This War of Ours
A/N: This is the second to the last chapter of This War of Ours: Year One! Stay tuned for the final chapter, and I hope you guys will still be around for Year Two!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Harry Potter.
CHAPTER 13
wolf moon madness
"I can't believe I let him dump gravel all over me," Chinua muttered, trying to dislodge bits of rock that made it into his clothes. Haru patted his shoulder sympathetically, even though he was fighting back a smile. The other earthbender clearly wasn't the best at reading other people's tactics. Sifu Fong had obviously been baiting him to stand as an example for the rockalanche.
"Hey, Chinua, can we borrow your messenger hawk?" Shui asked, approaching him and Haru, his brother Qiao trailing languidly behind him.
"No, she's off delivering a letter," said Chinua, turning one way and another to get rid of a particularly stubborn bit of gravel in his tunic. "Why?"
"Because Shui wants to invite him to the ball," said Qiao sarcastically.
"Because we want to send a letter, stupid," said Shui.
"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Chinua.
"Butt out, Chinua, or I'll stick some rocks up there, too," said Qiao, grinning. "So…you lot got dates for the ball yet?"
"Nope," said Haru.
"Well, you'd better hurry up, dude, or all the good ones will be gone," said Qiao.
"Who're you going with, then?" said Chinua.
"Ling," Qiao said promptly, without a trace of embarrassment.
"What?" Chinua cried, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"
"Good point," Qiao nodded. He turned his head and called across the Eastern Courtyard, "Oi! Ling!"
Ling, who had been chatting with Jia and Suki in the shade, looked over at him.
"What?" she called back.
"Want to come to the ball with me?"
Ling gave Qiao an appraising sort of look.
"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to the other Kyoshi warriors and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.
"There you go," Qiao said to Haru and Chinua with a grin. "Piece of cake."
Shui stretched, yawning, and said, "We'd better use a school hawk then, Qiao, come on…"
They left. Chinua stopped feeling his tunic for stray rocks and looked across the upturned earthbending training grounds at Haru.
"We should get a move on, you know… ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of hogmonkeys."
Haru gulped. The Academy had Fire Days Ball fever, with decorations being strung up all over the school. Even Headmaster Iroh seemed to have thrown himself into the festive atmosphere— he was often seen humming to himself cheerfully as he assisted in stringing up red and gold streamers. The sifus themselves seem to be in a pretty good mood, too, but Haru figured it might be because term was ending right after the ball.
There was only one person Haru wanted to ask to the ball, but he hadn't spent much time with her recently. He followed Chinua into the Great Hall, his gut churning.
"Please, please tell me you two are going to the ball!"
Ty Lee clasped her hands together and beamed at her friends with wide, hopeful gray eyes. Azula just rolled her eyes, still leaning casually on Mai's bedpost, and Mai didn't even look up from the knife she was polishing.
Ty Lee huffed petulantly.
"Honestly, you guys! It'll be fun, I promise!" She pouted at her friends. "Your auras are gonna stay all twisted and murky if you don't let loose once in a while, y'know!"
"Well, you'd know loose, wouldn't you," Azula grinned maliciously, but Ty Lee chose to ignore her barb and continued to look at both of them expectantly.
Mai sighed, tilting her weapon in the light. "I hate parties."
The acrobat puffed her cheeks out. "Aw, c'mon! I heard Madam Kairi just had a new shipment of clothes and if we don't get to her store on Ember Island as soon as possible, we won't have anything to wear for the ball!"
Azula perked up at that, though Ty Lee couldn't figure out why new clothes would interest the Fire Princess, since she usually wore her pointy armor or shapeless tunics and pants.
Oh well, maybe she finally got tired of wearing boy clothes. Good for her.
"Fine, we'll go to Ember Island," Azula said with feigned boredom, but her aura was starting to spark alive.
Beside her, Mai looked up with as much surprise as Mai could muster.
"Seriously?"
Azula lazily turned to Mai with a smirk on her painted lips.
"Do you still want to know how people would treat you if they didn't know who you were?"
Ty Lee glanced between her two best friends, feeling slightly lost and a little left out. Mai's face bore no expression as usual, but there was a glint in her sharp owl cat eyes.
"Then it's settled." Azula said firmly, as though they just concluded a war meeting and not a decision to go shopping. "We'll take the first ferry out Saturday morning."
"Oh, but Madam Kairi's shop isn't open until late morning," Ty Lee said, slightly disappointed at losing the opportunity to sleep in. Azula often forgot that only firebenders loved to rise at dawn.
"Don't you worry, Ty Lee," Azula said with a smile that meant she already had a plan in mind. "There are a few places I'd like to visit first."
"Happy birthday, Katara!"
Katara looked up from her breakfast just in time to catch the bundle Suki threw at her. Just behind the Kyoshi warrior were Yue and Gumi, who were both smiling conspiratorially.
"It's not my birthday," she replied, confused, examining the light package wrapped in crinkly paper and twine.
"Yes," Yue sat down primly beside her in quiet excitement. "But your brother said your birthday is the first week of summer, and since we won't be there to celebrate with you…"
"Open it!" Gumi cried out, her giddiness not as contained as the princess's. Suki plopped herself down on Katara's other side and grinned hugely.
"C'mon, Katara, we all pitched in," the Kyoshi warrior plucked at the strings of their gift. "And we stopped Sokka from carving you some spirits-forsaken gift."
To Katara's infinite surprise, Yue giggled beside her.
"He really lacks artistic abilities, doesn't he?" The princess bit back a smile. "Although he is really sweet."
A shadow passed over Suki's face before she rounded on Katara with a little too much enthusiasm.
"Just open the gift, Katara!" She nudged her playfully in the ribs. "That way we'd know whether to return it or not."
"Return it? Why would I make you return it?"
"Oh, in case it doesn't fit," Gumi said breezily behind Yue. Katara's brows furrowed.
"Doesn't fit?"
"Oh, for the love of Kyoshi's big feet—" Suki reached across Katara exasperatedly and untied the twine. The waterbender giggled at her friend's impatience and unwrapped the bundle.
Her jaw dropped.
It was a dress— less like the ones she wore during tribal ceremonies in the South and more like the gowns Yue wore, with flowing sleeves and beads of wood and a coral clasp. Katara unfolded the blood red fabric— it was cool to the touch, like water, and she couldn't help but run her fingers over it, mesmerized at its smooth texture and the way it caught light. Her tunics and parka were made of cotton and fur and hide, and never shone the way this dress did. She'd never had something so… opulent, before.
"Well? Do you love it, or do you love it?" Gumi prompted excitedly.
"I love it!" Katara squealed and jumped up, tackling them all into a hug. "You guys! I can't believe this!"
"It's for the Fire Days Ball," Yue explained when Katara unfurled the entire length of the gown to get a better look. "Red and gold supposedly bring luck and prosperity."
"It's so pretty," Katara gushed, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "I don't know how I'll make it up to all of you."
"You've already done so much for us, Katara," said Yue earnestly. "You're the reason Sifu Pakku even agreed to train us in the first place."
"Yeah, and we can't let you go to the ball in your usual clothes," Suki pointed out with a teasing grin. "I mean, you would've been the only one there wearing blue. It would've been so embarrassing. We wouldn't want to be seen with you afterwards."
Katara rolled her eyes and lightly swatted the Kyoshi warrior's arm. Gumi settled herself down beside Suki.
"Has Jet asked you to be his date yet?" she asked with a twinkle in her blue eyes. Katara swallowed and turned her attention to her new dress, hoping her disappointment wouldn't quite show.
"Oh, he hasn't asked me yet. But we haven't really talked that much since I started training with Pakku— everything's been so hectic recently, I only ever see him during History, and I think he was busy talking with new members of the Freedom Fighters—"
Suki's laugh cut her rambling short. "Oh, Katara, don't worry. He's gonna ask you. If he doesn't, someone else definitely will. Believe me."
Katara shook her head, clutching her new dress to her chest. "Oh, but it doesn't matter! I know I'll have fun, because you guys are gonna be there!"
"Uh huh, I don't think you're gonna want us there," Gumi said, looking over at the opposite side of the Great Hall.
Suki glanced up as well and stood up, acting a little too casual as she addressed the other waterbenders. "Yeah, we better get going, don't we? We have to do that thing, right?"
"Here, Katara, I'll take this up to the common room for you." Yue gently took the dress from Katara, who looked around suspiciously. Her eyes alighted on Jet and Longshot and the two new Freedom Fighters making their way to the Water Tribes' table and suddenly everything made sense.
"Good luck!" trilled Gumi, and Katara almost laughed in gleeful nervousness, because really, who needed luck for this?
Zuko almost choked on his dumplings when Mai sat down beside him after combat training.
It wasn't that he was still mad at her— honestly, he kind of missed her sometimes, but he just assumed that after all their failed talks, that was the end of their relationship. Talking never did any of them any good, after all. But she was here, neatly ladling stew into her bowl and acting as though everything was okay between them again.
Maybe it was. Zuko didn't really know, and he felt it would be too awkward if he asked.
"Why did you sit down?"
Apparently, his mouth didn't get the message to not be awkward. His palm itched to slap his forehead.
Mai looked at him flatly.
"Because I wanted to eat lunch, Zuko."
"N-no, I mean—" He fiddled awkwardly with his chopsticks before giving up with a sigh. "Never mind."
There was a short pause as he coughed lightly and looked at anything else but the girl beside him.
"Ty Lee's forcing me and Azula to go to the ball," Mai said by way of explanation. "I figured if I had to suffer through the night, I might as well drag you with me."
Zuko blinked. What was she trying to say? Did they really drift apart so much in the past few months that he didn't understand what she wanted from him anymore?
"You… wanna suffer… at the ball... together?"
"I promise it won't be fun." A small, barely-there smile appeared on Mai's face before she shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a party, after all."
That forced a chuckle out of him. Maybe they really were okay now. Maybe she missed him as much as he missed her. Maybe he didn't screw things up too much this time.
"I love it when we don't have fun at parties."
"Haru— we've just got to grit our teeth and do it, man," said Sokka one morning as he and the Water Tribe boy ate breakfast at the Earth Kingdom table. It seemed that for all his bluster about "knowing stuff about the ladies," Sokka hadn't asked anyone yet, either. He swallowed a mouthful of jook with a determined look in his blue eyes. "When we eat dinner tonight, we'll both have partners— agreed?"
"Uh..." Haru glanced at the archway leading to the Western Courtyard, as though Katara would magically arrive from training. "Okay."
Sokka nodded grimly at him with a look he'd only seen on the generally carefree boy's face when he was preparing for combat practice.
Haru mirrored his expression and steeled his resolve.
But every time he glimpsed Katara that day— after her waterbending lessons, and then lunchtime, and once on the way to History— she was surrounded by friends. Didn't she ever go anywhere alone? If he didn't do it soon, she was bound to have been asked by somebody else. Haru wasn't blind— he saw the way Jet looked at her, like some prize to be won, and although they ran in different circles, he knew the other Earth Kingdom boy well enough to know of his track record.
He couldn't let that happen to Katara.
He found it hard to concentrate on Zei's History test— meaning that he received less than average marks. He didn't care, though; he was too busy screwing up his courage for what he was about to do, and it wasn't as if anyone actually failed in the Academy (the worst that could happen was you get held back a year because of poor standing). When Sifu Zei sent them off, he grabbed his bag, and hurried to Katara's desk.
He'd just have to ask her for a private word, that was all... he hurriedly walked against the flow of students exiting the classroom looking for her, and (rather sooner than he expected) he found her, chatting with other Water Tribe girls as they made their way to the Great Hall.
"Uh— Katara?"
She glanced at him and smiled brightly, and Haru's heartbeats thundered in his ears.
"Hey, Haru! What's going on?"
"Could I, uh, talk to you for a second?"
Giggling should be made illegal, Haru thought, as the girls around Katara started doing it. She didn't, though. She said, "Okay," and followed him out of earshot of their other classmates.
Haru turned to look at her and his stomach gave a weird lurch as though he had missed a step going downstairs.
"Uh," he said.
He couldn't ask her. He couldn't. But he had to. Katara stood there looking puzzled, watching him. The words came out before Haru had quite got his tongue around them.
"Wangoballwime?"
"What?" said Katara.
"Do you— do you want to go to the ball with me?" said Haru. Why did he have to go red now? Why?
"Oh!" said Katara, and she blushed scarlet, too. "Oh Haru, I'm really sorry," and she truly looked it. "I've already said I'll go with someone else."
"Oh," said Haru.
It was odd; a moment before, his insides had been writhing like viper rats, but suddenly he didn't seem to have any insides at all.
"Oh okay," he said, "No problem."
"I'm really sorry," she said again.
"That's okay," said Haru.
They stood there awkwardly looking at each other, and then Katara said, "Well—"
"Yeah," said Haru.
"Well, I, uh, better go back to Gumi and Yue," said Katara, still very red. She bit her lip. "I'll— I'll still see you around, right?"
Haru blinked, the viper rat nest in his stomach wriggling again.
"Of course, Katara."
She looked at him with uncertain blue eyes and smiled just as uncertainly.
"Okay. I'm really sorry, Haru. I, I hope you— uh, find a date for the ball."
He swallowed. "Yeah, me too."
She walked away. Haru called after her before he could stop himself.
"Who are you going with?"
"Oh!" The fading blush in her cheeks returned in full force. "Um, Jet."
"Oh, right," said Haru.
The viper rats stopped wriggling in his stomach, but it felt as though his insides had been filled with metal and coal that he couldn't bend.
"There's a messenger hawk waiting for you," Akkad told Sokka a bit begrudgingly as he trudged into the Water Tribes common room after his combat finals with Piandao. The waterbender didn't seem thrilled to pass on the message to his former friend. "I think it's attacking your bed because of all the breadcrumbs."
Sokka groaned and rushed to the dormitory. He knew it was a bad idea to keep sneaking egg custard tarts into his bed, but what was a growing boy to do when the kitchens wouldn't allow midnight snacking?
He swatted the irate bird away from his sheets— ugh, it poked holes in his blanket!— and managed to extract the scroll from its back before the hawk took off towards the aviary with an indignant screech.
Sokka unfurled the scroll. It was from their father— nothing too surprising about that, since he wrote them about once a week— but Sokka's instincts told him something was up.
He read the message again— just usual Dad stuff, like updating them on how the tribe was doing, telling them to keep their heads down and keep each other safe, and reminding them that he and Bato will be at the Academy in about a week's time to pick them up, so they better be packed and ready to go immediately after the Fire Days Ball.
Wait a sec. I knew something was up!
He stuffed the parchment into his tunic and scrambled out of his bed to find his sister, mind whirling. He just barely stumbled out of the boys' dormitory when he saw Katara enter the common room with Yue.
Oh right.
Suddenly, his pact with Haru to get dates by dinnertime didn't seem as imperative compared to the message he received. He shook his head free of Yue's beautiful blue eyes and beautiful smile and waved his sister over to a quiet corner in the common room.
"Listen, we've got a problem," he began severely, but Katara just smirked at his tone.
"Is it about how you haven't gotten a date yet for the ball?" she teased, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No! This is serious!" Sokka threw his hand in the air, dislodging their father's message in his shirt. He hurriedly swiped at the parchment as it fluttered to the ground and shoved it under Katara's nose agitatedly. "Look at this! This just arrived from Dad."
His sister pursed her lips and read the message with an eyebrow raised. She looked up at him, unimpressed, when she finished.
"So, what? I told Dad you sneak egg custards into your bed. It's not the end of the world."
"Not that— wait, you told Dad about my secret egg custards? No fair! I didn't tell him about all your secret waterbending training or Jet or your fortune telling nonsense!"
"Well, there's nothing he can do about any of those, can he? At least he'll be able to stop you from stashing seal jerky in your pelt back home."
"I get snacky! You know Gran-Gran won't allow me near the cooking pot since I burned Sampi's hair loopies off that one time!" Several heads turned towards the siblings and Sokka schooled his face into his "serious big brother" face. "Katara, that's not important right now. Read the message again. Dad's coming to pick us up with Bato."
Katara frowned at their father's letter. "Yeah, he's going to pick us up after the ball. So?"
"So, something's wrong, obviously! Why would Dad leave the South Pole just to pick us up? He never leaves the tribe— well, not since the last Fire Nation raid—"
"Maybe he has to iron out some stuff in the Earth Kingdom or with the Fire Nation? He did say more people have been coming to our port since the Fire Lord allowed us to trade again." Katara studied their father's words pensively. "I don't think this means that anything's too wrong, Sokka."
"I'm telling you, my instincts are never wrong—"
"Oh, like the time your instincts told you it was safe to keep a polar bear puppy as a pet and Dad had to fight off his mom from attacking the village?"
"I stand by that. I still think Foofy Snugglypops would've made a great guard polar bear dog." Sokka huffed and crossed his arms, his jaw set in a stubborn line. "And I still think something's up. Think about it. Dad always says wolves are strongest with their pack. Leaving with Bato would mean leaving the tribe unprotected for at least a month. Why would Dad risk that?"
"I don't know, Sokka. Maybe it's safer now that more people are visiting the South Pole?" Katara worried her lip, not entirely unconvinced. Why would their father pick them up if it weren't important?
She suddenly grabbed Sokka's arm. "Sokka! Do you think Headmaster Iroh told Dad about my fight with Pakku?"
Sokka frowned, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think so. Pakku already allowed you to learn waterbending from him, so it's not like it's still a problem. Whatever it is, it most likely has something to do with the tribe, otherwise he wouldn't bring Bato."
"Well, let's just hope it's not a matter of life and death," concluded Katara, trying to quell the worry in her gut.
"Oooh, you could ask out Chan!" Ty Lee suggested, happily licking her ice cream cone.
Azula made a disgusted face.
"I do not want your leftovers, Ty Lee," the princess said, head held high. Dressed in common Fire Nation garb, her hair free from its usual phoenix tail and flowing freely over her shoulders, she looked like a regular Academy student taking time off to wander around Ember Island.
But even when she was pretending to be somebody else, the Fire Princess still carried herself with such a regal air— new clothes and a different plait wouldn't change the fact that she owned everything she stepped on, oh no, don't let anyone forget it. Ty Lee admired her for that.
However, Ty Lee was also on a matchmaking mission, and acting like you owned everything wasn't going to help Azula find a date for the ball.
"Chan and I only kissed, like, three times, Az— Ching Shih," she grinned at her best friend, who did not seem impressed. "He's really nice and he's really cute and strong! I really liked him."
"He's an airhead who thinks his father's position in the navy will buy him favors," Azula said disdainfully as she smoothed down her hair. "And I don't need 'cute and strong.' I'm cute and strong enough on my own. Besides, if you liked him that much, why don't you ask him out?"
"She got bored of him," Mai succinctly explained.
"I did not!" Ty Lee gasped, aghast. "I just didn't like how he and Ruon Jian were fighting over me, that's all!"
"Oh, boohoo," Azula rolled her eyes and strode ahead, leading them to the Fire Nation patrol tower on the remote end of the island. She glanced at Ty Lee over her shoulder. "Alright. Let's make a deal. You convince those guards to let us in, and I will begin to consider thinking about asking Chan to the ball."
"Deal!" Ty Lee pumped a fist in the air, threw her ice cream cone over her shoulder, twisted her legs up in the air, and strode to the tower on her hands.
Mai raised an eyebrow.
"That's the plan? We're just going to walk in?"
The Fire Princess smirked.
"What idiot do you take me for? I just needed a distraction."
Mai smiled lightly as her friend made her way to the other side of the patrol tower, out of sight from Ty Lee and the three guards she was flirting with. Azula stepped back a few paces, a calculating look on her face, before smiling deviously and running up the brick wall. Fire burst from her feet and propelled her into the second floor window.
Mai sighed and followed suit, using momentum to grab onto the windowsill. How typical of Azula to disregard the fact that she didn't have firebending to get her up the last few feet.
The Fire Princess was already waiting in the dark hallway with two unconscious guards at her feet by the time Mai jumped down from the window.
"I didn't know you could fly with firebending," she commented dryly, already unsheathing several stilettos from her billowing pants. Island wear didn't provide much for weapon concealment, but Mai always found a way.
Azula shrugged carelessly in response to her statement.
"I didn't know, either, but it's nice to know I can still surprise myself," she smoothly replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She nodded down the hall. "I think the records are down there."
Mai nodded, a gleam in her eyes. She didn't know nor care what Azula wanted from boring patrol records or correspondence intercepted by Fire Nation troops, but dammit, this was thrilling. She sped down the hallway in a quiet blur, Azula running right beside her with a smirk on her lips. Mai resisted the urge to laugh. It was the first time in months that she felt adrenaline coursing through her veins— even combat training in the Academy had gotten too tiresome, too routinary.
She sent a flurry of senbon out as they entered the room and pinned the lone guard to the wall without a second thought. Azula placed a well-practiced blow on the guard's head and dusted her hands smugly as he slumped unconscious.
"What are we looking for?" Mai asked, appearing disinterested as she looked around the room.
Azula was already rifling through the files that cluttered the desk.
"Anything from our Water Tribe friends. Particularly," she carefully extracted a single parchment from the haphazard pile and tapped the signature, "between the Northern chief and my uncle's waterbending friend."
Mai nodded and examined the scrolls stuffed into a shelf. She pulled one out and studied the seal. It was already broken— it was probably queued for inconspicuous resealing. Mai wondered if the other nations were just too trusting and oblivious or if they just didn't care that all their letters were already read by the Fire Nation by the time they arrived.
Not that any of it mattered to her.
"This one's addressed to the Southern Water Tribe chief and his children in the Academy," she said. She scoffed after a quick perusal of its contents. "It's an invitation to a wedding."
Azula raised an eyebrow and lit a flame in her palm. "Give me that."
Mai handed over the scroll, half-expecting Azula to burn it, but the princess just let her fire pass over the parchment, barely close enough for the flame to lick the surface. There was a pause, then Azula frowned.
"Let's keep looking," she commanded, discarding the scroll carelessly on the table. Mai had just placed the letter back on the shelf— it didn't look like it was nearly burnt— when Azula stood beside her and plucked another scroll from the shelf. Over the princess's shoulder, Mai saw that the scroll bore not the Water Tribe insignia, but the Academy's.
"I need your knife," the princess said, holding her hand out. Mai passed her one of her daggers and watched as Azula deftly slid the blade beneath the seal.
Azula let out a satisfied chuckle.
"It seems Uncle and the Southern chief communicate more than we thought," she muttered, eyes flicking hungrily over the letter. Mai caught a snippet of Iroh's elegant handwriting— unfortunately, we will need reassurance from our brothers and sisters in the South— before a clatter in the hallway alerted them their time was up.
Azula replaced the missive and Mai wrenched her knives from the still unconscious guard's uniform. Without a word, the two flitted back into the hall and jumped out the window just as the other guards started stirring.
Ty Lee was waiting for them at the base of the tower with big sad eyes.
"You left without me," she said, a little accusingly, her lower lip trembling.
"Oh, Ty Lee, grow up," snapped Azula. "I knew you could handle yourself, otherwise I wouldn't have trusted you alone."
The other girl bit her lip and nodded resignedly.
Mai sighed and placed a hand on Ty Lee's hunched shoulder. "Are we shopping or not?"
Ty Lee perked up instantly and somersaulted gleefully towards the town proper. Mai and Azula followed at a much leisurely pace, both rolling their eyes at the acrobat's antics.
The three stopped at a small store by the baywalk. Groups of locals and students alike milled around the shop, chattering as they browsed the display. Ty Lee beamed and looped her arms through Mai's and Azula's and marched them around the crowded aisles, cooing over several dresses and pulling out ensembles for her friends to try.
Mai groaned as her friend threw a flimsy red lace dress on top of the growing pile of clothes in her arms.
"You can't hide a weapon in this thing," she complained.
"'The only weapon you need is your body!'" Ty Lee chirped in a practiced, singsong voice.
"Is that what Ty Woo's been telling you?" Mai scrunched up her face and discarded the lacy dress back onto the rack. "Because that's disgusting."
Azula hummed in agreement.
"I don't see why we have to wear fancy dresses for the ball, either," said the Fire Princess, eyeing the dresses Ty Lee picked out for her as though they were enemies on a battlefield. "I wear my armor for ceremonies at the Palace, and no one ever complained."
"That's because you'll burn them if they did," Ty Lee pointed out with a smile, dumping several more articles of clothing into the princess's arms. "But you'd look so pretty in all of these! Anyone you ask to dance won't be able to say no!"
Mai exchanged a look with Azula and shrugged.
"That's true," Azula finally acquiesced. "Let's go try these on and head back to the Academy."
"And then you'll ask Chan to the ball?" Ty Lee clasped her hands hopefully and looked at her friend with shining koala puppy dog eyes.
The Fire Princess rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'll begin to think about asking that airhead Chan to the ball."
Ty Lee giddily pumped her fist in the air. "Yipee!"
A/N: I really, really wanted this to be the final chapter, but there were so many things still brewing— plus, the Fire Days Ball!— that I had to cut it into two parts. I swear the next update wouldn't be long! Cheers!