On his second day of driving the Overlord to Gaoling, Xisheng had enough ire to curse the whole world a thousand times over. For one, he was up at an ungodly hour of the morning to get the vehicle on its way again, because Azula had explicitly told him when she wanted them to move out the day before.

Five in the morning wasn't even the crack of dawn.

No, the light of the sun was only just starting to illuminate the darkness of night when Xisheng woke up, in that fashion where you knew it was arriving but could still see no real trace of it. The fashion in which that light had not even managed to change the tint of the sky yet.

So yeah, he was up really fucking early.

On top of that, he had not slept well in the slightest. As he had predicted, the inside of the driver's cabin was ill-equipped for sleeping. The chair wasn't adjustable beyond how close or far it was from the controls, meaning it couldn't lean back for some semblance of a bed. And even if it did, it was hard as hell, being solid steel.

So naturally he had elected to sleep outside. That posed its own fair share of problems as well. For one, he had not come equipped for outdoor camping. He had nothing even remotely akin to a sleeping bag, and even though the grass and the dirt was still softer than the metal chair of the Overlord, it was definitely a far cry from comfortable.

And on top of that, the Earth Kingdom was lacking in a tropical climate like the Fire Nation had. When the warm rays of the sun were absent from the sky, it could actually grow fairly chilly without any normal means of warmth.

Of course Xisheng could keep himself warm, being a Firebender and all, but the problem with that was it wasn't an automatic process. He had to actually focus and actively do something to keep himself warm, and as most people knew, those two things were rather counterproductive when it came to sleep.

So in short, Xisheng had not slept very long overall, and the few hours he did sleep were constantly interrupted by chills and the general discomfort of the ground.

So he was in a distinctly bad mood as he sat in the driver's cabin of the Overlord, checking all of its instruments and roughly calculating how far it could travel on its current coal reserves. Considering how droll the experience had been the day before, Xisheng was not eager to go about driving in a straight line for several hours with little sleep. At least if he passed into an unexpected slumber the Overlord would come to a stop of its own accord when it ran out of immediate fuel. Other than that, the passengers of the vehicle would be fine in almost any scenario because the Overlord could smash into nearly anything and sustain minimal damage. Short of falling off a cliff no one would die if Xisheng succumbed to sleep.

Though he supposed he could maybe die since Azula would likely interpret that as incompetence and endangering the life of royalty.

Either way, he was not especially keen on his surroundings at the moment since the fog of an early awakening still weighed heavily on him, but even so he did not miss the very slight sound of someone resting their boots on the steel floor of the cabin.

Xisheng knew he had left the door open, mostly for ventilation, but he was honestly more curious about who would have any reason to be up at the same time as him. Of course, there were only three options.

Considering Azula's penchant for getting up at the crack of dawn, she appeared to be the most likely choice. But the thing was, it wasn't the crack of dawn yet. And throughout Xisheng's brief experience with the Princess, she never woke up before that. Maybe later, but certainly not earlier.

He also supposed it could be Ty Lee, because her overall enthusiasm and bubbliness practically guaranteed she was more of a morning person than the rest of them. And Xisheng could not at all fathom why Mai would ever be up this early, because she seemed to hate sunlight at any time of the day, never mind the early morning.

It quickly occurred to Xisheng that there was a very easy solution to his query, which was simply looking at the open doorway to identify his visitor. Much to his downright shock, it actually was Mai, the girl looking about as tired as he was, lazily reclining against the edge of the door frame as she stifled an unbecoming yawn.

Aside from her existence in that particular spot in and of itself, Xisheng noted that she wasn't appearing as he usually saw her either. Apparently going through the full routine this early in the morning was too much for her to bother with, made obvious by the lack of the red stitches of her garments that usually went over the baggy black parts that hid her plethora of weapons. She had spent time to fix her hair in the usual style though, which seemed strange all things considered. Why was that the one thing she'd bother with this early?

Either way, Xisheng was actually so surprised by the last person he expected that he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. By social standards he probably should have offered a good morning, but they were both scowling with the fatigue of an early awakening and neither would think he actually meant it. It was a shit morning, no need to pretend otherwise.

Thankfully he didn't have to say anything, because when she actually had something to say Mai wasn't the kind of person to hesitate about it.

"Teach me how to drive the Overlord."

This short sentence that was definitely along the lines of a demand rather than a request stunned Xisheng into even further silence. Even so, he managed to get the most important response out eventually.

"…what?"

The girl in question didn't seem put off by his reply in the slightest. In fact, it looked like she thought the explanation should have been obvious.

"You said yesterday that I should try driving."

Recalling the incident that he was mildly ashamed of, Xisheng tried to clarify that he hadn't actually meant that. "I didn't actually suggest that you should…"

"But it carried the implication. So, teach me how to drive the Overlord."

Xisheng questioned whether or not he should give in, but ultimately he asked himself why he wasn't. He had already decided that he wasn't looking forward to driving today, and someone else was offering to do it for him. Still, he felt the need to clarify why exactly Mai wanted this.

"I suppose I can, but… you do realize you're asking to do grunt work, right?"

"Well I'd be replacing you, so that was obvious, yes."

Trying and failing to ignore the quite potent sting of those words, Xisheng continued on. "So why do you want to? No offense but I know for certain it's not because you feel bad about me doing all the work."

The unapologetic look on Mai's face made it very clear that Xisheng was indeed right about that. As for giving him an actual answer, she simply shrugged. "I've never done it before."

To hear such a basic answer from her made Xisheng wonder if he had seriously misinterpreted a part of Mai's character so far. "That's it? That's your only reason?"

She cocked a slender eyebrow at him. "Is there supposed to be another reason for doing things you haven't done before?"

Conceding to that very valid point, Xisheng shrugged at the overall unexpectedness of the situation. Mai was the last person he had expected to see this morning, and by far the last person he had expected to take on what even she clearly defined as grunt work (yes, he had expected her to avoid it even more than Azula), but here she was and that was what she wanted to do. Who was he to question good fortune?

"Well alright. I already checked all the instruments, so take that seat there and I'll tell you what all the controls do. And since we may as well get underway now, go ahead and close the door please."

Xisheng wondered if a noble lady had any issue with effectively being told what to do by someone of his status, but as he moved to shovel some coal into the engine she didn't utter any form of dissent or malcontent.

With the engine fueled and the Overlord essentially ready to go, Xisheng peeked his head out of the door one last time to make sure they wouldn't be driving off without something important. He had already corralled all of the Mongoose Lizards back into their car when he had first woken up, and the passenger car with the other humans being ferried was closed as well. Honestly Xisheng wondered how Mai had made an exit from the thing without waking everyone else up, but maybe there was another way out that didn't include the amateur hydraulics?

Either way it seemed like they had everything in order, so Xisheng locked the door back in place and took the second cabin seat that existed only for the coal shoveler to rest in between bouts of, well, shoveling coal.

Considering that he had pretty much only driven the Overlord for a single day before now, Xisheng found it kind of funny that he was teaching someone else how to do so. Still, the machine was a lot simpler than it looked at first, and it didn't actually take a lot of learning to get the ropes.

Besides, he got the feeling Mai had enough mental acuity about her to not have an issue learning something simple like this, and that feeling was proven accurate as soon as he finished detailing where each critical control was. Basically, the sticks for steering and the emergency brake that Xisheng had found no use for the day prior.

In but a few minutes of explanation regarding the nature of its momentum and controls, the Overlord was already moving towards Gaoling once again, just with a different driver.

If Mai found the whole process as entertaining as she had hoped it might be, it didn't show on her face. Her only expression was lazy tiredness as she peered out of the small view port that allowed her to drive without complete blindness.

Considering that there was very little for Mai to focus on now other than drive straight, Xisheng felt this was a good time to clarify something that was bothering him greatly.

"Why on earth were you up this early anyway?"

Mai didn't even glance at him. "How was I going to usurp your throne if I wasn't awake when you were going to start driving?"

This was a fair point as far as that was concerned, since there would very well be no breaks or anything until they made many hours' worth of progress, but it just raised more questions.

"Wait, so you intentionally woke up this early just so you could drive this thing? You actually wanted to give it a try that badly?"

"Since the answer to that is obvious, I hope you aren't a complete moron and that you're asking that rhetorically."

Left dumbfounded by the facts presented to him, Xisheng fell silent. How often did any noble actually want to work? So much so that they would do something they hated to make it happen?

Well, to be fair he didn't think Mai actually had any great specific interest in driving the Overlord. As she had said herself, the only reason she had for doing this was because she had not done it before, which lent some credence to Xisheng's earlier speculations that perhaps Mai didn't have anything she particularly cared a great deal about. After all, you had to be extremely desperate to find anything entertaining to pull all this.

That said, now was a perfect opportunity to actually discern a thing or two about Mai, as she certainly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It was just a matter of getting her to actually say anything worthwhile.

"So-"

"Don't."

Cut off before he could even get close to beginning, Xisheng cocked an eyebrow at her. "Don't what?"

The possibly palest girl he had ever been acquainted with still didn't grace him with her gaze. "I can tell that you're about to ask a bunch of extremely grating questions to try and get to know me or something. Don't. I'm not interested in learning about you. I'm not interested in having you learn about me. So don't bother."

Stopped in his tracks rather easily, Xisheng almost bowed his head like a good soldier would to the demands of a noble lady, but he then recalled exactly what Ty Lee had said to him about this particular situation just last night.

Of course Ty Lee herself had said that she had just been hypothesizing, and for all she knew everything she had guessed at could have been wrong. Mai could have been a firm believer of social class that would be outraged at a common soldier daring to do anything remotely out of line.

Then again, Ty Lee could be right, and maybe Mai was so bored with the whole noble shtick that she would actually appreciate someone disregarding her social standing entirely.

Ultimately Xisheng decided he would be no worse off for giving it a shot. After all, even if he did end up angering or offending Mai, she couldn't really kill him right? Surely Azula would not be happy about something like that, as it then meant that one of them would have to drive this machine all the time.

Settling on exactly how cheeky he could be without being stupid, Xisheng opened his mouth to speak once again. "Right. Well, my interest in military service began when I was roughly-"

"What are you doing?"

Not even bothering to look at the no doubt sour expression of his compatriot, Xisheng gave his answer as innocently as possible. "Talking about my life of course. It starts off pretty boring, but it gets pretty interesting when we get to the part about killing a magic fish that will in turn kill the moon."

Mai entirely ignored that last part because it actually did sound rather interesting, even if it also sounded entirely insane. "So are you deaf or stupid? Which reason is the one that kept you from understanding 'I'm not interested in learning about you'?"

"Well I understood that part, but I just don't care that you don't care."

It was at this point that Mai finally glanced at him directly, supposedly because he had said something of actual interest. Xisheng couldn't help but notice that she sported the dark bags of poor sleep all the same as he probably did, but strangely enough it didn't actually look all that bad on her. The darkness kind of brought out the brighter aspects of her orange eyes all the same as her hair did.

Still, the next words out of her mouth weren't exactly pleasant. "Then as a member of nobility I'm ordering you to shut up and stop bothering me."

For a second time, Xisheng was tempted to do as he was told. He was a soldier after all, and his entire career revolved around obeying orders. But as he sat in that seat for a moment, he realized that he had absolutely zero reason obey anything Mai said. Yes, she was a member of nobility, and even upper echelon nobility at that, but so what? Last time Xisheng checked, the military didn't answer to nobles on any level unless those nobles were put in charge by someone the military did answer to, like the Fire Lord.

And last time he checked, Azula had never actually put Mai in charge of anything. Even if he were still a corporal, Xisheng would not be obligated in any way to be subservient to her. The only person he answered to around here was Azula. As far as everyone else was concerned, they were essentially equals. Even social class wasn't really withstanding because Mai's upper class didn't really bear any weight on Xisheng's lower class. The fact that she was a noble and he was not literally meant nothing other than the fact that she had been raised differently than him.

So with that in mind, Xisheng decided to press the envelope just a little bit, and he hoped he wasn't about to get stabbed for it.

"I don't take orders from you."

It was not said with any defiance or outright hostility. It was just a factual statement, yet it nevertheless garnered him Mai's full attention. "What?"

"The nobility of the Fire Nation has no command over military entities of any scope unless that authority has been granted to them by a member of the military hierarchy. I'm under no obligation to treat you any differently from a typical citizen of the country."

For a moment, Xisheng was sure he had crossed the line and that he was going to have some sort of blade slid between his ribs and jammed into his kidneys. But after a moment in which Mai's expression actually registered some amount of surprise, she actually smiled.

Well, it wasn't a smile really. It was actually an almost completely imperceptible shift of her lips from one position to the other, something he could have never noticed if he weren't looking right at her from a foot away, but either way it was the kind of shift that denoted the surprise she had felt as actually being pleasant.

It barely lasted more than half a second, and in that time the raven haired beauty turned her attention back to where she was guiding the Overlord. Nothing about the situation changed. Her tone was still entirely neutral and she looked just as tired and uninvested as she had before. The only thing that changed at all was the words she was actually saying.

"No, I guess you aren't. But I still don't want to talk about your life. According to you it's immensely boring right up until a few months ago."

Realizing he had indeed worded his own life in such a fashion, Xisheng nevertheless smiled to himself, feeling as though he had accomplished something monumental here. How many other people had gotten this icy woman to actually open up even the tiniest fraction? Exactly two as far as he knew.

"Well to be fair I certainly didn't have very interesting companions until recently. Now I'm completely surrounded."

"Consider yourself lucky to be brought into the fold this late in life."

A little worried about what he might discover if he read too much into that, Xisheng decided that he needed to find a new topic that would actually interest his partner now that he had gotten her to accept that he was going to talk one way or another. Ty Lee had told him that Mai hated to be bored, and that meant he had to avoid being boring. It was just too bad that Mai seemed to be bored by almost everything. Almost.

"Jian or Dao?"

Now this actually earned a real smirk out of Mai. She had to admit, Gohan here was at least clever compared to most other people that had tried to get her to fraternize in her life. At least he was smart enough to focus on the one thing she had an obvious interest in, that being weapons. She was willing to give him credit for that.

"You really do love questions with obvious answers. Everyone knows the superior sword is..."

----------------------------------------

For the briefest of moments when she had first awoken that morning, Azula had been worried that Mai had somehow been left behind when the Overlord went into action, considering her absence from the passenger car when they had started moving.

Thankfully, her somewhat irrational concern was soothed when she could hear the faint voices of conversation through the communications piping that ran between the passenger car and the driver's cabin. After all, considering that Ty Lee was still in the car with her, there was only one pair that could be in the driver's cabin.

That said she had been utterly surprised to learn that Mai was there for any reason whatsoever. Naturally Azula had been more than a little keen on discerning her motives, but eavesdropping over the communication system had revealed nothing of note at all. They were simply discussing (with surprising vigor considering that Mai was one of the conversationalists) the merits of different weapons and the like. A far cry from the scandalous things Ty Lee had foolishly stated when she had first learned of the situation.

Having quickly dismissed the situation at first, it wasn't until several hours into the voyage that it was brought to Azula's attention again in a rather roundabout manner, thanks to Ty Lee's incessant babbling with nothing else to do other than talk.

"-and you know, he didn't even ask about the circus thing. He just asked about me. It was so sweet! He even said he would watch me perform anytime I wanted, and that was kind of embarrassing but I think I'll take him up on that if I catch him with free time, because he's really attentive and I bet-"

Hardly able to focus on the book of military strategy she was reading with all of this noise, Azula lowered said book so she could cast a displeased glare at her friend. Naturally she wasn't very supportive of what was currently making Ty Lee smile. Not that she was ever actively trying to put the acrobat down, but she was usually the voice of negativity as opposed to Ty Lee's optimism. In hindsight it was unfair for Ty Lee because Mai was always the voice of pessimism as well.

"Ty Lee, why are you ranting so much about this? Your whimsical affections are entirely wasted on the person in question."

While this did stop Ty Lee cold for a whole two seconds, it just gave rise to more talking. "What are you talking about? Wait, you aren't actually going to take him for yourself right? You told me you weren't interested before."

For the life of her Azula had no idea how her friend had reached such a ridiculous conclusion. "What? No. I'm certainly not going to sully myself with someone beneath my station. I was reminding you that the situation is no different for you. You're a member of Fire Nation nobility, you can't stoop to the level of a commoner. Your fellow caste members would lose all respect for you."

It took a moment for Azula to realize that her friend was leveling an incredulous look at her, which was actually quite rare for the acrobat. "What are you giving me that look for?"

That it wasn't immediately obvious only seemed to confuse Ty Lee further. "Seriously Azula? I ran away from my life of nobility to join the circus. The circus. Do you really think I care enough about our social rules to not get attached to someone of a lower class? I don't care what class Xisheng is a part of. He's nice and thoughtful."

Trying to ignore the fact that she should have indeed considered Ty Lee's personal circumstances, Azula scoffed. "I'm sure you could find someone 'nice and thoughtful' who also has a lot of money and political influence. I still don't get your point."

Surprisingly, Ty Lee scoffed back. "If by 'nice and thoughtful' you mean 'some guy who would only want me as a trophy wife to show off to all of his noble friends,' then sure. You know Azula, do you even consider Xisheng a person? Is the fact that he's not a noble or something that important?"

"Don't be ridiculous Ty Lee. Of course I see him as a person. After all, how can I know the best ways to ensure his loyalty and competence if I don't at least understand the aspects of humanity that allow me to manipulate him?"

While she saw no flaw in her answer whatsoever, Ty Lee frowned at her in a way that could have been sorrow for both Xisheng and Azula's sake. "That's really sad Azula. You'd have his loyalty all the same if you thought of him as a friend. That's how you got me and Mai to help with all of this. Because we're your friends."

"Oh, so you wouldn't have assisted me as subjects to the Fire Nation Princess?"

"Wouldn't that just make us soldiers? Apparently you don't think very highly of soldiers."

Raising the book she had been reading to peruse its pages once again, Azula nevertheless put some real thought into that one. Truthfully, the reason she felt more comfortable with Mai and Ty Lee around rather than an entire contingent of Royal Guards was indeed because they were her friends. She trusted them more deeply than the oaths of any soldier, which could be bought and swayed with coin or promised influence. But in that case, was she not perfectly justified in treating Xisheng as exactly nothing more than a soldier?

"I don't see your point Ty Lee. The lieutenant is a soldier. I am holding him in the exact regard a Princess is supposed to hold a soldier. I see no reason I should treat him any differently than any other soldier I've ever commanded. Don't let your personal misgivings about uniformity evolve into nonsense."

Ty Lee scowled at that, considering it a low blow to mention something unrelated to the situation but important to her just because it bore some coincidental similarities. In the end though she simply laid back on her bed to drop the conversation.

"Whatever. I'll just steal him from you when you don't need him anymore…"

Azula expected such a statement to relieve her since it meant Ty Lee would stop talking for a while, but ultimately it did no such thing. In fact, it actually irritated her a bit, and at first she couldn't tell why.

Never content to be confused with her own feelings, the Princess of the Fire Nation broke down Ty Lee's exact words to see what had bothered her so. The most important word was obviously 'steal.' You couldn't steal something unless it belonged to someone else to begin with.

Was that it? The idea of someone stealing something that was hers? After all, Xisheng was hers. Her soldier, her pupil, her tool. What right did anyone have to take something she owned?

In fact, wasn't Ty Lee doing that every time she got all friendly with him? She took his attention away from his duties, which included serving and protecting Azula. So yes, she temporarily lost something she owned at those times, and the idea of it angered her.

Logically, Azula's rational mind was capable of telling her that no harm was being done, that Xisheng still performed his duties admirably and to the letter regardless of any time he spent with others. But the irrational side of her, which was actually quite a bit larger than she would ever admit, still said that it pissed her off.

In a moment of clarity, Azula realized this was no different than her young days in the palace, where, being the youngest daughter of the Fire Lord's youngest son, she was almost always overlooked in favor of others. Azulon was always paying attention to his eldest son, her father was always paying attention to his elder brother, her mother was always paying attention to her favorite child.

That last one really stirred her ire, but Azula quickly forced it down with dismissal. As if she could possibly suffer from something as pathetic as craving attention. That was literally Ty Lee's problem. Such things were beneath her.

And because they were beneath her, she decided against the suggestions of her own mind in commanding Xisheng to forego any relation with her two friends. Because she would only need to make that order if she actually cared. And she didn't.

She was the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, the only Firebender to ever manifest azure flames, and one of the few Firebenders in the world and all of history that could shoot bolts of lightning from her fingertips.

If other plebeians were too dense to realize how great she was, that was completely on them, because it didn't bother her in the slightest.

Not. At. All.

----------------------------------------

"I've got to say, this was actually a huge letdown. This might be the most boring thing I've ever done. It practically spawns boredom of its own."

Xisheng was not surprised to hear these words out of Mai's mouth as he shoveled more coal into the Overlord's engine. After all, he got it. Driving the Overlord in a straight line for hours on end was mind-numbingly boring. Honestly he probably should have given Mai fair warning before she started because he knew she had only volunteered to drive in hopes that it wouldn't be droll.

"It could get better. We'll be entering a small mountain range that cuts us off from Gaoling soon. That'll require a bit more finesse and challenge."

"You say that like I'm going to do your job for you all day."

"Well no, but… I mean you are going to at least stay in the cabin right?"

Mai was fairly certain that she could detect a hopeful tone in that question, which honestly surprised her. This guy was either incredibly lonely or totally desperate for a girl's attention in any form. It had to be one or the other for him to actually want Mai of all people to stick around.

Despite the fact that she was a little happy at the thought of being considered interesting, Mai's expression and tone remained as icy as always. "Well unless we stop I could hardly leap out the door. Unfortunately…"

While he may have actually been wounded by that before today, Xisheng had quickly come to realize that Mai poking subtle fun at people was actually her way of being friendly to some extent. In the 'I only joke around with people I don't outright detest' kind of way at any rate. Still, sometimes it was hard to know just how serious she was being considering the implacable nature of her existence all the time.

Xisheng liked to think that he had gotten on Mai's good side today, but maybe he hadn't made as much progress as he had thought. True, they had actually had a very real and even very invested conversation on Mai's part regarding all sorts of weapons, but having someone invested in a topic they actually cared about was no great feat. Even complete strangers could have an animated discussion about something that was important to them, and they would still part as strangers.

Neither had he managed to make her show any real positive emotion at all, along the lines of smiling or laughing. Then again, Xisheng admitted to himself that asking for that much on the first day of real interaction with her was probably too greedy of him. He should have been content with that fact that she had found him interesting enough to even speak to today, as opposed to all the other times she acted as though he weren't worth her attention.

"C'mon now, this is where things get interesting. You aren't even the slightest bit curious as to whether or not this thing can smash through a decent sized boulder?"

Mai cocked an eyebrow at him, almost like she were asking if he really thought something so masculine as pure destruction could entertain her. Surprisingly, she didn't say anything like that. "Is that really a safe thing to attempt? You don't sound sure that we'd actually win against a boulder."

Sensing that the raven haired girl may have actually been on board with the idea of ramming a boulder just for the hell of it, Xisheng smirked mischievously at her. "Well we do have a rock-breaker for a prow. We'd be doing the Fire Nation a service by testing the capability of the machine, right…?"

Mai didn't smile back at him. But she did slowly nudge the accelerator stick forward, commanding the Overlord to gradually build speed. "That math adds up to me."

Xisheng's smirk widened a bit, and even though he still didn't get a smile back, he realized that Mai likely just had a different physical means of expressing the same feeling. In fact, he noted now that despite her usual neutrality, her eyes were extremely expressive. It was easy to tell when she was bored out of her mind. Easy to tell when something struck her as odd or even stupid. It was even easy to tell when she was actually amused, like she was right now. Despite having once told himself that Mai's midnight locks were the most attractive thing about her, Xisheng decided that perhaps he had been mistaken.

Taking his seat because it would hardly be a good idea to be standing if and when they hit something arguably as sturdy as the Overlord, Xisheng saw that they actually were already putting their theory to the test, as Mai had already spotted a decent sized boulder to ram some distance ahead. They were approaching it with almost as much speed as the Overlord could muster, and for a moment Xisheng wondered if he was a little too good at bringing out the recklessness in people, especially the people that he would not have imagined to have an ounce of recklessness in them until now.

This was especially true as he realized the boulder in question at the base of the mountains was a little larger than it looked from afar, but by now he and Mai were set in seeing just how well the Overlord could do its job.

Unfortunately (or fortunately since the outcome had the potential to be very bad), their very unsafe experiment was halted by the voice of the Princess echoing throughout the cabin, thanks to the communication system Xisheng had not even known existed until right now.

"Lieutenant, stop the vehicle."

It was a short and to the point command, and it was said in a tone that indicated Azula had no idea the driver was about to plow into a big rock. Still, that meant they had to stop their experiment, and Mai reached for that emergency brake that never got used.

Pulling on it did not bring the Overlord to a swift stop though. In fact, the lever she pulled launched the Overlord's large harpoon spikes, which rocketed forward with the power of steam and crashed into the boulder ahead of them with enough force to break the whole thing apart.

Realizing with some mild disappointment that she had made a stupid mistake and reached one lever too far to her right, Mai successfully got the brake the next time, which brought to Overlord to a slower stop than expected of an 'emergency' brake. Then again, one did not just instantaneously 'stop' a heavy steel vehicle.

When they came to a complete stop, Mai spared her partner in crime a scathing glare. "If anyone asks, ramming the boulder and firing the harpoons was all you."

Amused by her folly, Xisheng's expression had no problem saying as much. "If I agree to that, you owe me one."

"Fine. Whatever."

With that she sauntered out of the driving cabin, content that Xisheng was going to take the blame for any idiocy. As for the soldier himself, he found it kind of adorable that someone so serious was scared of looking silly.

Once he was finished shutting down the Overlord, Xisheng wasted no time in following Mai out of the vehicle, where he found all of the girls already waiting for him, with Azula glancing at the previously destroyed boulder in confusion. She turned that confusion on Xisheng with a cocked eyebrow as soon as he was within her sight.

Understanding her silent question, Xisheng allowed the mirth at his revelations regarding Mai's character to seep into his answer. "My apologies Princess, but that boulder was doing an excellent impression of Admiral Zhao's... 'eccentric' facial structure, sideburns and all, and I could only interpret that as an act of mockery for the Fire Nation's most...er, 'fashionable' high commander. I simply did my duty as a patriotic soldier."

With Zhao's god-awful sideburns being nearly legendary across the upper echelon of Fire Nation society, Xisheng's jab did earn the slightest smirk from his Princess. Ty Lee looked totally lost, but this wasn't really surprising considering that she had been away from noble affairs for several years now.

On the other hand, Mai made some sort of extremely suppressed sound that could have, with a great stretch of imagination, be interpreted as a mildly amused expression. Maybe she did have a sense of humor?

Either way, Azula decided that the reasoning behind smashing a boulder with the Overlord's weapons was irrelevant. It was more important to inform the driver of why they had stopped. "I will take your word for the ghastly visage of the rock in question Lieutenant. However, we have something more important to discuss while Ty Lee tends to the animals."

The acrobat in question made a sour face at being handed this job without any real consideration, but she accepted it anyway since she knew she was indeed the most qualified member of their party to do it. Still, she was determined to have someone treat her a little nicer today, even if it was just Xisheng talking to her for a few minutes at the end of it.

With that she walked off to perform her assigned duty, and Mai made a subtle show of stretching her tired limbs before retreating to the beds of the passenger car, leaving Azula and Xisheng by their lonesome and allowing the soldier to quickly become more professional.

"There is something of import to discuss, your Highness?"

The young ruler to be stared him down with intense amber focus, seemingly contemplating her response before actually allowing some semblance of relaxation to reenter her expression.

"Do not mistake me Lieutenant; this isn't an especially urgent matter, but when Ty Lee mentioned it was about time for the Mongoose Lizards to be let out, I figured now was as good a time as any to bring this up, as it will be very important later."

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"My attention is entirely yours, Princess."

Azula was unusually pleased to hear that, considering that such undivided attention was owed to her by birthright. Maybe it was because that attention was being afforded to her by someone that was not just another peon doing their job.

Granted, Xisheng was 'just another peon,' but he was one that had some level of relationship with Azula beyond that of mere soldier and royal. That didn't necessarily mean anything, but it was clear that Xisheng held her in some regard that was not just 'daughter of the Fire Lord,' and that felt nice, even though Azula never admitted it to herself. There was a reason she only had two friends, and that they were friends that knew her beyond a mere title.

Still, there was something important that needed to be discussed, and it needed to be discussed as Princess to soldier. "Tell me Lieutenant, have you killed anyone before? I'd assume you have, being in the military during a global scale war, but you never know."

Xisheng did not know why this question was being asked of him, but he knew that Azula was not the kind of person to utter words that didn't serve some critical purpose. "I have, your Highness."

If this was the answer Azula had wanted to hear, it did not show on her face. She merely continued her line of inquiry. "And I assume the majority of the people you have killed have been enemy combatants, and likely adults?"

The ascended soldier was growing more confused about this line of questioning, but he stayed faithful in his answers. "I would consider some of my foes in past battles to be just shy of adulthood, but for the most part, yes. The enemies I have slain have been primarily soldiers of the Earth Kingdom, some of them young and others old men. Your Highness, if I may inquire, why do you ask this of me?"

Instead of giving a straight answer, Azula glanced off to the side where Ty Lee was efficiently controlling the Mongoose Lizards in their attempts to stretch and enjoy the open space. While she couldn't see her from this angle, Azula was indirectly looking at Mai as well.

"Xisheng, are you aware that you are the only person who has the blood of other human beings on their hands here? The only one guilty of snuffing out human life?"

The gravitas Azula put into this question conjured forth an image of that young Water Tribe boy Xisheng had killed at the North Pole. He was fully aware of the blood that stained his hands, but he was not rendered off-balance by Azula's words. He had long since come to terms with the reality of being a soldier in wartime. He bore no guilty conscious for the enemies he had slain over the years, now nearing the several dozens thanks to the frantic front-line battles on the EK defensive line.

Still, he couldn't tell if Azula was simply stating a fact or actually expressing some sort of displeasure with him. Her tone was too guarded.

"I... imagined that to be so before now, Princess. I certainly did not think you or your friends were sullied by blood, all things considered."

Azula seemed to accept 'all things considered' at face value. She at least didn't seem offended. "Indeed. As I'm sure you can easily imagine, Ty Lee has never even dreamed of dealing a fatal blow to another person. She abhors true violence, at least as far as engaging in it herself. I can only speculate on whether or not she would be willing to kill an opponent to save even her own life."

Xisheng got the feeling he knew where this conversation was going, but he dared not interrupt the Princess yet.

"And Mai, well... honestly I think she would be perfectly fine with killing someone under the right circumstances, but those circumstances would have to include something very important to her, and by now I'm sure you've determined that those are few and far between. She prefers to merely immobilize the enemy if the situation calls for nothing more."

Xisheng stayed silent as Azula spared her own nails a glance, likely ensuring that she bore no imperfections, though he supposed it could have just been a casual mannerism for her. "As for me... I admit that I am curious as to what it would be like to rob someone else of life. I truly do enjoy learning you see; the more experience you have in all things the better you are for it, even in violence. But the fact remains that I have not killed anyone yet, and though I personally think it very unlikely, there is always the possibility that I could... find myself unwilling to strike a fatal blow."

As he had predicted, this conversation had ended up right where Xisheng had expected it to be. Yet he found it strange, the idea of Azula of all people balking at the thought of killing another human being.

Then again, she wasn't. She was merely expressing the possibility of it in the future. She even thought it an unlikely possibility. But Xisheng knew that no one was certain of their ability to kill until the first time they managed it. He himself had not been certain if he was capable of fatal blows until the first time he had almost been slain by an Earth Kingdom soldier. When it had become clear that he could choose between the life of his enemy and his own, the decision had not been hard to make.

But even prior to that, he had been trained as a soldier, with the expectation to kill enemies. It was something he had mentally prepared for prior to the battle in which he had done the deed. Azula on the other hand was a fourteen year old girl, who, despite being extremely talented in the art of war and combat, had lived a relatively sheltered life in which she had never been specifically expected to kill. Though she seemed ruthless in nearly everything, it was entirely possible she could find herself unwilling to strike a deadly blow when the time came upon her.

And that was why this conversation was happening. Why Azula uttered her next words with such firmness and clarity, not to mention a surprising amount of honesty.

"Xisheng, I'm relying on you to be willing to kill if the rest of us cannot bring ourselves to do it. When it comes down to it, whether you are the last line of defense or merely the chosen executioner because no one else is willing, I need to be absolutely certain of this: will you kill anyone?"

The emphasis on that last word revealed the true nature of the question. Azula was not asking if he would kill again. He was a soldier of a nation at war with another militant entity. Of course he would kill again. She was asking if he would be willing to kill anyone of any identity. If he would be willing to kill people that were not soldiers. People like the Avatar and his allies, all of who were children near Azula's own age.

The answer to this question was more convoluted than the first one. Xisheng had no issue with killing soldiers. They were paid to be put in harm's way, or fought for some cause they were willing to die for. They ran the risk of being killed by the very nature of their careers, and they would certainly kill the soldiers of their enemies as well.

Children were another matter. Normally, children were regarded as innocents. For any honorable soldier, killing an innocent was unacceptable, or at least considered immoral and even evil at times. War was waged against nations, but not against the people of that nation, at least in theory. Xisheng of course knew that war in practice was rarely so clear cut, and for many reasons. Sometimes it was 'collateral damage.' Other times it was 'acceptable casualties.' And in some cases it was just a matter of total war, in which case the enemy could only be defeated by striking at the very foundation of their society, that being its people.

Ironically, none of those things really played a role in Xisheng's thought process at the moment. There were only two things he really had to consider.

The first was, of course, a matter of defending his own. This naturally included the fact that it was his duty as a soldier to defend the Princess at any cost, including his life or that of an 'innocent,' but more prominent was the need to protect people important to him. He held no delusions about his relationship to everyone on this particular mission. He had not known them for very long, nor did he know any of them particularly well. But even at the admittedly shallow levels of his familiarity with them, he would destroy another life to save one of theirs in a heartbeat, duty and obligation completely notwithstanding.

The emotional part of his decision aside, there was also logic to consider. Yes, the Avatar and his friends were all kids. Not a one of them could be considered even close to being an adult just yet. Under normal circumstances killing them would be considered the murder of innocents, but then again, these were not normal circumstances.

The Avatar and his group had established themselves as enemies of the Fire Nation. Not even as people who merely opposed them idealistically, but as combatants that were willing to attack military installations and assault Fire Nation soldiers. Loyal soldiers had been killed by their actions, in some cases indirectly, but in others quite the opposite. News from the raid on the Northern Air Temple had listed dozens of casualties, caused directly by the Avatar and his assembled fighters burying troops in snow or straight up knocking them off the mountainside.

Xisheng did not condemn them for this. As he had already concluded, soldiers ran the risk of death whenever they went to battle. But the moment anyone, even children, stepped onto that battlefield to fight, they were no longer innocents. If they chose to fight of their own volition, they were combatants, soldiers in their own right fighting for what they believed in. They could not simply be given a free pass, allowed to attack and even kill soldiers simply because they were not yet adults. In that light, Xisheng was more than willing to strike down even children like the Avatar's group; after all, they were no different from the Earth Kingdom soldiers he had faced before, and he made sure to tell Azula as much.

"Princess, I assure you that I will strike down any enemy that threatens your life, that of Lady Mai or Ty Lee, or any loyal soldier of the Fire Nation. Man, woman, or child, they will receive no quarter if it means protecting you."

There was an unabashed and earnest sincerity to Xisheng's answer, which could have been just a little disconcerting if one considered what he was talking about. But for Azula, it was exactly what she wanted to hear. And she had to admit, something about his specification of killing anyone for her sake was...comforting.

Naturally, one would normally consider her comfort over such a thing disconcerting as well.

"Very well then Lieutenant, I rest assured. I believe I've said this before, but I truly appreciate your unyielding loyalty."

Aware that he had probably already received more praise and gratitude from Princess Azula than most people ever would in their entire lives, Xisheng still managed to keep a smile from his face and answer as coolly as possible. "Think nothing of it Princess. Someone like you is deserving of such loyalty."

Even though she desired to get a little more specification on how exactly Xisheng meant that, Azula was denied the opportunity to inquire when Ty Lee sidled up behind Xisheng from the sidelines, assuming her usual position that included her arms snaked around his neck. Her expression was sly, almost like she believed herself to be in on something the rest of them were not.

"That one was really smooth Gohan. I bet you practice these lines in front of mirrors for hours just to steal girls' hearts away."

For his part, Xisheng appreciated the compliment but did not want to make it seem as such, for appearances if nothing else. He didn't want Azula to assume that he was actually attempting do anything along those lines to her, since such things were far beyond his boundaries. Thankfully he was fairly good at playing off awkward situations with quips of his own.

"That would be a very specific line for me to practice considering the very specific set of circumstances it could be used in..."

"Well c'mon Gohan, you have to have some secret. I mean, first you get me with that conversation last night, then you hold an actual conversation with Mai for more than two minutes, and now you lay down a slick yet sincere line like that on Azula? You're either practicing or very... mm, 'gifted.'"

Xisheng did not miss the way Ty Lee's arms tightened around him when she said that in the slightest of sultry tones, and neither did Azula. Of course the latter was not nearly as happy about it. The tinge of jealousy she had not entertained earlier that day flared up with renewed vigor, and even though Azula was once again a little unsure of the reasons for her emotions, she nevertheless decided to feed them in the most subtle and unobtrusive manner possible.

"Well, I do believe we should be on our way again if the Mongoose Lizards have caught their break Lieutenant. The sooner we are in Gaoling the better."

Ty Lee was not nearly as blind to Azula's scheme as the Princess made her out to be, and she was sorely tempted to take Mai's place in the driving cabin just to hang out with the only resident male even though she knew Azula was unhappy with that idea for some reason. But apparently Xisheng picked up on Azula's immediate displeasure as well, though he wasn't sure what to make of it in the slightest.

Either way, he figured it would be best if he drove the rest of the way to Gaoling on his own today. But he felt kind of bad about Ty Lee being snuffed out so rudely, so he made sure to give her a wide smile. "Provided the Princess' training at the end of the day doesn't render me unconscious, I'd love to spend the evening with you again Ty Lee. Like I said, you have my attention whenever I can provide it."

Despite her intention to, Ty Lee totally failed to offer a coherent response, simply trying to avoid looking like a giggling idiot as she retreated to the passenger car after Azula.

There was no way he didn't practice being so effortlessly smooth. But regardless of Ty Lee's belief on how he reached that level of unintentional (or was it?) flirting, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she fucking loved it.

----------------------------------------

The rest of the trip to Gaoling took two full days at full throttle, and required a stop at a Fire Nation outpost to refuel on coal reserves. The trip was by far one of the most boring experiences Xisheng had been subjected to at that point, for Mai never again joined him in the driver's cabin, and Ty Lee either chose not to or was coerced by Azula into not doing so for some reason the soldier couldn't fathom.

The driving itself had gotten slightly more interesting when they had gotten through the strange mix of sands and forest that was the border edge of the Si Wong desert, but Xisheng had been mistaken in ever finding the need to drive into the mountains. While the relatively small Yonbu mountain range separated Gaoling from both the Si Wong and essentially Omashu, the mountains themselves actually ended just shy of the route to Gaoling itself. There was no need to go over the mountains at all, as the west side of Gaoling was easily accessible from an easier path at the foot of the mountains instead.

The thickening forest had proved a problem of course. While Xisheng was sure the Overlord could topple some younger trees, the machine was certainly no match for century old trunks. Granted, maybe it could knock those trees over, but not while maintaining decent speed or a smooth ride. It was literally quicker and easier to go around. Thankfully hugging the foot of the mountains reduced the number of extremely large trees and thick forest that Xisheng had to deal with. Even so he had flattened more than a few small trees into the ground, something he felt a little bad about. Destruction was unavoidable in open combat, but in mere travel he would have preferred to skip on environmental destruction if he could manage it.

Thankfully, while the driving part of the trip was dull, the evenings of each day were not. As per the usual, people tended to interact more the longer they were around one another. Xisheng's evenings were definitely the highlight of the entire trip.

Naturally, those evenings included his usual training with Azula, since the young Princess was not content to miss a single day if she could help it. At least she always managed to keep training interesting, as she usually found something unique for him to do based on where he was. Their forest nights had been spent immolating trees, turning stalwart pillars of nature into smoldering ashes with sheer power. While Azula admitted to preferring small amounts of force applied precisely, she also made it clear that there was a time and place for raw power as well.

Of course, even though the exercise had mostly been about incinerating a large tree as quickly as possible, it had been a test of control as well. After all, the trees Azula had picked as his targets during these sessions were always surrounded by other foliage, so there was the whole notion of not starting a catastrophic forest fire.

Xisheng also noticed that Azula had significantly stretched out how long their evening sessions lasted. She had made them relatively quick before due to the timetable of their current operations, but for the past two nights their sessions had stretched out for nearly two hours. Xisheng wasn't presumptuous enough to guess why this was the case, but he got the feeling it could have possibly maybe been a tinge of jealousy. He just couldn't imagine why that would be true, so he simply chose to believe that Azula wanted him to train harder now that they could get into a fight with the Avatar at some point.

Another big part of why the evenings were enjoyable was because Mai had elected to not completely ignore his existence like she had before. Granted, she still didn't really go out of her way to talk to him, but she would at least talk back if he spoke first, provided he presented a topic she was at least mildly interested in. It left him with very little to start conversations with, but Xisheng had slowly zeroed in on a few more things Mai had an actual interest in. Humiliating tales of things her friends had done when they were young happened to be one of them, so long as the other girls were out of earshot.

But as usual, Ty Lee was his go-to girl for social interaction in the evenings. She was always so happy to see him. In fact, Xisheng was sure she had somehow grown even fonder of him since their meeting, though he wasn't sure why. If anything, he had only expected to grow fonder of her himself, since she was always so nice to him. He didn't know what he could have done to earn more of her surely platonic affection.

Either way, Ty Lee had been especially happy about the low branches the forest provided to her, as they served quite well for the acrobatics display she had shown her sole audience member for the past two nights.

She had been especially shy the first time she had brought it up, like she was afraid Xisheng would rescind his promise to watch her or something. That was ridiculous from his perspective of course, but he supposed this may have been the first time she had ever performed for just one person, which definitely carried a different weight to it compared to an entire crowd.

But his words of reassurance the first evening she had asked had wiped away all of the girl's fears. She'd made a wonderful display of agility and skill for him, and Xisheng had responded with no small amount of genuine praise, as he was truly impressed with Ty Lee's abilities and how effortlessly she did it all. He had actually put the biggest smile on her face he had ever seen on her, and he had thought that her smiles couldn't be any wider as it was.

In short, the days were boring as all hell, and the evenings were the only saving grace of the trip. By the time they reached Gaoling, Xisheng hoped he would not touch the Overlord again for at least three days. That steel chair was not doing him any favors.

That said, the group of high-profile Fire Nation natives were not actually in Gaoling just yet. After all, the city was still under Earth Kingdom control, and driving an obviously Fire Nation machine through its gates wasn't a good idea if they didn't want to fight against the sizable military force stationed there to ward off anything but full scale hostile incursions.

At the moment, the Overlord was simply parked on a hill far enough away from Gaoling to remain unseen, though the dense foliage of the forest certainly helped with that. All four of its usual passengers were standing atop said hill as they gazed down on their destination, each of their thoughts resting on the city in one way or another. Xisheng had no idea what the girls were thinking, but he knew his own thoughts, and they were worried.

Needless to say, this was about as 'belly of the beast' as one could get aside from being within Ba Sing Se itself. While Gaoling was mostly regarded as a merchant city, it was still one of the most prominent Earth Kingdom cities left under their control, and that meant a very large military force was garrisoned here. As essentially the only Royal Guard present, he was extremely concerned for Azula's safety here. Even a prodigy like her would fall before the might of an entire battalion. If there was one thing that was true about war, it was that skill didn't always outweigh sheer numbers.

Thankfully he doubted that they would be doing anything blatantly obvious to reveal who they were while present here. While he had no guarantee of that, Xisheng could not imagine Azula being so reckless with such poor odds.

But while he had that faith in her, he didn't know how they were going to go about it. After all, it was extremely obvious that they were Fire Nation...

Since this was a pressing concern, Xisheng decided to voice as much. "Considering our state of dress, it seems likely that one of us will have to procure appropriate apparel before we can enter Gaoling as a whole. Unless of course you were already prepared for this Princess?"

Azula looked mildly offended that he even entertained the possibility of her not being prepared. "I would have to be a monumental fool to leave Omashu, an Earth Kingdom city, without Earth Kingdom clothing to help us blend in at Gaoling, our destination that also happens to be an Earth Kingdom city. Do you really question my foresight to such an extent Lieutenant?"

Since it was just a little rude to think her capable of such an obvious oversight, Xisheng made sure to twist his own words so they sounded more favorable. "Of course not Princess. But you had a hand in so much of the logistics, it simply amazes me that you thought of everything even still."

His response earned a smirk out of the youngest member of their party. "You really do have a clever answer for everything Lieutenant. I'll have to put in extra effort to catch you unawares sometime."

"I'd prefer if you didn't feel the need to actually attempt such a thing, Your Highness."

"Too bad, because I do."

With no real counter for that, Xisheng let the exchange rest, which was just as well since he was promptly instructed to fetch the aforementioned clothes from the passenger car of the Overlord. Thankfully the garments had been properly stored in a footlocker of sorts so they would be in suitably presentable, but because Xisheng had no desire to lift the whole thing and carry it outside, he simply made to open the container and carry the much lighter cloth by hand.

The problem with that was that he didn't register the fact that most of the clothing in the container would be feminine in nature until he was already staring down at them, and he allowed two thoughts to coast through his mind before doing anything else.

One, why was there a need for disguise appropriate underwear? Outer garments were obvious, since those were actually seen. But what was the point of undergarments to match? Surely Azula wasn't so paranoid as to prepare for some hypothetical strip search, in which case their black Fire Nation silks would give them away? Honestly, that was either true paranoia or the most advanced level of preparation Xisheng had ever encountered.

The second thought was a little game of mix and match in guessing what particular style was being worn by which person, but Xisheng shut that one down as quickly as possible. Not that he had a moral issue with entertaining such thoughts, but all things considered the scantily clad mental images weren't conducive to a professional state of mind, which was probably what he needed for the upcoming mission.

Still, it was amusing to imagine the lacy ones as belonging to someone other than Ty Lee.

Deciding that the safest thing to do was obviously exclude himself of any undue blame, Xisheng decided that he was better off closing the footlocker and carrying the whole thing outside, giving the others the impression that he had most certainly not looked inside of it.

Apparently he made a good choice, because there was some look of mild relief from Ty Lee at least, and even Azula looked like she had been mildly irritated until spotting him with the entire container in his arms. Naturally Mai looked as though she couldn't care less, though she did seem to be staring rather intently at Gaoling at the moment.

Either way, Xisheng simply placed the container of clothing at the trio's feet, but apparently the nature of the goods did in fact register for everyone, because no one was immediately forthcoming in grabbing their respective attire. Naturally Azula sliced through whatever awkwardness was present with her usual expression of mild disdain for the obvious.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to give us some privacy?"

Aware that he and Azula were now locked in some sort of verbal combat in which she tried to make him falter, Xisheng decided that he was going to go all out as far as that was concerned. He was used to losing against Azula in combat, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. But he was absolutely determined to keep his wits about him for their more clever contests.

"While I vehemently object to the gross dereliction of duty that is leaving you unguarded Princess, I suppose I have to consider your security in other regards as well. I'll be on the other side of the Overlord."

He made his exit with that, but Azula was left dwelling on what could have been a thinly veiled double meaning. "Just what the hell did he mean by that...?"

Ty Lee suppressed a snicker as she eyed the shortest member of their group, and thanks to her age, also the most undeveloped. "If you think about it he was being sweet, not wanting to make you feel bad and all..."

The heir to the Fire Nation throne turned a very unhappy golden glare on her friend. "Excuse me? I'll have you know I've gone up a full size since-"

Ever the mediator if only because she hated irritating discussions, Mai stepped between the two of them so she could appropriate whichever clothing suited her best from the small wardrobe Azula had brought along on their journey. She didn't know they were all the same outfit, just in different sizes. "You're both reading into it too much. He was just being clever. Also, there's no way he was out of earshot before you just said that Azula."

Doing a small amount of mental math to confirm Xisheng's distance at the time of her words, Azula realized with abject horror that yes, she had essentially just informed a grunt of the status of her feminine growth. Thankfully she had been vague, building off knowledge that Ty Lee had already known. Still, it was embarrassing to acknowledge the slip, and that was something rare for the girl who was never surprised, flustered, or flabbergasted by anything. After all, blushing was nothing more than the product of a lack of control. And Azula certainly had plenty of control. So the misstep she had just made and the information she had vaguely passed onto a man definitely wasn't making her blush. That was impossible.

Which meant that her two friends getting an obvious kick out of it was part of their imaginations, and Azula had to dispel them immediately. "N-no matter, I can dispose of him whenever I wish if he learns of something he shouldn't. Besides, you're the one 'disclosing' information so readily all the time Ty Lee, you certainly make no effort to hide your own, er... specifications."

The temporarily ex-circus member didn't seem ashamed of this fact in the slightest. "I don't think attractive women should be ashamed of their looks. It's silly to hide things about yourself just because other people don't like it whether it's good or bad. Jealousy or judgment, someone will always dislike something about you, so what's the point?"

Azula was actually impressed with this level of essential philosophy out of Ty Lee, but Mai naturally added her cynical input to the scenario. "That was the least arrogant way of saying 'I'm hot and should be able to flaunt it if I want to' that I've ever heard. Bonus points for subtlety."

"H-hey, that really wasn't the point I was making..."

The youngest of their number donned an amused smirk as she eyed the slightly more peeved than usual frown on Mai's face. "Speaking of jealousy..."

"That was the aforementioned judgment, not jealousy."

"Oh really? Tell me Mai, have you grown at all these past few years? It's difficult to judge from mere visual comparison, but I'm almost certain that I've surpassed you, which is honestly hilarious considering-"

The most barbed part of Azula's jab was cut short when one of the dark emerald garments of the footlocker was flung into her face. The giggle Ty Lee offered to the scenario earned her a similar treatment, and Mai chastised herself for getting bent out of shape over 'girl problems.'

----------------------------------------

Considering that they could very well be on a tight schedule if the Avatar was actually present in Gaoling at the moment, the girls' wardrobe change didn't take more than a few minutes. Truth be told Xisheng had heard something a little incriminating before getting out of earshot, but out of politeness he had removed himself further from the area so he wouldn't accidentally hear anything else personal. This placed him significantly further away from the Overlord than he had intended to be at first, but it gave him a bit of space and time to dwell on the situation at hand.

He was essentially in charge of security after all, being the only Royal Guard present here. The problem was that he was the only Royal Guard present here. There was very little he could plan for with that being the case. If their identities were discovered while in Gaoling, they'd have an entire Earth Kingdom battalion swooping down on them within an hour. With a lack of their own manpower, Xisheng's party had a very limited number of maneuvers to employ if escape became necessary. Normally enough manpower would call for a fighting retreat with each rear line of defense falling back as the Princess got further away from the danger, but since Xisheng was the only soldier here...

Well, he supposed he could attempt it anyway all by his lonesome. He'd probably die, but if it came down to it he'd have no choice but to try and distract the enemy so his allies could escape.

That said, it was really a matter of whether or not they would be discovered in the first place. As far as he knew Gaoling didn't have any thorough security checkpoints or anything, but even with their Earth Kingdom disguises there were risks to consider in the fact that most of the group didn't look like Earth Kingdom natives.

He said most because Ty Lee had nothing to worry about. She honestly had no outright 'Fire Nation' qualities, at least not as far as the general stereotypes went. Realistically Xisheng would probably be fine as well, since his eyes bore no resemblance to his nation (technically he was half Earth Kingdom anyway). But that was where the conveniences ended. Both Azula and Mai bore distinct features that could give them away to anyone who was decently informed or just a keen observer.

Azula's eyes were the most obvious risk, since her pure shade of amber was unique to the Fire Nation royal family. It was unlikely that any random Earth Kingdom soldier would know that in particular, but most everyone knew that amber eyes in general were rare outside of Fire Nation genetics. On top of that both Azula and Mai had very dark hair, and even though that wasn't unheard of outside of the Fire Nation, outright midnight locks like Mai's were generally assumed to be a rarity in the Earth Kingdom where most people sported various shades of brown. It wasn't a dead giveaway by any means, but it could arouse suspicion nevertheless.

There were plenty of other little things that could give them away as well. Xisheng had no idea how good the girls were at acting. For all he knew they were all terrible at it, and all it took to endanger them all was one tiny mistake. A figure of speech that was specific to Fire Nation culture, a mannerism no one in the Earth Kingdom used, even a seemingly harmless comment about how it was colder here than they were used to, implying that they were from a warmer locale. Any of those things could land them in trouble.

OK, so someone would have to be ridiculously astute and more than a little paranoid to connect the dots on that last one, but the point still stood. As a soldier Xisheng didn't like going into enemy territory without superior or at least equal numbers.

Of course, the lack of numbers on their part was probably what Azula was banking on. Being one of the few prosperous Earth Kingdom cities outside of Ba Sing Se still free of foreign control, the population of the city was rather large. What was four more people in shades of green amidst a sea of people in green? As long as they stuck to the crowds it was unlikely they would be picked out visually by anyone for any particular reason.

Hoping that would indeed be the reality for their upcoming venture, Xisheng was nevertheless drawn out of his musings when the group's usual spokesperson made herself known with her ever energetic voice. "See? Gohan was so polite that he went far enough away to not hear something scandalous even by accident. Maybe he didn't hear about your-"

There was a grunt of minor pain that was probably the result of an elbow to the ribs, but the mental acknowledgment of the girls being ready brought just one more risk to Xisheng's mind.

They wouldn't blend in very well if they were all dressed like nobles. Even wearing green in a sea of green, exquisite tastes would stand out, and Xisheng couldn't imagine for an instant Azula being alright with donning peasant attire. Would narcissism negate their own disguise...?

Turning to hopefully deny his suspicions rather than confirm them, Xisheng was moderately relieved and more than a little awed by the change in garments. In a world where three primary colors mostly ruled the fashion industry, it was always enlightening to see someone in a color they practically never wore.

Ironically, there was still plenty of black to go around. This was fine, since black wasn't an unheard of color in the Earth Kingdom, but Xisheng still thought it would have been better to dispose of the color completely.

That said, Xisheng found it rather amusing that the three girls had essentially color coordinated with one another. Whether it was intentional or because Azula simply liked the idea of her troop being in concert, either way they were still all equipped with tops that had black torsos and dark forest green sleeves and leggings. They each bore the emblem of the Earth Kingdom on their chest, and also sported an almost lime green sash around their waists that served as little more than decorative pieces. In truth, Xisheng would have assumed them to be some sort of actual group of some sort, though whether it was of a militant or social nature could have gone either way.

But despite their similarities in dress, there were small things that still set them apart. Mai's sleeves were longer and looser than her friends, likely for the sake of hiding her weapons. Unlike the fuller forearm gloves Azula and Mai wore, Ty Lee had cloth wristbands not unlike the ones that accompanied her usual outfit. And as for Azula, she obviously couldn't tote around the symbol of Fire Nation royalty that was her usual hairpiece, so it had been temporarily replaced with a simple green ribbon that was almost just enough to make her look like a normal girl. Normal being relative since she still put the average attractive teenager to shame.

In short, Xisheng found himself captivated by the contrast of their appearance to the norm (at this point Ty Lee having her midriff covered almost seemed like an affront to nature), and needless to say this resulted in a more fixed gaze than he had intended. As usual, Azula was quick to point this out. There was rarely any mercy from her barbs.

"I understand that you have less experience with class than the rest of us Lieutenant, but I at least expected you to know that staring is considered rude."

Ironically, Xisheng found that Azula's mildly stinging words tended to have the opposite of the intended effect. Normally he would have been flustered, but being constantly reminded of Azula's determination to make him exactly that, he managed to calm his nerves enough to appear composed, not to mention voice his thoughts more genuinely than a bunch of babbling could provide.

"My apologies. I was just caught off guard, you all look very good in green."

While his comment could have possibly scored some embarrassment out of his audience (he didn't count Ty Lee because she obviously enjoyed the compliment), the reminder that she was indeed wearing green only made Azula scowl. "What you meant to say was that the green looks good on me. Such a droll color could only be made attractive if someone of my caliber was wearing it to begin with."

"O-oh, I see..."

Azula didn't immediately understand why Xisheng seemed put out by that unless he had some strange fondness for green, but an obviously faked cough from Ty Lee got Azula to look in her direction, and the acrobat was subtly gesturing towards her eyes. The implication of her gesture was obvious.

Admittedly Azula felt a little bad about it, but only because she had let a small detail slip from her mind, which therefore resulted in her choice of words. Oh well, it was Xisheng's fault for not having a pair of more gloriously colored eyes. She was hardly to blame for that.

Still, it would have been awkward to just leave it at that, so Azula decided the best course of action was to simply move forward. "Well, I daresay we have wasted enough time dawdling. Your attire is still in the footlocker Lieutenant. We'll depart as soon as you are ready."

Immediately discarding whatever injury he may have felt at Azula's unintended insult, Xisheng made sure to point out one important thing before he left to change so it could be fixed while he was doing so. Efficiency was kind of the job of every soldier, after all.

"Of course Princess. But before I do, I think it would be best if you changed your hair, Mai."

The girl in question merely cocked en eyebrow at him, seemingly not offended so much as curious. "Why?"

"Well, we are trying to blend in, I assume... your hairstyle is very distinct, and definitely a cultural standout."

While he had tried to be as logical in his answer as possible to avoid accidentally insulting her, it seemed like Xisheng didn't even need to bother. Mai merely shrugged. "Good point. I'll change it."

Glad that his input had gone over so easily, Xisheng shrugged as well, moving to the opposite side of the Overlord so he could don his Earth Kingdom disguise.

He was unfortunately not surprised to see that his garb did not match the upper middle-class level of his compatriots, but at least the clothing was not the dull brown and green of the peasantry. If anything, anyone that saw him walking around with the girls would think him a well-off servant or some such.

It could have been worse was what he told himself, and by the time he was dressed in a simple forest green tunic with beige accents he admitted that he made for a passable Earth Kingdom citizen. Now properly adorned, he made his way back to the girls on the opposite side of the Overlord, only to find that his suggestion to Mai had sort of backfired.

Being someone that didn't put effort into anything she didn't care for, Mai had not bothered putting her hair into any particular style. Instead, she had simply allowed her raven locks to cascade freely, their length causing the strands to accent her form all the way down to her lower back. Perfectly straight and streamlined, Xisheng could only compare the sight to a flawless black waterfall, and even that wasn't doing it justice.

He was back to thinking the hair might have been the most attractive thing again.

On the other hand, there was an issue in the fact that the problem had not been averted. The whole reason he had suggested that Mai change her hair was to avoid being noticed. She'd have every guy with good taste flocking to her like this.

That said, he had to say as much or the potential crisis would still remain. "Ah, er... M-Mai, that doesn't really, uh... solve the problem..."

This time Mai really did seem confused. "I'll admit you had a point the first time, but I doubt just having your hair down is patented by any one nation. What's the problem?"

Apparently the other girls were in agreement with Mai, because they looked equally confused on the point Xisheng was trying to make. Still, he wasn't ready to come out completely clean, so he would try for subtlety one last time.

"L-like I said, the point is to avoid attention..."

Unfortunately no one caught his drift, least of all Mai. "And my hair being down draws attention how exactly...?"

Seeing no way to make his point without being straightforward, Xisheng decided to simply say it. "B-because you're... v-very beautiful, is what I'm saying. People are bound to notice you. And I mean, for the sake of the mission concealment is key, so..."

Xisheng petered off when he noted that the reactions he was getting were different from what he had expected. To be fair, that was because he had expected Mai to not react at all, but to his great astonishment she actually appeared... shocked. Maybe out of surprise, though Xisheng supposed it could have been disgust or something. This was a compliment coming from a 'commoner' after all.

He was actually more surprised by Ty Lee and Azula, both of whom appeared displeased by what he had to say. He wasn't dumb enough to not understand why, but he was still confused. Why be jealous of the attentions of someone beneath their stature? Besides, he did have an actual practical reason for making his statement.

Unsure of how to proceed with this turn of events, Xisheng was not saved at all when Mai almost smiled at him. "So are you implying that I'm not attractive when my hair isn't down?"

Getting the distinct feeling that he was being teased by the least likely member of the group to do it, Xisheng found himself at a loss for words. On a technicality, this could be construed as very subtle flirting. He doubted Mai meant it as such, but either way the potential implication flustered him more than anything Azula had tried to catch him off guard with.

"N-n-not at all! I was definitely not saying that! I-It's just that there's a certain allure that would, uh, get the attention of anyone with good taste, is what I was saying!"

Apparently amused by his fumbling, Mai's almost smile evolved into a smirk at his expense. Strangely enough, that sight still challenged his cognitive ability.

Yet the moment was lost the moment Azula got fed up with it. "I think we'll manage to avoid too much trouble from the people that actually matter. Let's head out before I hurl."

Xisheng thought he might have heard some sort of muttered amusement from Mai regarding jealousy, but unlike her he was actually worried that he had offended the others. He still couldn't see it as fair, but that did not stop the awkward silence that reigned over them as they proceeded as one to the gates of Gaoling on foot.

The roughly fifteen minute trek reached its conclusion when they came across what was essentially the only security checkpoint to bother with. Naturally any wartime city worth its salt didn't let just anyone in, but fortunately the huge population of the Earth Kingdom meant that the nation kept relatively poor tabs on people. They relied a lot on paperwork, and forging that was easy enough.

Even so, Ty Lee was entrusted with making the presentation of their actually genuine documents, since she was the least suspicious among them and definitely the only one of them that no one would assume to be Fire Nation for any aesthetic reason. It was actually rather sad that infiltrating Gaoling was as easy as that, but Xisheng imagined that it was a matter of branch competence. Ba Sing Se would no doubt be much harder to infiltrate in such a fashion, at least as far as getting beyond the Lower Ring was concerned.

Either way the four Fire Nation infiltrators made it into the boundaries of Gaoling with no trouble whatsoever, and the moment they were within Ty Lee voiced the most obvious question at hand.

"Now what?"

Azula probably had an answer for this, but since it was an easy question Xisheng decided to spare her the trouble. "The person we are looking for is the Avatar, the last Airbender, is one of the only people that wears orange, and travels around on a flying buffalo. If he's here, someone will know about it."

While these were very good points, Mai sought to point out the questionable validity of them. "I can't imagine any reason for the Avatar to hide that he's here, but the fact remains that he could be."

"That's true, but even then his companions have skin complexions that will stand out here. Just inquiring about unusual visitors could yield results."

Azula cut in before the exchange could continue. "While I highly doubt it will be as simple as asking around, discreetly taking in the latest rumors could nevertheless prove useful. For now, we should split up and see what we can learn individually."

She was almost ready to dismiss them with that, but Xisheng had to counter. "We should at least split into groups of two Princess. Going anywhere alone while in enemy territory is tempting fate."

Unfortunately, his sound advice did not sit very well with the young ruler to be. "Are you implying that we cannot take care of ourselves Lieutenant?"

"I'm implying that the point of a team is to have someone at your side you can rely on. Trust me Princess, I've seen plenty of great warriors slain on the battlefield because they didn't have someone to watch their back. The skill of one person alone can never handle every eventuality."

"I assume this is some Army doctrine you're spouting at me?"

"It's from personal experience Princess. I will follow whatever order you give, but I beg you to let us divide into two teams. It's safer for everyone."

It almost looked like Azula would object further, but in the end she simply rolled her eyes. Still, she wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. "Very well then. Who do you want to go with Lieutenant?"

While some men were utterly lacking in common sense regarding women, Xisheng was not one of them. He knew damn good and well what a dangerous situation was when it came to women. Choose? There was no right answer when it came to a choice like this. Any choice he made would anger someone. He knew that all too well.

"You know the capabilities of everyone here better than I do Princess. I'll submit to whatever placement you have for me."

Azula mentally cursed at his exceptional answer. She had to admit, Xisheng was very good at this. She would even go so far as to say that he was better at wordplay than he was at fighting. Yet it just made her more determined to win at some point or another.

"You're not mistaken there. Very well, you and Ty Lee go together. There's no point in having the two of us on the same team with similar skill sets. If that's the last tactical input you have for us, then we should all be on our way."

Xisheng felt the urge to bow but didn't for obvious reasons, instead simply nodding and turning on his heel to lead the way into Gaoling with Ty Lee at his side, the latter looking a bit more sour than usual. It was ironic, since Mai still had that smirk on her face that symbolized positive emotion in one way or another. For some reason (she actually knew what it was but refused to acknowledge it) Azula found it irritating.

"What are you smiling about?"

Fully aware of what was bothering her younger friend but ultimately just amused by it, Mai's expression didn't fall. "He gave a clever answer is all. Most boys are dumber than rocks when it comes to this kind of thing. Relatively speaking it's kind of impressive."

"Well considering that Zuko is the only other boy to see anything in you I'd hardly call it a fair comparison."

Azula's petty cruelty returned Mai's expression to the usual, though not because she was offended. She had long since become mostly immune to her friend's venom, mostly because she knew the younger girl tended to spit it at anyone and everyone if she was in a foul mood. This was especially true if the foul mood was brought about by being overshadowed. She'd always detested that, from the very first day Mai had met her. It had never bothered her as much as it did Ty Lee because Mai didn't really care to stand out above anyone else. She'd been raised to be unassuming, so her desperation for attention had been snuffed out relatively early in life.

And finally, she had to admit to herself that she felt too good about the original compliment that was pissing Azula off to let the latter's displeasure get through to her. She'd practically never received praise of that nature, at least not genuinely. Nobles spouted crap like that all the time, but only because it was considered polite to compliment the daughter of the person you actually cared to impress.

And Zuko had of course always been too dense when he was still around. It never occurred to him that certain girls might have wanted a compliment or two from him. But he hadn't even been a teenager at the time, so Mai cut him some slack on that one.

So instead of getting irritated, Mai simply decided to drop the whole matter and urge the objective forward. "Fair enough. Where do you want to look first?"

Azula looked a little put out by the lack of a hostile response, but she at least managed to see that it was childish to try and spur a fight for no real reason. "Word travels rather quickly around places where people are forced to gather frequently. The marketplace sounds like a good place to start eavesdropping."

Not honestly caring where they went since this was all Azula's mission anyway, Mai merely shrugged and allowed her younger compatriot to lead the way, though she couldn't imagine how Azula could have known where she was going all things considered.

She almost thought to ask, but her desire to do so waned when a slightly stiff breeze graced the city streets and forced her cascading hair into a gentle wave.

Did she really look that good like this?

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