Chapter Eight: The Lady or the Tiger-Monkey?


Katara is debating giving up hope at the moment she and her two friends come across an actual town.

The settlement floats in the middle of a lake with water so brown and acidic looking that the waterbender wonders if this will be as much as a dead end as the past pinpoints on the map she, her brother and his girlfriend have visited.

This part of the Fire Nation is a dried up, used and forgotten landscape that looks even worse than the Colony Kingdom is said to be.

Quietly, Suki inquires, "Should we stop here?"

Her feet are sore and she would do anything to rest, but this village makes her uneasy. The dirty reeds ripple in the wind, and their whistling is the only sound, until Katara decides to speak.

"Let's just check it for signs of life. We're not doing so great at walking through deserted places." Katara takes a deep breath, and the air makes her break into a coughing fit.

Sokka frowns, wanting to help her, but feeling powerless. So he just marches down off of their perch, the two girls following him, and they walk as casually as three filthy, suspicious looking teenagers can to the rotted docks. There is a ferry, surprisingly enough. And an actual human running it, despite the fact that he does not say a word.

Once they set foot on the docks, it becomes evident that it is a sleepy town, consisting of solely houseboats and a few wooden supports. It probably was idyllic in its prime, before the Fire Nation ran out of resources and decided to devour everywhere else. No one seems to have any energy, and exhaustion is clearly the norm.

There is such evident illness, starvation, dark stains and ceaseless pollution. Katara had thought that the inhospitable water, the decaying buildings and destruction all were just contained within the ghost towns to the west. But there are people living here.

"I wish the Fire Nation could see this," Katara whispers as she glances around at the pain and misery. "Do you think any of them would look and... understand?"

Sokka shakes his head. "No. They're on top so they want to ignore all of this."

"I doubt they know." Suki cannot stop reiterating that. "It isn't their fault, is the thing. I heard nobody is even allowed to leave Caldera, except maybe some really deceiving trips to the Colony Kingdom."

And Sokka cannot stomach that thought. Maybe he does not want to be on the wrong side, or maybe he just doesn't want to think about how hard his task is. "They might be misled, but that just means for generations they believe this is right. It's not their fault that they're evil, but there's no stopping it now."

Suki doesn't bother anymore, but Katara seems to somehow maintain optimism.

"Zuko was good," Katara states, shaking her head. "Other people could be too."

"Zuko got burned in the face and kicked out of the Fire Nation paradise," Sokka snaps and Katara narrows her eyes at him.

Suki, actually self-aware, glances around and makes sure that nobody notices those two shouting about being in the rebellion as loudly as they can.

"The Water Tribe was like that too. We didn't know anything, and all of this is shocking for a reason." Katara does not have a follow up statement, and she just starts walking across the creaking boards.

As they uneasily look for somewhere not closed. There are people, signs of life, trash fluttering across the docks, but it had been empty, until people start arriving. Katara glances around, unable to take in or comprehend the sight as the town fills for no obvious reason, and the trio glances around, shocked.

"The shift at the factory just closed," remarks a woman staring at them.

She gestures loosely into the distance, and Katara feels her gut twist when she sees what has poisoned this place.


The brutality of choices was not invented by Fire Lord Ozai, although he had no qualms about embracing the barbarism of his forefathers. As Ty Lee contemplates just what choice was made to land her here, Ty Lee is lying on bed with Azula, wondering if she should search for her clothes and leave or not.

In her thoughts, she remembers a dumb parable that she learned in school. She thought, as a girl, that it had no weight in reality. Or at least Ty Lee thought before she had a firsthand glimpse about the beloved illusion of choice here.

The Fire Lord, long before Sozin, had a daughter, a very beautiful one, and she had an affair with a man far below her class. After he found out, he decided to offer them both mercy. Behind one door was a half starved tiger-monkey, and behind the other was a beautiful woman of his same class.

Well, he told his daughter which was which, and she told her lover.

It seems very simple. The commoner man will choose the door with the woman.

But it is not a simple two choices, because it also depends on the honesty of the princess. If she did not want her lover to marry another, she could easily misguide him. There are more choices, more directions it could take if you account for more factors.

Nothing is just black and white. And Ty Lee hates a world like that. She just wants to choose between the pretty woman and the tiger-monkey, and nothing more.

Ty Lee looks up with Azula after those spiraling thoughts about a forgotten story. The princess looks so peaceful, and Ty Lee wonders if she trusts her fiancee. Perhaps Azula has no reason to mistrust her, the way her father does. The way her friends now will, if she even has any friends left alive.

The sensations and mixed up feelings within her feel wrong. It was wonderful at the time, the sex, but now she realizes that she and Azula were doing it for two very different reasons. That they do not, and will never, feel the same way at the same time.

Ty Lee realizes that the nasty feeling is guilt. Because Azula had no ulterior motive, even thought she is the one who is serpentine, she is the one who conquers and brutalizes and manipulates. But it is Ty Lee who used her, and used her desire for...

No desire is worth doing that to someone, and this is coming from a girl who seduced her way onto both sides of a silent war.

Maybe Ty Lee is too sweet and thinks the best in people too often. Maybe Azula would have just taken it for her own gain at some point, and Azula is worse than she is, like she should be.

No, no. Ty Lee will find a shred of humanity in Azula, because she could see last night that even if she was a person who detached herself entirely, she was a person. Not a weapon. A person, and Ty Lee decides at this moment that she is going to seek that out and draw it out of her.

People do not exist in duality. Azula is not an idea...

And so Ty Lee has reason and purpose to do this. Even if it does nothing beneficial for anyone, to find the person within the monster would be worth... something. Something feels worth it, even though Ty Lee knows that giving herself that goal is just a trap.

It is a nice trap though.

Ty Lee closes her eyes again instead of running away.

She thinks she has decided that she will surrender and choose this new life, no matter what it brings.

It might go against everything she has ever been taught, but there are worse choices she could make.

[X]

They wake up together and almost feel like a married couple. Ty Lee gets ready, and Azula does, and they do not exchange a single word despite all that they shared last night. Azula allows Ty Lee to accompany her through the day, and Ty Lee has nothing better to do.

Azula has a routine; Ty Lee does not.

Therefore, Azula finds herself with someone literally at her heels for a significant portion of the day. It would be bothersome, and alright it is bothersome, but she does not ever have company. Azula does not like to be spoken to, looked at directly in the eyes, or being within a few feet of others.

Ty Lee cannot help but comment on everything from what clouds look like to asking way too many questions (although none of them are personal, which earns her a few points), she does meet Azula's eyes and the princess would not care horribly since Mai and father both do, but Ty Lee apologizing every single time, but then looking right up again and then apologizing again is so infuriating that Azula is the one to avert her eyes now. And the closeness...

Alright, Azula likes the closeness.

The princess is now training, and she looks beautiful to Ty Lee with the lightning reverberating through her skin. Every time Azula stops, Ty Lee tries to strike up conversation by asking series of questions. She is in the midst of one right now.

"So, do you have ginseng?" Ty Lee asks.

"Yes." Azula hopes this will be over soon. That she will not have to brutally put an end to it and upset this clearly frail girl.

"Passionflower?"

"Yes."

"Chamomile?"

"We have all of the same teas here! Most of them actually come from the Colony Kingdom!"

Ty Lee is silent.

"Mmm. Okay. I never really paid attention to the exports, really. I was, uh, not... the word for not paying attention..."

"Attentive."

"I guess." Ty Lee shrugs. "So how good is your aim with lightning."

"Do you want to find out?"

"Why are you so angry?" Pause. "Are you upset about last night?" Ty Lee whispers, and Azula actually turns to face her.

"Why would I be? That's nothing at all to be upset about," Azula replies casually, although her heart nearly jumped out of her mouth when Ty Lee mentioned last night.

She honestly wishes Ty Lee continued listing every single type of tea.

"I'm sorry I was so indecisive."

"It didn't bother me." Azula means that. She just could not shake the sensation that Ty Lee was very indecisive and an honorable person would realize that meant she probably didn't want to be doing it.

"It didn't bother me either," Ty Lee says passionately, even if she is unsure of the truth. "We..."

"Won't until our wedding if you want. It doesn't matter to me." Azula does mean that. There is a rush in controlling and conquering people, but manipulation and conquest are only fulfilling when they are a means to a useful end. Doing that for base desire makes her feel flawed.

Human desires are shameful, but the desires of deities are well worth fighting for.

"I'm a bit..." Ty Lee blushes. "I'm a bit thrown off by how accommodating you're being. Not that I don't think you are, but I just am not really sure what to think about that. Am I not, am I not..."

Good enough for you to beg for like every boy I've been with, Ty Lee wishes she could voice.

"Patience is very important for a good leader. It is impatience that began the war we are still reeling from. We took too much too greedily ─ or so my ancestors did ─ and then took some more. And well, war provides for every man, whether through victory or death." Azula does recall that quote from some dull essay or book long ago, and it is one of the few she recalls.

"Yeah..." Ty Lee has zero patience.

"Impulsive decisions and inability to wait result in mistakes, of course, not that my grandfathers made mistakes, but I will do better than them. I refuse to make a single error." Azula sits down and Ty Lee thinks she should definitely slide off of the stone bench to be on her level, or below it, but she does not want to seem too obvious either.

"I believe you don't ever fuck up," Ty Lee admits, because she does. "Your family is disturbingly perfect."

Azula waits for a second, contemplating the right reply.

"With closets as spacious as the ones in this palace, we have room for more skeletons than most," Azula says breathily and Ty Lee stares at her for too long.

She returns to her training, and, as Azula predicted, Ty Lee does not jabber on and on like she has been all day.

[X]

It becomes quite clear that, due to today being the day before mass executions, everyone is trying to keep Ty Lee busy and occupied.

Her suspicion is confirmed when Ozai invites Ty Lee to lunch, and she really hopes she doesn't have to choose anything more than what sauce on her noodles. He looks at her with that sickening glance of someone pretending to be good and looking out for you, but really waiting to stab a dagger in and twist for the fun of it.

"How have you been settling in?" he inquires and she slowly sits down. She does bow, then change her mind, and winds up nearly smashing her nose on the table.

"Good," Ty Lee says, deciding to stick to smiles, batting her eyelashes and one word replies.

"If there is anything you want or need, ask and you shall receive," he says and Ty Lee bites her lip and nods. That seems fair. "This doesn't have any ulterior motives, aside from getting your perspective. The wedding is approaching very soon and you'll be busy with the planning, I'm sure."

Ty Lee nods. "I'll be choosing bouquets, huh?"

Oh, this is why she should not be allowed to talk. Oh, she could not have said anything worse.

But he brushes it off. "You shared a bed with her last night."

"I, uh, are you... I wouldn't, do, sex things with your daughter..."

"Well, why not? Is there something wrong with her?" he asks and Ty Lee has no clue if he is kidding or not.

"No. I, we did... yeah, last night, but it wasn't anything major..." Ty Lee is blushing so furiously that she feels as if she just caught fire.

"I don't mind either way, so long as you don't make her change her mind. She has over so many girls, so many beautiful ones," Ozai comments and Ty Lee is so unsure what he means. "You are clearly very afraid, but you only have to listen to me until Azula unravels those red scarves."

"Oh," Ty Lee says softly, but she thinks Azula just becomes an intermediary between Ozai's will.

Azula told her that night, the first night they did share a bed, and nothing happened, that Ozai had fixated his reign on unifying and cleansing the Colony Kingdom. That he was afraid of how strong they had become, and how the tyrants there had forgotten that they were under the same flag.

She spoke, as she often does, like she would to a crowd, spinning awful words that mean war and brutality and slavery into something that sounds like a good idea.

"As her wife, you will live to serve her, and will not have to worry at all about what you want. My daughter is selfish and disinterested, but I don't believe she would actively hurt you." Pause. She says nothing and he does not blame her. "I don't want to be your enemy. In fact, quite the opposite. You prove that the people of the Protectorates can be redeemed and civilized. You interested me due to all of those marriage contracts that fell through because you ran from them, because you joined the circus, and decided to help the rebellion..."

Ty Lee gazes at her food. "I obviously cut those ties."

"That isn't proven until tomorrow morning. Depending on how that goes, I will welcome you into my family with open arms," Ozai says calmly. "My wife was meant to take your role, but she... didn't have that influence, those gorgeous eyes and the way people become infatuated with you so easily. That cute little laugh, always looking like you're having fun."

"Well that's true," Ty Lee squeaks. She remembers going through the streets, handing out flowers and charming the men. Everyone always did want to be like she was. If she wore pink ribbons suddenly everyone in the Protectorate did.

Which is why the rebels liked her so much. She could make suicide missions sound appealing, and Ty Lee is starting to feel very queasy when she sees that Ozai is using her the same way that her own dad did.

"Of course," he says and then Ty Lee is stunned that he goes into revealing why Mai did not work for the aims he has with Ty Lee. "My wife was from the colonies. She was born there."

"How did she get out?" Ty Lee is relieved that she voices it as if the Colony Kingdom is something to be escaped, and he seems to approve of that.

"She went to school here, after accepting the offer for elite military training. Talented, talented girl. I met her through my daughter; they worked together and Azula was impressed by her. They were dating, it turned out."

"W..." Ty Lee is not sure if she is saying what, why or when, but all of them apply.

"It was cute. You think I don't know they're together behind my back? If it bothered me there would be severe repercussions. You wouldn't do that to my daughter, would you?"

"No. Nope. No, no, no," Ty Lee stammers. Oh, Ty Lee hopes she does not protest too much.

"She was in a similar predicament."

Ty Lee blanches. "What kind?"

"The kind involving attempts to upset the balance in my empire."

"She wouldn't... she doesn't... she doesn't look like a rebel."

"Neither do you." He watches her squirm for a second before continuing. "She wasn't a rebel, unless you count rebelling against her parents. Caldera changes people. It's a very pretty place, very far away from all of those troubles... as long as you follow the rules. Her mother was a traitor, and her father was so loyal it almost disgusted me."

"What... happened? If that's not too much." If that's not the skeletons Azula was talking about.

"Her mother killed her father. Well... not quite. She just took the punishment and blame." His eyes light up as if that is not an awful thing.

Ty Lee does not piece it together, but Ozai thinks she might realize it eventually. She isn't the brightest candle in the bunch.

"Mhm."

He contemplates how to phrase it for a moment. "Parents make choices for their children without meaning to. The kind of person they are, the life they lead, the mistakes they make. Others do it more directly. And my wife did not care either way, unsurprisingly."

Ty Lee does piece it together. "Oh."

"Clearly better to be a queen than a prisoner, don't you think?"

He is not truly talking about Mai.

He is talking about Ty Lee.

"Of course," she squeaks softly, and when he raises his glass, she does not hesitate to return the gesture.

Better a queen than a prisoner...

Same thing, it seems, for Mai.

[X]

Ty Lee wakes on the day of the mass executions feeling as if it were any other day. There is no sinking dread in the pit of her stomach, no grey clouds and no immediate tears. It is another morning, and she even is starting to get more used to her new bedroom here. And she has figured out the majority of the knobs and devices.

Today, Fire Lord Ozai will take the first major step to uniting the protectorates, as Azula explained when Ty Lee found out her father was dead. That her father had sacrificed himself for her, like Mai's mother did, and Ty Lee just feels so weak.

She is grateful to be ushered into a room and made up to look gorgeous.

From her rather uncomfortable chair, Ty Lee is watching Azula examine the speech she has in hand, as she has been since she finished being decorated.

"I kind of thought you just winged them," Ty Lee manages to remark after her mouth is done being assaulted by lip paint.

Azula smirks. "I do go off script when I feel like it. But the words don't matter; it's how you say them."

Ty Lee nods slowly. She can imagine the pretty words of General Azula destroying cities. It would be a kind of hot sort of thing if Ty Lee had not seen how upset the fall of those cities made everyone around her.

"They're good," Ty Lee says with a faint smile, wishing she had a stronger word for it in her vocabulary, and she watches Azula slowly stand up, and tear up the papers. "Why...?"

"Shush," Azula responds before picking the pieces she labored over for so long up, and burning them in beautiful bursts of blue. And then Azula turns to her. "It's a tradition. Or perhaps the mystical source of my speaking powers."

She cocks an eyebrow as Ty Lee gets jabbed by a stylist for laughing, and Azula is gone.

[X]

Ty Lee's mood plummets when she arrives at the gaudy, bright, flashy and overly gold tinted occasion. It seems so happy, but to her, it is agonizing. That feeling of dread that did not exist when she woke up now is stronger than she imagined it could be. She stands while Azula, Ozai and other important looking people are examining the plans for the afternoon. Around her, tons of politicians Ty Lee vaguely recognizes mill about. Azula keeps glancing at her fiancee, unsure what she ought to do about Ty Lee's evident discomfort.

Azula must say something kind. She is not sure how to do that, but Ty Lee reacted very poorly to what happened to her father. Her friends and mother might be much worse.

"Burning alive is the least painless of our execution types," Azula says quickly as Ty Lee gazes at those lined up for execution and does not see her mother there. "You die from smoke inhalation before you really feel the flames."

Ty Lee swallows and nods. Yeah, Azula may not be the most romantic, but Ty Lee thinks she might be trying.

"Princess," says the voice of Councilor Hoang, "may I wish you well?"

Her eyes flicker up to her spy in the court, and she strides over to him as Ty Lee still looks on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"What is it?" Azula asks softly, and he looks her up and down.

"Her mother is not here," he replies and Azula sees no importance in that. "I happen to know a good deal about a certain kind of poison, a certain kind that was administered on a prisoner."

"So, she's dead. What does it matter?" Azula shrugs.

"It's not a deadly poison. It just keeps her very sick." Again, he can see he is being too cryptic even for a smart girl. "A little sparrowkeet told me that she has been ranked more highly in value, and the poison is meant to keep her inhibited and hushed so no one knows."

"She's leverage. In case things go wrong with Ty Lee." Azula is silent as he nods. "He thinks she's a threat."

"Well, of course. I thought you would have noticed that he is bribing her. She's clearly falling for it, which isn't a bad thing, of course. I have loyalty to the Fire Nation, but, well, I like to have my foot in with the heir to the throne..." He leaves and Azula looks over at Ty Lee.

The choice of whether to tell Ty Lee about her mother or not needs time.

[X]

As the event takes off, and the opening ceremonies at last cease, Ty Lee looks to her father-in-law. When she is married, she may live to serve Azula, as he says, but right now, he is the one she must appeal to, if she wants to live.

"I wanna know what you want me to do," Ty Lee asks in her sweetest, most syrupy tone.

This was much, much easier behind the facade of a performer. Oh, if they asked her to do flips off of the balcony, she would be gleeful. But overseeing a mass execution is worlds away from the circus.

"Just stand and look supportive," Ozai tells her in such a kind voice that she feels queasy. "Go on. Don't look as if you're afraid to touch her."

She steps forward very quietly. Collaborators, he has labeled these people. Ty Lee has heard the rebels use them same word when there is any accidental damage when they did more violent acts. They were collaborators with the Fire Nation; they deserved it.

And now? Here. The Fire Nation says the same words, but with a more formal accent.

Ty Lee stares very blankly, not knowing if she seems supportive or not. The collaborators are likely people she knows, but they are difficult to see from up here and several steps behind Azula. Princess Azula, the Monster of the West, who looks completely calm as she gazes at the pyre and draws the attention and adoration of the people like a lightning rod.

And perhaps draws Ty Lee to her like a lightning rod as well.

She is beautiful, stunning and Ty Lee is always so uncertain.

Azula finishes and Ty Lee tries not to watch the death that comes next.

Ty Lee looks at her feet, and she hopes that it does not seem like a sound of weakness or defiance.

[X]

The evening consists of another observed date of she and Azula. Ty Lee thinks she does need her mind taken of what happened today, and these very meticulously planned outings tend to keep her busy. And they definitely make it easier to be with Azula; no conversation is required, as they are constantly given activities.

Right now, they are not in the midst of said activities, but have been set loose (in the sight of soldiers) and allowed to go look around at some old, quaint shops.

Any evidence of execution is gone permanently, or so it seems, and Ty Lee tries to forget as well. Even though the rainclouds have come, so belated, but there in the sky all the same. But indecisive over if it should rain or not, as Ty Lee has not felt a single drop on her skin.

They cease walking as Ty Lee hears this beautiful street performer on a long street of very old looking but well-kept shops. This place is beautiful, and it brings a smile to her face.

"I love that music," Ty Lee says and Azula shrugs.

"It isn't for me," the princess admits openly.

"Then it isn't for me either," Ty Lee replies, smiling and batting her eyelashes.

Azula contemplates the appropriate reply. Of course, she does not care what anyone else likes, but this seems to be some kind attempt to bring them closer together. And Azula just nods, because the words she has are not the right ones.

Ty Lee examines the shops one by one, poking around inside and sometimes choosing tacking things she might regret, and Azula eyes the clouds coming nearby with the grey and black streaked in them.

It will rain soon.

"You remind me of my uncle when you shop. Ugh, he was so frustrating. I faked stomach aches whenever he took me and my brother to buy things," Azula says, rolling her eyes. "He both could not decide on what he wanted, but after talking to himself and examining them, would just buy both options."

Ty Lee giggles. "I've never heard so much about your uncle. Is he still... around?"

"History is written by the winners. He's best forgotten, as he is," Azula says as she looks at an old scroll on the shelf. "My brother is really the only person who had much contact with him after my father overwrote his accomplishments."

Azula did not intend to blurt such a personal thing out. Ty Lee does not feel like talking to a real person. She just absorbs and says polite things and shallow things and Azula just talks sometimes, without calculating. At least Ty Lee is her property and she can make sure nothing gets too out of hand.

Brother, Ty Lee is fixated on. She wonders if that had anything to do with Zuko's choice punishment.

Choices. Ty Lee thinks for a moment before attempting to strike up conversation. Azula has been much more talkative and less dismissive, mechanical or mocking of late. Maybe it's because Ty Lee slept with her, but she doesn't want to think about that.

"Did you ever read those story things? That were meant to have some kind of moral? Like the Lady and the Tiger-Monkey?" Ty Lee asks softly as she buys a small drink and sips it. Azula thinks for a moment before shaking her head.

"I was bored by most of those. Stories shouldn't have morals. Maybe a message, but not a moral." Azula is not sure why she so strongly believes in that, but she does.

"Right," Ty Lee says and she has no more words.

They flee from the rain, and Azula's eyes linger too long as Ty Lee lingers beneath the arches of the stone buildings.

[X]

In a cold, lonely room in the palace, Azula is shooting lightning at targets, because it is the only thing that calms her mind.

A knock on the door interrupts her, and she allows the last bolt to leave her fingertips and looks up at her father, who has just invited himself in.

He looks severe, and Azula knows that expression; something has gone wrong. It must be in the Colony Kingdom, of course, because they seem to be the sole issue with his regime. Azula hopes they can be resolved before she takes the throne, to be honest.

"I know you have flower arrangements to look at and lightning to shoot at nothing," Ozai says in a nearly desperate tone. Azula narrows her eyes as he continues, "but I need you to go on a brief, elite mission for me. As General Azula."

"I thought I..." Azula hesitates, shaking off her daze. The mission would be a welcome change of pace, although she cannot imagine what it would be that needs her attention. "It must be important."

"It is," he states coldly. "There has been... a little more than a disturbance at an invaluable factory province. We've lost any and all contact and last we heard, they were suffering sudden attacks from rebels."

Azula now fully lowers her hands. She knew there were some of them out in the far west, but none had ever posed a problem before. "Rebels, huh? Maybe they got our message early."

"Possibly. Or perhaps this is step one of something much more disturbing. Get ready as soon as you can. Tomorrow at dawn you're leaving," he explains and lingers for a moment.

Princess Azula decimates a target without looking at it, and then goes to figure out what happened.

[X]

Ty Lee is sitting in Azula's room, studying one out of the ten wedding books the planners have shoved at her. More busy-work, but Ty Lee likes busy-work in such an intimidating climate as this.

"The wedding planner suggested to have something from my protectorate," Ty Lee rambles on and Azula attempts to listen. But she is not very interested. Unfortunately, Ty Lee picks up on it. "Are you okay?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow at dawn to go investigate a disturbance in a fishing town," Azula says calmly as she lies back on the bed, savoring the brief comfort.

Ty Lee's eyes flutter in confusion as she processes the information.

"You're just leaving me," Ty Lee says in mousy awe. Azula does not know what to say.

"I am. You're with Mai and my father, and you will be fine."

Ty Lee's stomach twists. That is exactly what she was worried about.

And so, she thinks as quickly as she can. "You read up on me. You know I had special training and was selected to go to Caldera. I was ─"

"Moving up fast in the army ─ corporal, I think ─ before you chose not to continue," Azula purrs, trying to brush Ty Lee's request off.

"I know more about the rebels than a lot of people," Ty Lee admits and Azula stiffens. "My father was one... I might be helpful."

Azula purses her lips, engrossed in thought. It would be ridiculous to have Ty Lee accompany her. But, on the other hand, it seems like the perfect test of loyalty... and quite the bonding situation.

"Fine." Azula is not certain if this will turn out well or not.

The truth about her military experience is that everyone is expendable. Anyone can be replaced, no matter how good or specialized they are. Ty Lee, as the only option for her wife that she has ever liked, and has ever gone so far with, is not expendable.

"I won't be a distraction," Ty Lee says honestly, but Azula does not believe her.

On the other hand, she would like to see what she can do.

"Is this about how I said I didn't need just beauty; I needed usefulness?" Azula asks bluntly with no regrets.

Ty Lee looks a bit uncomfortable and says, "No. But I... I just want to be helpful for more than just... Standing there and smiling. Mai is really valuable because she was a soldier, and good at it..."

And then Azula understands. Because their sex only happened because Ty Lee was unsettled by Mai and Azula's father. He does respect her, and, yes it is because he also only keeps things that have a purpose. But Azula likes to think that her father is the kind of man who respects his wife... or at least learned from his mistakes with mother.

"He..." Azula pauses. "Walk with me."

Ty Lee, of course, obeys. Being obedient to Azula feels so much better than her father, because she has this pretty seductive purr and the faux extension of her hand that makes the most brutal of things sound so lovely.

They move down the hallways of the palace, grand corridors, some fixtures dilapidated and poorly fixed, and other things shimmering and grand. It, in a sick way, represents the duality that has built the Fire Nation up from a mere nothing to the sole power in the world.

"Oh," bursts unbidden from Ty Lee's lips as she examines the room Azula has just led her into. It is so beautiful.

Paintings, art. Many of them are from what once was the Earth Kingdom, or the Air Temples that Ty Lee never was sure existed. It is so stunning, not at all gaudy or golden. Just beautiful, beautiful like nothing else she has seen, even among the stunning buildings, gorgeous clothes and perfect people in Caldera.

"It's my father's," Azula says calmly. "My grandfather collected war artifacts. My great-grandfather collected the dead. My father collects beautiful things."

"Why are they all in this room? The palace is beautiful ─ don't get me wrong ─ but these would be..." Ty Lee does not even have a word to describe it.

"My father likes beautiful things, but this doesn't have anything to do with art. He likes to own beautiful things. I think he actually would like to own everything. And owning it means no one else can have it, of course," Azula says as Ty Lee looks at a very stunning painting of an odd looking woman, with a blue, silken gown and surrounded by what looks like a tomb of cerulean water.

"Where is this one from?" Ty Lee asks softly.

"One of the protectorates. It doesn't look very old." Azula shrugs, although she feels like she just was stabbed in the gut. Of course Ty Lee would point that one out.

Ty Lee does look away, at last.

"Which do you like best?" she asks Azula and the princess does not move at first.

"That one." The one Ty Lee was so drawn to. Ty Lee does not know if she is lying or not, but Azula is being honest.

"It reminds me of myself," Azula just says, shrugging again, trying to play off what feels like inviting someone into a raw, private place as nothing of importance. "This has to do with my father and Mai, because she, and... maybe myself, are part of his collection. Not for him to enjoy, but to keep for himself so no one else can enjoy it."

Ty Lee is silent.

"Thank you," she whispers, now suddenly realizing how personal this is. Azula let her in for a glimpse, maybe a fraction of who she is underneath the facade of a ruthless and gorgeous monster..

"It doesn't mean anything," Azula says and Ty Lee would believe it. "I just wanted you to understand that there is nothing to envy. I have to go prepare for my mission. You should too."

Azula leaves, any humanity long gone.

Ty Lee stares for a moment at that painting, before she flees in fear of getting caught.