Sokka would be fairly certain that he's losing his mind if not for the fact that he was currently visiting a girl who actually was losing her mind.

"I don't see why you want to do this," Toph comments from beside him as they make their way to Azula's room in the palace.

"I'm a little perplexed about it myself, to be honest," Sokka admits. "I'm still not sure this isn't a bad idea."

"When did this even cross your mind?"

"I was just thinking," Sokka shrugs, "in our group, Zuko and I are the only ones with sisters. I get that Azula is completely crazy and probably the cause of every stomach ulcer I'll ever have, but…if something happened to Katara, and she went insane and I was about to throw her to the wolves to face the wrath of an entire nation…"

Toph waits patiently for her friend to collect his thoughts.

"I just…I want to know for sure that she's off-the-deep-end unsalvageable-insane. I want to see her be dangerous and un-save-able before…before whatever."

"I think I get it," Toph nods as they reach the door behind which Azula waits. "And you brought me along for moral support, since we've always had a profound connection, and you entrusted this to me because of our mutually developed bond?"

"No, I just need you to metalbend the door open," Sokka gestures at the obstacle.

Toph pouts. But obliges.

She strikes her palm outward against the door and feels the vibrations, the shape of the metal. She effortlessly metalbends the door unlocked, and she hopes Sokka appreciates her for it.

He does. "Have I ever mentioned how glad I am that you're around?"

"Not in the last ten minutes."

Azula hears a noise at her door. If it was Ty Lee or Zuko, they would have a key, and the sound is too blunt to be the knocking of a permitted visitor. Someone is breaking in to see her.

She stands the face the opponent, ready to defend herself against attack.

The last person she expects to appear is Katara's dopey brother.

Sokka eases himself inside, shoving the door closed behind him. He tries hilariously to look brave as he faces her. Azula considers remaining on guard, because as goofy and irreverent as she'd observed Sokka to be, she'd also learned the dangers of underestimating her opponents.

"What do you want, Water Tribe scum?" she barks at him.

"Okay, generalizations like that are really simplifying and harmful!" Sokka defends mightily. Off to a good start. "I guess it's easy to be rude when you don't even remember my name."

"I remember your name," Azula tells him, a wicked grin splitting over her face. "Suki used to ask about you by name when she was my prisoner."

Sokka balls his hands into fists at his sides. Azula had baited him with Suki before and succeeded. But Suki is safe now and out of Azula's clutches. He won't be bested by her again.

"I'm just here to talk," Sokka explains.

"What could you possibly have to say to me?" Her voice is needlessly shrill and desperate. "I barely know you."

Sokka hadn't seen her crazed state in person before, and he's not sure if it should scare him more or less than regular Azula. "You know my sister," Sokka says. "You tried to kill her."

"I've tried to kill a lot of people," Azula shrugs, exaggerating how casual she is about it, still trying to appear powerful, even now. "You're going to have to narrow it down." She twirls her finger in a circle, and Sokka supposes it to be a "narrowing-it-down" visual aid.

"The last time you fought anyone," Sokka obliges. "You were fighting your brother, and you shot lightning at her. Zuko told me about it."

"Ohhh, yes," Azula smiles, enjoying the opportunity to be menacing again. "I remember Zuko's little friend. I took great pleasure in attempting to annihilate her."

"She handcuffed you to metal grate and captured you?"

Azula's face falls. She lashes out against the unwelcome memory. She thrusts two fingers forward, and blue fire erupts from the tips and launches toward Sokka. He flails to the side, falling ungracefully to the floor to avoid the hazard.

Toph strikes the door twice. Muffled, he hears Toph asks, "Sokka, you okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he groans as he rises back to his feet. "Just had some fire shot at my head. No big deal. This is the life I lead."

"Did you come here to insult me, Sokka," Azula presses, "because I assure you, that isn't wise."

"Like I said, I just wanna talk," he reiterates.

"About what?"

"I…I don't really know," he admits. "I'd like know where your head is at right now."

With barely any time to react, three jets of blue fire flit around Sokka's head. He stiffens, awaiting the pain, but the fire just barely grazes him.

"Anyone can tell you where my head is right now," Azula glowers.

"You do know what's happening tomorrow, right?" Sokka dares to ask. What else can she do? Shoot extra fire at him? (Yes, she could absolutely do that, but he's trying not the think about it.)

"The vote," she relays, turning away from him. "Yes, I'm aware."

"Do you…like…have any regrets? About anything?"

She peeks at him over her shoulder. "I was supposed to be the greatest Firelord in history, and I am locked in palace that I was supposed to rule. Do you think I have any regrets?"

"Okay. You regret not getting what you want. Understood," Sokka nods. "But your actions. What you've done. Do you ever feel guilty?"

"Everything I've done, I did for my father, for my Nation, and, occasionally, for my own personal gain," she tells him. "Do you do any better?"

"You tried to kill people," Sokka says, "people who had never wronged you. People who were trying to save the world! And you lost all of your honor in the process!"

Azula is quiet for a moment. When she speaks, she sounds cold, calculated, almost like she's her old self again. "Do you remember the stories of the annihlation of the Air Temples? The ones who lived there never fought anyone. They asked for no personal gains. Those people had compassion, bravery, loyalty, and found their sense of honor within these ideals."

Azula saunters up to him. He gulps. He hopes she doesn't notice.

She's close to her face when she speaks to him. "Go to their graves, their burnt villages, their scattered ashes, and ask them if honor matters. The silence is your answer."1

After it is revealed that Katara's presence is due to her incompetence in finding her own living quarters, Zuko offers to help lead her there.

"Here it is," Zuko gestures at the proper door. "Just two rights from the entrance, then left at the portrait of that guy with the pointy beard, and then a little past slightly at that painting of a dragon."

"Right…" Katara reels. "I'm almost certain I won't remember that."

"You know, you could just stay in Aang's room. It's right by the entrance. Easy to find."

"He's kind of…twelve?" Katara explains, discomforted by the notion. "We wouldn't be doing anything, but…I don't know. It just seems…weird."

"It's up to you," he concedes. "You're already at the right spot anyway."

"Thanks, Zuko," Katara smiles. "You're a lifesaver."

"Nah, I just live here," he shrugs.

She acknowledges the joke with a small smile, then purses her lips and nods sharply. "Well, uh, goodnight."

"Yeah, uh, goodnight."

Katara hesitates a moment outside her door. She gazes up at Zuko, and he shifts his eyes uncomfortably around her face. She frowns at the moment that passes, then ambles into her room.

Neither of them know for sure why the moment is suddenly uncomfortable. It's almost like it's incomplete, like there's some action or string of words that should've passed between them, but didn't.

Katara closes the door behind here. Zuko shifts his weight for a moment, then leaves towards his room, leaving the moment behind him.

After speaking with Katara, Zuko made his way the room he shared with Mai. Although she'd unintentionally riled him earlier, he was certainly in no mood to sleep alone.

Mai is sleeping lightly when he arrives, draped in one of the palace robes. He slips off his own daywear in favor of sleeping attire, and then crawls into the bed beside her. She stirs as he disturbs the blankets.

"Sorry, don't let me wake you," Zuko urges softly.

"Where have you been?" Mai asks. "It's late."

He settles in beneath the blankets, leaning back into the cushions. "I just took a moment to think. I spoke to Katara for a bit."

"Katara?" Mai scowls. "Why her?"

"Right place, right time, I guess," he shrugs as well as he can whilst horizontal. "She's good at stuff like that."

"Like what?"

"Just…talking stuff out with me. And understanding."

Mai shifts onto her side.

"Do I not understand you?"

Zuko frowns. "I didn't say that."

"I'm not fighting with you. I'm just asking."

"Yeah. We grew up together. Of course you understand me."

She looks at him intently as she considers this.

"Okay," she concludes. She rolls over onto her other side. "Goodnight, Zuko."

"Yeah…goodnight," he replies. This interaction felt incomplete, too.

1 I totally co-opted this line from Mass Effect 3's From Ashes DLC. It's based off something an alien character says in regards to his whole race being extinct.