Let go of me!" Azula hissed, trying to escape Harry's grip.
She, Harry and Zuko had been sent out of the throne room so the adults could continue talking. Zuko had gone with mum - 'of course he had' she thought in what was not a jealous manner, thank you very much - which ended up leaving her with Harry. Azula had started the conversation by demanding to know how a commoner like him could possibly become so good at fire bending. Harry hadn't immediately answered her like she expected him to, like any other boy would, he instead kept quiet and limited his answers to 'hmm' and what could only be described as non-answers.
Azula was a young girl, and was used to getting what she wanted. If she wanted a toy from Zuko then she would take it, if he told on her then she'd just play with it when he wasn't around. She was a princess, if she wanted something then she would get it, that was the way her life had worked so far. So naturally she was not happy that this middle class, son of a teacher, was not doing what she was telling him to do. An upset Azula also happened to be a dangerous Azula, which was why she had started threatening him with a fire blast to the face.
Instead of being apologetic or even a little bit scared he had looked at her dismissively, a look that Azula did not like to see directed at her at all. It was that look that likely caused her to actually try and follow through with her threat. She had most definitely not been expecting to end up on her knees with one hand on the floor to stop herself from hitting the floor with her face while her other hand was held up in a wrist lock by Harry.
"Not until you promise to not attack me." Harry said, maintaining the wrist lock.
"I'm not promising anything!" Azula said, glaring up at Harry. "You can't tell me what to do!"
"I'm not telling you what to do, I'm asking nicely." Harry said before he put more pressure on her wrist. "Please...don't...attack me." Harry added, putting more pressure on her wrist with each new word.
"Alright fine!" Azula said, after several seconds. "I won't attack! Promise!"
"Hmm." Harry looked at her for a couple of seconds before he let go and quickly stepped back. Azula managed to get to her feet when she heard a soft chuckle, she and Harry turned in the direction of the chuckle and saw Fire Lord Azulon, Harry's parents and Azula's father and uncle. The chuckle had come from Azula's Uncle Iroh, the feared general known as 'The Dragon of the West'.
"I told you that the two would get along greatly." Uncle Iroh said in an amused voice.
"Well, he does appear to already be teaching her new things." Fire Lord Azulon said in a voice that held more approval than most would ever hear come out of his mouth. He turned his gaze to Azula. "It is long past time for you to learn that you will not get everything you want in life simply because you're a fire bending prodigy." He told her before turning to Harry. "You, boy, you will treat her as if she was just another child, as far as you are concerned, she is not royalty."
"But grandfather, I..." Azula began protesting, only to be cut off.
"No buts," Fire Lord Azulon said. "you will learn from the boy, and that is final."
The gang walked across a bunch of snow covered grass with Aang leading the way, they walked until they reached a top of a hill.
"The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!" Aang spoke grandly before he gestured to the pyramid structured city of Omashu. "I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi." Aang added with a grin.
"Wow. We don't have buildings like this in the South Pole!" Katara said in an impressed voice.
"They have buildings here that don't melt!" Sokka blurted out, looking overwhelmed.
"Really? That makes them...what...part of the majority of people who have never lived in a melting building?" Harry asked in a mock thoughtful voice.
"Do you have to be a jerk?" Sokka asked, glaring at Harry.
"Yes." Harry said simply.
"We're wasting time," Aang said impatiently. "let's go!" He said, he moved forwards only to be stopped by Harry who grabbed him by the back of his collar.
"Easy there, air-monkey," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "didn't you learn from last time?"
"Harry's right," Katara agreed with a nod of her head. "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar."
"You need a disguise." Sokka said in a serious voice.
"A disguise? What? Am I supposed to grow a moustache or something?" Aang asked in a slightly sarcastic voice.
"Ugh. This stuff is so itchy." Aang complained, wiggling his nose. He was currently wearing a wig and fake moustache made from Appa's fur. "How do you live in this stuff?" Aang asked Appa who simply grunted.
"Great, now he looks just like my grandpa." Sokka said while Momo climbed up into Aang's wig and hid inside of it.
"Well, technically Aang is a hundred and twelve years old." Katara reminded him as Harry pulled up his hood and put on a mask to cover the bottom half of his face. Aang smirked before holding his staff like it was a particularly long walking stick.
"Now let's get to skippin', young whipper-snappers." Aang said in an old man voice as he hunched over. "The big city awaits!"
"Wait a sec," Harry spoke up. "let's set up a story just in case." Harry suggested.
"You're going to love Omashu," Aang grinned as they walked towards the entrance of the city, or rather Harry, Sokka and Katara walked to the entrance while Aang was piggybacking on Harry who was making sure to face downwards once he looked forwards and saw guards near the entrance. "the people here are the friendliest in the world!"
"You call this quality food?" An angry voice shouted, the group looked forwards and saw a trio of guards standing with a cabbage merchant who had a cart full of cabbages. "These are rotten, what kind of slum do you think this is?!" The main guard demanded before he used earth bending to throw the cart high into the air before it feel down into the nearby chasm.
"No! My cabbages!" The cabbage merchant cried dramatically as if his very heart had been broken.
"Friendliest in the world, huh? I'm really feeling the friendliness." Harry whispered to Aang before they continued walking forwards.
"Halt!" The lead guard said once the group was close enough. "State your business!" Aang quickly tapped Harry on the shoulder and gestured him to move forwards. Harry quickly did so and only stopped once they were a few inches away from the guard.
"My business is my business, young man and none of yours!" Aang said in his old man voice as he began waving a finger in front of the guard's face in a threatening manner. "I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!"
"Settle down, old timer." The guard sighed as he relaxed his stance, having apparently demoted Aang from potential threat to potential annoyance. "Just tell me who you are, what is your name?"
"My name?" Aang asked. "My name is 'Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis, the Third'." Aang said, Katara walked forwards with a smile while Sokka stayed where he was, he was seemingly still trying to wrap his mind around the weird name that Aang had come up with.
"Hi, my name is June Pippinpaddleopsicopolis. Nice to meet you." Katara said with a smile as she gave the guards a small wave.
"What about him?" The guard asked, gesturing to Harry who was still facing down.
"Him? Oh, this is my favourite grandson." Aang said with a grin as he patted the top of Harry's head.
"His name is Teddy Lupin Pippinpaddleopsicopolis." Katara said.
"The second." Aang added helpfully.
"Teddy Lupin Pippinpaddleopsicopolis, The Second." Katara amended. "I am terribly sorry about him, but he's not very comfortable around new people."
"Eh, he'll work on it." Aang said dismissively. "Strong as a bison, the boy is, his mind will catch up." Aang said, patting Harry on his shoulders. "He's an impressive boy, carried me for at least the last half an hour or so,."
"Grandpa, he does not have a problem with his mind, don't be rude." Katara said in a way that made it sound like she had repeated those words several times in the last hour alone.
The guard looked thoughtful as he looked at Katara.
"You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu!" The guard said before they stepped to the side and the entrance to the city opens with earthbending.
"We will, thank you." Katara said in a polite voice as the group began moving forwards.
"Hold it!" The guard said suddenly, reaching out and grabbing Sokka by the shoulder just as the group started walking past. Harry, Aang and Katara tensed the very second they were stopped, though thankfully the guards did not appear to have noticed. The guard turned Sokka around so the Water Tribe boy was facing him. "Hmm," The guard said as he looked Sokka up and down before he spoke again.
"You seem like a strong and young boy," The guard said to Sokka before he continued speaking, though now his voice was laced with disapproval. "but you're not doing anything. Look at Teddy, he is showing his elders some proper respect and has carried him."
"For the last half an hour at least." Aang reminded him.
"Carried him for at least half of an hour," The guard spoke, echoing Aang's words. "that's the way kids should behave." The guard said before he gestured to Aang's bag. "Show some respect for the elderly and carry your grandfather's bag!" The guard ordered.
"Good idea." Aang agreed right before he tossed his bag at Sokka, it hit the back of his head before landing in his arms. "The boy needs to learn how to pull his own weight," Aang told the guard. "he's always snoring and sleeping and going to the toilet. If there is food that can be eaten then the boy is eating before you can tell him 'no'. It's about time he starts acting like a man."
"Grandpa..." Sokka said through gritted teeth.
"Hey, watch your tone, young man." The guard said, narrowly beating out Katara's 'don't be so rude'.
"Careful boy," Aang said. "you are not old enough to avoid being placed over my knee, you will never be old enough for that." Aang said before they walked through the entrance with Sokka muttering stuff under his breath while Aang was loudly telling Katara the many, many reasons why 'Teddy' was his favourite grandson. Katara, being the good fake granddaughter that she is, nodded along to each reason with a smile.
Once they had gotten safely inside Harry saw no reason to restrain himself and let out an amused snort which quickly turned into barely controlled laughter, Katara and Aang gladly joined in.
"That was not funny." Sokka glowered at the three of them.
"It was for us." Katara said, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Aw, is Sokka jealous because I am the favourite grandchild?" Harry asked with a grin from under the mask.
"Oh shut it," Sokka said, rolling his eyes. "that was just an act, clearly I would be the favourite."
"In your deluded dreams." Harry said with a grin as Aang hopped off of him.
"Come on guys, don't fight." Aang said with a smirk on his face, he was now back to speaking in his normal voice. "I like you both equally."
"Wow." Katara breathed, bringing their attention to the beautiful city they were in. There were plenty of houses and buildings but there was also several long slides where carts would slide down from the top, some would then be stopped by earth benders who would take the cart out.
"Wow, this is impressive." Harry said as he looked at the city.
"This is the Omashu delivery system. Miles and miles of tubes and chutes." Aang told them.
"Wow." Katara breathed.
"Yeah, earthbending delivers the packages up and gravity brings them down." Aang said.
"So people get their mail on time, big whoop." Sokka shrugged, having quickly got over how impressive the city was.
"They do get their mail on time," Aang said with a nod. "but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes." Aang said with a mischievous look on his face.
'How the hell did I let him talk me into this?' Harry wondered in his head.
Somehow Aang had managed to convince everyone to join him in using the delivery system as a giant slide, it had started off simply with them all getting into a cart at the top and riding down. It then somehow ended up with them causing plenty of damage all around the city before landing on top of a cart full of cabbages that was owned by the cabbage merchant from earlier.
Guards had arrived and quickly surrounded them, Harry was in no hurry to start fighting and neither were the rest which was why they had let the guards capture them. Right now they were all being escorted to the King of Omashu, who would decide their fate.
'How the hell did I let him talk me into this?' Harry wondered once again.