Even after the guards deemed her unthreatening enough to be allowed out into the prison yard, Ty Lee didn't leave her cell for three days.
It wasn't as if she wanted to stay cooped up, really- it was just that everything out there was so confusing. She was in a prison, with bad people who had done bad things. She knew for a fact that there were enemies of the Fire Nation out there- people who she was really supposed to hate, and people who probably hated her. Of course, in the eyes of her princess, she herself was an enemy of the Fire Nation- but Ty Lee didn't really like to think about that. And here, in her cell, it was just a little bit easier not to.
Sometimes she regretted it. Sometimes she thought about how, if she had just stayed her hand, everything would have been all right- she wouldn't be in prison, Azula wouldn't hate her, and things could be the way they used to be.
But then she'd picture Mai- cold, lonely, dead Mai- lying on the ground. And then she'd know that she really didn't regret it after all.
So that was what it came down to, really- she had a choice to make. Another choice, and such a big one, too. Should she just keep sitting in her cell- waiting, hoping, for Azula to come back for her? Azula- who, despite everything, she still considered her very best friend in the whole wide world- the cold, cruel princess of the Fire Nation, who didn't like being wrong and therefore rarely changed her mind about anything?
It took Ty Lee three days to finally realize that that wasn't going to happen.
When they came to let the prisoners out for recreation on the fourth day, Ty Lee stood up. As the door to her cell opened, she hesitated just slightly, glancing backwards into the darkness. Sorry, Azula. You'll always be one of my best friends no matter what; promise. But you don't own me.
Then she resolutely turned and marched out.
