Chapter 2
I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender
Ty Lee could not put a finger on how she was feeling right now, walking down the large hall to her Princess's chambers a few hours after dawn. She thought she was somewhere between feeling happy, like she had won a prize, and nervous, like she had a test to take. This was not how she expected to be feeling, she expected herself to be on the ocean today.
Last night she had been fully prepared to leave the Fire Nation, most likely for a very long time. She had been prepared to sneak on-board a freighter or barge to the colonies, hidden away in the cargo, falling asleep and waking up at sea.
Instead she woke up in a very comfortable and plush bed in her favorite room in the guest quarters of the Palace. "Mother's right, I am fickle, why can I never make up my mind" Ty Lee thought, of course she knew why she was here and honestly she was not surprised; her Princess always got what she wanted, and apparently that something was her.
The night before was a very tense experience; the way Azula had looked at her, the way she talked to her was not like anything Ty lee had ever seen from her normally unshakeable friend.
Ty Lee had been so sure of decision, leaving all this behind, becoming someone who could distinguish themselves from their peers which in her case was much harder being one of seven, identical, peers.
But Azula had made it very clear that her family was not who she should be loyal to, Azula was never good at sharing. "Oh who am I kidding?" Ty lee chastised herself, it was not what Azula said or did that made Ty Lee change her plans. It was her aura, normally full of bright and vibrant colors, suddenly covered in a web of pitch black cracks that made her change her mind.
She was afraid both of and for Azula, she had never seen her so angry and frightened at the same time. Ty Lee did not know what the symbols she saw meant, a very rare case, but she saw them vanish as soon as she told Azula she was staying with her. Ty Lee sighed, this was all so confusing and she cursed herself for not being clever enough to figure it out.
"Maybe this was meant to be." Ty Lee thought happily, she was now in a position where she would be with her princess at all times. Her smart, wonderful, beautiful, perfect Princess; she actually had skip in her stepand had to force herself not to sigh dreamily.
Her blissful thoughts came to an end as she came upon the chamber door of said Princess. She went up and knocked, Azula has sent a servant to inform her she was expected for breakfast with the Princess so she was expected, hopefully.
"Enter." Azula commanded through the door, Ty Lee quickly allowed herself inside and saw Azula sitting in the dining portion of her very large room. Ty Lee immediately dropped to the floor to bow; her Princess had invited her to a meal and proper respect should be shown.
"You may rise, come and sit; we have much to talk about." Azula was amused, which meant she was in a good mood, hopefully. Ty Lee got to her feet and made her way to the empty chair across from her friend.
Azula waved to previously unseen handmaiden and she left the room, most likely to inform the kitchen their Princess was ready for her morning meal. Azula now looked directly and Ty Lee, "While we wait, I suppose I will have to inform you of what it is I do and how you will best serve me." Ty Lee sat still and was prepared to listen to everything Azula had to say.
"First off, what do you think it is I do here?" Azula asked her. Ty Lee tried to think, just what did Azula do in the Palace? "Um, Fire Bend and scare people?" Those were the things Ty Lee knew Azula excelled at.
She saw Azula roll her eyes and take deep breath, "My duties as both crown Princess and heir to the throne includes managing certain internal institutions of our great nation." Ty Lee realized she had been way off.
Azula continued "Since I turned twelve, the Fire Lord allowed me to choose certain organizations to oversee." She now looked very uninterested. "Nothing of particular importance of course, apparently I require experience before I can have input on more critical or military matter." Azula looked like she wanted to burn something.
Ty Lee raised her hand. "You have a question I presume" Azula asked, apparently amused at her school girl attitude. "Yeah, so your dad didn't let you join the organization you wanted."
Azula let out a sigh, "First, you should refer to him by his title or another appropriate term." Ty Lee instantly covered he mouth; a lot of things terrified her, wasp-spiders, lightning, even her family to some extent but the current Fire lord was near the top of that list.
Azula went on "And second, my Lord Father has great confidence in my abilities and he himself was not pleased about my limited options, however certain traditions are to be respected and until I turn fourteen I am to gain experience with the more menial aspects of the government."
Ty Lee thought she understood now, apparently being Princess was like anything else; you had to crawl before you could walk, so to speak. She raised her hand again.
"Yes Ty Lee ask your question, you don't have to raise your hand you know." Azula was definitely amused and even somewhat happy; Ty Lee smiled and decided she liked her Princess like this.
"So, it's like the time you tried to do that really cool fire bending kick but instead set your pants on fire." That was a fun memory, in hindsight at least.
Her Princess had a very uncharacteristic blush on her face, that incident was not her proudest moment. "That was because you called out about your handstand, if you had not distracted me I would have certainly succeeded."
Though Azula was trying to be intimidating, Ty Lee could not help but giggle. "It's okay Azula, the teacher told us that move was for advanced students, and you got it on the second try remember, right after you got some new pants."
"Enough, we are not on topic." Azula still had a slight blush on her face, and Ty Lee knew was still thinking about their early schooling years. "Moving on, I suppose your point was that just as in the art of Fire Bending, one needs experience before moving on to the more advanced forms, correct." Azula certainly said that much better than she ever could, and Ty Lee nodded.
Just then there was a knock and the door and Azula gave permission for the visitor to enter, which turned out to be a number of servants bringing breakfast. They immediately set down a number of small dishes which Ty Lee noticed included a number of both her and Azula's favorites.
Ty Lee remembered it had been a while since she had eaten at the Palace but apparently the staff still remembered her preferences "Yay, they put pink cream in the pastries I like." Though hungry and eager Ty Lee looked to her Princess for permission, royals always had the first bite.
"We will continue our discussion after we eat." With that Azula began to eat. Ty Lee was quick to follow, right after giving a big smile and thanking the attending servants who were surprised at her gratitude.
While eating she took note of the differences between herself and her gracefully eating friend. Her princess was oddly dressed, not in her royal robes but instead wore, relatively, plain clothes, nothing more than some dark red pants and matching shirt. Her crown was the only things that really distinguished her as royalty at the moment; she didn't even have any makeup on!
Of course she did not look much like a nobles daughter, her pink outfit she planned on wearing at the circus was in in no way acceptable for a noble lady, "Azula doesn't seem to mind though." However, she would be with Azula in the Palace from now on she would probably need to wear something more regal, and probably modest.
"I hope I don't have to cut my hair." Ty Lee was careful to fully braid her hair each morning so it would not get in the way of her daily routines, or blind her when she was upside down.
There was silence and Ty Lee realized she had drifted off again, and her princess was staring at her. "Are you going to actually finish that Ty" Her princess was teasing her, she just knew it. She then noticed she had a cream pastry halfway to her gaping mouth, she had most likely drifted off in this position for who knows how long.
Blushing, Ty lee quickly ate the pastry whole and took a long drink of fruit juice. "I'm all finished." She had eaten most of her food and noticed Azula's side of the table was already bare.
"Well then, clean off your face so we can discuss what it is you will be helping me with." Ty Lee's blush intensified and used a cloth to wipe the various crumbs off of her; all those lessons in etiquetteand manners had apparently been for nothing. "Nobleman's daughter indeed, why don't I just shovel the food in" Azula's aura signified that she was not exactly ecstatic by her peculiar eating habits, but she wasn't irritated either.
"Now that we have eaten and you are…presentable, let us discuss what you will be doing." Ty Lee nodded.
"For starters you will obviously aid me in day to day tasks, delivering messages, managing my schedule and doing any task that needs to be done quickly and discreetly." That last part was worrisome, Ty Lee was never discreet, and it was against her very nature!
"Don't look so worried Ty Lee, I chose the ministry of transportation to oversee, it's not like you will be spying on anybody" Ty lee pouted, Azula read her like a book, she wondered if her Princess could see auras too, on the other hand it could be because Ty Lee wore her emotions on her sleeve.
Relived she would not be doing anything to shady, she now had a question. Shooting her hand up she asked "So our ministry is the one that takes care of all the roads and stuff right."
"You could put it that way, though stuff is not how I would describe it you are correct, this ministry is responsible for the network of roads, ships and various other methods our nation employs to keep itself running." Azula explained.
Ty Lee was happy she actually understood as the concept was similar to the Chi Pathways she had learned about, a network of paths that transported energy around the body was very similar to a road system that transported people.
She had started learning about them as aura reading referred often to energy and flow in the body, and Ty lee soon discovered one could direct, increase and even stop a person's energy flow.
"Azula probably needs good chi flow; maybe a massage would relax her and make her less scary." Ty Lee decided she should probably practice more before presenting that offer; she still occasionally paralyzed herself when she practised but she was getting better. The last time it happened she managed only managed to cure herself with a tap from her very flexible foot after she inadvertently paralyzed her top half.
"Another duty of yours will be to act as a bodyguard and adviser." That surprised her, since when did Azula need protection, or advice for that matter.
"Now Ty Lee, being my bodyguard means that you will keep yourself in excellent physical and mental condition, I plan to make great use of your particular set of skills and I do not tolerate slackers." Ty Lee was sure that would not be a problem, her gymnastics were a source of pride and being both strong and flexible were important necessities.
Actually fighting on the other hand was a different story, not to mention she had no idea what she could possibly advise Azula on. She was halfway to raising her hand before Azula cut her off.
"If you are going to ask about protecting me that can wait until we are done, and don't think too much on the advisor role, I have a bloated host of intellectuals eager to present their wonderful ideas; you will serve more as fellow noble I can converse with about daily matters.
Ty Lee was certain that was Azula saying she needed a friend to talk to, she smiled, Azula was scary and mean at times but she did have a soft spot that most could not see, even Azula herself.
"Now then it is time for my morning training routine" Azula raised herself from the table and made for the door, Ty Lee scrambled to follow.
Azula began to speak as soon as they were in the hall "Normally I train as soon as dawn breaks, obviously today is an exception as I had to make certain arrangements." Ty Lee knew Azula trained hard and was not surprised she got up so early; she now understood her princess's choice of clothing as her training attire.
"From now on you will get up at dawn as well, I expect to you to meet me at the training hall every morning unless I tell you otherwise, understood." Ty Lee nodded, obviously being Azula's aid meant being with her from dawn till dusk.
"You will act has my training partner so you will keep up your combat skills." She almost tripped over her feet, "What combat skills!" of course all non-bending noble children were taught hand to hand combat and basic weapon skills but aside from her agility she was nothing special.
Azula apparently saw her worried face and sighed "I don't you expect you to spar with me right off the bat Ty, besides weren't you telling me of those "really neat techniques" you read about a few months back"
"Oh flame it all, I just had to open my mouth back then" Now she remembered, Azula and her saw each other a while back at a festival celebrating the art of Fire Bending. Azula had commented on the, what was the word, "inefficiency" of the demonstrations and stated her techniques would be far superior on a battlefield.
Not being a bender but wanting to impress her friend, she had told Azula about a technique she knew that was so efficient it could drop a fully grown man in a single hit. Azula was amused by her enthusiasm and stated she would like to see this technique the next time they were free, which was apparently now.
Of course the technique she had talked about involved blocking the Chi in a person in such a way that their entire body lost feeling and the person dropped like a stone.
Unfortunately Ty lee had never actually tried it on anyone, even herself, and certainly not in a combat situation.
They were at a door that she assumed led to a training area and she prayed to Sun God Agni that she did not embarrass herself in the next few minutes.