Mai sighed deeply as she pulled a big hood over her head just hoping it would sort of obscure her face.
All of this sucked… It sucked so back.
They were back in the fire nation. But it was only her, Ty Lee and Azula. Azula was to scared of Ozai to admit she had been wasting resources at such a crucial time in the war! They had finally managed to take the earth kingdom and it was crucial to establish power in the new conquered land.
As it turned out though… The Avatar and Zuko still being free really was an issue. Because those two together truly were a symbol people could rally behind. Earth kingdom and fire nation citizen alike looked to those two as a sign of hope.
And as long as they were free, hope couldn't truly be crushed. Both Ozai and Azula seemed to have realized this.
Now killing Zuko was no longer a matter of personal vendetta, now it was about crushing the hopes of any fire nation citizen who disagreed with Ozais power. Which also meant that mistakes were not tolerated.
Azula was a person… Whom never made mistakes. Had never allowed herself to make a mistake or at least. She would never admit it.
Spending such a long time in the earth kingdom while Zuko was in the fire nation was a serious blunder which Azula would never speak about out loud. But Mai could see how it was eating at the princess and how her patience was basically none existent.
Also while Azula was a master of a lot of things…. Trying to blend in among normal people really weren't one of her talents.
Or at least… She had lost it so much that it wasn't any more… Now she was threatening a legendary swords master.
"You're one of those people aren't you." Azula sneered. "Who just loves little Zuzu! Isn't that right?! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING HIM!"
Master Piandao only looked coldly at Azula. "I have not seen Prince Zuko since the day he left my mansion for the very last time before getting banished. When he was twelve years old." he said. "He only came here on occasion when he was eight to twelve. Then a few months after I saw him last. I heard he got himself banished." Piandao shrugged. "Haven't seen him since."
"You're lying! You're working with him! You're all working with him!" Azula exclaimed. "Tell the truth old man or you will get burned." she held up a hand filled with blue flames.
"Why would I even want to do that?" Piandao asked. "All I ever asked of the fire lord and his family is to be left alone. I ones trained Zuko as a favour to at that time crown Prince Iroh. Who I had assumed would one day be fire lord. Who wouldn't want the fire lord to owe them a favour? But now both have fallen for grace. Why would I want such trouble beyond my door step?"
Azula sneered as her flames intensified. And then she screamed as she flung her flame at Piandao who very gracefully dodged and stood up again as if nothing had happened at all. He lifted an eyebrow.
"Let me in! I will search your mansion myself!" Azula demanded.
"By all means." Piandao surprisingly stepped aside. "I have nothing to hide. Search all you like. I would though appreciate it greatly if you would not burn down my mansion. Please."
Azula snorted as she walked in. "Search the mansion girls! Every corner. If there's as much as a trace of him. We'll find it."
As they all walked past Piandao Ty-Lee turned to the tall man with tears in her eyes. "I'm so! So sorry!" she said. "I promise we'll do our best to not mess up your nice home!"
"TY LEE!" Azula shouted from the front and Ty Lee eeped as she ran forward.
Mai though kept her pace, then looked up at Piandao who glanced down. For a short while his grey piercing eyes meeting hers. Piandaos eyes almost looked like steel. Harsh, sharp and cold.
Then Mai smirked. She liked this guy! Even if Zuko had been here there was no way this guy was going to spill the beans. "Sorry about Ms Crazy." she said. "I'll try to keep the damage to a minimum. But no promises."
Piandao lifted an eyebrow.
"Sorry. But I rather have her pre-occupied here for another day then out there where Zuko might actually be." Mai informed in a whisper.
Piandao blinked and then he smirked grimly. "I see." he said. "The hidden blade is your choice of weapon is it. Quite fitting."
"It sees me through." Mai replied. "Harsh reality. If I'm dead I can't help anybody so." she shrugged.
"Indeed." Piandao said. "As for my mansion. It can be rebuild." he said. "If the Prince dies hope will be gone. And that cannot be restored."
"I see. So we are in agreement then." Mai commented.
"I believe we are." Piandao said in a slight nod.
Mai smirked grimly and then finally turned to hurry after the other two.
As predicted, after having spend three days practically destroying the entire mansion absolutely nothing was found and finally they moved on. Which Mai seriously regretted.
Piandaos servant Fat had been really good at providing Mai with drinks and snacks. Heh, establishing a good relationship with the master of the mansion upon entry had its benefits!
It didn't take long after that that they arrived at a big and completely destroyed factory by a big river and lake.
Azula was furious. "This was clearly the work of the avatar." she stated. "How come this wasn't reported."
"Aren't you happy it wasn't reported?" Mai asked. "They would have reported to Ozai not you."
Furiously Azula turned to Mai.
"I'm just saying." Mai pointed out.
"There's a village down there!" Ty Lee pointed from where she was sitting on a broken wall. "Maybe they know something!"
And Mai sighed deeply. Well here we go again. She supposed.
The village was basically just a collection of wooden houses right in the middle of the big lake, held up by large wooden beams and the only way to get out there was to either swim or sail on a boat.
Azula was not a fan, because of course she wasn't. And as soon their boat reached the little village she jumped right off. "The Avatar destroyed that factory! Where is he now?!"
The villagers all blinked as they looked at Azula.
"Answer me you peasant!" Azula seethed as she grabbed a randomn man, her hand now filled with flames.
Then suddenly a very odd looking old man approached them. "I'm sorry. You got it wrong. Our spirit the painted lady destroyed that factory."
Azula seethed as she let go of her current victim and turned to the old man. "Don't bullshit me. I know when people are lying to me!"
"It's true!" A little kid suddenly shouted. "It was the painted lady!"
"Yes!" other voices came. "It was the painted lady!" "We don't know of any Avatar." "Painted lady!"
Mai couldn't help but be stunned. This wasn't even hard. Clearly they were all lying. But they were completely adamant in keeping up their lie.
"Tell the truth now." Azula hissed. "Or I'll burn down this entire village!"
The old man called Dock looked at her. "We havn't done anything." he said. "And yet you guys build that factory. We didn't ask for it! If it had been allowed to stay our river would never have been able to recover! It had become a poison swamp!"
"Are you questioning the fire lords wisdom?" Azula asked and Dock screamed as he jumped back.
"NO!" Dock jumped backwards. "Would never dream of it! Hehe."
Mai swallowed this was going to turn ugly soon…. How could she make Azula leave them alone. She opened her mouth and then halted. Then Mai closed her eyes, got her own dead pan sarcastic face back into place and glanced up. "These guys are just loosers and retards. This seriously isn't worth it." she commented.
Azula sneered as she turned to Mai.
"I mean look at them. They really are peasants." Mai continued. "They couldn't even hide Zuko and the Avatar if it was to safe their own life. This is such a waste of time."
Azula quieted then walked forward. "Lucky for you my friend has a point. You are beneath my fire." she pushed a kid down on the ground and the kid screamed. "Don't worry I know the perfect punishment anyhow. When I'm firelord. That factory will be rebuild but double the seize. That will teach you." she stated and finally walked away making Mai exhale deeply.
What followed were just plenty of dead ends. People were terrified but truly didn't seem to know anything. They visited the now abandoned mine prison camp where Zuko had supposedly been spotted.
And the poor guy who had been all grins when they came clearly thinking he was getting a reward was now beaten black and blue as they left.
The evidence was clear though, the area had been covered in now cooled down and thus stone lava. Some of it had been bend into unnatural shapes though. Only the Avatar himself could be that powerful. So at least they hadn't been lied too.
Finally they reached a village where an old water bender had been taken captive not long ago. The villagers explained their story, that people had vanished at night and it turned out to be the water bender behind it. Able to blood bend doing the full moon.
Thankfully a group of kids had managed to help them out.
Well that settled the deal. The people they had been looking for had indeed been here. But they had moved on since the capture of the water bender.
"How hard can it be?!" Azula yelled. "Which way did they go! TELL ME!" she shouted and the people startled stepped back.
Mai sighed deeply as she allowed Azula to rage on and stepped away… Only as Mai was slowly walking between the houses did she halt as she heard. Small sobbing sounds.
Mai hesitated as she folloed the noises, sounded like a girl. She turned a corner and there she saw.
"Ty Lee." Mai gasped.
For there, pressing into the corner sitting in the shadow was Ty Lee. Curled up as small as she could become, sobbing as she tried to dry her eyes.
"Ty Lee. Are you okay?" Mai asked as she rushed forward.
"I… I can't do this any more." Ty Lee sobbed. "Azula is hurting them. She's hurting those people, and I am a coward doing nothing. And then she's hurting you. And… and…" she babbled she burst into tears. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry-I'm sorry-I'm sorry!"
"No. Stop. It's okay." Mai assured as she sat down on her knees. This was so weird. Clearly Ty Lee had been uneasy with everything going on. But it was indeed hard to see her always happy go lucky friend just break down like this.
"No it's not." Ty Lee sniffed. "You're so cool and I'm just… I'm scared." she cried and then launched forward grabbing Mais dress. "I don't want this any more! Can I go back to the circus now? Please?" she asked. "I miss Pongi! Pongi is a lion-seal and he blows horns! And he likes playing ball with me. He can capture the ball with his noes and bounce it back! It's so cute! And he claps his fins when I do a hand stand! When do you think I can see Pongi again?" she asked.
"Ty Lee I…" Mai tried then halted. Agni she hated this. And Ty Lee was so sweet trying to say she had wanted this in the first place. No way. Azula had been dragging Ty Lee away from the circus! Clearly against her own wishes. Neither of them had wanted anything to do with this. Mai chewed her lip as she tried to find words. Then finally swallowed. "No I'm sorry." she wrapped her arms around the younger girl. "I've been so busy with myself that I didn't consider…" She hesitated. "This can't go on. We have to leave."
"She'll kill us." Ty Lee sniffed. "I actually think she'll do it! She'll kill us."
"Ty Lee I…" Mai hesitated then she sat back. "Look at me." she asked and Ty Lees tearfull eyes looked up. They were filled with tears, and Ty Lee looked honest to god terriefied.
Mai couldn't blame her. Of course Ty Lee was scared. The poor girl had been scared ever since Mai had started loosing it and attack them at randomn when she was upset. And who could blame Ty Lee? Azula was a ticking time bomb now! You just never knew when she would slap them or send fire balls at them or hurt someone else entirely.
Mai sucked in a breath as she tried to steady her voice. "I know this may shock you but… We can't let Azula win. If she wins. We'll be forced to live in fear. Forever."
"But…" Ty Lee swallowed. "She's just upset right now. If she captures Zuko and the avatar... She'll calm down right? We'll be fine."
"No! If she captures Zuko and the Avatar nothing changes!" Mai stated. "She used fear to control us when we were small and there was no Avatar in sight. She's using fear now. She's never going to stop Ty Lee. If she wins, she'll continue using fear and she'll grow even more aggressive, even more uncompromising to make people bow to her will. And it will never be enough." she said. "She's just like her father! It's never enough for Ozai either! He's already fire lord but it isn't enough for him. And it wont be enough for her. Being king of the world wont be enough for these people!"
Ty Lee swallowed as she looked up. "Then what do we do?" she asked.
"There is a way." Mai whispered. "Zuko…"
"Zuko?" Ty Lee asked. "But he.."
"Is not as weak as Azula thinks he is." Mai said. "Not just that. He'll protect us. We just have to ask. That's all."
"You really think Zuko and the Avatar would let us travel with them just because we ask?" Ty Lee asked.
Mai smirked. "You really don't know Zuko at all do you?" she asked.
"I… never spend much time with him." Ty Lee admitted. "Azula would get mad." she looked up at Mai then halted. "Wait… is that it?" she asked. "Is that how you can be so strong? Him?" she asked.
"Well." Mai said. "He was an inspiration that's true." she admitted. "But ones I just started doing things for myself and be my own person. It felt so damn good. So no it's not just him." she said.
"I don't think I can be as strong as you." Ty Lee admitted in a whisper.
"That's okay. You don't have to be. I'm here for you." Mai assured. "Now though we have an issue. We need to find Zuko before Azula does and explain the situation to him."
"How do we do that?" Ty Lee asked and Mai sighed deeply.
"Honestly… I really have no idea."