Something was missing.

She felt, incomplete, a hollowness—almost a sadness—in the core of her chest that never seemed to go away and that which had been nagging at her for months.

It was an uncomfortable emptiness and her hope, was that if she simply ignored it, eventually it would go away.

But this was not the case.

Pretending emotions didn't exist, did not work—not for her at least. It never had. And as the months since the war ended had rolled along, this feeling had only increased—became more persistent, more painful, to the point where it consumed a large portion of her waking thoughts.

She was distracted, and Suki had noticed—their days and nights patrolling the palace left little else to do but chat—yet she could not confide in Suki about this—no, the risk was too high. And who could possibly understand these conflicting feelings anyway?

A soft knock at the door. 'Ty Lee are you in there? I need to talk to you.'

Zuko. With a sigh, she brought her eyes up to observe the Kyoshi warrior gazing back at her, then took the wet cloth and began to wipe away the rest of the white face paint. 'Come in!' She sang in a much happier tone than she felt.

And she was happy—wasn't she? Zuko had released she and Mai from prison—the war was over and she was proud to have been accepted by the Kyoshi warriors. She was doing good in the world and she loved that—well, doing good in the Fire Nation atleast—but still, that part of her life felt good.

The door creaked open to reveal the new Fire Lord—although to her it was still Zuko, dressed casually in sleeveless fire nation attire as she had always known him. His hair had started to grow out, so it was pulled back into a bun—which reminded her distinctly of—

'I was hoping to catch you after your shift, before you went to bed.'

'You did, come in.' Ty Lee chimed with a smile. Zuko clicked the door shut behind him. 'Is something wrong?' She asked once she finished drying her face.

'No—well yes. I mean, no one is in danger.' Zuko sighed, seeming lost for words. Ty Lee furrowed her brow, trying to make sense of what was going on. 'I wanted to talk to you, because well, I don't know who else to talk to about this. Since Mai left there's no one else that would understand—or even want to help me.'

'Ok?' Ty Lee questioned, a bit confused. Ironically the reason Mai left Zuko was because she felt he wasn't being open enough with her, and yet here he was confiding in her. 'What is it?' She prodded.

Zuko let out a breath and gripped the back of his neck, seeming to struggle internally with himself. 'Do you think, people can change?'

This caught her off guard—and did not feel like what he truly wanted to say, but she answered immediately. 'Of course I do—we're both living proof of that in a way, aren't we?' She shrugged to cover who she was truly thinking about.

'I guess you're right.'

'Zuko is something going on—what is this about?'

He let out another long breath before answering. 'It's about my sister.' He confessed finally.

Ty Lee felt her throat close up and the hollow pain in her chest come back with a vengeance. She blinked—desperately trying to shake the memories that suddenly flooded her brain.

Azula.

Love and hate and friendship and the guilt of betrayal slammed into her chest all at once. She sucked in a painful breath.

'Are you ok?' Zuko asked, his eyes suddenly concerned.

'I'm fine. What about her?' Ty Lee sang as she swirled to sit on her bed—an excuse to turn away so he wouldn't question her further on what had unknowingly shown on her face.

'I'm sorry to bring her up, I know you two were close—but that's why I'm bringing her up to you—no one else will understand.'

'Understand what?' Ty Lee asked, still desperately trying to cover her emotions. Understand that, despite all the terrible things Azula had done—there was a part of her that Ty Lee still loved? A softer, protective side of Azula that few if any besides her had ever seen? Understand that, betraying her friend and learning that she had had a severe mental break, likely in part due to her betrayal, was something that still haunted her?

'Understand that, things with her are complicated—well, things with my whole family are complicated—nothing is black and white, it all feels like shades of gray and I don't know what to do.'

Ty Lee returned her eyes to him and couldn't help but smile, if for no other reason then to keep tears away. 'I understand more than you probably know.'

Zuko took a chair, spun it around and placed it in front of her, then sat with his legs on either side of it. His arms rested on top of it and concerned eyes waited for her to continue.

'Is it wrong to miss her?' Ty Lee asked finally, swallowing the lump in her throat. 'To wish every day that she would get better—become her old self and then use that brilliant mind for good instead of destruction for once?'

Zuko sighed with a slight smile and shook his head. 'No, I don't think it's wrong. She was your best friend for years, I mean, you spent the last two with her every day practically.'

'And despite everything, she is still my sister and I can't say I haven't had those thoughts too—there is another part of her—a side of her that can be good. I've seen glimpses of it, it's deep down, but it is there.'

'I know.' Was all Ty Lee could force out of herself.

'But she still wants nothing to do with me—I can't even finish a conversation with her without dodging flames.'

Ty Lee felt the pain in her chest return at visualizing Azula tied up all alone in the asylum, and also more guilt for not having gone to see her. She wanted to—so badly, but part of her was terrified of what she might find—and the other part of her couldn't face the pain and guilt of seeing Azula like that. 'Does she really still need to be in that place?' She offered. 'Maybe she could come back here and stay at the palace, under supervision of course.'

But Zuko was already shaking his head. 'She's still seeing hallucinations of our mother. If—until that stops she's too unpredictable to leave.'

'Maybe being in that place is making her worse. Maybe, being in prison with her father made her worse.' Ty Lee snapped. 'Sorry.' She amended quickly.

'Maybe.' Zuko admitted. 'I shouldn't have done that, put them in adjoining cells, it was wrong. I was just so desperate to learn anything about my mother.'

Ty Lee remained silent. They'd already been over this. Early on when she'd discovered Zuko had placed Azula in an adjoining cell with Ozai it really upset her. Then she learned that the Kyoshi warriors were taking shifts spying on their conversations—which it turned out were less conversation and more Ozai tormenting her, which after everything—even Azula did not deserve. It was one secret among many Zuko had been keeping from Mai that caused her to leave. However, to his credit when she and Mai expressed how cruel it was what he was doing to her, that he was acting no differently then she, he immediately had her removed.

'You still care about her Ty Lee, I know you do.'

Ty Lee brought her eyes back up to his, tears started to blur them 'And how messed up is that?' She retorted before throwing her arms up in defeat then rising to face the window. She pulled her arms around herself as she heard Zuko rise and stand behind her.

'It's not messed up. It's human. Where do you think I would be if my uncle hadn't seen good in me when I was in a bad way—if the avatar hadn't seen good in me when no one else did? Our father messed us both up—even if Azula doesn't realize it. I found that out because people helped me when I didn't deserve it—and I owe it to Azula to give her the same chance I had.'

'And you want me to be that person for her?' Ty Lee clipped, her teary eyes fixed on the starry night sky.'

'I'm not asking anything of you, but whatever you two had going on, you're the only person I've ever seen her show genuine care for. If anyone has a chance of reaching her, it's you.'

'She cared about Mai.' Ty Lee countered. 'She cared about you, in her own way.'

'Not in the same way she cared about you.'

Ty Lee said nothing in response. Whatever had grown between she and Azula over the last two years was private, and frankly—she was stunned he was even perceptive enough to guess at it. Maybe Mai had said something to him…

'Anyway, I just want to give her a chance—which is why I'm going to start searching for our mother.'

'Your mother?' Ty Lee questioned, pulling her eyes away from the stars to turn and stare at him. 'What does she have to do with any of this?'

'Azula's hallucinations fixate on her for some reason. I don't know why, I think certain things our parents did hurt her too even if she'll never admit it—but maybe finding her, finding our mother—can bring closure or something. Not just for me, but maybe for Azula too.'

Ty Lee stared at him, her previous irritation at his prying all but evaporated.

'I'm just trying to do the right thing. Not as Fire Lord, but as a brother, a son and hopefully a boyfriend again. I can't fix things with Mai until I make some other things right first.'

Ty Lee could only stare at him. He had certainly become a different person from the angry vengeful Zuko she used to know. If he could change that drastically, surely Azula could too.

'Say something Ty Lee, anything. Zuko this is the dumbest idea you've had yet, Zuko—'

'I heard her, talking in her sleep once.' Ty Lee offered, pulling her eyes back to the stars as she remembered.

Why don't you love me, why don't you love me, what did I do?

'She kept mumbling it over and over. She was having a nightmare and started to bend lightning in her sleep so I had to wake her up.'

'She was still out of it, her eyes looked haunted and faraway and almost—sad, so I hugged her and, still half in the dream she hugged me back for a long time and cried, before finally pushing me away.'

'In retrospect I think it was early signs of something breaking in her.'

'Who was she dreaming about?'

Ty Lee rolled her eyes, then turned back to him with a raised brow and folded arms. 'Take a guess. And it wasn't Ozai.'

Zuko's wide dumbfounded eyes suddenly rolled. 'Alright I get it.' He countered to her sarcasm. 'You don't have to be a brat.'

'The point is, dum dum, I think finding your mom is a good idea, if that's what you wanted to hear.'

Zuko pursed his lips before shaking his head with a slight smile at the childhood names they used to call each other.

'Well, good. My uncle will be in charge while I'm gone. Suki is staying too, I'm going with Aang and his group. Ideally I don't want many people to know I'm gone—things have been so unstable...'

'I know. Don't worry we'll keep things in order while you're gone.'

Zuko nodded. 'And about Azula…'

'I'll be here for her.' Ty Lee found herself promising automatically.

'Ok. Good. Well, goodnight.' Zuko said, then turned to leave, but stopped short of the door. 'And, thank you.'

Ty Lee smiled with a nod, then returned her eyes to the stars as the door clicked shut.

They sparkled in the night sky—flickering and dancing with a brilliant blueish hue. She smiled to herself. That was what was missing. She missed seeing fire burn in the beautiful color blue.