I
The first goodbye Azula and Ty Lee shared was one of both anger and hope.
Azula angry, Ty Lee hopeful.
The circus came to town and the latter girl decided to run away with them. Azula found it cliché, disgusting, and traitorous. Their friendship ended the moment Ty Lee decided to leave.
"Bye," coldly said Azula and Ty Lee blinked several times. "Bye. You can get out of my room now."
"I just…" Ty Lee blinked back tears. "Okay. Goodbye. I'll see you soon."
Azula pursed her lips.
Ty Lee waited for a few heartbeats before she at last took her cue to exit the room.
II
The second goodbye Azula and Ty Lee shared was complicated. They were on the road tracking down the Avatar and Zuko. It was the most fun Ty Lee ever had in her life, to tell the truth, better than any party or game or boyfriend.
"I will be back in twenty minutes," Azula said, her lip twisted from a dissatisfaction Ty Lee found oddly attractive. "You two make too much noise."
Ty Lee hopped up. "Goodbye."
She hugged Azula tightly.
Azula did not initially accept it.
She certainly did not accept the kiss on her cheek that strayed a little too close to her lips.
Azula also refused to acknowledge the way her heart sped up.
III
On their third goodbye, Azula stood on a beach, staring at the waves in darkness. Ty Lee lingered behind her, rubbing her arm. Mai and Zuko abandoned them in their quaint little relationship. She rubbed her lips together and wondered if she should say anything.
"I should go," said Azula, peeling her eyes from the sea and walking up to Azula.
"W-wait!" Ty Lee had so much to say, so much to unveil, so much of her heart to spill out like guts drawn from a slashed open abdomen.
"What?" Azula demanded. Her glare silenced any hope of talking to her.
"I'm gonna stay a little while."
"So?"
"See you soon," Ty Lee whispered.
She took a chance, took the scariest chance in her life, and pressed her lips against Azula's.
When the kiss broke, Azula simply said, "Goodbye."
She walked away, shaking slightly.
Ty Lee furrowed her brow.
Why did she do that?
Why did she do that?
IV
Of course that night was awkward. In hindsight, Ty Lee understood that fact better than she ever did in the moment. She hoped Azula did too. No, she was sure Azula did too because she still believed after all of these years that the princess was one of the smartest people who ever lived.
They lay naked beside each other.
At every sleepover—and they had many—they slept side by side. Sometimes Ty Lee even wrapped herself around Azula, but, oddly, after the night they lost their virginities to each other, Ty Lee never felt further away from the princess she loved since she was little.
Azula sat up. "I have a meeting about the Invasion."
Ty Lee struggled to breathe. "I love you, Azula. I love you and I want to be with you."
Azula took hold of the red satin sheets, clenching them in her fists. She tried to think, tried to do the right thing without time to consider it.
"I'm pretty fond of you. I'd like to do this again."
Ty Lee smiled. "I would too."
"I should go," said Azula, standing up and hastening to get dressed.
Quietly, barely a whisper from the usually loud girl, Ty Lee breathed, "Goodbye."
Azula left the room.
V
At the Boiling Rock, it was one look. One look. No words. No words would happen, no words were necessary, no words would hopefully ever be exchanged between them again.
Azula turned away.
Ty Lee surrendered the chains.
Goodbye, was said without a single word.
VI
Ty Lee summoned the courage to face the broken Azula upon her return to the palace, to Zuko. Everything was so complicated over the years. It seemed simpler now that everyone settled, now that nothing was unfinished.
But… but things were unsaid.
Ty Lee tried to tell them to Azula while her pulse raced in fits and starts. She felt in a panic as she tried to drag the cold, reserved, silent princess back to her.
Finally, she knew it was time she gave up. Nothing she could do would make Azula say a word to her, or even meet her gaze.
Ty Lee said, "I understand that you don't want to talk to me. Uh, goodbye, I guess. I don't know when I'll be back. I don't really know if I'll be back."
She hoped Azula would answer. But she fell in love with a Princess of Fire whose heart was made of ice. The room remained silent.
Ty Lee said, in a soft, defeated whisper, "Bye."
After waiting a few more moments, as hopeful and foolish as could be, she left.
She left Azula.
She left Caldera.
She left her past.
VII
A funeral dragged Ty Lee back into the Fire Nation. She did not want to go, but she knew she would regret it if she remained on Kyoshi Island. No one truly important died—as much as it repulsed her to harbor that thought—just a girl she knew from military training. Ty Lee always liked her but she did not even remember her name until she received the grim invitation.
She tentatively took up Zuko's offer to stay in the palace until she went home.
Home. Kyoshi Island was home. Not the Fire Nation.
Still, she felt a certain nostalgia from time to time. She missed the way the incense in the palace smelled. She missed the heavy, hot raindrops that fell from the sky on rare occasions. She missed garlands of dried fire lilies.
When she arrived, she saw Azula standing in the doorway.
She looked like death. Perhaps undeath.
Ty Lee's heart thundered in her chest. She did not know if she could face this.
"I thought it was goodbye forever," said Azula, her voice slightly hoarse. No one would pick up on it save for someone close to her.
"So did I," Ty Lee said. "You look beautiful, princess."
"If you want to be my friend again, never patronize me."
"I want to be your friend again."
"I know. It is written all over your face."
"Are you hurting?"
"Such odd small talk. Are you hurting?" Azula snarled, evidently offended.
Ty Lee felt a surge of guilt.
"I know there's nobody but me to blame for not… not seeing you sooner or anything. I wanted—I wanted you to stop me. I wanted you to tell me not to leave you."
"But I wanted you to leave. I did not want to stop you. Zuko has taken many things from me, but unfortunately not my free will."
The words stung somewhere deep and hard to understand within Ty Lee.
"I'm not here long."
"That does not surprise me."
"I want to…" Ty Lee shook her head. "I want to spend some time with you, if that's okay."
Azula stood, staring at her for a long time. Ty Lee squirmed, agonized by the silence, by the waiting, by the knowledge she said something awkward and foolish.
When she spoke next, Azula was no longer hoarse and hesitant. She spoke with the gravitas of a conqueror. "You may, but do me a favor."
"Anything," Ty Lee insisted, taking a step forward that she immediately regretted. Azula stepped back. No, this could not be goodbye. Not again.
Azula glared in a fashion that rivaled any rage or intimidation of her father. Ty Lee's heart skipped a beat. She said with ferocious conviction, "Do not give up on me ever again."
Tears glistened in Ty Lee's eyes as she breathlessly replied, "I wouldn't dream of it."
"Why? You have shown me no faithfulness."
"I wouldn't dream of it because I'm still in love with you. I never stopped being in love with you. I want… I want to be with you. Even if you don't love me back… I want to be near you. I feel better for it." Ty Lee's cheeks flushed.
Azula just nodded.
They did not say goodbye that day, or the next, or the next, and Ty Lee missed her ride back to Kyoshi Island with no regrets.