A/N: This story serves as my Round 2 entry for season 2 of the Pro-bending Circut Competition.
My Main Prompt: Pawn - Write about someone or something that appears to be unimportant or expendable who proves to be more important than they or other people realize.
My Additional Prompts: (dialogue) "You can't rush these things", (location) Fire Nation Capital, (smell) incense, (quote) 'In life, as in chess, forethought wins.' - Charles Buxton, (element) water
Word Count: 1356
It was a dark, stormy night in the Fire Nation Capital where Azula, Mai and Ty Lee were staying in the palace.
"So do you really think the Avatar and his friends will try to attack during the eclipse?" Ty Lee asked the Fire Princess. Mai sighed, annoyed by the bubbly girl's idiocy.
"Are you really that naive?" She asked, rolling her eyes. Ty Lee's face fell, she always hated when the other girls acted like this towards her.
"That's not fair Mai. I was - " Ty Lee started, but was cut off by Azula.
"Girls, please." The cold blooded firebender got up, gracefully walking across the room to light a few candles, filling the room with the smell of incense. "I don't want to hear your bickering."
"Well then tell Ty Lee that life isn't a bubbly land of sunshine and rainbows all the time." Mai shook her head, bringing her hand up so she could study her nails. "I don't mean to be rude, but she's making herself a liability because she's never expecting anyone to attack."
"Valid point." Azula agreed, coming to sit beside her friends again. "Ty Lee, I have perfectly valid reasons to believe that there will be an attack on the Fire Nation during the eclipse. I have brought you and Mai here to come up with a plan of action for when that happens."
"Okay." Ty Lee sighed, she was used to being Azula's pawn, always doing the royal girl's dirty work. "I'm sorry Princess." Ty Lee flashed the girl a brilliant smile, but Azula's eye twitched with irritation. Ty Lee only addressed her as Princess when she was trying to suck up.
"Enough!" The firebender growled, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. "The eclipse will be over before we even begin to talk about our defensive maneuvers!"
"Alright, alright." Ty Lee sat down on the floor with her legs tucked into each other. "What's the plan Azula."
"Well, first of all, Mai and I are going to be hiding out in an underground bunker beneath the palace. I'm going to need you standing watch inside."
"Sounds good to me." Mai shrugged, willing to do whatever. Ty Lee on the other hand didn't like the idea very much.
"Why am I the one who has to stay back in the palace?" The usually happy girl asked, a frown taking the place of her normal smile. Mai simply rolled her eyes as if the answer should be obvious.
"Because I'm a better fighter, if anyone slips by you I need to be able to protect Azula." Mai answered, boredom in her tone.
"And I can't do it, I'm important." Azula feigned a shocked and hurt expression, looking at Ty Lee. "You wouldn't want me to get hurt would you Ty Lee?"
"No…" The smaller girl shook her head, the hurt on her face wasn't fake. Azula and Mai had basically just told her that her life didn't matter, she was nothing more than and expendable extra life.
"Good." Azula smirked, a truly wicked expression.
"Are you sure this is the only plan we could think of? You can't rush these things." Ty Lee tried, earning another look of disapproval from the Princess."
"I assure you I have put the appropriate amount of time into thinking about this plan. If you have a problem with it I'm sure we could talk with my father and have the matter resolved."
"Oh no!" Ty Lee bowed to Azula. "I didn't mean it like that! I have no problem with my role in assuring your safety on the day of the eclipse and every other day."
"That's what I thought!" Azula laughed, looking over to Mai. "What do you think? Are you hungry?"
"I could eat." Mai shrugged, playing with the fabric at the bottom of her robes. Azula turned her attention back on the girl dressed in all pink.
"Go to the kitchen and bring us back some tea and snacks." The Fire Princess put her hands on her hips. "And leave your negativity behind before you get back here."
"Okay." Ty Lee stood up, bowing to Azula before hurrying out the door into the rain. The girl sighed as she felt the water soak through her close in the matter of seconds, but going this way was a little bit longer than walking through the palace and she wanted a little bit of time to herself. On her walk Ty Lee thought about her role in the upcoming eclipse bringing the possibility of an attack. It was just like a game of chess, Azula of course was the king that needed to be protected at all times making Ty Lee as just a pathetic little pawn, expected to throw herself in harm's way for the sake of the king. "I'm not expendable." Ty Lee told herself, stopping in the middle of the courtyard. She'd run away from her old life with her identical sisters just to escape the possibility. Thunder crashed through the angry sky and Ty Lee opened her arms, letting the rain crash down onto her face, willing it to wash away her sorrows. She thought about her insignificance for a long time, only being pulled out of her thoughts when she'd heard a loud crash come from behind her.
"Shh! What are you doing?!" Ty Lee heard a whispered voice growl. The soaking wet girl turned around to see who it belonged to.
"Who's there!?" She demanded squinting into the darkness. The young acrobat could have sworn she saw the silhouette of two men walking towards Azula's suite, a burst of lightning illuminating the sky confirmed her suspicions. "Hey! Stop!" Ty Lee shouted, running over to them.
"Where'd you come from?!" One of the men demanded, swiping at her with a knife. Ty Lee jumped back an inch, causing the weapon to slice air.
"You're here for the Princess!" Ty Lee accused, putting two and two together quite easily.
"What if we are? Who are you to stop us?" The second man asked, using his bending to turn the rain into icy spears and fling them towards her. Ty Lee spun out of the way, flying through the air with expert grace as she contemplated their moves.
"Get her!" The man with the sword demanded, charging at Ty Lee. The girl simply smirked, thinking of this as a game of chess. Moves and countermoves… the person who outthought the other would come out on top. Ty Lee dodged another slice of the man's sword, going back to back with him, when the attacker's partner went to hurl a chunk of ice at her head she ducked.
"Paiwei!" The waterbender shouted too late as he watched his partner fall to the ground, passed out due to the force of the ice chunk hitting the back of his head. Ty Lee smirked thinking that in life, as in chess, forethought wins.
"Let's go!" Ty Lee called over to her opponent, motioning for him to give her his best shot. It was a lot easier to dodge his water whips and flying ice without having to worry about the sword Paiwei had been wielding. Within a minute Ty Lee had chi blocked the waterbender and overpowered him, leaving him in a heap beside his partner. "Hmm." Ty Lee smiled, wiping her hands off as she looked at her handiwork.
"Ty Lee!" Azula called, standing in the doorway of the Princess suite, she couldn't see the two men Ty Lee had just fought from where she was standing. "What are you doing to make all that noise?! Go get the snacks right now!"
"Right away Azula!" Ty Lee smiled despite having the door slammed in her face, this wasn't the first time she'd saved Azula from people trying to hurt her and even though the Princess thought she was worthless Ty Lee knew it wouldn't be the last time. She didn't need to tell Azula or Mai about this to prove she was more important than people thought, they would learn on their own when the time was right.