Chapter 12: Shadow of Intent

The first night Azula's retinue spent in Gaoling, Xisheng spent the first half of it all by his lonesome. That was because he was assigned to a particular task while the girls found a suitable place for them to stay, which was making sure that the Overlord was still secure and well-hidden. After all, it wouldn't do to have the local garrison wary of Fire Nation presence, even if the discovery of the Overlord certainly wouldn't have been very specific evidence of who was around.

Even so, Xisheng understood the Princess' precaution, and he had also expected it to be his job to do this. Thankfully it was relatively easy to leave Gaoling, and when Xisheng was done out here, it wouldn't be that much of a problem to get back in either. While there were many issues with the bureaucracy of the Earth Kingdom, they certainly loved their procedures, and they did them pretty well. The faux passport he had used to get into the city had been stamped by the gate guards, proving that he had already been legally accepted into the city and that he was simply a returning individual.

Of course, while this was effective in some ways, it wasn't like it was without its flaws, and it wasn't really all that difficult to bypass, as Azula and her crew had proven. But personally Xisheng thought it was something that could be incorporated into the Fire Nation in some form. His home country didn't keep especially good tabs on the identity of every citizen. Most people that could be recognized were done so through reputation or the fame of their family name.

This of course meant that there was no locking people out of any one city. Literally anyone could step into the capital without obstruction. It was just that they would face the full extent of the law if they stepped out of line, and the Fire Nation was quite unforgiving when it came to crime.

But the somewhat impressive security of the Earth Kingdom could definitely find some use in the Fire Nation, so long as it didn't devolve into the same system of elitist segregation that the Earth Kingdom used now. Maybe Gaoling wasn't quite as bad as Ba Sing Se, but the fact remained that passports into the wealthy city weren't cheap, creating a natural barrier for anyone that wasn't at least middle class. The poor members of the city had either cheated their way into its walls or simply lost all their wealth while within them.

To say the Fire Nation didn't have some of the same problems would have been a lie of course. While the Earth Kingdom gave more opportunity to those that had more wealth, the Fire Nation had always favored those born of respected families. So people that were just born into a renowned name tended to have more opportunity available to them than the common citizen.

But the difference was the barrier to success. Xisheng imagined that it was not impossible for someone to make a name for themselves in the Earth Kingdom's economy. Surely there had been some people that were cunning or determined enough to fight their way to the top and find success. But there was an active resistance to such things happening in the EK.

Naturally the already rich members of EK society wanted to keep their status, and make more money by monopolizing whatever it was they made all of their money from. So they often tried to prevent others from rising to success in their particular market.

While you may have had to work harder to gain prestige in the Fire Nation if you were born a nobody, at least the only obstacle to your advancement was your own limitations. The Fire Nation was a meritocracy at its core. Regardless of what family you were born into, how much money you started with, or if you were a bender or not, you could acquire respect and prestige as long as you earned it.

Of course, that didn't mean everything was perfect and fair. Benders may not have had a concrete advantage over their counterparts, but they were still generally held in higher regard. Non-benders naturally had more difficulty gaining glory on the field of battle, and of course there was no stopping people from looking down on you if you were poor or weak.

But that was just the human condition. No government could ever change the way people treated one another. All it could do was try to provide an equal opportunity for everyone to succeed, without a corrupt system that made the strong even stronger and left the weak in the dust.

As Xisheng made his way across the small field of plains that separated Gaoling's walls from the forest where the Overlord was hidden (in almost total darkness since he dared not bend in enemy territory), he couldn't help but find it amusing that the Fire Nation, while seemingly obsessed with strength, cared more for the weak than their global counterparts.

Not that it was particularly a matter of morals. Xisheng didn't know the origin of the Fire Nation's social doctrine, but he doubted that it was really a matter of 'doing the right thing.'

Being a small island nation for almost all of its existence, and considering the intense segregation forced on the world by the ideals of the Avatar for thousands of years, the Fire Nation had always had to rely on its own ability to thrive more than anything else. Sure, trade and cooperation wasn't unheard of in the past; it wasn't like the Avatar was against interaction between countries at all, but even so each of the four nations had been forced to rely on themselves more than their relations with one another.

Point being, the Fire Nation had always possessed a rather small population, and because it wasn't massive like the EK, social issues had a more significant impact on the country. If a fifth of the population was poor in the EK, it barely affected the upper echelon of society. If the same was true in the FN's much smaller population, a huge portion of their potential workforce and future generation was unable to live up to their full potential, which was critical for a small country determined to thrive and grow.

So the Fire Nation had put a lot of effort into making sure the largest possible number of its people could become successful. In that sense the reasons for their humanitarian advancements were actually selfish. But did it really matter? Whether their motivation for fighting poverty, starvation, and bias was moral or selfish, it still achieved the same thing. They were still advancing the living conditions of their people, and as they took over more EK territory, doing the same for those people as well.

By this time Xisheng reached the edge of the forest he was heading for, and he was finally comfortable lighting a very small flame in his hand. At this distance, anyone that spotted him from the city would not be able to differentiate the light from a torch, and if he somehow encountered anyone this far away from Gaoling, Xisheng was certain that he could kill them before they had a chance to expose him.

Besides, he had plenty of trees to cover him as he pondered the nature of the war, as he was often inclined to do in his alone time.

He understood that it was easy to be blinded by anger and hostility during times of conflict, but hadn't anyone asked why the Fire Nation had been so successful in this war so far? Was it not obvious that a massive nation like the Earth Kingdom should have crushed the early Fire Nation advance in no time, unless the country itself was so broken that it couldn't manage to do so?

After all, logically speaking there was no way the Fire Nation should have had the upper hand in a conflict like this. Sure, the FN had marginally superior technology, but most of that technology proved its might on the open ocean. Earthbenders still possessed the capability to destroy FN vehicles, so it wasn't like that was making a huge difference. And of course, the EK had numbers exponentially beyond that of the Fire Nation military. Even if they just conscripted a massive militia, sheer numbers would have likely overwhelmed the Fire Nation in no time at all.

So how was it that this tiny country was winning this war against one more than a dozen times its own size in both mass and numbers, and on almost unstoppable offense no less? Aside from a few stonewalled offensives on cities like Ba Sing Se and Omashu, the Fire Nation had practically steamrolled over EK territory with minimal resistance or casualties.

The math just didn't work, unless the Earth Kingdom was just well and truly a broken system that couldn't even defend itself against a numerically inferior force. And there were of course many reasons why this could be.

Perhaps it was the lack of unity. Omashu had existed almost independent of the EK after all. It had received no aid from any other allied city, and it had certainly not received support of any form from Ba Sing Se, even during the past offensives when the FN had not taken the city in a single day.

On the flip-side, if any one of the Fire Nation's cities was attacked, it would be reinforced from across the country to defend it. There was one army that defended the entire nation, deployed to protect their territory regardless of where it was.

Maybe it was the isolationist attitude of Ba Sing Se, which was of course the most powerful entity in the Earth Kingdom. Ba Sing Se had never made an offensive of its own. It had never sent troops to defend settlements beyond its own walls. It had only ever used its army to defend itself, and nothing more. With the city being comparable to an entire country in and of itself, Xisheng had no doubt that Ba Sing Se could have fielded an army equal or greater to the entire FN military if only it had wanted to.

Perhaps it was a combination of both those things. The disjointed nature of the nation, the uncaring military center of their might, the incompetence of their leadership, whatever it was, it should have been obvious to anyone that the Earth Kingdom was both corrupt and broken.

Did that justify the imperialistic conquest of another nation? Perhaps not, but right or wrong there was no denying that the people in that taken territory were having their ineffectual government replaced by one that actually worked. No one could deny that it was a good turn of events for them.

Ultimately, Xisheng found the Overlord exactly where they had parked it last, still hidden under all sorts of foliage and other forest type disguises. Even though it was deep within the forest and well-hidden, Xisheng decided there was no harm in putting it under a little more cover, just in case. Naturally, up close it looked quite unnatural and no one would have mistaken it for some natural part of the forest, but it would be easily overlooked if anyone was just walking by, if anyone had any reason to be out here in the first place.

Of course there was a subtle trail leading to the vehicle for the ones who had left it there in the first place, but the myriad array of easily missed notches carved into trees would be nothing but scratch marks to anyone but the Fire Nation natives that had left them. Truth be told Mai had to write down each turn for him before he left, but Xisheng knew he didn't have her apparently ridiculous memory, which even Azula had praised at the time of making the trail.

Either way, Xisheng finished his assigned task, and figured it was about time to head back to Gaoling. For a brief moment he wondered if maybe he should have booby trapped the immediate area just in case, but ultimately he decided against it. The garrison at Gaoling didn't even patrol their own city properly. The chances of a patrol coming this far out was almost infinitesimal.

The approach of cloud cover made the return to Gaoling a darker ordeal than the first time, and Xisheng figured that he should have brought a torch for both practicality and appearances. But at least it wasn't so dark that he couldn't see the walls of the city across the plains as moved towards it. Their chalky hue at least reflected moonlight well.

As he traipsed back to the city, it occurred to Xisheng that he had no idea where to go to reunite with his allies. When they had separated Azula had not settled on where they were going to spend the night yet, so it wasn't like he had been supplied with directions or the name of an inn.

Still, he figured that Azula had been well aware of that issue prior to telling him to check on the Overlord, so either one, she had a plan for solving it, or two, she would see it as amusing or a test of some sort. Either way, there was no way to be sure, so Xisheng figured he would just have to discover the truth of things when he got back.

That being the case, he eventually realized that he was getting close when he spotted the orange lanterns of the gate guards. Xisheng had of course heard of those green crystal lanterns that the Earth Kingdom was so famous for, but the truth was that those crystals only grew in Ba Sing Se, so they were pretty rare outside of that city. Sure, they were exported from time to time, and surely Gaoling could have afforded to procure a lot of them, but apparently they had no interest, at least not for the garrison's sake.

Xisheng showed his falsified papers to the guards when he arrived, and he was ushered in without any delay at all. Upon entering the city itself, Xisheng gave the immediate area a precursory glance, but he didn't spot anyone he could recognize, leading him to believe that Azula really was looking to get a kick out of him only making it back to them in the early hours of the morning.

He wondered if this was going to become a normal problem in his current group dynamic… truth be told he wasn't looking forward to such things. Was it a product of his station or was it the way she treated everyone? Azula did find a lot of amusement in getting the best of her actual friends, so maybe it was just her personality?

Before the undercover soldier could extrapolate on that line of thought, he felt something poke him gently in the lower spine. For a brief moment his entire body tensed against his will, but in the next every muscle went completely loose and relaxed beyond anything he had ever experienced. It was only a temporary physical respite, but there was no denying that it was an incredible sensation.

That said, he could only think of one person with enough knowledge on the human body to manipulate it so well, so he didn't even bother saying her name or anything.

"Is this the part where you say 'guess who?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you could tell it was me."

Turning to face her, Xisheng decided to question whatever it was that Ty Lee had done to him. "It was pretty obvious. What was that anyway? It felt amazing..."

Ty Lee smiled at him as she wiggled the index finger she had poked him with. "Sorry, it's a secret. My master would be very angry if I was passing his techniques out to anyone that asks. And besides, I had to work hard to earn it, so I'd feel kind of slighted if someone else got it real easy."

Not sure if she was joking or not, Xisheng cocked an eyebrow at her. "How hard exactly?"

"Oh, y'know, just climbing a rocky mountain barefoot, balancing on my pinky finger for a whole morning, breaking my fingers intentionally so they'd grow back stronger, stuff like that. Hard work, yep."

Now even more confused than before, Xisheng decided to question Mai or Azula about whether or not he should put any stock in this later. Though to be fair, he was certain Ty Lee had trained with someone to learn all of her great skills, and considering how rare and useful they were, surely they were dispensed by some master somewhere.

All in all though, he decided that his sanity and peace of mind was more important than asking about that. "So uh, you got elected to wait up for me huh?"

Ty Lee continued to smile. "Nope. I volunteered. Azula was bummed that it would make it easy for you, but I insisted. After all, we really need to talk."

With that she began walking away, obviously expecting Xisheng to follow her. He did so without hesitation, though he was intrigued by the direction this encounter was taking. "Just so you know, those are words that no man ever wants to hear from a woman, regardless of the scenario."

"Don't worry, I'm not mad about anything. This is important, but not because you did anything wrong. Actually, I guess maybe you did…"

She frowned at that, leading Xisheng to do the same. "Well that's not very reassuring…"

The acrobatic wonder turned to walk backwards so she could make eye contact while moving. "Would it be reassuring if I said you did something wrong but I'm not really mad about it?"

"I think you might have to be more specific before I can say yes or no to that."

Stopping in her tracks so she could fold her arms and give him a mild glare, Ty Lee decided it was best to just be upfront about it. There was no need to beat around the bush anyway, since she already knew the issue.

"You think you're beneath me."

It wasn't a question, that much was obvious. That said, it was kind of unusual to hear Ty Lee speak so curtly and forcefully. It kind of reminded Xisheng of Azula for a brief moment.

Still, he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to respond. After all, she hadn't asked anything of him, and he wasn't sure what her statement had to do with the situation.

"And that's what I did wrong? I don't get it."

Seemingly annoyed by his lack of understanding, Ty Lee's frown deepened by just a little bit. "That's what you did wrong because it is wrong! You didn't deny it, so that's how you feel right?"

Xisheng didn't feel like he was being attacked or anything, but he certainly didn't think too highly of this line of questioning. "Yeah, that's how I feel. I don't see what's wrong with that. You're a noble and I-"

"And you're just a commoner, right? Look, don't get me wrong, I like being and feeling special, but seriously, this nobility business? I never cared for it. I still don't. I want people to look at me and think I'm unique, but I don't want them to think that I'm better than them. How can you really be friends with someone if they feel like they're beneath you?"

Xisheng found it kind of amusing that this was one of those things that Ty Lee got really serious about. It was kind of endearing that she only put on her war face when talking about friendship and stuff.

"But my station is-"

"Don't care."

"And you're-"

"Irrelevant."

"The others probably-"

"Doesn't matter."

The two of them stared at each other in silence since there was nothing else to really say. After all, Ty Lee had rejected all of Xisheng's points on the matter.

After a moment, Ty Lee sharpened her hazel gaze on him even further. "So, you get it right?"

"Uh… I think?"

With a sigh of frustration, she leveled her finger at him. "Alright, I'll make this perfectly clear. You're a soldier."

"Uh-huh."

She then pointed at herself. "And I'm a circus performer."

"That's true."

Her hands went to her hips. "Neither of those sound like a job nobility has, so I guess it means neither of us is nobility."

Xisheng wanted to point out that unless she was actually disowned by her family, Ty Lee was still a noble, but he figured it would go against everything she was trying to do at the moment.

"I… suppose so."

Ty Lee then nodded affirmatively. "Well then, if you're a normal person and I'm a normal person, I see no reason we can't be good friends who treat each other as equals. Right?"

There was a brief moment where Xisheng's training as a soldier and the rules of his society demanded him to decline Ty Lee's offer of equal friendship. In regards to those two things, this just wasn't right. Societal norms demanded that he mind his place in regards to his betters.

But then again, Ty Lee obviously didn't care for that in the least. And Xisheng wasn't an outright moron. The pretty girl was making it perfectly, totally clear that she wanted to screw the rules and be friends at the least. With no room for confusion in regards to whether or not she was alright with it, why on earth would he still say no? He certainly didn't value whatever social norm his nation believed in over the possibility of a personal relationship with the amazing girl standing in front of him.

"I guess you're right. Though I hope you don't get offended if I still act a little overwhelmed by you sometimes. There's really a lot of amazing things you're capable of that I don't think I could ever do."

Finally getting his agreement put her usual smile on Ty Lee's face. "That's not true at all. Anyone could eventually get as good as me if they put the hours into it. It just takes a lot of practice and a good teacher."

Now satisfied that she had cleared up what she considered a heinous error, Ty Lee continued walking again, leading Xisheng to their inn of choice even though he walked abreast of her now.

"Is that so? Could I consider you a good teacher?"

She gave him a look of surprise. "For what in particular?"

Xisheng could only shrug. If he wanted to be honest he could have said 'everything.' Seemingly everything that Ty Lee was good at was certainly worth learning.

"I don't know. Anything you're willing to teach I suppose. You have a great many skills that I imagine anyone would be eager to learn."

Not being a total idiot, Ty Lee figured he was probably referring to her chi-blocking abilities above all, and truth be told she wasn't sure if she liked the idea. She knew that Xisheng was probably considering the combat applications of the style more than anything else, and she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with that. She never used the style to kill anyone, but Xisheng had made it clear already that he had no such qualms with death in the first place.

It might have been unfair of her to judge that, but wasn't a soldier taught to use everything at their disposal to defeat the enemy? If she taught him her technique, it would obviously become part of his arsenal, and by extension it was very likely that he would end up killing someone with it. Ty Lee owed it to both herself and her own teacher to oppose that outcome if she could.

Still, she didn't want to ruin the nice moment the two of them had literally just had together, so she didn't outright tell him no.

"I'm glad you're interested. But you do already have your training with Azula…"

"That's true… but perhaps I could still make time for it. I suppose I'll just keep it in mind if you're open to it."

Ty Lee merely smiled, honestly hoping that Xisheng would just forget about it later on. Truth be told though, she felt kind of guilty for inwardly rejecting him just because of his profession, especially since she would have normally been ecstatic that someone wanted to learn from her of all people.

It was hard to swallow since she considered herself accepting of pretty much everyone, but maybe this was her crowning moment of realization: there was no such thing as being completely devoid of bias or judgment. It kind of stung though, to come to grips with that about herself.

Even so, the rest of their walk to the inner section of Gaoling went smoothly, with Xisheng having clearly reached a new understanding of their relationship thanks to the conversation the two of them had shared not that long ago.

---

As expected, the inn that Azula had chosen for herself and her comrades was of a higher quality than anything Xisheng would have chosen in the name of subtlety. It wasn't exactly a locale for the rich alone, but it was definitely above the quality of what a commoner would be able to afford, adorned in the white stone and dark wood that set it apart from the less wealthy part of the city.

Xisheng briefly questioned how on earth Azula had paid for this, but he supposed that she could have easily stocked up on Earth Kingdom currency before leaving Omashu. Had she not been a Princess, she definitely could have been a great logistical officer in the military. She seemed to think of literally everything.

Of course Xisheng ended up getting his own (moderately lower quality) room apart from the girls, but he still found himself in their presence before the night was out. After all, he had to be clued in on the next step of their plan.

The room itself was quite large, and it did indeed sport three separate beds, which Xisheng found a little curious. Not that the room in itself was strange, but he figured that at least one of these teenage girls would have preferred to have a room to herself. He certainly couldn't imagine Ty Lee really caring for a solitary room, but he would have thought that both Azula and Mai would have preferred their own space.

Perhaps Azula was more frugal than she cared to admit.

Either way, Xisheng found himself leaning on the door to the mildly luxurious room. Aside from the silk sheets and nice furniture it was nothing special, but for the life of him Xisheng was honestly glad the room he had been afforded was more basic. He wasn't sure if he could sleep comfortably on anything too terribly soft at this point.

His three companions had situated themselves around the room, but Mai was the only one that looked like she wanted to be asleep already. She'd already shed the black top of her outfit, as well as any of the constricting pieces of gear that would have been uncomfortable to sleep in. Admittedly, she looked especially attractive in the remaining loose fitting attire. Most men preferred to see clothes that were a tight fit, but there was a certain appeal to this as well.

Doing his best to ignore those thoughts, Xisheng merely waited for Azula to enlighten them as to what she had figured out earlier that day while watching Earth Rumble VI. He assumed it would have something to do with that Blind Bandit girl all things considered, but he wasn't going to be presumptuous and speak first.

Thankfully, the heir to the Fire Nation throne wasn't the kind of person to waste time, even when there wasn't an extreme sense of urgency to actually consider.

"I think it's fairly obvious at this point that the Avatar is going to pursue 'The Blind Bandit' as his Earthbending teacher. That said, I also think it obvious that we need to get to her before he does. Our chances of turning her against his request increases exponentially if we can plant the seeds of doubt before he can earn her trust."

Already in a comfortable sleeping position, Mai kept her eyes closed as she weighed in on the situation. "How exactly? All we've got is what she looks like and her ridiculous stage name. And I doubt she'd be as easy to find as the Avatar was."

"The man who runs the tournament is clearly in a position of knowledge. While he might not know everything regarding our quarry, it's extremely likely that he has enough information to set us on the right path. After all, I doubt participation in this event of his is free, so he no doubt has records of some sort."

Still leaning on the door, Xisheng folded his arms. "We likely don't have a lot of time to act. If we want to make contact before the Avatar does, why didn't we speak to the ring leader today?"

Azula turned her amber gaze on him. "If we act too quickly we simply seem suspicious. If we provide a small window of time between then and now, it'll seem as though we merely realized a discrepancy on our own time. We'll let this night pass without issue, and begin to move first thing in the morning. Needless to say I'm certain we'll still be moving with more urgency than our prey."

Leaping onto her own bed with careless abandon, Ty Lee asked a question that Xisheng himself would have were it not for his position of deference to the Princess.

"Question; why didn't we just ambush the Avatar at the Earth Rumble tournament? We probably could have caught him in one of those narrow tunnels, it would have been perfect for fighting an Airbender."

Azula didn't even get a chance to answer, as Mai did it for her. The only questions she ever answered seemed to be the ones she deemed as obvious. "Too many witnesses. Even if we somehow caught their group in the tunnels without anyone else around, the sound of battle would have drawn others to the conflict. And between the Avatar and two Firebenders, who do you think all of those Earthbenders would have sided with?"

Ty Lee looked put out, since her suggestion was seemingly stupid, but Xisheng sided with her. "I'd like to point out that we could probably kill the Avatar with ease if we caught him unaware. There's no need to go all out with bending or anything. Mai has good enough aim to end the hunt quietly and efficiently."

Xisheng could barely see Mai's expression from their differing angles, but he could see the slight crease of a frown even from his position. Still, the talented marksman didn't say anything for or against the idea, instead allowing Azula to retort.

"I'll admit that I'm not completely against simply eliminating the Avatar, but as things stand we're better off taking him alive if we can manage it. If we kill him now we'll simply have another one to deal with in another decade or so. Even being in control of the Northern Water Tribe, there's no guarantee we would be able to locate a new Avatar before they were whisked away to be used against us."

Xisheng countered with the proper level of respect. "Maybe so, but by then we will have won the war for certain. And ten years is plenty of time to solidify our position. It just seems to me that the current Avatar is more of a threat to our cause than his theoretical replacement would be in ten years."

At this point Azula merely shrugged. "Our ultimate goal, as I'm sure you're aware, is to permanently remove the Avatar as a deciding force for the world. In order to do that we can't just kill the Avatar at every opportunity. There's obviously some sort of secret to his reincarnation; until we figure it out, the Avatar will always be a threat to what we're trying to achieve."

It was obvious that Azula was speaking only to him here, as it was unlikely that Mai or Ty Lee had any knowledge whatsoever about the war's underlying revolutionary goal. That said, Mai didn't seem to care anyway, and Ty Lee just seemed bothered by the talk of killing more than confused on any of the other things.

Of course, Xisheng knew that Azula had a point. The Avatar had always been a major obstacle for global unity, because the Avatar had never ceased to exist. However that damned reincarnation cycle worked, it ensured that there was always an Avatar to hold society back. Truly, getting rid of the Avatar once and for all was probably the most important thing the Fire Nation could do for the world. As long as there was some all-powerful being dictating the freedom of human will, the world could never really be free.

Still, couldn't they just focus on smiting the Avatar ten years from now, once everything else was in order? Sure, Azula was the kind of person to do whatever she could as soon as she could, but from Xisheng's point of view it just seemed safer to kill the Avatar now, cement their hold over the Earth Kingdom, and fortify their hold before the next Avatar was old enough to be a problem.

Heck, if the Fire Nation took control, would there even be a need to get rid of the Avatar? Once they were in control every new Avatar could be raised according to proper doctrine.

Of course, you could tell people with nigh unlimited power not to abuse it a hundred times, but when you were the most powerful bender in the history of the world, what was stopping you from doing what you wanted?

Xisheng could remember a time when he questioned the crusade against the Avatar, earlier in life when his retired father had told him about the secret Fire Nation agenda. At the time, Xisheng couldn't see the difference between the Avatar using his power to control other people versus the Fire Lord doing the same thing.

By now the difference was plain as day. One ruler was a man that had been brought to power by the will of his own people. He was the leader of the Fire Nation because the people allowed him to be. Should he become a criminal tyrant, the people of the Fire Nation could revolt and overthrow him. The Fire Lord, like all legitimate rulers in all countries, was part of the social contract, only truly possessing as much power as the people that followed him were willing to tolerate.

The Avatar on the other hand, was beyond such intangibles. The Avatar's position had not been condoned or agreed to by everyone he supervised. Indeed, when the Fire Nation attempted to defy the will of the Avatar, they had been forcibly suppressed by his inhuman power.

Regardless of whether or not the Avatar was trying to do something good or ill, the fact remained that he had no right to demand obedience from others. He simply had power, granted to him by some spirit, that he used to force the world to align with his personal beliefs.

It was not a matter of right and wrong so much as one of free will, and that was something Xisheng understood by now. Humans deserved the right to choose between right and wrong. After all, if you took away that free will, humans were no different from animals.

Merely shrugging, Xisheng decided that it was not his place to question what Azula wanted to do. If she felt that it was preferable to try and take the Avatar alive, so be it.

"So then, we speak to this Xin Fu, and assuming he has enough information for us to act on, we find the Blind Bandit before the Avatar. But what do we do with her?"

Azula smirked at him. "Well naturally it depends on her situation. We don't really know her standing in Gaoling. Obviously it would be ideal to turn her completely against any offer made by the Avatar, but how we do that will vary. Needless to say we'll have to improvise as things unfold. Of course, by extension there isn't actually much to discuss right now… but I feel at this point that these little strategy sessions are practically obligatory."

Sensing that their discussion was at an end, Mai rolled over on her side so she could face away from all of them. "Someone please let me know when that changes."

Picking up on the cue as well, Xisheng finally got off the door and prepared to make his exit. "Very well… when shall you need me awake Princess?"

"The crack of dawn."

"As you will."

He bowed one last time, making his exit at roughly the same time Ty Lee bade him goodnight.

Now left in the presence of only her two female friends, Ty Lee felt comfortable dropping the smile she had more or less plastered on after Xisheng had made her uneasy with his request to learn from her. She did feel well and truly deplorable for holding something against him that wasn't really his fault, but nevertheless she couldn't change what she felt at the drop of a hat.

It really struck her as wrong since she was the one that had insisted they could be good friends, yet now she was uncomfortable with something that a friend should have been alright with. He'd only asked, very sweetly at that, if she would be willing to teach him some of her unique skills. The fact that he had to perform a soldier's duties at some point in the past wasn't really his fault, and it wasn't like she had ever actually seen him kill someone. For all she knew he had simply been bluffing when Azula asked and he didn't really have the heart to kill anyone.

Either way, Ty Lee briefly contemplated asking the Princess if she really intended to have anyone killed for any reason during their mission, but ultimately she figured that asking about her modus operandi would only cause irritation and trouble.

Acknowledging that didn't help her sleep any better that night.