Ty Lee returned early the next morning to find Azula waiting for her on the docks. The circus freak turned warrior didn't need any more prompting to leap up out of the sailboat and onto the dock with her friend. Her aura was dim and pale. "Azula! What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No," she said quietly, still standing there. "Your boat is getting away."

"What? Oh no!" Ty Lee forgot about the boat. She jumped back aboard and grabbed the rope. "Azula! Tie me up!"

"Isn't that... what your boyfriends say?" the former princess did not move to help with the boat.

"That's not funny! Help me or we'll all be stranded here until next week!" she cried. Something in Azula made her move at that.

Once the boat was secure, Ty Lee turned to her friend again. "What's going on? Why are you out here?"

"I told him about the baby."

"And?" she watched Azula's aura flicker, pale blue to gray.

"And that's it. I told him. Then I left him stranded on the couch while I came out here. I thought you would appreciate that I didn't blow the house up."

"Azula! You left him there? That's... come on!" she couldn't believe this! They were both so lucky to be alive and free, and here they were still acting like children. She grabbed her oldest friend's arm and drug the stubborn princess back to the house.

She wasn't sure what she was thinking, picturing Teo a miserable pile on the couch. She knew him better than that. The living room area had been cleaned. There was no blood on the floor. The couch was tidy as well. Teo had been in the kitchen, sitting in his wheelchair, dressed in a red and brown tunic and black pants. He already had his legs on and he was had a pot of porridge cooking as well as some eggs.

Ty Lee looked over at Azula, her aura turning yellow with confusion.

Teo pulled the porridge off the fire with tongs and set the heavy pot down on the stone in front of the fireplace. "Good morning," he glanced over at them, smiling. His aura was still as orange as it always was.

"Good morning, Teo. How did you sleep?" Ty Lee strode over to the pantry to find some of the fresh berries they had collected from the bushes on the back of the island.

"I made it into bed and slept as well as I usually do," he said, scooping up the eggs onto a plate. "Azula, did you sleep at all?"

"No."

Ty Lee decided to help with the breakfast effort and make tea. Teo always used to have that black, nasty stuff he called coffee. She hoped he didn't bring any with him. "Do you have to go to the factory today?"

"No. They won't need me for a week or so. Unless I'm not wanted here," he glanced over at Azula.

"You're wanted. If you want to stay."

"Aza, stop being so dramatic. Of course I want to stay! Zuko promised me anything I wanted once he became Fire Lord. Anything. My Grandfather was willing to do anything to make me happy. He was going to find forged papers to make me a Fire Nation citizen so that I could be closer to you! I can't believe that you'd still think that I don't want to be here. Nobody has ever forced me to do anything I didn't want to do, Azula. Not even you."

"I don't accept that," Azula looked down at him, storming over to stand over him. He still held the plate of eggs in his lap.

"You're just going to have to."

"I'm in control! You don't get to decide!"

"Then you agree that I'm where I should be then?"

"No!" Pause. "Yes! You aren't allowed to leave me."

"I never planned on it. Let's have breakfast then," Teo smiled, and pushed his chair around Azula to get to the table.

Ty Lee wished she could paint a picture to capture Azula's face! But soon the moment is over and the three of them share their morning meal.

It has been a year after the war officially ended. The airship line between Omashu and the Fire Nation is finally profitable. The Earth King and Fire Lord Zuko were still trying to resolve the issues with the colonies. His struggles were fairly unknown on House Arrest Island. Especially since Ty Lee had been recalled into active duty.

It was a lazy morning. So lazy that Teo hadn't even bothered to wake up yet. Azula had gone for an early morning walk. She hadn't heard any voices since leaving the asylum. And Teo was helping her with her control issues. Her temperature was occasionally a problem, but they had found ways to deal with those inconstancies. In truth, she had everything she ever wanted. She was the Queen of her own Nation (metaphorically if not actually), no one was going to tell her that she couldn't dance in the rain. And she was going to marry Teo, as soon as they could come to terms with ZuZu on getting a Fire Sage out there. Of course King Bumi had offered to marry them himself, but that would only count in Omashu. And there was no way that she would ever be allowed off her island.

Not that not being married stopped the two of them from certain activities. She smiled. Teo never failed to surprise her. He was very clever indeed. She returned to the house and into their bedroom. "Finally awake, I see?"

Teo had been sitting up against the carved headboard, making notes in a book. His pencil stilled as he saw her. "I am, Princess. I've had an idea for a new glider design."

"Don't tell me that you'll be falling out of balloons again?" she frowned. It had been scary enough the first time.

"Oh, no. I was thinking that the South cliffs would be the best place for takeoff," he nodded, adding something to a diagram.

"They aren't high enough. You won't be able to just jump it. Can you even jump?" she sat down and listed off all of the things that popped into her head. It didn't occur to her they might be a little insensitive.

"They aren't from the old way. Trust me, Aza, I have it all under control," he smiled and turned the book around. She saw a quick sketch of a large glider wing, anchored to a variation of his wheelchair.

"It isn't high enough for a standing jump, but speed from the hill above the cliff would get me up there."

"Yeah, before you gently glide into the ocean and drown while strapped to this contraption," she frowned, though her concern.

"If it would make you feel better, I'll ask Aang to test it the next time I see him."

"I don't like it how you're on a first name basis with the Avatar."

"He and my Grandfather are close. It's not my fault that they're both ancient!" Teo laughed and set the book aside. He leaned over to pull her close, placing a kiss on her lips.

"Hey, isn't it time for you to get out of bed?"

"Can't. I'm stranded. Somebody decided to take off my legs in the other room. Then that mysterious person carried me into the bedroom. That rogue princess also decided to not return my wheelchair either," he smirked. It was the smirk she always used to wear as a child.

Azula sighed dramatically. "FINE!" She smiled and got up from the bed to retrieve his wheelchair. Then she left him to get himself ready.

She went to the living room and cranked the handle on the music player that Lumi had invented. It played back music that had been trapped on wax cylinders. Teo had brought back a set of recordings from the Omashu symphony. She gently picked up the cylinder of her favorite recording and put it in the machine and turned it on.

Azula couldn't help herself. She'd fallen in love with the exotic sounds of the foreign composer. She started to dance, taking her most graceful firebending forms and just moving without her flames.

This was as close to perfect as she felt she'd ever get.

And she was okay with that.

Especially when Teo rolled out of the bedroom and smiled brightly at her.