"Remember that I'm still a monster. I can listen to you scream and cry and beg and I still won't let you out." – The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
zzz
In the vast Empire of the Sun Warriors lived a little girl who loved monsters.
Her name was Ty Lee and she began raising herself before the age of twelve. Her family had too much to keep track of and she was born to aid the family business. Father would always say that he did not have six children if he did not need free labor.
They made things. They made beautiful things. Gems and garments and gold daggers were their business, and it was one she liked to hide from. She never had an aptitude for any of the jobs that kept their store afloat.
So she sought somewhere else to fit in, but never found one.
At fourteen, she was roaming the streets searching for adventure or anything out of the ordinary when she snuck into the city's temple. It was forbidden, and she knew very well that they would kill her if they caught her, but she could not resist.
She had seen the annual sacrifice to their shadowy and undefined gods, the offerings to dragons, the celebrations that were almost as joyous as watching people give their lives to preserve their people. Never had she been inside of the temple itself.
It was stupid, but she was a stupid kid.
Ty Lee crept inside and snuck through the beautiful gold halls, before she found a central room with a stone slab in the center, incense burning, and a priestess applying her make-up. Ty Lee held her breath; she was certain that she would be caught.
The priestess was humming to herself and Ty Lee was enraptured by it.
She was so focused that she did not notice the coarse, large hands on her back. Ty Lee screamed and the priestess stood. She was face to face with one of the buffest warriors she had ever seen in her life.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ty Lee shouted, starting to cry.
"Little girls," growled the guard, "should not be sneaking into the temple."
He dragged her away and she did not resist. She was lucky not to be beheaded on the spot for her sacrilege.
Finally, the guard deposited her in the barracks of their warriors. Ty Lee suddenly feared she would be put to death, but then she saw the captain of the Sun Warrior legion. Her name was Rei, and all revered and feared her.
"Where do you live, child?" asked Rei, sounding as old and dignified as a wise dragon.
Ty Lee sheepishly told her the directions and they went on their way.
zzz
After a lengthy adolescence of searching for purpose, Ty Lee finally found her calling as a warrior at age fourteen. She won battles for the Sun Warriors and learned her own personal style of combat that made grown men tremble in fear. Rei personally taught her about chi flow and pressure points for healing, but Ty Lee used it as a weapon.
The first time she brought home an important prisoner, she was allowed to walk up the steps to the sacrificial perch and she knelt as honor was bestowed upon her, and her prisoner's heart was torn from his body.
He was thrown to the dragons and his heart burned by the firebending of the priest.
Ty Lee stood and smiled as he handed her the ashes as memento of her righteous deed.
zzz
The annual sacrifice to the Fire Goddess caught Ty Lee's interest, because she never could figure it out. Most people reveled in this sacrifice because of the grand feast, or because of its importance to their culture. If the gods were not strong enough, the world would end, and so anyone would support any divine sacrifice.
Yet, Ty Lee looked at it with curiosity instead of comfort and amusement. Ty Lee may have been spared when she snuck into that temple, but she still was not important enough to get the answer to the burning question inside of her.
Where do they go?
The people chained up during the lengthy ritual were carried away, wounded, but living. They did not lose their heart or offer any blood; they simply entered the grand gold temple and never came out again.
The smoke that rose up to the sky was supposed to come from their burning bodies, but Ty Lee had an aching suspicion that it was otherwise.
She had no idea that she would find out firsthand.
zzz
Rei invited Ty Lee to share tea with her in a room that smelled strong of incense. Ty Lee felt woozy just being inside, but she sipped her drink and humored Rei's polite conversation.
"You are the best warrior I have ever met, and the most beautiful girl in our city," said Rei and Ty Lee glowed. Her grin began to fade, however, as she realized where Rei was going with her words. "This year, we have chosen you to be our offering to the Fire Goddess."
Ty Lee opened her mouth and could not remember how to close it. She was stunned and scared and all permutations thereof. Rei remained collected and composed, as if she did not just inform a girl that she would die… or be taken elsewhere; no one knew what went on after the sacrifice was taken to the temple.
"I'm—I—I'm honored," Ty Lee stammered, wiping her sweaty palms on her clothes. "I can't imagine anything better than that."
"Good," remarked Rei, smiling at Ty Lee.
Ty Lee did not know if she should be ecstatic or horrified.
She ended up somewhere between the two.
zzz
Ty Lee spent what she knew would be the last week of her life preparing for the important sacrifice. She was treated like a princess, given fancy meals and dressed in beautiful clothes. They allowed her into the temple and she gazed at the golden walls in awe. She sipped alcohol and decided she did not quite like it; she preferred the warm cinnamon drink they gave her in the morning and at night.
At night, before she went to sleep and held a peaceful slumber for hours, she rubbed glittering lotion on her skin that smelled of perfumes. She decided it was her favorite luxury.
On her last day, she sat for hours and hours while the attendants of the temple did her hair in an elaborate braid. They painted her face and painted her skin, adding the symbol of the Fire Goddess in red paints swirling around her navel.
She wore a wrap around her chest and a skirt. It was soft and light and dark, deep, rich red and she liked how it let the wind caress her beautiful body. Ty Lee supposed it would be nice to spend the remainder of her life comfortable, before she would be laid on a slab of stone and tortured.
As midday approached, each girl who tended to the temple kissed Ty Lee on the forehead in a strict, ceremonial row. They then guided her to the front of the temple where the Sun Warriors all waited for the girl who would bring them fortune and stop the world from ending.
Ty Lee waved at them and reveled in their adoration.
She let the High Priest bind her and lead her through the streets of her home city. When Ty Lee passed the shop her family ran, where she had to fade into nothingness while her sisters overshadowed her, she knew she did not regret giving her life for her people. Nothing tethered her to the mortal world; she always was expendable to her family and she was always a flighty friend.
Slowly, Ty Lee climbed the many stone steps and stood at the top. The sea of beautiful people gathered around her for as far as the eye could see. They looked like the leaves on a tree, all garbed in the red and gold that foliage turned into during the autumn months.
Ty Lee drank the sharp, pungent drink made slightly more bearable by liberal addition of cinnamon. The High Priest spoke in the language of the dragons and pushed Ty Lee down onto the stone table. She ran her fingertips over the smooth engraved grooves in the rock.
The High Priest declared in his sonorous voice, "The Sun is made of souls of the sacrificed, growing stronger with each that joins it in the sky. Your service will warm the skin of your people until the end of time." He turned to Ty Lee and set his hand on the chains that bound her to the sacrificial slab. "Now you will make the sun stronger and appease the Fire Goddess. Do you volunteer yourself openly to the Spirit World?"
"I do," said Ty Lee with more conviction than she had ever held in her life.
The High Priest regally and loudly asked, his words booming through the staircase covered in citizens, "Do you offer your throat to the fire of dragons and gods alike?"
"I do," Ty Lee said breathlessly, rolling her shoulders back and preparing for the first cut that would make her bleed, staining the stone bed beneath her.
The High Priest declared, calm but almost screaming, "Then let it be done."
Ty Lee closed her eyes and immediately surrendered.
zzz
When Ty Lee woke up, at first she thought she was in the temple. She knew from her adventure as a child that the sacrifices were not dead after the ceremony, despite being mortally wounded. And, so, she expected to be surrounded by gold and hieroglyphics.
Instead, she saw darkness. Pitch black, all-consuming darkness.
She felt the hard, unrelenting pressure stone beneath her aching back. It was damp but felt like volcanic rock. If she were a betting woman, she would say she was on a floor, not a bloodstained slab or golden table in the temple.
Then she saw a set of glowing golden eyes hovering above her and screamed like a frightened little girl, clawing at the harsh stone beneath her. It hurt her well-groomed fingernails.
"Are you frightened?" purred the most beautiful voice she had ever heard in her life. "Because you should be. You absolutely should be."
"W-where am I?" asked Ty Lee, bleary-eyed and exhausted.
"My…" The lovely voice stopped for a moment. "My lair. I suppose one could call it that."
"I was sacrificed," Ty Lee murmured. "I should be dead. I was sacrificed."
"To me. This is the part where I am supposed to devour you but I think I might wait for a little bit. We can get to know each other," said the lovely voice sleekly.
Ty Lee groggily asked, "You're the Fire Goddess?"
"Something like that," said the lovely voice, and now smooth hands ran across Ty Lee's shoulder. She shivered at the touch, the burning hot hands that felt an awful lot like being caressed by open flame. Very soft, delicate open flame. "You are clearly wounded. That must be fixed if we will have dinner together."
"Can you heal?" Ty Lee asked. "They always told us that you were the goddess of destruction."
"I do not heal, but I am not alone in this world," said the Fire Goddess. "Spirits, gods, invaluable dead mortals…"
"Am I dead?" asked Ty Lee, trying to sit up. Those burning hands shoved her down and her back smashed against the hard, damp floor.
"No," the Fire Goddess replied. Then she grabbed Ty Lee by the hand and pulled her to her feet. The Fire Goddess lit up her palm like a firebender, illuminating what Ty Lee imagined was a cave. It was not. It was a beautiful entry hall leading to a palace made of obsidian.
"I'm pretty sore," Ty Lee admitted, noticing the blood and bruises on her body. It seemed unfair if she was in the afterlife. Or at least the Spirit World, if she truly was still alive.
"I will take you to someone who can help. The Goddess of Water," purred the Fire Goddess, and Ty Lee finally looked up at her.
She feared she would go blind from laying eyes on a divine being, but she did not. Ty Lee saw the face of true, pure beauty. Her raven hair cascaded, her golden eyes gleamed, her ivory skin was tinted blue by her strange fire.
Ty Lee blushed and her heart pounded in her chest.
"Isn't she your mortal enemy?" Ty Lee asked, swallowing. She took a step and whimpered from the pain it caused.
"Let me take you to bed," said the Fire Goddess. Ty Lee's eyes widened. "Not like that. I mean you should lie down before dinner while I collect an owed favor."
"Oh, okay," Ty Lee said, eyelashes fluttering. She thought she might faint.
The Fire Goddess led her through the terrifying obsidian palace. Every candle lining the walls burned so hot that they were blue. Only a goddess could produce such hot flame. The Fire Goddess's skin, velvety and fiery against Ty Lee's wrist, felt hot enough, so her fire must be even hotter.
Ty Lee's new keeper lay her down on a soft red bed.
"Now, just go to sleep," purred the lovely Goddess of Flames.
Ty Lee blacked out before she could say a word.
zzz
When Ty Lee woke, she no longer felt any pain. The bruises were gone, and the cuts had faded. She exhaled softly and gazed up at the obsidian ceiling.
Slowly, she sat up. She had hoped she would meet the Water Goddess, but she supposed she slept through the healing.
She did not sleep through someone knocking on the door.
"Hello?" dreamily asked Ty Lee, stepping out of her bed. It was inhumanly cozy.
The girl who walked in looked strange. She was plain compared to the incredible fiery beauty called the Goddess of Destruction. Her hair was held up in a ponytail and her eyes were a dull brown, especially in comparison to the molten gold Ty Lee saw right before she fell asleep.
"Hi, I'm Jin and I'm here to take you to your dinner," said the girl, bowing to Ty Lee. People did during the week Ty Lee became a sacrifice, but no one ever would do such a ridiculous thing to her before now.
She walked beside Jin through the palace. It would be easy to get lost in.
Ty Lee headed into the dining room and saw nothing on the table but a bowl of seeds enclosed in maroon blankets of fruit. She walked forward and stood behind her chair. Her parents may have ignored her, but they did teach her how to be polite.
"You may sit," said the Fire Goddess as she walked in.
The Fire Goddess wore an amazing gown dripping with some strange gems in a deep, rich red tone. Her hair was woven with gold ribbon that made her eyes look twice as brilliant.
Ty Lee only stared for a moment before she sat down at the long, black stone dining room table. She waited for the Fire Goddess to sit down, then stared at the pitch black bowl.
"Eat," ordered the Fire Goddess.
Ty Lee would never disobey such a powerful being. She picked up one of the seeds and held it between her fingers.
Then, abruptly, someone else glided smoothly into the cavernous room, someone just as beautiful as the Goddess of Fire but with far different looks. She had big eyes the color of the sky on a cloudless day and shiny, thick, flowing brunette hair. Her skin was just as creamy as that of the Goddess of Fire but it was fawn instead of ivory.
Ty Lee tried not to gawk at the strange being. Then, said strange being kissed the Fire Goddess on the cheek, then on her lips. There was force behind her motions, a push and pull. Ty Lee felt a burning sensation in her gut, an angry one, for reasons unknown to her.
She supposed she had adored the attention a goddess gave her. She never imagined the Goddess of Fire would have someone romantic in her life. The scriptures said absolutely nothing about that.
"Are you going to eat the pomegranate seeds?" demanded the Fire Goddess.
Ty Lee nodded and then popped one into her mouth. It made her teeth uncomfortable as she chewed on it, but she finished the entire bowl while the gentle woman and powerful woman watched her. It became apparent she was doing something dangerous, but she did not stop.
She finished and smiled brightly, eyes twinkling.
zzz
After Ty Lee was ushered back to her room, the Fire Goddess stood across from the Water Goddess. They were on a patio in the misty land they called a home, two divine beings who hated each other until they fell in some strange type of love.
"I choose her," said Azula, at last explaining her decision to imprison a sacrifice that, on any other year, she would finish off.
"She's your…" Katara paused for a moment. "She's your choice. I wouldn't call that girl with the vapid, flirty expression and big, cute little smile a worthy champion."
"Fine. I would like to see you choose a better one," stated Azula. "I suggest a wager."
"A wager? Is that fair?" asked Katara. "You've made them with mortals and it never ends well for them."
Katara hated to protest since she was never one to turn down a chance to dominate her mortal enemy and far worse opposite. Wickedness and all that was good, life and life, a nightmare and a daydream. Two goddesses who wholly intended to win.
"Fair, Katara? A wager between a goddess and another goddess is the fairest of games."
Azula smirked, already scheming deep inside of her mind.
TBC