The Followers
After the episode 'The Chase' from season 2. Azula is away talking with the tank train driver, while Mai and Ty-Lee are out recovering from their battle with Katara and Sokka.
"That sucked." Mai said without emotion to Ty Lee.
They had come so close to capturing and defeating those water tribe siblings, until that fur ball came and blasted them down the river. And even with the occasional naps while their tank train was chasing the Avatar and his friends, Mai was still tired. But it was all over for the time being.
It was mid-day, the day after their targets escaped. Their armored locomotive was parked near a river. Green trees and bushes surrounded the area. Azula had been off communicating and planning with the drivers leaving Mai and Ty Lee to lounge around and wait for Azula's next orders. Mai was sitting on some flat rocks with her hands propping her head up, while Ty Lee was hanging from a tree branch using her legs not far off.
"It wasn't too bad, Mai," Ty Lee responded "I mean, yeah the river wasn't too good for my hair but it could have been a lot worse! At least that earth bender wasn't there." Mai didn't respond. Ty Lee's words didn't seem to help her so she front flipped off the tree branch and came and sat next to her childhood friend.
The two girls in the forest were quiet for a bit until Mai broke the silence, "They're starting to learn our fighting styles, pretty soon they'll know what we're going to do before we even do them." She sighed.
"I know what you're saying, that water bender girl was dodging all of my jabs." She paused and thought for a second, "Her brother is super cute though! But we have Azula, she's so smart and powerful. We'll be just fine." Ty Lee gave a big smile which had no effect on her friend.
Mai looked over at her friend, "What do you think of all this?" she asked Ty Lee. She gave a quizzical look back at Mai and responded. "All of this as in what we're doing? I think it's great! We're all back together again just like old times helping our friend. We get to go to cool places and all of those fire nation soldiers treat us like royalty!"
"Yeah that's true," Mai responded "and it keeps me from being bored." She added.
Ty Lee had gotten up from sitting on the rocks and was walking around on her hands easily entertaining herself. Her eyes widened after a while of this. "Oh I heard Azula say she ran into Zuko while we were split up! The two of them fought each other and the Avatar! From what she said things got pretty crazy." At the mention of Zuko Mai suddenly perked up and eagerly waited for Ty Lee to ramble on. "They were in this abandoned town and they had this huge battle with everyone."
"Well what happened?" asked Mai.
"From what she told me it was really wild. Things were going good for Azula but then all of the Avatar's friends showed up. Even Zuko and his uncle teamed up against her. They were starting to push her back and she got cornered. Azula's so smart though and she found a way out." Ty Lee smiled and plopped down from her handstand and landed gracefully on her back and began looking at the clouds.
"How'd she end up escaping?" Mai was intrigued, not everyone could survive and attack from all for elements at once, let alone escape.
"She said something along the lines of 'took care of that traitor'. I dunno. She didn't really go into detail about it though. Just that she had to get out of there."
Mai thought about all the details about what Ty Lee had told her. She imagined all that had happened in her head. What does took care of that traitor mean? There were only two 'traitors' in the whole conflict; Zuko and Iroh. She thought of either of those two being attacked by Azula. She reasoned that Iroh must have been hit with Azula's bending somehow. She felt sick inside. She started to remember her experiences with Azula's uncle when she was younger. He had always been kind and wise to her. How could you kill your own uncle? She thought. From what she knew about him, he wasn't at all a bad guy. She looked down at the ground.
"I think that traitor Azula was referring to was her uncle." Mai concluded to Ty Lee. She furrowed her eyebrows. "No, Azula wouldn't do that." Ty Lee protested.
"Who else would it be? Zuko? That would be even worse! I'm starting to think Azula is… different since the last time we saw her. She more mature and powerful, of course, but there's something else and I can't put my finger on it." Mai was reasoning to herself along with Ty Lee as she was talking. Ty Lee soaked up Mai's words and started contemplating their meaning. She looked a bit troubled.
"But Azula's going be Azula, Mai," Ty Lee stated " She's always been fierce, that's why she's gotten so far."
"Who's gotten so far?" Azula asked as she approached them from the parked tank train.
Ty Lee was completely thrown off guard and thought desperately and frantically for an alibi. "Oh, uh, that one girl that we went to school with when we were younger. Super long black hair, some freckles. I heard she landed the perfect job as a teacher or something."
"Oh yes. I never could stand that one." Azula said while inspecting her fingernails. She looked at her friends. "Well, I hope you ladies don't mind some action, we're heading off to Ba Sing Se."
"Finally." Mai responded as the three started walking back to their metal tank train.
Thanks for reading! Tell me what you guys think! There's more on the way soon :)