The journey was needlessly long. It was expedited due to the significance of the princess and prince overthrowing Ba Sing Se, certainly, but Ty Lee was bored and the moment they got onto the ship she felt a wave of relief. The steel was worn and the sea rough, the breeze cold and the sun obscured by clouds as they left the Earth Kingdom and headed towards Fire Nation waters. Or perhaps it was all Fire Nation waters after Ba Sing Se fell. Is the Earth Kingdom technically owned by the Fire Nation now? Ty Lee had no idea.

She did not see Azula for the entire first day of the voyage at sea. The princess was occupied with military men, politics and her discoveries in Ba Sing Se. It was how it always was with her, Ty Lee supposed. Azula always tended to be very serious, focused and goal oriented, the absolute opposite of Ty Lee.

Ty Lee practiced in the night, the cool wind whipping through her braid and her bangs. Zuko and Mai were off somewhere, presumably sleeping together, jumping right into things after so much time apart. Jealous. Ty Lee was jealous of Mai and Zuko. Ugh. It made her queasy to think she could be jealous of such flawed people.

Her mother once told her to, when she felt jealous, remember she had to be jealous of everything about people. So if she was jealous about how Zuko looked back at Mai, she also had to be jealous of Mai's grey aura and Zuko's scarred face. If she was jealous of the way they fell into each other like puzzle pieces, fitting together so perfectly, she had to be jealous of Mai's oppressive parents and Zuko's exile.

But she was jealous. Her mother's teachings were absolutely useless as she saw them and then looked at Azula and wondered what crime she had committed to deserve being in love with someone like that. Maybe love was jealous and cruel, manipulative and petty. Like Azula. Or maybe Ty Lee was just loving wrong.

"You don't look particularly bubbly." Azula. At the worst possible time. "Are you not excited about the upcoming banquets? Have you practiced your gracious speech? Hm, perhaps better if you don't say anything and just, bat your eyes."

Ty Lee did not have a response to that. But they were alone, here on the deck of a warship, alone in the middle of the ocean. The sea simply went on for miles. Isolation. Alone with Azula did not sound terribly bad to Ty Lee, if it were not for the indecisive nature of their relationship.

Azula was the kind of person who would put one arm around you and stab you with the other, then visit you in the hospital the next day. But Ty Lee could not help but be drawn to her like a moth to flame, and as Azula walked with her towards the bow of the ship she could feel her wings incinerating.

"Am I still your date?" Ty Lee murmured, raising an eyebrow. She was almost afraid to ask, but Azula underestimated her intelligence greatly and tended to shrug off her remarks that were too forward as her being a moron.

"I suppose," Azula sighed, studying her nails.

She had a smile in her golden eyes but a pointedly bored expression on her face. Ty Lee fought back a smile at how she could see Azula gradually melting. Of course, Ty Lee was certain she would get burnt if Azula's gold melted down and drowned her, but it would not be a bad way to go.

"Mai and Zuko sure got together quickly," Ty Lee said, trying to sound snarky and gossipy and not jealous. She thought she succeeded because Azula snickered.

"They're not going to do any better," Azula sighed. "Let's let them be happy and mock them relentlessly."

"I would like to be in a royal wedding," Ty Lee replied, smiling faintly. One of her goals in life was to be in as many weddings as possible.

"You can be in mine, even if Zuko does the inevitable and ruins his relationship with Mai," Azula said before realizing the multitude of ways her words could go. "But right now I have far more important things to worry about than my brother's sex life. Like winning a war singlehandedly and stopping an invasion of the Fire Nation."

"So, you never just stop and think about sex or love or a royal wedding..."

"I'll have plenty of time to think about sex and love and a royal wedding after I'm Fire Lord," Azula said calmly and Ty Lee swallowed. "If it concerns you so much, I can appoint you as my romantic advisor. I'm sure that's a thing. You know, it's a thing if I want it to be a thing."

"Well, as your romantic advisor..." Ty Lee murmured, her heart skipping a beat.

She kissed Azula on the lips.

The cold ship was significantly warmer.