"Was it just me, or was that guy kinda cute?"
Ty Lee strained the water out of her braid while Mai tried to wring out her robes. It must be so convenient to be a waterbender, Mai thought. Being able to instantly bend the water out of clothing was something Mai envied about the Water Tribe girl. Right now, her whole body was soggy with river water. Luckily, she did pack a couple spare robes in the tank, but still it was a shame that such fine clothing was now soaked with water. The light, smooth fabric, woven by the most skillful artisans in Caldera City out of the finest satin and silk, was now a soggy rag. She took off one of the outer layers and twisted as much water as she could out of it before putting it back on.
"Let's go," Mai said. "We'll meet Azula back at the tank."
Ty Lee pouted. "Aw, I wanna find out what that boy's name is. They can't be too far off."
"No. And for the record, Zuko is cuter than that guy is."
"Ooh, sure. Mr. McBroody. So cute," Ty Lee teased.
Mai scoffed and mounted her mongoose-lizard.
"Hey!" Ty Lee said. "Do you happen to know where Delia is?"
Mai shrugged. "Water girl blasted her away when we were crossing the river. I'd assume she's in the forest. Just hop on mine, we'll find her."
"Alright," Ty Lee said. She climbed up behind Mai and together they rode back into the forest. In the background they could faintly hear the cheerful chirping of sparrowkeets and songbirds along with the nimble steps of turkey ducks scrambling beneath the shrubbery. They continued riding when they notice a large shadow looming behind them.
"Ah!" Ty Lee squealed. "It's a moose-lion!"
Mai sighed, entirely unfazed by the beast towering before them. "Okay then," she said. She dismounted her mongoose-lizard and motioned for Ty Lee to do the same. "Watch this," Mai said.
Mai's mongoose-lizard pawed the ground and growled at the moose-lion, undaunted as it stared the beast in the eyes. The moose-lion charged forward, angling its antlers downward to ram Mai's mongoose-lizard. The mongoose-lizard watched the moose-lion thunder towards it. Then in one fluid motion, the mongoose-lizard jumped and tore off a chunk of the moose-lion's throat. It collapsed onto the ground, crying out for a moment before going still. Ty Lee gaped while Mai chuckled.
"Okay…wow." Ty Lee was at a loss for words, simultaneously amazed and terrified that Mai's mongoose-lizard just slew a beast three times its size.
Mai shrugged. "Alright, that's done. Let's keep searching for Delia." She mounted her mongoose-lizard. Trembling, Ty Lee did the same, and they embarked on their search once again.
"Hey Mai," Ty Lee said. "Does your mongoose-lizard…have a name?"
"No."
"Aw, you really should name it. I think you should name it—wait, is it a boy or a girl?"
Mai stared back at her. "How am I supposed to know?"
"I mean, Mr. Snu—Azula's is a guy, Delia is a girl, what's yours?"
"Never bothered to check. It doesn't really matter. A mongoose-lizard is a mongoose-lizard."
"Still, how do you not know what gender it is? I don't know, it just seems quite strange that you've had it for years and never knew whether it was a boy or girl."
Mai's neutral expression began to show signs of frustration. "What do you want me to do? Crawl under its hind legs and check? No thanks."
"Well, I guess we'll have to find a name that works with either one. Hm…ooh! I got one! Dagger. That's cool, right? You know, because of the knives."
Mai rolled her eyes, but as corny as it was, she actually liked the name. "Fine," she said. "Dagger."
Ty Lee cheered. They continued riding through the forest, wandering around through small bushes and shallow streams, yet they found nothing.
Mai sighed, looking around to get her bearings. She saw a fallen tree near a river—and tank tracks. She could clearly see the tank on the river bank. Azula was already there leaning on Mr. Snuffles and reading a book. Beside her, Mai spotted another mongoose-lizard.
"You have got to be kidding me," Mai growled. They spent three hours searching for Delia when she was back at the tank the whole time.
While Mai chafed at how futile their search was, Ty Lee dismounted and ran towards Delia and gave her a hug. "Aw, I missed you so much! I thought you were gone for good."
Mai rode the remaining distance to the tank and dismounted. She led Dagger to the stable and walked off.
"Hey, what took you so long?" Azula asked.
Mai pursed her lips and, in a clipped tone, said, "We spent three hours searching for Delia after she got lost. Turns out she was here the whole time. So what did you do?"
Azula laughed. "Ah, you know, nothing much. I just chased down the Avatar, nearly killed him too, by the way. But then his whole peasant gang showed up: the waterbending girl, boomerang guy, that obnoxious blind girl. You know, the whole squad." She stroked her chin, trying to think of whether there were anymore relevant bits to the story. "Oh, right. Brother and uncle showed up, too, and then they all decided to gang up on me—which is pathetic if you ask me. I mean, the fact that they needed, what, six people to beat me is pretty sad." She shrugged. "Well, I got a lucky shot on Uncle and then I had to run."
"Great," Mai said. "So we all failed."
"Hey!" Azula said defensively. "I might have beaten the Avatar if you guys didn't let loopy and ponytail to escape. Also, why are you and Ty Lee sopping wet?"
"The furry thing knocked us into the river," Mai explained. She looked down at her robes. Although the sun had evaporated a decent bit of the water, the fabric still clung to her skin. "Ugh, I really need to change out of these." She walked into the sleeper cabin and opened up the the chest full of clothes. After digging past Azula's multiple suits of armor—why did she bring so many if she's never going to wear any of it—she finally found her spare robes.
Outside, Azula was slouching against Mr. Snuffles and reading her book. Ty Lee paced, humming a cheerful tune while she waited for Mai to finish changing. She gently massaged her right fist, the one she accidentally used to punch the water tribe boy's head.
"How's the hand?"
Ty Lee whirled around to face Azula, surprised that she noticed her rubbing her hand. Huh, thought she was reading. "A bit sore, that's all," Ty Lee responded.
"What happened?" Azula asked.
Ty Lee blushed. "So…I was fighting this really cute boy, you know, the one with the ponytail and the boomerang, and I accidentally punched his skull. So yeah."
Azula quietly seethed. How does Ty Lee like that little idiot? She needed to get rid of that little brat as soon as possible. The gears were turning within her mind. Lightning is more efficient, yes, but fire hurts more. Beating his brains out hand-to-hand would also be quite satisfying. Tough decision. She briefly considered recruiting Mai for an assassination, but explaining why she so badly wanted boomerang boy dead—nope, that won't do. Wait! What if I don't have to lay a finger on him altogether? Hm…aha! Got it! The idea was genius, even by her standards. Of course, immolation and/or electrocution were still viable backup plans, but she figured this one would be more effective and more importantly, less suspicious. Now, time to put it in motion.
She turned to Ty Lee, her cocky grin belying her anxiety. The plan would work, so long as she wasn't too obvious about it. Deception was her strong suit and this wasn't even a full blown lie, yet she was at a loss for how to begin. But she knew that the longer she spent thinking about what to say, the more conspicuous the pause would be. It would be better to just begin talking and make it up as she goes.
"He deserved it. You know, getting punched in the head. Yeah, he definitely deserved getting punched in the head." Azula shifted nervously as the awkwardness set in. Her delivery was as graceful as a swan…being bludgeoned by a komodo rhino. But still, she must continue or the plan will fail. "Listen, stuff like that happens." Azula steadied herself before continuing. "Right, so anyway, what I wanted to say is that I'll get you a little…hand protector so that this doesn't happen again."
Ty Lee stared quizzically at the blubbering princess. "…Are you okay?" she asked.
Shoot, she's onto me. "Uh, yeah. I'm always okay, I mean, I'm never not okay if that's what you're asking."
Ty Lee withdrew in confusion. "Okay, now you're acting seriously weird. Did you drink too much of that tea again?"
"Uh…" This is a good out. Let's take it. "Yeah! I drank another kettle full. Fighting the Avatar is exhausting, you know?"
"Okay then," Ty Lee responded, turning around to think about what Azula just said. For one, she knew Azula was lying—Mai had dumped the floor-tea out the window the day before. So it wasn't tea. If she were more observant, she might figure it out. Azula was a great liar, but being friends with her for years made Ty Lee attuned to her tells. Not that she needed them—for whatever reason it seemed that now Azula couldn't lie to save her life. She heard the side hatch open. Mai, now in a fresh set of clothes, stepped out and told Ty Lee she could go in and change.
After Ty Lee went in and closed the hatch, Mai walked over and sat down next to Azula.
"Well, I suppose we've lost the Avatar's scent," Mai stated. "They washed the bison, so we can't track them by fur. They seem to be moving more evasively now. I guess we have to go home."
Azula thought for a second. Coming all this way, successfully tracking down Zuko, nearly killing the Avatar—all for nothing? All to come back with her tail between her legs? No, they've come too far into Earth Kingdom territory to retreat so quickly—there must still be something they could do to further the war effort. She knew that War Minister Qin's engineering corps were making preparations to attack the great walls of Ba Sing Se, and the last time she checked, their encampment was tucked away in a valley within the Taihua mountain range. Leading the invasion of Ba Sing Se would make her and the other girls war heroes and allow them to return triumphantly to the Fire Nation even if they didn't have the Avatar.
"No. We aren't going home," Azula said.
Mai looked up at her in confusion. "Okay, fine," she said skeptically. "Then where are we going?"
"Ba Sing Se. War Minister Qin is preparing an invasion force. We'll take charge, smash through the walls and lead our forces to victory."
"Sounds fun," Mai remarked.
"Let's get going," Azula said. She started towards the tank, but was pulled back by Mai. Confused for a moment before realizing what Mai meant, she said, "Well, we'll wait for Ty Lee to finish changing, of course. But then we'll go conquer Ba Sing Se."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bad news. My AP statistics exam had a glitch so I have to retake in a week or so. Welp…after that I'll have more time to update, I promise.