Teo shoveled another load of coal into the furnace, causing the flames to roar and the engines to continue to turn. This was how he controlled fire. By feeding it and tending it and harnessing its energy to power the machine they all rode in. Since he was here, Azula had declined bringing any of the firebending engineers that usually worked the furnaces. Instead he traded off shifts with a musclebound man with thick arms and a vocabulary that could fit inside a fortune cookie.

He didn't mind though, even if he could drive the tank train, he didn't expect Lo and Li to do the hard labor. In went another load and a hand signal from his large companion made him set his shovel aside. "Have a good shift." Teo slowly made his way out of the engine room, using the wall to keep himself upright as he hobbled towards the room that was just outside of the engine room. He let himself fall down on the cot, closing his eyes as he let himself rest for a moment.

"Are you ignoring me now, Teo?"

Teo started, nearly rolling off the cot and onto the floor as Azula hovered over him. "P-princess Azula! What are you doing in here?"

"I'm bored. And you're filthy! What are you covered in?" she wiped her hands off on her pants.

It was then that Teo realized his current state. His shirt had long been discarded and he just wore his pants and braces. He hadn't even taken off his boots or goggles yet. He was sweaty and covered in soot. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, but didn't bother to cover up. It would be pointless now. "Coal is dusty. And I know what you're going to say. But one coal shoveler can keep up our pace faster than two firebenders. And the engine room would be bigger. And that would mean no heated bathing chamber."

"Is that so? Speaking of bathing," Azula smirked and lunged forward. She grabbed Teo by his belt and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of turnips. "You are getting clean. We've almost caught up with them. I need you to be presentable."

Teo laughed a little, "Yes Princess Azula," she was stronger than she looked. She carried him to the bathing chamber and dumped him on the side of the bathtub and started filling it with water from their storage tank.

Azula glanced over at him, watching the play of his muscles as he bent over to remove his boots. He didn't look like the soldiers she'd seen all her life. His body had been honed by work and lifestyle. He was lean and wiry, but his arms were strong from carrying his weight. She didn't avert her eyes when he turned and slipped into the bath, watching his thin legs sink into the water.

"Are you in pain again?" she asked, knowing that walking usually took its toll on him. She would never tell him, but she admired that he didn't let pain stop him from trying to rise above his fate in life. He constantly pushed himself to be more. It was what they had in common.

"Yes, but I'll be fine," he said, grabbing a washrag and scrubbing the dust from his face.

The Fire Princess stripped down to her undergarments and slipped into the warm water with him. She didn't care that he was naked. A quick flair of her powers and the water warmed some more.

Teo looked up at her, his face finally clean of soot. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you're ready when we find the Avatar. It wouldn't do if you slowed us down," it was a weak excuse, but Teo accepted it. She then picked up Teo's leg and set his foot in her lap. She looked down and concentrated, trying to copy Ty Lee's massage techniques. She was the Fire Princess. Such a trivial thing should be easy to master.

She bit her lip when she heard him stifle a sharp intake of breath. "Aza, stop..." the childhood nickname made her pause and look up at him. She expected fear, hurt and hate in his eyes, but was taken aback by the genuine warmth in the brown depths. He gently removed his legs from her lap and patted the bench beside him. "Come over here."

She didn't know why, but she did as he asked. He gently took one of her hands and pointed out the spot of his back that was bothering him. But with little prompting, she started attacking the knotted muscles, warming her hands as she did so. A victorious smirk played over her lips as he relaxed, grabbing the edge of the bath as he leaned forward.

"That's much better, thank you," he said quietly as she finished.

Again she didn't know why, but she pulled him close, putting her arms around him possessively. He didn't say anything, just leaned against her. "You're always so warm."

"Firebenders have a higher internal temperature."

"That makes sense. You create fire. The other benders use what's already there," he reasoned. He was always so logical. She liked that he didn't believe in spirits or auras or other foolish things.

"We are better, more refined than the others. Not many have the same drive that we do," she smiled, then ran her fingers through his hair.

He looked down and away, his cheeks turned red. "I should get some sleep before we catch up with them."

Azula was confused, unsure of why Teo was suddenly shy. She got out of the tub and grabbed one of the dry robes that hung on a shelf. She gathered her clothes and left him there. On the way back to her room, she ran into Li. "Teo needs his chair help getting out of the bath," she said, the statement came out harsher than she meant.

She was so confused with her own feelings. Teo belonged to her, of course she liked him. If she didn't like him, she would have been rid of him. But lately she found herself attracted to him in other ways. It was unacceptable. He was an Earth Kingdom peasant. More than that, he was a political prisoner, a slave to the royal family. He was a cripple. And all of those things meant that he was so far underneath her that he should be invisible.

So why did she want to keep him so close?

"Princess! The Avatar, we found them!"

She shook those thoughts out of her head and went to her room to change her clothes. She would take out all of her frustration on the Avatar and his little friends.