AN: I've received some PM's in recent days, regarding the same topic so I figured I'd address that particular subject here. Though I love hearing from you guys about ideas, theories and hopes for certain characters, I can't obviously say just anything about certain pairings just yet, as doing so would give away a good bit of where this story is going. I'm sorry I can't give you better than that, but those questions will be answered in time, I can promise that.

So again, thank you guys so much for your love and support as we move forward, super glad to have you back for another chapter!

Chapter 12: Cold Desire

Mai pushed her way through the foliage of the forest, hearing the distant chatter of her group fade away behind her. The move had been quick and successful as Aang and his flying lemur had managed to scout out a spot that was just as good as the one they had previously occupied.

Sokka had rode in around noon, and neither he nor Appa looked any too pleased about having to immediately bolt again. There had been a fair bit of dancing around the topic of why exactly they had to move and it likely was due in no small part to how cagey everyone was surely behaving; Sokka's outspoken and brash behavior was muted even as he arrived though, as if he had sensed something that had gone very wrong in the time since he had left. Katara had finally talked him down with a promise they would talk about it later, and that seemed to tide him over.

Most of the packing had already been done, and loading up Appa took only about a half hour; Mai had been tending to pulling some laundry from where it hung between some trees when she had heard an argument break out between Sasuke and Katara. The former was rather upset that they had no plans to move the airship along with them, with Katara loudly explaining that it would take too long to prepare and they didn't need it anyway with a lighter group of people. Sasuke had then started snarling about how he would need it when Ozai's location was revealed and a full-blown shouting match might have broken out if Mai hadn't dropped what she was doing and come over. A part of her was both impressed and terrified by how unafraid Katara seemed to be of Sasuke after what had happened the night previous.

"We'll give it a look over and make sure it's still hidden well down that crevasse. Once we find out what you need to know, we'll take you back and you can fly it wherever you need to go," she had said, speaking sternly over the both of them. Neither had seemed particularly satisfied but they stopped arguing and that was enough.

With the real beginning of the festivities beginning the island over that evening, there was a good deal to be done in preparation. Mostly because Katara had pulled everyone aside while Sasuke had been burning bodies with some quick, focused words; as Aang, who had gone over to speak to Sasuke and had earned a severe glare from Katara, joined the rest of them, Katara had looked around at the lot of them. Sokka, Suki, Aang, Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai herself gave her the due diligence of paying attention, but Mai noticed that both Toph and Azula seemed deeply preoccupied.

"Sasuke can't go to the festival by himself. I'd rather he just leave and be gone for good myself, but he needs to be kept in line to make sure he doesn't' instigate anything that compromises our location. Best case scenario, we get to the festival, find the advisor and get Sasuke what he needs. No one gets hurt, everything stays quiet."

Ty Lee made a noise of polite disbelief. "I have trouble believing it'll be that easy."

Katara gave her a nod. "It won't be. But if some of us go along, it could lessen or prevent whatever chaos Sasuke might get up to on his own."

Suki raised a hand.

"I can go. It won't seem odd because of my background; he won't question having someone with experience spotting out people and who is good in a fight come along."

Sokka strangely didn't seem to protest or offer to come along as well; as Mai watched him, he seemed to be looking around at the lot of them and seeming like he was doing his best to keep from appearing uncomfortable.

Katara nodded in agreement, "That's a good choice."

"I'll go along too," Azula said, sliding her silky and insidious voice into the conversation. This was not met with the same consent as Suki's self-nomination, and Mai was one of several who gave the princess a shrewd look then. She caught Ty Lee looking at Azula with an extremely pained expression, but the acrobatic warrior made no comment. It was Zuko who finally gave the idea his own thoughts.

"I don't know, Azula, with what all happened between you two…"

His sister flashed her striking eyes his way, her voice dripping with contempt. "I'm aware of what happened, Zuzu, I don't need you to remind me."

She continued on, "Unlike the rest of you, I've spent a good deal of time with father's chief advisor; I know his men almost by sight alone and will be able to spot him or any of them myself. I'm more than capable in a fight, and it would be prudent to have a firebender go regardless."

Zuko, looking unpleased with being put down so suddenly and so harshly, spoke up. "Then I'll go. Sasuke needs someone who can keep a level head."

Azula's eyes widened with belittling disbelief. "Oh, and that should be you?! Don't make me laugh, you'll pick a fight with someone two steps into the festival."

Balling his fists and looking more than ready to make Azula's point for her, Zuko opened his mouth, but Mai put a hand on his and it stopped him long enough for Katara to softly mention, "We need you here, Zuko. Aang still needs as much training as he can."

Looking only partially like he thought his idea would work anyway, Zuko said nonetheless, "Azula could train him while I'm gone."

Both Aang and Azula adopted identical horrified looks at the prospect and Katara shook her head. "Absolutely not."

Mai found her attention drifting towards Toph as she tried to keep from laughing at Zuko's absurd proposal. The young earthbender had been uncharacteristically quiet, but as attention returned to possible prospects, she raised her voice, the clarity of her tone not matching the hesitant posture she held herself with in that moment.

"I'm going too. He needs someone to watch his back."

Watching as Azula turned to sneer towards the younger girl, Mai voiced her own concern before anyone else could. "When you say watching…"

Crossing her arms, Toph looked her way and made a face. "Yeah, you know what I mean."

Not even realizing what she had just implied, Mai quickly tried to correct herself, feeling her cheeks flush at how rude she had just unintentionally been.

"No, no, I didn't mean… that's not what I…"

Ty Lee spoke up for her then as Zuko squeezed her hand, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"She just means she's not sure if you're the best person to mind after someone like him."

But this only seemed to further offend Toph than Mai's comment had. The girl swelled up, looking more than a little irked. "What's that supposed to mean?! You think I can't handle myself in a fight?!"

As Ty Lee winced and gave Mai a desperate look, Katara came to the rescue. "Toph, it's not that, and you know it. Sasuke is going to need people at his back who can be objective and can steer him clear of bad situations he might otherwise walk into. You and him… well, it's no secret that… what I mean to say is…"

Then she began too to flounder and Toph's cheeks flushed with anger. "Finish that sentence, Katara!"

Looking just as lost then as Mai and Ty Lee, Katara looked around in something like a panic before her eyes settled on Aang who looked as though he wanted to steer as far from this conflict as he could. Meeting her eyes, the Avatar grit his teeth and gave a thoughtful look before shrugging.

"Alright, Toph, you should go too."

Stomping one of her bare feet in finality, Toph nodded her chin sharply. "That's what I thought."

Without another word, she marched off towards Appa; Katara swiveled to stare furiously at Aang who shrugged again and ran after Toph before she could lay into him. The discussion seemed far from over as Katara made to go after them, but just then everyone caught sight of Sasuke returning and it had to go on hold.

This had all taken place hours ago and now with the camp having been safely moved a few hours down the long and expansive beachfront, Mai was just glad for a chance to be alone with her thoughts for a bit. She had seen a spot near where they had flown over just a half hour ago, and she had deliberately not mentioned it on purpose, hoping to be the first to have a chance with it.

A minute's walk into the trees led her to what she had seen and it was just as it had appeared from the air. A hot springs lay nestled against the long and slender ferns that carpeted the floor of the island's interior. Mai gave a pleased sigh as she dipped her toe into the liquid and felt a rush of bliss at its warmth. She looked back to make sure that she hadn't been tailed by anyone and when she was sure that she was alone in her trip to the springs, she quickly undressed and gently lowered herself into the pool as steam wisped around her.

She groaned at the feeling of the water rolling over her tired body. It hadn't crossed her mind once to complain about the conditions that she had moved to following her defection from her homeland, but there were certainly comforts of her old life that she missed. Beds, carpets and baths to name a few, but this hot springs was as elating as any bath that could be brought up in any of the noble buildings. Mai closed her eyes as she stretched her arms to her left and right over the rocks that made up the pool's boundaries, euphoric at the idea of just having some time to herself.

"I was hoping I was the only one who had seen it."

Yelping at the sudden voice, Mai leapt in surprise. There, tucked away behind some ferns on the other end of the springs about a dozen feet away, Sasuke regarded her with a flat stare. Mai had been so preoccupied looking to see if she hadn't been followed, she hadn't even bothered to check if she had been alone in the first place. Looking down swiftly to make sure the water had her upper body covered, she nonetheless crossed her arms over her breasts underwater almost subconsciously as she glared back at his black eyes.

"Did you… were you watching…?" she hissed, not able to properly articulate her indignation of being one of two occupants of the springs. Sasuke stared at her, looking like he might be mildly amused.

"I looked away when you were stripping and getting into the water."

Though she was still more than a little ticked off, there was something about his voice that told her he was telling the truth. Not letting her guard down, but willing to let her voice return to a measured, if stewing, tone, she asked,

"How long have you been here?"

He flicked his eyebrows as he considered her question. "Bout a half hour. Came here as soon as I could get away. Not hard, with how Katara is always so happy to see me removed from anything the group is doing."

Mai slowly let her arms drift back out to her left and right to rest on the bank of the springs, giving him an exacerbated look as she did. "Don't tell me you're going to start acting all self-pitying after what you pulled last night."

Sasuke gave her a look of brief bemusement before letting out a short chuckle through closed lips. It was still more than a little surreal to hear him laugh.

"Sorry, I wasn't complaining, getting away is all I can really ask for these days."

He raised a hand and gestured back the way Mai had come before moving his arms to a position that mirrored hers. "How are things going back there? I told Katara, I don't need some big bundle of supplies, I'll take Appa to just outside the festival when it gets dark and that's really all I need. You lot can feel free to carry on as per normal."

Doing her best to not look like she was hiding something, Mai tried to move her mind away from the fact that the group was likely trying their best to get Suki, Azula and Toph ready to accompany him. Zuko and Aang had resumed training upon their arrival on Katara's insistence, but she, her brother and Ty Lee had started making sure that things were in order for the departure that evening. Before Mai had slipped away, she had seen Ty Lee moving supplies, and had seen how utterly defeated her friend had looked. If Mai hadn't been so intent on spending time alone with her thoughts, she would have invited her along.

Not that her original plan had worked out so well anyway.

She did her best to beat around the question. "Everyone's doing fine. Move went well enough and I was able to get some time with myself."

It was a point that she realized she didn't quite believe, even if it was in regard to herself. She was quietly having an anxiety attack over the idea of Azula tagging along with Sasuke anywhere, but she hadn't felt able or willing to say anything that indicated such. Azula would never listen to her anyway, it was likely that she wouldn't be swayed by anyone. But the thought of what could go wrong… there was so much it was hard to rationalize.

Azula was unstable to a fault, but she had reacquired a goal, not one that Mai was remotely on board with. She had become enraptured with Sasuke and was taking it to every level she could. There was a part of Mai that believed Azula still wanted nothing more than to put a knife or a firebolt in his back, and she didn't know what option she liked better: Azula hating Sasuke to the point of an attempted murder or a pure obsession to be near him.

But as she sat alone with Sasuke, Mai realized there was something she could do about her worry.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

His gaze having drifted away thoughtfully, he turned back to her. "Hmm?"

Mai knew that Katara had been more than a little insistent that they not spring this on Sasuke until the very last moment as to hopefully keep him from doing too much about it, but in order to keep distance between him and Azula, Mai was willing to take whatever heat she got for blabbing.

"We're planning on sending some of us with you. To the festival."

Beneath the water, she clenched her fists as she waited for him to process this and then likely either shout angrily in her direction or flat out storm back to the camp to shut the idea down. But he did none of these things, instead closing his eyes and saying quietly, "I was afraid of that."

Mai looked at him inquisitively. "You knew that we would try and keep you from going alone?"

He sighed. "I guess so. I more or less just hoped I would be able to leave without forcibly keeping others from tagging along."

The more or less apparent threat in his voice gave Mai pause but it didn't deter her. Playing the devil's advocate to her own worry, she asked, "Are you so sure you don't want the company? After Toph followed you to the palace, I don't know how well we would have been able to pull that escape off without her."

His eyes looked up to her flatly. "This is much different. It isn't some kind of rescue mission where there's going to be all kinds of fighting, I want to keep this as quiet a gathering mission as I can. And you lot are exactly the kind of detriment that would screw with that plan. Any one of you is only going to get in the way."

Mai immediately felt guilty regret washing through her; it had been stupid to think that telling Sasuke this ahead of time would do any good. Of course he would be opposed to this, but the indication now seemed to be that it would come to a head one way or another. Knowing she would just have to wait for the inevitable exchange of heated words that would surely come when they returned to camp, she changed the subject.

"Toph seems pretty attached to you."

Rolling his eyes so hard they might have briefly left his head, Sasuke grunted. "Yeah, along with Azula, I'm just such a popular guy."

He turned his gaze to her, "It's awfully hard to distance myself from you guys when I have those two practically breathing down my neck."

"What do you mean?" Mai nearly shouted; her sudden interest in what Sasuke's thoughts were on the attention surprised her, but whatever he might say about Azula was of the utmost relevance. Sasuke ran a hand through the steaming water and brought it up to his face, slowly washing it.

"Toph sticks to me like sap. I don't know why. It's like she's taken some kind of responsibility in minding my wellbeing, even though I can tell she's just as afraid of me as anyone else."

Mai bit the inside of her mouth to keep from smirking; he really was clueless if he couldn't get why Toph had taken such an interest in him.

He continued, "And Azula… now that's some unsettling shit. I don't think she's even said a word to me since we got to the island, but her eyes just fix on me. She's got such… striking eyes."

Trying not to tense up at how his voice softened then, Mai watched as Sasuke seemed to notice his own tone and cleared this throat. "She just won't stop watching me. I hate to say it, but I think you might be right about what you said yesterday."

"You could always tell her how you feel. She might stop then," Mai said almost hopefully. Sasuke waved a hand.

"That would only help if I knew how I felt about it," he muttered.

Damn it, Mai thought, her heart rate quickening. The last thing she needed was for Sasuke to develop feelings back towards her. She didn't know if she could imagine a more destructive couple both to the world and to each other. Both of them were so brutally disturbed and emotionally stunted, they'd probably wind up producing the most toxic batch of children ever to walk the earth.

As Mai practically shuddered at the thought, Sasuke seemed to remember something.

"By the way, what did you mean yesterday when you said I didn't 'know as well as I thought I did' or whatever that was?"

Remembering the comment she had made, Mai realized how awful a thing that would be to lay out, especially without Ty Lee's permission. It had been stupid of her to say then and as she looked back into Sasuke's awfully handsome face as he watched her intently, she could only stutter back at him.

"That… it wasn't… I didn't mean to…"

"Mai? Are you back here? Zuko wanted to talk to you and Toph said she felt you walk this—"

As though it were some kind of sick joke, Katara pushed into the small clearing the hot springs resided in and abruptly stopped taking as her eyes fell on the pair of them. She seemed to process first who she saw, what they were doing and the fact they were alone all through a string of facial expressions that might have been funny if Mai hadn't been so utterly horrified. Closing her mouth which had fallen agape, Katara drew herself up and turned to walk away without another word. Turning to look desperately around at Sasuke, Mai looked at him as he did nothing but shrug unhelpfully. Cursing, Mai leapt from the water, grabbing her clothes and trying to redress as she ran after the waterbender, not caring in that moment if Sasuke saw her; catching Katara was far more urgent than her modesty, or lack thereof.

"Katara, wait!"

Fortunately, she hadn't been walking away too quickly and Mai was able to catch up to her before they reached the beachfront. Katara turned and crossed her arms as Mai struggled to finish pulling her clothes back on.

"That wasn't what it looked like."

Flicking her eyebrows up, Katara replied flatly, "I certainly hope it wasn't."

Trying to keep her usually collected and steady tone from getting too frenzied, Mai pointed back in the direction of the rising steam. "He was just there, I didn't see him until I was already in too and…"

"And you didn't think to immediately leave?" Katara asked. Mai swallowed and steadied her breathing.

"Please don't tell Zuko."

Tilting her head back and looking up in frustration, Katara snapped, "Get real, Mai, I'm not annoyed because I think you're being unfaithful to your boyfriend."

The relief in that was small, but noticeable and Mai felt her stomach settle ever so slightly in its queasiness. Katara continued, "I'm annoyed that you willingly spent time alone with Sasuke."

Ah, of course. It wasn't just her friends and brother Katara was worried about. Though it was still something that surprised her, it hadn't been lost on Mai how Katara had begun to act around the newcomers to their group even after just a few days. Almost as though they had never been at each other's throats in the past, she had started looking on after Mai and Ty Lee, making sure they were fed and healthy, and asking their thoughts on appropriate matters. Even Azula had been warranted some of that same treatment though to a much more strict amount; Mai supposed it probably wasn't exactly easy for Azula to be granted the same kind of motherly attention.

Though she probably needs it the most.

"I know you're worried about him," Mai began carefully. "And I'm not trying to undermine what you've got going on here."

Katara eyed her seriously and Mai knew she had to be cautious in how she proceeded.

"But Sasuke isn't going to hurt me."

As she looked at Katara's completely dubious and unbelieving expression, Mai realized just how much better that had sounded in her head than actually thought out loud. She raised her hands as Katara shook her head and closed her eyes in exasperation. "I know he's dangerous. I know he's probably unhinged. But… you just have to trust me on this one. He's not going to hurt me, nor is he going to hurt any of us."

Katara's voice was much less assured. "You sound pretty confident."

Mai inclined her chin with intent. "I am. He has his mission and at no point is it going to require him to go after any of us."

Crossing her arms, Katara looked towards the beach through the trees. Mai followed her gaze to see the group setting up camp as best as they were able; it looked as though Sokka had gotten on Ty Lee's nerves and she had numbed his right leg and he was now hobbling about angrily to the roaring laughter of Toph, Aang and Suki. Mai wondered how much of the laughing was forced through the still fresh memory of the slaughter that had taken place only a day ago, but even just the sound of it was enough to bring a faint smile to her face. And as she looked at Katara's expression, her eyes wide and worried, and her mouth a tight line of concern, Mai tried her best at being gracious.

"I hope you know we appreciate what you're doing. For everyone."

Katara looked at her, but Mai kept her gaze locked on the beach. Zuko had joined up in the laughing but had tripped over Sokka's errant leg to go sprawling in the sand and much of the amused attention shifted to him. Mai continued quietly, "Azula will never admit it, but Ty Lee and I have noticed how good you've been to us. Us of all people, the women who hounded and attacked you across so many miles. But you've accepted us almost without hesitation and I can tell how hard it must have been even before you had three drama queens and then the chaotic delinquent on board."

This was enough to bring a faint smirk to Katara's face. "You're hardly a drama queen, Mai. Actually, you're the easiest person to have around and I mean of everyone. You don't complain, you don't grip, you don't antagonize, and you help as much as you can. Though you'll forgive me if I say that surprises me."

Mai tilted her head as she thought on that. "No offense taken. I'm actually surprised at myself, I would have imagined I would be a total bitch to be around in conditions like this. I guess being a literal fugitive helps you take stock on the fact that you really don't have much."

Nodding in understanding, Katara looked over Mai's shoulders into the trees. "I just… the sooner he gets what he wants, the sooner we can get ready for him to be gone for good."

Without another word, she walked from the trees to rejoin the group. Mai would join her after a few seconds but not before she thought how odd it was for Katara to say that they would need to "get ready" for Sasuke to depart.

Sitting on a piece of driftwood a few dozen feet from the group, Azula looked at the ongoing gelastics with a haughty indifference. Even from where she watched as Sokka finally fell to the ground and Ty Lee walked over to undo her martial arts magic, she could tell how much of the laughter didn't quite sound natural. As someone who found the act of laughing genuinely at something humorous quite impossible, it was easy for her to tell the difference between real and fake. Many sycophantic advisors and soldiers in the Fire Nation had graced her with their false chuckling and there were pieces of that she could hear now echoing over the beach. The trauma from what they had experienced from last night was still weighing on them as a whole it seemed.

This was something Azula indeed found humorous as it seemed she was the only one who had been utterly enthralled by the previous evening's proceedings.

The way Sasuke had moved, how he had cut them all to pieces without even coming close to being touched… it had been truly something breathtaking to witness. A distant part of her had bitterly realized that when he had fought her, he must have been holding back; if he had wanted, he could have gut her like a fish in moments. It was a thought that both terrified and exhilarated her.

It was as though he had been set free, finally able to unleash his pent up wrath on those who truly meant nothing to him. Just moving targets for his blade to pierce through and utterly disembowel as he wove a bloody curtain against the burning trees. It had been such a beautiful sight, right up until it ended and she still remembered the intoxicating excitement that she had felt bearing witness to it all.

The way he cut down that last man who came for me… like he was just twitching a muscle and that blade was through him instantly.

Azula considered herself rather lucky that the tribesman's words hadn't come back to haunt her; everything he said had been entirely true, but he even still had neglected the most brutal details, likely because he hadn't been around to witness them. The artifact in question that he had spoken of had been a carving of an Avatar of old who had hailed from the Fire Nation, a statue that her great-grandfather had supposedly made pilgrimage to on multiple occasions to seek aid from his ancestors. Azula had heard of it and desired to possess it for her own as a decoration and piece of history that rightfully belonged to her family.

Of course, the foolish tribe had thought otherwise. They had indeed been perfectly hospitable and open when she had arrived with her company of soldiers, but when she stated her intentions, they had openly denied her this birthright. Her fury had come alive immediately, and she had ordered her soldiers to scour the village until they found it. When nothing was uncovered, she had made for the main temple and took the village leader, an old and weathered man, and demanded he turn over the statue. He had quietly denied and Azula had then ordered a random member of the village to be brought in one by one: every time he denied her or lied about having the artifact, she would burn the life away from the unlucky victim. It was a half dozen bodies before he finally relented, sobbing as he did.

The tribe had been located deep in the heart of the island, but Azula supposed if a scouting or hunting party had happened along their ragtag group on the beach, one of them would have likely recognized her. Hence their approach by night and the arrow that had come flying her way to start the whole thing.

Azula rubbed her neck and saw Sasuke's hand reach out and pluck the barbed projectile from the air like a frog snapping up a bug. He had saved and then killed on her behalf, a demon set loose by his own anger.

Watching Toph put a hand over her mouth in the near distance, Azula pulled a look of disgust. How truly ironic it was that of all the people to think they ought to get anywhere near Sasuke, this stupid girl had shown the audacity to actually stand between her and getting nearer to him. Azula knew that though she couldn't hope to stand against Sasuke physically, it would be much more possible to slowly lure him in over time was something she was beginning to think she could bank on. Sasuke was, despite his overwhelming strength, little more than a lost dog who was in desperate need of direction. Azula knew she could give him that direction, given time. But Toph…

Azula grit her teeth.

That little bitch.

Somehow, she was growing nearer to Sasuke seemingly by the hour. And he was letting her. Why? What possibly could possess someone as isolating as Sasuke to think that growing close to a hyper, rude, and disgusting girl was a generally good idea?

Shaking her head, Azula turned to look out over the endless waves. It didn't matter. Tonight, she would go with him to the festival and begin to prove her case as to why he should come to stand by her side.

It had been almost unbelievably easy to sway the general consensus to allowing her to travel along with him, Suki and Toph and while she wasn't sure if she had quite won her case just yet, she knew Sasuke wouldn't deny her. Somehow she knew that.

And from there, she could press forward.

If she was to have her way, four would travel to that festival, but only two would leave as the stars burned above their heads.

Sasuke knew immediately as he broke the treeline onto the beach what was coming.

He had sat in the springs mulling things over for a very long time after Mai had left with Katara, thinking on to a great many things. It had been an hour before the reality of his situation began to set in and an excited elation began to rise gently in his gut. This was the night he would find where Fire Lord Ozai was hidden, and where he would go to gain his answers. The first step to reclaiming who he was and what he wanted was nearly there and all of the sudden, everything that Mai, or Toph, or Katara, or anyone had said suddenly seemed deeply irrelevant. He had looked up at the sun beaming down overhead, wishing he could speed up its passing merely by leering at it. Finally, he had pulled himself from the water's hot recesses and redressed, heading back for the camp.

But as he walked out towards his companions with the evening drawing nearer, he could see that Mai's warning plus his own forecasting would be paying dividends sooner than he might have wanted.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for him as though they were preparing to stage some kind of intervention. Katara stood predictably at the head of the group with Aang and Sokka at either side of her, the Avatar looking focused but nervous and her brother seemed strangely calm. Suki looked the most relaxed, but her deep, large eyes bore into him with an intensity she didn't usually regard him with while Zuko stood with his arms crossed, looking humorously like he was trying to look more imposing than he was. Ty Lee looked more perturbed than ever with Mai standing shoulder to shoulder with her, resolutely not meeting Sasuke's gaze. Even Azula was standing relatively nearby, with a fiercely determined look in her eyes. Then there was Toph.

The girl was standing a distance from the rest, arms crossed and face turned towards the ground. He expected her to turn his way when he approached, but if anything, she grew more still. He wondered what she was thinking and if she had believed any of what he had said the last time they had spoke.

He decided to make his intentions clear immediately.

"I'm not taking anyone with me."

Katara turned to give Mai a look that wasn't returned before glancing back his way and giving a fatigued sigh. "We've all talked, Sasuke, and it's everyone's thought that you going by yourself is risky to everyone, not just yourself."

He clasped his hands behind his back and looked at her expectantly. "And how do you figure that?"

Aang surprisingly took up the talking points from there. His smaller, lean frame bobbed gently up and down as he bounced on his heels.

"Well, it's no secret that you've got a… touch for the excessive."

Turning his gaze away in annoyance, Sasuke growled, "We're really going to talk about this now?"

Raising his voice as if imagining that doing so would keep up his courage to talk on, Aang added, "And with that going into this highly public, highly social celebration, anything you might do could trigger a chain of things that could easily find their way back to us."

Katara nodded. "We've chosen a couple of us to follow along in order to keep an eye on things, ensure that this is done as discreetly as possible and to verify that you're going to be headed after the right people."

Sasuke closed his eyes and thought it over. This was about to potentially blow out into a huge argument that he truly wasn't interesting in having; the sun was still in the sky, but dipping lower towards the horizon, and the main festivities were set to begin at sundown. With the estimated travel time on Appa's back weighing in at a few hours at least, Sasuke's opportune window was growing steadily smaller. And as he toyed with the thought, perhaps it wasn't as bad as he thought. If Suki or Mai, despite her mellowed but still present animosity towards him, had been selected to come along, he wouldn't have much to complain about, with the both of them being highly competent and usually pretty quiet to boot. Even Sokka wouldn't be too bad a companion if he kept his mouth shut for enough of the trip.

Katara gestured in front of him, "Suki, Toph and Azula will be accompanying you to the festival."

On the other hand, that certainly would not fly.

"Absolutely not," he said plainly. Ty Lee gave Mai a sideways look, muttering, "Told you so." Katara immediately adopted an angry expression in sharp contrast to Zuko next to her who strangely enough, looked wholeheartedly relieved.

"This isn't your decision to make. We will be lending you Appa, and taking the large risk that if something goes wrong, it will come back to bite us."

Rolling his eyes irritably, Sasuke snapped, "Nothing's going to happen. I will be extracting the information I need once I've located the Fire Lord's advisor and then I'll be gone. None of you will be at risk."

He looked pointedly at her. "I'll take Suki. One extra person is more than enough."

Suki looked reservedly flattered that he had chosen her out of the three names that had been mentioned, but jumped and winced immediately as Toph suddenly came to life, turning his way and stomping her foot on the ground, sending a mild shockwave rippling through the earth.

"You've got some kind of problem with the rest of us?!"

There were several reasons that Sasuke didn't want Toph along on this venture, but he opted to keep them to himself; Aang put a hand anxiously on Toph's shoulder in an attempt to slightly pull down her temper no doubt as she breathed heavily in Sasuke's direction.

"Sasuke, you know by now she's not just some kid. She's really strong and really special, and she's not going to be getting in the way."

Toph swatted his hand away like it was an errant fly and the Avatar jumped back in fright at the fierce expression on her face. "I don't need that, Aang!"

She swiveled to face him again, and he thought he might be able to see angry tears unshed in her unseeing eyes.

"You want me to tell you what I'm worth?! Fine! I can tell you when there's someone coming up behind you at a sprint or following you on a rooftop. I can tell you if there's someone sneaking around behind a wall or on the other side of a building. If one person is running in a crowd of a thousand people, I can tell you exactly where they are. And if it so pleases you, I can do a whole lot to make sure that we aren't followed."

Pointing at him, she snarled, "I'm a better pair of eyes than you'll ever have and I'll be damned if you're going to sit here and act like me being blind is some colossal hindrance just so you can brush me aside in your neverending quest to be alone!"

Sasuke stared at her as he listened to all the words that went unsaid as she finished ranting. He could tell there was more she wanted to say, but wasn't comfortable doing so in front of everyone else. Nonetheless, he was more or less certain that wasn't a fight he was going to be able to win, particularly when the benefits of taking her along were actually extremely practical.

"Alright, you can come."

Her expression then switched to a comical cross between being angry that he had assumed it was in his power to give her the yes or no, and surprise that he had given up so quickly.

To his right, Azula smirked. "I see we're making our pitches then."

Sasuke gave pause as he allowed himself to look at her. He thought about what he had talked about with Mai, but even then, he could feel that damn pulsing in his gut again that came every time Azula looked at him or spoke. And finally, not since their fight, he was finally being permitted a chance to talk to her.

"No."

She blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"No," he clarified before turning to Katara. "This is the third team member you're sticking me with. Really? Of all the people here, she's really the best choice?"

Just by the consternated look on Katara's face, he could tell that this wasn't her first choice either, or perhaps had been pressured into it. She gave him a distressed look before turning her head down and pinching the bridge of her nose between her middle and forefinger.

Azula, similar to Toph, seemed hardly willing to be not allowed to speak for herself.

"Excuse me," she repeated, "but I'm actually the best person you could hope to have accompany you."

He looked at her dubiously, and she looked right back at him with her cogent, beautiful eyes that danced with determination.

"Those two," she said dismissively, gesturing at Toph and Suki, "are certainly of a physically practical use in regard to discretion, and movement. But I'm the only one here who has spent enough time among my father's inner circle to be able to tell a face from a distance, to know his personal guard by look alone, to spot him in a crowd or hidden elsewhere. I can tell you where he would likely be staying if he's not immediately there and I can tell you what his intent will be based on how intoxicated he is. With me, the chief advisor will not remain concealed for long."

Sasuke looked at her openly. There was a distant part of him that was buried deep which told him to accept her company, but the more logical and dominant side of his conscious was far more persuasive.

"So, I take you along. And a Fire Nation soldier recognizes you. Then what?"

Suki, though seeming reluctant to mention it, stepped forward, "We'll be disguised. In the shack near our last camp there was paint likely used for signs and markings that I'm going to use to make the three of us to look like discount Kiyoshi warriors; we won't have the appropriate dress and headpieces, but if just can do the face paint and hair okay, we'll look like a group of partying sisters who are half-assing dressing up for the festival. No one will be able to pick Azula out of the crowd."

Sasuke gestured to himself. "You said the three of you. If this is a façade, what about me?"

She shrugged. "No one there will know you by face. You can just be the dick of an older brother who has to watch after his three sisters."

He watched Suki for a moment before turning away to face the towering coastal trees, running a hand distractedly through his mess of black hair. This was not at all how he wanted this to be done, it was too risky by a long shot. He knew that the fears of him getting out of hand were not at all unfounded, especially after what everyone had witnessed last night, but the more bodies he had to mind, the more his chance to secure the information he needed might slip away.

Suki he was perfectly okay with. Her background told him that she would remain calm and collected, and her skill ensured that he wouldn't have to worry about her being unable to defend herself. He also knew Toph was stronger than he might admit, but he still didn't like the idea of her being in any danger at all; regardless of how this was going to be approached, there was still a chance she would be put in harm's way. Her emotional state that very clearly still struggling might not make her as sharp-minded as he would like her to be, but he supposed that he might have been overthinking that one.

But Azula. He couldn't find himself okaying that.

She was a hazard, an unstable and barely contained whirlwind of violence that he knew would only remained sealed away as long as it was beneficial to her. There was no telling what was really being planned behind her intense gaze, at least not by asking or just looking. Sasuke knew what he had to do, but now was not the time. For now, appeasing his companions was the best course of action, even if it very much still was a bad idea in his mind.

Gritting his teeth, he waved a hand ambiguously at the lot of them.

"Alright… we'll do this your way. We're leaving in an hour."

With that, he stalked off down the beach, firing whispered curses towards the waves as he immediately began to think as to how he might have been able to salvage this were he granted another chance. Stopping a distance from the camp, he allowed himself a moment to stop and stand still, the tide washout around his feet.

Behind him, preparations became rushed as the time for departure grew nearer. Sokka, still oddly quiet, worked with Aang and Zuko on making sure Appa had the supplies that were potentially necessary for any foreseeable change in situation. Suki enlisted the aid of Mai, Ty Lee and Katara in helping her work on painting the faces of herself, Azula and Toph, and as Sasuke watched from a distance, he found it rather humorous whenever Katara would snap at Azula for not holding still. He watched them closely as inconspicuously as he could until he finally saw his chance as, following the girls' finished makeup, Azula moved towards the trees to relieve herself. Getting to his feet and performing a small but effective jutsu that briefly turned everyone's attention towards a peculiar cyclone forming a few dozen yards off the coast amidst the waves as perhaps a freak waterspout, Sasuke quietly followed her into the trees.

He found her preparing to take care of her business about fifty feet into the coastal forest and he turned away until she had finished; the thick canopy of the forest seemed to shield them entirely from view of the beach which Sasuke found gratifying. He would rather no one else saw this.

Azula, who seemed to have remained entirely oblivious to his trailing, leapt as he stepped in front of her, coming out from behind one of the thicker trees. She collected herself almost immediately and smiled coldly at him from behind the mask of paint that had been done on her. Sasuke saw that you would indeed need to be fairly close to really distinguish Azula's telling facial features and if you didn't know what you were looking for, she likely wasn't going to be found out by anyone. Still, her beauty was unmistakable even behind the makeup.

Get ahold of yourself, he growled inwardly at himself.

"Not finished arguing, are we?" Azula asked. She looked at him arrogantly and Sasuke fought down the striking similarity that her attitude posed in regards to himself. He hated thinking over just how alike they were even as the comparisons increased by the day.

"I'm not here to argue," he said. Azula's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she seemed to take into account his expression, trying to get a read on his emotion.

"No, I don't think you are… you're after something else?"

This was all she had time to say before Sasuke snapped his hand seals; she seemed briefly react to his movements and opened her mouth, eyes widening, but in a moment, she was under his genjutsu. Her body went limp as she remained standing, staring ahead at him blankly and he knew he had succeeded. Glancing back once to make sure there was no one watching, he closed his own eyes and pushed forward.

To his surprise, the world he fell into was not of his own making. He had intended to use Azula's most tender memories to work up some characters that she could talk to, thus telling him what he wanted to know. Perhaps her father, perhaps her mother, maybe even Zuko at a younger age, but instead of finding these memories to plunder, Sasuke found himself standing in front of the Fire Nation royal palace. This hadn't been at all in his design, and he looked around; he supposed that if this was Azula's world instead, it might be even more telling than one he picked out.

The city itself seemed to almost be blurry in its construction the further away he looked from the palace as though it were being only partially remembered and he saw too that there were certain details that didn't add up, such as front doors on the upper floors of shops and roads that merged with various buildings. But Sasuke knew that as long as he was in Azula's head, he would see what she was dreaming up and since he had essentially forced her into a lucid dream of sorts, he would see the very particulars her mind was focusing on. Here, it seemed as though her focus was much more on the palace and that within; the city was only being remembered for the purpose of setting.

The area was deserted as Sasuke climbed up the massive set of stairs that led to the palace's front doors. It was eerily silent too, the only sound he could hear was the noise his feet made as they gently pushed down on each step. The sky he realized was pure black, a detail Azula hadn't seemed to think warranted attention, but seeing the palace and having no sky to accompany it was rather ominous.

Sasuke walked through the yawning maw of the palace to find himself within the main hall. Torches burned, but made no sound and he continued on towards where he knew the Fire Lord's chamber was. Somehow he had the feeling that was where Azula would be and from there he could pull the answers he wanted.

When he passed through the hall and into the antechamber before the throne room, he stopped as his feet squelched in something. Looking down, he found that there was a layer of red liquid that rested over the floor of the entire expanse of room, seeming to be originating from the crack beneath the door to the Fire Lord's chamber. The metallic smell told him all he needed to know about what he was treading over.

Up until that point, Sasuke had been entirely focused on moving forward and finding Azula, not at all concerned about whatever fantasy world she had dreamed up at his urging, but as he put a hand on the door from under which the blood was spilling, he paused for just a moment. Then, shaking aside his foolish trepidation, he pushed it open.

It's a dream, nothing more than that.

Bodies sprawled all over the floor, every one motionless and very clearly dead. They seemed to be the source of the fountaining blood and as Sasuke walked past them, he realized that none of them had faces. They wore different attire of all sorts, some blue parkas, some royal red robes, others with green armor, but each one had a fuzzy, blurry mass where their face ought to be that wouldn't clear up no matter how hard Sasuke tried to blink it into focus. He stopped dead though when he saw what was before him.

Azula seemed to be straddling her father's throne, her back to him as he stared at her. Her hair was a blood-soaked mess and her scarlet robes hung loosely around her as he listened to her breathing deeply. She was softly pushing against the throne, slow rhythmic movements as though she were riding some invisible horse through the thickest molasses.

Sasuke realized then that she wasn't on the throne, not by itself.

He saw himself then, sitting on the throne, Azula on his lap. Her movements he realized those of pressing her lips against his as they kissed atop the Fire Lord's seat of power. His fictional self had a hand running through her bloody hair as they pressed against one another almost forcibly. Azula had a hand on his cheek, holding his face up to hers with her other hand pressed against the back of the throne, a dirtied knife clutched carelessly. Eventually, she pulled away and looked down at his doppelganger, cradling the blank face in her hands as she smiled possessively down at him.

It was several brutal seconds before Sasuke had to remind himself he was in control.

But as he reached for her to try and reassert his dominance in this dream state, he could suddenly hear her voice, echoing all around him. She wasn't talking though as she continued to kiss his other self, but he realized that these were her thoughts, rambling and pure.

"That's right… you did well, just as I wanted… just to please me. You killed them all, we killed them all, and now it will just be us to rule the pathetic nations that will come crawling for mercy whence their time comes. You will make them bow before me, just as you have before them, you… you are the only thing I need."

Suddenly, Sasuke was standing back in the trees of a coastal island, the water rushing at the beach echoing distantly in his ear as seabirds called him back to reality.

He had seen enough.

Before him was Azula, no longer garbed in robes and blood, but wearing the disguise that she would wear to the festival that evening. Her eyes were glazed, but slowly clarity returned to them as she seemed to break free of her stupor.

"What… where… what happened?" she asked, almost in a slur. Sasuke only stared at her as she blinked focus back to her reality. For a moment, her eyes were only questioning, but with a swiftness, they began to narrow as suspicion entered them.

"You did it to me again, didn't you?"

Her voice was cold and shaking, and when Sasuke didn't reply, she shoved him in the chest with enough force to send him stumbling a few steps back.

"Didn't you?!"

He found he didn't know quite what to say, or even if there was anything to say. Before, he had written off his own diagnosis of Azula and what he thought might be going on in her head. Mai and Ty Lee's confrontation had done little to stir his theory, but now, he could see that things weren't as he had anticipated.

They were much worse.

"What did you see?!" she shouted at him and Sasuke looked back towards the beach, seeing if anyone was reacting to the raised voice now coming from just within the threes. He didn't know exactly what she remembered from his genjutsu or if she had known that he was there at all. Clearly, based on her now wild, furious and potentially frightened expression, she wasn't sure on what had just happened, or what Sasuke had been able to delve from her mind.

Not wanting to spend even a second longer standing there, he turned quickly on his heel and began to march back towards the beach, not saying a word.

"What did you see?!" she screamed again, voice resounding loudly through the forest, but based on the volume, she wasn't following him. He continued to practically speed march his way from the canopy until he was back on the beach, the blue sway of the ocean before him.

He didn't need to look directly at the group to know that they knew something was up; Azula's voice would certainly have carried that far and he could feel their stares on the side of his head. He was used to being peered at like some grotesque specimen, but there was an expectancy to the gazes now that felt almost overpowering. Gritting his teeth, he turned his back on them and began to march down the beach away from the camp. He made it a few dozen yards before he felt quite exhausted all of the sudden, as though he had just stood up too quickly and had the blood rush to his head. The world swayed in front of him and his eyelids became exceptionally heavy then, and he reached out for a purchase that wasn't there before collapsing onto his behind, world flashing in front of him like some kind of abstract drawing.

The next thing he knew, there was a hand behind his head, pulling him up. Slowly, the beach, the water and the sky swam steadily back into view in front of him and he swallowed, a harsh dryness in his throat making the act somewhat difficult.

"You just had to go and pry, didn't you?"

The voice that he heard was one of the last he would have expected to hear and he looked up to see that he was being helped into a sitting position by none other than Ty Lee, who was looking down at him with the most cagey expression. He looked over her shoulder to see that Azula too had come out of the woods and had marched angrily in the opposite direction he had, Zuko and Mai trailing after her, trying to get her to stop with no avail.

Swallowing again, Sasuke tried to stand, but made it only a ways up before dropping back down to the sand with a wince as his vision blurred again.

"Easy now," Ty Lee's voice came, speaking with a softness he wouldn't have expected her to be capable of with him. "Drink this."

From one of the gourds that were being used as makeshift bottles, she tipped some water into his mouth that went down his throat with a cool rush that almost instantly refreshed him. He closed his eyes and let her hold him for a few more moments before summoning his strength and getting to his feet without so much as a stumble. He looked back towards the others a hundred feet away and even from that far away, he could see Katara's glare. Chuckling and feeling much more in control, he started back over towards them before Ty Lee grabbed his upper arm with a powerful vice grip.

"What happened?" she said in a low voice that sounded distantly threatening. He turned back to regard her face and could see the fear that was still ruling her, masked just behind the anger in her eyes.

"I passed her on my way to take care of my own business and she confronted me about earlier, guess she still hasn't forgiven me for those comments," Sasuke lied. It was as believable a lie as any he had told before and she seemed to buy it with a slow nod as she released him. Without another word, he turned back and began to walk again.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

Ty Lee's voice slipped as though she had tried to cut herself off, mid query. Without looking back, he stopped walking, as open a gesture as he cared to manage.

"Make sure she comes back, okay?" Ty Lee muttered quietly as though embarrassed she was having to ask him for a favor. Sasuke only grunted in reply before walking alone back to the camp. He remembered Ty Lee and Mai getting after him and telling him how damaged Azula was, but he wondered if they had any idea how truly deep that her psyche actually went.