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Dear Ty Lee,
We're happy to be announcing our wedding and we're hoping you will be there to celebrate with us. You are welcome to stay in the royal palace for a few days. The wedding is in Caldera City on the summer solstice of this year. We would be honoured by your presence.
Firelord Zuko and Lady Mai
Dear Ty Lee,
I'm hoping you would stand by my side at the wedding. It would be my honour to have you there. You will be given a robe by the royal seamstress, so it would be helpful if you stayed for a week before the ceremony. If you tell me when you plan to arrive I will send an escort to bring you to the palace.
Best wishes,
Mai
Ty Lee's heart sank as she read the letter. She had been expecting this of course. Zuko had been courting Mai for a while now and the Fire Sages wouldn't let him wait much longer to produce an heir. Still, it hurt to see it black on white, in Mai's neat handwriting, stabbing her heart with every word and watching her blood mix with the ink on the paper.
It was an honour to be asked to stand by her side, though. She had expected her to ask Azula to show the world the unity of the old and new Fire Nation.
As it turned out Suki was invited to attend the wedding as well to show the unity among the nations and reunite with many old friends from across the world. Sokka, Katara, and Aang had come to pick them up at Kyoshi Island before heading to the Fire Nation, and they could spot Mai and her escort when they arrived in the Caldera port.
Mai bowed to each of them and even let Ty Lee hug her. She then gave them a tour around the city and to the grand palace where each of them was shown their rooms. Aang and Ty Lee were told when they would be seen by the seamstress, and Mai accompanied Ty Lee up to her room.
It was just like old times again, Ty Lee talked a lot and Mai mostly listened. Her face was expressionless for most of the way but she almost smiled at a few of Ty Lee's stories.
"I will give you time to unpack and get comfortable in your room. We will have dinner in the dining hall in around an hour. I will send a maid to come get you." She turned around and left down the hall, leaving Ty Lee alone with her bags and hopeless feelings.
Ty Lee had been excited to go down to dinner, hanging out with Mai and catching up with all her friends. They had sent letters of course, but it was nice to see them all again.
She was seated to the left of Mai, who sat at the head of the table with Zuko, Aang right beside him. To her right were the other Kyoshi Warriors, and opposite them sat the rest of the Gaang. They chatted happily, telling stories from their travels, explaining new projects, and discussing current controversies.
Ty Lee joined in gladly, paying close attention to Mai's miniscule reactions. She seemed to agree with most of what Ty Lee said, except that she probably wasn't as optimistic about most of it. She didn't say any of that of course, only telling Aang she found most of it pretty boring when asked.
By the end only Sokka was still eating and the rest of them kept up their gossip and discussions. Zuko casually interlaced his fingers with Mai's where her hand lay on the table while talking with Katara about the trade agreements. Ty Lee's heart sank at that, feeling like it had been crushed by a hammer.
It wasn't the intimacy itself that hurt her so much. She had known both of them as children and teenagers, had seen them fall for each other, get together, break up, make up and now she would watch them get married. She had seen them together a lot, but it was always a little hesitant, a little secret.
Mai had never been very comfortable showing emotions and Zuko had only felt rage for a long time when they were young. Mai didn't like intimacy and Zuko was awkward. So their displays of intimacy were rare and small and secret. They would hold hands around her and Azula but only them and not a lot.
The casual way Zuko took her hand now showed so much more confidence, security, familiarity. It hurt her so much because it was so normal to him. Her heart bled at their domesticity. She wanted to protest it, make them stop, rip their hands apart. But all she could do was sit there and watch her hopes and dreams die, crushed between loving hands.
She just wished that that was her so badly, just holding Mai’s hand and seeing her smile and knowing she would be hers until the end of their days, and it broke her heart a little bit every time she saw what she could have presented on a silver platter, just an arm length away, and still not being able to reach it.
The week leading up to the wedding flew by between seeing the seamstress, visiting town for the first time in years, hanging out with her old friends, and preparing the wedding - although most was done by servants. And so Ty Lee woke at dawn on the day her best friend was getting married.
She went to breakfast with mixed feelings steering in her empty stomach. Her excitement mixed with dread, her grief with love. She got dressed next to Mai, her robes decidedly flowier and a tone pinker than Mai’s.
It was another hour until Agni would stand the highest and the ceremony would begin. They were all ready already. Mai shifted uncomfortably. It was understandable, you get married only once in your life - and she was going to be Fire Lady! Anyone would be nervous at that, even if they were prepared for that moment all their life.
Suddenly, Mai breathed a long sigh before turning to face Ty Lee directly. “Would you mind doing my hair? You always do yours so beautifully. I just want to look as pretty as you for one day,” she said, hurried as if this was all she was nervous about.
Ty Lee was taken aback by the request, but it had sounded so sincere, and she would never deny Mai anything anyway. She agreed hurriedly, her mind churning as to how she could braid Mai’s hair in a way that would still allow for the traditional topknot - and the crown to go with it.
“I could do a Dragonbraid into a topknot? If you want I can add smaller Dragonbraids on the side to keep the rest of the hair back,” she suggested hesitantly. If Mai had only given her a few more days to think of something properly.
Mai’s voice was still shaky, but it seemed encouraging. “That sounds lovely.”
So Ty Lee got to work. Running her hands through the loose strands sent a shiver down her back. “Tell me if something hurts.” She echoed what Mai had told her when they were children and she would help untangle Ty Lee’s braids. She never said anything, Mai had been gentle and Ty Lee had savored every second of it.
They both were Fire Nation nobility. They were taught all their lives that only family should ever touch your hair. Your hair is your honour. Letting anyone touch your hair means you trust them beyond words and that you lay your honour in their hands.
Mai’s honour would be Zuko’s - would be the nation’s - in less than an hour, but right now, it was Ty Lee’s. All hers. It wasn’t going to last and so she savored this, like she had so many years ago. Taking her time, she ran her fingers through the river of hair always once more than necessary. Careful not to hurt her, she weaved Mai’s strands together, directed their flow directly to the crown of her head - where her crown would sit - the center of honour.
She looked so foreign with her hair like this, her bangs the only thing left of her personal style. It felt so strange for her to become the Fire Lady, like she had wandered off the path set out for her, like she had lost sight of her destiny. Ty Lee shook her head. It was foolish. Mai had been prepared for this for most of her life. When they were almost teenagers, her and Zuko had gotten together for the first time. The Fire Lord didn’t disapprove so it was fair to assume she would become Fire Lady. She was of noble and honourable blood and that was enough.
When Ty Lee had finished, she ran her hands over the braid once more, before stepping back. Mai stood, just to turn around and look Ty Lee in the eyes. “Thank you.” Her smile shone like glowing embers, not too bright but comfortingly warm.
Ty Lee’s stomach made a few backflips and she almost did too because look at that smile! Isn't she lovely? Isn’t she beautiful?
As they stepped out on the balcony, joining Zuko and Aang, Ty Lee looked down on the sea of red and gold. The sun beamed down on them and the masses glistened like waves under moonlight. The ceremony began, led by the Fire Sages, but she only had eyes for Mai.
A deep sorrow filled her that dimmed the lights around her and her smile wavered. What had she done to deserve this? Being so close and never close enough; standing beside Mai at her wedding but not thereafter? It seemed torturous, having to watch this up close as she lost her last bit of hope.
As the Fire Sages declared them a married couple and proceeded to crown Mai, Aang and Ty Lee stepped back. Her heart had already sunk far but it continued its free fall, because Mai was now a married woman. She was married to someone else and there was nothing Ty Lee could do about it; nothing she could’ve done to stop her.
In that moment, all she wished for was to stay next to her on that balcony or hold her hand, or, Agni forbid, kiss the girl.
As Mai stood up, Zuko took her hand and their nation bowed to their leaders - Ty Lee with them.