Azara wandered through the corridors of the ship, searching for any sign of the Avatar, when a guard suddenly went flying past her. Raising an eyebrow, Azara raised her hands in a defensive manner as she turned the corner. Her eyes widened at the sight of the Avatar, now free from his binds. As Aang moved to send her flying back as well, Azara raised her hands in a surrender motion. "Woah, woah, let's just talk this out," Azara stated, standing up to show she meant no threat.

"Why should I trust you?" Aang asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"I can get you off this boat," Azara offered, piquing Aang's interest. "Honestly, it would be my absolute pleasure to do it. Anything to throw a wrench into the Fire Nation's world domination plot."

"But . . . you're Fire Nation," Aang trailed off, relaxing his stance slightly.

"I never asked to be. Kind of just happened," Azara shrugged as the guards started to come to. "Follow me, quickly." Azara started running down the corridor, Aang close on her tail. Ducking into her room, Azara threw the bag over her shoulder, before pushing her bed over, revealing a hidden hatch. "This will take us out of here."

"You have a secret hatch in your room? That's awesome!" Aang chuckled as Azara unlocked and pulled the hatch open.

"Well, being Zuko's sister has some perks I suppose," she smiled, causing Aang's eyes to widen.

"You're a Fire Nation princess?" Aang asked, causing Azara to wrinkle her nose in disgust.

"Azara is just fine. Titles are worthless anyway," she replied before sliding down and into the secret passage below.

"Well, my name's Aang," the airbender supplied, making Azara smile.

"Nice to meet you, Aang. Now, if you'll follow me, we'll get off this ship." Aang followed after her and used his airbending to cover the hatch. Azara led the way through the passage, staring out at the open deck of the ship. "You don't happen to have a ride, do you? There's only dingy boats below deck."

"I have a ride," Aang confirmed, before the two ran out onto the front of the ship. Azara looked up at the icy surroundings as the alarm sounded.

"Your ride is coming soon, right?" she asked as she got into a defensive position.

"The Avatar has escaped and is holding the princess hostage!" someone shouted, prompting Azara to roll her eyes. Zuko ran out onto the deck, sending fire blasts at Azara and Aang. As Aang was backed up against the railing of the ship, Azara jumped forwards, blocking her brothers shots, and returning a few of her own. A sudden roar echoed around the ship, prompting Azara to look up at the approaching flying bison.

"What is that?" Zuko asked as he stared up in surprise as the fluffy bison.

"Appa!" Aang shouted happily, but Zuko took advantage of the distraction and rushed forwards again. Zuko pushed him further back as Azara hurried to cut off her brother. Sending several fire blasts at him, Azara spun to avoid some of Zuko's. Zuko yelled out, sending a particularly large fire blast at Azara, forcing her back.

Turning back to Aang, Zuko sent several fire blasts at Aang, causing him to lose his staff and fall overboard, looking unconscious. "No! Aang!" Azara yelled, running to the side of the ship where he had fallen, looking for any sign of the airbender. Turning, Azara blocked another blast from her brother, who was huffing in anger at her.

"You're a traitor," Zuko growled as Azara got into a defensive stance.

"I'm doing what's right!" Azara retorted, her eyes narrowing.

"Betraying your nation is not doing what's right!" Zuko screamed, sending another fire blast at his sister. The two siblings circled each other when Aang shot out of the water with a waterspout, his eyes and tattoos glowing. He landed on the deck, manipulating the water into a circle, and pushing Zuko and the Fire Nation soldiers down. The water moved around Azara, leaving her unharmed.

Aang stumbled as his tattoos started to fade, causing Azara to run forwards to catch him before he fell to the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly as Appa landed next to them, two Water Tribe villagers rushing to Aang's side.

"Get away from him!" the warrior boy from earlier shouted, holding his club up.

"Sokka, Katara, I'm fine. She's on our side," Aang explained quietly as they approached, causing the Water Tribe girl to relax, but the boy still looked at her suspiciously.

"Are you ready to go? Reinforcements will be out soon," Azara warned as she and Katara lifted Aang to his feet.

"I dropped my staff," Aang mumbled.

"Got it!" Sokka exclaimed, running forwards to grab the staff. Azara and Katara helped Aang up onto Appa when they heard Sokka yell out. Turning around, Azara watched with mild amusement as he used Aang's staff to knock Zuko onto the anchor chain. "Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!"

Katara back slid down as Fire Nation soldiers approached, attempting to freeze the soldiers in place, but only freezing Sokka to the deck. "I got this," Azara assured her, jumping down, and sending a quick succession of fire blasts, knocking the soldiers back.

"Hurry up, Sokka!" Katara called to her brother as he used his boomerang to break the ice.

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying and magic!" Sokka huffed as he finally freed himself, running up Appa's tail. "Yip yip! Yip yip!" Azara watched in amazement as Appa took off, flying away from the Fire Nation ship she had been trapped on for years. Kneeling at the back of Appa's saddle, Azara spotted Zuko and Iroh standing together on the deck. Together, they sent a large fire blast hurtling towards Appa.

Jumping to her feet, Azara took a deep breath, moving her hands in a circular motion, before sending a large fire slice to redirect the blast into the glacier. She watched with a relieved expression as the glacier broke apart, effectively trapping the Fire Navy ship. Staring down at her family, Azara and Zuko locked eyes, the look of utter betrayal on Zuko's face causing a shiver to roll down her spine.

Sighing, she turned around, only to find a boomerang being pointed directly at her face by the Water Tribe boy from earlier, who Aang had referred to as Sokka. "Who are you? And why are you helping the Avatar?" the Water Tribe boy asked forcefully, causing Azara to shoot him a look.

"I just saved your life. You're welcome," Azara huffed, as Sokka glared at her.

"Sokka, she's on our side," his sister remined him, but he ignored her. He was starting to remind Azara of her brother, and she was not in the mood to deal with another moody teenage boy.

"Who are you?" Sokka repeated, the boomerang still staring Azara in the face.

"I'm Princess Azara of the Fire Nation," Azara replied calmly, crossing her arms over her chest. "But you can just call me Azara."

"You're what!?" he shouted, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Did I stutter?" Azara responded sarcastically, her gaze challenging.

"Why did you help Aang escape?" Sokka demanded.

"Well, unlike you assume, I don't want the Fire Nation to win this war. And the best way to ensure that the Fire Nation is defeated is to help the Avatar," Azara supplied, but Sokka did not look convinced.

"One step out of line and—" Sokka threatened, but Azara rolled her eyes at him.

"—And what? What are you going to do?" Azara asked, pushing the boomerang from her face. Sokka simply glared at her and moved away, sitting next to his sister.

"Sorry about him. My name's Katara. Sokka's my brother," Katara introduced, a warmer tone clear in her voice.

"Nice to meet you, Katara," Azara replied kindly, a small smile on her face.

"And this is Appa!" Aang yelled excitedly from the front as Appa groaned in recognition. Giggling, Azara patted Appa's side good-naturedly.

"Nice to meet you as well, Appa," Azara smiled, running her fingers through the white fur of Appa's side. With the situation concerning Azara handled, Katara turned to Aang.

"How did you do that? With the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Katara gushed as Aang looked down.

"I don't know. I just sort of . . . did it," Aang sighed, appearing distraught and downcast.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" Katara asked softly as Aang looked up.

"Because I never wanted to be," Aang stated, turning away.

"But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put and end to this war," Katara pointed out, as Azara stared up at Aang with concern. He was obviously uncomfortable with the burden of saving the world as a twelve-year-old boy.

"And how am I going to do that?"

"According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?" Katara listed as Aang picked up his head.

"That's what the monks told me," Aang agreed, meeting Katara's gaze.

"Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending!" Katara exclaimed, causing Aang to brighten as well.

"We can learn it together!"

"And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way," Katara continued, turning to her brother.

"I'd like that. I'd really like that," Sokka nodded as Azara looked away at the comment. She bit back a comment about how Sokka would not be knocking anyone's heads until he learned to not announce every single one of his attacks with battle cries.

"And Azara, you can teach Aang firebending when the time is right."

"I look forward to it, Pupil Aang," she teased as Katara smiled widely.

"Then we're in this together!" Katara cheered as Aang leapt down from his perch.

"Alright, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to here, here, and here," Aang explained, pointing to three different locations on a map. Azara raised an eyebrow at the locations, not recognizing the significance of them.

"What's there?"

"Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas. Then way over here, we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back over here, we'll ride the hog monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!" Aang described enthusiastically as Sokka and Katara shared a look. Azara smiled at Aang's optimism and innocence, watching the clouds move by as Appa rose higher.