The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 41 [~|~] Love and War

"Where have you been?" Katara questioned as Azara walked over to her sleeping bag.

"Kesuk was showing me around. Lost track of time," Azara shrugged, pulling off her coat, and folding it carefully next to her sleeping bag.

"How was it?" Katara prodded, a familiar smirk on her face. "Or, should I say, how was he?"

"He's very nice and respectful," Azara replied elusively, not sure what exactly to make of her sudden relationship with Kesuk. He was certainly attractive and she had yet to be disappointed by him, but they also just met each other. There was still plenty to learn about each other before she was ready to put an actual label on anything. 

Suddenly, Sokka burst into the room, flopping dramatically onto his bag. Azara raised an eyebrow at the action, but didn't say anything as Sokka remained face down on his sleeping bag. "How's warrior training going?" Katara asked her brother sighed.

"That bad, huh?"

"No, it's Princess Yue. I don't get it, one minute she wants to go out with me, and the next, she's telling me to get lost." Sokka sat up slightly, resting his weight on his elbows, before he turned to his sister. "So, how's waterbending going?" In response, Katara flopped onto her sleeping bag.

"Master Poophead won't teach her because she's a girl," Aang muttered, shaking his head.

"That's stupid. You're going to be a great waterbending master, Katara. I'm sure that there are plenty of other waterbending masters up here that could teach you," Azara spoke, her thoughts drifting off to Kesuk. Yue had mentioned that he was trying to get Pakku to teach women waterbending. 

"Why don't you just teach her, Aang?" Sokka suggested, staring ahead with a bored expression on his face.

"Why didn't I think of that? At night you can teach me whatever moves you learn from Master Pakku! That way, you have someone to practice with, and I get to learn waterbending! Everyone's happy!" Katara exclaimed, jumping to her feet. 

"I'm not happy," Sokka retorted as Katara shook her head.

"But you're never happy. Come on, Aang," Katara called as she dragged Aang out of the room with her. A moment of silence passed between them before Azara decided to speak up.

"So, what happened with Yue?" Azara asked, crawling into her sleeping bag.

"We agreed to meet at this bridge tonight. But then she shows up, tells me she made a mistake by asking me to meet her, and ran off. I don't get it," Sokka huffed, rolling over onto his back. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before shooting up suddenly, turning to Azara.

"Hey, you talked to her earlier this morning. Do you know what could have happened?" 

Azara glanced up at Sokka, deciding whether or not she should be the one to tell him that Yue was engaged or not. "Uh, she seemed fine this morning. Upbeat and everything," Azara replied quietly, staring at her hands as she spoke. She didn't know how she was going to break the news to him.

"Did she ask about me?" Sokka continued as Azara nodded after a moment. "Well, what did you tell her about me?"

"I said that we had our problems in the beginning, but now we're good friends. That you're trustworthy," Azara recounted, glancing up at Sokka through her hair.

"That's it? There must be something else," Sokka groaned, rubbing his face tiredly. Biting her lip, Azara clenched her teeth, before sighing, her shoulders slumping.