(Theme Sixty-Seven) Let's Do Old And Grey

(As Prompted By) (many,many people have asked for in general old!Tyzula)

She dreamt last night about a distant, far off time in which she had escaped all of her troubles. It was sweet in a number of ways, until she woke and realized that she is in the best place she has ever been in her life. She is beside the woman who eluded her and angered her, and whom Azula hurt so many times, but, somehow, it all worked out. It all worked out and it is their 25th Wedding Anniversary Today. Which Azula has not forgotten, mind you.

Azula slowly rises from bed, cracking her knuckles. They pop sickeningly. Her back hurts all the time. Her bones are perpetually sore. But she aged with absolute grace and beauty, and with the right shade of make-up, she truly does fit in to her dual roles in Republic City.

She dresses herself in the latest fashions, instead of such drab robes like most people her age. Disgusting. And she applies her make-up. Azula never bothered to dye her hair, despite its gradual transformation to grey, but she quite likes the look of it, shimmering in the sunlight.

Azula is almost out of the expensive penthouse apartment when she hears a chastising complaint behind her. "You can't actually be wearing stilettos in public. You're going to fall and die," says Ty Lee, yawning.

"You run a fashion line, which ─ hm, I believe I back financially ─ therefore, I'm only making you look good." Azula smirks at her funding of Ty Lee's wild ideas. One after another after another, until she became quite adept at the charisma and perseverance it took to create a fashion line based solely around distinction. No piece is the same.

And only a rare few people truly understand why that is Ty Lee's business motto. Azula, on the other hand, has been behind her brother's curtain for decades now, and she often winds up dealing with painful political events that he has no desire or ability to attend. Ghostwriting speeches and being the face of support for Zuko was an abhorrent price to pay in her youth, but the other option was prison, an asylum, loss of her bending...

But now, in her age, she has grown to appreciate it.

"You are in shoes made for people in their twenties," Ty Lee complains teasingly.

"I am never too old to look terrifying and arousing." She crosses her arms. "That's what your secretary said. It's actually kind of creepy... Would you like to escort me to my ride and back."

"Where are you even going?" Ty Lee yawns again.

"To see people in places and do things." Azula cocks an eyebrow and shuts the door she had just opened. She is going to pick out Ty Lee's anniversary gift, because of what a thoughtful and loving woman she is. Alright, well, perhaps it is actually something that Azula wants for herself that she knows Ty Lee will hate and give to her. But it's the remembering to even give a gift that counts.

"Have tea with me, at least," Ty Lee demands and Azula sighs before examining her.

"If you insist," Azula purrs in response, and Ty Lee thinks she definitely knows why rooms suddenly jolt with terror once Azula walks in.

And the woman, that woman, she very pointedly and elaborately walks across the penthouse on the stilettos. Ty Lee watches, pursing her lips, knowing that she should not wish falling on a fifty year old woman. But, if the Universe enjoys karma...

No, she makes it to the table without incident. And then whimpers in pain. "These chairs are going to suffer my wrath! This is the last time!"

Ty Lee grins, unsure if Azula is kidding or not, but finding it endearing anyway.

"Did you hurt your back?" Ty Lee cocks an eyebrow and strides across the room to start brewing tea.

"Am I old, Ty Lee?" Azula asks softly.

Ty Lee does not hesitate before responding, "No, love, you're just falling apart."

"Mphm," is Azula's only response. "I do actually have to stop at the embassy and meet Cheng Yi."

"Oh, she's horrible," Ty Lee responds as she tries to make the kettle broil faster. She looks to Azula for assistance, but the princess seems lost in her virulent hatred for her semi-coworker.

"She is. Actually, everyone in this city is horrible. I just want to cleanse it with fire. We're nearly halfway there... if I can hold out a little while... I mean, walking in stiletto heels at fifty, I could probably make it to a hundred and fourteen with the right..."

The tea kettle squeals angrily as Ty Lee quietly ignores Azula's rambling about burning cities to the ground.

"I could freeze you in an iceberg if you'd like," Ty Lee suggests with an innocent smile. Azula just takes her tea and sips from it. "It's only another week."

"Yes," Azula says, shrugging. "But it reminds me of my Agni Kai Triad days, and also the incredible assholes in its government, and also looking like my brother's pet, and on top of that, I really dislike the way the city smells. And also I wind up with horrific arthritis for no reason, and I blame this disgusting attempt at a city."

"Is that why your wedding rings are off? I was actually very concerned that you had started something with my secretary." Ty Lee winks and Azula rolls her eyes.

That is a terrifying thought to Azula, and it always has been. The moments when she is in the middle of penning documents, reports and speeches, and her fingers seize up in unbearable pain that makes her clench her jaw. The absolute fear that comes when she cannot bend from her hands when they are in that state.

Exactly one person can soothe it. The woman across from her, drinking tea in a genuinely hideous pink shawl, and still staring at Azula like she did when Azula was a conqueror and a deity, and not... whatever she became. Ty Lee can restore the movement and cure the pain with just her fingers, and Azula has no idea what she would do without her.

"Am I, though? Am I getting old?" Azula demands, leaning forward. Ty Lee squints at her, wondering how that idea got into her head.

"You are as beautiful as the day I met you," Ty Lee says, smirking at her cliche.

"You clearly have poor vision."

"I might have gone blind," Ty Lee snaps back brightly and Azula glares at her with a small pout of her stark red lips. "When I thought I lost you, well... all the times I thought I lost you, all I really thought about it is, uh, how our lives would be when we grew old together. Just from then on, it was about you and me and not world domination or loathing or..."

Azula does not know how to respond to that. She cannot find the words to say for the life of her. That confession is certainly something Azula is not used to coming from someone who somehow reached the age associate with wisdom but is still shallower than a wash basin.

"That's nice," Azula suggests and Ty Lee's eyebrows shoot up.

"That's nice?" Ty Lee genuinely looks angry now and Azula swallows.

She watches Ty Lee's simmering anger before deciding to do the weak and altogether embarrassing thing and mutters under her breath, "I wouldn't have made it to this age without you."

"I didn't hear you," Ty Lee says with a widening smirk.

"Yes, you did." Azula downs her tea and locates her scarlet blazer before beginning to leave.

And then doubling back and standing there until it looks as if Ty Lee is the one who needs the kiss on the lips, because her pride is adorable.

To Be Continued...