Aang and Katara - A Wedding Tale

Chapter 23: Azula Alone Part 5

Authors Note
This is the penultimate Azula Alone and don't worry it's not as long.

Ty Lee's Point of View
It took half day of traveling by train and another half a day on a sand-surfer to get to Bèi Kùn. According to our maps this was the town Azula was most likely to visit next.

The journey over was pretty uneventful, me and Mai must have looped through every conversational topic imaginable twice before settling to an easy silence. Or as easy silence you can get with a metaphorical giant platypus-bare sitting just behind you, breathing down your neck and filling any gaps in conversation with it's shear size.

It was a long day of traveling, but it was important we got there as quick as we could. We were traveling based on an educated guess - as a human being blessed with free will and on the run from the law, we could never pinpoint her exact location. We just hoped we were lucky.

I hopped off the sand surfer, whist Mai paid for our ride (muttering under her breath about the 5 copper peace overcharge for 'insulting the honour of the helmsman').
"Well at least we're here." I added with a smile.
"I guess so, but it doesn't mean I have to take a petty comment on the chin." She half smirked. Good old Mai. I was glad she was here. It was as if we were getting the group back together again - all we needed was Azula.

Taking off behind us, the sand surfer sprayed us with gritty, coarse sand. "Son of a-" the sound of a waling peacock-cat cut Mai off whilst I struggled not to laugh. I piled in with excuses for the sand (didn't help) then we shook ourselves off and headed out. It was a reasonably cute little village, lots of vibrant market stalls, a pack of 8 year olds swarmed a toy stall, a group of mothers sat opposite drinking tea and gossiping.

We wandered through the village keeping an eye out for Azula. It took about 10 minutes. The village was so little and clean - it was impossible for us to have missed her.
"Well that was fast." Mai stated.
"You know what they say teamwork makes the dream-work." I added as enthusiastically as I could.

I knew this would never be easy but this village was our best hope. We'd spent the last 4 days agonising over old maps, trying to figure out where she went or could be.

I know it's foolish to be so down after the first attempt but I guess I just expected to I don't know, walk in find her and go back home? It's silly but I don't know why I thought it would be that easy. Maybe I just hoped it would be.

And now we were no closer than we were a few days ago and it would be even harder to receive information form all the town councils.

I was the one who pushed for the mission. If we'd had more time maybe we would have got it right.

I turned to take one last look at the final house: a small cream house with teal window shutters just on the fringes of town, inside two men were holding each other swaying to the music. I must have been staring a little to long as Mai gave my shoulder a small squeeze.
"Hey it would be a proper mission without a hiccup or two. This was just our first try out of spirits knows how many. But we will find her and sort this mess out." Mai began in her usual monotonous voice, but as she finished she turned to smile at me. "Its going to be okay."

Spirits now Mai's the upbeat one. What's wrong with me? I'm supposed the positive one. I'm supposed to be the ray of sunchine that cheers everyone up. I need to get my act together and stop being so negative. It won't help me and it won't help Azula.

"Yeah," I sighed, then added more confidently, "yeah. We're finding her and fixing everything." I tore my gaze away from the little house and we began making our way to the village center.

We decided the best course of action would be to talk to the village elders get the lay of the land, ask the locals if they've seen anything, and do another lap before moving onto the next village.