The Thief And The Healer

Episode 10: Appa's Party Hat

The smile he'd been sporting from the night's events was gone. Forgotten. All rational thought emptied from his mind to make way for anger, bitterness, and a slight taste of fear.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"In my country we exchange a pleasant 'hello' before asking questions," she said with a flip of her hair. "Have you become uncivilized so soon, Zuzu?"

"Don't call me that."

Her golden eyes, always more calculating than his own, narrowed. "How rude. Aren't you happy to see your dear, younger sister?"

Zuko only continued to stare. "What do you want, Azula?"

"It's not what I want." She held a manicured hand to her chest, her nails filed to points. Every aspect of Azula was a weapon.

"Our father is the one asking for you," she continued. "Something about your internship."

"My internship?" Zuko repeated. "Since when has father cared about anything to do with the Agni Kais?"

Azula rolled her eyes. "He doesn't. He cares about you, dumb dumb. He wants you to visit the office."

Zuko became acutely aware that it was midnight and they were standing out in the open of his apartment complex where anyone could overhear.

If only to prove his point, the door to his apartment burst open and his roommate leaned into the night air. "Hey man! How was your-?" Sokka's eyes alighted on Azula behind him and his face dropped.

"Peasant," she scoffed, her nose wrinkled as if she'd just smelled something foul. "I won't talk around the rabble, Zuzu, you know that." She flipped one of her bangs out of her face before saying, "Join me for dinner tomorrow at Ember Island and we'll discuss the meeting. Don't be late." Her eyes ran up and down his figure and she frowned. "I will provide an outfit for you to wear once you get there."

"I don't need your-" Zuko started.

"It's a gift." She cut him off with a grin that was anything but friendly. "I'll see you at 6 o'clock, sharp."

And just as suddenly as she'd appeared, she was off down the stairwell not even bothering to look back.

"So Azula's in town," Sokka mused, leaning against the doorway. "That's always...fun."

Katara had been fighting down her grin from the moment she'd stepped off the roof. She'd worn it through her shift, all the way home, past her father and Aang in the kitchen, she'd probably even worn it the entire time she'd been asleep. Even a morning meeting with Zuko couldn't deter her smile as she skipped into the tea shop on Sunday morning.

He looked up when she entered, two steaming mugs of tea already on the table in front of him.

"Well, good morning," he greeted her.

"Good morning." She beamed at him and his mug hit the table with a thud splashing a small amount of tea across the surface.

"Oops," she giggled, grabbing napkins off the nearest table and helping him clean it up. "Watch yourself."

Zuko continued to stare at her as she collected the wet napkins and carried them to the trash.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he stammered, finally looking away. "You just seem...in a really good mood."

Katara shrugged. "I had a good shift at the hospital."

A new light, almost disbelieving, seemed to enter Zuko's eyes as he smiled. "Did you?" he asked. "What made it so great?"

"I got to spend some time with a friend during my shift," she said. If anything, his smile widened.