The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 23 [~|~] Rescue

A.N. Warning: Includes mentions of previous abuse. 

At the cliff overlooking the valley, Aang fell out of the tree, groaning as Jet landed behind him. Before Jet could reach him, he was knocked back by a water blast. He yelled out as he was backed up against a tree, Katara sending continuous water blasts at him until he was pressed against the tree. Katara raised her arms once more, freezing Jet against the tree.

"Why, Jet? I can't believe I trusted you! You lied to me! You're sick and I trusted you!" Katara shouted, her fists clenched. Jet turned away, making a bird call. Katara's eyes widened at the action. "What are you doing?"

"You're too late," Jet smirked as Katara stared at the dam, looking horrified.

Azara huffed as the chains continued to refuse to budge. The sound of a familiar growl caused her to look up, her eyes widening in relief as she spotted Appa. "Appa! Sokka!" she smiled as Sokka slid off Appa's head and ran towards her.

"Azara! Are you okay?" Sokka shouted, running behind her to undo the chains.

"I'm fine, let's just get out of here before Jet blows us up," Azara replied, standing up and rubbing her sore wrists. Sokka nodded as they ran towards Appa. As Azara climbed up, she bit back a groan of pain as her shoulder rolled painfully, the cut from Jet's hook sword making it harder to climb up. Sokka pulled her the rest of the way in, calling for Appa to take off.

"What happened to your shoulder?" Sokka asked, concerned as Azara inspected the cut. As she turned her head to the side, Sokka spotted the angry red mark on her cheek. "What happened there?" His thumb brushed gently over the red skin.

"Jet happened," Azara stated simply, looking away. Sokka gently pulled her back to look at him, concern clear in his eyes.

"You can tell me what happened," he spoke softly, a comforting look on his face. Azara stared at him, before sighing and retelling the events of the past few hours.

"When Jet pulled me aside, he and his Freedom Fighters tried to surround me. I wouldn't fight back with firebending because that's exactly what he would have wanted. He landed a blow on my shoulder with his hook swords and then knocked me out with some dart," Azara recounted, Sokka's eyes furrowing as he stared at the cut in her shoulder.

"We'll have to look at that. I don't want it to get infected," Sokka nodded, briefly inspecting the wound before looking back at Azara. "But then what happened to your cheek?"

"Jet took me to the reservoir and . . . to wake me up . . . he slapped me," Azara trailed off, her voice becoming quieter as she spoke. Sokka reeled back at the new information.

"He did what?" Sokka snapped, but Azara shook her head.

"Don't worry about it—"

"—How can I not worry about it!? He can't do that to you!" Sokka replied firmly, rage flashing across his eyes as Azara stared at her lap.

"He's not the first," she muttered to herself quietly, but Sokka heard it. 

His eyes widened at her statement. Despite her usual confident demeanor in both wit and physical abilities, Sokka had seen other sides to Azara over the last few weeks. He couldn't imagine the horrors that her nightmares contained but from the limited explanations Azara had given him, Aang, and Katara, he had to assume they were related to her past.  

Admittedly, when they first met, Sokka had assumed that Azara's previous life was full of ease and luxury. She was a princess of the Fire Nation after all. He just guessed that she chose to not talk about the past because she was embarrassed about being Fire Nation. But then he had heard her muttering in her sleep.