In all honesty, I almost forgot about this chapter before I realised that it had been almost a week since I last updated, so I figured that I'd give you guys something. This ones a bit of a filler one, since there isn't really any action but there's some good bonding moments in there for everyone. This chapter takes place sometime around Avatar Day.
Grand Scheme of Things
Soon after they left Omashu – or New Ozai as it was now called – Azula, Izanami, Mai and Ty Lee travelled to Hu Xin, one of the many colonies in the Earth Kingdom that were under Fire Nation rule. There were several provinces in the area, and Azula being Azula made sure that she and her friend got the most luxurious one as their pit stop. Azula didn't tell her friends how long they would be staying there, she just told them that she was working on a little project that would help them during their travels. Izanami rarely saw Azula in that time, which gave her more time to spend with Mai and Ty Lee.
It wasn't that Izanami had anything against them personally, Mai and Ty Lee just never really… meshed as well as Azula and Izanami did. Mai was just too depressing for Izanami to be around, while Ty Lee could be a bit suffocating at times. Both Azula and Izanami weren't really the touchy-feely type, which was something that Ty Lee was yet to understand. Sometimes Izanami questioned why they were even friends with Azula, since Azula is a cold and demanding person, which is the exact opposite of Ty Lee. As for Mai, she just doesn't really have Azula's zest as Izanami called it.
Izanami, Mai and Ty Lee were currently lounging around in their room, which was arguably the size of Izanami's house back at home. Izanami sighed longingly as she thought about home. The person that she thought the most about was her mother. Izanami and her mother were always close, since her father was always off doing his work. Izanami knew that her mother was hesitant about letting her travel with Azula, but she understood why her daughter had to go. Izanami's mind then drifted to her brother, who she hadn't heard from in almost three years. The last time Izanami had heard anything from he was when he wrote to her on her twelfth birthday. Her brother would be twenty-four now. As for her father, Izanami never really had the bond with him like she had with her mother. They got along civilly, they just didn't have your stereotypical father-daughter relationship.
It was kind of ironic how different Izanami's family was compared to Azula's. Izanami's mother was her rock, and she didn't know what she'd do without her. Azula despised her mother and would rather her stay wherever she is. Izanami missed her brother more than she ever thought she could, while Azula would happily kill her own brother if she had to. Izanami's father and her were hardly close, while Azula was what most people called a daddy's girl. Sometimes Izanami even wondered how they were even friends, but they somehow made it work despite the obvious differences. Azula was the one person in the world that Izanami had ever really called a friend.
"So, what do you guys think we should do now?" Ty Lee suddenly asked, snapping Izanami out of her thoughts.
"There's nothing to do here," Mai muttered.
"She's kind of right. We've already seen everything there is to see, and let me say, it's nothing special," Izanami added.
"But I'm bored. Aren't you guys bored too?" Ty Lee prolonged.
"I'm perfectly happy with staying here until Azula comes back from whatever it is she's doing," Mai said.
"Speaking of which, what do you guys think she's doing?" Ty Lee inquired.
Izanami shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."
"You mean you don't know what she's planning?" Ty Lee asked.
"I only know what she told you guys. You two know just as well as I do that Azula isn't one for giving away her plans until the moment of truth," Izanami replied.
"I just hope it speeds up the process. Now she's got us chasing her brother and uncle along with the Avatar," Mai said.
"But you have no problem with the Zuko part, don't you?" Izanami teased.
Mai glared at me, "Will you guys cut that out?"
"Come on, Mai. We always thought you and Zuko were cute together. Too bad he's a traitor now," Ty Lee mused.
"They could still have some sweet, forbidden romance," Izanami suggested.
Ty Lee clapped her hands excitedly, "Oh, that's exciting. I've always loved the idea of forbidden love. It seems so romantic."
"What's so exciting about being in a forbidden romance?" Mai asked in her usual melancholy voice.
"The excitement of sneaking around, knowing the consequences if you get caught but still doing it anyways. It's like having a dirty little secret, but it's so intoxicating," Ty Lee replied.
"Have you been reading romance novels lately, Ty Lee?" Izanami asked.
Ty Lee giggled, "No. I just love love. How about you, Izana? What have you been up to?"
"Well, I hardly have the time to read any romance novels since I'm on Azula's mission," Izanami replied sarcastically.
"No, silly. What have you been up to since I last saw you?" Ty Lee asked.
"Oh. Well, not much, really. I've just been spending time with Azula, training while helping around the house," Izanami replied.
"How is your mom? I always liked her. She baked us cookies," Ty Lee said.
"My mom's been alright. It's just been hard on us without our dad there to support us while my brothers off fighting. Last I heard, he got promoted to Lieutenant sometime last year," Izanami replied.
"It's a shame we've never met your brother. By the way you talk about him, he seems really cool," Ty Lee said.
Izanami smiled, "Yeah, he was pretty cool. We'd always pull pranks together and get into all sorts of mischief. Other than Azula, he was the only person I ever really considered a best friend."
"Has Azula changed at all since I last saw her?" Ty Lee asked.
"You mean you can't see it?" Izanami asked dubiously.
Ty Lee shrugged, "She doesn't really seem that different."
"Well, she is a lot more serious with her training. Ever since she got her blue fire she's been more intense than ever. It's kind of scary watching her train with lightning. But she's still just as strong and determined as she's ever been," Izanami explained.
"Oh. It's kind of crazy to think that Azula could have that much power. When I first heard of her blue fire, I was shocked. I didn't even think that was possible," Ty Lee admitted.
"Neither did Azula, or even Ozai. But apparently, it's because her fire burns hotter than the usual red fire," Izanami said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to surpass Ozai's skills in a few years. I mean, everyone calls him the most powerful firebender, but Azula's pretty powerful too," Ty Lee noted.
Izanami nodded in agreement, "Well, Azula is determined to one day best her father. It's the only thing she trains towards now she's overpowered everyone else."
"I don't know how you even deal with it," Mai suddenly said.
"What do you mean?" Izanami asked as she turned to face Mai who was still lounging on her chair as she twirled her dagger around.
"How can you deal with Azula constantly being on your case?" Mai asked, "I could hardly handle her back when I was still in Caldera City."
Izanami shrugged, "You get used to it overtime. I've learned not to question whatever she does. That only makes her mad and things always work out in the end."
"I don't see why she needed our help," Mai said.
"What's wrong with our help?" Ty Lee asked.
"I figured that Azula would always do something like this solo. She always did say if you want something done right that you have to do it yourself. Guess she's not that powerful then," Mai replied.
Izanami raised an eyebrow, "Um, Azula could incinerate you on the spot with a single lightning strike before you could even fire a single dagger. I wouldn't question her power if I were you."
"Besides, I thought you wanted to come with us, Mai," Ty Lee noted.
"Yeah, because I thought it would be more exciting than what Omashu had to offer. I'd been seeing nothing but the same thing for weeks," Mai complained.
"Technically it's New Ozai now," Izanami pointed out.
"Whatever. Azula better come back with something for us to do. Otherwise I might just go back to New Ozai," Mai said.
"Come on, it's only been like two weeks since we left. We have to track down the Avatar or Iroh and Zuko before we can even do anything," Ty Lee reasoned.
"Why can't we just do the tracking ourselves?" Mai asked.
"Well, we don't really have that much for transportation. We need something fast if we're gonna be able to track them down. I mean, we are competing with a flying bison," Izanami replied.
"I thought those were extinct," Ty Lee said.
Izanami rolled her eyes, "Yeah, just like how people thought the airbenders were extinct. But they've still got one alive and kicking."
"It must be fun to fly," Ty Lee said.
"Um, what?" Izanami asked, slightly amused.
"Well, you saw what the Avatar did at Omashu. He pulled out his glider and actually flied. I've always wondered what it would feel like to fly," Ty Lee replied.
"It's probably as empty as your head," Mai muttered, causing me to snort with laughter.
"What?" Ty Lee asked as she looked between us.
Izanami sighed, "It's nothing."
"It's always nothing. Why can't I know?" Ty Lee asked.
"Trust me, you don't want to," Izanami said.
"Ugh, fine. Oh, I know what we should do. We should play cartwheels!" Ty Lee exclaimed.
"Ty Lee, we haven't played the game since we were nine. Besides, you always beat us," I pointed out.
"Yeah, but it was fun," Ty Lee said.
"For you," Mai muttered.
"Why don't you guys never wanna do fun stuff? What's wrong with a little fun in your lives?" Ty Lee asked.
"Everything," Mai replied dryly.
Izanami chuckled to herself as she carefully slipped out of the room undetected, not wanting to be a part of the conversation anymore. Unlike Azula, Izanami wasn't really that much of a talker, especially when it was something that she didn't really want to talk about. Speaking of Azula, Izanami had realised that she'd probably been gone for about three hours now. Whatever she was working on had to be hard since it was taking up as much time as it was.
As Izanami walked down the long hallway, she couldn't help but think back on her conversation with Ty Lee. It made Izanami miss home and her family more than she already was. Being away from them made Izanami appreciate them more than what she did before. Izanami hoped that they were doing okay, especially her father and her brother. Izanami didn't know what she'd do with herself if they didn't come back. When Izanami thought about her brother, Kazu, it was always about something good. There was never any bad moment with him. Sure, they had your typical sibling fights, but they were still close despite the nine-year age gap between them.
It was no secret to Izanami that she was unplanned by her parents. It was pretty obvious, since there was a nine-year age gap between her brother and her for Agni's sake. Izanami's father was forty while her mother was thirty-five when they had Izanami. Growing up, Izanami's father always did show some resentment towards her, which she reciprocated to some degree. Izanami always figured that it was because he at least wanted her to be a boy and because she couldn't do what Kazu could. Only when Izanami became close with Azula did her father ever show a sudden interest in his daughter's personal life. Before then he only ever cared about Izanami's success in school and her bending. Izanami guessed that's why she was always close with her mother, since her dad practically ignored her. Izanami was never really the 'Golden Child' as her parents put it. She knew she could never live up to Kazu and his accomplishments, but Izanami was fine with that.
Another one of the differences between Azula and Izanami was the fact that Azula craved perfection. Everything had to be perfect for Azula, while Izanami couldn't care less about that. To her, perfection was overrated and failure to achieve it only resulted in disappointment and Izanami could already see the affects that failure had on Azula. Whenever Azula failed at something – which was really rare – Izanami could see it in her eyes that she wasn't happy about it. Sometimes Izanami thought that Azula had an unhealthy obsession with perfection, but she figured that's what happens when you have a father who expected nothing but your best. Izanami also guessed that's why she also didn't resent her father about their strained relationship.
"Izana, there you are!" a voice suddenly exclaimed, bringing Izanami back to where she was.
Izanami turned to see Azula heading towards her, and Izanami could see that her friend looked slightly frustrated yet satisfied as well. Izanami knew that was never a good mix with Azula, since you never knew when she was gonna snap when she was like that. Izanami was just glad that Mai and Ty Lee weren't around.
"Here I am," Izanami said as Azula made her way towards her friend, "What's up?"
"I have something to show you and the others. Where are Mai and Ty Lee?" Azula asked.
"They're still in our room," Izanami replied. "Is this about the project that you've been working on?"
Azula nodded, "Yes, it's finally complete and now you get to see it with your own eyes. It's going to come in very handy during our mission."
"What is it, some sort of tank engine?" Izanami asked sarcastically.
Azula grinned, "Close. You'll see for yourself. Just wait there."
Izanami was left partially stunned at that before Azula headed towards their room. That feeling was soon replaced with curiosity as Izanami wondered what Azula could possibly have install for them now. Whatever it was, Azula made it seem pretty epic and for Azula to consider it epic, it had to be something good.
~*•°•*~
"So, what is it that you're so excited to show us?" Ty Lee asked as Azula lead them towards their unknown destination. They'd been walking for about half an hour now, so it's safe to say that they were a fair bit away from the Hu Xin province.
"I'm not excited, I'm just finally ready to show you all what I've been working on," Azula replied.
"It better be something useful," Mai muttered.
"Trust me, it will be," Azula said.
They continued walking for another few minutes before they finally came to a stop. When they did, Izanami could see that they were surrounded by all sorts of machinery that she'd never seen before. For a moment, Izanami was confused since she didn't see how this could be helpful to them on their mission.
"Feast your eyes on one of the greatest engineering marvels to come from the Fire Nation," Azula declared as she gestured to a large object in the centre of all the chaos.
Izanami's eyes widened as she caught the sight of the large object. Sure enough, sitting in the middle of all the randomness was a large, metal tank that seemed to stretch out for miles. Izanami was stunned, since she'd never seen anything like it. The Fire Nation never ceased to amaze Izanami with their ingenuity. They didn't call themselves the most technologically advanced nation for nothing.
"What is that?" Ty Lee asked.
"That, is a tank train. It's a mix of a land train and an armoured tank. It's designed to travel at large speeds over most terrain without the use of tracks and is capable of hauling many people and large loads of cargo across great distances," Azula explained.
"Whoa," Ty Lee said in awe.
"Not bad," Mai complimented it nonchalantly.
"It's huge, but how is it useful?" Izanami asked.
"This, is going to be our ticket to the Avatar. Once it's done, of course. It's in it's final stages of completion, but it's good enough for me to show you," Azula replied.
"How did it even get here?" Ty Lee asked.
"I had all of the major parts transported from the Fire Nation and even the Earth Kingdom before they were delivered here. They've been working on it for weeks," Azula explained.
"It's definitely unlike any mode of transportation that I've seen," Izanami admitted.
"Exactly. With this tank at our disposal, we'll be able to track down the Avatar on his flying beast in no time. Then, once we've got them taken care of we'll deal with Uncle Fatso and little Zuzu," Azula declared.
Instead of questioning Azula's choice of words, Izanami simply stared at the tank in awe. It was hard to believe that this type of machinery was even possible, but Izanami guessed that times are changing and anything's really possible. Izanami was now once again reminded of why they were doing this and what was at stake. For the Avatar's sake, his bison better be able to fly fast under pressure.
Yeah, so not really much happened there but I wasn't really sure what to write for this chapter, so I just pulled random crap out of my mouth and typed it out. Once again, the action picks up in the next chapter which I'm not really sure when it will be posted, so be patient.
