Author's Note: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It's the one I have had the most fun with honestly. I realized the other day that this story is quickly becoming much more than I originally planned. Which is fine, like Bryan Konietzko said, sometimes you just get swept up by the characters, and they take you places you didn't originally intend to go. It's something I am experiencing for the first time since this is my first committed fic, and quite frankly it's a beautiful feeling! Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my story, I hope you enjoy it! ^^

Azula was sitting in front of a table, leafing through several sheets of paper that were strewn in front of her. After Azula's moment with Ty Lee the day before, Ning had returned to tell them that due to Azula's lack of cooperation she was to be confined in the palace indefinitely, or at least until the council thought that the princess and the spirit she had been looking for were no longer a threat. Upon hearing that, Azula had demanded that she be allowed to view the evidence. Confining her wasn't necessarily illegal, and neither was keeping her uninformed of the evidence against her, but she knew that attacking Zuko's vaunted principles would make him look hypocritical in the eyes of his supporters. It had worked, and several crates of papers and scrolls that the council thought trivial enough to give her were carted to her room early the next morning.

The princess chewed absentmindedly on some fruit while she looked over the papers. She looked up at the two guards in the room, she supposed they were there to make sure that she didn't burn any of the evidence, but it was a moot point really, the council must have been prepared to lose them as soon as they sent them to her.

After the papers and scrolls had been brought to her, she had demanded clean paper and her writing tools from when she still lived in the palace. It had taken some convincing and browbeating, but eventually the guards had had a servant search her old things, and her tools had been found.

And so she had spent most of the morning reading and transcribing the contents of a handful of scrolls, copying the characters in an effort to find some flaw in the forgery. It wouldn't clear her of all suspicion, but at the very least it would cast doubt on the validity of the scrolls.

But she had given up after the first few hours. No matter how long she searched, or how many characters she rewrote, she couldn't find any signs of forgery. During her time on Ember Island she had had many conversations with Ty Lee... or Ty Lee would talk, and Azula would comment occasionally. During those conversations she had found that she couldn't remember some of the things that Ty Lee had talked about, but it had mostly been things from during her hospitalization. Was it possible that she had forgotten something from before? Something as far back as four years ago?

Azula put down her writing brush and rubbed her forehead. She was getting no where, and she could feel a genuine headache coming on.

Suddenly the door to her room opened and Zuko entered. He looked rested compared to the day before, and he didn't seem quite as assertive either.

"Splendid. Zuzu has come to visit me after having imprisoned me... why does that seem familiar?"

"I want to talk to my sister alone." He said looking at the two guards. After they left Zuko sat down at the table, opposite of Azula.

"How are you feeling?" He had a sincere look on his face, but Azula wasn't buying it.

"Am I supposed to believe you care?"

"I didn't put you in the hospital to torture you Azula, I put you in there because I wanted you to get better."

"I hate to tell you Zuzu, but it didn't work."

"I know. We've both made some mistakes, and I'm sorry for what happened in there." Azula couldn't decide if he was being serious, or just trying to get her guard down so that she might let something about her 'plans' slip.

"If we're talking about mistakes we should talk about this trial, if it can be called that." Azula was looking pointedly at her brother.

"I see you have been looking at the scrolls I sent you." He was looking over the papers strewn on the table. He seemed somewhat puzzled by the multiple copies of the same passage.

"You wrote these?" He said picking up two copies of the same paper. One was fresh, the ink standing out against the paper, the other's ink was slightly faded.

Azula cringed inwardly.

"Have you talked to Ty Lee?" Azula didn't care if it was obvious that she was trying to divert her brother, having Zuko closely examining the two almost identical papers wasn't going to help her any.

"Yeah, I did. She's happy for some reason... and she believes you."

"Well then, I don't think I need to tell you that she would never be part of a conspiracy to destroy the country she helped rebuild for two years." She knew Zuko must trust Ty Lee, the girl had convinced him to release her after all.

"No, she wouldn't. I don't doubt her sincerity, I'm just worried you might be manipulating and deluding her again."

Azula narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Do you remember your search for the Avatar, Zuzu? When I found you, you were a scared and confused little boy. And yet look at you now." She bared her teeth in a smile. "I don't care if you keep me locked in this palace for eternity, but don't presume to judge Ty Lee, or my relationship with her."

Zuko sat up straighter, and he looked genuinely surprised.

While they were staring at each other, Ty Lee walked into the room.

"I was just at the kitchen ‒ oh, good morning Zuko... did I interrupt something?" Ty Lee said, looking slowly from one sibling to the other.

"Not really. Zuzu said he was going to come back later."

Ty Lee frowned slightly at door as it closed before she turned to Azula.

"You should try to be nicer to‒" She stopped when Azula glowered at her. "Or at least more civil? It's not like he actually wants you to be guilty."

"Even if he did think I was innocent, he couldn't do anything. He doesn't have enough leverage to stand up to the Earth Kingdom." Azula said as Ty Lee sat down next to her. The girl was turned sideways leaning on the table when she spoke next.

"...And what about being nicer because he's your brother?"

"We've always been at each others' throats... I don't think either of us are willing to forgive and forget."

"You might be surprised about Zuko. And besides, you forgave me."

"You and I were actually friends. Zuko may have been my brother, but we were never friends. Anyway, you're different Ty Lee." Azula said moving closer to the table and picking up a paper again.

"Different?" Ty Lee was smiling at her curiously.

"Yes, different."

Azula was trying to read the paper in her hand when Ty Lee came over and knelt behind her. The princess felt Ty Lee's arms encircling her from behind, and Azula's heart skipped a beat when Ty Lee spoke right next to her ear.

"Different how?"

Azula put down the now crumpled piece of paper, and tried to remove Ty Lee's arms from her midriff.

"Ty Lee, you're being too clingy."

Ty Lee laughed as she rested her chin on Azula's shoulder.

"If you don't want me to hug you, all you have to do is tell me."

Azula stopped struggling and closed her eyes. She was just glad Ty Lee couldn't see how flushed her face was.

The day had dragged on, morning had changed into afternoon, and afternoon into evening. Azula didn't actually have any way to tell the time, but the movement of the guards outside her room gave her a general idea.

Ty Lee had been in and out of her room all day. The girl had brought her lunch, and had even helped Azula read over some of the scrolls that were stacked next to the table before she had left to meet someone. At that point Azula had been trying to learn as much as she could about the supposed spirit and its location. If this was all something that she had forgotten, reading‒ or rereading the scrolls might help jog her memory.

None of the scrolls containing important information had been sent to her room. Most of them gave vague accounts of forays in the Earth Kingdom, or were manifests for supplies. Azula was able to glean the general location that the spirit had been tracked down to however. It was supposedly somewhere in the southeastern part of the country, close to the Si Wong Desert. Azula had heard about Avatar Aang's encounter with Wan Shi Tong in the desert, but the Fire Nation had found the library long ago. Even if the charges against her were partially true, she doubted the two were connected.

Azula didn't look up when the door opened, she felt she was onto something and started to shuffle through the papers on the table looking for the map that she had had earlier.

Azula could hear Ty Lee's soft foot steps approaching before she sat down at the table.

"It's getting late Azula. Do you want to stop?"

"I have some things that need to be done before I go to sleep. You should go back to your room if it's that late Ty Lee."

"Azula... I know you didn't sleep last night..."

Azula didn't think anyone had looked in on her the night before, but maybe they had. She had tried to sleep at first, lying down in the large bed, but as soon as she had fallen asleep she had had nightmares about her father and mother. When she was asleep it was like she had been trapped in her dreams, forced to endure the horrors over and over again. After she had been wrenched awake by a particularly bloody encounter with her father, she had resolved not to sleep again and had gotten out of bed.

"Don't worry yourself Ty Lee, I don't need that much sleep anyway." Azula hadn't looked up from her search for the map during the conversation, and a few seconds later she uncovered it. She took the map of the Earth Kingdom and spread it out in front of her. The mountains on the eastern edge of the Si Wong Desert weren't labeled, but she felt like she should know their name...

"If you don't sleep your aura will get even worse than it already is."

Azula blinked and looked up at Ty Lee.

"My aura? You haven't talked about that nonsense in a while"

"It's not nonsense! And I didn't mention it because your aura was really bright for a while, but now... now I think it's beginning to affect your health Azula."

Azula rolled her eyes and looked back down at the table.

"You and your auras are distracting me Ty Lee." She picked up the map, wondering why the name of the mountains was so elusive.

"Well. I guess I'll leave then." Ty Lee said haughtily, as she got up to leave.

Azula felt a brief pang of regret at having teased Ty Lee. Despite their close relationship, sometimes Azula still didn't know how to react to the acrobat.

Azula was still examining the map when the door opened again moments later. Ty Lee had returned, this time she had a bundle of clothes with her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I wanted to sleep here tonight. It will make me feel better, and I will be here if you need me."

"Not that I care, but you do know that will start an uproar?"

"Everybody knows we're close friends. And besides, I lived in the Earth Kingdom for two years. People in the Earth Kingdom have strange customs." Ty Lee had begun to change into her pajamas as she talked. As Ty Lee undressed, Azula couldn't help but let her eyes roam over the girl. She wasn't a girl, she was a woman. Her form was slim, but strong: she possessed strength and grace that only years of training as an acrobat could give. Even clad in nothing Ty Lee was beautiful, but her body was covered in scars.

Those scars... even if Azula hadn't done so openly, she had tried to protect Ty Lee, but she had still been hurt despite Azula's best efforts... and some of the scars had actually been given by her. Some of them she didn't recognize. Azula didn't feel guilt per se, she could truthfully say that she hadn't started the war, but she had most certainly drug Ty Lee into it. It left her feeling empty, like the pain Ty Lee had endured was somehow eating away at her as well.

"Good night Ty Lee." She said softly, looking back down at her papers as Ty Lee put on her pajamas and slipped into bed.

Azula had stopped putting any real effort into reading the scrolls when Ty Lee had returned. Even so the princess had sat at the table for several hours after Ty Lee had gone to bed, mulling over her options as she tried to find a way out of her situation. Short of breaking out of the palace, which would endanger both her and Ty Lee's lives, regardless of whether or not Azula chose to involve Ty Lee in any plans to escape, she only had one option: wait. The only other thing to do would be to get access to some of the important scrolls, ones that were more specific and detailed. But that would have to wait till morning.

Azula stood up and stretched. She had been sitting all day, she was very sore and also very tired.

She walked quietly over to the side of the bed. Ty Lee was sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and falling slowly as she breathed.

Azula exhaled and walked over to the mostly empty wardrobe sitting against the wall. Azula knew she needed to sleep, and if she was ever going to sleep peacefully, it would be beside Ty Lee.

Azula quickly changed and undid her hair. Someone had apparently forgotten that she was actually human, and hadn't bothered to bring her any brushes. The princess did the best she could combing out her long hair with her fingers, scowling slightly at her reflection in the small mirror placed on the wardrobe's door.

She returned to the bed and crawled under the sheets, lying down next to Ty Lee and gently pulling the woman closer to her. Ty Lee must have been dreaming or half asleep, because when Azula stopped moving Ty Lee mumbled her name and wrapped her arms around the princess, burying her face in Azula's shoulder.

After a few moments Azula pressed her head against Ty Lee's and closed her eyes. She could feel herself drifting off to sleep. Ty Lee's breath brushed lightly against Azula's collarbone, and she could feel the acrobat's steady heartbeat through her chest. Azula decided it might be alright if things stayed like this for a little while longer. She might... even let Ty Lee sleep here again... tomorrow night...

Azula slowly opened her eyes. She felt cold for some reason, her body was stiff, and the bed beneath her felt much harder than she remembered. Blinking, she pushed herself up on her elbows and looked around, trying to discern what was going on.

She was instantly jarred awake by her surroundings. She was definitely not in the palace anymore, and Ty Lee was no where to be seen.

She was in what appeared to be a large natural passage in a cavern. Rough rock formations formed a meandering tunnel that was dotted with stalactites and stalagmites which were made up of a glowing green crystal.

Azula's mind raced, trying to process where she could be and what could have possibly happened. She stood up, trying to work the stiffness out of her joints and warm her muscles. She took a deep breath and attempted to breath fire in an effort to warm herself, but before she even completed the movement she knew it was useless. She couldn't bend.

She stamped down her fears. Ty Lee had told her about how Avatar Aang had taken away her father's bending, permanently, but that was a fate she thought she had avoided. She trembled with restrained emotion. She wanted to scream and cry at the same time. Bending was her life.

After several long minutes she had mastered her emotions well enough to think, and chose a direction at random. She put one foot in front of the other, and started walking down the passage. Where ever she was she had to get out of here.

She continued walking and after a while the passage started to climb upwards. The crystal formations were decreasing in number, and it was becoming harder to see where she was going. She thought she could see a dim light ahead, maybe she was close to the surface. Suddenly her foot caught on something in the dark, and an instant before she fell she realized she was on the edge of sharp decline.

She brought her arms up to shield herself as she crashed downwards. When she reached the bottom, the princess groaned as she pushed herself up, brushing her hair out of her eyes. When she looked up she saw an old man with his back to her brewing tea over a fire.

"You, who are you? Where are we?" He started humming, but didn't seem to be paying any attention to her. "Old man!" But it was useless.

She had just struggled into a sitting position when something outside the ring of light cast by the fire moved. Azula jerked her head towards the movement, her body ready for action.

Suddenly a huge form moved into the light. It was an enormous creature, standing more than thirty meters tall. It didn't seem to be concerned with the old man or the fire, but instead walked over to her, lowering its head down to look at Azula closely.

Azula sat frozen in place. She had fought sea monsters and other creatures, but this being was something else entirely. It emanated energy in enormous amounts, energy she could feel permeating herself as if she were some type of absorbent for its power. She didn't dare antagonize this... thing, whatever it was, especially not while she was trapped in a cave.

The beast moved closer to her, positioning itself directly in front of her so that it could stare directly into her golden eyes with its own red ones. Azula heard the old man behind them speak, but she wasn't paying attention.

She continued to look into its eyes, and slowly she began to feel a strange sensation. She felt like she was literally being pulled into the creature's eyes, like the red orb she was gazing into was the earth and she had been dropped from the heavens towards it. When it seemed like she couldn't fall any faster she began to see visions. What seemed like months worth of experiences and knowledge passed before her eyes in an instant.

She was hurtling towards the red eyes in front of her at an insane speed, about to collide with them, when she screamed.

Azula jerked upright in her bed in the palace. She was breathing like she had been deprived of air for days, she was soaked in sweat, and she had a horrendously splitting headache. But she had remembered. She had definitely remembered. And waiting for diplomacy to run its course was certainly no longer an option.