The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 25 [~|~] Canyon Crawlers

As the sun started to set, Aang hopped down from the rock ledge and told both groups to set up for the night. While he was gone, Azara prepared their own fire. Setting up a small fire pit, Azara glanced up at the injured canyon guide before lighting the fire. 

"How are your arms?" she asked the earthbender, who shrugged in response.

"Broken," he replied, causing Azara to chuckle quietly to herself as Aang walked over to their fire. Azara raised her hand slowly, the flames rising to lick at the rest of the branches. 

"Nothing like a warm fire at night," Aang smiled, laying down in between Azara and the canyon guide as Momo hopped onto his chest.

"How are you feeling?" Azara questioned, leaning back on her hands as Aang's stomach growled loudly.

"I wish I could help these people get along, but our main problem is getting out of here," Aang sighed, rolling onto his side.

"I'm not so sure the two problems are unrelated," the canyon guide replied as Azara glanced back at the two separate camps. 

"Well, I'm sure we'll figure something out. They'll have to learn to work together if they want get out of here," Azara noted, turning back to the fire. 

"I don't know. These people have hated each other for a hundred years. Something like that can't be fixed overnight," Aang contemplated, petting Momo's head affectionately. 

"No, maybe not," Azara conceded, thinking over how the situation ahead of them wasn't far from the greater issues related to the war. After all, the Fire Nation had been attacking the other nations for nearly one hundred years themselves and Azara knew that even if the Fire Nation were defeated successfully, the damage done would not be fixed immediately. 

She saw it firsthand as they traveled around the Earth Kingdom. From the Kyoshi residents to the earthbending prisoners to Jet to these new refugees, people outside the Fire Nation often initially hated her, and usually continued to, due to her heritage. Hell, even her first interactions with Katara and Sokka were soured by the impact of the war. 

Glancing back over at the separate camps, Azara thought quietly to herself. Despite the initial shakiness in their relationships, Azara knew that Aang, Katara, and Sokka had her back without question and she had theirs. They fought side by side, laughed together at night around the fire, and generally cared for each other. 

Turning back to Aang, Azara smiled softly. "It's true that you can't fix a relationship like that overnight. But, I'd like to think we're friends, Aang, and we didn't necessarily start out that way. And Sokka hated me at first and now . . ." Azara trailed off for a moment. ". . . now he's one of my best friends. People do change, relationships can improve."

"You really think I can bridge the gap between them?" Aang asked, locking eyes with Azara. 

"I know you can, Aang," Azara smiled softly as the fire crackled. Aang smiled back, thanking Azara for her words, before nodding off to sleep. The canyon guide was already snoring as Azara put out the fire. 

However, sleeping on the hard canyon floor was rather uncomfortable and Azara soon found herself wide awake at the crack of dawn. Waking Aang and the canyon guide, the trio walked back to their middle ground route between the conflicting tribes.

Azara smiled at the sight of Katara and Sokka as she jumped down from a rock ledge. "Did you guys find out why they hate each other?" she asked, looking between the siblings.

"I can see why they hate the Zhangs, Jin Wei was robbed of the sacred orb," Katara stated firmly, crossing her hands over her chest.