"Every little girl does not want to be a princess, Azula," Mai says with a brief sigh. "That's an assumption... that you would make."
Azula rolls her eyes, pouting her lower lip slightly. Ty Lee scratches the bridge of her nose, hoping they do not make her choose sides in a fight. It is a hot day in the palace and the friends are sprawled in the coolest room of the place, a deserted corner with chilly stone floors. Mai has her cheek on the cold rock, Ty Lee is stretching with antsy, fidgeting fingers, and Azula is trying to think of something fun to do.
She is coming up short.
"I always wanted to be a princess," Ty Lee remarks honestly, although choosing sides is not her style. Azula does have a point though.
"Yes, like every mother thinks their child deserves to be Fire Lord." Azula pauses, narrowing her eyes. "Except for my mother. But, I mean, she's dead so she doesn't count."
Mai swallows, her throat dry and her lips sticky. She does not want to delve into Azula's mother issues, not by a long shot. Ty Lee flutters her knees as if it will do something to quell her boredom.
"My parents probably wish I was Fire Lord," Mai sighs, as if it is insulting. "Or Fire Lady, more likely. My mother has been trying to tell me how to get a husband. I'm twelve."
Azula snickers and Ty Lee makes a strange face with a contortion of her lips as unnatural as the contortions of her body.
"Well, if Zuko ever comes home, I'm sure he'll be permanently available. Unless you're more interested in me, of course," Azula says, leaning against the wall. It is cold against her sweaty back.
"So help me Azula, don't even suggest us getting married before my parents write up some kind of contract with your dad," Mai says with a surprising tenacity. "The other day they asked me if we were dating. They seemed genuinely disappointed when I said no."
Azula laughs a genuine laugh. It amuses her to no end. Ty Lee chews on her lips, wanting to say several words that do not come to her. Ty Lee would love to be a princess. And ever so occasionally her thoughts flicker to a royal wedding. Pink roses, pink diamonds. Oh, yes, pink diamonds on her dress.
"Are you more interested, Ty Lee? You say you've always wanted to be a princess," Azula offers with a palm upturned.
"Umm..." Ty Lee's cheeks turn a light shade of rose and Azula cocks an eyebrow. A joke. But every joke has a kernel of truth. "I might just settle for royal maid of honor."
"Ouch. Rejection," Mai says with a small, quiet chuckle.
But Azula does not care. Ty Lee finds herself slightly wounded that she does not care.
It is a multitude of years, one betrayal, one long road to recovery, a distinctly missing Azula, a variety of mishaps, several break-ups, a thousand late nights and one less-than-romantic proposal later that Ty Lee realizes she is becoming a princess.
It was a dream that never quite faded and dulled, like her dreams of grandeur as a performer or her fantasies of conquering the Earth Kingdom. They both were halfheartedly fulfilled, but this princess thing, Ty Lee could get used to.
"I want pink diamonds," Ty Lee says ferociously, leaving the dressmaker looking baffled.
"You're going to look like... I don't even know what that would look like. It's tacky even for your standards," Azula purrs, glancing up from the book of designs she is pretending to be interested in. "Some kind of incredibly classy Earth Kingdom prostitute?"
Ty Lee throws her shoe at Azula and the princess dodges it easily.
"I said incredibly classy. That's a compliment," Azula replies coldly, sitting back up and looking at the lopsided Ty Lee with pins falling off of the fabric draped over her.
"Yes, but you also said Earth Kingdom prostitute." Ty Lee takes off her other shoe and Azula touches two fingers together before Ty Lee drops it on the floor. "So help me, Azula, a girl only becomes a princess once. If I want pink diamonds, I get pink diamonds."
She half expects Azula to be livid for being spoken to that way. But she smirks.
"Look, you're acting like a princess already. You truly were destined to fuck royalty so well you earned a crown." Another smirk, more self-satisfied this time. Ty Lee rolls her eyes as the dressmaker looks terrified, broken out into a sweat.
"What would you like?" The dressmaker glances between them tentatively.
Azula instantly makes a room uncomfortable, given her reputation as both immensely powerful and with a history of monumental mental breakdowns. Ty Lee has seized the wedding with an iron fist and is ruling it like more of a tyrant than her future wife ever was. They have traumatized florists, wedding planners, musicians, and now a dressmaker, and Ty Lee actually finds it quite fun.
"Pink diamonds," Azula sighs and the dressmaker nods. "I didn't know there was a such thing as pink diamonds..."
Ty Lee grins. Azula forcibly suppresses a smile and blush, but her eyes glitter briefly.
"I love you, Azula," Ty Lee says loudly.
"I think you love feeling... sparkly." Azula glances at the glittering dust on the current dress Ty Lee is wearing. "You're clearly just interested in my royal status."
"If I was just interested in your royal status, I would have seduced Zuko. I love you, Azula."
"You love me because I let you wear pink diamonds to my wedding and allow you to subjugate people of your same socioeconomic class."
"Mostly because of that."
"Subjugation is pretty sexy."
"So am I."
Azula cannot argue. Ty Lee makes a pretty good princess.