Azula gets found

Ty Lee was trying not to laugh. Azula could tell. The acrobat was doing her best to look respectful, but Azula could see the gleam of amusement in her eyes. She gritted her teeth, pressed her hands tightly to her bare, slender body and said, in a freezing voice, "Well, you certainly took your time."

"Sorry, Azula."

"You don't look sorry. Is something funny, Ty Lee?"

"Um, no, Azula."

"We have to go," said Mai, who was looking nervous. "The Avatar's out looking for you as well. I heard Katara say she couldn't wait to get her hands on you. We brought you some towels."

"You must be joking. A princess of the Fire Nation isn't going to walk through the streets in nothing but a towel."

"There's no-one around," said Ty Lee. "They're all at some kind of festival in the main square. It's the Day of the Bathing Maiden, or something like that."

"I don't care. You're going to give me some actual clothes."

"But, Azula, we don't have any actual clothes."

"Why, of course you do."

Ty Lee looked down at her body, which was indeed clad in clothes. She looked up at Azula. "You want us too, uh..."

"Take your clothes off," said Azula, smirking. She might be standing naked in front of her friends, stranded in a foreign city and covering herself with her hands, but she was pretty sure she had the advantage. "Give them to me. Now."

"And... and we'll walk home in the towels?"

"Oh, no."

"No?"

"Do you think I'd let you have towels? After that little prank you played on me?"

"Azula! It was just a joke! We were only going to leave you in there for ten minutes, but then you ran away!"

"The pair of you are walking home naked. Actually, crawling home. And I'm going to spank you the whole way. And you have to roll in the mud. Get to it."

"But..."

"And that's just the start, girls. I'm going to strip and humiliate you pathetic little perverts in every town from here to the North Pole. Why, you're not even benders. You think you can play a prank on a princess? You're going to learn your place, peasants. Strip. Now."

"Don't you think that's a little..."

"Now."

Azula fixed her scornful gaze on Ty Lee and took a step forward, blue flame burning at the tips of her fingers, fully expecting the other girl to defer to her orders. She was very surprised when, instead, Ty Lee's hand flashed out and caught her in the armpit.

"Hey! Ow! What did you just... where's my fire?"

"Oh, I disabled your bending. It'll come back on when I let it come back on."

"You little minx! I'll kill you!" Azula leaped for Ty Lee, tripped over the acrobat's outstretched foot and went sprawling into the mud. She heard a giggle, and felt a foot planted in the small of her back, pinning her down.

"Not without your bending you won't."

"Let me up! What is the meaning of this?"

"Say sorry."

"A princess never apologises!"

"And promise you won't punish us."

"Never!"

"Then I guess I'll just keep you here. Naked. In the mud. Or maybe we can figure out something else to do."

"I will destroy you! Let me up!"

Azula writhed and squirmed and spit insults at Ty Lee, unable to believe what was happening. She couldn't be defeated by her own underling. It was just too humiliating to think about. But here she was, flat on her face, wriggling in the dirt like a common peasant, with no idea how she was going to get out of it. She couldn't apologise, but Ty Lee just wasn't listening to her, and she had no idea how else she was going to get out of it. Still, at least nobody else was watching.

"Hey," said Katara, appearing in the mouth of the alley. "There she is."