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Chapter Text

The cat had been on their ship for five months now and within that time Iroh had learned that she divided her time into three main parts. The first was following Zuko around. When she first got on the ship, she didn't stray too far from the thirteen year old. Even when he started moving around the ship, she didn't stray too far from him.

The second was constantly napping in warm spots on the ship. Though Iroh didn't find this too out of the ordinary. There were thousands of cats throughout the Fire Nation, both domestic and wild, and they all shared that trait. The only problem with her naps was that she didn't seem to care if the spot was dangerous. Like when they couldn't find her for hours and the cook suddenly started screaming because the cat was sleeping on top of the stove. Iroh was 60% certain that cat and Zuko were going to give him a heart attack at some point.

The third was pointing at spiritual places on the map. This had allowed Zuko to come up with the idea that she was a spirit’s cat that had somehow managed to make it into the mortal world. Iroh did agree that there was something different about the cat, but he didn’t think she was a spirit cat. Perhaps she could be a similar to the legendary foxes that, supposedly, brought Wan Shi Tong his information. If Zhao was actually correct and the library existed.

Spirit cat or not, she did spend a good amount of time with Zuko. No one seemed to understand why though, including Zuko. Even on days when he left the ship to go into a town or investigate a place or even just to stretch his legs, she would follow.

“It’s like when Azula was younger and she would follow me all over the place.” He said as they walked into a shipping port one day.

The cat meowed and jumped onto his shoulders when he said Azula, “Even spirit cats are afraid of her.” He chuckled. Another meow this one more annoyed.

“You know, nephew, if she is going to stay with us we should get her some kind of collar.” The cat hissed at Iroh making him back up.

“She doesn’t seem happy about that idea.”

“It’s for her own good. If she gets lost, she’ll be thought of as a stray without identification.”

Zuko couldn’t place it but he definitely saw a flash of human emotion on the cat. She curled up tighter around his neck and he offered her a scratch behind her ears.

“Fine.”

They were in a shipping port so it was hard to find someone who was selling items for animals. After an hour or so of searching, they did finally find someone who was selling what they were looking for. He had collars, beds, toys, food, anything people could want. When he saw them walking over, he grabbed some items for a cat. Zuko could feel her claws digging in as she hissed. Another thing he had noticed was that she hated being treated like a cat. It just fed into his spirit theory.

"We're just looking for a collar for her. Nothing else.

"Aww. She's so cute. I've never seen a cat like her before. What kind is she? Owl cat? Iguana cat? Rabbit cat?”

“Just a cat.”

“Huh? Weird.” The vendor shrugged it off, “I think these should do nicely.” He brought out a couple different collars with varying colors. The only color not available was red because of it's connection to the Fire Nation. All of the collars also had a small piece of metal attached to the center.

“Oh! Look at this one! It’s beautiful.” Iroh was holding a light pink collar, "A pretty collar for the pretty cat."

If a cat could kill someone with a stare, Iroh would be dead and buried. She hissed at him again and swung her claws. This time she was standing up and looked very ready to jump on Iroh's face. Unfortunately, because she stood up, Zuko started to wobble a little.

"Uncle, I don't think she likes that color."

"Just try it on to see how it looks." Iroh wasn't able to get the collar anywhere near the cat before she took off. She grabbed another collar from the vendor and began to run back towards the ship.

"Stop that cat!" Zuko did manage to catch her before she made it too far.

“Azula. Woah. It’s okay.” He brought her back to the stall and gave both collars back to the vendor, "You don't have to wear the pink collar." That seemed good enough for the cat, who returned to her position around Zuko's neck.

“Azula?” Iroh questioned.

“Ya. I named her Azula.” Zuko said, "Because she keeps following me around...and she tried to claw my eyes out when I suggested turtleduck."

The cat, Azula, purred and offered him a happy meow, “See? She likes the name."

Iroh’s eyes narrowed in speculation, but he said nothing about the name, “Then what color would Azula like?”

Azula jumped onto the stand and grabbed the blue collar. The same one she had run away with a few seconds ago, “You either have one smart cat or a very picky one.” The vendor chuckled.

“I think we’re gonna go with picky.” Zuko said, “How much for the blue collar?”

“20 pieces of silver.”

The collar did fit nicely around her neck but Zuko could tell Azula hated having it on. The name Azula was engraved onto the metal that hung from the blue collar.

“You know, when you see human Azula again she’s going to be very angry that you named a cat after her.” Iroh laughed while they returned to the ship.

“What human Azula doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

He didn’t notice the cat’s almost human like smirk as she curled around his neck. Happy that her brother was giving her a ride back to the ship.

Chapter Text

“Mom! You’re pulling my hair!”

“Sorry, sweetie.” Ursa eased her grip on her daughter’s hair but continued braiding. She didn’t trust any of the servants to do it right or to not pull her daughter’s ears.

“I hate these stupid pigtails. I want a topknot like you, Zuzu and father.”

“You need your hair in pigtails for the gala.”

“Why the dress though?” She mumbled.

“You know why.”

She did. Azula’s cat ears and tail had a habit of appearing even when she didn’t want them to. Usually they came from emotions, like when she and Zuko were playing or arguing, but they could also show up if she fell asleep and at a gala this boring there was definitely a possibility of that.

“Still hate them.” She mumbled.

“I know you do, sweetie, but we can’t have you running around with cat ears and a tail.”

When Azula was younger, Ursa and Ozai both agreed to not have her anywhere near any important dinners or events for fear that her cat features or, spirits forbid, behavior would come out. She’d gotten a lot better, making it clear that the older she got the more mastery she had over her other form, but she still had a long way to go. Apparently she had mastered her cat form enough though to go to galas.

Still Azula didn’t understand why her parents acted like her cat form was a secret. Everyone knew about her spirit blessing/curse. Why did her parents try to hide it?…Was it really that shameful?

“Mom!” Zuko’s voice rang through the halls.

“Yes, baby?”

“I can’t find my boots.”

“I’ll be right back, Azula. Don’t mess with your hair or dress.”

Once her mother was gone, Azula brought her hand up so that it was within her line of vision. She breathed in and out, making sure to keep her mind clear, and focusing on turning it into a paw. Once she was calm and focused, her body worked as she wanted. Maybe if she could stay calm and collected throughout the event and have no issues her parents would stop making her dress like this? It was worth a shot.

That night, Azula stood next to her parents with the perfect expression for every guest. Zuko peeled off half way through to socialize with the general’s and nobleman’s sons but Azula remained. Mai and Ty Lee wouldn’t be attending the event but that was for the best. They’d just make her overly excited or uncalm and her cat features would come out.

“Very good job, Azula.” Her father said once the guests were seating, “Keep it up and you can take those disgusting pigtails out.”

‘Keep calm, keep calm.’ She kept thinking, “Thank you, father. Should I sit down now?”

“Go mingle. You should know your people as their princess.”

“Of course.”

Mingle for Ozai meant ‘leave and don’t bother me’. Azula didn’t really care though. The young girl circulated around, greeting people when they spoke to her.

‘Only speak when spoken to.’ Her father’s lessons had been quite clear on that.

Eventually, she found Zuko talking to General Aoi’s son, Riku, and took a seat next to him. It was better than walking around aimlessly.

“You must be Princess Azula.” Riku bowed to her.

“I am.” She confirmed, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Forgive me, but I heard about your whole…cat spirit thing and I had to know if it was true.”

Her heart sped up for a second before she forced it to return to normal. He just asked a simple question. Nothing more, nothing less. There was no need to get upset.

“It is. Though I’d rather not discuss it.”

“I can understand why. If it had been a dragon or phoenix spirit your father would never shut up about it but a domestic cat? That’s has to be a blow and what if your children inherit it? It’ll be a whole line of people with powerful firebending who can be defeated by throwing cat nip in their faces.” He was laughing by the end and Azula’s cheeks turned red. Her eyes began to turn to slits when she was pulled away.

Zuko had grab her hand and pulled her away from him towards the buffet. Her heart was beating loudly now and she couldn’t get it under control. To make matters worse, she knew her eyes had changed because her vision was acting up.

“Hey. Look at me. Breath.” A voice told her.

“Zuzu?”

“Ya. I’m here.”

“My-my ears…?”

“They’re not out.” He said, “Your eyes changed though. Do mom’s breathing exercise.”

She nodded and repeated the exercise her mother had shown her. Two breaths in, a long one out, one in, and one out. Blinking a few times after returned her vision to normal which was good because whenever she had her cat vision she was color blind. A very bad thing to be in a nation filled with the color red.

She let out a sigh of relief, “Thank Agni.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m trying to stay calm so father and mother will let me go to events without these ridiculous precautions.” She pulled at her pigtails and dress.

“You’re trying to keep your ears and tail from coming out.”

“That’s what I just said.”

“I can help.” He offered.

“Really?”

He nodded, “I’ll stay with you tonight and if you start to feel upset or anything just say you see Uncle Iroh or grab my hand.”

“Thanks.”

That plan served them well for most of the night. By the time they returned to their parents for dinner, Ozai allowed her to take her pigtails out. Her mother quickly did a royal topknot making Azula smile proudly at the room full of guests as her father gave a speech about the power of the Fire Nation and how the war would be over soon.

Dinner went nicely as well. By the time the servants took her last plate she hadn’t even thought of her cat features. Maybe she was finally turning a corner?

Soon enough she and Zuko started to get tired. Their mother noticed this and told Ozai she would bring them to their rooms then return. Zuko opened his eyes when his mother came over, sensing her shadow over him.

“Ready to head back to your rooms?” She brushed a piece of hair out of his face and smiled.

He nodded before turning to Azula and his eyes widened. Her ears were out as were her whiskers.

“Azula! Zula!” He whispered, “Wake up.”

She blinked her eyes, yawned and stretched, “What?” He just pointed to her head and she quickly understood, making the features disappear but not before her mother saw.

Ursa pushed them both out of the room, hoping Ozai didn’t see his daughter. If he did, he made no look to her but she wouldn’t know until she returned for the rest of the party.

“Maybe you should have kept the pigtails in for the night.” Ursa said as they started walking back to the rooms.

“No!” Keep calm, keep calm, “No. They only showed up when I fell asleep for a second. I can control them!” Azula didn’t even need to look to know her tail was thrashing back and forth.

“You will learn to control your cat form with time.” Ursa told her, “For now, you need to keep wearing the pigtails and dresses.”

“Why? Everyone knows about my cat form.”

“Azula. Please.” Her mother said nothing else’s but a look was enough to tell the young princess that the conversation was over for the night. She and Zuko both retreated to their rooms.

Not feeling all that tired anymore, Azula flipped through one of the many spirit books she had collected in her room. When she was old enough to understand that other people couldn’t turn into different animals, she started getting as many books as possible about spirits to see what they said about curses/blessings. Ursa would find her the next morning asleep with one of the books open to a page talking about a spirit called Aye-Aye.

Azula never found anything about what she was, why the spirits would curse her or how to remove it.

Chapter Text

Ba Sing Se was...something. Azula was having trouble pinpointing how she felt about the place. Everything that was awful about this place also had an upside. The lower ring, where they were staying, was awful but their apartment was much better than the ship. There weren’t a lot of cats in Ba Sing Se, she had to sneak into Zuko’s bag just to make it onto the ferry, meaning people were constantly grabbing at her and kids were chasing after her. Neither of those things were good but other people like Jin and Pao were very nice to her. Pao didn’t say a word about her technically being here illegally and gave her any extra food at the end of the day. Jin was very smart and, when she came into the teashop, she always brought something for Azula.

All in all, Azula had no clue if she disliked Ba Sing Se or liked it.

That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the parts of the city that were nice, like Jin. Azula had begun to notice in recent days that the girl was coming in a lot. Zuko had told her he suspected she knew Zuko and Uncle were Fire Nation, but Azula doubted that. If she really believed that, she would have told the guards or fought Zuko like that crazy guy tried to do a few weeks ago. No. This was something else. The cause of Jin's frequent was discovered when she arrived one day and asked Zuko out.

The night they were supposed to go out, Iroh styled Zuko’s hair so it had a glossed over look. Azula rolled her eyes from the window sill. Did her uncle have no sense when it came to hair? Zuko looked ridiculous. She jumped over to them and put her front legs on Zuko’s side.

“What do you think, Azula?” She took this as her opportunity and batted his hair with her paw, “Azula. Don’t.” Why? It looked so much better like that. Better than whatever their uncle had done to his head.

“Don’t worry. I can do it again.” He could create that atrocity of a hairstyle again? Was she the only one who remembered how important hair was? Jin would see it and be scared off in a second.

Eventually though, it was time for the date and Zuko left looking like that. Azula, wanting to see Jin’s reaction, followed Zuko, making sure he couldn’t see her, and slipped out the door with him.

“Hey. Well look at you. You look so cute.” She put a hand in his hair returning it to it’s proper state. Thank you, Jin. She should win some kind of award for getting rid of that hairstyle.

“It took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair.”

“And how long to watch the cat?”

“What-Azula. Don’t worry, she’s not joining us.” One of the worst things about being turned into a cat? Everyone was stronger than her now. Zuko, Uncle, the Avatar and his friends. Heck, she almost lost a fight to the Avatar’s lemur. Which is something she’s sure Zuko will never let her live down if he ever finds out she’s really his human sister.

Zuko picked her up and set her back inside the building before closing the door on her. Did he not notice the open windows? Azula shrugged, or whatever a cat does that equals shrugging, and returned to the apartment. Iroh was shocked when she came back probably because he never realized she left in the first place. It was times like these that she wished her new body was capable of laughing. The sun wasn’t out so there were no warm places to lay down and Uncle was pretty clear that the stove was off limits. Eventually, she decided to lay on the couch and curl up.

“Zuko’s first date. I wonder how it’ll go.” Was he talking to her?

“He’ll do fine as long as he doesn’t keep up the sad boy personality the entire time.” A meow, "Spirits only know that that made him perfect for Mai." Meow.

“You’re right. Perhaps the hair was a bad decision, but we’ll never know until he returns home.” She missed being able to actually talk to people. No one understood what she was saying unless she made it incredibly clear and even then there was no guaranty.

“The hair was a bad decision. Why on Agni’s green earth would you ever do something like that?” Another meow. Even if he couldn't understand her, she'd still respond.

“I’m going to assume you hated the hair.” Maybe he was learning what her meow’s meant, “It really was good and it doesn’t feel any different than getting washing it. Let me show you.”

Azula saw him come close to her with that hair gel and bolted. No way was she letting him near her with that stuff. Her fur was one of the few things she actually liked about being a cat. Uncle was not going to mess it up. Besides, was that stuff even made for cats? She dove under a cabinet and hissed when she saw Iroh’s hands feel around for her.

“Azula. Come out.” Iroh said, “The stuff really isn’t that bad. I promise I’m a good hairstylist.” Now that was a lie. She’d seen that spirits awful ponytail he’d given Zuko on the ship and now he let his nephew walk out of the apartment looking like that. Her royal hairstylist back in the palace would faint if she saw any of those hairdos.

Azula slipped out from under the cabinet, avoiding Iroh’s hand. She then raced over to the table. Her plan was to jump up on the table then to the windows and spend the night on the roof until things had quieted down. However, she miscalculated a Iroh’s movement and he pulled the table cloth out from under her, making her fall onto the carpet and the table fell down. It wasn’t a mess. The table was perfectly fine, but it did create a loud bang. She used the fallen table to hide again. This time Iroh couldn't find her.

"Azula!" He yelled.

No way. Not while he was still holding that thing. What she'd give to be able to firebend right now. Her thought vanished when she noticed her uncle standing right next to her hiding spot.

'Please don't find me. Please don't find me.' Her prayers were ignored as her uncle's eyes met her golden cat eyes.

"There you are. Come on out."

When Iroh put his hand closer to her body, Azula reacted more on cat instinct than anything else and brought her claws down on him. His hand retreated in a second as he looked over the four lines of blood. It was a minor injury, but stung nonetheless. Azula heard him set the gel down as he went to tend to his hand.

In all her time as a cat, she had very rarely actually clawed Zuko or her Uncle. She had done so a bit in her first few months because she had no clue how to control her claws. Now that she had more control, actually making contact with the skin was unusual. Most of the time, it was just swiping at them and hissing to let the two know she was uncomfortable or didn't like something.

After a few minutes, she came out of her hiding spot and curled up next to her uncle, who was sitting on the couch. He began to pet her back making her purr. Another part of being a cat was the uncontrollable purring. Azula had realized in her first few weeks that the purring was something she both could and could not control. By now, she didn't really mind it too much.

"I'm sorry I tried to style your fur."

"I'm sorry I clawed you." A meow, "Apology accepted by the way."

"How about we can get some dinner?" He suggested.

Now that sounded good. Iroh got up to go prepare some food while Azula looked at the open bottle of gel. She jumped over to it and pawed at the substance. Oddly enough, now she was really curious about what her fur would look like styled. Iroh noticed her playing with the stuff and laughed.

"Now you want to try my hairstyling...or furstyling."

"Fine." A meow. Besides, maybe when he saw how horrible the gel made her fur look he wouldn’t use it again.

The process itself look a few minutes but once it was done Azula and her uncle could agree on one thing: she looked ridiculous.

“You were right.” Iroh chuckled, “It appears my hairstyling skills still leave something to be desired. Let’s get this off you and then get some food.” A perfect plan in both their eyes.

When Zuko came home, he didn’t acknowledge Iroh or Azula.

“How was your night, Prince Zuko?” A door slam was the first answer.

Then the door opened a bit, “It was nice.”

Azula turned to look at her uncle. What was he expecting? Zuko wouldn’t be ready to start dating this soon, especially not some Earth Kingdom peasants when Mai was still out there.

“Baby steps, Azula, baby steps.”

Chapter Text

Azula being a cat had a few different meanings. The servants had come to understand that when a black cat was walking around, it was best to remain quiet. Ursa learned how to brush a cat’s fur before they found someone who was a professional. Ozai had to ‘remind’ Azula what would happen if she ever displayed cat behavior during a meeting or when generals or nobles were present. And Zuko had to deal with his sister annoying him at 3 in the morning because, as Azula explained, she felt like it. However, one of the weirdest parts of having a cat princess was having to watch where they walked and sat because Azula was known for falling asleep in the weirdest places.

Ursa was exhausted. It had been a full day of meeting with generals, planning for Zuko’s upcoming birthday, and listening to Ozai go on and on about the war. She was glad to hear that they were advancing in the Earth Kingdom, but did it need to take up their whole lunch break?

When she got to her room that night, she took off her makeup and jewelry and collapsed onto her bed. At least, that was the plan. When her head made contact with the pillow a cat screech filled the room. Ursa, now wide awake, sat up as her daughter came running out from the pillow.

“Azula! What are you doing? Why were you in my pillow?!” She cried.

The cat meowed at her mother then looked away, “Were you waiting for me?” Again a meow, “Please turn back so we can talk. I can’t understand you like Zuko.” Zuko could translate almost all of Azula’s meows perfectly but Ursa was still learning. A few weeks ago, Azula had refused to talk to Ursa in anything but meows and Zuko had to serve as the translator for their argument.

A meow. Ursa let out a sigh, clearly Azula wasn't up for talking about this. It was better not to push her.

“Fine. Do you want to go back in the pillow? What's the plan? I have to sleep.” Her daughter jumped onto the bed and curled up into the pillow next to her mother. It was a pretty well known fact throughout the palace that Ozai and Ursa didn't sleep in the same room meaning Azula wasn't worried about anyone else laying their head on her, "Good night, Azula.” A meow that Ursa could translate as, ‘Night, mom.’

Ozai had kept her waiting for over two hours. Not only that he had called for her directly after her training so she was exhausted. Azula arrived in the room, waiting for her father, and felt her eyes start to become heavy. She was sitting next to a table and decided to rest her body, hoping that would keep her from falling asleep. She was wrong.

When Ozai walked into the room he was surprised to find his daughter absent. Had she left? He’d have to deal with that later. Suddenly the sound of breathing caught his attention. He turned to see a black cat with its face on the table and it’s body connected to the chair fast asleep. The cats front legs hung down as if the creature had been stretched.

“Azula?” The cat’s eyes snapped open and she quickly changed back to her human form.

Azula saw the anger in her father's eyes and fell into a bow.

“I'm sorry, father. It won’t happen again.” At least she understood her weakness. However, Ozai couldn't have her turning into a cat every time she fell asleep. She needed to learn better control.

“See to it that it doesn’t. I expect you to have that vermin under control by now.”

“I will-I do, but when I sleep-“

“I don’t want excuses!” The flames around him grew, “You are my prodigy. The one who should be getting the crown. If you can’t get a handle on this thing then I’ll be forced to find a replacement. And you don’t want that, right?”

“No, father. I understand, father.” Her slight trembling would be dealt with later.

“Good. Now head off to bed. It’s clear you are too young for what I had in mind.”

Azula willed herself not to transform for a week after that. She didn't fail to notice her mother and brother's concerned faces but she also noticed her father's proud words at hearing that she hadn't transformed all week. The only problem was that going so long without transforming or doing anything catlike was starting to get to her. Finally, while Mai and Ty Lee were visiting, she transformed because Zuko had assured the girls that Ozai wouldn't spot them.

Zuko was a little nervous. He hadn’t seen Azula all day. She had been at breakfast but didn’t show up to lunch, dinner or any of her firebending lessons. He ended up being too nervous to eat. Ursa was running frantically all over the palace while Ozai kept claiming she was fine. Azula’s cat form meant her getting stuck in places wasn’t uncommon, but it was weird for her to be absent for an entire day. If she was stuck, she usually screamed her head off and a servant heard her. This time the servants reported nothing.

“How can you sit here while your daughter is missing?!?”

“She’s fine! She’s probably stuck somewhere embarrassing and doesn’t want to be found.”

“You should be looking for her then!”

“She needs to learn that her cat form is a liability! I will not come to her rescue every time she makes a mistake.”

Dinner ended and still there was no sign of the princess. Azulon had agreed to Ursa's request that if, by morning, no one was able to find anything, a search party would be sent out. The Fire Lord didn't believe this to be a kidnapping, but a missing royal, for any reason, wouldn't look good to the people of the Fire Nation.

That night, Ursa was tucking Zuko into bed when she noticed his tears, "What if we can’t find her?” He asked.

“Oh! Don’t worry. Everyone is looking for her. Sooner or later we’ll find her. I promise.”

“But where could she be?”

“I don't know, but we'll find her. Get some rest."

Once his mother left, Zuko flicked his wrist making the flames disappear. He turned over in his bed. Where could Azula be? As his eyes began to feel heavy, a cat screech filled the room. His eyes snapped open and he shot up.

“Azula?” Another screech, “Azula? Where are you?”

He followed the cat screams of his sister and it brought him to his cabinets. Opening it up made a black cat rush out and onto his desk. The only thing he could really see was his sister’s eyes in the dark.

“Have you been in that cabinet all day?”

A meow that Zuko translated into, “Shut up.” He rolled his eyes and picked her up earning him another meow. It took Azula a second to realize he was hugging her.

“Mom has been looking all over for you. Come on."

He brought her straight to their mother, who was in the garden doing a fourth sweep with a lantern.

"Zuko? Sweetie, what are you doing out of bed? I-Azula!!"Zuko had to chuckle at Azula’s face as Ursa squeezed her.

“What happened? Where have you been?” Azula shifted back to her human form to answer her mother.

“I didn’t sleep last night so I wanted to get a nap in before my firebending training. The servants had just done Zuko’s laundry and it was so warm." Zuko glared at his sister for her plan to get cat fur all over his clothes, "I fell asleep and the servants didn’t see me in the cabinet.”

“You were locked in a cabinet all day?!?” Azula didn’t respond, “Azula, come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"To the kitchen. We'll get you something to eat then I want you to get to bed. Zuko, go back to bed. I'll make sure everyone knows we found Azula."

“Good night you crazy cat.”

“Good night you idiot brother.”

Chapter Text

One working eye or not, Zuko needed to practice his firebending. If he was going to fight the Avatar, he needed to be performing master firebending moves. So far, Uncle refused to move him off the basic stuff. He said his eye still needed to heal and he wasn’t going to show him any extra moves until he could walk around without the bandages.

“Whatever. I don’t need Uncle.” He mumbled.

The deck of the ship is where he always went to practice. Being on a ship meant that there was little room to move around and stay on solid ground, so the deck was the best place to practice and make sure no one got hurt. There were only three or four other firebenders, and they all usually worked during the day, so Zuko normally practiced alone. This wasn't new as he had generally practiced alone in the palace as well since Azula, well human Azula, had been moved to advanced classes when she was eight.

Zuko was in the middle of training one day when he saw Azula a few feet away from him. She appeared to be observing his moves and almost trying to replicate them. Zuko shook that thought out of his mind. She was a cat. She probably saw the flames and was trying to grab at them.

“Azula.” He picked up the cat, much to her annoyance, “You can’t be here right now. We’ll play later.” Iroh had informed him that it was best to keep her locked in his room while he was training. Better she be a bit upset than accidentally hit by a stray flame.

She absolutely hated it. She always yelled at Zuko both when he dumped her in his room and when he returned.

“I’m sorry, okay!? But I can’t even see out of my left eye. There’s too much of a chance that I could hit you or you could get scared by the flames and fall into the ocean...I’m trying to reason with a cat.” Azula gave him an angry meow then glared at him, “Fine. I get my bandages off tomorrow. You can watch me firebend then.” She seemed to perk up when he said that. In fact, her response was probably the happiest he'd seen her. Save the time they found that feather toy at one of the Earth Kingdom ports.

“She looks happy.” Zuko turned around when he heard Iroh's voice.

“I told her she could watch me firebend tomorrow.”

“I’ve never seen a cat with such strong feelings toward firebending.”

“Another good reason to name her Azula.” Zuko said, “Azula would be firebending by now.”

“Prince Zuko-”

“You know it’s true, Uncle.” Zuko argued, “If Azula was here, even if she had the same injury as me, she’d be firebending by now.” The two missed Azula nodding. Her brother was right. She’d never let an injury, no matter how horrible, prevent her from training.

“You needed time to rest and heal. It’s only been a few months and-”

“That’s too long. I need to keep practicing so I can fight the Avatar when I find him.” He’d never gotten a look of pity from a cat, “Don’t look at me like that. I will capture the Avatar.”

“Sure you will, Zuzu.” A meow.

The next day, Zuko kept his promise and let Azula watch him firebend or, at least, that’s what Azula thought he was doing. His footing was all wrong and his upper body movement looked like a child trying to copy a parent. How did he expect to fight the Avatar, assuming he ever found him, like this? Two untrained Water Tribe teenagers could probably beat him now with the state he was in. Though she didn't see them needing to fight any members of the Water Tribe anytime soon.

“Not bad, Prince Zuko.” Iroh said.

Not bad? Not bad for what? She could have done that move with her eyes closed.

“Azula could have done that move perfectly.”

“Azula isn’t here.” Azula really wished cats could laugh. Oh, how wrong her uncle was, “You don’t have to compare yourself to her. Try again.”

Another fail.

Azula had to give Zuko this: he didn’t give up. He kept trying again and again to get the move right. By nightfall, he retired to his room completely exhausted. Azula still didn’t have a permanent place to sleep in his room yet so she took refuge on his bedside table.

“Sorry if I confused you today by saying your name a lot. You’re just named after my little sister and she’s a firebending prodigy.” Very true, “Father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born.”

“I don’t know how lucky I am right now, Zuzu, considering the fact that I’m stuck as a cat...maybe forever.” She shook the thought from her mind. All Zuko heard though were some angry hisses.

“Don’t hiss at me. It’s true. She got everything at home! Father dotted on her all the time while he told me that he would have killed me if my mother hadn’t stepped in.”

“Says the boy who got mother’s love! It’s not my fault you never learned how to properly firebend! It’s not that difficult!” More angry hissing.

“Why are you so angry tonight!?” Zuko snapped before sighed, “I’m arguing with a cat. I’m arguing with a cat because I can’t perform a basic firebending move.”

Once everything had quieted down in the room, Azula’s head perked up. An idea had suddenly come to her and she jumped up, grabbing the firebending scroll Zuko had been training with. Zuko quickly got up and began to chase the cat.

“Azula! No. We’re not playing with that!” His yells woke the rest of the crew.

Azula didn’t stop until she arrived at the deck of the ship and dropped the scroll. Despite the fact that she was not a human, she still tried to replicate the move she saw on the scroll. Only to fall on her stomach because her body wasn’t used to standing on two legs. She pinned her ears against her head when she heard Zuko’s chuckling.

“Are you trying to firebend?” He asked.

“Is everything okay?” One of the sailors asked.

“Yes. Azula just really wants to live up to her namesake.”

When Azula tried again, landing this time on her face, she didn’t notice Zuko getting close enough to pick her and the scroll up.

“You can try again in the morning, okay? Firebenders are stronger then.”

“I know dum-dum. I just wanted to see if I could do it.”

“At least I have someone to train with now.”

From that day on, Azula did ‘train’ with Zuko. Although the sailors, Zuko and Iroh saw her attempts at firebending to be more her standing on two legs for a second then flopping on the ground. As time went on, Azula tried multiple different ways to firebend. She tried using the railing to keep herself upright, she tried using her tail, she even tried the breath of fire, but nothing seemed to work.

Every so often, Azula wouldn’t even try and instead hiss at Zuko. Jealousy was a bad color on her, but she couldn’t help it. Zuko was slowly getting better, but Azula knew she’d only get worse if she could never firebend again. She was an amazing firebender for only being eleven, but she didn’t want to get stuck at that level forever.

“Spirits. I don’t know what I did to get turned into a cat, but please give me back my bending.” She prayed one night, “Please. I promise I won’t complain about my cat form again," She added a 'to you' in her head because she could still mentally hate being stuck in this body, "as long as I can have my bending.” No spirit spoke to her.

The next day Azula walked onto the deck with Zuko. By now, no one thought anything of Azula joining Zuko in his firebending practice. That’s why hardly anyone was around when blue flames appeared on the deck. Zuko’s head quickly turned to Azula, who was laying on the deck. Even as a cat, she had a look of pure shock on her face.

“I-I-I have my bending back!!”

“Did...Did the cat just...?” Azula stopped her celebration and looked around nervously. She hadn’t been expecting her latest attempt to actually work. Not only that her flames were blue! A color not seen by firebending in generations. Even being a cat couldn’t stop her from being a prodigy. Her prayer to the spirits must have worked.

“The prince’s cat just firebent!” One of the sailors yelled.

“That’s impossible.” Another one said.

Azula found herself backing away from the growing crowd. Back at the palace, she never minded the people who gazed at her firebending and knew it’s power, but as a cat? She didn’t like it at all. They were all ten times bigger than her and looking at her like she was a circus exhibit. She bolted for Zuko the second someone suggested selling her.

“No one is selling Azula! You will not speak a word about what you saw here! Am I understood!?!” Flames escaped his mouth when he yelled the last line.

When the sailors nodded and left, Zuko brought her back to his room, making sure to close the door. He set her down on his desk and fell onto his bed.

“This just confirms my theory that you’re a spirit cat.” He said.

“I wish I was, Zuzu. Still, blue fire! Can you believe it!?” She couldn’t help being excited. Cat or not, that was impressive! All Zuko heard though was a serious of meows.

“Hope we’re not keeping you hostage here.” He chuckled.

“No. I chose to be on this ship.”

“Do you think you can do it again?” He asked.

She did. She did the exact same move as before and a small bit of blue fire escaped from her paws. It was no where near as powerful as it would be if she was human, but it was something.

“Spirits.” He whispered, “A firebending cat. Azula-human Azula-would lose her mind.”

“I would.”

Azula had no idea how much time passed. She just knew that Zuko changed his position on his bed, making himself more comfortable, meaning he probably wasn’t leaving anytime soon. She eventually decided to move to his bed side desk and curled up. Before falling asleep, she heard Zuko start to talk to her.

“Don’t firebend in public, okay? If anyone saw you, they really would sell you. I’m sorry I can’t protect you more.” He did have a point. If people saw a firebending cat, she’d become a prize for people to try and capture. Ironically enough, Ozai would probably have tried to capture a cat like her for her human self, “Okay, Azula?”

“Okay.” A meow.

Chapter Text

The gardens had to be her favorite spot in the palace. Well, it was her cat self’s favorite spot in the palace. There were places with shade, so much sun, turtleducks(although her mother had prohibited her from chasing and catching them anymore), flowers. It was just perfect. There were only two problems: hawks and other cats.

Messenger hawks were very common in the Fire Nation. It was far from unusual to see multiple in a single day flying in all directions. Mainly they were used for the war, but a few nobles had some, with less training, to carry messages. Those were the hawks Azula had to worry about. The ones who weren’t properly trained and saw her as a small snack. A year or so ago, she had been sleeping in the sun, in her cat form, with Zuko reading under a tree. Neither of them even knew what was happening until a hawk dove down and tried to fly off with Azula. Thankfully, Azula’s not a full time cat and transformed back, forcing the hawk to fly away. It did manage to leave some claw marks in Azula though. From that day on, Azula made sure to take any naps in the shade or with Zuko or Ursa next to her. She hadn’t been attacked since but Zuko swears he sees her look at the sky whenever a hawk passes over.

Other cats was more of Azula’s issue than anyone else’s. The Fire Nation was full of cats. Both house cats and larger wilder cats. Because of this, it wasn’t uncommon for cats to wander along the walls of the palace. No one really cared about this as the cats didn’t cause any trouble and usually left after a few minutes. No one that is except Azula.

The Fire Nation princess was relaxing out in the garden one day, as a cat, staying awake and in the shade so as to avoid hawk attacks, when a calico cat jumped into the garden. Azula lifted her head at the sound and smell of another cat. Azula may have only been eight and a kitten, but her father’s lessons of defending territory were jumping out at her. How dare this…disgusting stray just walk into her garden like it owned the place?!? This was her territory!

Letting out a hiss, Azula puffed herself up to her biggest hight. In her mind, she knew it would be easier to simply turn back into a human and firebend at the cat if she hated it so much, but logic wasn’t working at the moment. All she did know was that she wanted this stray away from her home. The other cat hissed as well. At least it took her dominance challenge seriously. It was bigger than her but Azula wasn’t backing down.

Finally, it advanced. Azula was smaller and faster but the other cat was bigger and had stronger claws and a stronger bite. Azula quickly realized that she needed smarts to beat this thing.

“The turtleduck pond.” She realized.

Racing over, the calico cat followed her, unaware of the pond. Azula moved out of the way just in time but the other cat did not and ended up falling into the water. The turtleducks let out panicked cries which was enough to get Ursa’s attention.

The calico cat dragged itself back up from the water and darted after Azula again. The cat fight resumed until Azula felt herself getting picked up.

“Hi, mother.” Meows.

“Get out of here!” The calico cat was clearly more afraid of the large human than a kitten and ran off.

“I win.” Azula smugly said.

“Azula. Mind telling me why a wet cat just ran away and the turtleducks are in a panic?” Feeling a liquid on her hand, Ursa moved to view her palm and found blood on it, “Why are you bleeding?”

Ursa rushed back into the palace and felt the weight in her hands shift from a small kitten to an eight year old human. She readjusted her hold on her daughter but brought her to the healer nonetheless.

“Wow. Someone got in a fight.” The healer chuckled.

Azula’s outfit was destroyed, her hair a mess, and she had bite and claw marks all over her.

“Yes, but I won.”

“I expect nothing less. I’m just wondering who you got in a fight with. A cat?”

Azula said nothing, a blush coming to her face.

“Oh.” The healer whispered.

“Amaya, can you give us a minute?” Ursa asked.

“Of course, princess.” Amaya bowed and stepped out of the room.

“Azula, why did you fight a cat?” Ursa asked, taking bandages and fixing up her daughter.

“…”

“Azula.”

“…”

“I’m not asking again. I saw the cat. It was bigger than you and could have killed you. Stray cats-“

“That’s just it! It was a stray. A stray cat that just walked into MY garden like I wasn’t there. It needed to be taught a lesson.”

Ursa’s eyes widened. Over the years, the family had learned that Azula also had some cat behavior to go along with her cat form. She slow blinked at people she really liked, she had zoomies(though that was only Zuko’s problem), she slept a lot, knocked stuff over, kneaded, brought dead animals, etc. It made sense that she also acted territorial against another cat.

“You never have any problems when noblewomen bring over their cats.” Ursa said.

“Because those cats aren’t trying to stay. They want to leave because they know the palace is mine. They give me some respect. This stray did not.”

Ursa chuckled at her eight year old. She certainly had a lot of spirit. She’d give her that.

“You know I still have to ground you, right?”

“What?! Why!?”

“What’s one of the rules I told you before you went to school?”

“No crown?” Azula guessed.

“Azula.”

“No getting in fights.” She mumbled.

“And that extends to fights with cats. One week with no mochi.”

“Fine. You won’t tell Zuzu or father about this, right?”

“Of course, royal kitten.” Azula rolled her eyes at the nickname. Zuko had given that one to her because of how often she called him Zuzu. Ursa had only recently heard the nickname and this was her first time using it with her daughter.

There was silence between the two as Ursa worked on Azula, “Do you want to tell me how you beat them?” Ursa asked.

Azula’s face lit up, “I knew intelligence was on my side…

Chapter Text

Azula had watched people come into Zuzu's room and tend to his scar. It was still healing so the bandages needed to changed every so often and his hair needed to be cut. Both because he was banished and so that it stayed off his injury. Azula had considered cutting her own hair but she didn't really have hair anymore. There was no topknot to cut off and, as much as she agreed with the Fire Nation tradition, she was not about to walk around as a hairless cat.

Iroh had ended up being the one to cut Zuko's hair, even after he woke up. Azula half suspected it was because the man didn't trust Zuko with scissors at the moment. She couldn't blame him. Still, one would think that for an experienced general who almost conquered Ba Sing Se, Iroh would have more skill with cutting hair. Was Zuko's bald head a choice? The only positive part of that awful looking ponytail on Zuko's head was that it was fun to bat around.

"Azula. Please stop. I need to work."

She gave him a meow which sounded like a 'make me' and continued to swipe at his ponytail.

"No. I'm sorry, but I can't have you grabbing at my hair." Zuko set her outside his room then slammed the door in her face. Oh, he'd pay for that later.

She found her way out onto the deck where most of the crew was working and made her way towards her uncle. While she knew the crew wouldn't dare lay a hand on her, she trusted her brother and uncle more than complete strangers.

"Good afternoon, Azula. Zuko still in a mood?" At least they could agree on that. She meowed at the man and jumped onto his pai sho table, "Ayaka. Come here."

The mechanic walked up to the old general, "Yes?"

"You have cats right?"

"I haven't had any since I was a kid, but I'll help out best I can."

"I was just thinking of cutting Azula's fur." Azula snapped her head up. He was what?

"Why? She's a cat. She can handle her own fur." Yes. Exactly. Even if she was human, she wasn't about to let uncle anywhere near her with those scissors. Not after what he did to Zuko's hair.

"I understand, but wouldn't she be more comfortable with less fur. Especially in this heat." No. She could handle the heat. She grew up in the Fire Nation. But uncle didn't know that.

"Maybe. Are you sure you can actually do it though? She doesn't seem like the kind of cat to just roll over and let you mess with her fur."

"I've fought armies and nearly brought Ba Sing Se to it's knees. I think I can handle a little cat."

Little cat? Okay. Azula sped off to the door and raced toward the kitchen where she took refuge behind some pots of spices. Uncle wasn't getting anywhere near her if she could help it. Soon enough, he came into the kitchen. His hands were free but that didn't mean he wasn't hiding some tricks up his sleeve.

"Azula? Please come out. If you don't want me to cut your fur I won't." Oldest trick in the book, "I could simply style it so that it won't be so annoying in this weather."

When he couldn't find her in any of the cabinets, he stood up to walk to the next room. However, a movement caught his eye. He turned around as fast as lightning and tried to grab Azula but she was just as fast. She knocked the spices onto the man and bolted out of the room.

"Just a little cat, huh?" Ayaka smirked, "You know the cook is going to kill you for that."

"It seems I've made an enemy out of cat Azula."

"Why not give up? The cat clearly doesn't want you to touch her fur. She could scratch you or you could cut her and no one wants that."

"I'm simply trying to help her. She can't be comfortable in tons of black fur in 80 degree weather."

“You can try.” Ayaka chuckled.

Iroh patted off his clothing and started after Azula. She knew that hiding somewhere was probably her best bet but there were only so many options on a ship. Besides, most of the doors were closed and Iroh would just ask any sailors in the room to hand her over to him.

She continued to run through the halls with her uncle right behind her. The sailors tried to grab her but she was too quick and blended in nicely with the shadows on the ship. She was nearing the hallway that had her brother's room when Iroh jumped in front of her.

"Weren't you just-"

"Hey. You finally caught up with her." Ayaka didn't look like she had been running. If anything, she had been casually walking behind Iroh this entire time.

"I did more than that." He opened his hand to reveal mochi making Azula's eyes widen.

She’d thanked every spirit in the world when she found out cats could eat mochi without getting sick. By now, the crew knew she liked it and would use it to try and tempt her to come closer to them. Azula had to give her uncle credit for thinking of that.

"Nope! No mochi is worth being a hairless cat. " She moved around him and continued down the hall.

"I think you might need to redo your military training." Ayaka chuckled.

Azula clawed at Zuko's door, "Come on, Zuzu. Open!" Her meows turned to screaming.

"Azula. Please. You'll be more comfortable without all that extra fur." He knelt down as if expecting her to run into his arms.

"ZUKO!!" She screamed, clawing at the metal door.

Finally, her brother opened the door and she ran into his room as fast as her legs could carry her. Making a bee line for his bed where she knew Iroh wouldn’t get her.

"What's going on?" Zuko asked, “Why is Azula screaming outside my door?”

“I’m trying to cut her fur.” Iroh explained.

“She doesn’t seem to like that idea.”

“She’s a black cat in 80 degree weather. She can’t be comfortable.”

Zuko could see the logic in his uncle’s argument. While they were looking for the Avatar in the Fire Nation it might make sense for her fur to be managed.

“I think she handle her own fur.” Zuko said. Azula smirked and came out from under the bed. She rubbed his ankle signaling that he could pick her up which he did.

“Okay. Can you at least give her a bath? I don’t think she’s had one in a few months.” Azula hissed at her uncle. How dare he?! She bathed every day before the spirits decided to turn her into a cat. It wasn’t her fault water now seemed like a death sentence to her.

“That’s fair.” What? No! Zuko wasn’t supposed to agree with that horrible choice. When she tried to get away, Zuko’s grip tightened, “Sorry, Azula.”

“Let me go, Zuko! You put me in water and we are officially no longer siblings!” A hiss and a swipe of her claws.

Zuko didn’t listen to her though and did end up drenching her in water. The water soaked into her fur but she decided to stop fighting him once she was in the water. Thankfully, the ordeal was over in a few minutes.

“Finally. When I’m human again, you’re getting a fireball to the butt for that.”

She tried to walk off but Zuko wrapped her up in a towel.

“What are you doing?!?”

“Relax. I know I’m not the best firebender, but I can still heat a towel.” Oh! He was drying her off.

Once her fur was lighter, no longer weighed down by the water, she did feel a lot better. She could move with more ease and got some of her catlike agility back. It wasn’t perfect but it was better than nothing.

“How about some mochi to apologize for the bath?” Zuko suggested.

Azula’s ears perked up, “A pack and I’ll forget this whole thing ever happened.” She said, jumping onto his shoulders.

“I’ll take that as an okay.” Zuko smiled, walking into the kitchen with the freshly washed cat around his neck.

Chapter Text

Azula didn’t mind celebrations. Whether they were for her family, some spirits, or a military victory. Celebrations were pretty simple. She showed up in her best clothes, hair done perfectly, sat in silence, didn’t say a word that would go against what her father wanted, and, if requested, performed her newest firebending kata. Zuko was the one who had trouble. He dressed appropriately, but he never knew when to be quiet and, by now, people knew he wasn’t a good firebender and would call on him to perform firebending moves that he couldn’t do just to humiliate him and Ozai. Zuko being weak for nobles translated into Ozai being weak.

This celebration, celebrating some military success, was no different. Azula watched from the table as Zuko attempted to perform the lizard-hawk move but his footing was horrible. He fell just as he was doing the last kick. Ozai wore a face of pure anger.

“Pathetic.” She heard him say.

“Perhaps we should move on then.” Azula suggested. A risky move but she knew that if Zuko kept messing up then Ozai would call on her to start performing firebending moves which would make her tired and her cat form could come out.

“You’re right.” Ozai nodded, “Everyone! Let us begin!” Azula knew what came next: gifts. Gifts to the Fire Lord from every admiral and general to prove their worth. They always differed. Some were crowns from leaders, others were important cultural objects, a few brought back armor from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. Azula and Zuko soon grew bored of all gifts.

Until one admiral stepped forward with a box that was shaking.

“Fire lord Ozai. I have brought the most dangerous beast from the South Pole! So dangerous it has yet to be tamed by any tribesmen from the Southern Water Tribe. I present to you," He opened the box and a large dog like creature emerged, “a polar bear dog!”

The massive canine let out a roar before trying to break free of its chains.

“Impressive. What would we use it for though?”

“The meat is very good and I assume it’s skull would look nice.”

While Ozai considered this, the polar bear dog, not seeing anyway out, began sniffing the air. It suddenly caught the smell of a cat causing it to stare directly at Azula and growl.

“Why does that thing hate you?” Zuko asked.

“I don’t know but I don’t like it.”

“Is this a cat thing or…?”

“I think so. How’d you guess?”

“Your claws are digging into the table.”

Azula quickly hid them under the table. The polar bear dog continued to growl, pulling it’s leash.

“Father. I think it’s time to-“

“Do not speak.” Ozai snapped at Zuko.

Realizing she’d have to ride this out. Azula focused her gaze on anything but the large canine. Then the creature started barking.

“Quiet!” The admiral hit it with a fire whip but it still growled and barked.

“This isn’t going to end well.”

The second Zuko finished his whisper, the polar bear dog broke free and charged for Azula. The girl, now letting her cat instincts and features take over, ran from the canine and climbed onto the room of a nearby building. Thankfully, everyone's eyes were focused on the polar bear dog and no one seemed to notice their princess with her cat ears, tail and claws out. No one that is except Ozai.

When they returned to the palace, Ozai sent Zuko away.

"Father, I-"

"Leave. Now."

"Sorry, Zula." Zuko whispered.

Once Zuko had left the room, Ozai turned to Azula.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry, father, but the creature just chased after me and I-"

"Why do you continue to let this curse destroy your name? You are a firebending prodigy, Azula. My true heir and the only one who has been able to wield blue flames in our family for generations. Every time I think you've managed to get a hold of that pest you prove me wrong." Azula kept her eyes trained on him so as not to appear weak, "Do you want to be remembered as the princess who was nothing more than a scared kitten?"

"No, father. I swear to you it won't happen again."

"I've heard those words before. Tail."

Azula went rigid, "Father, please, there's no need for-"

"Tail!"

Azula revealed her black tail which her father quickly grabbed and his hand began to heat up. It took everything in the ten year old not to scream out as he burned her tail.

"If I ever see that pest again, or any sign of it, I will do far worse. Go."

She bowed to him before leaving. The journey back to her room seemed long. It hurt to move her tail but making it disappear would leave her with a burn on her back. Once she got to her room, she examined the damage. The fur was burned off and her skin was blistering.

She grabbed the burn salve from her bedside table and applied it to her tail. Azula lifted her head when she heard a knock at the door.

"Princess." Her servant, Aoi, poked her head in, "I heard about the festival. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine, Aoi. Return to your duties."

"But, your tail-"

"I told you to leave!" Her tail moved a little in her grip but she managed to keep it at bay.

"Of course, princess."

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"...Do polar bear dogs hate cats?"

"I don't think they hate them. I think most canines simply see smaller animals, including cats, as potential prey. It's also a mixture of different things, but it certainly isn't that all canines and felines hate each other."

"Thank you. That will be all."

Aoi bowed before leaving. Azula spent the night with her tail wrapped in bandages and praying her burn would be better for morning training. She also spent it cursing every polar bear dog and canine in existence.

---------------------------

Chief Hakoda wasn't like her father. She saw how he acted around Katara and Sokka. He hugged them, gave them love, didn't care when they messed up or embarrassed him. It was a foreign concept to her and Zuko. Though she had seen some fathers act kinder while she attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, it was nothing like this.

He didn't even care about her cat form. Katara and Sokka had found discovered her secret during the war and apparently told their father while they were reunited. She had expected him to use this knowledge to humiliate her or make jokes as revenge for the raids against the South Pole and imprisoning him in the Boiling Rock. He did make one joke, but his friend called him corny and laughed at Hakoda not Azula.

"It's weird seeing a real father, huh?" Zuko asked.

"He's not what I expected. I'll give him that."

Then came the trade meeting. Hakoda arrived with Sokka to discuss Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe trading. Azula was standing at the dock, preparing to meet them when she heard a bark and her whole body went rigid. A large dog jumped from the ship and raced over to Azula causing her to run. There weren't a lot of places she could climb, but her cat form was small enough, still being a young cat had it's perks, to slip into the cracks of the wall. The dog stopped barking and just started smelling where Azula was hiding.

"Rayu!" Hakoda called, "Leave her be."

The next thing Azula saw was Sokka's face, "Sorry about that, Azula. Rayu was just really excited about everything. You can come out." She did and returned to her human form.

"I apologize for the display of my cat form during a meeting. It won't happen again." She bowed in a Fire Nation fashion to Hakoda, hoping he wasn't offended.

Instead he laughed, "My dog chases you and you're the one apologizing? This was all on me, Azula. I promise Rayu won't get away again." He was apologizing to her? Did he know how being an adult worked?

"Rayu?" She asked.

"My polar dog. I've had her since she was a puppy. She's a good girl, but really hyper sometimes. Have you ever seen a dog? I know the Fire Nation is more...cat friendly."

"Once. A polar bear dog was brought here."

"Well, Rayu is nothing like a polar bear dog." Sokka said, "She's a sweet girl." Rayu licked Sokka's face when he came close.

"Doesn't she...want to eat me or something?"

Hakoda looked at her with a confused face, "I mean if you were in your cat form maybe, but I think she was more surprised by a new person who smelled like a cat than anything else."

"Can I...Can I try petting her?"

"Of course. I'll hold her back so she doesn't jump on you or anything."

Azula knelt down and put her hand out. Rayu sniffed it, curious as to what she was, but when the princess started scratching behind her ears the polar dog appeared to stop caring. She licked Azula's hand causing her to retract it instantly.

"I'll put Rayu back on the ship and join you two in a minute." When Hakoda stepped away, Azula grabbed a nearby towel and wiped her hand.

"Problem?" Sokka asked once his dad was gone.

"She just...slobbers a lot, huh?"

Sokka laughed, "That's what dogs do." Sokka told her, "They drool a lot. I assume cats don't?"

"Cats are too dignified to drool."

"Dignified, huh? Okay. I'll remember that next time you're stuck in a pipe."

"That was one time!" A blush crossed Azula's face.

Chapter Text

It was the two year anniversary when their ship was stopped by another Fire Nation ship. This wouldn’t have been too unusual or concerning, but it was who stepped off the ship that made Zuko’s stomach twist. Captain Zhao.

“Ah, Zuko. You’re looking much better since the last time I saw you.”

“Captain Zhao. Why have you stopped us?”

“That’s how you treat someone delivering you news. You haven’t received any messenger hawks from your father, have you?”

Zuko shook his head as Azula came onto the deck and noticed the man. She’d never been a big fan of Zhao’s either, she believed the man was too arrogant and would one day die from his pride, so when she saw him, she starting hissing.

“You got a guard cat, Zuko?” Zhao asked.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. I did.”

“Hmmm. You’ve doomed another living creature to suffer along with you while you chase a ghost? I’d give that thing one year before it runs away.”

Azula hissed again and clawed at his boots.

“Filthy beast.” He tried to kick her only for his target to be picked up by Zuko.

“Touch Azula and I’ll give you a scar to match.”

“Azula? You’ve named this…kitten after your sister?” He laughed.

“Captain Zhao. Your news?” Iroh asked, trying to prevent the fight from escalating.

“Speaking of Azula, I’m here to inform you that the Firelord has officially declared her dead.”

Zuko went rigid. His grip on the black cat in his arms tightened.

“Zuko.” A meow brought him back for a second.

“What?”

“She disappeared after your banishment. We searched for as long as we could but nothing was ever found of her. I believe Ozai thinks she ran away after your banishment and got caught in a storm. Either way, she’s dead.”

“I-…umm-I…”

“Ayaka, take Prince Zuko to his room.” Iroh said.

Zuko didn’t even feel Azula leave his arms, he didn’t feel Ayaka bring him to his room or hear Zhao’s final words. Everything was a blur. Then, Azula was pawing at his face.

“Come on, dum-dum. I’m not really dead. You really think I’d be so stupid to die in a storm?”

She didn’t expect tears to come to his eyes, “She’s gone. She’s really gone.”

“I’m not gone! I’m right here!”

Iroh suddenly entered the room, noticing his nephew’s tears.

“She’s dead, uncle. I…I can’t even remember the last thing I said to her.”

“I’m not…” Her words fell on deaf ears. She could only watch as her uncle comforted her brother.

Knowing her words would mean nothing to him, Azula settled on the next best thing. She began to purr and laid down next to him, letting him scratch her ears. A thought suddenly came to her, if Zuko and Iroh knew she was dead. Did that mean Mai and Ty Lee thought the same thing? Was her mother somewhere out there, hearing the news about her daughters passing?

“Do…do we have anything of hers?” Zuko asked.

“You have me.” Azula said.

“I don’t think so, Prince Zuko.”

“Then she’ll be given a fallen soldiers funeral. Bring the ship to land. I don’t care where just the closest land possible.” A fallen soldiers funeral was for soldiers whose bodies couldn’t be recovered. It was more symbolic than anything else, but it’s purpose was to show that they still found their way back to Agni.

“Of course.”

The funeral was short. Azula knew everyone was sad but she found it kinda funny that she was watching her own funeral. They returned to the ship but Zuko shut himself in his room and didn’t come out. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem but it went on for days. He got food every so often but didn’t leave his room aside from that.

Azula’s stupid cat instincts offered her a solution but she didn’t like it. The solution was killing one of the seagulls that landed on the ship deck and bringing it to Zuko. If he couldn’t bring himself to get food, then Azula would bring it to him.

“Zuko doesn’t need a dead seagull.” She tried to reason with herself even as she set it in front of his door, “He’s going to be disgusted by it.”

Her cat self was too strong though and she started meowing outside his room. When he opened the door, she pushed the seagull forward.

“Sorry, my dumb cat instincts told me to get this for you.”

Zuko lightly chuckled, “Thanks, Azula. I’m not too hungry right now, but thanks for thinking of me.” He picked up the dead bird with one hand and tossed it into the ocean.

"You need to eat something, Zuzu." She entered his room and jumped onto the bedside table.

"Sorry I haven't been around too much. I-...I just have no idea what Azula was thinking. Why'd she leave? She was a prodigy! What could have been going through her mind to try and sail in a storm?" He didn't expect an answer from the cat but it was nice to have a living creature listen to him, "Would she have left if I never got banished?"

"I didn't leave in the first place!" Bits of fire escaped her mouth.

"I'm going to assume you're trying to tell me not to blame myself?"

"Sure. Let's go with that. Anything to get you out of this room."

Zuko turned and laid down in his bed, "My mother, my throne, my sister." She heard him mumble more but couldn't make it out.

He fell asleep at some point so Azula decided to do the same. Her firebending helped to make the bedside table a little warmer which made it perfect for sleeping.

At some point in the night, Azula heard Zuko start to mumble incoherently and thrash in his bed. Fire escaped his fists, but didn't catch on any of the Fire Nation flags in the room thankfully. His eyes finally shot open and he sat up. The fifteen year old brought his knees to his chest, breathing heavily.

"Sorry...'m sorry."

Zuko's head snapped to the side when he felt fur against his side. He felt Azula lay down next to him, petting her head let his heart slowly start to stabilize again.

"Thanks, Lala." Azula's ears perked up at the mention of the nickname. When was the last time he'd called her that?

"I need to try and sleep. I don't know why Azula left or what was running through her mind when she sailed in that storm, but I will find the Avatar.” Falling back down he let out a final sigh, “At least she’s with mom now.” Did Zuko think their mom was dead? She had always assumed their mother had disappeared the night Zuko was to be killed because she had something to do with Azulon’s death. That was an investigation for another time.

As Zuko tried to fall back into a sound slumber, he felt a weight on his stomach. Opening one eye showed him that Azula was loafing. When Zuko tried to move, Azula’s golden eyes opened. Even without understanding any of her meows, Zuko could tell that her glare had only one meaning.

I’m comfortable. Don’t move.

“Have it your way, bossy.”

Sleep took over both of them within minutes.

Chapter Text

Azula honestly expected her brother and the Avatar to put up more of a fight. So far, this battle was easy. The terrain was new since she wasn't used to fighting in abandoned villages but it was nothing Azula couldn't handle. Her brother was out of the fight within the first few minutes which just left the Avatar.

A well placed fire slice cut off a part of the roof where the Avatar was and caused him to fall into a building with parts of the roof stuck on top of him which kept him from freeing himself. Azula sent out two lines of fire creating a square of fire around them.

"Wait. Please. You don't have to do this."

Azula had to laugh at that, "I think I do." She got two fingers ready when the warmth of the building suddenly hit her. It felt really nice like a warm blanket was wrapped over her.

Not sleeping for multiple nights straight suddenly hit her head on, 'Not now. Come on.' She thought.

She took a step back, but refused to show any weakness in front of her enemy. In her mind, though, she was letting out every curse word she knew. How could she be so stupid? Azula could feel her cat instincts start to take over but her human self refused to let herself be this weak with the enemy right there. True, he was incapacitated, but he could use her weakness later.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked.

"I'm fine!" Fire escaped her mouth when she snapped at him, "Just need to rest." She whispered.

Azula shook her head, trying as hard as she could to stay awake. She just needed to get away and find Mai and Ty Lee. Then she could sleep and fight the Avatar another day. Though her plan seemed solid in her mind, her body refused to let her leave the warm building.

Aang, meanwhile, was very confused. A minute ago, Azula was attacking him, ready to kill and now she was trying to leave but looked like she could hardly walk. As long as she was distracted, Aang took the opportunity to get the plank off. He got ready to slip away but saw Azula suddenly collapse onto the floor. Part of him believed he should check on her and make sure she's okay. Another part told him to run. No part expected to see her shift into the form of a small black cat.

"Ummm..." Aang had no clue what to say.

The cat looked at him with a blank expression before curling up in the middle of the burning building. She looked like a small black spot on the ground. Honestly, it was adorable. Aang was ripped away from the display of cuteness when he remembered the building was collapsing around them. He acted before thinking and grabbed the cat, jumping out of the building seconds before it collapsed.

Azula knew she should try to fight his grip but she was also exhausted. Plus he reminded her of Ty Lee and Ty Lee was safe. She was still in his arms when she heard two more sets of feet run up to them.

"Aang!" Katara yelled, hugging him, "Are you okay? Where's the blue firebender? Why do you have a cat?"

"I'm okay and I think this cat is the blue firebender."

"Did you get hit on the head?" Sokka asked.

"I saw it! She was standing in the doorway and then just turned into a cat."

"Ya. She can do that."

The three turned to see Zuko with an arm around his uncle, "She's had that ability since we were kids. She can turn into a cat. I'm surprised she did it here though. She must have been exhausted."

"So, you can take her."

"I'm not taking her. She's trying to kill us. If you don't want her just leave her here."

"We can't leave her here!" She was clearly exhausted and Raava only knows how many predators were out here. They also couldn't bring her to her friends cause they'd kill them on sight.

"Then you don't have much of a choice."

"When will she turn back?" Katara asked.

"Whenever she has enough strength. I'd give it a few days depending on how long she went without sleep and how much training she's done." He and his uncle walked away leaving the group

"So do we just...have a cat now?" Toph asked.

"I guess. Sokka, can you hold her?"

"I can totally hold this cat that used to be a firebender." Azula buried her head into his arm, hoping to absorb whatever warmth she could since she was so rudely ripped away from the warm building.

Riding on Appa was ten times worse. It was so cold. Everyone else was just tired but Azula was freezing and tired. Sokka, noticing this first because she was curled up in his lap, took off his coat and wrapped it around her. That at least stopped her from shaking.

---------------------

The next morning, Azula woke up before them and quickly realized what had happened.

Her heart rate sped up at the realization that she had been in her weaker form in front of the enemy. How could she have been this stupid? Had she really been that excited about her first mission outside the Fire Nation that she forgot about her curse? Father would kill her if he ever learned of this.

The sound of snoring made her ears perk up. Actually...this might work for her. The Avatar was asleep and vulnerable. She could turn back and kill him right here and now. However, there were two problems with this plan. The first was his friends. Even if she did managed to kill him, they'd attack her and she wasn't sure she could take on the three of them alone. The second was that she couldn't turn back. She must have been more exhausted than she thought.

"Great. Now I'm stuck like this." Her meow got Momo’s attention.

The lemur woke up and stared at her. Azula, not liking the small creature staring at her, hissed at him and puffed out, making him hiss back. He jumped on Azula’s back, grabbing at her ears.

“Get off me, you flea ridden rat!” Running around with the lemur on her back caused her to bang into Sokka, who woke up.

“Momo! Get off her.” Katara, Aang and Toph’s eyes opened.

“Momo. Come here.” Aang offered out a hand and the lemur jumped to the boy.

“What’d you do to make Momo so mad?” Sokka asked.

“Why do you assume I did anything?! That little rat was staring at me then started pulling my ears! He should count himself lucky I don’t have my firebending!” All the Gaang could hear was a series of hisses and meows.

“So, what do we do with her?” Toph asked.

"Zuko said it could take a few days for her to turn back, but we can't just walk around with a cat that could turn into a firebender at any moment." Huh? So was the Water Tribe nonbender boy the leader?

"Why not? She's so cute!" Aang went to pick her up, earning him a hiss in the face.

"She's also dangerous. We can't take the chance. Is there anywhere we can bring you?" It took Azula a second to realize he was directing the question to her.

Sokka set down a map and pointed to where they were. They were in the southern Earth Kingdom, a region the Fire Nation didn't occupy because there were mainly mountains and not a lot of people. The only place Azula was certain she'd find her people was Omashu and that was probably too far for them. Besides, if they returned her to her people as a cat then her father would hear of it and kill her.

She shook her head, "Perfect. I guess we just try to carry on like normal and, when she does turn back, we can fight her." They can try.

"It's the only plan we've got." Katara agreed, "I think we can handle her though if she turns back, especially without Ty Lee."

"Ty Lee?" Toph asked.

"The girl who can take people's bending away."

"Speaking of which, did we ever get her name?" Toph asked, pointing at the cat.

"I heard Zuko call her Azula."

"Welcome to the group, you Purr-ness."

Purr-ness? Maybe calling him the leader was a bit premature of her.

Chapter Text

The spirit before her was beautiful. She had a long white dress with flowing black hair. However, the part Azula was focused on was the cat ears, tail, whiskers and claws on the woman.

“Hello, Princess Azula.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Neko. I’ve come as a favor to Agni. You may know him.” Azula’s eyes widened, “Of course you do. He asked me to do this for him to help bring this war to an end.”

“Do what?”

“For the time being you will be transformed into one of my children. Only when I decide will you return to your proper form.”

“What do you mean? You’re cursing me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I know.” She agreed, “Which is why it pains me but this is what Agni thinks is best. Your father is too far gone, your mother too removed from this war, and your brother and uncle are already on their way. That leaves you. Though I do not see this as a curse.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“You will understand. Please just trust that this will help you in the long run.”

Azula’s eyes snapped open. The sunlight was pouring into her room and there was a soft wind, but everything looked fine.

‘That spirit was full of it. Cursed.’ Azula wanted to laugh at the spirits words. If it even was a spirit, which it most likely wasn’t. She probably just had a nightmare.

Shaking her head, she got up to get dressed and have breakfast...or, at least, she tried. She fell flat on her stomach and couldn’t seem to stand on her own two foot. Looking down gave her an answer as to why that was. She didn’t have feet, she had paws. Her instincts told her all fours would be more appropriate. Heart rate speeding up, her head slowly turned to examine the rest of her body. A black cats body was all she could see. She rushed to her mirror and her mind went blank. There was no denying it. Instead of the body of an eleven year old Fire Nation prodigy firebender, she had the body of a cat. Only a few months old if she was correct.

Of course, she screamed at the sight of her new body but it wasn’t a human scream. It was the sound of a cat crying out. Two servants entered the room as they had been passing by when they heard the noise.

“Hey, little one. Did you come through an open window?” One of the servants asked.

Azula was too shocked to respond. She backed away from the servant until she hit her bedside table.

“I’m a cat..I’m an actual cat.” Only meows came from her mouth.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Come on.” She might have still been in a panic, but Azula could register that the servant was trying to pick her up.

She bolted from the room as fast as possible. Cat instincts kicked in and allowed her to evade the servants trying to catch her. She turned around to see if anyone was following her and didn’t notice her father until she banged into him.

“Father-”

“Who let this disgusting thing in here!?” Ozai demanded.

Azula’s ears fell. Did he not recognize her? He bent down and grabbed the fur on her neck, scruffing her. She didn’t want to hiss or try to claw her father, but he was really hurting her.

“Father, please. You’re hurting me.” All that came out were meows.

“I’m so sorry, my lord. She came in through an open window.” One of the servants said, “We’ll take her to the shelter in town immediately.”

“See to it that you do. Who knows what this thing brought into the palace with her?” Thing? She wasn’t a thing. Instinct overpowered her for a second and she hissed at her father, “Little-” Being dropped from a few feet in the air definitely hurt more now.

The servant picked her up, by her stomach, but it was better than grabbing her neck. They were almost out of the palace when Azula regained her senses. Unfortunately, the hold the servant had on her was too strong.

“Sorry, little one. I think Princess Azula is much to busy to have a cat right now.”

“Put me down! I might be a cat but I am still your princess!!”

The servant didn’t respond. Azula understood by now that she couldn’t communicate with anyone. All people heard was a bunch of cat noises whenever she spoke. That didn’t mean she couldn’t voice her opinions.

“Who’s this beauty?” A man at the local cat shelter asked.

Azula’s eyes darted around the room. There had to be a way out. The cages were pretty standard but she just might be able to pick the lock with her claws. The servant handed her off to the man who dumped her in one of the cages.

“Okay. Calm down, Azula. Just breath. It’s been a weird morning but everything is going to be fine. You’ll pick the lock, return to the palace, tell father what has happened and figure out how to break the curse. It’ll take some work but nothing you can’t do.”

“Quiet!” One of the workers yelled at her, slamming her hand against the cage.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Azula sneered, but she backed up regardless.

She’d have to wait until night time when all the workers went home before escaping but, for now, she didn’t mind the extra time she got to relax.

“Might as well enjoy a few hours of rest before I return to my human body.”

At some point during the day, her cage was opened and a worker placed water and cat food in with her. Azula pinned her ears against her head and looked away. There was no way she was eating that. She did accept the water though.

“New cat isn’t eating.” A worker said.

“Give her time. She’s probably only eaten mice or birds.”

“The opposite actually.” She snapped.

“She’s very vocal.”

“Good. Kids love that. She’ll get adopted by the end of the week.” Adopted? Oh, Koh’s lair no. She was not going to end up some brat’s pet.

Finally, nighttime arrived and everyone left.

“Time to escape.” Her trick worked perfectly. The door swung open and Azula jumped down, “The catlike agility is certainly a plus.”

She opened one of the windows and slipped out of the building.

“Perfect. Now I have to get back to the palace.”

She started on her walk home when a sound caught her attention. Three men were outside a building with bottles in their hands. Azula had been around the soldiers enough times to recognize that they were drunk. She rolled her eyes and kept walking.

“Hey! Look! A little kitten.” Was he talking about her?

Sure enough, one of the men got up and walked towards her. She took off only for him to send a fireball in her direction.

“Don’t firebend at some little cat!” His friend yelled, still laughing.

“It’s fun target practice.” The first guy argued, “You gotta try and aim for him.”

Did this guy just call her a him? She didn’t have time to do anything before another fireball almost hit her. Forget the palace, she needed to get away from these idiots before they set her on fire. The first guy chased her down to the docks.

“A boat!” It was a perfect hiding spot. She sandwiched herself in between two boxes as the man walked by.

“Here, kitty, kitty. Come here, boy.” Azula rolled her eyes.

After a few minutes, it became clear to her that the man was gone. However, Azula was far too tired to leave at the moment. It had been a long, long day so when she closed her eyes, sleep overtook her body and held on for hours.

The next time she woke up, she could smell seafood. She came from her hiding place to see that the boat had set sail.

“Oh, come-No. No. It’s okay. Just a minor set back. They can’t be going far.”

“Hey. Who’s this little guy?” Why did everyone think she was a boy?

“Must have stowed away.” A female sailor tried to pick her up but Azula hissed only for someone to come up behind her and grab her.

“Such a cute little-oh! Girl.” Could cats blush?

“What’s going on?” A man, who Azula assumed was the captain, yelled.

“We found this sweet girl hiding out on the ship.” The sailor holding her said, “Looks like a stray. Let’s keep her.”

“We can’t keep a cat on the ship. Next time we hit port, we’ll hand her off to someone who can actually take care of her.” The captain said.

“Awww. Fine. What should we call her?” Call her? She wasn’t their pet.

“Shadow.” Someone suggested.

“Flake.”

“Ember.”

“Ash.”

“Oh! I like Ash. Goes nicely with her fur color.”

Azula, or Ash, stayed on the ship with them for almost a week. She hated every second of it. They never let her leave a designated room, only gave her cat food so after some time she was forced to eat it, put cat toys in her face, and kept picking her up and petting her even if she hissed.

“She’s just cranky.” They would say.

When they did land at port, Azula was surprised. They hadn’t gone too far. They were on Ember Island.

“Wow. That could have been a lot worse. Boats return to the mainland every day from here. I’ll be home in no time.” Azula slipped off the boat without anyone noticing and tried to make her way to the ferries.

Getting on a ferry was incredibly easy. Once she was on board, she hide under the passenger seats. For the first hour or so, she let herself be calmed by the boat swaying back and forth. She was on her way home.

At some point the boat violently turned. Azula’s eyes snapped open and she lifted her head. Above her, a woman dropped her book and bent over to grab it. When she did, she came face to face with Azula.

“Don’t.” A quiet meow.

“Folks, I apologize but a storm is preventing us from sailing directly to the mainland so we’ll have to travel through a different path. This will mean a delay.” People groaned at the captain’s words.

“Sir!” The woman yelled.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“There’s a stray cat back here.” Most of the passengers turned towards the woman.

“What?”

The captain grabbed Azula before she could bolt out of the cabin, “Where’d you come from?”

“Get that thing out of here! It could have diseases!” Azula was going to banish every single person on this boat when she was human again.

The captain brought her to the deck where the sailors were working.

“What is that?”

“A cat. What else would it be?”

“Get it out of here!” An older sailor yelled.

“Aoi. Relax.”

“I will not relax. It probably caused this storm.”

“Aoi. Calm down.” Another sailor said.

“Black cats are bad luck!” He screamed, grabbing her by the tail.

Pain shot through her body, “OW! PUT ME DOWN!” Human or cat, that was probably the loudest scream she’d ever made.

“I’m not sailing with this thing on board.”

“Aoi. Put the cat down! She’s done nothing to you!”

“She’s a danger to this ship!”

“Can someone please get him to stop pulling my tail!!?!?!”

When one of the sailors came closer to Aoi, he moved back. Another powerful wave hit the ship, causing him to drop her.

The sea was no place for her, especially in her new body. She could hardly keep herself above water long enough to breath. The spirits must have taken pity on her because there was an island within sight that was away from the storm. Using every bit of strength she had, she swam to the island and crawled onto the shore, collapsing once she was on dry land.

Could this get any worse? A final breeze that sent shivers down her spine seemed to be her answer. Not only was she freezing but she was soaking wet and starving.

“I’m gonna die as a cat on a deserted island.” She whispered, curling up in a nearby cave.

“We’ll go to the Northern Air Temple next.” Her ears perked up. She knew that voice.

Zuko.

Everything else forgotten, she rushed towards the sound of her brother. If nothing else, he was an animal lover. He wouldn’t hurt a cat...right?

“Then the-...Hello.” Zuko’s voice changed when he saw the soaking wet cat.

Azula instantly backed away from her brother. Maybe she was wrong. What if he grabbed her like father? What if he firebended at her like the man in town? What if he threw her into the sea like the sailor had done? What if- Her thoughts were cut off when she noticed he was sitting down. He held out his hand to reveal a few fire gummies.

“Sorry. It’s the only food I have on me.”

“If you do anything, Zuzu, I won’t hesitate to claw you.” She warned but still ate the fire gummies. They were so much better than the cat food. She felt her brother’s hands petting her head and scratch her ears.

Azula couldn’t help it. She was so tired and he was the first person to show her any kindness in days. After a few seconds, she heard a rumbling sound coming from her body and realized she was purring.

“Spirits. Can this get any worse?”

“Someone wasn’t too nice to you, huh? I get that. We have some towels and food on the ship if you want to come.” It was her best option. Not that she had many.

“Yes.” A soft meow.

She felt him pick her up but at least he actually held her correctly.

“I hope this doesn’t last too long.”

Chapter Text

Azula was retiring for the night when she heard a crash come from her brother’s room. It wasn’t followed by any noise from Zuko, which intrigued Azula even more. The five year old opened the door to find her brother’s room a mess. The drawers were open, contents thrown all over the room, his personal chests that contained old toys, gifts, scrolls were all laying on their sides. Even his bed looked messy.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Trying to find something for school tomorrow.”

“You mean your books?”

“No. We’re doing show and tell tomorrow and I have nothing to bring in.” Zuko fell onto his bed, his face covered by a pillow, “Everyone’s gonna laugh at me.”

“Why do you care? You’re a prince.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to go to school and try to make friends.” Azula didn’t respond. It was true that her father didn’t allow her to attend school but he would someday. For now, she was stuck in the palace with tutors.

“What do you have to bring in?” She asked. An idea began to form in her mind.

“Anything. It just can’t be dangerous.”

“Can it be alive?”

“He never said it couldn’t be. Why?”

“Bring me.” Azula answered.

“You!?!”

“Yes. You get to bring in someone no one else has: a sister who’s also a princess who can also turn into a cat. I get to spend a day at a real school. Win win.”

“Mom and dad would kill us.”

“Why? Everyone knows about my cat form already. It’s not a secret.”

“I know, but...”

“Come on! It’ll be so fun!”

Zuko looked over his messed up room. He didn’t have anything else to bring in. Whenever he found something he thought would be cool, like a family heirloom, one of the servants would take it away and say it couldn’t leave the palace. There was nothing in his room that he wanted to show off anyway. Everything he found was something people would either make fun of him for or find boring. Plus, Azula had a point. No one else in the Fire Nation, maybe the entire world, could say that they had a sister who was royalty and could turn into a cat.

“Okay. Be ready to leave early tomorrow.”

“I will!”

She kept her promise, showing up at his door first thing in the morning. The only problem was that Ursa was helping Zuko pack his bag, so he told her he didn't want the help. Azula couldn’t sneak to school with him if their mother helped pack his bag.

“Why?” She asked.

“I can do it myself.”

“Zuko-”

“And I wanna walk to school today by myself.” Zuko added.

“Zuko, I don’t know-”

“Please, mom!”

“One guard needs to follow you. You might not be the crown prince but you’re still in line.”

“Okay! Thanks, mom!”

Once she left the room, leaving to start her duties early, Azula came in. She was dressed perfectly except for her hair, which was completely down. Azula usually did this whenever she knew she was going to have to transform because, as a cat, anything that was in her hair simply fell on the floor.

“Last chance to back out.”

“Relax, big baby. It’ll be fine.”

Zuko simply shrugged as Azula shifted to her cat form. She was only about the size of a 5 week old cat, at least that’s what the healer said, so Zuko could pick her up without any trouble. She could walk on her own but her steps were still a bit uneven and she often slipped on the polished floors.

“Stay hidden in the bag and don’t come out until I say so.”

“I know, dum-dum.” A meow.

He made sure not to close his bag completely and began his walk to school. Every so often, he would hear a meow or two from his bag. Zuko understood that as her not liking when he ran because it shook the bag too much. When they arrived at the school, Azula poked her head out of the bag to look around. It was amazing. The school looked almost as nice as the palace, though a little more modern. She did get weird looks from other boys who noticed the kitten sticking out of the prince’s bag and stared.

Show and tell, thankfully, was the first activity of the day for the seven year olds. The entire class filled the room and sat facing the teacher. Zuko made sure to have his bag on his lap and opened so Azula could see.

“Does anyone want to go first?” The teacher asked.

Zuko raised his hand, “Zuko.”

The prince went to the front of the class with his bag, “For show and tell, I brought my five year old sister, Azula.” Azula poked her head out of the bag much to everyone’s shock, “She’s a princess and has had the ability to turn into a cat for as long as I can remember.”

The teacher stopped him though, “Zuko. Can I talk to you outside?”

“Okay.”

Azula jumped from the bag and returned to her human form, not comfortable with being left as a kitten alone with strangers. Once the door closed, the boys turned towards Azula.

“What’s it like being a cat? I hear you’re a really good firebender, but I bet I could beat you. My sister wants to be your friend. Can you have cat parts or do you have to either be fully human or fully cat?”

“It’s normal. I’m used to being a cat by now. I doubt it. My dad says I’m a prodigy. Okay. I can.” She revealed her cat ears and tail to show the boy who had asked the question.

The teacher opened the door again and Zuko walked back in, looking miserable.

“Class. I can’t believe I actually have to say this but apparently it needs to be said. Never bring anything alive for show and tell. Zuko bringing his sister was a flagrant breach of school rules.”

“Does that mean I have to leave?” Azula asked.

“The school staff are working all day today, so no one can take you home. You’ll stay until the end but then I’ll walk you home and tell your mother what happened here today.”

Azula didn’t care one bit about that. Her mother would punish them for a week at worst but Azula got to spend the rest of the day in school as a human. The class finished show and tell and then the seven year olds went over a history lesson.

“Who can tell me the first five laws Firelord Sozin declared following the death of Avatar Roku?”

When no one raised their hand, Azula did. The teacher raised an eyebrow.

“Okay. Azula.” He’d be shocked if she got one right.

“Merchants can’t sell stuff from other nations, Fire Nation people living in the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe were to return home, those who were half Fire Nation were only allowed to return to the homeland if their father was Fire Nation, women need to have at least two children, and being with the same gender isn’t allowed.” The teacher’s eyes shot open.

“Impressive.”

The rest of the day, Azula continued to show off her intelligence to the teacher. Zuko, who was used to Azula showing him up, didn’t really mind too much, but her new classmates did. They shot the princess glares and whispered but if Azula noticed she said nothing about it.

When lunch time came, Azula was quick to join Zuko. She didn’t have any lunch, but Zuko had thought ahead and packed an extra bit of food for her. She was eating part of a sandwich when he spoke up.

“School everything you thought it would be?” He asked.

“I love it!” The five year old smiled, “What’s next?”

“Firebending lessons.”

The smile on Azula’s face was so wide. Dad had told her that he wanted her to start sparing. Today was the day she guessed.

“Hey, Princess Azula?”

Azula turned to see a boy from Zuko’s class, “Yes?”

“My name is Kei. I was wondering if you could show off your cat ears and tail again? My brother doesn’t believe you can do it.” He pointed to another boy who waved at them.

“Okay.” Azula did as she was told only to feel a shot of pain through her back. She turned around to see another boy had grabbed her tail then grabbed her ears, causing her to fall to the ground, “AH!”

Zuko let out a small bit of fire, “Leave her alone!” The boy who had grabbed her tail and ears pushed him to the ground.

“Aww. Big brother Zuko is gonna protect the little kitten. My father said you were a freak, princess, but this really takes the cake. The entire nation always wonders what’s wrong with you.” Something snapped in Azula, “I guess we have our answer. You’re nothing but a-”

Before he could finish, Azula did a firebending spin, knocking the boy to the floor. She then sent a fireball straight for his face but he moved out of her way. A final kick in his direction, sent Kei running. The teachers didn’t move to help either party. They were more surprised with how much technique a five year old had.

“Good job, Zula.”

“Thanks. Are you okay?”

“I’m good. You? Are your ears and tail okay?”

“They’ll survive.”

Lunch quieted down after that. News spread quickly about Azula’s abilities and, during firebending class, rumors only grew. By the end of the day, some kids were saying they saw her lightningbend.

“Does this mean I can come back?” Azula asked the teacher who escorted them home.

“I’m afraid not. Firebending prodigy or not, you are still too young and a girl. You’ll need to talk to your parents.”

The second they approached the gates of the palace, Ursa appeared.

“Azula! Zuko! What happened? Azula. Where were you all day!?”

“It seems your son brought your daughter for show and tell.”

Ursa’s face turned to one of anger, “Both of you to your rooms! We’ll discuss your punishment later.”

“Princess Ursa, I don’t mean to overstep here but you really should think of enrolling Azula in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.” The teacher said after the two had disappeared.

“We wanted to send her with all the other girls this year, but with her...condition Ozai wasn’t sure it was the best choice. She doesn’t have the best control yet.”

“Think about it. She’s very smart and that needs to be nurtured. The academy would also do wonders for her bending.”

“Thank you.”

Azula didn’t know what her mother said to her father that night, but in the morning he gave her a pamphlet for the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.

“You start classes next week.”

Chapter Text

There were days when Azula acted more like a cat and there were days when she acted more like a human. There was no rhyme or reason as when these days happened they just did. A few weeks ago, she had woken up with a desire to eat at the table with everyone else, participate with Zuko’s firebending, sit in on every meeting Zuko had with Iroh or the sailors, etc. Today, however, her cat instincts won out over all her more rational decisions. The cat toys looked more entertaining, her desire to grab fish and birds was higher, she hated the water more, etc. Perhaps the most cat-like trait today though was her want for attention.

She didn’t know why but today she just wanted everyone’s attention. If someone didn’t give her a scratch or at least say her name, she yelled at them until they did. Today the person most intent on ignoring her today seemed to be Zuko. He spent most of the day in his room looking over the scrolls and maps to try and find the Avatar.

“You’re really focusing on a dead man and ignoring the rest of us.” She snapped.

“Azula. I can’t play right now. Maybe tonight.”

“No, now.”

“Azula. No.”

“Zuko. Yes.” She leapt onto his desk and grabbed his papers in her mouth before darting off.

“Azula! Get back here!”

He chased her throughout the ship. The crew was no help. They only laughed when they saw the two run by, even Iroh laughed. Zuko eventually lost her in the engine room.

“What is wrong with her today?” Zuko demanded, smoke escaping from his mouth.

“Kid, she just wants some attention.” One of the sailors told him.

“Don’t call me kid!”

“Prince Zuko, sit and relax.”

“You want me to relax when my biggest lead on the Avatar was just stolen away by my cat.”

“She’ll bring it back.”

“She better.”

They were right. When Zuko returned to his room, he found Azula and the papers present.

“There you are.”

She was laying across his papers and only lifted her head when he came in, “You’re back.”

“Come on. Off the papers.”

“You don’t tell me what to do. I can sit here all day if I want.”

“Azula, come on. Please. I will pick you up and put you outside if I have to.”

She stared at him straight in the eye as if daring him to make good on that threat.

“I’ll do it.”

“Then I have to do this.” With her tail, she knocked over his ink but it got more on the desk than the actual papers.

“Ah! What is with you today?”

“Honestly, even I don’t know. Just ignore the papers for an evening.”

“Oh! I know what’ll get you to move.” When he left the room, Azula’s mind wandered. Where was he going? What did he think would get her to move?

Zuko eventually came back with a pack of mochi making Azula’s eyes widen, “That’s just mean, Zuzu.”

“Off the papers and it’s yours.”

She weighed her options in her mind. Her cat mind won out in the end and she didn’t move from her spot. Even if her human self hated seeing Zuko put the pack away.

“There has to be something you want more than laying on my papers.”

Azula rolled onto her back, “I don’t think so. Give up, Zuzu.”

A sailor passing by heard Zuko and spoke up, “If you want suggestions, kid. I’ve got an idea.”

The sailor, Hiro, had the idea of putting a bunch of boxes in the hallway.

“How does this get Azula off my papers?” Zuko asked.

“Just wait. She’ll love this. I grew up with five cats and they would always get excited whenever boxes were involved.”

“He might not be wrong.” Azula admitted. The boxes did look kinda interesting, “But I’m not moving.”

Hiro placed the boxes together but shaped them into a long line. Zuko had to get on his knees to see that he had carved holes into them. For the time being no one could use this hallway, but the sailors who passed by didn’t seem to mind.

“Again. What’s the point?” Zuko asked.

“Watch.” Hiro scooped up Azula, much to her chagrin, and placed her in one of the holes in the middle of the line of boxes, “It’s a tunnel. A box tunnel!”

“Can she get out of that?” Zuko asked.

“I’ve seen a cat jump 4 feet in the air and fit through a hole as big as my hand. I think she’ll have no problem escaping from this if she really wants.”

Azula didn't know why but she loved this thing. There was no real reason as to why she should, but she did. Not only that but the boxes were right under the light in the hallway. It was perfect.

“Wow.” Zuko whispered, “Impressive.”

“I’m telling you. Put a little catnip in there and she’ll be happy for hours.”

“I will actually scratch your scar if you give me catnip.”

“Or no catnip.” Hiro chuckled.

Zuko wasn’t complaining. Azula was happy and he got to get back to work. At some point, he started having trouble keeping his eyes open and decided to retire for the night. Hiro had come by already and taken the boxes back so the prince could move freely and get ready for bed. He was laying down when he noticed a certain someone wasn’t on the bedside table.

“Azula?” Zuko called. That was weird. She always slept in his room.

He got out of bed and began to look over the ship for her. Soon, he could hear the sound of something being dragged against the floor. The noise was coming heading in the direction of his room.

“What is going on?!” He demanded.

He expected to find sailors dragging something because they didn’t care enough to lift it. He did not expect to see Azula pushing one of the crates toward his room.

The realization hit him and made him smile and laugh, “You want to sleep in the crate?” He asked.

“Don’t judge me! It’s warm, dark and comfortable.” Two years ago she thought her bed, probably one of the finest in the entire world, was the best place to rest at night. Now she only wanted a crate. How things change.

“Can I help?” He picked it up and brought it back to his room, “Open side facing the ceiling or on the floor.”

“Ceiling.” She had to jump on his arm and direct his movement for him to understand but he got it eventually.

“Alright. You good?” She nodded, getting as small as possible in the crate, “Night, Azula.”

“Night, Zuko.”

Chapter Text

“You doing okay?” Zuko asked.

“Just fine.”

Being nervous was to be expected since Azula and Zuko were hosting King Kuei for the first time for a dinner to discuss relations between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Nervous didn’t even begin to describe Azula’s feelings though. She had placed a blue flame to Kuei’s throat, conquered Ba Sing Se, and her father had to threatened to burn the entire city to the ground.

“It’ll be fine.”

“Easy for you to say. People still call me the conqueror of Ba Sing Se.”

“King Kuei doesn’t hold that against you. I’ve talked to him. Besides, we’re having this dinner to improve relations.”

Azula’s nerves were still running high, “I’ll be right back. I forgot something in my room.”

“Azula-“

She was gone before he could say anything more. The princess went straight to her room because she had something that she knew would calm her down: a small vial of catnip. Just a tiny bit should be enough to calm her down.

She placed a small amount into the palm of her hand and felt herself slowly start to relax. What she hadn’t been expecting was the servants to burst into her room making her spill the stuff all over her.

“Princess! We’re so sorry. We thought you were at the dinner with Firelord Zuko.”

The powerful smell hit Azula hard. Her cat self instantly activated making her giggle. What had she come in here to do?

“Princess? Are you okay?” One of the servants asked.

She continued to laugh, falling back on her bed.

“Is that…catnip?”

“That’s not good.”

“Why?”

“This much catnip makes cats very energetic. She can’t go to the dinner like this.”

Azula decided their conversation was boring and slipped into her cat form. The servants tried to stop her but she slipped through their hold. They just wanted to stick her in a room. She wanted to go everywhere!

Her cat instincts had full control at the moment so any hope of her remaining dignified was long gone. She bolted into Zuko’s room to try and find him and couldn’t.

“Where is he?” She opened the drawers, tore out clothes, grabbed whatever she could find as if expecting her 16 year old brother was hiding in a book shelf.

The guards in charge of standing at his room could only watch as the cat princess went all over the room, knocking down and breaking whatever she wanted.

She was in the process of scratching up his dresser, angered that she couldn’t find her brother, when he came in with King Kuei right behind him.

“Zuzu!” She chirped, jumping and crawling up him, “Let’s play!” Her claws dug into his clothes so, before she grabbed his skin, he gave her a soft push onto his shoulders.

“Ummm. Your majesty, I am very sorry. She usually takes a little catnip to calm down and I think she just took too much.” Why wasn’t Zuko playing? He kept talking to this guy who the she didn’t know.

Bosco, who was behind Kuei, offered a soft growl. Azula jumped off her brother, sniffing the bear’s face. Her cat self couldn’t pinpoint what kind of animal was in front of her but he was big which she didn’t like. Bosco softly grunted and licked Azula’s ears.

“See? Even the giant creature wants to play!” She started purring out of pure happiness and her eyes expanded.

“She’s never gonna come out of her room when this stuff wears off.” Zuko winced.

“What’s wrong with her?” King Kuei asked.

“The catnip makes her really happy so she wants to play, run, get attention, you name it. She’ll be better once it wears off.”

“How long does that take?”

“Considering how stimulated she is I’d say a few hours.”

“What should we do?”

“We can’t do anything. She just has to ride this out.”

His sister got bored of the conversation again and ran off. If Zuko wouldn’t play with her then maybe the turtleducks would. They were all in the pond when she arrived.

“Perfect.”

Her predator instincts kicked in and she began to slowly stalk the turtleducks. The mother realized right before Azula struck and quacked angrily at the princess but Azula still grabbed one. The mom continued to fly over her and peck her but Azula wasn’t giving up her prize. The baby in her mouth continued to quack and thrash. Azula returned inside the palace and lost the mother.

“So stupid.” She dropped the baby and began to claw and bite its shell. The young turtleduck stayed hidden, trying to protect itself from the predator.

“Get out of there.” She muttered.

“Azula!” Zuko?

Zuko picked her up and yanked the young turtleduck away from her, returning it outside. She hissed at her brother and began to claw at him as much as possible. It wasn't that she was particularly angry at him for taking her prize, but she did not want to be touched at the moment.

"Ah!" Zuko dropped her. His arms were covered in bite marks and scratches.

"Firelord Zuko, are you alright?" Kuei asked, "Why would she do that?"

"It's not her fault. It's mine. Whenever she's had this much catnip she has to be the one to initiate any touching." He explained.

“That was mine.” Another hiss and her fur stood on it's end.

"I know, but I couldn't let you eat a baby turtleduck." Kuei's face molded into confusion. Zuko had grown up with Azula and could get a sense about what her cat noises meant, "Still, I am sorry. I shouldn't have picked you up. That was my bad." That seemed to get her to calm down.

“You’re no fun.” She mumbled.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kuei asked.

“How does Bosco feel about playing?”

Bosco loved playing. Azula was a little upset that Zuko had dumped her on the large animal, but her cat self loved that someone wanted to play with her. Slowly, her human self started getting more control over her body and she stopped playing.

The realization of what had happened hit her like a ton of bricks. She stood up, turning back to her human form, and went to the throne room. Bosco followed close behind, confused as to why his tiny friend had become a person.

“Zuko?” She asked.

“Azula! You’re back.”

“How long was I out?” She asked.

“Two hours.”

“King Kuei, a thousand apologies. I had no intention for any of this to happen. If you would allow me to try again and rearrange this dinner. I can-“

“Azula, I’m not upset.”

A look of pure shock fell on Azula’s face, “You’re not?” She asked, “But I was a cat for two hours-No. A hyperactive cat for two hours when I was supposed to be here and having a real meeting.”

“I enjoyed seeing you loosen up a bit. Though maybe next time not at the expense of an innocent turtleduck.” He chuckled. Bosco came up to Azula and placed his head against her side, “Besides, Bosco clearly likes you. You can’t be all bad.”

Azula scratched the bears head, “Well, I’m here now. Is the meeting still going on?”

“Yes. Maybe you can help us with deciding what to do with these colonies.”

“Show me which ones.”

Chapter Text

Zuko woke up to the sound of throwing up. He rubbed his eye and began to scan the room. After he was awake for a few minutes, explanations for the noise filled his mind. Was he hearing a sailor get seasick? Was it uncle? Then his eyes landed on the black cat throwing up, thankfully, into the waste basket. He got out of bed and knelt down beside her, gently petting her head.

“Hey.” He tried to use the same voice his mother would use with him whenever he got sick.

“Hey.” A small meow.

Zuko wracked his mind trying to think of how Azula could have gotten so sick. He hadn’t fed her anything new and she’d been on the ship for years now so it couldn’t be seasickness.

“Would solid ground help?” Zuko asked.

Azula nodded. She was sure the boat wasn’t making her sick but some time on land would help. They were making their way towards the South Pole but still in Earth Kingdom waters so there should be a place or two to dock.

“I’ll go tell the crew.” When he got up to leave, Azula stopped him by placing a paw on his leg.

She didn’t want to be alone like this. She hated being a cat but, on top of that, now she was a sick cat. Zuko seemed to understand her and picked her up.

“We’ll go tell the crew then.”

The crew understood Zuko’s order, a few giving Azula’s head sad pats. In all honesty, she was liking the attention. Whenever she got sick at the palace, she understood that the task was to continue training and not let Ozai see her. Here, no one cared. In fact, people took care of her. She hadn’t been this pampered since she had last been to the Fire Nation spa.

"Hmmm. I wonder if they could do anything for my fur." She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice her uncle come into the room.

“I think Azula likes the attention.” Iroh chuckled.

“So what? I’m sick. Aren’t I allowed a little extra attention?” Meows but they weren’t as strong as usual.

“Of course she does. Who doesn’t love attention?” One of the sailors said.

“Why do you think she’s sick, Uncle?”

“Could be a number of things: food, heat stroke, intestine issues, hairballs.” Azula pinned her ears against her head. She really did believe that hairballs were one of the worst parts of this whole curse, “She seems better now. Perhaps it was just-“

Azula raced past her uncle and straight to the rooms waste bucket to vomit into. She found herself too tired to even make an attempt to return to the table and collapsed on the floor.

“Nevermind.”

She felt Zuko pick her up and scratch behind her ears, “She’ll be better soon. She has to be.”

“Correct. I’m not dying as a cat.” Agni would have to come from the Spirit World and kill her himself before she died in this body.

They reached a port within two hours. The solid land felt so good but Azula’s body was still weak.

“She’s still sick.” The sixteen year old whispered.

“Maybe we should take her to a local vet?” Iroh suggested.

Vet? No! No, no, no, no, no! She didn’t even like the healer back at the palace. There was no way she was going to a vet but her legs didn’t want to run. Her whole body felt like it was shutting down. She hadn’t felt this weak in…forever. Her eyes grew heavier and heavier until she decided to close them. There was no harm in closing her eyes for a few minutes, right?

When she woke up again, a vet was in front of her. Her head perked up and she looked around the room.

“Zuko!” Had he left her here?

“Relax. You’re okay.” The vet’s voice made her heart pound and her tail start to thrash.

Zuko and uncle came rushing into the room a few moments later, “Azula! How is she?”

“Do you keep any plants in your home?” The vet asked.

“Not that I can think of. Uncle?”

“I did just get the most beautiful lilies.”

“From here in the Earth Kingdom?”

“Yes.” He admitted.

“That’s it.”

“What’s it?” Zuko asked, “Is she okay?” A hand on the cat’s side.

“Don’t worry. She’s going to be fine. I’m assuming your cat decided to eat some of the lilies.” Azula let her ears fall. She had been hoping no one would find out about that. A few days ago, she’d been passing by her uncle’s room and the flowers looked very interesting…and tasty.

“What’s wrong with that?” Zuko asked. In the Fire Nation, cats ate whatever plant or food they wanted.

“They’re highly toxin to cats.”

“What?!?” The three cried.

“Don’t worry. You got her here in time. I flushed out the toxins and she should be right as rain in a few hours. Though, next time you buy plants, check and make sure they’re suitable for cats.”

“We will.” Uncle promised, “Can we take her home?”

“Yes. She should be all set but she might be a bit groggy for the next day or two.”

“Groggy is better than dead.” Azula muttered.

Zuko collected her, uncle paid and the group walked back towards the ship. Uncle stopped buying anything Azula could eat after that and Zuko started making sure everything that was brought into the ship was okay for her. She had to admit, it was nice to have people that cared so much.

Chapter Text

After the war, everyone started spending more time in the Fire Nation. There was a lot to do and everyone was needed for a specific part of the recovery from the 100 year war. Aang traveled all over to help as many as he could, Toph traveled the Earth Kingdom to help captured earthbenders, Azula acted as Zuko’s council because of her knowledge of the royal court, Ty Lee left for Kyoshi Island and the Kyoshi Warriors traveled around making sure things were stabilizing, Mai returned to her family but was acting as Zuko’s eyes and ears into the resistance movement, Zuko was running the Fire Nation as Fire Lord, Sokka went traveled between the North Pole, South Pole and Fire Nation to help relations and Katara mainly spent her time helping rebuild the Southern Water Tribe.

Everyone did return to the Royal Palace from time to time, but there roles kept them pretty far away. Katara was one of the people who was at the Fire Nation a considerable amount of time though. She had to be to help advocate for the Southern tribe. Azula and Zuko never minded when she came. She had become a good friend of theirs and they looked forward to her visits.

During one such visit, the three had to endure a 8 hour long meeting. They kept up the smiles and feigned interest until the final person left.

“Spirits!” Zuko fell on his back.

“Is there a record for how long an idiot can talk?” Katara asked.

“I don’t know but I think councilman Asahi broke it.”

“What do you think Azula?” Katara asked, “Azula?” She turned her head to see a passed out black cat.

“They bored her into her cat form.” Katara chuckled.

“I still got some paperwork to finish. You should retire for the night.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you in the morning and I’ll take the little kitten too.”

She collected Azula in her arms, by now the princess was used to all of the members of the Gaang holding her and had stopped caring, and headed to their rooms. Azula’s room was only a few doors down from hers so she could leave the princess then get some sleep. Katara set the black cat on the bed, ready to head to her own room, when she heard a soft meow. She still couldn’t understand all of Azula’s meows like Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee but there were usually enough movements to indicate what Azula was trying to say.

“What?” Katara asked, trying not to let it show how tired she was.

The cat offered another meow, sitting on her hind legs and batting at something. It took Katara a second but she realized that Azula was going for her necklace.

“Oh!”

Azula made another move for the swinging pendant. This time pressing a front paw against the girl’s front and using another to try and attack her newfound interest.

“That meeting really got to you, huh?”

Azula tried her hardest not to act too much like a cat, even in her cat form. Thanks to years of Ozai, she was convinced that her cat behavior and form were a weakness that people would use to exploit her.

The only time Katara had seen her act like a real cat was about a year ago and has since been referred to as the ‘catnip incident’. Zuko did tell her though that whenever Azula was too tired to fight off her cat instincts she would also act more like a cat. Apparently, when they were younger, Zuko had two cat toys hidden in his room for whenever Azula was too exhausted to act like a person.

Now seemed to be one of those times.

“You really like my necklace, huh?”

Azula continued to bat at it and even tried to bite it. Katara had to laugh at the cats insistent attacks on her necklace. She removed it from her neck and held it up making Azula jump to try to get it.

“Hey. Hey.” Katara was giggling as Azula tried to climb her to get the necklace.

Because of the cat crawling all over her, Katara did drop the necklace which Azula quickly grabbed and held with her mouth.

“What’s the plan now?” The waterbender asked.

Azula didn’t seem to have much of one in mind. Her prize now claimed she bolted under the bed for the darkness it provided.

“Can I have my necklace back?” Katara asked.

“No.” A meow.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes, Katara’” Though she knew Azula had no intention of giving her back her necklace.

Katara did hate to take the necklace back but she didn’t want such a valuable item to be covered in cat bite marks and saliva. She used her waterbending to drag Azula out from under the bed. When the cat tried to make a move to return to her original spot, Katara scooped her up.

“No fair.” Another meow, but it was hard to hear because of the necklace in her mouth.

“Necklace?” Katara held out her hand.

“Never.”

“Have it your way. I guess I’ll just let my hair loopies down and-“ Katara didn’t even get to finish before Azula’s eyes went to slits and she leapt for Katara’s hair, "I'm awake now." Katara laughed. Azula was actually on her head and trying to get at her beads. When Katara noticed Azula dropped the necklace, she shook her head making Azula fall onto the bed and grabbed it.

When Azula realized she had been tricked her ears fell and she gave a long meow. How did cats also have polar dog puppy eyes?

“I’m sorry but my necklace and hair aren’t toys.”

Not satisfied with her answer but having no other options, Azula took to biting the girls finger. It didn’t hurt too much so Katara made no move to pull her hand away. Instead, she laid down on the ground and her eyes started to get heavier and heavier. Eventually, both let sleep over take them.

Zuko would tell them the next morning that the servants had found them asleep on the floor. The next time Katara was around cat Azula, the cat did take to licking the waterbenders fingers. Katara chose to see this as her way of apologizing for biting her.

Although, Katara’s necklace quickly became one of Azula’s favorite items to play with as a cat after that. Although the Katara couldn't keep giving up her family heirloom, she did find other ways to play with Azula. Even if that did mean from time to time sacrificing her hair and fingers.

Chapter Text

When Ursa entered her daughter’s room and couldn’t find her an uneasy feeling entered her body. True, it wasn’t unusual for Azula to slip out of her crib and find her way to Zuko’s room but Ozai never liked it when she did that and always yelled at her when he found out. Ursa made her way towards Zuko’s room, hoping to beat Ozai there. She found her children, both in their cat forms, playing on the floor. Zuko turned his attention to his mom when he saw her but Azula was still nibbling on his ear.

“What are you two doing?” She asked, a smile on her face.

“Playing!” The four year old happily chirped, but it was an actual chirp that a kitten would make so Ursa didn’t understand.

“Can you turn back so we can get ready for the day?”

Zuko did as he was told and Ursa dressed him up in his nicer clothes.

“Why do I have to wear this?” He moaned.

“We have an important breakfast this morning with a general and his wife. You need to be there.” Ursa reminded him.

“Why doesn’t Lala have to go?”

“She’s two. Speaking of which, can you turn back for me?” The tiny black kitten shook her head, “Azula. I won’t ask again.” She waited a few seconds but eventually did as she was told. However she did keep her ears and tail but Ursa didn’t really care. It just meant she had to wear a skirt instead of pants.

“Such a beautiful girl.” Ursa collected her daughter in her arms, “You’re going to have a wonderful morning with the nanny, won’t you?”

“I want you.” Azula mumbled into her mother's neck.

“Please give this new nanny a chance, Azula. I’ll be back this afternoon. I promise.”

“Okay.”

The last nanny left after Azula sneezed on her. Except it wasn’t a normal sneeze it was a fire sneeze and she did it on the nanny’s bare skin. The nanny screamed at Azula, mainly out of pain, and the two year old started crying. In the end, the nanny was fired and Azula spent the rest of the night hiding in Zuko’s room as a cat.

A lady was waiting by Azula's room when the two arrived, “Princess Ursa.” The new nanny, Azumi, bowed.

“Azumi. This is my daughter, Azula. You’ve been told about her condition correct.”

“The whole cat thing? Yes, I’m aware.” She chuckled. The question, Ursa realized, was redundant when she remembered her daughter still had her ears and tail out.

“Good. Sweetie, be a good girl for Azumi.”

“Okay, mom.”

“That’s my girl.” She gave Azula a quick kiss on her forehead before returning to Zuko’s room.

“Do you remember the rules?” She asked, taking his hand.

“No turning into a cat, no cat behaviors and stay in my seat at all times.”

“Very good.”

The general, Hiroto, and his wife, Shola, were already seated when Ursa and Zuko arrived. Ozai was also in his seat and glared as his wife and son came in.

“There they are.” Hiroto smiled, “You decided to join us, princess.”

“I apologize. Two kids can be time consuming.”

Shola chuckled, “Exactly why we don’t plan on having any. They just make a mess of everything.”

The start of breakfast went great. Zuko was quiet, he didn’t show any cat features and answered every question Hiroto or Shola gave him. Even Ozai gave him a nod of approval. Then it all came crashing down. A cat, a domestic house cat, jumped onto the table.

“Oh! I’m so sorry. This is our cat, Lilly. She must have escaped her carrier.” Lilly was staring at Zuko and began to hiss, puffing up.

“Can you get her out of here? We’re trying to eat.” Ursa snapped.

“You’re allowed to bring your cat but you get angry when we bring ours?”

As the princess, was she allowed to punch people in the face? Ursa didn't have a second to contemplate this, because Lilly had jumped at Zuko. Reacting more on instinct than anything else, Zuko hissed at the cat, not fully transforming, but going to all fours and letting his tail poof.

“Zuko!” Ozai snapped.

Ursa grabbed Lilly and tossed her across the room, “Lilly!” Shola cried.

“Are you okay?” Ursa asked.

Zuko nodded, “Sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-”

“Get the boy out of here!” Ozai roared.

Ursa picked up her son and ran back to his room. Based on how angry Ozai was, she could only assume firebending was around the corner. She's probably bear the brunt of that later. Zuko calmed down in her arms and slipped into his cat form. When Ursa returned him to his room, he made his way towards the bookshelf, which had sunlight falling on it, and pushed a book in Ursa's direction.
"Only one." She told him.

He fell asleep before she could even finish.

---------------

“I should go check on Azula.” She had already finished most of her daily tasks and had lunch.

Azumi was still there when Ursa got to the room which was good, “Princess.” Another bow.

“How’d she do?” Ursa asked.

“Very well. She’s asleep in her crib.”

“Thank you. If you want to go into town for some lunch, I can take her for a while.”

“Thank you, princess.”

Azula’s eyes blinked open when the door closed, “Mama?” Huh? She never used the word mama unless she was in pain or wanted something.

“Hi. Thank you for doing so well with Azumi.” She lifted her daughter up, setting her on her hip.

“Mama. It hurts.”

“What? What hurts?”

She pointed to her stomach. The second her finger made contact, the girl threw up on herself and Ursa.

“Spirits!” On top of the smell, Azula was now crying, “It’s okay, sweetie.” First things first: clean Azula. The servants could handle the carpet.

Azula stopped crying when she saw the bath that Ursa had prepared. Her cat ears appeared and she pinned them against her head.

“No!” Azula screamed.

“Sweetie, you need a bath.”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“No water.”

“Water...?” Oh! Cats hate water. Azula had a stronger connection to her cat half than Zuko did. Sure, Zuko had cat instincts and the same abilities as his sister, but Azula seemed like the one who really was a cat.

“You need a bath. You have vomit all over you."

“No water!”

She wasn’t going to get anywhere arguing with a two year old, “I have an idea. What if we added something?” She poured a liquid into the water and, in a few minutes, bubbles appeared making Azula’s eyes light up.

“Now will you go in the water?”

Azula still looked reluctant, “Plus you can have some ice cream after dinner.” That got her in the water.

Ursa washed her down, gave her new clothes, as well as changed out of her own dirty robes, and returned her to her room just as Azumi returned.

“Oh my. What happened?” The smell of vomit was still in the air.

“Azula got sick. What did she have for breakfast?”

“Some fruit, strawberries and watermelon, komodo sausage, and milk.”

“Milk! You gave her milk?” Azula clutched her mother’s robs tightly.

“What’s wrong with milk? She is part cat.”

Ursa sighed, “She can’t have milk. It makes her sick.”

“Oh! Oh! Princess Ursa, I swear I had no idea. It wasn’t my intention to make her sick or anything. I-”

“It’s okay. I believe you. You’re not going to be banished or anything. I’ll give you a list of foods she can’t have for next time.”

“Thank you, princess.”

Azumi went home a few hours later. When Ursa went to go check on Azula, she had escaped her crib again. She found her and Zuko asleep, in their cat forms, on Zuko’s bed. Her heart clenched when she saw a new mark on Zuko’s ear. Ozai. There had to be some place she could take her kids and have them be safe from that man.

For now though, it was best to let them sleep.

Chapter Text

Ozai knew from the day Azula was born that she would be a prodigy and worthy of the dragon throne. The only thing that stood in her way was her weak mother and Zuko. Both of which Ozai got rid of. However, as she grew older, he learned of another issue. She had a tendency to bend the rules a little, to lie to him, and to go after victories that weren’t hers.

The Firelord quickly realized that this could be the thing to undo him in the end. If he let this behavior continue then she would lose her fear of him. He spoke to the Fire Sages about what they recommended and one offered him a special poison, gifted to them by Sozin’s dragon.

“I’m not trying to kill her!” He yelled. Azula was still useful to him.

“I know, my lord, this won’t kill her. It’s an addictive drink. Any time she gets out of line, give some to her.”

“You mean anytime she does something I disapprove of I should reward her with a drink she’ll love?” Weren't the sages supposed to be wise?

“No. Once the princess stops taking the drink, the legend says that she’ll be transformed into a dragon.” Ozai’s eyes widened, “Only when she takes another sip will she turn back. If the princess steps out of line, you refuse her the drink and she transforms.”

Her ability to be human again would be in his control. A smile grew on his face.

“Good work.” Was all he said.

That night, he called Azula to him for dinner and offered her the drink.

“What is this father?” She asked.

“The Fire Sages believe it will help make your fire stronger.”

She drank it.

The months continued to pass, but Ozai never denied her the drink. She hadn’t done anything to displease him. There was enough to make multiple bottles of it, and she only needed the tiniest bit to keep from transforming, so things continued like normal.

Then came the news of the Avatar’s return. Ozai was so wrapped up in it that he almost missed giving her the drink. He remembered during a meeting when Azula started having extreme pain throughout her body. Was that the start of the transformation? All he did was lift an eyebrow, but he did eventually give her the drink.

When news of the North Pole reached the Fire Nation, Ozai sent Azula out to capture Zuko and Iroh. He noticed that she packed a fair amount of bottles, but, before she left, he made sure to remove a few. If she couldn't complete this mission within a few months then maybe it was time for the dragon to appear.

—————————

Azula was loving the bit of freedom she got from finally leaving the Fire Nation. Of course, she still had a mission to accomplish for her father but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun every now and then.

When Zuko and her uncle escaped though, she stopped. If father heard of this...things wouldn't end well for her. She shook her head and remained on course. Azula decided after a few weeks to cut the royal fighters and go find a few old friends who could help.

Ty Lee and Mai gladly accepted after a little persuasion.

"What is that?" Ty Lee asked, pointing at the drink in Azula's hand. The three girls were outside of Azula's campsite discussing what their next move would be after finding the Avatar in Omashu.

"It boosts my firebending."

"Ohh." Ty Lee grabbed the drink and looked it over. It did have a weird blue color to it that she'd never seen in any other kinda of drink, "Where'd you get this?" She asked.

"My father gave it to me." Mai's eyes narrowed.

When Ty Lee went to give it back to her, the bottle accidentally slipped from her hold and smashed on the ground. The slight hissing sound it gave when it hit the ground wasn't making Mai or Ty Lee feel any better about the drink.

"Spirits! I'm so sorry, Azula."

"Don't worry. I have more back at the camp." She decided to ignore the itching feeling under her skin that seemed to be growing worse every second. She'd gotten so busy after the whole Omashu battle that she had put off having more of the liquid. It had been over a week since she last had the drink.

The girls remained where they were for about an hour until Ty Lee gave a loud yawn.

"Time to turn in for the night?" Mai asked.

"I think so. I'm getting pretty tired." The acrobat mumbled, "And I know Zula is."

"I'm not tired." Azula defended.

"Really? You were always the first one to fall asleep at all our slumber parties." Mai smirked.

Azula only rolled her eyes at her friend and moved to stand up, but when she did pain shot through her entire body.

“Ah!” She crumped to the ground.

“Azula? Are you okay?” Ty Lee asked.

“Hurts. Everything hurts.” She mumbled, her hands wrapped around her sides.

“Could it be the Earth Kingdom food?” Ty Lee asked.

“We all ate it. It wouldn’t just make her sick.” Mai said.

“AH!!!!” Azula’s vision started to get blurry and she rested her head against the ground. Her head hurt, her body hurt, everything hurt. And it wasn’t going away. It felt like she was being run over by a carriage while parasites ate her insides.

Finally she passed out.

“Get a healer.” Ty Lee told Mai, “I’ll stay here with her.” Mai just nodded.

Ty Lee put Azula on her stomach, to keep her from choking on anything, and kept her hair pinned up. Then it started happening. It looked and sounded like someone was breaking Azula’s bones but somehow it wasn’t killing her. Horrified, Ty Lee ran from the forest, only stopping when her mind finally caught up with her. While she was in the process of berating herself for abandoning her friend, Mai appeared.

“What’s going on?” Mai asked, a healer behind her.

“Azula doesn’t need a healer. False alarm.” Ty Lee had a suspicion that Azula wouldn’t want anyone to see her like this.

“False alarm? You said the princess had passed out.” The healer looked confused.

“We were wrong. I’ll grab her and we’ll return to camp.”

Once the healer had walked away, Mai gave Ty Lee a confused and angry look, “What was that? Azula needs help.”

“There’s nothing the healer can do for what Azula is going through.”

“What do you mean?”

A loud roar filled the air.

“That.”

The girls ran towards the source to find a small blue dragon, roaring and breathing fire. The dragon itself couldn’t have been much bigger than a polar bear dog but it was definitely doing damage. The girls quickly realized that the dragon wasn’t so much trying to be threatening as she was panicking. Finally, the giant creature backed into a tree, which had been damaged from her fire breathing, and a large branch fell on her. She let out a final softer roar.

“Is that a dragon?” Mai whispered. They were supposed to be extinct.

“I think that’s Azula.” Ty Lee added.

“What?” Mai was staring at Ty Lee with widened eyes.

The dragon turned towards them when Ty Lee walked out, “Azula?” She whispered.

The dragon almost trampled her. Mai jumped out, ready to defend her friend but quickly realized the dragon wasn’t attacking. It was trying to do the human equivalent of hugging. The dragon didn’t move away from Ty Lee but Mai was able to get a look at her golden eyes.

“It’s Azula.” She whispered.

“How did this happen?” Ty Lee asked.

"I don't know. I just woke up from passing out and I had wings and a tail." Azula tried to talk but all that came out were growls and roars.

Ty Lee set a hand on the girl’s neck. She didn't know dragons had fur. Whatever it was, fur or hair, Azula seemed to like the touch, “We’ll find a way to fix this, Zula. I promise.” Huh? Dragons could also purr.

The happiness of the moment was destroyed when a burst of fire struck next to Azula. It was Fire Nation soldiers. Instinctively, Azula growled.

“They must have heard Azula’s roar.” Mai said, “We have to leave now.”

“How? She’s small, but we can’t get through all the trees. Plus she’s a blue reptile. She’s pretty noticeable.” How did Azula have the same glare even in the body of a dragon?

“Azula, can you fly?” Mai asked.

"No. I don't even know how my wings work." She shook her head.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice.” Ty Lee added as the soldiers came closer.

“Is that a dragon?!” One screamed.

“Grab its wings for the Firelord!”

“No, you idiot! You’re supposed to cut off the horns!”

“I thought it was the head.”

Azula quickly lowered her head for Mai and Ty Lee to get on her back. It felt...weird having people on her, but she ignored the feeling. Thankfully, they weren't far from a clearing. When they reached it, she flew up and into the sky. Her body seemed to be acting on instinct. Like she had been a dragon her entire life.

Once she got into open skies, it wasn’t too difficult to fly. The wind was a bit of a problem, but nothing too great. She could go straight but she had no clue how to stop, go faster, or steer. Hopefully those would come as instincts too. She was so focused on flying though that she didn't notice one of the soldiers launch a spear into her leg.

“Ah!” A roar.

“Azula!” Ty Lee cried.

“Spirits.” Azula mumbled, “Stay in the air. Stay in the air.” She whispered.

They flew for about ten more minutes before Azula couldn’t go any further and was forced to land. She just wished it hadn’t been in a swamp. The swamp water and muck felt disgusting on her scales. Not to mention all the animals and bugs around them.

“Get away!” One dragon roar proved to be enough to get them to run.

“Thanks!” Ty Lee said as she jumped off her back.

“You’re welcome.”

“That spear is still there.” Mai reminded them, “It needs to come out.” She grabbed onto it and tried to yank it out.

Azula snapped her jaw at the older girl, “Even as a dragon you’re a brat.”

"How about I stab you in the leg and then try to just yank it out? You can see how that feels!" Anyone else would have been terrified of the dragon's growls, but Mai continued to glare at the dragon.

“We need to calm down.” Ty Lee said, standing between them.

“Calm down?!” A hiss, “I’m a freaking dragon! I can’t go anywhere in the world without my own people trying to cut my head off! On top of that, I was run out of my own camp, we’re stuck in a swamp and I have a spear in my leg!! Am I missing anything?!?” A bunch of roars and growls.

“Azula, I know you’re scared and you want to be human again. Mai and I will do what we can to turn you back. You have to trust us.”

“I do. It’s just…what’s the point? You can’t understand me anyway.” She let her head fall against the ground. Suddenly, she felt Ty Lee’s hand petting her neck. Was it a dragon thing that that felt good?

“First things first. We need to get that spear out.” Mai noted.

“Slight problem. We don’t have anything to patch the wound.”

Ty Lee started thinking for a second when she suddenly heard voices. She jumped up onto the swamp trees to see who it was and her eyes widened.

“Stay here.”

“Ty Lee! Where are you going?” Azula called.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.” Mai told her.

After a few minutes, Ty Lee returned. That wasn’t too surprising. Azula doubted anything in this swamp could kill her. It was who she returned with that shocked the two. Was that the Avatar and his friends?

The waterbender stepped forward first, “What in the world? Is that a dragon?!”

“We need your help.”

Oh, this was going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Azula lifted her head when she heard the commotion. Once the ship entered into South Pole waters, she had decided to stay under Zuko’s bed for some warmth. The South and North Pole were the worst places for her. As a Fire Nation cat, she didn’t have enough fur to keep herself warm in such areas so she often grabbed a blanket and found a place to rest until they returned to the Earth Kingdom.

However, it sounded like there was a fight going on in the room. She poked her head out from under the bed and saw her brother fighting...an airbender? Did he actually find the Avatar? Whoever he was fighting they were definitely an airbender.

Azula winced when the young boy threw her brother and his mattress against the ceiling and let them fall to the floor. Then he left. Azula began to chance towards him and saw he had a glider. Her weight wouldn’t be enough to bring him down, but maybe it would be enough to stop him for a second so Zuko or any member of the crew could. She jumped onto his back and it was like he didn’t even notice her.

“Curse this small body.” She mentally groaned.

The battle continued with her brother and uncle not even realizing she was on the airbender’s back, but she held on for dear life. A fall like this would almost certainly mean a splattered cat. Something she very much did not want to be. The airbender finally sat down but Azula quickly realized they were on a giant animal and still miles from the ground. Before she could even think of a plan to get down and back to the ship, someone grabbed her.

“Who’s this?” It was a female voice. Azula looked to see a Water Tribe girl and boy.

“Let go of me!” She hissed.

“I don’t know. I must have accidentally taken her while I was on the ship.”

“That monster had this cute little kitten.” Katara cooed at Azula making her hiss again.

“She really doesn’t like you.” Sokka chuckled.

“She just doesn’t like the cold. Here. I did this with cats in the Fire Nation all the time.” The airbender put one hand around Azula’s front and began to scratch her back. The realization dawned on her that he was going to scratch right above her tail and she quickly scratched him, “Ah!” Aang cried.

In her first month on the ship, one of the sailors had scratched her there and she practically melted. There was no way she was going to be that vulnerable around the enemy.

There was no where for her to go, so she just went to the corner of the saddle and hissed and clawed the air whenever one of them tried to get close.

“We can’t give her back to him. He’ll try to grab you the second we go.” She heard the girl say.

“Then what do we do? Keep her.”

“I guess.” Sokka shrugged, “She needs a name though.”

“How about Ash?”

NO! Not Ash. She’d never be called Ash again! She hissed and puffed herself up.

“She doesn’t like that idea. How about Fluffy?” The glare from the cat was answer enough.

“Ember?”

Azula could live with the name Ember. It was definitely more of a pet name than her own, but wasn’t the worst.

---------------------

Did these idiots not understand she was freezing? When they landed that night, they all got in their sleeping bags and fell asleep pretty quickly. Meanwhile, Azula was freezing. On the plus side, she did get confirmation that this kid was the Avatar and the girl he was traveling with was an inexperienced waterbender. The biggest threat to the Fire Nation was a twelve year old who seemed more in favor of playing with animals than saving anyone. Azula really wished cats could laugh.

Her discover didn’t fix the cold problem though. The fire went out early and she couldn’t firebend in front of them, so she was stuck shivering. Eventually, she jumped off the saddle and made her way over to the three. She had no plans of getting anywhere near the Avatar or the waterbender so only the idiot nonbender was left.

“Hey. Wake up.” She pawed at his face making him look at her.

“What do you want, Ember?”

“Move. I’m cold.”

Sokka was way too tired to deal with the pushy cat so he moved aside and let her sleep next to him. It was only when she was actually asleep that he realized her entire body was frozen. He’d have to make a mental note to keep an eye on her while they were still so far south.

---------------------

“THEY TOOK AZULA!?!”

“Prince Zuko. We’ll get her back.”

“The Avatar, the person I’m supposed to capture, stole my cat!”

“Kid, you’ve got to relax. Azula’s a tough cat. She’ll be fine.”

“She better be. I really hope that Water Tribe rat doesn’t eat her.”

Iroh laughed, “You really think Azula would let herself be eaten by anyone or anything.”

Fair point.

“We have to find the Avatar again. We find him, we find her.”

“Don’t worry, Zuko. Azula will be perfectly safe.”

“I hope.”

---------------------

Azula was not perfectly safe. The Avatar State nearly launched her off the mountain. Only Sokka clutching her against his chest kept her from being blown away. She did have to marvel though at the Avatar’s power and Katara’s ability to calm him down. Aang might have been a child but he was certainly still a threat.

He didn’t seem like a threat though only ten minutes later when he came back with a lemur. Azula hissed at the creature making him hiss at her.

“Be nice. Ember’s your friend.” Aang said.

“I am not!”

The lemur, Momo, as Aang called him, treated her like a friend though. He was kind of like a cat and Azula could respect that. Plus, he started bringing her a fish whenever he could which she loved.

“Smart little lemur.” Azula whispered. He had tried to give her berries and nuts which she declined instantly. Thanks to this body, all she wanted was meat. Momo did eventually understand that and started bringing her fish.

“Aww. Ember and Momo are bonding.” Katara’s voice made Azula pin her ears back.

“Isn’t that just purr-fect?” Was that a cat pun?

Sokka smiled, “Get it? Maybe Ember likes Momo because she’s feline-pretty good.” She buried her head under her paws. Someone stop him. Someone please stop him.

Thankfully, Katara did.

She did have to admit that it was nice to be able to share Momo’s body heat at night. The lemur could fall asleep either next to her or on top of her and it kept her nice and warm.

------------------

Azula wasn’t a big fan of the Kyoshi Warriors after they put her and Momo in a cage. Then one of the kids started pulling her whiskers and ears and no one thought to stop him. Azula had to force back her instinct to scratch this kid because she didn't think the people of the island would take kindly to a cat that scratched people. When she got free and ran to Sokka, climbing up him and onto his shoulders.

“Where did you get that cat from?” The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors asked.

“From some Fire Nation guy who’s trying to capture us. She’s kinda mean at first but gets nicer once you get to know her.” Sokka earned a hiss for that.

“She is a cute little kitten.”

“Kitten?”

“Yeah. There’s no way she’s an adult yet. I’d guess she’s about halfway done with her kitten life.”

“Awwww! You guys hear that. Ember’s just a little kitten.” More hissing, “Hey. Don’t be so rude.” She really wanted to get off this island.

At the house, it was mainly her and Katara. She didn’t care where the boys went, it just meant the room was finally quiet and she could sleep. Azula was rudely woken up though when Katara came in.

“That little-UGH!”

“What happened?” A couple meows.

“Sorry to wake you, Ember. Aang is just driving me crazy. He said he wouldn’t let this Avatar stuff go to his head but then he walks around the island with a fan club!”

“Maybe he got annoyed cause you refused to pay attention to him?” Even she could see that the Avatar liked this girl. Though Katara had been focused on mending her brother’s clothing and having to put up with his sexist comments and didn't notice his attempts to get her attention.

“And, guess what? When I say we have to leave because we have to go to the North Pole and save the world he’s just going to complain for days! It’s not my fault! He could go anywhere and get a new fan club!”

“Ohhh. You’re jealous. Let me guess his fan club is mostly girls?”

Katara took a few deep breaths before sitting in front of a small bowl of water, “He’s an idiot.” She mumbled.

--------------------

“Come out, Avatar!” Zuko?

“These little girls can’t protect you forever!” Zuko!

Azula squirmed out of Sokka’s hold and raced out in front of the rhinos.

“Azula!”

Zuko got off his rhino and scooped up his cat, “Thank the spirits you’re okay.” The fight forgotten for a moment, Azula allowed herself to purr.

However, the fight did continue and it didn’t end well for them. In fact, it ended up the Unagi spraying water on all of them.

“I see you recovered Azula.” Iroh said as Zuko dried Azula off with a towel.

“I did. I’m glad she’s okay.”

“Glad to be back.”

“And the Avatar?”

“Got away. He’s certainly smarter than I give him credit for, uncle.” Azula desperately wished cats could laugh because no. Aang was not smart. He just had no plans whatsoever. He was a twelve year old.

“We’ll find him, but first we should have some of this tea I got from the village!”

“Wait. While we were fighting the Avatar, you got tea?"

"Of course! Try some."

Azula rolled her eyes and jumped onto Zuko’s shoulders. This would certain be an interesting capture mission now.

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a diplomatic mission. Zuko had dragged her along so she could experience the ‘beauty of the other nations.’ Spirits, he really was becoming like uncle. This mission was to the South Pole though which calmed Azula down a great amount. She and Katara got along fairly well, Sokka was annoying but tolerable and chief Hakoda was kind to her (more than her father was at least). The ride down there wasn’t bad but the weather was another matter. The biting cold was not something she nor any other firebender liked.

“How can you stand there?” Azula asked, wrapping her coat around her more.

“I searched for Aang for three years and in that time I went to the North and South Pole multiple times. You get used to the cold.” He chuckled, “Why not just switch forms?”

“My cat form is built for the Fire Nation. My fur can’t keep me warm.”

“Alright. Then stay here and I’ll get another coat.”

Azula was about to tell him there was no need, since she could see the port, but he was gone before she could get the words out. Sokka was standing at the docks when they arrived and he leapt onto their boat.

“Princess!”

“It’s good to see you, Sokka.”

“How’s life been?”

“Good. I finally managed to beat that puzzle you sent to me.”

“How long?”

“3 hours.” She said, examining her nails.

Sokka’s jaw dropped, “3 hours?! It look me all day.”

“I guess I’m just smarter.” She smirked.

The clouds began to clear above them, revealing the southern lights. Sokka looked at them in fondness. He’d grown up with the sight and knew it by heart. Azula watched it and her eyes went wide.

“What is that?”

“You mean the…Oh! You mean the spirit lights! I guess they wouldn’t reach the Fire Nation. They’re the lights of the spirits dancing in the sky. It doesn’t really do to much but it is always beautiful when it appears.”

Azula’s eyes dilated as the lights moved, “I’m gonna bite it.”

“Yeah-wait, what?!”

Azula raced to the side of the boat, her cat features beginning to appear, and climbed onto the railing. Sokka, thankfully, grabbed her before she fell into the freezing cold water.

“Azula! It’s impossible to bite the Southern Lights!”

“But they’re so shiny and bitable.” She shrank down to her cat form but Sokka kept a hold on her.

“It’s impossible!”

“What’s going on?” Sokka taking the second to turn towards Zuko gave Azula the window she needed to slip out of his grip and run off.

“Stop her!” Sokka yelled.

Azula slipped passed her brother and ran into the ship.

“What’s going on?!” Zuko asked again.

“She saw the Southern Lights and now she wants to bite them.”

“Bite them?”

“Yes.”

“You know what? I’ve seen weirder stuff when she’s been a cat. What do you need me to do?”

“Just try and stop your sister before she jumps into the ocean and we have to take an emergency trip to the healer.”

Zuko found Azula on the roof of the ship. She was staring at the lights with her tail going back and forth.

“Azula?”

“Zuzu! Look! It’s so pretty! I wish we had something like that in the Fire Nation.” She continued to watch the lights and got into a crouched position.

Zuko recognized it in a second. She did the same move back at the palace whenever she was practicing hunting. Azula never ate her prey though, she always brought it to him, Ursa or Iroh. It wasn’t until he was 11 that he finally understood why she did that.

Zuko managed to stop her before she launched herself into the air. Taking her away from the lights seemed to turn off her need to attack them.

“Azula. You can’t bite the Southern Lights.”

Her ears fell, “They just looked so bright and fun.”

“I know, but unless you can fly it’s just not possible.”

“You got her?” Sokka asked.

“Yup.” Zuko set down his cat sister who quickly returned to her human form.

“I still think they’d be fun to bite.” She muttered.

“Don’t worry. You’re not alone in your love for them. When Katara was two, they showed up on her birthday and she was in so much awe that she walked straight into the ocean because her eyes were on the sky.” Sokka chuckled, “Gave our mom a heart attack.”

Azula made sure to file that story in her head for later when she was arguing with Katara over something.

“Speaking of which, Katara is probably waiting for us.”

Azula watched the Southern Lights as they walked into the village. They really were one of the best parts of coming to the South Pole.

She was even more excited when she found out the North Pole had them as well. Though she was upset when she was told that she couldn’t bite those either.

Chapter Text

“You’ll like them. I promise.” Zuko had told her.

Azula had no clue why Zuko would bring them to a circus. Also who would she like? Zuko had talked to Iroh about how he needed help with capturing Aang. Iroh suggested a small team rather than traveling with any larger group. Her brother had said nothing to her but it was clear he’d gotten an idea after Iroh said that. Now, here they were, at a circus. Azula walked next to Zuko until he stopped.

“Ty Lee.” What?

Sure enough, the acrobat was bending in front of them. Her back was curled backwards, allowing her head to go through her legs.

“Zuko!” Ty Lee smiled, “It’s been so long! How are you?” She undid herself and returned to standing on two legs.

Huh? Ty Lee did go to circus. Azula remembered her running away and claiming that she would do that but the princess didn't think Ty Lee was serious.

“Good. Did you get my letter?”

“I did but I don’t think I can help.” Help? Help with capturing the Avatar? Zuko wanted her to help with capturing Aang.

“Ty Lee-”

The acrobat gasped, “Who is this?!” She scooped up Azula and held the cat close, “She’s so cute!” Azula could let this slide. She really had missed Ty Lee. Her body began to purr in response.

“This is Azula. I found her at the Western Air Temple."

Sadness overtook Ty Lee, “I heard about Azula. It’s awful what happened. I keep thinking that maybe if I had stayed in the Fire Nation-“

“No! Ty, I’m not dead and it’s not your fault!” Curse this curse. All Ty Lee heard were some meows.

“Here you go, sweetie.” Azula rubbed her head against Ty Lee’s leg once she was set on the ground.

“She really likes you.” Zuko chuckled.

“She's such a sweetie."

"Yeah, a sweetie." Zuko mumbled getting an eye roll from Azula.

"Did she just roll her eyes?"

"Yup. I'm about 90% certain she's some kind of spirit cat that can understand us."

"She does have a strange aura to her. I don't think she's a regular cat."

"Finally. Someone with sense."

"She's also very vocal." Zuko muttered.

"I have opinions." A meow.

"Ty Lee. The Avatar-"

"Zuko, I'm happy here. I really am. I don't want to leave this life behind."

"Is there anything I can say to convince you?"

"No. I really am sorry."

Azula gave Ty Lee a long meow and put her front paws on the girl's leg, "I'm sorry, Azula, but my mind is made up."

"You can turn down those eyes?" Zuko asked.

Ty Lee turned her attention back to Azula, who offered her her best sad eyes.

"That's low, Zuko."

"But effective?"

"No."

Zuko picked up Azula and put the cat in Ty Lee's face, "You sure?"

"...Is Mai coming?" Mai? He was going to see Mai? It would be nice to see the gloomy girl again.

"I've sent her a letter, but I'm going to talk to her as well. How about this? Come with me to see Mai and help us with one mission. If you hate it, you can leave and return here."

"...Okay. But I get to hold Azula the entire time!"

"Fine." Azula muttered.

"Deal." He passed his cat sister to the acrobat who began to pet the cat's back.

"She really is something. You found her at the Western Air Temple?"

"Yes. She was soaked and starving. You should have seen her when I gave her food. I swear her previous owners never fed her." Azula had to grimace at the words 'previous owners'. She didn't have any owners. She was a princess not a pet.

"Poor thing. She does seem very happy."

"I think she is...I hope she is."

Azula rested her head against Ty Lee's arm. As a cat, she didn't have father always looking over her shoulder for some kind of mistake. Instead she had Zuko and uncle, giving her constant love and not caring one bit about her being next to useless as a cat. True, she desperately wanted to be human again but being a cat wasn't as horrible as she would have previously claimed.

"I am."

-------------------

"Please tell me you're here to kill me."

"It's great to see you, Mai."

Ty Lee had to put down Azula to hug Mai, "I though you left for the circus. You said it was your calling."

"Zuko has a plan and he wanted my help. If I don't like this, he's letting me return to the circus."

"What plan?" Mai asked.

"A plan to capture the Avatar."

“Hmmm.”

“You in?”

“Under one condition.” She smirked.

“Yes?”

“Explain the cat.”

"Oh! This is Azula. She's Zuko's cat." Ty Lee chirped, petting the cat's head.

At the mention of Azula’s name, Mai’s eyes widened, "Zuko, I heard what happened. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Mai. I just wish I could figure out why she did it."

"I didn't." Azula muttered, “I wouldn’t be stupid enough to sail in a storm.”

“Never took you for a cat person.” Mai smirked.

“I found her at the Western Air Temple. She was shaking and starving. I couldn’t just abandon her there and she refused to leave the ship after.”

“Awww.” Azula swore she saw hearts in the acrobat's eyes.

“If you really are after the Avatar. Something did happen that might interest you.”

The Avatar kidnapped Mai’s brother? That didn’t sound right. When she was with them, they seemed more like idiotic children than anything else. Azula doubted that Aang would purposely kidnap a baby, but everyone else, especially Mai's parents, seemed to think he did. Lounging in Ty Lee's arms, she heard about their plan for a trade off: King Bumi for the baby.

It didn't go well.

Apparently, the Gaang was spooked by Zuko's appearance and thought that they had been tricked so they attacked. Well, Katara attacked. Sokka ran off because he was still holding the baby and Aang went after Bumi. Mai and Ty Lee handled Katara and Zuko went after Aang.

"Azula, stay here. When the fight is over, I'll come get you." Azula obviously ignored that order. She wasn't going to just sit and hide while everyone else got to fight. She wouldn't be much of a threat to Katara and Aang was already pretty far away so she chose to go after Sokka. She jumped on his back, digging her claws into him.

“Ah!” He tossed her off his back, “Ember?”

“Not my name.” She hissed.

The lemur jumped on her back and began wrestling with her while Sokka ran off.

“Get off me! Get off me!” She yelled, claws trying to dig into the lemur.

When the lemur finally got off, Azula puffed out her fur and hissed at the creature which hissed at her holding his arms up.

The lemur flew up making Azula go on her hind legs and claw at the creature above her. He flew quickly and slammed into her unprotected stomach, almost launching her off the construction site. The bison’s roar caught his attention and he flew away to find the Avatar. She fought the Avatar's lemur and was almost thrown off a construction site.

Not her proudest moment.

“No one will hear of this.” She decided, returning to Ty Lee.

Despite their failure, Mai and Ty Lee did agree to join them. Though Ty Lee did still hold onto her as they walked off to find Iroh.

Chapter Text

Azula was finishing her training when she saw Zuko walk to his room.

“Something wrong, Zuzu?”

“Father got mad.” Azula’s body went rigid, “He said that I’m a pathetic excuse for a firebender and a prince and that I can have dinner once I actually start firebending like a proper royal.”

"Zuko-"

"Forget it, Azula. Go and have dinner. I'll be fine."

Ozai wasn't at dinner and Ursa had left the palace yesterday to go on a trip. Azula ate by herself at the big table and hated every second of it. The only good part was that she could show off her cat ears, tail and whiskers without fear that her father would see them.

She got into bed that night, following the same routine as always, but she just couldn't fall asleep. Her human brain was at war with her cat brain. Her cat brain had the idea that Zuko was a member of the family and if he didn't eat then it was her job to hunt him down some food. Especially with their mom gone for the time. Her human brain was telling her that it was one night and Zuko would be fine. Skipping one meal wouldn't kill him.

Her cat brain won.

She slipped into her other form and found her way to the garden. The birds were all asleep but small animals like fire ferrets and elephant rats were out. She could always jump the wall and kill someone's chicken-pig but that would set off too many alerts. Plus she'd have to drag it all the way back here and it was just too much work. She settled for the animals already near the palace, minus the turtleducks because Zuko would lose his mind if she killed one of them.

Zuko was asleep when he heard meowing. He lifted his head and turned it toward the source. Outside his window, Azula was sitting with something in her mouth.

"Azula? It's nighttime. You need to go to bed." He opened the window and Azula jumped in. She dropped the thing in her mouth at his feet, "What is-Agni! Azula! Is that a dead fire ferret?" Her cat brain couldn't understand why he was upset. She brought him food. She was being a good member of the family.

When Zuko saw her ears fall and her head look down, he sighed. She meant well. She really did. Even at nine he knew that she had brought him food because he didn't get any dinner. She was just trying to help.

"Thank you." Her head perked back up, "I'm just not too hungry right now. But your hunting skills are getting much better. Mom is going to be very impressed. How about we throw this guy away though?" Azula's cat half was upset when he threw away her catch but she was happy about his comment on her hunting skills.

"Can you get back to your own room?" Zuko asked.

She nodded and slipped out the open window which Zuko closed once she was gone.

That wasn't the last time Zuko skipped a meal and it wasn't the last time Azula brought him animals, both dead and alive. One time she released a living baby hawk-fox into the palace when Ursa told her to drop it. Zuko wasn't the only one who received her little gifts. So did Ursa and Iroh though never Ozai.

One day, Zuko got all three meals but Azula still brought him a dead rodent. This got him curious. There was no need for her to bring in a dead animal so why did she do it? It was definitely for him because she had set it in front of his door then meowed until he opened up. The next day, he set out to the palace's library to see if he could find a reason.

Since the Fire Nation was filled with cats there were hundreds of books that could tell him what was possibly going on.

"Maternal instincts, kittens. Oh! Here we go. Hunting. Cats will hunt for small animals out of instinct even when domesticated. Although small cats don't live in packs they will sometimes deliver dead animals to other family members to ensure survival. The cat fears that their human is too weak or lazy to catch their own prey so they will bring it to them to eat." Weak and lazy!?! That's what Azula thought of him!?

Zuko slammed the book closed and headed back to his room, passing his confused sister on the way back.

"Everything okay, Zuzu?"

He didn't respond. He just slammed the door leaving Azula utterly confused.

----------------

The next day, Azula was playing with Mai and Ty Lee when Zuko appeared.

"I thought you had lessons today."

"The instructor had the cancel. There was a family emergency."

"You wanna play with us?" Ty Lee asked.

"Sure, but I have a different game in mind than tag."

"And what's that?" Mai asked.

Zuko brought a ball of yarn out from behind his back and Azula's eyes went wide. Her heart started to pound and her palms became sweaty.

"Zuko. What are you doing?" She asked, trying to keep her cat half down.

"Just being the weaker and lazier sibling." The second he tossed the ball of yarn Azula shot after it. When the black cat caught up to the yarn, she jumped on the ball causing the string to come undone and wrap around her. Since her cat form was still pretty small she ended up getting stuck in it.

"Awww. She's so cute." Ty Lee had a hand over her mouth but was obviously smiling and Mai wasn't trying to hide her tiny smirk.

"Zuko! What are you doing?" Ursa's voice carried across the garden. Once she saw Azula stuck in the yarn, anger fell on her face, "Zuko, to your room now. Mai and Ty Lee, I think you should go home now." The three did as they were told while Ursa helped Azula out of the yarn. Once she was free, she returned to her human form and stomped toward the door.

"Azula. Where are you going?" Ursa asked.

"To kill Zuko!"

"Azula-"

"He knows how I get around yarn. He did it on purpose and humiliated me." Azula snapped.

"And he will be punished for it but I'm sure he had a reason. You know your brother would never take advantage of your cat behavior."

"He promised he wouldn't." Whenever people found out that certain things forced her to transform or hiss or act like a cat, they always teased her about it. Someone once held catnip up to her face then laughed when she turned into a cat. Zuko had come home from school to find her hiding under his bed because of that. That was the day he promised to never do anything like that.

"Zuko." He was laying on his bed when they entered his room, "You owe your sister an apology and explanation."

"Why? She's the one who called me weak and lazy."

"Azula!" Ursa snapped.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did! Whenever you bring me dead animals that's your way of saying that I need your help because I'm weak and can't take care of myself. I don't need you help Azula! I can take care of myself!"

"I do it because I want to be sure you're okay!" Azula screamed, "That was a low blow though, Zuko! You embarrassed me in front of Mai and Ty Lee! You forced me into my cat form!"

"Then maybe you're the weaker sibling! Maybe you need to learn to control that pest!" It was out of his mouth before he could stop it. He knew who he sounded like and so did Azula, who ran off and didn't speak to him for a week.

For the next week, Zuko had to live with dead animals in his shoes, on his clean clothes, on top of his pillow and in his shower. Time went on and the siblings did return to a semi functional relationship but Zuko's words lingered in Azula's mind for years.

-------------

Azula's head turned in Zuko's direction when she heard him come in. Her room at the asylum had a window on the door so she could see his hair when he approached the door.

"Azula." He whispered. The guards outside weren't permitted into her room under Zuko's orders. He wanted at least a few minutes with his sister.

"Zuzu."

"I-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear anything you or uncle or Mai or Ty Lee have to say."

"I wasn't going to say anything." He held out a box for her, "It took me two hours to get this."

"What is this?" She opened the box and her eyes widened.

It was a dead elephant rat.

"This is disgusting. I can't eat this." Azula handed it back to her brother and went to sit on her bed.

"I want to be sure you're okay." Her eyes widened, "Your cat half never made you the weaker sibling, Azula."

"No, just my mind snapping."

"Your mind didn't snap. You just need a bit of a break from things. When you're ready to come home, I can promise though that a dead animal and your bed will be waiting."

"Please don't put those things together."

"I might have to for the amount of dead animals you put in my room. I might do it just for the one you put in my shampoo bottle." Azula chuckled.

"Thanks, Zuzu."

"Welcome. So you want the dead elephant rat or..."

"Spirits, no. Bury that thing."

"Smart. I think it had diseases. I should probably get some shots."

"I think it's important that you do."

Chapter Text

The day had started out like any other. Azula woke up on her cat bed next to Zuko’s and stretched out. Zuko seemed upset this morning for some reason but Azula chalked that up to a bad mood. It wasn't unusual for him to get upset some mornings and be moody all day. She walked out to the mess hall where the whole crew seemed to be ignoring her. Was she missing something? When Zuko sat down, she tried to jump up and sit next to him but he pushed her off the bench.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Azula. We don’t have enough food for you to have human stuff. You’ll have to do with the mice and birds.” Was he serious?!? She was not eating a mouse! She’d rather go without breakfast.

The rest of the day was off too. The crew looked at her like she was some annoying creature they wanted to throw overboard, uncle was throwing cat toys at her, and Zuko didn’t let her do any of the things he had before.

Like when Zuko was looking at maps of spiritual places where the Avatar could be hiding. Since he thought Azula was a spirit cat, he showed her the maps and asked for her opinion. There was very little opinion she could actually give but it was one of the few times she got to feel like a person again. Today, he just shut the door in her face.

"We'll play later. I have to work now." He said.

"What's wrong with you today? I always help with the Avatar hunt."

What had changed? Everyone was treating her like some ordinary house cat. An ordinary useless house cat.

Then training came around and Azula’s mood perked up. If nothing else, she could show them her firebending. At least one crew member always looked at her with awe when she firebent in this body. However, today, when she went to with Zuko he seemed shocked.

“You’re joining me?” Why was he so surprised?

"Of course I am dum-dum. I always do." A bunch of meows.

"Knock yourself out."

"Don't get angry just because I can firebend better than you." She repeated her action as she had multiple times before only to flop on the deck of the ship, "What?"

"Awww. Is Azula trying to firebend?" Iroh asked.

"I've done it before! I just need to warm up." She tried again and again and again and nothing happened.

"Uncle, can you take her away? She's cute but she's distracting me." Iroh tossed Azula in Zuko's room, leaving her utterly confused. Why was her firebending gone? Why was everyone acting so different? Did the spirit take her firebending away? Did she do something to upset the crew? Last night, everyone was laughing and having fun. She'd fallen asleep on one of the tables while a sailor told his story about fighting a giant squid-shark and everyone kept yelling at him for making it up. She hadn't done anything wrong or different.

What seemed like hours passed, but, eventually, the door opened and Azula walked to the deck with Zuko. Something was wrong. He had the same face as when mother forced him to apologize to her or when he destroyed her book of Fire Nation military victories and had to tell her.

When they arrived at the deck, Azula realized that the ship had docked at an Earth Kingdom village. Zuko knelt down beside her, “I’m sorry Azula.” He began to pet her back, “We just don’t have enough supplies and money to keep a cat onboard. I think you’d be better off in a shelter.” WHAT?! No! There was no way Zuzu was serious. This was just some kind of joke!

Azula suddenly felt herself get picked up and realized Iroh had a hold on her. A sailor gave Zuko a cat carrier and Azula started freaking out. She hissed, clawed at them and tried to bite Iroh and Zuko.

“Azula, calm down."

"You want me to calm down?! You're the ones who are going to put me in that thing!" The first time they every docked with her, Iroh had showed her a cat carrier that could hold Azula. He still had a scar on his arm as proof of how much Azula hated the idea.

She didn't get much say though as she was shoved into the thing and Zuko zipped it up.

"Spirit! If you were ever going to turn me back now is the time! I don't care if this thing will be cramped! Just turn me back!"

Nothing.

The entire walk to the shelter Azula was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was yelling at Zuko, Iroh and the spirit. No one seemed to care about her cries though. When they arrived at a shelter, Zuko set the carrier on the counter. The worker behind the desk looked into the cat carrier.

"A cute little black cat you got here." A worker smiled and put their finger against it making Azula hiss.

"We need to surrender her."

"Oh no. Why?"

"We just can't support a cat anymore."

"Zuko! I swear to every spirit that has ever existed if you leave me here-" The shelter worker's eyes widened at the amount of screeching the cat was doing.

"She doesn't seem too happy."

"We've had her for three years. It makes sense that she's upset, but we just can't take care of her anymore. Maybe a nice family can."

"Of course. I bet she'll be adopted within the week."

"I don't want to get adopted!"

"She is very agitated though so we'll need to sedate her." Sedate!?!

"Alright. My uncle and I are going to go." Zuko held the carrier close as if was hugging her.

"Zuko! Please. Please, it's me! Your sister! You can't just leave me here!"

"Bye Azula. I hope you find a good family." He and uncle turned towards the door.

"I had a good family but I don't know why it's trying to give me away!"

"Shhh." She felt a prick in her side, "It's okay now, sweetie. We'll find you a nice family."

She felt her eyes start to get heavy, "Spirit...Uncle...Zuko...don't go."

"Azula?"

Was someone talking?

"Azula?!"

Someone was talking. Who was talking?

"Azula!"

Zuko?

Azula's eyes snapped open and her head launched up. She was met with the sight of her concerned brother and his room on the ship. Hadn't they just been at a shelter? Didn't Zuko just abandon her?

"Are you okay? You were crying and shaking in your sleep." Sleep? Had it all been a nightmare?, "I didn't want to wake you but you didn't seem to be waking up yourself and-" Zuko had to stop when Azula launched herself at him.

"Hey. It's okay. I'm here. You're okay." Whatever the cat had dreamed out had clearly freaked her out.

"I know you can't understand me, Zuko, but...I need to be human again. I can't stay a cat for another year. I just can't. I'll even take being half cat and half human but I need to be able to firebend regularly again, to eat at the table, for people to understand me, to...I just need to be human. I really want to be human again."

Zuko couldn't understand any of her words, but he could tell she was upset. He petted her under her chin and held her in his lap.

"I don't know what's got you this upset, but you really have been the best part of getting banished. I wouldn't have been able to make it this far without you so whatever it is I'll try to help. I promise."

"Thanks, Zuzu."

"I'd offer you some fresh air but we're in the South Pole and I know you hate the cold."

"I do. I hope this little voyage to the south doesn't keep us for too long."

Chapter Text

“Remember the rules?"

“I remember!”

“Then recite them.” Ursa said, helping her daughter fix her hair for her first day of school.

“No crown, no getting into fights, and no cat form.”

“Exactly. The carriage should be here to get you in a few minutes. Be a good girl and keep the cat under wraps.”

“Okay, mom.” Ursa brought her outside and waited for her to get in the carriage. Part of Azula wondered if parents were supposed to ride with their kids but she dismissed this. She was already five, almost six, she didn’t need her mom coming with her everywhere.

The carriage stopped in front of the school and Azula got out. The building looked a little newer than Zuko’s school had. The first thing to catch Azula’s attention were the two large golden statues of her great grandfather and grandfather. She felt so tiny compared to them. Walking inside, the school proved to be even more massive than she had been suspecting. There were long halls with classrooms, stairs that went up to a second and third story, a multitude of seating options where girls sat either talking or doing work, and a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Azula's cat half began to inquire how much effort it would take for her to climb on that thing but she pushed it down. No cat. Not today.

She made her way to her first class where the teacher and one other student were waiting. Class didn't start for another 10 minutes, so Azula guessed it made sense why no one else was here but she wanted to be the perfect student and arrive early. Early or right on time. She took a seat in the front row then felt a tap on her shoulder.

"You shouldn't sit up there." The girl whispered.

"And why not?" Azula asked, trying to maintain as much royal dignity as a five year old could have.

"She picks on kids in the front seats. Sit back here with me!"

"I'm not-"

"Just trust me on this one."

Azula did and moved next to the girl. It ended up being a smart move. The teacher was vicious to the poor girls who came in last and were forced to sit in the front.

"Thanks." Azula offered the girl a bow, "I'm Azula by the way."

"Like Princess Azula?"

"Yes."

"I'm Ty Lee! It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

"What's your next class?" Azula showed her her schedule.

"Oh! When you get there, try to find a quiet girl named Mai. She can help you with the teacher."

"I don't need-" The child had cartwheeled away before Azula could finish.

Finding Mai did not prove to be difficult. She was off by herself in the corner when Azula arrived. The princess took a seat next to the girl who glared.

"Ty Lee told me to sit with you." Azula explained.

Mai sighed, "Okay."

"You're Mai?" She nodded. Not a big talker?

"I'm Azula."

"As in Princess Azula?" Mai asked.

Azula nodded. She was liking that people automatically knew she was royalty, even without her crown. Her cat half tried to purr in response but Azula pushed it down. No cat.

Mai didn't speak throughout the entire class which Azula found odd. Did she not understand the stuff? A pop quiz at the end of class time proved that theory incorrect, but why was she so quiet then?

The next two classes were pretty mundane as far as Azula was concerned. She sat in a particular seat, took notes, answered questions correctly then left. After her fourth class, she was pushed toward the cafeteria to get lunch. There was a cart with small things of milk that seemed to serve as the drink but Azula made sure to maneuver around the cart. She didn't need to get sick on her first day. The biggest problem was finding a place to sit though. Since she was a starting school two weeks late, everyone already had friends and places to sit. She did not.

For a few seconds, she stood there. Scanning the room and looking for a place to sit. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Mai.

"Come on. You can sit with me and Ty Lee." Azula wanted to object, but decided to keep her mouth shut. She really didn't want to eat by herself.

"How come I haven't seen you around?" Ty Lee asked a few minutes into their lunch. They were sitting outside on one of the blankets provided by the school to keep them off the grass.

"I just started today."

"Why didn't you start with everyone else?" Ty Lee asked.

There was a reason. Her father thought she would switch to her cat form or she'd display some kind of cat behavior like purring, hissing or being attracted to a shiny object and embarrass the family.

"My father didn't let me." She answered.

"Why?" Ty Lee asked.

"Because she's a cat." Mai told the girl.

"I'm not a cat!" Azula snapped before lowering her voice, "I just...can turn into one and sometimes behave like one. Father thought I couldn't control my cat self at the academy so he didn't let me go for a while."

"My mom said I'm not allowed to do any acrobatics because I could hit someone. She also said I'm not allowed to move once I'm in my seat." Ty Lee mumbled, "I get so jittery but the teachers would get mad if I moved. What about you Mai?"

"My parents told me nothing. That I should just sit still, not speak unless spoken to and behave."

"So that's why you don't talk." Azula realized.

Before Mai could respond, a girl passing by, looking about two years older than all of them, spilled milk on Ty Lee's head.

"Sorry, poor blood."

Ty Lee stood up and turned around to face the girl but she pushed her back, "You and your family need to stay on the ground where you belong."

"Leave her alone." Mai snapped, it wasn't that much louder than her regular voice but the tone was different.

"Awww. Look it's Lord Ukano's little brat."

"Still angry my dad was promoted?" Mai smirked.

"Your dad lied and cheated his way into that position. I give it a few years before everyone realizes he belongs in a colony." If Mai was angry, she didn't show it. Instead, she moved to help Ty Lee up, "Are you listening to me!?" The seven year old snapped.

"No."

The girl, angry with Mai's word, slammed the girl into Ty Lee, "Stand up and fight me or are you too much of a coward."

While this whole thing had been going on, Azula just watched. She didn't know what exactly to do. On the one hand, Mai and Ty Lee had been nice to her and helped her so the honorable thing to do was help them now. On the other hand, if she and this girl started fighting her cat half could come out. While she was debating the options in her mind, the girl grabbed hold of Ty Lee's hair.

The look of pain on Ty Lee's face was enough to make Azula's decision for her, "Maybe your family should-" Azula attacked the girl.

"AH!" The girl withdrew her hand and moved her sleeve down to examine the damage, "Are those cat claw marks?"

Looking down at her hand, Azula's eyes widened when she saw a paw with claws instead of a human hand. At that exact moment, a teacher arrived with a stern look on her face.

"What is going on?!"

-----------

Azula didn't say a word even after her mother came and got her.

"You got into a fight on your first day." She muttered in the carriage.

"It wasn't a fight." Azula whispered.

"You scratched a girl, Azula! You should be thankful her parents don't want any trouble with the Royal Family and are not demanding we pay."

Since it was just them in the carriage, Azula let her ears, tail and whiskers show.

"No! You're not getting out of this by being cute. You're in a lot of trouble, young lady."

"I'm sorry. That girl was hurting them and...I couldn't stop myself." Her ears fell and her tail wrapped around her body.

"I guess it could have been worse. You could have bitten her. I'm still mad, Azula, but I guess your father doesn't have to know." Azula quickly perked up.

"Thank you!" The five year old jumped into her mother's arms. Her excitement proved to be enough to get her to shift to her kitten form.

"Can you promise to try and be better?" Ursa asked, "I can't keep this a secret if it happens again." Azula nodded very quickly.

"Good. When we return home and you return to your human form, you'll have to tell me about your first day." Ursa held the tiny kitten in her arms the entire way back to the palace.

Chapter Text

Zuko was returning to his ship when he heard them. He had been searching for the Avatar at the Western Air Temple and found nothing. The sixteen year old was doing his best to stay calm, but how could he? Finding the Avatar, the only person who could get him home, would be next to impossible. He knew that but he had to try.

His uncle had returned to the ship before him but Zuko stayed behind for a final sweep on the temple. When he started back, he heard a tiny meow behind him. The Fire Nation was filled with cats, but it was unusual to find them so far from the mainland. Sure enough, there were three kittens running toward him. He said kittens but they did look like they were a few months old. One had brown fur with a small bit of white that looked kind of like a heart. Another had mostly black fur with little bits of white on the front and back paws. The final kitten, the smallest, was covered completely in black fur. All of them were girls.

“Hello.” He whispered, “How’d you three gets so far from the mainland?” Was the mother cat close? He couldn’t imagine she’d leave her kittens alone long enough for them to run away.

They didn’t seem afraid of humans since they came right up to him and started rubbing their heads on his legs and meowing at him.

“Prince Zuko, the crew is ready-What do we have here?” Iroh knelt down and held out a hand for the kittens to smell, “Who would leave these adorable things all alone?”

“I don’t know how they would have gotten to this island and I can’t see their mother anywhere.”

The smallest kitten launched herself up onto his back and climbed to his neck, “Don’t fall.” Zuko chuckled.

Iroh turned to his nephew. That was the first time he’d heard him laugh in weeks and it gave him an idea.

“Maybe we should take them with us.”

“What?”

“The mother isn’t anywhere to be found and there are no people on the island. Let’s take these three with us for the time being.”

Zuko turned back towards the kittens who continued to meow at him. He couldn’t just leave them here. It wasn’t their fault their mom was gone. Removing the kitten from his back, he picked the other two up and brought them to the ship. Any member of the crew who was on the deck stopped their work when the prince arrived with three cats.

“Where did you get kittens?” Ayaka asked.

“I just found them on the island. They’re going to be staying with us for some time.” Even when they were on the ground, the kittens didn’t seem to have much of a want to explore. They stayed practically glued to Zuko's side.

“What are their names?” Iroh asked.

“Names?”

“They need names, Prince Zuko.” The kitten with brown fur climbed up Zuko’s clothes with ease.

“Hmmm. Ty Lee.” The brown kitten looked toward him, “Mai.” The kitten with bits of white fur on her front and back paws turned toward him, “Azula.” The fully black cat put her front paws on his legs.

“Really?” Iroh asked.

“Something wrong with those names?”

Iroh chuckled lightly, “Nothing at all.

“Am I missing something or...”

“Those were just the names of his sister and her friends.” Iroh explained.

“I’m sure they’ll be honored to have three kittens named after them.”

The three cats followed Zuko when as he went to his room. Zuko quickly took notice that they liked to talk to one another. On the entire walk to his room and in his room they kept meowing towards one another. A part of the prince wished he could hear what they were saying.

“At least he got the names correct.” Ty Lee said.

“We still have no way of telling Zuko that it’s us.” Mai argued.

“Relax, Mai. It’ll be easy to tell him now and once he knows he can help us try to find a cure.” Azula reasoned out.

“You don’t think he’ll wanna keep you like this?” Mai asked.

“No!” Azula snapped, her fur standing on end and her ears down, “I won’t let him. I’m not getting stuck in a cat’s body. We just have to try and communicate with him as best we can. Do whatever it takes to try and get him to realize it’s us.”

That turned out to be a lot harder than she was expecting. The curse, as it turned out, didn’t let them communicate, in any way, with Zuko or anyone else.

While Zuko was using ink to try and write a letter, Azula thought the ink would be perfect to try and write her name. That would be all the proof Zuko needed. She did manage to get the ink on her paw, but when she went to write her name her mind went blank. Instead of writing her name she started hissing and meowing at the wet ink on her paw. Now, for some reason, she hated the fact that a weird substance was on her paw. She stepped back and accidentally spilled the ink onto Zuko's papers and maps.

“Azula.” Zuko grabbed her and brought her into the bathroom to wash the ink off her paw, “Go find with your sisters. I need to finish working then I’ll come and play.”

“I take it that didn’t work?” Mai asked, her tail perfectly curled around her.

“Do you have a better idea?” Azula snapped.

“Actually, I do.”

Mai’s plan was to get one of her knives, which she had given to Zuko before he left, and bring it to him. At the very least, it would get him wondering what the chances were that she, the cat he named Mai, would grab one of human Mai’s knives. Zuko was out on the deck when she went to give it to him. However, as she walked towards him, a smell caught her attention. It was the fisherman’s bait. Mai shook her head and tried to continue forward but the smell refused to leave her be.

“Get out of there! Dumb cat!” Hiro yelled.

Zuko’s head looked up and he raced toward the cat, scooping her up.

“I’m so sorry, Hiro. I guess she just saw a fish and wanted it.”

“She ate the bait! Keep a better handle on your cat, your highness.” Mai didn’t fail to notice Zuko hold her closer.

“Sorry, Mai. He’s just upset but you can’t eat the bait. We need that.”

“I wasn’t trying to! I was trying to show you the knife!” Which had disappeared.

Zuko returned her to his room where a smirking Azula was waiting, “Better idea, huh?”

Mai hissed at the girl, more out of frustration than anything else, but Azula puffed up as well. Mai revealing her claws was the final straw for Ty Lee.

“Guys, we need to work together not against each other.” Ty Lee stepped in between them.

“And what’s your plan then, Ty?”

“This.” Azula and Mai followed her into the kitchen, where everyone was having dinner, and watched her jump up on the table.

She started doing a bunch of acrobatic moves that did get people’s attention. Her best move was standing on one front paw. It was a little harder in her new body but her moves were getting the gears in Zuko’s head to turn.

“This might work.” Azula whispered.

“How is Ty Lee doing this?” Zuko asked.

Before anyone could answer him, Ty Lee’s eyes moved to her tail. Her cat brain overtook her and she made a move for it.

“It’s like the curse won’t let us tell him who we are.” Mai groaned.

“I think you’re right. It’s a part of the curse. Anytime we try to tell Zuko who we are, we do something catlike.”

“So we’re stuck like this?” Mai asked.

“I think-“ The girl’s attention turned toward the large pot that crashed on the floor. Ty Lee was backing away from the angry looking cook when they saw her.

“That’s it! They’ve only been here a day and they’ve already ruined both lunch and dinner.” Zuko picked up Ty Lee, Mai and Azula before the chef could say more.

“I’ll come back later.” He told them before dumping them in his room.

The chef was the only one who had a problem about the ruined lunch and dinner but the rest of the crew did have some concerns.

"Do you know how expensive cats are, your highness? How are we supposed to pay for ourselves and them?"

"We shouldn't even be letting them out of the room until a vet can check them over."

"Exactly and how much will that cost?"

"Is a ship really the best place for three young cats?"

"ENOUGH!" Zuko screamed, fire escaping his hands, "Your mad at three cats for acting like cats and I will not hear anymore about this!" With that, he stood up and marched towards his room. He could hear the sound of footsteps behind him. It didn't take a genius for him to realize it was Iroh.

“Prince Zuko, I think the crew only meant that three kittens is a lot of work. Maybe we should think about giving one or two of them up.” Iroh suggested.

“I’m not separating them!”

“Zuko-”

“I don’t want to hear anymore about it!” With that he stomped off to his room.

Once he was inside, his eyes immediately scanned the room for the three but they were no where to be found. They weren’t even under the bed which started to freak Zuko out a bit. He had put them in his room to calm them down so there was no possible way they could have escaped. Where were they? His eyes moved towards his bed when he noticed the covers move. Pulling them back, he was greeted by the sight of three sleeping kittens. Mai was laying on the bed on her side, Ty Lee was next to her and resting her two front paws on Mai’s body and Azula was next to Ty Lee with her head and front paw on the kittens body. All in all, it was such a cute moment.

Mai’s eyes blinked open when she felt someone watching them.

“Zuko?”

“Dum-dum is back?” Azula stretched herself out which woke Ty Lee.

Zuko was still looking at them with a sad face which confused Mai, “What’s wrong?” She knew he couldn’t understand her but she still placed one of her paws on his leg.

"The crew doesn’t think we can keep all three of you and wants me to get rid of you."

“WHAT!?!” The three looked at one another, thinking about what it would mean if they were sent to a shelter. Would they ever return to human form or would they spend their entire lives as cats?

“Don’t worry. I told them that wouldn't happen, but maybe they have a bit of a point.” A knock at the door revealed Iroh to the four.

“I know you want to be alone, but I thought I could help you think.”

Zuko sighed, his hand went through his hair, “Maybe they would be better with a family. There’d be a whole house or backyard to play in. Some kids could give them love and affection.” The three looked at one another. They didn't want that. They didn't want that at all.

"He wouldn't do that...right?" Ty Lee asked, laying down next to Zuko's leg.

"Of course he would. He'd think he was doing the right thing."

Azula didn't speak. Instead, she laid her head against one of his hands. A small part of her hoped that cuteness could save them from a life as pets.

“Do you want that?” Iroh asked.

Zuko looked down at the cats. Ty Lee was curled up by his side, Mai had pulled herself onto his lap and Azula was in one of his arms. This was the happiest he’d been in a really long time.

“No. I want them to stay.” Zuko had been surrounded by cats before. When his mother was still around, she took him and Azula on a picnic where they were surrounded by small cats who wanted their food. Azula's firebending kept them at bay but about four or so tried to climb Zuko for his food. He'd had a good number of cats on him before but he'd never had cats on him that started purring together until now.

“Then they’ll stay. We just have to work on keeping a better eye on them.”

"You hear that? No more trouble."

"No promises."

Chapter Text

Mai got her knives ready and aimed it towards the Avatar and waterbender. Ty Lee could handle the Water Tribe boy. Azula, seeing her friend get ready to fight, growled at the group and her mouth lit up with fire.

"Wait!" Ty Lee cried, but it was too late.

Azula released blue fire from her mouth but the waterbender countered it and used swamp water to make a block of ice around her face. Having something covering her mouth put her new body into a panic and she tried to charge toward the waterbender only to be thrown to the side by the Avatar and his airbending.

"Stop!" Ty Lee screamed, jumping down, "We don't want to fight!"

"It definitely looks that way." Sokka muttered.

"They didn't know I asked you for help. Please. I promise. No more fighting."

Mai narrowed her eyes at her friend but put her knives away nonethless and the others put their weapons and bending away. Katara made sure to remove the ice block around Azula's muzzle as well.

"This is Mai and Azula." Ty Lee introduced.

"I don't remember you having a dragon in your group." Sokka said.

"Or one with a spear in it's leg." Katara whispered, seeing the injury.

"You remember that third girl who was with us in Omashu? The one who was throwing blue fire?" The Gaang nodded, "That's her." Ty Lee pointed to the dragon.

"That's impossible."

"Clearly not." Azula muttered, a deep growl coming from her.

"The dragon did shoot at us with blue fire." Aang noted.

"We were at our camp and this massive amount of pain came over her. Her bones started to actually change and now she's a dragon."

"And you think I can help?" Aang asked.

"You're the Avatar. People turning into dragons seems like an Avatar level problem." Aang nodded. That was a reasonable assumption.

"Before anything else, we need to get that spear out." Katara tried to move towards Azula only for the dragon to growl and cover her injured leg with her tail.

"Azula, that spear needs to come out. Either they do it or I yank it out. Take your pick." Azula glared at Mai but it was clear the older girl wasn't going to budge on her stance. Finally, she relaxed her body which told Katara she could come closer.

"Sokka, come here."

"Do you two know what you're doing?" Ty Lee asked.

"We hunt with spears all the time. We know how to get one out. The only think I'm worried about is the swamp water infecting the injury. Do you have anything we can use to cover the wound?"

They didn't. They had left in a hurry and didn't have any of their things.

Katara turned towards Azula, "Then I need you to keep your leg out of the water while I'm doing this. Once the spear is out, I'm going to use waterbending to heal the injury."

"Okay." A grumble.

"Can you two be over near her mouth when we pull this out?" Sokka asked, "I've seen large predators try to bite for less than this. I don't want to imagine what a firebreathing dragon could do." Azula resented Mai and Ty Lee having to hold her mouth closed but she let them do it. They both made sure to be out of the way of her horns, while small, they could definitely impale one of them.

Once everyone was in place, the siblings grabbed hold of the spear.

"3, 2, 1!" The spear came out in a second but Azula felt the pain instantly. Since she couldn't roar or breath fire, smoke escaped from her mouth and nose. On top of that, her body started to react to being in pain and not being able to move her face. It started wiggling and moving around.

"Azula! You need to calm down. It's okay!" Ty Lee yelled.

Azula's human brain understood what Ty Lee was saying and knew why she was in pain, but her dragon instincts told her a different story. They said that she was in pain which meant it was time to run or fly or breath fire.

"Done!" Katara cried, "It's not perfect but if you can keep it from getting infected it should heal up in a few days...I think."

“You think?”

“I’ve never healed a dragon or anything with scales before. I did my best.”

Azula examined her injury once Mai and Ty Lee released her head. It looked good. It wasn’t healed but it definitely felt better than it had before. Acting before thinking, she licked Katara’s cheek to thank her. Katara’s eyes went wide as did Mai and Ty Lee’s.

“Did you just lick her?” Mai asked, a smile growing on her face.

“I didn’t mean-stupid dragon instincts!” She covered her face with her wings trying to shield herself from their looks.

“Now can you help her?” Ty Lee asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. You guys could travel with us while I try to find a solution.” Aang offered.

“Woah. Woah. You wanna invite these three, the ones who almost killed us, into our group?”

Azula offered her own growl to that as well. There was no way she was joining the Avatar. Even if she was in the body of an animal every firebender would love to kill, she wouldn’t betray her nation.

“I’m the Avatar. It’s my job to help people.” Aang argued then pulled Sokka to the side, “If I do maybe they’ll have a change of heart and help us.”

“Or attack us the second you turn their friend back to normal.”

“Trust me on this one.”

Sokka sighed but nodded, “Alright, Aang. I trust you.”

“Okay.” Aang’s louder voice got everyone’s attention, “Here’s the deal: you travel with us and I’ll do what I can to help your friend. If you attack us even once, we will leave and you can deal with this problem on your own.”

Ty Lee turned towards her friends who nodded. They didn’t really have much of a choice. It wasn’t like they could go back to camp or stay in the swamp.

“Deal.”

“Alright, but what’s our plan for the Azula?” Mai asked. Azula lifted her head. What was Mai talking about?

“What do you mean?”

“She’s a dragon. We can’t just walk into a town, even an Earth Kingdom one, with her.”

“We bring Appa into towns all the time or we have him wait in the forest if the town is controlled by the Fire Nation.” Aang told them.

Azula snorted in Mai’s direction. There was no way she was going to be left in the forest while they went into town.

“Who’s Appa?” Ty Lee asked.

“Oh! Right!” Aang pulled out a whistle that was shaped like a bison. Once he had blown into it, a giant bison came towards them. He was bigger than Azula, so her defenses quickly went up.

“This is Appa! He’s my sky bison.” Aang introduced, “And this is Momo.” Momo landed on Sokka’s shoulders.

“Awwwww!! They’re so cute!”

When Appa spotted Azula he jumped towards her which made her stumble back. He saw a new friend but she was seeing a potential threat.

“He won’t hurt her, right?” Ty Lee asked.

“No!” Aang quickly said, “He just hasn’t seen a dragon in a while and he’s excited. Appa wouldn't hurt a wasp-fly."

“Great. Then we can watch this is peace.” Mai smiled.

“No, you can’t. Get this thing away from me!” Roars. Appa was trying to grab her face with his paw and lick her fur(hair?).

“You’re on your own, Zula.” Ty lee smirked.

Azula took off in an attempt to get away from them, but Appa and Momo began chasing her, both on foot and in the air, around the area. Appa clearly thought they were playing while Azula was desperately trying to evade them. She was so focused on staying away from him that she didn't notice the vines until she was tangled up in them.

"Come on." Her wings, one back leg and one front leg were caught in the vines. She could use some fire to get unstuck but she didn't want to risk hurting her wound.

Appa and Momo flew down so that they was facing her, "Leave me alone!" Azula yelled.

Momo landed on one of Azula's horns earning him a growl from the dragon, "I told you to leave me alone." If the lemur was listening he didn't show it. Instead, he started chewing on the vines.

"You're helping me." Azula realized.

Once Momo had freed her, Appa gently guided her back towards the others. She put up with the lick on her face that he gave her once the other's were in sight.

"Have fun playing?" Mai asked.

That earned the markswoman a small slap from Azula's tail.

"Alright! Let's get out of this swamp."

Chapter Text

“It’s a trap. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Ignore!”

“So, Sokka’s your name, right? My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time. She was convinced you were going to come rescue her. Of course, you never came, and she gave up on you.”

Tears came to Sokka’s eyes and fell down his face as he let out a loud yell, “Ahh!”

“Come and get it.” Behind her hand, Azula revealed a knife.

Thankfully, Toph sensed the threat and pinned Azula’s hand against the wall. Sokka then grabbed her and forced her body to the wall.

“Where is Suki?” He demanded.

She stayed silent.

“Where’s Suki?!? Where are you keeping her?!? Answer me!”

“Sokka, she won’t talk.” Aang said.

“Fine. Then I’ll have to use my secret weapon.” When he went for his belt, Azula allowed herself to laugh.

“Don’t kid yourself, water peasant. You don’t have the guts to kill me.”

“I’m not trying kill you.” Sokka reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch, furthering Azula’s confusion. What did he have? Was it some kind of bug? A poison? He dangerous plant he’d put in her eyes?

Then he opened the bag and a very familiar scent came to Azula making her eyes widen.

Catnip.

The peasant had gotten catnip. She could feel her cat half perk up at the smell but forced it away. If there was ever a time to stay human, now was that time…well this and Sozin’s Comet.

“I’ve seen how cats react to this stuff and we know you can turn into a cat.” The smell was getting harder to resist, "Tell me where Suki is."

“This is pathetic, peasant. That’s not going to work.”

“Then why is your heart racing?” Toph asked.

Sokka knew they only had a few more seconds, maybe a minute, so he’d have to speed it up. He took some catnip out and actually put it on Azula, much to her anger.

“I will burn you alive!” She yelled.

"Just tell me where she is!?" He yelled back, "Tell me and I'll get all this stuff off of you."

“Sokka. The eclipse is almost over.”

Just as the timer ran out, Azula’s cat half won over her and revealed itself. She slipped out of Toph's rock restraints and fell onto the ground. The catnip that was already on the ground, having fallen off of her, made her purr happily and fall on her back. Her cat half had full command over her so any thoughts of the eclipse or the invasion quickly left her mind.

"You know if she wasn't trying to kill us this would actually be really cute." Aang said. Azula didn't really care what the others were talking about. She just wanted to be with her catnip.

“You’ll have another chance.” She heard Sokka say.

“What do we do with her?” Toph asked.

“We’ll take her with us.” Sokka said.

Since Sokka was the one who had given her the catnip and still held the pouch filled with it, she didn’t really care when he picked her up and started running. She was more concerned with getting more catnip that he seemed intent on keeping her from.

"Azula. Stop." When he put the bag away she yelled at him, but he just started petting her to calm her down. She thought about scratching him but his ponytail caught her attention before she could go through with it. It was really fun to bat around.

By the time they returned to the rest of the invasion party, Azula's cat half still had control. Though she was getting less hyperactive. Still, Sokka kept a hold of her but she didn’t mind too much, he was warm and nice.

"Sokka, why do you have a cat?" A male voice asked.

"It's the princess of the Fire Nation. She has the ability to turn into a cat. My plan was to use catnip to get her to tell me where Suki was but then she actually changed forms. I didn't want to leave her in the caves so I brought her with us."

"That's a lot of information." The man Sokka was talking to sounded tired.

Sokka was about to respond when the fighting started picking up again. Katara and Aang had flown up to try and destroy the airships which was causing them to fall and explode. The explosion were then causing Azula to dig her claws into Sokka's armor and make her fur stand on end.

"It's okay." Sokka whispered, "You're okay." Sokka had no idea why he was comforting a cat version of his enemy but the words has slipped out before he could stop them. She seemed to understand him and rubbed her head against the fur part of his outfit.

People started running again much to Azula's annoyance. Why couldn't they just stay in one place? A few more minutes passed before she heard people talking again.

“The adults will stay behind.” She heard a man say.

“What about Azula?” Katara asked, “We can’t just take her to our hiding spot. When she turns back, she’ll just report us to her father.”

Sokka looked down at the black cat in her arms. Katara was correct but the idea of leaving her in the middle of an invasion when she was still a cat seemed...heartless.

“I don’t know.” He admitted, “You’re right, but…”

“I can take her.” Hakoda offered.

“Dad-“

“It’ll work. Once she turns back, she’ll just leave the prison.” He did have a point. There was no way the Fire Nation would keep it’s princess prisoner and there’d be no one to rat out.

“Okay.” Azula let out a soft meow when Sokka transferred her to his father.

Azula didn’t really care too much about what was going on around her. Some people were getting on a giant animal and then the animal left. Her brain was telling her that she should care though. It said that she should be watching the giant animal and seeing where they go but her cat half couldn't be bothered. She was more invested in whoever was holding her or giving her something to play with as opposed to which direction a giant animal was going.

The man holding her was nice. He wasn’t like father. He was more like how mother had been, he gave her gentle pets and held her correctly. Whenever Azula had had a hard day and wanted to be a cat for a few hours, her mother would let her curl up in her lap and rest. Plus he had fun ears. They looked kind of like a cat's, but Azula knew this guy wasn't a cat like her, which made her bat at them.

For some reason, a few minutes later, he shoved her under his armor. She did not like that at all and made her opinion known.

“Hey! Let me out! I wanna lay in the sun!” Hisses.

“Shh.” She heard.

“Don’t shush me!” Still, she remained quiet. Even if this guy was more like mother, she didn’t want to risk making him upset. Father always did terrible stuff when he got upset.

The next time Azula saw light it wasn’t the sun. It was the dim light coming in from the hallway. The room itself, although only lightly lit up, was gross. It was a tiny cell with only a mat that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. The man took her out of his armor though and set her on the ground.

“Sorry. Not a lot of room to move, but I hope you like it.” Hakoda said.

By now Azula had control over herself again. She glared at Hakoda before transforming back into her human self.

“I will kill you son for that.” She muttered, “Guards! Get over here now!”

“You can’t respect a good strategy?”

Azula stopped herself, “I can, but that was dirty and underhanded.”

“That’s how war is won.”

“Princess Azula!” One of the guards cried.

“Let me out!”

“Of course, right away!”

Azula didn’t stop walking until she returned to the palace. By the time she reached the doors to the throne room, her heart was pounding and her stomach was twisted into knots. She prayed to ever spirit that her father hadn’t heard what had happened. However, when she entered the room she could tell from the look on his face that he had.

“Father. Let me explain-“

“You let the enemy capture you, you let that pest get control again, and you risked our entire plan because you couldn’t control yourself around catnip. Am I missing anything?”

“No.” Spirits, why couldn’t she have been born normal?

“You should count yourself lucky that I’m not looking to banish you for this series of failures. Since Zuko is a full blown traitor now I need you for Sozin's Comet and that is the only reason you can still see out of both eyes." Zuko had betrayed them? After everything she did for him in Ba Sing Se? Azula put her anger to the side. That was an emotion that could be dealt with later, "However, there will be a punishment."

"Of course."

"24 hours in a cooler."

"Father, I-"

"Interrupt me again and I make it 24 hours in your cat form." He threatened. Her fur was not made for the harsh temperatures someone would experience in the freezer. If she spent 24 hours as a cat in there she'd probably come close to freezing to death.

Azula said nothing as the guards led her down to the cells and tossed her in a cooler. Oddly enough, she was relieved. 24 hours in a cooler wasn't horrible. She'd spent a lot of time in these during training, in case she was ever called on to go to the North or South Pole, but she still didn't like it. Her armor could only keep her warm for a few hours and soon she would start shivering. While she sat in there, a traitorous part of her brain started to wonder how she'd be fairing if she stayed with the Water Tribe man.

Chapter Text

The Fire Nation was in Ba Sing Se.

How could this have happened? The Avatar was here. Wasn’t he supposed to protect them and keep this from happening? Azula didn’t really have time to think on this since she and Zuko were currently running from the incoming soldiers. When Zuko found out about the Avatar being in Ba Sing Se he wanted to go after him but the arrival of Mai and Ty Lee made him change his mind. That, plus Azula kept batting at him and hissing whenever he mentioned capturing Aang. Zuko had had to separated from Mai and Ty Lee before entering Ba Sing Se because of orders from Ozai.

Apparently their father wanted to make Zuko’s return as hard as possible. That didn’t stop Mai or Ty Lee from entering the city and finding him at the tea shop.

“Zuko!”

“Mai? Ty Lee? What are you two doing here? How did you find us? I thought my father-“

“He’s invading the city.” Mai told him, "Also this tea shop is called the Jasmine Dragon. It really wasn't hard."

“Come on.” Zuko led the to the back of the tea shop, “What’s going on?”

“He-Hi Azula!” Ty Lee smiled making Azula jump on to the girl, “I missed you.” Azula rubbed her head against the girls neck and started purring.

“Ty Lee?”

“Sorry, he’s sending people into the city as refugees who will take Ba Sing Se down from the inside.”

Zuko’s eyes widened, “Why did he pick you too?”

“He wanted elite fighters and, apparently, if you thought we’d be helpful capturing the Avatar then he thought we’d be helpful taking down Ba Sing Se.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Could be a few days. Could be a few weeks.” Mai reasoned.

A week after that interaction the wall fell and Fire Nation soldiers started advancing. Mai and Ty Lee managed to find them again, which wasn't too difficult, they hadn’t left the tea shop.

“You know?”

“Of course I know. The wall came down.”

“Zuko, it’s time to go.”

“Go? Go where? Every place on the planet is controlled by the Fire Nation.”

“She means go with the Avatar.” Ty Lee explained.

“The Avatar? What?!”

“We talked to him in the palace. They can take us if we agree to help him.”

“You’ll betray your country.”

“We’re trying to help you.” Mai argued, “Your father is a…horrible person. Zuko, he burned your face. He sent you on a wild goose chase for three years. He didn’t even care when Azula died.” At the mention of her name and seeing her brother so upset, Azula jumped onto his shoulder, “And you really think he’s going to let you keep cat Azula?” Mai loved her country. She really did but Ozai...Ozai was a different story. If Zuko tried to return to the Fire Nation she had little doubt in her mind that Ozai would keep him around for a few months then kill him.

Zuko stayed silent for a while, “Zuko?” A meow. Zuko looked down at Azula, petting her behind her ears.

“I’m staying with Uncle but I’ll keep the Avatar suggestion in mind.”

The two girls nodded and left, returning to the palace. Uncle had stepped out of the building just before the wall broke so they were waiting for him to return.

Zuko started absentmindedly petting Azula’s back, “I’m not going to let my father hurt you. I promise.”

Before Azula could respond, the door was broken down and ten soldiers appeared. Zuko grabbed Azula and tossed her into the back, “Run. Get out of here.” He snapped.

“This building is now-Spirits. Prince Zuko.” The leader quickly got into a firebending stance that Zuko copied, “Come with us quietly.”

“So you can take me before my father?”

“That’ll be the least of your problems, traitor.”

The fight that began was clearly not going well for Zuko. He hadn’t been able to firebend in months and he was outnumbered. The soldiers were able to pin him down and put chains around him arms and legs.

“Look what I found!” One soldiers laughed, holding Azula.

“Leave her alone! She’s just a little cat!”

“Awww. You’re fond of her.” The leader’s smirk was so obvious, “Cage her! I’m sure the Firelord can find a suitable place for her.”

Azula was hissing and scratching at the soldier holding her but it did nothing. She was useless. Absolutely useless.

Then she heard a voice. It was a female voice. She had to strain her ears to hear it but she could have sworn it was familiar. Her mother? Mai and Ty Lee?

The spirit.

It was the spirit that cursed her.

“This new form will only last ten minutes. Use it wisely.” New form?

No one could say another word before a light engulfed Azula.

“AZULA!” Zuko screamed.

When the light disappeared there was no more black cat that could easily be picked up by a child. Instead, there was a giant black panther that came up to everyone’s ribs.

“Now this form I can use.” Azula smirked, letting out a large roar.

Even though she was unfamiliar with her new form she adapted fast. Within minutes she was able to beat enough soldiers that Zuko could stand up. When Azula noticed this, she used her claws to break his chains.

“Thanks.” He whispered.

“Don’t mention it. Just start using-Wait. I could firebend as a cat. Does this mean…?” Her heart was pounding. Please let her suspicions be correct.

She opened her mouth but instead of roaring, as the soldiers assumed she’d do, she let out a burst of blue fire. Zuko, more watching her take out the soldiers than anything else, was mesmerized. When the final soldier had run away, Azula returned to her brother, jumping on him again.

“Hey. You’re not little enough to do this.” Zuko laughed.

“Oh! Right.” She went back down, “Come on. We have to go.” She walked towards the door and made a ‘let’s go’ motion with her head.

“Definitely a spirit cat.”

The two, with no where else to go, made their way to the palace, where they assumed Mai and Ty Lee would be. It was swarming with Fire Nation soldiers when they arrived.

“What do we do? Our only options are stay here and face the Fire Nation or go with the Avatar.” The idea of joining the Avatar was still iffy for Zuko but he was coming around on it. Uncle’s words really had had an effect on him.

Azula hit his side with her head, “What is it?” He asked. No sooner had he asked that then she started to shrink down, “Welcome back, Azula. Now you can jump on me.” She happily complied.

Suddenly, a light appeared in front of the two siblings. A woman with long black hair, a white dress, cat ears, a tail and whiskers appeared from the light. Azula’s eyes grew. Part of her was beyond excited to see Neko again but another part was terrified. Was she here to turn her back to normal? Curse her even more? Make the current curse permanent?

“You’re a spirit?” Zuko whispered.

She smiled, “I am. My name is Neko.”

“Oh. OH! Is Azula your cat? I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to take her. I just found her on an island and-” Zuko picked up Azula and offered her to the spirit.

“She’s not my cat. She’s actually not a true cat at all.”

“What do you mean?” Zuko asked.

Azula looked up at the spirit. Was it time? After three years, was she finally going to be human again?

“Three years ago, I turned a human into a cat to help bring an end to this war. Now, the war is almost over.”

“So Azula was once human? That explains all her weird behaviors.”

Neko smiled, “Yes, and she’s not any ordinary human. I wanted to transform someone who was close to the war so, working with Agni, he selected your sister, Princess Azula.”

Zuko looked like his brain had shut down. Azula turned towards the spirit since it was clear her brother would be out of order for a bit.

“Does this mean I can be human again?” She asked.

“No.” Azula’s ears fell, “But very soon. I can promise that before Sozin’s Comet arrives, you will be human again.” Okay. That wasn’t so bad. Sozin’s Comet was only a few months away.

“Azula?” It took Azula a second to realize he was talking to her.

“Yes.” She nodded.

The nod was enough to get Zuko to drop her.

“Hey! I thought you’d be nicer when you found out I was human.” That wasn't actually true. A small part of her had dreaded him finding out because she was sure he’d laugh and tell her she was stuck like this.

“You-they-they said you were dead.”

“Clearly they’re idiots.” More meows.

Zuko turned towards the spirit, “Can you understand her?”

“I can.”

“Right. Of course you can. You’re a spirit.”

“I understand this must be confusing for you, but I’ve come because I want to make things...a little easier.”

“Easier?” Zuko and Azula asked.

“Your sister’s inability to communicate would pose a significant problem in the months to come if I allowed it to continue. Therefore, I will be removing her cat voice.”

“So I’ll be able to understand her?” Zuko asked.

“Everyone will be.”

Excitement grew in Azula. The ability to talk wasn’t even close to being fully human again but it was a step in the right direction. She would actually be able to speak with people and have conversations.

A nearby explosion brought the group back to reality. Neko collected Azula from Zuko and pressed her hand to the cat’s throat. When she was done, Azula had appeared to have passed out, but the spirit still returned her to Zuko.

“Neko, wait!” Zuko called.

“Yes?”

“You said the war is almost over.”

“I did.”

“For which side?”

“I can’t tell you that because I don’t know. The Fire Nation has almost conquered the world but the Avatar will make a final stand against your father. I can tell you’re still confused about which side to join and I will not tell you what to pick. All I will say is that, whatever you chose to do, make sure you understand the consequences.” With that she disappeared. Zuko stayed lost in thought for a few minutes. The consequences? He knew the consequences of siding with the Avatar. He’d become an enemy of the Fire Nation, which he kinda already was, and be forced to fight his own people and father. What would the consequences be if he joined his father? A hand subconsciously went to his scar as if his brain was trying to remind him that he knew all to well what the consequences could entail if he joined his father and couldn't be the perfect son.

The thoughts stopped coming to his mind when he felt Azula move in his arms, “Azula? Azula??” He held her against him.

“Zuzu, too tight.” He heard.

“Azula!”

“Hey.” She whispered, “Miss me?” It was so weird to see a talking cat. It kind of reminded him of those weird puppets from Ember Island that mom would take him to see.

“You-You’re…”

“Yes, Zuzu. I’m alive. We’ve established this.” Another hug.

“It’s nice to know you care. It’s also nice to be able to talk to someone.”

The two remained in silence for a few minutes with Zuko refusing to stop hugging his sister. Then Mai and Ty Lee came running in.

“Zuko! You’re here!”

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked, releasing Azula from the hug.

“It’s over. The Fire Nation has Ba Sing Se.”

“Where’s the Avatar?”

“About to leave. Whatever decision you want to make, Zuko, it has to be now.”

Zuko looked at them then back at Azula, who placed a paw on his shoulder, “Let’s go.”

Mai smiled, offering Zuko a small kiss on the cheek.

“Where is the Avatar going to go?” Azula asked.

Mai and Ty Lee stopped in their tracks, “Did…did the cat just talk?” Ty Lee asked.

Zuko laughed slightly, “Remember how the Firelord declared Azula dead a few years ago?” They nodded, “He was very much wrong.” He directed his attention back to the black cat in his arms making the girl’s eyes widen.

“Are you saying that cat is your sister?…Did a rock hit you on the head?”

“Probably but he’s right.” Azula claimed, “It’s me.” It looked like both of them had frozen.

“How long is it going to take for you two to process this? Because we still have a bison to catch.” Azula said.

Ty Lee was the first to react, “Azula?”

“Yes.”

“Wait. So this entire time you’ve been the cat? Zuko said he’s had you for years so…” Mai asked.

“From the first day. I’ve always had my human mind but never a way to communicate with anyone.”

“Hang on, so all those times you rubbed against us and purred, when Zuko talked about you eating plants, licking yourself, trying to catch the birds and other small animals-“

“I have cat instincts, okay?!” Azula snapped, her ears were down as were her eyes making it clear that Ty Lee’s words embarrassed her.

“Sorry, Zula.”

“You said the Avatar is waiting.” Zuko said, trying to get the spotlight off Azula.

“Yes. Come on.”

Azula slipped out of Zuko’s arms and found her way back to her usual spot around his neck, her claws digging into his clothing for support.

“This is going to take some getting used to now that I know you’re really…Azula, but-“

“You can’t take this spot from me, Zuzu.”

Chapter Text

Ursa remembers the day she brought Azula to the nursery for the first time. Zuko, only two at the time, started spending more time in the room so that he could be closer to his mother while she took care of Azula. He would bring his stuffed animals, books and toys into the room and play on the carpet while Ursa cared for her new baby. For the most part, Zuko was very understanding about Ursa having to take care of Azula. Though he didn’t seem to understand why his sister couldn’t play with him.

“She’s too young. In a few years-”

“Years!?”

“Yes.” Ursa lightly laughed, “That’s how babies work.”

“Can she play with this?” He grabbed his turtleduck plushie from the floor and held it towards his sister.

Ursa was about to tell him that the most she could probably do was grab it and drool on it when some dust fell on her. Azula closed her eyes and let a sneeze escape. Normally, nothing more would have come from that but when Azula sneezed her body changed forms. It didn’t seem to hurt her and it appeared to be completely normal for Azula. Either way, in the crib was no longer a human infant but a newborn kitten.

“Cool!” Zuko leaned over and pet her back making her look up and start meowing, “Can I do that mom?”

“Ummm. Zuko, step outside for a moment.”

“But-“

“Now.” Her voice made the two year old bolt for his room while Ursa continued to stare at her newborn daughter. Was this her daughter? The black kitten in the crib certainly didn’t seem like her flesh and blood. Was this a trickster spirit at work? Her mind returned to reality when the kittens screams got louder.

Even if the creature in her daughter’s crib no longer resembled her baby, she didn’t have the heart to leave her crying. Gently, Ursa picked up the kitten who began purring against her mom. In Ursa’s arms, Azula changed her form back to that of a baby and fell asleep, leaving Ursa utterly confused.

That night, a meeting was scheduled with the Fire Sages who ordered Ursa and Ozai be present. Although, Ursa would have rather it just been her and Azula. The only reason he was okay with letting her live was because Azula had a strong firebending spark.

“She’ll be a prodigy.” He had said.

She didn’t want to think about what he’d do to her when he saw her shift or if the Fire Sages told them this would impact her bending.

“You said the child changed forms when she sneezed?” One of the sages asked.

Ursa nodded, “Then she changed back when I held her.”

“Alright.” The sage placed a little dust on Azula’s nose making her sneeze. Exactly as they had predicted her form shifted to a kitten.

Again, she started meowing loudly. The sage set her on the ground but she continued to cry out. Ursa moved to scoop up her daughter but Ozai stopped her.

“See if she can change back on her own.”

“My prince, your daughter is a newborn kitten meaning she’s deaf and blind. She won’t be able to-“

“Let’s see.” He repeated.

Azula continued to scream even more and louder. After a few minutes it got too much for Ursa to bear and she grabbed her daughter. After a few pets and rubbing her ears, Azula returned to her human form.

“Hmm. There have been records of people like this. It’s rare but it does happen. Spirits gift humans with the ability to shift into animal forms. Your daughter has the form of a cat.”

“How do we get rid of it?” Ursa asked.

“You can’t. This form will stay with her throughout her life. As she grows older she should be able to control it better but for now whenever she gets too emotional or her body moves quickly, like when she sneezes, her cat form may appear.”

Ozai glared at the girl, making Ursa hold her baby closer, “But she’ll grow up healthy, right?”

“Of course. She will continue to grow up just like any other child.” Ursa wanted to say that other children didn’t have to worry about sprouting a tail when they sneeze but thought better of it.

There wasn’t much more that the Fire Sages could do so the husband and wife returned to the palace. While walking back to the room, Ozai grabbed Ursa’s arm. Hard.

“I don’t want to see that vermin again and if this interferes with her firebending I will find a way to rip the cat out.” Azula started whining in her mother’s arms.

“I understand.”

“Good.”

Zuko was asleep in the nursery when Ursa came in. He had a pillow and blanket on the floor and a small bag next to him. Ursa set Azula down in her crib then went to pick Zuko up and return him to his room but he woke up.

“Wait.” He went for the bag, “I got Azula stuff.”

The bag was filled with cat toys and some books on cats of the Fire Nation. Ursa had a feeling Zuko had the servants help him which meant people probably knew about Azula’s other form now.

“That’s so sweet, baby, but your sister isn’t a cat.”

“Yes, she is. She looked exactly like a cat!”

“She’s a human, Zuko. I don’t want you to treat her like a cat or give her cat toys.”

Zuko’s eyes fell, “Okay, mom.”

“Good. Now, let’s get you to bed. You must be exhausted.”

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Can Azula and I play while she’s a cat?”

Ursa wanted to say no. She wanted to tell her son that he’d never see Azula’s cat form again but she knew there was no confirming that. If the sages were right, Azula would be part cat her entire life.

“Yes, baby. You can. Tonight though, let’s just get some rest. It’s been a long day.”

Chapter Text

“So she’s your actual little sister. Like human sister?”

“Yes.”

“But a spirit cursed her into the form of a cat?”

“Correct.”

“Then you found her and thought she was a real cat so you’ve been living the last three years with your human sister turned cat thinking she was a regular cat? And the entire time she had her human mind?”

“True.”

“But in Ba Sing Se the spirit that cursed her told you the truth and gave her the ability to speak?”

“This is all true.”

“That is a lot to process.” Katara mumbled.

“Try being a cat for three years.” Azula said, jumping onto the ship’s railing.

“Azula-“

“Ty Lee, I’ve been a cat for three years. I know how to balance my weight.”

“What about the Air Temples?”

“One time, Zuko! That was one time.” Her fur stood on end but she resisted the urge to hiss.

“What about the Air Temples?” Aang asked.

“Don’t you dare!” Azula hissed.

“We were going around looking for you and we were at one of the Air Temples, the southern one I believe, and this was back when Azula refused to leave my side-“

“Awww.” Azula hid her face under her paws.

“So she came with me and I was going down some stairs. She kept following me though and started off okay but then proceeded to lose her balance and go tumbling down multiple stairs.” Everyone laughed or awwwed making Azula wish she could turn invisible.

“I tripped. I’d only been a cat for two weeks at that time. I have much more balance now.”

“I didn’t think anything could top my mouse story.” Mai's voice was low and quiet but everyone heard that comment.

“Mouse story?” By now Azula had resigned herself to everyone sharing embarrassing stories.

“A week or so after Ty Lee and so joined Zuko,” Mai started, “The two left to go run an errand or something. Azula and I were in an Earth Kingdom town and we were walking back when Azula stopped walking. She was staring at a bush with a death glare and a little mouse came out. She started chasing it but it ran into a small hole by the side of a house but that didn’t stop Azula.”

“What do you mean?” Katara asked.

“She rammed her head into the hole and got stuck. I had to use my knives to cut her out.” The laughter only got louder and louder.

“You guys got any stories?” Ty Lee asked.

“Not really." Katara admitted, "The biggest thing is probably when Momo and Appa kept bringing her dead animals to eat and treated her like she was their child."

Azula actually didn't look too embarrassed about that, getting a look from Zuko, "They were the only two who treated me like a princess. Plus, I like them. They were just trying to make sure I didn't go hungry." She shrugged.

"I fed you for three years." Zuko pointed out.

"I mean...you did give me human food which is very bad for cats. If I was a normal cat, I would have gotten very sick."

"Would you have taken cat food?"

"Spirits, no. I would have thrown it in your face."

"Then-you-ugh!" Zuko's head hit the table.

That night, Zuko found Azula in on the deck of the ship. Everyone else had returned to their rooms and were probably starting to fall asleep. Azula, still being a cat, didn't have a human sleep schedule so she just started roaming around the ship. Zuko, with nothing else to do, sat down, leaning against the railing, and Azula walked over to him.

“What’s it feel like?” He asked after a few minutes.

“What turning into a cat?”

“No. Being a cat.“

“Oh.” Her tail curled around her body as her mind started working, “I don’t know how to explain it. When I was first starting out it was really…freaky. I didn’t understand how to walk on four legs, that my tail and ears could move with or without my say so, that I had involuntary behaviors. After a year or so it became second nature. It still feels weird at times but I think I've just become used to it at this point."

“But you’re happy to be human again soon?”

“Thrilled. Though being a firebending cat isn’t as horrible as I thought it would be.”

“You do make for a good secret weapon.”

“Thanks, Zuzu.”

“Welcome.”

“No, I mean for the last three years. I wouldn’t still be alive without your help.”

“You’re welcome.” It was hard to hug a cat but he found a way, “You know you’re not getting out of the cat jokes and stuff, right?”

“I had a feeling.”

Chapter Text

Katara’s constant worrying about where the Avatar could be was starting starting to drive Azula insane. So much so that she decided to leave for a while.

“I’m gonna go for a walk.”

“Be safe and no talking.” Zuko said.

“Got it, mom.” Azula chuckled before starting her walk into town.

The Fire Nation wasn’t too dangerous for her. Since there were so many cats, everyone knew how to handle wild cats that roamed the streets. Even the youngest toddlers knew not to grab at her which made her walk even better. She didn’t go far. Only a mile or so into town. She was walking around when a smell caught her off guard. Pig-cow? She hadn’t had good pig-cow in years. A man set a plate down on the ground, looking at her.

“Just a little. I’ll put some water out in a few moments.” Azula sniffed the plate but took a bite of the meat. It was good. Plus it was free. Win win.

The sound of hissing made her head raise. It was a stray cat. She was bigger than Azula, an adult, and looked a little banged up. She had white fur with black spots, the black completely covered her tail. She’d probably spent her whole life as a stray. Azula followed her line of vision to the food and hissed.

“That’s mine. Get your own food.” At least that’s what she hoped her hiss told the cat.

The cat launched at her, scratching and biting her. Azula kicked the cat off of her and briefly considered firebending but there were too many people who could see. Azula also didn’t feel like getting into a big fight so she ran to the food and grabbed the piece in her mouth then ran.

The cat ran after her, yelling as loud as she could.

“Keep following me if you want.” Azula said, food was in her mouth so she was sure no one could understand her, “You’ll be dealing with a cave full of fighters.”

Then the cat stopped.

“What? Got no fight left?”

The cat’s ears fell but she returned to the town without any more fighting. Curious, Azula followed the cat. She returned to the town, to the same spot they had been in before, and went into an alleyway. The area was filled with junk from the two stores so it would make sense for the cat to live here. Azula was about to turn around when she heard smaller meows. Ones that kittens would make. Sure enough, two small kittens came from the junk. One was white with orange spots and the other was white with black spots, very similar to its mother.

Oh.

She had kittens.

That’s why she had been fighting Azula over the food. Azula jumped down into the alleyway making the mom hiss and cover her kittens.

“Here.” Azula set the meat down, “You need it more than I do.”

The mom ate it quickly, “You’re definitely hungry.” As if to say thanks, the cat licked Azula behind her ears.

“Thanks.”

“Is someone back there?!” The shop owner yelled.

“That’s my cue.” Azula ran out and all the way back to the cave.

“Hey. What happened to you?” Mai asked.

Azula had completely forgotten that she was covered in bites and scratches, “Fight. Zuzu, come with me.”

“Why?” He asked.

“There’s someone in town I need you to meet.” She explained.

“Okay.” Azula, once again, found her way onto his shoulders.

She brought him to the cat and her kittens making Zuko’s eyes widen, “Huh? For some reason I thought you meant people.”

“Give them food.”

“What?”

“You have money. Buy food and give it to them.”

“Azula, why-“

“She needs it. Just do it, Zuko.”

“Fine.”

He bought some meat from the store and a few cat treats and set them in the alleyway. The mother eyed Zuko with suspicion but took the food. The kittens tried to get at it but the mom yelled at them.

“Hey.” Azula turned her head to him, “Can you understand cats?”

“Kind of. It’s not like human speech. It’s more like if a cat hisses at me I can understand if they’re saying they’re mad, want me to leave, want to fight or want something else.”

“So what’s the mom saying?”

“She’s just telling her kittens no. She doesn’t want them eating any of the food because they’re not ready.” Zuko nodded.

“We should probably head back to the cave.” He told her after a few minutes.

“When you become Firelord and I’m your top advisor, we-“

“Wait. You’re going to be my top advisor?”

“Of course I am.” Azula batted at his face as if he was crazy, “I’ll be human by then and I’m the obvious choice.”

Zuko chuckled, “Okay. What will we do?”

“Make things better for the stray cats that live around here. I spent a few days here as a cat and almost died. It can’t be fun for them.” She was still around his neck so it was hard to look at her eyes but he felt her go rigid.

“You haven’t talked about your first few days as a cat-“

“And I won’t.” She snapped, “It just…isn’t something I want to relive.”

“Okay.”

“We should get back to the cave. Your waterbender girlfriend is probably worried about where we are.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Sure. Sure.” Azula smirked.

“Do you wanna walk home?”

Azula didn’t respond to him but she did have a smirk on her face or whatever cats did that equaled smirking.

Chapter Text

Zuko fell asleep on the ship. It had been a week since he was banished and so far he’s found nothing. Truthfully, he’d only been to the Western Air Temple but there was no trace of the Avatar. Absolutely nothing. That night, as he slept in his bed, he was visited by a spirit. A beautiful woman with long white robes, cat ears, a cat tail and whiskers.

“Hello, Prince Zuko.”

“Who are you?!”

“My name is Neko. I’ve come to help.”

“You know where the Avatar is?!?”

Nemo’s face turned to one of sadness, “I do not. I’m helping in another way. The spirits want this war to come to an end and, to accomplish this, Agni has decided to transform you into one of my children.”

“Your children?”

“All felines are my children just as the dragons are Agni’s.”

“Wait…you’re saying you’re going to transform me into a cat?”

“I am. Your uncle has already found his way, your mother is too far away and your father will not change his mind.”

“What about Azula?”

“You shall see.” That didn’t sound ominous at all.

Neko turned into a bright light that blinded Zuko. He thrashed in his bed for a few minutes, as if Neko's talk of a transformation was actually true, before falling asleep once again.

The next day Iroh entered his nephew's room when the thirteen year old didn't get up. No one was there. He looked all over the entire ship and couldn't find Zuko anywhere. They were out at sea so the chances of him being kidnapped were very small as were the chances of Zuko running away. So where could he be?

Zuko woke up in the sun. He was used to the sun being in his eyes when he slept in the palace but there was no sunlight in his room on the ship. It took a few seconds, but his eyes slowly opened to show him that he was on a balcony. He quickly stood up and realized something was off. Slowly, he looked back at his body and his heart started racing.

A cat.

He was a black cat.

Zuko released an involuntary hiss and scream and tumbled back into the palace. At the moment, he didn't care which room he was in. The fact that he had the body of a cat was a lot more important to him.

"What are you doing here?" His heart dropped.

Azula.

It wasn't like he was a lot taller than her before but now Azula towered over him. His fur puffed out and he backed away from her, bolting under her bed. Did she know it was him? Would she try to set him on fire?

"Come out of there!" She yelled.

"No way!" A meow came out instead of actual words which only served to freak him out more.

"Princess Azula! Is everything alright?" A servant asked.

"There is a stray cat under my bed. Deal with it."

"Of course."

Once Azula was gone, the servant bent down, holding out a piece of food, that Zuko assumed had been part of her breakfast, "Come here, sweetie. I won't hurt you." The smell of the food was good.

When Zuko came closer, the servant wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up.

"This feels so weird."

"Let's get you back outside." She brought him down to the palace ground and set him on the grass, "Go. I suggest running far. Firelord Ozai and Princess Azula won't like it if you come back." She returned inside to continue her duties but Zuko stayed.

He was in a completely new body and miles away from uncle. He didn't want to get in father or Azula's way again but they were the only people he knew. Maybe he could just hand around Azula's room for a bit? At least until he could figure out what was going on. If he stayed out of sight no one would even know he was there and he wouldn't run the risk of getting burned. That thought made him realize something.

His scar was gone.

In all the craziness of the morning, he hadn't even realized that his eye and ear felt amazing. Okay, so maybe the curse had one positive aspect to it.

He did decide to stick around Azula's room. All he did was lay on the roof and try to plot out his next move. No one could see or hear him. It was the perfect plan. Then, when the sun had almost completely set, he heard the door slam. Curiosity got the better of him and he jumped down to the balcony. Azula was laying on her bed and making a weird sound. It took him a few minutes to realize she was sobbing.

"You're crying?"

Azula turned at the sound of the meows, "Go away!" She screamed, "I thought I told the servant to get rid of you."

"Why are you crying? You never cry." Zuko could probably count on two hands the total amount of times he'd seen Azula cry. Five times she did it from an injury and three times from actually being sad or angry.

"Are you a deaf cat? I said leave!" A wave of fire was sent in Zuko's direction but he only backed up. He was really curious about what could have caused his sister to start crying, "Stupid cat." She mumbled, pulling her pillow closer.

Waiting a few minutes, Zuko crept closer and closer, making sure to make his move then wait and see how Azula would react. She didn't seem to care so he leapt onto her bed. She still had tears coming down her face. One of which he licked off her cheek.

"Why did I do that?" He whispered to himself.

"Thanks." Azula began to pet behind his ears making him start to purr.

"I still want to know what made you so upset."

"Stupid to be crying, huh? Zuko was an idiot. He shouldn't have even been in that war meeting. This is all his own fault. He got himself banished and of course Uncle went with him because everyone loves Zuzu." Her face morphed and Zuko realized she was about to start crying again so he curled up next to her and started purring, "He's not here anymore. Father said if I mess up like Zuko did he'll throw me away too. I don't wanna get thrown away." She whispered the last sentence into his fur.

Only one other time had Zuko seen his sister this vulnerable. Their mother had yelled at her and said she was acting like a monster. Azula ran away crying and ran into their father who didn’t like seeing his daughter show weakness so he burnt her. Zuko found her in one of the closets and brought her to his room where she spent the rest of the night.

“You won’t.” Zuko told her, “I don’t know why the spirit decided to turn me into a cat but I won’t leave.”

'What about the Avatar?' His mind asked him.

The whole reason he wanted to get the Avatar was so he could return home, but he was already home so there was no reason to go get him anymore. It wasn't like the Avatar could turn him back into a human anyways and, if he did try to leave the Fire Nation, he had no idea where uncle was. Staying here, even if he was condemned to live as a cat, was his best option.

Eventually Azula fell asleep with her arm still wrapped around him. Zuko didn’t see a reason to get up and disturb her so he fell asleep next to her.

Chapter Text

As it turns out three cats were a lot of responsibility. Just about every morning Zuko was woken up by one of them pawing at his face, they constantly got into fights over toys and food, whenever one was trying to sleep the other two were bound to start annoying them and whenever the boat stopped at a port they demanded to be let off the ship. One time, all three of them had been fast asleep when they docked and Zuko, not wanting to wake them, left for the town. When he returned, the three cats glared at him for hours.

This time when they docked Azula launched herself onto Zuko’s back and meowed for Mai and Ty Lee.

“Alright. Alright. I’ll take you and your sisters.” Azula was still getting used to Zuko referring to Mai and Ty Lee as her sisters but it wasn’t so bad.

While in town, Mai walked beside Zuko, Azula curled around his neck and Ty Lee found a spot with Iroh.

“That’s a lot of cats you got.” One shop keeper chuckled.

"Yup. This is Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee."

"They're so cute. How long have you had them?"

"Few weeks now."

"Good luck to you. Three cats must be a lot of work."

"They are. I don't know who had them before but they are very spoiled." That earned him a paw hit from Azula.

"What are you looking for?" The man asked.

"We've got a problem with our ship's engine and need some new parts."

Azula quickly got bored of the conversation and jumped down onto the floor. When Ty Lee saw her friend jump, she did the same. The three cats started exploring the small shop.

"Azula, we shouldn't go far." Mai warned her, "We can't defend ourselves like this." Zuko and Iroh were still in sight but Azula had walked out of the store.

"Defend ourselves from what? There is nothing here."

"People. People and animals that can and will step on us." Mai told her.

"If you're so worried, go back with Zuzu."

"I would but I have a feeling I'm gonna have to keep you from getting run over."

Azula only rolled her eyes but kept walking. They were behind the stores so there was no threat of getting stepped on by people but there was also very little to see. The most interesting thing the three found was a small play set where they assumed the shopkeeper's child played while their parents worked.

"Azula! Mai! Ty Lee!" Zuko yelled.

"That's our cue." Mai said, turning around.

Mai and Azula started back but Ty Lee had stopped in her tracks, "Ty Lee? What's wrong?" Azula asked.

"Shhh." She pointed her paw towards one of the shops.

Sure enough, almost hidden from view was a sleeping deer dog. The three kittens looked at one another before carefully trying to make their way past the dog. For a while, it seemed to be working great. The dog continued to snore, completely unaware of the passing cats. Until Ty Lee's leg hit a stick and the deer dog woke up.

Zuko's scanned the area. They couldn't have gone too far. He had only been talking with the shopkeeper for ten minutes.

"Do you see them?" He asked Iroh.

"I'm afraid not. I'm sure that they're fine."

As if to answer Iroh's response, the sound of barking filled the air. Zuko and Iroh ran behind the shops just in time to see the deer dog chasing Azula, Mai and Ty Lee.

"Hey!" Zuko yelled, sending a fire blast at the dog who quickly ran back home.

Once the three cats realized the dog was gone, they stopped running. However, they stopped running a little too late and ran straight into a mud puddle.

"Disgusting." Mai muttered, flicking the mud from her paw.

"And it'll be worse with fur." Azula added.

Ty Lee had a different attitude and tried to splash the two girls only to receive death glares, "Oh. I'll-I'll just be over here."

Zuko let out a sigh when he went over to the three. All of them were covered head to toe in mud.

"At least this'll be a chance to get clean." Azula shrugged.

———————————

“I changed my mind. Zuko! Let go of me! I don’t want to get in the water!”

Zuko and Iroh were struggling with washing the three kittens. Ty Lee kept moving and Azula hid. Mai wasn’t so bad but Azula and Ty Lee kept getting her messy and when Zuko tried to put her in his room while he and uncle cleaned her sisters she screamed her head off.

“Azula! Come out. Let’s just a bath.”

“No!”

Azula actually loved baths at the royal palace but, for some reason, the idea of getting a bath now seemed horrible for her. Thankfully, her body could easily slip through Zuko's hands.

"Nephew, help me with Ty Lee. We can worry about Azula later."

Zuko turned his attention towards the tub of water where Iroh was trying to clean Ty Lee. She was squirming but with Zuko's help they were making good progress on getting her fur cleaned.

"Stay still. They're almost done." Mai told her, sitting on a nearby box.

"I don't know why but I need to move."

"I think you were like that before the curse." The older girl said, "Wouldn't you prefer to be clean though?"

"Yes, but I hate all this water."

"Must be a cat thing." Mai muttered, letting out a yawn and resting on her side.

"You're a cat and you didn't seem to mind the water." Ty Lee reminded her.

Truthfully, Mai hated the water with everything in her. She had just closed her eyes and waited for it to be over and her strategy had worked.

"Guess I'm just better at being a cat." Mai smirked.

Ty Lee let out a small hiss which Iroh and Zuko thought was directed at them.

"One more second, Ty Lee. Aaaand done!"

"Done?" Ty Lee asked.

Zuko wrapped her up in a towel and used a little firebending to dry her off. Her fur was poofy but at least she wasn't covered in mud anymore.

"Two down. One to go."

"Azula, just let him wash the mud off." Mai said.

"Never."

"Even as a cat you're a brat."

"Hey! Cat or not, I am still your princess! You don't talk to me like that!"

"Yeah." Mai was laughing now, "You seem real princess like when you're scratching your ear with your back leg or playing with a toy mouse."

Azula opened her mouth to respond but Zuko scooped up Mai before she could. He had her in one hand and Ty Lee in the other.

"You two are clean so let's move you out of here."

"Will they scream again?" Iroh asked.

"I'm hoping it'll be better because they have each other."

Azula stayed hidden from her uncle even when he tried to coax her out of her hiding place with food. She wouldn't get in that death trap for a piece of komodo chicken.

"I want to try something." She heard Zuko say.

What was he going to do? Firebend at her? Get more sailors to come in and grab her? Have uncle leave her in this room all night?

Zuko returned only a few minutes later with a box. It looked like a box of food making Azula roll her eyes.

"Uncle Fatso beat you to it, Zuzu. He already tried baiting me with meat."

"Want some?" A new smell came over Azula making her eyes widen and mouth water.

Mochi.

"Nephew, she's a cat. If the chicken didn't work I doubt-"

"Got her!" Zuko cried.

Azula didn't care for the time being. She was eating her piece of mochi which, upon taking her first bite, she realized was cherry. Her favorite flavor. The mochi was also a good distraction while the two worked on washing the mud off of her. When she was done eating, they were halfway done and she started struggling again.

"No. Come on, Azula. Please. We're so close."

"Give me another piece of mochi and I will be as still as a statue." Zuko couldn't understand her, so he didn't give her more.

Iroh and Zuko managed to hold her down long enough to finish her bath and, exactly as he'd done with Mai and Ty Lee, Zuko dried Azula off.

"See? That wasn't so bad."

Azula pressed her paws against his chest and moved toward his shoulders, making Zuko think she was trying to sit around his neck. Instead, she grabbed hold of his ponytail with her mouth and started pulling on it.

"Get her off! Get her off!"

Once Iroh had her in his arms, Zuko shot her an angry look, "That's for the bath!" She hissed.

"Perhaps we should all rest for a while?" Iroh offered.

"I need to look over some maps with the helmsman. Put Azula with her sisters."

Zuko returned to his room a few hours later to find one of his Fire Nation flags torn up, both with claw marks and bite marks. The culprits to the crime were fast asleep though laying in a small sleeping pile on his desk.

When Azula opened one eye, he could only say, "You're all lucky you're cute." He was too tired to deal with the destroyed flag so he left it where it was and went to his bed, drifting off within minutes.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"Same as always, Zuzu. Even when you're strong...you're weak."

"Azula!"

"I got her!" Sokka yelled, "You stay with your mom!"

"Sokka, wait!"

He was gone before Zuko could even finish his call. He could faintly hear Azula running, so that's what he used to catch up with her. Finally, she stopped and turned to face him.

"Leave me alone, peasant!" She sent a blast of fire in his direction that he was just barely able to dodge.

"I can't do that.”

“I’m not going back that asylum. I’d rather jump off a cliff.”

Recognizing how serious she was, he held up his hands, “Okay. You don’t have to go back but can we please get out of this forest.”

Azula was still looking behind him, as if she expected someone to come from behind him. In all honesty, she did. She expected the Avatar or Zuko to come and put her back in that straightjacket.

“I’m not going back to the asylum. Never again.” She repeated.

“That’s okay. We’ll find a better way to help you.”

“Help me? Why? Because I’m crazy!” She sent another fire blast in his direction, “The crazy monster who’s mother hated her so much she decided to have another kid!”

Sokka grabbed his sword and swung it at her. Despite her time in the asylum, she still had her cat like reflexes and moved out of his way. Sokka raised his sword to strike again and Azula moved back to generate lightning but both of them were stopped before they could complete their attacks.

A spirit appeared in front of them in the form of a young girl, about ten or so, with long black hair and roots for fingers and toes.

“Who are you?” Azula asked.

“I’m a spirit who lives in this forest. The forest you two are destroying.” Even at ten, she still spoke as any wise spirit would, “For that, you will pay a price.”

“Spirit, I can assure you. We didn’t mean any harm to your-“

If the young girl was listening to Sokka, she didn’t show it. Instead, she raised her hand and a light came from it which broke in half. The two pieces flew to Sokka and Azula and, with one final blast of light, the spirit disappeared.

Sokka was the first to regain his senses except something was very much off. He was young so his senses were strong but when he woke up it was like they had tripled it strength. He could hear birds miles away, smell animals back in the village and his vision in the dark had increased ten fold. There was a problem though. When he tried to stand up, he found that he couldn’t. Looking down he saw wolf legs instead of his human ones and his entire body was that of a gray wolf.

“What the heck?!?” A series of barks and howls came from him that woke Azula.

“Peasant, you need to-“ When Azula saw the panicking wolf she stopped talking.

Sokka laid his eyes on Azula which seemed to be the trick to calming him down before he stopped instantly.

“Awww. You’re so cute.”

“Cute?! How dare you call me cute?!”

“Azula, look at yourself. You’re a black cat.”

She did and he was right. She was an adult black cat with golden eyes. He was an adult wolf with gray on his back and a white belly.

“The spirit!” She hissed, “The spirit did this! It turned us into a cat and a wolf for fighting!”

“We have to find Aang. He can talk to her and get her to turn us back.”

“I’m not going to go looking for the Avatar!” Azula’s fur stood on end.

“Would you rather spend the rest of your life as a cat?” She didn’t respond, “That’s what I thought. Come on.” She jumped on his back making him look at her.

“You’re the bigger one. Plus I’m tired.” She explained, laying down.

“This is a one time thing.” He growled.

He didn’t have to walk far. Apparently, a light show in the forest in the middle of the night was a very easy way for Aang to locate him and Azula so he had already been on his way. Sokka saw him flying overhead and lifted his head to howl. Aang, noticing the noise, flew over to him. When he saw Sokka, he quickly brought his staff up.

“Good wolf. I’m just looking for my friend.”

“Aang, it’s me.” All that came out were barks.

“He can’t understand you, idiot.”

“Wait…Azula?” Aang asked.

“Can you understand me?” Azula asked.

“Yes.” Aang confirmed, “If you’re Azula then…Sokka?” The wolf nodded.

“Huh? I guess the spirit forgot to talk my ability to talk.”

“Or maybe she let you keep it because she also gave you the form of a domestic cat whereas I have a wolf form.” Azula hated that she was jealous of that. Sokka was an actual formidable predator that, in a group, could take down a sky bison. She was a tiny black cat that could be picked up by a child.

“What happened?” Aang asked.

“We were talking and this idiot got scared that I would do something so he tried to attack me but hit a tree. A spirit got angry and cursed us both.”

“What?!?! That is not what happened!!” All that came out were loud howls.

“Sokka, please be quiet before you attract real wolves.” Aang did have a point, “Let’s get back to the village. I’ll look for the spirit in the morning.”

Of course the village was shocked to see the Avatar come through with a wolf behind him but Aang assured everyone that the wolf was harmless.

“Well this is new.” Katara said before laughing.

“Don’t laugh, Tara!” Sokka howled.

“Relax.” She kneeled down and hugged him, “We’ll figure out a way to turn you back.”

Zuko looked at the water siblings then to Azula, who had jumped off of Sokka and was sitting on Ursa’s porch. The woman had told them that they could stay with her for the night.

“Azula-“

“Try to talk to me or comfort me and I claw your other eye.” She threatened.

Zuko wanted to say more but their mother came up to them with an angry expression, “Azula. What did you do to get you and that boy cursed?”

Azula’s ears fell, “Why do you assume it was me?” She demanded.

“Because it usually is you who starts a fight.” Ursa reasoned.

Azula glared at her mother then ran into the house.

Sokka followed her inside, mainly because he was tired and she was his communicator, and the others followed. There was a giant hole in the roof but the bedrooms were still usable. Aang and Katara were sleeping outside with Appa and Zuko was in the spare bedroom. Sokka had no clue where Azula went but he decided not to worry. She wouldn’t go far and if she was really in trouble she would call for help. Sokka was prepared to spend the night on the carpet, it was better than some of the nights their group had spent in the woods, when his ears perked up.

“This hearing is amazing.” He thought.

He made his way down the hall and found Kiyi holding Azula.

“Kiyi! Put me down!” Azula yelled.

“But you’re so cute.” Kiyi wined, holding Azula tighter.

Sokka winced at Azula’s situation. Kiyi was a kid and she was trying to have a little fun with the black cat that had wondered into her house but Azula clearly wasn’t having any fun. He opened the door with his muzzle and Kiyi’s eyes shrank when she saw him.

“Wolf! Wolf!” She screamed.

“It’s just Sokka.” Azula told her, which allowed Kiyi to calm down, especially when Sokka rubbed her head against her stomach.

She played with his ears while he pushed her towards her bed, “You’re a sweet wolf.”

Once he was sure she was in her bed, he grabbed Azula by the scruff, “Put me down, peasant!”

“It’s me or Kiyi.” Even through a closed mouth Azula understood him.

“Fine.” She mumbled.

He set her down on the carpet then curled around her, placing a paw on her side.

“Can I ask you something?” Sokka suddenly said.

“I’m trying to sleep.”

“Why do you not want to go back to the asylum so much?” He asked.

Azula tried to keep the horrible memories from entering her mind. The memories of being sedated even when she hadn’t done anything, of being forced into a straightjacket, of that horrible solitary room. Sensing how upset she was, Sokka bumped his nose against her face.

“They…it was horrible, okay? They were horrible. I’d rather stay a cat forever than step foot in there again.”

“Don’t let the spirit hear you.” Sokka joked but Azula didn’t laugh, “Azula, I promise that I will do whatever I can to make sure you never see that place again.”

“Swear.” Azula quickly said.

“What?”

“Swear.” She repeated.

“I swear on my mother’s grave.” He told her. His face, while that of a wolf’s, was more serious than she’d ever seen it before.

“Thank you….Sokka.” When she started purring, he couldn’t help the small laugh that came from him.

“Shut up.”

——————

Later that night, Azula was fast asleep when she was kicked in the head by one of Sokka’s large paws.

“What is wrong with-“ She stopped talking when she saw it.

Sokka was whining, wolf like whining, in his sleep and kicking his legs. Azula made her way up to his face and pawed at him.

“Dad…please don’t go.”

His dad left him behind too? There was no way he was faking this so whatever he said had to be true. His father had left him.

“Sokka.” Azula whispered.

“I can help…”

“Sokka, wake up!”

Sokka’s eyes blinked open and he forced his neck up. Thankfully, no one else was woken up by Sokka’s nightmare so Azula didn’t have to worry about anyone running into the room and freaking the wolf out.

“Hey.” Azula whispered.

“Azula?”

“Yup. You were having a nightmare.” She quickly explained, her tail curling around her body.

“Oh. Did I say anything?”

“Just for a second about your dad.”

Sokka’s ears fell. He placed his face down in between his paws.

“I know what you went through.”

“What?” Sokka spoke but he didn’t move his face.

“Getting left behind by your father. Mine left me behind too like I was some tool he could disregard.”

“You’re not a tool.” Sokka raised his head, “You’re one of the smartest people I have ever met and one of the best firebenders.”

“Can’t say firebender anymore.” Azula reminded him, lifting a paw.

“Aang will figure out a way to turn us back.”

“And if he can’t?” Azula asked.

“Then how about you and I travel the Earth Kingdom?” He suggested, his tail involuntarily hitting the ground.

“What?”

“Think about it. If we’re stuck like this then I can’t be a warrior so there’s no reason for me to stick around with the Gaang and you don’t want to stay here. We could travel all over the Earth Kingdom then go to the South or North Pole then return to the Fire Nation.”

Azula hated that she was considering his offer. She really did hope that she could get her human form back but a part of her did want to explore the world, if only for a while, with Sokka.

“You got yourself a deal.”

———————

“So you’re sure that’s how it happened?” Aang asked.

“Yup. Sokka got us cursed.” Azula repeated.

“Why are you like this? I’ve giving you a free ride.”

Azula stretched out on the wolf’s back, “I’m only telling the Avatar what happened.”

Sokka stopped in the spot where they had been the previous today, signaling to Aang that this was the place. Azula jumped off his back and found a spot on a branch.

“Let me mediate. Sokka, can you watch my body?” The wolf nodded.

“Watch his body? What does that-“ Aang’s tattoos and eyes glowed.

“He’s in the spirit world. I don’t know when he’ll return.” Sokka admitted.

“Then I’m going to try and get some breakfast.”

That morning, Azula was out the door before Aang was even awake. Sokka and Aang had tried to get some breakfast but Azula kept banging her head against them and even grabbed Sokka’s tail with her mouth as if she could pull him out the door. In the end, the three had left without any food.

“Food?” Sokka asked.

“We are in a forest. There’s bound to be some food out here.” She reasoned, “I hear a stream so I bet I could catch some fish.”

“Like that?” Sokka asked, referring to Azula’s body.

“I am a cat.” She shrugged, “I’m sure I can catch a fish or two.”

“Good luck to you."

The stream wasn't too far from where Sokka was stationed and Azula could see a few fish swimming close to the shore. Slowly, she crept towards them until one swam a little too close and she lunged. Azula pulled the fish to the shore then waited for another to come. It took a while, because of her lung into the water the fish knew there was a predator nearby, but she finally managed to catch one. Although she did have to go deeper into the water and got soaked all over except her head. Grabbing the fish by the tails, she pulled them back to where Sokka was sitting.

"Hey. You caught some fish."

"I told you I would. I excel at everything."

"What's your plan for cooking these then?" Sokka asked.

Okay. Maybe she hadn't thought that far ahead. It wasn't like she or Sokka could start a fire so they really had no way of cooking the fish.

"You don't have a plan for cooking them, do you?"

"I do not." Azula admitted.

They ended up throwing the fish into the forest for hungry animals since they weren't completely sure they could eat the uncooked fish without getting sick.

A few minutes later, Aang returned to the mortal world. The second he returned, the bright glow of the spirit did as well.

"The Avatar tells me you have something to say." The ten year old raised an eyebrow.

"We are very sorry for disturbing your forest. Please undo this curse."

"We ask that you turn us back. Both of us swear that we will never harm this forest again."

The spirit sighed, "Fine, but if I find you here again I make the curse permanent." Another bright light filled the air.

This time, when Sokka woke up, his sight, hearing and smell were normal. He brought his hands in front of his face and flexed his fingers.

"Good to be human again."

"You could say that again." Azula added, sitting up.

By the time the three left the forest, Zuko and Katara were waiting for them with Appa. Sokka noticed Azula go rigid when Zuko approached them.

"Azula...we have to talk about where you'll go when we get back to the Fire Nation. I still think the asylum-"

Sokka put himself in between the siblings, "Actually, Azula and I talked and I'm going to take her to the Earth Kingdom."

"What?" Zuko and Katara asked.

"Sokka, the asylum-"

"Isn't what I need." Azula objected, "I need to figure things out, Zuko, and I can't do that if you just lock me up again."

Zuko wanted to protest. He wanted to say that he'd never done that and that he had only been trying to help but he had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well with Sokka or Azula.

“Sokka, if you’re sure about this-“

“I am.”

“Then good luck to you.”

The group did return to the capital on Appa so Azula could pack up some stuff. Zuko mentioned to her that the group would be returning to Hira’a after she left to get their mom, Kiyi and Ikem.

“Azula.”

“Yes?” She asked, stopping at the entrance.

“I’m sorry.”

Her face softened as she looked down at her luggage, “Me too. I’ll send letters, Zuzu.”

“You better.”

Chapter Text

When Toph started scamming people, she didn’t do it alone. She had Sokka and Aang in the beginning but when they got cold feet she needed a new partner in crime.

Enter Azula.

“How exactly am I supposed to help?” Azula asked, “I’m still in a cat body.”

“Which means no one will suspect you.”

“I don’t know how comfortable I am with stealing from my own people.”

“We aren’t stealing. We’re scamming. Two different things.”

Azula gave her a look making her laugh, “If you’re trying some kind of look on me princess, I can’t see.”

“Right. I always forget.”

“You and everyone else. So, will you help?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on. Just one.”

“…Fine. What’s the scam?”

“I’m gonna throw you into the street-“

“WHAT?!”

“Let me finish. You’ll be protected by my earthbending but the person driving the car won’t know that. They’ll think they ran you over and all you have to do if stay dead looking.”

“And what do you do?”

“Pretend to be the sad little girl who’s cat just got run over. To shut me up, he’ll give me money.”

“Just to be clear, I won’t actually get run over.”

“No. I’m pretty sure Sparky, Gloomy and Girl Twinkle Tows would kill me.”

“Then let’s give this a shot.” Azula said, jumping onto Ty Lee’s shoulders.

They picked a street that wasn’t too crowded so there would be no worry of Azula getting spotted by other people and thought of as a dead animal. There was a line carriage driver so they made their move. Azula went out in front of him and an earth shield was quickly made to protect her. She felt the carriage move over it and fell on her stomach, trying to look dead.

When she heard the man start to say “No, no, no.” She knew the earth shield was gone and she could be seen.

“Oh. Looks like a stray. I can have animal control-“

“Excuse me, sir. I’m looking for my kitten.” Toph’s innocent child voice was good.

“Oh! Ummm…well, here’s the thing-“

“Did you see her!?”

“I did and…she sadly met her end in the street.”

“Ahhh!” Azula almost burst out laughing as Toph started screaming.

“Please don’t cry. It was an accident!”

“You killed my cat! I’m gonna tell the police!”

“No! No! There’s no need for that. Here. This is money. Money that you use to buy ice cream, toys, a new cat. Anything as long as you don’t tell someone I ran your cat over.”

“Enough for a new cat and toys?”

"Toys? I mean-"

"You killed my cat!!!" She screamed.

"Right! Right!"

"And I want my cat's body."

The man looked back at the seemingly dead cat and gulped. He reached out and grabbed her the tail, it wasn't like she could feel pain anymore. The man brought her towards him then gave her to the girl.

"I am very sorry."

"Just go. I wanna bury her back at my house."

"Of course. Do you know the way back? I could assist-"

"You've done enough."

Once they were out of his sight, Azula jumped back onto the ground, pawing at her tail.

"You okay, princess?"

"He pulled my tail."

"Oh! Sorry. We got enough money. We can return to-"

"No."

"No?"

"One more."

"You want to do another scam?" Toph asked, "Really?"

"Really. They're fun."

"I think you and I are going to be great friends."

The next scam involved Azula simply being a cat around some upper class noblewomen. She leapt onto someone's lap and they screamed like the cat carried the plague.

"Get that thing off of me!" Azula hissed at the woman making her scream louder.

"Ma'am, I can handle her." Toph said, "For a price."

Azula had to roll her eyes at how absurd this was. The woman was actually paying Toph because Azula was standing too close to her. The cat then started to wonder if they could get paid more if Azula entered one of those fancy restaurants but maybe that was too dangerous. She'd have to run it by Toph later.

Toph scooped her up and the two left with even more money.

"We should probably return to camp now."

"Good idea. How much money did we get?"

"300 gold pieces."

"Wow." That would definitely hold them over until the invasion.

As they returned to camp, something in the window of a store caught Azula's eye. She jumped off of Toph's shoulders and put her paws to the glass.

"Something wrong?"

"Just looking."

"You know, we have the money if you want something."

"Really?"

"Really. You helped me today. It's only fair that you get something out of it." Toph could hear the sound of purring even from a foot or two away.

---------------

"So you helped Toph scam people?" Zuko asked.

Azula nodded.

"She got money by pretending someone ran you over and by 'removing' you from the presence of an upper class woman?" He asked.

Another nod.

"And, for helping her, she offered you a stuffed cat toy shaped like mochi."

"I asked for this." Azula amended, laying on the toy.

"Azula, these scams are dangerous."

"You're just saying that because no one asked you to participate." She said.

"No, I'm saying it because they are. What if someone thought you were a real cat and tried to throw you in a shelter?"

"I can unlock those cages."

"What if they really thought you were dead tried to throw you away?"

"I have claws. I can cut through the bags. Or I could meow and they'd realize I'm not dead."

"Well, what if-"

"Zuko." Azula's voice was firm and made it clear it was her turn to talk, "I got turned into a cat when I was eleven. Up until that point, I spent every single day under father's thumb. I watched other kids fall, get messy, rebel against their parents but I never got to do that. I never got the chance to be a kid or a teenager, so I'm doing it now. I know I'm doing it as a teenager in a cat's body but...it still counts in my mind."

"Just be careful."

"I will."

The scams did have to come to an end when the group was attacked by Combustion Man. Azula didn't particularly care because she refocused her attention back on the invasion with Sokka, but she did make sure to tell Toph that if the earthbender had any other plans she could count on her.

"I'll keep that in mind, princess."

Chapter Text

“I’m a dragon, mom!” The three year old cried, “Rawwr!”

“Oh no!” Ursa fell to the ground as Azula jumped on her, “I’m no match for the mighty dragon!”

It was rare that Ursa got to spend this kind of time with Azula. Usually her father had her for firebending practice even though the princess was only three. Ursa was constantly finding her daughter asleep or a kitten outside the training arena because she was so exhausted. Today, however, Ozai was gone and Zuko was asleep because he had a bad night so that meant the morning was for her and her daughter.

Then there was a knock at the door.

“Princess Ursa, there’s someone here to see you.”

“Now?” Ursa asked.

“Mom, you can’t get up. You died.” Azula told her.

“Yes. They say it’s urgent and since Prince Ozai is away…”

Ursa sighed, taking Azula into her lap, “Five minute pause, baby. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” Azula whispered.

She stayed still for about twenty seconds before her cat ears perked up. Someone was outside her room and talking. She slipped into her cat form, her curiosity getting stronger as a kitten, and poked her head out. Two servants, holding covered trays, were walking away from her room but they were whispering about something. Then another servant came up to them and said something that made the three laugh.

What were they talking about? And what was under the trays? Azula started running after them and, since her playroom door hasn’t actually been closed, this wasn’t a hard feat to accomplish.

She was small enough that people didn’t notice her so she could get really close to them and hear that they were saying. Sometimes she would tell her mom about what she’d heard.

“That’s called gossip.” Her mother had told her, “You can’t take it at face value.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t take it all as true.” Her mother amended.

Azula still liked watching the servants and listening to them. It was better than sitting alone in her playroom.

Ursa, meanwhile, had finished with the noble who came to visit and returned to her daughters playroom. She rounded the corner when she saw the door was open. Her heart started to pound.

“Azula? Azula?!” She tore her playroom apart but there was no sign of her daughter.

Fear started going through Ursa’s mind. None of the windows were unlocked which meant no one got in but the door had been opened. Someone could have come in and taken her. What if a servant mistook her cat form for one of her toys again? What if she followed her outside and was still out there?

Azula’s cat form was that of a 3 to 4 week old kitten and she had a tendency to use it with Ozai away. What if Azula got crushed or something?

“Azula?!?” She screamed.

Down the hall, Azula heard her mother calling and ran back to the playroom. When she got there, her mother was looking in the toy closet for some reason.

An idea and instinct formed in her mind, she crouched down and slowly walked over to her mother. Once she was within reach, she bent down and her tail wiggled a little before she launched at her mother.

“Ah!” Ursa screamed, “What the-“

The tiny princess returned to her human form, laughing the entire time. Ursa had to change her seating position to accommodate for holding her three year old daughter and not her tiny kitten form but she was just relived to see her baby okay.

“Azula.” She held her daughter, kissing her on the head.

Azula’s whole body was still shaking from laughter. Finally, she stopped laughing.

“Scared you mom!”

“Yes, you did.” Ursa admitted, “What was that?”

“Hunting.”

“Hunting?”

Azula looked down at her finger, “My-my cat brain told me to do it.”

Ursa hugged her close. Azula was only a toddler and already her father had gotten to her. Anytime she did anything even remotely related to being a cat, her father critiqued and punished her for it.

“Hunting isn’t a bad thing, baby. It’s part of being a cat.”

“But dad-“

“It’s doesn’t matter what dad thinks. Do you like hunting?”

Azula nodded, “It’s really fun.”

“Then keep doing it, but only to me, okay?”

“Okay, mom.”

From that point on, Ursa getting pounced on by a tiny kitten became the norm. More often that not she did see her daughter coming though.

“I don’t know what flowers the gala is supposed to have. Why aren’t fire lilies okay?” Out of the corner of her eye, Ursa could see a black dot getting closer.

“Because one of the women said she’s allergic to them.”

Ursa rolled her eyes, “How much you want to bet she isn’t and just said that because fire lilies clash with her dress?”

Before the florist could respond, Azula jumped on her mom.

“Ah!” Ursa faked screamed, picking up her kitten daughter, “You got me, Zula.” Azula remained in her mother’s arms as a kitten for the rest of her conversation with the florist.

Other times, Azula actually did manage to sneak up on her mom.

Ursa had been looking over a Fire Nation map to when she spotted Hira’a. She placed a hand to the name and let her mind drift off, wondering about her family and Ikem. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice her daughter until she jumped on her.

“Ah!”

“I got you, mom!” Azula meowed then she saw her mom wiping away the tears from her eyes and shifted to her human form, “Mom? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, baby.” Ursa offered her daughter a small kiss.

“Why are you crying?”

“I just miss someone.”

“Oh.” Azula leaned her head against her mother, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Zula. Your hunting is getting better.” She didn’t need Azula accidentally mentioning to Ozai that she was sad so she tried to go to another topic.

“I wanna try with animals.”

Ursa smiled at her daughter, “You don’t want to play with me anymore.” She joked, making Azula laugh.

“You’re too easy to scare.” Azula told her.

“Or maybe you're too good at hunting."

Azula did try to sneak up on her mother once or twice after that, but she did switch over to actual animals. Leaving Ursa with an entirely new cat behavior from her daughter in the form of getting dead animals as presents.

Chapter Text

The Day of Black Sun had not gone as the group predicted. Even though they had the element of surprise, Ozai put civilians in their path which allowed him to escape. Azula had her suspicions that he would go underground in the Royal Family’s secret bunker for safety and she told this to Sokka.

“Then that’s where we have to go.”

“It’s too small for the whole invasion force and we’d have to get through the entire city.”

“We’ll just take a small group then, you, me, Zuko, Aang and Toph.”

“That could work. He hasn’t had time to prepare but he’ll probably have guards with him.”

“And we’ll have the Avatar.”

The small group made their way into the caves where Azula directed them to Ozai’s chamber. There was hardly anyone around so they were able to run through the tunnels with ease. Then they arrived at the door.

“One minute until the eclipse. Are you all ready?” Sokka asked.

Aang looked towards Zuko and Azula, “I’m ready.”

“I’m ready.”

Azula sighed, “I’m ready.”

Toph broke down the door revealing Ozai sitting behind two rows of guards.

“The Avatar, a blind earthbender, a snow rat, my disgrace of a son, and...a cat? Hmm, I must say, Avatar, you’re group members have caught me off guard. I expected you to actually have warriors with you.” Azula hissed at him.

“Give up now and this won’t have to end in bloodshed.”

“I think we’re well past that point. You’ve slaughtered so many of my men that if I don’t take action against you my people will riot.”

“What are you talking about?” Aang asked.

“The North Pole for example. Hundreds of our people were murdered there.”

“Aang, he’s just trying to distract you.” Sokka said, “The eclipse has begun.”

“Your friend is correct, the eclipse has begun. So strike me down. Nothing is stopping you.” Aang looked at his staff then back at the Firelord, “You’re not a killer, are you? And that is preciously why you will lose this war.”

“Aang, what are you waiting for?”

“Maybe I can’t kill you, but I can take you prisoner.” The group didn’t have time to argue before they started fighting with the guards.

While the guards did all have firebending as their main line of defense, they were also trained in hand to hand combat. Not that it mattered too much, Toph was beating them all with little to no issue. However, one of the guards managed to sneak up on her and use his weapon to stab her foot. Sokka and Aang became the two main fighters, especially when Zuko and Azula noticed Ozai fleeing and ran after him.

“Zuko.” Ozai said, stopping in front of a door.

“Don’t move.” He pulled out his swords and Azula hissed.

“I never took you for a cat person.” Zuko looked at Azula. He had no intention of telling his father who the cat really was. If Azula wanted him to know, she’d talk.

“A lot can change in three years. Stand down and I won’t have to kill you.”

“Kill me?” Ozai laughed, “You could never kill me. Even if you wanted to, you won’t.”

“And why not?”

“Don’t you want to know what happened to your mother?” Zuko’s eyes widened, “Of course you do. My father, Firelord Azulon, ordered me to do the most unspeakable thing to you, my son, and I was going to do it. Your mother found out and offered me a way to get the throne and keep you alive. She murdered the Firelord that night and ran off before she could be tried for her treason.”

“So she’s alive?” Zuko whispered. Azula was at a loss as well. Their mother was alive? She didn’t know how to feel about that.

Ozai came closer, “Perhaps. Now I see that banishment is too kind a punishment. For your treason, your punishment shall be a thousand times worse.” Zuko acted first. He used his swords to push Ozai back, but failed to notice his father grab his sister.

Ozai grabbed Azula by the scruff on her neck, making Zuko yell, “Azula!”

“Azula?” Ozai asked, looking at the cat.

“Hi, dad.” Azula would remember the look of shock on her father’s face for years to come. He dropped her instantly, “Surprised to see me?” She asked, returning to Zuko’s side.

“Spirit trick.” He snapped.

“Not exactly.” She said, “A spirit? Yes. This isn’t a trick though.”

“Azula?”

“Yes. That’s why I called you dad.” Zuko was having trouble repressing his laughter at the sight of his father’s confused face.

Ozai’s face suddenly morphed into one of anger, “You faked your death and joined the Avatar?!”

“I didn’t fake my death! You declared me dead! But I did join the Avatar.”

“I expected you to become something great. The next Firelord, one of the greatest warriors the Fire Nation has ever seen and yet here you are. A tiny black cat I could defeat with yarn.” Azula closed her eyes, feeling the sun’s power return to her.

“Don’t be so sure.” She smirked, falling into a firebending stance she sent a strong blast of blue fire at him. It was enough to knock Ozai back and distort his vision for a minute, letting Azula and Zuko escape.

“Stop them! And bring me the cat!” They heard Ozai yell.

“You think he’s happy to see me?” Azula asked, jumping on Sokka’s back since he was the closest person to her.

“Probably more happy to burn you for joining the enemy and disappearing for three years.” Zuko told her.

The Imperial firebenders suddenly appeared, sending blasts of fire in their direction. Thankfully, Aang, Toph and Zuko managed to escape the tunnel before their fireballs caused a cave in. Sokka and Azula weren’t that lucky.

“Go left.” She told him, “I know another way out.”

“Aang!” Sokka yelled, “Azula knows a way out! We’ll meet you back with the others!”

“Okay!” He heard the airbender yell.

He did. Her directions also served to get the Imperial firebenders off their tail. Though, after about 5 minutes, Sokka had to stop.

“We need to keep going. They’ll find us soon.”

“You’re too heavy.” He said, gasping for hair.

“I’m 15 pounds.” She snapped, “Man up.”

“No, seriously.” She jumped down.

“Sokka, we have to-” Azula was cut off by a light. A bright light that appeared between both of them and forced the cat and human to cover their eyes. It lasted for only a few seconds before disappearing as if it was never there.

Sokka had to blink for a few seconds to adjust his vision then turned back towards Azula, “Umm...”

“Umm. What?” Azula asked, “I didn’t cause the light if that’s what you’re-”

“You’re human.”

“What?” Azula’s voice was low.

“You’re human!” Sokka said again.

Azula brought her hands out in front of her and realized he was correct. Human hands greeted her with five fingers that she could move independently. Her fur was gone and replaced with actual skin. Her ears were on the side of her head, her tail was gone, she didn’t have a muzzle anymore. The spirits had also been kind enough to give her a new set of clothing.

“I’m human.” There were tears in her eyes and she suddenly realized she was in a body capable of tears again.

“I know this is a moment you’ve been waiting years for, but we have to run.” Sokka’s voice brought her back to reality.

“Oh! Right. Two more rights up here and there will be an exit.”

Sokka started running and so did Azula, but her run lasted all of two seconds before she face planted.

“I haven’t walked on two legs in 3 years. Cut me some slack.” She said when she noticed Sokka’s look. She leaned her body against the wall and tried to walk but even then she struggled to walk.

“We don’t have time just get on my back.” She did so and, once Sokka got used to her no longer weighing fifteen pounds, he ran.

Thankfully, they managed to escape and get outside. In the distance, Sokka could see the invasion force retreating.

“Sokka!” Katara yelled, “Thank the spirits you’re-Is that Azula?” She asked.

The others turned when they heard Katara’s question, “Nice to officially meet you.” Azula said.

Sokka set her down next to Appa so she could hold herself up against him.

“Azula?” The princess turned towards her brother and friends.

“Hey.” She whispered.

Ty Lee acted first, hugging her as tightly as possible, “I missed you too, Ty.”

Mai joined in on the hug once Ty Lee dragged her into it, “It’s good to have you back, Zula.”

“Good to be back.”

Everything had to be put on pause after that because of the massive airships the Fire Nation revealed. The invasion group had no choice but to retreat and then they had no choice but to flee. The kids boarded Appa while the adults stayed behind as prisoners of war. Aang, thankfully, knew where they could hide so they flew off towards the Western Air Temple.

While flying, Zuko turned towards Azula. He didn’t say anything but he did hug her and she hugged him.

“Welcome back, Lala.”

Chapter Text

“How have you been doing?”

Azula was staring directly at her therapist while the rain poured outside. After the war, Zuko insisted that she talk to someone. It took months for her to find someone that she felt comfortable with but they eventually did and Azula started seeing Bo. The woman was kind to her and didn’t force her into anything. If Azula had a day when she didn’t want to talk, Bo let her silently read on the couch. If there was a day Azula wanted to be a cat or have her ears and tail out, Bo didn’t care. She quickly became one of Azula’s favorite people.

“Good.” Azula played with her tail since it was a good way to keep her anxiety low.

“You don’t seem good. Did something happen?”

“Yesterday, Zuko and I were having lunch with our mom. It went great. We were laughing and joking around. By the end of the meal my face hurt from smiling.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“When the meal ended, my mother tried to hug me to say goodbye and I went rigid. My brain couldn’t process a simple hug.”

“Is this just with her or has this been happening with multiple people?”

“Everyone.” Azula admitted, “I want to be more open to accepting affection but every time someone tries to do something as simple as hug me, pat me on the back or give me a compliment I shut down. I just want to run away and hide when someone hugs me while I’m a human.”

She and Bo spoke for an hour about the issue. By then though, the session was almost over.

“Did anyone come with you?” Bo asked.

“No, but Zuzu should be here to pick me up.”

“Do you mind if I talk with him?”

“Not at all.” Azula walked out of the room and, within a few minutes, Zuko came in.

“You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes. After talking with Azula today, I have some homework for you and the rest of your team.” She said.

“Yes?”

“Give her affection only when she’s a cat. Don’t do it while she’s human.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you that. Just try this out.”

“Alright.”

Zuko returned to the palace that night and told the Gaang exactly what Bo had said to him. The next day, Katara and Azula went to the spa and got lunch in town. On their way back to the palace, Katara had convinced Azula to walk rather than take a palanquin, the firebender turned towards her friend.

“Do you mind if I’m a cat until we get back?” Azula asked.

“Nope. Go ahead.”

Azula shifted into her smaller form then felt herself get picked up. For a few seconds, her heart started pounding. Then she heard herself start to purr. The sound of the purring was enough to return her to reality and give her something to focus on. It calmed her down enough to the point that she was practically melting in Katara's arms. While Katara couldn’t understand her friend's internal struggle she did notice Azula start to purr and make no move to get out of her arms so she assumed that the cat was okay with being held. The waterbender started scratching behind Azula’s ears making her purr even louder.

“We’re back if you want to change forms.” Azula shook her head, grabbing Katara's hand with her paws and bringing it back to her head, “Alright.” Katara chuckled.

The next day, Azula and Toph were sparring. They ended in a draw but both girls were more than drained. Toph collapsed on the steps then scooted towards the shade when she realized she was right in the sun.

“Why is it so hot!?!” She yelled.

“It’s the Fire Nation.” Azula answered.

She leaned back against the cold wall, letting herself slip into her cat form. It wasn't any better since this form has fur but stretching out in the shade sounded perfect right now.

“You gonna stay here?” Toph asked.

Azula nodded then felt Toph’s hand play with her ears, “Good match.” Again, she felt herself start to purr at the attention.

A week later Azula and Sokka were screaming at each other about something or another. It wasn't an uncommon sight to find them arguing with one another and, by now, everyone understood that they weren't going to hurt each other so they just let them be. They had to stop when Mai came in and told them it was dinner time though. Azula prepared herself for him to shake her hand or something but he didn’t. He didn’t even try to touch her.

“Hey.” She called, “Can I ask you something?”

“Mai just called us for-”

“It’s just one question.”

“Okay.” He turned to her, giving her his full attention.

“What’s up with everyone? No one’s hugging me anymore or giving me compliments as a human but whenever I’m a cat I can’t go two minutes without someone picking me up or scratching my ears.”

Sokka's eyes went big and he quickly turned away from her, “I’m not supposed to tell.” Sokka said.

“Come on, Sokka.”

“I can’t say.”

“Tell me and I’ll give you the best meat in the Fire Nation.” She offered, "Please. I promise not to be angry."

Sokka glared at her but Azula smirked, “Fine. Zuko told us to only give you affection while you were a cat. I don’t know why.”

“I think I do.” Azula revealed her tail and hugged it.

“Are you okay? We really weren’t trying to offend you or anything.”

“I’m not offended.” Azula quickly said, letting go of her tail, “It’s just...I wish I could be normal. I wish you guys didn’t have to go out of your way to change things just because I can’t handle touch.”

“Azula, you’re our friend. If being touched or shown any affection as a human bothers you then we won’t do it. Just because it’s easier for you to accept affection in another way doesn’t make you not normal.”

The princess couldn't help the smile that came over her, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now let’s get to dinner.” He didn’t even make a move to try and hug her.

That night the Gaang was sitting together and getting the chance to relax. Since this so rarely happened, everyone was making the most of it. Mai was reading, Zuko was talking to Aang, Katara, Suki and Ty Lee, and Toph and Sokka were arm wrestling. After less than a minute, Toph pinned Sokka's arm down, winning yet again.

“Best two out of three.” Sokka said.

“You’re on. I like winning."

The door opened a tiny bit, getting people’s attention until they saw it was only Azula in her cat form. The feline crossed the room over to where Ty Lee was and curled up next to the girl. Ty Lee picked her friend up and started rubbing her back making her purr. The conversation continued on as if nothing had happened once the two were situated again.

“Perfect.” A meow.

Chapter Text

“What a shame. You always had such beautiful hair.”

Azula’s smile failed as she turned towards her mother, “What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t want to miss my own daughter’s coronation.”

“Don’t pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I’m a monster. A freak.”

“I never thought you were a freak, Azula.”

Azula barked out a laugh, “Spare me, mother. You thought my cat form was a disgrace to this family. I was too freaky as a cat and too much of a monster as a human. You were either too weirded out by me or you feared me.”

“No. I love you, Azula. I do.”

Tears started flowing down her face as she smashed her hairbrush against the mirror and collapsed, sobbing. Everything in her wanted to turn into a cat and hide away forever. Maybe she would have better luck as a cat than a human.

“Princess, you’re needed for your coronation.” A voice told her.

“Coming.” She called.

She stood up, wiping the tears off her face. Her cat ears and tail were out so she tried to force them back down but they refused to go. It didn't matter. It's not like anyone showed up for her coronation anyway. She could always just lie and say she appeared completely human. She made her way out to the courtyard and kneeled before the Fire Sages.

“By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Firelord-“ Then he stopped.

“What are you waiting for? Do it?!” Her final line sounded too much like a hiss for her liking.

The sound of a bison roar drew her attention to the sky as Appa landed with Zuko and Katara getting off.

“Sorry but you’re not going to become Fire Lord today. I am.”

“Hahahaha. You’re hilarious.”

“And you’re doing down.” Katara snapped.

“Wait. You want to be Fire Lord so bad, Zuzu. Then let’s do this. Just you and me brother, the showdown that was always meant to be…Agni Kai!”

“You're on.”

The following fight was one Azula, in hindsight, should have known she was going to lose. She could hold her own, but, in her state, there was no way she was winning. The longer the fight went on the more she started to realize that he was going to win. A fact that only served to make her panic more and more.

Finally, one of Zuko's blasts hit her and caused her to fall to the ground. She tried to get up but her body was so weak and tired. The more firebending she used, the more her human half started to grow weaker. Not only that but she could see Zuko and Katara still standing. She was going to lose. She would lose and Zuko would either burn her or kill her.

Before she could stop herself, her black cat form overtook her. An action that shocked Zuko.

"Azula?" He asked.

Azula shook herself off and hissed at her brother, her claws out. Cat or not, she wasn't going to give up the fight.

But Zuko was.

"I won't fight you while you're like this." He told her.

Now that she was a cat it was a lot easier for him to see that she was shaking. Her claws were still out and she was still hissing at him but he couldn't bring himself to fight her. It wasn't fair, for one, but also she would only have transformed if she was exhausted or terrified.

When Zuko started to approach her, she hissed again.

"Change back. Change back." She kept whispering to herself, but her body refused. She was too tired and her mind couldn't concentrate.

"Azula, please." Zuko whispered, "I don't want to hurt you. I want to help." Slowly, he picked her up.

Which was the worst decision he could make.

"LET ME GO!" Azula's claws came down on Zuko's skin, drawing blood in seconds. If it had been one scratch, he could have handled it but Azula was doing everything in her power to hurt him. When scratching alone proved useless, she started biting him.

"Zula, I-" A scratch right under his scar made him actually throw her across the courtyard.

She landed on her feet and only a foot away from Katara. Katara, having seen the entire display, grabbed water from her canteen and hit Azula with it.

"Flithy peasant." Azula snapped.

Again, she was hit with water. Since her cat half was more in control at the moment, she did the only thing she could think of and ran. She ran to a corner and curled up, hoping they'd just leave her alone.

"Azula?" Zuko whispered, still a few feet away from her.

"Zuko, your arms and face." Katara said.

"I'll let you feel me in a second." Zuko told her, "I have to help my sister first."

"Help me?" Azula meowed, "You left me! I brought you home as a hero and you threw me under the carriage! You hate me! But that's okay because everyone hates me...everyone leaves me too." Her ears fell against her head.

"Azula, I'm sorry." Zuko was approaching her a lot slower than he did before, "I...I was angry at father and for so long all I could think about was pleasing him and, when I realized the mistake I made, all I thought about was defeating him and reuniting with uncle...I never even considered you."

"This is a lousy apology." Azula muttered.

"And that was wrong." Zuko continued, "I should have taken you with me during the eclipse or come back for you or...I don't know but I should have done something. I want you to join us, Azula, or, at least, I don't want to fight you. You're my little sister." He was only a foot away from her now and Azula had stopped hissing.

"I don't want to fight you either." Azula admitted.

"Can I pick you up?"

A few minutes of silence passed. Azula's body was so still that she looked like one of those cat statues that could be seen around the Fire Nation. Katara and Zuko, for their part, didn't move either. They didn't want to make any move that could set Azula off.

Then, she nodded.

Gently, Zuko picked her up and she melted. It had been so long since she got affection as a cat. She couldn't bring herself to care too much as Zuko and Katara headed inside.

Just as she was starting to fall asleep, she heard Katara and Zuko talk.

"What will you do with her?" Katara asked.

"We'll talk about that when she can talk again." Zuko said, "For now, I think we all just need some time to rest. People need their rest." Azula couldn't agree more as sleep overtook her.

Chapter Text

12 hours.

That’s how long she’d been in solitary confinement for doing nothing. All she had done was ask about the food but then the cook got defensive and started yelling so Azula brought fire to her hands, in case she needed to protect herself, and a staff member at the asylum threw her into solitary. On top of all of this, the staff members also broke her leg to keep her from attacking. As the hours went on, Azula’s fear and anger only grew.

She thought of her brother, who had put her here, her mother, who didn’t want her, her friends, who abandoned her and Team Avatar, who had taken everything from her. They all left her to rot here while they were celebrating.

Did…did her friends and family really hate her that much? Had she really been that irredeemable? That much of a monster?

Tears filled her eyes and slipped down her face as she curled up, begging any spirit that could hear her to free her from this place and send her somewhere else. Somewhere where she could feel the sun whenever she wanted, that didn’t force her to always be on her toes, that had good food…where she was loved.

That night she could hear a storm raging outside the window. It was oddly comforting. She knew a few patients were afraid of storms but she found them very relaxing. The sound of rain pounding against the window pulled her into a nice sleep.

The next morning the sun was in her eyes. Had a guard taken her outside without her even noticing? Had she been sedated again? Some of the guards liked to sedate the patients whenever possible so they didn’t have to deal with them. When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she saw the Royal Palace staring back at her. Based on her surroundings, she would have to say she was in the gardens.

“Is this a dream?” She thought.

She tried to walk over but in her attempt she fell onto the grass. That was weird. She tried to get up but found walking on two legs impossible. Then she remembered one of her legs was broken.

“That would explain it.” Instead of words, cat noises came out.

Azula’s quickly turned her head towards her body. Instead of her usual fifteen year old human form, there was a black cat’s body staring back at her.

“I’m a cat?!?!” The screech that came from her was certainly cat like.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps filled the air and Azula saw her brother coming towards her.

“Hi.” He whispered, “What are you doing out here?” He didn't look scared of her though. He had a face of kindness and like he wanted to help her.

“Zuko.” She tried to back away from her brother but her leg was still in too much pain.

“Oh. You hurt your leg. I’m sure our healers could help. We have this one woman named Amaya who’s so sweet.”

Azula did like Amaya. The woman had been their family physician for as long as she could remember and she always treated Azula with respect, not just because she was the princess. Plus she snuck Azula sweets when she had to come down for burn treatments.

“Come here.”

The second Zuko picked her up was when Azula really knew this wasn’t a dream. Zuko was never this kind in her dreams.

He brought her inside and to Amaya. Although the woman wasn’t an animal doctor, she was able to help Azula and bandage her up.

“She should be fine in a few days.” Amaya told him, petting the cat's side, "She's so sweet too."

“She is. She must be used to humans which is good. The servants have enough to deal with without a cat scratching them. Thank you, Amaya.”

"Of course, Firelord-"

"Amaya."

"Sorry, of course, Zuko." Amaya smiled while Zuko picked Azula up.

Azula didn’t know what Zuko was going to do with her but she definitely didn’t expect him to take her to his room and set her down on a pillow.

“Rest a little. The servants will be here in a few minutes.” Servants? Why?

The second her body hit the pillow though she couldn’t bring herself to care. She stretched out and started purring loudly. This was so much better than the asylum even if she was enjoying it in the body of a cat.

“I missed these beds.”

“You seem comfortable.”

“If you ever bothered to come to the asylum you’d know I never get this level of comfort.” She snapped.

“You can stay there. You can stay there all day, but there is one thing I have to do first.”

“What do you mean one thing you have to do first?”

Zuko didn’t answer because he heard nothing beyond meows. A few minutes later, the servants came in with bottles.

“Thank you.” Zuko took the bottles then walked into the bathroom and started the water. Azula’s ears perked up at the sound and she made her way over.

“You’re here.” Zuko smiled, “Great.” It was only when he picked her up that Azula realized his plan and started freaking out.

“Calm down! It’ll only be a few minutes.” She continued to thrash over the filled bathtub.

“No water!” She yelled, “You’ll never get me in water again!” She slipped out of Zuko’s hold and hide in the corner of the room.

“Fine. No bath. How about this?” Zuko took a cloth and soaked it in warm water then put, what Azula quickly realized, was soap on it.

Ten minutes later, her fur was soaked, “Great job. Now just let me get a dry towel and…” Drying her off was incredibly easy.

“Now can I sleep?” She asked.

“You’re all done now. You can go sleep, Azula.”

Azula’s ears perked up, “Do you know…?”

“Oh! Sorry you just remind me of my little sister, Azula.” He explained, scratching her ears, “I really miss her.”

“Then why don’t you ever visit me!?” She yelled.

“Alright. Alright. No ear scratches.” Zuko chuckled, “You go sleep. I have to clean this bathroom.”

“Sounds like a great plan.”

Azula curled up on his bed and instantly fell asleep. She was awoken hours later by the sound of Zuko running into the room with two guards behind him. Her claws instantly went out, thinking he had discovered her but stopped midway into the room.

“What do you mean you can’t find her?!”

“According to the nurses, she had some trouble with the cook and attacked them so they placed her in a room to calm down,” Azula’s ears perked up. They were talking about her, “but now she’s gone. The guards never saw her leave and there’s no sign of how she escaped.” The guard told him.

“Find her!”

“My Lord-“

“I don’t care what you have to do! I don’t care who you have to go to! Find my little sister!”

“Yes, My Lord.” The two guards bowed and left the room.

When they were gone, Azula rolled her eyes, “Don’t pretend like you care about me, brother.”

Zuko, hearing Azula’s meow, turned towards her and petted her head, “Sorry, Azula, I didn’t mean to frighten you. My sister is just missing and we have to find her. But where could she have gone? Do you think she’ll come back to the palace?”

“If I had escaped, I wouldn’t come back here. I’d get a boat and sail as far away as I could.”

Zuko chuckled, “I’m asking a cat for advice. I really do need to socialize more.”

“Or you could have people think you’re crazy and get thrown in the mental hospital with me.” Azula suggested.

Zuko put a hand to his chin, “That’s a good idea.” Azula cocked her head to the side as Zuko took a seat at his desk.

“I know you didn’t really understand me so what are you doing?” She asked. She tried to jump onto his desk but her launch was a little off. Thankfully, Zuko grabbed her before she could fall and put her on his lap. He got out a piece of paper and began to write a letter. It only took Azula a second to realize he was writing to their mother.

"Seriously. I leave and you're writing to mother."

"You'll love my mom, Azula." Zuko scratched the cat's chin, "She's so sweet and she loves animals. We'll just have to make sure you stay away from the turtleducks." Azula only rolled her eyes.

After the letter was sent out, Zuko spent the rest of the night talking with the guards about finding Azula. Apparently, they were having no luck in finding her even after searching the entire hospital and a 30 miles radius around it.

"She didn't just disappear into thin air!" Zuko yelled, "Find her!"

Azula, despite her leg, followed Zuko throughout the palace. She was curious to see how he acted as a Fire Lord and she had really missed home. It was nice to see it again. Most of what he did was telling people to try and find her.

"That's gonna be fun to watch."

When Zuko had to leave for a meeting, Azula followed him into the war room. A lot of the advisors had been changed out apparently. Azula had spent years staring at the same faces over and over so she was able to tell that Zuko had replaced people pretty quickly. Only one or two familiar faces remained.

"My Lord, is that a cat?" One of the older men asked.

Zuko looked down, "Yes. We can still have this meeting with a cat here, can't we?"

"It's highly inappropriate."

"So is attempting to burn the Earth Kingdom." Zuko snapped. That shut him up.

Azula spent the meeting curled up next to Zuko. The fire was so warm and the ground was nice and soft, it was making her sleepy, and Zuko gently petting her ears wasn't helping.

"What do you suggest we do about the Ozai supporters then?" Zuko asked. Ozai's name made Azula's hear perk up.

"They've been attacking our nearby food so that we can't feed people in the towns outside the capital."

"Do we have any way to predict where they'll strike next?" Zuko asked.

"Unfortunately, no. Their attacks seem to be completely random."

Azula looked down at the map where she assumed the red pieces were places where Ozai supporters had attacked. Her eyes grew, she knew this strategy. It wasn't random, they were hitting enough points so that it looked random but there was a strategy to the attacks. If she was right that would make the next target the Kuzisu. She jumped down onto the map and tapped at the town with her paw.

"Looks like the cat wants to contribute." One of the men chuckled.

Azula kept her eyes trained on the spot, "This town. Zuko, trust me. They'll hit this town next."

"Which town is that?" Zuko asked.

"Kuzisu, Fire Lord Zuko."

"Send extra guards there."

"But, my lord-"

"I'm testing a theory. Do it."

"As you command."

Two weeks later, Zuko would hear that the extra guards had stopped an attack and captured some Ozai supporters before they could attack the food supply of the town.

------------------

A few days later, Zuko was still looking for her or, well, human her. He refused to give up even though it had been almost a week since she was reported missing. Azula had to admit that she found this both sweet and confusing. He never cared about her before, why was he suddenly so obsessed with finding her? Why was he putting so many resources into finding her?

One day, while they were outside in the sun, Azula heard footsteps approaching them. She assumed that it was a servant so she didn't bother getting up or looking at her.

"Mom." That got Azula up.

"Mother." Azula hissed, her fur puffing up.

"You got a cat?" Ursa asked.

"Found her. She showed up with a broken leg about a week ago and has been living in the palace since then." Zuko chuckled, "I named her Azula."

Ursa adopted a sad look on her face. She bent down and scooped up the small cat, gently petting her back. The cat squirmed in her hold but calmed down after a few seconds.

"She's such a pretty thing and so well behaved."

"She's also very demanding." Zuko smiled, "She follows me everywhere and needs to be included in everything."

Ursa lightly laughed, "Reminds me of Azula when she was young. She would follow you everywhere, even before she could actually walk, and when I told her you had to do something with your father she would just sob."

"I was a toddler. I've since learned that those actions were pathetic and weak." Azula hissed.

"Azula." Zuko lightly scolded, "You never hiss this much. What's gotten into you?"

"She probably doesn't like someone new picking her up." Ursa admitted, setting the cat down.

"No. I just don't like you." She hissed one final time before walking over to her brother.

"Any luck in finding human Azula?" Ursa asked.

"Nothing. I don't get it. It's like she disappeared into thin air."

"Well, not disappeared into thin air. I just got turned into a cat."

"We'll find her, Zuko. She couldn't have gone far."

Ursa and Zuko made their way over to the pond, taking a seat in front of the family of turtleducks. Azula, not wanting to be left to wonder the palace, trailed after them.

When Zuko noticed her, he smiled and chuckled, "Turtleducks aren't food, Azula." Zuko scooped her up and sat the cat on his lap, petting behind her ears and chin, "I'll get you some dinner later."

"I wasn't going to eat them." Azula thought.

"Zuko, I can tell something else is bothering you. What's wrong?" Ursa asked.

"I just...I went to the hospital to see if I could find anything and the way they treat people. They didn't know I was coming so they didn't have any time to prepare and hide everything form me but the hospital, it's...it's horrible. I left her there. She's my little sister and I left her alone in that place." Tears came to Zuko's eyes, which he forced back, "What kind of brother does that? What kind of person does that? I kept telling myself that the doctors knew what was best. They said it wasn't for the best for me to come and that I'd only upset Azula, but I should have seen through that. I should have seen that they were lying!" Azula turned to face Zuko. That's why he never came? She put her paws on his chest, meowing at him.

"Zuko." Ursa whispered.

"Maybe it would be better for me to give up looking for her. To let her be free somewhere. I just wish she knew that she has a family here. But it's Azula. She's smart. If I could survive on my own then she'll have no problem doing so."

"But I don't want to survive on my own, dum-dum."

"I know, Azula, I know you're hungry." Zuko smiled, petting her head, "Let's get you some dinner."

"Zuko, I don't think you should give up the search." Ursa told him, "I think you should spread the news of what you just said. Let Azula hear what you said and then she can make the choice about if she wants to come back to the palace."

"I think that's a good idea." Zuko nodded, "What do you think, Azula?"

"I think I have something to do tonight."

---------------------

Zuko woke up that night to Azula pawing at his face.

"Azula?" Zuko asked, "What are you doing?"

"Follow me." Azula bite down on his pajamas and tried to drag him out of the bed but only got a laugh.

"Alright. Alright. I'm coming."

He followed her to Azula's room. Azula bit down on one of the dresser drawers and pulled it open. Zuko looked impressed but made no move to stop her or speak. Azula had to admit that she missed people's looks of astonishment. She just never thought she'd get that look for opening a drawer. She began to dig through her clothes until she found what she was looking for. Azula pulled out an old dragon plushie that was missed an eye and clearly needed some new stitch work.

"Dragon." Zuko whispered, "I remember this. When my sister was younger she wouldn't go anywhere without this thing. I thought she got rid of it years ago how..."

"Come on, Zuzu. Put two and two together." Azula placed a paw on his leg and meowed at him.

"Azula?"

"Yes! Maybe you're not a complete dum-dum after all."

Zuko was still staring at her in shock, "Is-Is that actually you?"

Azula nodded.

"How-When-I...That's why none of the guards could find you. You've been here this whole time."

"Great detective work there, Zuzu."

"Spirits. You're a cat." Zuko put a hand in his hair, "I'll send a letter to Aang first thing in the morning." Azula just nodded.

That's when a guard saw Azula's bedroom door opened and decided to barge in, assuming there was some kind of intruder. When he just saw the Fire Lord and a cat, he bowed.

"My apologies, Fire Lord Zuko, I assumed..."

"It's alright. I just wondered in here. Come on, Azula." Azula didn't miss him saying her name in a more serious tone, "Let's get back to bed."

Zuko collapsed in his bed when they returned, "I can't believe you're a cat."

"Me neither. Though, I have to admit, it's not as horrible as I thought it'd be."

"We should probably try to get some sleep. In the morning, I'll write to Aang and tell him what's happened and we'll work on turning you back."

Azula curled up on the bed, "Sounds like a good plan, Zuzu."

-----------------

That night, Azula woke up to a light in her face. She hissed at the figure in front of her, not realizing Zuko wasn't awake. The light began to take a feminine shape and Azula was greeted by the sight of a woman with a long white dress and black hair. She also possessed cat ears, a tail, and whiskers.

"Who are you?" She hissed.

"My name is Neko. I'm the spirit that did...this." She gestured towards Azula's body.

"You turned me into a cat? Why?"

She shrugged, "You asked to be loved, to be warm, fed, and safe and I gave that to you."

"I meant as a human not a cat."

"But are you not all of those things."

"...I am." Azula admitted, "Why are you here?"

"I've come to give you a choice."

"What kind of choice?"

"You can choose to remain this way, as a cat and stay with the life you have now."

"Or?"

"Or become a human again and face whatever may come with that."

Azula looked at herself then back at Zuko, "Will Zuko remember I'm me?"

Neko nodded, "Yes. The only thing that will change if you chose to remain a cat is that you won't be able to be human again. You'll live like this until the day you die."

Azula looked down, letting her mind run through the two choices. There were clear pros and cons to each choice and it looked like the spirit wanted a choice now. Azula let out a breath. She had to make this life choice now.

"I want to-"

Chapter Text

It would be a lie to say that Azula and Katara never fought. Prior to dating there were bending matches that they did, small arguments and even a couple underhanded comments every so often, but nothing incredibly out of hand. When they started dating, those arguments started to decrease and while the bending matches continued they seemed more like flirty dances now as opposed to actual fights.

That being said, the servants knew that things were really bad if they heard the two screaming at one another. Not only did Azula hardly ever scream meaning that something really big must have happened to get a scream out of her, but also a screaming match meant that the two were just angry. Not some petty little issue that could be resolved later or something that the two would stop caring about after a joke, but a real argument.

“Where do you get off, Katara?!? I’m not one of your patients!”

“You don’t have to be one of my patients for me to care about you, Azula! And I’m just offering advice! You’re the one who’s acting crazy!” The second the word left her mouth, Katara’s eyes widened, but it was too late.

“Oh? I’m crazy, huh?” Azula asked, “Just the crazy princess of the Fire Nation. Can’t trust me do to anything-“

“Azula, that’s not what I-“

“I know what you meant, but it doesn’t change the fact that you called me crazy. You, of all people, call me crazy when I’m trying to make my own choice!?”

“I offered advice! I agree that I shouldn’t have said that word. That wasn’t right, but since when has offering advice been a problem!?” Katara yelled.

“Since you tried to tell me how to act around my own family! If I want to keep going down and talking to my father, I will! If I don’t want to see my mother, I will! You don’t get to tell me that I can’t!”

“I never said that!” Katara ran a hand through her hair, “I never tried to tell you that you shouldn’t or should do something! I just asked if you were sure it was safe to be around Ozai! He hurt you and I just don’t want to see that happen again. And Ursa…I know she hurt you too but she’s trying and-

“And that means I have to give her another chance?? That means she’s automatically getting my forgiveness?!”

“No! I-…I just…”

Azula closed the distance between her and Katara until they were only a few inches apart, “You think I don’t know how to handle myself, but I’m more than capable of protecting myself against Ozai and making my own choices about Ursa without you right behind me, feeling the need to give your own opinion about everything.” With that, Azula stormed out of their room.

Katara laid down on the bed, letting a sigh slip out of her mouth. Space. They both needed space for the time being just to decompress and let themselves breathe. For now, that was all that could be done.

—————————————

“Azula!” Katara called, poking her head into difference rooms to see if she could find her girlfriend.

Azula was no where to be found in any of the rooms and it was time for dinner. Knowing her, Azula would happily continue brooding somewhere and forget to eat if given the option. Katara wasn’t gonna let that happen though, so she continued her search for the missing princess.

“Azula!”

“Lady Katara.” A servant spoke softly but Katara managed to hear her call, “I saw the princess go into the training room.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t check there first. Thank you.”

“But-“ Katara was gone before the servant could give her the second piece of information.

The waterbender walked into the training room but Azula was no where to be found. In fact, it didn’t even look like there had been anyone in here for hours. The dummies weren’t set up, the weapons were all still neatly put away and there wasn’t a single fire mark anywhere.

“Azula!” Katara called.

Rather than a response of ‘yes’ or ‘what is it?’ Katara was greeted by a cat meow. Her head turned to the source and found a black cat sitting on the low hanging boards in the ceiling. She was probably a good 25 or so feet in the air.

Katara couldn’t escape the smile that appeared on her face. She’d known about Azula’s ‘condition’ for a couple years now. When Azula was born, she was born with the ability to transform into a cat. No one really knew how or why she had the ability but she did. It wasn’t uncommon for Katara to notice that Azula tended to shift more when she was upset, tired or feeling particularly happy. At first, Azula hated the idea of being a cat in front of Katara, thinking it made her look weak or would disgust Katara. It wasn’t until a night when Azula transformed into a cat in her sleep and woke up being tightly held by Katara that she started to believe her girlfriend wouldn’t judge her for her ability.

“Seriously?” Katara asked.

“Hissss.”

“Yeah. You’re still mad, but you need to eat. The chefs made your favorite.”

Azula only glared and turned from her.

“Come on, Azula. You can’t stay mad forever.”

Nothing.

“If I bring food to you will you at least eat it? You didn’t even have lunch.”

“Meow.”

“Thanks. Helpful answer.”

“Hissss.”

“Fine, but I’m not leaving. It’s the price you pay. We’re dating so I’m gonna a sit here and annoy you until you actually come down and eat food.”

“ Hisssss! ”

“Did you hear General Yu at the meeting this morning? I swear that old man made me want to hit him over the head with something. I heard him say that the Earth Kingdom has Zuko mind controlled.” Azula covered a laugh with her tail, “And that I’m mind controlling you. Did you know that I know mind control? Cause I certainly didn’t. Then this other guy, I don’t actually know his name but I think he was an admiral? Tall, brown eyes, scar on his left cheek-“

“Meow.”

“Thank you. Anyways, he had the nerve to pull me aside after the meeting and tell me that, he knows I’m Water Tribe, but I can’t take your fur off while you’re a cat.”

“Meow?”

“I asked him why he had to tell me not to do that because why would I do that? And he just gave me a blank stare and said, ‘Isn’t that something you people from the Water Tribe do? Shave the fur off animals?’ It took twenty minutes to explain to this grown adult how shaving fur is for survival. He actually thought it was just something people from the Water Tribe did for fun or whenever they felt like it.”

Azula started to ignore what Katara was saying. Not because she was mad but because the sound of Katara’s voice made her start to calm down and feel more peaceful. Not only that, but the sight of her girlfriend sitting down with an open lap was getting most of her attention.

‘No!’ She mentally scolded, ‘You’re mad at her. Just stay up here and she’ll eventually leave you alone.’

Although…would it really be the worst thing in the world to curl up on Katara’s lap and let her pet her? Would it really be that bad? Azula shook her head. Her stupid cat instincts were starting to get the better of her, making her want to sit on Katara’s lap.

‘You know you want to.’ The cat part of her mind supplied.

Spirits, she did. Azula jumped onto a nearby cabinet then slowly made her way to the ground and walked over to Katara, who stopped talking when Azula came over. The black cat curled up on Katara’s lap, tail curled around her body and closed her eyes.

“Can I pet you?” Katara asked.

Azula nodded.

The sound of purring filled the room while Katara gently scratched her ears and continued talking about the most random things. Azula was only picking up about half of what was said but she was pretty sure Katara was talking about Sokka and a moose lion cub…50% sure.

“Azula, I am sorry about what I said. You’re right. It’s not my place to tell you what to do about your family. I just don’t want Ozai to hurt you or for you to give up on a relationship with your mom. A relationship I know you want. But, you’re right. It’s not my place to give my opinion. I’m sorry.”

Azula gently licked Katara’s finger and nuzzled against her hand.

“I take it you forgive me.”

“Meow.”

Katara chuckled, “Not ready to be human again?” The cat nodded, “Or do you just want to stay this way so I can carry you to the dining room?” Azula’s purring got louder and she gave Katara the most kitten eyes possible.

“I think I have my answer. Love you, Zula.”Katara scooped up the black cat in her arms, earning another lick this time on the cheek, “Now, let's hope Zuko didn’t eat all the tonkatsu and mochi.” Azula let out another meow, changing her position to be on Katara’s shoulders as opposed to in her arms and wrapped herself around her neck as she walked towards the large dining room.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

If Azula was perfectly honest with herself, being a dragon wasn't completely horrible. True, she would get rid of her dragon form in a heartbeat to be human again, but there were some aspects of being a flying, firebreathing reptile that she would enjoyable.

First, flying itself was amazing. She had her fire jets when she was a human but they were nothing compared to the thrill of actually flying through the air and looking down on the world below.

Second, being a dragon did make her feel pretty powerful. Her ego always felt a little stronger when all she had to do was growl at huge animals and they ran away with their tails between their legs.

The final thing was both a blessing and a curse, her dragon instincts either helped her appear smarter and faster than anyone else on the team or humiliated her. There was no in between. For example, in one day, her instincts both alerted her to an attack---allowing her to prevent a wild armadillo bear from trying to get the jump on her---and made her purr and rub her head against Ty Lee. It was a give and take.

On this particular day, the Avatar was off training and everyone else was sending some time doing whatever they wanted when Azula's eyes snapped open and she lifted her head.

"Azula?" Ty Lee, who had been resting against Azula, asked, "What's wrong?"

Someone was here and watching them. Azula's ears perked up at the hint of noise, but her nose caught his smell before he even revealed himself.

Iroh.

Azula rolled her eyes, "Looks like uncle found Zuzu. I'm surprised uncle fatso actually managed to track us this far." She supposed to wasn't that crazy to imagine. Iroh was, or had been, the distinguished Dragon of the West, so it made sense-

"Azula! Azula, calm down!" Ty Lee cried.

The blue dragon wasn't listening to her. Her uncle had killed the last dragon and, if memory served, brought it's skin back to the palace as a trophy. Her uncle had never been her biggest fan and if he knew that she was now a dragon, a creature that would surely win him respect back in the palace, her head would be delivered to the palace, no doubt.

"Azula!" Zuko yelled, grabbing her horns to try and get her to maintain eye contact with them.

Azula swung Zuko off of her and took to the sky. However, Ty Lee, thinking quickly, jumped on her tail. The princess turned dragon didn't care to try and knock Ty Lee off so the acrobat climbed up until she was clinging to the dragon's white horns. Azula had tuned out whatever yells Ty Lee was giving her. Instead, her attention was more so given to the world beneath them to try and find a place to land and hide. Maybe a cave or some kind of abandoned structure where her uncle couldn't find her.

Finally, her eyes landed on a cave that looked big enough to hide her for a while and she had flown a good distance. Even Iroh would take some time trying to catch up with her.

"See him try and kill me now." Azula whispered, diving down into the cave and landing perfectly on the ground.

"Azula?" Ty Lee asked again, "Azula, we just left everyone else behind at camp."

"They'll be fine. I'm the only one who almost got attacked!" Azula hissed in Ty Lee's face.

"Hey! There's no reason to snap at me! I don't even know why you freaked out!"

My reasons are my own. It's nothing you have to worry about.

"Are you serious, Azula? You panicked, didn't listen to any of us, and just flew like ten miles away from everyone! Can't you at least tell me why you ran off!?"

No.

Ty Lee grunted with frustration, kicking a nearby rock, "You're impossible sometimes."

I never told you to grab onto my tail and come along. You could have stayed put.

"I was being a good friend. Friends help friends when they're scared."

I was not scared! I'm never scared! An enemy was nearby so I made an informed decision to leave .

"Enemy? What enemy?"

Azula growled at the acrobat before turning around, curling herself into a ball at the very end of the cave in a way that had her back facing Ty Lee.

"Fine. Be a baby about it." Ty Lee leaned against the side of the cave and fell down until she was sitting down. With nothing better to do, Ty Lee simply looked at the wall and waited for Azula to decide she was ready to return.

--------------------------------

When Iroh was walking through the rocky terrain, he believed that he was close to his nephew but he had no intention of revealing himself just yet. All he knew was that his nephew was with the Avatar, but he had no clue why. Then, while he was watching over him, he noticed the a small blue dragon. Iroh had seen enough dragons in his life to know this one was a young female dragon, probably a decade or so away from adult status, but the truly shocking part was just that it was around. A real dragon was alive and thriving.

The former general tried to get close but the dragon instantly got up and began roaring then flew into the air with someone grabbing onto her tail. Something must have scared it off, but the question was what. Iroh couldn't detect any large predators nearby or any hunters that would make the dragon flee.

"Who's there?" Zuko demanded, a flame in his hand.

"Zuko." Iroh said, revealing himself.

Zuko instantly got rid of his fire, "Uncle? What are you doing out here?"

"I was-...looking over this lovely quarry. I've never seen such natural beauty without much flora." Zuko raised an eyebrow, "I only wanted to make sure you were okay. I had no intention of interfering with anything."

"So you followed me?"

"Tracked is a better word. It's very hard to follow someone when they use a sky bison."

"Could he have been what freaked Azula out?" Mai asked.

"Azula? She's here?" Iroh asked.

"She was here." Zuko corrected.

Iroh's eyes widened, "Was she the one who grabbed onto the dragon's tail? We need to find her and the dragon. I fear what will happen to that poor creature if Azula manages to catch it off guard. That dragon that was with you was still rather young. She probably can't defend herself very well against Azula."

Mai and Zuko shared a look, “Please let me tell him.” Zuko had known Mai for seven years and he’d never seen her more excited.

“Tell me what?”

“A couple weeks ago, Ty Lee, Azula and I were in the forest and Azula started having really bad pain. I went to get help but when I got back, Azula wasn’t there anymore, or, at least, she wasn’t her human self anymore.”

“What do you mean not her human self?” Iroh asked.

“Think instead of standing on two legs she now had four paws. Instead of black hair she had dark blue fur. Instead of a flat face she has a muzzle. Instead of no tail she has…a tail. And instead of being human she’s a dragon.”

Iroh’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open, “Uncle, the blue dragon IS Azula.”

“Explain all of this. Now.”

——————————

Ty Lee looked out of the cave at the wide open quarry. Based on the shadows and light, she could tell that it was getting late. The sun was beginning to slowly set in the sky. Ty Lee looked back at Azula, finding her still curled up in the back of the cave.

“Azula, we have to go back to the others.”

Azula’s only response was to curl up into a tighter ball.

“You’re so stubborn sometimes. What is freaking you out so much? You’re a massive dragon! You can fight armadillo bears without issue. What would you possible be scared of?”

Azula lifted her head from where she was laying and began to write again,

Nothing. I’m making a smart decision for my survival.

“Survival from what?!”

Why do you have to know? You could just go back to camp.

“I’m trying to be a good friend!” She yelled again, “Ugh! Fine! Be a stubborn dragon. I’ll see you back at camp.”

Ty Lee took all of five steps before Azula was on her feet, “Finally coming-“ Azula pushed her down with her paw, “AZULA! What is wrong-“ Then she saw it.

A massive saber tooth moose lion was standing a couple feet away from the cave entrance. She’d been so occupied with Azula that she didn’t even notice. Azula was standing in front of her now, hissing and growling like a pure dragon with her tail wrapped protectively around the acrobat.

The animal growled and roared at Azula, hitting her a couple times with her horns. Azula jumped on in, landing her claws directly into its side. The animal raised its claws once again and slashed Azula’s arm. The young dragon backed up, her leg now held up in pain, and unleashed blue fire on the saber tooth moose lion until it ran.

“Azula!” Ty Lee cried, running a hand over her injury, “Are you okay?”

My legs are going to be destroyed when this curse is over. First a spear and now a saber tooth moose lion. What’s next?

“You’ll be okay. It didn’t get that deep. Here.” Ty Lee tore her pant leg and wrapped the pink fabric around Azula’s injury, absorbing the blood, “How’s that?” Her answer was hearing Azula purr and rub her head against her. Ty Lee hugged the reptile’s giant head, earning even more purring, “You’re welcome, Zula. How did you know there was a saber tooth moose lion there?”

Smelled it.

“Impressive.”

Are you still going to demand that I tell you why I flew here?

“I’d like to know but-“

Saved your life.

“Fine, fine. I’ll stop asking.” Ty Lee said, “Ready to go back?”

I suppose. Climb on.

“Wasn’t planning on walking.”

——————————

When they were only a hundred of so feet above camp, Azula laid eyes on Iroh. Instantly, her wings began to flap again, pushing her body away from him. Zuko was the first who noticed Azula and her panic and jumped into action.

“Azula! Azula, it’s okay! He’s not going to hurt you.” Zuko told her.

“Is that what is freaking you out? Your uncle?” Ty Lee asked.

“The Dragon of the West? The man who’s famous for slaying a dragon and skinning it? Yeah, strangely, I don’t feel comfortable around him while being a dragon.” Azula hissed.

“Azula, it’s okay.” Ty Lee whispered, “I promise. He won’t hurt you. We’ll all make sure of it.”

“He really doesn’t want to fight. He just wants to know what happened.” Mai promised.

Azula landed, letting Ty Lee jump off her, and made eye contact with Iroh then the Gaang and Appa. Appa walked over to her, gently grumbling and growling a little at Iroh.

“Appa.” Aang whispered, pulling him a little away.

“Thanks, Appa, but I think I can handle him.” Azula growled.

Appa roared back at her in confirmation.

Azula, incredibly slowly, approached her uncle. She wasn’t that big as a dragon, the saber tooth moose lion had been the same size as her, so she was only a few inches taller than Iroh while her neck was down. Iroh looked straight at Azula then looked at her dragon self.

“Azula?” He whispered.

“In the flesh...or scales I guess.” Even if Iroh didn’t understand what she was saying, it felt weird not to respond.

“Your brother and friend told me about what happened. I have to say a part of me didn’t believe them.” He took a step or two to the side in an effort to really see if she fully looked like a dragon. Azula raised and lowered her wings a bit to show him how real this situation was.

“A part of me still doesn’t believe it.”

“How-what-I’ve never heard of something like this happening before.”

“That inspires confidence.”

“Except-“

“Except?!” Azula let out a shocked roar and her eyes widened, staring at Iroh.

“There was an old legend around Sozin’s dragon. My grandfather used to tell me that his dragon, before he killed it, gave him one of the greatest gift of his life: a poison that had the power to turn someone into a dragon. Everyone thought he was insane because he was an old man, even my father didn’t truly believe him, but if he was telling the truth…”

“That could be what did this to me.”

“How do we turn her back?” Ty Lee asked.

“That’s just it. Once ingested, the person has to continuously drink the poison. If they don’t then,” He gestured to Azula, “this happens but once they take a sip of the poison again they’re human.”

“Could you have ever…”

Azula shook her head, “No. That can’t be it.” She decided to ignore the little voice in her head that reminded her of the drinks her father gave her and constantly told her she had to drink. He said it was because if she stopped her firebending would suffer, but, could it be that it was actually because if she stopped she’d become a dragon? “No. No, father loves me. He’d never do this.”

“Azula?” Ty Lee asked.

I’m done talking about this. I’m going to bed.

Azula flew up, without anyone on her this time, and curled up at the top of the rock quarry to bed.

“She just needs some time.” Ty Lee said.

“I understand. This must be very difficult and strange for her.” Iroh said.

“Why don’t we all get some sleep? We’ll talk more in the morning.” Aang suggested.

“That sounds like a great idea. Do you mind if I stay with you, Avatar?” Iroh asked.

“Go ahead.” Aang smiled.

Katara and Sokka didn’t have much of an issue with Iroh, having seen his actions during the North Pole attack, and Toph didn’t care enough to have much of an opinion on the man. While everyone else turned in for the night, Ty Lee climbed up the quarry. Without a word, she lifted Azula’s wing up and cuddled next to the dragon. In response, Azula curled tighter around the small acrobat.

“Goodnight, Zula.”

“Goodnight, Ty.”

Chapter Text

Zuko's breath was slow and steady. It almost matched the boat’s rhythm against the waves exactly. In and out and up and down. A perfect back and forth. Zuko had only fallen asleep a couple hours ago but his sleep now was deep and seemed as though it would continue on for hours.

Until something pounced on his stomach.

“Ugh!” Zuko rubbed his eyes, looking at his stomach, “Really Ty Lee?” He asked.

The kitten responded with a happy chirp, “It’s time for breakfast!”

Gently, Zuko picked up the kitten and set her down on the ground, “Go play with your sisters.” He mumbled, “I’m still sleeping.” Even with an arm leaning over the bed, Zuko was determined to keep sleeping.

“No! It’s breakfast time!” Ty Lee hissed, biting his fingers.

“Ow! What do you want? Why can’t you be asleep like Azula and Mai?” Zuko begged. He gently pet Ty Lee’s head to try and get her to calm down but the kitten wasn’t having it. She jumped up and bit his wrist, “Ow! Ow! Ow! Fine! Fine! I’m getting up.”

“Good.” 

Zuko rose from his bed, feeling a powerful want to return to his bed but the meowing kitten by his feet was enough to keep him going. He had to give the kitten some credit: she was clearly smart. She knew how to wake him up and apparently had enough knowledge to know when he was thinking of going back to bed.

“Alright. Let’s get you some breakfast.” Zuko said, picking up the small kitten, “Where are your sisters?”

“I don’t know. They weren’t here when I woke up.”

“Azula! Mai!” Zuko called, “Guys! Come out if you’re hiding! You’ll miss breakfast.”

Nothing.

“Azula! Mai!” Zuko was now screaming down the hallway. He held Ty Lee a little closer to his body as he made his way up to the deck and continued screaming for his lost kittens.

“Prince Zuko? Is everything alright?” Iroh asked.

“I can’t find Azula or Mai. I don’t know where they could have gone!” Zuko cried, “The door was closed all night and Ty Lee is still here and-“

Iroh stood up, setting a hand on Zuko’s shoulder to calm him down, “It’s okay. I heard Azula meowing a few hours ago and let her and Mai out. Ty Lee was still sleeping so we left her be.” He explained. The old man gently scratched Ty Lee’s ears when he finished up his explanation. 

“So…where are they?” Zuko asked.

“They should be somewhere on the ship.” Iroh said.

Zuko grumbled something under his breath before stomping off to find the missing kittens. He had been guilty of letting them wander off on their own as well but he still didn’t like that two of them were just wandering the ship where they could easily get hurt.

“But what about breakfast?” Ty Lee asked.

The prince looked down at the meowing kitten, “I know you’re hungry, but we need to find your sisters.” Zuko said, “I at least need to make sure they’re still alive.”

“Of course they’re still alive! Azula would never let herself die as a kitten. I bet they probably went to the kitchen to get something to eat! We should go there.” 

“You’re really chatty this morning, aren’t you?” Zuko smiled, using one finger to gently scratch under her chin. The purr he got in response did help put him at ease, “Azula! Mai!” Zuko called.

“Prince Zuko, is everything okay?” One of the sailors asked.

“I can’t find Mai or Azula.” Zuko told him.

“Oh. I saw them in the hold!” The sailor told him, “We had to make them their own little space so we didn’t confuse them for coal.” He meant it as a joke but Zuko’s face went dark at the thought that his kittens could have been mistaken for coal in the place where coal was burned, “We…uh….we didn’t burn the kittens I should say.”

With that, Zuko stomped off towards the hold of the ship. He made his way all the way down there to find one person working still putting some coal into the fire. There was coal around him but, upon first glance, no kittens.

“Azula! Mai!” Zuko called.

“Get out here guys! You’re keeping me from breakfast!” Ty Lee yelled.

“Prince Zuko? Is everything alright?” The man asked.

“No. I can’t find Azula or Mai.”

“Oh! They were here an hour or so ago,” He said, “but then they left. I don’t know where they went but I bet lieutenant Jee would know. You know he has a soft spot for those kittens and he got them a new toy a few days ago.”

Ty Lee felt her ears fall as she rolled her eyes. Azula and Mai would never walk off to play with cat toys. The one time Zuko had tried to give them cat toys and food, they hissed at him and knocked the plate of food on the floor. Azula had been clear in her stance,

“We’re not cats. We don’t need this stuff.” 

There was no way she would go back on it now.

“I’ll go find him.” Zuko nodded.

“No, Zuko. They won’t be there. They’re not there!” 

“Okay, okay. I get it. You’re hungry. I’ll drop you off in the kitchen.” Zuko said.

“Well, I am hungry, but that’s not the point.” She said, “You won’t find them with Jee.” 

When Zuko arrived in the kitchen, he took out a plate and put some chicken-pig on it, “Here you go.” Zuko whispered, “Eat up.”

“I still can’t believe you give those kittens people food.” The chef sighed, “Such a waste.”

“I tried giving them cat food and they went on a hunger strike for two days. This is the only way that they eat.” The prince gestured to Ty Lee, who was already eating a few bites of the meal, “Watch her. I’m already searching for two kittens. I don’t need a third.” 

“You got it, but she better not get in any of my food.” Ty Lee quickly shook her head. No, she would not. She already made that mistake before and it did not end well. The kitten let out a small meow when the memory came flooding back to her.

“It’s okay, Ty.” Zuko whispered, “I’ll be right back with your sisters and then we can land and find something fun to do.” Ty Lee rubbed her cheek against Zuko’s hand. An action that had become pretty normal for her after 8 months as a kitten. Azula and Mai still fought it tooth and claw but Ty Lee had decided a few months ago that it was easier to accept new instincts than anything else.

Zuko stood up and left the room so Ty Lee returned to her breakfast. She was done, licking the plate, when she faintly heard Zuko’s scream. The chef looked at Ty Lee with worried eyes.

“Kid is gonna drive himself into an early grave with how much he worries.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Ty Lee said, “He’s been like that since we were kids. His aura has always been….really red but now it’s really red and gray too. That’s never a good thing.”

“You’re so cute.” The chef scratched Ty Lee’s chin, “And talkative. All three of you. Based on how much you and the other two meow, I’m surprised he hasn’t found the other two.” 

“Knowing Azula and Mai they’re probably off somewhere trying to find a way for us to turn back or something.” Ty Lee really couldn’t see Mai actively hiding from Zuko. Azula, yes and she would laugh the entire time. Mai wouldn’t do that. She would come straight out if she heard Zuko screaming for her.

“Where do you think your friends are?” The chef asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe-“ 

“Chef!” A voice yelled. Ty Lee felt her fur raise at the sudden yell. The person was out in the hallway so they couldn’t see him but Ty Lee had been on the ship long enough to know it was Bo, one of the sailors.

The man looked up and out the door, “I have a name!” 

“Yeah, yeah. Come give us a hand with this!”

“Why do you need my help?!”

“Just get over here and help us or, I swear to the spirits, I will dump your soup overboard!” 

“You put one hand on my soup and I’ll throw you overboard!” The chef yelled as he left the room. 

“So much for watching me.” Ty Lee shrugged. The small kitten curled her tail around her body and snuggled into her fur for a small nap. Kittens really needed a lot of sleep she was discovering.

She was almost asleep when she heard someone yell her name. 

“Huh? Hello!” Ty Lee called, “Must have been my-“

“Ty Lee!” The voice yelled again.

“….Who-“

“Who do you think?!” Azula.

Ty Lee instantly jumped up, “Azula! Where are you? I can’t see you!” She said.

“We’re….” Azula’s voice faded for a moment, “We’re in the walls.”

Complete silence took over the room for a moment. Ty Lee had to replay what Azula told her again and again before finally being able to respond.

“What?!”

“We’re in the walls.” Azula repeated, “Mai thought-“

“I thought?!” Mai hissed.

“Mai’s there too!” Ty Lee cried.

“Yes! We’re both in here. Now can you please get Zuko!” Ty Lee jumped down from the table. Cat ears were actually pretty good at detecting noise so she was able to find where the noise was coming from rather easily. 

“How did you even get in there?” Ty Lee asked. She pawed at the wall as if to try and see if it would let her in.

“Ty, focus. Zuko now. Story later.” Mai said.

“Right! Right! I’ll go get him!” 

————————————

“How?! Just how?!” Zuko’s yell got the attention of a couple sailors, who decided to stop what they were doing and come over to investigate why the prince and his uncle were in the kitchen and leaning against a wall.

“The how is not important right now, Zuzu! Just get us out!” Azula hissed.

“They’re in there.” Iroh confirmed, “I can hear the meowing.” 

“How do we get them out?” Zuko asked.

“I believe I can get them out but it has to be a slow process to make sure I don’t burn one of them.” Iroh told him.

“Yes. No burning.” Mai said.

“They’ll get you guys out.” Ty Lee said, “Iroh is working on it right now.”

“Uncle Fatso is on the case. I feel so much confidence.” Ty Lee rolled her eyes at her friend. Azula and Iroh had a bit of a better relationship now but it was only because, at least according to Azula, he didn’t know she was one of the kittens on the ship. 

Time went by slowly. Iroh, true to his word, did not hurry with cutting through the ship which Zuko both liked and hated. He was thankful that his uncle wasn’t going too fast because that could injure Azula and Mai but he also wanted them out as soon as possible. Ty Lee kept meowing with them back and forth so Zuko could at least take some comfort in the fact that the two kittens probably wouldn’t think they were abandoned.

Finally, Iroh created a small square in the wall. Just big enough to get his hand through. The sailors behind them all leaned over to see what would happen next.

“I….got one!” Iroh cried, pulling Mai out of the wall.

“Mai!” Zuko cried, gently taking the kitten from his uncle and holding her, “She doesn’t look hurt. Just a little dusty.” 

“I feel dusty.” Mai said. A sneeze was perfectly timed after the small meow, making Zuko smile. He scooped up Ty Lee and set the two down in front of him, making sure to put his hands in front of them to prevent them from going back into the hole.

“Welcome back! Now will you tell me how you got in there?” Ty Lee asked.

“No.”

The former acrobat’s ears fell, “You’re mean.”

“I-“

“We have a problem.” Iroh said.

“Problem? What’s the problem?” Zuko asked.

“Azula’s too far from me to reach her.” Iroh said.

“Then make another hole closer to her.” Zuko ordered.

Iroh nodded, “I’ll try, but I am a bit hesitant about putting too many holes in the ship and-“ 

“Move.” Zuko grumbled, putting his hand into the small hole. Being much younger than Iroh, he could fit more of his arm into it. He winced in pain as he twisted his arm unnaturally.

“Got her!” Zuko yelled. Within seconds, he pulled out the tiny black kitten, “They’re both out.” The sailors behind them cheered.

“Congratulations, Zuzu. You saved two kittens. The work of a master.”

“Hey!” Ty Lee hissed, “You should be nice to Zuko. He just saved you and Mai.”

Azula’s ears fell, “Yeah. Yeah.” Ty Lee had to bit down a giggle upon seeing that Azula’s tail was wrapped around Zuko’s wrist. 

“She’s also a bit dusty.” Zuko said, “I wonder how long they were back there.”

“It was only a few hours.” Mai said.

“But felt like an eternity.” Azula added.

“You still haven’t told me how you got stuck.” Ty Lee said.

“A story for another time.” Azula said.

“Why do I feel like that ‘time’ will be on our deathbeds?” 

“Maybe even after that.” Mai added.

“They’re meowing a lot.” Zuko noted. 

“They’re probably hungry.” One of the sailors mentioned.

“The poor things.” Another said.

“I think you’re right.” Zuko mumbled, “Okay. Azula and Mai need a bath and then some food.”

“A what now?!?”

One bath and a couple scratches later, Zuko had brought the three back into his room and set down a plate of chicken-pig for Azula and Mai to eat. While Zuko went back to his work, Ty Lee sat staring at the two girls turned cats. Her slit eyes turned wide and her intense gaze was starting to get at the other two kittens. 

“Will you stop that?” Azula hissed.

“No. I want to know what happened!” Ty Lee put her front paws on Mai’s back, trying to annoy her into revealing the truth.

“Some things are never meant to be known.” Mai simply said, shaking Ty Lee off of her.

“Last time I help you two get out of a wall.” Ty Lee muttered.

Azula and Mai didn’t respond. Instead they returned to eating with smiles on their faces. Ty Lee huffed before jumping away and going to Zuko’s bed, curling up for a little cat nap. Once she was out of sight, Azula looked up at Mai.

“We will never speak about it.” She ordered.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Mai said, “That little mouse is going to get it one of these days.”

"Definitely."