A. N. : Short chapter today, but in my defense : girls. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy this chill one !
Mai looks lost.
Ty Lee doesn't know what she expected, but Mai standing with her feet in the sea, the hem of her pants licked by the water, staring at the horizon like it's holding some sort of answer – Ty Lee didn't expect that.
She walks up to Mai, bare feet burned by the hot sand before reaching the first waves. It could almost be an ideal day to lounge at the beach.
That almost stings at the back of Ty Lee's mouth.
She takes Mai's hand.
He's still taking care of Azula, she says, because she knows Mai would worry about the consequences of her actions. It's something the three of them have in common, although Ty Lee must admit she used to sometimes forget that Azula also had her own, well, Azula to worry about.
There's no way she'll forget again, though.
Mai nods, but doesn't move otherwise.
They stay like this a little while, breathing in the humid, salty air of the ocean, looking at the waves and the distant ships heading for the Gates of Azulon, hidden behind the coast, or leaving them for another island.
The wind feels odd against Ty Lee's nape. Mai's knife cut close to the skin here, and it itches a little. The hand not holding Mai's presses there, combing through the short hair, massaging the raw skin of her scalp and nape.
She'd never noticed her hair was this curly before. She guesses the weight of it kind of straightened it out.
What would her sisters say if they saw her, she wonders ?
She didn't say goodbye when she left for the circus, only left a letter explaining that she'd gone to find herself. It wasn't like she thought she'd never see everyone ever again. That's why she didn't say goodbye, and why she didn't say hi when she came back. Mai and Azula were the priority, and there was always time after.
It's weird, the difference that makes.
Ty Lee squeezes Mai's hand a bit harder. She chose this, chose Azula over her family, and she shouldn't – doesn't regret it. She doesn't. But it's not like she ever hated her sisters either.
It was the circumstances she fled, not the people. Sure, as a kid sometimes she wished she was an only child, but it wasn't – she didn't –
She wanted to be special, not alone.
Mai squeezes back as Ty Lee blinks away the mounting tears.
Why did you come ? Mai's voice is rough, barely louder than the sound of the waves. She is looking down at her feet, or maybe at the way the water pushes and pulls the fabric around her ankles.
She needs me, Ty Lee says, because she doesn't know how to explain it better. It's something only she can do, only she and Mai, the only people in the world Azula needs right now, and that means Ty Lee is special. And she needs this.
She'll take being needed over the safety of family anytime. Even if it hurts.
Mai takes a breath. I don't need her, she says, voice hard, the anymore implied, I'm not going to be nice, and I'm not going to let her hurt you.
She doesn't say she'll stay, but she doesn't need to.
Although, Ty Lee thinks she's being too hard on Azula. It's not like there's anything to gain from being cruel anymore for her. No orders to follow, no Fire Lord to impress. It will be fine. What happened earlier was just the stress and the fever. It's fine.
It's sweet of Mai to worry, though.