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Chapter Text

The Fire Lord’s palace is the most secure, well-guarded place in all the lands…but predictable if you know the ins and outs. Guards are stationed at seemingly every inch, but they follow the same routine. Especially the ones stationed overnight. 

Azula has been memorizing the routines since she was old enough to walk. She knows which halls to avoid, which shadows are the darkest, and which armor-clad buffoon is just oblivious enough to sneak by undetected. Every so often some young, new recruit will stray from routine in some misguided effort to prove their worth, but they are nothing the princess can’t handle. Azula can send them fleeing back to their scheduled post with just a hard glare. 

As the princess, Azula knows she is free to wander wherever she likes at all hours of the day. Anyone who dares to tell her differently will get a scorch mark on their nearest limb.

But she can’t risk being seen now. 

Now, as she tries to breathe evenly, a palace guard may raise a brow at the princess visiting a friend in their quarters so late at night. A palace guard may feel the need to report such anomalies to the Fire Lord. The Fire Lord would–

Azula shakes her head. It’s not worth worrying over. No one saw her. It’s okay. 

She takes her final left turn into the guest wing and approaches the large maroon door. Looking over her shoulder one final time to make sure no one followed her, she knocks. Two knocks followed by three more in quick succession. Their knock. She pushes it open before even hearing a response.

Azula is barely inside the room, barely having just shut the door behind her when she is hit full force with the entire weight of Ty Lee. She somehow manages to catch her in time, but not before they’re both slammed into the wall by the force. It makes a nearby painting rattle. 

“Ty Lee, I told you to stop doing that,” Azula chides, but it lacks any force when the acrobat is wrapped around her whole body, arms curled around Azula’s neck, making her blush.

“I missed you,” Ty Lee murmurs in explanation. It’s muffled from where her face is pressed into the side of Azula’s neck. The sensation of her lips moving against the sensitive skin there makes Azula shiver and Ty Lee must notice because then Azula feels her smile.  

The princess hoists the acrobat up higher and becomes hyper-aware of her hand placement. She’d been so focused on just catching Ty Lee, so focused on not falling, that she hadn’t noticed both of her hands were on her ass . She’d never touched anyone’s butt before, let alone Ty Lee’s. She releases her hands immediately before she can think it through.

Ty Lee falls to her feet with a surprised yelp, but beyond the widening of her eyes, she thankfully does not question the action. She keeps a steadying hand on Azula’s shoulder and blinks her round eyes at her. “Did you miss me too?”

And Azula hates the way it makes her stomach roll. She’d spent all day in important meetings and having even more important conversations with her father, the Fire Lord , but all she could think about all day was her best friend-turned-something-more. It’s childish and unbecoming and she really should have been more focused today than she was. 

But Ty Lee asked her a question and she is waiting for an answer. Azula always lies, but never to Ty Lee.

“Yes.” And she knows it sounds too stiff and unconvincing, she hears it as soon as it leaves her lips. “I mean I– yes , of course I did.” From unfeeling to too desperate, probably. Spirits, she was a mess.

Or perhaps not, because Ty Lee just smiles wider and starts pulling her toward the bed. 

The guest room is nothing compared to Azula’s personal bedroom, but it is quite nice. Every room in the palace would make even the wealthiest of noblemen drool. It’s always been very much to Ty Lee’s liking, at least, and that’s the only opinion Azula cares about. 

The bed is large and opulent and the girl even added her own flare with about a dozen pink throw pillows and blankets. It’s a bit too bright for Azula’s tastes, but it’s very Ty Lee and she loves it, so Azula loves it. It makes Azula happy that she has made herself at home in her palace. Well, her father’s palace. Same difference. 

She gingerly takes a seat on the edge of the bed while Ty Lee makes herself more comfy, sitting crisscrossed with a puffy pillow in her lap to rest her elbows on. Azula tries to mirror the other girl’s ease, but she really doesn’t know what to do with her hands. She looks up to see Ty Lee watching her with a fond smile. She releases her braid and reaches across the small distance between them to take one of Azula’s hands. Problem solved.

“So! How was your day?” Ty Lee asks, chipper as usual.

“Oh, it was fine.” She watches Ty Lee rub circles against the top of her hand. It feels nice. She’s pulled from the moment when she hears Ty Lee bark a laugh. “What?”

“That’s it? That’s all I get? ‘It was fine,’ ” she repeats in a horrible impression of Azula’s voice and now she’s giggling. It’s such a nice sound. Azula tries her best to feign offense, but the other girl’s laughter is contagious. 

“First of all, I don’t sound like that. It’s really very rude to make fun of royalty, Ty Lee, you should know this.” And spirits, does her heart sing when her comment only makes Ty Lee light up even more. “And second, let me try again.” She makes a show of composing herself like an actor about to attempt a new monologue in an audition and Ty Lee covers her laugh with the back of her hand. “It was…,” she pauses for suspense, “Fine.”

Ty Lee scoffs and uses her free hand to swat at Azula’s closest shoulder, but she’s smiling so big and her eyes are sparkling. “You’re the worst,” she says without any malice. Azula doesn’t deserve her loving stare, but she’ll gladly accept it.

“You seem to like me.” Azula can’t help her smug smile.

Ty Lee squeezes her hand. “I do,” she agrees and appraises Azula with a smile. “I love when you’re silly like this.”

Azula gives a half-hearted scoff. She doesn’t love the idea of being perceived as silly and certainly does not consider herself to be such, but Ty Lee’s laughter is one of her favorite sounds in the world. She’ll do whatever it takes to hear it.

Spirits, when had she turned into such a sap?

She has little time to consider the thought because Ty Lee is tugging her arm again. 

“C’mere, you’re so far away.”

Azula acquiesces and scoots an inch or two closer. She feels like a helpless schoolgirl the way her heart picks up at just the proximity of her friend. Friend? Were they more now? She wishes there was someone she could ask about this besides Ty Lee. Mai would tease her too much and it’s not like she can ask her family.

Her family. Her father . Her father might come looking for her.

She really should be getting back to her rooms and she considers voicing this, but Ty Lee is suddenly leaning in before she even has a chance to breathe. Their lips are only a breath apart when Azula spits out, “I can’t stay long.”

Ty Lee’s approach pauses and gray eyes open with a frown. She’s pouting and Azula wants to hit herself. Why did she have to say that just then? Why is she such a mood killer? What is wrong with her?

“Oh. Okay.” Ty Lee leans back to her original spot with downcast eyes.

Azula grips the girl’s hand like a lifeline. “I just don’t want anyone noticing I’m gone too long. If someone comes looking for me in my room I should be there. No one can–”

“No one can know,” Ty Lee finishes for her, nodding while she chews on her lower lip. “I get it.” And she sounds so disappointed .

“Did I,” Azula swallows and searches Ty Lee’s face, “Did I say the wrong thing again?” Because that’s all she seemed good for so far in this new relationship dynamic; saying something stupid. Thankfully, the acrobat takes mercy on the firebender.

“No, it’s okay, Zula. It’s just,” she pauses to weigh her next words before continuing, “We’ve been back from Ember Island for a week now and I’ve barely seen you–”

“That’s not true,” Azula cuts her off.

“Okay,” she huffs, “Well I haven’t seen you in three days. Not even in passing. I saw you more before we,” she gestures between them, “started doing this. Do you know what my day was like today? What I did all day? Nothing. And the day before? Nothing? And the day before that? Noth–”

“Yes, I’m able to follow the pattern, Ty Lee . You don’t have to paint a picture for me.” Her temper is bubbling in her chest and she can’t help the bite to her voice. Ty Lee pulls her hand away.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” she firmly insists. It takes Azula by surprise, but she schools her features to remain defiant. Ty Lee continues, “Mai is busy with her family and with Zuko most days. When you don’t need us, I just,” she flaps her hands in the air, looking for the words, “ Exist ! I just sit and wait and I feel useless! I can only practice aerials and feed the turtle ducks so many times before I lose my mind.”

Azula rubs at her temples. She’s too tired for this. “I have obligations and I have duties. I am the crown princess of the Fire Nation. I–,” She takes a breath to control her rising voice. “I am the biggest hope that our nation has at winning this war. Zuzu surely isn’t going to do it. The Fire Lord is counting on me, I cannot fail. You knew this, you have always known this. So I’m sorry if you are bored, Ty Lee, but that must be a very nice problem to have.” And despite her attempt at control, she yells the last part. 

Ty Lee listens to her tirade with nothing but narrowed eyes and that stubborn, annoyingly adorable frown. She says nothing when she pulls her eyes from Azula’s to stare at the bedspread. Even in the dim candlelight of the room, the glassy evidence of tears is visible in her round, gray eyes. Shame quickly wraps around Azula’s heart like a snake and drops heavily into her stomach.

“Shit, don’t cry ,” she pleads. Apologies taste foreign on her tongue, but she knows one is needed. “I’m sorry I yelled.” It feels weak on its exit. She watches helplessly as Ty Lee only stares harder at the pillow in her lap. “You’re better at all this than me. I can admit that,” she adds. It’s a poor excuse and they both know it.

Ty Lee sniffles and Azula takes a chance by reaching forward to brush away a fallen tear with the back of her nail. Shockingly, Ty Lee leans into the small touch and Azula uses the opportunity to gently cup her face. “I can see you more. I will,” she whispers the oath, and the shame in her stomach gets a little less heavy when Ty Lee manages a small smile. “Can I kiss you?”

Ty Lee covers Azula’s hand with her own. She lifts her glistening eyes. “You never have to ask, Zula.” 

The gardens are the only place of peace on the palace grounds. This is the case at all times, but especially today. Military officials have been visiting all day to meet with the Fire Lord and though there’s a nonstop flurry of motion in the garden’s adjacent corridors, no one steps foot on the serene area’s grass. No one besides Ty Lee and Mai, that is. 

They sit on the edge of the turtle duck pond, Mai with a book and Ty Lee lay back in the grass, letting the hot sun bake her. They retreated here after an early breakfast when it was clear that they would not be needed any time soon; both Zuko and Azula are going to be busy with training and meetings today.

Ty Lee braids three blades of grass together, ignoring the sun in her eyes as she does so. “I wonder what’s going on today.”

“They’re going over the plans for the eclipse,” Mai murmurs without pausing her reading. 

Ty Lee sits up, grass braid forgotten. “What plans?”

“Hm?”

“There’s plans for the day of the eclipse?”

Mai raises an eyebrow in her direction. “Of course there are plans. You can’t just wing it on a day of an invasion.”

“No, I know,” Ty Lee huffs, “I just–Azula hadn’t mentioned that to me.” 

Mai shrugs one shoulder. “Zuko mentioned it to me.” 

Mai and Ty Lee may be dating a pair of siblings, but the Prince and Princess are drastically different people. 

“What are the plans?” Ty Lee fidgets with the end of her braid.

“Like I’d know.” Mai glances at her now. “Relax.”

Ty Lee just hums to herself when she hears Mai turn the next page. The turtle ducks must not be hungry because not a single one has swam over despite the large sack of breadcrumbs sitting beside her. Days like this really make her long for the unpredictable excitement of the circus. She combs through the ground next to her and locates her tossed-aside grass braid. She looks at Mai and gasps with an idea. 

“Want me to braid your hair?” She’s already half leaning toward her friend in hopes that she’ll say yes. The other girl leans away from her with a sneer as if Ty Lee was dangling a worm in her face.

“Not even a little bit. Besides,” Mai lifts the book, “I’m reading.”

Ty Lee squints at the title. “You’ve read that one before!”

“So? I like it.”

Ty Lee falls back into the grass with a groan. “But I’m bored .” She knows she sounds like a whiny child, but she really can’t bring herself to care. She lays an arm across her eyes and hums the tune of a song she remembers from her circus days. Something about a drunkard and a dancing badger mole. She hears Mai sigh dramatically.

“What do you usually do all day? When I’m not here?”

Ty Lee halts her humming. She spreads her arms out. “This.”

“Spirits, no wonder you’re insufferable.” Mai closes her book and that makes Ty Lee sit up. “Come on. We’re going out.”

Ty Lee gapes as her friend starts to stand. She scrambles to join her on two feet. “Can we?”

Mai looks at her like she has five heads. “Of course we can. Ty Lee, I leave every day.”

“Yeah, but your family lives right outside the palace walls.”

“So?” And Mai seems truly upset that Ty Lee isn’t grasping her words. “Azula may treat us like her servants, but she’s not our keeper. We can leave whenever we want.”

The notion that Azula treats them like servants plant a sour seed in Ty Lee’s stomach, but it’s not necessarily untrue. She can be demanding. But ever since their argument the other night in her quarters, Azula has been trying harder to treat Ty Lee better. She’d brought her her favorite dessert from the kitchen last night. They’d set up a picnic on the bedroom floor. It was romantic. 

On days like today, though, she does sometimes feel like nothing more than a lady in waiting.

Mai is already walking away, long robes blowing in the light breeze behind her. “Come on, there’s a new tea shop not far from the gates.” 

Ty Lee stuffs the braided grass into her pocket and skips to catch up.

Hoards of military generals and the usual royal court file out of the War Room. She can already hear them chattering incessantly among themselves. How quickly they turn into gossiping children as soon as they’re free from the Fire Lord’s watchful eye.

Across from her, Zuko bows to Ozai and makes for a hasty exit. Sure, he’d been dismissed, but to rush out with such great relief is in poor taste. He’d been so eager and desperate to attend these meetings just a few days ago. She’d heard him griping to Mai about it, wishing so badly for an invitation. 

Now here he is, wanting to leave as quickly as possible, with no interest in family affairs. And after all of the work she’d put in to get him back in their father's good graces.

Zuko leaves and Azula remains kneeling, turning to find the Fire Lord already watching her. 

“Azula,” he says and she bows her head. “You say you have a worthy strategy for the Day of Black Sun.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” 

The Avatar and his ragtag group of misfits were unfortunately keeping up with her at every turn. How a blind girl and two water peasants were such nuisances really ought to be studied. They are nothing she can’t handle, but they’re royal pains in her ass. 

She’d thought long and hard about how to keep them distracted during the eclipse. And she’d love an excuse for another fight.

Last night, after she visited Ty Lee, she’d cracked it as she paced the perimeter of her room. She was up for the rest of the night going through the motions in her head and studying the maps of the underground bunkers, mapping out routes and obstacles.

Ozai assesses her sternly before waving his hand in her general direction. “Let’s hear it.” 

The tea shop is quaint and elegant and is indeed only about a minute's walk from the palace gates. There are lots of patrons inside, some of whom Ty Lee recognizes from their days at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. She offers a small wave before turning to survey the dessert display. The interior of the shop smells like the sweet cakes that Ty Lee's mother used to bring home for her and her sister’s birthdays. 

The owner, a sweet elderly woman with an amazing aura, takes their orders at the counter and tells them that their drinks will be out momentarily; a server will deliver them. The two girls find a small table outside that’s surrounded by vibrant potted flowers. Ty Lee carefully rubs her thumb against the soft petal of one. 

“It’s nice to be out,” Ty Lee muses. “If I had to make small talk with another junior palace guard I’d shove my head in a buzzard wasp nest.” 

Mai smirks. “You used to love the junior guards.”

The blush that rises to Ty Lee’s cheeks is lightning fast. She shrugs. “Some of them are cute. I’m just not interested anymore.”

Mai opens her mouth to say more, but their two drinks are placed on the table between them. Ty Lee looks up at a boy around their age pulling a small stack of napkins from his apron. He smiles when he catches her eye and places the napkins next to her cup. He’s handsome in a way that would’ve normally made Ty Lee swoon.

“You got the wildflower tea?” He asks Ty Lee with a voice that’s deeper and raspier than she would have expected. Perhaps he’s older than he looks. No boy her age has ever sounded this…attractive. “That’s my favorite. It’s off our new menu. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to try.” He winks and after giving a polite nod to Mai, disappears back into the shop. 

Ty Lee blinks and looks back to Mai, who is already fixing her with a sly expression that gives away her mirth. “You have a fan,” Mai says. “Don’t tell Azula.”

Ty Lee’s eyes go wide and she gives a quick cautionary glance around the shop’s patio to make sure no one is close enough to have heard Mai’s comment. Mai rolls her eyes like it’s all an overreaction and takes a sip of her tea. She got the spiced tea, the same tea she gets no matter which shop they go to. Zuko often chides her for never trying something new, but Ty Lee admires her consistency. 

There’s a sudden burst of excited chatter in the street and Ty Lee can see over Mai’s shoulder that a royal palanquin is approaching. She nearly drops her teacup. Azula?

The palanquin bearers come to a stop right next to the tea shop and set the large structure down. Mai has turned now, too, to watch the action. Ty Lee holds her breath as the carriage’s curtain pulls back and out steps–oh. It’s only Zuko. 

He steps out with a grimace and makes it to Ty Lee and Mai’s table in just three steps. 

“They insist I take a palanquin everywhere. I hate it,” Zuko mumbles to himself as he pulls up a chair to the right of Mai. A few onlookers wave to him and it makes him sit up straighter. 

“What’re you doing here?” Mai sounds disinterested, but Ty Lee clocks the way she shifts closer to him. 

“I’m dismissed for the day. My father wants to meet with some generals privately.” He shrugs like he doesn’t care while he scans the menu. “Reina told me you were here.”

Reina is the guard that is almost always stationed at the main gates of the palace. She’s also the only guard worth talking to. Only ten or so years older than her, she’s always been so kind to Ty Lee, even occasionally cracking jokes or sharing stories about her toddler back at home. She’s so unlike the other palace employees and Ty Lee has more than once feared the consequences Reina could face for her kindness by Firelord Ozai’s hands. She knows for a fact that Azula doesn’t particularly like the woman either, Agni knows why.

“Is Azula coming?” Ty Lee chirps. Zuko doesn’t even look up from the menu and barely shakes his head in response. Ty Lee deflates and resigns herself to being the third wheel. 

Mai offers Zuko a sip of her tea and then they huddle closer to peruse the menu items together. Ty Lee cradles her cup close to her chin and tries to ignore the bitter lump in her stomach. It must be nice to go out into the city and get tea or dinner or whatever with the person you like. Zuko came to find Mai despite his busy day, while Ty Lee only gets stolen moments with Azula in the cover of night. 

She craves so much more but settles for another sip of her tea.

******

Hours after the tea shop excursion, the sun has set and the palace has gone quiet. 

It’s far past the time that anyone should be awake, but Ty Lee isn’t complaining with Azula on top of her. It’s the first time that Azula has taken the reins with intimacy and Ty Lee is more than willing to follow her lead. She relaxes into Azula’s soft lips, one hand tangled into dark hair while the other rests on her strong back. 

Beyond a few sweet pecks, they haven’t had the opportunity to kiss like this since their last night on Ember Island.  She knows Azula still gets nervous, though the princess would surely never admit it, and it’s endearing how the princess’s hands never stray too far from Ty Lee’s waist. ‘I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,’ she had told Ty Lee on the beach, which the other girl simply responded to with a firm ‘You won’t’ . And while Azula has certainly improved past stiff lips and frozen limbs, Ty Lee often has to remind her to slow down, to breathe . 

The universe must hear her thoughts because suddenly a tongue shoves past her lips with no forewarning. She nearly laughs at the timing, but instead pulls back an inch with a squeak. Azula lurches back with wide eyes. 

“What did I do?” Her voice is rough and her face is completely flushed. Beautiful , Ty Lee thinks to herself as she catches her breath and places a reassuring hand on Azula’s cheek. 

“Nothing, nothing,” Ty Lee breathes out a small laugh. “I just wasn’t expecting that.” And it’s true. They hadn’t used tongues before–well, at least not together . Ty Lee has some horror stories from before Azula. There was once a boy at the circus who had a cute face, but a shockingly slimy tongue and she had spent longer than necessary brushing her teeth after that. 

With Azula, though, Ty Lee had sworn to herself not to rush things. Especially after their first kiss on the island when Azula had been so scared. She sure wasn’t expecting the other girl to just go for it . 

But maybe she should have. Azula never did anything halfway. 

Above her, Azula flushes even more and starts to pull away. “Sorry,” she grumbles.

Ty Lee immediately pulls her back down and pushes a sweaty bang behind the girl’s ear. “Hey don’t be like that,” she comforts. “It was good. You’re good.” She leans up to peck Azula’s lips. “I loved it.”

Azula rolls her eyes with a satisfied smile and settles on her side. Ty Lee rolls to face her, already missing the weight of Azula on top of her. She’s down so bad.

They lay in the quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the company. There is a stray hair that has broken free from Azula’s now-messy top knot and Ty Lee twirls it around her finger, relishing in the way it makes Azula’s eyes flutter shut at the sensation.

“I saw Zuko today,” Ty Lee hums.

Azula opens her eyes and curls her lip. “Did our kissing remind you of my brother?”

Ty Lee guffaws and smacks Azula on the arm. “No, you weirdo! I thought we could just talk. About our days? You know, like–” she stops short. “Like friends do.” She’d almost said girlfriends. Were they girlfriends? Spirits, she hopes that they’re girlfriends.

Azula nods agreeably, threading her fingers through Ty Lee’s. “Okay. Where did you see my dear brother?”

“At this super cute tea shop in the city! Oh, Azula, you'd love it. It has your favorite flavor even! Mai and I went, but Zuko ended up joining us and oh my, you should’ve seen his face when he arrived on the palanquin–”

“You left the grounds?” 

Ty Lee blinks, closing her mouth mid-ramble. “Oh, um…yeah?”

Azula loosens her hold on Ty Lee’s hand and turns over to face the ceiling. “I wish you’d told me. If something had happened to you I wouldn’t have known where you were.”

What could’ve happened to her?

“Told you?” Ty Lee squeaks incredulously. “When would I have told you? This is the first time I’ve seen you all day.”

Azula turns to Ty Lee with a frown that eventually melts into a guilty wince. “That’s fair. I’m sorry I couldn’t join you.”

“It’s okay. Did you have a busy day? Zuko said he was dismissed early.”

“ He was dismissed, not me,” Azula says like it’s something to be proud of as she studies her nails. “I was in the War Room for most of the afternoon.” 

“Sounds boring,” Ty Lee accidentally blurts, and Azula shoots her a warning glare that has Ty Lee placing a kiss on the girl’s knuckles. “Sorry.” But it does sound boring. 

She thinks back to Mai mentioning plans for the eclipse. She herself still has not been assigned any specific role for that day, which is odd considering Azula had mapped out her and Mai’s every spare second over the past half year. “Anything I should know?”

“No,” Azula snaps too quickly. Ty Lee frowns. Zuko seems to tell Mai everything, probably even things that he shouldn’t. Part of her wants to press the matter, but she’d rather not end another one of their fleeting nights together in tears.

“Maybe we can go back to that tea shop soon. Me and you?” She walks her fingers across Azula’s belly until her arm is draped over it. “The blueberry peach is good. I tried it myself.” She grins proudly. 

It’s such a simple thing, someone’s favorite flavor of tea, but Azula looks at Ty Lee like she’s the sun personified just for remembering it. “I’ll have to see for myself, then. I’ll take you soon,” the firebender promises. Their hands tangle together again. 

“Oh! And I almost forgot!” Ty Lee stretches to grab something off of the nightstand. It’s a much longer grass braid than it was earlier, with each individual braid connected to the next. She presents it to Azula, delicately pinching it between her fingers. “Right now it doesn’t look great, but I’m making you a flower crown. Fit for a princess.” 

And there’s that look again from Azula. Like Ty Lee had done something more than just twirl some dirty blades of grass together. Golden eyes bounce from the unfinished crown to the girl who created it and if Ty Lee didn’t know any better, she’d think there was a shine in the princess’s eyes. 

Before she can say anything about it, Azula sits up and slides off the bed. She turns away, but Ty Lee notices her using her sleeve to rub at her eye. “I should be getting back to my rooms.” She smooths out the wrinkles in her clothes and uses the mirror on Ty Lee’s vanity to fix her top knot. 

“Oh. Okay.” Ty Lee sits up in bed. 

Azula’s slim fingers struggle with the loose strands of hair. She grunts when her bangs keep falling out and crosses back to stand in front of Ty Lee. “Can you,” she murmurs, gesturing at her thick hair, and Ty Lee knows exactly what she needs. She was the one to help Azula with her hair during their travels when there wasn’t a servant around to do it. 

She kneels on the bed for a higher vantage point and pulls the black hair into the neat style that Azula prefers. As soon as she’s done, Azula retreats back to the mirror to assess the handiwork. 

Surely Ty Lee had messed up somehow to burst whatever bubble they were just in together. She just didn’t know how or when. Azula secures the royal pin back into her hair. “Did I upset you?” Ty Lee wonders aloud. 

Curiously, Azula halts her movements entirely. Still kneeling on her bed, Ty Lee can see that Azula’s face has gone paler than usual and her eyes are dancing around in the mirror’s reflection. 

“Azula?”

Strange moments like this keep happening and it’s getting harder for Ty Lee to ignore. The princess slips into her own world and doesn’t even seem to notice. It’s only a heartbeat later when Azula abruptly snaps out of it. She whirls back around to face Ty Lee, a soft smile replacing the frown.

“You didn’t upset me, Ty, it’s just been a long day.” She gives her a sweet kiss on the cheek, then the forehead, then her nose and it’s almost enough to appease Ty Lee’s worries. A thumb smooths out the wrinkle of stress that Ty Lee knows is nestled between her eyebrows right now. The thumb noticeably shakes. “Would you like to join me for sparring in the morning? I could use a worthy opponent.”

And just like that, the weight is lifted. Ty Lee rapidly nods with a squeal of joy and kisses the bending prodigy extra hard to drive the excitement home. 

Once she’s alone, she falls back into her colorful pillow collection with a lovesick sigh. She hugs her stuffed pink platypus bear tightly to her chest and drifts to sleep with the happy knowledge that she’ll be seeing Azula again in just a few short hours.

By the time Azula is back in her room her heart is ready to burst through her chest. Her hands shake so much that she’s surprised she hasn’t accidentally flung fireballs from her fingers.

Her mother was there. In Ty Lee’s mirror of all places. How ?

‘You’re lying to her’ ,  her mother’s ghostly reflection had chastised at the same time that Ty Lee called to her from the bed.

The large mirror in her bedroom looms on the opposite wall. Azula stalks over, knuckles already smoking, but when she reaches her destination, ready to punch a flaming fist through glass, nothing is there except her own reflection.

She slaps the adjacent wall as if that will conjure the figure of her mother. 

“Now you have nothing to say?” Azula challenges nobody. Her own frazzled image stares back at her and she can’t stand to look at it for a moment longer. She spins on her heel, shoving the heels of her hands into her eyes which are burning with the threat of tears. 

It’s not real. Her mother is not here. Her mother is dead.

It is real. She was in Ty Lee’s bedroom. She saw Azula with Ty Lee. 

She’s going to hurt Ty Lee.

Dirty Circus Freak , Ozai’s voice hisses in Azula’s mind, joining the mess of panicked thoughts. 

“ Shut up! ” Azula screams at no one. At everyone. 

The room is silent. 

She removes her hands from her eyes, blinking through the white spots that momentarily cloud her vision. With a cautious glance around the room, she breathes a sigh of relief at being alone. She’s just tired, that’s all.

She hears movement outside her door. No doubt a guard that was just startled by her uncharacteristic screech.

“Everything okay, Your Highness?” The deep voice is muffled by her heavy door.

It’s humiliating that someone heard her. She wants to lash out, but she doesn’t have the energy.

“Yes,” she calls back. “It’s just been a long day.”

Chapter Text

Dodge. Strike. Dodge. Strike, strike. 

Her training is repetitive and hardly a challenge anymore, but necessary. Azula must stay on the top of her game, especially so close to the invasion. 

She’d arrived at the training yard extra early this morning, having barely slept after the incident with Ty Lee’s mirror last night. She’d laid awake all night, afraid to blow out her bedside candles for fear of familiar ghosts lurking in the darkness of her room. 

Princess Azula: firebending prodigy, afraid of the dark. What a joke.

Now that she’s here, though, the rush of adrenaline from the exercise is helping. She just needed to clear her head, that’s all.

Her sparring partner lunges for her and she sends a sharp kick to his outstretched wrist. There’s an audible crack and he lets out a cry, taking a few seconds to shake his wrist out. It was a good hit.

“Again,” Azula commands, falling easily back into position.

Despite his body being protected head-to-toe with durable padding, he hesitates. There are black burn marks on his shoulder pads from where her fire whip previously grazed him.

“I said, again .” 

On unsure footing, he advances on her and his nerves cost him; he’s on the ground in two seconds flat. Azula holds him there with a knee pressed to his chest, a fire dagger close to his throat. The blue fire reflects off of his wide eyes. She smirks.

She usually sparred with different guards, both men and women she’d known for years, who were used to her more aggressive style. But most of them have been ordered onto the front lines of the war over the last few weeks. 

This newcomer was assigned to her and so far she thoroughly enjoyed seeing how far she could push him–he was wary right from the start and easily spooked by any quick movement on her part. Her blue flames especially seem to frighten him.

She draws her fire dagger even closer to his face. It’s protected with the standard helmet, but she knows he can feel the heat through its surface. He’s lasting longer than usual , she thinks to herself.

She drives her knee harder into his chest and allows the fire dagger to make contact with the helmet. It makes a sizzling sound and his eyes widen to saucers. 

“Princess,” he finally wheezes, out of breath from either her knee placement or the hard fall he took, “please. I yield.”

She lets him squirm for just one minute more before extinguishing her flame. 

“Very well,” she sighs. 

Pushing off of his chest with unnecessary force, she stands and watches him scramble to get to his feet. He quickly hobbles off toward a nearby bench to remove his armor. She didn’t realize she’d hit his leg hard enough to cause a temporary limp.

She’s already feeling better.

“Azula!” A familiar voice chirps and makes her spin on her heel.

Ty Lee’s lithe body slips through the gate to the courtyard and she cart-wheels on her way toward Azula.

Her heart clenches at the sight of the girl; she hasn’t seen her outside of the guest bedroom since before the Ember Island trip. It hadn’t exactly been intentional, but now it feels more secure to meet in private. They’d been sneaking for so long that it’s strange seeing her during the day, out in the open. It feels dangerous.

No one will suspect a thing, even Father knows that you’ve been friends for years , she tries to convince herself.

She spares a subtle glance toward her previous sparring partner, but he is busy rubbing at his wrist again—pathetic, can’t even take a little kick. She turns back just in time to see the acrobat stick the landing to a backhand spring, planting her right in front of Azula. 

She takes a small step back before she can do something stupid like hug her because that’s certainly what she’d like to do right now. She has zero doubts that Ty Lee would try to pull her in for one if given the chance. She often struggles with the boundaries that Azula tries to set for their safety.

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show,” Azula snarks. She had been training for nearly two hours already and meditated for one hour before that.

“I accidentally slept in.” She shrugs and leans forward with a mischievous glint in her eye that has Azula holding her breath. “Someone kept me up pretty late last night,” she whispers with a wink. 

Heat crawls up Azula’s neck and she can feel it happening as if in slow motion. They hadn’t done anything except kiss, but somehow Ty Lee is so skilled at scandalizing things beyond what they are. It’s thrilling.

It is no easy feat getting used to the other girl’s incessant flirting, especially when Azula’s embarrassment only serves to make Ty Lee giggle and adopt a proud smirk. It just encourages her even more.

She always tries to flirt back, she really does, but she’s come to the disappointing conclusion that she might be terrible at it. 

“Well,” Azula clears her throat, “now that you’re here I think you should have a spar. Make sure you’re not rusty from all the sitting around you’ve been doing.” 

“Hey! I’m never rusty!” Ty Lee goes to lightly shove Azula’s shoulder, but it’s easily dodged with a side-step. “And I haven’t been sitting around! Sometimes I do a handstand,” she says, all cheeky and clever. 

“No? Give our friend over there a challenge then.” She nods her head in the direction of the man licking his wounds. “He needs all the practice he can get, he’s hardly a formidable opponent.”

Ty Lee looks over with a frown. “I don’t know, Kenji looks a little rough. I don’t wanna hurt him.”

Ah, so his name is Kenji. Ty Lee did always have a knack for learning the palace help’s names. 

“Nonsense, he’s fine.” Azula drags Ty Lee into the middle of the courtyard. “Kenja!”

“It’s Kenji ,” Ty Lee berates in a whisper. Azula shrugs.

Kenji comes rushing over, still cradling his wrist. The only armor he hasn’t peeled off yet is his padded pants. He has taken off his helmet and his short brown hair is plastered by sweat to his forehead. He doesn’t look much older than Azula and Ty Lee, which would explain his skittishness. He also, Azula realizes with a jolt of bitter jealousy, looks exactly like someone Ty Lee would probably find cute.

“Yes, Your Highness?” Kenji says with a high-pitched voice crack that makes Azula’s jealousy dissipate. 

“Do a round with Ty Lee.” 

He looks at Ty Lee apprehensively and though his lack of immediate obedience annoys her, it makes sense. Ty Lee has earned quite the reputation for her chi-blocking abilities, even among the best Fire Nation soldiers. It’s also, she suspects, the only reason her father lets her hang around Azula so much.

“Actually, Princess,” Ty Lee’s voice saves Kenji from having to answer, “I’d prefer to spar with you if that’s alright.” 

Azula watches Kenji release a relieved breath–not subtle at all–before she turns to Ty Lee. The girl is grinning innocently, batting long eyelashes at her that are much too distracting. 

“I think it would be beneficial to learn from the best,” Ty Lee adds, laying it on thick with her sugar-sweet tone. “Don’t you agree, Princess?”

Kenji’s eyes jump back and forth between the two girls. 

If it were anyone else, Azula would tell them to mind their place and their tongue and to never disobey or challenge a direct order. The Crown Princess trains for the benefit of herself, not for others.

But it’s Ty Lee, and she’s going to be the death of Azula.

“Very well,” Azula concedes, maintaining the hardness of authority in her tone as she waves off Kenji. “You are dismissed. Go cower in the infirmary and while you’re there ask them if they can see about having a backbone installed for you. You need it.”

Kenji bows, face bright red, and makes a fast exit, leaving the two girls alone in the courtyard. 

Ty Lee tuts at her with a disapproving frown. 

“That was mean,” she chastises and actually sounds disappointed. It makes Azula feel strange.

“Oh please,” the princess rolls her eyes. “Your bleeding heart is showing too much, Ty. You just didn’t want to fight him because you felt bad.” She mimes wiping tears from her eyes and Ty Lee has the gall to stick her tongue out at her.

“Actually no,” her voice is slightly strained as she stretches out her arms over her head. She starts doing such complex and impressive stretches like it’s nothing and Azula forces her eyes to keep from wandering. “Believe it or not, I didn’t come here to hang out with Kenji,” Ty Lee says, her sparkling gray eyes connecting with Azula’s. A challenge.

She wants to remind Ty Lee to keep her voice down. Voices can easily carry through the empty corridors around here. 

But now that they’re alone and she finally gets to really look at her, she’s distracted by how soft Ty Lee looks in the early morning. Tiredness still clings to her features and her long brunette hair is a little messy from sleep still. The braid is done slightly more sloppy than usual.

“Oh,” Azula says, like a thoughtless, brain-dead boy. She feels no better than the lowlifes who drooled over Ty Lee at the beach.

“ Oh ,” Ty Lee echoes with a laugh. She steps closer to her and lowers her voice to a hush. “If fist-fighting you in the courtyard is the only way I can be with you when the sun is still out, I plan to soak up every single second.” She gives a feather-light punch to Azula’s chest. “And every hit.”

The comment about the sun pricks Azula a bit, but she holds back any retort she might let slip. It is becoming increasingly obvious that Ty Lee is not a fan of sneaking around

“Fist-fighting,” Azula scoffs, “give us a little more credit than that.”

She motions for Ty Lee to get in position and soon they’re stanced a few feet apart. Azula takes a brief pause to quickly scan the surrounding corridors and forces herself to relax when there’s no one else in sight. She drags her golden eyes back to Ty Lee and can’t help but smile when she sees the other girl beaming at her, bouncing on her toes in anticipation.

“No firebending!” Ty Lee suddenly exclaims, as if that reminder is necessary.

“Of course not. No chi blocking, either.” 

“I would never, Zula.” Ty Lee blows a kiss and Azula wants to cage the butterflies in her stomach.

Azula sternly mouths the word stop and Ty Lee only laughs some more. 

Within seconds they’re advancing on each other, blocking, dodging, and lightly striking each other with the seamless flow of two dancers. Despite their drastically different fighting styles, they move together like, ironically, water. A delicate push-and-pull that Azula is very unused to, but welcomes with open arms. It is definitively the only time she has ever smiled during a “fight”. 

She swipes her leg in a half-moon motion low to the ground and Ty Lee easily hops over it, landing on her hands and falling into a somersault until she’s back on her feet.

“Nice try!” Ty Lee giggles before landing a soft jab to Azula’s ribs.

“I’m going easy,” Azula lies. The circus clearly worked wonders on her friend, she’s much faster than she used to be. 

Ty Lee spins around like a ballerina in a jewelry box, taking advantage of the spacious courtyard, and it’s hard to keep track of her. She’s like a watercolor blur of pink and red until suddenly, she’s behind Azula. 

The fire princess gasps when she’s pulled close, her back pressing against Ty Lee’s front. One slender arm is wrapped around her waist, pinning Azula in place, while the other uses a loose fist to lightly prod at the space where Azula’s neck and shoulder meet. 

She can’t turn her head fully, but she can feel Ty Lee’s breath against the back of her neck. Goosebumps cover her arms. 

“All I’d have to do is hit right here,” Ty Lee whispers, like it’s a simple secret and like she’s not setting Azula aflame right now.

It would be so easy to turn around and pull her closer and–

Not here.

Azula uses both hands to grip Ty Lee’s offending fist and yanks it over her shoulder with a forward tuck and roll. They both hurtle toward the ground, but Ty Lee easily flips over the firebender’s shoulders and uses the momentum to roll into a standing position, even adding a little pose when she sticks the landing. 

“Such a performer,” Azula teases and readies herself for the girl’s next attack. She’s always been the aggressor during any combat, but she’s finding it enjoyable to see what tricks Ty Lee has up her sleeve.

The next time the pale fist comes in for the kill, Azula grabs it with a tight hold, but not before Ty Lee uses her free hand to snatch the princess’s wrist on the opposite arm. 

With both arms of both girls tied up, it turns into more of a childish tussle as they each fight to shake the offending hands off. Ty Lee’s playful laughter rings through the air and Azula can’t help but join in on the contagious sound. 

“ Azula .” A commanding voice pierces through the air like a spear and has Azula ripping herself away from Ty Lee. The girl yelps and is thrown off balance by Azula’s sudden release.

Azula immediately stands to attention, ignoring how Ty Lee stumbles to the ground. 

“F-father,” she stutters and mentally curses herself for the verbal slip-up. She hopes her armor is successful in concealing her thumping heart rate. 

Ozai is standing at the edge of the courtyard with a look of pure disgust. He’s tracking Ty Lee like she’s a wild animal as she stands back up and brushes herself off. 

She hadn’t even heard him come in. When did he get here? What did he see?

“Your Highness,” she hears Ty Lee say in the smallest voice she’s ever heard come out of the girl’s mouth. She knows Ty Lee has always been terrified of her father, though she’s never admitted it out loud. At least not to Azula.

In her peripheral vision, she sees that Ty Lee has dipped into a bow, but all she can focus on is her father’s curled lip as he slowly drags his eyes from Ty Lee to her. 

Her skin crawls as he looks her up and down and she’s struck with the realization that he doesn’t usually look at her like this. Like she’s not his prized offspring. Like she’s not his favorite. Like she’s Zuko .

She folds her hands behind her back and quickly bows, realizing she hasn’t yet. She wants to look at Ty Lee, to make sure she’s okay, but doesn’t dare to.

Ozai tuts with a disapproving head shake. “Is this the most productive use of your time, Azula?”

She forces herself to look up from his shoes and make eye contact. She’s always had a good poker face.

“I’ve been training all morning, Father. I thought it useful to–,”

“ Enough ,” Ozai stops her sharply, and years of practice keep her from flinching. “Your companion is dismissed. I expect you to be more focused going forward, Daughter.”

Despite the Fire Lord’s words, Ty Lee doesn’t move. There’s a shuffling sound and she can just feel that Ty Lee has foolishly shifted closer to her.

“Ty Lee, you’re dismissed ,” Azula hisses with more aggression than she knows Ty Lee likes. She’ll have to apologize to her later, but she needs to get her out of here.

There’s a flurry of pink as Ty Lee hurries to leave. She shoots a worried look toward Azula, but the princess ignores it. 

Once Ty Lee is gone, Ozai takes another step closer to his daughter. Azula straightens her spine and looks up to meet his disdainful gaze. He’s always been so tall and isn’t against using his height for intimidation; he’d told Azula so. As a child, she used to pray to the gods to make her tall and scary, just like her father. 

The Fire Lord scrutinizes her for several long seconds. One of his large hands reaches out and Azula braces herself for a strike, but all he does is straighten out the royal pin in her top knot.

“I allow your friends to roam the palace grounds because they have proven to be useful when needed. But if they are now proving to be a distraction, I will not hesitate to have them removed. Do you understand me?” 

Spirits, she’d been such a fool inviting Ty Lee to join her this morning. What were you thinking? Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

“I understand,” Azula swallows, “they’re not a distraction, Father.” 

She does not visit Ty Lee in her quarters that night.

Instead, she goes to Zuko’s room.

Well…she stands outside his door. 

She knows he’s in there, she can see the light flickering under the door. He’s shuffling around in there, probably getting ready for sleep. He was always more heavy-footed than her, never able to sneak around as well as she could.

Her knuckles are resting against the heavy wood of the door, but they don’t knock. She wills herself to do it, just do it. 

But it’s been so long. 

She used to flee to her older brother’s room during bad storms or when one of her nightmares felt especially real. No matter how much of a bratty younger sister she may have been earlier in the day, he’d always hold her while she cried and talk to her until she felt better. He’d pull back the covers and let her crawl into the space next to him in bed. 

She wonders if she can do that now. She’s not afraid of storms anymore, but this morning was certainly a nightmare of its own kind. She’d spent all day picking and chewing at her fingernails until they’d become hideous stubs after just a few hours. She had them re-filed and painted before dinner. If she spends another moment alone with her anxious thoughts she’ll implode.

She tightens her fist against the door. She’s not a little kid anymore and neither is he but for the first time in years, she wants to see what would happen. If he’d let her in. If he’d hold her.

She pulls her fist back and—

The door opens so slowly and quietly, but Azula still jumps like it was a flash bang.

The door is barely cracked open but she sees Zuko jump too, surely just in reaction to her surprise presence. The door opens wider and he has a hand to his chest and looks at her with wild, accusing eyes. 

“ Spirits , Azula, what’re you doing?” He’s in his sleep robes and his hair is down and he looks so much like their mother used to that it makes Azula’s heart flutter.

She blinks and quickly lowers her fist which is still raised in the air, prepped for a knock. The decision had been taken away from her altogether. She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, like an elephant koi out of water before she finally asks, “Where are you going?”

He looks at her incredulously. “To get a glass of water?”

“We have servants for that,” she says without thinking and he scoffs with an eye roll. She’s already said the wrong thing, but maybe now he’ll just go back inside his room so she can retreat back to her own. This was clearly a mistake.  

“Yeah well I’m capable of getting my own water,” he says through a yawn. “We all are.”

Over his shoulder, she can see a few things laid out on his bed. She tries to peer around him, but he steps further out and closes the door more, blocking her view.

“Is that a bag? Are you packing for something?” 

He immediately shakes his head and he’s suddenly very interested in the wallpaper. “I’m just organizing a few things. My room was a mess after being away for so long.” 

It’s not true. She’d visited the room herself many times in his absence and it was kept spotless, like he never existed at all. 

He’s lying. 

“What do you want?” He asks more cruelly this time, impatient. He’s rubbing his eyes and giving her another suspicious look. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Her face feels hot and she wishes she never came.  “I came to remind you that we are to meet with the Fire Navy admiral tomorrow.” Is that meeting tomorrow? She’s not even sure, she just said the first thing that came to mind. She fixes her posture. “Don’t be late,” she adds on for good measure. 

She spins on her heel and strides quickly back to her bedroom.  She hopes that no palace guards stationed in the halls notice the tears burning behind her eyes.  

It has been two days.

Two days since Ozai interrupted her time with Azula and she hasn’t seen the princess since.

She’d hated leaving her alone with the Fire Lord that day, but what could she have done to make it better? Azula had snapped at her to leave, so she did. She couldn’t withstand more nasty looks from Ozai, anyway.

Even as a kid, she could always tell that the Fire Lord never cared for her. She was too loud and flighty , she’d heard him say so many times, and, for Azula, she always acted like it didn’t bother her. Ty Lee simply just avoided the man at all costs whenever she could. 

She’d run from the courtyard and hadn’t stopped until she reached Mai’s house. She had burst through the door, teary-eyed and shaken, but Mai had done her the kindness of not asking why. She’d taken one look at the state of her and simply put on a pot of tea, beckoning her to the couch. Ty Lee suspects she knew why, anyways. Mai always knew. 

“This isn’t good for you” , Mai had said while she rubbed her back in slow, calming circles. Ty Lee had responded saying she was fine, that Mai didn’t know what she was talking about. But the words burrowed deep under Ty Lee’s skin. 

When Azula didn’t come to see her that night, she considered going to the princess’s room herself. She could be in trouble and need Ty Lee’s help, or maybe just need some reassurance. Ty Lee was always the one to comfort Azula after a nightmare or setback when they were on the road; who would do that for her now if not her? 

But the sound of guards conversing near her doorway stopped her. She’d have no plausible explanation if she were to get caught sneaking through the halls. 

Azula was just being cautious, that’s all. She knew going into this that the princess was nervous, she had warned Ty Lee repeatedly that they had to be discreet. The Fire Lord put her on edge, one night off is fine. Tomorrow everything will be fine.

But Azula doesn’t come the next night either and Ty Lee doesn’t sleep.

The next morning finds her walking down one of the main halls after breakfast, pondering her possible plans for the day and stifling yet another yawn when she miraculously sees Azula approaching from the opposite end. There’s not a single guard or palace staff member in sight.

“Azula!” She gleefully shouts but quickly dials back and shrinks down when Azula immediately presses a finger to her lips in warning.

The princess grabs her wrist and drags her along down a more narrow side hallway. Ty Lee doesn’t dare make another sound when she sees the stern look of determination on Azula’s face.

They stop in front of a large painting of an ancient Fire Lord that Ty Lee doesn’t remember the name of and she immediately recognizes where they are, though she hasn’t thought about it in years. 

Azula quickly and quietly slides the painting to the side, revealing the dark tunnel behind it. It is one of many secret passageways in the palace and also the reason why Azula would always beat Ty Lee and Mai in hide-and-seek.

Ty Lee is yanked into the passageway after Azula and the painting is quickly sealed shut behind them. Deep darkness engulfs them briefly until a hanging lantern flickers to life with a blue flame. 

Ty Lee looks from the fire to the firebender and is pleased to see how pretty the princess looks with the blue shadows dancing across her face. 

“Hi,” Azula breathes out, “sorry for the dramatics, but I–”

She’s cut off when Ty Lee throws herself at her, pulling the girl into a tight, bone-crushing hug.

“What did I say about jumping on me, Ty Lee?” Azula scolds, but her arms wrap around her in return.

“Are you okay? I was so worried,” Ty Lee rushes out in a mumble against Azula’s neck. She pulls back just far enough to make eye contact with her. “You didn’t come to see me. I was getting scared.”

Golden eyes soften and Azula brings up a hand to lightly push a stray strand of hair from Ty Lee’s face. The long painted nails lightly scratch against her temple and send a small shiver down Ty Lee’s spine. 

“I know, I’m sorry,” Azula says. “I was,” she pauses, squeezes her eyes shut, and shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

Ty Lee waits and watches. She wants to use her thumb to smooth the worried crease between Azula’s eyebrows, but she senses that she’s not done speaking.

“My father,” she continues in a barely audible hush, “he wasn’t pleased when he saw us in the training yard. I shouldn’t have told you to come that day, that was a mistake.” Her eyes are wide and apprehensive as she watches Ty Lee. “Do you forgive me?”

She pulls back slightly from Ty Lee and stands with tense shoulders like she’s bracing for impact.

“Forgive you? I wanted to be there. I’m not–you don’t think I’m upset do you?”

“You should be,” Azula insists, staring resolutely at the floor. “I promised you I’d be careful, that I’d protect you and I’m not .” 

Ty Lee leaned down in hopes of catching Azula’s eye. “And I’m fine! See?” She does a little shimmy to emphasize her point and is disappointed when Azula doesn’t even crack a smile. “I always feel safe with you, Zula. Always.”

Azula finally raises her head and looks at Ty Lee like she doesn’t believe her. She studies Ty Lee’s face like she’s trying to find the lie.

“We’re being careless. The invasion is tomorrow, Ty Lee, and there’s too much on the line for me to be so unfocused. You distract me,” Azula grits out with an accusing glare. The flame in the lantern momentarily flares up in intensity.

A little bit of dread seeps into Ty Lee’s chest and she tries her hardest to ignore it. She also tries not to take being called a “distraction” as an insult, even though it was surely meant to be one. 

Sometimes she feels courageous enough to call Azula out, to tell her when she’s being mean and hurting her feelings. This is not one of those times. 

“I’m sorry,” Ty Lee offers because she doesn’t know what else to say. Mai would scold her if she were here. She can hear her voice in her head saying you didn’t do anything, don’t apologize. 

Azula only clenches her jaw in response.

“Do you think he suspects anything?” Ty Lee gently asks, knowing that’s what this all boils down to. All the anxiety and prolonged separation and cruel words. 

Azula frowns, brows pulling together in a way that looks painful. “I don’t know. I–,” She relaxes. “I don’t think so. He has no reason to.”

“I don’t think so either,” Ty Lee affirms warmly. She chances bringing a palm to Azula’s cheek, finally smoothing out some of the stress lines. Azula immediately leans into the touch and closes her eyes. 

“I will come see you tonight,” Azula says and flinches when Ty Lee does an excited little hop. 

“Really?” 

As if it wasn’t her idea in the first place, Azula pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath. By the time she’s done exhaling, there’s a small smile on her face. “Yes, fine,” she sighs out exhaustedly. “You’re not nervous, are you? About tomorrow?”

“With you by my side I never am! I’m ready to kick some Avatar butt with you,” Ty Lee says with a grin, but for some curious reason, Azula stiffens and averts her eyes once more. It lasts only a second before she relaxes her shoulders and turns back to Ty Lee. 

“I’ll be by after dinner,” Azula promises and Ty Lee lights up.

Ty Lee leans in to press a light kiss to her lips and when Azula surges forward to deepen it it’s like those couple nights apart didn’t even happen.

When they finally part ways a while later—wiping the lipstick from each other’s faces—and Azula returns to her busy schedule, Ty Lee goes for a walk down the nearby city streets. She sticks close to the palace walls like Azula had requested of her, but still, the change of scenery is refreshing. Ever since the tea shop excursion with Mai, she has felt more inclined to get out and about.

Cabin fever is very real, even in a glamorous palace.

Most storefronts and homes are already empty, boarded up, and closed down in preparation for the invasion, but there are enough people still around that it doesn’t feel totally isolated. 

She waves to a few people that she recognizes, the socializing working wonders for her aura.

“You’re too friendly,” Azula criticized Ty Lee. They’re eight and eating mochi on the palace roof. “It makes you weak. People will use it against you.”

“Oh,” Ty Lee lowered her head to rest on her knees, suddenly feeling less excited about tonight’s slumber party. 

Mai glared at Azula. “That’s not true,” she turned to Ty Lee and repeated, “It’s not true, Ty Lee. Don’t listen to her.”

Azula had simply shrugged and taken another mochi from the box. She’d eaten most before Ty Lee and Mai could even reach for one. “Fine, don’t believe me. But my father told me that and he’s never wrong.”

Ty Lee shakes off the memory but smiles at the idea it gives her. She’ll ask Azula if they can sit on the roof tonight like they used to do as kids. She wants to enjoy the view of the city one last time, in case things go horribly wrong tomorrow. In case too many buildings get destroyed and the city lights never look quite the same.

A wave of nostalgia hits her right in the gut. The war is getting so close, literally on the doorstep. She suddenly longs for the days when all she had to worry about was teaching Azula how to cartwheel in the palace gardens, and doing homework after school with Mai.

She doesn’t know where she will be stationed tomorrow when the attack starts, but surely she and Mai will just go wherever Azula goes. It’s the way it’s always been and it’s reassuring knowing that she’ll be able to watch over Azula, not that the firebender needs it. 

She looks up toward the sky. The sun has started to descend. Dinner will be soon and then Azula will come for her.

Her exhaustion is at an all-time high, but it’s always enjoyable watching her brother squirm. The Dai Li agents are clearly making him uncomfortable and Azula can tell he’s biting his tongue for the sake of their father’s presence. He’s in better graces, but still not enough to speak out of turn in front of Ozai.

They comb over the plans for the invasion once more: Azula and Zuko will act as decoys while their father waits out the eclipse in a more secluded, more secure throne room. It’s an honor that the Fire Lord trusts them enough, trusts her enough, to successfully hold off the Avatar for him. She’d said as much out loud and Zuko had only agreed with a tight-lipped smile.

She feels a little guilty, though, having such intricate plans and telling Ty Lee none of it. Zuko had mentioned that he’s having Mai and her family go to one of the safe houses and Azula decided that was the best course of action for Ty Lee as well. Especially after the close call they had in the courtyard the other day with her father.

It’s for their safety. For Ty Lee’s safety. She can’t effectively go toe-to-toe with the Avatar if she has to worry about Ty Lee as well. 

It had been her idea to include Zuko in her plan. She’d convinced her father of it earlier this morning and had expected her brother to be pleased, eager to prove himself to the Fire Lord. But he’d taken the news with only a hesitant nod and a questioning glare toward Azula. 

She schooled her expression so as not to give away her surprise at his reaction, but she wanted to grab him by the collar and throttle him. What more could he possibly want? She’s offering him a chance to serve their nation! A chance to serve their Fire Lord! To redeem himself!

Several hours have passed when Ozai finally dismisses them and Azula stands and exits with her parade of Dai Li behind her. She’s halfway down the corridor, reminiscing on her earlier meet-up with Ty Lee, when she feels a hand wrap around her elbow and yank her around. She’s face-to-face with her brother and somehow his scar always looks even harsher when he’s angry. 

“What’re you playing at, Azula?” So much venom in his voice.

He’s still squeezing her elbow tightly and it’s actually starting to hurt; it’s not often he hurts her. Not often he’s been close enough to even try. 

She grits her teeth and peels his hand off, motioning for the Dai Li to stand down–they had jumped to a fighting position as soon as Zuko had made contact. 

“I don’t know what you mean, Zuzu. It’s a foolproof plan,” she deflects. “What’s the matter? Afraid you’ll have to see that water tribe peasant again? Feel bad for betraying her trust? Got the poor girl’s hopes up,” she gives a fake sympathetic pout and examines the nails on her hand. She should have them redone before the battle. Maybe a darker shade of red?

Zuko slaps her hand away and she just barely conceals a gasp. Why is he so angry with her? For the first time in maybe forever, she feels slightly small in Zuko’s presence and her cutting remarks don’t feel like enough ammunition now.

There are suddenly too many spectators around to witness the display.

She turns to the Dai Li agents behind her. “You’re dismissed,” she says in her usual coolness, hoping she appears unbothered by her brother’s aggression.

The agents are incredibly quick and silent as they exit at the other end of the hall and the two siblings are quiet once they’re truly alone. Azula turns to him.

“All our lives you’ve taken every little bit of glory for yourself,” he spits the words at her and she’s reminded that she’s not the only sibling with a temper. “Suddenly you’re feeling generous? Why do you want me there with you?” 

He doesn’t trust her.

“I–,” and she nearly says something embarrassing about wanting to work together as siblings. As a family. She almost spills her guts in a way that he could hold against her forever. So instead, she says, “I thought it would be fun.”

It’s apparently the wrong thing to say.

Zuko scowls and steps back. “Fun? This is what I don’t understand about you. Innocent people are going to die and you think it’ll be fun .”

She wants to remind him that the enemy tribes who will be invading their home are not innocent. That the Avatar and his pesky sidekicks are not innocent. That their Fire Nation soldiers are willing to put their lives on the line for the cause, and that she is too. So should Zuko. It’s their duty.

But he’s looking at her like he barely knows her and there’s an uncomfortable weight settling in her belly.

A distant memory of her mother’s voice echoes through her skull.

What is wrong with that child? 

She jumps and whips her head to look over her shoulder. It sounded so close. Like it wasn’t in her head at all.

“Did you hear that?” 

“Hear what?” Zuko looks too, impatience growing in his voice. 

She looks at the framed scroll next to them on the wall and relaxes when she sees only her and Zuko in the reflection. She swears she heard…

“Azula, what ?” Zuko is staring daggers at her now, looking at her like she’s crazy, and Azula briefly forgets what they were talking about in the first place.

“Nothing,” she murmurs and regrets how weak her own voice sounds to her ears. She clears her throat and slips back into her best condescending tone. “You wanted a more active role in serving the fire nation and I’m giving you that. You don’t sound very grateful, Zuzu. It’s a bad look.”

“Why the Dai Li?”

“Because why not? I won them fair and square, might as well use them.” She doesn’t want to admit that she thinks she’ll need the help, especially against that dirty blind child. 

“I don’t trust them,” he admits, quieter now.

“You don’t trust anyone it seems. Not even your own sister.” She means to sound much more nonchalant than she does. 

Zuko raises his brows and gives her a look that clearly says “ Why should I” and she is suddenly far too uncomfortable with how he seems to have gotten the upper hand in this exchange.

“Are we done?” She asks and pushes past his shoulder before he even answers. She’s itching for a bath after being in the secret tunnels with Ty Lee earlier; they are much more humid than she remembered. 

She hears Zuko mumble out an angsty “whatever” and doesn’t bother with any further response.

She has a date to get ready for.

Chapter Text

“Do you remember the first time we came up here?”

“Of course.”

“You almost fell off the edge.” Ty Lee giggles.

“I take it back. I don’t remember that.”

The two girls climbed onto the roof a few minutes ago, reclining back against the upward slope, propped up on their elbows. Their thighs are lightly touching, making Ty Lee’s entire body feel warm.

“My apologies, Princess,” Ty Lee says formally. “We can say it was Mai who almost fell instead.” 

Azula hums, the distant city lights reflected in her gold eyes. “Yes, I like this version better. I think the memory is coming back to me now.”

She turns to Ty Lee with a mischievous smile and it’s breathtaking. Her hair is completely down–a rare occurrence unless the princess is asleep–and her face is freshly washed, makeup-free. It’s a privilege, Ty Lee thinks, for this side of the ruthless Crown Princess to be hers and only hers. She longs to run her hand through the silky black hair, so she does. Why not? Without overthinking it further, she reaches her hand out and curls some of it around her finger. 

“I love your hair down,” she sighs. A breeze sends the scent of lavish shampoo wafting over.

Azula stiffens briefly but then shivers and hums quietly at the contact. Her eyes briefly flutter shut and she seems to be content in soaking up Ty Lee’s ministrations, but then she’s staring at the long braid that falls over Ty Lee’s shoulder. “Let me see yours,” she orders, but the force of the demand is lost to her breathless tone.

“Huh?” Ty Lee’s head tilts to the side.

“Your hair. Take your braid out,” Azula commands urgently, scooting closer until Ty Lee can feel the warmth radiating off of her body. 

She hasn’t fully processed the request before Azula reaches for the braid herself, softly pulling at the pink ribbons to loosen each section. It feels surprisingly intimate, someone else undoing it for her; no one ever has before. Not since she was a child and her older sister would brush her hair out before bed each night. 

Azula’s fingers are quick and careful and soon all of Ty Lee’s thick hair is tumbling down her shoulders and back, reaching her bottom and landing to rest atop the roof tiles behind her. Her mother always complimented her hair growing up saying that she should be proud of how beautiful and long it is. She is proud. Especially when it’s the cause for how Azula is looking at her now.

“ Agni, I forgot how long your hair is,” Azula praises. 

Ty Lee’s gray eyes close as Azula starts carding through her hair with a mesmerized expression on her face. The long red nails lightly scratch along Ty Lee’s scalp and make her belly swoop from the sensation. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Azula mumbles to herself, but Ty Lee hears it all the same. “I want to kiss you all the time.” Ty Lee hears that too, opening her eyes and immediately feeling pleased to see that Azula is already looking at her lips. 

“You can,” she encourages. “You can kiss me, Zula.”

Maybe she should’ve said nothing because suddenly the spell breaks. 

Azula’s eyes blink away from her lips and back toward the city skyline. A tinge of pink appears on her cheeks and she pulls her hands free from Ty Lee’s unruly hair and clears her throat. Biting her lip, Ty Lee turns away and pretends to fiddle with the tie on her sleep pants as an excuse to keep the princess from seeing the hurt on her face. Her hair feels heavy on her shoulders now.

“Someone could see,” Azula says in explanation.

“Right,” Ty Lee reluctantly agrees and if the bitterness she’s feeling is evident in her voice, who can blame her? 

Zuko and Mai don’t have to hide. No one else in this situation would have to hide. Ty Lee is so tired of hiding. She’s about to voice it when long fingers intertwine with hers and the acrobat turns to see Azula watching her apologetically. 

“When we get back to your room. Okay?” She gives her a small smile. An olive branch.

Ty Lee nods and squeezes Azula’s hand. They both turn back toward the city and Azula makes a small noise of surprise before using her free hand to point out a flickering ball of light a few yards away. 

“Firebug,” Azula says. “See it?”

There’s suddenly three little glowing embers dancing around each other and Ty Lee gasps in delight, leaning forward for a closer look. She teeters slightly on the slope of the roof tiling and Azula places a steadying hand on her knee. Her palm is so warm.

A silly memory of childish antics springs forth in Ty Lee’s mind and she’s already laughing to herself before she says it aloud. “Do you remember when we captured a bunch in a jar once? And we—,”

“Put them in Zuko’s closet? How could I forget?” Azula says thoughtfully like it’s a fond memory. 

“He screamed so loud,” Ty Lee recalls, delighting in the way that Azula is stifling a laugh with the back of her hand. 

“Always such a baby. He tattled to Mother about it.”

“Mai was so mad at us.” Zuko didn’t come around them for a long time after that and the somber girl was even more mopey than usual.

At this, Azula scoffs. “Yes, well Mai was always a wet blanket, even in her youth.” 

Ty Lee frowns but goes back to focusing on the beauty of the bugs in front of her. She doesn’t love it when Azula disses Mai like that, but at the very least it’s familiar. Mai always reassures her that she doesn’t care anyway. 

It makes her think of a different conversation she’d had with Mai earlier at dinner tonight. A topic she’s been waiting to broach with Azula. 

“Speaking of Mai,” Ty Lee starts carefully. She runs her thumb along Azula’s knuckles, hoping to ease any possible impending rage. “She said she’s leaving the city tomorrow with her family.”

If Azula is shocked by this news, she doesn’t show it. She’s only staring at their joined hands.

“Said she talked to Zuko about it.” 

Azula finally turns to her with nothing more than a quirked brow. “And?”

Oh. She already knew. 

“Y-you’re okay with that?” She’d expected Azula to be furious, to call Mai a coward and Zuko weak for sending his girlfriend to flee and hide. They’ve done everything as a trio since the day Azula picked Ty Lee up at the circus. 

Azula just looks at Ty Lee like she has said something amusing. “I don’t care what Mai does, Ty Lee. I’ll have far bigger issues to deal with tomorrow than the whereabouts of my brother’s betrothed.” She says the final word with a disgusted curl of her lip. 

“She’s not just—She’s our friend too, Azula.” 

Azula waves that off. “Yes, yes, our dear Mai. What ever will I do without her knives and dry commentary? That would surely be vital in taking the Avatar down.”

Ever since Zuko came back into the picture and ever since he reconnected with Mai, Azula has been noticeably crueler to the knife-wielding girl. Whether it’s to her face or behind her back, the insults have gotten nastier and more frequent and it drives Ty Lee absolutely crazy. It makes her feel guilty even though she has never joined in on the cruelty, would never join in.

Azula is special, but Mai is her friend, maybe even her best one. She’s there when Azula isn’t. 

The frown is still on the acrobat’s face when Azula looks back over. “It’s the practical thing for Mai to do, Ty. Tomorrow is between the Avatar and my family. No one else.”

Ty Lee feels her heart skip. “No one…no one else?”

Azula doesn’t look at her now, suddenly very interested in one of her perfectly manicured nails.

“What about me?”

“Well,” Azula sighs, “I was thinking you’d go with Mai.”

Ty Lee’s heart drops. 

“Don’t look at me like that, Ty, it’s for the best. I want you to be safe.”

Azula always lies. Zuko said so, even Mai had warned her. 

“You lied to me,” Ty Lee whispers and pulls her hand out of Azula’s grasp. Azula’s eyes widen and she scoots closer, craning her head so Ty Lee can’t avoid looking at her.

“I didn’t lie. You—you said things and I just didn’t correct you. There’s a difference,” she firmly insists and it’s sad, Ty Lee thinks, that Azula truly seems to really believe that.

“There isn’t a difference. I’m not stupid .” 

Azula’s nostrils briefly flare and there’s a subtle clench of her fist that gives away her rising temper. “I did not say that. You know I don’t like when you put words in my mouth.” 

“Do I even get a choice?” She narrows her eyes at Azula, daring her to say no. Daring her to treat her like how she treats everyone else. 

“I don’t need protecting,” Azula growls. 

Ty Lee’s nose scrunches up at the princess’s tone. “I know. It’s not about that.” But I’d like to do it anyway, she thinks to herself.

It’s quiet for a few moments, the only sound coming from the nearby lantern crackling. Why did every nice moment need to get ruined by a fight? When another minute of silence passes by, Ty Lee is convinced that Azula is done speaking to her for the night, but the firebender finally groans irritably into her hands.

“You’d have to do exactly as I say.”

“I will, I swear,” Ty Lee grins and tries not to get too hopeful but it sounds an awful lot like Azula is about to say—

“Fine,” Azula grumbles. At Ty Lee’s gasp, she looks up and her eyes immediately roll. “Don’t look so surprised. You’re incredibly hard to say no to.” 

“Mai says I’m stubborn,” Ty Lee declares proudly.  

“I say you’re annoying,” Azula quips back, but there’s no malice.

Ty Lee laughs. “You love it.”

Azula’s eyes widen just slightly and Ty Lee wonders if she said something wrong. The firebender just simply looks at Ty Lee for a moment, considering, before clearing her throat and turning away. “I do,” she quietly agrees. 

After another hour of watching firebugs and reminiscing on childhood adventures, the girls climb back down and slip through the balcony into Ty Lee’s bedroom. What starts as a simple goodnight kiss turns into one of their more intense makeout sessions against the tall dresser. Ty Lee couldn’t resist, Azula has gotten really good at kissing.

They’re still taking things slow, but Ty Lee can’t help herself as her lips stray from Azula’s and wander to the sensitive spot by her ear, then down her neck. The quiet noises that the princess makes are proving to be quite addictive.

“Marks, Ty Lee. Be careful,” Azula pants out with a light tap to Ty Lee’s back. The acrobat pulls away from Azula’s collarbone with an apologetic peck, eyes lidded and lips swollen. She doesn’t think she left anything behind, but she’ll be sure to check once they’re done. For as tough as Azula is, she does bruise surprisingly easily.

“Sorry.” She licks her lips and Azula’s eyes track the motion. “Got carried away.”

She crashes back into the princess’s mouth and fully surrenders when Azula flips their positions and presses Ty Lee against the wall. Neither of them remembers to see about that mark. 

Azula sneaks through the quiet, dimly-lit halls back to her room and feels lighter than she has in ages; at least since Ember Island. That trip was the closest to serenity she’d ever been, which is saying a lot considering she still spent most of that weekend crying and running away from Ty Lee like a pathetic child. 

She turns down the final corridor that leads to her bedroom, looking forward to a few hours of rest before the big day. Later, she’ll chastise herself for not noticing that her door was cracked open upon her arrival. She never leaves her door open. 

The room is dark with the shades pulled shut so Azula hurries to her bedside table to ignite one of her candles. 

She’s still focused on the candle when the blue flames spring to life and make the dark figure in her peripheral vision just visible enough to startle her. She lurches around with a gasp, nearly stumbling backward onto her bed in the process.

The Fire Lord is sitting still as a statue in the armchair by her vanity, watching Azula with an unamused blank stare. The flickering candle makes the hard lines of his face all the more harsh.

Azula steadies herself and forces her panic deep down—her father has never once come to visit her in her bedroom. Not even when she was a child experiencing debilitating nightmares. It was always her mother that would—

“Father,” she bows her head. “I apologize. I wasn’t expecting to see you.” 

There’s no response, not even a noise of acknowledgment, as Ozai assesses his daughter, eyes scanning from her head to her toes. Azula forces her posture upright. 

His right hand opens up and a wide orange flame sparks to life in his palm. He holds it still while his other hand searches in his robe pocket.

“Azula, would you care to explain what this is?” And the princess’s lungs nearly give out when he pulls the object from his pocket.

The flower crown. The stupid, stupid flower crown that Ty Lee made for her. 

It’s been kept safe and secure in the drawer of her nightstand where Azula is sure to look at it each morning and night. She struggles to hold her resolve as realization dawns on her that it was deep in her drawer, hidden by other random trinkets. Her father had snooped.  

“Azula,” Ozai snaps when his daughter still hasn’t answered.

“It’s nothing, Father,” she answers, grateful her voice doesn’t waver. The flame in his hand sparks even brighter.

“Look at me when I am speaking to you!” His voice booms throughout her large bedroom and for the first time in her life, she wishes that Zuko would overhear and care enough to come and check on her, make sure everything is all right. She’s not used to being scolded, not since her mother left. “It’s nothing?” Ozai presses.

Azula nods and ignores the cavernous hole being dug into her heart.

“So you’ll take no issue if I just,” he holds the crown above the flame and it’s almost impressive how quickly the delicate braiding of flowers catches flame and turns to dust. Azula bites the inside of her cheek until she tastes blood.

“No, Father. No issue.” 

This must not please him enough, though, as he’s out of the chair and inches from Azula in just seconds. He holds the flame close enough to her face that her eyes water and he inspects her like she’s a clue to be decoded. She nearly flinches when his free hand comes up to pull something from her hair. 

Azula swallows when he pinches a single dry leaf between them. The tree by Ty Lee’s balcony is always shedding its sparse leaves.

“It’s quite late, Azula,” her father’s voice is steady, casual. “Where are you possibly returning from at this hour?”

Fuck.

“I had some final preparations for the invasion tomorrow that I needed to attend to.” Not exactly a lie. “I passed through the gardens on the way–”

The Fire Lord roughly yanks a portion of her robe down to expose her shoulder and collarbone. At this, Azula does actually gasp and stumble from the action. His painful hold on her is the only thing that keeps her upright.

“What is this?” He hisses, thumb pressing painfully into her skin. She’s dumbfounded for a moment, blinking wildly to fight off any tears from the pain. When she finally glances down, her heart nearly stops. 

There’s a light purple bruise that was definitely not there when she bathed before visiting with Ty Lee. But it is right in the spot that Ty Lee was being so attentive to earlier. Fuck, fuck, fuck.  

“I—” Azula starts before she’s aggressively shaken by her father’s strong grip.

“Don’t you dare lie to me, Azula.” His sharp face comes impossibly closer to hers, voice eerily low when he asks, “Have you been defiled?”

Defiled. Bottom lip trembling, Azula fervently shakes her head. “No, I— No, Father, I swear, I–”

“You have been distracted and careless. Is this the reason?”

“I don’t—,”

  “Who is the reason?”

Azula’s heart is in her stomach. “No one! I promise, Father, please, it’s no one!” 

It’s weak and petulant even to her own ears and the desperate pleading makes the Fire Lord’s lip curl in disgust. He releases her with a harsh shove to the floor. She hits her head on the hard surface but barely feels it in her panic. 

“I will grant you this one kindness, Azula, and ignore this slip-up. Because that’s all it shall be. A slip-up.” He smooths out his robes. “You are proving lately to be more like your brother than I previously thought. Prove me wrong tomorrow.” He regards her like this was nothing more than a typical father-daughter chat. 

“I will,” Azula insists. Ozai only gives her a pitying look before he turns toward her door.

Tears blur her vision but she refuses to let them fall. 

Azula, a nurturing yet invisible voice taunts her from somewhere in the room. There’s a flash of long black hair and a sad frown, by her mirror. She chokes on a gasp but then— 

“Oh, and Azula?” Ozai says over his shoulder. “Forget the boy, whoever he may be. Or I’ll handle it for you.” He slams the door behind him and the blue flames from her candle shake from the force, reflections dancing across the walls.

The boy. He thinks it’s a boy. Impossibly so, a small amount of the crushing weight lifts off of her chest. The relief is great enough to distract her from the entire exchange and the pounding in the back of her skull.

She hears the guards in the hall bid the Fire Lord a restful evening and takes a few moments to collect herself. The few tears that manage to slither down her cheeks are promptly scrubbed off as she waits the appropriate amount of time it must take for her father to return to his own quarters. 

Once the coast sounds clear, Azula rushes from her room and finds the nearest guard she can locate, imperative instructions on her tongue. 

The Fire Lord doesn’t know about Ty Lee and Azula will keep it that way if it’s the last thing she does.

Chapter Text

Azula meditates for over an hour; the sun hasn’t even started its ascent, nowhere close. 

She clears her mind of all distractions, including the one she was kissing just a few hours ago. She focuses only on today, on her destiny, on her mission to prove her father wrong.  

She did not get any sleep, didn’t even consider it. Sleep is not needed when she feels more alive than ever. 

The sun has barely risen and already the palace is loud with preparation. A loud bang from somewhere in a nearby corridor makes Ty Lee jolt awake. She yawns and rolls out of bed easily—it’s hard to sleep the night before an invasion anyway. Gods know she tried.

It’s been a calmer few weeks than usual so she hasn’t kept up with combat training as well as she used to—not including the playful spar against Azula the other day. She’ll need to do some stretching to ready herself for the day ahead of her.

Azula beckons a handmaiden to her bedroom. Only one is needed to do her hair, just like always.

She likes to put the armor on herself.

Ty Lee is sitting at the vanity braiding her hair when there’s a knock at the door. It’s not her and Azula’s knock, but no one else has ever come to visit her before. She doesn’t have much time to wonder who it could be before the door is pushed open and a tall royal guard that she does not recognize steps inside. It’s a blessing she wasn’t in the process of changing. 

“Lady Ty Lee, I have orders to retrieve you,” he says gruffly.

Ty Lee drops her braid, she hadn’t even gotten to finish.

Zuko’s bedroom is empty when Azula arrives, which is strange because they had planned to embark for the volcano bunker together. Well, she had told him that that was the plan. She took his responding silence at the time as agreement. 

No matter. Perhaps he finally found his spirit and got an early start to the day like she did. Father will be pleased.

“I…what?” Ty Lee glances around her room at all of her things. It feels invasive for this stranger to be in here, especially at this hour. She’s still in her pajamas and hasn’t even brushed her teeth yet! Here she was thinking she’d woken up early. There’s the familiar clunking sound from outside as a herd of soldiers in full armor jog by her balcony. 

“I’ve been instructed to retrieve you,” the guard repeats, impatient. 

He comes closer and she steps back on instinct until the back of her thighs bump into the vanity.

“Wait, where is–” she starts to ask but he grabs her elbow in a bruising grip that makes her yelp. He tugs her toward the door. 

“Let’s go,” he says harshly and it makes Ty Lee bristle. He wouldn’t dare treat her like this if Azula were here. No one would.

But she’s not here…shouldn’t Azula be here?

The air smells of smoke from the nearby soldiers’ katas and Azula breathes it in deeply. 

She’s not afraid of the eclipse, not even slightly. She has no reason to be. She could take on a whole line of Avatars without needing a single flame. 

Ty Lee is dragged from her bedroom, through the guest wing, and then into one of the bustling main corridors. She uses her free hand to try and pull her cropped shirt down. Her sleepwear isn’t too different from her usual attire, it exposes the same amount of midriff, but it feels different out in the open like this. The material of the outfit is thin and the fuzzy socks that poke out from her slippers are hardly appropriate for the public eye. Not that she cares, but her father would surely lecture her about appearances if he could see her now. 

Royal servants hurry by holding freshly polished armor and she gets bumped in the shoulder by a sharp chestplate. The force causes her to bounce off of the jerk who is still rudely gripping her arm. He grunts and shrugs her off. 

“Where are we going?” she huffs. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

No response.

“Can you let go of me, please?”

Nothing.

She clears her throat especially loudly. “Where is Princess Azula? I need to speak to her.” She makes the demand with as much noble authority as she can muster in the moment. 

The guard finally glances down at her. He’s wearing a helmet, but she can just feel his irritated glare burning through her.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe,” he finally supplies before picking up speed. 

Ty Lee blanches, tripping to keep up. 

The safe house. 

There has clearly been a mistake. Azula had promised.  

“Good morning, boys,” Azula cooly greets the two Dai Li agents that bow before her. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

Still no sign of Zuko, but that’s okay. She will let nothing shake her today.

They’re in the front palace courtyard quicker than Ty Lee expects and it’s even crazier out here. Mongoose lizards are lined up as soldiers load weapons and supplies onto their backs. A few palanquins are being crowded around, probably to evacuate any lingering nobles. She knows her own family left the city days ago to stay with Ty Lee’s aunt who lives in a more rural section of the nation. Her mother tried on numerous occasions to convince Ty Lee to join them, sending letter after letter to the palace. Azula eventually threatened to revoke mailing privileges from the entire family if her mother didn’t quit it. It’s hard to tell sometimes, but Ty Lee thinks she was joking. She had then promised Azula that she wasn’t going anywhere.

Maybe she should’ve joined her family after all.

The air is thick with its typical humidity and more smoke than Ty Lee is used to this early in the morning. She coughs while hurriedly scanning the crowds for the familiar top knot that she loves. 

This has to be a mistake, she just needs to talk to find Azula.

Finally, she spots the princess speaking intently with a soldier– is that the Dai Li? They’re here? –by the Eastern gate. Ty Lee is being dragged in the opposite direction, but she puts all of her force into yelling the girl’s name. It echoes off the nearby stone walls—oops—and it is like time stops as the loud commotion of invasion prep briefly halts at the loud intrusion.

Even from this far away, she can see Azula’s spine and shoulders go alarmingly rigid. She slowly turns and her gold eyes find Ty Lee immediately. 

Everyone’s looking. She’s not supposed to be here, she’s supposed to already be gone. This isn’t part of the plan, this isn’t part of the plan.

Careless. Distracted. Defiled. Her father’s voice rattles around in her brain. 

The sight before her hurts; Ty Lee is still in her thin pajamas with her hair a mess. One section of thick hair is down with the other half pulled up into the clumsy start of a braid. Guilt tries to claw its way under Azula’s skin, but she forces it out. She can deal with that bothersome emotion later, once the eclipse is done. 

Her father was suspicious, she had no choice. It had to be this way. When she left her bedroom last night, she had simply instructed the guard to bring Ty Lee to safety, not to rip her from her bed—which it seems like he had. He’s also touching her in a way that has smoke forming at her knuckles. 

Agni, he could’ve at least let her get dressed.  

“Is everything okay, Your Highness?” One of the Dai Li asks with nothing but stoic professionalism. He does spare a curious glance toward the writhing Ty Lee, though.

It had to be this way. It had to be this way. It had to be this way—

“Of course,” Azula clips, willing her neck not to flush and for her heart rate to slow down. “I’ll be just a moment.”

“Azula!” Ty Lee calls again because she’s growing a little desperate with the way she’s being restrained. There will surely be a bruise later from where his thick fingers are digging into her skin.

“Shut up,” he barks and Ty Lee considers stomping on his foot just for the satisfaction it would bring, but he’s wearing thick boots that her slippers are simply not match for.

Azula takes long strides toward them and the closer she gets, the more Ty Lee can see the fury in her eyes. Fury and something else that looks a lot like fear. It’s a manic look similar to the one she had on the beach when she kissed Ty Lee by the rocks, right before she took off; it’s a bittersweet memory. 

The firebender’s mouth is pressed firmly into a thin line, jaw so tight that her teeth must hurt. She’s looking at Ty Lee like she’s daring her to scream her name again.

“ What ?” Azula hisses and Ty Lee flinches. The princess looks accusingly at the guard. “I told you to get her out of here. Were my instructions last night not clear?”

Ty Lee immediately feels nauseous. She doesn’t even hear the man’s response. “You told…I don’t understand,” she whispers now that Azula is so close and she can’t keep her bottom lip from wobbling. They were supposed to do this together. 

Azula looks back at her and falters when she sees the tears, her pinched expression loosening some. “Ty Lee,” she says softer now, “I told him to bring you to the safe house. It’s just outside of the city. Mai is there too, remember?” 

She huffs. “Of course, I remember.” 

Jaw clenching from the audacity of her tone, Azula looks at the guard and then back at Ty Lee. “You have to go. Now.”

There’s something in those golden eyes that gives Ty Lee pause, a pleading upturn of her brows like Azula is begging her to just listen. But this is all wrong. She conquered cities and kidnapped Kyoshi Warriors all at Azula’s side. Now she was pushing her away, on a day where it probably matters most. After everything they’d been through and everything they’d overcome to grow closer the past couple of weeks. 

She’s crying in earnest now, she can’t help it, and Azula’s eyes round to the size of saucers. This is surely what Azula feared most once they started dating or whatever it is that they’ve been doing with one another. Ty Lee is making a scene in front of everyone—a scene big enough to probably make onlookers curious—but she honestly doesn’t care. Azula frantically glances around at the hoards of people around them, a flush working its way up her neck and into her cheeks. Ty Lee doesn’t care about that either. 

She also tries not to care when she sees that familiar flash of panic cloud her friend’s face. 

“I want to come with you. I can help, you know I can.” She gets her hopes up when Azula looks off to the side, working her jaw for a moment. But the princess ultimately starts shaking her head. 

“Azula,” Ty Lee begs through watery gasps, “please don’t do this. Please, Zula–”

“ Enough! ” Azula screeches and makes even the guard flinch. “Stop being a baby, Ty Lee, I don’t have time for this! Stop being so—,” she cuts herself off with a frustrated groan and presses the heels of her hands hard against her eyes, taking several deep breaths. Ty Lee can see the slight tremor in her hands.

The useless guard looks between the two girls curiously and Ty Lee pointedly ignores him. It’s rare for Azula to act out this way with an audience and asking if she was okay would only make things worse—Ty Lee learned that the hard way many times over the years. There’s nothing Azula hates more than public displays of weakness. 

It’s only a few seconds before Azula composes herself once more. She doesn’t look at Ty Lee again. “Do as you’re told. Get her out of here,” she commands the guard. 

Azula turns on her heel and heads back the way she came without a single glance back and Ty Lee wonders what could’ve possibly changed in the last few hours. Last night had been perfect, like they were kids again, only even better because Azula was never this nice to her in their youth and they certainly never kissed back then—Ty Lee always wanted to, daydreamed about it even.

Now she doesn’t even recognize this girl. The girl who just sent her away like she was nothing more than a nuisance. 

She doesn’t bother resisting when the guard starts to drag her again. 

Why did she have to push so much? 

Careless. Distracted.

Why did she have to humiliate her like that and make her snap? 

Circus freak, circus freak, circus freak—

“Shut up,” Azula mumbles under her breath to no one.

She stalks back toward the Dai Li, but not before righting the one wrong she can with the time she has. She hates the way that brainless palace guard was touching her Ty Lee. She hates that she couldn’t fry him on the spot, couldn’t burn him to a crisp with a single well-aimed lightning bolt. 

There was a different—admittedly less fun—solution. It would have to do for now.

One of the royal guards, Reina, is standing amongst a group of anxious servants, trying to delegate them on where to go. It is no secret that in Azula’s opinion, Reina has always been far too casual and unserious to have earned her high status in the palace security. She waves and smiles far too often and it grates on Azula’s nerves. 

“It’s unprofessional”, Azula had complained once after Reina wished Zuko a happy ninth birthday.

“Normal people would call it ‘being friendly’” , Zuko had corrected her, much to her irritation. There was a brief period as children where Zuko took it upon himself to teach Azula “manners”. It didn’t work. She has manners, always has, she’s just not soft like he and their mother wanted her to be.

Reina has been working at the palace in some capacity since Azula was born and the woman would always try to connect with the young princess whenever they crossed paths. She once kicked a ball her way in the gardens and the seven-year-old Azula promptly set it on fire. Reina had only laughed at the time, somehow finding it endearing. But after years of increased scowling and scathing rude comments, Reina finally gave up on Azula. 

Good. Reina always reminded Azula too much of her mother anyway.

Ty Lee was certainly charmed by Reina, though, and for that, Azula is willing to swallow her pride.

She marches up to Reina, shouldering past the servants who simply bow their heads at her presence. Reina’s headpiece is off, brown hair falling to her shoulders, and it vexes Azula that the woman is actually not horrible to look at. Some might even say she’s pretty. Azula’s face warms if she thinks about it for too long. 

“Your services are required,” Azula announces abruptly, skipping pleasantries. 

Reina takes her time finishing her current conversation with an older gentleman—the royal chef perhaps? Azula can’t tell—as if the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation didn’t just address her. When Reina finally swivels her attention to Azula, it is with raised eyebrows. Like she is unimpressed by the interruption, like Azula does not have the right to interrupt whomever she wants whenever she wants. 

Nonetheless, she bites the inside of her cheek and breathes in through her nose, reminding herself that this is for Ty Lee. Digging deep, she channels a kinder tone. “I need you to do something for me, Reina .” She grits her teeth painfully.

Reina looks pleased and Azula wishes she could fry her too.

“Yes, Princess?” Reina responds and, finally, dips into a small bow. That’s more like it.

“As you know, a small number of assets have been placed into protective care outside of the city until the invasion is over.” Reina nods. Her own husband and child are among the small lucky group–the benefit of being a long-standing royal guard. “Lady Ty Lee is currently being escorted out of the city,” Azula continues and is sure to keep a level voice, aiming for nonchalance. “Be so kind as to replace the current buffoon that is manhandling her and be sure to tell him that his employment by the Royal Family is no longer active from this moment forward. By Princess Azula’s order.”

Reina’s eyes widen, shocked and maybe even…impressed? She covers it by putting her headpiece back on. “Of course, Princess.”

Azula nods curtly, starts to walk away, then hesitates. The nagging voice of Ty Lee is in the back of her mind, reminding her to be nicer to those who serve her and blah, blah, blah. It’s a stupid notion, but she owes a lot to Ty Lee after today. The least she can do is offer a basic kindness that would please the girl.

“And Reina,” Azula adds on with her back still turned away from the guard, “stay in the safe house once you deliver Ty Lee.” She hears Reina’s breath catch. “Be with your family.”

***

When she arrives at the volcano bunker it is empty, save for her and the hidden Dai Li agents on standby. Zuko has been here many times before, he knows the layout just as well as she does. There’s no excuse for his current tardiness.

She stares at the door expectantly not for the arrival of the Avatar, but for her brother. A cool bead of sweat trickles down her temple. 

“Remember, don’t look at the sun,” Mai teases quietly.

“I know that. I’m not stupid,” Ty Lee mutters.

“I know you aren’t.”

(If Ty Lee is honest…she is super tempted to look at it. She’s never seen a black sun before—it sounds neat!)

They’re in some random military outpost outside of the capital city, tucked safely in the cover of some trees. The invasion has officially begun and it’s all very audible from even this far away. 

Mai’s entire family is here, as well as some other people that Ty Lee does not recognize. Tom-Tom sits with Reina’s daughter on the floor, sharing a turtleduck stuffie. They’d both been given comically large earmuffs to block out any unpleasant noises. Normally it would make Ty Lee smile and coo at the adorableness of it all, but she’s not in the mood.

She’s sitting by one of the few windows in the tiny outpost, feeling out of place in her sleepwear when everyone else here was given the courtesy of getting dressed. It had been a massive relief when Reina found her earlier. She’d greeted Ty Lee warmly and then with hushed orders gotten rid of that other jerk-face guard, whatever his name was. Reina even came prepared with tissues in her pockets, probably a habit she picked up from having a drooling toddler running around her home.

She presses her forehead to the cool glass of the window and feels Mai come closer. A small blanket is dropped onto her lap and Ty Lee wastes no time wrapping it around her waist. It’s a welcome solution to secure some of her modesty. 

“My parents brought extra just in case,” Mai explains. “Here, let me fix your hair.”

Ty Lee pulls away from the window to look up at her friend. No one has done her hair for her in so long; she’s always had to do it herself. For some reason, she’s suddenly emotional.

“Really?”

“Of course.” Mai is already pulling up a chair behind Ty Lee and starts gathering her thick brunette hair into her hands. 

Ty Lee closes her eyes once Mai starts gently carding her fingers through her hair, pulling the half-formed braids apart to start from scratch. Her scalp tingles pleasantly and she thinks that the last person to style her hair was probably one of her circus friends before a performance. It was certainly not done with this much care and attention, though. 

She’d recently braided Azula’s hair after much convincing. I don’t do braids , Azula had said snidely but reluctantly gave in when Ty Lee gave her a very convincing pout. The princess was so relaxed by the time Ty Lee finished twisting and styling and she’d looked so beautiful; somehow younger with the new hairstyle.

Stop thinking about Azula.  

“Do you want one?” A childish voice frees Ty Lee from her thoughts. She blinks to see that Reina’s daughter, Hana, is standing before her with a box of assorted candies. There’s chocolate all over the young girl’s mouth, chin, and cheeks. 

Mood lifted, Ty Lee claps her hands, careful not to move too much and disrupt Mai’s braiding process. “Ooo, yes please!” Her sweet tooth takes charge as she reaches for one of the larger pieces of chocolate. “Thank you, Hana!”

The girl smiles brightly at Ty Lee. There’s a big gap between her two front teeth. “You’re welcome! I like your pajamas.” 

Mai laughs. 

“Oh! Thank you,” Ty Lee says tenderly. She can’t even be embarrassed about it anymore, not when Hana is being so genuine. This is why she loves being around kids! So sweet and pure and totally not at all judging Ty Lee for her pink fuzzy socks.

Hana hums in acknowledgment, round brown eyes shifting from Ty Lee’s cozy attire to Mai’s hands working diligently in her hair. “What is she doing?” She asks.

“Reina sure did raise a talker,” Mai mumbles and Ty Lee reaches behind to chidingly swat her friend’s leg.

“Mai is braiding my hair! Do you want me to braid yours? I have extra ribbons!”

When they were much younger, Ty Lee and her sisters would sit in a line, one in front of the other, to form what they lovingly called “the hair train”, each styling the hair of the girl in front of them. It’s one of Ty Lee’s favorite memories with her sisters. She hopes they’re all okay today, it’s been a while since she’s seen them.

The way that the little girl’s eyes light up is almost enough to make Ty Lee forget about her terrible morning. Almost. “Could you give me a…” Hana trails off with a chubby finger pressed to her chin, trying to remember the right words. “Oh! A bun! I want a bun, please.” 

Ty Lee quirks a brow in surprise. A bun is so easy and bland compared to a braid, but hey, who is she to judge?

“I want to look like Princess Azula!” Hana exclaims excitedly, causing Ty Lee’s breath to catch and Mai to falter in her braiding. One of her hands briefly floats down to give Ty Lee’s shoulder a short squeeze.

An explosion sounds off in the distance and Ty Lee, collecting the little girl’s hair into her hands, puts on her most convincing smile. “One top knot, coming up.”

This would’ve been easier with Zuko here, Azula begrudgingly thinks to herself as she leaps over yet another close-call attempt to slow her down from the earthbender. For a blind girl, she sure is unlike any earthbender that Azula has faced before, but may lightning strike her down on the spot if she’s ever caught admitting that out loud. 

The airbending is something she’s not used to, either. Unnaturally strong gusts of wind nearly knock her off her feet several times, but she’s pleased with how quickly she’s able to adapt, using the abrupt corners and pillars of the cave tunnel to her advantage.

“Not so brave without your fire, are you?” The Water Boy taunts from somewhere close behind her. Azula simply rolls her eyes as she slides under a boulder thrown her way. His voice is so shrill. 

“Something seemed off with Zuko last night,” Mai says quietly.

“Really?” Ty Lee asks around another mouthful of chocolate.

“I don’t know, it felt like–like he was keeping something from me. I don’t know.”

Ty Lee knows exactly what that feels like. “I’m sure it’s nothing. You and Zuko are like this,” she links her two pinky fingers together and pulls tight. “You always tell each other everything.” 

Mai hums noncommittally. 

“I’m sure everything is fine,” Ty Lee continues, placing her hand over Mai’s. “If all goes well we’ll all be together again by dinner.” 

Mai shakes her head with a soft, unconvinced smile. Ty Lee has always been the optimist, often to a fault. “I’m sure you’re right,” Mai says. It’s easier to agree than to think about the alternative.

“Where’s Suki?!” Sokka spits in Azula’s face. What Ty Lee saw in him she’ll never know. 

There’s the familiar crack of thunder nearby and she feels the chi coursing through her veins finally. “Oh! Sounds like the firebendings back on.” 

She swings her leg up and a trail of blue fire nearly singes Sokka’s eyebrows off. Power is coursing through her once more as she sends two blasts of flames right at his chest, but the Avatar deflects the attack before it can land. He clearly contains more self-control than Sokka because he merely watches as Azula frees herself from the earthbender’s stone handcuffs. He positions himself protectively in front of the other two. How noble. 

“Dad’s all the way at the end of the hall, then down a secret stairway on the left,” she proudly informs them. “I’m sure he’d be more than happy to see you now.” 

She hopes he’ll squash them upon their arrival. If only the bothersome water tribe girl was with them to suffer the same fate. 

“Can I admit something?” Ty Lee asks. She and Mai are sitting in a secluded corner of the outpost, backs resting against a wall. It’s covered with chipping paint and stains from years of neglect. Ty Lee picks at one of the larger patches of flimsy red wallpaper. Mai has been reading one of her books for the last thirty minutes and the quiet is driving Ty Lee insane. She’s fallen down a horrible hole of depressing thoughts and if she has to sit in silence any longer she’ll surely go insane.

“Mhm,” Mai hums, even though her eyes never stop scanning the lines of words before her. She flips to the next page.

Ty Lee chews on her lower lip. “I—I really hope Azula is okay and everything, obviously I do. I mean, I hope everyone is okay, of course. Like I really hope Zuko is okay too and—”

“Ty Lee.”

“Right, right. Sorry,” Ty Lee mumbles, toying with the end of her now perfect braid. “I really hope she’s okay,” Ty Lee says again, taking a deep breath, “but I’m so, so mad at her. I don’t think I even want to see her when we go back. I’ve never not wanted to see her,” she admits quietly considering the surrounding company. “And I don’t know, it makes me feel bad that—”

“Don’t feel bad.” Mai has finally closed her book and is staring sternly at her, disapproving.

Nodding, Ty Lee averts her eyes, already knowing that Mai is right; she has nothing to feel bad for. But she does. “I know, you’re right. It just feels like things are changing. It makes me sad.”

“Well, it makes me sad to see how carelessly she treats you,” Mai suddenly snaps. It’s more venom and emotion than Ty Lee is used to from her friend and all the acrobat can do is blink dumbly in response, mouth slightly open. “You can’t honestly tell me it’s worth it.”

The way Azula smiles at her when no one else is watching; the way she would pass silly notes to Ty Lee as children, just to make her laugh whenever she was bored in class? Her sincere compliments whenever Ty Lee is down, the way she kisses her in the cover of privacy? Is that all worth everything else? Is it worth being promised one thing by her friend, then being tossed aside whenever it’s convenient for the princess?

Ty Lee sniffs. “I thought it was.”

When Azula finally reemerges into the hot, baking sun, the enemy troops are fleeing like the cowards they are. Really, how powerful is the Avatar and his followers if they can only take on the Fire Nation when they’re unable to bend? Pathetic.  

She rushes through the commotion of the Royal Plaza toward a Fire Nation fleet. “Ready an airship!” She shouts the command to her nearest subordinate. “If the Avatar thinks he can get away, he is poorly mistaken.”

She practically throws herself into the closest aircraft and finds the captain fumbling with the controls in his sudden haste.

“Hurry up!” Azula snaps, stepping out onto the viewing platform just in time to see a mass of enemy troops rounded up for capture at the far end of the plaza. What she doesn’t spot is that infuriating blue arrow, or any of his pesky friends, amongst the group.

You are proving lately to be more like your brother than I previously thought. Prove me wrong.

She shakes her head and turns back toward the captain. There’s a pane of glass separating them, but she’s confident he hears her when she shouts, “If this airship isn’t airborne in the next ten seconds, I’ll have your head.” she growls. His movements speed up tenfold, a frantic string of “Yes Your Highness” before the ship roars to life, lifting unsteadily in the rushed takeoff. 

By the time they are truly in the air, she sees the Avatar’s sky bison escaping into the horizon and with it, any chance of truly impressing the Fire Lord today, truly earning her father’s pride. Her breaths come in quick and short and she grips the safety railing hard enough for her knuckles to turn white. 

“Your Highness,” the captain cautiously approaches her on the left, “should we pursue them?”

She tilts her head away so that he can’t see her face, can’t see her rapid blinking as she summons her composure. Get it together, Azula. She still successfully distracted the Avatar, she at least did that correctly. Surely Father will see that. She certainly did more than Zuko, wherever he ran off to. For his own sake, it better have been worth it. 

“No,” Azula finally grates out. She clears her throat, squaring her shoulders when she turns to address the anxious captain head-on. “We have their people in chains. I am confident that they will return one day. They will face their end then.”

There’s luckily not much damage outside of the direct path through the Royal Plaza—that will surely take weeks to properly clean up. As for the residential streets of Caldera, citizens were given the all-clear to return shortly after the Avatar fled and the prisoners were locked away. Ty Lee and Mai’s outpost group were led by Reina back into the palace grounds, but the two girls quickly left through the western gate to take the longer route through the market streets.

Ty Lee was previously horrified that all of Caldera would be swept up into an Avatar tornado and then spit out in pieces all across the nation. She’s relieved to see that beyond a few spots of damage here and there, there’s not much evidence of the invasion reaching the city itself at all. What a polite invasion! She stifles a giggle at the thought. It’s probably too soon for humor, but she’ll share the insight with Mai later.

They stop outside of Mai’s home and Mai is in the middle of telling Ty Lee that she can spend the night if she’d like when a nearby shopkeeper suddenly drops into a bow. There’s the sound of footsteps approaching and without even turning around, Ty Lee already knows who it is. An anxious pit forms in her stomach.

“There you are,” a familiar voice croons and for the first time it is unwelcome to Ty Lee’s ears. She turns and is shocked to see Azula looking a little…rough. Very disheveled. Her hair looks wind-whipped, her eyes a little bloodshot, and her smile a little unstable. She looks uncertain, her normal conceited confidence lacking. It is very out of character.  

“Azula,” Ty Lee breathes. Mai shifts closer.

The firebender’s eyes dart to the side when the bowing shopkeeper lingers and she glares at him until the message is received—he hurries back into his shop. When her focus is back on Ty Lee, an apprehensive smile plasters back onto her face. “Why didn’t you come back with Reina and the others?” She shoots a deadly look at Mai as if she is to blame for this. 

“Oh, I um,” she rocks back onto her heels, then forward again onto her toes. Azula tracks every movement. “We wanted to stretch our legs,” she answers weakly, gesturing between Mai and herself. 

“I see,” Azula drawls. There’s an uncomfortable beat of silence. Her palms open expectantly. “Well? Aren’t you going to ask me how it went?” 

Mai scoffs and takes a step backward. “I’ll leave you two to catch up.” She pivots and slips into her house, but not before giving Ty Lee a very pointed look.

On the way home, Mai gave Ty Lee a very long and very stressful speech about how she needed to have a “serious talk” with Azula and “speak her mind”. It’s apparently what works best on Zuko whenever they have their own disagreements. Ty Lee didn’t often have serious talks and was definitely not accustomed to speaking her mind. She'd rather have a good cry about it and then try to move on, but her friend told her that’s not an option anymore. Mai has a surprising amount to say when you piss her off enough. 

She looks back at Azula now and doesn’t have the energy to channel her usual chipperness, doesn’t feel like asking how it went.

She’s wringing her hands anxiously when golden eyes narrow at the movement. “What’s wrong?” Azula asks. 

Ty Lee nearly laughs. The absurdity of the question has her abandoning all reservations. “What’s wrong? Gee, I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with you throwing me out of the city this morning.” 

Sighing, Azula pinches her nose. “I did not—”

“You did!” It’s bold to cut Azula off, but she’s on a roll now. “You really did! You lied to me again and at this point, I don’t know why I’m even surprised. Zuko was right: you do always lie.”

Azula snarls, smoke puffing out from her curled lip. “Ty Lee.”

“I trusted you! And you made me feel so horrible,” she keeps going even as her eyes start to sting. “I don’t even—I swear sometimes I don’t even know who you are lately.” 

Azula’s breath catches and steps back like she’s been slapped. Her face goes cold, her skin pale. She looks to the side at nothing, shaking her head, and whispers, “I’m not a monster.”

Ty Lee frowns, confused. “I didn’t say you were?”

Suddenly Mai’s front door flies open again and the girl rushes out with a scroll clutched in her shaking fist. “He’s gone, Zuko’s gone.” Her voice is hoarse, eyes shiny.

“What?!” Ty Lee shrieks.

Azula snaps back to full attention. “Give me that,” she growls and rips the paper from Mai’s hand. She scans the messily written scrawl, her expression dropping the longer she reads. 

“What did you do?” Mai accuses, stepping awfully close to the firebender. The two girls have often not seen eye-to-eye, but it seemed to be reaching a boiling point recently.

“I didn’t do anything,” Azula roughly shoves Mai away, making her stumble back into Ty Lee.

“Guys,” Ty Lee tries to interject. “Stop, please, just—,”

“Why should I believe you? You’re always scheming! You must’ve said something, you’ve never actually cared about him—”

“He left me to face the Avatar alone. I thought he’d gotten cold feet, I didn’t think he was stupid enough to—to,” Azula waves wildly at the note. She looks convincingly upset, but Ty Lee knows better than to believe that.

Zuko was really gone. Just when they were all finally back together again. Just when—

“Princess Azula,” a nameless soldier appears seemingly out of thin air beside them. “The Fire Lord has summoned you to the Throne Room.” 

Azula’s face goes blank again. The only indication that she heard the message at all is in the way she fixes her posture. Everything is always about optics to her. She looks questioningly at Ty Lee, nodding her head in the direction of the palace. 

It would be easy to go with her. She’s spent most of her life excusing the princess’s bad behavior, she could surely do it again if she tried hard enough. But Zuko is gone and Mai isn’t even bothering to hide her tears. Now Mai needs her too. 

She’s inclined to stay with the friend who didn’t have her thrown from the palace this morning. 

Golden eyes are watching her expectantly and Ty Lee only averts her gaze.

There’s the quickest display of raw disappointment before Azula sniffs, clearing her throat at the rejection. “Very well. Who am I to keep the Fire Lord waiting?” 

It turns out that Father is even less pleased about Zuko’s betrayal than Azula and that the only thing that hurts worse than Ty Lee’s absence is the Fire Lord’s rage. 

She hadn’t even seen it coming.

Her back burns fiercely, the scorch marks blistering and bubbling. The royal physician was confident when he told her that they shouldn’t scar…that bad. Wonderful. She’s forced to lay on her stomach all night, the back of her shirt savagely ripped open to let the burns “breathe”, but how wonderful that they wouldn’t scar. 

The left side of her face still stings from where her father struck her with the back of his hand. The physician assured her that it shouldn’t bruise. More wonderful news.

She sucks in a ragged breath, wincing when it irritates the raw gash across the back of her shoulders. The Fire Lord had never struck her before, let alone call on his fire for punishment. At least he did her the courtesy of burning her somewhere she could cover with her clothes. Zuko doesn’t have that luxury. That had to mean something. 

“Is there anything else I can get you, Princess?” The physician’s assistant has been doting on her since she was returned to her bedroom. She’s pleasant, motherly in an unfamiliar way, and can't be much older than Ursa was when she left. 

The handmaidens usually tip-toed around her, even the ones who have known her since she was an infant, fearful to so much as look at her for too long. It’s no secret to Azula, her reputation. Though assigned to serve only her, the princess’s royal servants have always preferred the prince. He’s never been a threat.

This healer is different. She has lingered far longer than most would, meticulously cleaning Azula’s wounds, fluffing her pillows, and helping her sip water from a glass—it hurts for Azula to raise her arms right now, the skin pulls. When the water occasionally misses her mouth and ultimately drips down her chin, the healer gently wipes the liquid away with a cloth. The gesture, although infantilizing, feels nice. 

She wants this kind woman to stay, but she doesn’t know how to ask. 

“Leave me,” Azula croaks, throat still impossibly dry. 

She hadn’t even screamed when the Fire Lord whipped the thin flurry of fire across her back. Complete shock must’ve been what helped her endure in silence. Only when the physician poured antiseptic on her burns did she finally let herself wail. Her father was nowhere near the medical wing so she screamed until her throat was raw. Until she swore she tasted blood.

With only herself now, the bedroom is quiet and still. Whatever pain medication they pumped into her has her bones feeling like gelatine and makes her vision foggy. She hardly has the energy to lift her head from the pillow and she feels a disgusting puddle of drool forming under where her parted lips rest. Embarrassment doesn’t even cross her mind. All she can do in her current position is stare at the wall across from her. 

Is this what Zuko felt like? She remembers watching from the shadows as Iroh tended to her brother and nursed him back to health all those years ago. At the time she’d found it infuriating and pitiful. 

But now here she was. 

The balcony is cracked open and the cool night air whisps in and blows across her singed skin. Hopefully, some semblance of sleep finds her soon so that she can stop feeling it.

Azula, that dreaded voice floats into the room like the breeze. Beyond groaning into her pillow, she doesn’t even bother screaming for it to leave her alone. A small part of her anticipated this visit. What better time to be haunted than when she’s delirious on medication?

She barely even flinches when a picture-perfect image of her mother manifests before her. Azula can only blink warily as Ursa kneels on the ground with a hand out as if to cup her cheek. 

Azula, what has he done to you?