Chapter 16
"W-what happened in here?!"
Ty Lee's jaw dropped at the transformation of Azula's room. Cushy white walls, plush carpet, it looked almost habitable. Sure, the padding was a reminder that they were in a mental institute, but it was an improvement over solid metal.
"I did some remodeling," Azula grinned. She still hadn't gotten used to the changes of the room. Her feet were no longer constantly chilled from being in contact with a cold metal floor. It was pleasant. A recent burn experiment also revealed that the room could still be cooled enough to coat the bars with frost. It wasn't ice, but she hoped it would still have the desired effect.
Ty Lee scrunched up her face in doubt, "Uh huh, I'm sure you did all of this. Seriously, why the drastic change?" She approached a straightjacketed Azula on her bed, having already been let into the barred area by the interior guard.
Azula shrugged, "Kai is afraid I'll conjure lightning again and do more significant damage to myself. So he made this place into less of a death trap and more of a… typical loony bin room."
"How's your leg?" The bed sank a bit as Ty Lee sat down.
Azula stared at the bandages covering her injury. It was still incredibly tender after a little over a week, and she could feel the hidden jagged lines pulse with pain sometimes. She hadn't seen the wound since that day in the patient care room, since she was sedated at each healing session. She hoped it wouldn't scar. But the gauze was so itchy and she found herself scratching at it throughout the week, despite the pain. Azula wondered when she could be rid of it.
"It's fine. I can walk on it decently with crutches now."
"Ooh, crutches are the worst! I sprained my ankle while I was in the circus and I had to use them for like two weeks, it was awful. They jab into your armpits and you can't move fast at all. But I got pretty good at them," she grinned and bounced up off the bed to grab the crutches leaning against the wall. Before Azula could fully roll her eyes, Ty Lee had scooted across the room on the crutches, braid flailing wildly behind her.
"I think you're the one that should be in here," Azula said with a raise of an eyebrow.
Ty Lee giggled madly and sped back across the room, "They'd let me out in two seconds because I'm so cute." She put the crutches back and batted her eyelashes at Azula.
She grimaced, "Sure, that's how it works. If it was based on attractiveness, I'd have been out of here years ago."
"No, no, not attractiveness, cuteness! You're gorgeous and all, but you're also so cold and…" she paused when Azula shot her a deadly look. "Never mind!"
Azula flopped down into her pillows while Ty Lee chatted about stupid, mundane things. Rice flour is so expensive! My teapot has a crack in the spout. I saw a sea lion on the ferry ride today. Can you believe it's almost the middle of winter? Sometimes I wish I could play in the snow just for one day. I should get a new jacket. There were two mongoose lizards outside today—
Azula's curiosity spiked, "What? Aren't they usually out there?"
Ty Lee tapped a finger on her lips, "Mm, nope, I've never noticed one before. Usually I just see messenger hawks. They were all the way past the outside gates though, someone probably used them to visit from the village nearby."
Outside gates. So there may be a set of inside gates as well, most likely surrounding the entire compound. And no animals for travel or defense.
Azula scoffed, hoping to bait some more information out of Ty Lee, "I'm sure the guards love having to look after someone's pets while they're on duty."
Ty Lee twirled her braid through her fingers, "I bet they don't mind. They could always take turns watching them anyways."
Enough guards on the outside gates to be on watch and keep an eye on mongoose lizards. How many? Where are they stationed? Do they patrol? When does the shift switch? What about the inside gates?
Azula was about to feign more interest in this topic but Ty Lee cut her off, eyes sparkling, "Remember when we had mongoose lizards, oh they were so fast it was kind of scary…"
And there she goes again.
After a long rant about how absolutely crazy it was that mongoose lizards could run on water, Ty Lee stretched and leaned back against the newly padded wall. She glanced at Azula's bandaged leg and gently trailed her finger down it. The princess flinched slightly.
"Watch it, it's still sore."
"Ah! Sorry, I just um… Does it still look all pink and stripe-y?" Ty Lee remembered seeing the somewhat gruesome looking injury just hours after it happened.
"I don't know, I haven't seen it since last week," Azula tightened her abdominal muscles to sit up, the straightjacket was annoying.
"You haven't had a healing session since last week?" Ty Lee huffed in disbelief, as if she would immediately dash off to Kai's office to berate him for depriving Azula of medical treatment.
"That's not what I said. I just haven't seen it," Azula looked towards the bars, clenching her jaw as she was reminded of the waterbender. Next time. Next time I'll be awake for it.
Ty Lee looked confused, "Oh, okay." She followed Azula's gaze and looked beyond the bars to the singular guard facing them. Lowering her voice she changed the subject and whispered, "So, do we get five minutes today or what?" Her eyes darted quickly to Azula and then back to the guard.
The princess smirked and turned to face her, "Oh? I'm sick of sending them away, why don't we put on a show for him?"
She leaned in quickly to capture Ty Lee's lips, but the former acrobat hastily backed away, "What, no! I-I mean, normally I wouldn't really care, but today I…" she spoke so quietly Azula had to lean in to hear, "I have something for you that I don't think he should see."
Azula eyed Ty Lee curiously. She was fidgeting with her braid and her eyes were wide. She certainly looked nervous, which was odd. Whenever she brought gifts, she usually outright handed them over after Kai approved—
Ah. So she snuck something in.
Azula smirked at the thought and licked her lips. Ty Lee swallowed anxiously and colored at the princess's expression. She wore a devilish grin and her gold eyes gleamed, clearly understanding why Ty Lee was acting strangely.
With a twist of her head, Azula snapped at the guard, "We'd like our five minutes of privacy now, if you don't mind."
The man knocked on the door and was let out by his hallway counterpart, shuffling awkwardly out of the room, and closing the door behind him. Azula assumed it was pretty obvious by now what the two of them used this time for, and she was grateful that the guards trusted little doe-eyed Ty Lee so much that they didn't bother searching her before she came in here.
She turned eagerly back to Ty Lee, eyes flashing, "What is it?"
"D-don't be too excited, I went to the palace the other day to talk to your brother."
Azula's expression immediately fell, "About what? I told you not to tell him about the cooling."
Ty Lee gently shushed her, "Relax, I'll tell you in a minute about it, just let me give you this first." From an inside pocket of her jacket, she withdrew the princess's shiny gold royal crest.
Azula stared at the object in Ty Lee's palm. She desperately wished she wasn't wearing a straightjacket so she could feel the little metal flame in her own hands.
"Where did you find that?" she barely breathed.
Ty Lee watched Azula eye the crest, "It was under a table in your room. I know you can't really wear it here, but I thought you might like to have it anyw—"
Azula leaned forward and barely rested her head on Ty Lee's shoulder. An unwanted lump in her throat was suddenly making it hard to swallow. Emotions, not now. Ty Lee wrapped her arms around Azula. After a minute, the princess straightened up and bit her lip, trying to hold back, not a smirk or a grin, but an actual smile.
Her eyes were bright with a light hearted pleasure, an expression Ty Lee rarely saw in them. If something so simple could bring out this side of Azula, Ty Lee had serious hope for her recovery.
"Before he comes back, can you put it on me?" Azula hadn't expected to feel quite so giddy at seeing the relic from her past, but she was finding it hard to contain herself. I haven't seen it in so long.
Ty Lee grinned at her reaction. I guess she can be cute sometimes. She took a spare ribbon from her wrist and gently tied Azula's hair up in its long abandoned topknot style. She pinned the crest into the base of the soft black bun and smiled at her handiwork.
There were no mirrors in the room and the vaguely reflective metal surfaces were all covered up, so she couldn't see the result, but Azula felt renewed. Like her pre-comet self had just awakened from a long nap. The fire in her blood burned a little stronger. She smiled at Ty Lee and asked, "So, how does it look?"
Ty Lee beamed at how well the gift had been received. Azula's shorter pieces of hair no longer framed her face and she wasn't wearing imperial armor, but Ty Lee still felt a strong sense of nostalgia at seeing her look so regal. She briefly kissed Azula's cheek before pulling back to say, "You look perfect, Princess."
Glancing at the door, Ty Lee was reminded that they had limited time and apologized in hushed tones, "I have to take it down, okay? Before he sees."
"Right," Azula's eyes fluttered shut. Not long enough.
Ty Lee quickly unfastened the crest and undid the ribbon, letting dark curtains of hair fall back around Azula's face. Her look had tempered a bit, but she was still bubbling with a long lost sense of excitement.
"I'll put it and the ribbon inside one of your pillowcases for now. You can move it somewhere safer after I leave," Ty Lee reached behind Azula and stashed the shining metal flame beneath the pillows.
She leaned back and found Azula looking at her with a strangely soft expression. One she'd witnessed only a handful of times. Golden eyes met gray-brown ones and Azula leaned forward to kiss Ty Lee.
Unlike most of their previous kisses, Ty Lee was surprised to find this one so gentle. Not coated in lustful undertones, it was genuinely sweet and its rarity made her heart race.
Azula pulled away so they were still nose to nose. She didn't speak, but Ty Lee knew what she wanted to say.
The door of the cell opened and the guard filed in to resume his regular position.
Ty Lee tucked the long hair that hung in front of Azula's face behind her ear, "You're welcome."
The princess tossed her head back, briefly shutting her eyes. Today I can be nice to her. For now, let go of the fact that she went to see Zuko. Today is okay.
Azula opened her eyes and purred with a smirk, "So, you went to the palace and the first place you go to is my room?"
Immediately blushing, Ty Lee avoided Azula's gaze, "Um, ha, no! I talked to Zuko first and then I decided to stop by your room just to make sure it was still… there?" Her head slumped with the weight of the obvious lie.
"Mhm. And here I thought they would have completely excised it from the palace."
Ty Lee looked up again, wanting to tell Azula about her talk with Zuko before she drew her own conclusions, "Don't worry about me talking to him, okay? I don't think anything's gonna change. He's still totally on board with freezing you to death, even though he says he doesn't want to."
"Just what I want to hear from dear Zuzu." Actually, that is exactly what I want to hear.
Ty Lee glanced uneasily at her friend, "I know you didn't want me to go, I just wanted to try and convince him that you deserve better, you know?"
Azula's brow twitched. Why does she still care so much?
Ty Lee stood and stretched, falling back into random conversation. After another half hour or so, she left for the city. Azula was released from her straightjacket and had to occupy herself with trying to walk on her injured leg, so she didn't rush at the item stowed away in her pillowcase.
Complicated thoughts regarding Ty Lee's most recent gift flooded her mind, but she knew all of her excitement was genuinely towards seeing the little flame and definitely not towards the woman who gave it to her. Still… Azula brushed her finger against her lips, feeling their last kiss linger.
No. You were blinded with elation from the sight of the crest. Nothing more. She went to Zuko. She betrayed you. She's why you lost that flame in the first place.
Again, Azula fought with herself. After several minutes she hobbled towards the middle of the floor and sat down on the thick carpet. Alright Kai, let's see if meditation does anything at all.
She sat in an odd position on the floor, her injured leg straight in front of her while her right bent at the knee. Back straight, she relaxed as best she could and cleared her mind of all thoughts. Her breathing slowed and she remained in that position for a good hour, not thinking of any feelings, positive or negative, towards the acrobat.
The guard watched her for a while with interest. He eventually informed the man in the hallway to go get her some dinner. She finally moved from her place on the carpet when the tray clinked softly as the guard passed it beneath the bars.
Azula ate quietly and then hopped back over to her bed. Her leg was throbbing a bit, so she lay down to rest. Soon, mind still clear of any troublesome thoughts, she fell into a light nap. Unfortunately for the princess, her subconscious was not so kind. A few disturbing nightmares later, she awoke in the darkness, cold from the light sheen of sweat coating her body. She spent a few minutes shaking the dreams from her head and then finally did what she'd been yearning to do all day.
Her hand slipped beneath the pillowcase and she grasped the cool piece of bright steel: a reminder of her strength, her resilience, her intelligence.
She was a little disappointed that she couldn't train with it on. After the lightning, Kai had replaced her sleepy night guard with a more alert one, interrupting her nocturnal training regimen. Not that she could have trained efficiently with her leg in this state anyways.
Rolling onto her back, Azula clutched the flame closely to her chest and hoped that her next few hours of sleep would be free of menacing visions.