A/N: Now I've walked through hell for you. What's an adventurer to do? Love and be loved. Read… and review!

Blue Fire

[Fall 116 AG]

"Final order of business: Chameleon Bay would like to open up trading with us."

There is a terse silence.

"Thoughts?"

"Those highbrow shits can go fuck themselves."

"I'll pen the letter back myself, Po Boh."

"I don't care for them either, but should we really be turning down this opportunity?" Roland tries diplomacy. Po Boh and Hemo eye him cautiously. "Generations of Lanxians haven't known this much success. And for it to warrant something from Chameleon Bay?"

He lets the rhetorical question hang. He smiles. "Next thing you know Ba Sing Se could be at our door!"

As it lingers, the only woman in the room cuts through the daydream.

"And maybe the Earth King or the Avatar himself will show up next!"

Roland peels his eyes back at their chairperson. He rolls his eyes. "Your sarcasm is unwarranted, Asuna."

The black haired, wild woman snickers to herself. She then announces, "So, Roland is in favor. I'm undecided. Po Boh is against. Hemo is also against. How about you Fomun?"

The room turns its attention to the oldest man in the room. Head bald, skin folded over itself, the elder man is pensive. Slowly, he finally speaks, "Roland is right. Thanks to Asuna's leadership, we've accomplished more than I can remember in my lifetime. We have a responsibility to allow Lanxi to continue to grow."

The brutish, tan Po Boh huffs. "Ba Sing Se has never looked out for us, never aided us. The king knows not what happens outside the Si Wong Desert. Chameleon Bay is no different."

The amber eyed, long black haired Roland takes this in stride. "Be that as it may, that leaves you, Asuna, as the deciding vote."

All eyes turn to the lone woman in the room. There is a long pause as she is pensive and thinking through exactly what she wants to say. She hums a little as she thinks, fingers folded into steeples. The men all wait for her decree.

"I think Po Boh has a point. We shouldn't dance with Ba Sing Se or especially Republic City. The trade folks in those parts of the world will never understand the people of Lanxi."

Hemo cheers, "Here here!"

"But Fomun is right too," she continues. "We have an obligation to our people to see how much we can grow. To give them the best chance to improve their lives. So, I vote in favor."

Hemo groans now in defeat. Po Boh purses his lips in disappointment. Fomun raises a point, "To play both sides, isn't that the very ethos of Republic City?"

Before Asuna can respond, Roland is speaking. "Perhaps it is. And perhaps we have more in common with the criminals who run that city than we want to admit. But right now I believe Asuna's point is solely focused on the people of Lanxi."

The room is quiet after this last comment. Asuna hears no other arguments. She waits and counts a few seconds in her head. Finally she announces, "And with that, I believe our business is done. Any other thoughts for the good of the order?"

She pauses but no one speaks. She lifts the gavel up and spins it in her hand.

"Seeing none, I hereby call this meeting of the Council of the Elders to a close."

She slams the hammer down twice and the next sound is scraping chairs as everyone stands. After grabbing a few things, Asuna recalls her own announcement. She yells over the small talk, "Reminder that I will be unavailable this next week. Exceptions for emergencies, or any village deaths."

Po Boh openly replies for all to hear, "Going to stray a little farther from Agni's light?"

Asuna clears her throat and replies, "I left Agni's light long ago. The sex is better when you're both gender betrayers. You've got some experience with that, right Po Boh?"

The large man's steps thunder towards the smaller woman. She doesn't bat an eye. Doesn't move a muscle. He stares at her with fury. Roland steps towards him and Hemo grabs his arm to pull him away. They stand opposed to one another, staring each other down.

"Keep this up, Asuna, and the spirits may take you all too soon."

"Is that a threat?" Roland interjects.

"Shut up, he doesn't mean anything by it." Hemo replies.

"Bigger and better men have threatened me with worse."

Po Boh stares into her golden eyes, searching for weakness. He finds only conviction. Finally he allows Hemo to pull him away. They gather their belongings and take their leave, teeth gritted. Fomun pays them mind, gathering his own belongings and making his way home. After another minute or so, Roland and Asuna walk out together as well.

As they are walking, Asuna asks, "You going to his house?"

"Yeah, I'm covering while Ty Lin is visiting. Right? Or will you-?"

"Yeah, no, that's right. I just want to pop over to see the little dragon."

"Of course, who could blame you?"

They step together in silence. Roland mulls over his words. He comments, "Not many folks could stand up to Po Boh and live to tell the tale."

"Oh, please. He's a harmless doll."

"A doll that could squish both of us if he tried to."

"I usually play pai sho with him once a week. Won't this week, obviously. So by the time we play again he'll have forgotten all about that."

Roland laughs, then asks. "Is it true? What you said?"

"Huh?"

"That 'bigger and better men' have threatened you with worse?"

Asuna is being chased. She does not slow her pace. "Do I give the impression that I have?"

"Hmm, generally no. You write poetry and grow moonflowers. You're stoic and quiet. But you also plot meticulously every move you make."

"I'm impressed with how much you know about me, Roland."

"It's been three years, Asuna. I should hope I know you somewhat by now."

She nods in agreement as they wind around the village. He continues, "Yet there is so much that is still a mystery, despite all this time. Like how you got that scar in your palm."

Asuna peeks down at it and remembers a lifetime ago when she couldn't forget it was there. He adds, "And I know frighteningly little about Ty Lin, outside of when she visits us a few times a year."

"She and I like to keep a low profile."

"Says the Chairperson for the Council of the Elders."

"Someone had to do it."

Roland has paused at this moment too many times before. He finally works up the courage to say, "I never thanked you, Asuna."

"Thanked me? For what?"

"When Lonou, erhm, stopped, doing everything. When he didn't want to lead anymore, it was my responsibility to step up. I was the second in command. I was supposed to lead. But, I…"

After trying to let him find his words, Asuna offers, "Weren't ready?"

"No. I certainly was not. I thought leadership was being so many things and I was wrong about all of it. But you?"

He steals a glance at her. His amber eyes catching her golden ones. "You were a true leader for Lanxi. Everything that we needed. You kept Lonou alive, and cared for baby Yasuko. You helped me, protected me. All the while expanding Lanxi and netting us trade with Chameleon Bay. I just can't imagine what this last year would've been like without you."

They approach the home where Yasuko was born and Lonou's life was changed forever. Where all of their lives were changed forever. Asuna reflects on it all. She shrugs and says, "Well, I guess it could've been worse."

Sitting out front of his home is father Lonou, his child in arms. Asuna walks up to him with a warm smile and a wave. She leans in until the light green eyes, passed down from her father, are unexpectedly looking up at Asuna.

"Is that the little dragon?" She coos at her.

The girl turns her head away, burying in the nook of her father's neck. She doesn't comprehend what Asuna said but she knows it was for her.

Asuna stays a while, playing peekaboo with the almost one year old. Roland and Lonou discuss village affairs, with Roland getting animated as he retells the tale of Asuna standing up to Po Boh after the meeting. Lonou tries to live vicariously. He has been better in recent months, slowly returning from the dark place that Alane's death had cast him into. When the time comes, Asuna excuses herself to go meet with her visitor. On her way out the door she says something about attending to a ritual.

"And her name is 'Kya' and she's the cutest little thing I think I've ever seen!"

"I don't know about that Ty, Yasuko is superior in my eyes."

"You haven't even met Kya yet!"

"I probably will never meet Kya, that doesn't change my mind."

The women share a laugh as they share their dinner. Ty Lee is catching Azula up about all the goings on at Kyoshi Island, and the Royal Palace, and Republic City. The life of one the Fire Lord's most trusted guards is far from easy, but it keeps her busy. All of her free time is spent writing to Azula, thinking of Azula, or actually being with Azula. All of her traveling makes her practically invisible as she never stays in the same place for too long.

"So," Ty Lee starts, "have you been practicing?"

Azula shrugs, "As much as I can."

"Sounds like you've been laying the groundwork for excuses."

"Not excuses, Ty. I have a lot going on here. Between watching out for Yasuko, and keeping Lonou from falling into a pit of despair, and the Council, and the trade-"

"It's alright. You don't want to master Chi Blocking, I get it."

Azula pauses. The teasing look in those grey eyes, the way she knows this will get under her skin, the playful tone of her voice, and the lack of emotion in her delivery. Azula can't help but smile. Ty Lee knows exactly what to say and how to say it to get under her skin.

"I'll kill you." Azula says with a curl of her lip.

Ty Lee leans forward. Hand cupping her lover's chin, she gets closer and closer. She pauses an inch or so from her face. Those grey eyes search Azula's face momentarily and then a disapproving smirk dawns. She shakes her head.

"No, you won't," she starts. "You've tried before and you weren't very good at it."

She delivers a soft peck on Azula's lips. She backs up, arms crossed across her chest in front of her.

"Just like you're not very good at chi blocking."

Without warning Azula launches herself from the dining room chair at her girlfriend. They begin an intense sparring session. It goes on for a few minutes with Azula going all out, while Ty Lee gives maybe 75% of her effort.

"So, how does Lightning Bending work?"

The question comes from seemingly nowhere.

"Huh?"

Yet Ty Lee has wondered about it for so long.

"I just don't get it. Sometimes when you would use it, people would get really hurt. Other times they might die. Why doesn't it just kill them straight away?"

The women lay on a pile on the floor. They stare up at the ceiling, just relaxing. Predictably Ty Lee had won the scrimmage, but she could tell that Azula was applying more of herself. She thinks about how far she's come and how much longer before she's up to speed with herself. This drove her to think about Azula as a combatant and her various fighting techniques. She finally asks about lightning bending.

"I've never been a fire bender before, so I don't know what it's like for you."

Squinting up at the ceiling, Azula replies, "Do you want me to teach you?"

"Fire Bending?!" Ty Lee practically shouts.

"No, you goof, about lightning."

"Oh! Yes! Yes, please!"

"Alright, up then!"

As the women get up together Azula adds, "Only fair since you're teaching me chi blocking."

They stand opposed to each other. Azula takes a deep breath. She motions with her hands as she says, "To answer your questions, there are four core aspects to lightning bending and how it affects people."

She slowly spins her fingers, creating the static of lightning. "The first is physical resistance. Older people, more built people, can withstand more. Typically, not always, but typically a scrawny teenager versus a trained warrior have very different levels of pain tolerance and, usually, body mass. The more you have of those, the more you can take."

"So since I'm taller and more built than you, I could take more?"

"More built than me?"

"Don't delude yourself, Asuna." Ty Lee replies playfully.

"Well, regardless, the answer is: not necessarily. The next aspect is being a fire bender. It's my belief that Fire Benders have a built in resistance to other fire bending, in particular lightning."

Ty Lee narrows her eyes at this, "Hmm, feels like you're making this part up."

"Maybe. I haven't exactly studied it, but, just," Azula looks away and scratches the back of her head in an anxious moment. "Lots of experience."

Ty Lee nods in acknowledgment. She doesn't need clarification. "So what's the next aspect?"

"Right," Azula says looking back up. "Location matters. Where you are striking them will impact how it courses through their body. Which means how I move my body in response to a blast can change what it does to me-or what I do to it."

"How so?"

Azula approaches her, "Let me show you."

She swings in behind Ty Lee. She stands flush against her body before snaking her hands up the taller woman's arms and gripping them. She slowly moves them in a flowing motion she had been taught long ago.

"A strike to the heart or to the head is a strike to kill. But a strike to the stomach is perfect for redirection. So if they are trying for a point of weakness, but I contour my body," she slowly steps back and pulls Ty Lee with her. She makes the flowing, water-like motion with her arms. "I can take that strike at a different angle, and send it back."

Ty Lee likes being held like this and Azula likes holding her this way. It's nice being the protective one, holding her love in her arms. It feels natural and right. They settle in to one another.

Softly Ty Lee whispers, "And the last aspect?"

Azula closes her eyes and whispers back, "Intention."

"Mhm?" Ty Lee relaxes.

"Mostly I just think it's how much I want to hurt them. I could kill them with a lightning bolt."

Koh's Disciples.

The men at the Idle Grove.

Ozai.

'Aang.'

So much regret. So much suffering. She feels the soft nuzzle of the woman in her arms. She smiles. She feels the fire coursing through her blood. Their fingers interlocked, Azula turns Ty Lee's palms skyward, her own fingers poking through to the sky.

"Or I can tickle them with a spark."

A tiny bit of electricity spurts from her fingertips, and for a moment it appears to come from Ty Lee's own. She nearly jumps in surprise, laughing instantly and her face lighting up.

"Azula! Did you see that?" She shouts excitedly.

"I did! You practically fire bent!"

"That was amazing!"

Azula stifles her laugh. "I know!"

Turning her head to look into the golden eyes, she asks, voice full of wonder, "What else can I do?"

Taking the challenge head on, Azula smiles. She whispers, "Watch this."

She brings Ty Lee's hands down in front of her. Fingers interlocked, Azula brings them together as if she was holding a cup of tea. Her hands are holding Ty Lee's in place, but she must be very careful. She stares down at the delicate hands in her own. She concentrates and focuses all of her attention into those hands. She feels the heat rising, the fire courses through her again. She squints her eyes and is careful.

Down below, Ty Lee looks on as a small, soft blue flame ignites in the palm of her hands. Warm arms wrapped around her, her lover's fingers interlaced with her own, this moment is nothing short of miraculous. She sees the fire in her own hands. Logically she knows that she is not fire bending, that this is Azula's blue flame in her hands, and she is just visually seeing it in her own. Yet for just a second she forgets all of that and for the first time in her life she looks down at a blue flame that she wields.

Azula believes that her blue fire is perhaps her most defining feature. More than her golden eyes or black hair. Perhaps it used to be her top knot, but she hasn't worn it in that style in nearly three years. Not the scar in her palm, not the way that she speaks, her tactical guile, or innate leadership skills. If Azula has nothing else, she has always had her blue fire.

"It's like a little heartbeat!" Ty Lee whispers with wonder.

In Ty Lee's palm, the flame skips and shrinks. It fades, almost to nothing, and then is brought back to life. It hurts just a little bit, but not enough to distract her from how incredible it is. 'Like loving Azula.'

She's a bending prodigy, a former killer, a fallen empress. She's also a gardener, a town elder, and a poet. She's learning to be a lover, a chi blocker, and a surrogate mother. She's failing at forgiving herself, moving on, and stopping her nightmares.

But right now, Asuna of Lanxi is just happy. To be alive, to have a second chance, to be here. Holding the love of her life, and a blue flame, in their collective hands.

A/N: This Chapter's OST is "It's Nice to Have A Friend" by Taylor Swift.

Love always. Tyzula forever.

Notorious