Chapter Text
Outside the air was a swirling storm of white. It had been snowing since early morning and it was piling higher and higher outside. The roads would be horrible but Hakoda and Bato had already offered to get out air mattresses if need be. No one was in a hurry to leave.
It was one of the first days of winter break and Hakoda and Bato had decided to have everyone over to celebrate the start of another break. Hakoda said he felt like celebrating because he got to have Sokka home for the duration of the break. Of course, it was just an excuse. Sokka, Azula, and Zuko were here almost every weekend anyway.
Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee were giving Toph tips on scoring in college in low voices and changing the subject to tips on doing well academically in college every time an adult walked past. Uncle Iroh was playing a game of Pai Sho with Aang while June sipped a glass of wine and heckled them. Ursa, Ikem, Hakoda, and Bato were discussing the campaign to defund the police in Ba Sing Se and Hira’a which Katara and Aang were working on. Azula passed them while carrying two cups of hot cider from the kitchen and smiled to herself. She was incredibly grateful to Katara and Aang for this campaign as she and June didn’t have a lot of time to work on solutions for the bigger issues in Ba Sing Se while hunting down every member of the Dai Li for Mayor Kuei.
Azula sat down next to Katara on the sofa and handed her one of the cups of cider. Zuko and Sokka were sitting across from them on the love seat playing Animal Crossings. Azula had tried to understand the appeal of that stupid game so many times but she still didn’t get it. There was no challenge. It didn’t even have any gratuitous violence to make it entertaining. It seemed to make Zuko and Sokka happy though.
“Your dads are bragging about you again,” Azula informed Katara.
“As they should,” Sokka said.
“Agreed,” Azula said. “The last two Dai Li members June and I exposed for evidence of illegal spying were police officers. This is getting ridiculous. There’s no reason for these people to have the level of power they have-”
“There she goes,” Zuko teased.
“She’s right,” Katara said.
“I know,” Zuko said.
For some reason, Zuko and Sokka were both laughing.
“What?” Azula asked. “Are you making fun of us?”
“Better not be,” Katara said.
“No,” Sokka said. “Not really. It’s just that you two do rant about this pretty often.”
Azula rolled her eyes and sipped her hot cider. “Have you managed to learn anything more about your mother’s investigation?”
Ever since Azula had explained that Kya was killed for suspecting the existence of the Lake Laogai lab after meeting Ursa as “Noriko,” Katara, Sokka and Hakoda had been going through Kya’s old things. They had discovered a journal and debated the ethics of reading it but decided that Kya would have wanted them to. It turned out Kya had come very close to uncovering the secrets of the corruption in Ba Sing Se years before Team Teen Vigilantes had come into existence.
“We know she was very close to the truth,” Sokka said. “Ozai could’ve been taken down years ago.”
“It’s pointless to worry about what could’ve been,” Katara said. “Mom was a hero. She died trying to do the right thing.”
“I think she’d be proud that her kids are fighting for justice too,” Hakoda said.
They all looked up. No one had noticed him pausing as he walked past. Katara and Sokka exchanged a smile.
Taking down Long Feng had felt like an ending at first. It quickly became clear that there were still members of the Dai Li throughout Ba Sing Se and Hira'a though, and June even had concerns that the cult had spread even further. Long Feng had been the one responsible for drugging people in an attempt to create more Joo Dees but they didn't know who else had the formula to recreate the drug. It seemed his plan had been to turn anyone who might threaten his power into a Joo Dee by drugging and brainwashing them. It seemed likely that he'd been planning to brainwash Mayor Kuei too, once he was able to recreate the drug more effectively. He'd killed a total of three women. One, June had found in the alley. The other had been the one Katara read about in the news. The feet Zuko and Sokka had discovered belonged to a third woman who's body was still being searched for. The first two women had been identified as radicals with beliefs that threatened Long Feng's vision for Ba Sing Se.
There was still so much work to be done. It was always on Azula's mind. She and June were working on taking down the Dai Li but it was very difficult to track down every member and even then they had to prove they'd been doing something illegal. Taking down Long Feng was only the beginning
Later, Azula and Katara lay in bed watching horror videos on Youtube. Everyone was staying the night because of the snow. Hakoda and Bato were making Zuko sleep downstairs. Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee were allowed to sleep in the living room together but there wasn’t a lot of danger for anything PG-13 happening considering Ursa, Ikem, June, and Iroh were also sleeping down there on air mattresses. Hakoda and Bato didn’t know about Azula and Katara yet so the ‘no teenage couples sleeping together’ rule hadn’t kicked in. Azula and Katara planned to tell them eventually but being allowed to share a bed during sleepovers was a very nice perk.
“Hit pause,” Azula whispered.
Katara paused the video and gave Azula a questioning look.
“I thought I heard something,” Azula whispered.
“You say that every time we watch these paranormal videos Ty Lee sends,” Katara said. “I’m starting to think you’re a believer.”
“Shut up I am not,” Azula said.
“You are,” Katara said. “You’ve been spending too much time around Ty Lee and you totally believe in ghosts now.”
“Shut up, no I don’t!”
“Maybe this house is haunted.”
“Shut up.”
“Make me.”
Azula leaned in for a kiss. Just as things were getting very good though, there was another creak in the hallway. They froze.
“I heard it that time,” Katara whispered.
They got up and both tip-toed to the door. Katara cracked it open and they both peeked out. There was a loud thud, and then a stream of whispered curses.
“Zuko?” Azula asked, opening the door all the way.
“Sh!” Zuko said.
The sound of someone walking up the stairs reached them and they all froze.
“Say you were getting up for water,” Zuko said to Azula.
“Bite me.”
“Come on, please?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be sneaking around and having secret midnight rendezvous with your boyfriend,” Azula snickered.
“I will tell Hakoda and Bato about you two, so help me.”
“Fine, go!”
Zuko gave them a grateful look and darted down the hall and into Sokka’s room.
Hakoda got to the top of the steps a minute later. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“I was just getting a glass of water, sir,” Azula said.
“Oh, alright,” Hakoda said, yawning. “Try not to wake up the people sleeping downstairs.”
“Yes sir.”
Hakoda disappeared down the steps and Azula and Katara burst into giggles and went back into Katara’s room, closing the door.
They flopped onto the bed, still laughing.
“I am going to have to tell my dads eventually,” Katara said after a bit.
“Eventually,” Azula agreed.
They both leaned in for another kiss and within seconds the issue of when they’d tell Hakoda and Bato was forgotten. When they kissed it was easy to forget about everything else. The massive amounts of work still to be done to continue dismantling corruption felt far away. The increase in Katara’s nightmares since she’d started therapy and the sometimes frustrating experience of Azula, Zuko, and Ursa attending family therapy were faraway concepts. Azula’s concerns that she wouldn’t know how to do this hadn’t disappeared but they’d faded. Everything was still hard but it felt easier when she was with Katara. That had to be a good thing, didn't it? It was the beginning of something and it was scary at times, but it was also exciting and beautiful. When they kissed, the world disappeared and it was just them and it felt like maybe everything could be okay.