Only three weeks after joining the Kyoshi Warriors, I decided to leave.

I had realized that it was worse than home. At home, it was like I didn't have my own name. With the Kyoshi Warriors, I was literally part of a matched set. No one on Kyoshi knew my name; I was just another Kyoshi Warrior.

So I left. I didn't go home, and I didn't go back to the circus. Well, I went to back to the Fire Nation Capital, but not back to my family. Mai pulled some strings with Zuko and got me a house close to the palace, big enough for me to teach acrobatics and chi-blocking, but small enough so I wasn't lonely when I didn't have any students.

And, believe it or not, I hadn't had a boyfriend since joining the Kyoshi Warriors. I totally understand if you think I'm lying, but, to be honest, I really hadn't had time. I'd been so busy with students and keeping track of money and helping out with the peace-making missions. I understood the Kyoshi Warriors, so that was where I was supposed to be helping with. But Kyoshi had always been neutral anyway, so I hadn't actually had to do anything. And my aura was getting pinker by the day here!

...

After all my students had left, I went down to the market to pick up some food. I was tired of cooking, and the market was calling me. When I got there, I saw why.

In the center of the market, two people in masks were doing acrobatic routines. When they were finished, the crowd applauded, and one called:

"Twenty silver pieces to whoever bests me! Who will take my challenge, and who will be the judge?"

"I'll take your challenge," I yelled. Hey, it was acrobatics. Nobody's quite as good as me at acrobatics.

"And I'll judge," said one of the Imperial Firebenders.

"What will you give me if I win?" asked my challenger.

"Twenty gold pieces," I countered haughtily. "But if you win, I'm totally challenging some one else to the same price."

My challenger smiled, and I started a routine.

It was showier than what I usually performed for... Anyone, really, but there were twenty gold pieces on the line. Twenty silver pieces would buy me more than dinner, and it would also win me plenty of attention and new students.

When I was finished, my challenger nodded, and began a routine of their own.

It was sloppy and was missing important basics. Then, as they tried to do a backflip, they fell.

They landed on their stomach, luckily, not their face, but they still looked pretty hurt. All thoughts of silver went out of my mind as I ran forward to see if they were okay. The Imperial Firebender judge came over too, and removed the mask.

It was Azula.

"Zula!" I said, like I had when we were kids. "Why did you think you could beat me at my own game?"

"I didn't," she spat angrily. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Ty Lee... Zula, don't you remember me?"

"You betrayed me! Everyone did, in the end! Everyone!" she screeched.

I looked at the Firebender.

"I don't think they let her out on purpose," he said.

"Yeah... Someone run over to the mental hospital! Tell them Azula escaped!" I called to the crowd.

Several people starting running up towards the metal hospital, and I remembered the day Mai had saved Zuko, and then I saved Mai from getting fried by Azula.

Right on cue, one of Azula's guards at the mental hospital came running down.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, she was down here doing acrobatics while wearing a mask. She offered anyone who could beat her twenty silver pieces. I accepted her challenge, and did my routine. Then she started to a routine, and she fell. We took off her mask and she started going on about how I betrayed her, and everyone betrayed her in the end, and all that stuff. And then we sent for you," I explained.

"Okay... And here's my back-up. We'll be taking her back to her quarters now," said the guard.

I nodded and watched as the guards escorted Azula back up to the mental hospital.

How had my trip to the market gone so sour?