Ty Lee was still damp from her late night swim in the ocean, and her skin smelled like salt water. It tasted like it, too, Azula thought, as she moved her lips up the shoulder. She loved the taste of the sea mixed with her lover's skin, letting her tongue dart out and lick it every once in a while.
"When I am Firelord," Azula said, "I will make you my Firelady."
Ty Lee laughed into Azula's neck at this, and as much as she loved the hot breath of the other girl against her skin, this bothered Azula. She was never particularly fond of being laughed at, even by Ty Lee, whose laugh made Azula sometimes feel weak and light. Though those were other feelings that she wasn't fond of, either. "Why is that funny?"
"You're a girl," Ty Lee said. "A female Firelord can't have a Firelady. You have to marry a man."
"And why is that?"
"To produce an heir, silly." Ty Lee rolled over, then slid one bare leg over the skin exposed by Azula's open robe until she was straddling her. "I can do lots of things, but I can't do that for you." She reached down to touch Azula's hair, running her fingers through the loose strands, tucking them under the princess's head. "What are you going to do, leave your throne to whatever kids Zuko and Mai have? I don't think you would like that very much."
"No," Azula said. "You're right. I wouldn't." She knew that all Ty Lee was saying was true, but still, Azula did not like being told that there were things she couldn't do. The only one ever allowed to do that was her father, and her resentment then was countered by her desire to please him and prove how capable she was.
It was also Ty Lee's easy acceptance that bothered her. When she leaned down to kiss her again, Azula moved her head away, instead looking into her eyes.
"Do you not want to be my Firelady?" she asked, pressing.
At this questioning, Ty Lee was turning shy. She moved her head away and laughed to hide it, but Azula grabbed her chin and turned it back. She wanted to see.
"I don't know, 'Zula," Ty Lee said finally. "I like you so much, but I didn't know- I mean. I don't know. I never thought of it like that. I didn't know I could. I always just assumed this was normal for friends." She was embarrassed, Azula could tell. She enjoyed it, and was not willing to let this go.
"If this is your version of normal," Azula said, letting her hands glide over skin. "I like it. But if it was so normal between friends, why haven't you ever touched Mai like this?" For a moment, she pictured Ty Lee touching Mai like this, and felt the fire of her jealously flare up. Without thinking, she moved her hands to cup Ty Lee's waist possessively.
"That's different," Ty Lee stuttered. Her face was becoming a flush pink that Azula thoroughly enjoyed. "I couldn't- not with Mai. Mai is Zuko's."
"And you're mine."
Ty Lee moved to kiss her now, but Azula again avoided the caress. She grabbed on to Ty Lee's hips and pushed her over, no longer content to be under her. When Azula climbed on top of her, when she placed her hands on the bare of skin of the other girl's chest, she could feel her heartbeat through flesh and bone and muscle. She could feel the way it pulsed through Ty Lee when she ground her hips in, when she leaned in close and spoke, mouths less than an inch apart, eyes directly connecting.
"Whoever we end up marrying for political reasons," Azula said. "Whatever man ends up your husband, or mine, you will still belong to me." Her lips were ghosting above Ty Lee's, and her companion was just aching for the kiss. Azula wouldn't give it to her, though. Not until she had confirmation that Ty Lee knew exactly what she meant, and complied with it. Azula's fingers moved their way around to the back of her lover's head, nails pressing just so into her scalp. "Say it."
"Of course I belong to you, 'Zula." Ty Lee's words were breathed out.
Azula took what was hers.