Leaving town

There might have been more quiet places to hide, but Azula wasn't going to slow down to look at them. She moved as fast as she could, the streets and town around her a blur, and as soon as she saw the archway over the town's entrance, picked up another burst of speed.

It was a relief to escape the jeers and stares, though she didn't slow down until she made it to the cover of some trees. She tripped over a bush, and crawled even further, before collapsing onto the ground and gasping for air.

Breathing was an important part of fire-bending. She couldn't afford to be sloppy.

Eventually she sat up, casting a hateful look back over her shoulder. She still couldn't believe she'd been made to do that. She was meant to have total control of who did and did not see her naked, not to be shown off like that.

Azula shuddered, then scowled as she looked down and saw the mud clinging to her skin. She got to her feet, and after a step saw a natural spring in the forest. Quickly, she hurried towards it, eager to scrub off all the mud.

She wanted to at least look presentable. She'd clean up, mug as many peasant travellers as it took to find something presentable to wear, and then she'd be back.

Then they'd pay. She swore that to herself.

Ty Lee looked out the alleyway, where Azula's butt had been a few moments ago. She gulped. "Did... Azula just run naked through the street?" Ty Lee said.

"Yup," Mai said.

"Because of something we did," Ty Lee said.

"Looks that way," Mai said.

Ty Lee gulped again.

"She's gonna be so mad," Ty Lee said.

Mai said nothing. They continued to stare at the absence.

"She's gonna make us crawl naked from here to the Fire Nation," Ty Lee whimpered. "She's gonna burn up our entire wardrobes. She's gonna make me perform my acrobatics in front of the whole Capital like that. She's gonna spank us for hours and then make us punish each other and then make us go out naked anyway. She's gonna use us as a footstool while we lick each other for her entertainment. She's gonna hang us up in the square and give the whole town feathers to tickle us with. And that's just what I can think of, she's way more imaginitive than me!"

Ty Lee stared in horror. Mai, inexpressive as ever, still seemed notably peturbed.

Someone cleared her throat. The two turned. Katara looked at them expectantly.

"Oh. You're still here," Mai said.

Katara raised an eyebrow. Ty Lee gasped, excitedly running up to the waterbender.

"Hey! You're a goody-good! You don't strip your prisoners and make them do all kinds of naughty humiliating things, do you?" Ty Lee said.

Katara blinked.

"Um. No?" she said.

"Good!" Ty Lee said. "We surrender! Protect us! We'll do anything!"

Katara kept staring. Eventually Aang and Sokka approached behind her, on-guard as soon as they saw the two women, then relaxing as they saw Ty Lee pleading.

"Wait, you want to help us?" Sokka said. "Even if it means stopping Azula?"

"Anything but go back to her!" Ty Lee said.