The shoes on her feet felt rather strange to Toph. She knew she had to wear them and that she was far too old to sulk about it but they felt rather constricting given her renewed Earth bending.

"Lady Bei Fong please do not pout," the woman attempting to do her makeup scolded softly.

Toph sighed and forced her features to relax. The woman applying pigments to her face gave a grateful sigh and resumed her work. There were times when Toph was glad she was unable to see. She was sure that she looked absolutely ridiculous in the layers of silk she wore. The fact that it had taken the dressers twenty minuets to tie the obi around her waist was a big indication that she looked ridiculous. Not to mention the two women had told her she had at least three feet lengths of silk behind her. Toph had long ago told her dressers to tell her how long the train of her garment was. She may not have been able to see but she was aware of the space around her. Three feet was excessive but, as she had been told, essential.

Essential may have been pushing it.

"Oh wow, Toph."

Toph turned her head. In the doorway Katara stared. Though she had spent most of her time in the company of either a very tomboyish Toph or the company of a girlish Toph who wanted to be anything else, Toph had yet to show Katara the Noble side of herself. The silks she wore were the greens and golds of the Earth Kingdom. She wore a formal dress, layers of heavy silk robes designed to leave glimpses of the ones underneath. Tying it all together was an obi in varying shades of gold, from pale to burnished. All of the cloth seemed to shine in the sun, the gold combs holding Toph's hair back only heightening the effect.

"I look ridiculous, I know," Toph said standing up after the makeup woman told her it was alright. The second she was on her feet practiced hands smoothed the fabric and moved the train behind her.

"No," Katara said weakly, "you don't look ridiculous," she looked in the mirror, "I do."

Toph doubted that but Katara was blind to her incredulous look. She wore silk as well, her own the periwinkle and silver to Toph's gold. Her dress was simpler in terms of layers but just as complicated as Tophs. The dress was long and heavy, draping around her in ripples of fabric that seemed far more cumbersome than the waves she handled with such ease. Silver embroidery played along her lengthy sleeves and hems as well as the neckline of her robers. The ornaments in her hair were silver as well and shimmered across her curls like drops of rain. At the moment Katara would have cut her arm off to have her hair loopies.

"Formal wear always looks stupid," Toph said, "no-one likes to wear it."

"Then why do they?"

"I have no idea," she said with a shrug, "its just part of being a 'Lady'."

Katara decided that she did not like being a Lady.

The two of them made their way down the Fire Nation Palace. The four of them, those who could Bend, were going to stage their very public 'peace meetings' while the Non Benders would slip out and go get Azula. Katara was not sure that she liked the idea of her brother charging into a group of crazed Fire Nation nationalists but she also knew that if there was one person who would be able to go in and get out alive it would be Sokka. It was also good that June and Ty Lee were going to be with him. It might have seemed that having non-benders going charging into a den of possible Benders was a bad idea but Katara knew it made some sense. If these people were experienced at fighting Benders then sending Benders in was probably not the most brilliant idea. Sending in three people who were excellent at fighting whether they could Bend or not was a better one.

There was also the fact that Azula probably wanted to murder her brother and Katara the moment she laid eyes on them.

Of them all June was probably the safest from Azula's wrath. The rest of them were most certainly not. They were all aware of what Azula was capable of, of how if the Agni Ka had been under different circumstances or if it had been fair on either of their sides, they would probably all be bowing before Fire Lord Azula at the moment. Ty Lee was probably in equal danger but the Warrior had refused to even consider not going with them to liberate her. June had no reason to fear her--not that she would admit it if she did. Sokka had every reason to fear her but when they asked him to consider not going, the Water Tribesman had shrugged and pointed out that Azula had lost already, this wouldn't be that hard. Katara knew he was talking big but she managed refrain herself from saying anything. After all if she was going to rescue the Fire Bender she'd probably try not to think about the fact that blue flames could and possibly would be easily ending her life.

The two women finally arrived at the area where they were meeting Zuko and Aang. Aang wore a formal version of his usual Air Nomad robes. Though he was not half as resplendent as the others, the fact that he was the Avatar eclipsed all the finery they could pile on. Zuko wore the dark reds and golds of the Fire Nation. He was dressed just as formally and like Toph, he wore it much better than Aang and Katara who still looked marginally uncomfortable in their garb. Katara felt it most of all. She felt like a child playing dress up. There was no need for all the silk in the Southern Water Tribe, she got by just fine dressing practically and letting her abilities do all the awe-getting. She knew she looked incredibly stupid considering the fact that both Aang and Zuko couldn't stop staring at her.

"I know I look horrible," Katara mumbled, wishing desperately for her parka.

"Not at all," Zuko said, clearing his throat, "you look fine."

"Zuko!" Toph said hotly, obviously outraged that Zuko would use the world 'fine' instead of something nicer, "lets just go," she said finally.

Mai watched the group walk down the hallway. Inside her robe she fingered one of the long sebon, findng some odd comfort in the dependable metal. Ty Lee and that group were off to rescue Azula while Zuko and the old gang were about to begin the peace meetings. She felt, she felt alienated, not really belonging to either of the groups. She forced the childish feelings aside as best she could. It would do no good for her to be jealous. She did not want to play 'happy world' with the Gaang, nor did she want to rescue the homicidal, damaged Princess with Ty Lee. She was alright where she was, not belonging to either of the groups. She was first and foremost a Vizier, one of Zuko's trusted advisors. She had a job to do. There were going to be people who wanted one or all of them dead and it was her job to make sure that didn't happen.

"Double the guards on the balcony," she said, knowing one of the faceless guards would hear her, "make sure everyone in the crowd is in position--" she glanced behind her, "and for Gods sake make sure they look like they're cheering spectators. I don't want political views blowing their cover."

"Where will you be?" one man asked.

"That is not your concern," she said turning and walking down the hallway, her red and ebony robes swishing.

She walked to one of the balconies in the back of the palace. Her dresses were all specially designed to come off with ease in case she needed heightened flexibility for an attack. She undid three well placed buttons and shed the elaborate outer robe she wore. Underneath she wore the bodysuit of the guards, her holsters with their spring loaded blades already in place. On top of that she wore a vest with an assortment of knives and sebon in case she needed them. She undid her buns, the pins which could be used as short range weapons going into the vest as well. Unbound her hair was long but her buns would be too distinct under the hood. She tucked her hair into the back of her shirt and pulled the hood up over her head. One of the masks the guards wore lay on the roof in preparation for her arrival and she pulled it on, locking her identity away.

Kicking off the ground Mai caught a low statue that protruded from the wall. There was a series of reenforced statues that would lead to a ledge she could follow and place herself a fraction lower than the cross-bow bearing guards that were patrolling the roof. She landed on it noiselessly, hurrying across the narrow space. Thankfully it was mostly out of sight of the crowd. Finally she came to a narrow opening hidden further in the statue. Mai shrugged out of her vest and slid it into the shadows before jumping in herself. She moved along the crawl space until she saw the light and crowd. There were thousands of people gathered there, all cheering joyously. SOmewhere buried in that crowd were a group of people who wanted to destroy the peace, the monarch--everything. Mai tightened her hold on the vest that carried her arsenal.

They would fail.

She would make sure of it.

Faster.

Faster.

She had to go faster!

Ty Lee dove around the corner, tucking her body and rolling silently across the ground before she got to her feet and continued to run. She did it all with the same seamless grace that she had always done acrobatics. But now, now adrenaline coursed through her to a degree that it hadn't in some time. Danger made her heart pound, her breath catch in her throat--it made her palms sweat and her knees tremble but she force herself to go despite her body's reaction. She heard heavy boots behind her and quickened her pace, her slippers making no sound on the stones as she raced to the furthest part of the building.

Sokka had said that the three of them would go in together but June said that only Ty Lee would go first. They knew the hideout thanks to Nyla but Azula's exact location was a mystery. Sokka had provided a distraction so that Ty Lee, the lightest and fastest could find Azula. The greatest of the issues was that it was one way in and one way out. The only way they could get out was for Azula to actually help them and there was no guarantee that the Princess would do anything of the sort. June knew the basic outline of where Azula would be and that happened to be the center of the compound, the place where there was no way of escape. Ty Lee had to race inside the prison, find Azula, get her out and more than likely she was going to need to get Azula to help in the fight.

Pressing herself against the wall, Ty Lee bit her lip and waited for the booted feet to pass. They turned and hurried on their way, thankfully not seeing her at all. Ty Lee breathed a sigh of relief and let her spin curve for just a moment as she hung her head. But within the next heartbeat she was fully up and running again, her feet pounding against the stone as she had to find Azula before the two of them came in after her and they got themselves all killed. She dug into her sleeve and grabbed the silvery piece of metal that June told her would allow her to open the cell doors. She could only pray that it would work.

Rounding the corner, Ty Lee found herself standing at the end of a long and narrow hallway lined with doors. Her eyes widened in horror. Were these all cells? She was just here to get one person out--a person who maybe didn't even want to come with her. She didn't want to free the entire prison. Ty Lee gripped the key in her palm. Or maybe she did. If she let them all go she'd have a great distraction. She could sneak out with Azula while the prisoners wreaked havoc. Idea firmly in her mind, Ty Lee raced to the first door and stuck the metal in, counting to three and then twisting it like June told her. The door opened to reveal a man sitting there, looking at the far wall.

"Go!" Ty Lee whispered.

"Go?" he looked at her, "huh--"

"Just go! Make as much noise as you can," she said running to the next door and opening it.

One by one she freed the prisoners. They ran into the building as fast as they could, repaying their freedom with the simple request of ruckus. The prisoners all blended together until Ty Lee didn't even really look in the rooms, just threw open the doors and shouted for them to go. The only problem was that as the last prisoner ran, it became clear that Azula was not among them. Ty Lee felt fear cloy her throat, Azula had to be here. The whole point was that they got her before they could move her to another location. She began to peer into the cells. They were all bare and empty, just grey stone--

Pain ripped through Ty Lee's eye as a fist connected solidly with it. She went flying backwards, just barely managing to twist her body so she landed on her feet. She clapped a hand over her eye, knowing already she was going to have a spectacular black eye. Her other eye had no problem focusing on the person who had punched her.

She would know those gold eyes anywhere.

Azula looked so different. Dressed in a short grey robe that prisoners wore the Princess's once long hair had been cropped so that it barely brushed her shoulders. Her body had changed too. She was still a warrior but her body was not that of someone who trained. It looked as though she was having trouble standing upright after the effort it took to whack Ty Lee. Her nails were short too, Ty Lee realized, not those long, deadly points that she used as effectively as her Bending. Her skin was pale and Ty Lee could see a shine of sweat on it, her chest heaved with exertion but her eyes were the same. Gold, cold and so very deadly they seemed to spark with the fire that they had not in so many years. Clearly the people hadn't been giving her the drugs. Or maybe they had weaned her off them, thinking they could use the old Azula. They were idiots then because the only person that had successfully used Azula was her father and even then it had been trying at times.

"You," Azula spat, her voice nothing more than a hoarse rasp.

"Azula," Ty Lee forced her hands up in a show of surrender.

Big mistake.

Injured or no, Azula was still very good at kicking ass apparently. Before Ty Lee could see her move her knee was buried in Ty Lee's s stomach. Ty Lee gasped for air but Azula had already kicked her legs out, bending her body in a completely different direction and slammed the former acrobat onto the cold stone, one of her hands wrapping around her throat.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice somehow made more frightening by the fact that it was mostly gone.

"I'm here to rescue you," Ty Lee choked out, "Zuko sent me--" Azula's fingers tightened as her teeth bared in an almost feral snarl, "he didn't know about the drugs!"

"You think that matters?" Azula spat, "my bastard of a brother can rot in hell."

"Azula please!" Ty Lee gasped as the fingers on her throat loosened, "he wants you to come home."

First there was shock in her gold eyes and then a savage sort of humor in her eyes that was mocking and filled with disgust as she shoved herself away from Ty Lee and staggered to the wall. She still had her pride clearly, even though it seemed that now she truly could not walk far. Gingerly Ty Lee pushed herself up to her feet, rubbing at her throat and then at her eye, wincing as the bruised skin ached.

"Ow," she muttered touching the skin, "that hurt," Azula's gold eyes narrowed savagely, "come on," Ty Lee said, "you're cant stay here," her eyes sparked at the challenge, "you're not a prisoner Azula."

"You have a way out?" she rasped finally.

"Uh huh. But we have to go quickly before the guards realize what's going on."

Azula glared before she gave a curt nod of understanding. Ty Lee hurried down the hallway, her feet silent. It became apparent that for all her pride Azula was not exactly going to be making a fast escape. Her feet were heavy and slow on the ground. Ty Lee looked back at the unsteady Azula before she ran as fast as she could back to Azula.

"Lean on me. It'll be faster this way," she said.

Azula glared but put an arm around her neck, leaning on Ty Lee as the two women hobbled down the corridor looking like the deadliest entry to a three legged race the world had ever seen. Despite the clamminess of the skin Azula didn't smell terrible, she smelt like she always had, that odd tinge of fire and metal and something powerful that Ty Lee would never be able to fully comprehend. If she still smelled like that though--

"Can you bend?" Ty Lee demanded. Azula gritted her teeth, her breath coming in gasps, "oh sorry," Ty lee ducked her head, remembering that walking was probably not easy for Azula at the moment. Finally the hallway seemed to get of ahead of them Ty Lee resisted the urge to bolt, very aware of the fact that she had to get Azula out. The two women hobble the remaining distance and staggered out into the courtyard, "oh no."

It was absolute chaos. The prisoners and the guards were fighting everywhere. While it was a great distraction it was not good considering there was no way to get to June and Sokka. She couldn't even see them over the chaos that engulfed the dusty area. Azula sagged heavily in her arms, though she still struggled against the weakness in her body. Ty Lee bit her lip, wondering how they had gotten into such a mess. How were they going to get out? She had to find a way to get Sokka's attention. Sokka would know what to do, Sokka or June. She looked down at Azula. Her gold eyes were foggy and sliding in and out of focus. This was probably the most exercise the Princess had gotten in years thanks to the drugs and her breakdown.

"Damn it!"

Ty Lee would never know how she heard him over the crowd but suddenly she saw him, sliding through the guards that got in his way, the black of his blade glinting in the light. His eyes locked on hers and then swept to Azula's lowere head and suddenly his efforts doubled as he sliced through the crowd. He moved like he was swimming through water, his blade slipping fluidly as he dodged men left and right, finally breaking through the thick of it and running over to where they were. WIth a practiced motion he flicked the blood off his blade though he made no move to sheath the sword.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"It was a distraction!" Ty Lee said defensively.

"Distraction's right," he looked at Azula quickly and then at her, "we've got to get her out of here before they realize who she is."

"I think she's about to pass out," Ty Lee said trying to shift Azula's weight higher.

"She is right here," Azula rasped harshly, having no patience for people who spoke about her like she was not there. Her gold eyes raised to see Sokka before they narrowed in disgust, "you," she grimaced in disgust at the sight of him.

Sokka looked down at the figure of the woman he had once held such fear an hatred towards. Now she just seemed like a pitiful creature. He looked at Ty Lee and frowned seeing for the first time the black eye that was forming. He looked at the woman who could barely stand and realized that despite the fact that movement was hard she had still summoned the courage to sock the woman who had betrayed her. He looked at the courtyard, aware the fighting was starting to die down. They had to get out of there fast if they were going to be able to get Azula out without alerting everyone.

"Ty Lee, you're gonna have to cover us," he said.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked.

"Just cover us," he said taking Azula's weight against his chest. Ty Lee nodded as he shifted and heaved Azula onto his back, his arms locking around her waist, "hold onto my shoulders," he called over his shoulders to the Princess.

He took off running, sword in one hand, Azula on his back and wondering how the hell his life had suddenly gotten so incredibly strange. Her arms were around his neck but not in a way that she could strangle him. Though she tried to sit somewhat upright it was impossible and her head was against his shoulder.

"I cannot believe that you're the one rescuing me," she said, even as a rasp her voice held such disdain for him that Sokka actually felt himself almost smiling at the familiarity.

"Princess, I can't believe it either."

Azula's here! Yay!!

Just to clear it up she's been drugged but they obviously helped her get through withdrawal. That was the reasons she was catatonic. It wasn't because of her breakdown. People have breakdowns and they do recover--but anyway. Rest assured I am going to do my best to make her the complicated, ass kicking Princess we all secretly wanted to win that Agni Ka and not butcher her character.

Let me know what you all think! I've got a lot of stories going on now and I update the ones that get reviews because it lets me know people are reading and enjoying the story. So, uh, yeah. Give me motivation and click the button!