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The South Pole was a fascinating place. Azula had fallen in love with it from the very first day she set foot on its land. The snowy landscapes, the nature in full splendor, and above all, the bright smile of the best waterbender in the four nations.
Azula had never imagined feeling so comfortable in a place so different from the Fire Nation. The silence of the ice, interrupted only by the whispering wind and the occasional creak of the ice, had an almost magical quality. But that afternoon, the silence she so appreciated had been replaced by Sokka's incessant chatter.
The South Pole was a fascinating place, but Azula had spent the last hour maintaining a large flame at a stable temperature so Sokka could melt some metal. The boy had been persistently asking her for days because he needed to melt the metal for something he didn't want to explain. Azula had spent weeks telling him no. So Sokka went for the low blow and used his strongest weapon: Katara.
Now Azula found herself helping the boomerang boy melt some type of metal without really knowing why and having to endure his constant talking. His monologue had started with a detailed description of every step of the process before veering off into his past adventures, funny anecdotes, and finally, a plan that apparently involved Azula.
After mentally reviewing the list of fire lords and what she would have changed during her reign, Azula tuned back into what Sokka was saying.
"We're all going to have a great time, you'll see," said Sokka enthusiastically, his eyes shining with a spark of excitement.
Azula raised an eyebrow, keeping the flame steady, her concentration interrupted only by annoyance. "All of us?" she asked, her tone laden with skepticism.
"Of course," replied Sokka, unfazed by her disdain.
"Doing what exactly?"
"Right now, we're going to take those boots and you'll see," said Sokka, pointing to a pair of thick fur boots.
Azula blinked, her irritation beginning to turn into a mix of curiosity and suspicion. "Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"Oh, come on, cheer up," insisted Sokka, grinning from ear to ear. "Or do you want me to ask Katara?"
Sokka asking Katara didn’t mean that she would get mad at Azula, but rather that Katara would end up doing it herself, and she was already overloaded with work because delegating wasn’t exactly in her vocabulary. So the firebender let out a heavy sigh, "I hate you."
Sokka smiled even more, as if he had won a small battle. "I'll take that as a yes," he said with a wink. "Come on, princess, we have blades to stick together."
Even though it pained her to admit it, Sokka had had a good idea. He had managed to get the entire village laughing and entertained. All the metal Azula had melted and transformed into blades hadn't been used for weapons or tools but for making a kind of modified boots he called "skating boots." Because while Sokka had good ideas, naming things was not one of them.
Azula was surveying the scene, thinking about how difficult this would be, when she felt someone beside her arrive and kiss her on the cheek. Considering that human beings have something called a survival instinct, the firebender smiled and turned to look at her girlfriend.
"Quiet day?" Azula asked with a smile.
Katara sighed. "Not at all, I’ve never had to heal so many sprains and fractures in a single day. Maybe Sokka's idea was fun, but it's dangerous for a lot of people."
"I can always burn all the skates," Azula suggested with a malicious smile.
Katara shook her head. "We're going to use them, so no, thank you."
"But you just said they're dangerous," Azula pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
"Azula, I can generate ice, I know how to skate," Katara responded, mimicking her girlfriend's gesture.
Azula stared at her until something in Katara's words made her react. "Wait, why did you say that in the plural?"
“You’re so smart,” Katara said, smiling as she crouched down and picked up two pairs of skates. “Let’s go, princess.”
Before Katara could say anything else, Azula frowned at her. “No.”
"Are you scared?" Katara asked in a teasing tone.
Azula crossed her arms, offended. "Of course not."
Azula and Katara stared at each other. Azula's eyes narrowed as Katara's smile grew.
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
"There are three-year-olds skating," Katara remarked, holding back a laugh.
"Children are made of rubber," Azula replied, unimpressed. “I’ve seen them jump off igloos and keep walking like nothing happened.”
The two continued staring at each other, Katara still holding the skates, while the sounds of people laughing and falling echoed in the background. At that moment, Katara’s smile turned into a mocking grin. "Sweetie… are you afraid?"
Azula wrinkled her nose. "Of course not."
"Your actions say otherwise. I think you're afraid of skating." Katara waved the pairs of skates to emphasize the accusation.
Azula scowled, annoyed. "I'm going to break up with you."
Hearing the fake threat, Katara laughed. "Sure, but are you going to prove you're a wimp or not?"
Azula and Katara stared at each other intensely. Finally, Azula sighed and grabbed the skates Katara was offering her. "Fine, but if I break something, I'm going to be unbearable."
"Nothing new under the sun," Katara said, smiling broadly.
While Azula was tying her boots, Katara was already skating around with a grace that made it seem like she had been doing this her whole life. But when she looked at her girlfriend and saw that she had finished, she skated over in seconds and offered her a hand to get up, which Azula took reluctantly.
"Come on, it's fun," encouraged Katara, smiling.
As Azula took Katara's hand and stood up, she had to cling to her girlfriend as best as she could to avoid falling flat on her face.
"I do things with you that are much more fun than this," Azula murmured, trying to maintain her dignity.
"One thing doesn't exclude the other," replied Katara. Azula was still clinging to Katara, with no intention of moving. "'Zula, to skate, you have to let go of me."
"Since when do you reject my affection?"
"Since I feel like I'm more of a crutch than your girlfriend." Katara gently separated Azula from herself without letting go. "Come on, I won’t let you go, but you have to learn."
"I don't see any other situation where I'll need blades on my feet to glide over ice. What's the point?"
"To hold your hand while we skate and watch you smile because you have the most beautiful smile in the world."
Azula raised an eyebrow. "I'm not buying it."
Katara shrugged. "I bet Sokka you’d know how to skate by the end of today."
"That makes more sense." Azula sighed and let go of Katara a bit, but her balance made Katara grab her to keep her from falling flat on her face. "I hate this."
“I've seen you fly using fire jets from your feet, and right now you look like a newborn turtle duck.” Katara was holding back laughter. "Come on, all you have to do is move one foot and then the other."
"What kind of advice is that? That's walking, and I know how to walk."
Katara let go of Azula and skated back a bit, moving backward. Seeing herself alone, Azula began to wobble.
"Move one foot and then the other," Katara told her from a distance.
Almost about to fall, Azula tried to do so, resulting in a spectacular fall. Katara quickly skated to Azula, who had slid a few meters from the impact, and knelt beside her.
"I thought we were past our phase of trying to kill each other," said Azula, turning to sit on the ground.
Ignoring her girlfriend's comment and seeing that she was okay, Katara stood up and offered her hands. "Let's try a different approach."
Azula sighed but trusted Katara. The waterbender stood in front of her, holding her so that Azula could learn to move forward while she skated backward, giving her space to get comfortable while doing everything possible to keep her from falling. Katara's arms ached, but Azula was getting the hang of it.
"That's it!" encouraged Katara.
Azula was focused on not falling, concentrating as if she were writing an important scroll, sticking out her tongue a little in the process. Katara could only think of how adorable she was, which made her loosen her grip a bit, resulting in Azula hitting the ground once again.
Katara approached her and, with a nervous laugh, said, "Sorry."
This time, instead of complaining, Azula got up as best as she could, leaning on Katara. "I think I know what I have to do now."
Katara looked at her, smiling, nodded, and offered her hands again as they continued with their previous strategy. They stayed like this for a while until Azula started to get the hang of it. At that moment, Katara let go of one of her hands, ignoring Azula’s scared expression, and began to skate beside her, intertwining their fingers.
“You’re doing great! Keep going.”
Azula lost her balance for a few seconds but regained it. This time, feeling more confident since she could see how she recovered her balance if she lost it, the two girls, hand in hand, skated around the entire tribe until they returned to the place where they had started.
The firebender had trouble stopping, but with Katara's help, she managed to do so without falling flat on her face as the waterbender wrapped her arms around her. “Wasn’t that fun?”
“I suppose it wasn’t bad,” replied Azula, holding onto her girlfriend.
Katara wasn’t entirely satisfied with her girlfriend's skating, but she knew they would have to stop because duty called. So, for one last time, Katara separated from her and moved away a bit, leaving Azula alone. From her new position, she shouted, “Come over here by yourself!”
Azula took a deep breath and, determined, skated to where her girlfriend was, relying on Katara to stop her. As always, Katara didn't fail her.
“You skate as well as a kindergartner now,” Katara said, laughing. “Which is enough for me to tell Sokka, ‘I told you so.’”
Azula rolled her eyes. “Happy to help you be even more petty.”
Katara gave her a tender kiss before letting her go again. “Come on, one last round to the benches.”
Azula, more confident, nodded and put on her concentrated face again to take one last step. Katara, seeing her so focused and trying to do well, couldn’t resist and leaned in close to her girlfriend’s ear to say, “Good girl.”
Azula reached the benches very quickly—the only problem was that she did so by sliding across the ground after falling spectacularly.
Azula lay on a bed surrounded by furs, her arms crossed and a sullen expression on her face. The glow of the healing water on her leg dimly illuminated the room, while Katara, beside her, struggled to contain her laughter.
“Not only do you break my leg, but you also laugh at me,” protested Azula, her tone dripping with irritation.
“I’m not going to apologize,” replied Katara, determined, with a big smile on her face.
This made Azula huff. “But it was your fault.”
“I was just encouraging you.” Katara finished healing her leg, returned the water to a bucket, and looked at her girlfriend with full attention.
“We both know that tone and that phrase weren’t just for encouragement.”
“Oh no? And what are they for then?” Katara asked, feigning innocence.
Azula caught the challenge in Katara’s voice and motioned with a finger for her to come closer. Katara did so slowly, and when she was within reach, Azula gently grabbed her by the face and gave her a chaste kiss that the waterbender gladly accepted. Just as Katara was about to deepen the kiss, Azula pulled back and murmured against her lips, “For when my leg stops hurting.”
Then she lay back fully on the bed.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” Katara complained.
“What?”
“You can’t do that.”
“I don’t follow.”
“You know exactly what you just did.”
“Me? I was just encouraging you to heal my leg properly,” Azula said, carefully lifting her injured leg.
Katara looked at her, biting her lip. “You’re impossible, you know that?”
“I’ve heard it once or twice,” replied Azula with a mischievous smile.
Katara leaned forward and left a soft kiss on Azula’s forehead. “Rest, and you’ll be as good as new soon.”
“I hope that means we can try again.”
Katara looked confused. “Try… skating?”
“Yes,” said Azula, looking at her with a challenging gleam in her eyes. “I’m not going to let a pair of blades on my feet over cold water defeat me.”
Katara smiled, proud of her girlfriend's determination. "That's the spirit. But for now, scoot over."
"Even when I'm in pain, you still use me as a heater," said Azula, opening her arms for the waterbender to snuggle into.
Katara looked at her tenderly, letting herself be embraced by her girlfriend. She gave a small kiss on Azula's neck and said, "Always."
The firebender rested her head on her girlfriend's. "Incredible."
"Azula?" Katara called for her attention, prompting Azula to make a noise indicating she should go ahead. The waterbender looked at her lovingly and said, "Love you."
"Thanks," replied the princess nonchalantly.
Slightly offended that Azula wasn't going to say anything more, Katara pinched her leg.
"I broke a leg trying to make you happy. I think my love is clear," said the firebender, annoyed. Katara pinched her again.
Feeling she had endured enough pain for the day, the firebender sighed and said, "I love you too, obviously."
"Thank you," said Katara, snuggling back into her girlfriend with a big smile on her face. "Now sleep."
"What choice do I have," replied Azula with a sigh, as she pulled Katara closer to her chest and a tender smile spread across her face. Maybe skating, even though it had been painful, wasn't such a bad idea. Still, Azula made a mental note to join Katara in talking to her brother to witness the "I told you so" and reinforce it with some threats.