Our story today
Revolves around a young girl
Whose name is Ty Lee
The finding of clumps-
White clumps of fur to be clear,
Led to a bison
A battle ensued
Of which fire versus fan
Ended in a draw
The girl most agile
Learned of a boy's whereabouts;
The great Ba-Sing-Se…
Getting into the walled city was so surprisingly easy. Well, it would be difficult for those who distrusted the ways of concealment and infiltration with no goals of destruction. That's probably why people like Azula or her father, the Fire Lord Ozai, would never be able to enter the walls…sneaking in was beneath them. She had heard so many stories about the great city from the other circus performers. Gambling stories, 'woman' stories, fighting tournament stories; that's all what they were…just stories.
She had to see the city for herself…the curiosity just got to her. There was little work to do with explaining her disappearance to Mai and Azula. At every stop that they made, she often wandered around the village or city, and always managed to meet up with the others before they left. This was no different, and once again, Ty Lee found herself wandering about alone, amidst the people whom her great leader demanded subjugation… "Oooh! An Ostrich-horse!"
Her brown eyes widened in glee, thrilled to see anything other than a giant lizard during her few days in the walled city. "Aww, aren't you cute?" Ty Lee brushed back her long brown hair away from her eyes. Instead of her bright and vibrant red gymnastic leotards, she wore a plain and grouchy brown tunic, and a black hooded one on top of it. To complete her disguise, Ty Lee simply untied her braid, making her look like an exotic and beautiful refugee.
"Excuse me miss…" A short laborer tapped her on the shoulder from behind. Excusing herself, Ty Lee stepped behind the fruit cart as the man went over to the bird to fetch some materials. She waited patiently for the man to finish so she could return to petting the large fluffy bird. She continued observing the man, criticizing all of the mistakes that the man made in handling the winged beast. "Eh…don't pet its wings, pet the muzzle near its beak…don't even dare try to scratch it!" Her big, round eyes grew even wider when the Ostrich-bird reacted just as she thought it would.
"SQUAW!!"
Reacting on impulse, the large bird fluttered madly, afraid that a predator had tried to attack it. Ty Lee jumped with the rare vitality that only gymnasts knew—only have her hood flop on her head and the man accidentally step on the edge of the tunic. Stopping short of the large bird's saddle, Ty Lee landed with a thump causing her hair to flutter about. Sighing in exasperation, she removed the black hooded tunic, and continued onwards to the bird, reaching it just as it backed up towards the building behind it. "There, there cute birdy..." Ty Lee cooed and petted the beast. With a limp, she walked it back towards its master, who bowed, apologizing profusely at his mistakes.
"Thank you so much Miss." The man said as he stroked the bird's muzzle. In response, the bird purred, much to the delight of Ty Lee. "Are you willing to be an animal trainer? I see you are very experienced in it." The man pleaded.
"Oh..uh, you see…" She tried to stutter out, surprised at such generosity. She slowly started to take backward steps, pointing around and made her head askew. "I have this…thing…" Turning around but still looking at the man, Ty Lee began to speed walk, mouthing out "I'm Sorry", her face now a light pink to show her embarrassment. This is the third time some guy tried to hit on me… She sighed to herself, playing with her hair out of habit. Making the turn around the building, Ty Lee began to stare out at the sky as she walked. Noting how dark the sky looked, she was bewildered when it suddenly became brighter, and the sky turned into rooftops…and rooftops became stone buildings…and buildings became stone ground.
Ty Lee lay on the ground for a second, rolling onto her back with a cute mew. She felt something move at her feet, and propping herself with her elbows, noticed her foot resting on someone's face. "Oh Geez! I'm so sorry!" The girl lithely jumped onto her feet to pull the young man up. "Are you ok?"
"…ladies, I rock ya!" The boy mumbled to himself. "Shouldn't have said 'young'…" Worried of a concussion, Ty Lee held the boy's head and grabbed open the eyelids to check his irises. "Uh, excuse me…you're squishing my eye…"
Hmmm? Ty Lee snapped out from her medical examination and jumped back in embarrassment. She was so close to his face to inspect his eyes that she forgot that he was a complete stranger…"Just wondering, why do you smell like perfume?"
The boy darted back as well, mumbling something about girls and haiku…Trying not to be rude, Ty Lee kept her face to look interested, but her attention was really drawn towards the boy's clothing. "Blue..."
"…anyways, you don't have to worry about me…I have a pretty hard head." Her attention was pulled back when the boy was finished with his rambling. "So, uh…what's up?"
"Hi…" Ty Lee answered back, brushing back her long hair away from her face as the awkward silence settled in.
"So, uh…I'm Sokka." The boy introduced himself with wide eyes…clear blue eyes.
"Oh, I'm Ty…zu…la?" Ty Lee returned with hesitation. His look of confusion brought her to a near panic, afraid that the name seemed obviously fake. "Oh, I mean…Tyla." He looked too familiar (and cute) to give away any real names. Trying to hide her realization, Ty Lee gave her deceptive 'cute girl' face and decided that she would have to go under her new alias while in the city. "Hehe..." She brushed her hair out of habit and let the tanned boy escort her through the city.
"Seriously though, I'm totally ok with walking myself home…" Ty Lee tried to excuse herself from the boy. "I've been out for a little bit too long, and my…'mom', might, uh, be worried." Or pissed if Azula finds out.
"No problem, I'm always available to help ladies in distress…" Sokka said smugly as the two walked down the dimly lit street.
Awww man… The two continued walking around, looking for Ty Lee's "house" somewhere in the outer ring. Sokka continued rambling on while Ty Lee continued to search for a way out of her delicate situation. "Tyla?" Sokka placed a hand on her shoulder, garnering a jumpy reaction. "Wow…" the boy wheezed out from his spot on the ground. "You're pretty quick…" With some help, Sokka managed to rest himself against a lamp pole. There wasn't any real damage, just his ego taking the brunt of the pain. "You took me off guard there…" He chuckled nervously. The light of the lamp cast a reverberating yellow glow, casting a dreamy look on Sokka.
Ty Lee couldn't help but to smile at Sokka's pained attempt at looking cool, his tan skin, blue eyes, goofy smile and his ponytail…
Her mind jumped back to when Azula tried to break into Ba Sing Se with the large obnoxious drill…She Azula and Mai had found the Avatar and the two water tribe children sabotaging the braces. "Wow Azula, you were right, it is the Avatar…and friends".
With the light of the burners and furnaces providing illumination, Ty Lee managed to spot the water tribe boy standing on a girder below them. "Hey."
""Sokka, is that you?" A girl's voice called from afar and was coming close.
"Oh no…" Ty Lee wore a worried face under her mess of brown hair when she spotted the water tribe girl approaching them.
"Katara!" Sokka was now on his feet again and waved out to his sister. "I want you to meet Tyla!"
"Tyla? I didn't see anyone with you." Katara informed her brother. Confused, the water tribe boy turned towards the light pole to find just that…a pole.
"Heh? Tyla? Tyla!?" His search would be fruitless however, for the girl whom he searched for was perched high up on the rooftop. She hid in the darkness with sad eyes looking down at the water tribe boy who frantically searched for her in a comical way. Ty Lee let out a small laugh and rested her chin on her knees and simply watched. When the water tribe girl managed to calm Sokka down, they made their way deeper into the city and would soon be out of sight.
She stood up on the tiles of the rooftop, tying her hair back up to its familiar braid with a smile. Bringing her small and nimble hand towards her lips, she blew a kiss to the boy before he disappeared behind a building. She turned to face the great wall and began to jump from rooftop to rooftop to link back up with her friends. She had a story of her own now.
Wow...another story that takes place in Ba Sing Se..I just love that place!
Anyways, the idea was given to me by almostinsane, and brought to you by the letter 3! I don't own any of the awesomeness that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko have unleashed upon the world.
If you guys didn't know, I actually have an ongoing 'review contest' where whoever reviews first, well...you'll see...
Later!