Azula rubbed her hand impatiently while she waited in her cabin for any news. It had been a few hours since scouts had made contact with the village. Reports were that it was small, virtually defensless unless the Avatar was there.

If he is, it could possibly be harder to crack than Ba Sing Se.

She started when there was a knock on her door. She sighed as she sat up, "Come in." The door cracked open and Ty Lee slipped in. They had been the best of friends since either could remember, and Ty Lee had left with the princess when she had been sent into exile. Azula couldn't count the number of times that Ty Lee's presence had helped keep her sane, especially on a ship full of smelly old sailors.

"You didn't come out for lunch, are you feeling Ok." The girl asked meekly.

Azula laid back on the bed, bringing her bandaged hand up to her face. She examined it for a moment before responding. "I'm so close, I can feel it. He's here. I'm certain of it."

Ty Lee walked up to the bed and sat on the corner. She took Azula's hand and held in tightly. She looked into her friends eyes with concern. "Azula, what do you think capturing the Avatar will accomplish. Do you think your father will welcome you back, make you his heir."

"It's likely." Azula said, staring up at the ceiling, her face blank of emotion.

"And what if he does. It wouldn't last long, and you know it. You'd be on his good side for a month, maybe two, and then he'd star to think about-"

"I'll think of something by then." Azula interjected. Her face was strained with determination as she thought about it. I'll think of something, secure my power base. Make it harder for him to take me down. Ty Lee reached out and stroked some hair out of Azula's face, then gave a strained smile. The princess looked at her friend in surprise.

"I worry about you Azula. Sometimes I feel like you're obsessed with this, with gaining power." Ty Lee said.

Azula returned her gaze to the ceiling. "Maybe. But without power, who am I. Just another firebender. One of hundreds. When I should be leading them. It's my blood-right. It's owed to me, and yet my brother stole it away, and all my father did was watch."

The other girl only sighed. Azula felt a tinge of amusement, a smirk quirking her lips. Ty Lee also smiled, and then let out a giggle. Soon the both of them were laughing. It wasn't the first time they had had this conversation, most of the time it ended like this.

"Where would I be without you, Ty Lee." Azula said as she sat up to hug her friend.

There was a knock on the door. Both girls let out a groan at having the moment spoiled. "Yes, what is it." Azula said as she got up off the bed. The door opened and a Fire Nation soldier stepped in and gave a salute.

"It's the derelict, there's been activity."

******

The small orange figure leapt from the command tower and down to the deck, and from there to the ice. Azula was astonished at the feat of agility and bending. There was no mistaking it, this person was an airbender. This person was the Avatar.

"He appears to be incredibly agile for a 100 plus year old man." Azula said as she lowered the spying scope. "Capturing him may not be easy."

"Not all old people are fat and lazy like me." Iroh joked.

Azula let out a strained smile. She had found the Avatar, now came the hard part. She turned to the captain. "I want a real coal fire under our decks as soon as possible. There's no way we'll be able to take that village by surprise in a ship this big, or if we were to traverse the ice. In any case, we may be able to gain some sort of fear facter if conditions are right."

She turned to her Uncle next. "Get the men ready. Inform them of everything you know about Airbenders. Tactics, techniques, capabilities. I want them to know what they wear to bed if you know it. You're a wealth of archaic information Uncle, we may need that."

Finally, she turned to Ty Lee. "Get my battle-dress and meet me in the room."

She smiled as everyone went to their tasks. Her victory was at hand.

*****

Fog had settled over the ship. Everything was eerily quiet aside from the mechanical beating of the ships engine. Azula and her Firebenders were below decks, at the landing ramp, ready to meet whatever would be on the other side when it finally went down.

The lurched as it struck ice, then shook as it powered through the ice toward the wall of the village. The ship rumbled around them as if they were in some great big beast. Finally, the trembling stopped with one last great lurch, signaling that they had slammed into the wall.

Azula put on her helmet as the ramp began to hiss with steam. It lifted and fell, revealing the water tribe village. Against her expectation, it seemed that the Avatar wasn't there. Probably hiding. She thought.

She and her Firebenders started down the ramp. A young boy ran up to them, he was either the villages lone warrior or the local idiot. Probably Idiot. Azula thought as she kicked his weapon out of his hands and then kicked him into the snow.

"I'll give you all one chance, tell me where the Avatar is, an no one will get hurt." Azula demanded as she reached the edge of the ramp and stalked up to the line of peasant villagers that had gathered.

Everyone of them looked upon her with nothing but fear in their eyes. Some of them tried to speak, but couldn't. Azula nodded to one of her men, and he quickly turned and set fire to one of the tents. As it burned down, a few of the villager's began to cry. She noted that no one ran out of it screaming. Good, the less bloodshed there is, the better.

"Now, I'll ask again. Where is the Avatar?" She stepped forward and grabbed an old woman from the crowd. "He should be around this age, most likely older. A master of all four elements. A monk."

She heard a raging shout from behind her. Azula turned as the fool ran toward her again. She blocked the attack with ease and lifted the idiot over herself. The young man tumbled into the snow, but quickly recovered, going into a fighting stance.

Maybe he isn't such a fool after all. The warrior drew a weapon and threw it. Azula dodged it with ease as it curved past her head. She then saw that the warrior was all out of weapons. Or not.

A child came out from the croud and threw a weapon to him. "Show no fear." The young boy shouted. The warrior grabbed the spear and ran forward, point held first. Azula deflected the blow with her right hand, then broke the tip with her left. She grabbed the broken shaft and poked the young man in the head with the end of the weapon until he let go. With a satisfied smile, she snapped the remains in two and tossed them to the ground.

The warrior looked up at her with fear filled eyes. Hmm… she thought, he's kindof cute when he's terrified. Maybe I'll take him prisoner. Suddenly, she heard a whiring sound and was struck in the head. The thrown weapon came back to the warrior, and he grabbed it.

Azula balled her fists in rage, and the bandages on her right hand began to burn off. She brought it up to blast when she heard something coming in behind her. Her legs were swept out from underneath her and her helmet went flying as something sped between her legs. Azula was quick to catch herself, letting out a grunt as her right hand carried all of her weight for just a moment. Then she flipped and landed in a fighting stance.

Infront of her stood a boy, not even a young man, in orange robes. His head was bald and he had an arrow tattoo. "I wont let you hurt these people!" He shouted.

"Then bring me the Avatar and we'll leave."

The boy looked at her in surprise, then relaxed into a casual stance. "If I go with you, will you leave these people alone."

For a moment, Azula didn't know what he was talking about. But then his meaning became clear to her. HE is the Avatar? But he is merely a child. She thought incredulously. So are you. She answered herself. She relaxed her stance, then nodded. She motioned for her men to take the boys staff, then bind him. Wisely, he didn't resist.

A few of the villagers offered words to the departing Air Nomad. She led the boy onto her ship.

*******

"I've been looking for you for a long time." Azula said to the Avatar. "You were said to be a master of all four elements, the most powerful bender in the world. But now I see that you are only a little boy, who is now my prisoner." She took the staff. "This will make a fine gift for father. Guards, take him to the brig. Ty Lee, please put this in my quarters.

Azula watched as the guards led the boy below decks, then went into the control tower and started walking up to the bridge. The moment she got there, she heard a cry from the deck.

"The Avatar has escaped!!!"

Incompetent idiots. Azula thought. She turned and ran down the steps and toward her quarters. She knew he would go for his staff.

She got there as Ty Lee was leaving. Azula grabbed her friend and pulled her back into the room, hiding behind the door. It wasn't long before the Avatar entered the room.

Ty Lee closed the door and Azula opened up with a volley of fireballs. The young boy dodged the first attack, and the second, running for the corner. Azula smiled as he panted heavily,his face a mask of fear.

She attacked again, and again he dodged around the room. Ty Lee quickly moved in as well, the two girls forming a tag team offense against the young boy. He moved in close, dodging each of Azula and Ty Lee's attacks. It was bewildering how fast he was.

He rolled between them, dodging a blast of fire and ducking behind a fire nation banner. He took it off the wall and ran towards and around them, wrapping them close in it. Azula and Ty Lee were pressed together face to face. This is embarrassing, she thought for a moment before burning through the banner. They both saw the Avatar holding his stance in a fighting position.

Before either girl could strike, the Avatar swept up the bed on a cushion of air, smashing both girls against the wall, then up against the ceiling. They came down onto the mattress in a tangled wreck. By the time they had recovered and untangled from each other, the Avatar had escaped.

Azula got up to pursue him, Ty Lee close behind.

Followed him to the bridge, arriving just in time to see him leap from the balcony and open his staff into a fan like glider. Ty Lee ran past Azula and leapt after him, crossing what seemed like an impossible amount of space before latching onto his leg. Both Airbender and young woman tumbled to the deck.

"Ty Lee!!" Azula shouted as they struck. She turned and ran down the stairs, hopping to get there in time to help. Is she alright, she hit pretty hard, Azula thought in a panic.

She reached a porthole and quickly glanced through it. Ty Lee was allright and in battle with the avatar. She's ok. She breathed a sigh of relief, then resumed her run down the stairs. She found herself leaping the last few as her uncle appeared beside her and they ran out onto the open deck.

Ty Lee and some of the Firebenders were frozen in place, and the Avatar was getting away on some kind of flying beast. Rage boiled up in Azula's veins. "Shoot them down!" she cried.

She and her uncle spun, and threw their arms into the air, flame pouring fourth into a massive fireball.

The blast shot up toward the Avatar. Somehow, he managed to deflect it into the side of the glacier, and ice fell down onto the ship.

Azula glared up in anger at the departing creature. Her mind quickly turned to other things, however, and she ran to her trapped friend. "I'll handle this one, go help another." She said to the firebender attempting to thaw Ty Lee out.

It wasn't long before the girl was freed and shivering in Azula's arms. "You ok." The princess said quietly.

"Yeah, just cold." Ty Lee answered. She looked at her friend in apprehension. "Don't underestimate him Azula, he's powerful. Very Powerful."

"It's ok, get in, get warm, get some rest." Azula said. As the medic lead her friend in, the princess set her expression into one of determination. I wont underestimate him again, count on it.

A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys. This one took a long time, and is pretty long itself. Over an episodes worth of story, so it is quite a bit. That said, it felt a little rushed near the end, so comments and crit. Is appreciated.

And yes, there will be some elements of Tyzula in this piece. I like Tyzula, it makes sense to me. But have no fear, I'll try and make it organic. I'll be explaining why Ty Lee is with Azula on the ship in later chapters as well.

And if anyone starts to feel that I'm messing up Azula's Characterization too much than what the story and situation merit, thatn please please tell me and help me work It out. She's a hard character too wright and I appreciate all the help I can get.

Once again, comments are welcome, they fuel my Muse.