Burns
It actually hurt. A lot.
But she didn't let it show. She was far too stubborn and far too proud for that. Even when Ty Lee tightened the bandages around her arms and hands, she didn't wince. Didn't let her face betray her.
For so long she'd been taught that only the pathetic show weakness or signs of pain, and she was never really able to outgrow such lessons.
Still, when Ty Lee tied off the bandages woven around her fresh burns, she couldn't help but flinch. She glanced up at Ty Lee, making sure that she didn't see it. Azula was sure that she didn't. Besides, if she did, she knew well enough to not let Azula know that she'd seen.
"How's that feel?" Ty Lee asked her.
Azula shrugged, and said, "It's fine. Not up to your usual standards, though. And the cold water was a terrible idea; it's only going to get soggy."
Ty Lee sighed and shook her head, smiling all the while. "I'll take that as a thank you," she said.
Azula rolled her eyes.
Ty Lee giggled as she put the roll of bandages back inside the bag she had with her. Inside of it was all sorts of medicine and first aid: apothecaries meant for soothing burns and rashes and fevers, bandages and tweezers, and even scalpels. But it was mostly bandages and creams. Azula spotted a greenish looking paste that she knew had seaweed in it. She was thankful that Ty Lee hadn't used that on her burns; it would have smelled awful.
Azula pulled her eyes away from the medicine bag and looked down at her freshly bandages arms.
"Do you think they'll scar?" she asked suddenly.
"What?" Ty Lee asked, not sure that she'd heard her right.
"My arms," Azula repeated, thrusting them forward. "Do you think they'll scar?"
Ty Lee took her arms in her hands, turning them over and back again. She regarded her quietly, and Azula waited for her to speak. Her jaw clenched as the time ticked on and Ty Lee hadn't said anything yet. Her patience was starting to grow thin.
"Well?" Azula snapped.
"I don't know!" Ty Lee said. "Maybe. They were only second degree burns, but they should heal. I treated them properly, and–"
Azula yanked her arms away from her and stalked towards the window. She crossed her bandaged arms in front of her and glared at the outside world. "Great," she grumbled, "I'll spend the rest of my life looking like Zuko." She hissed her brother's name.
Ty Lee walked over to her, stopping just a few feet short. She was scared to touch her, or to get too close. She knew how Azula was when she was in these types of moods. She still had a scar on her face from one of Azula's destructive tantrums. The scars were fading, and with a little bit of makeup no one could see them. Ty Lee knew that they were there, though. She found them stinging whenever Azula used her voice menacingly.
"Maybe it's symbolic," she suggested.
Azula turned to look at her, clearly bewildered. "Symbolic?"
"Yeah," Ty Lee said, ignoring the glare on Azula's face.
Azula spun and strode up to her, holding out her bandaged arms for her to see. "What about this is symbolic to you?" she snarled. "And don't give me any of those poetic, spirit tale excuses."
"Well…becoming burned by your own flame in a moment of rage. It's like that old proverb, don't you think? Grasping onto a coal with intent to throw it…only you end up getting hurt when your intent was to hurt others…" Ty Lee shrugged, and then backed away.
"You've been listening to my uncle too much," Azula said. She sounded calmer than she felt. But then a sigh escaped her lips and she sat down on the mats beneath her, crossing her legs and putting her sore hands in her lap.
Ty Lee crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Say what you want, but he's got a lot of good advice," Ty Lee told her, a wide smile spreading across her face. Azula found that she couldn't look at it for too long. Something about her smiles made her arms hurt again, though she didn't know why.
"You should see him again," Ty Lee said.
Azula said nothing in return.
"No, seriously!" she continued. Ty Lee did an elaborate twirl before she sat down next to her on the mats, crossing her legs to mirror Azula's position. "You've been away from your family a lot, and I was just thinking that maybe it would do you some good to go and say hello to them. Or at least see them again…"
Ty Lee stopped, not wanting to press her luck.
Azula remained quiet for the longest time, and Ty Lee thought that perhaps she had entered some sort of meditative state. It was only when Azula sighed (making Ty Lee jump) that she thought otherwise. Thinking was more like it. Azula was known to think long and hard a lot of times, often on things that didn't need so much of it.
"Ember Island has not been kind to me," Azula mumbled.
"It's supposed to reveal the true you," Ty Lee said. "At least, according to Lo and Li, that is." Azula said nothing in response, and Ty Lee looked away from her. "I should probably go see them someday. They're not going to be around much longer, y'know…"
Still Azula said nothing.
Ty Lee cupped Azula's face in her hands and kissed her sweetly on the forehead. She felt Azula's skin heat up in a blush as she kissed her. Her smile widened, loving the fact that she was able to have this kind of affect on her. When Ty Lee pulled away, she gazed at Azula with starry eyes.
Azula's face was flushed, and her lips had parted like she had wanted Ty Lee to take her and kiss her on the lips...but still, she just ignored her. She was too far lost in her own thoughts, as is.
Calculating the degree of the burn, how it would scar, whether or not her fighting would be perfect for the next few days while it was healing, whether or not people would ask questions…
Azula didn't think anybody'd be stupid enough to ask about her scars; and besides, even if they did, a cruel glare in their direction usually shut them up.
"I'm going to head down to the beach," Ty Lee said.
She waited for Azula to say anything, do anything. Even if it was as simple as a tilt of the head or the parting of her lips again.
Nothing.
"Feel free to join me," she said, and then she was gone, leaving Azula in the room alone.
She sat there for a long time, thinking and thinking. She became lost with her own thoughts, like she had so many times after her imprisonment. All the therapy she'd gone through had a tendency to make her become stuck in her head sometimes, having mental conversations with herself and replaying out scenes of her life like a storybook.
After hours spent alone, Azula sighed, got up off the mat, and went to go join Ty Lee down by the beach.
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