Entering the hut, Azula sat down on one of the chairs and let out a sigh. "I don't know how the village people are going to react to me and I know I'm meant to be strong but I'm a little scared," Azula said, looking to Ty Lee for support.
"Azula, it should be okay, Chief Hakoda told Aang, Katara, and Sokka of the plan and by now Sokka would have told everyone. I think I'm in pretty good with Sokka as he was dating Suki but now that he and Suki have broken up I don't know how that's going to go," Ty Lee replied, pulling her pink jacket off the back of the other chair. "Here put this on, you were freezing when we were on Appa."
"Thank you," Azula responded, sliding the jacket on over her jumper. "What happened between Sokka and Suki?"
"I don't know the full story, I wish I did, but all I know is that Suki didn't like the whole long distance thing and I think she may have fallen for somebody else but has not pursued anything yet. I also think Sokka was too busy with his duties to hold down a relationship. I'm kind of out of the loop with all things Kyoshi Warrior related, unfortunately so I only have second and third hand gossip," Ty Lee replied, holding her hands out to Azula to help her up.
"Maybe Sokka will tell you why eventually," Azula said, taking the help offered.
"He might but at the moment I want to keep it quiet for a few days. I get to spend some quality time with you tonight, there will be no chains, no guards, no one to disturb us," Ty Lee replied, pulling Azula into a hug and gently placing a kiss on her forehead.
Resting her head against Ty Lee's chest, Azula listened to the steady beating of Ty Lee's heart and closed her eyes and relaxed for a moment. Hearing a knock at the door they pulled apart and went to see who it was.
Looking at Aang as he stood before them, Ty Lee smiled at him. "We're ready to head off, I was just helping Azula with the jacket so she'll be warm."
"Awesome, I'll walk with you back to Appa then," Aang replied, standing aside until they exited the small building and closed the door behind them.
Getting onto Appa, Ty Lee and Azula sat next to each other, their thighs touching as they looked around to see who else was with them.
"Now that we are all on Appa, let's go back to our village before it gets any colder," Chief Hakoda said, giving Aang the thumbs up to get them moving.
Feeling the wind rush all around her, Azula rolled her eyes and began to shiver. Pressing herself closer to Ty Lee, she took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, hoping that she would adjust to the change in temperature quickly.
"Now that we are all here, Uki, Eeka, I need to ask you something. You two were my highest ranking warriors and I need to know what exactly did General Zhan say he would do?" Chief Hakoda asked, wanting to know of all threats against his village made by the man in question.
"General Zhan said he would come at night so we wouldn't see his ship and he would throw fireballs into our village and burn it down. He would then send his troops in to capture everyone left alive and if they were our family he would torture and kill them in front of us," Eeka replied, telling Chief Hakoda of everything she knew.
"He also said that he would steal any children left alive to bring pain to us," Uki added, trying to remember if he had said anything else.
"If he steps foot inside of my village he won't stand a chance," Chief Hakoda replied, not liking a single word he had heard.
"I think that if he manages to escape from Zuko's custody we should have a plan in place just in case," Katara said; ready to defend her village once more.
"We will definitely put a plan in place. If he does come here he will be after Azula, Ty Lee, and the twelve soldiers we had placed at the prison," Hakoda replied, making a quick attack plan in his head.
"We can just hope that Zuko keeps him locked away until he dies. If he does end up attacking the village or getting someone else to do it, which he will, Ty Lee and myself will help out as much as we can," Azula offered, feeling like she owed the Southern Water Tribe greatly.
"First thing we need to do is get you back to being healthy, I am so sorry that it took this long for anything to be done," Chief Hakoda said, feeling like it was partly his fault that Azula was treated as badly as she was.
"It's okay, I probably deserved most of it anyway," Azula replied, not making eye contact with anyone as she looked out into the distance.
"No one deserves to be hurt like you have. No one should lay a hand on another with violent intent. In the Air Temples we were taught to only lay a hand on another person if it was in good intent or to help them," Aang said, sharing some of his teachings with everyone.
"I still feel like I deserved what happened, I wasn't exactly the nicest person out there," Azula responded, feeling Ty Lee wrap and arm around her shoulders.
"Azula, you didn't deserve anything they did to you and I'll tell you as long as you need me to. You were not the one who started the war; you weren't even in charge of the war. The only thing your father told you to do was to hunt down the Avatar and to conquer the lands. You weren't the only one responsible for the conquering, Mai and I played our part too, we were all pawns in your father's game," Ty Lee said, making sure Azula knew that it wasn't her fault.
"Ty Lee is right, and if I recall correctly you're only a couple of months younger than Katara making you fourteen when the war ended. No fourteen-year-old should have been used as a puppet to destroy or conquer anything, you were only child, you still are, and your father purposely put you in harm's way along with your friends," Chief Hakoda agreed, saying how he felt about the matter.
"I hold no hard feelings over you or your brother trying to kill or capture me. We have made amends and I know you meant it when you apologised. Zuko has actually helped me through a lot and he is now one of my closest friends," Aang said, offering a sincere smile.
Nodding her head, Azula didn't know what to think. Everyone was being nice to her and she wasn't used to it. She was used to being starved and beaten in the name of revenge, or having tricks played on her for fun. Being transported on a giant sky bison to a place she could serve out the rest of her sentence without being locked up was something she never imagined happening.
"Hey, look, there's the village," Katara said, pointing at the flickering light off in the distance.
"It looks like it's warm from here," Ty Lee replied, rubbing her hands up and down Azula's arms.
"I would kill for some warmth at the moment," Uki responded, being the only one without a thick jacket on.
"You should have grabbed your jacket while we were waiting for Fire Lord Zuko to return," Eeka commented, raising an eyebrow at the other woman.
"Tomorrow after we all debrief and we will send a few sleds back to the campground so we can empty out the huts and tents and remove all trace of the camp. The prison will remain shut down until it needs to be put to use again," Chief Hakoda said, watching as the village drew closer.
Entering the village, Aang brought Appa down in the clearing and everyone got off him. Giving Appa a pat, Momo joined them and sat on the Avatar's shoulder.
"He's cute," Eeka said, giving Momo a scratch on his chin.
"He is, he's the last of his kind," Aang replied, feeling Momo jump off his shoulder and onto Appa.
"Aang, Katara, please go find Sokka and the council. Eeka, Uki, please wait for the sleds to arrive and then meet in the hall. Ty Lee, Azula, please come with me," Chief Hakoda said, making sure everyone understood their orders.
"Where are we going?" Ty Lee asked, walking along side the tall man.
"I'm going to show you two to your hut, it's not far away, it's in close range to both my hut and Aang's hut so if you have any problems you can come and get either one of us," Chief Hakoda replied, standing outside of a medium sized hut.
"This hut used to belong to Tulok. He met a lovely girl from the Earth Kingdom and moved there to be with her. It's decently sized, step in and I'll show you around," Chief Hakoda said, pushing the front door open and allowing the two girls to step inside.
"This is beautiful," Ty Lee said in awe. There was a small fire going in the middle of the large room. Large hides were laid down on the ground to keep the heat in, patterned in different styles. There was a large seat big enough for two of them with ornate carvings on it and a high back rest. There was a small table made of something Ty Lee couldn't identify off to the side and a few cupboards which also doubled as a small kitchen.
"Compared to my cell this is luxurious," Azula added, walking around the room.
"The two doors on the back wall, one leads to a bathroom with a toilet and wash area and the other leads to a large bedroom. It has two single sized mattresses one on either side of the room. We're still waiting on some bed frames to be delivered so we can get them off the ground. There are pillows, sleeping bags, blankets, and a few warm sets of clothing for the both of you," Chief Hakoda said, showing them the two rooms.
"How did you know that there would be two of us?" Azula asked, pressing down on a pillow to feel its firmness.
"Fire Lord Zuko paid us a visit after he left Ty Lee at the camp on the first day to watch over you and he predicted that if something went horribly wrong, which it did, that Ty Lee would want to stay with you," Chief Hakoda replied, looking between the two girls.
"Well, Zuko was right, there was no chance I was going to leave you alone and being here gets me away from everything that's happening back home," Ty Lee replied, feeling the softness of the hide that was on the floor between the two beds.
"If you would like to follow me outside and to the dining hall, we will have dinner ready soon. Every night at sunset there will always be food present in the dining hall for anyone to eat. You are allowed to take a tray back to your hut if you're busy or not feeling too well but we encourage everyone to eat together as it brings our village closer together," Chief Hakoda said, letting them know what goes nightly.
"How would we go about getting breakfast food and snack food?" Ty Lee asked as they exited the hut and headed towards a large building.
"There is always food in the dining hall for every meal and in the cupboards in your hut one of them will hold food for snacking. When you are both feeling up to it I'll show you to the small market were you can buy some more treat food if you want. You can help out with general maintenance, working in the hall, or going hunting or fishing to earn some extra money. Fire Lord Zuko left some money which is more than enough for you to have a small allowance each for the next month," Chief Hakoda informed them as he opened the door to the dining hall.
Looking around the large room, Azula let the smell of freshly cooked food fill her senses. To the left a large table ran the length of the wall with half of it being taken up by various types of food in large pots hanging over small fires to keep warm. The other half consisted of plates of bread, butter, fruit, and sweet buns which sat next to large piles of plates, trays, and eating utensils. There were three long tables surrounded by seats taking up the rest of the space within the room. Twenty or so people from the village sat around eating their dinner as they conversed together, paying Ty Lee and Azula no attention.
"Feel free to help yourselves, I need to go attend to the council to inform them of former General Zhan's threats," Chief Hakoda said, leaving the two girls standing in the middle of the room.
"Thank you Chief Hakoda, we will," Ty Lee replied, smiling at the man as he left.
Waiting until the man had left the building, Azula turned to Ty Lee, "Can we please get something to eat and only stay long enough to finish our food?"
"Azula, we should stay for a bit longer, like ten extra minutes so it doesn't look like we are trying to avoid them, we need to be nice," Ty Lee replied, heading over to the trays and putting two plates and a bowl on both trays she set out.
"I guess that would work," Azula responded, still not feeling very comfortable being around people.
"What would you like to eat?" Ty Lee said, handing Azula a tray to place food on.
"I don't know yet, I think I'll just place whatever looks good on my plate," Azula replied, feeling a little tired.
"I suggest you try the arctic hen, it's one of my favourite foods when it's cooked over a fire and not in a stew or soup," Ty Lee said, pointing to the dish on the table.
Making her way down the line of the food, Azula started with the bread, fruit, and the sweet buns, knowing that she would eat them. Getting a few pieces of arctic hen, she placed some rice next to it on one of the plates. Adding some steamed fish to the same plate, Azula moved down to the stews and filled her bowl with sea prune stew, something she was given very rarely when she was in her cell.
Sitting down at one of the tables, Azula waited for Ty Lee to join her, her eyes going wide when she saw the amount of food the girl had placed on her plate. "What did you get?" She asked, not knowing what some of it was called.
"I have five flavour soup in my bowl with six pieces of bread, four puffin-seal sausages, they're delicious by the way, two large pieces of arctic hen, some rice, seaweed noodles, some giant sea crab legs, three steamed dumplings, and two sweet buns," Ty Lee replied, dunking a piece of bread into her soup.
"I don't know how you're going to eat all of that," Azula commented, placing a spoonful of stew into her mouth.
"After today I'll probably go get seconds, I'm starving," Ty Lee responded through a mouthful of bread.
Slowly eating her food, Azula was still getting used to having a meal a day. Her stomach usually protested after four or five mouthfuls but so far she was going alright. Watching as more people entered the hall, Azula was thankful that she chose to sit at the end of the furthest table. Breaking her piece of buttered bread in half she put some arctic hen on it and took a bite. It reminded her of the taste of possum-chicken that Ty Lee got them to eat when they were pretending to be Kyoshi Warriors while infiltrating the Earth Kingdom.
"Hello Ty Lee and Azula, may we join you?" Meela asked, standing next to Uki.
"Of course, grab a seat," Ty Lee said, smiling at the two women as they sat down. "Azula this is Meela and Uki, they were the two who told me what was happening in the prison, if it wasn't for them we wouldn't have been able to help you as quickly." Shoving as much bread into her mouth as she could, Ty Lee looked to Azula and raised an eyebrow.
"Hello, and thank you for telling Ty Lee what was happening. I might have been dead by now if you didn't," Azula said, trying to be honest and friendly.
"As long as you're safe now, that's all that matters," Uki replied, thankful that nothing happened to them afterward while at the camp.
"So, how do you two like the village so far?" Meela asked, changing the topic of conversation.
"It's a lot calmer than I thought it would be I was half expecting to be yelled at or worse. I wasn't prepared for how nice everyone has been so far but then I've only interacted with like six people," Azula replied, noticing that Ty Lee had a mouth full of food.
"I don't think that anyone here would do anything to harm you, they all understand how to be decent people, they might get a bit hot headed but I don't think they would be violent," Uki responded, eating a dumpling.
"If I was either of you I would avoid Sokka for a few days," Katara said as her and Aang sat down next to them.
"What's wrong with Sokka?" Ty Lee asked, rearranging the food on her tray.
"He got a reply letter from Toph today that was written in Suki's handwriting with a note on the bottom of it telling him to stop asking about her. He's now asking everyone who knew Suki if she has somebody new and he does not believe what anyone has to say. He's moping around, crying, and grabbing people and interrogating them. I don't think you two need a crying Sokka to deal with anytime soon," Katara replied, eating some fish with rice.
"Do you know what happened between them? When I was with the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki did mention that she didn't like the long distance and I think she was falling for someone else but she wouldn't say anything," Ty Lee responded, taking a bite of her sausage.
"All I know is what you just said and that Sokka kept trying to get her to move here but she didn't want to as she had responsibilities and a commitment to the Kyoshi Warriors," Katara replied, looking to Aang to see if he knew anything more.
"I heard the same," Aang agreed, stirring his vegetarian stew.
"Poor Sokka, hopefully he gets the answers he needs soon," Ty Lee said, having a feeling she knew who Suki liked.
"Hopefully," Azula replied, eyeing off one of the sausages on Ty Lee's plate.
Noticing what Azula was looking at, Ty Lee put one of the puffin-seal sausages on the girl's plate. "Try this, it's delicious," she said, biting into her third one.
Cutting the sausage with her knife, Azula put a piece of it in her mouth and recognised the taste; Ty Lee had brought her some while she was locked up. "You're right, it is good."
Continuing their small talk, Katara told them about what usually happens during the day and what to expect. They covered a range of topics and it left both Azula and Ty Lee feeling a little better. Finishing up their meals, they excused themselves and said goodbye as they were starting to feel tired.
Taking their trays to the dirty dishes pile, they exited the dining hall and headed for their hut. The sun had set and the only light came from the large fire in the middle of the village and the soft glow shone through a few windows in the larger huts.
Entering their hut, Ty Lee stocked up the fire and found the pot of water, putting it on to boil. Making them a cup of tea each, she placed the full, hot mugs down on the small table. "How are you feeling Azula?" she asked, noticing the girl was yawning.
"I feel exhausted, I didn't realise how much today took out of me. I ache all over and even though Katara tried to heal me it still hurts. I was able to eat without much pain in my stomach and that felt good," Azula replied, sipping at her tea.
"If you're tired, how would you feel about heading to bed early, it really has been a big day for the both of us," Ty Lee said, knowing she could use the rest.
"That sounds good, it'll be the first time in two and a half years I won't wake up to chains or shackles digging into my skin," Azula responded, looking down at her still bandaged wrist.
"How's your wrist feeling?" Ty Lee asked, following Azula's gaze.
"It actually feels a lot better, I haven't even noticed any pain coming from it since Katara tried to heal me," Azula replied, putting down her cup of tea.
"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" Ty Lee asked, wanting to see if the stream healing helped.
Letting Ty Lee access her wrist, Azula watched as the girl gently took the bandage off, rolling it up as she did so. Moving her wrist a little to test it out, Azula felt a little bit of an ache but nothing too bad.
"It still looks bruised and the protrusion marks are still there but they are a little bit lighter. The marks from where the shackle had broken the skin looks to be healed and it doesn't seem swollen anymore," Ty Lee observed, gently touching the area.
"I think the healing in the streamed helped my wrist, my stomach, and stopped some of the pain that I had. I know I still have pain and am probably still covered in bruises but I do overall feel better," Azula replied, drinking the last of her tea.
"We can check when we get ready for bed to see if anything else has healed or has been helped," Ty Lee said, gulping down the last of her tea and getting up from the large chair.
Walking over to the other side of the room, Ty Lee put the mugs on the bench and took her shoes off and left them by the door. Noticing a jacket stand, she took her jacket off and hung it up on one of the hooks. Watching as Azula did the same thing they got cleaned up and headed into their bedroom, having a good look at the set up.
"It's a bit cold in here," Azula commented as Ty Lee organised the bedding.
"It is a little, I'm half thinking we move the mattresses onto the hide as it will provide more warmth. I hope you don't mind sleeping next to me," Ty Lee replied, smiling at the other girl.
"Ty Lee, we used to share a single mattress whenever I stayed over at your house, two single mattresses is going to give us a lot more room," Azula responded, helping Ty Lee to move the mattresses to where they needed to go.
Getting changed into clean clothing, Ty Lee got dressed as quickly as she could so she could help Azula. Watching as Azula pulled off her pants and jumper, Ty Lee walked over to her and gave her a soft smile.
"How bad does it still look?" Azula asked, not really able to see anything.
"It still looks pretty bad, the bruises aren't as dark but they are still covering mostly everywhere. The bruises on your thighs seemed to have cleared up the most, they are a green yellow colour. The bruising on your neck is totally gone. Where the shackles sat and on your back seem to be the worst, followed by your stomach. Running my hands over your back I can still feel how messed up your chi paths are, I feel like they are going to take a while before they feel like they should," Ty Lee replied, making sure she didn't miss anything of importance as she gently ran her hands over Azula.
"With time they should all heal, right? I'm getting more tired as each minute passes," Azula said, changing the subject as she didn't like to ruminate on what had happened to her.
"Time will tell, let's go to bed, I'll get them ready," Ty Lee replied, moving over to the mattresses.
Laying a blanket over each mattress, Ty Lee placed the pillows at head level and laid the sleeping bags out both with another blanket over the top of them. Leaving the bedroom door open to get some warmth into the room, they both climbed into their beds and lay there, looking up at the ceiling.
"Do you think I'm ever going to be able to fire bend again?" Azula asked, her voice soft.
"I don't know Azula, only time will tell and your chi paths have a lot of healing to do," Ty Lee replied, being honest with Azula.
"I tried to see if I could fire bend earlier and nothing happened, I couldn't feel any energy running through my body and it scared me," Azula said, feeling like she could tell Ty Lee anything without being judged.
"I think give it a few weeks then you can try again. Trying to flow energy through damaged pathways will only hurt you more in the long run. If you want, once you heal, I can teach you some Kyoshi Warrior moves I have learnt," Ty Lee offered, moving to lay on her side so she was looking at Azula.
"I would really like that but aren't you worried that I may snap and go back to my old ways, everyone so far thinks I'm going to, I can see it in their faces," Azula replied, voicing what she thought others thought of her.
"Do you think you're going to snap and go back to how you used to be?" Ty Lee asked, looking Azula in the eye.
"I don't think I will. There is no war, my father is locked away, I have no one putting any pressure on me at all. I almost feel calm at the moment, my mind is clearer than it's ever been, it must be the fresh air," Azula replied, taking one arm out of the sleeping back and reaching for Ty Lee's hand.
Taking hold of Azula's hand, Ty Lee studied the gentle curve of the girl's cheek and how her eyes shone in the darkened room. "I believe you have changed for the better and now that no one is using you for their own benefit you finally have the time to explore who you really are and we both know that you're not the killing machine your father wanted you to be," Ty Lee said, giving Azula's hand a quick squeeze.
"Working with Akna over the last year and a half has made me see everything in a different light, she really is good with what she has to say. She's like a female version of Uncle Iroh who doesn't use a lot of metaphors, she just says it how it is but in a kind way. Before she left for her holiday she told me that when she comes back we will be working on more of my issues. I think she wants to do to the 'tell me about your family' thing again even if we have been over it hundreds of times," Azula replied, letting Ty Lee in on what she talked about with her therapist.
"Akna seems like she's very good at what she does. Maybe your clear head is a mix between Akna helping you out and being healed in the spirit stream. Chief Hakoda said it had special healing powers and can sometimes work for mental health too but it all depends on the purity and spiritual connection of the water. I also recall Katara mentioning that some spirit water from the Northern Water Tribe was able to bring Aang back from the brink of death, it's very powerful," Ty Lee responded, trying to suppress a yawn.
"My head was clearer when I woke up from being in the water," Azula said, making a mental note to talk to Katara about it over the next few days.
"That's good Azula, hopefully a few more sessions with Katara will speed things along," Ty Lee replied, getting out of her sleeping bag.
"What's wrong?" Azula asked, not knowing why the other girl was now not in bed.
"Nothing is wrong, I just need to pee, I'll be back in a moment," Ty Lee replied, heading into the small bathroom and using the amenities. Washing her hands in the bucket of water, she dried them off and went back into the bedroom.
Seeing Ty Lee walk back into the room, Azula sat up on one elbow. "Come say goodnight to me."
Laughing slightly at getting ordered to say goodnight, Ty Lee made her way back to the beds and straddled Azula's lap, pushing the girl down so she was on her back. "Goodnight Azula," Ty Lee softly said, feeling Azula pull her down by the front of her jumper.
Feeling warm lips pressed against her own, Ty Lee gently and slowly kissed Azula, happy to be able to have some uninterrupted time alone together. Feeling teeth pull at her bottom lip, Ty Lee heard herself moan as she kissed Azula harder. Feeling warm hands under her clothing running up her back she enjoyed the feeling of having nails gently digging into her skin. Ty Lee didn't know how long they laid there kissing for but when they broke for air she was out of breath.
"I like kissing you," Azula said, placing a soft kiss on Ty Lee's pulse point on her neck.
"I like it when you kiss me," Ty Lee replied, rolling off Azula and onto her mattress.
"I remember the first time we kissed, it was my first kiss and we were twelve and it was one of my best memories, one of my happier days from when I was younger," Azula said, pursing her lips together.
"That was my first kiss too, and now I get to relive it with you," Ty Lee replied, watching as Azula yawned. "Go to sleep Azula, you're exhausted, you need the rest to help your body recover, I'll still be here in the morning, I promise."
"Okay, I am tired," Azula replied, watching as Ty Lee got into bed and curled up under the blanket and sleeping bag. "Goodnight Ty Lee."
"Goodnight Azula," Ty Lee replied, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.