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Chapter Three: Midnight
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Azula did not stay up late. Ty Lee did.
Azula woke up at the dusky moment just before the sun rose. Ty Lee woke up whenever she got around to it.
The schedules suited them, somehow. Maybe their marriage was so strong because they only saw each other for a few hours a day. Or at least because they were not always in each other's company.
Azula would die if she had to listen to Ty Lee all day and night. Ty Lee would die if she had to listen to Azula all day and night. The former use of listen being pretending to pay attention to boring stories and the latter meaning obeying whatever she said because it was easier than fighting back.
But today Azula was up at midnight.
Ty Lee was out late. She came home and was about to go to bed when she saw Azula awake, obviously waiting for her.
"You are late," said Azula bitterly.
"You're awake," Ty Lee nervously remarked.
Azula commanded, "Do not make me stay up until midnight again, are we clear?"
"Yeah," Ty Lee agreed, "but I wanna know why you stayed up. Did you think I was going to cheat on you or did you think I'd just not come back or that I was dead?"
Her eyes sparkled with excitement, waiting for the answer.
"Yes," said Azula begrudgingly.
"To which one?" asked Ty Lee, eyes wide.
"To all of them."