"How do you like the Northern Water Tribe?" Kesuk asked Azara, noticing her amazed looks as he led her through the city.

"It's amazing here! Just a little too cold for my liking but I guess you just get used to it," Azara chuckled, glad Yue had given her a thicker coat.

"Yeah. Not quite as warm as the Fire Nation, huh?"

"I haven't been home in about three years, but yeah, definitely not," Azara replied as they turned a corner.

"What's it like in the Fire Nation? Just out of curiosity," Kesuk questioned, walking over a bridge.

"What specifically intrigues you?"

"Mostly if people are as stuffy there as they are here," Kesuk explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"I assure you that there are plenty of stuffy people in the Fire Nation," Azara laughed as they walked through the outskirts of the city. "Everything revolves around honor. Honoring the family name, honoring the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, et cetera, et cetera." Kesuk laughed alongside her.

"And you obviously sound very fond about that."

"Hardly. Was part of the reason I left, though not the primary reason," Azara trailed off, thinking of home.

"We don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable," Kesuk interjected, worried that he had brought up some bad memories.

"No, no, it's alright, really. Just remembering home is . . . bittersweet. There's a lot of bad memories, but also some good ones. When people from outside the Fire Nation meet me, they instantly think I'm just like the other firebenders who are destroying the world. But then I remember there are a few back home who, like me, don't agree with what's going on. If only we were the majority, then we could end this stupid war."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I don't think you're a monster. You seem cool, no pun intended," Kesuk joked as Azara shivered once more. Laughing, Azara stared up at the wall of ice Kesuk stopped in front of. "The arena's through here," he stated, bending open a tunnel. 

He motioned for Azara to go first before closing the tunnel behind him. Azara stared at the arena, impressed at the size of it. "Any other wonders of your city I should know about?" Azara teased as Kesuk walked further into the arena.

"I'll tell you if you can beat me, how about that?" Kesuk questioned, turning around to face Azara. 

"Might as well tell me now. Save yourself the trouble," Azara replied, a confident smirk on her face. 

"I'm ready when you are . . . Princess," Kesuk added, a joking smirk on his face as Azara shot him a playful glare. Kesuk lowered himself into a waterbending stance, Azara studying his posture for a moment before lowering into a firebending stance. 

Taking a deep breath, Azara quickly bended a fire blast at Kesuk, who easily avoided it and sent a wall of snow back at Azara. Heating the air around her, the snow wall passed around Azara without touching her. "Is that the best you got?" she called, her hands raised and prepared for the next attack. 

"I'm just getting warmed up," Kesuk promised, turning the snow around him into water and sending a water whip towards her. Azara blasted fire through the water, jumping forwards. As Kesuk spun around, Azara jabbed and kicked at the water whip as Kesuk continued with his attack. 

As the water evaporated from Kesuk's hand as a result of Azara's fire attacks, Azara moved to take the offensive. Utilizing a fire whip of her own, Azara slashed at the floor in front of Kesuk, causing the waterbender to back up towards the wall. With a smirk and a well-aimed kick, Azara sent a fire kick at the wall above Kesuk's head, sending a pile of snow on top of Kesuk. 

"Clever," he winked, bending the snow into ice. With quick jabs of his fists, Kesuk sent several ice shards at Azara, who was forced to flip backwards to avoid them. Azara danced around the ice crystals, sending a few fire blasts and arcs his way to retaliate. Raising his arms, Kesuk blocked her fire blasts with a wall of water. 

Allowing the wall of water to drop, Kesuk dodged another fire blast before using a large water blast to build a ramp around Azara. Jumping and sliding around the ramp, Kesuk dodged more of Azara's attacks and launched a large water column at Azara. 

Raising her hands to try and evaporate the water bullet, Azara was knocked back onto her butt by the sheer volume of the water. Sitting and dripping wet on the ground, Azara stared up at Kesuk as he jumped off the ramp, raising his hands and bending walls of snow around Azara. 

Looking up, Azara shook her head as Kesuk encased her in a building of snow, complete with a window and chimney. "Very funny, Kesuk."

Melting through the building quickly, Azara hopped up and set a quick succession of powerful fire comets at Kesuk, who was knocked further back with each fire comet despite his water defenses. Rolling forwards, Azara dodged his water whip and blasted him with fire, knocking him onto his back. "Do you give up?"

"Do you?" he returned, swirling the snow around him into water and bending a large water bullet at her, knocking Azara back again. She huffed as she laid in a puddle on the frozen ground, Kesuk jumping at the opportunity. He raised his hands and blew air towards her, freezing her in ice and preventing her from standing up. 

"Now, do you give up?" Kesuk asked as Azara struggled under the ice. Thinking quickly, Azara quickly melted the ice around her arms, pulling them free. Without another moment of hesitation, Azara placed her hands on the ice and rapidly melted the ice. The action caused a cloud of steam to rise, especially as Azara continued to melt the ice around her. 

"Clever, but you can't hide forever," Kesuk replied, raising his hands and coverting the steam back to water. As the cloud disappeared, Kesuk raised an eyebrow as Azara was not in the same place as before. Before he could open his mouth to call for her, Azara leapt out from behind him. 

With a swift spin and kick, Azara knocked Kesuk into a wall. Holding one hand against his chest, she held the other in a menacing fist, preparing for retaliation from the waterbender. Breathing heavily from the strain, Azara smiled as the change of events. 

"I believe I beat you."

"I guess you did," Kesuk spoke, his voice quiet as Azara suddenly realized how close they were standing, their breaths turning into steam in the cold air. Azara relaxed her arm, allowing Kesuk to push himself off the wall and closer to her. "So, I owe you a tour, then?"

"Yeah, you did promise," Azara chuckled, dropping her hand to her side. Before Kesuk could reply, the tunnel to the arena reopened, revealing Master Pakku.

"You're late for the meeting, my apprentice," Master Pakku grunted, causing Kesuk to flinch.

"Sorry Master, I just lost track of time," Kesuk shrugged, not looking sorry at all.

"Lost track of time or not, let's go," Master Pakku huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sorry to run out on you, maybe we could meet up again later," Kesuk offered to Azara, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'd love that. See you around, Kesuk," Azara smiled, waving him goodbye as he disappeared down the tunnel with Master Pakku. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, Azara walked out of the arena and back into the Water Tribe city.

With no real direction, Azara decided to visit Appa in the stalls. Stopping by the house to grab her bag, Azara quickly found the stables not far from their residence. She smiled at the sight of Appa laying on a large pile of hay, content. 

"Hey, Appa. I brought you something," Azara called, holding out the apple left in her pack from the Northern Air Temple. Appa hummed in appreciation as Azara tossed the apple into his mouth, swallowing the apple quickly. As he nuzzled her, Azara sat on the ground and rubbed his stomach, enjoying his company.

Relaxing with Appa, Azara chuckled as Momo appeared, moving to rifle around her bag. "Sorry, Momo. I didn't have any litchi nuts for you. Maybe next time." Momo grumbled as he hopped up onto Appa's back, snuggling into the flying bison's warmth.

Suddenly, a Northern Water Tribe guy stomped into the stables, causing Appa to bare his teeth at the sudden intrusion. Azara raised an eyebrow as the guy looked around, before walking over once he spotted her. 

From a quick glance, Azara knew she was not going to like him. His hair was half up and down, his face framed by his longer bangs. Despite his lighter skin, his blue eyes and blue necklace indicated his as a clear Water Tribe member. 

"You! You're the girl Kesuk was hanging around with today, correct?" he demanded, pointing a finger at her.

"The girl has a name," Azara retorted, narrowing her eyes at him as Appa growled beside her. "What do you want?" 

"Can you please control that beast of yours?" The man glared up at Appa, who grumbled in disapproval at the comment.

"Appa happens to be the Avatar's oldest and greatest friend, so unless you want trouble with Aang, I suggest you apologize to the big guy before he bites you," Azara warned, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I won't stop him."

"I'm not apologizing to some animal," he snapped snootily. Appa growled at him, causing the guy to jump backwards. "Fine, sorry big furry thing," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. Appa growled at him once more before lying down.

"What do you want?" Azara reiterated, fed up with this guy and his antics already.

"Have you seen Kesuk? He was supposed to be at the announcement today."

"He left with Master Pakku about an hour ago. I haven't seen him since," Azara shrugged, narrowing her eyes as he approached her.

"I swear, you little Fire Nation rat. If you did anything or are planning to do anything to the Northern Water Tribe, you best forget about it."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Azara drawled sarcastically, glaring at him. Standing up and dusting the snow off of her coat, Azara withheld a laugh as he puffed out his chest to try and look more intimidating. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to teach you a lesson in respect," he snapped, clearly getting frustrated with her. 

"Right, sorry. I just don't speak misogynistic asshole," Azara replied, not missing a beat. She had seen people like this guy before and if she could knock them down a peg or even the whole ladder, she'd take advantage. 

"You think you're real funny, don't you?" 

Azara raised an eyebrow at his question, an unimpressed expression clear on her face. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to compensate for here," Azara stated, glancing down for a moment before meeting his gaze again, "but I'm getting really bored of this conversation if you don't mind."

"Who the hell do you think your are!?" the guy snapped, his cheeks turning red. "As future chief—"

"—As future chief, the last thing you want is to have the Fire Nation's princess on your enemy list," Kesuk growled out, walking into the stables, his arms crossed threateningly.

"Whatever, Kesuk," the guy rolled his eyes, purposely bumping Azara's shoulder on his way out, causing Kesuk to grab the front of his jacket.

"You know you may be the next in line for chief, but you best stop acting like you're a spirit, Hahn," Kesuk warned, before releasing him from his grasp. Hahn walked swiftly out of the room as Kesuk shot Azara an apologetic look. "Are you okay? He's picked to be the next chief and suddenly he's the king of the world," Kesuk muttered distastefully.

"It's okay, I've dealt with worse," Azara waved off the encounter.

"And sorry I had to ditch you, just some stupid government stuff to take care of. Want to grab some food?" Kesuk offered, pointing back at town. As she had the night before, Azara accepted his invitation, and bid Appa and Momo goodbye before following Kesuk out of the stables.

"So, government stuff, huh? Was it really boring?" Azara asked, pulling her gloves back on.

"Not as much as usual. It was all about who would marry Princess Yue and become the next chief."

"They'd marry her off already?" Azara questioned, shocked and slightly appalled. Sure, the Chief had announced yesterday that she was now marrying age, but Azara thought they would wait at least more than a day before marrying her off. "Poor Yue."

"It's tradition," Kesuk sighed, shaking his head. "They don't have arranged marriages in the Fire Nation?"

"My parents had an arranged marriage," Azara supplied, looking up at the bridge they passed overhead. "I'd like to avoid them if I can. My mother was just miserable. Granted, my father is the worst, but still. I want to decide who I marry, not some old men in a stuffy back room."

Kesuk nodded, chuckling. "I know exactly how you feel. Master Pakku desperately wanted me to become engaged to Princess Yue today."

"Yue said you guys were close. You never even had a slight crush on her?" Azara asked as they turned towards a larger building in the center of the city. 

"Maybe when we were six and she told me I looked cool waterbending, but otherwise no," Kesuk laughed as they reached the dining area. Azara followed after Kesuk, listening carefully as he explained what every dish was. With their plates in hand, Kesuk and Azara sat at a table in the corner of the room. They ate quietly, discussing various parts of their pasts.

"You want to try some boiled eel?" Kesuk offered, as Azara turned green.

"No thanks," Azara choked out, covering her nose at the smell.

"It's a Water Tribe delicacy, wouldn't expect you to like it," Kesuk winked, taking a bite.

"So, you were trying to poison me?" Azara accused jokingly, leaning over her plate.

"Maybe a little bit," Kesuk chuckled as they sat enjoying each other's company. It was starting to grow dark when Kesuk offered to walk Azara back to her housing.

"Thanks for taking me out today, Kesuk. I really enjoyed it," she smiled as they reached the building. Azara turned to face him, her hands clasped in front of her.

"No problem. Maybe I could see you again soon? I really enjoyed hanging out with you, Azara." 

"I'd like that," Azara smiled and nodded, her head tilted to the side. "And maybe you can get your rematch." At her tease, Kesuk laughed, rubbing the back of his head. As his laughter died down, Kesuk opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say something else, before closing his mouth and smiling. 

"I'll let you get your rest. Goodnight, Azara," Kesuk stated, smiling and nodding, before walking back towards his own home. Azara waved goodbye to him before opening the door and walking inside. 

A.N. So now that there's been more one on one interactions between Kesuk and Azara as well as Azara and Yue, who's the most compelling potential couple to you guys: Kesuk and Azara, Sokka and Azara, or Yue and Azara? I somehow (completely unintentionally) paired Azara up with only Water Tribe individuals so far, but that could change in Books 2 and 3!

Seven more chapters to go until the end of Book 1 so stay tuned and thanks for all the votes/reads/comments because I would not have gotten this far in the story without you guys!