I smiled at Zuko. The situation was becoming awkward and difficult. He furrowed his brow at me and seemed to choose his following words carefully.

"What…exactly are you saying?" He shifted his body so he was facing me now. I apparently peaked his interest. Whether that was good or bad, I'd yet to find out.

"I mean, she's everywhere…at night I listen to the wind against my window, I swear it's her voice. I breathe in the morning air, it smells her. The brush of trees and fauna against my face, almost like her gentle touch." I looked out upon the ocean and wondered how far off my eyes would take me.

"Gentle touch? Azula was never gentle…" He looked away for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. We both obviously had a lot on our minds.

"But that isn't the point. It's these little things…these little things, Zuko, that make me believe she's still with us." My vision trailed to a water surfer in the distance, he began to falter, and then bended the water back on the sides of his board to regain balance. Ever since the end of the war, the fire nation was a…friendlier place. Some may even say a vacationing sight.

"Ty-lee, we know she's dead. You understand that right?" his voice was gentle, I could almost see it carry on the wind.

"No. I understand that some think she's dead, but I believe she isn't." I grabbed some sand and let it run between my fingers.

"I know you're hurt, I know you're in a lot of distress but...let's face facts. The evidence-"

"The evidence doesn't mean anything!" In a swift motion I threw the sand into the vast trench of aqua. Most just hitched a ride on the wind.

"Ty, be reasonable! Even if she wasn't dead, she couldn't go far!" He grabbed my arm, a pulled away. "Ty-lee, her memory is still with us, let's be thankful for that."

"I don't need to be thankful for her memory when she's still here! Stop it!" My eyes burned and watered.

"She's dead! She's never coming back! She was selfish and stupid and now she's gone! I tried to be nice but your just acting idiotic, Ty-lee!" I could see the heat of his anger shine through his aura like the rising sun.

"No! You're being idiotic!" Tears gathered in my eyes and fell heavily down my cheeks. "You don't believe in hope! You don't understand!" The heat inside of me was growing and bubbling, I could feel my aggression. "And don't you ever call her selfish, or stupid! Ever! You don't know her like I did!"

"Just because you got special treatment doesn't mean she wasn't the horrible monster she really was! Open your eyes!"

"Shut up! She just needed help! She had nobody! You're just jealous! You…jerk!" I stood up and pounded my feet into the sand. He glared at me.

"I'm the jerk?! Get over yourself! I'm trying to help you! You're the one with the problem!"

"I don't have a problem!"

And with that I spun around on the ball of my heel and tromped back to the house. I knew Zuko would be on his was home soon as well so I kept a steady pace to keep him from catching up with me. I wasn't in the mood to keep arguing with him, he didn't understand, he wasn't in my situation. Zuko only added insult to injury at this point…

I turned at some corners and hopped a few rocks, I pulled leaves off tree branches that were low enough for me to reach as I passed them by. My thoughts drown out the world. I was enraged with Zuko for some reason, angrier that I should have, or wanted to be. I stomped up the cobble stone pathway to my shelter within minutes.

I didn't really mean to but with a loud crash I slammed the door behind me. Mai jumped, startled at my entrance. She looked up from her book and her eyes beamed into mine, she raised her eyebrows slightly.

"How was the beach?" He voice a smooth, milky monotone.

"Fine." My voice felt like venom in my throat, it boiled over in my words.

"You alright?" She put her read on the table and sat up. It seemed like she was almost beconing me to stay. I wasn't much in the mood to talk.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A long day, that's all…."

"Ty-lee. It's only two in the afternoon. Whatever…did you see Zuko anywhere?" Her eyes followed me around the room. I frowned hard.

"Yes. I did. He's probably on his way." I paced myself to my room and slammed the door behind me.

I jumped onmy bed and punched into my double stitch pillow until I had calmed down a bit. I could hear chatter in the other room after a couple of minutes.

"I don't understand what the problem is. I tried to help, all's she did was throw a tantrum!" It was Zuko.

"You wouldn't understand! Zuko, you think this is all something that will just…just go away?! No! Azula was…a part of Ty-lee! You obviously said something to upset her! It isn't like- "

"Yeah, and my mother was a part of me! You don't see me still sobbing about it! She has issues she needs to settle, Mai. It's been weeks, she's gained weight, she barely talks-"

"Yeah, she barely talks to you! " Mai's voice suddenly became a hush whisper. "Zuko, you don't get it, Ty-lee didn't just like Azula…she had an obsession."

"What do mean, an obsession?" His tone was now just as feather light.

"Zuko, I would catch her stealing hair out of Azula's combs, she would wear her clothes when Azula wasn't around, I've seen countless drawings, poems, everything! …Zuko, I've caught her watching Azula…"

"Like…do you mean stalking? She was stalking my sister?!" I could hear the abrupt confusion and shock in his voice. I clung to my bed sheets.

"Yes. When we were young and when we were in the war, I would wake up and fine both Azula and Ty-lee gone, and everytime I found them… Your sister would practice her bending, study a map, maybe plan out a stratigic battle plan, all in the late hours, and everytime I would see Tylee. She would hide in bushes, use her flexibility to cling to the ceiling…" Her voice trailed off.

"Mai, this isn't healthy. That's…abnormal! How do we know she doesn't watch us?!" His voice was enticed, enraged.

"Because, I kept records. I made it a point to study Ty-lee. She got up everynight, so I started to as well, she never gave me a second glace. She never bothered to go through my things. At first I thought it was all a plan on her end, a plan to overthrow Azula. With time and evidence, I proved that theory incorrect."

"What evidence?" I didn't need to see him, I knew Zuko was practically on the edge of his seat, like a child listening to a bed time story.

"She wouldn't go to study Azula's maps, she wouldn't look at the battle plans, when she snooped in your sisters things she always took useless things, like hair clips or a tube of lipstick. So after a while I thought maybe she was…well…"

"Mentally unstable? Because that's what I think!"

"Shut up, Zuko! She has some issues…she needs our help."

"Maybe it was for the best that Azula died, you know…for Ty-lee's sake anyway."

"I…I don't know, Zuko…"

They were wrong. There was nothing wrong with me!