A/N: Hey, this is my first fanfic, I hope you all enjoy it. It's for one of my favorite pairings and I'm not sure where I'm going yet, so updates might be few and far between. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. Thanks.

Also, I would like to thank Fullmetal Catalyst (formerly Cadmos) for looking over this story and helping me decide plot lines and twists and just overall being awesome.

Hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

Dancing in the Treetops

Chapter 1: The View From Above

Ty Lee swung through the trees, nimble as a hog monkey. The ground flowed beneath her in a way that would have made most people dizzy, but Ty Lee had been climbing for almost as long as she had been doing gymnastics - and that was a long time. Jumping through the top of the forest was easy for her, and came as naturally as walking did for other people.

Restless, she had gone ahead to scout while her companions, Mai and Azula, made camp. At least, her official reason was scouting. If she was being completely honest with herself, that wasn't the only reason she had left the campsite. She needed time on her own, to think and to just be alone. Much as she loved her friends, Azula and Mai weren't the best company. Mai was like a sister to her, but Ty Lee could only take so much of her dreariness before she had to do something fun. And Azula... Ty Lee had looked up to the princess her entire life, and Azula always awed her with amazing abilities, from her lightning to her composure to her innate talent for intimidation. But as close as she was to Azula, she couldn't forget how Azula treated her sometimes. When the princess's aura got all cold, colder than usual, cold in the way of endless winter, cold like the steel of a blade, Ty Lee was scared. Her aura had been that way the night she had watched Ty Lee perform at the circus. Ruthless. Determined. Stopping at nothing to get what she came for.

And Azula had gotten what she wanted. She always did.

A faint light in the distance broke her reverie, and Ty Lee slowed her progress and moved stealthily through the trees. It was unlikely that anyone would see her, but it never hurt to be careful; the Avatar was supposed to be close. A twig snapped below her, and Ty Lee froze. Looking down, she saw the cute warrior boy traveling with the Avatar who she had first seen at the lake. He was gathering firewood and complaining loudly at the same time.

"Why do I have to gather the firewood? Katara could probably just do some water-magic and get the fish to do it for her or something."

Ty Lee, about 20 feet above him, giggled quietly to herself. This boy was cute and funny. Too bad he wasn't from the fire nation, she thought, her imagination sobering momentarily.

The warrior soon finished gathering firewood and Ty Lee was devoid of amusement. She followed him back to the Avatar's camp and soon had the exciting opportunity to watch the group argue about what must be the watch schedule, from what she could tell from the few words the wind carried her way. She took the opportunity to study the Avatar and his companions. For someone with so much power, he certainly didn't look like much. A small boy, with Airbender tattoos visible on his arms and head. But what struck Ty Lee most about him was his aura. It was so... good. Ty Lee didn't consider herself a bad person. But compared to the Avatar, all her mistakes and evils seemed atrocious and unforgivable. Strange. He was talking animatedly to two of his friends, the cute Water Tribe boy and what looked like his sister. The girl had a certain grace about her that Ty Lee envied. She supposed waterbending might give people a flow to their natural movements. However, Ty Lee soon switched focus to the warrior. She couldn't make out the details of his face from here, but she remembered from fighting him at the lake and watching it from the treetops; it was a strong face, very expressive. Ty Lee grinned. This probably wasn't what Azula and Mai had in mind when they heard she was going to scout. Shaking the thoughts of her companions from her head, her gaze moved on to the last member of their group: a little girl in Earth Kingdom garb, sullenly sitting down with her back against the flying bison the Avatar had. Ty Lee smiled, looking at the large creature. It reminded her of her days back at the circus, where she frolicked with huge animals on a daily basis. In a different life, perhaps the she and the bison could have been friends. Ty Lee tried to force those thoughts from her brain. If Azula ever found out...

Glancing at the sun, Ty Lee saw that there was less than an hour of daylight left. She grimaced. It would be hard to find her way back to the campsite in the dark, and Ty Lee suddenly regretted straying so far from her camp. Being bored and comfortable with Azula and Mai would be preferable to sleeping in a tree tonight.

...

Sokka sighed. Aang and Katara just didn't seem to get it.

"Look, you guys," he said. "We've been pursued for a long time. We don't know when those three girls will come up again, or even Zuko! We can't forget about him!"

"You're right, Sokka. We've been pursued for a long time. And during that time, we've never posted watches!" Katara was adamant in her decision. "We all need our sleep," she said, her voice softening. "Even you."

Sokka shook his head. "This could be the difference between saving the world and being captured! Did anyone save the world while they were sleeping?" He knew that this was the right thing to do. "I always have trouble getting up. But I will sleep less if it means we have another day to fight."

Aang shrugged. "I don't know, Sokka. If we don't sleep, how will we fight?"

"There's a watch schedule. Each of us will sleep enough. Trust me. My instincts tell me that this will help us."

"And we all know how accurate they've been..." grumbled Katara. But she grudgingly consented.

Sokka looked at Toph, who had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the conversation. "Don't you have anything to say about this?"

Her response was typical for Toph: short, snippy, and laced with sarcasm. "Well, don't you see one small problem with me being on watch duty? They don't call it watch for nothing, you know."

Slapping his forehead, Sokka apologized. "Right... sorry."

"I'll take first watch!" yelled Aang, his eagerness, as always, unmatched.

...

Thwack! The harsh call reverberated through the tree Ty Lee was sleeping in and brought her to an abrupt awakening. Thwack! Thwack! Shaking her drowsiness away, she looked down. What could it be?

...

Thwack! Sokka hacked again with his machete, trying to break the lower branches of a tree bordering the camp. Finally he succeeded in chopping them off. Sokka settled with his back against the tree and grabbed the nearest stick, using his knife to strip the bark of the twig. Ever since he had made Yue that horrible carved fish he had wished that he was better at it, and had been practicing every chance he could get.

Yue. How he wished she were still here. Sokka had been given the task of protecting her, and he failed. If he'd just been stronger or faster, he might have been able to stop Zhao from taking the moon spirit - stopped Yue from killing herself. Everyone said it wasn't his fault. But Sokka couldn't help thinking that if he'd done more the princess of the Northern Water Tribe would still be here.

Yue. How he missed her. Her beautiful white hair, her soft hands, her blue eyes that made him feel like he was looking into an ocean so deep that he could dive for miles and still not reach the bottom; everything about her had been perfect. And now she was gone.

Yue.

...

Her curiosity piqued, Ty Lee swung down below the branch she'd been sleeping on, dangling by her feet. Trusting the darkness to conceal her, she turned toward the source of the noise. It was the cute warrior again! He was sitting by a tree, doing something with his hands. Intrigued, Ty Lee recklessly leaped to another tree, bounced off it and landed on the tree next to the water tribe boy. He looked up, but she was sure he couldn't see her. After a few seconds, he went back to what he was doing.

Now that Ty Lee was closer, she could see he was carving or whittling something. Try as she might, she couldn't make out what it was, so she settled for the next best thing. Relaxing into a sitting position, Ty Lee gazed into the blue-clad warrior's eyes, which were reflecting the moonlight in a most appealing fashion. He really was beautiful...

...

Sokka looked up towards the moon. On nights like these when the moon was full, or so close to being full it was nearly indistinguishable, he could almost feel Yue's presence. The trees rustled and for a moment Sokka thought he saw a flash of pink. What would something pink be doing in a tree? Sokka shrugged. He was probably just imagining it; besides, he had more important things on his mind. Staring up at the glimmering white mass, Sokka's thoughts were of a night months before, in the Northern Water Tribe.

...

Ty Lee was enthralled. She had seen the warrior boy before. She had seen him fight, argue, complain, work, run away, ride on the bison: everything. But she had never seen him like this, so overcome with emotion that it reflected in his aura. So wounded. So vulnerable. Ty Lee leaned in as close as she dared, content to gaze into the Water Tribe boy's eyes forever. She had concerns that needed to be answered, problems that needed to be resolved, missions that needed to be finished. But the acrobat girl let all of that slip away as she took full enjoyment of the view from above.