On Towards Ba Sing Se
43. Sightless
Azula does not notice many things that Ty Lee does, even if she is very attuned to her surroundings. Mai completely lacks any situational awareness nor does she have the desire to stop and examine bugs on flowers.
So when they first are escorted to the well-guarded stronghold, Ty Lee notices the gardens, and the piles of scrap metal rusting from the springtime rain. Azula notices the looks of respect and fear she garners, and she cautiously examines every single person to get a sense of her best courses of action.
Ty Lee looks for anything interesting or weird; Azula always looks for every potential exit or possible threat.
Maybe that sums up why they can't fit with each other properly.
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44. Aptitude
"I understood none of that," Ty Lee says with a small laugh.
Azula looks at her and Ty Lee smiles and then Azula looks away.
They play this game again and again and again and again and again.
The moment for staring has become an exact science. There is no way that Azula is not aware of the moments and how pointed they are.
She is still angry, but Ty Lee does not know why. Ty Lee would trade anything to know why.
Or maybe she should. Maybe she just does not have the aptitude for that.
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45. Hot and Cold
"Summer is coming early," Ty Lee remarks as she looks at the drying grass. "That's good luck, probably? Right? I mean, I'm sweating beads."
Mai shrugs. "Summer is even worse than spring."
"Why?" Ty Lee asks with a laugh.
"Well, in spring it's muddy all the time and rains. But I can stay inside. Winter is cold and dark, but I can put on blankets. Summer is awful because it's hot and horrible. What am supposed to do? Peel off my skin?" Mai says, squinting at the bright blue skies.
Summer is coming early. It's a good omen, and also sucks for Mai, who likes to hide an armory under clothes, and also not be covered in sweat.
"So, you hate being cold and hate being hot, and you hate being wet..."
Mai answers before being asked, "I also hate being too dry. My lips are so cracked right now."
"Oh, I have lip balm!" Ty Lee declares excitedly and Mai does accept. "You know who is too hot and cold?"
Ty Lee does not need to say a word. Mai looks up at Azula in the minor distance, reading the same page of tiny print for the thousandth time and mouthing the words to herself.
"Yes. You two were sickeningly cute. Now you're sickeningly in denial," Mai says and Ty Lee frowns.
"Sometimes I think she likes me and sometimes just not."
Mai shrugs. "It is likely hopeless."
"That's what you always say," Ty Lee mutters under her breath.
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46. Insomnia
Rain taps and rages against the expensive, lacquered tents. But, despite the soothing water and the fact that it is so late that the moon is about to transform into the sun, Azula tosses and turns like the sea.
She hates how much is on her shoulders, and how he thinks that he can just change her prime directive out of nowhere. After all she has done. But that is just how it goes.
No one appreciates her for a split second, and Azula will have to be used to that until she has the crown on her head and everyone has to listen to her. Father doesn't get to tell her what to do once she is the Fire Lord at last.
Her eyes rest on the girl beside her, looking so peaceful and far from afflicted by the stress of their mission.
Azula wishes she still knew Ty Lee, because she thinks that at one point, that girl made her feel very loved and wanted. And she thinks that in some world, Ty Lee probably could make her feel that way again.
A world in which Ty Lee never left.
A world in which Azula was not so tired.
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47. Exhausted Butterflies
"I'm tired. Don't talk to me," Azula says to the people she cannot wait to see in chains.
Ty Lee is tapping her knees together and Azula sits beside her.
"I'm tired. Just listen, because I'm only saying this once. Do you understand me?" Azula says, sounding defeated.
Moments ago she just threatened and domineered, and now she is staring at a sole blade of grass as if it can give her any answers.
After Ty Lee manages somehow to not say a word, Azula turns to her and says, "I'm tired and this is futile. I have done absolutely nothing that I said I could do and that will not be good enough for him."
Ty Lee wants to say a thousand things, but she knows she can do more by listening. And she is a good listener, even though her teachers used to groan about how she just liked the sound of her own voice. Or how Azula would say that she talked a lot but was never saying anything.
Azula says, "I have told myself time and time again that I do not care, and that I know that I have it in me. That I am immune to the ruts and failings that most people get stuck in. I am aware that I would be insane to have not predicted some resistance when pursuing a boy who destroyed an entire armada. But all the same, I can't help but hate it."
Ty Lee bites her lower lip and gazes, and Azula instantly has an expression of regret.
"I shouldn't have told you any of that." Distress, the voice of an actual teenage girl with thoughts and feelings. "You think I'm... something now..."
Ty Lee has other words to say, but she forgoes them in exchange for grabbing the exhausted princess by the wrist and pulling her into the hardest kiss she can muster.
Azula is stunned before closing her eyes. She has no idea what will come next, but she does like this part.