Chapter 8: Destinations in Mind

The morning after the heated conflict with the Avatar, Xisheng found himself thankfully free of Azula's teaching for just one sunrise, for she had more important things to attend to now that she had gathered the special team she had envisioned.

As Xisheng donned his uniform in the confines of the quarters he and the guards had been provided, he couldn't help but question their next move. The more things progressed, the more likely it seemed that Azula was going to do something that, from a Royal Guard standpoint, he couldn't condone.

After all, she had essentially put together a strike team. A small, mobile group of fighters designed to operate in exactly that fashion. But small and fast was the exact opposite of the Royal Procession, what with its barge and fifty Royal Firebenders.

The more Xisheng thought about it, the more it seemed like Azula was going to ditch the procession entirely so she could operate unhindered by their weight and seeming incompetence. And while Xisheng would be the first to admit that the Royal Guards had made complete fools of themselves when they had tried to arrest Iroh, there was still strength in numbers. Having more soldiers around still served to dissuade assassination attempts and the like.

But on the other hand, having that many soldiers around also called attention to themselves. What made it more obvious what the Princess' movements were if not a large boat and a procession of soldiers?

Besides, Xisheng had to admit that he was not lacking in faith regarding Azula's recruits. Ty Lee was clearly a skilled hand to hand combatant, and she had knowledge of some obscure yet very potent techniques. Aside from that she was extremely agile and swift, making for a deadly combination. And Mai? Xisheng had to admit that her abilities scared him a little. Someone as fast and precise as her could be a true menace on the field of battle.

After all, with her skills, if she really put her mind to killing someone, it would be all too easy to do so. One flick of the wrist, and someone had a knife buried in their eye or their throat. Someone like her could easily kill Azula, Ty Lee, and Xisheng in mere seconds if she caught them off guard.

Not that he was worried about something like that. Considering Azula's calculating nature, Xisheng was inclined to trust anyone that she did, if only because Azule didn't give her trust very easily. It was just a theoretical appreciation of the fact that Mai could be very, very deadly if she chose to be.

The phrase 'deadly but beautiful' came to mind, particularly since Mai had a certain grace to her that was absent even from Azula, who had her own majesty. Xisheng smirked to himself as he thought of a way to label them all. Mai and her grace, Ty Lee's acrobatic finesse, and Azula's Firebending majesty. They made a good team, each having their own thing like that. It set them apart, unlike a squad of Firebenders that all had the same training and the same military mindset.

The real question was whether or not Xisheng was included in this little squad Azula had formed. He got the feeling that he might have been, since Azula had gone out of her way to bring him along for the exchange, but then again that could have just been extra insurance on her part if a fight broke out. He didn't have any particular skills like Mai or Ty Lee that made him especially useful for a strike force. He was an all-around average Firebender and not a particular asset in that regard since Azula was already around, so his position on such a team was far from a sure thing.

Either way, Xisheng felt uncomfortable this morning for a different reason. He felt that there was something amiss among his fellow guards, but specifically in regards to him. Even now as he finished equipping all of the appropriate gear, he felt like the other soldiers that were awake right now were all staring at him. Not that it was easy to tell considering that he couldn't see them doing it.

Obviously any time Xisheng tried to catch someone staring their gazes were elsewhere. Even some of the people he had kind of gotten along with like Akuwagata seemed kind of reserved around him now.

Of course it wasn't too hard for Xisheng to determine why this was the case. Obviously his still relatively fresh connection with the Princess was irking the rest of the retinue. It could have been for a myriad of reasons; some of them may have been suspicious of his motives. Others may have thought it was simply inappropriate for him to get as close to the Princess as he was being a common soldier.

Truth be told Xisheng didn't really care. A few weeks ago he would have. He definitely would have lamented the somewhat awkward and tense atmosphere between him and his comrades. But only because they would have been the only people he could connect to.

But now, he had others. Which ultimately struck Xisheng as strange. He viewed the girls as companions in and of themselves, even though in reality they were not. Azula was not just his teacher, but also his Princess. She was his superior, not his friend, and sometimes it was difficult to remember that fact. It was difficult to remember his place all the time because of the way Azula acted. Sure, she was never casual enough with him to give off that 'friendship' vibe, but on the other hand she wasn't so regally detached that she felt solely like some superior figure that never spoke to him outside of giving orders.

As for Mai and Ty Lee, it was easy to remember that the prior was Azula's friend and not his, but Ty Lee well and truly was someone he could consider one. Of course he got the feeling that most anyone could consider Ty Lee a friend because of her nature, but she did go out of her way to make him feel welcome. Hell, she had practically nicknamed him. Of course it was possible that it was just a pet name, but Xisheng got the feeling that was something more suited to Azula than Ty Lee.

Either way, Xisheng wasted no time in leaving the appropriated barracks of the Omashu palace, though he was unsure of where he should go. It wasn't really his place to bother the Princess when she was busy, but she hadn't given him any direction the night before. Xisheng had no idea what the Princess was planning to do; he could only hope that she went out of her way to bring him along if she were planning on leaving as early as she had said she would this morning.

---

Elsewhere in the wilderness of the Earth Kingdom, a recently shaven fugitive Prince lied awake in his bedroll under the slowly brightening sky, for a multitude of reasons.

His place of rest was the most uncomfortable he had experienced in a long time. Even exiled, the bed he had possessed on his old ship had been nicer than most well off civilians ever experienced. On top of that, the dull green clothing he wore was rough and itchy, being of a lesser quality than anything he had worn throughout his entire life. And of course, his stomach was growling from the paltry amount of food he had eaten the past few days, which amounted to little more than what could be taken from the land around him.

In short, Zuko was living the life of a fugitive and he outright despised it because he was used to better things. But that was not what troubled him at this early hour. Not at all. Even now, his thoughts lingered on the past, both immediate and long ago.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Azula's words out of his head. He didn't want to think about them at all, but he had to. He couldn't just ignore his potential problems, and Azula had risen a point Zuko just couldn't run from.

Looking back on his quest for the Avatar, Zuko realized that his Uncle had truly done very little to aid him. Aside from the lack of seriousness he had always handled Zuko's quest with, there were too many things that just didn't add up.

Zuko had spent three years training under the Legendary Dragon of the West as a personal pupil. As his only student. And yet, his skills had never really improved beyond that of an amateur. How could that be? Zuko knew he was not so downright hopeless in Firebending that he could not improve beyond a laughable level. Even as a child he had still progressed at a decent pace that was just overshadowed by his prodigious sister.

So how was it that he could scarcely improve at all with three years of tutelage directly under a Firebending legend? There was only one possibility, and that was that Iroh had been intentionally holding him back.

And then there was Admiral Zhao. After encountering the Avatar, Iroh had placed both him and his nephew in a compromised position by accepting tea of all things with the man, granting him even more chances to interrogate them about what had happened at the South Pole. Almost like he wanted Zhao to find out.

The mere thought of it caused Zuko to grip the edge of his bedroll in anger, but only for a moment as his train of thought flipped on itself once again.

What was he thinking, suspecting Iroh of such things? His Uncle had given up a cushy life of royalty so he could look after his banished nephew on a perilous and distasteful journey around the world. His Uncle was the only person to stay by him when his whole life came crashing down around him. His father had sent him away, his sister had done nothing to dispute that decision, and the girl that had claimed to love him had been perfectly content to watch him depart from the shores of his homeland. Only Iroh had given up what he had to go with him.

The only reason Zuko hadn't improved much under Iroh's tutelage was because his Uncle had wanted him to learn to Firebend the right way. So he could really improve on what mattered. And the tea with Zhao was just Iroh following the polite customs of their people. That made sense.

Zuko nodded to himself now that he had come to that conclusion. Azula always lied. Anything she said that made sense was just being said to manipulate him.

Still, despite this conclusion he had reached, Zuko found that he wasn't able to sleep any more comfortably than he had before.

---

Xisheng was staring over the city of Omashu from a high terrace of the palace when Mai found him. Not that she had been looking for him for personal reasons of course. Azula was ready to go and she had more or less sent Mai and Ty Lee on the errand of finding him so they could leave this droll place behind.

Mai hadn't been taking the search too seriously, but even so she had gotten lucky first. Normally she would just relay the news quickly and go about her own business, but Mai made a habit of always analyzing a person if she had the opportunity.

Besides, as much as she hated to admit that Ty Lee was right about, well, anything, the acrobat had been correct in saying that Mai was interested in this individual Azula had taken on as a student. From a purely objective standpoint though. She was simply curious to know what had made Azula pick this person in particular.

Azula never did anything without a good reason, and usually that reason benefited her somehow. Based on what Mai had seen yesterday, she could tell that this guy had potential as a fighter, but she wasn't well versed enough in Firebending to know if there was something special about him in particular.

He seemed wholly ordinary aside from being an adept Firebender. And that confused Mai more than she cared to admit. Neither Azula nor her friends were ordinary, and Azula herself was so bored by the typical that she would never willingly take on someone that was just that as a pupil.

Mai hadn't bothered asking Azula about that last night. She had asked a lot more questions about their plan for the next few weeks and what kinds of supplies she might have needed from her father before they left. Logistic stuff. She didn't like to ask personal things because it made her seem like she cared when she was really just curious.

That said, Ty Lee had been right about something else last night as well; he was pretty handsome. Mai liked to act as though typical human feelings didn't exist for her or something, mostly because it kept annoying people from bothering her, but she was a far cry from an unfeeling statue. She felt all the things normal teenage girls felt, she just wasn't nearly as open about it.

From her position in the doorway, Mai could just barely see the contemplative look on Xisheng's face as he looked out over the recently conquered city. He probably wasn't supposed to be out of uniform, but he figured it was alright since he was out here alone.

Not that you could really tell a person's thoughts just by looking at them, but it seemed to Mai that Xisheng was the kind of person to take in the big picture of things. He looked as though he considered anything and everything in different lights. The sign of an intellectual if ever there was one, and something that Mai would theoretically appreciate in a person.

She'd spent most of her life around people with very singular focus. Her parents had always been focused on their political careers, never entertaining thoughts of anything more. Ty Lee's focus as a child had always been standing out as much as possible however she could, and Azula's focus had always been being the best she could be. As for Zuko… Mai was never sure what Zuko had focused on before. She figured that he had never really known what he wanted, which was likely what had drawn Mai to him in the first place.

She too had never really been sure what she wanted out of life. She still didn't know even now. Everything she did had always been about finding something that meant anything to her. No one but her best friends would ever know, but Mai had been relatively adventurous as a child. Not adventurous because it was in her nature, but because she had always been searching for something that interested her.

As a kid she would try almost anything at least one time to see if it appealed to her or not. The problem was that nothing ever really did. Singing, Pai Sho, Ty Lee's acrobatics, if you could name it Mai had probably tried it or would be willing to. At least back then.

By now she'd grown kind of cynical about it all. She'd spent so many years trying to find something to be passionate about, and things had never really panned out. The boy she had held affections for had disgraced himself in front of his entire nation and gotten himself banished. And the only thing aside from that Mai had ever taken a liking to was throwing sharp objects at things.

This had led to the common notion held by just about everyone that knew her that Mai didn't care about anything. That she had no passion for anything and never got excited for any reason ever. Granted, as of right now that was mostly true, but only because she still hadn't found anything to be passionate about. She also wasn't trying very hard right now to find anything to fill that space. Even searching for something to enjoy in life had gotten boring after so many repeated failures.

Having managed to put herself in a bad mood just thinking about it, Mai finally ruined whatever introspection Xisheng was putting himself through.

"Hey."

The unmasked soldier glanced back over his shoulder in surprise, his contemplative expression quickly shifting to embarrassment due to who was there. For the life of her Mai thought it was kind of pathetic. Also kind of adorable, but still pathetic. There was a distinctly Zuko vibe in that combination.

"Ah, L-Lady Mai…"

"We're leaving."

That was all she said before turning on her heel and retreating back into the palace, leaving Xisheng to fumble with his helmet alone. Somehow he found Mai even harder to deal with than Azula. Sure, Azula was always pulling strings behind what she said and did, but you knew that she was doing that even if you didn't know why.

He had no clue what Mai was ever thinking. He was still half worried that she might hate him or something, but truth be told her expression was far too neutral to be that and he hadn't done anything for her to hate him yet.

Also, it was hard to deal with pretty girls having so little experience with them throughout his life. That applied to all three of the women in their little retinue, but Mai's impervious neutrality made it difficult to read anything about other than the fact that she was beautiful. And Xisheng knew for a fact that gorgeous neutrality was even worse than the regular kind.

All things considered Mai had not given him enough information to do anything on his own, so Xisheng quickly got back into uniform before going after her into the palace. After all, he had no idea where they were going.

Thankfully Mai wasn't someone that moved with too much haste when it wasn't absolutely necessary, so he managed to catch up to her fairly easily. Doing that, he decided to walk a little behind and to the side, which was the typical position for a guard escorting anyone of a higher stature. Moreover, he didn't feel comfortable walking right beside her.

It was no surprise that they walked in total silence considering who his company was, but it was rather shocking when the young woman actually did say something to him after a minute or two.

"Are you from some special family in the Fire Nation?"

Caught off guard and unsure of why she was asking this of him, Xisheng nevertheless tried to give a prompt answer. "Uh, n-no Milady…"

"You have special Firebending powers or something?"

"No, Milady…"

"…some sort of genetic thing?"

At this point Xisheng decided against answering. "Why are you asking me all of this?"

Mai didn't give a straight answer, which wasn't really surprising. "Just curious."

Xisheng got the feeling that 'just curious' for this girl equated to prying for information of some sort, but he couldn't imagine why he would be of any interest to her. On the other hand, he kind of liked the idea of being interesting to her. Though he doubted it was in the light he wanted it to be.

Either way Mai more or less led him to where the Princess and Ty Lee where at the gates, the former speaking with an attendant of some sort that probably represented the Governor. By the time Xisheng was close enough to hear what was being said her conversation was already over and the attendant was bowing and making his exit.

The Princess, adorned in her usual attire, briefly acknowledged the arrival of the last two members of her party before launching into a short narrative.

"Lieutenant, seeing as how you were the only one absent earlier this morning and we are on a tight schedule, I'll bring you up to speed quickly. We're pursuing the Avatar."

Not entirely surprised to hear this, Xisheng still questioned it nevertheless. "But Princess, I thought your objective was to apprehend the Dragon of the West…?"

"It was. But under the circumstances and after careful consideration I believe we would be of more use pursuing the greatest threat to our nation's cause and not a foolish old man that's not even a good traitor."

Xisheng wasn't sure what supposedly set a good traitor apart from a bad one. "Meaning…?"

"Look at it this way Lieutenant; assuming that Iroh has been arrayed against us for a long time now, how effective of a traitor has he been? He's completely failed to use his powerful position in the Fire Nation to do anything useful, from influencing our own people to feeding information on our movements and tactics to the enemy. He's not a direct threat."

While Xisheng could see the logic in this deduction, he still had his doubts. "I… suppose that's true, but isn't it still dangerous to let someone of his capability roam free?"

Azula scoffed at the notion. "Not at all. My theory is that Iroh is banking on the Avatar just like the rest of the world is. And just like the rest of the world, he's unwilling to really take a stand unless he has the Avatar backing him. Even when he finally moved against us at the North Pole, it was only with the Avatar at his back to take his side. Right now, I don't believe Iroh will do anything actively against us. It's more likely that he's trying to turn Zuko over to his cause. At least, that seems like a reasonable assumption at this point."

Xisheng glanced at the other girls, wondering if they had agreed to this course of action or if they had simply followed Azula's decision. After all, Ty Lee had signed on to track Iroh, not the Avatar, and the latter could take significantly more time than the acrobat had originally planned on. Mai, on the other hand, had made it clear that Zuko meant something to her. Surely she would have preferred to pursue him over the Avatar?

But neither girl looked overly bothered by it. Well, Mai looked a little sour, but that was just par for the course for her. Ty Lee was all smiles as usual, and this left Azula with room to continue.

"So, the way I see it, why bother hunting an offshoot of the problem rather than the problem itself? At this point we all know that the war is as good as won already. Ba Sing Se is the last standing enemy capital and one of the only major cities in the world not yet under Fire Nation control. The Earth Kingdom is on their knees and has no hope of engaging in an active counter offensive. In short, without the Avatar, victory is only a matter of time, especially considering the proximity of Sozin's Comet. Aside from maintaining the lines of battle we have now, realistically all of the Fire Nation's capabilities should be aimed towards eliminating the Avatar. So that's what we're going to do. Any other questions?"

The way she said that revealed the fact that she didn't expect any more questions, but Xisheng actually still had one. Though it was more rhetorical than anything else.

"I assume this means we're leaving the barge and the entirety of the Royal Guards behind?"

He said this with folded arms, and a tone that could almost be interpreted as a reprimand. To be honest Azula was kind of surprised that he was taking that tone with her after displaying a relatively submissive persona thus far, but it didn't necessarily anger her. From the perspective of Xisheng's job, he was right to be displeased about this development.

"Well, to be fair Lieutenant, I have elected to bring you along, have I not? Despite how much Ty Lee told me not to."

Xisheng was utterly shocked at this (and more than a little hurt), but Ty Lee was quick to clear her name. "I said no such thing! I begged to have you come with us! Mai was the one that said you shouldn't come!"

The acrobat jabbed a finger at her knife throwing friend, who shrugged when Xisheng turned his gaze on her. "Don't expect me to deny it. I did say that."

For Xisheng, that was confirmation that Mai must have detested him for some reason or another. "O-oh…"

"Don't take it personally, I don't know you well enough to trust your skills yet."

That was somewhat less painful to consider, but Azula brought him right back down. "Which means based on a first impression she still thinks you're a waste of space."

Xisheng's deflation was almost visible, prompting Ty Lee to hug him protectively as she glared at her friends. "Don't worry Gohan, I think you're great. Ignore these two witches and I'll keep you company whenever you want."

The lone soldier wished he wasn't wearing his armor at the moment, because the stiff steel completely negated the parts of her body that Ty Lee was pressing into him. But at least he felt a lot better knowing the brunette had his back. To be fair he was pretty certain Azula was just screwing with him because she could and she found it amusing, but Xisheng was still confused on where Mai stood. At least she had made it sort of clear that she didn't like nor hate him. He was just kind of there and she accepted that fact.

Either way, Azula put their short amount of banter to rest. "Back to your original question Lieutenant; yes, we are leaving the barge and all of the soldiers on it behind. We could never hope to track the Avatar across the Earth Kingdom in a seafaring ship. Moreover, we need to be able to move quickly and having five dozen guards hounding my every move isn't conducive to that end. And ultimately, those soldiers truly are dead weight. They proved to be worthless against my Uncle. Of course, I suppose if you really wanted to do your duty you could report all of this…"

Xisheng thought that was just a rhetorical comment at first, but when he was met with silence he saw that Azula was actually questioning him. "I… suppose my duty would call for such actions, but… I find that my loyalty to you takes precedence over that, Princess. I'll follow you anywhere as long as you'll have me."

His response brought one of those weird smirks to Azula's face that was halfway to a genuine smile but nevertheless falling short. Xisheng wondered if she ever actually smiled in an innocent sense. "And don't think for a moment that I don't appreciate that loyalty Lieutenant. It's the main reason I've trusted you to come along with us on this critical mission."

It was always heartening to get true gratitude from the Princess considering how rare it was, earning a smile out of Xisheng as Azula turned on her heel to lead her troop out of the palace. Naturally Ty Lee stayed next to Xisheng so she could tease him.

"She also brought you along because we need a cutie on the road trip too. That's the real reason, no doubt."

Apparently Mai was capable of hearing her comment even from ahead of them, prompting her to make a counter comment. "The real reason is because we need someone to drive the tank."

Some level of testosterone fueled excitement arose in Xisheng at the word tank, along with the notion of getting to drive one. What Fire Nation boy didn't dream of driving an Army tank at some point in his childhood?

However, when Xisheng finally stepped out of the Omashu palace with the trio of girls, the vehicle that was waiting for them was not the typical battle tank of the military. That made sense though, considering that there was no way a Firestorm main battle tank could carry four people.

What instead lied before them was a transport with real treads, a sloped rock breaker on its prow, and a smokestack on it.

"Aw, man…"

Ty Lee looked at him in confusion. "What? What's wrong?"

Sufficiently disappointed, Xisheng didn't really pay attention to the fact that maybe he sounded a little childish right now. "This isn't a tank! It's an Overlord all terrain armored transport! Dammit…"

Azula ignored his lament entirely. "That it is. Can you drive it?"

"Yes… I can…"

"Good. Then let's be on our way. We have an important pick up before we leave the city, and the sooner we're on our way the better."

His disappointment ignored by both Azula and Mai, Xisheng found some solace in Ty Lee, as always. Though it didn't last long since her words of consolation utterly shocked him.

"Don't worry about it Gohan. There'll be plenty of fun things for you to ride in the future."

With that and a wink she hurried after her two friends, leaving Xisheng frozen in the courtyard that was the base of the palace here at Omashu.

Positive that the sway in her hips as she walked towards the Overlord was entirely intentional, Xisheng's gaze dropped below her bare lower back and settled on the hypnotizing view. There was some niggling voice in the back of his mind that said maybe he shouldn't have been so openly appreciating the visual, but it didn't push through and take dominance until he recalled the massive difference in their stations.

That said, Xisheng tried to override his thoughts with Firebending combat mantras.

Flame is powered by the breath. Without discipline a Firebender has no control over his own power. Fire can overcome all other elements with perseverance. Only fire can destroy that ass to usher in the future. Wait, shit!

Xisheng smacked his hand to his face when that thought interrupted distorted his mantras, but ultimately he didn't quell the notion or the image that it had conjured up.