From Mortal To Divinity

"Good, your firebending isn't completely wrong now," says Azula as she looks at her brother practicing his forms on the deck of the ship.

"Firebending using your anger and aggression may give you a little extra strength at the beginning, but eventually you will burn out before your enemy drops dead."

Before she can explain further I interject "Maybe it would be better if you two took a break. You won't get better if you burn yourselves out, and I believe your uncle would like to get our spar over with."

They've been at it for hours. Zuko had been sparring with some of the soldiers, Azula had gotten tired of watching his aggressive firebending and had taken it upon herself to correct it.While Zuko is most certainly not average when it comes to firebending talent, Azula is just on a completely different level, which made it all the more interesting to watch her get frustrated when it takes him longer to get things that took her little to no time.

Stopping, Zuko looks at Iroh standing next to me and asks "Are you two really sparring?"

Iroh laughs and pats his stomach while saying "Of course. It will help me get back in shape. After all it's not everyday you go on an adventure to save the world."

Shaking his head, Zuko and Azula make their way to the back of the deck, giving Iroh and I room. Making my way over to the front of the deck, I turn and face Iroh who stands in the middle and ask "What are the rules?"

He strokes his beard for a while before answering "No lightning bending, no lethal shots and winner is determined when the opposition yields."

Nodding my head, I set myself into a stance that incorporates the standard firebending stance taught by the military and the dancing dragon. Iroh follows suit with a stance that I recognized as being influenced by waterbending.

Seeing my stance, Iroh raises an eyebrow and jovially states "I see you met Ran and Shaw. It must have been an enlightening experience."

I answer him with a smile and simply reply "Very."

Without saying another word, he launches a fireball at me via a roundhouse kick followed by a jab. I step to the right avoiding the first fireball and into the second fireball. I bring my left palm up and clench it, completely extinguishing it. Not giving him time to process what happened, I launch a fire arc at his fee via a sweeping kick, using the momentum of the kick, I launch myself into a flying roundhouse and send out another arc at his head. Following through, I use flames under my feet and glide my way within thirty feet of Iroh just as he splits my attacks right down the middle. Before he can move I punch two fire streams at him and a fireball via front kick when he deflects the streams to his sides. He manages to block the fireball but is unprepared for the roundhouse fireball that connects to his right side. Taking advantage of his brief lapse of attention, I follow through with a back kick fire stream to his solar plexus, which he redirects over his head. Using my back foot, I launch into the air and send a pillar of fire crashing down on his head via hatchet kick. As I fall I jab a comet towards him as he barely manages to block the pillar. The comet is barely blocked, and he takes the lapse in attacks to speak.

"I yield," he says as he bats away the flames on his sleeves.

"While I have more experience bending than you, you're certainly a far more skilled combatant than me. Throughout that whole exchange, I could feel you holding back the intensity of your flames." he explains

He sighs wistfully and says "It seems that I let myself go much farther than I thought. Perhaps it's time that I start participating in these little exercises."

"Why did you yield" came Zuko's voice.

Turning to face him I can tell that he genuinely doesn't understand why Iroh yielded, and to be honest I can't blame him. The spar itself looked as if we were at an impasse, with Iroh not being able to get through my attacks to counterattack and me being unable to breach his defences.

"While the spar may have made it look like we are even, the reality of the situation is that this was a spar. In a real battle where lethal techniques are allowed, I am not confident in my chances of beating him" explains Iroh.

"Indeed" continues Azula "While uncle is the more experienced of the two, Kagutsuchi focused most of his attention into the lethal part of bending. Other than the most advanced techniques such as lightning generation, uncle Iroh focused more on perfecting the basics of firebending before going on to research into the spiritual side of bending."

Silence greets her as we all stare at her, none of us really expected her to know or figure it out.

Looking up from where she is admiring her nails, Azula answers our unasked question "What? I can read his chi. I may not be invested into the spiritual side of bending but anybody who can feel chi can tell that uncle Iroh's has a far less aggressive feel to it. Kagutsuchi you taught me this, remember."

Nodding my head I answer "I did teach you that. I just didn't think that you were paying much attention based on the fact that you were admiring your nails throughout the whole lesson."

All I receive is an eye roll for my troubles.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Arriving at the circus, Zuko couldn't help but ask "Why are we here Azula? You said that we would be visiting your old friends, shouldn't we have gone back to the Fire Nation?"

"No" answers Azula "Ty Lee ran away from home, and Mai's family was relocated to the Earth Kingdom colony of Omashu."

Walking in, the group of three can see performers of all types walking around in their costumes setting up for the show that night. One said performer is a girl of about fifteen years old with brown-gray eyes, and brown hair tied into a long braid. She wears a tight crop top that does little to actually restrain her… assets in her current position, or the toned muscles of her exposed stomach. She is positioned upside down in a single handed handstand. Naturally since she's a friend of Azula being in a single handed handstand isn't enough, instead she also decided to balance herself on her index finger.

Azula seeing her friend sarcastically says "Hmm, I wonder who this girl balancing on her fingertips can be? Certainly no one I know…"

Hearing Azula, Ty Lee turns her head to face the group and immediately smiles upon recognizing her friend.

With an excited cry of "Azula!" Ty Lee pushes herself from the ground into a flip before landing on her feet and smoothly forming a bow.

Coming out of her bow, she rushes Azula with a hug and screams "I missed you!"

Azula smiles and calmly returns the hug.

"It's good to see you too. Please don't let me interrupt you. We both know a simple conversation won't hinder your performance" she answers.

Ty Lee, taking Azula's words to heart, proceeds to flip onto the ground, and using her torso as support, bends her legs backwards so that her feet rest on her head.

"You know, when you told me that you'd be joining the circus I didn't think that you would follow through with it. That said, I didn't come here to badger you about your life choices. I have a favor to ask." says Azula.

"Umm, suuure" says Ty Lee hesitantly.

"You see, my father has tasked me with the mission to capture the avatar, and I would be honored if you could join me," explains Azula.

Ty Lee flips herself back onto her feet and replies "I'd love to, but you see I'm really happy here. My aura has never been pinker."

Azula raises her hand in surrender and answers "I'll take your word for it. It was at least worth a shot."

Ty Lee cups her hands together, bows and says "Thank you Azula."

Azula nods and turns to leave. After taking a few steps however, she stops and says "Of course before I leave I'm going to catch your show."

Ty Lee, who had been in the process of balancing on one foot, stumbles a bit before hesitantly answering "Uh, yeah, sure. Of course."

As they walk out of the circus Zuko turns to Azula and says "You didn't force her to come. Usually you would have hatched a plot to convince her to come."

Azula looks at him from the corner of her eyes and replies with a smirk "Maybe I already have a plan, or maybe I've changed"

Having said her piece, she continues on her way leaving behind a thoroughly confused Zuko and an amused Kagutsuchi following her.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The show itself was mediocre in terms of entertainment. The only part that was somewhat entertaining was Ty Lee's performance. Surprisingly Azula didn't do anything to force Ty Lee to join her. Yet she still ended up joining because, according to her, Azula's aura seemed sadder when she was rejected.

"Sooo" says Ty Lee's voice ahead of me as we board the ship. "Who's the handsome guy following you around?"

I've only been around her for a few hours and I can already feel myself getting annoyed by her overly cheerful attitude.

"That would be my guard" answers Azula.

"Guard? Why would you need a guard? Don't you already have the Royal Guard?" questioned Ty Lee.

"Well, he was also my teacher for a few months. Naturally I've already learned everything he needed to teach me." answers Azula in her usual haughty tone when she spoke of her accomplishments.

"Aren't teachers supposed to be… I don't know... old and ugly?" questioned Ty Lee skeptically.

Turning to face my only compatriot in this torturous situation I raise an eyebrow and ask Zuko "Is she always like this?"

With an exasperated sigh he answers "Unfortunately."

It's only been a few hours and I can already feel my eyebrows set in a permanent twitch. Whatever deity is out there, please give me the patience to deal with her.