AN: I hope nobody is mad about double alerts, but I had a guest review rip me a (justified) new one and kind of point out a fracktonne of errors in this chapter and the drabbles and, I've fixed them all and edited them the best I could, and added two drabbles, and since so many people had already read it, I thought I should delete and add it as a new chapter instead of replacing. That's what I found clicking around on forums, but I'm not sure if that makes people angry, and I won't do it again.

~Part Three~

Where the Heart Is

Cauterize

61. And I Thought I Was Special

Home has been on everyone's mind. Not as much as Zuko, perhaps, but the Earth Kingdom did not do wonders for any of them. And the trip towards the port from Ba Sing Se is nearly unbearable. It is made more unbearable by the fact that Azula spends most every second alone, save for perhaps once or twice taunting Zuko, and a moment of conversation with Mai.

Ty Lee feels... angry about that? She cannot quite explain it. Yeah, she knows that she should feel special about the fact that she knows Azula is in such disarray because she needs to think of a justification for helping Zuko.

They are very close to the port, the loud squawking of seagulls in the air, when Ty Lee decides to approach Azula's enclosure.

"Can I come in?" Ty Lee whispers, and Azula mutters something that does not sound like a threat of death by lightning, and so the acrobat shimmies inside without disrupting much.

It smells like candles. Not the pretty scented kind that Ty Lee has a huge collection of... despite how many of them are now rendered useless by the missing wicks and Ty Lee's lack of patience to fix them. No, it overwhelmingly smells of wax, and Ty Lee realizes that Azula has been burning them, in thought, in meditation, on her own, in that isolation, to the point that they are mostly puddles of pungent wax at this point.

"Can I help you?" Ty Lee asks.

Nothing, and nothing, and nothing, is Azula's response.

"No."

Ty Lee waits for a very long time, before the heat and the discomfort is overwhelming, and she steps outside. She thought maybe she could be Azula's confidant again. She thought she was Azula's confidant.

Mai is looking at Ty Lee with what might be pity and it is very unpleasant.

"She needs to think about what to do about Zuko on her own. Her father isn't going to accept just any excuse," Mai says with a sigh, as if she is unaware that she is stabbing Ty Lee in the chest by saying it.

And Ty Lee thought she was special.

.

62. Mystic Nonsense

"Oh, Azula, please go in there," Ty Lee begs, her hand hovering close to Azula's, occasionally offering to hold it but being silently denied.

This port is sketchy, to say the least. It is filled with odd shops, casinos and other very sleazy establishments. The stop here is only an hour, yet somehow Azula has been coerced by those cute eyes into walking around. This is what Azula means by the Earth Kingdom needing to be cleansed by fire.

Azula is not livid, at least. She has very little to be concerned about at the moment, save for her usual thoughts, and she can multitask while conniving. After a long journey, she has her plans to control Zuko and persuade father.

And Azula did not hate the idea of exploring for an hour without obligations before returning to the Fire Nation to be Ozai's right hand.

"You can get your aura read," Ty Lee offers excitedly, smiling at Azula.

"That does not even merit a response. Mystic nonsense is worthless, and I would rather kiss the Earth King's pet bear than get my aura read," Azula replies before Ty Lee pouts and tries not to be hurt.

"Oh, you snuck into a zoo, princess," Ty Lee says, changing the subject to what she really thinks was a romantic gesture. She bats her thick eyelashes and Azula disclaims her actions with an elongated and regal sigh before walking inside.

This shop does look slightly less seedy than some of the rest. The scent of incense is enough to knock a person out, but Azula manages, and the dim light is colored by the stained glass windows and the dancing shadows from tinted lamps.

"Curios, curios for sale," offers a woman who very clearly does not recognize her own princess. Well, not even the highest ranking Earth Kingdom military officials recognized her. "You two are a well matched couple."

"Oh, no we're..." Ty Lee trails off for a moment when she realizes Azula was not the one to immediately protest or burn down this establishment.

Azula writes that off as shock, of course.

"Not yet," this woman says and Azula knows she will say anything to sell them the most expensive and useless items in the store. Ty Lee, of course, would buy them without prodding. "You two met when you were much younger, and... have had a separation that caused unresolved uncertainty. You parted right before womanhood?"

"Azula, this is for real."

"No it's not," Azula says and Ty Lee glares at her.

The princess had been waiting to unveil the fraud, but she has always found that look in Ty Lee's eyes so appealing. More so than anything about her. She is not hardened by the world, yet she is not crushed either. Ty Lee is an inexplicably bright fire that nothing can dampen. And Azula wants to take it from her for her own.

"Those crystals over there I think could be perfect for you both," the poorly dressed woman says before Ty Lee walks across the room towards them. Azula grabs her by the arm and she stumbles and yelps before obediently falling limp.

"You are clearly very talented," Azula begins and Ty Lee already does not like where this is going. She does not think she has ever heard Azula begin a sentence with that. "We were discussing our early childhood outside before we came in, which is just amateurish. I mean, I can tell by the initials on your necklace that don't match the family owned name on the shop that either you have a child or this belonged to a mother-in-law, which would take very little to exploit or mention.

"My mother-in-law," and the shopkeeper seems to want to defend herself, but Azula's eyes have now silenced her.

"Our separation is obvious. She nearly stepped on my foot twice, we look at each other analytically and correct our speech, and when you asked if we were a couple or not, which is pathetic and amateurish, there was inconsistency and surprise. Parting right before womanhood is just an obvious guess, because it's the most likely time for someone roughly our age."

Ty Lee smiles and blinks. "That was amazing. Can I buy this pearl?"

"That's a rock," Azula remarks, cocking an eyebrow.

"There's a pearl in it. Oh, and I really like these crystal protection necklaces and that set of needles."

"What are you going to do with the needles?"

Ty Lee shrugs and disappears into the shop again despite the fact that Azula just tried to show her it was a sham. Or did Azula just try to show off by insulting the thing she loves most? No, Ty Lee loved it and it was evident.

Once they are outside, Azula can breathe clearly again, and Ty Lee's arms are laden with her purchases. That shop was ridiculous, and Azula will never admit how much fun it was to be set loose on this dock, with no motives, nothing she had to do save for get onto the ship on time.

"That was fun, princess. You're fun," Ty Lee gushes. "Okay, you're fun even when you're just sitting there studying war papers or ordering me around. But you're double fun when you're..." Ty Lee thinks she might have gotten herself into a bind, and so she just says, "I just think you're the funnest, okay?"

"I know." Azula walks onto the ship, and certainties in their relationship evaporate yet again.

.

63. Sleeping Arrangements

After boarding, Ty Lee is holding her bags and looking around the royal ship. There is plenty of room, but Mai and Zuko seem to have um... alright Mai might have started taking Azula's demand that she make Zuko uhh... well, they seem to be going from cute to ick, and Ty Lee decides to find a room of her own.

She did sleep with Azula in Ba Sing Se. More than once, but now she is very confused.

"Are you not coming? Or are you lost in this narrow hallway that goes only one direction?" Azula says and Ty Lee looks at her, doing all she can to hide her excitement (and failing).

She walks into Azula's room, and carefully navigates around the princess's things in order to set down her own.

"So, are you... do you still want to be left alone?" Ty Lee suggests, wringing her hands. Her eyes beg, please please please please.

No, Azula does not need to be left alone anymore. She has already figured out her high risk high reward plan, but she also is not certain if she wants to slip into this.

The last time she returned to the Fire Nation with Ty Lee, Azula cut it off with her as quickly as possible after the night when Ty Lee followed her into the bathroom. There they were, in front of the sink, and she asked, "Who are you?"

"Perhaps you can accompany me up to the deck," Azula offers and Ty Lee grins.

Azula does not understand why that makes her stomach twist. It should feel so normal to the princess for people to crave her attention and presence.

But somehow this is different, and she will find out why at any cost.

.

64. Seasick

Azula is bored on the long journey, and has gone towards the kitchen on the ship to get tea. It is the dead of the night, and she is not expecting to run into someone.

But she does.

Ty Lee is perched very high up on the metal table in the center of the room, and when Azula walks in, she wants to make a barbed comment about if she thinks the ship is sinking. But she just says nothing.

"What's wrong with you?" the princess sighs, crossing her arms loosely over her chest.

"Zuko is seasick," she chirps like a scared little fire ferret. Azula cocks an eyebrow.

"He's not seasick," Azula says with a semi-pleased smirk. Ty Lee sniffs in and then panics momentarily when she thinks she might gag.

"Well, he's th-throwing up," Ty Lee says, digging her fingers more deeply into the nailed down metal table. Azula is now even more confused.

"He isn't contagious. Unless you can catch cowardice," Azula sighs and wishes Ty Lee were not directly in the way of what she came in for. Then again, she is very curious about what has her hiding like a platypus-bear is loose on the ship.

"You're going to be mean," Ty Lee whispers and Azula shrugs. "Ohh, fine. I'm really scared of when people do that."

"So, why are you on high ground? Do you think it's going to flood the hallways?"

Ty Lee does feel herself gag now. "Don't say that! I mean, I mean, please, princess, I beg of you not to mention things like that..."

Azula sighs. "Just sit down like a normal person. You look ridiculous."

Hesitantly, Ty Lee slides down and sits, and Azula brushes past her to the teapot.

The princess wonders what else she does not know about Ty Lee. It is not as if she can ask her without sounding like a wimp.

Oh, Agni. Her eyes actually flare at that thought.

Maybe Zuko's weakness is contagious.

.

65. Pearls

Ty Lee has been playing with her new toys from that shop, and Azula is with her. They are alone together this evening, and Azula found busy work for Ty Lee as quickly as she could. She had to be prepared for this going very wrong.

Or maybe very right. That kiss...

That kiss Azula never spoke of again...

That kiss Azula should have spoke of again...

That kiss Azula should absolutely not have spoke of again...

"Do you ever wear pearls?" Ty Lee asks Azula in a dreamy tone, even though she doubts it. The princess has never been the jewelry type.

"No. I think they're gaudy and cheap." Azula sits down and sees Ty Lee prying at a dark, shelled thing. It is not damp, and it is smooth and shiny. "And that is not a pearl."

"You mean I can't just string this up on a necklace?" Ty Lee asks, giggling as her eyes glimmer.

Azula shrugs. Giving Ty Lee things does seem to shut her up, even if she seems to think she has the right to make jokes while in the princess's presence.

They did that when they were young. But they are not young anymore.

"So, why are you trying to open it?" Azula truly does not know.

"There's a pearl inside," Ty Lee says, yet again, but Azula is in absolute disbelief.

"It's a scam." Azula leans back in her seat, always sitting as if she is in a throne. Ty Lee likes that; it makes something deep in her body purr.

"You're probably right, princess. You always are. But I hope it's not," Ty Lee says lightly as she continues clawing at it.

Azula both likes and despises how Ty Lee still has some hope left that there is a little honesty and honor left in the world.

Princess Azula wants it. She wants to tear it from Ty Lee, to breathe it in from neck and drink it from her lips. The momentary thought of that, her nails digging into her spine, the fire, the imaginary glow around Ty Lee fading in a very... alluring way..

. "OUCH!" Ty Lee shrieks in pain and Azula is pulled crudely from her warm fantasy.

That looks bad. That looks very bad.

"You cut yourself. Wonderful," Azula says, ignoring the pounding in her heart. "You pet strange bears, and cut yourself on shell-sea-creature things. Come here."

Azula grabs her by the shoulder, and Ty Lee just keeps whimpering as the princess takes her to go get it fixed.

.

64. Gauze

"I won't lie to you, this is going to hurt," Azula says, and Ty Lee kind of wishes that there was a real healer here and not just Azula and a seemingly well stocked first aid kit.

Ty Lee frowns, her eyes wide and glittery. Azula is holding some sort of solution to examine Ty Lee's cut, which, again, Ty Lee really thinks should be left to professionals of some sort. Her hand is covered in blood, and there is no telling how bad it is right now.

They are alone in the engineering compartment, because Azula said that was where the most comprehensive first aid kit was, which Ty Lee is going to try her best to believe. But the acrobat has this sneaking suspicion that it is because no one will find them.

"Why don't you just wrap it up?" Ty Lee whispers. "It doesn't really matter if we examine it... you know?"

"Because first I have to examine it and make sure I can't see your bones. Then we have to make sure it doesn't bleed excessively..."

"What happens then?" Ty Lee whispers, looking at the sharp objects in the first aid kit.

"Well, usually some kind of, I don't know, cauterization probably. Definitely cauterization, which I've always wanted to try."

"But only if there's excessive bleeding?" Ty Lee whispers very softly.

"Of course. It all depends on just how careless you were while trying to get that pearl out. This will be such a bonding experience."

Ty Lee lies down.

Azula frowns. "That was funny. Laugh."

"Why was that... Oh, the, that gauze. Yes, that was funny. I'm just light ─ no, no! I'm not lightheaded at all. It just is a papercut feeling really."

"Please relax," Azula says quietly, and while Ty Lee believes Azula could do anything she put her mind to, she probably should work on her bedside manner if she ever becomes a healer or surgeon.

Azula does clean the wound, and to Ty Lee's relief, it is not that bad.

It is a bonding experience in the end. They have to talk, in order to conceal the fact that they are locked in the engineering compartments for reasons Ty Lee is still slightly concerned about, and maybe they do catch up a little. Or at least feel more... at ease. It's okay.

All the while, Ty Lee tries to hide the fact that she bleeds through the first wrapping, but Azula catches it and they replace it. And replace it again. But, finally, there is not excessive bleeding.

No one has to be burned!

Today is a good day.