So while rewatching some episodes for reference I realized that the lizard creatures that our hunters ride in The Chase and the giant eelhound that Sokka, Suki, and Toph ride to get to the fleet in Sozin's Comet are not in fact the same species…anyone know what these lizardy things actually are? I'll probably go back and make edits if I find it….
In other news: sorry it's been so long. And in the comedy section: while finishing this chapter, I found some of my early working notes speculating that this would be a 3-shot. ha ha! ugh.
Hunting.
"A week ago, in Chin Village?"
"Yes, Princess. Exactly a week today."
Mai and Ty Lee leaned over the post commander's desk (the princess had co-opted the hapless man's entire office) to see the spot on the map Azula and Colonel Mongke were referring to. It position relative to Omashu was, Mai observed, as directly opposite the path Azula had led them as the Avatar could have gone without actually diving into the ocean and swimming away. There was no way the princess wasn't thinking the same thing, but she said nothing about it, simply continued questioning the leader of the Rough Rhinos.
"We will leave immediately," Azula said when she was satisfied. "You there," she barked at the soldier standing post by the door. "Have Lieutenants Tazh and Tairo prepare the tank. And fetch me a messenger hawk." Deftly she began rolling the map back up. "We'll have the Avatar in chains by this time next week."
Colonel Mongke bowed low, the feathers in his topknot bobbing. Mai wondered if the man realized how ridiculous they looked. "Any further orders, Princess?"
For a split instant Mai saw Azula meant to dismiss him before reconsidering. "Yes. I'm requisitioning your patrol for special assignment. You would know my brother and uncle on sight, I presume."
"I would recognize General Iroh," Colonel said stiffly, after a breath of a pause. He did an almost ok job, Mai thought, of masking his reluctance. Not nearly good enough to fool Azula. "I have never seen the prince."
"Hmm. You will be able to recognize him by the ugly scar covering the left half of his face," Azula said, waving a condescending hand. Mai gazed down at the map, focusing more intently on the lines and dots of ink on the parchment to keep any uninvited mental images from drifting into her mind. "There must be a wanted poster somewhere on post. Get one from the commander. Report to me by hawk any information on them you come across, raze any village that has aided them. And if you encounter them, take them. Preferably alive," she added, as though it were an afterthought, which Mai was sure it was not. Cold eyes narrowed. "Remember, Iroh is a traitor to the Fire Nation. We can have no tolerance for traitors…or those who abet them."
The Rhino bowed low. "Yes, Princess."
-o-
Apparently going in the right direction made a difference. In the first Earth Kingdom village they checked, the trackers hit pay dirt. The entire town was out in the streets, gossiping and arguing over the latest news:
The Avatar, it was rumored, had robbed the Bei Fong family of Gaoling.
Despite the general disdain the Fire Nation nobles held for the mud people, the Bei Fongs were still well known; they were the wealthiest family in the region, possibly in the entire Earth Kingdom outside of Ba Sing Se. Mai knew they were very, very distantly related to Azula—fifth or sixth cousins many times removed, though it would have been dangerously impolitic to say so.
There seemed to be no consensus on what, exactly had been stolen. Some said it was an ancient family heirloom, others said it was simply money. A few claimed they had actually kidnapped Lord Bei Fong's child, arguing against those who pointed out that this branch of the Bei Fong family had no children that he or she had been kept secret for some reason; because they had stolen the child from yet another family, because it was illegitimate, because it had been born horribly disfigured or disabled. Still others refused to believe there was any truth to any of these claims, and said that the Bei Fongs must be secret allies of the Fire Nation, and were trying to discredit the Avatar.
In all the tangle of rumors, speculation, and exaggeration, one thing was agreed upon: two days previous, the Avatar had been in Gaoling.
"We must be practically on top of them," Azula exulted, unfurling her map with a flourish and stretching it out on a flat rock. That odd, distant look that meant she was doing math in her head glazed her eyes for a moment. "Based on the rate they must be traveling, they may be anywhere in this range." She drew a short arc around the dot marked Gaoling with one nail. "Instead of tracking the rumor of his passage through Gaoling, we'll move to cross their path and cut them off."
"I'm sure they'll love the surprise," Ty Lee enthused, twirling on the spot.
Mai simply nodded. While the prospect of finally getting a rematch against Ponytail and Waterwitch was the best thing she'd heard in days, she was preoccupied. The rumors about the Avatar's exploits in Gaoling bothered her.
Specifically, that bit about possibly having kidnapped a child.
After all, if the Avatar wasn't above stealing and/or abducting other kids, how could they be absolutely certain he hadn't kept her brother? Or just left him in some Earth Kingdom village, or…something? Mai's imagination spiraled into one wild idea after another. Azula had said the Avatar was trying to learn all the elements, right? Well, he'd never find a firebender willing to teach him, so what if he'd decided to just steal and raise his own?
Mai was pretty sure that wouldn't actually work. The Avatar seemed to be in a hurry, and it was too early to tell if Pukeface even was a firebender yet. All in all it seemed like a pretty stupid, inefficient strategy. But still, he was the Avatar, a being who supposedly had the memories of many, many past lives, who communicated directly with the spirits. Maybe he thought differently about these kinds of things, or had ways of knowing things they didn't—
"Mai? You awake in there?"
Mai scowled as Ty Lee tapped on her forehead. Both girls were looking at her expectantly. Clearly she'd missed something. She had a pretty good idea of what. "Yeah. Back in the tank. Yay." Splaying her fingers in a sarcastic display of excitement, she got up, slapping the dust from her legs.
If they had her brother, well, she'd deal with it when they got to them.
"Yes," said Azula, a hard light shining in her eyes. "Let's go catch this Avatar."
-o-
The terrain grew wooded and hilly as they raced southeast. Often the tank would jump alarmingly as they hit a particularly large rock or tree root. With the way they got jolted around in the uncushioned iron tank, Mai fully expected they would be more bruises than not by the time they finally caught up to the Avatar.
They began riding the lizards more often while camped, so they'd be ready to run when the time came. Mai hadn't ridden regularly since she was a child (she'd never liked it much, and her parents hadn't found it necessary to have her trained on anything more than basic skills anyway), but it had come back to her easily. The army lizard was slightly larger than the one she occasionally rode at home, and its temperament not as placid. Not that that was a bad thing. To be more placid than the beast she'd learned on, it would have to be in a coma. She'd mentally named it Slobber, due to its disgusting habit of letting its tongue hang out.
Rather than keeping up the brutal pace they had maintained in their pointless detour to the north, Azula now ordered a stop once an hour or so. Armed with a telescope and an expression of cold determination, she would scale the highest available tree or outcropping and have a look around. What, precisely, Azula was looking for, Mai was not certain. A giant sign with an arrow saying Avatar campsite, right over here! ? Did she expect to actually catch sight of the beast in transit?
At least it gave them a chance to get out of the tank for a few minutes.
"I hate this," Mai groaned, stretching her stiff joints. If it took much longer to find their prey, she'd probably never be able to move again.
"Ah, it feels so good to be outside," Ty Lee sighed happily, taking a colossal breath of the early evening air with her arms outspread then cartwheeling around the clearing.
Something caught in Mai's hair, and she flicked it irritably away. "Yeah. It's so great, being out here with the dirt and the bugs and the…everything."
"What is that?" Azula's sharpened nails suddenly pinched closed in front of Mai's face, trapping the whatever-it-was she'd just brushed out of her hair.
It was a twisted, wispy white strand of…something. Something that had been in her hair.
"Ugh, gross," Mai muttered, giving her bangs a good swipe-down just in case.
"Bison fur," the princess stated, eyes glinting.
Even grosser.
"We've caught their trail," Azula said, looking around quickly. Now that she was searching for them, Mai saw there were more faint wisps of white floating on the wind, catching in the trees and underbrush. She shuddered slightly, brushing her shoulders. That was seriously disgusting. The stuff was everywhere.
"Ew…"
"Come on!"
Right. Back in the tank. Again. The Avatar and his companions had better make this chase worthwhile, Mai thought sourly, still wiping at her sleeves.
"Try to get some sleep," Azula ordered the other girls as they climbed in. "We won't be making camp tonight. Lieutenant, follow that trail."
Sleep? In this thing? Yeah right.
Even if it weren't such a bumpy ride, Ty Lee's excitement made sleep impossible. She bounced and shifted restlessly in the bench across from Mai, kicking her heels against the underside of the seat and occasionally uttering some animated non-sequitur or rambling off into a circus story. Azula had swapped places with her so she could peer through the viewing slit as they rocketed through the dimming evening. Her exuberant fidgeting wasn't so annoying, though. Blabbermouth's poorly-concealed terror at having the princess sitting in the co-driver's seat and scowling at the thin strip of sky beside him made it completely worth it. Mai smirked into her sleeve.
"There!" Azula snapped suddenly, making Tazh jump like a nervous owlcat, Ty Lee practically dive into the front seat to have a look, and Mai blink. "Above the treeline! They're on the run! They seem to think they can outrun us…well, they're about to find out otherwise."
Mai leaned forward alongside Ty Lee, squinting at the stripe of darkness. Sure enough, moonlight glinted off a fluffy white form that was far too low- and fast-flying to be a cloud.
Apparently the bison could outrun a tank, though, because soon their prey dwindled out of sight. Mai settled back into her bench. More time in the clanker. Was this chase ever going to end?
"It doesn't matter. The beast can't fly forever. They have to stop and rest eventually."
They rattled and bumped on through the night, occasionally catching sight of their tiring quarry taking off again in flight. If sleep had seemed impossible before, now it wasn't even worth considering. Mai whiled away the hours with her eyes closed, running through her throwing forms in her head and shutting out Ty Lee's occasional prattling. By the time Azula caught sight of them camped up on a hilltop and ordered them to halt and mount up, Mai felt almost rested.
Almost.
Stumbling a little from stiffness, the three hunters slipped through the dust kicked up by the braked tank, back to the lizard trailer. Two sharp raps against the iron side made the door open from the inside, Blockhead peering at them sleepily from the dim interior. The lizards hissed at the sudden rush of night air, poking their forked tongues out and tasting it.
"We're almost upon them, Lieutenant Tairo. We're mounting up," Azula said, her voice sharpened with anticipation.
"They're ready," Blockhead said, snapping alert at that.
Ty Lee happily accepted the lieutenant's help mounting her lizard, smiling at him and letting her hand linger a few seconds longer than necessary. When he offered a hand to Mai, still grinning slightly in the afterglow of the other girl's coy wink, she made a point of ignoring him and hoisting herself into Slobber's saddle without assistance. Honestly, if Ty Lee kept that up, she might actually have to talk to her about it—
The lizards seemed to enjoy riding in the tank as much as Mai did. Slobber shifted restlessly under her, hissing and huffing at the darkness and generally sounding offended by its lot in life. Mai could sympathize. She rubbed idly at its neck, the smooth scales warm under her hands. Jeez, it got cold at night in the Earth Kingdom.
Blue flame crackled to life, suspended above Azula's hand, and filled moving chamber with pale, shivering light and shadows. "Remember, the Avatar is the only one we need alive," she said. The upcast of blue light sharpened her features, giving her the look of some malevolent ice spirit.
Typical, Mai thought, that Azula could make even fire seem cold.
The tank tilted, making the lizards chitter and shuffle. Going uphill. Loosening up her shoulders, Mai gathered the reins into one gloved hand.
With a rumble the tank ground to a halt, and Lieutenant Blockhead released the door bolts.
Mai dug her heels into Slobber's sides, and in a rush of cold night air, they were out. Quickly, she took stock of the situation, loosening the darts in her arm sheathes. A rocky trail wound up the hill where their quarry stood.
The Avatar and his companions had decided to make a stand and fight instead of running any farther. There were four of them now—a tiny girl in Earth Kingdom clothing had joined them. The rumored Bei Fong bastard, perhaps? A quick scan showed no sign of Heizin Tom, which could have been either good or bad. But speculation could wait until they were captured. All the stiffness seemed to melt away from her limbs with the heat of adrenaline. Spurring Slobber onward, Mai barreled up the path with her companions. Finally, some real action!
Or, you know, not.
Things started out promisingly. Azula had evidently picked up the habit of slinging lightning around, which was new to Mai (and Ty Lee too, by the look on her face), and the Avatar had picked up an earthbender (who was not much use to them, thanks to the lizards). The showdown lasted just long enough to establish those two facts before the Avatar and his companions were fleeing again.
Mai narrowed her eyes as the giant beast shrank into the night sky yet again. Were they ever going to give her the pleasure of a decent skirmish?
"They can't get far," Azula said in a clipped tone. "They're exhausted. Sooner or later they won't be able to run anymore."
Right, thought Mai sourly. That's what Azula had been saying all night. Even when they were practically stepping on the Avatar's heels her strategies didn't seem to be working out so well. Perhaps it was just that she was on short sleep and therefore more crabby than usual, but she was starting to get impatient with the princess and her methods. Back in the tank, right. Of course. The stupid, clanking, blabbery-lieutenant-infested tank without their prisoners, yet again. For as much as her friend went on and on about what a dunce Zuko must be to not be able to catch the Avatar, Mai couldn't see that Azula was doing any better.
On they sped, as the grey light of dawn bled through the viewing port.
-o-
Falling asleep in the tank had seemed impossible, but when Ty Lee shook her awake she found the hazy dim of predawn had bloomed into full-blown morning sunlight.
"Come on, Mai! We've caught a clear trail!" her friend crowed, grinning maniacally.
The tank had pulled up alongside a stream, in a long, grassy clearing. The fresh morning air was sweet and musky with pine, and the sky was clear and blue overhead. And of course, all this nature was liberally dusted with wisps of bison fur. Mai began to consider scooping some water from the stream to drink (she would never had believed she'd think something as uncivilized as that a mere week ago, ugh) before realizing even the clear water was swimming with the wretched stuff. Azula was actually crouching down by the water, raking her fingers through it and pulling up dripping globs of it.
"Wads of wet fur. How delightful," she commented, standing a decent way back.
"Hmm, they're not wads…" Ty Lee mused. Mai watched Azula stand and look around as the other girl rambled on in this vein, squinting over the trees and glaring at everything. Plotting. Reconstructing the scene in her head. Coming up with a plan, hopefully.
"…it's got an 'uh' sound…."
Mai glanced back at Ty Lee. "…Clumps?"
"Clumps! They're clumps!" Ty Lee squealed, throwing her arms around Mai's neck. Bracing herself against this attack of affection, Mai sighed. How even Ty Lee could get excited about such a thing, she had no idea. Waiting patiently for her to let go, Mai's eyes dropped to the grass and spotted a veritable road of white fur.
"The trail goes this way," she called to Azula, giving Ty Lee a little push and pointing into the trees, but the princess didn't look from where she was crouched. Instead she was peering up over the trees in the opposite direction. Abruptly she turned, eyes narrowed.
"The Avatar is trying to give us the slip. You two head in that direction" pointing behind herself, over the trees, "and keep an eye out for the bison." Only now, Mai noticed the broken branches at the edge of the treeline, where some enormous flying creature had crashed through the tops of the pines. Coming back to them, she indicated the path Mai had spotted. "I'll follow this trail. We'll take the lizards, and rendezvous back here. The men will stay here and guard the tank." Without further ado she strode back to the lizard carrier.
"Isn't Azula brilliant?" Ty Lee chirped, bouncing on her heels then cartwheeling after her.
"Sure," Mai muttered, following. Just what she needed in her life, more air bison.
-o-
Riding the lizards was, however, a huge improvement over riding in the tank. Slobber seemed to agree. The forest air was crisp and cool, warming quickly as the sun crept higher. Trees flashed by as they scrambled over and around fallen logs and boulders. Occasionally she was jolted in her saddle, but Slobber was eager to follow her reins, eager to be finally running a decent stretch of ground. The same excitement that had come at the standoff in Omashu began to tingle, warm and cold at the same time, on her fingertips.
"Look!" Ty Lee shouted happily. Mai looked up through the trees. There, flying low over the tops of the pines ahead of them, was a familiar white form. A smirk tugged the corner of her mouth. Finally, they were on the right track.
The beast was tiring. The night before it had easily outpaced the tank, but now the much slower lizards gained quickly, even over the rough terrain. As they neared, she could see how the six great paws scooped at the air sluggishly, as though it were trying to swim through fireberry syrup, dipping in the air and then recovering every several seconds. Mai guessed that its passengers would not be any better off. From what she could see, it was just Ponytail and the water witch. No sign of the Avatar, or the little Earth Kingdom girl.
It wasn't until the pursuers were right upon them that the prey realized they were being followed. They were so close Mai could see their open-mouthed faces, and hear their panicked shouts. The waterbender snapped the reins, but it was hopeless. Despite its riders' desperate urging, the exhausted beast was faltering, its great legs catching at the tops of the trees and snapping branches.
She could see the whites of Ponytail's eyes now, as they raced below and alongside the bison's falling path. A testing flick of her arm confirmed they were in throwing range, making the boy shout and fall back into the saddle as the steel-tipped darts skipped past, barely missing him.
Not that there was any need. The rush of water grew louder and the trees grew sparser, and suddenly they were coming upon another twist of the stream. With a colossal splash, the bison dove from the air at last, crash-landing through the water to fall in a crumpled heap on the opposite bank at last. Ty Lee crowed with triumph, and even Mai couldn't help but grin.
The Water Tribe kids, somehow oblivious to their peril, actually jumped off and started hugging each other. Mai didn't pause to think about what on earth made them think they were safe before bracing herself for the crossing. Rearing up on the hind legs, the lizards skipped over the water easily.
That got the attention of their prey. Mai's veins sang with adrenaline as a ridge of water surged at them, courtesy of the water witch, and she easily veered around it as Ty Lee leapt from her mount. Within seconds they were upon them.
The fight was quick and pathetic. The Avatar's friends were tired and slow, and allowed Mai and Ty Lee to separate them far too easily. A mere minute later the two girls found themselves surveying their new prisoners in shambles. Crumpled on the ground and pinned to a tree, they weren't even trying.
Closer inspection confirmed that these two, at least, hadn't gotten a wink of sleep throughout the night. Dark rings were slung under their bloodshot eyes, and the water witch slumped against the tree as though she'd fall over if it weren't there. Once again Mai was mildly surprised by how young the Avatar's companions were. Why didn't someone like the Avatar have a patrol of bodyguards? Or an army, spark's sake? These were kids.
From the look of them, Mai mused, narrowing her eyes, they might have been related, too. There was a lot of resemblance in the shape of the eyes and nose. It was hard to tell, but she thought they might be cousins or even siblings.
That speculation just made her think of Heizin Tom.
"I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys, it would be more exciting," she drawled, not letting her mind pursue that thought. "Oh well, victory is boring."
Her mind should have been on her surroundings.
There was an animal grunt behind them, and then she and Ty Lee were flying through the air. Mai barely had time to think Char that bison! and gasp before crashing into the stream.
The shock of the spring snowmelt hit first, and then she was breathing water. Mai hated swimming, hated water, hated being soaked and especially hated being cold. Stamping down on her instinct to panic, Mai pushed down with her feet and came into contact with the slippery flow of water-worn stone. She kicked hard.
The brilliant, bitter cold of the surface felt like falling in all over again. Mai coughed and choked, desperately clamping down on her fear and treading water as well as she could in the rapid current. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. Her toes could reach the bottom if she stretched, the stream was not that wide, and Ty Lee's braided head was gasping only a couple meters away. She wasn't going to drown.
Though she might freeze to death. Ugh.
Gathering herself, Mai struck out for shore, imagining all the horrible things she would do to that bison if she ever got the chance. Sure, it was easy to win every little confrontation when you had a giant air-blowing monster on your side. She'd like to see just how good those Water Tribe brats were when they didn't have their stupid pet to depend on.
By the time they crawled up onto the bank, they had to have been carried at least an hour's walk downstream. More than enough time for their quarry to get away, even exhausted as they were. And they'd have to track down the lizards. Hopefully they hadn't wandered off too far. But hoping really wasn't one of her strong points.
Agni, she hated being wet. Those leather knife sheathes took forever to dry out.
Next to her, Ty Lee began wringing out her braid, a thoughtful look on her face. "It is just me, or was that guy kind of cute?"
Mai rolled her eyes, scowling. Trust Ty Lee to have her priorities straight.
"Come on," she muttered, struggling to her feet and attempting to wring the worst of the water out of her full sleeves. "We should get back so Azula can kill us."