Mai and Ty Lee go swimming.

"You have to come in! The water's great!" Ty Lee turned a somersault and plunged down into the depths of the tranquil forest pool, her bare feet flashing in the air. Mai sighed.

"Shouldn't we be hunting the Avatar?" she said, as her her friend's smiling face broke the surface. "We don't have time to take a break."

"Sure we do."

"What would Azula say?"

"Azula isn't here right now," Ty Lee pointed out, splashing around in the water. Tall trees stood all around them, branches waving in the gentle breeze. "She doesn't have to know."

"She told us we're not allowed to have any fun until we find Aang."

"We've been looking for clues for hours! We deserve a rest! Anyway, he's probably long gone by now. We searched all the towns in the area and we found nothing."

"Then we should get after him."

"You're just afraid to get your hair wet."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I don't have a swimsuit."

"Neither do I."

"We don't all have your... lack of inhibitions." Mai coloured faintly as she watched Ty Lee float on her back, looking up at the clear blue sky. "I can't go in like... like that."

"Why not?"

"Someone might see."

"We're miles from anywhere."

"Someone could come along! There might be... woodsmen."

"Woodsmen?"

"Shut up."

"I think you're just chicken."

"I'm not chicken."

"Bawk."

"Shut up!"

"Baaawk bawk bawk bawk..."

"If I come in for five minutes, will you be quiet?"

"Sure."

"But promise not to tell Azula, okay?"

"Bawk bawk bawk..."

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!"

Hastily, Mai shucked off her clothes. She stood naked on the muddy bank of the pool, glancing around nervously, afraid that hidden eyes might be watching her from the shadows. Ty Lee, equally naked, rolled her eyes.

"Just jump in!"

"What if it's cold?"

"It's not!"

SPLASH.

"You lied! It's freezing!"

"It's fine when you get used to it."

"You're the worst!"

"Nice, though, isn't it?"

"...yes."

"And it's good to have some time to ourselves," confessed Ty Lee, swimming up to Mai as the other girl waded further into the pond. "You know. Without her around."

"I guess it is. She drives us pretty hard, huh?"

"Azula's great. I love Azula. But sometimes she can be a little..."

"Mean?"

"Yep," said Ty Lee. "She can be a little mean."

"Oh, no," said Azula, sweetly. "I wouldn't say that. I just care about my work."

The two girls spun around in the water. Azula was standing by the side of the pond, fully dressed, next to their clothes. She was smiling, but somehow she didn't look happy.

"Um," said Ty Lee.

"Ah," said Mai. "We can explain."

"We were just, uh..."

"Hunting the Avatar!"

"We think he..."

"Fell into the pond!"

"You were hunting the Avatar?"

"Yeah!"

"Naked?"

The two girls looked down. They were both, indeed, naked. They looked back up at Azula, who seemed to be staring very intently at their bodies. Hesitantly, Mai folded her arms over her small breasts. She glanced helplessly at Ty Lee, who was crouching low in the water. She didn't mind swimming with Ty Lee, but somehow being seen by Azula was different. She felt much more like she was being judged.

"We... didn't want to get our clothes wet," she said.

"So your plan was to fight the Avatar in the nude?"

"I... guess?"

"Did you think that would distract him? Or would he be so helpless with laughter he wouldn't put up a fight?"

"We, uh..."

"I don't think you were hunting the Avatar at all. I think you abandoned your jobs to go skinny-dipping."

"We're sorry," said Ty Lee, doing her best to look contrite and crouching down even lower.

"It won't happen again," said Mai, pressing her arms even more tightly to her chest.

"Oh, don't worry, you two. This kind of thing happens all the time. Not everyone can work as hard as me. I am a princess, after all."

"We let you down."

"It was all our fault."

"That's true," said Azula. "But I'm in a magnanimous mood, so I've decided to forgive you. In fact, as long as you're back at the inn before nightfall, I don't see why the two of you shouldn't go skinny-dipping as long as you like."

"Azula, we're so grateful!"

"Thank you so much!"

"You do remember where the inn is, don't you? You follow the dirt track out of the forest, then you follow the highway for a couple of miles until you get back to the town. There's always people in the road, you can't miss it. Farmers and things."

"Um..."

"Thank you for... reminding us, Azula," said Mai, cautiously. She wasn't sure she liked where this was going.

"We're staying at the best hotel in town, of course. Overlooks the market square, which is crowded this time of year. I think it's cabbage season or something. You just walk right through the market and up to the front door."

"That's... very helpful."

"Don't mention it. It's so important to be kind to your friends, even when they do let you down. Wouldn't want people to think you were... mean."

"Nobody would ever think that."

"Wonderful," said Azula. "Well, I'll leave you to it. Just as long as you're back by nightfall, remember. The walk shouldn't be more than an hour or so."

"I thought we might..."

"I'll take your riding lizards back with me. They need a rest too, you know."

"Of course," said Mai. "We have to remember the lizards."

"But the pair of you will enjoy the exercise." Azula pointed at Ty Lee's pile of clothes, and they burst into blue flame, leaving nothing but ash behind. She pointed at Mai's clothes, and they did exactly the same thing. Both girls gulped as they looked at the complete absence of anything where their clothes used to be. Azula was grinning. It was the scariest thing either of them had ever seen.

"After all," she said, "I wouldn't want you to think I was mean."