"High voltage in her lips."


"I can't believe you did this!" Zuko shouted, stomping across the Ember Island hospital room. Azula stood with her arms crossed in the corner next to the window, rolling her eyes at another one of her brother's temper tantrums. "She's your friend!"

"I'm telling you, I didn't do anything," Azula replied with an irritated sigh.

"You're lying. I know you are."

Azula shrugged. "I'm telling you the truth. We were walking on the beach, and she fell over. It's not my fault."

She glanced at the hospital bed behind him. Ty Lee lay unconscious beneath the orange sheets, her braid frayed and still full of sand. Mai sat in a chair next to her, ignoring the family feud on the other side of the room.

Zuko snorted. "Nothing's ever your fault, is it? No wonder you don't care."

Azula's eyes narrowed at him. "That's not true. I care."

"You got a funny way of showing it," he grunted, marching away from her. "I'm going to get some tea."

Before he could make it out the door, there was a chorus of high-pitched shrieks. Six girls, each dressed in a different color, trampled Zuko and shoved Mai out of the way to hover over their sister on the bed.

"Oh my gosh, she looks horrible!" exclaimed Ty Lin.

"I hope she recovers!" cried Ty Lao.

"She should stop being a baby and grow up," grumbled Ty Woo.

Mai sighed and joined Azula in her corner. "Looks like the circus is really in town, now."

Azula wasn't listening. She was staring out at the darkened beach, where she and Ty Lee had been only three hours ago.

"Did you mean to hurt her?" Mai asked in an undertone as one of Ty Lee's sisters began to bawl her eyes out, as if Ty Lee was dying.

"Why do you two keep accusing me?" Azula shot back.

"You're the most probable cause," Mai replied in calm. "You two went for a walk, and when you came back, she's unconscious and shows signs of being electrocuted. It's a clear day, so it couldn't have been natural."

"I don't know what else to tell you, Mai."

"I want you tell me exactly what happened."

Azula rolled her eyes again and clenched her teeth. "Fine. I'll tell you. But swear to me that you won't tell anyone, including Zuko."

Mai didn't like the way this was headed. Azula had many secrets, and the ones she always revealed to Mai were the small, horrible ones.

"Fine."

"We got sick of you and Zuzu's makeout session and decided to go for a walk," Azula said, looking out at the open window again. She remembered the setting sun and golden beach, the tourmaline waves washing over their feet as they strolled side by side.

"Ooh!" Ty Lee exclaimed, and bent down to pick up a blue seashell. "This one is so pretty!"

"They all look the same, Ty Lee," Azula replied, not bothering to stop.

"No they don't!" Ty Lee said. "Come look. Please, Azula?"

Ty Lee was making that face again, the one with the big, glassy turtleduck eyes and pouting lips, holding the seashell in both palms for her to see. Azula sighed and backtracked to look, the shell glittering with tiny speckles of light in the amber sunset. Ty Lee smiled, watching as Azula's face shifted from complete disinterest to puzzled fascination, as if calculating in her head what features of the seashell qualified it as unique from the rest.

What Azula was really trying to figure out, though, was why she suddenly felt like she was in the heat of battle. Her heart was racing and her lungs felt like they were full of fire as she stood there, in front of Ty Lee, the warm wind blowing her perfume of peaches and brown sugar sunscreen towards her.

"What do you think?" Ty Lee asked after a minute or so of studious silence. "It looks different, doesn't it?"

"Yes…" was all Azula had to say. She glanced inland at the swaying palm trees, basalt cliffs, and their shadows stretching tall in the sand. They were alone. She couldn't keep her gaze away for long, feeling Ty Lee's eyes on her, her head tilted and looking concerned. No, no it wasn't concern, it was… expectant?

"Well, I suppose that shell has more sparkles than the others," Azula replied, but Ty Lee put the shell behind her back. She swayed back and forth, braid fluttering, a slight, knowing smile to her pink lips. If this wasn't the answer Ty Lee had been looking for, what was she waiting on?

Azula frowned. "What is it?"

Ty Lee's smile became a smirk, the hand holding the shell now reaching out to Azula's, pressing it into her palm. The simple motion brought both of them closer, and Azula suddenly realized what was expected of her, her breath catching in her throat.

"She asked me to look at another dumb seashell," Azula continued, though this very seashell was still tucked away in her pocket. "I did. Then, she collapsed."

Mai cocked an eyebrow. "That's the whole story?"

"Yes."

"So, why bother keeping it a secret? Are you embarrassed that she made you look at a stupid seashell?"

"No, I'm embarrassed that she made me—"

There was a sudden gasp from the cluster around Ty Lee's bed.

"She's awake!" Zuko declared with a grin.

Ty Lee stared up at them, her sisters' faces blurry and excited, hugging her and crying in relief. She blinked, trying to remember what had happened. One moment, it was her and Azula on the beach, and the next was… waking up in the hospital? She groaned, her chest aching and her mouth tasting like metal.

"What… What happened?" she asked, looking to Mai as she now hovered over her. "Why am I here?"

"Azula hit you with lightning," Zuko replied.

Ty Lee's thin brow scrunched together. "No… That's not what happened."

It was Mai's turn to look surprised. "So, what did?"

"We…" Ty Lee began, and paused. "Wait, where is she?"

The sisters parted to reveal Azula still standing in the corner. She looked over, seeing Ty Lee awake, and suddenly considered jumping out the window.

"I wouldn't expect an apology out of her," Zuko said.

Ty Lee shook her head. "No, I just want to tell her something."

Curiosity and confusion mixed inside Azula. It was the same, strange feeling she had gotten on the beach, but she wouldn't let them see that, keeping her expression as rigid as possible. She walked over and stood at the foot of the bed.

"What?" she asked.

Ty Lee smiled. "Please don't shock me the next time you kiss me."

Azula's eyes went wide and her face flushed dark red. The iron footboard of the bed glowed scarlet under her hands, and she pulled them away.

"I'll be back at the beach house," she muttered, excusing herself out of the room.

"Oooooooh…" cooed all six of Ty Lee's sisters.

Mai snickered. "You two kissed?"

Zuko gaped for words. "Seriously?"

Ty Lee blushed, but nowhere near as much as Azula had. She nodded. "Yeah, it just kind of happened. We were walking on the beach and I found a pretty seashell. I told her to come look, we kissed, and then… I woke up here."

"I think that was the last thing any of us expected, but if that's what happened…" Mai said with an indifferent shrug. "That makes more sense thatn her shooting you with lightning.

"But…" Zuko blubbered. "Let me get this straight. You guys… kissed?"

Ty Lum leaned forward. "Ooh! Was she any good?"

"Oh, tell us, Ty Lee!" squealed Ty Liu.

"Yeah, tell us!" added Ty Lat.

"Well…" Ty Lee said, grinning sheepishly.

Zuko stood up. "I'm… gonna go now."

"I'll follow you," Mai said, tailing after him as he stumbled into the hallway. "We don't need two people in the hospital tonight."

Ty Lee's sisters leaned in even closer for the juicy gossip. "Tell us, Ty Lee! Tell us!"

Ty Lee giggled. "I guess you could say kissing Azula is pretty… electrifying."