Lady On Fire

A man and a woman sailed on a ship. The man and the woman were both Fire. The man was also Water, and the Woman was also Earth. They were both touched in certain ways by Air. It would, however, be Fire that united them.

Outsiders always referred to it as "the Fire Nation," a single entity dominated by an all-powerful Lord, supported by citizens from every social and economic level. Of course, that notion was a complete lie.

Granted, the Fire Lords probably had more direct control of their nation than the foreign Chiefs, Kings, and Lamas, and the Fire Nation's smaller size meant that it was easier to govern with a centralized government. However, the Fire Nation consisted of hundreds of islands ranging from vast lands, capable of supporting mountains, to small keys, barely big enough to keep a Sky Bison dry. Just mapping all of those instances of dry land was a considerable task, never mind extending the government's reach to each and every one. The remote but sophisticated town of Shu Jing, situated on an island that shared the name, was one of the more famous instances of a Fire Nation society that didn't bother paying taxes to the Capital or accepting Home Guard law enforcement; the merchant lords who made their homes there did an efficient enough job of governing themselves.

The island of Tanoshimi was another, less wholesome example.

While most of the Fire Nation, born of ocean volcanoes now dormant, enjoyed peace and fertility, Tanoshimi had formed around a younger lava vent, and produced nothing but sulfur.

Still, even a land such as Tanoshimi held value for the right kind of people. The first permanent settlers were sulfur miners, who supplied the substance to the few who had use for it. Some farmers eventually found a way to support themselves, growing sugar cane that they traded to more fortunate nearby islands.

It just so happened that Tanoshimi had one more significant feature- its harsh geography made it difficult for an invading army to cross, and certain points near the island's volcanic mountain rose far enough above sea level that an ocean-based siege force would have to fire blindly at the top.

Tanoshimi was known as the home of Warlords.

That type of briefing could just about ruin your day.

Omajinai was there on Tanoshimi's docks to meet the boat. It looked like the regular trading ship, large and lacking grace, but word had reached the old man that it carried an extra something of certain intrigue. He had received this special intelligence while the ship was still on the high seas, and so was able to lazily arrange a chance to see the arrival for himself.

Advance knowledge was so much fun.

The docking plank was brought down as soon as the boat was secured at the dock. The crew was quick and efficient at the task, unusually enough. In Omajinai's experience, sailors on cargo vessels didn't like to spare either time or patience for passengers. Perhaps this one was offering excessive payment?

Then the old man saw the passenger in question, and understood.

The girl was likely in her late teens, but Omajinai would be the first to admit that he was past the point where he could assess the exact age of youth with any accuracy. Still, as old as he was, he could tell that she was realizing adulthood in a way that would definitely have career sailors fainting in her wake. Less important than her curves was her clothing; Omajinai noticed the fine material, and that it could only have been specially designed for the body that wore it. His sources had been correct. A Lady had come to the lawless island of Tanoshimi.

Trailing behind the young woman was a man with a beard and a sword. Not altogether unexpected.

Once they had reached the docks, the man and woman stopped to have a brief discussion, and then made their way towards the Settlement. Omanjinai gave a nod towards the pair, and several men with dao blades strapped to their backs discreetly peeled away from the dock's crowds to follow. The old man himself likewise tailed the newcomers, but held back at a considerable distance. He wouldn't want to be in the way when the ambush was launched.

These days, finding men for hire who knew how to use weapons was no hard task. Fire Lord Zuko had reduced the military considerably, and while he was offering alternative jobs in various reconstruction projects both within the Fire Nation and abroad, not everyone had the… temperment for such work. Hence, the island of Tanoshimi had seen a recent population boom, and Omanjinai's master had not coincidentally begun a massive recruitment drive there. Spearmen were the most common type of mercenaries these days, but many also had skill with the single-edged dao swords. Rarer were decent Firebenders, and the luckiest finds were those who knew how to fight with the double-edged jian swords.

This particular group of hired thugs waited only long enough to for the buildings of the Settlement to mask their approach towards the Lady and the Bearded Man. The Settlement itself had begun its existence as a small town servicing local miners and farmers, but it turned into a façade for Omanjinai's master's growing army. Safe in this environment, one of the bladesmen rushed ahead to cut off the newcomers, two others moved out to box them in at the sides, while the last of the ambushers stayed behind to remove any hope of escape. Then, all the quartet had to do was step into view and sneer menacingly while brandishing their weapons. Squat, wooden buildings did the rest of the job of keeping the victims in place.

Omanjinai did so like employing professionals.

However, the man and woman did not act as expected. A display of freezing fear would have been one disappointing option, but surprise and a grim preparation for the coming fight was much more likely. Omanjinai certainly did not expect the man to step forward with his arms akimbo and start bellowing at the attackers.

"YOU THUGS THINK YOU'RE TOUGH ENOUGH TO TAKE WANG FIRE?"

Sokka hoped his bravado was working. Four guys with dao were nothing to just laugh off, however ugly they were, especially since he suspected these thugs were the official welcoming committee and so might have backup nearby. The girl beside him could be counted on to help, of course, but if she were forced to carry too much of the fighting, her identity couldn't remain a secret, which was definitely prohibited by the mission parameters.

With a sinking feeling, Sokka realized that he had forgotten to go over a fake name with his new partner. Well, nothing to do about it now. Instead, he stepped back to dodge the slice of the first attacker's blade, and quickly drew his own jian sword in such a manner that the handle smashed into his attacker's face before the blade had even cleared the sheath.

The man dropped backwards, and Sokka gave a loud, Wang Fire laugh. "YOU BOYS OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEEN SHIRKING YOUR TRAINING. BACK IN THE ARMY, WE NEVER WOULD HAVE PUT UP WITH SLOPPY-" Sokka quickly spun to catch the next blade on his own, and redirected its momentum so that it came dangerously close to landing in the guy who thought he could sneak up on Sokka from behind- "TECHNIQUE LIKE THIS." He punched the near-beheading-victim in the throat with his off hand. "I OUGHT TO TAKE THE LOT OF YOU OVER MY KNEE AND TEACH YOU SOME DISCIPLINE." Instead of making good on that threat, Sokka kicked the next attacker between the legs when the man took a moment too long to analyze his best approach.

One of the thugs (not the guy whose nose was smashed, but otherwise it was hard to tell which one he was) came back for some more, but Sokka nipped that idea in the bud by meeting the incoming dao with an angled stab that blocked the blade and allowed him to apply leverage in such a way that the weapon was torn from the attacker's grip. The flat of Sokka's jian was then applied directly to the man's head.

The Water Tribe warrior spun to seek out any leftover bladesmen, but the last of them was in the process of falling to the ground so heavily that he looked like he was being pulled downward by a Dai Li's shooty-handcuff-things. Sokka's new partner was standing above the dropped thug in an attack stance, her arms extended and ready.

Beneath, his Wang Fire beard, Sokka smiled. If Ty Lee proved this reliable for the entire mission, the whole thing would be a piece of jerky-flavored cake.

On second thought, that sounded kind of gross.

"Oh my, are you two all right?"

Sokka twisted to find the owner of the new voice, and came dangerously close to tripping over an unconscious dao-thug. To cover the gaff, he fell back into character and began bellowing. "WHO GOES THERE? FRIEND OR FOE? IF YOU HAVEN'T COME IN PEACE THEN I'LL MAKE SHORT WORK OF YOU, YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT MUCH!"

The speaker was an old man, hair and beard entangling into a single white mane that covered much of his clothing (which looked every bit as fancy as Ty Lee's current getup). He bowed before replying. "I am a friend, or at least a prospective ally. My name is Omanjinai, a citizen of some standing on this island. I'm dreadfully sorry about this attack. We do our best to keep the peace here, even without the aid of the Fire Lord, but sometimes desperate individuals make their way to our peaceful shores unnoticed. You have my assurances, these thugs will be dealt with." At a wave of his hand, a number of men materialized from the shadows of the buildings around them, dressed in military-like armor and carrying spears.

Sure, just some peacekeeprs taking care of local criminals. And Sokka was an Earthbender. "WELL, THAT'S ALL RIGHT, GRANDFATHER. BACK WHEN I WAS IN THE MILITARY, WE KEPT A LID ON THESE TYPES, BUT SINCE THE NEW FIRE LORD STEPPED UP, STANDARDS HAVE BEEN DROPPING ALL OVER THE PLACE. WHY, IT'S GETTING SO THAT-"

The old man, Omanjinai, actually had the gall to interrupt. Few people had the internal fortitude to break into one of the Wang Fire's speeches. "Believe me, my good man, I sympathize. I spotted you as a member of our glorious Fire Nation's military as soon as I laid eye on you. You walk like a warrior, and we don't see many civilians who know how to wield a jian. What's your name, son?"

Deep breath. "I AM WANG FIRE, AND THIS IS… UH…"

Ty Lee stepped forward smoothly. "I am Lady Ling. Ting-ah Ling. I have retained Colonel Fire here as my personal bodyguard for this journey."

Ting-ah Ling? Sokka should have definitely taken the time to make up a name for her.

However, Omanjinai just bowed politely. "I am honored to make your acquaintance, Lady Ling. Forgive me if I am mistaken, but I think I've heard of your family. Wasn't a noble Ji Ling serving as governor of the Hu Shin Provinces under Fire Lord Ozai?"

Ty Lee smiled. "Actually, he was my uncle. I grew up in his household, and attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Of course," her faced slackened into a pout, "these days, the Capital is hardly the city it used to be. Men like my uncle seem to be in short supply."

Omanjinai nodded, a little convulsively to Sokka's eye. "I quite understand. Come, a Lady such as yourself might find some of the Settlement's accommodations wanting, but my master has a palace up on the cliff. He'd be quite happy to offer hospitality to a Lady of your standing, and I think you might find certain opportunities that would appeal to your political leanings."

"Oh?" Ty Lee employed an innocent blink. Sokka had never seen her blink any other way. "And who is your master?"

Omanjinai smiled wryly. "I'm sure you know, and if not, your bodyguard, er, Fire could tell you. I am majordomo to General Hao."

An hour later, Sokka and Ty Lee had retreated to their new apartment in Hao's palace, to get ready for a dinner party with the general himself. Sokka took his time picking a clean shirt, while Ty Lee changed behind a screen. "Ting-ah Ling?"

"Yup! I went to school with her."

Sokka blinked. "Wait, that's a real name?"

"Yup! That's probably why she was so mean."

"Is there any chance of the real one causing trouble for us?"

The sound of shifting fabric drifted from around the screen. "Hmmm. Probably not. Ting-ah went to school with me'n'Mai'n'Azula. She wasn't picked for anything Royal like Mai and me, and just became another Lady in the city. Mai says she's been tied to some of the nasty conservative groups, so she's under official watch and isn't allowed to leave the capital without permission."

"Huh. Yeah, that'll work for us. Good job."

"Thanks! You don't compliment me often. Actually, not many people do."

Sokka stopped and thought about that one. "Really? Suki doesn't say what an awesome warrior you are?" Remembering the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors gave Sokka's heart a little reflexive spasm of pain. Perhaps that was what motivated him to keep talking. "No guys have ever told you that you're pretty?"

"Nope. I mean, you always looked like you thought I was pretty, but you never actually said anything. And, you know, you haven't even tried to peep around the screen here. I've been taking my time getting dressed, but it's just 'Ting-ah Ling is a silly name, Ty Lee!' Business, business, business."

"…I… apologize?"

"I forgive you." She stepped out in a silk dress that didn't seem to have even the remotest acquaintance with her shoulders. In fact, the top edge of the dress would be justified in letting the existence of much of Ty Lee's upper torso pass into hazy legend for lack of contact. Sokka was also fairly sure that the slits on the side of her skirt were very much defeating most of the skirt's reason for existing in the first place.

Once he regained control of his attention, Sokka realized he had buttoned up his shirt lopsided. He quickly fixed it while Ty Lee giggled. "Come on, Wangy. Let's go to dinner."

'Lady Ling' and 'Wang Fire' were seated right across from General Hao himself at the long table. The man thought himself so important that he wore full, traditional Fire Nation armor even while eating. An appetizer of lettuce wraps were being served, and Sokka was in the semi-successful process of loading up a leaf with as much spicy chicken mix as he could, when Hao looked him straight in the eyes and spoke. "So. You are Wang Fire. My steward, Omanjinai, has heard of you. He says you are a rumored hero of the Fire Nation. He also says you are dead. So. Are you an imposter? Or a deserter?"

Sokka nearly spilled his meat all over his lap. He cleared his throat while he set the food down. "HRM. AH. WELL. YOU SEE, I JOINED THE MILITARY, AND WE RAN INTO A GROUP OF EARTHBENDER… AND WATERBENDER… INFILTRATORS. I WENT TO TAKE CARE OF THEM, OF COURSE, BECAUSE I COULDN'T ABIDE THE IDEA OF HEATHEN BENDERS ON THE FIREY SOIL OF MY FIREY HOMELAND. IT WAS A TOUGH BATTLE, AND I DON'T MIND SAYING THAT I FOUGHT FANTASTICALLY WITH THE POWER OF MY FIREY PATRIOTISM, BUT THINGS GOT PRETTY HECTIC THERE. THEY WERE HOLED UP IN A CAVE, AND ALL I HAD WAS A BORROWED SPEAR, SO OBVIOUSLY MY ONLY RECOURSE, IF I WANTED TO SURVIVE, WAS AN IMMEDIATE CHARGE WHILE SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS…"

From there, Sokka went on to describe a battle he was making up on the spot. It had to be good, if he was going to convince Hao and Omanjinai that Wang Fire was more than just a great name and a convenient disguise that had been abandoned at need. He told of a struggle against impossible odds, the kind Sokka had always liked in stories. He told a last stand against an inconceivable number of enemies, which actually sounded depressingly similar to some of his real life experiences. Earthbenders and Waterbenders were likened to evil spirits. (That part was completely true.) Real spirit warriors featured at one point, riding the Space Whales. The sky was darkened, the air was sucked away, and the ground was sundered. Against it all, Wang Fire stood defiant, improvising several weapons after Akkos the Dragon broke his spear in its mighty jaws. The best part was when Wang Fire knocked two of the dragon's teeth out, and tied them together with the hair of the flanking Wooly Mammoth-Spider to create the deadliest set of nunchucku that had ever been wielded!

It was, if Sokka was allowed to have an opinion of his own work, pretty neat.

"-AND THEN I STABBED THE FLESH-EATING BABOON WITH THE SHARPENED FLINT JUST BEFORE I COLLAPSED FROM MY DEVASTATING INJURIES. IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO RECOVER, BUT I MANAGED WITH THE TRUE GRIT OF A TRUE FIRE NATION WARRIOR! OH, UH, I GOT CUT OFF FROM THE REST OF MY SQUAD, SO THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A LOT OF RUMORS FLYING AROUND, DON'T YOU KNOW. SO, HM, THAT'S PROBABLY WHY YOU THOUGHT I WAS DEAD."

No one- not Hao, not Omanjinai, nor any of the other diners- reacted. Sokka stroked his fake beard and smiled. "DON'T FEEL BAD. I'D FEEL INTIMIDATED, TOO, IF I WERE YOU."

Hao's face still wasn't moving, but Sokka nevertheless expected him to be the first to reply. Thus, the sound of Ty Lee cooing into his ear startled him, and it was with a certain lack of grace that he turned to face her. (Well, perhaps 'face' wasn't quite the right word. It took Sokka several tries to raise his eyes up to her face, the way she was leaning towards him.) "Wow, Colonel Fire. I didn't know that story. You're even braver than I thought!"

"AH. WELL. IT WAS THE THOUGHTS OF GOOD FIRE NATION CITIZENS LIKE YOURSELF, MY LADY, THAT GAVE ME THE STRENGTH TO PERSEVERE."

Ty Lee did something that could only be described as scrunching with delight at that, and Sokka wished he had given her a more thorough briefing before setting out on this mission. Moving like that was far too distracting for dangerous undercover situations.

General Hao cleared his throat. "Indeed. You honor the rank of Colonel. So. I can use men such as yourself. I am pursuing projects on the central Fire Nation islands. Competent men with true patriotism are the ideal agents."

Just like that, Sokka forgot all about what Ty Lee's dress didn't cover and swung to directly converse with the warlord. "OH? I WASN'T AWARE THAT YOU WERE PURSUING OPERATIONS OFF THE ISLAND, GENERAL."

Hao stared with business-like intensity. Beside him, the old man Omanjinai was paying discreet attention while he pretended to be concerned with the food on his plate. "You are perceptive," Hao nodded. "But not knowledgeable. This island is known as a haven. True patriots come to Tanoshimi. Thus they escape the weak Fire Lord Zuko. But I refuse to just hide. I pursue patriotism. Warriors help me. You understand?"

Sokka understood so well, he could have expressed it with a loud Wang Fire, "GOTCHA, YOU TRAITOROUS SPIDER-SNAKE!" Instead, he merely winked at Hao.

Beside Sokka, Ty Lee daintily lifted a piece of mango from her plate. "It feels so nice, to once again be amongst true children of Agni, who know the rightful destiny of our people." She smiled and leaned towards Hao. "Are you a Firebender, General?"

Hao and Omanjinai exchanged glances, before the general spoke. "Indeed. Who else could lead our nation to greatness? Back to greatness."

Back in their rooms, Sokka and Ty Lee both let out tense breaths simultaneously. Sokka glanced at his partner in amusement, and was about to speak, but then Ty Lee broke into motion and threw her own body against his with enough force to rock him back and forth. Oh great, this was it. She was so impressed by his storytelling skills that now she couldn't resist him. Did he have the strength to resist her? Did he want to resist her? Things with Suki hadn't worked out, and Ty Lee still had that evil Fire Nation pedigree. Never mind that Sokka couldn't actually refuse her anything…

All that feeling stumbled out of his mouth in a half garbled,"WHA-?"

Ty Lee immediately slapped a hand over Sokka's mouth, and looked at him with shrewd eyes that were entirely contrary to her current behavior. She dipped her head forward to whisper in his ear. "They're behind the walls. I can see their auras glowing through the eyeholes behind the plant."

O- kay. Unlikely as it sounded, Sokka needed only half a second to process that. He put his arms around Ty Lee, to complete the illusion of a bodyguard and the employer who was getting her money's worth, and glanced at the mirror on the wall in front of him.

Sure enough, evil eyes were just barely visible in the carved and gaudily painted wall. If Sokka didn't already consider these people a bunch of slimy trouble-makers who were as low as people could be for betraying their tribe, he might be tempted to lower his opinion of them for this spying slash voyeurism slash annoyance.

Sokka tapped a finger on Ty Lee's back to confirm his discovery, and she spoke again in a voice as artificially sweet as sugar-ice. "Why don't we go into the back room?"

Sokka pulled back and stroked his beard. "MY LADY! WANG FIRE IS PLEASED TO SERVE WITH FIREY FERVOR, BUT I WOULDN'T WANT YOUR HONOR TO BE SULLIED!"

Ty Lee smirked. "Your duty is to protect me, Wangy. What if some assassin comes after me in the night? I'd feel so much safer with you watching over me while I sleep."

Sokka grimaced behind his beard. Improvised lines were rarely elegant, but this would do the job. "THEN I WILL DO MY DUTY, MY LADY." The pair came apart and scrambled into the suite's only other room, the large bedroom, and quickly closed the door behind them. Sokka peered around for further evidence of spies, but saw nothing. He turned a questioning stare at Ty Lee.

She finished her own examination, and shook her head. "Looks clear." Sokka was pleased that she kept her voice low, despite the apparent safety.

Sokka let himself relax, and began tugging carefully at his fake beard. "This is why I hate undercover missions. No amount of paranoia is enough, sometimes."

"Still," Ty Lee ventured, as she sat down on the bed, "at least this will be over tomorrow. Zuko's- oh, Fire Lord Zuko's- army thing should be here… when again?"

The beard came off with one lasting stinging cling. "Probably mid-morning, but we're going to have to be in place before that."

Ty Lee nodded. "We can't let General Hao escape. That's the mission."

"Weeeell…" Sokka smiled wanly. "I want to grab Omanjinai, too."

Ty Lee just looked at him. "Okay. Why?"

Sokka laid the beard flat on the room's largest dresser. "Well, as Hao's assistant, he's already a likely source of information. But… well, I've been keeping an eye on him. Throughout dinner, and all the conversations afterward. He… pays too much attention to things. I think he's more important than he likes to let on. If we don't grab him, and he escapes during the invasion, I have a feeling he'll get up to more trouble."

Ty Lee hmmm'd in that cute way of hers, with her chin resting on one finger. "The easy way would be to get them both at the same time. So, how do we make the easy way happen?"

"You're asking me?" He sat down on the bed next to her. "I was just hoping to catch them both in the same place with my extraordinary luck."

If Ty Lee caught the irony, she didn't show it. "But you're smart. Like Mai and Azula." She leaned a little bit, and Sokka was startled to feel her bare arm make contact with his own. "You can figure out a way to make it all happen the way you want."

"Y… yeah. I probably can." Sokka quickly stood up again. "Okay… so… um… what do we know that Hao and Omanjinai are interested in? Besides being evil."

Ty Le scowled as she thought it over. "I need to change. I think better when I'm upside down, and I can't do that in this dress. Unless you're okay-"

"No! Um, that's… uh… you should probably change!" It occurred to Sokka that being Human wasn't always fun. Animals like Momo and Appa didn't have to worry about pretending- for politeness and decency and honor and sophistication's sake- that they weren't really interested in what they were really interested in.

Ty Lee just smiled. "Okay. Are you going to turn around, or… ?"

"Uh?"

"Well, you know, we left the screen in the front room. It would look odd if I went back out for it. You know, the little show we put on for the people in the wall? And I thought that if you don't want me upside-down in a dress, you probably don't want to watch me change…"

"Oh. I'll turn around then." Sokka did so, and distracted himself by thinking about the various problems at hand. That was actually very easy for him. Back when Suki was missing, between Ba Sing Se and the Comet, it was the only defense he had against completely falling apart. He worked very hard at staying focused on every little thing that could go wrong as he tried to salvage his Black Sun Invasion plan, and soon enough the problem of Suki was pushed firmly back behind the mental wall where he kept Bad Stuff. Like Mom. And, for a while, what he thought his Dad thought about him. And not having enough meat in his diet. Nowadays, he used that wall to hide away all his lonely feelings ever since things ended with Suki.

Then a finger poked Sokka in the back, and he jumped in alarm. Ty Lee's giggle sounded behind him, just before he felt her leaning against his back. "All done."

Sokka stepped and turned to find the acrobat clad in her old two-piece pink circus getup. She winked at him, and tumbled backwards to land balancing on her hands on top of the bed. The outfit was certainly more functional than a dress for such a maneuver, but Sokka couldn't help but notice the various ways that the attire failed to be entirely obscuring. "So, any ideas, now that the blood is rushing to your brain?"

"Ohhhh, is that why I'm smarter when I'm upside-down? I always wondered about that. But yes! I have an idea! Hao and Omanjinai want us!"

"Us?"

Ty Lee let herself fall down onto the mattress, then gracefully twisted to swing her feet out. The motion of the maneuver brought her to a standing position beside the bed and left Sokka feeling disoriented. "Sure! We're two strange people who were just invited into their fortress mansion thingy, and look like we're having a lot of fun in our room right now, and they want us to be the real thing and help them take over the Fire Nation, but they're still scared enough of us to have us watched! While we're having fun! They're interested in us."

Sokka finally found that Ty Lee's bare midriff was no longer exerting a gravitational pull on his gaze. Only one force in the universe had the power to overcome his appreciation for girls and food, and that force had just gone into effect.

Sokka Had An Idea.

The Water Tribe warrior smiled broadly at his partner and moved to put a friendly arm over her shoulders. "I got it! Tomorrow morning, we'll have our men."

Ty Lee stiffened. "Oh. Great." She stepped away and let Sokka's arm fall away. "Well, we better get some sleep so that we'll be ready for tomorrow. I can sleep on the couch here, and you can have the bed."

"Hey, I can take the couch and you can… wait, did I just freak you out?"

"What?"

"You. You were just… uncomfortable there."

"No I wasn't."

"Really? Because you suddenly got all awkward and changed the subject, and I don't think I've seen you do that before."

Ty Lee narrowed her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm getting offended."

"Okay. Sorry." Sokka turned away from his partner's glare to examine the couch where he would be spending the night. It wasn't long enough for him to stretch out, but on the plus side, it had lots of pillows with some nice floral patterns on them. "You want some of these pillows? I don't think I can use all thirty. You can have ten, if you want."

He should have known what was coming when he heard the giggle. "Sure, I can use some. Toss them over."

No sooner was the last of the gifted pillows thrown onto the bed when the first of said pillows came flying back to hit Sokka directly in the face. "Oof."

Ty Lee stood smiling, a pillow in each hand.

It took Sokka a moment to adjust his mental state from being undercover in the enemy camp to having the opportunity to have a pillow fight with the cutest woman he had ever seen, but if there was one thing he knew, it was war. He armed himself appropriately, and went forward to do battle. The ensuing attempts of the boy and girl warriors to bludgeon each other to death with sacks of feathers wasn't as epic as Wang Fire Versus the Space Whales, but it was a lot more fun.

It ended with both participants lying on the bed amidst a rain of feathers, panting happily. Ty Lee pushed herself up and stuck her face right into Sokka's with a grin. "I win."

With Ty Lee within nose-rubbing range, Sokka suddenly picked up on the possibly lurid symbolism of their current state. If he didn't find himself completely unable to suspect Ty Lee of anything so devious, he would have wondered if she planned it all out. "As fun as that was, and as nice as I'm finding the view, we should probably call it a night."

Ty Lee blinked, and shrank back so abruptly that Sokka worried about the foulness of his breath. "Yeah," she said, "you're probably right."

A few minutes later, they had each taken to their chosen piece of furniture and had settled in to go to sleep. Between planning for the next day and wondering about the girl in the room's bed, Sokka had to make an extra effort to surrender to unconsciousness.

Omanjinai was up before dawn, as usual, to review the latest reports from his many intelligence sources. He still hadn't managed to develop an informant in the Fire Nation capital, thanks to Fire Lord Zuko's rather effective counter-espionage tactics, but perhaps Lady Ting-ah Ling would be able to help with that. Omanjinai hadn't so much as discovered who Zuko had advising him on intelligence matters, but whoever it was had a practical diligence that made getting anything but the most worthless gossip impossible. Better information came out of official Royal Decrees than any of the capital's Hao-sympathizers.

Ting-ah promised to be a useful ally, if not particularly intelligent, and her Wang Fire was either one of the deadliest men alive or a complete buffoon. Either way, he'd serve a purpose, too, although perhaps in a much… briefer manner.

These pleasant thoughts were interrupted by one of the mansion's servants, a woman who Omanjinai had assigned to spy on Lady Ling's suite. All the guest suites had at least one room that could be observed from secret passages, and it was amazing the kinds of things people would say when they thought they were beyond General Hao's hearing. Omanjinai honestly had trouble maintaining enough staff to spy on all the mansion's various inhabitants; using trained undercover agents was a waste of resources, but not all the locals could be trusted themselves.

"What is it?" he asked, scratching his beard thoughtfully.

The servant bowed. "This morning, Lady Ling and Colonel Fire were discussing the General, and wished to know more of his plans. They indicated concern than he was 'the right komodo dragon to back.' Wang Fire will be escorting Lady Ling into the General's private wing to gather more information.

Omanjinai sighed. "Isn't it horrible how the youth today doesn't trust anyone? Summon a squad of guards for me. I'll take care of this." He stood up. It was a shame that Lady Ling would have to experience some disciplinary action, but she grew up under Fire Lord Ozai's rule, so it was doubtful that it would ruin the opportunity to form and alliance with her; she would be used to such things.

When Ting-Ah Ling and Wang Fire stepped into General Hao's private library, Omanjinai was surprised to see that the latter had actually brought his sword along, although the young soldier wisely had kept it in its sheath. Omanjinai gave a subtle hand motion to the six guards, Firebenders all, not to attack without authorization unless the weapon was drawn.

General Hao, of course, was nothing if not a master of timing. "So!" The trespassers both jolted with surprise. "You abuse my hospitality. I am very disappointed. Lady Ling. Colonel Fire. Very disappointed."

Further disappointment was forthcoming. Wang Fire stepped forward, hand on his sword's grip, and Ting-ah Ling took up position at his side, her hands held up in the tight fists of an experienced unarmed fighter. "SORRY, GENERAL, BUT WANG FIRE DOES NOT SURRENDER! CRY HAVOC, AND LET LOOSE THE ZEBRA-DOGS OF WAR!"

Omanjinai sighed. Truly, this was a tiresome man. "War may be coming, but this will merely be among the smaller preludes. Guards, take them. Try not to hurt Lady Ling too badly, yet."

The six Firebender guards all moved forward, each of them in confrontational Firebending stances. Wang Fire and Ting-ah Ling both broke into motion, the former drawing his sword and the latter falling back into a cartwheel. Colonel Fire rushed at the two middle-most guards, who each punched a jet of flames forward. Somehow, Wang Fire was able to dodge, rolling forward in a manner that looked a lot like pratfalling but somehow managed to carry him forward under the flames and into striking distance of the Firebenders. Lady Ling, for her part, was avoiding the attacks of the other four guards with much more grace, and such a degree of skill that she made it look easy. Her movements carried her close to the rightmost guard, and she struck where he wasn't armored with precise but strong taps.

Then the cadence of the fight sped up, and it became futile trying to discern individual actions.

Omanjinai scratched his beard with annoyance. The whole affair was rather tedious. The old man ambled over to General Hao, who was watching the brawl with his characteristic stoic face. "You don't have to stay for this, General. I can deal with the punishments once this is all over. Although, I think I'll be requesting to increase the degree of penalty, given this rudeness."

Hao gave a curt, business-like nod, and turned to face Omanjinai in order to say something more, but he froze with his mouth barely open. "…Omanjinai?"

"Yes, General?"

"Why is there an armada on the horizon?"

Omanjinai spun around towards the library's single window, and sure enough, the ocean view was marred by a fleet of state-of-the-art metal warships in formation atop the water. The old man dashed towards the window for a better view, and was able to catch the sight of the fleet's first wave reaching the shores of Tanoshimi Island and disgorging armored ground troops.

Omanjinai let loose with his worst swear. "Oh, bother." He looked at Hao, who had followed to the window. "Fire Lord Zuko. He's here. How he ordered this without my notice… General, you need to evacuate. They have enough out there to take the whole island!"

Hao blinked. "But. The terrain."

"It will slow them, yes, but even if we unleash our full reserves, we can't stop a force that size! We can delay it, though, more than long enough for you to escape. That was the whole point of settling this place. Please, General, we must away!"

Before Hao could respond, two more men joined the conversation. The first was one of the Firebender guards, who rudely made his presence known by crashing headfirst into the ground at Omanjinai's and Hao's feet. The Firbender groaned, and lethargically tried to straighten his helmet.

The second man to arrive was Wang Fire. "SORRY, BOYS, BUT NO ONE IS LEAVING THIS LIBRARY TODAY. ER, WELL, NOT UNLESS YOU'RE UNDER ARREST AND ZUKO WANTS TO THROW YOU IN A SUFFICIENTLY UNPLEASANT BRIG. BUT OTHERWISE, NOT TODAY. NOT EVEN… oh, for…" In his most surprising move yet, Wang Fire grabbed his beard and ripped it off of his face in one piece. The countenance revealed was that of a young clean-shaven man, with features reminiscent of the Water Tribes. "I'm Sokka. Yes, that Sokka. And you two are officially my prisoners, on behalf of Fire Lord Zuko. I think that says enough."

Oh, bother.

Sokka loved that look. All his enemies wore it at one point or another- the look of surprise and denial and immeasurable annoyance. It was totally worth wearing the beard for a week. Behind him, Sokka heard Ty Lee take out the last of the Firebenders with a series of chi-blocking punches that first disabled the guard's bending, and then turned his muscles into something akin to liquid. Seemed like things were pretty much done, then. Now they just had to hold Hao and Omanjinai until Zuko's forces secured the mansion, while preferably avoiding most of the fighting. (Not that Sokka disliked fighting, but it tended to make his job harder, when it was nearby.)

No problem.

Then Omanjinai smirked. Sokka hated when the bad guys smirked. "What?"

"You think you have us. You think we won't put up a worthwhile fight. The incorrectness of your thoughts amuses me."

"Hey, go ahead and try it, buddy. Zuko wants you alive, but I'm actually pretty good at that. Besides, we have your number. You're an old man who works at a desk, and the General here is just a Firebender. In case you hadn't noticed- and I really don't blame you for being distracted by the invasion force currently taking your island away from you by force- Ty Lee and I just took out six Firebenders. At once."

Omanjinai kept smiling.

Sokka sighed. "I'm wrong, aren't I?"

The old man smiled. "Oh, yes." Then he snapped into a wide-legged stance and swung an arm towards Sokka that produced a startlingly wide wave of flame.

Omanjinai was a Firebender. Huh. Didn't see that one coming.

Sokka threw himself into a crouching spin in a desperate bid to avoid getting his face melted off. This was actually pretty successful, but it didn't matter. Sokka's evasion brought him right next to General Hao, who brought his hands up into fists with a familiar-looking shape and began punching Sokka in very precise patterns. First, Sokka felt pain. Then, numbness. Then, the bruising hardness of the floor, as his body suddenly became extra vulnerable to gravity.

Sokka heard Ty Lee gasp, and then Omanjinai spoke in reply. "Yes, I'm afraid we lied to you two last night. I am the Firebender, and General Hao is a master of Dim Mak hand-to-hand fighting. If the girl is in fact the Ty Lee, traitorous companion of Princess Azula, I'm sure she'll recognize the style. My sources say that was her own primary field of study, after all."

It was pretty hard to be Ty Lee, a lot of the time. She grew up as one of the Fire Nation's elite, and while that had a lot of improvements on the childhoods of people like Sokka and his sister and Aang and even royalty like Zuko and Azula, it still wasn't quite what Ty Lee wanted from life. It was harsh in its own way, with everyone so influenced by the war and the big meanies who ran the Fire Nation at the time. No one cared about the stuff Ty Lee found interesting, like health and happiness and auras and pretty clouds and all the best things in life.

Happiness. Why didn't anyone like happiness?

Even her friends left something to be desired. Ty Lee loved Mai dearly, and had for as long as she could remember, but Mai had never been the nicest person. (She was getting better, now. A little.) There was Azula, of course, but Ty Lee later discovered that Azula was not a good friend. Friends don't try to kill each other, after all. That was a hard lesson, especially since Ty Lee had always tried to be so understanding and supportive of Azula, considering everything that was expected of her.

After the war, Ty Lee joined the Kyoshi Warriors, and that was great, but it didn't turn out to be as fulfilling as expected. It wasn't that Ty Lee didn't like being a Kyoshi Warrior; she made lots of new friends, and the people of Kyoshi Island were nice, and it felt good to be doing good for others, but Ty Lee still felt a little alone. People liked her, but they didn't understand her. She was either Ty Lee from the Fire Nation, or just Silly Ty Lee. It turned out that Mai was really the closest thing to a kindred spirit that Ty Lee could find.

Then there was Sokka.

They met during the war. (They were on opposite sides, but it was very nice that Sokka didn't harbor a grudge over that. He was a good person.) Ty Lee's first impression, of course, came from his good looks. Ty Lee didn't have physical preferences like Mai and Azula; she could find something attractive about people from any kind of background. By the time she had a chance to really get to know him, the war was over, and he already had a girlfriend- Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Ty Lee became fast friends with Suki, and was happy that the girl found fulfillment with Sokka. So Ty Lee looked at other boys, and tried to find someone who understood her.

Eventually, she had to admit that such a person wasn't going to be found on Kyoshi Island. So Ty Lee went back to the Fire Nation, to help Zuko- Fire Lord Zuko, now, and wasn't that simply adorable? Mai and Zuko were so happy together, being in love and working together to defeat the terrorists who would bring back the era of war.

It was just the cutest!

And it turned out that Sokka was working for Zuko, too. He was looking to keep busy after he and Suki went their separate ways. Ty Lee didn't usually make big, complicated plans, but she couldn't help but think long-term thoughts about that information.

But would Sokka understand her? It was worrying; Ty Lee didn't want to hurt him. Or herself. But she couldn't help but flirt when she was with him, for better or worse, and she might have been imagining things, but she thought he liked it. Sometimes he flirted back.

That's when she would remember that he might not really understand her.

That's always when she began to have doubts about all the boys she pulled into orbit around her.

And when Ty Lee had doubts, she tended to start hitting things.

That was actually going to work really well in this current situation, because Ty Lee was locked in a library room with a Firebender and a fellow Dim Mak specialist, while a small war was breaking out on the island around them, and Sokka (the mastermind of the operation), was paralyzed on the floor and helpless.

Oopsie.

Omanjinai moved, and fire (like 'Wang Fire,' ha) blossomed in the air where Ty Lee was in her defensive stance. She flung herself into a backflip that took her nearly to the room's ceiling, and she pushed off against the wall of books drawing close behind her. Omanjinai punched straight above his head, trying to catch Ty Lee as she passed over him, but he was too slow, and the acrobat landed softly and gracefully on a heavy wooden table.

Hao was waiting for her.

He tried to strike at her feet, but Ty Lee cart-wheeled to the edge of the table and then let herself spin off the side, her feet flipping around just in time to catch the floor. Hao had followed her once again, but Ty Lee was ready this time. Her fists, middle knuckle extended slightly outward for precision blows, reached out to meet her opponent.

The General, unfortunately, had good reflexes. He used his own forearms, covered in full armor, to deflect her blows, and followed with some of his own attacks. Ty Lee contorted around them, and fell backwards into a somersault that put some distance between them.

Hao didn't follow. Instead, for the first time Ty Lee had ever seen, he was smiling. "Victory is impossible. For you. I wear armor. Your usual abilities are limited to the point of uselessness. But. You wear pink silk. It offers no protection against my blows."

Ty Lee blinked at him. "Aw, that's not right."

"No?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not just a Dim Mak specialist. I'm a circus acrobat, too. I can move around all flippy, but you can't. Especially not in big ugly armor."

At that, a ring of fire sprung up around the pair of combatants. Omanjinai stepped into view just outside the edge of the flames. "By all means, young lady, continue. Don't mind me, I'll just be negating your advantage."

Aw, phooey.

Sokka could not imagine being in a more frustrating situation. Well, scratch that. It would be a little more frustrating if Katara was here, somehow- impossibly- turning the state of affairs into a lesson on why girls were better than boys.

Only a little more frustrating, though.

Omanjinai's ring of fire was obscuring most of the view, but from his mandatory vantage point on the floor, Sokka could make out Ty Lee's panicked face as she turned her head from side to side in search of an escape. General Hao was approaching her cautiously, stepping in a spiral pattern that would allow him to come at Ty Lee from her side.

Sokka couldn't do anything about it.

Besides his usual, that is. "You know, I think I've figured it out. Hao isn't in charge at all. Omanjinai's the one really running this show. Hao's the front man, the guy who looks good in the armor." Heads turned to stare at him. "That's why you guys pretend he's the Firebender, isn't it? It's not just about surprising people who start fights in your library. It's all for the image. No one would follow an insurrectionist who couldn't bend fire, but Omanjinai's too old and bookish to be the leader. Um, no offense, guy."

The old man's face was mostly hidden by the white fluff of his beard, but the skin around his eyes was heavily crinkled. "Hao, hurt the girl. Badly. Make sure he can hear."

Hao struck with his left fist.

Sokka hoped his plot had worked.

Hao's face was funny when his blow landed…

Landed in Ty Lee's open palm!

The acrobat smiled at him. "I got into a new defense stance while you were listening to Sokka, and then I could see from your aura that you were getting all mad and ready to hit me. Didn't your teacher tell you? Timing is very important."

Hao tried to pull his fist away, but Ty Lee held on to it and simply let his force move her easily along with him. He swatted at her with his other hand, a sloppy move, and she caught that one, too, with her own off-hand.

He sneered at her. "We are stuck. You cannot hit me. I cannot hit you. Omanjinai will finish this."

"Silly. I'm not just a Dim Mak specialist. I just like it because I don't want to hurt people, but you're just making it hard. So, I'm really sorry about this. Really." That wasn't entirely the truth. A little part of Ty Lee, the part that had thrived under Azula's leadership, was really looking forward to this next move.

Ty Lee twisted Hao's arms, and the armor did no good against a movement specifically allowed by its joints. Then she yanked at a specific angle, and Hao's scream was testament to the ligament damage Ty Lee had wrought.

She bit her lip and focused on how horrible it felt to do that to a living person.

Sokka would have to let Ty Lee know; it was a very impressive-looking move. It certainly captivated Omanjinai, at least long enough for Sokka to do what he needed.

That little speech- educated guesswork, really- hadn't just been about letting Ty Lee set up a new defensive stance and plan. It had also served to give Sokka a few more moments in which to recover. He had fought Ty Lee during the war, and suffered the brunt of quite a few of her attacks. After the war, he had sparred with the Kyoshi Warriors who Ty Lee had trained, and learned a number of ways of defending against such attacks. The most desperate of them consisted of jerking quickly just before the impact, to move the chi-node slightly askew from the blow.

It still hurt. It still paralyzed, but not as effectively as it might have.

So it was that Sokka was able, despite tingling limbs and pain that heralded massive bruises, to drag himself to his feet and over to Omanjinai, where he bashed the man over the head with his sheathed sword.

The Firebender dropped like a bag of cabbages. All the fires in the room abruptly died out.

Sokka looked over at Ty Lee, She was peeling Hao out of his armor, striking at newly exposed chi-nodes to make sure he wouldn't be moving again anytime soon. She realized that Sokka was staring at her, and looked up at him. "Are you okay?"

Sokka smiled. "Nope. I'm in pain, and my tingling legs are mumbling something along the nerves about getting ready to collapse under me."

Ty Lee was at his side as quickly as she could cartwheel over, which was actually a respectable interval below a single second. She caught Sokka as he started to tumble, and settled him into a chair she dragged over with her left foot. The chair was only mildly charred from the fight. "Thanks."

The acrobat stayed by him, her eyes bright. "Thank you! So, we win?"

"Almost," Sokka sighed. "Remember we need to keep these guys here throughout the fighting. It would probably be a good idea to barricade the door. The less fighting we have to do, the better."

"Yeah," she said, but didn't move. Sokka suddenly realized that, in the process of getting him into the chair, Ty Lee had innocently initiated quite a bit of physical contact, and now was not so innocently maintaining that contact. "Your plan worked."

"More or less. I didn't expect the whole switcheroo thing. That nearly caused trouble."

Ty Lee was practically in his lap, now. "I fixed that part for you. You should know you could count on me. Everyone always thinks Mai is the reliable one, because she has sharp things that people are scared of and she looks pretty scary herself. Maybe it's because I wear so much less clothing than her."

Sokka didn't tell her that Katara always found the bubbly pink acrobat who could take bending away to be the scarier of the pair. Maybe it was the ebbing pain, or maybe just the adrenaline, but he was enjoying Ty Lee's flirting. "Honestly, that bit is probably why I had a hard time noticing Mai. I like staring at you. Cute is much better than scary."

Ty Lee's easy comfort disappeared, and she stood up. "Well," she said with a smile that Sokka thought looked a little stiff, "you can watch me barricade the door."

"Hey, wait…" Sokka reached for her, but she swatted his hand away in a way that sent sensations of whalebone pins and needles up his arm. "Ahh…"

"Ooh, sorry!" She stopped where she was, and looked at him with eyes that seemed… vulnerable.

"Do I scare you?" he found himself asking.

"No! …no more than anyone else. I just…"

"Ty, I like you. I think you like me. If there's a problem there, I'm sorry. But... is there anything I can do to help? Because, in my experience, people liking each other is a good thing. I think I'd like to be a good thing with you. Don't you like good?"

She smiled, this time more naturally. "I really like good. I always thought that more people should."

This was the moment. Sokka turned on his best, legacy-of-Hakoda, pride-of-the-Southern-Water-Tribe, scourge-of-feminine-apathy-everywhere smile. "Then shouldn't you do your part?"

"Suuuuuure. How would you like me to try?"

"Well, the usual formula is to start with a kiss. We can improvise so that next we barricade the door together, and after that we can just wing it."

"I'm good at winging."

"I do okay, myself. Did you know, I made up Wang Fire with only five minutes notice?"

Ty Lee didn't answer. The pair got started on their plan.

Many hours later, Fire Lord Zuko himself found Sokka and Ty Lee snuggling in the library, with two very important terrorists unconscious on top of a table on the other side of the room. He was grateful for their efforts, but a bit confused about how they wound up an official couple while infiltrating the stronghold of a dangerous warlord.

Royal Consort Mai, who had accompanied her husband, didn't say anything at first, but later commented to Ty Lee, "What took you so long?"

The reply was simple. "I had to get to know Wang Fire."

END