a/n: Hey! I got a review already! Thank you! This is definitely going to have to undergo some tweaking if I want it to be a cohesive story or even a good arrangement for drabbles, so please feel free to tell me what you think, what you like, what you don't like, and why. This part is just showing Mai protecting Ty Lee, and how all children manage to sound ridiculous when they try to sound knowledgeable about sex. My only worry is that they are perhaps a little adult for the children they are supposed to be, but they are very smart and forced to be adult due to politics and, in Mai and Ty Lee's case, close association with a dangerous, sociopathic princess. Thoughts?
Ty Lee was eight when she decided she wanted to become a masseuse.
"Mother says that only common women learn 'pleasures of the flesh,' not ladies, but I told her that my lord husband might want a massage someday, and she said that it would be okay."
Mai nodded. "I bet she thinks it's better than wanting to run an inn like you did last year."
Ty Lee sighed. "All I want to do is make people happy. That's not such a bad thing, is it?"
Mai shook her head. "Of course not. I can't imagine you doing anything else."
It was then that Azula joined them on the Academy lawn. "What are we giggling about?"
Ty Lee, curtsying, beamed. "I'm going to be a masseuse!"
Azula smiled. "Really? The kind that gives sexual favors at the end?"
"I don't think that's what she meant," Mai snorted.
Ty Lee cocked her head to the side. "What?"
Azula rolled her eyes. "I heard from Andira that the only reason your mother agreed to let you learn is she hopes it will help you keep a husband. Your father cheats on her with anything with legs. Bet she wishes she learned how to give massages."
Ty Lee frowned. "I still don't know what you're talking about."
Mai took out one of her blades and began to sharpen it, shaking out a handkerchief to catch the steel dust that inevitably would get all over her clothes.
Azula rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ty Lee. Don't you know anything? Sex is the only thing adults think about. Father got me a tutor to teach me about it. You should learn, too. It's disgusting, but my tutor says it's one of a woman's most dangerous and subtle abilities."
Ty Lee's eyes widened. "Is it, like - "
Mai cut her off. "I'm not sure Ty Lee needs to know about that kind of thing just yet."
Azula frowned.
"I wouldn't presume to tell you what to say, of course, but Ty Lee's just a little more immature than we are." Mai kept eye contact with the princess for a moment before shrugging and looking at Ty Lee, still keeping her whetstone going. "Say, Ty Lee, they teach you about acupuncture, too, don't they?"
"Acupuncture? I read that accurate use can prevent use of limbs for periods of time." Azula did not mention the change in subject.
Ty Lee nodded eagerly, resolving to ask Mai about sex later. "Yes, I - "
"I trust you are working on developing its use in combat?"
Ty Lee nodded. Azula always was interested in how anything they learned could be used in combat. "You can even use it to stop someone from bending!"
Azula looked at Ty Lee sharply. "Really."
"Yes! I could show you!" Ty Lee stood up.
"Not on you, of course," Mai broke in abruptly. "What about Linore? She's always so... snooty."
Mai always recognized danger before Ty Lee.
