A/N: Now I'm the villain in your history. Love and be loved. Read… and review!

The Eyes of Avatar Aang

[Winter/Spring 104 AG]

Mio approaches the prisoners and stands before them. His fellow acolytes stand in the area and make space for him. He looks down at the three people in masks that they'd managed to capture at long last.

"So what do we have here?" He asks his henchmen.

One of them replies, "They were trying to steal something from the village and we caught them. They work for the Princess."

Mio nods his head. "Jing and I have first hand experience with these types."

He leans down until he is face to face with one of the masks. He tells them, "Your people have killed a bunch of our people."

The Kemurikage does not flinch. They do not reply. It's almost like the question doesn't even register. He stares at her and grows furious. "Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?"

Swiftly he hits her across the face. She doesn't groan or cry. She absorbs it and turns back to him. This makes him angrier and he rips her mask off. Underneath she has blue eyes, freckles, and a steely resolve. Once again he winds up and hits her. Once again, she does not cry.

He leans back, "And when we sent more of our people to kill your people for killing our people? You killed more of our people!"

They sit in a fortified cave prison. Ukuyi rises again to face him. There are two others in Kemurikage masks behind her. There are no fewer than seven men standing around her cell. Both Ukuyi and her colleagues have their arms tied behind their back, bound by rope. There had been bags placed over their head when they were captured, so now she has no idea where she is being held.

Despite all of this, she remains steadfast. She is calm. She knows that her Mother is with her always, and no harm shall come to her. Mio looks into her ocean blues again, "You're a pretty girl. How'd you end up working for the Dragon Bitch?"

No answer comes. Another man offers her, "If you cooperate we can keep you safe. Just tell us what we want to know."

Ukuyi turns her head to the side at this and tells him, eyes buried into his, "I'm not the one you should be worried about. All of you should take care."

With a loud smack Mio slaps her. She turns back to him and they stare each other down. He says, "Lot of loyalty in you. I get that, I can appreciate that. But if you don't tell us where she's holed up, we're going to start making holes in you."

He produces a knife and brandishes it before her. Still as a statue, Ukuyi does not reply. She puts her faith in the Mother of the Kemurikage. Another second passes with no reply. He clicks his tongue loudly.

"Hmm. Nothing to say? Koh's got your tongue?" He leans down. He clutches her face with one hand and pushes the blade against her cheek with the other, prepared to cut her. "Don't worry, he'll get more than that when we're through with you."

The third Kemurikage, the girl in the back, interrupts. Her voice is loud, confident, and dripping with malicious intent.

"Maybe she's wondering why you're asking for someone who's already here?"

Mio releases Ukuyi's face. He stands up stock still and looks at the masked girl who had spoken. She sits tall on her knees, just like Ukuyi, and looks right at him. In the shadows of the cave he strains his eyes to look through the eye slits. He swears he sees a flicker of light. With a jerk of the arm he motions for the others to grab her.

Two of the guards quickly descend on the Kemurikage in the back. They pull her forward and hold her on her knees in front of Mio. He crouches down until he's on her level and looks at the decorated, porcelain mask. He slowly raises a hand up and pulls it off. When the mask is removed he stares into the golden eyes of the Dragon Empress.

Her hair is down to her shoulders now. She searches his eyes and calmly says, "I remember you."

"You should've killed us when you had the chance."

She quirks her eyebrows in response. "I agree. Instead, I gave you advice."

He nods slowly in response. He tells her, "You told us to batten down the hatches."

"You should've listened while you had the chance."

Mio chuckles at this. "Maybe that mask stopped the blood from going to your brain. You're our prisoner."

"Am I now?" Azula asks, eyes lazily tracing around the room and to all the men before her.

"Don't tell me getting caught was somehow part of your plan?" Mio asks, incredulous.

Azula smiles at him, feeling the weight of the two guards each pushing her shoulders down. She tells him, "Of course!"

He shakes his head, "Not even you can be so delusional as to think you have the upper hand right now."

Azula stifles a laugh.

"A true puppet master clutches all of the strings offstage. You wouldn't know if I had the upper hand, even if you looked," her eyes trail to the cave ceiling. Mio cautiously follows, as does everyone in the room.

When all eyes are pulled upwards, Azula turns her palms to face the captors holding her down. Power rips through her veins as the fire courses through them. The men holding her hostage stare at a dark ceiling as the last thing they see on Earth.

There is something truly disgusting but undeniably satisfying about the smell of death.

At least that's how Azula feels about it. She walks through the caves and the stench wafts. Burnt meat, excrement, piss. They never tell you in the stories how some men soil themselves after they die. Azula hasn't exactly kept track over the last year, but she would surmise that it was nearly half of them. Probably less than half of the people she's killed or been around shortly after they died. It creates such a malodorous situation that most people run from, but not Azula. She almost revels in it at this point.

"Ughh." Someone groans, crawling on the ground.

Ukuyi and Chyn both make eye contact then turn to their Mother. She strides past them and walks up towards the body. The soft crunch of her footsteps along the ground alert the crawler of her presence. They softly mumble to themself, "No, no, no."

She strides past them and then stands in their way. She recognizes that it's the man from the Shinzong Village. The assumed leader of this little group of dead misfits. She smirks down at him but he doesn't look up at her yet. He is defeated, all his comrades are dead, and he knows he will be joining them soon. The Dragon Empress had shown him mercy once. Lightning would not strike twice.

"Oh dear, what an awkward situation."

Mio knows what comes next. Although he had spent much of his life fearing this moment, he arrives at its doorstep now and embraces it. If she is to send him to an early grave, then he will not go silently. He pushes off of the ground and lifts himself up to face her.

"You can kill me, but the King of Faces will get you eventually."

Azula doesn't laugh or smile or give any reaction. Electricity crackles at her fingertips.

"Whoever he is? He'll die alone," she tells him. She extends her hand towards the man. "As will you."

"RAH!" He screams.

She watches the light fade from his eyes and he never moves again.

The return trip is quiet. They stalk through the countryside, angling to a pickup location along the shore where Lin should be waiting. There is certainly satisfaction for the job accomplished, but Chyn is uneasy. The final words of a deadman bounce around her head. Leading the way home, she asks her Mother a question that is burning in her mind.

"Empress, do you think we should worry about this 'King of Faces' person?"

Trying to save her from embarrassment and shame, Ukuyi interjects, "Of course not. There is no man on Earth who can defeat the Dragon Empress."

Not realizing the gift that Ukuyi has tried to offer her, Chyn goes again. "Surely. But perhaps we should've questioned him more? Or brought him back with us?"

Azula stops. Ukuyi and Chyn do as well. She turns back to them and her golden eyes bury into Chyn. She speaks.

"Those in power have always abused their power and leveraged it against those not in their seats. I watched it first hand. I saw a Fire Lord and a King who was a terrible man, husband, and father. But now…"

Both girls hold their breath. Azula stares out into the early night sky. She contemplates what to say next and neither Ukuyi nor Chyn dares interrupt. Azula speaking about her late father was not normal. In the last year, neither girl can remember it happening more than in an offhand comment. Azula comes to a logical conclusion.

"Now, in the world we'll build together, there will be no rulers abusing their power. No Kings. No Avatars. No Fire Lords," she says with a smile. The stars poke out across the velvet sky. She looks back at the girls.

"Only woman."

A brunette with grey eyes and a white haired girl with ocean blues walk in through the front door and a little bell rings. They approach the front desk and a teenage girl greets them with a smile.

"Welcome to the Firelily Inn! My name is Tasu and I'll be helping you today. Do you already have a reservation with us?"

"No, we do not. We've been traveling for a few days now and we're hoping you had an empty room?" Ayon replies.

"I believe we do!" The black haired girl replies, pulling a log book out. "Let me just check for one second."

The desk worker begins turning pages. Ayon turns to her partner, "We should get some rest and food, TL. It's a long trip from here back to Kyoshi Island."

Ty Lee is busy admiring all of the little decorations and attention to details paid in the entry room of the inn. Neither girl notices the desk worker idly doing nothing as she eavesdrops on their conversation. The former Circus star finally turns to her partner and says, "I used to love fire lilies as a kid. They're so pretty and romantic. They're full of good chi."

Interrupting their conversation, Tasu offers, "The owner of the Inn renamed it that because of all the fire lilies that grow in the fields surrounding our little village."

Both girls smile at Tasu. She goes on, "I don't believe you see many of those near, I believe you said, Kyoshi Island? So does that mean you two are Kyoshi Warriors?"

She whispers these last two words like they're a secret. Ty Lee and Ayon were not foolish enough, a year into their search now, to wear the iconic green outfits as they milled around the various villages and towns of the Fire Nation. As Azula's criminal dealings rose in the last nearly two years, there came a resistance from the common folk to help the Kyoshi Warriors or the Fire Nation soldiers to hunt them down. Azula was helping the everyday person more than Zuko was at this point, and folks let them know it when they would ask if anyone knew anything about the 'Mother to the Kemurikage,' as they believe she was being called now.

Ayon holds a finger up to her mouth in a shushing motion and gives a playful wink to Tasu. "We are! We're headed home tomorrow and we just need somewhere to sleep for the night."

"Oh, of course!" Tasu says quietly but excitedly. "We'd be happy to host any friend of Fire Lord Zuko's. We've never had any Kyoshi Warriors stay here so this is very exciting!"

The two weary travelers smile down at the younger girl marvelling at them. Ty Lee says, "Well this is a very nice little inn you have, so we're happy to be the first. I get a great feeling from this place. It's whole aura is radiating red!"

Tasu laughs and says, "I guess I'll take that as a compliment!"

Hearing that no other Kyoshi Warriors had come through yet, Ayon ventures to ask, "Say, we've been tasked with a job. We've been stationed in and out of this area for a while now, over a year, and we just haven't had any luck."

"I'm very sorry to hear that."

"Ayon." Ty Lee feels this is an exercise in futility.

"Hold on, hold on," she tells her partner. "Do you know anything about the former Princess Azula?"

Ty Lee rolls her eyes. Nearly 15 months of fruitless efforts have led her to being dismissive of the idea of finding Azula's secret lair. Tasu grows excited. She looks around and then leans in, "Well, yes and no."

Ty Lee's ears prick. She turns towards the girl and leans in herself, "We haven't seen her personally but my friends in the Southern Fire Nation say that they've met her!"

Ayon smiles widely, clearly disappointed but willing to work with that. "Can you give us some of their names and where they live so we can have some other folks follow up on that?"

"Sure thing! But first, I just need a little information from you all before I can give you your keys."

Tasu collects the mundane information from them including their names, how they would pay, and where they could send any luggage that was left behind. She feeds them names and locations in the Southern Fire Nation to answer their questions. As their conversation wraps up, Tasu offers to them, "Oh and by the way! You should venture into town tonight if you're up for it. It's the Avatar Day Festival and our local community has been working really hard to put together a special night. There will be music, and dancing, and fireworks, and so much more!"

"Thank you," Ty Lee replies with a warm smile. "Maybe we will!"

If Azula could stop the fire from spreading she would. She can't though, so instead it rages and burns down everything in its path.

The Puppetmaster sits upon a bench on the hillside watching a forest fire dozens of miles away. It consumes the trees and smoke billows up above. Her girls hadn't created it so she wonders why it started. She contemplates the flames and how unnatural it was to destroy something so beautiful. Sitting beneath the tree, she felt safe and unafraid. She is mid-thought when she hears the soft crunch of feet approaching.

"Empress," Ruki says. "Pardon my intrusion."

Staring off into the distance all the same, Azula says nothing. Ruki picks up after the quiet. "I've brought one of the girls from the village with me."

Azula does not make eye contact. She watches the fire and smoke building in the distance.

"It's Tasu, Empress. She was working the front desk at Firelily. Those Kyoshi Warriors who have been searching for us? They're here."

"How many?" Azula asks.

Ruki turns to Tasu, who cautiously steps forward. Azula doesn't greet her. Her eyes dart to Ruki who gives her an encouraging nod. Tasu clears her throat and says, "Two girls. One with white bright white hair and blue eyes. Another with brown hair and grey eyes."

Azula turns and looks Tasu in the eyes. She holds the eye contact. Tasu feels paralyzed to her spot, as if she had been turned to stone by just staring into those golden orbs.

"What were their names?"

"One was named Ayon," Tasu says quickly. Her mind blanks.

"And the other?"

"Umm," she searches the recesses of her mind. She recalls the girl commenting about the fire lilies. It triggers a chain reaction in her memory. "Her name was Ty Lee."

The Dragon Empress rises. She strides towards the younger girl and towers over her.

"Tell me everything."

"-just feels like a huge waste of time, is all I'm saying."

"I know. I understand why Zuko is having us do it, but it just… I don't know, Ayon. I feel like we blew our chance before any of us even got started on this thing."

"Yeah, you've said that before. How you wish he had just sent us down South from the jump instead of sending others first."

The two girls lay on their twin-size beds and stare at the ceiling as they chat. Ty Lee knows she needs to bathe and she knows Ayon won't be the first so she has to lead the way. She just doesn't want to get up. So she continues to chit chat.

"What sucks the most is that we'll get redeployed after a few months when a new rumor crops up."

"Ugh, I know," Ayon rolls her eyes. She twists in the bed and looks at the brunette next to her. "Say, where do you think she really is? What do you think she's up to right now?"

"Oh, I don't know, A."

"C'mon. You spent, like, your whole childhood with her. You travelled with her. You fought with her. Shit, you toppled an entire country with her. If anyone knows her and how she thinks, it's you."

Ty Lee bites her lip. Ayon asks her, "Don't you think about it?"

"All the time, A! All the Agni damn time."

"Then where is she? What's your guess?"

"Okay, okay." She says, sitting up on the edge of the bed. "So let's start with what we know: She escaped after Zuko's search for Ursa. Then she came back a few months later with the Kemurikage girls and tried to kidnap the kids. Then she was down South, that whole 'Mother' and lightning thing. The Southern Water Tribe reported that she attempted to rob some of their sailors."

"Sailors? I thought they were pirates?"

"Same thing."

"No, but okay."

"Then, a few months later, Ozai goes missing while being transported to the Boiling Rock. He never makes it and his whole bender-less transport disappears into thin air."

"That's speculation, we don't know that she was involved with that."

"It's Ozai, Ayon."

"He was a dictator, TL. Emphasis on the 'dick.' There are plenty of people who would've wanted him dead. If he's even dead. Who knows, maybe he escaped."

"He's dead, Ayon. And she killed him. I know it."

"Alright. I don't think I agree. But alright," she concedes. "Now, where is she?"

Ty Lee stands up and walks to the window. Outside, in the far off distance, she sees a forest fire raging. "She might be right here."

"Ha! Now that's funny."

"Really," Ty Lee says, eyes transfixed on the raging flames. "It was her idea to dress as the Kyoshi Warriors in Ba Sing Se. She likes to hide in plain sight."

"That sure would be something. After all this searching? To find her here, in the middle of nowhere?"

Ty Lee absentmindedly fiddles with the collar of her shirt as she thinks about it. The flames and smoke in the distance reflect off of her eyes. Finally, she looks away and says, "Yeah, I don't know. But I do know that we both stink and need to bathe, so I'm going to go first."

She walks towards the connecting bathroom and swiftly lifts her shirt off over her head. This draws a catcall from her friend, "Woo! Mama likey."

"Shut up." Ty Lee replies, not breaking stride.

"Hey wait," Ayon calls her back. "I've got a serious question for you."

Ty Lee doesn't stop. She walks to the doorway to the bath and turns at it. She leans against the doorframe in her bra. "Mhm?"

"We've been at this for over a year now," Ayon says, ocean blues burying into Ty Lee. A devilish smile dawns on her lips, "How come we've never hooked up after all this time together?"

Incredulous and caught off guard, Ty Lee stands a little taller and her mouth hangs open. She tilts her head and responds, "Did you want to? You're straight and you have Bilaa waiting for you back home."

"Yeah, I don't think I would want to. I don't know. I just think about it from time to time. You've never made a pass at me, but I mean-"

"You're my partner, A. I," Ty Lee stumbles over her words, unsure of what to say next. "I've just always wanted to be respectful of that."

"Well thanks for that," Ayon smiles at the girl, her brightest blues glistening from across the room. After another pause she says, "How about we go to that Avatar Festival tonight? Get some cactus juice. Maybe find some no name villager girl for you to bring back here?"

Ty Lee chuckles at this. She turns to enter the bathroom, "We can go get a drink, but never in your wildest dreams am I bringing someone home tonight."

"We can handle them, Empress," Ruki assures her. "They're staying at our inn. We can slip in overnight and slit their throats."

"No," Azula commands her. "I want to monitor them myself."

Standing a little taller, shoulders leaning back, Ruki asks the question on her mind. "Are you going to kill them?"

Azula doesn't hesitate. "I haven't decided yet."

Ruki hems and haws. "Empress, we can do it. You don't-"

"Ruki," Azula interrupts her. She stares into her soul. "Zirin is on a recruitment visit to the western shores. I am bored. I will do as I please. I don't know if I'm going to kill them, but if you raise even one more objection to this plan then I promise I will kill you."

Ruki gulps and doesn't reply. Azula steps closer to the girl. She invades her personal bubble and stands inches away from her.

"Am I understood?"

Ruki stares back into those golden eyes. She nods affirmatively, more confident now.

"Excellent," Azula says, stepping past her. She walks back towards the village. "Gather some Kemurikage and travel with them to put out that forest fire. It's unnatural. Plus, we wouldn't want the smoke to block out the fireworks later tonight."

Ty Lee applies the last bit of makeup that she has and looks over at her friend. She teases the girl, "Ayon, I'm not gonna wait around all night while you write in your diary."

Without looking up from her book she replies, "It's a journal not a diary, TL."

It's been an hour or so since Ty Lee walked into the bathroom. Golden hour passed without pausing and night has descended on their little village. The brunette tells her, "Well you better get up and get going. I'm probably going to head to the bar we passed in town."

Ayon closes her book suddenly. Cheerfully she replies, "Sounds perfect. It doesn't take me nearly as long to get ready as you. So get us a seat and some drinks and I'll catch up to you in no time."

Ty Lee gathers herself and heads for the door. Ayon heads for the bathroom. "Oh, I know. You drink like a fish."

They share a laugh at this. As Ty Lee grabs the handle she says, "I'll do some exploring to kill time before I go in!"

Ayon shouts back from the bathroom, "See you soon!"

Ty Lee walks out of the Firelily Inn and out into the night air. She stretches her arms out and then swings them around. She breathes in the smells of the festival. The village had seemed like a ghost town when they first arrived, yet now it was flooded with people. Vendors from the surrounding area have arrived and set up shop.

She listens to the revelry and bounces forward to investigate. She also finds it odd to see the face of Kyoshi all around her. The festival was celebrating the Avatars, and that meant plastic masks with some of their faces on them. Along with Kyoshi there was also Roku, Kuruk, and even Ty Lee's personal friend Aang had his face made into a mask. Mostly it is children running around with them on, but some adults partake as well.

A few feet away, hidden amongst the crowd, a girl with hair as dark as a raven watches. Slowly she steps out from the shadows and falls into a trail of the brunette with grey eyes. She is careful and deliberate in her following. She holds a plastic mask in her right hand of a young Airbender with a blue arrow pointing down across his forehead. Gripping with her left hand inside her jacket is a switchblade with a red handle. She keeps her distance and keeps her eyes on the girl.

She watches as her childhood 'friend' bops around the village, her village. All the parts of this town that Azula had revitalized with her inn and her base of operations and her girls and her money. All that Ty Lee sees and touches is because of Azula. She follows for several minutes, watching the back of her head. She wonders what the girl is thinking about. She wonders what is going on in her head. Perhaps she could crack it open and find out.

The Leader of the Fire Warriors stops when Ty Lee stops. She walks when she walks. After a little bit she puts the mask on so she can get closer. She watches as the mesmerizing girl admires a pearl necklace with one vendor, before ultimately leaving. She is transfixed when the Circus Freak tries a perfume. 'It's too expensive for me,' she hears her say before moving on. Finally, Azula can't keep her eyes off of her when she examines a periwinkle top. It's made from the finest threads in the whole Fire Nation.

Ty Lee simply can not afford it and walks away.

Ayon's steps creak against the floorboards as she descends the staircase. She skips the last few, hitting the landing lightly, her momentum carrying her forward with a childlike spring in her step.

"Have a good night!" She shouts to Tasu at the front desk.

"Good night," Tasu replies. As Ayon disappears out the door she whispers under breath, "And good luck."

'How long has it been? How many lunar cycles? And yet still, despite the distance that separated us, we shared the moonlight.'

The brunette walks away from the crowds and towards a bar. She pulls open the door and enters, disappearing from view. The door opening floods the outside with light, washing over the Puppetmaster. Azula pulls the mask off of her face. She licks her lips as she considers it. This is her town. If Ty Lee asks about Azula, they will simply deny any knowledge. And if Azula walks in, they won't even acknowledge her. Ty Lee is a fly trapped in her spiderweb.

Maybe she'll go in and hide in a dark corner. Let her pretty friend get a few drinks in. Maybe she'll follow her into the bathroom. Get her alone for the first time since the Boiling Rock. Take her hostage. Take her home. Tie her down.

Azula could feel herself getting hot and bothered just thinking about it.

Ayon could spot that single ponytail braid from a mile away. In this case, she sees it illuminating in the dark as she squeezes between the crowds. She comes into a small clearing and watches her partner approaching the bar, just beyond earshot. She smiles at her friend.

'We're gonna make tonight special for you, TL!'

The crowd disappears. Ty Lee disappears through the door. As Ayon goes to take a step, the light pours outside and washes over the darkness. Ayon looks at the light and follows it's path before it stops her in her tracks.

Standing on the other side of the street, directly across from the bar was a figure that looked so familiar. They remove a mask and hold it idly. She observes her, trying to place how she knows this complete stranger. Suddenly she is overcome by a memory of Ty Lee speaking to a room full of Kyoshi Warriors.

'Her hair is black, like a raven or midnight…She's slender, but not soft… She has very delicate features… Her eyes are like the sun at golden hour.'

Ayon feels her pulse quicken. Oddly she feels a vein in her neck pounding. Her heart beats against her chest. The Fire Nation is overflowing with girls with black hair and gold eyes. She tries to convince herself it's a coincidence. The hair isn't in a top knot like Ty Lee said it would be. It was short, barely off the scalp. Ayon looks around and then carefully moves towards her.

Azula cranes her neck and strains her eyes through the darkness. She sees through the windows as Ty Lee sits down with her back to the door. Azula contemplates her options. She knows she should go home and avoid detection. She decides to chase the dragon anyway. She steps off the curb and heads for the bar.

"Excuse me!" A voice suddenly comes to her.

She stops and looks at another girl stepping in front of her. The girl has bright white hair and eyes bluer than the sky itself. She stares at her a moment and tries to place why she recognizes this person.

"Umm, yeah, I was just wondering, where did you get your jacket? It looks so nice!" Ayon complements Azula. "Did you get it at one of these shops? Could you show me maybe? Or maybe do you want to join me for a drink?"

She waves her hand towards the bar across the street. Ayon's instincts had been to protect Ty Lee, but now she regrets it. She should've just let her walk into the bar and followed her. She had the element of surprise on her side and she blew it.

Azula stares right into her eyes. She remembers the description that Tasu had given earlier. She grits her teeth. She doesn't say anything. Her eyes briefly flicker to the brunette in the bar window. She steps back for a moment before turning and slowly walking away.

"Hey!" Ayon tries to stop her, but Azula is striding away, each step quicker than the last.

Ayon panics. She turns quickly to the bar. Ty Lee is seated near the door, she could grab her. She turns back to look for Azula and she barely catches a glimpse of her disappearing into the crowd. Ayon gulps as her mind replays more than a year's worth of travel in search of the deposed Princess. Her eyes flick back to Ty Lee and then back to Azula. She knows she should go back for Ty Lee. She chases Azula anyway. She walks away from the bar with hurried steps.

"Excuse me, do you have a quill and piece of parchment?"

"What the spirits, no."

Ayon's eyes peel back to the back of Azula's head. She gets further ahead but never turns back to look at Ayon. She steps faster and when someone passes the other way she tries to ask them.

"Excuse me-"

"I don't have any money for you."

She looks for Azula, several more steps ahead than before. She steps faster. A child in a Kyoshi mask goes to pass her the other way. She says a quick prayer to the Avatar that looks over her.

"Excuse me-"

"Ahhh!"

'Screw you too, Kyoshi.'

She looks up, black hair fading into the night. She huffs breaths as she steps. An old woman goes the other way.

"Excuse me," she starts and the woman doesn't stop her. "Do you have a quill and perhaps a piece of parchment I could use?"

The elderly woman smiles warmly. She reaches into her pockets and retrieves them, "I surely do, dear!"

Ayon gulps and looks up. Azula has stopped and is talking to a girl with no hair on her head. The woman offers the items to Ayon. She snatches them and quickly scribbles a note. She looks back at the woman and asks, "Umm, can you do me another favor?"

"My Spirits, you must be in dire straits. Luckily for you today I was incredibly blessed, so I am happy to repay the debt I owe to Agni."

Ayon strains at the awkwardness of this encounter. She notices that the bald girl is gone and she can barely see the top of Azula's head disappearing further into the town. "Do you mind delivering this to the bar around the corner? My friend is waiting for me there. She has brown hair and it's in this ponytail, braid thing. You can't miss it. This is just a note that I ran into an old friend and I'll catch up with her later."

The woman smiles at her and takes the note and her quill back. "Of course!"

"Agni bless your soul, thank you so much!"

Before the woman can elongate the conversation Ayon takes off sprinting after Azula.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Ty Lee turns in her seat, away from the quarter glass of cactus juice on the rocks that she's nursing. It is an older woman, with bright grey hair. She smiles at the younger girl. "A woman with white hair out on the street asked me to bring this to you."

"Huh? Ayon?" Ty Lee asks in confusion.

She takes the piece of paper, folded on itself. As she unfolds it she asks the woman, "Did she say why?"

"She did not," the woman replies. "She was in an awful hurry to be honest with you."

Ty Lee finishes unfolding the note and looks away from the woman. The note is crinkled and the ink is smudged but the writing is huge across the segment of paper.

SHE'S HERE! I'm following her! - A

Ty Lee's jaw hangs down. Her mind races and she stares down at the first two words. Her mouth becomes dry and her tongue feels like sandpaper. She feels suddenly like she has been swimming in the beaches of Ember Island all day and just got out of the water. She looks up at the older woman. Blinking multiple times, she tilts her pretty head and asks a question.

"I'm sorry, but, um, where exactly was she and which direction did she go?"

A moment later the former circus star explodes out of the doors, slipping past the older woman.

Ayon is in a full out sprint as Azula gets further and further away. She is bumping partiers and townsfolk alike. She shouts when she realizes that Azula is running too, "HEY!"

The sky lights up with fireworks. The streets light up with blue, red, green, and purple. Azula disappears around a dark corner she knows has no overhead lights. Ayon speeds around it as well. Fireworks illuminate the dark. She stares into the eyes of Avatar Aang as she feels the wind knocked out of her.

Hours fade away. Ty Lee searches the entire village. She never finds her partner. The crowded streets and massive town-wide party made it impossible for her to sort through them. She wants to keep searching, but her feet hurt, her legs are exhausted and she can't do this alone.

'If she found her? If she got captured? I need help if I'm going to get her back.'

Ty Lee walks towards the Firelily Inn. When she sees the sight she stops dead in her tracks. Sitting on a bench outside the Inn, slouched with hands folded in her lap, is her partner. She wore one of the plastic Aang masks, but Ty Lee could spot that white hair from across a crowded village. She runs towards her friend and shouts, "Ayon! Ayon!"

When she gets closer she sees it. The slits in her shirt. The stained liquid against the dark material. The red liquid matted onto her hands. Deranged, she screams into the night.

"AYON! AYON!"

She collapses at her feet but her friend does not move. She rips the mask off and her once brightest blues were nothing but a dull aqua. They are vacant and empty. Ty Lee begins crying hot and furious tears.

"Ayon, please. Ayon." She begs. She never moves again.

"Welcome home, Lee." Suki greets solemnly.

The brunette doesn't react.

"I heard waters were rocky on the way back."

There's a certain resignation in her grey eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it, Lee?"

"What's there to talk about? You wanted me back on Kyoshi Island. I'm back."

Suki knew the decision would be unpopular with her friend. She anticipated this reaction. "Lee, your partner was stabbed nineteen times. We're lucky they didn't get both of you."

Ty Lee feels the cool breeze in her face. The memory flashes. She replies, "She had a name. Say her name."

Suki blinks at her and nods. "Okay. Ayon. Ayon was stabbed nineteen times."

"And now I'm here. 'Home.' Instead of looking for her in the hills of the Fire Nation."

"You need to be protected. She might've come after you if she knew you were in that town too."

Ty Lee doesn't react. Suki understands. She asks, "What are you going to do, Ty Lee?"

The Kyoshi Warrior exhales through her nostrils. She stares up at the bit of sun breaking through the treeline that surrounds the village. She had several days in the village while waiting for Suki's messenger hawk to arrive with the order to return home. She had several days on a boat through rough waters to reach here. She has thought it over the entire time. What she'll do when she gets her. She knows what her answer is and so she speaks it.

"I'm going to find and I'm going to kill her with my bare hands."

A knock comes at her door. Sitting staring at the one painting she had of Ayon, Ty Lee puts it down and goes to see what it is about. She opens and finds another Kyoshi Warrior. The girl bows and offers her condolences. Ty Lee thanks them and asks what their business is here. The girl informs her that the luggage she left behind at the village is here now.

Confused, Ty Lee replies, "But I didn't have any luggage?"

The girl apologizes but explains she was just told to bring it to Ty Lee's home. She didn't have any other instructions from the messenger hawk mail office. She said it arrived before she even returned to Kyoshi Island. Confused, Ty Lee just takes it, resigned to figure it out without the intruder girl.

Ty Lee carries the cloth bag into her bedroom. She opens it carelessly and when she does she is shocked to find a paper box sitting on top of other items. She opens the box and inside she finds a perfume. It smells like cinnamon and warms her, yet something feels wrong about it. She feels it happening again. Like she'd been swimming all day long. She puts it down. At the bottom of the bag lies a periwinkle top and a small note card. She reaches down and grabs the cardstock. When she reads it her hand shakes until she drops it and screams.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

The card reads just two harrowing words.

Sorry, baby.

A/N: This chapter's OST is "Feeling Myself" by Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé.

Love always. Tyzula forever.

Notorious