The Art of Diligence
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or any of the characters there within.
Azula stood on the crest of a grassy hill, a breeze at her back, sending her bangs to lift lightly before the eyes that glared at the city in the not too far distance. The great Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se. Azula did not think it so great, yes it was massive in size, but the wall had proven not as allegedly impenetrable as all the nations said. The drill was a success in its failure to pierce the wall straight through to the other side. This proved the city's greatest barrier was a weakness, and once broken through, the city was utterly vulnerable. Though the plan was halted prematurely, it was still a small victory for the Fire Nation over the Earth Kingdom. Those filthy barbarians must be shaking in their boots on the other side since their wall had been so simply punctured in a single, concentrated attack.
Azula smiled. The poor dimwitted fools. They did not have much longer before it crumbled completely in the hands of the Fire Nation.
The smile was not long lasted as the princess' thoughts drifted to her not so successful campaign to capture the Avatar. He was somewhere in the city—and where the Avatar was, her brother would be sure to follow. At that particular thought, Azula's eyes wandered furtively in the direction of the raven-haired girl who stood rigidly, eyes intent on the wall that jutted upwards before them, hands folded within her long sleeves. The same breeze lifted her elegant black hair to dance before her. She had been careful to give the princess ample thinking space.
Mai.
She was undoubtedly thinking of Zuko, concealed somewhere beyond the rock veil of the wall that loomed like some gargantuan sprawling snake.
One of the three would have to infiltrate the city and find the Avatar and Zuko and where Azula would give this sort of mission for Mai to accomplish, the princess hung back. Mai's judgment became decidedly…clouded when it came to Zuko. The interest made the girl unreliable for the task; Azula simply could not take that risk. Instead, a brilliant idea formed in her mind.
"Ty Lee!" the princess shouted, turning partway to the downgrade behind her to eye a pink clad girl crouched at its base, examining a curious tent-like structure of rock thrust up against the cliff face. The girl looked up the hill at the call, responding with a wind-washed: "Coming!" and dashed up the incline. Azula looked over to Mai, who was already watching Azula for their next plan of action, and motioned her to come over. The raven-haired girl complied. By the time Ty Lee had crested the hill, Mai had already moved to stand beside the princess, silent and brooding.
"I have a plan." Azula began, gaze shifting between Mai and Ty Lee's evenly; the pair of them gave the princess' their undivided attention. "Ty Lee, you have been in the city before with the circus, have you not?" Ty Lee nodded, not quite understanding where Azula was going with this. "You have knowledge of the layout of the city and so you will be the best suited of us to enter in disguise and locate the Avatar and Zuko. Be intelligent of how you conduct yourself, probe villagers of their whereabouts with discretion and make sure you do not raise any suspicion while you are within the walls."
Ty Lee's jaw was steadily dropping with each passing sentence; this was quite a responsibility to waylay to the poor girl. Questions were popping up with each passing word—how was she to gain access to the city? How was she to dress? If she did manage to find their targets, what was she supposed to do?
"When you find my brother and the Avatar, track them. Find if either of them will plan to stay in the city or move on. Then report back to me. We shall devise a way to lure them out of the city, one at a time if you must, and we will have a trap prepared for their capture. Do you understand?" Azula finished harshly, not liking Ty Lee's dumbfounded gaze. Even Mai appeared slightly taken aback. The acrobatic girl nodded slowly, she understood, but this was a huge undertaking; she was not sure if she could stand up to the princess' means. She would have to infiltrate the city, find the Avatar and Zuko—within itself was a hugely difficult task—spy on them, then report back? Was this even possible?
"This should be done in less than two weeks."
Ty Lee thought she might faint. Did Azula truly comprehend what she was asking of Ty Lee? The sound of Mai's voice on her side brought Ty Lee back.
"Only two weeks? To locate both of them in the largest city in the world and then make a capture?" Mai sounded faintly disbelieving.
"Yes," Azula snapped. "If she asks the right people and avoids detection of the Dai Li, two weeks should be more than enough time." Azula appeared frustrated at the obvious ignorance of her companions. This was the Avatar and her distinctly scarred sibling they were talking about, they should not be all that difficult to find. "Do you understand, Ty Lee?" Azula gazed hard at the acrobat who nodded stiffly.
"But…But what will I wear? I don't have any Earth Kingdom clothes." Ty Lee asked. Azula broke into a smile that Mai and Ty Lee knew well.
"That is easily remedied." The princess turned on her heel, leaving girls behind her to exchange glances and follow after.
Lin's parents had been shouting at her not to wander so far from their watchful gazes, but with the wall looming so near, she felt more bold as she wove through the sparse trees that littered the area. Giggling happily, she danced through the flora, pretending them to be young gentlemen at one of the Kingdom's grand festival's dances. She said "No" to one, then the other before finally stopping before a majestic old tree—he was the most handsome of the gentlemen. A dance? Why of course!
Lin turned into a little spin before the gentleman-tree, her arms outstretched happily, until she was stopped mid-turn by sudden metal spikes that appeared from the tree's massive trunk, pinning her sleeves in its bark. Confusion was quickly replaced by fear when she spotted her parents face down on the trail. Her eyes shot around just in time to see a red and black robed girl with raven hair straighten and slip her hands into long sleeves. The girl opposite Lin was coldly expressionless as the gold-tinted gray eyes stared back at her like a predator ensuring its prey would no longer fight. Then suddenly the girl advanced.
Lin stared numbly at this girl until a flash of pink shot into her vision. Another girl had appeared before her.
"Sorry about this." The new girl said before striking Lin with practiced fingers into arms, stomach and legs. Lin immediately fell limp to these blows and then collapsed to the ground as the knives were removed from the tree. In horror, she felt her clothes being removed with careful precision until she was left in nothing more than her undergarments. She wanted to cry, to hide herself away from this cruelty when something struck her head and she knew no more.
Ty Lee stretched at the clothing she now wore, unable to qualm the rising guilt for the girl she had stolen them from, nor the itch from the scratchy garments.
"How do I look?"
The acrobatic girl had taken out her hair and submitted to an oily scrubbing of her scalp, at Azula's wish to better conceal her identity, to dye her hair black. Now her hair lay to either side of her face in braids.
"Like an Earth Kingdom peasant." Mai said monotonously.
"Which is what we're going for right?" Ty Lee asked her with a teasing smile, her hands on her hips. One of Mai's eyebrows slid upward as if to say "sure, if you don't mind insulting yourself".
"Good," Azula had come up to the two of them, nodding at Ty Lee, "this disguise should allow you safe passage into the city, just make sure you act the part. I expect finding our targets should not take longer than a week, a week and a day at most. We will be moving to the Northern side of the wall and will meet you up there. Remember what we spoke about earlier: Find and track them for awhile, then report back to me. Now go." And with that, Azula turned back to their tank train, the trio's transport once more that they were on the hunt again, impatient to tell the men to pack up and get ready for departure. The two girls watched the princess go before glancing back at each other. Mai stared at Ty Lee, but did not speak. Not expecting a good-bye from her, the acrobatic girl trekked down the hill, careful of her skirts.
"Ty Lee, wait!" Mai suddenly called, striding purposefully down the hill to where Ty Lee stood uncertain. When the raven-haired girl reached her companion, her eyes grated undecidedly across the ground. It seemed she wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in her throat. She opened her mouth twice with nothing to say.
"Yes, Mai?" Ty Lee prompted curiously.
"When you find Zuko…" Mai whispered almost so softly, Ty Lee had almost not heard her, "give this to him." Reaching into her sleeve, Mai gripped at something hidden on her arm and her expression twisted as though she was feeling a tender wound. She produced a steel knife and, giving it one last yearning look, handed it delicately to her friend. Ty Lee mimicked Mai's uncommon reverence of the weapon as she turned it over carefully in her hands. There was an inscription on the blade.
"Never give up without a fight." Ty Lee murmured, then her eyes widened in recognition. "Oh Mai, this isn't…"
The acrobat looked up in shock; but Mai was staring at the knife with clouded eyes, as though reliving a memory. A moment passed in silence. Ty Lee could not believe what she held in her hands. This was an exact replication of Zuko's knife, forged from memory and the girl's skilled eye for detail. Only once did Mai shyly reveal her encounter with the Fire Nation prince to Ty Lee as he battled imaginary Earth Kingdom soldiers and how, when the Fire Lady called for him, he stood still long enough for Mai to steal a proper glance at the knife that she soon after desired to have her own. This was to be her secret relation with the prince that no one else would know of, except Ty Lee of course. Mai had said she would make a perfect mint of that knife, and she had not lied.
"Will you give it to him?" Mai asked even more softly, now looking into Ty Lee's eyes; a rare gaze of trust hung there.
"I…I will." Ty Lee said breathlessly and for the first time for a long time, Mai gave her a small, genuine smile.
"Good luck, Ty Lee." Mai said before turning back up the hill just as Azula called for her. The acrobatic girl smiled at Mai's now hurriedly retreating back.
"I will, Mai. I hope he figures out how much you care about him."
And Ty Lee hurried on her own way to the entrance of the wall below.
Author's Note: This is another poor story that's been sitting on my computer for months, pretty much done. I just tweaked it a little with dialogue in mind glances furtively at swan-swan. I wanted that knife to be Zuko's authentic knife, but I had to settle with a stretch instead. I hope it was still, in some way, believable. I have plans for that replica...
This is probably going to be another "Turbulent Alliance" story--finishes at three chapters with some more backstory and juicy in-between moments; tension, fighting, burning friends. It's going to be fun!
I can't explain why I started off with Azula's point of view, I guess I was feeling evil when I started--oh no wait! I just reached an answer! Azula can have first chapter, Ty Lee the second, and Mai the third. Poor Mai! Last of the draw, but I promise it will be the most exciting of the chapters (and Ty Lee's will most likely be the funniest).
So anyway, I hope you folks enjoyed this little intro snippet and will please review! (It's an awful truth, but I'm more motivated to write a certain story with feedback! )
Blackfire 18