Because still Zuko longs for home and Azula cannot repeat a failure.
Aside from the Earth King's escape with the Avatar's companions, victory was complete. Azula ordered the Dai Li to prepare the city for a peaceful surrender as they returned to the palace. But leave it to her stupid brother to be unable to bask in their triumph.
"I betrayed uncle," he murmurs.
"No Zuko, Iroh betrayed you."
She stands up to continue, but before she can her brother faces her with a scowl that nauseatingly twists his scar.
"Who hasn't?"
It's not fair he can look at her like father would look at him.
She sneers back: "You brought that upon yourself. Your failure cost us the North. Be thankful you got your chance to redeem yourself, so you can return home a hero unlike the failure that left."
Zuzu looks away. It seems their uncle has rubbed off on him. It won't matter. It couldn't uproot father's foundations.
It will be enough.
Ty Lee's back still hurts. It felt like ages until the Dai Li finally released them from the hold the dirt girl had put her in. Her wrists and ankles definitely hadn't appreciated the rock encasing them either. Even after this session it would take a few more days before the added tension would fade. At least she'd be able to take it easy now. No need to risk further injury.
A knock at the door takes Ty Lee out of it. Best to stand up then.
"Come in," she says.
The door knob creaks and a woman walks in.
"Hello, i'm Joo Dee; but your humble servant. Princess Azula has requested your presence for supper. Would you please follow me?"
Ty Lee let her eyebrows scrunch at the odd lady who apparently shared a name with all the other female servants in the palace, but quickly acquiesces. But as she does the servant continues to rack her brain.
Joo Dee, maybe that's just what they called servants in this city? Ty Lee didn't know what to think. Usually she got more excited about all those exotic customs the natives had. But there was something uniquely off about the "Impenetrable" City and it wasn't just the name. These women especially were creeping her out. At first glance they didn't seem all that strange. The aura they exude is typical of servants, aside from those in the Palace, ever since~ and it even mirrors what she finds herself most comfortable in! It is so common for the servants to wrap themselves in demure pinks and bland beiges, but if these are masks they would put even Mai's to shame. It's something about the way the shade and tone are always exactly even, even between individuals! The edges of it feel too defined, like someone straightened them out. It all feels so wrong: how can something be so light without any brightness?
Before she can find her answer the servant opens the door to the dining hall. A large table greets her. She quickly smiles at Azula and Mai who are already seated across from her and acknowledges their greeting, one spoken and the other mute. Then she notices a third head, one whose black hair is much shaggier than that of her friends peeking out of the chairs, though she can't see the face from the current angle.
She only notices when he sits down and turns to face her. It's Zuko. Ty Lee doesn't know why it surprises her. Azula had informed her he'd joined them as she announced their victory.
Zuko looks a bit like the boy sulking at the pond that she used to know, all sullen. Even with the scar, which, now that she thinks about it, is rough up close. Not like the smear in the posters or the blur in that dust bowl, but all mismatched pinks and wrinkly. She'd seen the slant in his eye but not the deeper reds surrounding it, nor had it occurred to her his eyebrow was good as gone. Just looking at his earlobe makes her shiver at heat hot enough to melt cartilage.
His mismatched eyes catch her. And for a moment she wishes she could feign apathy as well as Mai. Not that that ever did her any good when it came to him.
"Ty Lee," he rasps, "it's been a while."
"Yeah," she responds, "it has."
There's a cough before she can think of anything to say, it's Azula.
"So," the princess declares, "now that you're finally here we can start our meal and celebrate at last."
It's rare seeing an actual warm smile grace Azula's face. Not just the cold smirks that appear whenever she's outmaneuvering her opponent. So it takes little time for Ty Lee to return her own and marvel at the meal. The rich salads with ripe fruits are just what she had worked up the appetite for. Especially with how her meals on the road had been. Yeah they were filling, but so stodgy.
The lettuce, tomatoes and carrots make a nice change of pace, and the beetroot salad is very sweet. Looks like everyone else is sticking to habit too; Zuko is not talking much and wolfing down whatever's on the table as fast as proper etiquette allows him, though with a slight preference towards the bread; across the table Mai is unabashedly sniping all plums, grapes, berries and other sweet fruit, while Azula's vigilantly keeps the balance in her diet. It makes it easy to keep conversation light, even as Ty Lee has to carry most of it. Now more so than usual, even. Mai is as gray as ever and Azula is tired. Zuko is too enveloped in his blues to even mention. But at least that's something she recognizes in the boy that always seemed to chase his mother's shadow.
It's alright. Everyone always told her that if only this last damned city finally fell then they'd finally have won. The war would be over. They did it, so maybe now they could chase away all those shadows she kept finding in people's eyes?
So maybe if Azula has them celebrate when all they want to do is sleep, that's okay.
It'll be alright.