The Pawn |Katara

TWENTY-TWO

Friendship was a peculiar thing – if one could call it thing. Akira liked to think of it as more of a feeling, a fondness and care that was always there even if he sometimes thought it would be nice if he had the chance to shake some sense into a friend of his, quite literally. He had lost count of the times he had wished he could shake Zuko throughout the last couple of years but he still considered him a friend. Some friendships, the strongest ones, lasted for years if not an entire lifetime. Daily contact was not necessary and in some cases, the friends hadn't seen each other in weeks if not months, and yet everything sailed smoothly, as if they hadn't been separated a day. 

This was the case between Akira, Mai and Ty Lee. Even though they hadn't always been close like this, Akira had had years of being around Mai to make up for the distance they had had when the rest of their friends had still been around, and he had always been close to Ty Lee. Her departure had been a pain to him back then, and for a while, he had felt incredibly lonely, before he found what he had been looking for in Mai, and then Zuko. But now, years after they had been separated by their own choices, Ty Lee was back, and it felt as if not a day had passed by. 

Thoughts of Akemi's death didn't cross his mind when he had Ty Lee around to occupy him, always having something to say that would draw his attention. She grew bored easily and in no time at all, it was like the old times, when she would drag Akira and Mai around to do her every whim. And this morning had been no different.

"I haven't gone to the top of the caldera in ages," Ty Lee said as she finally came to a stop in front of Mai and Akira and abruptly put a stop to the conversation she had had with Aang about the ways in which Kyoshi Island had developed since his last visit. Akira lifted his head in mild interest as Mai looked away in an attempt to avoid being roped into this. He didn't know why she even bothered. All of them knew she would be coming regardless.

"Nobody is stopping you," Akira teased her as he leaned back in his elbows, paying no heed to the cold stone of the step in the courtyard digging into his back. He raised a brow at Ty Lee. "Go on, then. Tell us what's changed when you get back."

"Such a good host," Ty Lee narrowed her eyes at him. "You are supposed to show me the way. What if I have forgotten?"

Akira instantly scoffed. "Impossible."

"Come on, can't you do that for me? I haven't asked for much-"

"No, we just got to the market on your first day here, on the second you insisted on seeing the gates of Azulon up close, yesterday you had us take a boat to see the Ember Island for a few hours and now you want to go to the caldera." He raised a brow at her. "Am I forgetting something?"

Mai cleared her throat, "She made us show her around the palace in case something had changed on the first day."

Akira let out a hum of realisation as Ty Lee pouted. "Come on, guys. Who knows when I'm going to come back here to see the area, I want to make the most of it."

"I thought the goal was to see us," Akira quipped.

"That's why I'm not going alone!"

He took one look at her beaming smile and he knew he yielded. He turned to Mai with a small smile. "Suffer with me."

She didn't waste a moment. "I tend to do that fairly often."

Akira let out a laugh as he pushed himself up and then outstretched a hand for Mai to take. Ty Lee cheered as Mai stood up with his help, and he couldn't help but shake his head as he let go of her hand and started following Ty Lee to the general direction of the exit. Mai was quick to follow after him and so they got in the halls of the palace. They passed by a couple of servants they greeted on their way, and a few moments before they were to leave, they came upon Katara and Toph.