A/N: Some Quick Facts About This Fic:
Chapters: 35
Pairing: Azula x Ty Lee.
Rated: M for strong sexual content, moderate coarse language, suggestive dialogue, strong violent references and mild violence.
Notes: This is a complete revamp of a fic I posted in September, titled Blue Silk, and I began posting the rewrite May 20th of 2015. It has now gone from a smutty fourshot into a leviathan fic with the most meticulous plot I've ever written. I'm not sure how.
The AU is if Sozin conquered the Earth Kingdom entirely when the comet came, and Aang therefore is never unthawed.
Important Note: In this story, I write Ty Lee differently than I usually do. I tend to take her bubbliness and dumb-ish-ness at face value, but in this story I write her cute, sparkly and sweet personality as a shield to conceal a much more clever person underneath. I hope that doesn't make her too OOC, but I wanted to explore that as an option.
Brides and Circuses
"It is our choices, Harry, that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities."
- JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -
Chapter One: Of Heirs and Heiresses
"You realize this is the most important day of your life," huffily insists Ty Lee's overdressed mother.
Her daughter slumps uncomfortably in her seat, incessantly fidgeting. Ty Lee was not built to stay still; she could never stop running around her house, doing cartwheels and fidgeting in class. And right now she is extremely concerned about the mess she left behind to go all the way to Caldera for a marriage negotiation.
Being allowed passage to the city from the Protectorates was rare enough. Being invited to have tea with Fire Lord Ozai was about as likely as champagne raining from the sky.
"I'm so confused." Ty Lee rubs her eyes. She perks up and flashes her winning grin. "Excited! But confused."
Mother takes a slow, deep breath. "Your father and I have been negotiating this for weeks now, ever since we were allowed this choice. It was very important for me to select this life for you."
Ty Lee just rubs her nose with her elbow, making her mother's eyes flash in anger. She does want to be pretty and polite, but she is tired and knows that her marriage negotiations never work out. Much less one with the princess.
Princess. Monster of the West. They sing legends about her, the conqueror of Ba Sing Se. They say she is made of hurricanes and has a dragon's heart, that she bends lightning with more command than the clouds above, that she can bring mountains and kingdoms to their knees in an instant, that she brings order to chaos and chaos to order, that all of this is born from the storm cells that compose her beautiful young body.
Ty Lee remembers some of the fragmented tunes as she and her mother are sitting in a room clearly meant for discussion of sensitive political information, although anything important is hastily covered by smooth crimson curtains. A pot of tea and a variety of sugary pastries are both in the center of a shimmering wooden table, but Ty Lee has had her hand batted away by her mother every time she reaches for one.
The Fire Lord clearly doesn't care too much about being on time, Ty Lee thinks as she clears her throat and rubs her eyes. She really is coming down with something; she doesn't have any antibodies to the Caldera germs.
"They're going to think you're ill if you keep rubbing your nose and coughing," mother says nervously and Ty Lee abruptly notices the panic in her eyes.
She stepped on toes for this, Ty Lee is certain. Or maybe she had her toes stepped on, for some reason. Either could mean life or death, and Ty Lee does not want to be responsible for any more violence.
Ty Lee is doubtful of this being a real negotiation. There must be much more qualified girls lining up for miles. Even in the protectorates, Ty Lee's last tentative marriage contract was broken, thankfully without progressing too far. Which is likely why her parents are so desperate for the Fire Lord's agreement; it would not only conceal the shame ─ it would be the most notable achievement in the history of their family.
Ty Lee hates that idea. But on the other hand, she know that she would not. Her life would end up in the hands of others, and they might as well be the manicured hands of the Caldera elite. As she walked down these streets for the first time, everyone was beautiful. Ty Lee was the prettiest girl most people had ever seen, but she feels overshadowed by this place.
At last, the Fire Lord enters, and Ty Lee gracefully bows, her lips touching the table. Her mother seems to at least approve of that, but it is solely because Ty Lee is not in the mood to be beheaded or burnt to a crisp.
She is supposed to hate the Fire Lord. Yes, that is an important fact of this situation. In Caldera, everything is pretty and peaceful. In the protectorates, the war never ended. Despite the fully surrender over thirty years ago, Ba Sing Se only fell two years ago, and many of the cities had refused to be conquered.
There is no war in Caldera. There is no war in the majority of the protectorates. But the war still hasn't ended in Ba Sing Se and many of the surrounding cities.
That is all Ty Lee has known the name of Princess Azula for. Being the enemy. Being the face of the people who tormented her home and hurt those she loved.
Her father told her she must hate them, and now he seems perfectly fine with her becoming one of them.
Ty Lee will never forget the conversation that led to this.
"You're going to marry," father says, examining his daughter closely. He is serving tea, and glancing out of the window even though it is past curfew and no one could be eavesdropping.
All of her sisters were married off, each one to noble houses. Ty Lee is the last one left, not because she is the most undesirable but... because she is the most undesirable. She is more beautiful, she thinks, despite her sisters being identical. But her history as an adolescent runaway does her no favors in marriage negotiations. And her history in the Colonies and amongst the military gossipers is not helpful.
"Wonderful," is all Ty Lee can think of to say. But hesitantly, "I can't leave now, though. You're in trouble and..."
Her father then smiles, and Ty Lee has no clue what is going through his head. He should not be smiling, because Ty Lee is becoming concerned that he might be lying and trying to give her an excuse to leave. But she will not leave, regardless of her mother's loathing of her father's supposed mistakes, and regardless of the dangerous climate and dangerous whispers about their family name...
"You're going to marry royalty," he says smoothly and Ty Lee is baffled. "You will be in the lap of luxury." He means that she will be safe and spared from what is brewing in the East.
Then she contemplates the statement and assumes it must be a lie. She was under the impression that Prince Zuko was permanently exiled, and Fire Lord Ozai quite recently took a new, disturbingly young bride. Unless he means Earth Kingdom royalty... but they are all extinct.
"I don't understand," Ty Lee says weakly. She can't leave him now.
"Go with your mother tomorrow to take the journey and meet with the Fire Lord." Weakly, he adds, "I'm thrilled for you."
Ty Lee just stares at her food, having lost her appetite.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both," Fire Lord Ozai says coldly and calmly, his eyes examining the two women. Ty Lee is patient, yet impatient, as she is longing to know what this marriage thing is about. It is the most torn between two sensations that Ty Lee has ever felt before. "My daughter is currently occupied, but she will be ready to go on the first of many escorted dates."
Ty Lee's eyes widen and her mother's lips part in surprise, but both for different reasons. Her mother is shocked because she imagined there would be a good deal more negotiating with the Fire Lord, and Ty Lee is stunned because she did not imagine she would be marrying Azula.
Azula is famous for her brutality, her ruthlessness, her conquest of Ba Sing Se. It was the last stronghold of the Earth Kingdom, and then Noble Houses were awarded whatever land within the Earth Kingdom that they desired. Ty Lee is the daughter of one of those Houses, and has spent her entire life in the Colony Kingdom, save for coming to Caldera after the endless journey to stay in a nice hotel and be sized up for marriage.
Ty Lee fidgets and takes deep breaths, gazing longingly at the tea and cakes. This is not going to be an easy day, and she is sure of it.
[X]
"Help me get dressed," Azula demands of Mai, who only sighs in response. "Come on. Help me."
"I outrank you now," Mai replies smugly, running her fingertips along the smooth, reddish wood of the chair she is reclining in. "I don't have to do what you say. General Azula."
A cold reference to the time in the military together. She kind of likes it. Azula cocks an eyebrow. "Oh, but what if you want to do what I say?"
Mai now drums her fingers on the arm of the chair, her fingernails tap, tap, tapping away madly. Azula touches her own lips as she waits for what she knows will be the answer she desires. Azula undoes her dress further, giving Mai even more work, but she slowly caresses every part of her body that Mai so desperately wants to touch. A pallid, slender form, desirable and one Mai has laid claim to more times than is probably good for either of them.
"Fine," Mai agrees smoothly before rising and striding across the room to help Azula into her cute little robes that seem to be attempting to make her more innocent and amicable. Usually, Azula seems to dress with the intent to strike fear into the hearts of everyone around her. "Do you think you'll like her?"
"I have no idea," Azula admits, wincing and coughing faintly as Mai tightens the last of the sashes. "Perhaps I will, perhaps I won't. I do like to keep people on their toes."
Mai just shakes her head with a short sigh. "Well, I hope she's satisfactory. And hopefully she's as horrible of a person as you, so no one has to feel bad when she's forced to marry the Monster of the West."
Azula smirks and turns, her hips pressing against Mai's. The spark is there, the wanton pressure madly desirable. Mai lets her fingers trace a gentle, quick pattern on Azula's waist before they mutually decide to break apart. There is a time and place for things like this, and it is certainly not minutes before Azula is supposed to meet her best potential forced suitor.
"It doesn't matter. I bet you anything I can corrupt her with a single look," Azula replies teasingly as she slips out of the door, leaving Mai behind.
And she will just have to learn how to love Azula. Azula does wonder why she thinks of it in that manner, instead of the hopes that she will learn to love her bride. Maybe it is because Azula cannot imagine herself loving anyone, much less some young woman her father arranged to bear the children Azula is incapable of making on her own.
Not that Azula is complaining about being able to wed a woman, to not be expected to bind herself to a man for her entire life, never to be satisfied by that.
Ty Lee waits in the courtyard, her mother still beside her, waiting for Azula. The royal family seems to enjoy grating their guests' patience to the point of nonexistence.
"At least try to make it look like you have breasts," mother interrupts, poking Ty Lee's back and trying to force her to stand up straight and display herself in a more desirable manner.
"You want her to marry me, not... sleep with me," Ty Lee mutters, hoping her mother will not hear, or will not respond.
But she does, with, "I think what matters is if she wants to fuck you or not. And so help me, your father and I would let the entire Fire Nation fuck you if it would make you worth something to our ambitions."
Ty Lee rubs her eye, looking away and pretending not to be angry at that statement. She now has a sudden fire within her; the drive to wed a princess, become Fire Lady and spit in the face of everyone who has called her worthless. Worthless. Circus freak. Worthless...
She looks up as Azula walks into the courtyard. Ty Lee can appreciate her beauty; she is as famous for that as she is for her military accomplishments or royal blood. But Ty Lee is not... that is not her sexual preference. She cannot imagine liking sex with a woman... she is fairly certain there are things a man can do that a woman simply cannot, no matter how pretty she is.
Marriages between two women are rather accepted, even commonplace, in the Fire Nation. It comes, Ty Lee supposes, with such a hyper masculine society, a society that has thrived on being ruthless and all other assorted qualities that make an entire populace into weapons of war. A child between two women can be legitimate; granted that it is fathered by a male in the other woman's family.
Ty Lee has never seen a marriage between two men in her life, although she is certain they must have relationships with each other... not that she thinks it would ever be accepted.
But she knew, that there was some slim possibility she would be arranged into a marriage with another woman, but it was very unlikely, particularly in the Former Earth Kingdom where population mattered so much. It was probably why her sisters were snatched up so quickly.
"You two should be alone," Ty Lee's mother says, rising and bowing deeply to the princess before walking away.
Azula sits across from Ty Lee, claiming the stone lawn furniture as if it is a throne. Ty Lee does admire her power, her confidence. She would not be a bad person to be attached to in this world.
"It's an honor to meet you," Ty Lee says quickly, batting her eyelashes.
Azula smirks faintly and looks Ty Lee up and down. She thinks she likes her; she thinks that it does not matter what her personality is like because she is very attractive.
"Of course it is," Azula replies, disregarding the sweet protocol of dealing with commoners. "This is very uncomfortable; I'm aware."
Ty Lee licks her lips and can taste the metallic blood on them. She thinks she might have been chewing them to shreds right in front of the best chance she has at a decent future, which makes her feel ridiculous.
"Is this your first meeting with somebody?" Ty Lee asks brightly, batting her eyelashes as flirtatious as possible and feeling her peachy cheeks flush.
"Yes," Azula says coldly and earnestly. "I haven't been very interested in the matter."
Ty Lee blinks and tries to think of something to say. "I, hmm..." She squints at the trees behind the princess and does not see the small smirk on Azula's lips. The princess kind of likes how befuddled this girl is. "You like girls?" Ty Lee flashes that carefree smile again.
Azula hesitates, having never actually been asked that before. She is certain it has been presumed, given her dating history. Ty Lee bites her lip again, now genuinely concerned she has said something stupid. Maybe she is not interested in an arranged marriage, but she was aware she would probably face one, and also aware that she should not fuck it up.
"Yes," Azula says slowly, tracing a crack in the stone table with her fingernail. "You're wondering why my father is looking for women to fix me up with."
Ty Lee blushes and then decides to be straightforward. "Yes. You are... you're the only heir..."
To which Azula nods, thankfully.
"The fact that I'm the only viable heir is why my father is pursuing this type of marriage. Allow me to be blunt. This has nothing to do with my sexual preferences, and everything to do with my womb," says Azula calmly and Ty Lee looks confused. "It's funny, almost, the fact that the first wedding between two women I attended completely shattered my worldview. I suddenly realized that... mm, that was an option."
"You had no idea?" Ty Lee grins in amusement before clamping her hand over her mouth. Mocking the princess is such a foolish idea and she feels like an idiot. Azula's eyes briefly flash, but she seems to decide against anger or offense.
"I've been very sheltered in my past," Azula admits, her tongue flicking over her lips as she seems briefly uncomfortable. "I didn't think it was an option for me, even though it's common among nobles. The only people who are genuinely concerned about breeding at this point are peasants and royalty and nothing in between."
"Yeah," Ty Lee chirps. "I mean, like, in the Colony Kingdom I guess the farmers and stuff need more kids but here in Caldera I totally get it."
"Unless," Azula continues and Ty Lee is starting to better understand her mother's conversation with Fire Lord Ozai. "Unless the only viable female heir has no way to make their own viable heir."
Ty Lee does not immediately realize what Azula is saying, but then her eyes flicker wide. "Oh... so this... well, I..."
"You didn't think your family was really so desirable to risk this kind of marriage?" Azula quickly tries to direct the conversation towards making Ty Lee feel the shame and inadequacy, before Azula loses her own footing.
"I just thought since I don't have any brothers..." It is working; Ty Lee seems quite easy to manipulate, Azula decides.
"That might have been the case if I weren't the last of my very important line," Azula responds casually, the concept of her single lacking ability no longer wounding as it used to. "That's why my father married an adolescent. Because it's troubling. Of course there's time; she isn't even mandated to try yet, and whoever I decide to marry will at least have a few years."
It was devastating, when she was younger. To think that she could bend lightning and conquer cities but not do something that any worthless non-bending Earth Kingdom peasant could do by accident was offensive to every part of her. But she eventually decided that it had a positive side as well as a negative, and it was not a life experience that mattered.
To Azula, a child in her was not as great of an accomplishment as her conquests, her endless list of incredible feats. Destruction was always more appealing to the princess than creation anyway, as soon as she learned there was a much greater thrill in burning plants than growing them.
"Right," Ty Lee says, genuinely unsure what the proper response to that is. She knows it would be rude to ask how Azula knows that when she is only sixteen and has presumably never attempted to have a child before, but Ty Lee also has no clue how Caldera or royalty works, so perhaps it makes sense.
And it probably would be rude to comment on it as well. No one told Ty Lee how to do this.
"To also be blunt," Azula continues and Ty Lee has the sudden urge to hide under the table, "you're from the Colony Kingdom?"
"Mhm," Ty Lee says, nodding furiously.
"Do they teach etiquette there, or is there some kind of language barrier between us that I'm unaware of?" Azula inquires, and now Ty Lee does see her smirk.
Ty Lee pauses, opening and closing her mouth. "I kinda spent a few years living in a circus. I promise I can be sweet and polite but I guess I kinda developed most of my adult personality there and woah I'm talking way too much."
The princess bursts out laughing, and Ty Lee cannot tell if it is mocking or not, or if she should play along. Ty Lee has never had a genuinely awkward conversation in her entire life. She has always been the epitome of a social butterfly-moth, and now has no clue what to do with herself as she nervously sweats and fumbles for words that usually come so easily.
"Well, what was your act?" Azula asks, deciding she actually does like this girl. She's cute... like... poodle-monkey cute. And circus freak is definitely a more interesting occupation than most her father has pointed out, or forcibly introduced her to at galas.
"Contortion. And acrobat I guess. I dunno the right word. Uh, both maybe." Ty Lee rubs her neck and squints at the table.
"Contortion, huh?" and Azula quickly notices Ty Lee did not pick up on that innuendo at all. "Tell me about where you're from."
"Mmm. Farmland, mostly. It wasn't that nice, really. This place is beautiful ─ the buildings, at least. They're all so nice and well built and old but old in a pretty way. Also everyone is so well dressed," Ty Lee says with a smile. Azula thinks she might be earnest.
"I've heard the Colony Kingdom is beautiful. I've been there, obviously, having a decorated military career... but I never really, hm, saw it."
"Beyond beautiful, really. There used to be this hill I would climb up and there were so many stars and constellations. You could sees shreds of the cosmic clouds in the sky. And some summer nights, the sky would be cloudy but look like dark blue silk," Ty Lee remarks with a small, distant smile.
Caldera's sky has been blocked out by smog for Azula's entire life. "That sounds nice," she remarks casually. "So why are you so eager to leave?"
Ty Lee hesitates. Her mother told her to be entirely enthused about moving so the family would not wonder if she would be a liability.
"Why was I so eager to run away from home and join a circus? It's boring and gross and as soon as I was old enough, I had a lot of rules and... I never really went up that hill anymore," Ty Lee admits, shrugging and hoping Azula changes the subject again.
"That's a sweet story," Azula purrs and Ty Lee is yet again unsure if she means what she says. She sounds like something artificially sweet; like lemons coated in sugar.
Azula reaches out slowly, with caution but not hesitation, and Ty Lee does not move. The princess's hand touches hers for a second, before remaining there. Her hands are quite cold; they feel like death, and Ty Lee recoils without meaning to.
Someone probably made mental note of that, and so Ty Lee quickly tries to carry on the conversation without any other signs that she is more afraid of being wed to Azula than being rejected by her.
[X]
"So, did you like her?" Mai asks with her feet kicked up casually on a priceless table. Azula hates how attracted she is to the lack of care, yet absolute overconfidence of her best friend since childhood.
Her best friend who she would not have met without an arranged marriage between Mai and her brother. And a best friend she likely would have lost if it were not for a hasty secondary marriage after Zuko's permanent exile.
"I have no idea," Azula admits, sitting down. "I suppose it's partially my decision."
"Oh, it's completely your decision. It's not like your father is ever going to give up, and you'll have to settle for someone eventually if you ever want the crown, but I don't think he wants to disappoint you. It's whatever girl you pick who's screwed over."
Azula cocks an eyebrow. "She would be lucky to have me."
And Azula quite likes the idea that Ty Lee is truly the most vapid and bubbly person she has ever met, which makes her incredibly easy to manipulate.
"No one is lucky to lose their free will," Mai says dryly before sighing. "This bores me. I honestly don't care who you marry."
And Azula can agree that she does not want to discuss the scenario any further as she advances on her secret lover.
[X]
Azula dreams about her decision, which is rare. Usually she stays awake when she is trying to make a choice, but this one did not seem to matter to her. She figured that her father would make it for her, and, therefore, Azula did not bother.
It is hazy, and Azula is aware that it is not true or real ─ or at least part of her is; she was never a lucid dreamer. It is a very strange night, and the sky is indigo and silky. She finds herself in a dense jungle, like the ones she has only seen in pictures in books about Sun Warriors, dragons and half-forgotten legends.
She stares, gazing very intently at the water of a crystalline pool, and touches it with the tip of her toe. It is broiling hot, but Azula is well aware that she cannot be harmed. Azula moves to take off her clothes before seeing someone behind her, and quickly touching her loose sleeves to her shoulders.
It is silent; there is an unbearably uncomfortable silence hovering between she and the girl she had a relatively interesting lunch with. The girl she did not pay much attention to, although she probably should have.
Azula makes her choice, or perhaps her dream makes it for her. She walks to Ty Lee and touches her shoulder, a gentle motion of initiation. While she expects some resistance from the girl who looked squeamish at the thought, Ty Lee kisses Azula on the lips. She does not cringe, as Azula saw she did when she touched her hand on the stone table, and Azula kisses her back, more forcefully, more passionately.
The princess's clothes are still loose, still half off from her attempt to dip into the water. Ty Lee removes Azula's dress, and Azula moves more quickly to take off those of the girl in front of her. She is almost as perfect as Azula knows herself to be.
"Well that's interesting," Azula remarks as she sees blue silk, resting on the gentle curve of perfect breasts, the same smooth indigo of the sky. She runs her fingertips along the fabric and Ty Lee shivers from pleasure.
There is no response to Azula's words, and she did not imagine there would be.
Slowly, Azula removes the pretty lingerie of the dark blue night. Ty Lee is too easily liberated from the uncomfortable fabric as Azula wraps one leg around her and leans against the slick rock of the hot spring they have met at. The dream suddenly registers to Azula as bitterly cold and she can feel that Ty Lee has goosebumps on her peachy skin as she kisses Azula's neck. She goes down further and presses her lips against her breast, and swirls her tongue around her nipple.
Azula touches her head with gentle yet forceful hands. And with her body propped in a manor she finds odd, Ty Lee is on her knees, tongue against Azula's cunt. A moan, a shiver, more moans and gasps. Azula spirals to climax and as Ty Lee slips away from her, she sinks into the hot water.
And then it is abruptly over. Very abruptly, before it even logically makes sense and Azula finds herself heated, pressed against her own mattress, locked to it by her hips.
She feels obscenely ridiculous for the dream, although it is admittedly not her first. But this one has been by far the most tangible and graphic. Gratuitous, almost. The heat in her body is far too much to bear, and Azula walks to her bathroom and covers herself in ice cold water, so different from the steam rising around her bare legs.
Dream, that was a dream.
And then she has the sudden revelation that... it could be a reality.
If she wanted it to be...
Azula thanks her hormonal subconscious that she tends to chastise for making her mind up for her.
[X]
"You do like her," Ozai affirms for the thousandth time. He has had enough incredibly disappointment wastes of his resources with his indecisive and overly entitled daughter.
She is far too comfortable with the status as the only living heir. Ozai thinks he will likely have to change that at some point, but he cannot help but also be used to living that way. Even if she were not vital to him ─ unless he somehow uncovers the secret to immortality ─ she is all he has left and he will admit to himself that he has some weakness because of that.
"I do. She's different," Azula says, shrugging one soft shoulder. "She's different and I want to experience more of her. And good looking. If I didn't like her don't you think we all would be able to tell?"
Ozai pauses for a moment before agreeing. "Then you'll join us tonight, of course."
"Of course, father." Azula bows respectfully before leaving him and going to get dressed.
Across the city, in the beautiful hotel near Sozin Memorial Meadow that Ty Lee and her mother have been offered a luxurious room in, Ty Lee is wringing her hands and feeling concerned.
"Sleeping all day was ridiculous," chastises Ty Lee's mother and Ty Lee clenches her jaw and suppresses a groan. She now is remembering why she ran away, and it wasn't just to distinguish herself from her sisters.
"I was up all night," Ty Lee snaps defensively, refusing to cave in to her mother's desire for control.
"Don't worry about this situation. You're a charming girl who every farm boy from four protectorates around tried to sleep with you. Just don't screw it up," mother says, attempting to be kind. Ty Lee does appreciate her effort, and does know she likes to remain as optimistic as possible.
"You were in an arranged marriage," Ty Lee says quietly and her mother nods. "Did it... You had to leave, right? And never see anybody again and have to..."
"You cry the first few nights, probably, but you get over it," her mother says calmly. "There will be plenty of people in the palace who you probably will take a liking to, even if you don't wind up starting to love your wife. I'm sure you didn't..."
"Want a wife?" Ty Lee suggests, slightly fiercer now. "I don't want a wife. I don't want to... that's not... I don't... I don't want to marry a... I mean, she seems fine, I guess, but..."
"But you all have to make sacrifices. I'm sure people who want wives wind up with husbands sometimes. Like the Fire Lady... she seems that type." Then Ty Lee's mother seems to realize what she said. "Not to speak ill of the empires ruler, of course."
She clears her throat uncomfortably.
"There's..."
"A slim chance of falling in love. I'll give you that hope," her mother offers. "And if you don't love her, or make any friends, which I doubt because you've made friends wherever you go, you'll wind up with a child or children eventually, and they will be very easy to love."
Ty Lee hesitates. "You're from Caldera?"
"Yes. You know that." Mother makes a small, uncomfortable noise. "It's why I was allowed to even come here, and be able to choose the best future for you. The protectorates are no place to be right now. You should just be thinking about your wife, and your wedding dress and your children."
"And how will I wind up with... those children?"
"Presumably by a male of her family. You've seen these before. Don't be blind to it," mother says and Ty Lee frowns at that. She is already disturbed enough by the idea of sleeping with Azula, much less winding up with her brother or father or someone...
That prompts Ty Lee to have the thought, "Why does she know that she can't have children when she's never been married and she's sixteen?" Ty Lee inquires and her mother furrows her brow in thought. "I'm sure it's rude to ask, but I'm curious."
"I never heard of it, but I'm sure there are tests or other things before making any high level marital negotiations. Or maybe there was some kind of evident event or illness or infection when she was younger. Don't prod at that, or anything else that seems odd," her mother demands and Ty Lee does admit she has a point.
There is, Ty Lee knows, a slim chance of this working out.
And she does know she will have friends. Maybe Azula can be her friend.
Hopefully, at least.