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Ty Lee keeps repeating the same greeting to herself. The brunette with grey-brown eyes and a smile that can light up the darkest room marches across the Royal grounds towards the palace. She is in a hurry after running late in the morning. She mumbles to herself the same words over and over again as the sun beams down unbearable heat on her. Her feet move fast but her mind runs further ahead after a head start today.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Lee." A guard walking the other way greets her.
"Happy Coming Out Day!" She blurts out as she keeps going.
A second guard following close behind the first one quickly replies, "Happy coming out day to you as well!"
She ascends the steps into the palace. As she approaches, a guard pulls the door open for her.
"Happy Coming Out Day." She greets them.
"Good after…uh?" The guard replies but Ty Lee keeps going.
She waves a bright smile and a hearty, 'Happy Coming Out Day' to anyone and everyone she walks past. Those who are familiar with it happily chirp back, while those confused simply wait for the Noble's daughter to pass before asking someone else who knows.
Finally, she comes face to face with the Fire Lord and Fire Lady. They are in the kitchen finishing up lunch. Ty Lee walks right in and up to the fruit station.
"Good afternoon, Ty Lee!" Zuko welcomes her, not moving from the table. He reads the newspaper and doesn't move.
"Happy Coming Out Day!" Ty Lee smiles as she grabs an apple and an ash banana.
Mai, sitting beside her husband, groans. "It's not your Coming Out day!"
"Well…" Zuko starts, still not looking up or moving. He thinks better of it and doesn't say anything.
"Nothing is going to bring me down today, Mai! You know why?" She asks as she heads towards the exit. She stops and turns to look back, expecting the answer. She points at her childhood friend.
"I'm not saying it."
"Zuko?" Ty Lee passes to him.
With the slightest hint of a smile he proudly replies, "Because it's Coming Out Day."
"That's right!" She claps and does a cartwheel as she exits.
Left alone, Mai looks at her husband, hiding behind the newspaper. She complains, "You're supposed to be on my team, not hers."
"She's excited!" He protests. "I'm excited. We're all excited. No reason to rain on her parade."
Ty Lee climbs the last set of stairs and comes face to face with the old man she's grown so accustomed to seeing.
"Lee!" She shouts.
"And Lee." He replies back to her with zero of the same enthusiasm.
"Happy Coming Out Day!" She greets him.
He grumbles in response, "Nothing so happy about it when I have to move on."
Lee is a sixty something year old lifelong member of the Imperial Firebenders. He grew up in Baochou Village before being shipped off to war and eventually making it up to the palace in Caldera City. His name and Ty Lee's being so similar was a great conversation starter, but it was Ty Lee's infectious energy and welcoming personality that really opened him up.
She smiles at him, "You've been such fun to talk to over these last two years! I'll miss our conversations."
The curmudgeon old man replies, "Well, I won't miss eavesdropping on your nonsensical conversations with the Princess."
Ty Lee laughs at his joke before asking him, "You didn't really listen to all of our talks, did you?"
His face contorts as he thinks. He settles on a reply. "Tough to say how many I listened to and how many I slept through, to be honest. But I assure you Ms. Lee, I've forgotten more of your talks than the ones I remember."
Ty Lee isn't quite sure what to make of this, but it's irrelevant all the same. She thanks him again as he unlocks the door, probably for the last time. She steps inside to the dimly lit room. It's easy to see through the little light creeping in the dust floating through the air. The door creaks behind her until slamming shut. A quick turn of the lock tells her that they are alone.
A slender, bony figure steps forward from the shadows and into the light.
"Good afternoon, Ty." Azula greets her from shackles and darkness.
Suki's words ring in her head. Ty Lee shoves them aside. She puts on the biggest smile she can muster. She steps forward into the room, into the slot of light spewn across the ground.
"Happy Coming Out Day, Azula."
Two Weeks Earlier
"Yield!"
Straining on the ground, a practice sword nearing her throat, Ty Lee squints and struggles. Her elbows in the dirt, back against the ground, her clothes muddy and her cheeks raw. She glares up at her friend and leader.
"Neve-"
Suki slaps her across the face with her fan and her head nears the ground. Suki increases her position and pushes the fan now flush against her neck.
"YIELD!"
Ty Lee stills reaches for her and claws at Suki but she can't get her at this angle. She struggles for air and flirts with asphyxiation as Suki leans a knee now into her abdomen to expedite the process. For a brief second her vision blurs and she knows that is the first sign of disaster. She mumbles through gritted teeth, furious disappointment, and difficult positioning.
"Yield."
Suki releases instantly and Ty Lee takes in huge gulps of air. She scrambles on the ground away while Suki strides a few steps and collects herself, brushing dirt off of her armor and cleaning off the practice weapon. Suki tries to calm her body, taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. She does this three or four times in quick succession and then turns around to scold the girl on the ground just trying to catch her breath.
"You're sloppy, and worse you're unfocused."
It is a rare occurrence for Ty Lee and Suki to spar together. Over the years it became more of a focus that the two best fighters on the island share their wealth of knowledge and better prepare those around them. They practiced with lesser girls so that everyone else could improve. However, from time to time, it was necessary to battle one another. Afterall, the blade only sharpens when pressed against another material of the same kind.
Ty Lee grabs her water skin. She heaves breaths for a long time before finally being able to fully collect herself. Suki cleans up in the meantime before they finally come back together to discuss Ty Lee's disappointing performances from the day. The young girl from the Fire Nation beats around the bush for much of the conversation, but Suki knows what's coming up. She cuts to the chase.
"It's been nearly two years in that cell. You've spent most of that time working up the courage to tell her. Well no more."
Ty Lee chuckles for a moment. She confesses, "I kind of wish I could keep her in there forever. It's so pleasant. We just talk for hours."
"You can't, Ty. She's a caged bird. She needs to be free."
Sincere concern growing in bed voice, she asks, "But what if she can't anymore? What if she's forgotten? What if the bird falls?"
"Oh, Ty Lee. You're so afraid of the fall that you haven't considered how high you might fly."
"I see." Ty Lee nods, staring off into the distance. It takes a second for what Suki said to sink in. When it does she asks, “Don’t you mean how high she might fly?”
Suki just smiles at her. “Spread your wings and fly, darling.”
Present
Azula is blabbering about some of the details of her release or such other. There's only a few hours left now. Ty Lee prepares to spread her wings and make the leap.
“Azula, I need to tell you something.” She interrupts her.
“And I thought - uh. Oh? Okay? Is everything alright?”
“Yes, but there's something I've been keeping from you, for a long while.”
“Okay?”
“And I have this massive guilt in my stomach, and it feels like knots all twisted up.”
“Well, in that case, let me tell you a story! I once had a friend betray me at the Boiling Rock, so. It can't be worse than that, right?” Azula jokes with a lilt in her voice.
Ty Lee tries to force a laugh but she can't
“Oh, you're serious. Well, out with it then.”
Ty Lee summons all of her courage. “Mai and I had a conversation once-”
“She talked? With you? A conversation you say? I'm stunned. I thought she was a mute.”
Ty Lee plunges forward, ignoring the joke. “It was after the Boiling Rock.”
“Okay, another reminder that this is a serious talk.” Azula quiets down.
“I told her how I didn't want you to become like your father.”
“I…see.”
“And that's why I did what I did,” she explains. It’s not their first time discussing what happened, but Ty Lee is more apologetic than before. More emotionally raw. “But that I wanted to be beside you when you realized, when you finally came around.”
Ty Lee takes a second to compose herself, but Azula doesn’t fill the space with anything.
“I knew, or I know, that you used me all the time, and that sometimes I used you.”
“Well, Ty, I…” Azula starts, somberness in her voice.
“Please, let me finish.” She begs her.
“Yes. Of course. Please.” She whispers from behind the bars.
“I didn't care about any of that. I still don't,” she explains. She braces for the next part. “Because the truth is that I care about you, more than I should!”
Her heart is pounding against her chest as the words come out. She looks down at her feet, not able to face those amber eyes and potential rejection.
“I do too, Ty Lee!” Azula replies. Ty Lee shoots her head up, eyes filled with hope and optimism.
“You do!”
“I've had so much time to think and reflect,” Azula explains. “There's a lot of things I regret, but above almost everything else, my mistreatment of you is near the top.”
Ty Lee quickly realizes that Azula had not understood. The Prodigy with Blue Fire had, once again, miscalculated. Ty Lee isn’t all together hurt. She feels like this is an absolute win. She had said she cares for Azula, and she knows that Azula cares for her. Nothing else needs to be done or said. She has gone to the edge and said everything but the words themselves!
“When I get out, today, today we're going to start over. I promise. Your friendship means so much to me.”
Friendship. What good is friendship when one side burns for the other. An empty void opens up in Ty Lee’s stomach. It deflates her and pulls her in at the same time. Friendship. Nothing more, nothing less. A far cry from where they used to be, but much too far from where she wishes to be. Friendship is what she has had her entire life. Ty Lee doesn’t want to be friends with Azula anymore. She stands and walks up to the prison bars. Azula wears an amusing look on her face and also approaches so they’re standing before each other.
‘Spread your wings and fly, darling.’
“Azula.” She commands her attention.
“Yes?” She answers.
“You know how we always joked and teased Mai for having a crush on Zuko?”
“Yeah, why?”
“And Zuko was completely oblivious for so long?”
“Yeah, why?”
“And we just watched?”
“Are you going somewhere with this, Ty Lee?”
“The thing is…Mai fell for the prince. But I didn't.”
“Well thank goodness. He's not your type at all. Never has been.”
“I agree.”
“Terrific!”
“Because I prefer princesses.”
"Oh."
‘Oh.’
The realization crashes down upon Azula like a tsunami in Ember Island.
“But, Ty Lee. You always had boys fawning over you!”
“I know.”
“And you're so pretty!”
“Thank you.”
“And I'm…a princess.”
“You are.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” She replies confidently.
“So that means, we could-”
“Only if you want.”
“Of course!” Azula accidentally shouts. This earns her a surprising look from Ty Lee. Lowering her tone she continues, “Of course I want. But. I just. Never imagined. You would?”
Suddenly the tiny cell is flooded with light. They both turn to the door as it swings open. Lee, the grumpy guard who's been partially responsible for Azula for two years now, walks in. His footsteps heavy and labored, there is a jangling sound with his steps. He sniffs loudly and scratches his backside as he comes to a stop by the cell door, standing beside Ty Lee.
“Just got the official word from headquarters.”
“Now?” Ty Lee asks.
“Already?” Azula adds.
“Let’s call it early release for good behavior.”
He unlocks the cell. The door slowly creaks open. She watches it slide away, not for the first time, but for potentially the final time. Once it’s open he steps in. He reaches down and pulls up the hand blocks around Azula's wrists. Carefully he inserts the keys into the lock. One by one he does each locking mechanism until they’re all done. Finally, he pulls the blocks off of her hands. He looks down at her and she looks up at him. He smiles proudly.
"Happy Coming Out Day, Princess."
Without another word, Lee turns and leaves. He walks right out the door and disappears into the bright, blinding light of the hallway. Left alone, Azula looks down at her hands and rubs her raw wrists. It’s been years with those blocks on. When they were changed, she would be chiblocked so she couldn’t use her fire. But all of that is second place to her right now. She looks up at the grey-brown eyes standing on the other side of some concrete bars.
Carefully she walks out of the cell. The magnetic force of their bodies pulls them towards each other. Slowly they are pulled towards one another. A force more powerful than anything on earth brings them together. Ty Lee puts a hand up on Azula’s prison clothes and pulls her shirt towards her. Ty Lee, having grown taller and now standing slightly above her, stands inches away and leans in a little. She doesn't commit. Neither does Azula. She feels her lips twitch and her eyes start to close. She begins leaning in.
"Hey!" Lee’s voice calls from the hallway. "You coming out? Or are you little love birds gonna stay in that cage all day?"
They take a step back from each other in a fit of giggles, until they’re both laughing hysterically. They take in long breaths.
"We're coming!" Azula shouts back.
Now removed from Ty Lee’s pull, Azula absentmindedly continues rubbing her wrist. Finally, she looks down at them. They are raw and her palms are clammy. She flexes her fingers, examining them as a child would when discovering their own fingers and toes for the first time. Azula is free and she doesn’t know what to do with that.
Ty Lee opens her own palm and offers it to Azula. The amber eyes scan it, then follow the hand up to the face. She looks into those grey-brown eyes and finds shelter. A peace she has never known before this moment. A kind of freedom that is different than being out of a cell.
The Princess gingerly takes the hand into her own, their fingers interlocking.
Together, the birds fly from the cage. They both come out together.