BRUISES
Ty Lee wishes kisses from her lips could make bruises fade away. But they don't. They don't. They don't. And it breaks her heart.
But she kisses them anyway, her soft sweet lips gently pressing painfully against the ugly splotches on Azula's ivory skin. She is marred by battle and maybe that is beautiful but it reminds Ty Lee that Azula is not a goddess, even if she pretends to be one.
They tangle together that night, in a tent on the road to capture the Avatar. Alone together.
Fallible and flawed. Human and in love.
And maybe those words are all synonyms.
