, or rather difficult might be its best descriptor. Sokka could definitely sense a tone of resentment, but Azara seemed to have some fond memories of her mother. And she was very clearly shaken up by the vision.

"What about you, did you see anything?" Azara asked, turning to Sokka. Blinking, Sokka looked to the ground, flashes of his mirage reappearing. Turning back, Sokka released a breath as he reminded himself that Azara was alive and safe.

"Uh . . ." Sokka trailed off, not sure how to explain to Azara that his nightmare mirage was of her dying. Again. As he trailed off, Azara assumed that he had seen something horrifying, perhaps his mother or someone else close to him that he had lost earlier in his life.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Azara replied, resting a hand on his arm. As Sokka opened his mouth to reply, they were suddenly slammed into by Aang and Katara.

The group tumbled through some more swamp before falling in a heap. "What do you guys think you're doing?! I've been looking all over for you guys!"

"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you!" Katara retorted as Azara rubbed her head in pain. Pulling down her hand, Azara sighed as she noticed the blood on her hand.

"That seems about right," Azara grumbled, holding her hand in front of her chest.

"I was chasing some girl," Aang admitted sheepishly as he walked over to help Katara up.