Author's Note: Azula begins to fire bend again in this chapter, I know we all loved the sequence where Zuko learned to bend without his anger, but I feel like exploring that (extensively) would detract too much from what I want to do. Also, I have always thought Azula looked like her father, so mature Azula (in my mind) looks more like Ozai than Ursa (but still very feminine, she has that harsh beauty thing). Anyway, chapter 5 will also be up in about 5 minutes, so enjoy!

Azula breathed in the cold air that was being blown in off the sea. The mist from the waves was caught by the wind and whipped against her face. She could just begin to feel the power of the sun as it emerged above the edge of the horizon.

She sat on the beach, meditating, her eyes closed, trying to focus all her energy on her breaths. She tensed her abdomen, and then relaxed again. Breathing was essential to fire bending, it motivated the power that would become flame.

Her mind, which had been the cause of so much turmoil, had finally begun to find some small measure of peace. She still suffered from bouts of darkness, and would sometimes wake up and remember nothing of the previous day, but things were better now than they had been in... years. It hadn't felt like years, but she couldn't deny the way Ty Lee had aged... the way she had aged.

She tried to keep her breath even and steady, fighting down the feeling of panic that crept up from her stomach. Even if she had had new life breathed into her when she had been held by Ty Lee, she could not forget the time she had spent in her hospital room, suffering.

But she had a new purpose, something else besides war that was constantly on her mind. She had never felt this way before, and though she didn't know if she could ever put her trust in the girl again, she knew that Ty Lee mattered, somehow. She had to hold onto this just a little while longer.

She opened her eyes and rose to her feet, turning to the sun as it rose fully above the horizon. She took up her stance, feet spread apart, arms low, guarding her core. She brought a foot forward, extended her arms and flowed through her basic forms. She could feel the energy of the sun amplifying her own power. As she entered the final form she extended both arms outward, one in front and one behind. The moment the movement began she willed herself to life, channeling energy up out of her core and through her limbs. Blue fire burst from her hand.

Completing the exercise, she brought her hands together and closed her eyes. Though it didn't show, she felt ecstatic, she alive, she felt… she opened her eyes and looked at the rising sun. She felt powerful again.

She ran up the beach and slowed to a walk as the house came into view, looking up at the windows. She knew Ty Lee must be awake by now, and there was smoke coming from the back of the house where the kitchen was situated.

She ignored the two guards that sat on the stairs leading up to the house. Even if they weren't always in sight she knew she was constantly being watched. The fact that they kept themselves hidden for her sake made her want to melt the helmets on their heads, but she held back.

She jumped up the stairs and pushed open the door, removing her sandals and making her way to the back of the house where there the kitchen and pantry were.

As she walked in she saw Ty Lee talking to the one servant who was allowed near Azula.

"Azula! Come here I want to show you something!"

"Ty Lee, I am not going to ‒"

"I know, I know. Come on!" She said grabbing Azula's arm.

After some momentary resistance, she relaxed and let herself be pulled along. One of the few things that hadn't changed was Ty Lee's inexhaustible supply of energy. But even as she thought of how annoying Ty Lee was, she knew that her warmth was what had been her beacon of hope in a dark place.

They arrived in Azula's bedroom, and Ty Lee opened up a lightweight wooden box, exposing a tailored winter kimono underneath.

"...Its blue." Azula said bluntly.

"So? Look, it has golden stitching and there is a golden dragon on the collar!" Ty Lee seemed quite pleased with herself, happily holding up the garment for Azula to examine.

"I am royalty of the Fire Nation, I don't wear blue." In truth she hadn't worn anything but the rags from the mental institution and the simple clothes that she wore now. She didn't like blue, but the clothes looked expensive. Fit for a princess.

"Hmm..." Ty Lee mumbled, holding up the kimono next to Azula as if to gauge the twos compatibility.

"Is there a reason you want me to wear this? It had better not be one of those cursed plays." She said, dreading the answer.

"There is a festival tomorrow and I want you to come with me. There will be fireworks and food stands. It will be fun!"

Azula wracked her brain, trying to remember if there was a local custom about a festival during this time of year.

"I don't remember there being a festival. Maybe one of the locals lied to you."

Ty Lee lowered the kimono and folded it back into the box slowly, as if stalling for time.

"I-Its the three year celebration of the treaty that ended the war..." she said turning back to Azula, looking up at her. "But I don't think of it that way, I think of it as a celebration of us, of how both of us have turned over a new leaf."

Azula looked at Ty Lee. She had changed, not just her calling, but her personality too. She was still the lively girl she had once been, but her youth had been tempered by effects of the war... more than likely one of those being the weeks she had spent in prison.

Ty Lee lifted up her hand, softly settling her fingers on Azula's cheek. When Ty Lee's fingers first made contact, Azula twitched slightly. A hurt expression flitted across Ty Lee's face, but it was soon gone.

Azula willed herself to stillness, trying to decide if she should bat Ty Lee's hand away or reach out with her own. She was afraid of what would happen if she reached out to Ty Lee, but at the same time didn't want to upset the influence she had with the girl.

"Fine, if you insist, we will go to the festival." she said simply.

Azula sat in front of a mirror in her room as Ty Lee combed her hair. When she had first come to Ember Island her hair had been a ragged and tangled mess, but after weeks of having Ty Lee wash, comb, and oil her hair, it had reclaimed most of its former sheen. It was longer than it had once been, reaching a good ways past her shoulders. And though she was just entering adulthood, there were grey hairs at the edges or her hairline. In the past she might have cared, even been furious, but there were a lot of things that didn't bother her anymore.

"There. All done!" said Ty Lee as she patted Azula's head one last time. Ty Lee had a huge smile on her face and bowed slightly as Azula stood up.

Ty Lee had pinned her hair at the back of her head, and it fell neatly down her back. Her kimono was the dark blue one from before, the gold threading making her eyes flash. Her eyes looked too much like her father's. Everything about her face reminded her of her father. Her features were sharper than most, more pronounced. She wasn't a girl someone would call beautiful, not after she had become aged beyond her years.

Azula turned around and Ty Lee looked her over again.

"You do look beautiful." Ty Lee beamed. "Come on, we need to hurry or we are going to miss the fireworks display."

The festival was situated close to the docks that were the main access point of the island. Crowds of people were gathered around different venues, some where poems were being recited, others where there was a puppet show, all the while merchants were hawking their wares to the passers-by.

If anyone recognized Azula or if she looked out of place, her dressed in blue, Ty Lee dressed in green, the both of them being escorted by two soldiers, no one openly took notice.

As the light continued to fade and the stars began to come out in the sky, the crowds got denser and the festival became noisier. People who had been working elsewhere had now arrived for the main event, the fireworks.

Suddenly as Ty Lee and Azula were walking down a crowded street, Azula grabbed hold of Ty Lee's arm and pulled her into an alley, running as fast as she could.

"Azula! What ‒"

"Be quiet Ty Lee!" She hissed as she pulled Ty Lee down another intersecting alleyway. She stopped and back looked around the corner, checking to see if the soldiers had followed them. She turned back to Ty Lee, her breath fogging the air in front of her.

"I don't like being watched like a pet. Come on." she said gesturing to Ty Lee.

Azula jumped on top of a large wooden bin that was sitting in the alley, and then jumped again, using the roof of the building beside them to pull herself up on top of it. She turned around, looking back at Ty Lee who was still standing in the alleyway.

"Are you coming or not? I thought you didn't want to miss the pretty lights?"

Ty Lee smiled, jumping on top of the bin and climbing on top of the roof beside Azula. The two of them moved across the roof, and jumped to an adjacent building, making their way closer to the area where the fireworks would be set off.

Azula heard a loud screech and suddenly the night sky was lit up by bursts of red and yellow. Both girls stopped running across the roof they were on and looked up at the sky, watching the fireworks as they continued to explode.

Ty Lee moved closer to Azula, slowly taking the princess's hand in hers.

Azula tensed.

"Whatever it is your thinking about Ty Lee, I don't want to hear it." she bit out, her voice perfectly steady.

Ty Lee giggled.

"Oh it wasn't going to be that bad. Just the usual about the fireworks being pretty, me being happy, and us being together."

She laughed outright when Azula glared over at her.

Being happy... Azula couldn't remember a time when she had ever truly been happy. Of course she had had what she wanted. She had power, influence... but she would have been lying to herself if she said that the years spent fighting had brought her happiness. And her brief time as Fire Lord was something she wanted to forget completely.

Happiness is for fools. Isn't that something she would say? Everything about her life, her childhood, her detached mother, her years in war, and her years in darkness... almost everything she had ever known told her this was true, but she didn't say anything.

Slowly her muscles relaxed, and she unclenched the hand that was in Ty Lee's, letting the girl further entwine their fingers. The two of them stood silently, watching the lights in the night sky.

After the fireworks display, the two of them had climbed down from the rooftops and left the festival discretely, making their way back to the beach.

As they rounded a point of land sticking out into the sea, the beach house came into view. The outer fires were lit and there appeared to be two groups of guards standing in front of the stairs. Azula heard raised voices.

"They are probably getting scolded because of us." Ty Lee murmured guiltily.

"I would think their pride would be hurt worse than anything else." Azula said. Even if it was only a small victory, she felt a small amount of satisfaction in getting a bit of well deserved revenge against her captors. Not to mention they were just plain incompetent.

As they drew nearer Azula could begin to make out the fine details of the guards gathered. One group was dressed in regular Fire Nation uniforms, the other group was dressed in different attire. The high shoulder guards and excessive amount of gold plating on their armor revealed them for what they were: personal servants of the Fire Lord, her brother.

She tensed, whatever it was it couldn't be good. She was lucid for the first time in three years and as such she posed a threat to her brother. And more than likely, he didn't care if she actually had any intention of reclaiming the throne.

"Azula, whatever it is, we can handle it. It will be ok." Ty Lee said, looking over at Azula worriedly.

"Don't treat me like a child Ty Lee, I am more than capable of handling whatever it is myself." she snapped. She had fallen back into her old habits, even if she knew that wasn't the right thing to say to Ty Lee.

She didn't look over at the other girl, instead she focused all of her attention on the soldiers they were approaching. As they made their way closer, the two soldiers standing guard on the house showed relief at seeing them. They motioned towards the two girls and the group of royal guards immediately made their way to them. They were led by an older woman with a shaved head. She appeared to be a diplomat, dressed in dark red clothes and not armor.

The woman raised her hand palm upward and bent a small ball of fire in front of her, raising it as she examined the two girls.

"It's been a long time Ty Lee." she said. The girl smiled falteringly, dipping into a small bow.

"Princess Azula," she said turning to Azula, "you are required to appear in a hearing regarding your search for the Phoenix Spirit during the Great War." She handed a scroll to Azula, it had the seals of delegates from the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation.

"We are to leave immediately."

The Phoenix Spirit? She had never heard about it before in her life.