A/N: Chapters in advance in Patreòn
Pa treon.com/HolyJoker
(20+ chapters in advance)
______

Chapter 51

***
To Azula, Kuzon was a puzzling person. Due to their talk, she knew quite a lot about him, but still, he only became more puzzling. Normally she would have burned someone's face off if they acted like that and made them spill their secrets.

Still, initially, she had thought that he might be a little suspicious. Even after their talk. His identity was revealed that he was a genuine living person of the Fire Nation. Though the information was hard to find, it was still there.

Kuzon was the name of a Fire Nation citizen who was a friend of the Avatar back in the day. His son had gone to become a spy and had later died a natural death during Azulon's reign. It seemed like certain spies never came to her father after Azulon's death, and Kuzon's father was one of them. Kuzon himself was named after his grandfather. 

That was all the information she could get from the person named Kuzon. Currently, Azula has him accompany her on a ship.

"Where are we going? I don't think the Avatar went this way." Sokka said his thoughts while leaning on the railing of the ship, almost about to fall off.

"I heard that you have gotten close to the soldiers,"  Azula uttered, looking at his green clothes with disgust. For some reason, he wasn't wearing the red that represented the Fire Nation. She also knew that threats wouldn't work against him, so she didn't try to persuade him the normal way.

Sokka was able to tell that she just changed the conversation, dodging his question. She knew that he would see through that too. But in the end, he didn't point it out and just shrugged. "Well, it's fun to get to know your underlings a little."

"Let's make something clear here, they are my underlings, not yours. So don't try anything you might regret later." Azula hated to admit it, but the man in front of her was charismatic. There was no denying that he always seemed able to get close to other people easily, even with someone like her.

"Sure, sure," Sokka waved her off. "Anyway, when are we playing the next Liar-Liar Game?"

The Liar Game, that's what they called it. But both knew they said the truth during those times. 

Azula was a little worried about how much she had revealed to him and wanted to gather her thoughts a little. He seemed unaffected by his past mistakes, but she was different. 

"We will pause it for a while," she decided, walking next to him and leaning on the railing. "Why don't you try a new game? Tell me about your father?"

Though Kuzon's father was figured out to be a spy, there wasn't a lot of information on him. Like, what kind of person he was? Such things would be useless to hold within the Fire Nation books. But Azula was curious about it.

"Hmmm~," Sokka thought a little as if deciding what to say and what not to say. "He was a good man. Worked hard, but sadly hard work doesn't equate to a successful, or happy life. He eventually died when I was young, but…"

Sokka gazed at the water with a strange look in his eyes. "He taught me many things from his mistakes. Though I ended up making quite some mistakes myself, either way."

Azula could see that while Kuzon didn't seem sad, there was a strange atmosphere around him. It made her heart beat a little faster, she was genuinely interested in what kind of life he lived. After all, it seemed so opposite of her life. But she wondered, how did it lead to Kuzon becoming like this? 

***
She and Sokka continued talking for days to come, it seemed like they always were together and the crew had made their own opinion of what was happening here. But knowing how Princess Azula was, none of them dared gossip while she was on the ship.

They had arrived at their destination and landed in a port, walking towards a giant circus tent. Azula, like always, kept staring at Kuzon, which seemed to send the wrong message to the crew. 

But in reality, she was trying to see his reaction, was he confused? Surprised? After all, going to a circus was so out of nature for her. Even if Kuzon was someone she considered quite smart, even he wouldn't be able to guess why she was here.

Surprisingly, Azula was the one who became intrigued about his expression. He seemed neutral as if he already knew where they were going and what was happening here. Though he can't know this.

In the end, after contemplating, Azula decided to ask him, since she couldn't tell what was in his mind. "So? What do you think?"

"Hm? Think about what?" Sokka glanced at her confusedly. 

Azula only narrowed his eyes. "About the circus of course. Aren't you curious why someone like me would come here?"

"..." Sokka just stared at her. "Why would I wanna know that much about you? I am not some creepy stalker or control freak that wants to know what even goes inside your mind every waking moment."

He said sarcastically. But Azula felt like an arrow was hitting her heart with each of his words. Because by the way, he was describing things, it seemed like he was talking about her.

With a heavy sigh, Azula calmed herself and didn't show any emotions on her face.

'I am not a stalker. You are just a suspicious guy I want to know about.' - she thought, trying to console herself that she wasn't being creepy about him in any way.

***
-Sokka POV-

"Azula!" Yelles out a girl, with an excited voice. I didn't even need to look at her to know that it was Ty Lee. The gymnastic girl walked towards her friend doing a backflip and bowed down respectfully in front of her. "Princess Azula."

"Ty Lee, I need you to help me catch the Avatar," Azula laid it on directly. Without even trying to entice her.

She needs to learn a lot about how to handle people like a leader. There needs to be something enticing, not just threatening them, or expecting them to follow you because you are a princess. That was just bad leadership, because when they betray you, then you will become all surprised. Well, that did happen to Azula in the show, and she went crazy. 

Seeing Ty Lee in a conflicted position, knowing what would happen if she refused Azula, she was about to say something. Probably to try and say no to her friend in a nice way. 

But Azula doesn't take no for an answer. So in the end, I decided to intervene. "How about you offer her something?"

"What?" Azula looked at me with her iconic death stare.

"Who are you?" Ty Lee on the other hand was confused about who I was. She looked at my clothes that were of the earth kingdom green, and that only seemed to baffle her more.

"Azula," I smiled at my new friend, kinda friend, maybe a friend? I don't know what we were, but it was someone that she trusted to be competent enough. "How about offering something? After all, only threatening them, or expecting people to follow you just because you are a princess isn't the correct thing-"

"Kuzon," she called me by my fake name, and the murderous look in her eyes had intensified. "Are you questioning my decision?"

Was she threatening me? Well, that won't work anyway. "No, simply saying my opinion on the matter. If you keep pushing people, they'll run away eventually. Leaving you behind."

Just like your mother did. Though I didn't say that, it was implied there. We both knew too much about each other now, but I could use my knowledge to say something that would hurt her. But Azula needed to come back to her senses as she didn't have a lot of time.

She casually walked towards me, with her hands enveloped in a hot blue fire. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson. Don't misunderstand my kindness for weakness, Kuzon."

With a sigh, I walked towards her too, and just we were an inch apart from each other. I looked at her fearlessly, knowing that at such a close range I could incapacitate her in a second, and she didn't seem fearful either, confident in her abilities.

Would this develop into a battle? Well, if I have no other choice. Then I will go all out against her, I wasn't the kind of guy who took it easy on anyone if they had malicious intent towards me.

But Azula needed to learn that she wasn't the strongest out there, and the world is a big place. Picking fights carelessly could end up in your death. 

I still smiled at her, she had an angry frown. But I had a smile. "So? What do you think of my suggestion?"

 
********
A/N: If you wanna join my Discord server to ask any questions or see character pics.
Here it is the link:
https://discord.gg/bqadGRAUHA