The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 63 [~|~] Bitter Work

A.N. So here's the Bitter Work episode chapter finally! I've literally rewritten this chapter about nineteen times (and it's about twice as long as a normal chapter--oops) and still not 100% happy with it, but I hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks as always to everyone for reading, voting, and commenting, all of which are thoroughly appreciated!

Azara growled in annoyance, cracking her eyes open into slits as Aang jumped around their campsite, yelling about earthbending. Rolling onto her other side in her sleeping bag, Azara attempted to tune him out and grab a few more minutes of sleep, but her plans were soon derailed by Toph. "Good morning, earthbending student!" Toph announced as she broke apart her earth tent with a loud rumble, the bits of the tent cascading around her.

Azara sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "So much for catching up on sleep," Azara muttered before a yawn escaped her lips.

"Good morning, Sifu Toph," Aang smiled, landing in front of Toph before he bowed to her.

"Hey, you never called me Sifu Katara," Katara pointed out from her position on the ground, causing Aang to turn to her with a sheepish expression.

"Well, if you think I should . . ." Aang trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck, before Sokka interrupted him with his crabby grumbling.

"Sorry, Snoozles, we'll do our earthbending as quietly as we can," Toph teased, before slamming her heel into the ground, causing a rock pillar to catapult Sokka and his sleeping bag into the air. He eventually fell to the earth with a thump before jumping up and grumbling to Toph and Aang again. Azara watched him hop away tiredly before standing up and stretching her stiff limbs.

"So what move are you going to teach me first? Rock-a-lanche? The Trembler? Oh, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!" Aang suggested, acting out the moves, as Toph walked over and tapped him on the forehead.

"Let's start with move a rock," Toph corrected, causing Azara to chuckle lightly.

"Sounds good, sounds good," Aang nodded before Toph motioned for him to follow her farther into the canyon-like structure. Katara decided to go watch Aang practice his earthbending, while Azara made her way up to the ridge that Sokka had taken refuge on. "Hey, are you okay?" Azara asked, sitting next to him as he straightened up, still in his sleeping bag.

"Just tired," he yawned, before rubbing his eye tiredly. "And wishing that Aang and Toph could have started their training a little later in the day."

"Agreed," Azara chuckled, leaning back on her hands, and smiling over at Sokka. "Though, fair warning, once I start teaching Aang firebending, we'll be waking up at the crack of dawn as well."

"When do you think that'll start? Today is his first earthbending lesson after all," Sokka asked as Azara stared up at the rising sun.

"Soon," Azara sighed, running a hand through her long hair. "He's going to have to face the Fire Lord sooner rather than later, and I'm not sending him out there without at least some firebending under his belt." Sokka glanced over at her as a calm silence settled over them for a moment.

"That's coming up, isn't it?" Sokka muttered, referring to the ever-present threat of the Fire Lord, the war, and the incoming Sozin's Comet. It was weird to him that the same monster that they worried about every day was Azara's father. Minus her occasional fiery temper, there wasn't really any resemblance between Azara and her siblings or the image of the Fire Lord he had in his mind.