Dark Puck - icon not quite appropriate but whatever

Haru had long since lost track of the time. All he was really aware of was the beautiful girl straddling him and kissing him and driving him absolutely crazy. Though some of that was clearly his own fault, since he refused to let her take off his shirt. She’d promptly offered to remove hers as well, but the bender had managed to barely convince her to keep it on. A kiss had been the most effective way of doing so.

After a while, a familiarly sarcastic voice said, from somewhere above him, “Are you busy? I can come back later.”

Haru made a startled noise again and his eyes snapped open to see Sokka standing over him and Ty Lee.

“I just thought you’d like to know,” Sokka said, in a voice that made it very, very clear that he’d never ever ever let Haru live this down, “that it’s over. We won.”

“…oh.” Haru tried again to gather his thoughts. “That’s good. Um. Could you get off, please?” he asked Ty Lee again.

“…I guess I have to,” she said, and obediently slid off.

The bender groaned as he realised he was still paralysed and thus stuck there. “…how much do I have to pay you to get you to never bring this up?” he asked Sokka.

“Oh, I don’t think there’s enough money in the world for that,” the younger man replied, grinning.

“You could always say I made you do it,” Ty Lee suggested. “You were my prisoner, after all.”

“…that’s even worse!”

“How is it worse?” she asked, puzzled.

“…it just is,” he answered, trying to move his arm.

“That’ll wear off in like five minutes,” she reassured him. “Then you can tie me up or whatever you plan on doing with me.”

“Ah. Okay.”

“…I’m going to go pass the news on to the others,” Sokka said, still grinning. “You two go ahead and do whatever it is you feel like doing.”

“Sokka!”

“About us winning,” the younger man said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll save this for later.” Without waiting for a response, he stepped over the still-paralyzed earthbender and headed off down the hall.

“…You want me to paralyze him to shut him up?” Ty Lee offered, not-quite-joking.

“I don’t think even that could shut him up,” muttered Haru direly.

“…It could have been worse,” she said, matter-of-factly. “It could have been Azula who caught us.”

“…I’d rather not think about that possibility,” he said, testing his arm again. No go.

She nodded, and sat cross-legged on the ground, waiting for him to unparalyze.

“…you’re still here?”

“Well, yeah,” she said. “You captured me, right?”

“…but I can’t move,” he replied, confused. “You could get away.”

“I could,” she agreed. “But, the way I see it—” she flipped over, perched on her hands and head, knees on elbows, “— I either stick around and let you take me prisoner, when you can do anything you want with me—” here, she paused to give him a highly significant — if somewhat absurd, being upside down — look, “— or I could go on the run. And even if I went back to the circus…well, Zuli found me before. One of you guys might find me later. And you’ll probably be nicer to me if I just surrender now.”

It took Haru’s brain a moment to process what she’d said. “…oh.” There! His finger had moved! “I see.”

“Plus, I like spending time with you.” She watched his finger move.

He blinked, startled, even as he tried to wiggle his other fingers. “Because of the kissing?”

“Well, that. And you’re cute. Especially when you blush.” She grinned at him.

He blushed then, the heat rising to his forehead and down his neck. “Thanks, I think.”

She giggled. “You’re welcome.”

After another few moments, Haru was able to sit up. By then, he’d gotten the rest of his body, save for his legs, completely under control.

“See? I told you it would wear off.”

“I didn’t disbelieve you,” he replied, awkwardly bending leg with his hands. “Otherwise, why would you have kept jabbing me?”

“Because I thought you enjoyed it?” she suggested, coyly.

Only barely did he manage not to blush. “I happen to like being in control of my body, thank you.”

She shrugged. “Well, some people—” She paused, with a very odd look on her face. “…Um, before you tie me up… there’s probably something we should check. ‘Cause I don’t think anyone else will think to.”

“…what?” he asked, rising to his feet and wobbling a little bit.

“I think Azula was with ‘Nami before you guys invaded,” Ty Lee said, flipping back onto her feet to help support him, as if that explained everything.

“‘Nami? Who’s ‘Nami?” Haru asked.

“She’s… Azula’s special friend,” Ty Lee explained.

Haru managed not to make a snarky comment worthy of Sokka, but instead said, “Oh. Then I guess we should.”

She looked relieved. “The playroom is this way,” she said, pointing down a hallway. “Are you okay to walk yet? It’s different for different people.”

Playroom? What is Azula, five? “I think I can— whoa!” Haru had to lean against the wall for balance.

“Here, I’ll help,” his “prisoner” said, sliding next to him and putting one of his arms around her shoulders.

He smiled down at her. “Thanks.”

She grinned up at him. “No problem,” she said, and started helping him off in the direction of the “playroom.” As they travelled, Haru grew stronger and was walking unaided by the time the got there.

He left his arm around her shoulders anyway.

Ty Lee didn’t seem to mind. She even slid her arm around his waist. “Here it is,” she said, stopping at a fairly nondescript door about ten minutes after they’d started searching. She tested the knob. “Dammit, Zuli locked it.”

Haru scowled, and examined the wall. “Right.” He put one hand against the stone and then rapped his knuckles against it. A beat, then he put both palms against the wall and twisted his hands sharply to the right; the stone dissolved into sand.

Through Haru’s brand-new doorway, they could see that this was definitely not a five-year-old’s playroom. It was a roughly circular stone room, with several sets of manacles along the walls, and, about halfway around the room, a partway-open armoire that held what looked like a selection of very well-cared-for whips and knives.

Hanging from one set of manacles, naked and blindfolded, was a young albino woman, back decorated with welts and half-dried blood.

Haru’s jaw dropped. “…special friend?” he asked, aware of the weakness in his voice.

The girl’s head turned towards the sound, but she didn’t say anything.

“Yeah,” Ty Lee said, quietly, and went over to the armoire to look for the key to the manacles. “Could you get the blindfold off?”

“Y-yeah. Sure.” Haru quickly strode to the young woman and took the blindfold gently off her.

She blinked at the sudden light, and whimpered a little, clearly afraid of what he was going to do with her.

“Shh,” he said soothingly. “It’s okay. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

She nodded, and hung there quietly, still afraid, despite Haru’s assurances, while Ty Lee searched for the key. “Any luck?” Haru called to the acrobat.

“Found the keys. Not sure which is the right one,” she said, crossing the room. “Hey, ‘Nami. I’m gonna get you down, okay?”

“Yes, lady…,” the chained girl murmured, bowing her head.

The Earthbender stepped back to give Ty Lee space and began to search for the albino’s clothing. It was neatly folded in a corner — the sole problem was that it looked like the buttons had been ripped when the dress had been removed.

Haru swore quietly and spent a second wishing he could clothbend — hah, how useless would that be? — and stripped off his overshirt. It was long enough to decently cover the girl. Ty Lee, meanwhile, had finished undoing the manacles, and caught the older girl when she fell off the wall.

“Here,” said Haru, joining them again. He offered the girl the shirt. “You can wear this.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, quietly, and pulled it on over her head.

“Can you walk?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, though she sounded a little uncertain.

He offered her a hand up. “Well, let’s give it a try. If you can’t, I’ll carry you.”

She bowed her head, and let him help her up. She stumbled a bit, then froze, as if expecting some sort of reaction from him.

“It’s okay, ‘Nami,” Ty Lee said quickly.

“Are you all right?” Haru asked her at the same time, concerned.

“Y-yes, sir,” she said, keeping her eyes lowered.

Haru wasn’t so certain, but he let her walk a few steps anyway, ready to catch her if she fell. She tried her best, but she’d been hanging on that wall for a long time. When she did fall, she seemed very upset and apologized frantically.

“It’s all right,” he assured her, sweeping her up in his arms. “Don’t worry about it.”

She flinched a little when he picked her up — her back still hurt — but only said, “As it please you, sir,” her voice still shaking a little.

Ty Lee, behind them, cleaned up the room as best she could, then followed. Haru carried the girl as gently as he could, making his way back towards where he’d split away from the main group.

Most of the others had already gathered there, including the newly-freed prisoners. The only ones who seemed to be missing were Toph and Zuko. Haru’s eyes widened when he saw his father. “Dad!” he cried. The only thing keeping him from running to the older man was the albino girl in his arms.

Hakoda was hugging both of his children tightly and didn’t seem particularly inclined to let go; Shang was trying to edge out of sight. Ty Lee settled herself somewhere on the edge of the group, waiting for someone to remember she’d been captured and tie her up or something. She really was quite looking forward to practicing escape artistry. Besides, the reunions were fun to watch.

By way of edging, the soldier wound up near her. “So,” he said, after a moment.

“So?” she replied.

“Are you sticking around?”

“Well, I sorta surrendered.”

“Ah.” He sighed. “I have to play fetch. Mind not ratting me out?”

“I’m not gonna lie for you, but I won’t point it out unless I’m asked,” she compromised cheerfully.

“That’s all I care about,” he replied with a grin and a bow. “My thanks, my lady.”

She grinned back. “No problem.”

Very carefully, the soldier snuck off while Teo noticed certain absences. “…where are Toph and Zuko?”

“I’m right here,” Toph said, coming through a wall. “Zuko got dragged off by a bunch of official-sounding people, I guess to settle all the messy details.”

“Right,” said Teo. “Should we check on him?”

“If you wanna go look for him, be my guest,” she said, settling cross-legged onto the ground.

“…that’s okay.” Teo clearly was not inclined to leave his father anytime soon.

“Hey, where’d Shang run off to?” Sokka asked, about ten minutes later.

Haru shrugged, having set the albino down so he could catch up with his father. “He was here?”

Hakoda arched an eyebrow at his son. “Does that boy do that often?”

“…Yeah, kind of,” Sokka admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

Teo rolled his eyes. “He’s a wriggler. Says it’s because of his older cousins.”

Somewhere in the background, Ty Lee raised her hand. She figured it was better to just tell them where he’d gone than have them all get lost in the maze-like palace searching for him.

Hakoda glanced back at her. “Yes?”

“If you’re talking about the Li who was here a while ago, he said he went to play fetch. Not sure what that means, but… “ She shrugged.

Tyro’s eyes narrowed. “He’s a Li?”

Ty Lee nodded. “Yep. At least, I think so.”

“That explains it,” the older man said to Hakoda. “I’ve dealt with Lis before. Nothing but trouble, the lot of them. At least he’s the amusing type rather than egotistical.”

Sokka still looked annoyed, but seemed to accept this, at least for now.

“Yeah, it could be worse,” Shang’s voice drifted back. “I could be a ponce like Cousin Zhao was.”

“You’re related to Zhao?” Katara said, startled and not at all pleased.

“Only by accident of birth, I assure you,” said the soldier. “My unlamented second cousin and I didn’t get on the two times we met.”

“Good,” she said, seeming mollified.

Shang had brought Leilani and Kouji with him; while Leilani darted forward to embrace Katara, Kouji tried to hide behind Shang.

The albino, now kneeling where Haru had set her down, still wearing his overshirt, was very carefully not-staring at Leilani.

The healer smiled at Katara and turned – and stopped. Definitely not staring at the albino. The older girl blushed and stared determinedly at the ground, hands shaking slightly. Carefully, Leilani approached her and knelt next to her. “Hi,” she said quietly, smiling. “I’m Leilani. What’s your name?”

“Minami, lady,” she murmured, still carefully looking at the floor, for fear she’d displease the pretty new lady by being too forward.

“It’s nice to meet you, Minami.”

Minami blushed even more. “A-and you, lady,” she whispered.

Kouji peeked out at them from behind Shang, flushed, and crept away to go looking for Zuko. The palace, unfortunately, was a maze, and had no handy signs to indicate where one might start when searching for the prince. The boy very quickly became lost and upset.

“Hey, kid!” a voice from somewhere behind him called. “You lost?”

Kouji jumped a mile and turned to see a palace guard. Hesitantly, he nodded. “I… I was looking for Prince Zuko…”

“…He’s busy,” the guard said. “I’m sorry, you can’t see him now. Who are you with? I’ll take you back to them. You shouldn’t be wandering around alone.”

“…who am I with? I… guess the Avatar?” Kouji tried to control his disappointment. Of course the prince was busy.

“…Right. I’ll take you back to him, then,” the guard said, noticeably more wary. “This way.”

Kouji followed him silently, wondering if everyone would be this wary about him. It wasn’t his fault he was with them…

The guard dropped him off within sight of the group. “I think you can make it on your own from here. Don’t wander off again.” He then turned on his heel and headed back to his post.

Head hanging, Kouji returned, scuffing his feet a little.

“Something wrong?” Ty Lee asked him, bored, leaning against the wall, still not tied up like any respectable prisoner should be.

“Zuko’s busy,” he sighed. “And Aang is too.” Which was pretty much it for the people he’d bonded with. “Maybe I should go back to Appa.”

“I’m sure Zuzu will sort everything out soon,” she assured him. “But, I mean, this sort of thing takes time. Just be patient.”

“I’ll try,” he mumbled, turning bright red and not looking at her.

She grinned, and leaned back against the wall again to watch the others be happy. Kouji moved a few feet away until his blush subsided, then sat down and watched the reunions as well. They seemed to be winding down, with people figuring out who would return to their homes and who would stay for the time being to make sure everything worked out okay.

Sooner or later, whoever was in charge remembered that there was a large group of people cluttering up a hallway, who could probably use places to sleep. A couple hours later, an elderly servant came to tell them that rooms had been set up for them, and would they please follow him to them.

They did so, with Kouji trailing awkwardly behind them all. Leilani didn’t seem inclined to part from Minami at any near point; nor did Sokka seem so inclined to leave Suki.

And so, the invaders, rescued prisoners, and their friends were mostly settled.