The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 4 [~|~] The Southern Air Temple

Azara moved to collect some water to put out the fire as Aang and Katara gathered their belongings. Sokka remained in his sleeping bag next to the campfire. Azara could hear Katara warning Aang about what they might find at the Southern Air Temple, the fact that the Fire Nation had wiped out the airbenders nearly one hundred years ago weighing on all of them.

No one really wanted to be the one to tell Aang explicitly that he was more than likely the last and only airbender left. As Azara poured the water onto the burning embers, Aang jumped down from Appa's head. "Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple, here we come!"

"Ugh, sleep now. Temple later," Sokka mumbled, rolling over and away from Aang. Azara and Katara finished packing their supplies as Aang picked up a stick, walking back over to Sokka's sleeping bag.

"Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" Aang feigned concern, moving the stick up and down Sokka's sleeping bag, freaking out the Water Tribe boy.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Azara hid a laugh behind her hand as Sokka jumped up with his sleeping bag, eventually tripping and falling forwards into the dirt.

"Great! You're awake! Let's go!" Aang called, turning around to hop up onto Appa. A few moments later, Appa took off and they were flying through the air towards the Southern Air Temple.

Azara glanced around at the mountains as Aang excitedly chattered with Katara about the Southern Air Temple. Looking away, Azara thought about the scene they would likely find. She was well aware of how her great grandfather Sozin had sent the Fire Nation Army to wipe out the airbenders, every last one of them. She was told from her very first lesson that Sozin had ushered in a new era of prosperity for the Fire Nation, but conveniently left out the suffering and trauma inflicted on other nations.

Azara glanced up as Sokka complained about being hungry. In the short period of time the four of them had been travelling together, Sokka had not been shy about sharing his distaste for the Fire Nation, and by extension Azara. Katara never said anything directly to her, but she was sure that she didn't necessarily trust her completely either. She was personally not surprised or severely torn up about it, but it made her wonder how Aang would react to her after discovering the truth about the airbenders.

When she had asked her uncle where else she would run to, she was not lying when she believed there was literally no other place on the planet. She was the Fire Nation princess, the descendant of generations of Fire Lords who had nearly burned the world to the ground, committed genocide against the airbenders, and numerous other crimes that Azara was not even aware of. She wouldn't be surprised if the Fire Nation had caused Sokka and Katara pain, especially given the way Sokka was acting.

Sighing, Azara sat cross-legged at the back of the saddle and started to control her breathing to calm her thoughts. Resting her hands on her knees, Azara took a deep breath and let it out, focusing on her balance and posture. Sokka raised an eyebrow at her as he turned around.

"What is she doing?" Katara asked, looking back at Azara as she continued to meditate.

"Probably some Fire Nation mind control trick," Sokka scoffed, glaring at her.

"Despite the fact that you're trying so hard to talk inconspicuously, I can still hear you," Azara stated, opening her eyes slowly with a deadpan expression on her face. "And it's not a mind control trick, it's called meditation."

"You meditate?" Aang questioned, turning around with surprise on his face.

"Of course! The first few weeks of my firebending training was nearly all meditation-based," Azara explained, causing Sokka to roll his eyes. Katara elbowed him in the shoulder as Aang suddenly stood up, pointing towards a mountain in the distance.