"You have a bruise here on your shoulder," Azula said.
Ty Lee nodded, for it was true. There was no point in hiding the truth from Azula, especially not when her eyes were right upon the bruise, critically examining it while her thumb ran lightly over the pained skin.
Ty Lee winced as Azula pressed her thumb into her shoulder, testing the pain. But she did not let out a cry, or moan, or even a gasp. Long ago, back when Azula and she were still fighting in the 100 Year War, Azula had taught Ty Lee to work through pain.
They were lessons she took to heart.
"How did you get this?" Azula asked her. Ty Lee could hear the edge in her voice as she spoke. She could almost see her golden eyes aflame with both concern anger. Could see the way her lip pouted as she put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"You have not been in combat for months, and I know that you won't be fighting anyone for the next two months while you are here with me. So I ask again, how did you get this?"
"I was training, and one of the girls knocked me down to the floor," Ty Lee said. "It's okay, honestly."
"Training with the Kyoshi Warriors?" Azula asked, although she already knew the answer.
"Yeah. Training with them."
Behind her, Ty Lee could picture Azula pouting once more. When Ty Lee began her training with the Kyoshi Warriors once more, it was a sign that their time together was coming to an end, and it would soon be time to part once more. Azula and Ty Lee had spent long times together in Azula's chambers, the part of the palace that Zuko had arranged for her to live in.
Good old Zuko, Ty Lee thought. She raised her hands and clasped her shoulders, giving herself a small squeeze.
Even with Azula denounced as heir to the throne, and inhibited from ever being in charge of grand duties or military command of the Fire Nation, Zuko still acknowledged her as princess, and that was how all of the Fire Nation viewed her. She had her own room, her own chambers, her own handmaids (which she could not lay a finger on).
It made it seem normal, like how things were years ago.
Sometimes, Ty Lee could imagine that this was how things were and would always be. She would drift backwards in her mind, to when she and Azula were only fourteen years old, and the entire palace was at her beck and call and whim. When Ty Lee had just recently quit the circus to join her on a worldwide chase for Zuko and the Avatar.
It did seem like that, sometimes, when Ty Lee closed her eyes and let the memories of the days long past consume her.
But she had to admit, now it was better. Life was just better. For her, and Mai, and Azula (though Azula was reluctant to admit it).
"I wish you wouldn't," Azula said, voicing her opinion after a long moment of silence. Her fingers still ghosted over the blue and purple splotch on Ty Lee's shoulder, and goosebumps arose on Ty Lee's skin.
"I wish I wouldn't have to, either. But I am a Warrior of Kyoshi now, I have duties, responsibilities, and when the girls called me back for some early training, I just couldn't say no!" Ty Lee ended her speech on a high, positive note, which only made Azula pout more.
She could hear the fire in her breath, that she wanted to release.
It was normal for Azula to still fly into her fits of rage. Ever since the first one, they came easier and more frequent to her. Ty Lee wondered if she would ever have the same calculating, calm, and collected Azula return. She had to brace herself for the truth that she might not.
Though it was a hard truth to bear.
When Azula finally sighed, there was a heat to her breath that licked at Ty Lee's bare skin, but no fire, no flames, no sparks. She was calm again, calm and collected. But not calculating. Ever since the war had ended, it seemed like the strategist inside of her had died.
Maybe there was nothing more for her to calculate?
Perhaps there just wasn't a point to it? Perhaps there never was?
Ty Lee didn't know, and couldn't be sure. She turned around, swiveling to look Azula in the face. Azula's hands slid off of her as she spun, and she leaned forward, her arms resting on her knees, while Ty Lee rest her head up against Azula's leg.
"Don't worry, Azula," she said sweetly. "I'm not going anywhere. Not for another two months."
A low hum in the back of Azula's throat was her only answer.
"Azula," Ty Lee said again, pulling her cheek off of her knee, and leaning upwards to kiss her. She let her lips slide slowly over hers, their breaths mingling before the locked together. Azula seemed to pull kisses from Ty Lee, steal them from her, no matter how much Ty Lee seemed to be giving.
When they broke apart, Ty Lee stood on her feet, looking down at Azula sitting on the edge of the bed.
"In a few hours it will be nighttime," Ty Lee told her lover, looking from her golden eyes to the outside world and then back to her eyes. "Would you like to do anything?"
"Just stay with me," Azula commanded. Ty Lee smiled, and said that she would. She leaned in to hug her, to comfort her and press her body hard against hers to make her know how much she was loved.
As they hugged, Ty Lee could feel Azula's fingers pressing into her bruise.
"Just stay with me."
