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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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An Ivory Horn

@avatar-rare-pair-ship-challenge Week 5: “Sir This Is My Emotional Support ___”

Pair: Azula/Teo

Summary: Azula shows Teo her emotional support Komodo Rhino and takes him on a dinner date.

She brings him out on a leash, Teo is certain that it only holds him because he allows it to. A creature that massive can’t possibly be controlled by such a flimsy tether. “Azula, what is that?!”

The princess clears her throat, face flushing softly, “this is my emotional support komodo-rhino.”

Teo nods slowly, “alright, an emotional support...komodo-rhino.”

“It’s alright, you can come closer.”

Teo makes no move to do so and somehow this seems to upset Azula. And then he recalls her mentioning that she intimidates people so most of them don’t give her a chance. Reluctantly he wheels himself nearer. “Why do you have a komodo-rhino?”

“My therapist suggested that I get a companion to keep me company since I...have trouble connecting with people.”

“But why a komodo-rhino, why not a dog or a cat or a turtle-duck?”

“I need something that can fend for itself and there are no dragons left. Mongoose-lizards are tedious to care for.” She pauses and stokes the komodo-rhino’s horn. “So I have Chīsai.”

“Are komodo-rhinos allowed at the restaurant?”

Azula shrugs, “they are if I say they are.”

“Right.” He laughs. “You’re the princess.” Somehow he keeps forgetting.

She nods. As she usually does, she falls silent as soon as the conversation comes to a natural conclusion and doesn’t try to strike up another. Teo feels somewhat bad for it, but he isn’t going to do it for her this time. He needs her to put in at least some effort sometimes. He watches her drum her fingers against Chīsai’s rough, leathery, skin. Finally she asks, “Do you want to ride him instead of your wheelchair. I can hold you in place.”

“I don’t know if I can get up there.”

“I can help you.”

“Alright, if you can get me up there, I’ll--” He doesn’t know why he doubted her abilities even slightly. She scoops him up in one arm and propels them up with a jet of fire. She helps him get comfortable, propped up against her chest, before snatching the reins and giving them a gentle flick. He braces himself for a speedy lurch. Instead the beast lumbers forward at a leisurely pace.

“He doesn't know ‘faster’ yet. We’re working on it.” She pauses. “But it’s fine because he knows other things.”

“Like?”

She thinks for a moment. “He knows how to tell when I am unhappy.”

“Unhappy as in upset or angry?”

“Both.”

“And…”

“He keeps me company.” She replies simply. “It is nice to have company. I haven’t been so alone lately.”

It is becoming harder to tell if she is still talking about the komodo-rhino or if she is talking about him. She rests her chin on his shoulder as she steers Chīsai around the corner. It is quite nice to have her doing so. She is always plenty warm. A pleasant warm.

“Are you sure that he’s even going to fit through the door?” Teo remarks upon arrival.

.oOo.

Azula frowns. “We will eat outside.” She rolls Teo’s wheelchair along Chīsai’s spine and down his tail before coming back to retrieve Teo himself. She waits for the boy to get a sturdy grip around her middle before hooking her arms under his legs and carrying him down.

“You have great balance.”

Azula nods. “Yes.”

“And you have no idea how to take a compliment.”

“I do know how to take a compliment.”

Teo quirks a brow, “and how do you take a compliment then.”

“As the truth.” She lowers him into his wheelchair. He laughs but she isn’t so sure what he is finding humor in.

“Are we really going to eat outside?” He asks as she arranges their newly acquired platters of dumplings and roast duck upon his lap.

“Yes, we are.” She replies. “I like it better outside anyhow. There are less people out here.” Less eyes that look upon them. Less eyes that seem to question what their princess is doing with an Earth Kingdom boy. Her stomach turns, is it not her own doing? She thinks that they wouldn’t resent Teo so much if she hadn’t helped push the image of ‘barbaric’ Earth Kingodm folk. She looks away from them and says, softer than intended, “Don’t drop the food.” She waits for him to get a sturdy hold on the platters before wheeling him back outside.

It feels much better out here, less stuffy and oppressive. She doesn’t have a chair of her own so she makes herself comfy in the crook of Chīsai’s ivory horn. She lays on her belly and picks up her first dumpling. She doesn’t get a chance to take a bite before Teo starts laughing. Again, she doesn’t see what he finds humorous. “What?”

“It’s just that Chīsai is so huge and you’re so small.”

“I am not.” She knows that she is lying. She pops the dumpling into her mouth. She must look entirely helpless when she finds herself nestled in Chīsai’s horn in the midst of a collapse. She isn’t sure that she likes that thought. Teo reaches up for her hand and she takes it. It is still bizarre to feel him so gently rub his thumb over the back of her hand. It is still so foreign to be touched with such tenderness.

She picks up another dumpling.

“Are you going to share those?”

She slides the plate towards him. She forgets, sometimes that he can’t just stand up and snatch one. She slips down from Chīsai’s horn and finds herself a spot in Teo’s lap. She thinks that it will be easier this way. Easier and closer. She craves the intimate proximity.

He holds out a chunk of roast duck for her.

She claims his free hand, having no plans to let go of it anytime soon. Even patrons leaving the restaurant slow their strides to stare. Even if they have a remark or two for her as they pass. She doesn’t think that it is a shame nor a waste to take an Earth Kingdom lover. She doesn’t think that it is an appalling betrayal to let go of her hatred and contemptment. For every rude remark, he gives her hand a little squeeze. A comforting squeeze. A reassuring squeeze.

Usually when the townspeople get bold and sharpen their tongues, she finds solace in Chīsai. But tonight she doesn’t need to. Though he edges protectively close for some petting and kisses--which she offers his cheek, tonight she has a human being. And that human being gives her own cheek a little peck.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Teo #TeZula #Teo/Azula #Fanfiction

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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It Feels Like Success

@avatar-rare-pair-ship-challenge

Prompt: Hurt/Comfort Pair: Teo/Azula Summary: After an accident, Azula loses an arm, Teo keeps her company as she works through the trials of adjusting.

Mostly she can’t remember how it happened. She thinks that it was a rock, a very heavy rock. She does remember how much it hurt and she remembers the faces of onlookers. The horror on them when they realized what had happened. And, by Agni, they realized it considerably sooner than she had. She remembers asking, “what, what is it?” And then the searing pain. A pain like no other. She had already been on the verge of blacking out, the product of pain alone. She was already on the verge and then she looked to her agonizing arm. It goes fuzzy there. But one image is seared into her mind. One bloody image that she won’t forget.

Her left arm, what remains of it, is bound beneath a mountain of bandages and gauze. She throws her head back against the pillow, pounding it in frustration and dismay while the tears leak down her cheeks. She doesn’t shed many of them, but she sheds enough of them for Zuko to reach out and squeeze her hand. The only one that she has.

It still hurts. It burns. Likely because they had cauterized it to keep her from bleeding out. She knows that she had bled a lot. She is still very pale and she is still very woozy and out of sorts. But not so out of touch that she isn’t aware of what has happened to her. Of what she has lost.

“Zuko, no.” She mutters in a near whisper, “no, no.” But it is already too late. There is nothing for her to plead to save. And even if there was, they couldn’t possibly have salvaged her arm. She squeezes her eyes shut.

She needs that arm. She needs it to lightningbend. “Zuko, how am I supposed to…”

Zuko gives her hand another squeeze. “The same way that you always do. You think of a clever work around.”

“You don’t even know what I was about to say.”

“Whatever it is, you always get through it.”

But she isn’t sure that she can get through this or find a clever work around. She hovers her fingers over the bandages. She can’t bring herself to bring them down, to truly feel and accept what has become of her.

.oOo.

Azula doesn’t want them to take the bandages off. She doesn’t want them to take them off because she doesn’t want to see what lies beneath. No matter how smooth and clean the cut had been, she doesn’t want to see it. But little by little they unravel the bandages.

She keeps her eyes fixed straight ahead of her. The final bandage falls away. “It’s very clean.” The doctor promises. “It healed very nicely.”

She would disagree. A nice healing would be a sprouting of a new arm. “I want to be alone.” She tries not to choke on her own request.

The doctor nods and leaves her to her own struggle. She takes a deep breath and swallows hard before lifting a shaky hand. She still doesn’t look. She can’t, she doesn’t want to. She isn’t ready. She isn’t ready for what she is about to do either. She closes her eyes and grazes her fingers over the stump. Over the empty air where the rest of her arm should extend. She utters an ugly sort of choking noise. Something that is not quite a sob. To have touched it has made it real. Untenable. Concrete.

To have touched it is to acknowledge that she is less than what she used to be. She is glad that she had requested privacy. She isn’t known for being beautiful when she breaks.

.oOo.

The boy has no legs. The boy seems to have no stress or damage over it either.

She met him by chance. Somewhat by chance. The Avatar had brought him to Zuko’s birthday celebration. A celebration where she had received much more attention than she would have liked and a terrible helping of sympathetic stares and hushed whispers.

There were far too many well-meaning people. Well-meaning people that only made her feel weaker, more fragile. She doesn’t want to be coddled. She doesn’t want pity. She wants them to see her as if she were as strong and whole as ever. She doesn’t want to be a tragedy. She wants to be an impressive success.

“It’s more satisfying.” Teo promises. “When you do things that you’re not supposed to be able to do.”

She tilts her head. “What do you mean?”

Teo looks at his legs. “They said that I’d never be able to get to the top of a mountain or travel long distances. He pulls a lever on his wheelchair and a glider unfurls. “I lived in the Northern Air Temple. I got to the top of a mountain every day.” He declares.

“I can’t bend lightning with just one arm.”

“Yet.” He adds. “You can’t bend lightning with one arm yet.”

And he says it with such conviction. Such assurance. She nearly believes him. She might have if she hadn’t been trying to do just that since losing her arm. “Teo, I’m struggling to button my own pants! How do you expect me to be able to lightningbend?” Evidently she has been mostly wearing loose, slip on clothes. Things that don’t require fussing with buttons, ribbons, or zippers. And when she does wear such, her servants do much of the work.

“Then why don’t you keep practicing?”

Even he knows that she is babying herself, taking the easy way out. She is ashamed and furious with herself. She rants and raves about how she doesn’t want special treatment or pitying looks. About how she wants to be her powerful self and here she is, avoiding putting on a pair of pants. She stands up, putting a ridiculous amount of force into doing so.

“Where are you going?” He asks.

“To put on a pair of fucking pants, Teo.” She hisses. She isn’t sure how or why he puts up with her turbulent temper. She takes a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m frustrated.”

Teo smiles. “I get it. Trust me, I do.”

She pauses and waits for him to catch up to her. She leans down and lets him give her a small kiss. At least she is making progress in one or two areas of her life. At least she doesn’t have to go through this alone. At least people aren’t cheering for and reveling in the loss of her arm. At least she’s a likable, albeit, standoffish person.

It might be spite and willpower alone. Or it could be Teo refusing to avert his gaze from her struggle. But she buttons the pants.

.oOo.

She learns to thread a needle too. It takes holding the damn thing between her toes and ruthless determination.

She learns to tie other knots. Mostly this is practice and very careful finger work. She learns to unscrew jars without the perks of a second hand to hold the jar in place while she twists on the lid. This is mostly a clever innovation; she uses things that she finds around the palace to clamp it in place while she twists the lid. She learns to fight. To adjust her katas and stances to fit her new center of gravity. How to defend and attack with only one arm. She learns to climb. This is another matter of determination and resilience. Of strengthening her core, her legs, and the arm that she does have to make up for the one that she doesn’t.

More than anything she learns to accept the unflattering and maddening asymmetry. Learns to accept that she only has one arm. Learns to appreciate herself in spite of it. Learns to find a sense of beauty and confidence in knowing that she has managed to find stability for herself where others might not have been able. Learns to appreciate that she stands out, that she draws attention, and that they have stopped looking at her with pity and started regarding her with more respect than the ever had.

She learns to do a lot of things but lightningbending is not one of them.

She takes a deep breath and tries again. She sees the sparks, they dance up and down her arm, but they disperse, having no other arm to flow through, no other arm to provide the balance and stability--the symmetry necessary for an effective blast.

She sighs and drops to the floor, drawing her knees up. “It’s useless, Teo.”

“It isn’t useless.” He promises.

“I can’t do it…” if she could have she would have and she would have done it months back.

“You said the same thing about climbing. And before that you said the same thing about finding love.” He holds his hand out and she takes it in her own. It is warm. As she so often does, she finds herself a seat in his lap. She leans against his chest and he loops his arm around her. Sometimes she likes to sit in silence and listen to the beat of his heart while he rubs her back or strokes her hair. That day is such a day. It is soothing. He is always soothing, a means of solace when she is nearly inconsolable. He intertwines his hand with hers and mumbles encouraging, loving things. Just as he had when she was beaten and bedbound.

She lets herself drift off. And he lets her relax until she is very nearly asleep and then he asks, “you going to give it another try?”

Azula sighs. She stands up, stretches her back, and stretches her arm. She closes her eyes and draws the lightning forward. She can swear that she almost has it, she can swear that she will do it this time. But the sparks sputter and die, leaving disappointment to fill their vacancy.

“I just doesn’t work.”

“Because you’re still trying to do it the conventional way.” He points out.

She furrows her brows. She isn’t sure how she hadn’t thought of that on her own. Granted she has been able to do a good many of her other forms quite similarly to how she had before. But lightning...it is a thing of its own. It is fickle and unpredictable on a good day. A controlled chaos.

She closes her eyes again and pulls the lightning forward. This time she doesn’t raise her arm, rather she holds her index and middle finger to the base of her fire chakra and draws the lightning up from it’s very source. Slowly, very slowly. She can feel its electrifying tickle in her belly. She inhales deeply, she thinks that the lightning has filled her lungs. She trails her fingers up her throat and exhales. If she had thought that it was going to work she might have given herself a more stable stance. As it were, the bolt blasts forward and she is thrown back. She lands on the mat with a sturdy, breath stealing thud. Her elbow and rear throb and her throat tingles with the aftershock.

But she had done it, there is a decent and smoldering hole in the wall. She lets her head fallback and stares at the ceiling as she waits for the throbbing to pass and her breathing to stabilize. She forces herself to sit up.

Teo blinks, “that’s terrifying.” He meets her eyes. “Do it again.”

She gets to her feet. “I don’t know how many of those I have in me.” Though this has never stopped her before. This time she takes a sturdier stance. Regardless, she finds herself thrown back, albeit with less force and impact than before. But such a thing isn’t exactly combat ready. It’s a work in progress she supposes.

Reflexively, she makes off to rub her throbbing elbow. She swallows and sits back on Teo’s lap, “massage my elbow.”

“Of course, princess.” He chuckles. “But only because you made progress today.” He taps her nose.

“If you call knocking myself to the floor progress.” She pauses. “I suppose I’m just going to have to figure out how to control the amount of lightning that comes up.” Certainly it will be an exercise in patience. But it will also be an opportunity to truly focus on her bening and its essence. She supposes that she ought to work on perfecting the release of her chi to the precise amount that she’d like. ��I think that I will resume tomorrow.”

Teo nods. “You know your limits. Good enough?” He gestures to her arms.

“Yes.” She thinks that he has worked most of the knots and throbs away. She kisses his cheek.

“I knew that you could do it.”

She supposes that she should have known too. Perhaps if she had, it wouldn’t have taken her so long. Regardless, for her struggles, she had received her fill of soothing gestures and loving reassurances. The sort that she has craved for so very long. She gives his neck a kiss. It is rather nice to have someone who believes in her without pushing her.

“Want me to take you back to your room?”

She shakes her head, “dining room.” She could use something to soothe her throat. It must sound like as much because he gives another chuckle.

“Alright, dining room it is.”

.oOo.

Her throat still tingles as she helps Teo into bed. She tucks the man in and lays herself down. The tingle in the throat isn’t exactly pleasant. And yet she is glad that it is there. It is uncomfortable. It feels somewhat sharp. It also feels like success.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Teo #Azula/Teo #TeZula #Fanfiction #One shot

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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I was thinking of making a mini-week (or a ship weekend) for one of my favorite rarepairs. It’s only a little sailboat of a ship but would anyone be interested in a TeZula (Azula/Teo) mini ship event?

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Teo #Azula/Teo #TeZula

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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I tried to do some art today. Might color it later (perhaps digitally???).

This shop has like no art so I done made some.

Used this as a pose ref.

#avatar the last airbender #azula #teo #azula/teo #tezula #my art

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 6 years

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The Gliding Dragon

Day 1 of @avatarworldweek‘s summer love event: Unconditional love.

I haven’t seen any fics at all for Azula/Teo so I wrote one. Because why not?

She was there strictly on business, or she was supposed to be anyhow. The Fire Nation needed new machines, but creativity wasn’t exactly an area of expertise among Azula’s people. Not in an era where dancing had been banned. The Fire Nation needed an inventor. Apparently, it was her job to find one, as Zuko busied himself with other matters. Frankly she believed that she should be the one fussing with foreign affairs back at the palace as opposed to making another journey to the Earth Kingdom. A place where she left empty handed, with only a small lead. None of the machinists in the Earth Kingdom impressed her well enough for her to request an alliance. But she heard tell of a machinist who dwelled in the Northern Air Temple after being displaced by a flood of sorts.

This tip had her on her way back to the Fire Nation to retrieve an airship, and then right back in the direction she had just come from. It had been so tedious. But she would only accept the finest for the Fire Nation, for her nation. Azula sighed, the things she did for it.

She supposed that the hassle of the trip was all well enough in the end. The mechanist was highly skilled, almost beyond what she had hoped. And with the offer of a place to stay for he and what remained of the others in his village, he would put his skills to use.

Azula had accomplished her mission, with seemingly no personal gain—something Zuko was annoyingly proud of; “finally you did something out of the kindness of your heart!” She vowed that if he kept it up, it would be the last selfless thing she did.

Azula fell onto her bed, she was exhausted. Travel was losing its appeals, she felt as though she was spending more of her life in the Earth Kingdom than in her own home these days. She didn’t know how she let herself be drawn into it. She had a strong feeling it had to do with something, something along the lines of, “a change of scenery will be good for you.”

Right.

In the days to follow she began to see more of the mechanist’s son. She would see him in the halls, observing the Fire Lord portraits. She would run into him while on walks in the town. She would find him dining in the same restaurant as she, and never with any plans to meet up there. Beforehand she didn’t pay him much attention, her goal was to strike a deal with his father and that was it. In her time at the air temple the man had been absent most of the time, whizzing about on his glider. She had been meaning to ask him about that. Perhaps, that’s what compelled her to finally strike up a conversation with him. If she was going to be seeing him around so often, she may as well make him less of a stranger. Naturally this is when she stopped seeing him around so frequently.

She didn’t see him again, in fact, until a week or so later when she found herself sitting on the rim of a fountain in the center of the Capital’s shopping ring. Azula wasn’t much of an artist, it was a hobby she had just taken up. It was something that seemed to be coming naturally to her. In current the princess was sketching one of the dragon statues that rested before a weapons vendor. Though it was hard to work with someone eyeballing her unfinished work. She turned the sheet over with a purpose.

Shamelessly the man inquired, “whacha drawing?”

“Mind your own business.” Azula muttered, before looking up to see who was addressing her. Just like that she realized her chances of finding out more about the man’s glider had just diminished some. She turned to him and mumbled something akin to, “your father’s inventions are quite innovative.”

“Yeah, he comes up with some neat stuff.” The man wheeled himself up next to her.

“Did he make that wheelchair glider for you?”

The man smirked, “mind your own business.” She had half the mind to push him into the fountain. “Yeah, he made it for me a long time ago. I was always kind of stuck, ya know, watching the other kids chase each other around. I was invited but never had much fun.” He motioned to the wheelchair. “I couldn’t go as fast so I always lost tag. So my father gave me a way to see the world. I kind of think that it’s better than walking.”

“What happened? Where you always like that.” She asked, pointing to his legs. She turned away abruptly with the faint feeling that it was rude to have asked so bluntly and in the manner that she had. Why was she so dreadful with words when she wasn’t speaking politically? If she could smooth talk into getting the better end of a deal than she ought to be able to hold up a more simplicity conversation. She muttered a quick apology for the ignorant wording of her question.

But the man didn’t seem phased. “I’ve heard worse.” He waved it off. “But no, when I was a really young child I was able to walk. I lost the ability during the flood that destroyed my village.”

“I promise we, here in the Fire Nation, don’t condone flooding.”

The man laughed, “I’ll hold you to that next time it rains hard enough.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“I’m Teo.” He held his hand out.

Azula took it. She assumed that her name was more or less common knowledge and she couldn’t imagine that he didn’t recognize her, but she returned the introduction anyhow. Better to be formal in forming relationships. It would be her first friendship since Mai and TyLee. She didn’t have any enemies at this point, but she didn’t allow anyone to get particularly close either. No, the princess liked to keep to herself. It felt safer, more comfortable.

But Teo had an air about him, a laidback air. She couldn’t see him offering her any sort of drama and she had no prior connection to him. No abundant and questionable history, only a very vague memory of seeing him among those at the Western Air Temple when she’d attacked it. It hadn’t been personal, not in the way it was with Zuko. She wondered if she should bring it up at all.

Instead she turned her page up again and handed him the sketch.

He held it up to the actual dragon statue. “Not bad.” He noted.

“Not finished.” She reminded. He handed it back. Rather he tried to. “It’s yours.” She didn’t know why she had given it to him, he hadn’t requested it. But if felt like a good thing to do at the time.

“Thanks.” He grinned. “I don’t think anyone has given me a drawing before, especially not a lady. I’m not exactly a hit with the ladies.”

“I’m not exactly a… ‘hit’ with anyone.” Azula muttered.

“I don’t know, I like you.” He replied. “You’re…eccentric.”

Azula concluded that, that was rather well as far as first encounters went. It hadn’t been as smooth or seamless as she wanted it to be, but she hadn’t ruined anything yet. The truth was she wanted a friend again. She needed a friend, especially one that didn’t come with a messy history.

She spoke with him many times after that. Each time he treated her very well, better than perhaps most people treated her. She came to know his habits and those little quirks he had; such as pushing on his aviation goggles when he was bored or trying to distract himself. She wondered if he had picked up any of her habits. He enjoyed sightseeing, Azula came to find. Teo constantly requested to see new places, and so she began showing him lesser known spots. Sections of the Fire Nation that she’d come to know because she had lived there for so long and explored it so passionately.

One day Teo asked her if she had ever flown before.

“Many times.” She replied. “On warships and on the back of a bison.”

“How about with a glider?” He asked.

“Once.” Azula replied thinking of the mishap where she’d thrown herself off of Appa in a poorly planned escape attempt. “Well it wasn’t exactly flying.”

“A while ago I dated this village girl named Li-Roa.” Teo started. “Before we broke up she wanted to fly on my glider with me, so my father invented a glider big enough for me and my chair and for Li as well.” He explained. “I haven’t used it since…”

“And you want to use it with me?” Azula filled it.

“If you’re interested.”

Somehow Azula felt honored, which wasn’t an easy thing to make her feel. But she was conflicted; she’d seen Teo on his own glider and it never looked stable. He boasted that he’d been using the same glider wheelchair since he was a boy, only changing it when he out grew it. Azula was no aviator, in fact being so high up with nothing to hold onto made her somewhat queasy, but she would never admit it. Yet there Teo was, vowing to teach her to fly. The princess didn’t know if she wanted to fly.

Not until she allowed him to slip in and convince her.

He took her hand and helped her into the chair.

“We won’t go too high at first, not until you get the hang of it.”

“The hang of it?” Azula frowned. “You’re steering.”

“Yes, but you have to do some peddling also.”

“Wonderful.” Azula grumbled. But she wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge, even if her belly was fluttering and tied in all sorts of knots. Teo walked her thought the basics; as it would turn out he neglected to tell her that she would be in charge of steering the rear glider. He explained it much like sailing, all she had to do position the glider-piece so that it would catch the most wind. As long as she did that and distributed her weight evenly the flight would go smoothly. “If you can beat us during an eclipse where we have the disadvantage, you can do this.” Teo declared.

“Well I suppose you’re right.” Azula agreed. Rather she pretended to. She still had her doubts.

She had expected him to reassure her, to tell her that she’d do just fine on more time. And he did. What she didn’t expect was a hug. She could remember the last time someone had initiated one with her. But it was probably a time when she and TyLee wee close. She let him hold her for a moment before she finally returned the gesture. The nervousness that, that ignited within her pushed out the fluttery feeling brought by the anticipation of flight. She hoped that her cheeks weren’t any shade pink. He let her go and with a smile asked, “are you ready?”

Actually, being in the air was a different matter altogether. It was exhilarating. To have her hair tossed about and her robes fluttering so wildly. She felt like a real dragon. Flying with Teo was much different than the airships and much different than the bison. This time she had some navigational control and it was fantastic. She felt so free. On top of that, she’d never had such a splendid view of her nation. Once or twice Teo called back to her to tell her that she was doing great or to ask her which way she’d like to go next. That was the thing though, in that one moment, she wanted to go everywhere.

In time, wanting to go everywhere became wanting to go anywhere. Teo had a sense of adventure that she didn’t, not until she talked to him more. Teo kindled within her, the ability to express herself, to truly decide what she wanted to do. And she found that she was rather fond of the notion of seeing the hidden corners of the world. She took him to Ember Island and to Hira’a. Hira’a where she revealed things about herself that she kept concealed from most others. Things that concerned her poor relationship with her mother. She didn’t ask for it and she didn’t think that she had displayed any particular signs of distress, but he took her hand anyways and he held it for a long time. That night she had sketched a picture of a bamboo mask; one of the many things that adorned the town stage. She found herself answering Teo’s inquiries more than actually watching the play.

In return he took her to the place where his village used to stand. That had been a very raw moment. One where he rubbed at tearful eyes and told her about how he’d lost his mother there and how that was the moment he’d become a freak. The princess wasn’t good with words of comfort and gestures of it came hard as well. But she had assured him that he was no more of a freak than someone who heard things that weren’t there. She noted that he probably wouldn’t be Teo without the hardships and lessons that the loss of feeling in his legs had given him. Anyways, she was slowly learning that the perfection that she had once coveted was overrated anyhow. It was odd to admit it and if felt wrong coming from her lips. But apparently, she had done something right. Because that day was first time he kissed her. She wasn’t a graceful kisser to begin with and trying to find the right position around the wheelchair was a bit of a task, she felt a tad flustered for it. Eventually he coaxed her into sitting on his lap, from there pressing her lips against his came naturally. For some time he held her with her head against his chest and his hand over brushing over her hair, watching a few stars begin pop up over one of the many ruined houses.

A quick sketch of the ruins and the stars above, found a place among her other drawings.

Eventually, spending so much time with her, Teo would see sides of her; the darker, rougher ones. The wilder ones that most people feared. The ones she went out of her way to bury deep and hide from him. He was the only person who didn’t seem to fear her nor to be weary of her and she wanted to keep that. Teo had been spontaneous from the start so she shouldn’t have been surprised at how readily he accepted and worked with the more dangerous of her moods. He was patient and somehow unphased by the worst of her threats, until her temper dulled again.

Azula found it very well to know that at least one person seemed to love her in spite of her worst self. To know that at least one person was accepting of that part and didn’t demand that she make any abrupt changes. For the first time she felt at ease with someone. For the first time she felt as though she had someone who didn’t expect anything of her. Someone who didn’t love her power nor her brains, but loved the person shaped by these qualities. The person who possessed them. She just hoped that he felt as comfortable around her. That she conveyed just as much care.

She must have if he was still traveling with her.

If he still unfolded the drawing she’d given him when they first talked.

“You still have that?” She asked one day as the sat at the edge of a dock. Jang Hui was a gem so close to home she wondered how she had never been. Last she heard, the place was a sludgy mess. The river looked rather pristine to her.

“Of course I still have it.” Teo replied.

“It’s a terrible drawing.” She muttered.

“I don’t know, I think that it’s better than that lion-moose you tried to draw.” He shrugged.

She gave his arm a swift punch. “My lion-moose looked better than you ever will.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Ouch.” He muttered.

“Here.” She said suddenly, handing him an assortment of pages. She and Teo found themselves on one of the Fire Islands. It was close enough to home for Azula to know their trip was coming to a close. It seemed like it had been such a short time, had it really been over a year? It must have been; each drawing in that collection had been dated. And there were hundreds of different sketches, one from each day—a little something that meant something to her. Some were quite dismal, the ones that she had painted in some Earth Kingdom bayou for one. That part of their trip had been a mistake, it was a part that had thrown her terribly off and sent her right back into a place where she couldn’t decipher the real from the false. On those days she had drawn her hallucinations, horrifying swamp beasts and the taunting face of her father as it molded in with the scenery. The only thing that kept her from going completely under was Teo admitting that he’d been having visions of his own. The swamp had been alive with spirit energy and it had, had them both on edge.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Sketches, from each day since we started this journey.” Azula replied. “I wanted to make something for you.”

Teo flipped through the pages. Many of them were adorned with flora, trees, and other plant life—most of which were the ones he’d pointed out to her. She also had a few buildings, artifacts, and people. The one that stood out to him was her rendition of the elaborate door to the Southern Air-Temple. There was something very Fire Nation to her version of it, he thought that this was how the door would look if made by Fire Nation hands. Her latest drawing was of a very old man named Doc…or was it Shoo? He seemed to use them interchangeably. Each and every one seemed better than the next, her skill was flourishing fast, not that he expected anything else. “They’re gorgeous.” He sighed, “but I didn’t make anything for you.”

Azula shrugged. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“I should have thought of it though.” He pointed out.

“You gave me the opportunity to draw them at all.” She replied. He watched her kick her feet at the water. If he could draw, that would have been an image to capture. She looked peaceful, her hair let loose and rippling over her shoulders.

“I guess that that’s true.” He agreed. “I wish I could do that.”

“Draw?” Azula asked.

“No,” he pointed to her swinging feet. “I’ve never dangled my feet in the water before.”

Azula looked at him for a moment, contemplating something. Without so much as a warning, she lifted him from his wheelchair. The woman was stronger than he had anticipated. Carefully she set him down, took his shoes off, and turned him so that his feet finally met the water. He was overtaken by a sense of glee, it was such a simple and stupid thing to be delighted over. And yet…

“Well? Is it everything you hoped for.”

“Yeah, I think I can see some fish under there too!” He exclaimed.

“A few have brushed by, yes.”

He wished that he could actually feel them rushing by. Feel the sensations of the water. But it was enough for him, to be able to have his feet in the water at all.

“Thanks.” He beamed up at the princess.

She shrugged, “you act like it was hard to do.”

“It still means a lot. People don’t realize that I like this kind of small stuff…” he trailed off. “It’s always Teo the bold and adventurous. Teo the independent and daring. No one seems to think that sometimes Teo could use some help.”

No one seemed to think that of Azula either so she nodded in understanding. “I take it you don’t like to ask for it either.”

He rubbed the back of his head with a goofy smile. “Not particularly.” And then he added, “I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“You didn’t bother me.” She rather liked having someone to help, actually.

“Would you mind helping me back into my wheelchair?” He asked.

“Now that’s asking too much.” Azula smirked. She gave a small pause before scooping him into her arms. She was going to fufill his request, but decided that she liked holding him more than she fancied helping he right back into the chair. Anyways, he didn’t seem to mind it any. With him in her arms and the late summer sun dazzling her skin, Azula decided that she liked this much more than she would have enjoyed the throne. There was a sense of imprisonment that came with the throne, Zuko couldn’t very well just leave on a year-long sabbatical as she had just done. She rested her chin on the top of his head.

To think, it began with one irritating political quest and one ridiculous moment at a fountain.

#awwsummerlove #Azula #Teo #TeZula #Avatar #Fanfiction

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