"Hey, everything ok?"
Ty Lee turned to give Suki a short nod. "Yeah." Guilt stabbed in her belly as Suki's expression took on the dark yellows of concern. Had her response been incorrect? Or was it just that there weren't any good ones?
She wasn't sure anymore.
Suki had replaced her anger with genuine concern after leaving the tent that night. She gave away Azula's 'emotional weakness' to her worried brother and the officers but said nothing about Ty Lee's near-mistake. After that - and Azula reassuring the soldiers that she was fine - they got some sleep.
Despite the mood, all four girls shared the same tent, because that was their sleeping arrangement up until now. An invisible barrier, almost tangible with awkwardness, kept Ty Lee from rolling too close to Azula, who she was sure remained awake throughout most of the night. Suki and Mai too, probably.
Were they worried for Azula, or her?
The next morning, Ty Lee had the rare experience of being fussed over by her friends for once.
"So, are you really feeling better now?" Azula asked, the softness of her tone completely at odds with her usual demeanor. There was some anger, but it was mild, almost the exasperated sort of orange.
Ty Lee managed to nod at that. "Yeah. Sorry again for-"
"Hush. I was being stubbornly irrational, you were strained to your limits handling me."
How was Azula being so calm about this? Despite the underlayer of steel in her voice, the wry smirk she gave was even genuine in its speckling of good-natured humor.
"I suppose it's better than having Suki walk in on you slapping some sense into me."
That got Suki to chuckle, though it dripped with an awkward purple.
"It'd be harder to explain to your 11th why your cheeks have handprints on them," the Kyoshi Warrior conceded, the delivery nowhere close to Azula's dryness.
Mai raised an eyebrow, clearly still having been left in the dark about that…incident. Ty Lee fought the urge to shrink away from her friend's gaze.
"Do I want to know?"
Azula waved her off. "It's a non-issue."
"You're not…mad?"
Azula placed a comforting hand on Ty Lee's shoulder, exerting soothing blues and calming amber. She was trying to be…compassionate?
No, Azula didn't really do compassionate, not consciously. Understanding? Rational?
Ty Lee didn't know anymore.
"I'm not, anymore. The point being, neither of us were acting like ourselves yesterday. I got stressed, and it stressed you out as well."
The older Azula would've made a sharp, snarky comment to get Ty Lee back on her feet. Maybe throw in a few threats to go with the insults. This Azula was using a far gentler touch, relatively speaking. Ty Lee was too impressed to feel any pang of shame at being so patronized.
"What's important is that it didn't get that far. And it'll never go that far again." There was a light squeeze on her shoulder, and Ty Lee nodded. Nothing threatening, just a friendly, reaffirming gesture.
"I understand," Ty Lee said with a grave nod.
Azula smiled, barely forced. "You're a good friend, Ty Lee. The closest friend I have. I know you were trying to cheer me up, that's why you were almost being ridiculous. We can…talk about this later, once things settle down, alright?"
Ty Lee found herself smiling, and judging from how warm her friend's aura became, it must've been a good, bright one.
"Ridiculous is putting it mildly," Suki added with mild heat in her words. Where Azula was using a softer touch, Suki on the other hand played the role of disapproving older sister very well, mostly frowning and occasionally scowling at Ty Lee with just the right amount of disappointment. "If your idea of calming someone is-"
"Ty Lee didn't mean to," Azula repeated lightly.
"Yeah, but she still almost did…"
Mai's eyebrows quirked up again, radiating some shades of curiosity.
Ty Lee endured the alternating between reassurance and chastisement up until breakfast, taking in the words but spending most of the time looking inwards.
Why did she try what she did? Looking back, it was an utterly ridiculous thing to do. Azula's aura had been pink enough, she should've pulled back and let the confusion do its job.
But she didn't. Because she'd wanted the ugly despair to be banished immediately. Thinking more on it, Ty Lee realized she was…annoyed that her friend was floundering in that rut for that long, and that her usual array of cheeriness and soothing words were ineffective.
She was annoyed that she wasn't able to turn the deep, inky dread into the colors she wanted, the colors she usually got out of her friends. So much so that she barrelled straight down the path that worked.
It surprised Ty Lee to find how selfish her intentions had been. She was not doing it because of Azula, because of her friend, but because of her own need to feel… To feel what?
Capable? Useful?
That question nagged Ty Lee for the rest of the day, and the days after that.
*****
The 11th managed to come across and shepherd four refugee trains leaving the colonies in just a week of ranging with no further incident. Kai was honestly relieved that no further trouble was encountered during the whole thing, even if some of the others - the lieutenants that were recruited from ostracized families in particular - were keen to prove their worth.
Going back to Ba Sing Se was something that was a bit overdue, in the major's opinion. Even with the Fire Nation armies needing time to deploy, the city state was too vast, and required time for its defenses to be prepared.
Heh. Fire Nation armies.
What did that make the Xing and the 11th? What did that make the princess?
Were they still Fire Nation, or something else? Kai didn't like the term 'rebels' much.
Eh, he'll leave it for the kids to decide. They're the brilliant young leaders after all, they'll think of something.
Speaking of which, Kai also noted a peculiarity in the princess. The brittle confidence that she forced upon herself was still there, but the major noticed moments of awkwardness in her, especially as she hung about with her friends.
And come to think of it, the girl Ty Lee also seemed skittish… Before, she was bouncing with annoyingly bubbly energy, but recently there's a nervousness in her.
Suki, the Kyoshi Warrior, also became more…stern. Her change was the most noticeable, probably because she was the least trained in obfuscating like Fire Nation nobility. She seemed to hover between Princess Azula and Ty Lee.
If Kai had to guess, the girls got into a fight of sorts. The light kind, the kind that needed reassuring and some time to clear their heads. Ping had her suspicions, but the captain didn't elaborate any further. It was annoying, but it was a good enough sign for Kai. That meant it wasn't anything too serious that'd jeopardize Xing or the 11th.
He'd probably have to figure out a way to (literally) tease out the details from Ren once they got back, because the two captains were bound to share shit like this between themselves.
On another cheerier note, Zuko was doing rather well leading. Nothing official, but Mozi had assigned a few troops to guard the kids, and the prince had taken up the role as their leader with almost natural ease. Royal lessons and military training molded him into something quite respectable indeed, enough for the rank and file to largely forget his childish tantrum that one time.
A bit weird that he took up his old bodyguard role instead of trying to take up a more prominent role like Azula, but hey, the civvies wouldn't notice the difference with how two exiled royals presented themselves almost side by side.
In the meantime, all Kai could do was keep watch and settle into his promotion. Being second-in-command was interesting, but it was more tedious than Mozi made it out to be. It amounted to what felt like chores to keep the regiment running, constantly ticking off lists in Kai's head to ensure that nothing was left out and the wheels of the 11th ran smoothly.
He now also had to serve as Mozi's sounding board in just about everything. And Mozi was far from the mischievous Xing of the past who grinned as he kept his inside jokes or proposed ridiculous ideas. The man was usually utterly straightlaced, unless he was being swamped by Earth Kingdom women anyways. Sure he gave faint smiles and smirks when Kai tried cracking jokes, but unless the matter was really important or someone stepped on the wrong toes (Xing, the princess and the regiment being three of them), the colonel was content to be as minimalistic with his emotions as possible.
Those qualities made for a solid and reliable friend off duty, but boy did that also make Mozi a boring superior to work with.
Or was Kai just spoiled being a captain dealing with Xing's madness all this while?
They encountered their final group of refugees on the way back to Ba Sing Se. Interestingly, they were all mounted on either ostrich horses, komodo rhinos, and the wagons that the beasts pulled. And animals and wagons alike bore the ubiquitous green emblem of the Cabbage Trading Company. In fact, its owner, the man Kai knew as Je-Choi the humble cabbage merchant, was taking up the rear on his own ostrich horse.
The refugees cheered at the sight of Princess Azula, while many of the 11th broke into grins at the sight of an old friend.
"Hail, Princess Azula!" The cabbage merchant was about to lead the crowd in kneeling as old courtesies demanded, but the princess waved it off.
"No, we can skip the formalities. The day is still young, and all of you, all of us, need to get to safety." Princess Azula then fixed her attention on the Je-Choi. "I see that my investment in you has paid off."
The food magnate bowed deeply. "I have prospered much thanks to your highness' rule and gift, it would be most rude to not repay some of the debt when I am able to. Once I received the news, I sent orders to my branches and warehouses throughout the colonies; the provisions owned by my company will either find its way to Ba Sing Se, or it will be destroyed to deny the invaders."
Kai and the other officers nodded at the man's wholehearted show of support. Je-Choi showed no hesitation at all in declaring his loyalty to Azula, even though he was technically Earth Kingdom. Denying provisions to the enemy, calling them invaders to boot… Kai doubted that most Fire Nation traders right now would have any qualms serving both sides if they could.
Even the princess was mightily impressed by his dedication. "Once we make it past this ugly chapter, I'll make sure Xing finds something for you in Ba Sing Se, if you're interested in it. A position, or exclusive trading rights, at the very least."
"Your highness is, as usual, most gracious."
By allocating the bountiful transports for the old, the young, and the infirm, the massive group made faster time towards safety. Spirits were high among soldiers and refugees alike. Kai got to sample the cabbage merchant's latest iteration of pickled cabbages, spiced and boiled into a damned hearty soup with komodo rhino tail and various forms of sweet nuts. The juicy, taste-loaded crunchiness of the vege as he bit into it was almost sublime.
The princess and her friends might not understand the sheer brilliance of the cabbage merchant, but for Kai and his colleagues - even Mozi - after spending years mostly living off foraged and donated foodstuff, the 11th acquired a more refined palate for the simple and ubiquitous cabbage, especially with how it easily ascended beyond just a crunchy green when cooked with the right ingredients.
Kai-lan could only be cooked in limited ways, and kept poorly. Plus, Earth Kingdom kai-lan was thinner, with annoyingly chewy leaves and left a bitter aftertaste unless boiled to a mush.
Even Zuko's short stint as a soldier had him quickly appreciate the virtues of the humble cabbage after self-sufficiency training. Though Kai supposed that his more princely palate probably suffered more than the average trooper when he had to settle for boiled roots and bark…
They savored the fantastical new dishes from Je-Choi right up until Ba Sing Se's walls came into view. Already with just a week's time, some obvious changes had been enacted to the looming walls. The breaches Xing made to the wall remained, and though they were undergoing changes and looked more like the main gates they would eventually become. Jagged triangular pieces of wall now jutted out, looming over the openings like fangs of a maw that were waiting to be dropped onto the entrances.
Up on the walls itself, Kai had to squint to make out the dots that he later realized were Fire Nation-styled trebuchets, and as they got closer to the city, slits now lined the wall like pores somewhere about halfway up. Once they reached the breach-turned-gates itself, Kai had to let out an impressive whistle as he saw earthbenders slowly scooping out trenches and molding spiky barriers. A stream of common laborers carted in sheets of metal for purposes that escaped Kai at the moment.
Xing was taking the security of the city seriously. Even if any force somehow took the walls, The three breaches were the only way to secure a supply line into the city without wasting precious time. According to Yama, even earthbenders would need time in lowering sections of the wall, time that had to be spent fully concentrating on earthbending and could be easily interrupted by simple things like arrows and fire bolts.
So the holes in the walls were now points of utmost importance in accessing Ba Sing Se, and rather than block them up, Xing was making them unignorable points to be fought over.
Pity the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom fools that were forced to play with whatever toys he had cooked up.
Ba Sing Se's collaborating soldiers welcomed them in, their once green and yellow uniforms now brightened up with red pauldrons and helmets. With the threat of an approaching invasion, the formerly defanged soldiers were fully kitted out again, some sporting mail undershirts that gave additional protection to their usually exposed armpits.
Work didn't stop when Princess Azula arrived at the entrance, though many paused just for a moment to catch a glimpse of her. Zuko took the lead with a couple of squads from 1st Battalion, forming themselves around her and her friends as a security detail. This time, orders were to not hold back in case of any surprise attacks.
A welcoming party of administrators came out to greet them, kneeling . "Princess, welcome back to Ba Sing Se. We are all glad for your safe return. Prince Xing is busy with several matters at the moment, but he promises to meet you at the palace gates."
Kai wasn't the only officer frowning when he caught the flicker of a wince from not just the princess, but her friends as well.
Was it something that happened during her escape from the royal palace? Did someone actually dare?
Mozi sent a subtle glance at Ping, who gave the barest of nods in acknowledgement. They needed more information. If someone had hurt the 11th's royal patron or her friends, heads will be slowly grilled before they roll.