Ok, not the best chapter, but there were some things I wanted to say about Ty Lee and I didn't know how to put it in the story, so here it is.
I'll talk to my psychiatrist tomorrow, so maybe my writing will get better and more consistent! I don't promise anything though, but let's see.
I really hope you enjoy this chapter. It took me like a week and a half to write, I don't know why because it's really not that long.
There comes a time in life when a person wants to take it a little easier; settle down. Even a person like Ty Lee, who had at one point run off to the circus to find excitement in her life, thought that she should ease on that excitement. For the acrobat, this decision had started after her breakup with Princess Azula. It had been a sort of domino effect: the breakup had been the catalyst which started the chain.
With her broken heart, Ty Lee found it extremely difficult to focus on her duty as a Kyoshi Warrior. She did her part, but everyone around her could notice that even if the body was there, the woman behind it was not present. The signature bubbly personality that once identified the acrobat as herself was suddenly replaced with a sulky woman who tried too hard to seem happy. It was extremely hard for Suki to give orders to the acrobat, and even harder for the Kyoshi Warriors to try and include Ty Lee in their activities. It didn't help that she had been having troubles with Azula because of her position in the Kyoshi Warriors. Everything added up, and just under a year later, Ty Lee quit the Kyoshi Warriors.
After quitting her job, Ty Lee moved in with her parents at their estate. Her family on her father's side had been noble since before Sozin's time, and thus had great influence in Fire Nation politics and were also extremely wealthy. Even with her six identical sisters, Ty Lee had no need for a job from a monetary standpoint. And so, wanting to take some time to herself, the acrobat moved to her old room.
Peace in the household was never an option. With six identical sisters came six different kinds of problems and jealous streaks. Six identical sisters also meant competition for the affection of two parents.
This affection came in the form of marriages. The first to get offered a marriage proposal had been Ty Liu due to her aptitude with the harp. Just three months after Ty Lee had moved back in with her family, one of her sisters moved away to start a new one. One by one, her sisters started marrying young high-class men and started having families with them. Their mother had tried to promote Ty Lee for young men to marry, saying she had been the 'princess consort' and that she had 'personal connections with the Royal Family', but every time a man tried to get her hand in marriage, the acrobat would screw it up. Maybe it had been unconsciously, but it didn't change the result.
It didn't matter at first, but after four years of nothingness, the people of the high class began to talk about Ty Lee. They said that she was not right in the brain, that the princess had broken her upon repair, that she never wanted to marry just so she could sleep around…all of those things eventually reached Ty Lee's ears. As her reputation ruined and her sisters began to have children, Ty Lee's mental health started to deteriorate. What had once been a way to run away from the problems had become a problem itself.
Once her sister Ty Woo had her fifth child in under four years, Ty Lee decided to move away from her family. She took what little money she had and bid farewell to her parents before moving away permanently. The acrobat still wanted to live in Caldera, so she used her money to rent a small studio apartment in a very centralized location in the city. At first, she worked at a small restaurant, washing dishes and occasionally waiting tables. It was a good environment. Her boss paid her a good salary, her coworkers were people from Caldera, and overall, Ty Lee loved working at the establishment.
But then Caldera started to get full of people from all over the Fire Nation; people who needed whatever jobs they could find in order to feed their families. The change wasn't from one day to another, but over the course of the years, Ty Lee's life at Caldera had changed dramatically. She soon got laid off after many immigrants offered to do her job at half the salary she was making, and the area where she lived at began to show many acts of crimes. Living as she did was no longer plausible, and so she decided to take life into her own hands.
After spending time as a teenager at the circus, Ty Lee understood that the kind of lifestyle it offered was not one she wanted to pursue in her late 20s. In a bold and rash decision, the acrobat decided to open up a small dojo where she could teach women to defend themselves. With the money she had saved over the years, Ty Lee bought a small house which she turned into a studio and her home. Not many people went to her at first, mostly due to them having no spare time in between jobs and rest, but over time, a number of women began to attend her institute.
Girls ranging from 4 years old all the way to women of the third age started taking classes with the acrobat. She taught them how to chi-block as well as self-defense against potential male attackers. Her dojo began to gain recognition, and suddenly many more women tried to take classes with Ty Lee. Overwhelmed by the number of students, the acrobat hired two assistants, both of whom were nonbenders and had previously trained with the Army.
Ty Lee had been alone for a long time, and spending time with her assistants had woken up a spark that she though had been lost forever. Bin, one of her assistants, was especially crucial in the awakening of her feelings. The assistant was a little bit taller than Ty Lee and was extremely sweet with their clients. The little girls loved Bin, and the older women all wanted to take classes with her. With time, the acrobat began developing feelings towards her employee, and one fateful day, she acted upon those feelings.
They dated for a while. Everyone could see how happy Bin was when she was around the acrobat, and Ty Lee's mood seemed to better with her partner. Ty Lee liked Bin, she really did, but that like never developed into anything more. Bin loved Ty Lee, and one day asked the acrobat for her hand in marriage. Ty Lee refused.
Nobody except Ty Lee knew the reason for the rejection. From an outside look, the couple seemed to be completely perfect. They never fought, they liked the same things, they had similar personalities, and they even had the same food taste. It was a match made by Agni himself. Ty Lee was the only one who knew why she had rejected her girlfriend's proposal.
Truth of the matter was that no matter how hard she tried, the princess would always be the one in her heart.
"True love is only the first one. The rest are there to forget the first love." Ty Lee said to herself at night in her solitude. She tried to forget Azula, but it was impossible. The princess had been just too special for Ty Lee to just be able to move on from. The way they flowed together as nobody had done before or since was just perfect, like Azula. It had hurt that the prodigy cheated on her, but she did apologize and never hid the truth. She had accepted her wrongdoings and her faith, and in return she was outcasted.
Ty Lee felt slightly guilty. She didn't have a civil conversation with Azula where they could just talk about what had happened. It wasn't so Azula could try to explain herself, but they never even talked about how they would move from there. It just ended abruptly without any kind of closure. And Ty Lee knew that closure would never come.
She wanted to reunite with the princess one day, but that was just wishful thinking. It had been several years since Azula left Caldera, and since then there had been no sightings of the princess. If Azula was alive, then she didn't want to be found. Whenever, wherever, Azula would die exiled from her home.
At least that was what Ty Lee believed up until one fateful letter from her friend Suki. The letter had come from a place called Ido, which Ty Lee assumed was in the Fire Nation. At first glance, the letter seemed to be too formal and straightforward for a friend to greet another. That was when the acrobat remembered the codes she had used during the war.
Found Azula in Ido. Tell Zuko she has a spawn. Suki had found Azula.
Found Azula in Ido. Tell Zuko she has a spawn. Azula had a child.
Found Azula in Ido. Tell Zuko she has a spawn. Azula had moved on.
Ty Lee read the hidden message dozens of times and each it hurt more than the last, but she couldn't stop. The woman she loved had without a doubt, moved on from her. She was probably living with a spouse, probably male, who could've given her a child. The acrobat knew that Azula was not one who would have a child out of wedlock.
Her first communication with the palace since she had moved out had been this. She had sent a letter to Mai personally congratulating her with the birth of a princess, but she never received a response. The reason for this was unknown, and Ty Lee didn't dwell too much on the fact. She gave the message to Zuko, who then relayed it to the Avatar and some of his friends. Ty Lee was given a room to stay in the palace, and she took this opportunity to talk to Mai as she hadn't done for years. In a short amount of time, the Avatar, Sokka from the Water Tribe, Zuko and her were ready to head towards to the small town where Suki had told them Azula was located.
Upon their arrival, Ty Lee could see the bad state the town was at. If she thought Caldera was bad, the small town of Ido would have no comparing. There were cattle everywhere, and it smelled worse than the circus did. It was difficult to imagine Azula living in this kind of environment, yet the letter explicitly said that this was the location.
A teenager was at the middle of the town square playing some music. The music sounded somber, full of regret and misery. The kid seemed to convey his emotions very well through his instrument in a way Ty Lee had never seen before. From afar he seemed like a good kid.
Then he opened his mouth. It turned out the kid was probably the most disrespectful kid in the Fire Nation. Not that Ty Lee was a psycho when it came respect, but she knew that if the kid talked that way to Ozai or any of his predecessors, a public execution would've been the least of his worries.
Suki appeared from the crowd, and soon Azula followed. The princess had aged from the last Ty Lee had seen her. There were some kind wrinkles around her eyes and in the center of her eyebrows, but she still maintained the beauty only she knew how to achieve. Upon seeing her, Ty Lee forgot how to breathe for a quick second. She was taken back to when Azula and her were happy. All those memories, both good and bad, came running back.
It was then revealed that the disrespectful kid, Lee Ten, was her child. She tried to ignore the fact that his name was clearly an omen to Lu Ten and her. However, she could not ignore the fact that the child was mixed. Ty Lee had nothing against other ethnicities, but she knew Azula did. Maybe she didn't outright hate them, but she did believe them to be inferior. But now she had a child with a Water Tribe.
It was a cruel joke. Even a Water Tribe savage was better than you. She could hear Azula telling her this every time she looked at Lee Ten. It wasn't fair to the kid, he hadn't decided who his parents were, but her heart still played tricks on her.
The ride back to the palace was awkward and as uneventful a journey could be when the Avatar was flying. Lee Ten turned out to be weak hearted, ironic considering Azula's obsession with perfection. That didn't stop the kid from telling Zuko off at every instance however, and it was revealed the deep resentment he held towards the Capital City. As she heard their reasoning, it was easy to see where this resentment stemmed from.
When Zuko decided that Azula was not to be arrested, Ty Lee felt relief. If Azula was at the palace, then maybe they could talk again. If they talked, maybe they could be friends as they once were. And once they were friends, maybe, just maybe, they could get together again. It still hurt that Azula had cheated on her, but it hurt more being apart from her. She could say that she tried to move on by dating Bin, but it was clear that she had always belonged and will always belong to Azula.
Sitting in the palace while Azula, Zuko, and Mai were at a meeting was very boring. She wanted to share tea with Azula after the meeting, but in the meantime, she was confined to the palace walls. The palace under Zuko's leadership was exponentially more welcoming than it had been in her childhood. The servants didn't look terrified of their masters, and although it still remained the epitome of wealth in the Fire Nation, it still wasn't as excessive as it had once been.
After hours of wandering around, Ty Lee finally found Mai walking to the nursery.
"Mai!" she greeted her friend. The Fire Lady looked up and slightly smiled. Time had done good to the knife thrower; she showed much more emotions now, although not as much as Ty Lee would like.
"Ty Lee, what have you been doing in the palace all this time?"
"Umm, nothing really. I was waiting for the meeting to end so I could talk to Azula. Speaking of, do you have any idea where she might be?"
Mai sighed in disappointment. "Why do you want to talk to her? She hurt you, and even if she seemed renewed now, you should be able to look over her façade."
"It's not a façade," Ty Lee shook her head. "she really has changed. You didn't see her on the way here."
"But I just saw her in the meeting. She is still the same old calculating Azula, and it's clear that she wants to put Zuko's reign in danged by becoming hostile towards the other nations." Mai explained.
"I think she just wants what's best for the Fire Nation"
Mai sighed. "Whatever. I don't have time to argue with you about this when you're clearly blinded with whatever infatuation you have with her. I'm going to go see Izumi."
"Oh! Are you finally going to breastfeed her?" Ty Lee asked excitedly
Mai made a disgusted face. "No, that is beneath me. I'm just going to play with her."
"You know," Ty Lee began to rub her left elbow. "I have heard that breastfeeding is good for the bond. A lot of the women back in the studio told me that."
"I don't trust anything that comes out of Azula's mouth, and you shouldn't either. Whether or not the women at your facility believed such things is irrelevant. The fact that Azula said so is enough to make in incredible."
The acrobat narrowed her eyes. "Your mind is full of hate. Give her a chance and maybe it might be good for you. For us."
Mai scoffed. "She has had enough chances. I'm through giving them to her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the CrownPrincess."
Mai walked past her friend and entered the nursery where Izumi was playing with one of the servants. Ty Lee watched as her friend walked, a frown plastered on her face. She knew that the friendship they once shared was impossible to recover. This was mostly because of the fact that Azula had been manipulative, aggressive, cruel, entitled, hot headed, and selfish, and thus could not form meaningful relationships with people. But she wasn't like that anymore, so they could become friends once again. If only Mai wasn't as stubborn as she was, they could maybe mend their friendship.
Without the help of Mai, Ty Lee continued her way to find the prodigious firebender and finally have that tea. She walked to the gardens but only the Avatar and Lee Ten were there. The acrobat stopped as she saw the two figures. The Avatar was using airbending against Azula's son, laughing as he did so, while Lee Ten was focused on beating the Avatar in their spar.
It reminded her of the friendly spars she used to have with Azula. Ty Lee always bore a smile on her face while the princess was focused on the training aspect of the spar. She took a look at her surroundings and noticed that the gardens were the only place that stayed exactly the same. She walked along the garden trail Azula used to walk along with her. Every step she took reminded Ty Lee of just how they used to be.
It was impossible to forget Azula, simply because there was always something there to remind her. The fountain where they used to do cartwheels and tease Mai and Zuko. She couldn't help recalling that the fountain was the same place where she gave the princess the first kiss on the cheek, when they were merely seven years old. How could she forget her, move on, if there was always something there to remind her of the beautiful times she had with Azula?
The palace gardens where the place where Ty Lee fantasized about when she thought about her wedding. When she was little, and same-sex marriages illegal, she thought of a private ceremony with just Azula and her. Imaginary bells would ring, and they would just kiss under the moonlight so that Agni couldn't see them. Ty Lee had always thought about that day. It was as if she was born simply to love Azula, to please her. She would never be free, and the princess would always be a part of her.
Ty Lee walked out of the gardens and towards the palace quarters. She wanted to take a quick nap before eating dinner There was nothing wrong with that.
As she made her way to her chamber, she heard two voices coming from a room. The voices were hushed, and it was impossible to tell what they were saying, but Ty Lee knew exactly who the owners of the voices were: Sokka and Azula. The acrobat was tired, but curiosity was more important than rest.
Using her stealth training, Ty Lee entered the big room without being seen. The two figures were standing at a corner of the room, so the ex-Kyoshi warrior hid behind some furniture and listened closely to the conversation.
"-pull some strings, and then he'll have the passport." Sokka said. Ty Lee couldn't catch what they had said before to get to this point in the conversation.
"You still need to prove paternity with more than a look. We do not have the technology to test it with mere blood, but there must be some way to prove his heritage." Azula replied
"Like I said, don't worry. I'll take care of it."
"Thank you." Azula said. "I'm curious, how is the economy in the Southern Water Tribe? Last I heard they had found some natural resources which are now used in boats? Please tell me more about it. And don't spare any details on the machinery."
Sokka, who was facing Ty Lee, smiled. "Oh, where to start! Yes, we found some oil reserves in the waters surrounding our tribes. We had a bit of a quarrel with the Earth Kingdom due to some islands they had nearby. They said that the oil belonged to them because of the island location. However, thanks to the Shu Dao Treaty of 293 BG, we could prove that because the distance of the furthest glacier found at the sea compared to the distance between the center of-"
Ty Lee got bored with the conversation and zoned out. She had thought that Azula and Sokka were going to say interesting things, not about history and economy. Why did they need to go to a private room to talk about such boring stuff?
With the same stealth she used to infiltrate the room, Ty Lee left it and headed to her own room. It was a quick stride, and soon enough, she laid down on her bed. Her mind was racing with images of her and Azula's relationship, from as early as childhood to as late as their breakup. She tried to get the images out of her mind, but she couldn't. Ty Lee fell asleep with the images of the princess playing on her mind.
On the other room, Azula felt the intruder get out of the room and raised her hand. Sokka stopped explaining the oil history and shot Azula a questioning look.
"What?" Sokka asked. "Where did you get lost? Was it when I explained how pistons work? Or was it-?"
"You can stop explaining that thing, the intruder is gone."
Sokka's eyes widened. "Intruder?! Someone was listening to us?"
Azula nodded. "Yes, but they didn't hear much. Now, we can talk about what I really wanted to talk about."
"What do you mean? I was the one who asked to talk to you."
"I wouldn't have agreed if I didn't want to talk to you too. I have to prioritize my time, not spend it with a useless water savage."
The brown-haired man rolled his eyes. "Gee thanks. So, what did you want to talk about?"
Azula's neutral look turned murderous as she grabbed Sokka by the collar and pushed him against the wall. She was much shorter in stature than him, but her physical strength was one of a man twice her size. Her eyes glared directly into his and he could feel the heat from her hands threatening to burn his shirt. Sokka tried to push her off but she wouldn't budge.
"C-ca-can't b-breathe." he wheezed
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"What-what are you talking about?"
Azula's hands turned even hotter and Sokka whimpered under the heat. "Don't act all innocent. You've known all along that Lee Ten is your son, but you haven't said anything. Not that day, not when you saw him, not when we arrived. You've acted all nice towards him because he's your son, but you haven't been there for him. I was the one who healed him every time he got hurt, I was the one who raised him, and I was alone when I had to give birth to him. Where the fuck have you been? Fathering other children?!"
Sokka's face paled and he began to sweat like a waterfall. He shook his head desperately. "N-n-n-no. I haven't done that. I swear! It's not what it seems."
"Really? Because it seems like you took advantage of my drunken state, left me to take all the fall, didn't speak up when I was basically banished from my home, and now pretends to be a father figure to the son he abandoned all his life."
"…Okay it's very similar to what it seems. But please let me explain!" Sokka pleaded
Azula released Sokka's collar and stepped back. The Water Tribesman coughed and reclined his back on the wall to support his weak body.
"You can't expect to suddenly become best father of the year when you haven't been in his life. It's not fair to Lee Ten. He always wanted a father figure, but a father shouldn't be a temporary job. Just like a mother, a father should be there on the ups and the downs and should love the child unconditionally. You can say whatever you want, but your actions speak for themselves. You abandoned me, and even if you didn't know, you abandoned him."
"I know I was an asshole, but please let me explain. I tried to find you a year after you left the palace. I wanted to find you because I felt so guilty about what happened, so I told Suki that I cheated on her, and began to search for you. But between my duties at my job and you being missing, it was impossible to find you. I fully regret what happened, for abandoning you and not sticking up for you, but I'm trying to make it up. Please give me a chance. Let Lee Ten have both of his parents, even if it's late. I swear on Tui that I will do everything in my power to make it up. I'll even take all the blame when everyone finds out."
The princess looked at the man with her eyes narrowed. She sized him up and down, trying to find any lies in his speech.
When she found none, Azula straightened her clothes and met Sokka's eyes.
"Very well. You may tell Lee Ten the truth when you feel comfortable, but I would prefer to do it as soon as possible."
Sokka nodded. "Can we do it tonight? After dinner."
"Yes. When do you want to tell the rest?"
"In three weeks. It'll be the Anniversary of the End of the 100-year war, so everyone will be here."
Azula grinned. "Shocking news for a horrible day. Very well, we shall do it then. And I'll hold you to your oath."
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Princess." Sokka said