It was very hard to figure out what would be the right thing to do.

Azula sat quietly by the fire, her knees hugged to her chest, watching as Ty Lee carefully mended a rip in the sleeve of her harlequin shirt. Her eyes rested on the acrobat's fingers. Ty Lee had always had somewhat callused hands, owing to the gymnastics that she was constantly performing, but she had always kept them soft and neatly manicured. Now her nails were rough and broken in places, and patches of dry skin marked the backs of her hands. Azula's own fingers showed similar wear. But it's different for her, the former princess mused. She chose it. Ty could go back to the Fire Nation anytime she wanted. She could go home – but she doesn't. Guilt flooded her, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

Only yesterday, Tami had kissed her. She hadn't initiated it, of course, and Tami had been drunk at the time – but Azula still felt guilty. She knew that Ty Lee was a little leery of her going to the Lucky Bear in the first place, and would probably be terribly hurt if she knew about Tami's little indiscretion. She probably wouldn't much like my sweetleaf pipe, either. The black-haired girl frowned as she gazed into the fire. But I can't just sit here at home all the time, can I? And it's not as if I'm doing anything illegal. I'm not getting drunk. I'm not smoking so much that I lose control of anything.

"Penny for your thoughts."

Azula looked up to find Ty Lee smiling quietly at her. A sudden blush darkened the former firebender's cheeks. "I...was just..." She stopped, inhaling. "I need to talk to you, Ty."

The little acrobat nodded, tying off her thread. "Okay. Go ahead, 'Zula. - Aza."

Frowning, Azula turned her eyes back to the fire. "I didn't go to the Lucky Bear tonight because I know you don't like it," she said. "And yes, you say it's fine for me to go, but I know you don't really think that it is. So...I'm here. I like making you happy, Ty – I do." She stopped.

"But you still want to go to the Lucky Bear." Ty Lee neatly folded the shirt, put it aside, and stuck their one needle carefully into the bit of flannel where they kept it. Her gray eyes were sober as she looked at her. "How come you like it so much?"

"It's...different." The former princess scowled in frustration as she tried to explain. She wasn't even sure that she completely understood the draw herself. "I'm good at cards, and I like being good at something again. Whiskey's good – it relaxes me. Kat and Tami and the rest of them are...well, I find them interesting. What's so bad about that? Why does it bother you so much?"

Ty Lee slipped over to her. Coaxing Azula's knees down, she crawled into her lap and reached up to kiss her cheek. The black-haired girl frowned a bit as her lover's eyes met hers. "It's not that I think you're doing anything illegal," Ty Lee said softly. "I know you're smarter than that, baby. It's just...well, we're supposed to be keeping our noses clean, right? And you could get in trouble in a place like that. What if you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?" She slipped her arms loosely around Azula's body and rested her head against the side of her neck. "I don't want you to get hurt. That's all," she murmured. "And the Dai Li already don't like you. Maybe you shouldn't give them such an easy target."

"I suppose," Azula muttered. Her amber eyes still glinted rebelliously. "Are you sure it isn't just because you're jealous of Tami?"

She felt Ty Lee's body stiffen. There was a short pause. "No." Ty Lee's voice was low. "I mean, I guess I am sort of jealous. She gets to see you more than I do." Her finger traced a random pattern on the front of Azula's shirt.

"And you don't trust me. You think I'd cheat on you." Azula's jaw tightened.

"No! No, 'Zula. I never said that." Ty Lee clung to her. "You wouldn't do that to me. I know you wouldn't! It's just that I miss you when I don't see you all day, and then you don't come home until late. And it seems like you just don't want to talk to me about what you do when you're there with them, and that makes me worry." She sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm being a pain."

"Yeah, you are." Azula relented as she felt Ty Lee's body slump at this. She slipped her arms around the little acrobat's waist and gently kissed the top of her head. "So what do you want me to do, Ty? Tell me. Are you going to nail me up in a box and only take me out when you want to play with me?"

This made the gymnast giggle. She pressed her lips against Azula's throat. "Of course not, silly. Although that would be sort of fun...ouch!" - As Azula pinched her side lightly. "Okay, okay. No. I want you to make friends and have fun and things. Just...maybe I'd like to come, too. Not all the time. Just sometimes."

"You want to come to the Bear?" The former firebender's eyes widened as she imagined it. Tami and Ty Lee, in the same room. Gods, that would be awkward! And with the way Ty Lee attracts guys, she'd probably have someone's girlfriend trying to beat her up ten minutes after she got there. "I don't know, Ty. I don't know that it's your kind of place."

To her dismay, Ty Lee looked up at her with teary eyes. "I knew it. You don't want me there," the little acrobat whispered, her lip quivering. "Are you ashamed of me?"

"No! Gods, no. I'd never be ashamed of you." Tears spilled down Ty Lee's cheeks. Azula gently wiped them away. "Stop it. Ty, please don't cry! Look, if you want to come to the Lucky Bear that badly, I'll take you. It isn't that I don't want to be with you. I just didn't think you'd like it there, that's all."

"Okay." The little acrobat snuggled against her, wiping her eyes. "You're really not ashamed of me?"

"Never." Azula's voice was quiet. She slid her fingers beneath Ty Lee's chin and lifted until she could look her in the eye. "Are you all right now?"

A tentative smile moved over the gymnast's lips. "Yeah. I'm okay, as long as we're okay." The former princess nodded and kissed her forehead. "If you don't think I'd like the Lucky Bear, we could try something else. You could invite Tami and her friends over here some night. I'd like to meet them."

"We could do that." Azula couldn't quite keep the note of relief out of her voice. She thought for a moment. Tami mentioned that Kat likely won't come out for a while. She's probably high on poppyrock right now. "I'll ask Tami. I think she said Kat was going to be...busy...for a few days. But maybe they can figure out a day that works."

"Good." Ty Lee seemed much happier. She pulled Azula's head down to kiss her. "You coming to bed, baby?"

"Later. I think I need to meditate for a while." Azula smiled a bit as the gymnast pouted. "I'll make it up to you tomorrow night. Okay?" Ty Lee sighed and nodded, stealing one last kiss. "Good night, Ty."

Azula had been plagued by visions and hallucinations just before the end of the war. These, coupled with the trauma of being defeated, had finally snapped her mind. The troubling visions had persisted throughout the time she had spent in prison afterward, and even after Ty Lee had freed her. Avatar Aang had finally helped her then, explaining to her that many of these 'hallucinations' were actually visions of the Spirit World. Azula had gone there a few times after that. She'd met her great-grandfather there, Avatar Roku, and then her mother, Lady Ursa. But Azula hadn't tried to enter the Spirit World since her near-death by hanging. She hadn't wanted to be anywhere but the everyday world after that. Her amber eyes rested on Ty Lee as the girl lay down. But now I don't know what to do, and I don't have anyone else to ask. Azula watched while the little acrobat made herself comfortable on the mats. Ty Lee finally lay still a few minutes later, her face peaceful.

Only when the little acrobat's breathing deepened in sleep did Azula stir again. She moved directly in front of the fire, sitting cross-legged before it. She paused then, her face growing pensive. Her fingers reached out slowly to touch a glowing coal. The heat made her twitch back and suck in her breath; she lowered her head. Once fire had been her element. She had wielded and manipulated flames as easily as breathing – she'd been one of the best firebenders in all of the Fire Nation, at only fourteen years old. And now it was gone. Her chi no longer resonated to that of the glowing coals before her. It was like part of her had died, or as if one of her limbs had been cut off. Azula closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Normally she tried not to think about it. But here, all alone with the cheerful blaze before her, she couldn't help but remember.

After a moment, the former princess wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. Pull yourself together, Azula. You have to work tomorrow, and you need your sleep. Get meditating. She laid her hands on her knees and gazed down into the fire again, letting her eyes relax. Her breathing grew deep and rhythmic as she disciplined it. The flames loomed larger and larger as everything else fell away. Before she knew it, her eyes had closed, and she was floating in the comforting darkness. Bracing herself, Azula got up and took a step backward; she was outside of her body.

Her mother had instructed her on how to find her again the last time Azula had ventured into the Spirit World. When the girl had gotten over her initial dizziness, she turned away from her own body and looked down. She could see her own lifeline, glimmering like a cobweb just above her navel. Azula slowly lifted her palm to about the level of her chest, peering closely. Finally, she found the faint pinkish glimmer of her heartline. For a moment, she closed her eyes, picturing her mother as clearly as she could. Then she opened them again, closed her fingers, and gave her heartline a very gentle tug.

The room was suddenly engulfed in a blast of blinding light! Azula gasped and flung her arm over her eyes to protect them. The light swirled around her like a blast of wind, piercing through even her closed eyelids. It was almost painful. Then it stopped as abruptly as it had started. Azula stumbled and fell. She found herself rolling on the grass in a sunny field. Coming to a stop, she lay there on her back, trying to catch her breath. After a few moments, she finally got her bearings enough to sit up and look around.

She was sitting on a gentle slope on the shoulder of a mountain, overlooking the wide valley beneath. Everything had the odd, misty quality that she'd noticed before in the Spirit World. A little bewildered, Azula slowly rose to her feet. She had evidently succeeded in making her way into the Spirit World, but she wasn't quite sure if she'd made it where she was intending to go. "Mother?" she called timidly, peering about. "Are you here?"

It was only then that she noticed a group of four people sitting at the edge of the meadow. She paused. As she watched, one of them rose and began to approach her. Azula recognized her at once – her willowy form and oval face were unmistakable. It was her mother, Lady Ursa. The woman was holding out her arms and smiling in gentle greeting. A little awkwardly, the former princess moved forward; the arms of her mother enveloped her. "I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner, Mother," she murmured. "A lot has happened..."

"That's all right, my dear. Time moves differently here." Ursa smiled and smoothed her daughter's hair. "You have a lot to tell me, don't you?" Azula nodded. "Then let's take a walk, and you can talk to me." She slipped her arm around her daughter's shoulders, and they walked together into the forest.

When Azula had last come to her mother in the Spirit World, she had told her about her plan to surrender to Zuko in exchange for Ty Lee's freedom. As they walked, she quietly told Ursa how her brother had ordered her hanged, and how Mai had saved her life. She told her, too, about the arrangement Zuko had made afterward with King Kuei, and how she was now in exile in Ba Sing Se. She described her job at the Good Fortune Teahouse; she told her about Tami and her friends, and confessed to everything they had been doing. Then she paused. "And this is where I need your advice, Mother," she admitted. "Ty Lee doesn't like my going to the Lucky Bear without her, and I suppose I understand why. I don't want her to be unhappy, but...I enjoy my time there. I don't want to stop going!" She scowled down at the ground. "Ty Lee's the only person I've ever really tried to please, aside from Father. I could never please him, either. Perhaps I'm just no good at it. I don't know what to do."

Her mother was silent for a moment. "Let's stop here, my lamb." They paused, and Ursa sat down on a mossy stone. Azula knelt down at her feet. The woman's face was grave. "Let me ask you a question," she said. "What are your priorities, Azula? Set aside your problems with Tami and that alehouse for a moment. What's most important to you right now?"

"To get out of the Lower Ring, and to make Ty Lee as happy as I can," Azula answered promptly. "But I don't see why I should have to be bored and miserable in the meantime."

"You're not getting drunk at this tavern of yours, are you?" Ursa asked.

A vision of Tami's drunken groping flashed through Azula's memory. She winced and shuddered in embarrassment. "No," she said adamantly. "I'm not in the least bit interested in making such a fool of myself, Mother."

"And you aren't encouraging Tami's crush on you?" The older woman's amber eyes were solemn.

Azula shook her head. "It's flattering," she admitted, "and I don't dislike Tami, but no. I can't even imagine what that would do to Ty Lee! No. And besides, I doubt that Tami even remembers kissing me. She didn't act as if she did at work today."

Ursa nodded slowly. "In that case, I think that you should act on what Ty Lee told you. She said that she misses you – I would think that means that she wants to spend more time with you." She paused. "You do love her, don't you, Azula?"

"I'd die for her," Azula said quietly. "I almost did."

"Then show her that. Do things for her, my lamb." Ursa smiled and drew her daughter up against herself. "I know this is your first time, Azula. When people are in love, sometimes they just want to be reassured a little. Do you tell her that you love her?"

Azula frowned. "Sometimes, I suppose. She tells me all the time."

Her mother nodded again. "I think it isn't so much about your pub and this Tami girl. I think you just need to find a way to make Ty Lee feel that you value her." Ursa smiled a bit wider. "I can't help you with how to do that, though, I'm afraid. You know Ty Lee much better than I do. But you're my brilliant little girl; I'm sure you can think of something." She kissed the top of Azula's head.

Everything seemed much clearer now. The former princess smiled up at her mother. "I think you're right," she said. "If I'm careful, there's no reason I should stop going to the Lucky Bear. And I have been neglecting Ty Lee a little, so of course she's worrying. I just have to remember that she's one of my priorities."

"That's right. Just find some way to make her feel special, and I think you'll find that Ty Lee won't mind your other friendships anymore," Ursa said quietly.

"Thank you, Mother." Azula hugged the woman awkwardly. "I...I'd like to stay longer, but I have to work tomorrow..."

"Then go, my dear." Ursa laid her hand against Azula's cheek and smiled gravely. "But do come back, my lamb. I want to talk to you more about your exile and your brother." The girl nodded, and Ursa kissed her brow. "Go in peace, Azula."

The little house was cold when Azula finally opened her eyes to it again. She shivered as she undressed for bed. Quickly, she slipped under the blanket and snuggled up to Ty Lee's warm body. The little acrobat murmured and pressed her face into Azula's shoulder, but didn't wake up. The former princess laid her head down on their thin pillow. I'll have to come up with something to do for her tomorrow. She looked down at the sleeping girl, and her hawk eyes softened. "Good night, Ty," she whispered. "I'll do better from now on – I promise."