A/N: Next chapter! Moving into the ones that will start getting a bit longer, it's time for the plot.
Chapter 6: First Strike
Mai held her breath as she slipped silently around the edge of a decorative statue.
Firebenders probably thought they were the only ones who made use of careful breathing control in their art. However, mastering breathing was the first step to mastering stealth, as was repeatedly drilled into them at the Academy by the masters. All things breathed, and so remaining vigilant to its subtle murmur might serve as a warning to hidden enemies, and mean the difference in an ambush between life and death. By the same token, to not breathe was to make oneself nonexistent, invisible.
Mai had always had a talent for staying invisible. Where Ty Lee couldn't stand to not be the center of attention for more than five minutes, Mai didn't mind fading to the background. It was easier that way, less effort.
However, what she was doing now felt a little less low effort than she would have liked. But Zuko was on edge—he seemed to have developed a kind of superstition about nights of the full moon, and ever since they had come back from their self-foiled mission to stop Azula, on those nights he had been ordering a doubling of the guard, warning everyone keep more alert than usual.
Since Mai had started staying more often at the palace, she had taken to prowling the corridors at night. If Azula was to strike again, she imagined it would be at night, as it had during the Kemurikage attack, when Azula could hide in the darkness. And given Zuko's restlessness, Mai was sure to be extra vigilant on nights of the full moon. Even if she didn't know why, or what she should be looking for.
So far it was looking to be a quiet night, even though Zuko had seemed, when he had left the war room, more tense than ever. Perhaps with the Avatar and his friends staying here, guests under his protection, Zuko felt even more the weight of responsibility as Fire Lord. Or maybe it had something to do with the Water Tribe girl.
As Mai carefully slid her head out from behind the statue, she frowned, the hint of an aggravated sigh escaping her.
Just as she slipped out from behind the statue, intent on moving down to the next, a sudden faint rustle a little distance behind her made her freeze in place. She cursed herself for her carelessness, and she spun, knives shooting into each hand. One two-pronged, the other three-pronged—the two-pronged was faster, three-pronged more deadly, and the two in rapid succession were a dangerous combination.
A sudden blur of green launched itself over her head, landing just beside the statue behind her, and Mai spun. She raised the two pronged knife first—
"Mai?"
Mai stopped—then lowered her knives.
Ty Lee stood in her usual full Kyoshi uniform, heavy green material and armor, golden fans in her waistband. At the moment she didn't have them out, instead her hands outstretched, fingers rigidly extended, in a pose that Mai knew to be far more dangerous than any weapon.
Ty Lee's eyes were round as her arms dropped to her sides. "Mai," she repeated, voice having dropped to a reprimanding whisper. "What are you doing, skulking around? I almost chi-blocked you!"
Mai knew ways to get around the palace so well that none of the usual night guards ever knew she was there, and she often used it to test out all the weaknesses in their defenses. She had always managed to avoid Ty Lee and the other Kyoshi Warriors.
"Same as you," Mai muttered, straightening and deftly slipping the knives back in her sleeves. "Looking out for assassins."
"While looking like an assassin yourself!" Ty Lee accused, hands on hips.
One change that had come over Ty Lee since betraying Azula that Mai would have just assumed done without was her new willingness to chastise Mai over this or that. She delighted in now having a conscience she could display openly, and while on the scale of intimidating her angriest scowl wouldn't win any contests with even a distant frown from Mai's mother, it was still annoying.
However, Mai didn't want to get into an argument, and she only said, "Zuko's worried tonight. Have you seen anything suspicious?"
Ty Lee sighed, the momentary frustration already forgotten. "No," she said. "But Zuko has Suki and the rest of us running double-shifts. This makeup is going to be stuck to my face forever, if I don't sweat it all off first."
There was no good response to that, but Mai was glad the Kyoshi Warriors were on high alert. "Tell me if you see anything." She started to turn away.
"Um, Mai?" Ty Lee began.
Mai held back a moment.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "I mean..."
Mai turned back to look at her over her shoulder. Somehow, she knew precisely what Ty Lee was driving at. "Fine," she said shortly. "Zuko's the Fire Lord. If he has a mission, he decides who to take."
"Right," Ty Lee said cautiously. "But, well… I would have thought…" She shrugged, fingering her braid with discomfort.
Zuko was going after Azula again. Only this time he planned to take his other friends of Team Avatar, and focus on capturing her. He had already spoken to Mai about it, asked if she would remain behind, along with Suki and Ty Lee and the Kyoshi Warriors, to watch over his mother and the rest of her family. Ensure their safety.
Though Zuko had been perfectly tactful about it—since becoming Fire Lord, Zuko had seemingly leveled up quite a bit on tact—Mai couldn't help but see it for what it was. He wasn't going to take her along this time, because he wasn't going to be trying to kill Azula. As though she couldn't be trusted to respect his wishes if he brought her, too. And—maybe he was right. Maybe if the chance arose, she would still try to end this perpetual war with Azula, however Zuko might feel about it.
Mai was startled when she felt a gloved hand on her arm, and found Ty Lee leaning down slightly, peering up into her face.
Mai sighed and glanced away. Ty Lee and her auras.
"You can ask him," Ty Lee said. "To take you too."
Mai glared at the far wall, crossing her arms. She didn't bother to reply.
Ty Lee frowned. "You know you're just being stubborn." However, after a moment her gaze fell, eyes slipping down one of the side corridors. She added softly, "But, maybe you're better than me. When Zuko told the Warriors he wanted us to stay here, I was—glad. Even now, after I've faced her, every time I think about facing Azula again, it's always like that first time. It doesn't get easier." She gave an uneasy laugh, rubbing the back of her neck with a gloved hand. "I guess I'm just a coward."
Mai was slightly incredulous, as she didn't think she knew very many people less cowardly than Ty Lee. But morale boosts had never been her specialty.
"Ugh," she muttered, putting a hand to her head. "Don't be stupid. Just—let's focus on keeping Zuko alive another night."
Ty Lee nodded, and turned, starting to head down another corridor.
Labored breathing and the stamp of racing feet from a side corridor made Mai stiffen, and she whirled, immediately on alert again, knives out. A soldier appeared on the edge of the corridor, white with terror, sweat beading on his face. He caught sight of Mai and Ty Lee, and staggered forward.
"My lady," he gasped at Mai, then looked to Ty Lee. "Assassins," he whispered. "And—the strangest powers—"
Mai stared at him, before her eyes shifted to the direction he had come. She took off at a run, not worrying about the flap of her clothes around her, or the scuff of her shoes on the floor. With a flick of her wrists, she stowed the knives back, and replaced them with a series of poison darts. More immediately incapacitating. Armor and weaponry clinked at her side as Ty Lee wordlessly took up beside her, keeping up easily even in her heavy clothes.
Mai didn't think. Didn't give herself time to worry. Just ran.
They rounded a corner just in time to see a pair of dark figures hurtle past the hall on the far end. Mai hurled herself forward—if the dark shapes kept going the same way, they could end up at the Fire Lord's room. She couldn't let them make it.
Another turn ahead, and Mai took it going at full speed. She saw the two figures up ahead, closer than before. Both were dressed entirely in black, with hoods that came up over their heads. Mai swung an arm, and hurled two darts with deadly precision.
The first caught one of the assailants on the shoulder, and they staggered. The second figure had turned a head just in time, and ducked, leaving the dart to whistle harmlessly by overhead.
Both figures spun to face her. The one struck in the shoulder reached up to wrench the dart free—but the toxin was already taking effect, and the figure shook their head once, then wobbled with vertigo.
Mai squinted, trying to get a look at their faces beneath the hoods. But they were also wearing a dark cloth over their noses and mouths. She could only make out their eyes, and it was too dark to determine their color. The one who had dodged glared back at her.
"Give up!" Mai called. "Your friend isn't going to stay standing much longer. Then you'll be outnumbered. And the guards are on their way. Surrender."
"Never," hissed the second figure in a rasp, in a voice Mai realized sounded female.
"Have it your way." Mai slipped a double bladed knife from her sleeve into her hand. Its flashing red would distract from the spring-loaded dart she would shoot from her wrist, and hopefully end the fight in an instant.
Ty Lee stood beside her, on the balls of her feet, ready to leap into action the instant the enemy was distracted.
Mai drew back her arm—
And it froze.
Mai stared down. She was pushing forward, to hurl the knife forward, and angle her wrist to release the dart, but her arm was halted in place, immovable. Then, against her will, her entire body twisted sideways on its own, the toes of her shoes dragging against the floor. To face, not the assassins, but Ty Lee.
Twitching, jerking, her hand with the knife rose into the air—aimed at Ty Lee's throat.
"Ty—" Mai managed through her teeth. "Move—"
Ty Lee was staring back at her, eyes wide, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she too swiveled to face Mai, with that same eerie jerkiness. "I—can't."
Mai had long known the taste of fear. As a child, after meeting Azula she had spent much of her time torn between dreading the bits of nastiness Azula could inflict on her if she failed to do what Azula wanted, and being caught by her mother breaking the rules, losing the tentative peace she had made for herself through the years of being quiet and tractable. However, it was only at the Boiling Rock prison she knew true fear, fear that cut all the way down to the heart. About to lose the one person who had seen her—not the way Azula or her mother saw her, something to be controlled, someone who she wanted to see her.
This was a different kind of fear. Mai had always had a choice back then, even if it often didn't feel like it, and she had finally taken that choice at the Boiling Rock. This was truly what it was like to be without control. Without power. What Azula might have liked to do with her and Ty Lee back then, if only she'd been able.
Mai gritted her teeth, trying to think. Was this the work of spirits, as Zuko had feared? But why would spirits interfere in human affairs—why would they reach across to this world now, to aid those trying to destroy a Fire Lord who was working so hard to restore balance?
Mai fought, with all her might, to wrench back control of her arm. It shifted an inch backward before pulling forward again. Only this time as her arm moved, Mai picked up an odd sound—like something inside sloshing.
Before them, the figure Mai had hit was on their knees, and nearby stood the other—the female—both hands raised in what looked like an unusual bending pose. Could it possibly be, that she—
The assailant twisted her fingers, and Mai's arm surged forward, blade out. Plunging straight for Ty Lee's neck.
...O
Katara kept on Suki's heels as they raced down the hall. The soldier had gone on, continuing to raise the alarm.
Between breaths, Katara managed to ask, "Where... are we going?"
"The Fire Lord's rooms," Suki answered grimly, as she took a hard left around a corner, going at full tilt, Katara barely able to follow. "Zuko's room. That's where any assassins will be going. There are guards posted there, but—"
Suki's eyes widened, and Katara turned her gaze to stare ahead down the corridor—and whatever hope she might have held out, that these were just normal assassins, that they weren't exactly what she had feared all along, was extinguished.
Mai stood facing Ty Lee, knife raised strangely in one hand, hovering before her. Mai's face, normally bland and detached, was white with horror, as the knife drove forward.
And, just beyond them, were two figures in black, one collapsed on the ground, the other standing with hands raised, fingers splayed in a pose all too familiar.
Katara had not brought her bending pouch, and even if she had, she was too far away to have done anything with it. And so, on instinct, she raised both hands, and with all her might drove them forward.
The figure jerked, and their upper body pitched backward, as though shoved hard in the chest. They hurtled through the air, before their back struck the floor.
The instant Mai's hand was free, she diverted the blade, and it sliced the air inches from Ty Lee's exposed throat. Ty Lee spun on the attackers, launching forward in a flash of green.
However, the figure Katara had hit was already sitting up and, palm raised, Ty Lee once again halted in mid-motion.
"What—" Suki started to gasp, slowing in confusion as she placed her hand on the hilt of her blade to draw it.
However, Katara kept going, hurling herself forward past her. Again she shoved both hands forward, and the figure's body jerked backward roughly in answer, hand movements disrupted.
Katara didn't have time to think about what she was doing. Instead, she shouted in desperation, "Stop! You don't want to do this!"
The figure was sprawled on their back—the dark hood had fallen back slightly, material over mouth fallen to chin. As Katara stared into the eyes, she realized suddenly it was a girl, perhaps even younger than she was. The girl's eyes were sky blue in the darkness—only now narrowed at Katara, sparking with pure hatred.
The girl raised herself to her elbows, hand clutching her stomach where she had been struck from within. "Traitor," she hissed through her teeth.
Katara felt a breath of air rush by her, and it took her a moment to see Mai, red knife flashing. Her eyes were cold and hard with deadly intent.
"Wait—" Katara began. "Don't—" In desperation, her hand instinctively shot out again—and Mai's hand holding the knives halted.
Mai's eyes widened, and she shot a look at Katara over her shoulder. Their gazes met, and Katara knew that she knew. She knew.
Before Katara could think—could decide what to say or do—her shoulders were abruptly jerked back. Her eyes shot back to the girl, but the girl's single raised hand was aimed at Ty Lee.
Two more figures in black had appeared at the other end of the corridor, and now they raced forward. The girl hissed in a rasp, "It's the waterbender—hold her!"
One of Katara's wrists was seized, jerkily drawing down to pin itself to her side, soon followed by the other. Two against one. The girl was also climbing to her feet, both hands in front of her, holding Ty Lee and Mai in place, and the other two figures stood with their palms raised, aimed at Katara, their shoulders set in concentration. A moment later another figure appeared, racing up to the fallen of their number. This one was bigger than the others, wider in the chest, and he hoisted the limp form of his comrade up over his shoulders.
"Go!" hissed the girl, and the new arrival immediately spun and ran with their incapacitated companion, back along the corridor, taking a left and disappearing from view.
"Don't—" Katara managed to gasp through the pain as her own blood betrayed her. "Don't do this—"
Katara locked eyes with the girl, who gazed at her with undisguised loathing. She tried to think—tried to figure out what she could say to reach her.
"There—was a girl, wasn't there—a nonbending girl who brought you together. She's—not who you think—"
"Shut up and die, Fire Nation hound," hissed the girl.
"Katara!" Suki shouted. Her racing feet tamped rapidly against the ground as she rushed forward to help, followed by a metallic shhink. A sword being drawn.
"No—!" Mai hissed in warning, eyes widening, but it was too late.
Suki gasped, and the thumping of her boots on the hall floor turned to one sustained sound, toes skittering over the ground. Katara couldn't turn her head, held in place by the two working in tandem against her, and she thought the girl might have been adding some strength to the control too. But still she knew—that Suki's blade was aimed straight for her back.
Katara ground out desperately, "That girl—is—"
It was all about to end. The bright future she had imagined with Aang, at last free of the war—would never come to pass. And, in some sense, she had brought it on herself.
For an instant, she imagined Azula, sitting somewhere far away, laughing to herself. These people here were not Katara's enemies. They were Water Tribe, like her. Simply lost in pain and anger, perhaps over those they had lost to the Fire Nation. And Azula was using their pain.
A sudden, blinding wave of fury tore through her, dispelling the fear and guilt, and as the power under the moon surged in her veins, Katara broke free with a shout.
The two holding her fell backward, repelled.
The girl's eyes widened in shock, before she shifted her attention from the others to Katara, fingers raised and bent. But though Katara felt the tug inside her, this time she pushed back against it, and drew both hands together, forcing the girl's arms to her sides, holding them there. The girl's eyes darted down, then all about, full of fury and fear.
"Listen to me!" Katara shouted. "The girl who brought you together—she's not your friend. Because she's Princess Azula of the Fire Nation!"
The girl's gaze, still darting about, froze, then came to settle on Katara's face. Her eyes were briefly wide, before they narrowed to slits. "Lying traitor," she hissed. And, tearing one arm free of Katara's grip, she shoved back.
Katara staggered back a step at the sudden pressure against her chest. Behind the girl, the two others were climbing to their feet.
Katara straightened again, both arms raised, fingers splayed. "Face it," she said, in a voice of forced calm. "Even the three of you together won't be able to hold me—not and keep my friends back, too. You've lost. Please, just come quietly. We won't hurt you."
"Nukka," one of the figures said tentatively, a boy's voice, looking at the girl.
The girl—Nukka—stared at Katara with cold fury. Then, with a snarl she broke her other arm free of Katara's grip, and spun away.
"Retreat!" she spat, and as one the other two spun with her, tearing away back down the corridor, twisting around the corner.
Katara watched them for an instant, frozen. They weren't fighting, for which she was glad. But if they all got away, they would lose their only lead to Azula. Azula had to be found. She had to be stopped.
Katara charged after them. "Wait—"
Katara took the corner going at full speed, and was startled to see silver moonlight at the far end. The three dark figures cast long shadows along the remaining corridor, before they passed outside.
Katara emerged into the moonlight, staring out ahead of her. They must have pulled water from somewhere, because up ahead they were racing across the rocky, uneven landscape surrounding the palace on narrow waves of water. Guards were shouting—fiery arrows rained down from above, but the intruders were moving too fast, and Katara could only watch as they whipped down through a guard entrance at the base of the wall, the girl shoving guards aside as they went with bent fingers.
Katara was already running—as she did, she stretched out a hand, and water in the air began to collect in droplets in front of her. She pulled it along with her, until water enough to form a thin sheet the size of a blanket had gathered, trailing along behind her like a cape. It would have to do.
Katara spread her hands ahead of her, dropping the water to the ground in front of her feet like a carpet. Two thin veils of water the size of handkerchiefs attached themselves to her feet, freezing to the soles and forming slick layers of ice. Without breaking stride, she rotated her arms, and the carpet raced forward with her, with each touch of her running feet the portion of the carpet freezing beneath them, ice on ice, reducing friction to almost nothing, until she almost glided over the ground.
Sweat beaded on her brow—with more water to use, the technique would have been easy, but as it was she had to time each movement of her foot against the shifting water over the rocky ground to exact precision, or she would find herself jaw-first in the ground.
Katara saw the guard entrance ahead—one guard lay limp where he had apparently been knocked out, another was climbing back to his feet, and turned to see her dark form hurtling upon him.
"Halt—" he started to say, fists raised in a firebending form.
Katara had no time to explain and, holding up a guilty palm, drew him up from the ground, and shifted him aside. She barely had time to watch his eyes widen in shock and fear before she was shooting through the guard entrance.
Here the way was no longer straight, and Katara raised her hands to draw the ice from the bottoms of her feet, pulling the carpet up from the ground, once again letting it trail in the air behind her. Her momentum sent her stumbling, but not for long, as she raced through a metal door, then another, both left open. Any guards who hadn't been downed by the assailants must have left to give chase, because there were none to meet her on the other side, and in a moment Katara was hurtling across the enormous open courtyard, once again iced soles sliding along the shifting ice slide beneath.
Katara spotted them racing ahead on another water wave, the two assailants that had held her before facing ahead, the girl between them, her head swiveling back and forth behind them. They were moving fast and had a significant headstart—but they were weaving back and forth, trying to avoid the fireballs that struck the ground near them, and Katara was moving faster than they were. If she could only keep them in sight, she might be able to catch them.
Katara watched as they passed by a guardhouse, just on the border of the broad empty courtyard to the royal facilities and residences beyond, and she put on an extra burst of speed. If they were allowed to reach the maze of estates and houses beyond, they'd never be found.
A blaze of heat to her left forced Katara to divert sideways, and a fireball exploded the ground of the courtyard just where she had been racing a moment before. Katara's eyes flicked back toward the nearest guardhouse—of course, she was indistinguishable from the assailants in the dark.
When Katara looked back, she found the assailants vanished, and her stomach plunged. However, she wasn't ready to give up, and she sped up again, and in a moment she was beyond the border.
A low wall loomed up ahead, where she had last seen them, and without slowing she used her momentum to arc herself up into the air. She landed hard at the top, ankles trembling beneath her, before she forced herself feet, surveying what lay below.
It was what appeared to be a royal garden. Complete with lush exotic Fire Nation greenery, flowers of all kinds, and a crimson-roofed gazebo standing at its center, overlooking a pond.
Katara spotted the assailants there in the moonlight—the girl, along with her two companions, racing across the landscape. Further beyond them she saw the bigger one who had been carrying the one who had fallen. Another appeared from the shadow of the far wall, stepping forward, this one tall and thin like a willow. Six. There were six of them—
Katara watched as the final figure raised their hands into the air, and the water from the pond responded, rising, shooting toward the base of the far wall, before forming a layer of ice at the top like a platform.
Katara reached forward, stretching her fingers toward the wave of water on which the girl and the other two rode, and while it was too far away to control with any precision, it bucked slightly beneath them, throwing them off balance. The girl's eyes spun back briefly again, before they rose, to where Katara stood on the wall. The girl gestured sharply to the others, and as one they all abandoned the wave, taking off on foot, racing for their other companion and the platform of ice.
Katara threw herself from the wall, landing on a slide of ice. Up ahead, the enemy carrying his unconscious companion reached the platform first, hurling the limp form on top of it as the platform, water churning beneath it, began to rise. The girl, who ran faster than the others, reached the platform next, leaping up over the edge, followed soon by one of her other companions. Only one had fallen slightly behind, the one shorter than the other, maybe the hesitant boy who had spoken earlier, Katara thought.
The platform was rising toward the top of the wall, the tall one swirling his arms as it reached chest height.
Katara's heart pounded. If they all got away, they would also lose any hope of finding Azula. They—just needed one—
He was far beyond where the water wave had collapsed to the ground in a surge, and so in desperation Katara planted her feet, stretching out her arms toward the one that had fallen behind.
The boy froze. For a moment his feet scrambled against the ground, but Katara held fast. Slowly, she drew her hands backward. His back arched toward her.
The girl, who had been kneeling on the platform as it rose higher into the sky on its column of water, turned her head. Her eyes fell first on the boy, then went to Katara.
Her eyes once again blazed with hate, before she spun and leaped from the platform. Racing forward, she threw both hands out before her, palms forward, as though in a tackle. Katara gasped in pain, staggering back a step, losing her grip. The boy collapsed to his knees, before he was up and running again, feet slipping on grass as he neared the churning water of the platform, now halfway up the wall.
The girl stood between Katara and the platform, hands raised. She reached behind her, and the boy began to rise into the air, tethered by invisible string. The others reached for him and caught him under the arms, hauling him up onto the platform. The girl took a step backward, eyes never leaving Katara, as one of the others raised a hand, and a whip of water shot out from the churning water and seized her like a rope, hurling her up into the air and depositing her on the ice.
Recovering, hand to chest, all Katara could do was watch as the water surged, arcing the platform up and over the low wall. Then they were gone.
Katara's heart pounded, sweat pouring down her face. She had to do something. She had to—find out—
Katara raced around the edge of what was left of the pond, and with both hands, reached blindly for the water she couldn't see beyond the wall. She jerked backward, as hard as she could. A moment later the water came rushing back over the wall, twisting like a serpent, the platform of ice with it. However, it was empty.
The water collapsed back in a surge, leaving marshy puddles scattered about the muddy ground. Some distance away, a few turtleducks lay on their sides, legs kicking feebly.
Katara stood there a moment, panting in the silver light, sweat dripping down her face. She breathed, then took a staggering step toward the wall, hands rising again. She might still be able to catch one of them. Maybe, if they were riding on a wave of water again, and left a trail behind—
Someone shouted her name from behind her, and Katara spun, arms rising instinctively for defense. Then she let her arms fall.
It was Suki, sitting on the back of a Fire Nation riding lizard. Its black scales and fearsome yellow eyes gleamed in the moonlight, as it swiveled its head to eye Katara. Ty Lee sat on the saddle behind her, rigid fingers extended, ready for a fight. A moment later, a second lizard appeared over the lip of the wall, Mai seated on its saddle.
Suki leaped down from the creature and approached, hands up in a calming gesture. "Katara—" she began. "I think we should let them go."
Katara froze, staring at her in disbelief. "Suki, did you see what they—we have to have a way to find—"
"Suki's right," Ty Lee said, somber for once, also jumping down to the garden grass, her battle pose slipping away to one of defeat. "Even if we all went after them right now, it's not like most of us can fight them. And you can't possibly fight that many alone."
Mai snapped her reins, drawing her lizard up closer. "Zuko is safe for now," she added, dull voice strangely calm.
Katara stared back at them. Suki, though she had come closer, was standing a pace back, hand still half raised. Her eyes were slightly wider than usual—unnerved. Katara glanced at Ty Lee again, and Ty Lee had her hands clasped together, so hard they shook ever so slightly. Mai's expression was harder to read, but she, too, seemed entirely focused on Katara, watching her closely.
By degrees, the adrenaline faded from her limbs as rational thought returned to her. They were right. And—now that she had time to think, it began to sink in.
She quickly turned away, arms coming up to wrap around herself. She knew she should say something. Explain. But her throat had closed, and she couldn't find words. They had seen her. They had seen what she could do.
"I should go find Zuko," Suki said at last. "Make sure he and his family are all right. Ty Lee, you go wake Aang and the others. Zuko will probably... want a meeting."
"Right," said Ty Lee, her usually bubbly voice strained.
Katara heard the scuff of feet in the grass, and the light clank of armor and weapons as Suki climbed back onto the lizard's saddle, soon followed by Ty Lee. Claws scraped the low wall as the creature swiftly carried them away.
At long last, Katara turned back around to find Mai still there, watching her. Still with that same unfathomable expression.
"You want a ride back?" Mai asked, face in its usual deadpan.
Katara looked away, toward the puddles of pond water, reflecting the silver moonlight like broken shards of glass. The struggling turtleducks had righted themselves, and were beginning to gather together. A bigger one than the others, the mother, seemed to look straight at Katara, as though with accusation. "I… think I'll stay here, for a bit," she said. "I just… need a minute."
"Fine," Mai said, indifferent. However, as she tugged on the reins to turn the creature around, she paused. "If they were assassins after Zuko," she said, "you saved his life. Thank you."
Then the creature was racing away, up over the wall and back toward the palace. Leaving Katara to stand in the moonlight, staring down at her hands, trying somehow to make sense of all the things those hands had done.
A/N: I'd normally avoid writing long chase scenes, but the original draft of this chapter had to change dramatically when I realized how far the palace garden actually is from the palace. (If only someone would give me the blueprints for the exact layout of the palace and caldera city, my life would be so much easier.) But at least it turned into the perfect excuse to include mongoose lizards. Everything is better with mongoose lizards.
Thanks for reading! If you have a moment, let me know what you thought, and I'll hope to see you all in the next one!
Posted 5/18/23