Avatar Chapter 43

I do not own Avatar the Last Air Bender

They had finally arrived at this city of the Mad Earth King and Azula was honestly surprised, not by the city it was the dingy backwater she knew it would be, but by what was around it.

The city sat atop an enormous pillar of rock in the middle of an equally enormous pit, no wonder it had held out so long the logistics of even getting to it were staggering. But despite the daunting scale of the landscape the entire area was bustling, she could see mining and construction equipment, camps for workers and, most intriguing, pile after pile of rail track.

Azula made out the crests of various colonies and noble houses no doubt here to help… whatever it was they were trying to achieve here. "This may slow me down, I was not expecting so much activity on such a recently captured city." She of course knew who was in charge of all this, Lord Xizans personal symbol, a very lewd and gaudy depiction of a man and woman…entangled, was the largest she saw. He was apparently doing well on his promise to industrialize and connect every colony, even ones so newly acquired.

"Wow there are so many people here, I even recognize a lot of flags." Ty Lee was beside her, giddy and peering through a looking glass.

"Do you now? A Princess is to be familiar with every symbol that owes our nation allegiance."

Ty Lee looked nervous "I can name a few, one of them is Yu Dao I think and then there is the one with all the shark-whales off the coast and the one with the… naked, people is..."

Azula made a mental note, she would send a message to Xizan about an appropriate crest for his house, though she doubted she would like anything else he chose. "Never mind you can read up on symbols later, bustling city aside we are on a hunt and we have a hunter to pick up."

Ty Lee was shivering with excitement a she sat in the palanquin, this was all so new and exciting and she desperately wanted to jump out and explore. Alas Azula made it clear that until they actually got into the city she could not show her face, no need to get swamped by everyone of importance.

Luckily there weere a lot of carriages and palanquins around transporting said important people so it was easy to blend in once they covered up the royal seal. "We can explore once we're inside right Azula? Pretty please." Ty Lee gave her lover the best begging eyes she could muster.

"We will see Ty, why are you so interested in some dirty mountain city in the first place?"

"Oh come on Zula, its new and exciting and exotic and I read in some book it has this really cool slide system and I want souvenir, and..." Azula placed a finger to her lips "Alright I get it… fine I will set some time aside for you to indulge your free spirited desire to poke your nose into everything."

"Yay! You're the best Princess ever." Ty Lee threw her arms around Azula.

Azula patted her back half-heartedly "I am aware, now settle down and… I don't know, tune into the universe or something."

"Can do" Ty Lee exclaimed enthusiastically, the universe was being incredibly kind today even if Azula still thought it was colony inspired new age dribble.

In no time, and thankfully no interruptions, they had reached the main gate which had the Fire Nation flag proudly displayed above.

"Wooow, this wall is a lot bigger up close."

"Earth Benders do create the best defences I'll give them that, but every shell has a crack Ty Lee, you just have to find and tear at it." Azula has an evil smile on her lips. "And once you're in you can annihilate all those who thought themselves safe, crushing them under heel."

Ty Lee sighed dreamily, it was odd but she found Azula very cute when she got into one of her rants about conquest and such.

"…and then we can cover the prisoners in oil, force them onto the hunting grounds and use them as, a wonderful the gate is opening." Azula snapped out of her daydream.

The metal gate seemed out of place against the stone walls so Ty Lee guessed it had been tacked on to allow normal people in and out. As it opened a trio of guards came to greet them, while the captain of their small six man squad walked forward.

Very quickly the three city guardsmen stood up a bit straighter when they realized who was inside the palanquin and promptly moved aside. Ty Lee peeked threw they curtain as they passed under the gate and into an actual Earth city, it was so much different than any other city she had seen. Everything just looked so… natural, obviously Earth Bending made building easier and she saw building after building neatly placed and connected. "So cool! Maybe after all this is over we can go on vacation and explore the world."

As they traveled down the main street into the city Ty Lee could not help but notice the odd person clothed in bright green shuffling along, "Hey Zula, the people who live here… where will they go?"

Azula smirked "Why they will stay right here Ty, those who don't cause trouble at least."

Ty Lee was not sure what 'trouble' meant but the people in green looked quite down, depressingly so even. She supposed being recently conquered would do that to people, but soon they would have all the Fire Nation amenities like steam power and indoor plumbing, the latter of which Ty Lee was very grateful for.

"Your highness, I believe the governor's delegation is waiting up ahead." The guard captain informed them.

Ty Lee looked at Azula "They knew we were coming?"

Azula looked pleased with herself "I had a messenger hawk sent to the governor saying there would be an inspection of this city by a trusted agent."

"Really? Who? Do I know him? Is it a him?"

The Princess rolled her eyes "It's me Ty, I will be inspecting be city."

"Ooooh, that makes more sense, is that why there's only one person over there."

"One person!" Azula broke her gaze and looked down he rode where a sole individual appeared to be waiting for them.

"Why that pompous, arrogant, bootlicking waste of flesh he should be greeting the royal inspector in person, I am going…"

Ty Lee stopped listening as they drew closer, her face lit up, it was a little taller but she knew that silhouette anywhere. "Azula! Can I get out now, please?"

The irate Fire Bender stopped her rant and looked at her, then to the figure in the distance "Well well, maybe I gave him too little credit, yes Ty you can get out now, just don't overdo it you can…" Her consort had already hopped out of the palanquin and took off like a bolt of pink lightning.

Mai could see the palanquin now, the royal procession was approaching, bringing the Princess and her consort with them. "Princess Ty Lee, Royal Consort to Princess Azula, I bet there is a great story behind this."

Mai had not seen either of her friends for nearly two years, and because of being moved around practically every month she had not received nor bothered to write many letters. The only information she had were official declarations and reading the reports from her father's informants. From that she knew quickly that Ty Lee had become Azula's personal attendant, which had not particularly shocked her. She was shocked when the rumours made it to the colonies that Azula was courting Ty Lee and nearly had a facial expression when Princess made it official during the New Year's festival.

Mai had always known Ty Lee to overly affectionate and clingy but her feelings for Azula were obviously much deeper and the impulsive girl had acted upon them. Mai would take up fishing if it was Azula who made the first move, she knew the Princess well enough to know that social graces were not her strong suit.

She wondered how their relationship had been going, it was the hot topic of conversation throughout the country. But far more importantly she was happy to see her friends again, they made life interesting and hopefully Azula had come here for more than a simple inspection.

She suddenly saw a pink clad girl jump out of the palanquin, which let out a squeal as she looked at Mai and ran towards her. "Maiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."

Mai braced herself as the human projectile threw her arms around her and started babbling about…so many different things, seemingly at once. "It's nice to see you to Ty Lee, you seem happy."

The girl smiled at her "Oh I'm absolutely great, my aura is pink, the universe is in tune and…" she began to list off everything that had gone well that morning and Mai thanked Agni when the palanquin was placed down and its occupant stepped out.

She examined at Azula, she looked the same as ever but Mai instantly noticed a change, a look in her eye that she had not seen in a while and…Ty Lee was still talking.

Mai gave a light bow "Please kill me, or at least burn out my ears." She looked up and smiled, Azula smiled back and pulled Ty Lee's braid lightly, the girl stopped talking and blushed.

"It's good to see you Mai, Ty Lee has been very excited about meeting you after all this time." Azula grasped her hands in an official greeting

"I heard" Mai saw Ty Lee's blush increase.

"Sorry Mai, I just haven't seen you in sooooo long that I wanted to catch up."

"All at once" Mai remembered the world always got louder with Ty Lee around.

"Ty does that, she even draws pictures some times" Azula piled on.

"Zula." Ty Lee Looked at the Princess with big eyes and quivering lips.

"Oh don't look at me like that." Azula smiled and placed a light kiss on Ty Lee's lips, the girl melted.

Mai arched an eyebrow "Ty Lee's the same but Azula as has definitely changed; that was almost loving." Mai looked at the happy, yet strange…very strange couple.

"Well Ty Lee was always good with animals, I guess she managed to tame Azula." Mai tensed as she felt… something, she lazily flung a knife to the side and watched as the air shimmered, something was there.

"Oh my gosh, Mai you almost hit Arky." Ty Lee looked worried.

Azula looked impressed "Interesting, you always had good senses Mai, reveal yourself Arkrez, she is not a threat."

Mai watched as the air next to where her knife hit the ground shimmered and a huge animal took shape. Its fur and…scales, changed to what she assumed was its natural colors.

It was a very intimidating animal, it was about the size of a komodo-rhino she saw Fire Nation soldiers use though it was not as wide. It had a strange combination of fur and scales and Mai had a feeling this was not a docile animal.

"Oh right, Mai this is Arkrez, I call him Arky because it's cute, he's a Liger-Serpent." Ty Lee went up to the animal and started scratching its chin. "Ty Lee the reputation of that terrifying beast is diminished every time you start scratching him like a common house pet."

"Oh but Zula he has to get used Mai, he just loves to make new friends, isn't that right you big lug." The beast looked at Mai and began to examine her, she suspected he was determining if she was to be trusted. His large golden eyes bored into her own, they were full of strength, ferocity and determination.

Mai took and a breathe and glared at the beast with what Ty Lee used to call her 'freaky eyes', Arkrez whined, walked behind Azula and hunched up, as if trying to hide. "Oh terrific." Azula's eye was twitching.

"Oh Mai you scared him…somehow."

"He wanted to get to know me, now he does." Mai was never good with animals, something she shared with Azula in their younger years, but while the Fire Bender actively terrified the creatures they seemed to avoid her simply out of principle.

"Wonderful, my great protector is mush with one and terrified of the other, thank Agni little girls don't seek my doom."

"Don't worry Azula he just needs to get to know Mai better, we can all bond on the secret mission." Mai turned to look at Ty Lee, who seemed to realize what she said. "Oops"

"Not to worry Ty, I was going to tell Mai why we are here on our way to the Palace, I have city to inspect after all."

"Well I guess you came at a good time, workers have been coming here for days now."

"I noticed the camps, from what I gather this city is to be a major rail and industry hub, your father's wishes I imagine"

"He wishes for a lot of things, but thanks to you he is making this place less dull, between workers and rebels it's almost exciting." Mai was honestly having slightly more fun these days, and hopefully things would really pick up now.

At the mention of rebels the formally cowering beast perked up and started pace in a large circle. Azula now looked interested "Rebels you say."

Mai took out a knife a twirled around her fingers "Yes, the former king was the only one to surrender, the rest of the soldiers here have gone underground, literally actually."

The Princess nodded "Well that makes things more complicated, I will have words with your father."

Mai rolled her eyes "Go ahead, though it may be hard to hear him while he kisses your royal butt." The way her father sucked up to people always ticked her off.

"Azula does have an awesome bum, it so springy." Ty Lee mentioned offhandedly.

Mai raised an eyebrow, she saw something that was almost certainly a once in lifetime event, a blush on the Princess's face. "Ty Lee!" Azula harshly whispered.

"Yeah? Oh right I'm not supposed to talk about our nighttime advent-mhmm" Azula clasped a hand over Ty Lee's mouth.

For her part Mai felt a smile tug at her lips, they had only been here a few minutes and things were already more interesting than they had been in months "Not to mention I have blackmail gold on Azula now."

Said Princess cleared her throat "Well none the less I will need to speak with your father, the rail system was my first official endeavor after all." Mai could almost taste the self centered arrogance on her friend's voice "Well she still sees herself as centre of the universe at least, that's always fun."

"But Zula you said we could go see the city, this place is supposed to have an awesome slide system" Ty Lee pouted.

Azula rolled her eyes "I believe they used it for transport Ty Lee and I have already acquired a guide for you." Mai raised an eyebrow before sensing something amiss.

"Lady Mai would you be so kind as to give Princess Ty Lee a tour of the city, you two can catch up while I have a peaceful meeting with the governor." Azula had a twisted smirk on her face.

Mai stared blankly as Ty Lee's eyes filled with wonder "That's an awesome idea Zula, I talk a lot and Mai doesn't say much so it will be like a normal conversation with the two of us, people will think…."

Mai reached over and pulled Ty Lee's braid, the girl let out a squeak before shutting up. "Interesting." Mai remarked.

"Don't hesitate to pull it harder if she starts babbling." Azula replied before turning to Ty Lee "Please don't babble out anything to sensitive Ty."

The girl laughed nervously, and nodded. "Well then I will see you two later, and I will explain what we are doing when you return Mai, know you will not be staying here for long." Mai nodded and bowed, she had feeling that was where this was heading.

Azula hoped back into the palanquin and headed off, leaving Mai alone with Ty Lee, six royal guards and a giant beast now hiding behind Ty Lee. The Princess had a big smile on her face and Mai could not help but feel happy, Azula may have saddled her with tour guide duty but she admitted she missed that big dumb grin.

"Well I suppose you want me to show you the slides."

The girl's eyes widened "You mean people really ride down them?"

"You can do whatever you want with them, there just glorified dirt heaps."

"Cool! Let's go let's go, I always wanted to see an Earth Kingdom city, is it true they eat rocks?"

"Yes"

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Neato"

Mai shook her head "Oh how I missed this, Ty Lee you are innocently stupid." It was not a lie per say, she just did not mention the only one she knew that ate rocks was the insane king. Mai started walking towards the main square.

Ty Lee was skipping along beside her "Ok let's see where to start, oh, how about I tell you about when I broke into the Palace, or maybe about when we went to this weird city, ummm…"

Mai kept walking but listened to her friend's stories, after years of nothing happening things were finally starting to peek her interest.

In the palanquin Azula debated what she should do now, her brother and uncle were top priority but this was a very important project. This city could be a hub for most rail transit in the southern Earth Kingdom and thus it had to be done right. Unfortunately Mai's father was not the best administrator, he was loyal and somewhat capable but Azula knew the reason he had brought his family to the colonies in the first place was due to his disagreements with most of the nobility. As the head of an Honored House he had some protection but Azula doubted her father would intervene if an 'accident' occurred.

Why he was chosen as governor she could not guess but the Fire Lord always had his reasons. She wondered if her father was aware of the rebels, they could end up complicating everything if they were not silenced soon. "I doubt the governor has a plan, he is not a military man by any stretch but maybe he will surprise me and have a specialist on hand."

Regardless of what happened here her original point of traveling was to pick up Mai, who she was certain would jump at the chance to get out of families shadow. Mai would be an invaluable ally in the Earth Kingdom and Azula admitted it would be nice to see her friend again.

"It will be nice to have someone Ty Lee can blab to besides me, and with luck Mai won't feel too strongly about us hunting down her former crush."

Azula looked around the city and smiled "And if these rebels are unlucky I can draw them out myself." She twirled a ball of blue flame in hand as the palanquin made its way to the governor's palace.

"Azula actually went out and killed a Boar-Bear for you?" Mai found it hard to imagine Azula hunting, she became irritable when specks of dirt got under her nails.

"Yeah it was huge, the head is back at the Palace, I got a really warm blanket and Arky got to eat for nearly a week." Ty Lee spread her arms across in an attempt to illustrate the animal's size.

"It appears you've have had fascinating time Ty Lee, you know you are the most talked about girl in the nation?"

Ty Lee stroked her braid "Well sorta, being in the Palace most of the time kind of makes it hard to hear all the rumors."

"The eye of the storm is always the calmest." Mai saw Ty Lee blink and stare at her.

"What part of my allegory is tripping you up?" Ty Lee simply looked at her dumbly.

Mai pinched the bridge of her nose "Agni she's dumb, it's a wonder she remembers to breathe"

"Moving on."

"Ok, say what have you been doing, apart from your presents we haven't heard from you since you went to the colonies."

"There is not much to say, father dragged the whole household up and down the coast making political inroads and putting his name on plaques, him being named governor of this hunk of rock is the only thing really worth mentioning."

"Oh, well I bet you got to see some really neat things."

"Aside from seeing my mother crave fruit pasted pickle-lemons nothing really got my attention."

Ty Lee looked confused "Why would your mom wanted something so…gross."

"Apparently pregnant women have odd cravings." Ty Lee nearly tripped over her own feet.

"Wait your mom's pregnant?!"

"Was pregnant, she gave birth over a year ago."

"But you said nothing interesting happened these past few years."

"A drooling baby is not interesting."

"But Mai you have a sibling, what's his name? Is it a he? Is he cute? Is she cute? Come on Mai give me something I can't read your aura very well." Ty Lee was bouncing up and down, causing down trodden Omashu citizens to stare.

Mai realized they can arrived in a fairly populated area, a market square if she recalled correctly. She mentally berated herself and looked at Ty Lee's braid, the golden crown firmly in place. "I wonder if anyone here even knows what it means, I would think not." Mai had nearly forgotten Ty Lee was a Princess now and Mai was unsure how adept at defending herself she was.

"He's a male, my parents named him Tom-Tom and he cries far too often." Mai scanned the crowed most did not meet her eyes, conquered populations were truly a bland lot.

"Can I meet him? I love a babies they are so cute and squishy and oh wow is that a food stand." The Princess was immediately sidetracked by a local vendor and skipped over, her six guards quickly chased after her.

Mai calmly walked over "I think her attention span has gotten shorter, she and Tom-Tom would get along great." The Princess was gawking over all the greasy slop the stand had to offer, ignoring the owner who looked as if he was going to pass out.

"Hey what's this, it looks yummy, and so does that, what should I get Mai? Azula never lets us eat anything exotic." Ty Lee looked at her, as if she were the authority on Earth Kingdom cuisine.

"I usually have a special breed of komodo-chicken from the Sun Isles topped with seventeen different spices alongside fresh cider made from three different kinds of rare fruit." Mai was very particular about her food, Ty Lee just looked at her and blinked repeatedly.

"Just get a sausage wrapped in something and dipped in something else, before the man passes out."

She appeared to suddenly notice the vendor and gave him a smile, "Hi there can I have… Mmm how about one of everything so we can all eat."

Said vendor looked at her and then to the six armored solders surrounding her, "O-Of course my lady, right away, of course." The man scrambled to meet the demands of the girl and her skull masked guards.

Mai began to contemplate if Ty Lee was willingly oblivious to her station or innocently ignorant, "Ty Lee, how many times have gone into public by yourself since you and Azula became a… item?"

The Princess put a finger to her chin "Mmmm a few times in the capital maybe why?"

"Just catching up" Mai was going to go with ignorant, Ty Lee would help a bug take flight if given the chance but she had been under escort enough times to know that most guards burned people first and asked questions only if ordered too.

"Not to mention I have no idea where her pet is now, working at the Palace these days must be more stressful than normal."

As they waited for the man and his assistants to put their order together, or flee in terror whatever came first, Mai decided to ask the question everyone with apparently nothing better to do wanted to know "Speaking of catching up, how has it been for you?"

"How has what been?"

Mai stared blankly at her friend "Ty Lee it took me half a second of looking at Azula to know she more or less the same person who decided interrogation methods were appropriate material for a school project yet you got her to blush and nearly stammer."

"Well to be honest I can get her to do more than that, in fact if I promise to take my top off some times I can get ow!" Mai flicked Ty Lee in the forehead, her tried and true way of shutting her up promptly "No one wants to hear about that." That was a lie, even rumours of what the nations gay Princess did with her lover behind closed doors spread like wildfire in every social circle.

"How has Azula treated you Ty Lee? Her ideas on social norms are not what most people consider pleasant."

"Oh stuff like that, well yeah it was a little tricky at first, she was kind of dense to the whole romance and dating thing so I had to kiss her to get my feeling across."

"You just kissed her? Right out of the nowhere."

"Yep, she was pretty shocked and looked like a fish for minute or two." Ty Lee giggled.

"And she didn't burn your face off?"

"Nope, she's not as scary as you remember Mai, really, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Alright, for a moment I will accept that Azula has become something resembling a human being, how has the Fire Lord treated you?"

Ty Lee suddenly looked as if she had eaten a sour lime-berry "He's… Um."

"You're terrified of him"

"I passed out when he invited me into the throne room for the first time." Ty Lee looked both ashamed and embarrassed.

"…You fainted, in front of the most powerful man in the world."

"Hey it was really scary in there, it was dark and hot and I've only fainted a few times after that."

"And yet he approves of you and Azula?"

"Well I guess so?"

"You guess"

"We tried to keep to it a secret for a while but on her birthday he walked in on us."

Mai stared at her friend, amazed she was still alive and sane.

"Princess, your order is ready." The guard captain suddenly informed them.

"Yippee! Now we can have snacks on the way." Once again Ty Lee's attention had been pulled in another random direction.

"She's like a guppy in piranha-lobster tank, and dumb guppy." Mai watched one of the guards not laden with a crate of food approach the sweating owner and hand him a royal payment voucher, he could take it to any Fire Nation bank and receive the appropriate funds for services rendered, though by the look on the man's face it appeared he was unfamiliar with the advanced payment concept.

"I would imagine father as implemented Fire Nation customs without telling the simple populace how they work… Azula is going to tear him ap!" Mai suddenly darted to the side, it was only her years of boredom induced practice that let her dodge that incoming boulder, which flew by and took out a passing cart.

She heard a scream and the market emptied, while Omashu soldiers began appearing out of the ground and behind stone walls.

She heard Ty Lee scream her name before a wall of rock shot up and blocked her vison of the Princess and her entourage. Mai scanned and her surroundings and wondered how they got word of the Princess's arrival so fast, until she noticed most of the rebels seemed focused on her.

"Right, governor's daughter."

Just a quick note, since Azula did not have to pick up Ty Lee from the circus they have arrived before Aang's group.