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Chapter 29: Leilani
Ty Lee was down by the stream near the campsite, washing her hair.
Leilani was with her, waist-deep in the water (with only a breast band and loincloth preserving her modesty) and practicing a bending technique Katara had shown her. Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders, and the breast band revealed a rather ugly scar starting near her hip and arcing across her abdomen to her shoulder.
Suddenly, Ty Lee paused. "Hey, Leilani, did you hear something?"
Startled, the water bender turned to her. "No…," she admitted, dropping the water she'd been playing with. "…but maybe we should head back?"
"Probably a good idea," the younger girl said, squeezing the last of the water out of her hair.
Before either could move farther than that, however, several soldiers spilled out of the trees. Ty Lee spun into action right away. "'Lani, run!" she called.
"Don't let her get away!" one of the soldiers shouted, and another dove for the waterbender.
A surge of water slammed him away, and Leilani tried to run, but she was too far out to move quickly and was nowhere near as talented a bender as Katara was.
Ty Lee did what she could, but there were too many soldiers for the acrobat to handle on her own--particularly as she was used to fighting with someone at her back. Within moments, the two young women had been overpowered and were being dragged to the city.
Frightened and sobbing, Leilani pleaded for her release or Ty Lee's, to no avail.
"Shut up," one of the soldiers said, cuffing her.
"Stop it!" the commander ordered. "Her Ladyship wants that one unharmed."
That… was not good. Leilani fell silent regardless, trembling.
Ty Lee didn't stop struggling, but, as the soldiers had no such orders for her, this did not end well for her.
The waterbender attempted to heal Ty Lee afterwards, but the men didn't take kindly to this at all.
The commander bound Leilani's hands and feet, and warned her against further such demonstrations.
After an hour or two, the two young women were tossed into a specially-built wooden cell, and locked inside.
"...Being a prisoner isn't much fun. Ow," Ty Lee managed to say, trying to sound as cheerful as usual.
Leilani just bowed her head and curled up tighter, trying to hide her scar. "I know," she whispered.
"You ok?" the younger woman asked.
"I'll never be okay again," she said. "What about you?"
"I've been better."
The island woman nodded absently and shifted slightly, then gasped in pain. Her arms had been bound tight.
"Want me to try and untie you?" the former noblewoman asked.
"Please? It h-hurts…"
"No problem," she said, and made her painful way over to the other woman and started working at the knots.
"Thank you, Ty Lee," said Leilani quietly, closing her eyes.
It took a long time, but Ty Lee eventually managed to untie the ropes. "See? All better now. You're gonna be fine."
Leilani turned and gently hugged the acrobat. "Thank you," she whispered again.
Ty Lee did her best not to flinch when she got hugged. "No problem," she whispered back.
The waterbender fell silent then, staring at the wooden bars pensively. Maybe… maybe there was a way should could help Ty Lee in return…
The younger woman settled back against the wall. "Everything's going to be fine," she said, as if to reassure both of them.
Leilani looked back at her. "Maybe if I was Katara," she said regretfully.
"What d'you mean?" Ty Lee asked, puzzled.
"If I was stronger," she clarified. "I could do something to get us out."
"Maybe. But there's no water in here, is there?"
"Well, there's always spit. Or tears, or blood," Leilani said. "But I wouldn't be able to do anything useful with it. I'm only a healer, not a fighter. The Fire Nation made certain of that."
"Sorry..." Ty Lee said, pulling her knees up to her chest.
"It isn't your fault," Leilani said kindly. "You were just a kid when I was taken. I was just a kid."
"Still. Someone has to say it."
Leilani reached out and hugged her again, keeping quiet, staying gentle, wishing there was more she could do.
Ty Lee hugged back.
There was a noise outside, like jangling keys.
Leilani's hold on Ty Lee shifted in response, becoming more protective.
A key scraped in the lock, the door creaked open, and a slender, pale, dark-haired girl came in.
Blue eyes went wide as Leilani faced Lady Mai.
Cold golden eyes flicked to the waterbender. "Get back."
Trembling, the younger woman shook her head.
"'Lani, it's ok," Ty Lee muttered.
"But I—"
"Back. Away," Mai said, sharply.
With a whisper of apology, Leilani did as she was told.
"Why'd you do it, Ty Lee?" the older woman asked after a long moment.
Biting her lip, Leilani retreated to a corner of the cell, watching the two noblewomen.
"Azula didn't care," Ty Lee said, sounding angry. "She didn't care how much you were hurting, and then she--"
"I know. I know about that, and I know what she did." Mai stared at the ground.
"Then you understand," Ty Lee said, relieved.
"You don't."
"I wanted to help you! I wanted to--"
"You do know Azula probably killed him, right?" Mai interrupted her, voice colorless.
But she didn't, thought Leilani, to terrified to speak.
"That's part of why I did it," Ty Lee whispered.
"You don't get it," Mai said, still staring at the ground. "Even if she didn't care--even if she killed him--she's all I have left of him. She and Zyra."
Leilani tried to speak, tried to tell Mai the truth, but her throat had locked up and the words wouldn't come out.
"I'm sorry," Ty Lee whispered. "Mai, I'm sorry, if I'd known--I'm so, so sorry..."
"Me, too," Mai said quietly.
And then she cut Ty Lee's throat.
Leilani didn't scream until after blood had splashed across her face, so hot it was almost burning. But once she started, she didn't stop.
Mai, for her part, stepped away from the body, wiped her knife off, sheathed it, walked out of the cell, out of the prison, out of the palace, into the gardens, and on and on and on, into the lower rings of the city.
