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.”