The Legend of Percy: Book 1 - Finding Purpose

4. The Trail of the Avatar (Trying to Figure out Boys)

Azula hadn't let any of them back into the carriage. Ty Lee could tell Mai wanted to go back in, but she didn't know why. Only that it was important to her.

Three days, it had been three days since they had last stopped. Azula was colder than usual, making all the soldiers work through the night in longer shifts, having more people always outside the prison cell. None of them were allowed anywhere near Percy though. Three days since Mai had gone into the carriage behind them. The nonstop progress had meant that they'd successfully circumnavigated the swamp and were most of the way to Gaoling.

Ty Lee couldn't deny she was extremely curious as to what Percy could've said, but that wasn't anywhere near enough of a motivation to ask Azula.

Charging through Chin Village, they were following multiple witness accounts of the sky bison and were closing in. Mai was on the verge of being visibly frustrated with Azula, and that was so very unlike her. Ty Lee knew something was bound to snap soon, but she didn't know what was going to push it to happen.

Ty Lee also had her reasons to want to speak to Percy. She felt like he at least pretended to listen to her, a luxury she was not afforded by anyone else. He also seemed genuine. A value that, in her world, was a very rare commodity. Something she wished she could get more of.

That was what truly attracted her to him. It wasn't his façade, his looks, or his impressive build. It was the undeniable warmth and comfort that his presence seemed to bring, even in that cold dark cell. Suffice it to say, Ty Lee also wanted in on the interrogation of Percy.

They began slowing just outside of Gaoling. They needed to get some idea of where the avatar's group was travelling to. Azula had told them that the three of them would be staying by the carriage while she sent some of the guards out to 'scout' the town for information. Ty Lee definitely knew what that implied.

This was her chance though, she needed to get some time with Percy and as they were on the outskirts of the Earth kingdom town, waiting for a lead, she figured this was her best opportunity. They had set up a camp, not knowing whether they'd get the information before nightfall.

Ty Lee saw Azula meditating, practicing some katas for her fire and lightning bending. Mai was in her tent, this was the best chance she was going to get.

Ty Lee used her opportunity to dash towards the prison/holding cell. Lightly flipping over and behind the guards at the door and landing without a sound, she crept into the dark, shadowed room. Thinking she was unnoticed, she leant back against the wall, sliding down to the floor.

The two near-beacons of inhuman sea green light shone from the back of the cell appearing to tinge the room its colour. They slowly closed, returning the room to its previous shadowed state from the fading sun. Ty Lee had only ever seen something similar from Azula and it wasn't anywhere near what Percy had.

"I know what it's like to be forgotten." The soft, calm voice of Percy came out of the darkness. His eyes still closed.

Ty Lee's heart froze. She just blinked, staring into the increasingly black space in front of her. She couldn't breathe. How does he know? What is he going to do? What will he make me do?

"Ty Lee, I know what it's like to live a life without recognition, and I know what it looks like in other people. I've seen it all too often." Those beacons that had begun to feel like x-rays to her inner most thoughts made her shiver, terrified, under his gaze. His now open eyes stared at her, directly into her own, despite her belief that she was completely out of sight.

She went to speak but found no words could be formed.

"Was it parents?" His voice taking on a startlingly empathetic quality. She didn't know if it was that empathy, or the fact that her silence had basically proven him correct in his assumption, but she figured it couldn't get much worse than it already.