Fire and Wind: Hunting

Thankfully for Seng's patience, Ty Lee was just as light on her feet as Seng was, maybe even more so. They moved quickly and quietly through the underbrush as Seng searched for any sign of an edible beast that they could cook up for supper.

As the airbender leaned down to inspect an unnatural depression made in the grass at her feet, her companion spoke up for the first time since the uneasy conversation by the campfire.

“Sooooo…” Ty Lee came up behind her, watching as Seng ran her fingers along the marks in the mud, “What's the story with you and Azula?”

Seng gave her a weird look as she stood and began walking once more, “Story? I'm not sure what you mean.”

“You know, how did you become friends?” Ty Lee asked as she followed after the airbender. Seng snorted at the word. Friend? She didn't even think Azula was physically capable of having friends until she met Ty Lee.

“What?” Ty Lee asked, noticing Seng's look.

“Nothing. Just the idea of Azula actually being friendly with someone never crossed my mind before.” She said, shaking her head, “The friendliest I've seen her is when she's telling me that I'm not a completely incompetent fighter.”

Ty Lee giggled, “Yeah, she's like that. Getting actual praise out of her is harder than calming down a moose-lion. She must like you if that's the only thing she said.”

“Oh, she says plenty. And I can tell you with one hundred percent confidence that Azula and I are not friends.” Seng's eyes scanned the bushes, looking for any sign of the prey she was tracking, “As a matter of fact, our relationship is more akin to a master and slave that actual comrades.”

Ty Lee froze, staring at the airbender's back in shock, “You're a slave?”

Seng gave her a weird look. Did she not know? “Did you think I was wearing this collar because I thought it looked nice?” She asked, tilting her head to show the iron shackle wrapped around her neck.

Ty Lee looked uncertain as they started walking again, “I just thought you were one of the Palace servants. Some of them have collars, but they aren't quite the same.”

Palace servants with collars? Indentured servants perhaps? Or maybe just a fashion statement in the Fire Nation. I didn't really matter either way. If Azula treated her regular guards like she did, Seng couldn't imagine the palace servants would be treated any better.

“Well I don't know about them, but I didn't get this thing put on my neck because I wanted to wait on Azula hand and foot.” Seng said, “I got it because I got too greedy.”

“What do you mean?” Ty Lee asked, honest curiosity on her face, and Seng's disbelief only grew. How was someone this earnest friends with Azula of all people?

She turned back to the trail, leaning down and examining a broken stick, “I'm sure you know by now because it's all Azula ever refers to me as, but I'm a thief. Not by choice, but that hardly matters given the circumstances. Before I met Azula, I was looking for a ride to the north and I was short enough coin to count. I needed a target and her ship was the perfect one.” 

She gave Ty Lee a wry smile, “I'm sure you can see how well that turned out.”

Ty Lee was silent as she digested Seng's story, and Seng turned away from the girl to continue following the trail. Around a minute later as Seng stepped over a fallen log that some animal had used as a scratching post, she finally spoke again.

“Why did you want to go north? Is your family up there?” She asked, and Seng immediately shook her head.

“No. I didn't want to go further into the Earth Kingdom, I could do that by foot. I was trying to get to the Northern Water Tribe. I was hoping they'd take me in if I proved I could be useful. I wasn't sure if they would, but I was willing to take the chance.”

Ty Lee scrunched her face, “The Northern Water Tribe? Why would you want to go there? It's so… cold. And wet. And you can't even show off your cute clothes because everyone's wearing fuzzy parkas and stuff!”

She clearly had her priorities in order. Seng ignored the last comment, focusing on the why, “I wanted to get away from the war. Away from the fighting and the hiding. They've stayed well out of the war so far so I figured that's probably the only place that I could go where I wouldn't have to worry about the Fire Nation knocking on the door of whatever home I'm squatting in.”

“Why would they do that? You're just a thief. They wouldn't put up posters for you unless you were stealing a whole lot of stuff, right?” Ty Lee asked, confused.

Seng blinked, “Oh, that's right, you don't know, do you?”

Ty Lee stared at her blankly and Seng stopped walking for a second, turning to face the girl fully. She twirled an arm through the air, gathering wind in her outstretched palm before extending an arm in a pushing motion.  

Ty Lee gasped as a ball of compressed air shot through the nearby bushes, ruffling leaves and twigs as it disappeared into the thicket. She looked at Seng with wide eyes as she let her arm drop down to her side, “You're an airbender!”

“Yep. Probably the only reason I wasn't executed on the post for trying to steal from our dear princess.” Seng said dully as she went back to tracking, “Instead, I get to be her personal pet and follow her around like an obedient little turtle-duckling. We have a deal in place and she promised to let me go if I hold up my end, but I'm not holding out much hope that she'll live up to her promise.”

Ty Lee shook herself out of her shock as Seng grew further away and hurried to catch up with her. Walking beside her the acrobat shrugged, “I don't think I've ever seen her break her word before. She's a member of the royal family and their word is worth a lot. If she says she's going to do something, she's probably gonna do it.”

Seng raised an eyebrow, “You speak very kindly about someone who threatened to take the woman torch to your livelihood and all of your friends.”

Ty Lee looked slightly pensive, “I don't think she would actually do that. Azula is… I'm not sure. She can be meaner that anyone I've ever met, but she wouldn't hurt people like that. Not anymore.”

“Anymore?” Seng echoed, realizing what that implied. She looked to Ty Lee with wide eyes, “You mean she was worse? I saw her throw the captain overboard because he messed up her plan. How could she have been worse?”

Ty Lee didn't answer immediately. She looked at the airbender with a pensive expression, before looking up at the forest paths “Azula is complicated. When I first met her, she was probably the worst person I'd ever met. Even when she was a kid, she was suuuper mean and I don't want to think of what she would be like today if her mom…”

She trailed off, looking unsure, before shaking her head and giving Seng a serious look that was extremely out of place on her round face, “Azula can be cruel and manipulative, but she's not evil. Once you earn her trust and she knows you'll stand by her, you'd be surprised how nice she can be. She's not going to agree to something and then turn around and execute you. If she gave you her word, she's going to stand by it.”

Seng stayed silent in the wake of her declaration, unsure what to say to that. Ty Lee was oddly vehement in her defence of Azula despite the girl's earlier actions, and it was clear to Seng that she truly believed what she was saying right now. She didn't think Azula was as cruel as she made herself out to be.

Seng wasn't so sure. She hadn't been with the princess for very long, but so far she had seen her use her brother's love for his family to trick him to come back home to possibly be imprisoned or executed, and threaten to burn down her alleged friend's entire livelihood. Those didn't strike her as the actions of someone who had a nice bone in their body.

Luckily, Seng was saved from having to respond as she came across another sign of the animal she was tracking, one that was much fresher. She kneeled down to examine it closely and Ty Lee bent down to look at it as well before recoiling.

“Ew!” She said as her nose scrunched in disgust, “Why are you looking at poop?”

Seng gave her a bemused look, “Animal excrement is an excellent way to see what kind of animals are in the area and more importantly, how close by said animals are.”

She stood, scanning the bushes around them, “This excrement is fresh. Probably only a few minutes old. That means its owner is close by.”

She couldn't see or hear anything from where she was now, the bushes around her were far too thick. Crouching down, Seng jumped up with a rush of swirling air, gently gliding into the branches of the tree high above her.

Ty Lee gasped at the display but Seng ignored her as she settled into the branches, focusing her senses as she scanned the forest around her for any sign of her prey.

And just a moment later, she found it. Seng's keen eyes and ears hones in on the rustling of a bush a few yards away and she immediately zeroes in upon it. A large hare was sifting through the bushes a ways in front of her, searching for berries to munch on or even some roots to munch on. Even from here, she could see the roundness in its haunches and stomach, made plump and fat from weeks of gorging itself on the forest. It would make for a perfect stew.

“Ooh! Did you find something?” Ty Lee whispered down below, and Seng turned to give her a glare, hissing at her to shut up before she spooked the animal. The girl winced, looking apologetic “Oops! Sorry!”

Turning back to her prey, Seng was glad to see that it hadn’t spooked and bolted. It must have been too absorbed in its task. Pulling her weapon from her back, Seng nocked an arrow, steadying her breathing as she waited for the hare to give her a better shot. Just a moment later, she got it as it poked its head out, tiny nose twitching as it looked around. The airbender checked her aim, watched the hare to make sure it wasn’t going to randomly bolt, and let loose.

Her arrow flew straight and true, piercing through the animal’s skull in an instant and pinning it to the dirt just in front of the bush. Its legs twitched as its body tried to escape a death that had already come, before it went completely limp as its physical form realized that its soul had already long left the flesh behind.

Seng smiled in satisfaction at the incredible shot, before stowing her bow on her back and jumping down from the branch, using wind to cushion her fall. Ty Lee gave her an eager look as she stood, “Did you get something? That was really fast!”

Seng just nodded, moving toward the bush the hare had fallen into. Holding the plump animal’s corpse down with one hand, she pulled the arrow out in one smooth motion, before grabbing it by its back legs and holding it up for the acrobat to see. For some reason though, the moment she saw the rabbit, all of her previous joy fled her expression, replaced with disgust and horror.

“A bunny!?” She put her hands to her mouth, staring at Seng’s catch, “Why a bunny!?”

Seng raised an eyebrow, “It’s just meat. And this is a hare, not a bunny. It would have been more than happy to eat you if it was big enough. It’s survival of the fittest out here, and we’re the fittest. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Seng cleaned the arrow using the animal’s fur and, after checking to make sure that the head was still in good condition, put it back in her quiver. She slung the hare over her shoulder, ignoring the blood dripping down the back of her tunic, “Come on. Let’s get back before the princess starts thinking I tried to escape and sends out search parties.”

She turned to leave, only to pause as she noticed Ty Lee staring at her with an odd expression on her face, “What?”

Ty Lee shook her head, “Nothing. I’m just realizing that your aura isn’t the only thing you and Azula have in common.”

With that, she began to lead the way back to camp, humming a light tune as she passed Seng by. The airbender stared after her in confusion, unsure of what to think of that innocuous comment.

~~~

Azula smacked her lips thoughtfully as she tasted the stew Seng had prepared for them all. Despite  the lack of spice other than salt, it was actually rather tasty and the meat had been well cooked to a tenderness she would normally find her own chefs accomplishing.

She nodded in approval, glancing at the thief who was eating her own meal, “Well color me surprised. This is actually rather delicious. It could certainly use spice, but for something as simple as a stew, I have to say you've surprised me.”

“I live to serve, Princess.” Seng muttered into her bowl, and Azula's lip curled at her tone.

“Indeed you do. And you have served quite well this time.” Azula let the remark go without a word, surprising Seng. She stared at the princess who was once again tucking into her meal with a surprisingly pleasant expression on her face, and her mind flashed back to Ty Lee's earlier words.

‘She can be cruel and manipulative, but she's not a bad person. Once you earn her trust and she knows you'll stand by her, you'd be surprised at how well she treats you.’

Seng stared at Azula, running the conversation over in her head as she pondered something important. Her mind was a mystery to the other two girls who chatted with one another, catching up on things in each of their lives that they had missed, and it felt like time flew by for each of them until moments later, the comfortable atmosphere was broken.

“Thief, my bowl is empty. Make yourself useful and prepare me a second serving.” Azula ordered, breaking Seng out of her thoughts. The princess was staring at her as she held her bowl out in askance, “Well? I don't have all night. And don't skimp on the meat this time.”

Sighing, Seng rolled her eyes, putting her own bowl in the dirt as she stood up, “Your wish is my command, Princess.”