Meerpuppy Love

8. Sleepover

Ty Lee is in Azula's bedroom, at the age of seven, one year after the series of nearly impossible tests, now one of the princess's two best friends. Things changed quite quickly after The-Floor-is-Literally-Lava. Azula is still as mean as ever, but she no longer is a tormentor trying to rid herself of Ty Lee, and now Ty Lee is eager to have a girl talk sleepover instead of playing war with Mai and Azula.

She dangles upside down from Azula's bed in her cute silk jammies that are the most glorious shade of light pink ─ a shade that her mother says was nearly impossible to get ─ as the princess leans against her closet door.

"Those are such gross pajamas," Azula remarks coolly before stepping into her closet to get changed into her own.

"What's wrong with them?" Ty Lee asks weakly as Azula shuts herself in her closet and Ty Lee can hear the rustling of her limbs as she gets undressed.

"The pink. I have no idea why you want to wear such a light color. The darker the red the wealthier the person..." Azula says through the cherry-wood sliding door.

"My sisters all wear dark red. I wear light pink. And I don't know anybody else who does either. My mom says people wear it in the colonies sometimes," Ty Lee says eagerly and Azula does not think she has ever heard Ty Lee genuinely discuss a topic in such a serious tone.

Ty Lee always did behave more like a seven year old girl should. Azula, however, was aged far beyond her own years simply by her life and the way she is raised. Her father has not kept many secrets from her as he trains her as a weapon with the blessing of his father.

"So, you wanted to have a normal sleepover?" Azula asks as she emerges in a silk nightgown. She shuffles across the floor and sits on the bed beside Ty Lee.

"Right, so, we'll talk about..." Ty Lee is quiet for a moment. "Boys...?"

"If that's how your normal sleepovers go," Azula says with a strange smile Ty Lee does not understand.

The silence prompts Ty Lee to quickly speak, "Well, Mai likes Zuko," Ty Lee croons, looking overly excited about things. Azula is unclear on this liking thing. She has never felt that way before, and she is sure she is far too young to be thinking about such distractions.

"She has to like Zuko because she's going to marry him," Azula replies bitterly, and she wonders why she feels so offended by the conversation. This is what normal girls talk about, she thinks; Ty Lee is not wrong about that assertion.

Ty Lee rubs her tan chin with her smooth, small hands.

"Well, I know who I like," Ty Lee says weakly, her heart pounding maniacally in her chest. and Azula does not understand the rage in her stomach. It is confusing, and it makes her pallid cheeks flush slightly.

"Who?" Azula demands, wondering why her nose is tingling and her heart is pounding.

Ty Lee hides her desire to just blurt out her real crush. That is not what girls are supposed to do at sleepovers. So, Ty Lee covers her sadness by quickly stammering out, "Okay, I have five boys I'm pretty into. I can't choose which one I like best..."

Azula stops listening at that point and gazes intently at the wall. She does not know why it bothers her so much that Ty Lee has her sights on boys. They are too young for boyfriends, but that is on their mind, like any children.

But it kills her to see Ty Lee's eyes light up. And then it hits Azula, and she wonders how she could be so stupid and thick skulled to not realize it immediately.

She does like someone. And that someone is sitting upside down in front of her.

It is the most terrifying revelation of Princess Azula's young life.

.

9. Interference

Two weeks after her sleepover with Ty Lee, Azula sighs loudly. No one pays her any mind. She sighs again, this time leaning her face on her hand and dramatically gazing at the hideous painting in the parlor she is stuck in.

"Why is she making that sound? Is she broken?" Zuko loudly demands of mother.

Azula sighs even louder. Ursa clears her throat and asks, "Are you alright?"

The small princess then lies down on her back and stares at the ceiling, sighing with even more fervor. Ursa does not quite know what to make of it and Zuko stares at the pieces of the board game she is playing with him.

"Azula...?" Ursa inquires.

Azula looks at her mother, sighs again, and then drags herself out of the room melodramatically. A few minutes pass and Zuko pulls on his mother's sleeve. She purses her lips and then returns to the game.

Another moment later, Azula slinks back into the room and asks, "Aren't you going to follow me?"

Ursa hesitates for a moment before getting up and following Azula. This sort of thing is normal around their house, and she thinks her daughter is starting to grow up in confusing ways.

"Yes?" Ursa asks as Azula finally stops.

"She's in love with someone else," her daughter moans and Ursa blinks once, unsure what to say. "I don't even know what to do."

"Who's in love with someone else?" Ursa manages to choke out as Azula slumps against the wall.

"The only woman I will ever love," Azula sighs and Ursa furrows her brow. "It's not like you would understand. No one loves you."

Ursa just blinks.

"You're a bit young for that kind of thing, dear. It's not really adult love, it's meerpuppy love."

"It is not meerpuppy love! It is real and you just don't understand!" shrieks Azula before she dramatically storms away.

Ursa genuinely thought she had a few more years before she would reach this point.

She winds up talking to Ozai that night, as they are sitting and eating their dinner alone, in relative peace. The harvest moon is over the blue land, and the wind is ashen and summery. It would be a pleasant night... it is a pleasant night, although Ursa is concerned about how Ozai may react to Azula's meerpuppy love.

"I think you should talk to Azula," Ursa says and Ozai cocks an eyebrow. "She has a crush."

His eyes light with momentary rage and Ursa grits her teeth.

"She's nine. You have to be kidding me. She should be practicing her firebending and playing cartwheels, not..." He does not even know how to finish the sentence. It is incredibly hard for him to be forced to view Azula is a young girl and not a weapon of mass destruction.

"It's very normal. But I don't think she knows how to handle her feelings about it," Ursa says warmly, using the tone she knows makes her husband least about to fly off the handle. "And she... does not really put much value in my advice."

Ozai sighs and rubs his temples. This had to happen eventually, he supposes, and so after Azula finishes her lengthy sunset training, he is waiting for her outside of the practice pavilion.

"Yes, father?" Azula asks, wringing sweat from her hair. Her big golden eyes blink once, eager for any words or acknowledgment from him.

"I want to talk to you about your... crush." The word feels sour on his tongue. Azula clenches her jaw and averts her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, father. She isn't interested in me at all. It won't be a distraction, I promise."

She runs away before he can say anything. He meant to encourage her, to set aside his strong feelings as a paternal figure and try to help her. But he knows that her quick escape makes his life much easier, and so he accepts it.

Maybe the crush will not be a distraction, although Ozai wonders who this she is.