I looked down at the sky cow and gave him a shrug before following Katara in her search for Aang. It turned out that it was an incredibly easy task to accomplish. It was a small village, and it seemed like everyone that we passed by had seen Aang passing by at some point within the past ten minutes or so. Even with vague instructions, it wasn't difficult to notice the literal horde of young girls that followed Aang around.

"Aang!" Katara shouted, once we got close enough to see him. He was telling something to the children around him as they hung off his every word, but as soon as he heard Katara, he spun around to look at her with a wide grin on his face.

"Katara!" he shouted happily. "I was just telling these ladies about how-"

"Aang," Katara said, interrupting him and pushing her way through the crowd of children to grab his wrist. "We need to go."

"What, why?" Aang said, nearly falling forward as Katara pulled him along. "I was just about to tell you about the Unagi."

"The Unagi?" Katara repeated. "What are you talking about, Aang?"

In the moment of confusion, Aang managed to pull his wrist away from her, rubbing it for a second before smiling. "Yeah, the Unagi! Koko told me that there's a huge sea monster that lives near the coasts of this place," he said, puffing out his chest and pointing at himself with his thumb. "And I'm going to ride it."

The look of dismay that Katara gave him seemed to fall short, especially since he wasn't actually looking at her.

"What?" she asked. "What are you talking about Aang? Who's Koko?"

"I'm Koko," one of the children surrounding him said, raising her hand.

Katara looked down at her, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but she shook her head.

"We don't have time for that, Aang," she said, ignoring the child completely. "The Fire Nation could be catching up to us in any minute. We need to get out of here soon, before this village gets invaded by soldiers."

A look of shock passed through Aang's features for a split second before the child spoke up again.

"Don't listen to her, Aangy," she said. "She's just trying to get you away from us so she can have you all to herself. She's jealous."

Katara's head whipped down to give the child a death glare that even I found impressive, but the child seemed unintimidated. Either that or she simply hadn't noticed.

Despite the murder that Katara's eyes promised, Aang seemed to be just as oblivious to it as his groupies were, laughing and rubbing the back of his head. "Ladies, ladies," he said. "There's no need to fight. There's enough of me to go around."

Katara's jaw dropped as she stared at Aang, with Aang giving her an awkward smile back.

"C'mon Katara," he said. "It'll be fine. We haven't seen the bad guys in like a week. How would they even know where we are?"

Katara glanced back at me, seeming to remember why she had marched here in the first place. I didn't move to help her, not willing to speak on her behalf especially if it lowered the chances of a fight coming my way.

"Ty Lung told me that the rumour mill in this village is strong," she said. "He says that half the Earth Kingdom probably knows that you're alive by now."

Aang's expression dropped slightly, but Koko was quick to revive it.

"C'mon Aangy," Koko whined, tugging at Aang's sleeve. "Stop paying attention to this old lady. She must be getting delusional in her age."

"Old?!" Katara shouted.

"Even if the Fire Nation does come, we have the Kyoshi Warriors here," Koko continued. "They're the greatest warriors in all of the Earth Kingdom. They'll kick the Fire Nation's butts when they come."

"Aang," Katara said. "Please, you can't seriously be considering actually staying. You'd be risking these people's lives."

Though Aang's expression had been wavering through this entire conversation so far, that final comment from Katara had been the most effective one by far, pulling his lips down into a deep frown. Unfortunately for Katara, Koko still had some tricks up her sleeve.

"Please, Aangy," she said, tugging on his sleeve. "Don't leave yet. We love you!"

As if on cue, the other groupies surrounding him repeated those final words almost in complete sync, like a chorus. The frown on Aang's face was immediately replaced by a dopey grin, and the girls seemed to realize that they'd won, with each of them a part of Aang's clothes and pulling him away from Katara.

"Sorry, Katara," he said, as he let himself be pulled away. "You heard the girls. I can't leave just yet."

Katara stared blankly at him, and I wasn't actually certain if she was conscious or not. I started to wonder if my absurd theory earlier, about Aang being the master of the fifth element of hopes and dreams wasn't simply just a delusion created by my despondent mind, wasn't so crazy after all.

It was only after he was long gone that Katara managed to shake off the aftereffects of his psychological warfare.

"AANG, YOU ABSOLUTE WHORE!"

Though Aang wasn't around to hear it, a good handful of villagers stared at Katara with wide eyes and visible gasps. She didn't seem to notice, as she turned around and stomped away. With how confused she had been with the concept of an attention whore when I brought it up earlier, I wondered if I had accidentally mistaught her what the word meant, but after thinking about how he'd been acting, I could admit that Katara had been intentional in calling out Aang's whorish behaviour.

In either case, it wasn't really my obligation to correct her, so I didn't say anything when I caught up to her.

"I can't believe that actually happened," Katara fumed. "Can you believe it?"

"I'm surprised too," I admitted. "I never realized how formidable Koko was. She always seemed like such a dumb kid to me."

Though I didn't personally like to rely on manipulation or psychological attacks to win fights, I respected it as a form of strength in and of itself. Though I wouldn't go seeking Koko out for tips, I had to acknowledge her as a master of her art.

Katara didn't acknowledge what I said as she continued to rant and ramble to herself about Aang and the stupid island. It seemed like she wouldn't shake herself out of her anger any time soon.

Not seeing any point in sticking around, I left Katara alone to rave in the streets as I picked a random direction to wander towards, until I ended up in the middle of the forests of Kyoshi Island.

In the dense foliage, there wasn't much space to manoeuvre my body in the complex ways that the old lady had demonstrated to me, but it wasn't that much more confined than the hallway that she had taught me in. Recalling the stance that she took, and the intent behind it, I let myself go, letting my body meld with my mind.

I flowed from one form to the next, replicating the exact same series of stances and moves that the old lady had taught me. I didn't understand all of them, nor did I think I could replicate them all perfectly as I was, but I copied them as best as I could, to teach my body the mechanics behind them, despite my mind not being able to keep up.

I stayed in that spot, practising for about an hour, before I got tired enough that I collapsed on the floor. I rested for another hour, but my mind remained active, as it hadn't been as active as my body. I tried to run through the stances and moves, and most of them still eluded me, but one of the moves stood out to me.

The stomp that had sent a spiderweb of cracks appearing in her floor.

If I was being honest with myself, the only reason why that move stood out to me so clearly was because it was flashy. As embarrassing as it was to be so interested in a move just because it looked impressive, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wasn't closer to understanding it than I was with the rest of the moves that the old lady had shown me, but at the very least, the intention of the move was clearer than the rest.

Destruction.

The old lady had described the unnamed martial art as being one of Avatar Kyoshi's early creations, one that was less detached from the monstrous bending ability and physique than the more refined arts that the modern day Kyoshi Warriors used. A hard art.

Whenever I thought of hard martial arts, I thought of fast and powerful strikes, swinging with enough force to crush bones.

The old lady's stomp matched most of what I imagined when I thought of a hard strike, but the lack of speed and weight behind the blow still puzzled me. Though I wouldn't call the old lady scrawny, with her still being able to haul elephant koi in the kitchen despite her age, I would've guessed she was half my weight.

I stood up and stomped down on the ground as hard as I could, but when I looked down, the only thing I saw was a slight depression in the shrubbery underneath my feet.

My stomp was heavier and faster than the old lady's had been, and yet it didn't even begin to match the destructive force behind it.

I frowned, but not to be deterred, I tried again, over and over until I collapsed from exhaustion once more.

I repeated this a few more times before it got dark, and with shaky legs, I stumbled back out of the forest. Though it was early enough that the Kyoshi Warriors were probably on the tail end of finishing up their communal dinner, I felt too tired to eat and headed toward the storage cabin that I used as my room.

Stumbling inside, I fell into bed without hesitation and was surprised when I heard a feminine yelp from within my blankets.

"We didn't cover surprise attacks yet," a familiar voice shrieked.

I frowned.

"Why are you in my bed, Sokka?" I asked.

"Ty Lung?" Sokka asked.

I rolled my eyes, though he definitely couldn't see it with how dark it was.

"Yes, it's me," I said. "Now what are you doing in my bed?"

"Oh," Sokka said, laughing nervously. "Suki said I could use it to rest for a few minutes after our training session. Apparently guys aren't allowed to sleep in the main building, and this was all they had. I was just gonna lie down for a bit and head back to my place, but I guess I just sort of fell asleep?"

I frowned, and was about to request that he left so I could sleep, but I realized something. If Suki had told him to sleep here, it would be her fault that I couldn't use my bed and she wouldn't be able to complain if I slept outside like I wanted to.

"It's no problem," I said, standing up and walking out of the storage shed. "You can keep the place. I'll sleep outside."

"Huh? What are you talking about, it's the middle of wint-"

I closed the door before he could finish and headed back to my spot in the forest.

Once I returned to the spot where I'd been practising, I pulled a few branches off of the surrounding trees to create a basic shelter for myself, not wanting to try and find a cave like I'd done in the mountains, and went to sleep.

The next day, I barely moved from that small spot in the forest, only occasionally leaving my spot to gather edible plants, and to hunt and cook my game in a spot where I could start a fire without burning the whole forest down. Otherwise, I trained in the same spot, stomping down over and over until I became exhausted, resting until I could gather my strength, and repeating the process.

A whole day passed, and I had nothing to show for it, other than an imprint in the foliage. I frowned, and considered checking up on the village, in case the fire nation had shown up without me somehow hearing it, but if that was the case, I almost didn't care at this point. The obsession with the old lady's move had already overtaken me, and I wasn't sure if I would be satisfied with my next fight without being able to use it.

I slept, and dreamt of stomps.

I woke up the next day with my legs sore. Though my body was trained well enough that it usually never happened, it seemed that the two days of almost non-stop training had been enough to almost cripple me with pain. I understood that training in this state probably wasn't a wise idea and that taking a rest day would leave me in better shape than I had been in before, but while my body complained, my mind still craved.

So I continued to stomp.

The pain and exhaustion had piled up overnight to the point where I could barely move, but I moved anyways. I stomped on the ground continuously, until I couldn't summon any strength in my legs.

But even without strength in my legs, I felt the need to stomp.

So I stomped without my legs.

I blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what had just happened, not quite understanding what I did. If it weren't for the utter clarity I felt and the way that my heart suddenly pounded strong in my chest, I might've thought I had blacked out for a second. I was in a low stance, with my legs planted firmly into the ground, despite my certainty that I didn't have the strength to move them. I tried to lift my foot up to inspect it.

But it was stuck. I looked down, to try and understand why, and when I saw that my foot was stuck in the ground, about a half-inch deep, I felt my heart pounding at the sight.

I tried to pull my foot out, but in my excitement and the weakness that still plagued my legs, I fell over backwards. I was stabbed by several branches on the way down, and felt a few gashes being cut into my skin, but I was too excited to care about the pain.

It took me about an hour of intense focus to process what I had just done, but once I felt like I'd figured it out, I stood up, ignoring the protests of my shaking legs and raised my foot into the air.

I didn't stomp quickly, letting my foot fall with the pull of gravity, and even if I wanted to, my legs were too tired to summon the strength necessary to create that same destructive force that the old lady had shown me.

But the rest of my body, eager to be challenged after days of complete disuse, held an excess amount of energy within them.

So I stomped, not with my legs, but with my entire body.

From the top of my head to the end of my toes, I tensed my muscles, and summoned my strength. I gathered all of the energy I could summon from within me, and I imagined it coursing through my body, like blood rushing through my veins, gathering in my feet. My legs felt dense with power, as my foot fell, and once it hit the ground, I imagined all my energy rushing out at the impact, bursting out like an explosion of power, concentrated on the bottoms of my foot.

My foot became stuck once more, still about half an inch deep into the ground and I grinned to myself, before bursting out with laughter, like I was releasing the excess energy that had gathered within me.

I laughed and laughed, until I felt like I could laugh no more. I laughed until I ran out of breath, passing out and waking up on the floor, before I laughed again.

Though it was nowhere near complete, I had figured something out. Not even the realisation of how severe my debt to the old lady actually was could quell my excitement.

I felt like a child with a new toy, wanting to keep using my new technique to dig my feet deeper into the ground until I was completely submerged, for no other reason than the fact that I knew I could, but I knew that I should temper myself.

Though my exhaustion had been one of the contributing factors to me discovering this technique in the first place, I knew that if I continued to practise under these conditions, it was possible that I might develop bad habits because of it, making me weaker overall.

So I gave my spot in the forest a bow of respect before turning around and heading back towards the village.

The village was still standing, with no burn marks to suggest that the Fire Nation had been around. Though I wasn't too surprised, since I hadn't been far enough that the sounds of battle wouldn't have reached me, I had admittedly been a little worried about the possibility that I might've been too focused to hear anything outside of the sounds of my own heartbeat.

By the time I got to the Kyoshi dojo, it was early enough that breakfast hadn't started, and several of the Warriors simply milled around the dojo, waiting idly for the Warriors on kitchen duty to announce that food was ready.

The Warriors seemed surprised by my presence, but not in a negative way. Most of them waved at me, giving me casual greetings, though some of them seemed to be shyer than usual about it. Though I returned each of their greetings with a wave and a smile, most of my attention was focused on the kitchens as I wondered what was on the menu for today. I vaguely realized that I had accidentally skipped one of my kitchen duty days, and wondered if I might be denied my food for that, but I had given Suki plenty of reasons to starve me before, and she'd never taken away my food for it.

Though I had been eating somewhat properly over the past few days, I wasn't surprised to hear my stomach grumbling in anticipation for a meal with actual seasoning beyond the salt of my own sweat.

When I heard the meal gong ring, I lined up with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors to pick up my food. When I got to the front of the line, I gave a smile to Lan, who was in charge of distributing the food today.

"Good morning, Lan," I said. "Mind giving me a little extra today? I'll keep it a secret from Suki."

Lan gave me a shy smile and her eyes darted up at me in short glances, unable to keep proper eye contact with me for some reason.

"I'm not sure how possible that will be, Ty Lung," she said, with an apologetic smile and a discrete finger point behind me.

I turned around to see Suki staring down at me, which was impressive considering how much shorter she was than me. I gave her a smile and a wave.

"I'm back," I said.

Suki's eyes scanned my body for a second, before she locked eyes with me.

"You look more confident," she said. "I have no idea how you managed that, considering how cocky you already were."

I shrugged. "I figured something out," I said.

Suki seemed to search my eyes for a deeper explanation, but I respected the dojo too much to want to give a demonstration and destroy it, though it was possible that it was reinforced enough to withstand my stomps, given that it had been built to withstand Kyoshi.

Eventually she shrugged and grabbed my wrist to pull me away from Lan.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"My food!" I complained, though I let myself be dutifully dragged away.

"If you're going to eat in the dojo, you'll have to do it with the proper respect," she said. "Your food will still be here after you've washed up and dressed."

"Ah, I knew I was forgetting something," I said, nodding along to what she said.

Suki sighed and shook her head as she pulled me out of the dojo, towards the section of the yards that the Warriors used to wash themselves.

"You leave my sight for three days and you already revert back to being a complete savage," she said, still shaking her head. "What did you even do? Go into the forest to fight the squirrel bears?"

"You have squirrel bears here?" I asked.

"No," Suki said, a little too quickly. "And if there were, they would be an important part of the island's ecosystem and you shouldn't fight them."

I laughed as Suki pushed me into the washing area.

"Fair enough," I said, before I reached down to pull up my shirt and tossed it onto the floor.

Suki stared at my chest for a moment, but flinched when she realized that I had noticed. I grinned at her.

"I'm not ashamed of my body," I said. "You're allowed to stare."

"Shut up," she said, bending over to pick my shirt up off the ground and inspecting it. "Not like there's much of a difference with this off or on anyways. You basically had your entire chest hanging out of these rags. I was joking about the squirrel bears, but what did you fight to make your clothes look like this?"

"Trees, mostly," I said, with a shrug. "I fell a bunch and got scratched up by their branches. I didn't even realize my clothes were so torn up until now, but I guess it makes sense."

"Trees?" Suki asked, clearly amused by the idea. "You got beaten up by trees?"

The way she said it annoyed me, so I quickly reached down and pulled down my pants. Suki's eyes widened before she spun around so fast that it might've made her dizzy.

"Warn me before you do that," she said, through gritted teeth.

"Your fault for sticking around," I said. "Why are you sticking around, anyways?"

"To make sure you washed up properly," she said, though she didn't seem too confident in the answer. She seemed to realize it too, since she started to walk away.

"I'll bring you your uniform," she said before she disappeared out of my sight.

It took me less than a minute for me to finish washing up, and thankfully, Suki didn't take much longer than that to return. She kept her eyes hidden behind her hand and only stopped once she walked behind the divider wall that gave the bathing area a minimal amount of privacy. With the Kyoshi Warriors being all female, and with the dojo being isolated from the village and the non-Warrior villagers too reverent of the Warriors to even dare to peek, I suppose the lack of privacy wasn't usually an issue.

"Here," Suki said, with only her arm sticking out from behind the wall, holding out a towel for me.

"Thanks," I said, taking it and drying myself off. By the time I finished, Suki held out my uniform for me, which I took and quickly donned.

I stepped around the dividing wall, and Suki flinched initially, but relaxed when she saw I was clothed.

"Food," I said.

"Face paint," she replied.

"Fine," I said, with a huff.

I bent down to pick up my discarded pants, not wanting to leave a mess, but paused when I realized my shirt was gone. It took me a moment to remember that Suki had taken it away when she left to get my clothes, so I shrugged to myself, knowing it was taken care of.

I made my way to my cabin, and was surprised to see that it was messier than usual, but didn't bother to fuss about it too much before putting on my face paint and heading back to the mess hall.

When I got there, it seemed like all of the Kyoshi Warriors had been served their food and were already sitting and eating in silence, aside from Lan, who was still waiting by the end of the room at the serving tables. I jogged over to her, and though she looked a little disappointed, she smiled up at me.

"Sorry for the wait, Lan," I said. "You must be hungry too."

"Nah, it's alright," she said. "You're not the last person I need to serve anyways. Water Tribe boy's a pretty talented cook, but he's a bit slow on kitchen duty since he's not used to doing 'girl work.'"

"Girl work?" I asked.

Lan didn't bother to answer my question, just laughing instead. Without another word, she filled up a bowl of soup and a separate bowl of rice and fish for me, pushing it down to pack in as much food as she could without it spilling over the edge.

"Enjoy," she said, before waving me on my way.

"Thanks," I said, before heading to the tables.

I sat down in a free spot at the tables, and started to eat. Though I could feel several stares on me, it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling so I ignored it and focused on my food. It was pretty good, and if Lan was to be believed that it was a result of Sokka's cooking, I was impressed if it really was his first time.

As if summoned by my thoughts, I felt a new set of eyes staring at me and I looked up to see Sokka across the table from me, still standing, like he couldn't decide if he should sit down or not.

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he grimaced.

"You're wearing the same uniform as everyone else, right?" he asked.

The question confused me, but I nodded.

"Yeah," I said, through a mouthful of food.

Sokka stared silent for a few long seconds before he spoke up again.

"You're wearing a dress and makeup, just like me," he said. "I mean, I know it's not something to be embarrassed about, honour and tradition and all that, but how do you make it look so... rugged?"

I had no idea how to answer that, so I simply shrugged and returned to my food.

Sokka let out a low groan, but he sat down across from me. The Kyoshi Warrior to his left gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

Though I usually finished my food fast, I had a lot to go through thanks to Lan, and by the time I had finished, a majority of the Kyoshi Warriors had already filed out of the dojo. Aside from Sokka, Suki, and Lan, who all started eating after I did, and a small handful of Warriors that stuck around, the dojo was surprisingly empty, given the fact that morning practice was due to begin soon.

But I supposed that didn't matter too much.

After I took my plates and bowls over to the kitchens, thanking the Warrior on duty, I walked up to Suki and sat across from her.

As I approached, I noticed the apprehensive expression that she wore, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I didn't think the food was that bad," I said.

"I agree," Suki said. "Sokka's actually pretty talented at cooking, if you ignore his constant complaining whenever he steps foot in the kitchen. It's kind of annoying how good he is, actually."

"Then what's got you so bothered?" I asked.

"The possibility that the Fire Nation might attack us," she said. "What else?"

I blinked a few times in surprise, but Suki seemed to be staring too deeply at her food to notice.

"You scared Katara pretty badly into thinking that we'll be attacked for certain, but I can't help but agree with your logic," she continued. "Even if the Avatar's party does leave, there's no guarantee that we'd be left alone regardless, since they could assume that we're harbouring him. We haven't received any warnings from the mainland yet, but everyone here's been anticipating a fight."

"Oh," I said.

Suki paused, with her chopsticks frozen in the air, halfway to her mouth. She put them down before looking up at me.

"What was that?" she asked, her voice flat.

I shrugged. "Nothing," I said. "I was just a little surprised that you knew about the Fire Nation coming already. I guess I didn't consider the possibility that Katara would've told you already. Convenient, though. Saves me the trouble."

Suki stared at me, an expression of disbelief and hurt passing through her eyes before it returned to neutral.

"You thought we didn't know about it?" she asked. "And you didn't think to warn us before going off into the forest for three days?"

"Yeah, I know," I said, with a sigh. "I didn't really think about it, but to be fair, I've been pretty busy. Pretty stupid of me in hindsight."

Suki glowered at me, but for some reason, even though I should've been more than used to her being annoyed at me, given that it was pretty much her constant state around me, I felt a subtle sting in my chest.

"Yeah," Suki said, standing up from the table. "It was pretty stupid of you."

I frowned, not understanding why I felt so upset by Suki's reaction, but before I could try to figure it out further, she stalked away from her spot, her footsteps heavier than usual.

A few of the Warriors seemed to notice their leader's immediate shift in mood, but hadn't been close enough to overhear our conversation. Not that I knew if it would help them understand, since I had been a part of it and I had no idea why she had been so upset.

I wasn't completely out of tune with other people's emotions and needs, but I had always made that clear. Though I owed a debt to the old lady to keep Suki safe, and I would throw myself between her and the firebenders to make sure of it, it wasn't like that debt extended to the rest of the village, and besides, Suki didn't even know about it in the first place.

I hadn't expected Suki to think of me as some sort of altruistic sort, and quite frankly, I was hurt by the idea that she would misjudge me so harshly. I thought we were closer than that.

Or not close... Just familiar.

I wasn't hurt either, just insulted that my trust in Suki's intuition had been broken. I had assumed that she knew me well enough to know that I didn't give a shit about anyone other than myself, just like how I knew her well enough to know that she cared about this stupid island and the people that lived on it.

I frowned and stared in the direction that Suki had retreated towards.

"Fuck," I said to myself, before walking in the same direction.

Though Suki had a head start on me, my longer stride, coupled with the fact that I was jogging while she walked, meant that I caught up to her quickly.

"Suki," I said, grabbing her shoulder.

When she spun around to me, I thought she might hit me, but she stopped herself. With her hands balled up into tight fists by her side, and a slight misty film over her eyes, she glared up at me. I winced as another mysterious pang of pain lanced through my chest, but I filed it away, making a mental note to see a doctor, before I focused my attention on the more important matter at hand.

"What do you want?" she asked.

I had no idea, but I talked anyway.

"I will never apologize for being me," I said. "But I will always apologize for not being me."

"What?" Suki asked, her sadness temporarily being replaced by confusion. The pain in my chest lightened, but it didn't go away completely.

It wasn't enough to satisfy me, for I was Ty Lung, and I would accept nothing if it wasn't everything.

"I didn't warn you about the Fire Nation attack, because I didn't think it was necessary," I said. "That is not an apology. I didn't tell you because to me, it didn't matter. I could've easily warned you about the invasion just as easily as I hadn't, but I had more important matters to attend to at the time. All I care about is becoming the strongest being in the mortal realm, and I do not care about what litters the path behind me. If the Fire Nation came and razed your entire village to the ground, I wouldn't have cared. I would simply leave and never look back, because I am me."

Suki's anger returned stronger than before. I heard the ominous creak of her leather gloves ring in the air between us, and watched as she bit her lip so hard that a bright line of blood mixed in with her lipstick. I didn't know for sure why she hadn't attacked me at this point, but I suspected that she assumed I was picking a fight, and that she didn't want to give me what I wanted.

"If I had any reason to warn you, it would be because I owe a debt to your grandmother for teaching me a martial art on the day that we went back to visit her, but I didn't consider it a good enough reason to warn you because I trust that you are strong enough to survive a fire nation invasion, regardless of what amount of preparation you have. You may not be strong enough to protect your entire village on your own without preparation or help, and while I knew that you would not be happy with that result, I didn't think it mattered to me. And for that I apologize."

"I don't accept your apology," Suki hissed through gritted teeth. "Now get out."

I grabbed her shoulders tighter, not willing to let her go before I was done.

"I'm not apologizing to you because I want your forgiveness," I said. "I'm apologizing to myself for not being true to me."

Suki reached up to grab my arms, and pressed her thumbs into my flesh. A horrible pain lanced through my arms, but I held fast.

"I was a fool, Suki!" I shouted, my voice rising involuntarily from the pain. "While it wouldn't hurt me to see the Island sink burning into the ocean that surrounds it, that doesn't mean I have any reason to allow it. I like the dojo, and the village, and the port city, and the delicious elephant koi that the old bitch serves up, and all the Kyoshi Warriors. And why isn't that enough? Why should I let anyone take anything that I like? Am I so weak that I cannot ensure the safety of those who linger on the path behind me? No. I am Ty Lung, strongest in the mortal realm. And for forgetting that fact, I apologize to myself."

The pressure in my arms lessened, but the glare in Suki's eyes didn't.

"Good for you," she hissed.

"It is a good lesson to learn," I agreed. "But I'm not done yet. I need to apologize to you as well."

Suki looked up at me for a second before looking down at her feet. She let go of my arms entirely and let them fall to her side.

"Don't bother," she said.

"I will bother," I said. "I betrayed you Suki, and by doing that, I betrayed the debt between us. Not the debt I made to your grandmother, but the one I made to you. I promised that I would devote my entire life to bringing you the same joy that you have given me, and by betraying you like this, I only place myself further in your debt."

I let go of Suki's shoulders and knelt down so that she could see my face even though she was looking down.

"Suki," I said, taking her hand in mine. "I swear to make you the happiest woman in the world."

There was a long pause before I heard someone clapping behind me, in a very confused rhythm. When nobody joined in on the applause, it slowly faded away.

"You know you just proposed to me again, right?" Suki asked.

"Do you want me to clarify to the other Warriors that I didn't?"

"No, it's okay," Suki said. "There's an easier way to make it clear that we're not a couple."

I smiled up at her, letting my body loosen up as Suki grabbed my shoulders and thrusted her knee into my groin.

I nearly threw up my breakfast, and didn't exactly resist the urge to vomit, thinking it would make Suki feel slightly better if I did, but unfortunately, my constitution was too strong to allow it, even as I writhed in pain on the floor, struggling to breathe.

When Suki squatted down in front of me, I looked up at her. I could barely decipher her expression through my clouded vision, but she didn't look as upset as she had been before, though she didn't seem to be anywhere close to feeling happy.

"Happiest woman in the world, huh?" she said. "Where'd you manage to pull that from? I remember you promising to make me happy, but happiest is a bit of a stretch from that."

I tried to answer her, but all I could manage was a dry wheeze at the moment.

"Hmm? What was that? You're going to have to speak a bit louder."

I tried not to begrudge her for the sly smile that was slowly appearing on her lips, still stained with blood.

"You," I said. "I said I'd give you the same joy that you've given me."

"What, then?" she asked. "You're saying I've made you the happiest man in the world? Do we have a set of toddlers running around that I don't know about?"

"No," I wheezed. "But for some reason, seeing you happy makes me happy. If I keep making you happy, it's only going to increase my debt, so the only way I can fulfil it is if I make you eternally happy."

Suki didn't say anything for a long moment before sighing.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she asked.

"Of course I am," I said. "Did you not realize that until now?"

"Of course not," she said. "I suppose I always knew."

"You know, I can't actually see anything at this angle, but to everyone else, it probably looks like I'm looking up your skirt right now."

Suki sighed again before standing up.

"You know, it would make me a very happy girl if you shut up every once in a while."

"Don't lie to me," I said. "I know you like it."

Suki sighed again.

It took a couple more minutes for me to regain feeling in my lower body, and I had the strange feeling that I was speaking in a slightly higher pitch than I had been a moment ago, but thankfully I didn't have much of a reason to talk. The Kyoshi Warrior rumour mill was going as strong as ever, and though I think that the rumour started to focus on the fact that I was "officially single" at some point, the Kyoshi Warriors that seemed like they wanted to approach me were all buffeted by the annoyed glares that Suki sent to anyone who got close to us.

I might've been worried about the possibility that she might develop a headache from the constant eye strain, but before the hour turned over, a messenger hawk flew above the dojo and hovered around in circles, until Suki lifted her arm. When it landed on her, she quickly took the note tied to its leg and read it, before jotting down a return message and sending it flying into the sky once more.

"They're coming," she said. "We've got three hours, Warriors. Make them count."

With how quickly the Kyoshi Warriors assembled and dispersed to their assigned posts, I wondered for a moment if the Kyoshi rumour mill was a trained skill for this group, but didn't think too hard on it as I considered where I should go.