Continuity Edit to Previous Chapter. Such is the nature of an unplanned narrative. It's much more planned now.

A Kyoshi Lament

Eyes always watch the shadows. *scribblescribble* Ask the watchmen and we? they will tell, from *scribble* turret over sleeping fort to chair on creaking porch, pregnant (?) is the dark with terrible possibility. *doodle* And the vigilant guard against the dark, always. *scaryfacedoodle* "Stop that!"* It is for this reason that those who wish to go unseen veil themselves elsewhere. *scribble* A frightening notion that the sentries have come to find. Holding the panoramic blackness *"that's good"* at bay seems all we can do, without sparing an eye for the lamplight at our back. For the warm rooms of our homes. *"I am awesome"* Our best guard seems never to be enough and when it (inevitably) fails *doom!* we falter. *?*

Sokka balled up that hurried speech in his palm nicked with fresh cuts. Hooks and nets always seemed to get under his skin at the start of the new fishing season.

His first draft was much better. Much more direct. Would work this crowd best. He would read the first draft.

A breeze beneath the lintel and another entered.

In lavender trails did the mourning stream, from every doorway left open, winding down the streets entwining as they climbed from the slope of the town, the confluence at the town hall, at dawn, after the young fisherman trafficked out in their hand-me-down boats to drag for their first catches. Fishing was necessary to keep the village "above water" as it was so punnily put time and again by a certain Water Tribesman long turned local. The few sailing out, still would rather have paid their respects and perhaps worked doubly hard the next day. Unrealistic and not worth the cost, but still… they knew where their hearts were that day. And they knew her spirit would understand. It would be irked and snide about it, but it would understand.

The Kyoshi totem, mounting the oaken pillar in the center of town, hung its head in reverence for her fallen daughter. Even her face paint seemed to run today. Much had been running recently. And it hadn't rained for a long time.

The whole village turned out for the viewing. Some were decked out in full Kyoshi battle regalia and second guessing their decision to attend in full makeup. Others were dressed more simply, somberly with ocean and jade cloth. Sokka was the latter. Suki was most fully the former, but she never second guessed herself. The whole day before was a careful frenzy of preparation, polishing sigils, fans, ornaments. Grinding her katana to a whining edge. Ordering every single silken jade thread of her attire.

Were her eyes baggy from lack of sleep, Sokka thought, or…?

He tugged his long "warrior's wolf tail" taught, patted his eight year-old son to stop poking his five year-old little sister, and rose before the alter. Liu Mi lay in her battledress with that severe look (as she willed) and a blanket of poppies covering her (not in her will but pretty).

"Peace," Sokka started declaratively. It was a full house. "It's hard to make. Even harder to maintain. Those who would break it stalk every shadow, lurk behind every shroud. We all fought for this. Liu Mi was a proponent of peace and-"

"Achoo!… gah…" Lee regretted the sneeze even as it left his face. He shrank at the back of the room, into his cloak, felt his concealed weapons dig into his back and his hand itching to clutch one. He really felt uncomfortable here. In this village and especially in this room. Imagine all the tortuous scenarios behind those hundred villager eyes that had trained on him. But this was where Aun… Sifu had bid him attend, despite him having no knowledge of the victim *strikethat* girl *strikethat* young woman. The thought of Sifu finding him fled his post… he weathered this discomfort gratefully.

It was in this interruption (he recognized the well-meaning kid from his inn on the beach) that Sokka, for all his panic, noticed someone - an old enemy turned friend - was missing. It didn't help him in getting back on track.

"Liu Mi was proud," Suki called out before rising. She shone in spite of the twilight room. Her battle crown shimmered, crisp new leather glistened proudly and the custom blue inlays that her husband had painstakingly (so many little cuts in his hands) added were ostentatious and lovely for it.

"As a Kiyoshi Warrior should be. Perhaps beyond that, in her case. I knew it put some of you… off. I often found myself furious with her bruskness. But she never deserved…" the woman rallied, not able to go there just yet. Not in public, anyway.

She diverted: "I also know she was fighting in the end. She couldn't not have been…"

A pause and search for words.

"Our best guard never seems to be enough, and when it fails we falter."

Suki slipped her gloved fingers into her husbands scarred, shaky palm and smiled up at him warmly. The shaking stopped. His son and daughter came up and hugged at his legs, almost knocking him over.

Sokka took the cue and took up the speech:

"We question our station and what real good it does. How can we guard against the deep unknown and why? Never does it yield the worst monsters. They always come from where we cannot guard. Dear places. So why bother? I've thought this before. Thought to quit and shut myself away. I've been hopeless. But never again. Like Liu Mi, I will never falter. I shall always be so brave as her. We should all aspire to that courage. That was Liu Mi, and it still is. Her legacy, her courage, ever lives on."

And a slight whisper passed from the alter, unheard by ears. It approved and took its rest.

The long pink scarf concealing her neck whipped wildly with the wind. The bay stunk extra good today and the firm breeze over the treetops was the best vantage from which to drink it in. At the shore it was keen, for sure, but high on the wind above the forest, it took on a much crisper taste, mingled with other verdant smells.

The long blue sky. The loopy sea hawks. The chipmunk-rabbits making those scuttly little sounds on the wood. The arms of the island hugging the bay. She let her mind wander away from lament, if only for a moment. For the sake of her sanity. Her friend would understand the reprieve.

"Hiding, Ty Lee? Are you so afraid to face death?"

The voice from the ground far below was strange and familiar. It didn't sound like a threat. More like a humble query and, considering the circumstances, a reasonable question.

The scarcely human orchid of a woman floated deftly from her lofty perch atop a high pine. Her touch on each branch was lighter than a whisper. She landed and, catlike, drew herself up to meet this intruder. Some woman, long in the face and black hair. Sharp eyed and… something on the tip of her mind. Someone.

"That was mean of you. Who do you think you…" - the revelation was neck-snappingly swift. - "…are."

As Azula spread her arms, a gleaming black kunai in each had, Ty Lee closed the distance before Time could catch her, her fists balled, knuckles bared and ready to punch organs into paste.

The kunai dropped. Azula made no move to defend. She lowered her head and found that, luckily, the other woman had stopped a coarse hairs breadth from smashing Azula's solar plexus into her spine.

Face to face, Azula observed how little time had touched her old friend. Still the braid. Still the button face. Still the grey eyes. Her dress seemed a shade drab - tones taken from pine needles rich in their spring green, trimmed in goldenrod and a bright fall fulvous sash - but only in contrast the image Azula held and fostered of her childhood companion. The gaudy pink scarf tried to make up for it, but her aura was still found wanting, Azula assumed.

"Why are you here?" Ty Lee asked, withdrawing her fist and putting a space between her and her visitor.

Azula cut straight to the chase. "The funeral. I'm certain I know who did this. If you're willing… you can join me. I, too, am seeking a retribution. She isn't my specific target, but we seek… we'll likely meet along the way. You could find your friend, Liu Mi's, killer. It could be… cathartic."

"What makes you think I'm into that sort of thing, Azula?"

The civet woman's mouth curled at a corner and made Ty Lee's blood run cold with deliberately forgotten ghosts.

"Are you leaving me a choice?" the flexible woman averred.

"Someone you love has been taken from you," Azula said, "and that harbinger of hate is roaming free. Roaming your world. And you can do something about it. A responsibility to affect change. I ask, do you even have a choice?"

Ty Lee bowed her head but kept her eyes locked on her old "friend."

Then Azula did something unexpected, again.

She wavered.

"Alright, I'm sorry for that. It came out a little… too familiar, I'm sure." Her timbre was still glib, but not as confident as the Kyoshi warrior remembered. "I didn't mean it that way. This time, I just really need your help, Ty Lee. Not want, but need. I honestly couldn't see myself winning the coming battle. Not the way I am. Not alone. And I don't know how you feel about it, but I'd rather not… die."

Ty Lee remained mum. For all her unchanging features, she was very much a grown up. Her brightness was undimming, but her naiveté had been culled long ago. Azula had been the first to strike it and slowly hack it away. For that, Ty Lee reasoned to storm off. Tell her off! Tell her to go and kill and enjoy it like old times alone!

"I can wait," Azula said. She let her arm swing once weakly. "…or leave if you've already found your answer."

But that wasn't Ty Lee. It never had been and it never would be. However…

"I will not be used."

"!"

"What's more, Liu Mi is murdered and days later you turn up?"

"T-Ty Lee… I didn't…"

"Don't do that!" It took all her fortitude to scream. Hearing Azula stammer shook Ty Lee like nothing she had experienced. "No games! No acts! All you've ever done is play people, myself included and nothing you could say-"

"He killed my lover!"

Ty Lee blinked. She was almost surprised.

"The father of my child."

Azula w-with a… a kid! Now she was surprised. Another lie? Likely. But...

"I can wait," Azula said. She let her arm swing once weakly. "…or leave if you've already found your answer."

Ty Lee suppressed the urge to sigh.

In retrospect, I thought about killing somebody significant (read: canon) and giving them that speech from Sokka, but thought better of it. Too much flaming would likely come of killing someone important.