Turbulent Alliance
Chapter 2: Inauspicious Pursuit
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters there within, they are all property of Nickelodeon.
All and all, nothing too exciting had happened; or at least that was what Mai thought of the whole endeavor. She fired a few rounds, some dirt and fire was thrown—nothing really became of it. Their quarry got away and left the three of them yet another trail to pursue. Azula was becoming impatient. They had already been pursuing all night and, knowing Azula, she wanted to get the task done quickly and efficiently or at least see some action.
With a resigned snarl, the princess retired to the confines of the first cargo bay and laid herself down to rest; the other two girls following suit. The lights were dimmed within the hold and there was some shuffling around as the girls adjusted pillows and drew up blankets. The three of them should get some rest before they caught up to their targets again.
Though try as Mai might, she could not get comfortable on her bed and what with the bumping and jarring of the war tank, sleep was not coming easily to her. Every time she started to nod off, the tank would give a great jolt and she would tumble out of the fragile barriers of sleep that she had just begun to slip into. Frustration and fatigue was beginning to fill the usually empty feeling in her chest and she was not fond of the negative sensation.
She rolled onto her other side to find the occupant's eyes of the next bed over intent upon her. Ty Lee was just as awake as she was. The former smiled sadly at Mai and shook her head; she could not get any sleep either. Mai looked past Ty Lee to find Azula's back turned to the both of them, apparently trying to feign sleep, as she was still breathing normally. The dark-haired girl's eyes once again returned to Ty Lee's and she shrugged. Ty Lee dropped the gaze and with a soft sigh, shut her eyes and tried to slip into some form of slumber.
It had been such a long night without much success of capture or sleep, and outside of the small train, the sun was beginning to rise.
The three girls were roused that morning at the abrupt stop of the tank. Their lizard mounts in the second cargo bay shrieked and jostled; and the noise in their own hold was cacophonic as items slid out of place, lanterns squealed on their loose posts, and gears screamed beneath them. Mai, who had just begun to dream of something pleasant, was rolled over at the sudden halt. She awoke with a started yelp in a twist of confusion and scrambled to grasp something to keep her from the rough and tumble. She soon found herself crashed against Ty Lee, who squeaked in alarm, and the doubled weight increased the momentum as the pair collided in a tangle of pillows and blankets with the princess into the far wall. The girls were quite knotted in blankets and limbs; shocked and disoriented. Mai groaned as she tried to remove a knee that had buried into her back, she was not sure whose knee it was, but it was also pressing a particularly large blade concealed there; but her arms were too caught up in one remarkably twisted bed cover. A cry of rage rang in Mai's ears.
One startled and irate princess shoved at an unlucky Ty Lee from beneath the heap, items flying in every direction. Mai saw one frilly pillow fall out of sight; its edges singed. Once free, the firebender immediately stood and strode to the front of the vehicle to demand the cause of the disturbance, leaving Mai and Ty Lee to extract themselves from the mess. The poor acrobatic girl smoothed out her ruffled hair and rubbed at a spot on her stomach where Azula had hit her particularly hard. Mai silently picked herself up from the crash and dusted off her clothes. A nervous guard informed the princess that the clear path of bison hair had ended and they were unsure of where to go next. Livid, Azula flung open the door to the cargo bay and trod out into the sun of late morning, Mai and Ty Lee behind her.
Mai stepped squinting into the light of day and grimly noted that the sun was already halfway into the sky and she had not logged nearly any of the sleep she had wanted to. She folded her arms within the confines of her sleeves to feel that none of her weapons had shifted out of place after such a rough awakening. Ty Lee appeared beside her, yawning and stretching.
"I prefer to wake up to the call of the Platapubear."
"I prefer to sleep in." Mai replied candidly and was treated to a fit of giggles from Ty Lee. Mai gave her the barest of smiles until a third voice interjected.
"I prefer less idle chatter and more focus on the task at hand."
Mai and Ty Lee silently proceeded to where the princess stood rigidly.
The trail had indeed stopped in the wide river of a forest. The three girls came abreast to where the hair clung to several stones in the river. Azula knelt and reached forward to the loose tendrils in the water.
"Wads of wet fur," Mai wrinkled her nose in disgust, "how delightful."
"Hmm, they're not wads." Ty Lee suggested benevolently. "They're more like bundles, or bunches? It's got an "uh" sound."
Mai's eyes followed the princess as she walked past, but seeing Ty Lee's hopeful expression prompted Mai to put in her two cents, even though the exact phrase for an amassing of hair did not seem all that critical at the moment.
"Clumps?" Mai suggested with an upraised eyebrow.
Ty Lee gasped and clapped her hands together.
"Clumps! They're clumps!"
And before Mai could take a breath or shy out of the way, Ty Lee had caught her in another inescapable hug. Mai pursed her lips; she could have done with a simple "thank you". On the other side of Ty Lee, a trail of coarse, white hair set off in a fixed direction. Azula had to be informed. Pushing Ty Lee firmly from her, she spoke, but not before catching a slightly hurt look on the pink-clad girl's face.
"The trail goes this way."
Azula was not so quickly convinced. She turned from them and discovered some other clue to the puzzle. Mai glanced toward the tops of the trees where Azula stared. Something big had broken through the tips of the trees.
"The Avatar is trying to give us the slip. You two head in that direction and keep an eye out for the bison. I'll follow this trail." She fell silent as she glared ahead for a moment. "Meet back here when you are through. I would prefer them alive if you can manage it. Now go."
Mai and Ty Lee obediently mounted their lizards and were hurtling toward their goal under the watchful eye of Princess Azula.
Surfacing from the river soaking wet and weary, Mai and Ty Lee collapsed to the bank panting and wringing out their clothes and hair. That oversized fuzz ball was really beginning to get on Mai's nerves. That was twice that blasted creature had pulled the same attack on them with neither of them any the wiser. Next time, there was going to be a blade with that beast's name on it. What use would a blind flying bison be to the Avatar then? Curiously, the Avatar had not been in this battle. So then the other fur trail Mai had discovered was made by the Avatar himself, and Azula had gone after him.
Mai's eyes shot to the sky when a big white mass entered her peripheral vision. The Avatar's companions were escaping again. They had failed.
"No luck for us this time, I suppose." Ty Lee said brightly from Mai's left. Mai shut her eyes and shook her head, rising to stand.
"I'm less worried for them as I am for us when we return empty handed." Mai reached a hand out to Ty Lee who graciously accepted. The raven-haired girl had already begun walking toward her mount who wandered aimlessly around the trees when Ty Lee's shocked gasp caught Mai's attention.
"Aw, the poor little thing."
Mai followed Ty Lee's gaze to find a large, dark-colored mound on the bank further down the river. Her fire lizard was dead, its neck twisted at an impossible angle. That blast from the waterbender must have killed it on contact and the current had washed its body up on shore. A birdlike scavenger was already hard at work in feasting on the carcass. Mai frowned. Azula was not going to be pleased with this at all.
"I feel just awful for it. I jumped for safety and the poor critter got the full blow. That waterbender girl is going to pay for this." Ty Lee slammed a fist into her palm. Mai was mounted as she rode over to Ty Lee.
"Come on, we can share this one." Mai offered, lightly patting the space behind her on the saddle. Ty Lee stared up at Mai.
"Azula is not going to be happy about this, is she?"
Mai shook her head again.
"Maybe not. Those two we fought were not our intended targets. Azula went after the Avatar herself. We might be spared the Princess' wrath yet."
Ty Lee appeared reassured by the words and she vaulted up onto the surviving lizard, hugging to Mai as she whipped the reigns, sending the creature scurrying back towards the war tank.
We might be spared, Mai thought grimly, though I doubt it.
"So you two just couldn't wait to bathe at the first opportunity?"
The sun had already set and the faint burst of light left in its wake was all that remained when Mai and Ty Lee had returned to the war tank, still wet from their involuntary swim in the river to find a sarcastic princess who had only just pulled up herself to the site. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of them. "I was looking forward to having prisoners to humiliate; perhaps I should take my anger out on you as penance." There was a pause as Azula glared down to the girls from her mount, waiting for any comment. The two girls bowed their heads. Mai noticed that the Princess had no captives with her either. Where was the Avatar? Azula pulled at one of her bangs, glancing sharply to either side of the girls. "What happened to the other Fire Lizard?"
Mai and Ty Lee glanced at one another.
"It did not survive the initial assault. I am sorry Azula." Ty Lee bowed deeply before the princess. Mai mimicked her, but said nothing. Azula scowled and dismounted, striding directly up to where Ty Lee stood, stopping about an arms breadth from the acrobatic girl.
"We have only just begun and already you have lost us a mount." Azula snarled lowly. Ty Lee did not dare to look up. "There is not any room on this team to spoil our chances of success. Are you not conscious of our limited supplies and that we no longer tread on homeland? Equipment will be difficult to come by, be it weapons or mounts. I expected more of you." The pink-clad girl winced. The princess' last words were bit out; stressing her displeasure, but her anger seemed to subside into a cold acceptance as she turned her back to the other girls. "I suppose the damage has already been done, but I insist that next time you coordinate yourselves a little more carefully."
A chilled pause hung on the air.
"I expect a full report in our compartment on what happened to you two." And Azula began to walk back toward the war tank. Mai had resumed her normal posture and stole a glance at Ty Lee; the latter girl had also stood up from her bow, though her eyes were still on the ground. Azula returned a moment later with a small container of oils and salts. She smirked at the both of them, but only Mai saw it for Ty Lee's gaze was still upon the ground. "I don't think it fair that you two had a chance to bathe. Might as well make use of the river while we have one." She stated loftily. "Then we can be on the move again," Azula looked sharply at Ty Lee, "unless you would prefer to stay here." The acrobatic girl shuffled her feet timidly, feeling the princess' hot gaze. The princess seemed to understand the notion and instead her golden eyes turned to the dark-haired girl who stood opposite her. "What do you think, Mai?"
Mai again felt as though she was being tested for her loyalty—scrutinized for her behavior under various stresses, as Azula had done with the trade negotiation in Omashu. She looked up to Azula, who waited edgily for her reply; arms crossed firmly over her chest and foot tapping impatiently on the ground. Ty Lee had finally raised her gaze to match Mai's, and her expression was beseeching. She was yearning for a proper night's worth of sleep. Mai looked to the ground around her and then up to the sky with its light fading fast.
"I think it would be in our best interest to stay the night." She began slowly. Ty Lee's face brightened and Azula's gaze hardened. "The sun has already set and we have no leads to follow on any of our targets. It will be easier to track them at sunrise than in the dark and it would allow us all a decent night's worth of sleep." At this, even Azula's expression softened slightly. "I am sure that the Avatar and his companions are too exhausted to do much traveling tonight, as we have pursued them all of last night and today. They are probably sleeping as we speak."
Ty Lee gave Mai a thumb's up from behind Azula as the princess took a moment to decide.
"Fine." Azula said tersely. "We stay the night. But let it be known that we travel nonstop hereafter. I will not give them any advantage over us." Finally, Azula's demeanor became a little more teasing. "Now get out of those wet clothes before the both of you get sick and my team falls to ruin."
Both girls bowed to the princess with words of thanks and made their way back to the tank as Azula headed toward the river for a well deserved soak.
"Do you think we should take a proper bath?" Ty Lee mumbled to Mai as they walked back to the tank. Mai turned the idea over in her mind. She would prefer one, especially since they would be staying the night; Azula would surely be relentless once they started up the pursuit again. Baths would be far, few and in between.
Mai had still not made up her mind when they both arrived to the cargo bay. She paused as she reached up to pull herself in; the entire interior had been tidied up while they were away. Beds were made, pillows in place, items neatly arranged.
"Wow! Everything's been cleaned up! That was awful nice of them." Ty Lee leapt inside and spun to examine the hold. After one complete spin, the acrobat agilely slipped into a cross-legged sit, to grin at Mai. "It's like nothing happened this morning."
Mai sighed in bored agreement.
"Nothing at all."
A/N: Haha! I just noticed in the first chapter, that Mai didn't say anything at all--she had lines in this one though! Right, back on topic...
I realize Azula is more the type to doggedly pursue her prey to the point of exhaustion, but I needed an anchor for the next, and finalchapter (consequently the entire conception of this story). Still, I hope that most of the rest was in character and acceptable. Ty Lee, the poor dear, unlucky things just seem to find her. Hopefully Mai will be more obliging of Ty Lee in the last chapter and Azula will be more pleasant to her companions!
At any rate, I hope you all enjoyed this section and will stick around for one last installment.
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Blackfire 18