A. N. : I enjoy a good challenge from time to time, so of course I just had to go and make Ty Lee the PoV character for this 4th Gal Pals Intermission. If you've been following these (chapters 54, 65, and 78), you can probably guess why this chapter's theme and Ty Lee don't mix all that well. But, y'know, I tried, I got a new insight in Ty Lee's character, and I had fun. Also ! Regarding all these issues on ffn I talked about these last updates, it would seem that all is resolved ! Rejoice !
Something is wrong.
Azula has been growing more and more purple, like her aura can't decide whether to be red or blue – and it's never been blue ! Mai is blacker, which is at least one good thing. But that's not what's worrying Ty Lee – or rather, the Azula thing is very worrying since Ty Lee doesn't know what to expect from that, and when it comes to Azula, not being able to predict her actions always means danger. But Ty Lee has dealt with such things before, and anyway it should be over soon, when Zuko is captured and the invasion is stopped.
On the other hand, Ty Lee doesn't know what to do about the green tainting both Mai and Azula's auras. It doesn't belong there, she knows it. But she has no idea what it means, or how it got there, or even if it can do anything.
Auras are an extension of people, so the only way for one to change is normally for the person to change too. But that green doesn't seem to mean anything that Ty Lee can see, and it feels foreign to both auras. Like a third party put it here somehow.
It's wrong. It scares her. It maybe also angers her – you don't mess with people like that, not by touching their core self, that's just terrible ! Whether it's a good thing or a bad one doesn't matter, it's just not supposed to be done !
But at the same time, if the green comes from the person who did this, then Ty Lee isn't sure she wants to find them. Because the main source of green in the palace are the Dai Li agents – not all of them of course, there are also yellows and blues and one deep pink, but a lot of them are some shade of green. And of all the agents, the one who got the most opportunities to mess with Mai and Azula's auras is –
No, really, Ty Lee doesn't know what to do about this. She has no certainty, just a nagging suspicion that she can't ignore or deny. And it hurts, really, because she loves her friends, all of them, and if their life was threatened she would not hesitate to strike the culprit. But this is not about life. This is about thing she sees but can't comprehend fully yet, and this is about betrayal.
She could ask, of course, but there's no way she would get an answer. It's tiring. She doesn't know what to do, doesn't understand what's going on, and she has to face the reality of possibly being wrong in trusting someone – and Ty Lee doesn't make that mistake usually, not when she knows the consequences of being manipulated.
If she was wrong about this, what else could she have missed ?
There are so many implications, and maybe her suspicion will turn out to be unfounded, but if that's not the case – ugh ! This is so bad ! She can't take a problem at a time, since all of them are tangled together – auras, betrayal, manipulation, all of it – and she doesn't even know where to start solving them !
It's overwhelming. Crushing. She can't ask Mai or Azula for help either.
It's lonely.
Ty Lee knows loneliness well, but not that kind. She knows the loneliness of being surrounded and losing herself, of losing her self, of not existing as anything but a part of The Lee Sisters. She doesn't know the loneliness of having to do something on her own, of being the only one able to do it. Didn't know the loneliness of being a pretext, an excuse, of being nothing more than a doorway towards greater goals – at least until now.
Even if she ends up wrong about everything, the feelings are still there. She can tell without looking that her aura is now a dull, old, faded pink.
At least it's still her color. It's still her.
She might be so worried and torn and hurt and lonely that walking around on her hands barely feels fun anymore, but she is still Ty Lee.
When she steps on the ground with her feet again, when the blood comes down from her head – down from her brain where it helped her think – she still doesn't have an answer. But she has a goal, and she has a method.
She will find out the truth behind this all.
She refuses to be crushed.