Currently have a schedule. It's posted in the discord I'm in.

Azula walked along the narrow corridor lit by the torches that lined the walls, her steps as light as a feather. She had no intentions to alert all the occupants and guards of her presence here, for her father may be displeased if word was to go out. The cloak she wore over her head was sufficient to hide her identity as she dipped her head under its hood.

"Who's there?" The princess halted in her tracks at the booming voice of a patrol guard. He must have noticed her. The walls echoed the sound of footsteps as the burly man marched towards her, torch in hand.

The young firebender considered her options. She could turn around and leave, then come back another time. She silently berated herself at the thought. Princess Azula never flees.

The footsteps were louder, signifying that the warden was close. His feet entered her field of view. "Who are you?"

Instead of verbally replying, Azula lifted her head. The shadow from her hood still covered her face, but she knew that the guard was able to see her golden eyes given how his face twisted into shock and his body froze midwalk.

"Prin... Princes..." His lips trembled as he tried to stutter out a response. Princess Azula merely continued on her way, only stopping when she was standing shoulder to shoulder with the man. Golden eyes narrowed as she side-eyed the guard.

"Breathe a word of this to anyone," she whispered just loud enough for the guard to hear, "and it'll be the last breath you take."

There was a sharp intake of breath and Azula knew she had him in the palm of her hands. "Take me to him."

The guard stuttered out his acknowledgement of her orders but quickly composed himself to lead her down the tower. As they descended, Azula felt as though the path seemed narrower. She shook her head slightly.

The walls stopped closing in on Azula.

"I-Is something of the matter, Princess?" the guard asked, sounding concerned. He clamped his mouth shut when he saw the golden glare directed at him.

They stopped in front of a metal door. Without being told, the guard opened the locks and opened the door. Azula entered and removed her hood as the door shut behind her, but she paid no heed to the loud banging of metal nor was she bothered by the dry air that was pumped into the room. Her attention was solely on the figure sitting behind the wall of metal bars.

Percy.

The Dai Li had found him under the rubble of what remained of the Catacombs. Against every objection and sound advice, Azula had ordered to have the man pulled out and treated. According to reports passed to her by the Earth kingdom secret police, they found his body bear the waterfall, his body crushed by the rocks. But by the time he was brought back up to the surface, any major damage inflicted on him had just disappeared, stumping the physicians treating him. Though, he had been in a coma just until she was informed by the soldier earlier.

Which brings her to now.

Even with the lack of light coming from the dying torch on the wall, Azula could easily recognize the mop of raven black hair that seemed longer and messier on her prisoner. The worn-out rag of a shirt looked a size too big on him, but even then Azula was able to make out the lines of muscle underneath it despite a few weeks of not being properly fed. He was sitting on the ground, resting an arm over a knee and his messy hair covered his face.

"How are you feeling?" She asked though it was asked without genuine concern. To the Princess, it was nothing but simple pleasantries, but she felt she needed to show some of it if she were to accomplish what she wanted by being here.

No response. He remained in his seated position.

"You know, you should count yourself special," Azula tried again, "This room was modified to great lengths specifically for you." That was a half-truth. The modifications made to this room were based on schematics that were used in building the waterbender prison in the northern Fire Islands. But it had taken some extra incentives for Azula and the Dai Li to convince the warden to approve the additions while also keeping the works quietly under the nose of the Fire Lord and every other watchful eye who would dare poke their nose into her business.

Again, silence greeted her. Golden eyes narrowed at that. She spotted a wooden chair to her side and made her way to sit on it. The seat creaked as she placed her weight on it, but Azula was confident that the old chair would stand strong as long as she sat there.

They sat like that for a while, in loud silence that permeated the air and only broken by the loud sound of dry air being pumped in through the ventilation shafts

"That's a nasty scar."

Percy's tone was raspy and hoarse, a result of weeks of ill-use. His observation was made with so much impassiveness anyone else listening would have thought the man was a wooden toy, but not Azula, though.

Her vision narrowed upon hearing his words, and the rough skin under her right eye throbbed. Then it turned hot and a sharp pain stung her. The walls in the prison were moving close again. Her vision turned white but Azula steadied herself, releasing a deep breath that she didn't know she was holding.

With the walls returning to their original place, Azula turned her attention towards Percy. Golden eyes glared daggers at the man who pushed his hair back to reveal an unreadable expression on his face before the Princess got off her seat and stormed out of the room.

oOo

"Good job with the cloud camo" Sokka commented as he hid behind a rock, "but next time, let's disguise ourselves as the kind of cloud who knows how to keep its mouth shut."

"Yeah," Toph snorted. "We wouldn't want a bird to hear us chatting up there and turn us in."

"Hey! We're in enemy territory," Sokka warned, clearly unaffected by the earthbender's sarcasm. "Those are enemy birds."

As the rest of Team Avatar laughed at the sight of a toucan puffin hop onto the Water Tribesman's head and perch itself comfortably on his hair, Zuko blinked while his mind tried to find the logic behind the conversation that had ensued.

Since when can birds and clouds talk?

He was brought out of his musings when he realized that the others had entered the cave they were standing in front of and quickly followed them, not wanting to be left behind. He joined them as Sokka gestured around.

"Well, this is it," he announced. "This is how we'll be living until the invasion begins. Hiding in cave after cave after cave after cave."

The firebender raised his good eyebrow at the sight of Sokka's head dropping each time he repeats 'cave' in a descent from enthusiasm to dejection before turning his head to look at Appa. Black beady eyes silently met amber yellow, and Zuko turned his attention back to the group in time to hear the group agree to Katara's alternative of blending in.

They found a house next to a waterfall, eyeing the many clothes left to dry on the clotheslines over the natural steam vents.

"I count one man guarding the clothes," Zuko observed as they hid behind a rock wall, "He's sleeping on the porch."

Aang had an indecisive look on his face. "I don't know about this," he hesitated. "These clothes belong to someone."

Zuko opened his mouth, ready to convince the Avatar from backing out when Katara suddenly leapt forward, yelling "I call the silk robe!".

"If it's essential to our survival," Aang reasoned with himself before he too jumped over the rock wall, "then I call the suit!"

Aang dashed towards the clothesline, grabbing the suit that seemed just the right size for him when a hand snatched the attire from him which drew out an indignant "Hey!" as he learnt that the culprit was Zuko

The firebending teen ignored the protest to examine the garb the Avatar had picked. "It's a school uniform," he explained before tossing the piece back to Aang. "You don't want to wear that."

"A school uniform?" The younger teen asked,

"I mean, I guess," hesitation seeped into his answer. "It does look like what standard Fire Nation school uniforms should look like. I'm not entirely sure, though." Then again, he had never been to an actual school. He paid no heed to the weird tone Aang had used nor the odd look on the airbender's face to pick his own set of clothes to replace his worn-out ones.

"Ta-dah! Normal kid!" Aang announced in a dramatic pose. Seeing Zuko raising an eyebrow at him for still wearing the suit, the airbender smiled sheepishly. "You said you weren't entirely sure. So, chances are, it might not be!"

The firebending teen nodded. The Avatar had a good point there.

They headed out to the nearest market having changed to buy some cosmetics to complete their disguises, and Zuko watched with amusement as Aang hid the flying lemur under his suit.

"I used to visit my friend Kuzon here a hundred years ago," Aang explained to the group, his eyes shining in excitement. "So, everyone just follow my lead and stay cool. Or, as they say in the Fire Nation, "stay flamin'"."

Zuko felt his eyes narrow and brow furrow at the instructions, wondering if he had heard the term being used before.

Wait, how long ago did Aang say he visited his friend?!

"Greetings, my good hotman!" Aang greeted a man who was eating meat on a stick.

"Hello... good hotman." Zuko did the same, though he sounded rather unsure compared to the upbeat tone that Aang used.

The man greeted back with his own 'Hello' but based on the look the stranger had on his face, Zuko was sure that he was just as confused.

They continued walking along the street, with Aang greeting every person, before stopping in front of a restaurant.

"Oh, we're going to a meat place?" Aang seemed less excited than Zuko had expected as he eyed the meat display.

"Come on, Aang," Sokka tried with a smile on his face in a clear attempt to coax his friend, "everyone here eats meat. Even the meat."

Everyone followed the Water Tribesman's outstretched arm to find him pointing at a Hippo-ox clamping its large jaws on a piece of meat swarmed with flies. Zuko was suddenly less excited about eating hippo-ox tail skewers.

There was a disgusted look on Aang's face. "You guys go ahead," he suggested. "I'll just get some lettuce out of the garbage."

Seemingly satisfied with the plan, the group sans Aang walked into the restaurant. They were waiting to be directed to an unoccupied table when a thought occurred to Zuko.

"Is the Av- Aang vegetarian?" He leant over to Katara as he whispered his question, the Avatar's name still foreign to his tongue. Azure eyes turned to look at him.

"You didn't know that?" she whispered back.

"No," amber eyes blinked at the question. How was he supposed to know? He pushed down the temptation to say 'it's not like I've served him tea in Ba Sing Se' as an idea popped into the front of his mind.

"There should be a restaurant serving vegetarian food nearby," Zuko kept his voice low. "I'll go find him and let him know." He turned around and made for the exit, the thought of Aang having to pick garbage food not sitting well with him.

Walking out, he scanned the place, fully expecting to see a short boy in a suit and headband trying to sneakily grab food from the nearest trash container, or said short boy to be greeting every single passing Fire Nation citizen with 'hotman'. But there wasn't anyone near any of the garbage containers he could find in his periphery, nor was there anyone creating confusion with a hundred-year-old greeting.

Amber eyes narrowed.

Where did the Avatar go?

oOo

"Princess Azula."

Azula opened her eyes slowly to the voice of a soldier in her room. She got up from her lying position to see the soldier kneeling at in front of her bed. She suppressed the urge to chastise the woman for disturbing her sleep.

"What is it?"

"The Fire Lord has requested your presence in the Throne Room." The soldier relayed, still kneeling and keeping her head facing the ground.

Azula acknowledged the message and dismissed the soldier. She got off her bed, and changed into her Royal Armor.

She made her way along the enormous gold and black hallways of the Royal Palace before walking past the large red cloth sporting a large golden insignia of the Fire Nation draped over a doorway and into the large room.

The Throne Room was the same as Azula remembered the last time she visited to be sent on her mission to eliminate the two traitors months ago. The walls, the floor and even the ceiling were black and lined on each side of the spacious room were black pillars with gold bases. She paid little to no attention to any of those, nor the large intimidating bas-relief of a dragon adorning the wall at the end of the room. Her attention was on the silhouette sitting atop the elevated podium surrounded by the wall of fire.

The Fire Lord.

Her father.

Azula stopped just behind the final row of pillars and bowed before her father.

"Azula, my prodigy," the voice of Ozai echoed with the room, "Your mission has kept you away for some time. Welcome home."

Azula remained in her bowing position and kept silent. She knew better than to interrupt her father.

"You have become a hero to the Nation," he declared, "The people in the streets sing your name in praise." His voice sounded closer, and Azula looked up to see that he had risen from his throne and was making his way toward her. "Li and Lo have spoken highly of your accomplishments abroad."

"I must say you have surpassed my every expectation," the Fire Lord praised further, his tone full of pride as he walked circles around her. "I sent you on a mission with the sole purpose of removing your treacherous brother and uncle for bringing shame and disgrace to my name, and you have returned home not only completing that mission. You have also done the two feats everyone else in the Fire Nation could ever hope to accomplish."

Azula kept an impassive look to hide the smile that threatened to crawl up her lips having known which accomplishment her father was referring to.

"Capturing Ba Sing Se, and eliminating the Avatar."

This time, she allowed a corner of her lips to rise slightly. Her eyes shot up as her father stood in front of her, his calculating amber-gold eyes studying her. She froze when he placed a hand under her chin.

"Your journey has changed you," she almost flinched at the pitiful tone her father used as his eyes landed on the scar beneath her eye. "But no matter."

He removed his hand from her chin, his eyes soft as they met young amber orbs.

"Now no one shall stand before the might of the Fire Nation."

oOo

"Are you sure you got this?"

"Yes... I think?"

"That is very reassuring."

"That's because your 'science' on starting a fire is reassuring."

"Oh, really? Then how about you try and start a fire with your jerkbending, hmm?"

"That's not even a thing!"

"Of course, it is!"

"Sokka, I don't think that's helping."

Sokka raised his hands in surrender as his sister rolled her eyes. He took a step back and decidedly allowed Zuko to try and start a fire. The operative word being 'try'.

The Water Tribesman found himself astounded by the firebender's ability - or rather, inability to light up a fire using a few sticks of firewood.

Blue eyes watched in amusement as Zuko - following Sokka's instructions - placed a smoothened wooden stick that he held with open palms over a hearth board and began moving his hands back and forth in opposite directions. The non-bender raised an eyebrow at the former Prince's obvious show of agitation when the fire wouldn't start.

"I seriously don't think you got this."

"Shut up," Zuko warned with gritted teeth, then his face twisted from concentration to amazement when he noticed that there was a hint of smoke rising from where the woods made contact. "I think it's working!"

Just then, a gust of wind blew into the cave and the smoke dissipated, leaving Zuko stunned as his mind processed the fact that his tiring work had been all for nought.

"Are you kidding me?!" the teen threw his sore hands up in the air in frustration.

There was a sound of rock cracking, and the smell of something burning filling the air prompted Zuko to get out of his dour mood to see that a smug-looking Sokka had successfully started a fire.

Using rocks.

Zuko knew he was the oldest in the group, so he resorted to the most mature response.

He gave Sokka the stink eye.

"Oops?!" amber eyes snapped towards the source of the voice and widened when he saw that the Avatar was standing at the entrance and looking sheepish having witnessed the outburst earlier.

"Aang!" Katara called out as she watch the airbender enter the cave at sunset. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick."

Amber eyes noted that the Avatar was covered in dirt and... soot? Was he being chased earlier?!

"Oh, I got invited to play with some kids after school," Aang explained as he wiped some dirt off his cheek and removed his headband.

"After what?!"

Sokka had leapt up, his body ramrod straight and his face dropping his smug smile for a comical look of shock and confusion.

"He said school, Sokka," Zuko repeated, his worry that their cover being blown was now gone. Then he paused. "Did you say school?!"

"Yeah," Aang chuckled, his eyes glowing and his mouth stretched into a broad smile. "And I'm going back tomorrow."

Upon hearing Aang's declaration, Zuko couldn't help but feel that Sokka had the appropriate response as he watched the Water Tribesman fall backwards and land on the sand with a 'thud'.

Shorter chapter than usual xD Also, I'm on discord now, hanging out with a bunch of other writers who after definitely more prominent and well-known (cough Greed720, lildrummerboi, bakkughan cough constellations, stellarys cough cough) So yea, if you guys haven't joined and want to do so and hang out, just click on the link in my profile