honey [azula]

the gaang

.·:*¨ ¨*:·.

you're not so bad after all, hot shot

❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╤╤╤╤ ❉

"WAKEY, wakey!" Aang cheerfully said, nudging a stirring Airi. She groaned, not wanting to wake up.

"Aang?" she asked, still groggy. "Where am I?"

"You, my friend, are on the back of my other friend!" Aang grinned proudly. "Airi, meet Appa. Appa, meet Airi!"

Airi looked over her shoulder and nearly threw up. They were incredibly high up, just above the few clouds, and she could see the ocean beneath them. Determinedly, Airi fixed her gaze on Aang, deciding to trust Appa to not toss her off into the ocean.

"Any friend of the Avatar is a friend of mine," Airi said, offering Aang a weak smile. She was sure she still looked positively green. "I'm sorry about Tu Zin. I distinctly remember telling you I wouldn't have to pretend to kill you the next time I saw you."

Aang shrugged cheerfully, like it didn't matter. "It's okay! You hardly did anything."

Airi's face set stonily as she remembered the battle. "I protected Azula," she said with a deep sigh. "Which's about as good as."

"Why did you do that, by the way?" they youngest girl, the one in Earthbender clothes, asked.

Airi sighed again. "My relationship with the Princess is complicated," she began.

"Wait," the boy, who Airi was pretty sure was named Sokka, interrupted. "She's a princess?!"

Everyone on the bison stared at him like he was an idiot.

"Yes, and I have been her handmaiden since I was only eight years old," Airi said, swallowing thickly. "She is my best friend.  She is brash and hot-headed and would do anything for her father's approval.." Airi trailed off, trying to fight off tears. "And I'm in love with her. And because of that, I can't bear to put her in harm's way."

Aang patted Airi's shoulder comfortingly as the girl wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I can't imagine what that's like."

Airi grimaced. "If it were up to me, I would see the Fire Lord overthrown. It's illegal to love someone of the same sex in the Fire Nation."

"What!" The water tribe girl, Katara, finally spoke up. "That's awful!" Aang nodded in agreement.

"Is it really that surprising?" Airi asked dryly. "This is the Fire Nation we're talking about."

"Can I ask you something?" Sokka asked. Airi nodded. "Why do you seem to hate the Fire Nation so much. I mean... don't they brainwash you guys?"

Airi paused. "We are fed a lot of propaganda as children, it's true. But I have a unique experience. Combined with the exclusion of people such as myself, I also was sent on the ship with Prince Zuko—very sorry about him, by the way. He's always had his ponytail in a twist."

"You can say that again," Sokka grumbled, now munching on a piece of jersey as he listened to Airi.

"Because of that, I saw more of the world than most Fire Nation citizens. I saw cultures that the Fire Nation was trying to stamp out, traditions they intended to erase. The purpose of the war is not to save the other nations, it's to destroy them," Airi sighed. "Not to mention how awfully the Fire Lord has treated those around him."