Azula cursed her ostrich horse’s speed. The tank train was still far ahead of her, as were the Avatar and his gang of malcontents. She had to give her brother credit. The tank train could run for many days. The machine didn't need to eat or sleep, unlike those it was pursuing. The Avatar’s flying bison would surely tire at some point. Zuko would run the Avatar to ground.

  Following both groups was also incredibly easy. The large white bison was shedding massive amounts of white fur, leaving clumps strewn on the ground. The tank train's treads pressed huge tracks into the earth.

  Her only limitation was her animal. Unlike the bison, the ostrich horse couldn’t fly over obstacles. Unlike the tank train, her animal required rest, food, and water at regular intervals. But she would slowly gain on them. It was only a matter of time. What she would do with her prey once she caught it, she had yet to determine.

  She rode up a large dirt hill and noticed something odd. The tank train had stopped. The tracks of three huge mongoose lizards led away from it. Further from it, a large wall had been made of earth. Arrows were embedded in it. Someone had earthbended this as a barrier against those who rode the mongoose lizards.

  The Avatar found an earthbending master. She smiled. Aang was resourceful. Would it be enough to defeat her awful brother?

  She dismounted her ostrich horse and pulled one of the arrows out. It was from the Fire Nation. There was a special mark on the side. She recognized it. “Mai!”

  Of course, Zuko would’ve brought her along. He’d always had a thing for the stoic girl, but why did Mai decide to come? Why would she betray Azula? Who was the third rider?

  ***

  The tank train had been left behind, so she followed the lizard tracks. After a while, she came upon a clearing next to a creek. More bison fur lay on the ground. Too much to be natural. The Avatar must’ve figured out that was how Zuko was following them. Fur conspicuously trailed in one direction.

  She smiled. Clever, but not clever enough. She admired the effort, though. The lizards split up: one followed the fur while two went the other way.

  She pondered both sets of enemies for a moment. If she was the Avatar, she’d try to lead Zuko and Mai (and whoever else was there ) away from his friends. Aang was too much of a hero to do otherwise. If she was Zuko, she would want to pursue both, but he would go down the path he thought the Avatar was on. He'd covet that honor for himself. That left Mai and the other rider to go the other direction.

  Which course to take? In the end, curiosity won out. She had to know why Mai had joined Zuko, as well as who else was on his team. As she mounted her ostrich horse, anger simmered within her. Mai would pay for her betrayal.

  ***

  She didn’t make it far when she came to a river. On the other side, Mai and another girl were fighting Sokka and Katara. The other girl hit Sokka with precise strikes to pressure points. He cried out as his arms and legs lost their strength. Could that be…

  “Ty Lee!” she said, eyebrows furrowing. Both her friends betrayed her? She clenched her fists.

  The six-limbed bison slammed a big column of air with its tail, sending Mai and Ty Lee into the river. Sokka and Katara flew off, back in the direction of the Avatar’s trail. For a split second, Azula thought of following them.

  Instead, she got off her ostrich horse and approached the river. On the other side, her friends were still sitting where they’d been knocked into it. Ty Lee’s chipper, high-pitched voice said, “That boy is pretty cute!”

  “If it isn’t my traitorous friends!” Azula yelled to them. She planted her fists on her hips.

  Her former friends rose from the water and faced her. Ty Lee waved. “Hi, Azula!”

  “How could you do this to me?” Azula snapped. “How could you join him?”

  Ty Lee looked a bit sheepish, but Mai smirked slightly. “I heard you’d gone crazy, that you’d had the Avatar in your possession but couldn’t kill him. I had to see it for myself.”

  “You let him manipulate you,” Azula sneered. “He turned you against me. You’re just a couple of koala sheep.”

  Mai bared her teeth. “I’m no one’s sheep."

  "You can't trust him!" Azula shouted.

  "I trust him more than I fear you," Mai said.

  “I’ll have to make you fear me more!” Azula said. Anger burned in her eyes, and she was tempted to go across the river and fight them. But another thought occurred to her. She got back on her horse. “If you try to stop me, I’ll kill you,” she yelled.

  “If you keep running,” Mai said, “You’ll bring dishonor on the Fire Nation. Come back with us.”

  Azula didn’t deign to respond.

  “Goodbye, Azula,” Ty Lee said, waving. “It was good to see you again!”

  Mai smacked her friend, somewhat playfully, in the arm.

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  "What?" Ty Lee said. "Her aura looked like she could use some encouragement."

  Azula galloped toward her brother and the Avatar. She’d kill him for this.

  ***

  Zuko rode into an old, abandoned town on his mongoose lizard. Sand swept the broken porches and half-crumbled walls. His prey sat, cross-legged, in the center of the street. Bags were under the pale boy's eyes. Zuko nodded with satisfaction. Good. Tired opponents made mistakes.

  The boy stood up and dusted off his orange-and-yellow monk robes, his staff propping him up. "Who are you?"

  Zuko dismounted his steed and stretched. "You really don't know?" He bowed to the Avatar. It was the proper thing to do before a worthy adversary.

  "Why else would I ask?"

  Zuko nodded. "I'll give you a hint. You've met my crazy sister."

  The Avatar raised his eyebrows. They arched next to the arrow tattoo on his forehead that pointed down to his nose. "You're Azula's brother?"

  "I was told the Avatar was brighter than this." Zuko shook his head. "I do hope you're a challenge, unlike her. It would be a shame to come all this way for nothing. You're not going to run away like a little coward again, are you?"

  The Avatar raised his staff. "I'm through running."

  Zuko bowed again. "It will be an honor."

  The prince launched a massive fireball at the Avatar. The pale boy hit the ground with his fist, and a wall of earth erupted from the ground. Zuko was already flowing into his next attack, just like his father had taught him. He shot a stream of fire into the air and then whipped it down onto the Avatar's position.

  The Avatar airbended to the side and sent a powerful blast of air at Zuko. The prince raised his own wall of fire to meet it. The two elements exploded as they collided with one another.

  Zuko grinned. "I understand why my nutty sister struggled with you."

  The Avatar's blue eyes narrowed. "You insult her a lot." He shot a blast of air before flowing into earthbending a boulder at Zuko.

  Zuko shuffled to the side and lobbed another fireball at the Avatar. "Or maybe she has a soft spot for you..."

  ***

  The Avatar and her brother were already fighting by the time she reached the crumbling town. Zuko sent several blasts of fire that pulverized one of the wooden buildings. Her brother wasn’t one for precision. The Avatar expertly dodged the blasts.

  She charged into the town square and jumped off her horse. “Zuzu!”

  Her brother turned toward her and smirked. “Azula! I’m glad you could make it. You look good with your hair down.”

  “He’s right,” Aang said.

  Her cheeks burned slightly, but then she sent a focused stream of blue fire at her brother. “You recruited Mai and Ty Lee to bring me in? Why?” She fired again and again at him. “Why’d you do it, make my own friends betray me?”

  Her brother sidestepped the attacks and answered with some of his own. She ducked under them, her brother's orange fire hitting the wall where she’d just been. “I asked myself, what would Azula do?”

  She cursed. She’d always been better than him at firebending. He must’ve found a good teacher. She pulled out her bladed spear and slashed fire at him. He raised his fist, blocking it with a wall of fire. She ran at him and tried to stab him in the chest, but he grabbed the spear and threw her into a wall. She crashed through it and landed in a pile of debris. She sputtered and coughed.

  The Avatar came to her defense. He slammed a wall of earth between her and Zuko. She heard them clash outside and struggled to get back to her feet, but the wind had been knocked out of her. She was missing out on the fight!

  She forced herself to quit coughing and picked up her spear. Outside, the rest of the Avatar’s team had regrouped and were surrounding Zuko. They’d been joined by some short Earth Kingdom girl she'd never seen before. Perhaps Aang's earthbending master? But she was so young.

  There was a familiar presence there as well. Azula nearly dropped her spear in surprise. “Uncle?”

  Iroh stood beside her. “I’m glad I found you.”

  A warm thankfulness lit within her. Until that moment, she hadn't realized how much she'd missed him.

  Finding he could flee no longer, Zuko raised his hands. He was barely winded, and his dark hair was still somehow perfectly coiffed. He stared at the wall that trapped him and then turned toward the others. “Why doesn’t it shock me to see my uncle working with the Avatar? What would Lu Ten have said?”

  “You leave my son’s name out of your mouth!” Iroh said, his eyes narrowing.

  Zuko bowed his head slightly. “Of course. I’m not without honor, unlike you.”

  Azula could tell he was buying time. Fear danced in his eyes, but then he smirked at Azula. "So, you joined the Avatar."

  "I haven't joined anyone!" Azula said.

  Zuko shook his head. "This isn't the way to regain Father's love." He laughed. "First Mother, then Father, now Mai and Ty Lee. It's a shame, really, to lose the love of everyone."

  Azula's eyes blazed, enraged. She was done playing with him. She channeled a powerful burst of lightning. Her aim was true, and he was sure to die.

  The lightning hit him, but something odd happened. Zuko raised a hand, letting the lightning hit it, and then swung his other hand at Iroh. He pointed two fingers, and lightning leaped forth. Azula gasped as the lightning hit her uncle.

  The older man was just as surprised as the rest of them. Reflexively, he moved his hands to redirect, but he was only barely able to channel some of it. Some of the lightning flew from Iroh's fingers and destroyed the rest of a disintegrating wall. The remainder of the lightning had already coursed through his body. Iroh crumpled to the dusty earth.

  Azula screamed. “Uncle!”

  Her brother took advantage of the distraction and made a wall of fire as a screen. He disappeared just before the Avatar’s friends all struck at him: Aang with air, Katara with water, the new girl with earth, even Sokka with a boomerang. Azula barely noticed any of it. She ran to her uncle’s unconscious body and knelt beside him. His breath came in ragged wheezes.

  “No! No! No!” She clutched her hands to her head. “What did I do?” Her mind raced. If he died, she’d never forgive herself. Her brother had been ready for her lightning, as well as her murderous intent, and now her uncle was paying the price. Why'd Azula have to be so vile?

  “Azula,” Aang said quietly behind her.

  “Let me help,” Katara said.

  “Leave us alone!” Azula screamed.

  "I might be able to heal him," Katara said. She placed a hand on Azula's shoulder.

  Azula trembled over her uncle, but only for a moment. She nodded and stepped back. Katara knelt beside her uncle and channeled a little water out of a pouch on her hip. The water covered her hands. Gently, Katara pressed her hands against Iroh's stomach. Only time would tell if Azula's uncle would survive.

  She couldn't bear to watch Katara work on him. What if he died? The princess did the only thing she could think of. She buried her face into the shoulder of the person directly behind her, who turned out to be a very shocked Avatar. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes tightly, desperately praying to Agni that her uncle would live. Aang held the shivering girl, doing his best to comfort her, while Katara frantically tried to save Uncle Iroh's life.