Chapter 6

The sun had long since risen into the sky by the time team Avatar had finally managed to rouse themselves from slumber.

"Ahhhh-hhaaaaaa!" Sokka yawned loudly, stretching his arms to the sky. "I don't thick I've ever slept this late in my life." He lifted a hand to shadow his eyes as he looked at the sun. "It's not long until midday for crying out loud."

"Almost midday?" Aang asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes as her blearily got up, observing the area and luckily finding nothing amiss. Except for Feng, who unlike the others didn't look like he'd just awoken. In fact, he barely looked like he'd rested at all.

"Feng?"

"…Yes, Aang?"

"Did you manage to get any sleep last night?" Aanag asked with concern, peering closely at the bags under his eyes. Feng for his part shifted slightly, looking towards the sky.

"Oh, you know…some."

"Ha! That's a lie!" Toph yelled from her earth tent before she collapsed it, walking towards Feng.

"It is?" Aang blinked at Toph before looking back to Feng with suspicion. "Feng?"

"Fine," Feng sighed, knowing that the cat was out of the bag, "I didn't get any sleep. I couldn't, not with the possibility of being attacked during the night by the fire nation. I didn't want to get caught unaware. For us, to get caught unaware. So I felt like having someone take watch would be ideal.

"Yes, it was be ideal," Sokka nodded, before he glared heatedly at Feng as he walked over, giving him a soft slap on the head, "if that watch was spread out! We have five people now; we can easily do five shifts of two hours apiece while still ensuring everyone gets some rest. Why didn't you say anything? I wouldn't have been happy, but I would have seen the need to stay awake."

"I'm just used to it, I guess." Feng shrugged, yawning heavily as his eyes drooped. That was a bit of a lie, Feng admitted to himself. Whenever he was in a dangerous area like right now, he'd just find a tree and settle in that, hidden amidst the leaves.

Yes, he had gotten by on little sleep before, typically when he had been evading pursuit, but never this little. He was exhausted.

"Fortunately," Feng yawned again, covering his mouth, "now that you're all up I can get some rest myself. I hadn't planned on doing anything myself today, so it should be fine."

Sokka opened his mouth to argue, but an upraised hand from Aang stopped him, seeking to keep conflict to a minimum.

"Guys…Feng's right. Someone did need to stay awake, and I don't think any of the rest of us were prepared to do that, were we?"

Aang scanned his gaze across the clearing, none of the others meeting his eyes, even if Toph just nodded in return, not even trying to hide it. "With the fire nation as close as they are, and tracking us somehow, it was necessary. In future though, we will be taken shifts, is that clear?"

Aang's words in particular were aimed towards Feng who just nodded under the Avatar's surprisingly intense gaze. The others also nodded, realising the necessity of it all.

"Good. Glad that that's settled then."

"Mm." Sokka agreed, crossing his arms in thought. "But that still leaves the matter of how we were being tracked. It's unfortunate that we can't ask someone from the train that was following us, it'd be much easier than trying to figure it out ourselves."

Be careful what you wish for, as the spirits seem to have a sense of irony, particularly for the Water tribe boy.

"Hmm?" Toph muttered, tilting her head. "What's that?"

A chill went down Feng's spine at those words, a small rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as a little of his fatigue disappeared, at least for the moment.

"What is it, Toph?" Man, her Seismic Sense was really showing it's worth now. More than ever, it filled him with the desire to do something similar.

"Hang on." Toph relied, slamming her heel into the ground to increase her range, opening her eyes in realisation as she turned towards the tree line.

"Incoming!"

Her words set the camp alight, everyone getting into battle ready positions, even Katara who had just woken up from her own slumber as the last to rise.

Beginning with a small rustle, soon the sounds of breaking branches and earth filled the air, a small cloud of dusting forewarning the approach of three giant lizards coming towards them.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka called out pointlessly at the sight of the three girls perched on the backs of the Mongoose lizards, lifting his war club up a little higher than it already was. Toph and Aang both moved into the ready positions for their own bending styles, while Katara tried to do the same only to manage a half decent one, too sleepy for anything else.

As for Feng, he moved into his own ready position, drawing his fans and splaying them out to reveal the bright red webbing to the world as he waited. While his limbs felt leaden and his eyes fuzzy, he was still aware enough that any potential foe wouldn't put him down easily.

He wouldn't be in top condition though, Feng admitted to himself with a grimace, his fatigue combining with the soreness in his muscles form his bending the previous day.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Azula asked rhetorically, sliding off the back of her mongoose lizard smoothly even before it stopped, gracefully retaining her balance as she took a couple of steps forward as Ty Lee and Mai jumped off their own lizards, landing beside them.

"It looks like we have the Avatar and his entourage." Azula continuing, sighing dramatically even as she smirked arrogantly at them. "A poor non-bender in way over his league, a water bender too tired to walk straight, a blind girl, and an exhausted bum."

Feng took offence to that.

"Not much of a fight," Azula said, pretending to glance at her nails before sighing. "But oh well, father will be quite pleased when I capture the Avatar, even if the fight will be…disappointing."

Feng very much took offence to that, even if she was the crown princess of the fire nation.

"Are we just going to stand around all day, or are we going to fight?" Toph asked impatiently, glaring at the princess.

"If you insist." Azula spoke, rotating on one leg before thrusting a hand forward, shooting a blast of blue flame at the centre of the gang and making them scatter. Aang and Toph went right, while Katara, Sokka and Feng went left.

Focused as she was on the Avatar, Azula followed him, ready to fight the two master benders alone while leaving her friends against the other three.

"Hello again!" Ty lee chirped, smiling brightly as she bounded forward, displaying her acrobatic skills as she leaped over the thrown boomerang from Sokka, her hands poised to perform the chi blocks.

"Not this again!" Sokka cried, holding his club in front of him as he wildly swung at the girl, making her keep her distant due to his flailing that ultimately did little.

"What do you mean?" Feng asked, casually knocking two thrown knives of Mai's to the side with his war fans, making the girl huff. Taking advantage of this, Katara wound up one of her arms before shooting it forward, creating a water whip from her water pouch to attack the girl.

"It's where…" Sokka ducked right form a strike at his left shoulder, "she hits you…", this time he dodged to the right, "and that place," Sokka actually managed to block the next hit, making Ty lee wince as she withdrew her hand, shaking it slightly.

"Ha!" Sokka cheered, raising his club in triumph even though he really shouldn't have, as it left him wide open to a jab from Ty Lee's other hand, catching him in his right shoulder…his dominant shoulder.

"…goes numb." Sokka muttered, watching as his arm flopped to the side as Ty Lee winked.

"Exactly handsome." She said, ducking down as Sokka swiped sideways with his remaining arm and performed a roundhouse kick, displaying her great flexibility as she took Sokka in the knees, flipping him over as he groaned, laying on the ground.

"…that is concerning." Feng muttered, staring at the deceptively dangerous girl standing next to Sokka, still deflecting the occasionally knife throw from Mai who was know clenching her teeth in frustration.

"No, want's concerning should be the knives about to skewer you." Mai said coolly, darting a hand into her sleeve and withdrawing a brace of five knives splayed outwards, a casual flick of her wrist sending them all flying towards Feng before she had to leap back from another one of Katara's strikes.

That should probably be concerning Feng admitted, tossing out the idea of deflecting all of the knives. However…

Feng stepped to the side and docked down, evading all of the blades with little difficulty.

…he could just dodge out of the way. He'd deflected before because it had been easier, but if Mai could only occasionally chuck weapon or weapons at him, well…it wasn't that hard for an airbender to dodge them. What was hard to dodge was the lightning quick strikes of the girl with the exposed midriff.

And the flying kick she came in with.

"Woah!" Feng shouted in surprise, arching over before performing a backwards handspring, rotating mid motion once he returned to his feet to send a leg soaring at Ty Lee's shoulder. Unfortunately, Ty Lee blocked to blow, one hand supporting her other arm to help tank it, leaving her unharmed expect for a slight wince.

"Ooh, a fighter are we?" Ty Lee smiled brightly, putting some distance between the two. To be honest, Feng didn't know how he felt about fighting her. On one hand, she was seeking to put him down so that they could take Aang away, undoubtedly something that would get his teacher killed.

Feng found his eyes trail down to her waist, admiring the visible musculature she had.

On the other, Ty Lee was quite the physical specimen and just came off as bubbly and friendly. It was confusing for the teenager.

"Hopefully you'll put up more of a fight than that one. He was a bit disappointing." Ty Lee said, pointing at the groaning form of Sokka who was lying on the floor, squirming as he tried to regain control of his limbs.

"Oh, I think I will." Feng smirked, holding his arms in front of him, his fans held vertically just like he had been taught by the Kyoshi warriors. Ty Lee returned the smirk as they circled each other, both of them ignoring the sounds of fire exploding, earth smashing and water whipping as the put all of their concentration into the fight.

Now, Airbending was all about countering your foes, moving around them…but Feng was only a moderately skilled airbender. Thus, he made the first move, stepping forward as he swung a fan at Ty Lee's shoulder, the girl pushing an arm upwards to deflect it before Feng's other arm came in, attacking from the same side.

Yes, this left the blow weaker than the first due to his second arm having to swing across his body, but that just meant that the blow actually connected, as Ty Lee's arm on that side was already occupied.

"Oof!" Ty Lee grunted, taking the blow to her side as the solid frame of the fan dug in as Ty Lee's flexible form, forcing her to bend slightly with the blow.

"Clever." Ty Lee admitted, rubbing her side with a wince even as the smile never left her face. "But not clever enough!"

In a blur of motion, Ty Lee leant backwards, her torso going horizontal as she kicked out at Feng, a blow that he barely avoided by letting it move between his arm and rib before Ty Lee took advantage of her strange potion to plant her hands, spring her other leg upwards to catch Feng in the chin, making him grunt as he was forced to take a couple of steps backwards, his head ringing slightly.

Returning to her feet, Ty Lee was quick to take advantage of her momentum by stepping into Feng's guard, seeking to jab his chi points as she did. The first one came a little too close to comfort for Feng, almost hitting him in the thigh, and when the second almost caught him in the rib before he rotated around it, he did something he had sworn off long ago.

He used what was obviously airbending in a fight against the fire nation.

"Hah!" Feng yelled, taking advantage of his rotation to swing the fan in his left hand around even faster, an enormous stream of air shooting out from it with the force of a gale, sending Ty Lee's lithe form tumbling away in an uncoordinated fashion, rolling along the ground.

"…what?" Ty Lee said in confusion, honestly blinking in surprise as Feng followed up this first attack by swinging his other arm, the one behind his body, up and over his head, causing a stream of air to fall on top of Ty Lee, buffeting her attempt to get to her feet and sending her a little further backwards.

This time she managed to spring to her feet, poised to dodge the next attack, but Feng had gotten her right where he wanted her, and he was right in the position he wanted to be.

Mentally lining up the shot, Feng straightened his body as he brough his arms out to his side, fans facing forward as he took in a deep breath, taking in as much as he could. When he couldn't take in anymore, his lungs close to bursting, Feng stepped forward was he exhaled, sending a stream of air in the direction of Ty Lee using the Breath of Wind attack.

This was one of his newer abilities, so he wasn't very good at it yet, but this didn't matter, as at the same time he swung his arms forward, bring his hands together as an even larger blast of wind travelled out of them. These three streams of air combined with one another, swirling together in a mostly contained fashion as it rapidly traversed the distance to were Ty Lee was standing.

She tried to leap away of course, but she was simply too late, the attack too fast.

"Arrggghhh!" Ty Lee yelled as she was sent flying, her limbs flailing in the wind as she flew across the ground…right into the back of the surprised weapons mistress that was Mai, the two of them colliding in a brutal fashion as their heads were knocked together with a loud thump.

Together, the pair went down, falling to the ground just as Katara's stream of water came in, wrapping around them before freezing, taking them out of the fight.

"….ooooooowwwwwwwww." Ty Lee groaned quietly, her eyes scrunched shut as her head throbbed madly. Mai wasn't any better judging by the fierce scowl on her face, but she at least had the ability to internalize her own reaction.

Feng panted as he stood there, seeking to regain his breath as he lets his arms fall limply to his side, shaking slightly due to the large usage of his already depleted chi. That didn't just regenerate automatically, it took time and proper rest. Neither of which Feng had had.

"That went a lot better than last time." Katara commented with a smile, waking over to Feng.

"Uh-huh…sure." Sokka commented from the floor, flopping one arm over as he managed to flip to his front, but that was it. Feng felt a faint smile gracing his lips from the display, but didn't otherwise comment, as he knew that if he were in Sokka's position he wouldn't find it anymore amusing than he did.

"You look like a wet noodle." Katara laughed, holding a hand to her face as she went over to help her brother, bending down with more water glowing in her hand, running it over his limbs.

Meanwhile, Azula, Aang and Toph were still engaged in a fast paced bending fight, each of them producing large displays of bending that trumped all but Feng's last attack, and doing it time and time again. Perhaps Katara could have done the same, but she was limited without any water to use, so she was in the same boat as him.

"Do you think they need help?" Katara asked in concern, watching over the fight from where she was kneeling.

As a slice of fire erupted from Azula's foot, Toph crouched and held up her arms, forearms forward as a large pillar of stone erupted from the ground before her in the shape of an angled shield, the edges angled to help diffuse the blow.

This shield protected both Toph and Aang who was standing behind her, who the leaped upwards the second the flame dissipated, swinging his staff sideways to produce a blade of air himself, catching the princess in the shoulder pad as she narrowly dodged the attack, staring at the torn clothing with a scowl before she continued with the fight.

"Nah, I think they've got this." Feng replied calmly, watching as Aang and Toph tag teamed the fire bender in a display that made it look like they had been doing this for years. Whenever Aang defended, Toph would launch an attack, and whenever Toph defended, Aang would launch an attack, the pair of the tagging teaming the princess almost easily.

Really, the only thing keeping Azula in the fight to begin with was the ferocity of her bending style and her unusually powerful flames, but against the foes she was currently facing, they were barley enough. The two on one also forced her to bend at a greater rate than ever before, and judging by the sharp heaves of breath Feng could see and Azula's out of place hair, he could tell she was getting tired.

"Shouldn't be long either."

Although, a small pit formed in his stomach, a gnawing feeling that wouldn't go away as he clenched the fans in his hands tightly. He knew from experience that a cornered animal was most dangerous just before they were taken down, and looking at her right now, you could tell that was exactly what she was. A cornered animal.

The crazed look in her eyes would allow for nothing else.

"You're looking tired there, princess. Are you sure her royal highness doesn't want to lie down for her afternoon nap? Is this really all the lauded princess amount's too?" Toph taunted just after deflecting another of Azula's blasts, this one only required a small pillar to redirect the flame rather than blocking it entirely.

This expression of flame was weaker than the last, a sign of fatigue.

"I'll show you what this princess can do." Azula snarled, moving into a new bending kata, one different than any of the others they had seen before. Even Feng, who had arguable see more than most, didn't recognise it.

"Something feel's wrong." He muttered, taking off to in a sprint to get closer to the fight as his stomach began to scream that something was wrong, ignoring the confused question Katara asked in return.

Crouching slightly, Azula took in a deep breath before beginning to move her left hand in a circle, a cold, blue fire appearing atop her two pointed fingers, but this fire was different than before. It was erratic, unpredictable. Electrifying.

Azula continued the motion as Feng continued to rush towards Aang and Toph, the two of them recognising that Azula was about to do something dangerous, the pair of them creating a shield between them and the princess, a solid rock barrier appearing in front of them just as a swirling dome of air formed did the same.

Azula continued her motion, swinging her other arm around as the erratic fire appeared in her other hand as well, unmoved from her crouch. Finally, Azula brought her hands together, a cruel smirk with just a hint of madness appearing on her face.

"Just try and block this!" Azula yelled, bring her hands apart as she rotated her body, pushing her front arm out straight as the erratic fire that had been tickling the back of Feng's mind began to circle Azula's arm.

Time slowed down for Feng here as his mind suddenly connecting the dots on just what was happening. He recognised this move, if only from stories, as he'd never actually seen it before. In all of the moves and katas that were a part of fire bending, there had always been one rumoured to be above al else. A move to surpass the other expert level moves required to be called a master fire bender.

A move that, if learned, would demonstrate ones true mastery over fire bending. After all, only the very best could produce the cold fire. Only the very best could harness the immense destructive power that was…lighting.

That's why, just as Azula's arm fully outstretched, as the small fingers of lightning began to leave her arm in preparation for the final strike, Feng drew upon the last dregs of his chi, the last remains of he had available to him.

Now was not the time for subtlety. Not even the time for control, as Feng had seen lighting occur before. Yes, that had been natural lighting, from thunderstorms, so he suspected their was a different, but he did know this. Lighting was fast.

With that fact in mind, Feng dropped the fan in his left hand, bringing his palm to join his right on his single remaining hand as he swung diagonally with all of his might, his fan angled slightly away from the direction it was moving to produce a narrower stream if air, one aimed at Azula's arm.

He had thought he was too late for a second, but even as Azula's cruel golden eyes began to move towards the approaching figure that was Feng, his desperate strike took the princess in the arm, forcing her arm downwards and to the side of the pair, now aiming at the earth around 2 metre away from Feng, closer to him than it was to her.

The sight of Azula's widening eyes was the last thing Feng saw for a while, a flash of blue and white light filling his eyes as the attack struck the ground, causing it to explode in a massive cacophony of sound that hurt the ear as both Feng and Azula were send flying.

"Feng!" Aang called out in concern, though Feng could not hear him. Nor see him for that matter, as all he could see for the moment was whiteness, his vision obscured. This didn't stop Feng's flying body from being caught by the Avatar however, as Aang's quick movement allowed for a mostly soft landing, even if Feng felt himself being jarred lightly due to the impact.

This is what woke Feng out of his daze, allowing him to feel the large number of burns and abrasions on the front right of his body. Slowly, Feng blinked, trying to erase the whiteness he was seeing.

For a second Feng felt terror claw at his heart when nothing happened, but as the seconds passed and he continued to blink, the world around him began to come back into sight. At first, it was blurry, only revealing vague shapes, but after about a minute his vision had cleared enough to make sense of what he was seeing.

Which was apparently the concerned face of Katara, who had just finished healing Feng's ears, the sounds of battle popping back into his ears even though he hadn't noticed it had been gone, too focused on his vision for otherwise.

"…K-Katara?" Feng said blearily, fighting off the urge to cough from a scratchy throat as relief appeared in the young girls eyes.

"Feng, you're all right!" Katara said in relief, lowering her slightly shaking hands as she helped Feng sit up, causing him to grimace slightly as he did, looking down at the injuries on his right side.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm all right, but luckily I'm not all left either, seeing as I can still feel the right side of my body."

Feng blinked at the aghast expression on Katara's face, revolted at Feng's joke.

"Too soon?"

"Yes, you idiot! If you'd actually been caught by that attack you would have been toast! What were you thinking, interfering like that?! Toph and Aang would have been fine."

"You don't know that." Feng replied calmly, turning his head over to where Toph and Aang were walking back, Azula's arms and legs captured in earthen restrains, as was her mouth. "You saw what that attack did do the earth."

He waved his right arm over towards the 3 metre wide crater in the earth, immediately regretting it as he winced due to the flash of pain this caused. Right, no aggravating your wounds if you can help it, Feng. That was like, self-care 101.

"Do you honestly think that their defence would have held against something light that?" his words were soft. But the meaning behind them was deadly.

Katara hesitated slightly, indecision showing on her face. "Well…" she couldn't finish her sentence, which was exactly Feng's point. She couldn't have been sure.

"Exactly." Feng sighed. "I wasn't sure either, but I do know that if that attack had hit either of them, they would have been lucky to be alive, even if it had weakened itself going through the barriers."

Toph and Aang had now gotten close enough to hear Feng's words, although they had yet to call out. Judging by the relief on both of their faces however, they were just happy her was okay.

"As she was performing the attack, I recognised exactly what it was. It is something I had hoped to never be attacked by, as it is the most dangerous attack in any bender style. Not just fire bending either. In all of them."

Katara leant in, as did Sokka beside him who Feng had only just noticed, the pair of them intrigued by his words.

"You see, unlike airbenidng, earthbending, or waterbending, firebending possesses almost a small subset in itself, an almost secondary bending style available to all firebenders. Luckily, it is very rare, as if you don't posses enough skill and control, the attack is more likely to injure or kill you than be dangerous to your foes, but for the rare few, the masters of the masters, lightning bending is an available move to learn."

"Lightning bending?" Aang asked with both curiously and despair, Toph dropping Azula right beside the other two bound girls, although neither of them had been gaged like the now wriggling Azula was, her muffled voice undoubtedly firing off insults and curses at a rapid pace.

"Yes Aang, lightning bender. That is what Azula just used, and I hope to never encounter it again, although I know we will." He sighed, shifting slightly due to his position uncomfortable. "Because if the crown princess of the fire nation knows lightning bender…I'm certain that it's Lord does as well."

This caused a sullen silence to fill the learning, all of them silently mulling over Feng's words. Even Mai and Ty Lee did judging by the thoughtful expressions on their faces, although Ty Lee's was a lot more apparent than Mai's.

"Fortunately," Feng said a little loudly and brightly for him, trying to distract the others, "you managed to take Azula down before she could get off another of those attacks."

"It wasn't hard." Toph snorted, kicking the princess in the side, making her grunt. "After you were both sent flying, she was easy pickings. Sure, she wasn't as hurt as you were, but she was still hurt by the attack, and exhausted on top of it. Partially blinded and deafened, and sporting some bruising too. Really, I just played defence until Aang got back and then it was over."

"Which is good. Now that just leaves the problem of what we should do with her." Feng mused, groaning slightly as he attempted to move to his feet, flinching slightly as the use of his right abdominal muscles. He also failed to get up, which was a bummer.

"Can someone help me up please?"

Katara was still looking sceptically at Feng, being the teams healer, but acquiesced to his request as he didn't look too wounded, more in pain than anything. Thus, Katara and Sokka put one arm each of Feng's over their shoulder, helping him stand, if not at his full height with how much he towered above his companions.

Feng almost regretted it with how much the movement aggravated his wounds, but the relief of no longer lying on the ground was worth it.

"Now, Azula is the crown princess, so if we do anything permanent, the fire lord will stop at nothing sending his soldiers at us. You could argue that he already does that, but even the massive army sent to the northern water tribe was still only a fraction of his entire army. If we took her down, Ozai would have to send his army after us. He wouldn't be able to take the loss of reputation otherwise." Feng mused, looking down on Azula.

For a second, a flash of fear appeared in her eyes even as her muffled noises slowed to a halt, only calming after she heard the rest of Feng's words.

"As for them…I don't really want to hurt them either. They're just following the mad princess here, especially the acrobat, as I can't see her as intentionally hurting anyone." Feng continue, gesturing towards the still bound forms of Mai and Ty Lee.

"Thank you handsome." Ty Lee winked, smiling brightly at the compliment even though her arms were bound at her side. Yeah, Feng really didn't want to hurt them, nor did the rest of the group. For all that they opposed the fire nation, they were still just a group of kids and teenagers.

They weren't soldiers, nor were they mercenaries.

Even Feng wasn't, despite the lengths that he had gone to before. He didn't want to be that person any longer, even if the glares Azula was giving him made it tempt him. Ultimately though, logic won out.

"But just because we can't hurt them…doesn't mean we can't inconvenience them." Feng smirked playfully, getting one back from Aang and Toph.

"Now you're talking." Toph grinned, rubbing her hands together with glee. "So, how are we going to inconvenience them? Maybe leave earthen weights on their limbs and leave them stranded here?"

Feng gave the suggestion some though before shaking his head, rejected it. "Unfortunately, that will probably be a bit too much out here in the wilderness. They're still going to need to fend off any animals they encounter."

But it did give him an idea. Turning towards Ty Lee and Mai, he could see that they were perfectly fine despite shivering slightly, and that their restraints were slowly melting away. Temporary restraints so they could get away…that could work.

"Hey, Katara, is their any more water around you can use as restraints? For the princess?"

A confused expression appeared on Katara's face even as she nodded, waving a hand towards the bound girls.

"Yeah, they each have a water bottle. It's not a lot, but it should be enough for something small. Why, Feng? What do you want to do?"

"Well, I realise that keeping the gag on the princess is probably ideal, nice work on that by the way Toph," the younger girl preened at the praise, "but if we want to leave them behind, we need to use temporary restraints, something that will disappear in time. Now, Earth wont do that, but ice will, so with Toph's help, could you replace the restraints on her body with some of your own? That way, we could leave with all of them like this, where they'll be free in an hour or so before they'll have to walk back to civilisation."

"Walk back?" Sokka questioned this time, looking at the still waiting mongoose lizards.

"Yep, walk back." Feng decralred with finality, earning a scowl from Mai. "That's why I want you to send their mounts away, Sokka. It should extend their walking time to at least a week, a week that we will use to get far away from here."

Sokka nodded, moving out from under Feng's arm to do as requested even as Katara did the same, leaving him standing shakily until Aang came over to his non-injured side, gently holding him even though his head normally only came up to Feng's armpit.

"What about us?"

"We are going to question these two lovely ladies here. After all, at least one of them will know what we want to know." Feng grinned, using Feng's help to walk over to them.

"And just why should we do that?" Mai drawled, an open scowl present on her face. "You already said you wont hurt us, so I don't really see a method of you getting the information out of us."

"True," Feng nodded, the grin not leaving his face, "but who said we would be getting the information out of you?"

Realization dawned in Mai's eyes as Feng turned towards Ty Lee, the girl still sporting a bubbly grin and friendly eyes, even if they were not a touch nervous.

"So, I don't suppose you'd make my life a little easier and just tell us how you were following us? The why doesn't really need to be said."

"I don't know," Ty Lee replied chirpily, "Mai and Azula would be quite annoyed if I just told you. And I don't want to just give you the information, that wouldn't be nice. So, what are you going to do to make it work my while, huh handsome?" she smirked, winking at him.

Oh, Feng could think of a few things a perverted part of his mind said, but he shooed that away to replace it with the more practically part, keeping in mind the twelve year old boy next to him.

"Aang," Feng began solemnly, his face blank except for a mischievous look in his eyes, "would you mind fetching a few tufts of Appa's hair for me?"

A similarly mischievous look appeared in Aang's eyes as he smiled.

…

"Hahahahahahahaha!" Ty Lee laughed, squirming in her restraints as much as possible as she tried to move her bare feet away from the tufts of Appa's fur Feng was running along them. Just the sight of her beneath him like this more than made the slight pain of the action more than worth it.

Pausing his action, Feng asked his question again.

"So, feel like talking yet? Or do we need to continue?"

"Haha…ha…ha…I'm not quite…ha…done yet." Ty Lee continued to giggle, her chest heaving as she tried to retain some of her composure even as she shifted slightly from what Aang was doing. While Feng was mercilessly tickling the hell out of her soles, Aang was using some of Appa's courser hair to cause irritation on Ty Lee's nose, softly running it back and forth even as Ty Lee's nose twitched.

"But you could be…you just need to tell me how you followed us…and then I could…scratch…your…nose." Feng purred, playfully reaching out a hand and holding it just out of reach.

The provocation forced Ty Lee to frown, squirming as she looked away. She was getting close, Feng could tell. On his signal, Aang began again as Feng did the same, putting hair to foot.

"…I have to say, I've seen the phrase 'cruel and unusual' before, but this really exceeds expectations." Mai complimented from where she was lying, speaking over Ty Lee's laughter as a respectful look appeared on her face.

"What can I say, I'm a creative person." Feng replied, opening his mouth to speak further before he was interrupted.

"Okay!...okay, I'll talk." Ty Lee gasped out, no longer able to hold out on the assault. This was the beauty of it, as unlike classical torture which some people trained against, irritation and laughter were not something you could do the same.

Sure, it was unusual, but it was effective.

"I'm listening." Feng said, pausing his tickling as Aang did the same, giving the girl a second to compose herself.

"We've…we've been following a trail of white fur, from the Avatar's pet over there." Ty Lee admitted with slight guilt even as she scrunched her nose over and over, trying to relieve the itch.

"Apa's fur?" Aang asked in confusion before understanding dawned in his eyes. "He's shedding!" And then he smacked himself in the face.

"He's shedding?"

"Yeah." Aang sighed, rubbing his face in embarrassment, cursing his forgetfulness. "It happens twice a year between the change from summer to winter and winter to summer. If it's happening now, it must be spring. To be honest, I hadn't even thought about how it could be a problem."

"Can we do something about it?"

"Yep!" Aang chirped brightly, moving to his feet. "We can just wash him in a river, that'll get rid of all the loose fur and then we'll go back to no longer being able to be tracked."

"Excellent." Feng grinned, turning down to Ty Lee again.

"Thank you, for your cooperation." He said, reaching down and scratching his nails over the bridge of her nose. The relief was instant for Ty Lee as a loud moan filled the clearing, one that sounded sexual in nature.

Aang immediately blushed, and a faint dusting of red showed up on Mai's face, but Feng merely took it in stride.

"That good huh? I should have known; I've always had magic hands."

Ty Lee for her part looked a touch embarrassed from her display, red on her cheeks as she looked away. "Y-yeah, w-well…"

She trailed off, not able to say anything else.

Leaning forward, Feng put his mouth next to her ear as he breathed out his next words, so soft that only she would be able to hear them.

"It was good for me too."

Leaning back, a nuclear blush appeared on Ty Lee's face as he got to his feet, Aang quickly helping him. Of course, Aang asked just what he said, as did Mai, but neither Ty Lee nor Feng answered them, Ty Lee because she was too embarrassed to, and Feng because he didn't what to get into a conversation like that with Aang.

He was still a bit too naive for that sort of thing even with his puppy crush on the teams waterbender. As for Feng, well Feng just grinned to himself, his amusement overshadowing his pain.

He's still got it.

…

Leaving the three ice-restrained girls behind, it didn't take long to find a river that would suit their purposes.

"That's it buddy, lets ger you nice and clean." Aang grinned, down to just his underclothes as he used a twig to scrub between Apa's toes. Sokka was helping as well, running a long brush Aang had fetched out of his bag through Apa's wet fur, clump after clump of it being taken away and down the river as even more of it covered his own clothing.

Normally, Feng would have helped, but as previously stated, he was injured. Katara had already down her best to heal him, but it had been a long day for the girl and Feng had a lot of injuries, so she'd just partially healed the burns that covered his right side.

This left him feeling slightly better, if still a bit tender. His skin was now just a bit sensitive rather than painful, but his bruising hadn't decreased at all, something that was a lot harder to treat than surface level injuries.

He didn't mind though; it was better than the alternative. The only real regret he had was that it had damaged one of his new outfits, the ones he had bought at Gaoling. That peeved him quite a bit, actually, but at least his cloak had come out of it basically unscathed.

A half hour later they were in the air again, in search of an appropriate place to begin Aang's training as an Earthbender. Feng hadn't even realised it when he fell asleep in the saddle, as tired as he was. In one moment, he was awake, and the next, he was not, now in Morpheus's embrace.