Ty Lee sat in front of her friend who clearly had a problem. Here they were in a really good desert place, eating for free and all Mai could do was look out the window and sigh. She had to admit it was indeed a great day out, but the greyness surrounding her friend was greyer than usual. Her best friend didn't like it when Ty Lee told her how what she could see about her mood, but it was hard not to say anything when the people around her weren't feeling their best.

Raizu told her it was alright that people didn't always feel okay, and he knew a lot. But even then she found it hard to accept.

Ty Lee took a small spoonful of the cold tofu pudding, making sure the sweet and sticky sauce coated her little mound of happiness. She stuck the sumptuous bite out over to her friend.

Mai met her eyes and huffed a little air out of her button nose. "Thank you, Ty."

She ate from her spoon and Ty Lee had a bite for herself.

Ty Lee swiped a spoonful this time from her friend's bowl and ate a bit for herself before taking another spoon and offering it to Mai. Her worried friend had barely touched hers and letting the mango syrup go to waste did not sit well with Ty Lee.

Mai ate the spoonful again and finally got the hint. She took a bite of her own.

Ty Lee watched the small hint of yellow sneak its way through the thick and dark grey. Ice cream always helped when the world didn't make sense, her strange friend always said. Though she figured something cold and sweet was all that really mattered on it.

"Copper for your thoughts?"

Her friend offered her a spoonful as well. "It's family stuff."

"Ah." She ate what was offered. Family was never easy. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her friend looked around and pursed her lips. "Maybe not here. Later somewhere else?"

She didn't say no, and that was enough.

"You know I'll always be here for you," she said.

Mai smiled, and they finished their dishes. Their bill was charged to the royal tab, and they went out of the shop and made their way over to the palace. She still found it a bit much that the prince hired the both of them just so they could all spend more time with their friends, but it was fun to help him out every now and then so that at least eased her guilt a little.

"Have you ever had any trouble with your parents?" Mai asked quietly.

They were walking along the streets and the noise of the people around them going about their days should mask their conversation well enough. It was one of the lessons they'd learned in their time at the palace. Raizu liked studying anything and everything and he also liked teaching people what he knew. Their employment at the palace had them showing up two days every week there, and they learned more in those two days than they did every three.

"A little," she said, "mom and dad like it when my sisters and I do the same things. We don't. And things get harder from there."

Mai looked back towards the street. They passed a new clothes shop, another of the prince's projects. It sold clothes that weren't like the ones every one wore now. They were still made of the same fabrics, but the designs were all different. Simpler. And because of that they were easier to make and cheaper for everyone.

"Ty," Mai said.

"Yeah?"

Mai sighed. "I think my dad's doing something really bad."

She missed a step, but her friend caught her hand and she was able to put her foot down fast enough to catch her own fall.

"Sorry," Mai whispered.

Ty Lee shook her head. "We'll think of something," she said with a smile.

Mai breathed deep. She squeezed Ty Lee's hand. "We always do."

They entered the palace and made their way to one of the secret passages. The one in the gardens had the least people hanging around the entrance, and it became their research group's go to for any meetings or lessons that weren't meant to be heard by anyone else.

Mai told her everything she did and found out in that dark tunnel and the following nights. How the people her father was meeting were all so angry at the things happening to the Fire Nation now and that they wanted to do something about it, and a big part of that was hurting the royal family.

By the end of her story Ty Lee's eyes had already adjusted to the dark and Mai's face stayed the same but her aura was a rainbow of worries and fears, dark blues, sullen purples, dull reds. Auras didn't illuminate people like fire did, but it showed her what the people around her felt. It felt wrong to see this much about everyone. But it was how she used the things she had that made things bad or good.

She could make a difference. And if she could help her friend, then seeing these colors wouldn't be so bad.

But even she knew when things were above her abilities.

Silence wrapped around them. Her heart hammering in her chest. She knew the truth wasn't always the best thing to say, but they needed help.

"We need to tell Raizu," she said.

Mai didn't say anything.

So Ty Lee didn't say anything either.

They sat there together, breathing. Waiting for the right time.

"I don't know if I can," Mai finally said.

"You don't have to do it right now."

Mai wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them closer. "I don't think I should wait."

What was good wasn't always what was right, and she was sure their friend would understand. He was the one that taught them so in the first place. It was the reason he'd taken them to meet the gangs in the slums before, so they could get to know each other, at the least so they could stay out of each other's way. Good and bad more often than not depended on where they were seeing things from.

They never came to an answer in the dark, and they had to leave the tunnel after a while.

Ty Lee knew they couldn't hide their worries from their friends, but they would wait for Mai to be ready. Just as she had learned to do so from them.

They didn't do much that day, besides run around the city like they usually did. The goal was to have the Royal Fire Benders see if they could keep up with them and no one was allowed to use their bending as always. Except Toph who was technically always using her bending. They couldn't outrun the adults on the ground, but when the chase involved the walls and roof tops and hiding, they won a few times until the Royal Teams finally learned how to deal with the changes.

At the end of it all she, she was sprawled on the floor of the palace, panting and sweaty from giving it her all. It wasn't every day she could see just how well she could really do, and it also wasn't every day that she could find something she was so much better than her sisters at doing. It felt nice to be both wanted and useful. And to also have a say in what she wanted to do with her time.

But more than that, she was just glad Mai got away safely the first times she did her nightly walks.

Ty Lee promised herself her friend wouldn't have to do so alone from now on.