A/N: I loved you with a fire red, now it's turning blue. Love and be loved. Read… and review!
Jealous
The wind whips wildly at Azula's back as they cross the water. The boat bounces against the waves and they quickly approach their destination. A familiar voice beside her speaks.
"I'm so excited to spend the weekend on Ember Island. It's going to be great to hang out on the beach and do nothing."
Zuko responds to this while Azula thinks. It's been over fifty days since they departed from Ba Sing Se. Fifty-one, to be exact, and it's been an odd time for the now ex-Crown Princess. Upon her brother's distinguished return to the homeland, she was unceremoniously revoked of her "Crown" title. Moreover, she didn't spend much time with Ty Lee or Mai once they returned to the Capital. After spending nearly 100 days with them in the wind, it was a bit jarring to return to the Royal Palace and barely see them at all.
Zuko whines, "I feel like a child!"
"Lighten up," she replies. "So Dad wants to meet with his advisers alone, without anyone else around. Don't take it personally."
Upon their return, Azula and Zuko had spent just about all of their time in and out of meetings with their father. Him sending them off so he could meet in private didn't really surprise Azula. While Zuko had been banished, this kind of behavior was typical. Ozai would always keep Azula close, but never too close. It was a way of testing her and keeping her loyal.
"Doesn't your family have a house on Ember Island?" Ty Lee asks.
She turns towards the girl and replies, "We used to come every summer when we were kids."
"That must have been fun!"
Zuko says what Azula thinks, "That was a long time ago."
The Princess now turns away from Ty Lee. After the way things ended in Ba Sing Se, Azula felt maybe it was for the best that she rarely saw her. The former circus star had disappeared upon return. She refused to go home, but she didn't stay at the Royal Palace either. Azula didn't know where she went, and she tried to not care. She had grown too attached to the girl while traveling about with her.
The hand holding, if she even wanted to call it that, had been a mistake. They were caught up in the moment, and there had been a lot going on. They had effectively ended the War that night, so a little overreaction wouldn't have surprised anyone. This trip to Ember Island is the first amount of time that they'll be spending together since that night.
Neither is sure how to mend the bridge between them, but both have spent more time than they want to admit thinking about how they'll handle this weekend.
Ty Lee plops down upon the bed in the back corner of the room. "Ooh, I love the seashell bedspread!" She rolls and rubs the pillow admiringly.
"Are you serious?" Mai scoffs. "It looks like the beach threw up all over it."
The group of teenagers stand in their shared bedroom for the next three days, two nights. The house is much smaller than they anticipated. The bedroom is especially small. They'll all be sleeping in the same room so it will be close quarters for both nights.
Ty Lee has the tiny seashell bed in the corner, Mai and Zuko have a couch-bed to share, and the largest bed, a full, is reserved for Azula alone. She'll need it, seeing as she hasn't gotten a solid night of sleep in months. Not since before their adventure to find Zuko began has she had a restful night. She always tosses and turns for hours before waking.
"We know you're upset that you were forced to come here this weekend," Li says.
Lo picks up, "But Ember Island is a magical place. Keep an open mind."
"Give it a chance," Li continues the cadance.
In unison now they say, "And it can help you understand yourselves and each other."
Sitting in this room are two star crossed lovers who are listening with intent to this message. Mai and Zuko, on the other hand, are not the least bit interested.
Lo grabs a rock on the table, "The beach as a special way…"
Li continues, "... of smoothing even the most ragged edges."
Creak
Ty Lee steps off of the bed and stares at Azula as they say this. The Princess yawns in response to their speech. Suddenly both Lo and Li clap twice, "Time to hit the beach."
They rip off their robes to reveal sagging bathing suits and all four teens feel sweat drop at the awkwardness. Azula summarily dismisses them. The group decides to change and prepare to head down for a day of sunbathing. As they all take turns changing in the bathroom, Ty Lee considers all of the tension around the room. Everyone is at weird places emotionally.
Mai's aura hasn't changed from it's grey color, in spite of all this time she now has had with Zuko. Meanwhile, Zuko is super on edge, and they're all walking on eggshells around him. Well, Ty Lee is anyway. Azula and Mai don't even pay it any special attention. Ty Lee just doesn't want to be the thing or person to set him off.
'And then there's Azula…'
The rift between them hurts her deeply. She wants to reclaim their moment in Ba Sing Se. She would give anything to get it back and do it over again. But it's been so long now, and Azula has effectively iced her out. It's like their traveling together had never happened. They almost felt like strangers now. For this, Azula is most proud of herself. She has recalibrated her relationship with Ty Lee into its rightful place as a friendship at arm's length.
Yet, in spite of herself, when Ty Lee steps out of the bathroom in her bikini, Azula stares. She maintains her poise but still she shoots unintentional longing looks. Her eyes grow wider each time she sneaks a glance. 'Keep it together!' She tells herself. The group collect their belongings and head down to the beach.
"Hey, you need some help unpacking?"
"Sure. Thanks."
Ty Lee hands the strange boy her bag and he falls over from its weight. Azula lays her own blanket out and her eyes keep returning to the brunette. The boy throws everything out of the bag until he finds a blanket. Seeing this boy give Ty Lee all his attention makes her irrationally mad. It only gets worse when soon another boy comes and does the same. Azula doesn't blame them for trying to win her attention.
'I mean, just look at her. She's the prettiest girl in the world.'
Azula watches with envy as Ty Lee is lauded and fawned over. But she never once says anything to her or them. Why would she? It's not her business. None of it is her business. If Ty Lee wants to flirt, or hang out, or hold hands, or kiss six different boys, then she fully can for all Azula cares.
At some point amidst all of this, Ty Lee steals her own glance at Azula sunbathing. She notes that her aura is red, but with a hint of purple. It shocks her that no one even looks at Azula. She's beautiful and elegant and powerful. Yet no one looks her way. No one except Ty Lee, of course.
'Azula is like the sun. No one can stare at her for very long. Everyone revolves around her. Everyone needs her. People use her for their own different reasons. But no one dares to get too close to her, for fear of being burned alive.'
A short while later Azula decides to take out her pent up rage on the kuai ball court. As they prepare to start, Azula beckons their acrobatic friend to join them. She says her name out loud for the first time in months.
"Ty Lee get over here now!"
The brunette obeys the command from her Princess. She's happy to abandon all of the boys surrounding her. She takes the time on her way over though to walk on her hands. She does this to impress them and the one who calls to her. She wants Azula to notice the attention she's getting. She wants her to be jealous.
With Azula's leadership, the team destroys all that oppose them. At the end, Azula speaks about defeating them for all time, but stops short of going over the top with her celebration. They walk off the court after accidentally burning the net down. A pair of boys approach Ty Lee.
"I'm having a party tonight. You should come by."
Ty Lee chirps back, "Sure. I love parties."
The boys motion towards Mai and add, "Your friend can come too."
A little hurt and a lot agitated, Azula approaches, "Uh… what about me and my brother? Aren't you going to invite us?"
Even Azula has to acknowledge the desperation in her voice. Seeing Ty Lee get all of this interest from boys has started to get under her skin. The boys look at one another a second, uncertain. Azula realizes something. She questions them, "You don't know who we are, do you?"
The boys laugh this off. "Don't you know who we are? We're Chan and Roun-Jian."
"Yeah."
'They have no idea who they're dealing with,' Ty Lee thinks.
Zuko begins stepping menacingly towards them before Azula puts her hand up to block him. She enjoys the idea of being an unknown entity, exactly as she had been while walking around Ba Sing Se. She likes being underestimated. Azula's aura becomes a shade of forest green. The boys agree to invite them both, and Ty Lee looks forward to seeing how Azula acts as just another face in the crowd.
"All right, listen. My dad's an admiral. He has no idea I'm having this party, so don't mess anything up."
The gang has arrived early to the party at the direction of Azula. She had heard they would be partying from dusk until dawn, and thought it prudent to be on time. Ty Lee and Mai knew better, but who were they to correct their Princess?
Azula finds the boy in charge to be appealing. He's handsome enough, but she's more interested in him as the leader of others. He could prove to be a strong partner in the political sphere in the long-run. A not so small part of her is also trying to project earlier envy onto the girl striding beside her.
"That's a sharp outfit, Chan. Careful. You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea… because it's so sharp."
"Um… thanks."
He turns and leaves Azula alone with her friends. It is painfully awkward and Azula just wishes she was different; wishes she could impress him. She's flustered by her failure, and dinner had not helped. Ty Lee had sat beside her and they had their back to the sunset. It had been during golden hour. She couldn't stop staring at her, couldn't stop talking to her, couldn't stop thinking about her. Separated from all of those wandering eyes at the beach, Azula preferred having her all to herself.
'Agni damn it. I just need to move on. Find someone, anyone else.'
Roun-Jian approaches to greet them.
Ty Lee loves attention. She couldn't have succeeded as the star attraction at a circus without being okay with it. She is used to being the most interesting thing that anyone in the room is looking at. Yet even for her, this is maybe too much. Cornered by five boys from the beach earlier in the day, she comes to think that perhaps she had bit off more than she could chew.
"Look, i-it doesn't matter who I met first, 'cause I like you all," she tries to reason with them, cowering, her heart beating faster.
"But which one of us do you like?"
Ty Lee hears the question. It registers in her brain. She scans across all of them. In the gap between two of them, in the distance she finds the answer. A girl with black hair stands alone in the center of everything. She seems to be having the most miserable time. Ty Lee knows the true answer to the boys' question.
And it isn't any of them.
'Chase the dragon.'
"I don't know! I don't know!"
She swiftly punches each of them in pressure points. They're too close and caught off-guard to even react. A few seconds later they all fall down, and Ty Lee flips out of the corner. She walks right through the crowd towards the princess. Towards her princess. As she approaches, she finds Azula's aura has become a deep purple.
"Oh, I'm glad you're here. Those boys won't leave me alone. I guess they all just like me too much."
Ty Lee likes the attention. Not because she is self-centered or because it feeds her ego. She likes to feel like she's special to someone. She likes to be wanted. She likes to be needed. But she wants to be needed by Azula. She wants to be Azula's special person, not the boys'.
"C'mon, Ty Lee, you can't be this ignorant."
'What?'
The brunette blushes and looks away, "What are you talking about?"
She had wanted to tease Azula, and maybe elicit a response from her. If saying the boys liked her pushed Azula closer to saying something similar, as Ty Lee hoped, it would be worth it. Now though? She fears that she's about to be scolded.
In Azula's eyes, it's painfully obvious. "Those boys only like you because you make it so easy for them. You're not a challenge, you're a tease."
There is a brief pause as these words sink in. Each one felt like a small whip of flame from Azula's hand, smacking against Ty Lee's heart. She is truly hurt by this before Azula even finishes her thought.
"It's not like they actually care who you are."
The tears stream out of her before she can think of anything else.
'Is this how she feels about me? Is she only friends with me because it's easy?'
They had spent almost 100 days together and 51 days apart, by Ty Lee's math. Those fifty-one days had been exceptionally hard. Ever since Azula rejected Ty Lee's runaway plan things had fallen apart. Nothing of what she wanted has happened.
Perhaps she shouldn't have taken the fall on purpose. Maybe she should've kept her balance. Maybe she'd still be at the circus. Maybe she'd be happier. Maybe she'd still be here with Azula. But the idea that Azula doesn't actually care about Ty Lee is what devastates her.
She had chased the dragon for so long. And now, in a moment, she is burned alive by the dragon. Ty Lee is learning now. She knows better, she knows she shouldn't be chasing the dragon. Punching all of those boys so she could storm over here and win Azula back? When she hasn't really spoken to her since that night?
Ty Lee couldn't help herself. This self-destructive behavior of hers won't let her quit it.
"Okay, okay, calm down," something warm grabs hold of her.
Ty Lee blinks through fresh tears and looks down. The hands holding hers send warm sensations up her arms and into her body. She traces their path and looks up into that old, familiar gold. Azula holds her hands for the first time since that night and it feels right. Looking down at them though, Azula remembers. 'The touch of the sun.' She releases them.
"I didn't mean what I said," she lies.
Azula really did mean it. Those boys only like her because she is pretty. She knows who Ty Lee is, maybe better than she knows herself.
Ty Lee is warm and kind. She's the type of girl to wander off into the woods and screech into the nothing. Azula knows why she ran away from the circus, and she knows how she still wants to run when things are too good to be true.
How she looks up into the sky at night, and if she sees some stars aligned, then she will see visions of her future husband. Azula knows how she wants to be weightless when life is so heavy. She knows her biggest fear is to end up alone. How she dreams of home. She knows about the little house with a red door and a lemon tree in the Earth Kingdom, where she can experience all four seasons.
She knows that she thinks there's more water than air in a waterskin. How she doesn't want to end up in a matched set. How she has to meditate so she can smooth out her aura before bed or as soon as she wakes up, and sometimes even both. How she thinks it's natural and healthy to cry. How she talked about running away or going on vacation after the war. How she has traveled all over the world with the Fire Nation circus. How she loves jennamite & dancing in public. How she wants to adopt because she doesn't want a child to be lacking for attention.
'How no one searched for her, but I found her.'
Truthfully this time, Azual tells her, "Look maybe I just said it because I was a little… jealous."
It isn't Ty Lee that Azula is jealous of. It's the boys that Ty Lee seems to want. She's jealous of Ty Lee spending all of her time with them. Azula's aura cycles through a myriad of bright and dark colors
"What! You're jealous of me? But you're the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world!"
Ty Lee means every word sincerely. She had thought all of them at different times while they traveled together. But Azula can't help but think that those compliments are more applicable to Ty Lee herself. After all, she had thought all of them about her at different points during their time together. Still, she hides behind her persona.
"You're right about those things. But for some reason when I meet boys they act like I'm going to do something horrible to them."
If those boys didn't really know Ty Lee, then what did any boy know about Azula? What person would ever want to know more about Azula? Her aura finally settles in a light grey.
'How could somebody ever love me?'
"But you probably would do something horrible to them."
'To them? Maybe. To her? Never.'
"I'm sure they're just intimidated by you."
'Is that the only reason Ty Lee stays by me? Because she's intimidated? Or does she stay because she isn't intimidated?'
"Okay! Look, if you want a boy to like you, just look at him and smile a lot, and laugh at everything he says, even if it's not funny."
Azula flashes back to their many months together. How she learned Ty Lee's laugh. How it echoed into the night, or bounced off of empty room walls, or inside of tents. Had she done this with Azula? Did she just laugh to fill the air with noise?
"Well that sounds really shallow and stupid."
'I've done enough damage to this friendship lately,' she thinks and extends an olive branch.
"Let's try it!"
"Okay," Ty Lee gets very excited. She mocks herself as a fake party boy. Leaning up against the wall by Azula she asks, "Hey there sweet sugar cakes. How you liking this party?"
Azula tries to force a laugh, but it's so obnoxious that the whole party stops to look at the couple. Ty Lee giggles and shakes her head at Azula's base flirting skills. 'All that skill and power and she can't flirt with boys to save her life.' She grabs Azula by the arm and drags her away from everyone's prying eyes so they can get something to drink. For Azula, between the compliments, and the lesson, and the pose that Ty Lee just made, she feels the butterflies rising once again.
"Is this your first time on Ember Island?" Chan asks her.
"No," she says. The memories crash against her. A lifetime ago, when Zuko could smile. When they were a family. "I used to come here years ago."
"It's a great place, if you like sand."
'-and laugh at everything he says, even if it's not funny.'
Azula forces a giggle. Chan thinks it authentic.
"Yeah, it's like, welcome to Sandy Land!"
He comes and stands beside her. He is feeling a moment. Azula expects her heart to race. She expects the butterflies to float up and suffocate her. She has never been kissed and this might be it. He leans against her.
'just look at him and smile a lot'
"Your arms look so strong," she coos at him.
"Yeah, I know," he replies.
He flexes his muscles for a moment. Then he turns to her. Before she knows what's happening he's leaning towards her. He comes all the way towards her head. With his eyes closed, his lips lead the way. Her head recoils a moment as he pushes his lips against hers.
This is it! She is doing it! It's happening for her. She is… not sure what to do? He is pushing against her and opening his mouth a bit. His wet lips encompass hers and she doesn't move. She doesn't let him in, because she doesn't know what she's doing and this entire concept was foreign to her before this moment.
After a few seconds, he pulls away, satisfied for now with where this is going. He thinks maybe next time she'll make out with him. He better pay her a compliment so he can get another shot at her, "You're pretty."
'In the Fire Nation, little girls like little boys.'
This is what she's always needed, what she's always lacked. He doesn't know that she can firebend, doesn't know about her status. He is choosing her because she is strong on her own.
"Together," she starts. She pulls back, "you and I will be the strongest couple in the entire world!"
She ignites the powerful blue flames in each hand, "We will dominate the Earth!"
This is her moment. She will reveal herself to him and together they will rise. They will be unstoppable together. Chan stares at her bewildered, "Uh ... I got to go."
He quickly exits before she can say or do anything else. She watches him go. He leaves her out on the balcony alone. 'Little girls like little boys' did not mean that the little boys had to like the little girls back.
Azula suddenly feels incredibly small. She feels every bit the little girl that she is. Here at this party she didn't want to be the Seed of Sozin. She thought she could be just a 14 year old girl, and have that be enough. She believes now, more than ever, that she is nothing without her status and power
'How could somebody ever love me?'
"I thought I'd find you here."
Zuko doesn't look up as he replies, "Those summers we spent here seem so long ago… so much has changed."
"Come down to the beach with me," Azula suggests, turning sideways and opening a hand out to invite him. "C'mon. This place is depressing."
She steps away and he slowly stands up to follow. He quickly steps to catch up and they walk beside each other down a narrow pathway to the beach. Azula's mind runs through her horrendous night. She wishes in this moment that they had the type of relationship where they could talk about it together. Where she could point out how they got no respect from their peers without their family name. Zuko is the only one who can relate. Ty Lee and Mai had been fine at the party and at the beach.
But they don't have that kind of relationship. She may love her brother, Ty Lee thought so at least, but she can't reach him. They can't reach each other. Azula offers an olive branch as they walk under the moon.
"Mai really likes you, ya know."
The memory of his girlfriend and all of their struggles from the day do not offer much relief to the teenage boy. He replies curtly, "Oh yeah, she really showed it today by flirting with all of those other guys."
Azula's eyes peek down through the darkness at the crashing waves and her friends that await them. She fires back, "Don't be ridiculous. Even if she was, she clearly only cares about you."
"How can you say that?" Zuko starts, his eyes on the path forward. "It's not like you two are such great friends"
"Zuko, you idiot," she spits out. "I spent over 3 months traveling the world with her and Ty Lee. I think I know her a little bit."
They step down the stairs and kick sand up with each step. Zuko grumbles his response, unsure of what to say exactly. His lifelong rivalry with Azula makes him believe that he should return serve. He wants to 'win' the argument, even if he knows it's better for him if Azula is right.
He mumbles out, "Well, it still bothered me."
Azula rolls her eyes and tells him, "Can you think of someone else beside yourself for one Agni forsaken second? How do you think she felt? With you watching her like a war hawk all day long."
"I don't know how she feels, Azula," he tells her. His voice has a renewed vigor. The frustration grows. "That's the problem. I never do. She doesn't share any emotion, ever!"
Azula briefly reflects on what she told Ty Lee right before they found Mai in New Ozai.
"Indeed. If you don't have opinions that you care about and stand by, then you're just going to float through life as poison to everyone who cares about anything. You're not placating anyone; you're annoying everyone."
She reflects on this and how it had shaped her own relationship with Mai. She thinks about how they managed to work together for all that time. She offers to him with a voice of sincerity, "You need to take what she gives you. I don't think it's easy for her. So if she gives you some emotion, run with it."
Azula offering him words of advice is not exactly how Zuko pictured his night going. He huffs, "I don't need your help."
Azula stops at a landing suddenly. Her brother comes to a halt beside her. She looks at him and waits for his eye contact.
"No, you don't. But I gave it to you anyway," she tells him. His narrowed eyes soften in the dim light. "Maybe you can repay the favor someday."
Without waiting for him to try and bite her head off, Azula starts off again down the final sets of stairs. Zuko pauses a moment longer. His sister offering help benevolently?
'This night just keeps getting weirder.'
Agast, Ty Lee asks, "What are you doing?"
Defiantly, Zuko replies, "What does it look like I'm doing?
"But, it's a painting of your family."
"You think I care?"
"I think you do."
"You don't know me, so why don't you just mind your own business?"
Defeated, she scoffs and replies weakly, "I know you."
She's not sure if she believes it herself. He certainly doesn't. "No, you don't. You're stuck in your little 'Ty Lee World,' where everything's great all the time"
A fire rises in Azula as her brother attacks her friend. She cuts in, threatening him, "Zuko, leave her alone."
He does not relent. He imitates her as he walks away, "I'm so pretty, look at me. I can walk on my hands. Whoo!"
He does handstand and stares at her from across the fire. They hold this eye contact for a moment before he falls on his back. From the ground he calls out, "Circus freak."
Mai giggles a little at this but tries to hide it. Ty Lee notices all the same. The fire within Azula rages to a new height. She shouts at him, "Zuko."
"Yes, I'm a circus freak. Go ahead and laugh all you want. You want to know why I joined the circus?"
Mai nearly jumps out of her seat. She sits up and leans towards her and says, "YES!"
The moment she has been waiting for has finally arrived. Ty Lee refused to tell her for months while they searched for Zuko. Now she's just offering to tell them! Tears fill her eyes as she prepares to unleash this part of herself on them. Meanwhile, Azula's eyes grow large. She sees the pain in her face, the build up of tension in her cheeks and nose. The wrinkles forming near her eyes as she becomes misty eyed.
'Here we go.' Azula thinks. 'She's really going to tell them too.'
"Do you have any idea what my home life was like?" She starts by asking. No one dares answer.
"Growing up with six sisters who look exactly like me? It was like I didn't even have my own name."
Azula's hand unconsciously reaches for her necklace. She fiddles with it as she listens to the girl profess her hurt. "I joined the circus because I was scared of spending the rest of my life as part of a matched set. At least I'm different now."
She falls to the ground on all fours in pain and looks down. Growing bolder now, she looks up across the fire back at Zuko. She shouts, "'Circus freak' is a compliment!"
Without missing a beat Mai jumps in, "Guess that explains why you need 10 boyfriends, too."
Azula narrows her eyes at this and remembers all the attention Ty Lee got before. How jealous she was earlier today and tonight. What Mai said had intended to cut deep, and Azula isn't sure how she feels about the burn it will leave on Ty Lee.
"I'm sorry, WHAT?" Ty Lee wheels on her friend. A rage building quickly.
"Attention issues? You didn't get enough attention as a kid so you're trying to make up for it now."
Azula feels like this is cutting but probably true. Mai was lethal when she decided to be. Ty Lee digs for the most painful thing she can say.
"Well, what's your excuse, Mai? You were an only child for 15 years. But even with all that attention your aura is still this stingy, pasty, grey..."
The argument turns in circles to each of them. Ty Lee puts her foot in her mouth about bad skin at one point and Zuko freaks out about it. He blows the bonfire into a pillar. He says he's mad at himself. Something about this rings home to Azula. Zuko also says that he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong anymore. After losing it, he and Mai share a tender moment.
After this display of affectionate, Azula, sick of all the emotions and nonsense, says, "Well, those were wonderful performances, everyone."
"I guess you wouldn't understand, would you, Azula?" Zuko asks. "Because you're just so perfect."
Ty Lee can tell he's trying to dig at her. She thinks about the Princess that she has come to know. 'She is, but she isn't. She's perfect in everyone else's eyes, but she hides her true self from the rest of them. She's shown me the cracks in her armor.'
"Well, yes, I guess you're right. I don't have sob stories like all of you." She boasts.
"I could sit here and complain how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care." She lies.
"My own mother," she stares into the embers of the fire that Zuko has blown out. She remembers Zuko and Ursa, sitting alone. The shameful tone she would speak to Azula with. The accusatory eyes. The setting sun. The seat in the garden. The burned down moon flower. The ashes falling from her hand.
"... thought I was a monster."
Azula's aura just about disappears. It smolders until it's almost gone. A moment passes as she stares into the fire pit.
"She was right of course, but it still hurt."
'No. That's not true.' Ty Lee thinks. 'Is that really what she thinks about herself?'
She wishes she could help Azula. Help her to not see a monster, but a hero. To look herself in the eye and know that she is perfect the way she is. 'And that would be enough.'
Azula's aura rekindles a dark red. Maybe Ty Lee could help her move that red away from the black and into the white.
"What Lo and Li said came true. The beach did help us learn about ourselves," Ty Lee says. She picks up a stone at her side. "I feel all smoothed. I'll always remember this."
Azula sits with this and says nothing. She simply thinks about their trip. How she has missed Ty Lee's positivity. She thinks that perhaps she had treated her too harshly since Ba Sing Se. Maybe she can still make this right this weekend.
Ty Lee feels her own aura slip into a rougher, lighter red. She wishes she could crack Azula's head open, see what's inside. See what she's thinking. See why she thinks of herself as a monster.
While the fire has gone out in front of them, a new one is ignited within Ty Lee's soul. She has found a new purpose for their weekend together. Talk to Azula again, and help her to finally see herself the way Ty Lee sees her. Tonight, she will chase the dragon once more.
A/N: Stick with this for chapter 9, because we're not quite done at the bonfire yet. This Chapter's OST is "when the party's over" by Billie Eilish. This song is the only repeated song from the "Autumn Ends" OST to the "Touch of the Sun" OST. It's great writing music and just really hits me hard, personally.
Love always. Tyzula forever.
Notorious