A/N: Whoa. So much to do and so little time to do it in – I feel very much like the proverbial white rabbit. I'd apologize for making you wait but, honestly, this is STILL at the bottom of the food chain. If this is a problem, guess y'all just have to find a way to deal.

Disclaimer: Well of course I don't own these characters or their universe. I just plays with them to suit my fancy, and respect all property rights held by others, being a good law-abiding citizen and all…

Chapter 10

Stretching her neck, chin tilted back, Ty Lee gracefully brushed the ball of one foot across the crown of her head. The other foot pointed skywards as she gripped the top rail of the command deck balcony with one hand, the other correcting her balance off the connecting wall. The pull in her arm muscles sent a pleasant tension all along her body, answered by a similar pull throughout the extended leg. Straightening the other leg, she allowed herself to bounce gently on the supporting arm, measuring her strength by her ease at keeping the rhythm slow, deep, and steady.

The distance down to the main deck added a nice thrill to the exercise, since a fall from this height would occasion severe injury if not death. A nice thrill, indeed.

Ty Lee wondered briefly if her penchant for seducing inappropriate young men might have its roots just as much in a fascination for thrill-seeking as it did in the pleasures of conquest and the flesh. Briefly, because Ty Lee saw little value in self-analysis.

Especially when there were other things to think about. Such as, where the hell was Sokka now?

After dinner she had thought she would have plenty of time to renew the exchange that had given her such delight, as much for his unexpected aggression as for the more predictable aesthetic satisfaction. However, the Tribesman was not in his cell, and the posted guard was equally absent. After an admittedly perfunctory search for the latter Ty Lee had assumed that Princess Azula had decided yet again to confront her prisoner. It was a conclusion that left her distinctly uncomfortable, but she was at a loss to imagine any alternative solution.

Adjourning to the galley, Ty Lee had proceeded to eat her way through a large bowl of dried apricots being reconstituted in a concoction of fermented apples, sea-salt and cane sugar, the errant kitchen-boy extolling the virtues of said mélange, drizzeling it with cream and cinnamon. Entranced by her evident enjoyment, he offered to coat sliced bananas (imported just that evening at great effort in anticipation of the princess's noted impatience with an unvaried diet) in a simple syrup flavored with almond liquor…

Ty Lee appreciated the kitchen-boy's creativity and daring. His willingness to flout not only the chef's ire but Azula's fury, all for the sake of a smile from Ty Lee, was wholly charming. Such devotion was rare and, really, warranted at least some form of reward. Ty Lee resolved to consider the problem as she licked her fingers clean after consuming one banana slice. Honestly, Azula had something of a treasure in this boy. SOMEbody should take notice…

As he entered the galley, heading towards the hutch manned by a rotating cavalcade of minions minding an ever-present stew, to be poured over rice, either freshly steamed or warmed for hours (and thus inevitably scorched), but always available at any soldier's request, Ty Lee recognized, by his stance alone, one of the four soldiers detailed specifically to the Water Tribesman prisoner. It did not occur to her to wonder how she recognized a man without seeing his face; anyone who thought about it knew that facial characteristics were a tiny part of human recognition. After all, a girl who could see individual auras hardly had need to consider mere facial features.

He prayed to remain nameless. He cursed the instinct that had urged him to recognize the sense of brotherhood when the prisoner had survived his encounter with the fire-bitch to give him a truly hot – and therefore pleasurable- bath.

Worse, he cursed the day he'd seen the Lady Mai bury not one, not two, but three kinds of knives in four disparately placed models in the training room. His horrendous imagination had immediately considered how gifted she might be at placing other forms of stimuli… And his combination of professional experience and a woeful lack of other, civilian experience, had convinced him that such a woman's control of possible gratification or pain was, potentially, infinite. For some wholly inchoate reason, he had found the idea of a woman who could accomplish such diffusion of deadly weapons infinitely enticing. In short, he was enthralled by the Lady Mai.

Being a reasonably intelligent young man, he found said enthrallment a definite reason to curse fate. And being a young man, when it did occur to him to attempt to avoid or ignore the young woman who exercised such control he promptly dismissed the idea.

Likewise, it simply was not in him to be aware of the Lady Ty Lee's approach without a certain thrill of excitement even as he recognized a sense of trepidation.

She prided herself on her self-reliance. The Princess Azula needed no one and nothing. Ever, for anything. After all, the Wall of Flame demanded at least that much. Azula was eminently worthy of the Wall of Flame.

Notwithstanding all that, where the hell was a minion when you wanted one?

Of course, Ty Lee had scampered off to indulge herself with the prisoner. No doubt Mai was down in the hold, honing her assassin skills. Both were efforts Azula was prepared to condone.

And yes, dinner had formally ended; she had no real call for attendants. But, still, they should know to ask to be excused, damn it, and not just assume such would be the case. Someone had presumed on her indulgence. Therefore, someone would be made to pay, and Azula didn't much care just who.

As she allowed her mind to consider possible candidates, she paused a moment to regret her brother's continued absence from her reach. When she was younger he had always proved such a satisfying target for her ire. Her one regret on his banishment had been his removal as the obvious object of her more malevolent stratagems. Which led her thoughts naturally to Zuko's own obsession, the search for the Avatar. It struck her as ironic that the obsession should transfer to her, and for once in her life she found herself wishing she had someone with whom to share such observations.

Still, such a desire was contrary to her ideal of herself.

One of the crones to whom her fire-bending training had been entrusted appeared in the doorway, her sister apparent as a shadow behind her. Azula's lips twitched. Generally speaking, these hags had more autonomy than anyone on the ship besides herself; she had found their wisdom extended far beyond mere fire-bending techniques, and she had granted them great latitude to encourage them to share it. Still, their temerity in exercising such autonomy could be grating, and when she had discovered what had prompted them to disturb her on this particular occasion Azula resolved that she would remind them who it was that actually was in command here.

She need look no further to vent her spleen.

Mai closed the door upon her cabin carefully, lowering the bar across it before turning to strip now sweat-dampened robes from her body. It had been an interesting if somewhat frustrating hour and a half. Her only real regret, however, was in the realization that it was highly unlikely that there would be many opportunities to repeat it.

In unspoken agreement she had first corrected his hold on the throwing star, surprised at first at his apparent lack of any preferred handedness. Almost instantly his proficiency improved, such that she was once again wondering if his earlier near miss with the star had been a deliberate ploy on his part. But the dogged energy with which he insisted on pursuing the exercise, switching from one hand to the other, convinced her otherwise.

When she had turned to the boomerang he acceded to her wishes willingly enough, and the assurance with which his long fingers closed upon the weapon reaffirmed her earlier assessment of his newness to her own knives.

First he had demonstrated a slow, short throw where the boomerang circled their half of the room lazily, pulling it out of the air again almost nonchalantly. When she took her turn it flew wildly into the side wall, causing the watching fire-bender to crouch into a ready stance and the Tribesman to chortle. Hurdling the barrier, he had retrieved the weapon and, stepping behind her, had taken her right hand in his, extending the other hand, still holding the boomerang, around her.

When she flinched he had looked at her askance, a scornful smirk marring his countenance.

"You wanted to learn, didn't you?"

Steeling herself to his touch, she allowed him to place her hand properly, turning her wrist and arm as he first mimicked a throw, then again a few times, and finally releasing the weapon to sail directly into one of the targets across the room, all the while keeping his own hand covering hers.

The boomerang had not returned, clattering to the decking, but Mai had known that it was within that movement that the road to mastery lay. It had felt right.

Sokka had then stepped back away from her, crossing his arms again and fixing her with a dark stare.

"More will cost you. Seriously."

He had simply watched as she spent the remaining time trying to repeat the throw over and over again. Before she'd finished she thought she'd nearly achieved that rightness of form, and been rewarded with a throw whose trajectory had been nearly level, with the boomerang spinning evenly. It wasn't at all the deceptively slow dance that had so entranced her, but it was still encouraging.

She hadn't been able to resist glancing at him over her shoulder. He'd shrugged his own, the smirk still anchoring his lips.

Whereupon Mai had summoned the guard, ordering him to return Sokka to his cell.

Although she'd stayed yet another half hour, Mai had not managed to repeat that semi-success. It seemed she would need more tutelage.

He had been more clever than she had thought possible; cutting off the lesson exactly at the point wherein she would realize that only extreme luck would permit her to stumble upon the trick of it through simple experimentation.

As she bathed in the privacy of her cabin afterwards, Mai allowed herself to smile begrudgingly.

The Water Tribes may be primitive and degenerate (a part of her brain wondered aimlessly just how it was possible to be both, acknowledging yet again the self-serving tendencies of Fire Nation education), but it would be foolish indeed to assume they were without intelligence or… adaptability.

She found herself almost hoping that Azula had in fact overestimated herself for once.

Sokka settled himself lazily on the bench in his cell, letting his gaze rest upon the flickering flame of the lamp near the door.

It had been so tempting to simply run the sharpened inner edge of the boomerang across the Fire Nation girl's throat while he stood behind her, her attention distracted as he took her hand. But they had both known he stood no chance of leveraging such an act against the fire-bending guard to make good on an escape. Hadn't he brought up the point himself in accepting the terms of her proposition?

Since he'd known it would do him no good ultimately, it had been easy to cast temptation aside. That and the simple fact that he wasn't really so practiced in violence as to contemplate spilling blood from that white throat with any degree of composure. Especially given her willingness to trust him. But yes, there was no denying the temptation had been there.

Why had she trusted him, anyway?

He had thought it was simply one warrior's recognition of the codes that governed another's, but as he sat there he realized that this didn't make any sense. After all, in warfare there was no quarter given, and none expected.

So, damn it! What was it? Try as he might he could think of no other reason than that she had understood that to do what she wanted he would have to trust her. And there was simply no way that could happen without her first demonstrating a willingness to trust him. Just as she had risked revealing her possession of his boomerang to him.

Well, in that how much had she risked, actually? Like he would give her away to Azula?

So. It seemed he had built some fragile alliance with one of the Fire Nation trio. How fragile it was had been in evidence when the guard was summoned to take him away. She had held out her hand, palm up, without a word. Obligingly, he had deposited into it the remaining kunai and throwing star from his earlier practice throws.

"There is one star still missing."

"Perhaps you weren't paying enough attention to my throws."

A single corner of her mouth had turned up, and the thumb on her outstretched hand waggled suggestively. She said nothing more, but her eyes never left his.

With a sigh, Sokka had reached into his belt, retrieving the errant weapon.

"You would be one to count," he had hoped to disarm her with honest chagrin.

Her only answer had been the brief upward turn of the other corner of her mouth before she turned her back upon him.

At least she was no further forward in learning to throw his boomerang, he thought to himself. I still hold the upper hand there. And when she seeks me out again, I won't accept a mere chance to play with knives as payment!

That was just the teaser!

Ty Lee returned to her own cabin, her tongue flicking at the corner of her mouth in unconscious search of a hint of the sweetness from her earlier snack even as she contemplated the revelations of the off-duty guard. She now knew where her Sokka had been when she had gone looking for him after dinner, and while she took certain pleasure in knowing he was once again within easy reach this most recent development warranted thinking upon.

Well, actually, there were several developments to consider. The first, most obvious and potentially threatening to her own agenda was Mai's apparent interest in the Water Tribe prisoner. Now, here she had thought her friend could be counted upon to keep her nose out of all aspects regarding Sokka's imprisonment. After all, Mai never showed any interest in anything!

It was, of course, possible that Azula had asked Mai to attempt her own line of interrogation. After all, the princess had taken it upon herself to see him, and Azula was very difficult to predict. Of course, since Azula hadn't actually said anything to Ty Lee about such a tactic, it probably wouldn't do to question her on it. Even so, Ty Lee would need to keep a closer eye on her two friends. It might be a bit awkward should one or more of them turn up just when things were, say, getting interesting.

Ty Lee rather hoped her assessment of Mai's activities was accurate. It was bad enough that Azula had shown a very real interest in Sokka. It had something to do with power or domination – everything always did with Azula – and Ty Lee generally knew how to manage that. This interest could even work to her advantage in that it might well keep Sokka alive long enough for Ty Lee to enjoy some real contact with him.