I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any characters thereof, and will not be making any money off of them.

Ty Lee is proud of herself, veryveryvery proud, and it would confuse many people, because they look at Ty Lee and think of her as the air headed acrobat, but Ty Lee is more than that, much more.

She's proud of her acrobatic skills, proud of her strong and flexible body. She sees the way the men stare at her, watch her longlong legs, her slim waist, her small feet. She sees the way some of the women stare at her, too, and she knows the appeal of the cute act, the sweet act, and she uses it to her full advantage. She knows that they all think she's stupid, and because they think she's stupid, she can get away with so much more.

She's the first one to notice that something is wrong with Azula. She sees the way the Princesses' hands are shaking, and sees the way Azula's aura turns a darker and darker blue, just like the blue fire that she throws about. She sees Mai's aura as well, sees it turn greyer and greyer as they travel with Azula. The grey and the blue mix together, into an icky mud color that Ty Lee doesn't like, because it reminds her of poisoned mud or dirty water, of a smoking net like Ty Lee's own safety net, burnt away by Azula.

She does her best, of course. She smiles and tries to find as many things as possibly to talk about that aren't of any relevance to anything whatsoever. She goes with Azula because she knows that it would be Bad not to, and because she still cares about Azula. She thinks that Azula cares about her as well, inasmuch as Azula can care about anyone.

Azula crawls into bed with her, sometimes, and there is the standard moaning and writhing, nice feelings and sweat, where Azula seems to test just how many ways Ty Lee can bend. Ty Lee makes sure to keep the act up, even then, even when it would be such a blessed relief to let go and be herself. But no - for her safety, for her sanity, and for Azula's, she had to stay silly Ty Lee, with her poofing dust clouds and clumps of wet bison fur.

But Ty Lee is proud of herself, ever so proud, because she keeps the act up, all the time. Even when she and Azula lie together in bed, a tangle of limbs, Azula pulling on Ty Lee's long braid, Ty Lee absently nattering on about this person's aura or the stain on the ceiling that looks like a saber toothed moose lion. She lets her guard down once, lets some of her bitterness leech out, at the beach, but they never talk about it again, and so she hopes they all think of it as a momentary out of character moment.

When they finally betray Azula, at Boiling Rock - if "betray" is the right word, because as much as she pretends to be an idiot, hollow headed, Ty Lee doesn't let her affection towards Azula (terror, at least partially mixed with a small bit of love) blind her to the fact that Azula would do the same to them, in a heartbeat. Not even a heartbeat.

After all of the stuff that happens - the Black Sun, the Avatar, all of that - Ty Lee is sent to the Kyoshi Islands, to be a Kyoshi Warrior. She smiles and plays her "stupid" act, her bright eyed puppykitten thing, but at least one of the Kyoshi Warriors look at her with an appraising expression, and Ty Lee begins to reassess her strategy.

Still, Ty Lee is proud. If nothing else, she fooled ever so many people, although she's a bit unnerved at the way that one Warrior looks at her. Still, she is careful to keep her pride in check. She remembers what it did to Azula. But every night, right after she washes her makeup off, she smiles to herself, her secret little proud smile, because empty headed Ty Lee is ever so much more, and she's proven it to herself, and is there anyone it's more important to prove your importance to than yourself?