Chapter 39

"I don't think it's a good idea," Azula said as she poked at their dying fire.

"But why not?" Ty Lee asked, her body turned to look at her friend.

"Ty Lee, we're Fire Nation. It's too risky. Besides, we hardly know them."

"I have a good feeling about them," Ty Lee said earnestly, but she knew that wasn't enough. She had to play to Azula's practical side. "You said that we need some kind of plan, right? Well, this is it! Ba Sing Se and the circus."

"We can still go to Ba Sing Se, but I think it's better if we keep to ourselves."

"As long as we keep our identities secret, I just don't see the harm in going with Jet and his friends."

"I don't like the idea of having to pretend to be someone I'm not," Azula said with a scowl.

"If we're going to keep eluding the Fire Nation, we have to do that anyway," Ty Lee countered.

"That's true," Azula conceded with a frown.

"So it'll be good practice," the acrobat continued. "Plus, they know how to survive out here. We don't."

Azula had to admit Ty Lee had made some very good points. "Fine," she relented. "But from now on, you're Yinji and I'm Ruka. Don't forget it."

Ty Lee beamed at her ascent, and Azula couldn't hold back a small smile at having made her friend so happy.

It was early afternoon when Princess Mai's carriage arrived at the city gates of Omashu. The military escort that had joined her family's entourage that morning indicated that they were close. She was looking forward to a change of pace after all the dull travel.

From the reports she had read, Mai knew there was still unrest in the city—what remained of the earth city's army had formed a resistance. She imagined that some of General Kanzo's troops would likely remain well after her father's ascension to governor.

"Hopefully it will make things somewhat interesting," she thought as examined the edge of her knife's blade. It had been awhile since she'd been able to put her fighting skills to use.

About an hour after entering the city, the carriage came to a halt outside of what had once been King Bumi's palace. Moments later, a servant opened the door. "Princess Mai, we have arrived," he announced dutifully.

As she gracefully stepped out into the palace yard, she glanced back at the carriage that had been riding behind hers to see her parents and her baby brother, Tom-Tom. There were soldiers stationed around, and Mai could make out the sight of smoke in the distance—no doubt some parts of the city still burned.

The sound of a throat clearing behind her drew her attention away from the sight. Somewhat irritated, the tall girl let out a huff at her servant's lack of manners. "If you want my attention, you should learn how to address me properly," she said, turning to face the man, only to see her husband standing mere feet from her.

Zuko frowned at her words, and Mai mentally slapped herself. Normally, she always said the right thing—maintained perfect poise. That was not the proper way for her to greet the future Fire Lord, husband or not, even if it had been a mistake.

"I apologize," she recovered. "I didn't realize you would be here in Omashu. I'm glad to see you."

That seemed to placate him, and Zuko stepped forward and drew her into his arms. "In that case, I forgive you." His golden eyes softened a touch as he leaned down to kiss her lips. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," she replied, her lips hinting at a smile.

"Let's go inside," he whispered seductively, his warm breath washing over her neck. Mai shivered lightly in response—feeling a mixture of uneasiness and excitement—and she could have sworn she felt his smirk against her ear before taking her by the arm.

"Well, I wanted things to be more interesting, didn't I?" Mai thought to herself as Zuko led her inside the palace.

"So how long have you been here in Omashu?" Mai asked her husband who lay beside her on the bed, her fingers tracing absent patterns against his bare torso.

"Liu Xing and I arrived two days ago," Zuko replied, his eyes closed, contently taking in his wife's affections.

Mai raised her eyebrows slightly, wondering why Zuko's childhood friend was with him. And for that matter, why she hadn't seen him. "Where is Liu Xing anyway?"

"Where do you think he is?" Zuko asked with a roll of his eyes.

Mai chuckled. "I guess some things haven't changed."

Silence fell for a moment before she spoke again. "So are you going to tell me why you're here?" she asked. She knew Zuko well enough that this wasn't just a social visit. Everything the royal family did had purpose.

"I thought it would be best to just meet you here instead of sending for you. That way we wouldn't waste any time."

Mai looked at Zuko curiously, wondering just what it was that Zuko expected her to do. "Waste any time to do what?"

"I'm hunting the Avatar," Zuko said, turning to look in her eyes—his gaze burning into her own.

Mai's hand stilled, her eyes widening ever so slightly. "What about Azula?"

"What about her?" Zuko asked indignantly.

"Isn't she trying to capture the Avatar as well?"

"It wouldn't matter if she did," he replied with a scowl.

"What are you saying?" She drew her hand away and sat up on the bed, trying her best to keep her growing unease from showing. Zuko followed suit, but his body was now filled with obvious anger and tension—the pleasant mood from earlier completely evaporated.

"There is nothing Azula can do to regain her honor," he growled, his eyes narrowed. "She's a traitor."

Mai was honestly alarmed now. "What are you talking about? Azula would never betray our country. She loves the Fire Nation."

"Stop questioning me!"

Mai's eyes narrowed into slits, but she did as he said and shut her mouth.

There was tense silence for a moment. Mai pointedly avoided looking at her husband as she began to get dressed.

Finally, after his anger subsided a bit, Zuko spoke. "This isn't how I wanted things to start off," he said petulantly, causing Mai to finally look at him again. He looked very young for a moment, Mai thought—more like the sixteen-year-old boy he actually was.

"Zuko, just tell me what happened with Azula. Then I promise I won't bring it up again." She knew that he hated the fact that she still cared about Azula at all. It had been the one of the only contentious aspects of their relationship, but it wasn't something that came up very often since Azula's banishment. "Out of sight, out of conversation, but never out of mind."

"Fine," he grumbled. "She attacked me at the North Pole while I was taking the Avatar into custody. As a result, he got away. She was arrested for treason and thrown into my ship's brig. Ty Lee helped her escape when we stopped at Wendu harbor. They're both wanted—dead or alive."

His golden eyes held a mix of danger—warning her not to say anything in their defense—and insecurity—hoping that no part of her secretly sided with them. Mai did her best to keep her face stoic, but inside she was burning up. These were her best friends.

It just didn't make sense. She couldn't see Azula betraying the Fire Nation, ever. She knew that Zuko had wanted her all to himself, but would he go so far as to lie about this?

No, she decided. He was telling her the truth.

She imagined Azula must have been desperate, and she knew Ty Lee was fiercely loyal to the princess. Did they deserve to die for that? Mai realized with no small amount of anger that it didn't matter if she thought they did or not. The only one who could decide that was Fire Lord Ozai, and she knew that he would never budge. Therefore, neither would Zuko. Mai knew that his reasons for wanting his own sister gone were completely tied up in their father—wanting to maintain Ozai's favor.

It was cowardly of him. Then again, she knew she wasn't much better. She went along with everything he did, all for the sake of politics. Well, that wasn't entirely true. For some reason, she actually did care for Zuko. She just wished he wasn't so cruel.

"I sometimes hate that I love him."

She could only hope that her friends would continue to evade the Fire Nation, even if they were traitors.

It had been a long day, but Azula knew they had made good time despite going on foot for all of it. At first she had considered selling their stolen ostrich horse since they all couldn't ride on it, but Smellerbee pointed out that it would be useful for carrying their supplies. So while they traveled at a slower pace, it wasn't as grueling. Jet figured they would be in Ba Sing Se in a few weeks.

Azula hoped they would be able to keep up their ruse until then. Fortunately, Jet and Smellerbee had been content to do most of the talking so far—Longshot never spoke at all, yet his friends had no trouble knowing what he was thinking—but Azula knew it was only a matter of time before she and Ty Lee would have to start sharing something that wasn't superficial about themselves. She wasn't too worried about it, knowing that if they just kept their answers to a minimum, they wouldn't have to outright lie to them too much. And if Longshot was any indication, Jet and Smellerbee didn't seem like the type to pry if it was unwanted.

In any event, she was glad they had stopped for the day. While she was in excellent shape, she wasn't used to walking quite so much. After setting up camp, dinner was brought out quickly—they ate the rest of the turkey duck Longshot had caught for their lunch earlier that day. Their meal was finished in companionable silence.

"I'm really glad you guys decided to travel with us," Jet said after they finished eating, flashing a flirtatious smile at Ty Lee, which the girl easily returned. It wasn't the first time they had shared a look like that today, and Azula found that it bothered her.

"We're really glad too," Ty Lee replied, smiling as Jet moved to sit beside the acrobat at the fire.

"You said you were going to show us some more of your moves tonight," he murmured, leaning closer to her.

"Ugh, disgusting!" Azula thought, not missing Jet's double meaning. Smellerbee and Longshot didn't seem the least bit phased, and Ty Lee clearly loved the attention.

The acrobat giggled. "We'll see."

"I'm going to brush down the ostrich horse," Azula said suddenly, abruptly standing up and walking to the outskirts of their campsite, where they had their animal tethered to a tree.

Ty Lee frowned, watching her as she went. She noticed a subtle change in Azula's aura. She was hoping that traveling with the freedom fighters would start to lift the girl's spirits a bit, but the muddy green in her aura indicated that something was up—something different from what normally plagued her friend.

"I'll be right back," Ty Lee said to her new companions, never taking her eyes off Azula as she got up to follow the firebender.

The three freedom fighters watched her go with genuine concern. "What do you think that was about?" Smellerbee asked.

Longshot stared at them like the answer should have been obvious. Jet's eyes widened in surprise at the realization. "No way."

"Is everything okay?" Ty Lee asked quietly once she reached Azula.

"Everything's fine," she replied coolly, keeping her focus on the task of brushing the ostrich horse.

"I can tell that something's bothering you."

"Something's always bothering me."

Ty Lee sighed. "This is different. I've never seen your aura this color before."

Azula rolled her eyes. "You know I don't believe in auras."

"Fine," she replied, still determined. "I've never seen you act like this before. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Azula growled, losing some of her control. She didn't feel like explaining it to Ty Lee because she didn't even understand why she was feeling this way.

She knew she was being irrational, so there was no reason to talk about it.

Ty Lee continued to look at her expectantly.

"There's nothing to talk about. Just go back and show off to Jet."

Gray eyes widened a bit as she realized what was going with the girl. "Is that what this is about? Azula, are you jealous?"

"No," she lied, still keeping her eyes trained on her animal's fur coat as she continued to run the brush through it.

"Azula, look at me." Ty Lee grabbed Azula's arms, forcing the girl to pause in her task, and turned the firebender's body to face hers. Their eyes locked, and the acrobat tightened her grip, trying to convey the seriousness of what she was about to say. "You know that you always come first, right? You're my best friend. No one will ever come between us."

It was exactly what Azula needed to hear. She still didn't know who she was jealous of or why, but knowing that nothing would come between the two of them helped to put her at ease. When everything else seemed so unstable, Ty Lee was her one constant.

The acrobat wrapped her arms around Azula in a brief hug before pulling back and smiling. "So are you ready to come back and sit with us?"

Azula offered her a small smile of her own and nodded.

Ty Lee beamed at the girl before they turned to head back to where the others were still sitting around the campfire.

As they approached, Jet got up to stand. "Hey, Ruka, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, gesturing with his head toward the edge of the clearing.

"I suppose," Azula replied, following him.

"Listen, I'm sorry about before," he said once they were out of earshot from the rest of the group. "I didn't mean to butt in on your territory."

Azula slightly furrowed her brow in confusion, but before she could ask him what he was talking about, he continued on.

"I don't want to come between you and Yinji. If we're going to stick together out here, we need to be able to trust each other. I want you to know that you can trust me, Ruka."

Azula swallowed, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with this conversation. For starters, she didn't know how to deal with the fact that someone she hardly knew was attempting to have a heart-to-heart with her. And while she was relieved that Jet was going to back off Ty Lee, she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about what she thought he was implying.

Then there was the whole trust issue that Jet spoke of. Azula felt that she was a trustworthy person, but she was lying about her own identity. It was all very confusing, and left her feeling more than a little guilty.

"Thank you," she replied a bit uneasily.

He smiled crookedly at her. "You're not much for talking, are you? That's okay. I'm used to it with Longshot. But you can talk to us, if you want to."

And there was her out. "I appreciate it, but like you said, I'm not much for talking."

"Alright then," he replied with a chuckle. "So we're good?"

Azula nodded.

"Good." Satisfied, Jet turned to rejoin their group. Azula stared at his back for a moment before shaking her head and walking behind him.

She had a lot to think about.