Two days after the party and bonfire on Ember Island, Azula and Ty Lee sat on the beach at sunrise.
"I was wondering if you had any plans today," asked Ty Lee, heart thundering in her chest from the fear of asking.
"No." Azula eyed her closely.
"I have this aunt, and she had a place on Ember Island—"
Azula stood up and Ty Lee blinked, wounded immediately.
"If you will excuse me, Ty Lee, this sounds terribly boring and I am in no mood."
"Please, Princess," said Ty Lee, softly brushing her fingers against Azula's arm. The touch gave the princess goosebumps, and very slowly she turned her attention back to her best friend. "It's about a mythical waterfall."
Azula cocked an eyebrow. "A mythical waterfall?"
"With a pool under it, in the jungle not far from the coast. It's supposed to bring health and good luck to anyone who swims in it."
"Will it make you any smarter?"
"It'll make me a genius."
Azula smirked. "Maybe I'm in. I could afford to get away from the suffocation of Lo and Li and Mai and Zuko's constant public displays of gag-inducing affection."
"Yay!" Ty Lee clapped.
Azula sincerely hoped she was not making a mistake.
Then again, she rarely did.
Two hours later, Azula and Ty Lee stand at the precipice of the jungle.
Ty Lee turns to the princess.
"The hike is kinda hard but it's gonna be nothing for us. Especially you."
"Of course. Now lead me to this mystic waterfall of yours before I change my mind."
Ty Lee beamed brightly as she stepped into the trees.
Azula slowly shook her head as she followed.
Azula drew a gasp of breath into her dry throat. She said nothing, afraid to look weak in front of Ty Lee. After all, she trekked across the Earth Kingdom with no problems.
But Ty Lee noticed, because she always watched Azula more closely than anything or anyone else in her life.
"I brought extra water in my bag. Here, princess."
"I didn't ask for that."
At first, Ty Lee thought it was a rejection of the water. But only a moment of investigation revealed to her that Azula was uncertain why Ty Lee offered in the first place.
"I'd give you anything you ever needed even if you don't ask first. I don't need royal orders to care about you. You're my friend. My best friend." She wished they were more than that.
"I don't understand people who give without thinking and care without trying."
"You don't have to. You're you."
"Very eloquent," rebuffed Azula.
They could not finish their conversation because they stepped forward and reached a blockade of dense jungle. Ty Lee pushed against it with all of her great might to no avail.
"Fuck. I think we have go around." Ty Lee looked at Azula, waiting for instructions.
Without acknowledging her companion, Azula waved her hand and with a swift tongue of flame the blockade disintegrated and they resumed their trek side by side.
"I never asked you something I've thought about a lot."
"Oh?"
"What's it like being a firebender?"
"There's power in controlling something so lethal. There's power in controlling something period."
They fell silent for the remainder of the journey.
A little over half an hour later, Ty Lee and Azula gazed at one of the most beautiful natural features they had ever seen.
After a few moments of reverence, Ty Lee began to strip without a word.
"Do you like the waterfall?" she asked Azula as she removed her shirt and revealed nothing but a slim, sheer wrap around her ample breasts. Azula's eyes flashed wide before she regained control of herself.
Without looking away from Ty Lee's body, ignoring the natural wonder completely, Azula said, "It's beautiful."
Ty Lee removed her pants and touched her toe to the water. The arc of her back set Azula's skin on fire.
"Are you hot?" asked Ty Lee.
"Excuse me?" Azula snarled.
"I just thought, if you're hot from the hike, the water feels really cool and nice."
Azula cleared her throat. "Oh."
She had no fears about exposing her body; she knew she was gorgeous. Yet, she wondered where this would lead and that made her chest feel tight.
But for fear of letting on Ty Lee to those thoughts, she stripped quickly from her dirty clothes and leapt unafraid into the deep, cold, tranquil water.
Ty Lee cried out happily as she jumps in after her.
They resurfaced facing each other.
Ty Lee wiped her eyes as Azula gazed at her for a little too long.
"Wanna check out behind the waterfall?"
"Yes," said Azula, and they both swam the length of the pool, diving beneath the gently thundering water and at last rising behind it.
Ty Lee ran her hand over an engraving on the stone, blinking water out of her eyes as she did so. Azula swam up to examine what captured Ty Lee's attention.
"These look like words."
Azula brushed her fingertips over the carving. 02q
"It's Old Fire Nation. I had to learn it in my royal lessons."
"What does it say?"
"It says if you make a promise here, it will last forever."
"That's so cool!"
"I doubt it means anything. In my experience, promises are fairly worthless."
"You're probably right." Ty Lee frowned faintly. Azula ignored it.
Ty Lee gently touched Azula's bare hip and Azula could only pray the heat in her cheeks was not visible.
They swam happily until Ty Lee's arm collided with a rock and she yelped out in horrible pain. Babying her wounded arm, Ty Lee clambered up to sit on the side of the pool. Azula quickly swam a few feet and climbed out to sit beside her.
"Show me your arm," ordered Azula, and Ty Lee obeyed, wincing as she stretched it out.
Azula gently examined it before starting to do what she could to relieve the pain.
"That… that feels kinda better." Ty Lee was honestly amazed, not at the relief as Azula bound her arm with leaves, but at the fact the princess was assisting her in the first place.
Despite being in the midst of helping her, Azula said coldly, "Perhaps the mystic waterfall knows you deserved that."
"Why, Princess?"
"For going through so much effort to make me jealous the other day."
"I tried to make up for it at the party. Princess, you're a dream come true for anyone with half a brain. Those morons at the party didn't even have brains."
"You know very well that is not what I meant by jealous."
Ty Lee blanched. "Your attention is the only attention I really want. I swear on my life I wasn't trying."
"Well, I suppose you are lucky enough to have my attention right now. What are you doing to do with it?"
Ty Lee's eyes widened briefly. "Uhm…"
They became trapped in each other's gaze unintentionally. Azula leaned a little closer. Ty Lee edged towards her best friend. Their eyes drifted to each other's lips, but Azula quickly looked away and turned her attention to the waterfall.
Ty Lee waited for a moment before summoning the bravery to ask, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I'm tired of doing all of this and feeling all of this for someone who is not even my girlfriend!"
Tears began to well in Ty Lee's eyes.
"Oh," she croaked.
Azula stood up and Ty Lee shakily followed suit. "So will you be?"
"Will I be what?" asked Ty Lee softly, voice constricted with emotion.
"My girlfriend, you moron!"
Ty Lee replied without hesitation or reservation, "Of course."
"Promise it. In front of the waterfall."
"I promise to be yours until the end of time."
Azula walked closer. "Now prove it."
Ty Lee kissed her passionately on the lips without hesitation, and as they both melted into the kiss, Azula wove her fingers in Ty Lee's soaking hair.
As the kiss reluctantly broke, Ty Lee exhaled softly. Azula kissed her neck and Ty Lee lightly gasped.
Azula slid her hands behind Ty Lee's back and undid the covering over her breasts. Ty Lee lightly stepped back and Azula's eyes drifted over such perfection.
Ty Lee wiggled out of her panties as Azula began to strip off her own clothing.
It was impulsive. It was crazy. It was nothing the princess ever did.
But here in the Ember Island jungle, by this waterfall, none of that seemed to matter anymore.
They moved to each other again and their lips met. Slowly, they made their way to the ground and Azula straddled Ty Lee.
She bent down and kissed Ty Lee on the breast. The friction drew a moan from Ty Lee's lips.
Azula brushed her fingertips over Ty Lee's breast, swirling her thumb around her nipple. Ty Lee moaned again as she raised her hands and pressed them against Azula's lower back.
Azula ground her hips down into Ty Lee's core before Ty Lee kicked up and flipped them both so that Azula lay beneath her, wet raven hair splayed around her face like a messy crown.
Ty Lee beat her lips down from between Azula's breasts to her navel to the inside of her thigh. Every muscle in Azula's body tensed up as she dug her fingers into the soft earth.
Slowly, a little terrified, Ty Lee moved her lips and pressed them lightly against Azula's clit. Azula moaned and clawed at the ground as Ty Lee swirled her tongue in tight, firm circles until she drew a release not unlike the crash of the waterfall behind them.
Azula dragged Ty Lee down by the neck and crushed their lips together.
Once the kiss broke, they lay side by side, gazing up at the beautiful blue skies above.
"Did I prove it?" whispers Ty Lee with a tiny smile.
"I suppose. I also suppose we are going to find out if promises made here really last forever."
Ty Lee reached her hand over and intertwined her fingers with Azula's.
"I really hope they do."
"Me too."