Fully aware that his potential lead on the Avatar was already a long shot at best, Xisheng wasted no time in determining the best course of action so it could be acted on immediately. Unfortunately, there were some problems that presented themselves right away, as he stood on the far bank of the river somewhere out in the woods. The problem was that he had no frame of reference for getting back to the others. Being unfamiliar with this area overall, he didn't actually know how to get back to the Overlord from where he was right now.
Sure, he knew the rough direction it was in from his current position, but with the amount of distance between him and the vehicle, even a slight miscalculation in trajectory could lead him pretty far astray. Not to mention that there was almost no distinguishable mark near all of this white fur to readily identify it upon returning to try and pick up the trail. Even if Xisheng did make it back to the Overlord, he'd be hard pressed to drive it back here so they could potentially follow this trail, if Azula felt like that was the right call.
So he was in a bit of a tight spot. If he could communicate with Azula at a distance, the issue would be moot, but they were lacking a bird for long-range communication. Thankfully, Firebenders had some other options available to them.
In the Army, Firebenders would launch special plumes of flame into the sky to signal other troops or their commanders, if no alternative was available. There were several ways to use these signals to get basic messages across, and most every soldier learned what all of those signals were during their training. Considering that the forest in this area wasn't particularly thick as far as the canopy was concerned, Xisheng could feasibly use such a signal to at least establish Azula's location.
There were two issues with this line of reasoning, however. For one, they were in enemy territory, technically. Launching large plumes of flame into the sky was giving away their rough location to potentially unwanted eyes. That said, they were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, completely in the wilderness of the Earth Kingdom. There were no trade routes, no locations to protect, no nearby city that troops needed to move to: while the risk wasn't completely nonexistent, it was very unlikely that anyone with the power to do anything was around to notice the signal. He supposed the Avatar's group could technically still be around to notice it, but it seemed unlikely, considering the seeming age of the fur trail.
The second problem was whether or not Azula would respond to the signal as Xisheng desired. These signals were standard knowledge for soldiers, but Azula was not a soldier. She hadn't gone through the same training Xisheng had. It was possible that she wouldn't know what the signal meant, how to respond to it, or what she should do.
That said, Azula was an intelligent young woman. Xisheng was fairly certain she was smart enough to figure out the most likely reason he would launch a jet of flame into the sky for all to see. Or at least, he sure hoped so.
With that hope in mind, Xisheng gathered energy into his right hand and threw it towards the sky, creating a fireball with a trailing steam that arced decently far into the air. Launching flame into the sky was the most basic form of Army signal, but then again, it was all that needed to be done to request the location of allies. The more complicated signals, which required pulses, timing, or manipulation of flames while they were airborne, weren't needed here.
When the flame reached the apex of its arc, it began dissipating into the air almost immediately. Without the chi of the bender, there was nothing to actually burn, so it was guaranteed to fizzle out before it accidentally started a forest fire or something.
By the time the flames had withered away completely, Xisheng had still received no response from Azula. Of course, there were plenty of reasons why that could be. Maybe Azula hadn't seen it, either due to obstructed vision or simply the fact that she hadn't been looking in this general direction. Or maybe she had seen it and didn't know how to respond. She could assume that he was in danger or something, and therefore choose to avoid signalling her presence due to the possibility of alerting enemies. Such was the problem with this kind of communication.
Still, at about the time Xisheng was considering firing off a second signal, he got the response he was looking for. A single ball of azure flame peeked over the trees off to his right, pretty far into the distance. As the flame reached its apex and began the glowing process of fading away, Xisheng couldn't help but admire how beautiful it was. Truth be told, Azula's fighting style meant you generally only saw her flames in small amounts and for short periods of time. It wasn't every day that you got to see the sapphire color of her craft in such a large and extravagant manner.
Honestly, Xisheng was kind of jealous. No matter how skilled or powerful he became, he would never be able to create flames like that. Or at least, he didn't think he would. Best as he could tell, it wasn't something one could just develop through hard work or will. However, it also didn't seem hereditary: everyone had seen the Fire Lord's bending during the Agni Kai with Zuko, and there had been no blue flame there. So it begged the question: why was Azula's flame special?
Xisheng couldn't think of any potential reason. It couldn't be her focus or her drive or intensity or anything like that. Plenty of other Firebenders had such traits over the years. If anything, it was ironic that someone of Azula's disposition created flames that were so gorgeous. Ultimately, Xisheng figured it was something he would have to ask her. Assuming Azula even knew herself why she had such a special trait.
Shelving those thoughts for now, Xisheng quickly marked the direction of Azula's flare in the dirt around him, while also making sure to mentally mark a particular tree that was in the direction he would soon need to go. Before that though, he had to find a way to mark this location so he could lead his comrades back to it.
Thankfully, fire had some users in regards to somewhat longer-lasting signals as well. Wasting little time, Xisheng cleared a decently large area on the ground around him, before gathering some branches and brush in the immediate vicinity. After gathering up some rocks from the riverbed, he had everything he needed to create a long-lasting fire that wouldn't spread to the forest around him and cause some sort of accident. Lighting his contained kindling, Xisheng waited until the flames started to grow before searching out a bit more fuel that would add longevity and more smoke to the process.
Once the fire was raging well enough and smoke started rising into the sky, Xisheng turned back in the direction he had marked thanks to Azula's flare. At a decent jog, the fire he had created would last plenty long enough to reach them, and the smoke would serve as a waypoint to get back to this place. With all of that in mind, the Fire Nation officer locked his direction and made sure to keep it dead ahead as he crossed the river and started jogging through the forest.
The problem here was that he still only had a general direction to head in, which meant he could still get lost, especially if his straight line was interrupted by on obstacle, like any one of the many trees in the forest. But despite not being an Army Pathfinder, he had worked with enough of them during his career to know a few tricks: if an obstacle got in the way of a straight line, counting your paces and circling around it using right angles would ensure you ended up very close to your original trajectory on the other side of it. It was better than nothing, at least.
Xisheng used this method to stay on course as best he could, but he had only been moving for a few minutes when he was distracted.
"Gohan, hey!"
Placing a hand on a nearby tree so he could keep his current bearing relative to the way he was facing, Xisheng turned his head to the right to see Ty Lee, who was several dozen feet away and had clearly been moving in the opposite direction. She was moving towards him now, a worried look on her face. Xisheng figured he would dispel any worries first.
"Ty Lee-"
Before he could address her presence, the brunette was in Xisheng's face.
"Gohan, are you alright?! I saw that fire through the tree canopy. Is that bad? Is something wrong?"
"Calm down, Ty Lee, nothing is wrong. I used that to signal Azula after getting a little lost. She sent one back so I could figure out what direction the Overlord and the rest of you were in. Didn't you see her do it? Speaking of which... why is it just you out here? What, did Azula send you by yourself to see what was up?"
For some reason, a kind of sheepish look crossed the brunette's face.
"N-no, I wasn't actually with Azula and Mai when I saw your flames... I was, uh, taking a walk! In the woods. For relaxation and stuff."
"Just after bathing?"
"Y-yes?"
Xisheng looked back in the direction Ty Lee had come from, doing some mental calculations as to what direction she may have been going prior to noticing his signal.
"Ty Lee... seems to me like you were heading back to the river..."
The acrobat turned Avatar hunter took a step back as she blushed, waving her arms frantically.
"W-what?! No! Don't be silly, Gohan!"
Xisheng leveled a doubtful look at her.
"Really? Ty Lee, lying isn't a good look for you. Were you... coming back to spy on me?"
The blush on Ty Lee's face went completely crimson, matching the soldier's uniform almost perfectly. It basically confirmed Xisheng's suspicion immediately. Surprisingly, he wasn't as embarrassed himself by this notion as he would have assumed he would be. Maybe the fact that she was so flustered made it easier for him. Either way, Ty Lee did say something back, and that response in and of itself was kind of surprising.
"Y-yeah, so what if I was?! It's only fair, you spied on me too!"
Reminded of the gorgeous nakedness he had witnessed not that long ago (he was surprised he had managed to forget at all), now it was Xisheng's turn to feel flustered.
"On accident! T-that's not the same as doing it intentionally!"
Seeing that she could counterattack and thus limit her own embarrassment, Ty Lee swiftly took the offensive, hand on her hips in a somewhat judging pose.
"Well you sure didn't seem all that invested in looking away, did you? You seemed pretty happy to ogle me, you know!"
"Well you seemed pretty happy to be ogled by me, you know?! It's not like you covered yourself! Besides, it's not like it was just you!"
Contrary to the intent, the reminder that two other girls had been involved actually didn't seem to make Ty Lee feel any better about the situation. She folded her arms and everything.
"What kind of guy complains about getting such a great show, anyway? The least you could do is take responsibility for seeing everything..."
Forgetting that there was actually something bigger at hand, Xisheng focused on this conversation about nudity and all, having not expected it in the slightest.
"I didn't see everything. You were facing me sideways initially, you know..."
His voice trailed off at that, prompting Ty Lee to cock an eyebrow at him.
"Try not to sound so disappointed, Gohan. Not an ounce of shame in you, even after stealing the purity of several maidens! And you know, Azula's the Crown Princess and all that, not to mention kind of young for you. You should feel bad for all this, don't you think?"
Honestly, Xisheng was surprised that Ty Lee was holding this all against him. She had been eager to show off for him earlier, so what the hell was with this? He didn't get a chance to question that, since Ty Lee was looking at him with a smug expression at this exact moment.
"You know, I bet Azula and Mai would be really excited to learn about all of this..."
Of all the people to threaten him with certain death, Ty Lee was the last person that would have come to Xisheng's mind.
"Hey, hey, are you trying to get me killed?! I thought you liked me!"
In response to that, Ty Lee donned a mischievous smirk as she leaned forward to put their faces closer together.
"I do like you, Gohan. That's why I'd be willing to overlook all of this shameless behavior if you just paid me back in kind. I just want to be compensated for showing you my perfect body and saving your life from Azula and Mai at the river."
With the girl so close to him, a charming smile on her face, and decidedly lewd thoughts and implications on the table, Xisheng couldn't help but lean back to try and get some air into his overloading brain. Ty Lee had a point in saying that he had gotten to see her naked, but it was an accident. That wasn't the same as someone requesting you to give strip show.
"N-now hold on, like I said, I didn't see everything!"
Gaining a lot more confidence seeing how well her attack was going, Ty Lee somehow failed to miss a beat, saying completely embarrassing things without herself seeming too flustered herself.
"Fair enough. Then I guess you just have to show me your chest and your butt, right? Then it's even."
"T-T-Ty Lee, that's ridiculously scandalous!"
The brunette leaned towards him again, constantly ensuring that the space between them was sparse.
"I think I know what Mai and Azula would find ridiculously scandalous..."
"Hey, are you seriously going to blackmail me like that?!"
Giggling to herself, Ty Lee backed away to give him some space.
"Of course I'm not, Gohan. I know what those two would do to you. But come on, don't you think it's only fair? And are you really upset with the fact that a hot girl wants to see you naked?"
Xisheng had to admit, that idea was kind of flattering, in a way. There was a certain appeal to knowing for certain that someone was interested. But still, this felt like a little much. That said, Xisheng tried to find a way to divert this line of thought to something else entirely.
"Er, T-Ty Lee, there isn't time for this right now! I launched that signal because I needed to get back to Azula and report something right away."
Maybe finding his claim to be a little dubious with how suddenly he was injecting it into the conversation, Ty Lee put her hands on her hips.
"Oh really?"
"Y-yes, really! Look, I need you to keep going the way I came until you reach the river. I started a fire on the shore of the river so I can follow the smoke back there, and it would really help me out if you could go and keep an eye on it until I return, alright?"
Ty Lee followed the finger he pointed back in the direction he came, figuring that Xisheng wouldn't make something like that up just to dodge this conversation. After all, it would be too easy to reveal such a lie for what it is.
"Alright, Gohan..."
She stepped forward again and gently pressed her index finger against Xisheng's chest.
"...but don't think I'm going to forget about this. I can't just let you go around fantasizing about my naked body if I don't get to do the same thing with you. So don't be surprised when I bring this up again!"
With that, the acrobat jogged off in the direction Xisheng had come from, giving him a dainty wave and a smile as she did so. One would never have assumed she had just been openly discussing something so promiscuous two seconds ago.
As for Xisheng, he was frozen in place for the moment, wondering how on Earth this turn of events had taken place. Where had this crazy situation come from? Maybe it had been too naive of him to think that what he had witnessed at the river would be a one and done occurrence that had no lasting effects or consequences. After all, maybe it would actually be kind of ridiculous to expect Ty Lee to not follow-up on what had happened at all.
Still, this was technically a minor thing that shouldn't have been taking up his focus right now, so Xisheng moved it to the back of his mind and returned his attention to what mattered right now.
Having thoughtfully kept his bearings even during that flustering conversation with Ty Lee, Xisheng set himself on the right path once again, a decent jog carrying him forward. Hopefully, it would only be a few more minutes before he arrived at this destination.
Being in great shape due to the nature of his career and combat arts, Xisheng covered distance at a fairly rapid pace. After another few minutes, he questioned whether or not he was still going in the right direction, but within sixty seconds Xisheng broke through the light tree cover and found himself standing in a clearing. A quick glance around proved that it was indeed the right clearing, as he could see the Overlord several dozen paces to his right. He had come out a little off to his exact destination, but honestly Xisheng was proud of how accurate his trajectory had been. Maye he could have been a scout, after all.
With little time to waste, Xisheng trotted over to the Fire Nation transport, finding the people he was looking for on the far side of it. Mai was sitting on one of the metal steps of the vehicle, her focus consumed by some sort of maintenance with a contraption on her forearm. Xisheng had never noticed it before, but he assumed she hid the thing under her spacious sleeves.
Azula, on the other hand, was standing with her arms folded as she stared right above the treeline. One of her slender fingers was tapping impatiently against her armor. Xisheng imagined she was waiting for some sort of sign or indication of what Xisheng's flare had meant, whether that came from his actual arrival or something else.
Unfortunately, Xisheng's slightly off-target trajectory had spit him out behind the Princess. Xisheng couldn't imagine that she was the type of person to get spooked, but he knew as well as anyone that someone on edge could be easily startled, regardless of their normal disposition. He'd once been knocked upside the head by a Fire Nation guard with a polearm when Xisheng had come to relieve him.
That said, all he could really do was announce his presence as sensibly as possible, and hope neither girl present was the type to react before identifying the source of a disturbance.
"Princess."
To her credit, Azula didn't really whirl on him with a gout of flame or anything. But Xisheng noticed the mild alarm all the same. She turned to face him with narrowed eyes, and her hands had swiftly taken the shape of her preferred Firebending stance. Her body had moved to a battle position before her mind even acknowledged that the sudden voice was friendly. Honestly, Xisheng would chalk that up to instinct and reaction time before jumpiness.
Even Mai, stony as she usually was, visibly tensed at his arrival, and that was to say nothing of the fact that a knife had appeared in her hand in the blink of an eye. Thankfully, both girls quickly discovered little need for concern, seeing as how the arrival was a friendly one. Honestly Xisheng was glad they both had such good reaction times. It was a good trait to have in their current line of work.
That aside, Azula was quick to ask about the meaning of all this.
"Lieutenant: I assume there's an explanation for all of this?"
Bowing to her since this was customary of a report, Xisheng did his best to make everything concise. He also tried to determine the best way to word everything so it all seemed reasonable in the first place.
"Yes, Princess. While at the river, I encountered a very large clump of white hair. Seeing as how no animal should have their winter coat around this time of year and that the fur was clearly from a sizable animal, I made to investigate its source. Further down the river, I found a trail of similar fur in suspicious spots: the tops of trees, caught on branches and the like, seemingly indicating that the fur fell from above the treetops. I know this is hardly a solid lead, but I felt it was prudent to bring this to your attention: this fur could belong to the Avatar's bison."
Instead of answering immediately, Azula's hand went to her chin, the girl's brow furrowing as she considered what she was being told. Mai, on the other hand, was a bit more vocal in her own thoughts.
"Not that I'm an expert or anything, but isn't that assuming a lot? It's not winter and that bison has a white coat to begin with, so plenty of other animals could just have white fur year-round. And how many Earth Kingdom animals are you familiar with anyway? That fur could be from any number of creatures you don't know about."
Xisheng wasn't at all bothered that Mai said any of this. After all, she was right about all of that. He'd said himself that the lead was less than solid.
"You are right about all of those things. Still, it's worth calling attention to, at any rate. Ultimately it's the Princess' call as to whether or not we pursue it."
Having raised her points, Mai merely shrugged, returning to what she had been doing with the contraption on her arm. She supposed it didn't particularly matter to her where the party went. She was mostly along for the ride anyway, so North or East or off some vague trail didn't matter that much to her.
Azula, on the other hand, couldn't be so flippant about the decision. It's not like the group was on a strict timetable to achieve any particular goal. But that didn't mean they could just go off on any detour that came their way. And even though they didn't have a specific deadline to achieve their goals, obviously it would be better to catch the Avatar as swiftly as possible.
Having lost his trail and with no reasonable way to get it back, Azula had figured that the best thing to do was to go to a Fire Nation military base and be appraised of the overall war situation. At least then she could determine what other ways her group could contribute to the war effort, since she would hardly be content to traipse about in the wilderness with no lead on the Avatar.
All of that said, she figured that it wouldn't be too detrimental to investigate this fur trail Xisheng had brought up, even if it was a long shot. If it seemed like a viable pursuit, they could follow it, and if it didn't, then they wouldn't have lost too much time investigating regardless.
"I believe it's worth a look, at the very least. Mai raises some valid points, but unlikely and impossible are far from the same. Although, how exactly do you plan on getting back to the trail's location...?"
"I started a controlled fire near it. The smoke should be rising above the treetops any minute now. Ty Lee should be keeping an eye on it: we crossed paths in the forest on my way back here."
Azula's raised brow implied that she was a little confused as to how the two of them had met up in the woods, but she supposed Ty Lee was the kind that was predisposed to wandering. It was probably just a coincidence.
"Very well. To the vehicle then, there's no point in waiting around."
Xisheng bowed to the much shorter girl again, turning from her as Azula made to enter the car she called home for now. Instead of moving directly to the driver's cabin himself, Xisheng turned his attention to Mai, who was just getting up.
"Mai, could I trouble you to ride in the driver's cabin? The view port for the Overlord is too narrow for me to really look up into the sky: I may need your help to stay on course towards the smoke signal."
To her credit, Mai didn't immediately show any signs of being discontent with the suggestion. However, that only lasted for a moment. Maybe because she put some thought into it.
"What, do you want me to hang out the open door or something?"
Realizing that this did sound a bit more troublesome than he had worded it initially, Xisheng smiled apologetically. Truth be told, if Mai didn't agree to do this, he'd have to stop the Overlord every few minutes and step outside himself to make sure they were going the right way. That would be remarkably inefficient.
"I'm really sorry to ask it of you, but you would really be a great help, Mai. I'd be very grateful."
With a sigh, the dark-haired girl decided against resisting any further. Didn't mean she was going to be particularly gracious about it, though.
"Fine. But only because you're so desperate about it."
Instead of claiming that his plea was more earnest than desperate, Xisheng figured he would settle for the victory he had.
"Thank you, Mai."
For some reason, his simple gratitude spurred the girl to turn away from him and head for the driver's cabin, a tiny frown that seemed less about displeasure and more about irritation of some sort.
"Let's just get going already."
Xisheng smiled to himself, glad that he had enlisted Mai's much-needed help, but even more pleased that he had flustered her a bit. Something about breaching her impervious emotional barrier was just immensely satisfying. Maybe he was being presumptuous, but it felt like something he could do that others couldn't. Hell, he hadn't seen Azula or Ty Lee get some sort of notable emotional rise out of her, and they were her actual friends with years of experience with her. Maybe that was a bias governed by his narrow perspective, but he enjoyed it nevertheless.
Of course, now that she was walking away from him, Xisheng's attention drifted away from that innocent enjoyment and towards a memory from earlier that day. It was weird how her loose clothing actually did more to accentuate particular curves rather than hide them. Maybe it was because there was nothing else to rest on. Or maybe it was just because he actually knew what was hiding under there now.
Aware that he was probably going to be spending a fair deal of time with her today since her help would be needed, Xisheng tried to clear his head of such thoughts. The last thing he needed was that kind of distraction on his mind when there was something important to focus on. Surely he was professional enough to keep a clear head, right?
As he failed to immediately disperse some distinctly perverse thoughts, Xisheng finally understood why the Army was so ridiculously strict about uniform: everyone looked the same in armor, and there was nothing to get excited about regardless of gender. Until now, he hadn't really appreciated the rationale of that principle.