Chapter 2

The ceremony was boring, as was any other traditional events. The excitement picked up a bit more after Zuko and Mai were officially married and the meals were served. The food was much better than what was served at the psych ward but I couldn't eat. People whispered about me but I felt like I could hear them loud and clear. After a while, I quietly slipped out of the room.

Walking around the palace filled me with an immense amount of nostalgia. Soon, I found myself in front of my old bedroom. Carefully, I pushed the door open and walked in. It was clean so I guessed it was dusted and swept of dirt even though I was gone. I sat down on my old bed and smoothed out the sheets with my hands. It's been so long since I've been in my own bed.

I untied the sash around my waist and took off the dress. I was left standing there with an under robe and socks. I reached up and undid my hair and let it fall around my shoulders. Carefully, I lifted the blanket a bit and crawled underneath it. I curled up and soon, I fell asleep.

In the morning, Ty Lee woke me up by throwing the doors wide open with a huge bang. Startled, I was jerked out of my sleep and sat up.

"Azula!" she jumped on my bed. "I knew I'd find you here! Anyways, the doctors agreed to let you stay here for a week because of your good behavior yesterday,"

"Really?" I looked up at her.

"Yep, really!"

"I see you were in your room the whole time," Zuko appeared at the door. "Can't really blame you, everyone was talking about you behind your back,"

"Where's Mai?" I asked.

My voice was starting to sound clearer and clearer but it was still a soft tone that pushed out from my throat.

"She's sleeping. We were up pretty late, thanking all the guests and getting all the congratulations," Zuko answered.

I nodded and began to get out of bed but Ty Lee stopped me. She turned around and stuck her tongue out at my brother.

"NO BOYS ALLOWED!" she hollered.

He sighed and left, closing the doors behind him. Ty Lee picked up the crumpled dress from the floor and smoothed it out. She opened my closet and to my surprise, all my old clothes were still there. Chattering away as always, Ty Lee helped me put on a simple red robe and put away the fancy dress that I wore last night. Again, because I had lost so much weight, she fetched an attendant to get a sash so I could look decent.

"Bring some breakfast too!" she called after the attendant then turned to me. "You need some color in your face,"

I was used to this kind of treatment due to being a princess but that was a long ago and now I just felt out of place. After eating an elaborate breakfast consisting of rice, fish and tea, I took a bath. The perfume oils in the water were a strange scent to me now and the scented soaps were no longer familiar.

Afterwards, Ty Lee and I walked into the garden where Mai was sitting on a bench by herself.

"I couldn't take just staying inside," she said when we approached her. "And I talked to Zuko; he agreed to let you be my personal body guard,"

"Oh really?!" Ty Lee exclaimed.

I sat down next to Mai who was dressed in a large red robe. I looked around and took in the environment. A wave of nostalgia passed through me. I remember playing with them when we were little girls, but now we were full grown women. Mai was now my sister-in-law and Ty Lee had just quit working with the Kyoshi warriors to help care for Mai. And as for me, I was just the crazy old princess with no future.

I snapped my fingers curiously to see if I could still fire bend. A flicker of ember appeared at my finger tips and disappeared as quickly as it was conjured. I tried again with all my might and it was the same result. Worst of all, the flame wasn't even blue; it was a light shade of orange. I sighed and let my hands fall in my lap.

Neither Mai nor Ty Lee said anything. I stood up and mumbled some excuse about being dizzy. Ty Lee offered to walk me back to my room but I told her I would be fine. I locked the door to my room, crawled into bed and began to cry. All I was good for now was just to light a candle.