The wind whispers over her head as she stares up idly at the stars. Everybody else is asleep, and everything is peaceful.
Ty Lee takes a deep breath and imagines the wind inhaling and exhaling with her, even though her timing was off.
When she was young, even before she knew of her Air Nomad heritage, she used to pretend that she could summon the wind.
She wonders how all her sisters and Mama are doing. She's been putting off writing them since returning to Kyoshi Island with the Warriors.
Chances are, they don't even know she's gone.
She turns over to lay on her stomach and sighs.
Appa glances over at her, his eyes heavy and tired.
"Did I wake you?" She whispers. He sighs.
"I'm sorry!"
His eyes wander back to her.
"Ty Lee? Are you alright? What are you still doing up?" Katara crawls over to her and they both head over to Appa to use his front legs as reclining chairs.
He puts his head back on the ground and a soft snore, not unlike a purr, lets them know he's decided to go back to sleep.
"I was just thinking of my family. Things are better now that the war's over and the Avatar is an Air Nomad, but it's still difficult for us to go or do what we want in the Capital. People still think of us as lower than they were. The only reason I was treated better was because I was with Azula." She hugs her knees close to her chest.
"You never did tell me how you met Azula. Or how you got into the Royal Fire Academy for Girls." Katara's voice is quiet. Ty Lee meets her eyes and finds genuine interest and curiosity there.
"I guess I was sort of hoping you'd forget." An old feeling, thicker than river mud, tightens her chest and stomach. She can tell her aura must be getting dimmer by the second, but she knows Katara can't see it. She is afforded that privacy, at least.
"I didn't. But you don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." Katara looks away from her and up at the stars.
Ty Lee closes her eyes and takes a few breaths to calm herself. The urge to meditate suddenly hits her. She hasn't felt it in years.
Not since...
"You know, my mother once told me that the stars are supposed to look different in the Spirit World. Each one is a whole world. And that the constellations of the Spirits are there to guide us home when we die. And there are so many beautiful worlds out there. Full of everybody that has died, or hasn't been born yet." Katara interrupts her reverie.
"Do you think it's true?"
"I don't know. She may have made it up to make me and Sokka feel better when Grandpa died. We were too young to understand death yet. I haven't heard it from anyone else." She shifts to lie on her side, facing Ty Lee.
"I hope he got the most beautiful world there was." Ty Lee says, eventually. She copies Katara, facing her. "Your family seem to be good people." She can't help her eyes darting briefly over to Sokka.
Katara smiles.
Ty Lee turns to lie on her back again.
"You asked how I ended up at the Royal Fire Academy for girls?"
"Yes, but you don't have to share, if you don't want to. If it had anything to do with Azula, I'm sure it's not a fun story."
"No, it's not. But it's not because of Azula. She didn't show up until later." She crosses her arms and shivers.
((page break)) ((page break)) ((page break))
It started when a messenger came up to the principal during one of the sisters' many detentions. When they returned from behind a closed door, he looked very shaken and sent her off to get one of the children out of class.
"Girls, you may go back to your assigned classes. You'll serve the rest of your detention later." He stated.
It was the first time he'd ever verbally acknowledged their presence, so something must have shaken him.
When Ty Lee turned to look back, his face was as white as snow.
Ty Lee's class was the last room in the hall. The sisters were always separated from each other during the school day, except for recess. One by one, they left the hall to their classrooms. Ty Lee was soon walking alone.
The messenger lady passed by her in a rush, back towards the office, steering the boy in front of her with urgent speed. The boy seemed weighted down by dread.
(page break)(page break)(page break)
When school was let out, the sisters started heading home as usual. Ty Lee hung back out of curiousity, wondering what could have possibly had the adults so scared.
None of the sisters noticed her absence as she slowly lagged further and further behind. Darting behind a boulder next to the outer wall of the school, she waited for the students to pass so she could slip back inside and listen to the teachers talk as they graded work.
She knew she couldn't stay for too long. The guards of the community would notice her missing and inevitably start looking for her and searching the homes of the family and neighbors for contraband. They wouldn't care who was missing, just that someone was. There was never any fooling them and she couldn't afford a delay of more than a few minutes without a good excuse.
Students filed past, chatting quietly, and there was the occasional smothered laugh.
Ty Lee started feeling anxious and impatient. Maybe this was a bad idea. Mama and Daddy will worry.
The recent searches had done nothing to ease her nerves.
She sighed and started to get up, feeling selfish for putting her family at risk, determined to join the crowd and blend in.
But she heard something in the tree above her. She risked a glance up and saw the boy from before. He was huddled near the top of the tree, his black rain robe pulled around him, making him a little harder to spot in it's branches.
When a gap in the stream of students appeared, she took the opportunity to spring up and dance around the branches to just below him.
"What are you doing here?" What was surely intended as a hateful whisper came out a cracked squeak.
"I could ask you the same thing." She hissed back. She could barely hear her own voice and was startled to realize he'd heard her loud and clear. He had turned to face her, with a weak scowl on his face.
Her heart softened when she realized he was close to tears. His lips were pressed tight, his eyes shining in the dim light of sunset through the leaves.
She suddenly recognized him as the boy who'd given her the most trouble over her first years of schooling. Her hand idly grazed over her head where a ball once struck.
He clambered out of the tree suddenly, and dashed around the corner of the school wall.
Ty Lee spiraled out of the tree and ran lighter than air after him. Nobody was coming through the gates anymore and the teachers would be crossing the courtyard to the main building soon.
She was startled to see he was already halfway down the length of the wall and stumbling down the hill that the school was draped upon.
She followed him into a small ditch dug underneath the hill to drain rainwater into the harbor a few streets away. It's strong stench was blowing up around school in the gathering darkness. A storm must have been brewing out at sea.
The lack of light made it impossible to make out more than a dim outline of his body.
A sniffle caught her attention, and she saw him shudder with a silent cry.
"What happened?" She asked. She cautiously put out her arm. He shoved her away and she tumbled backward into a pile of mud and water.
"Ow." She said. She didn't really expect an apology and she didn't get one.
Silence wrapped itself around and between them. Ty Lee wondered if he was still there. The world was almost completely dark now under the hill.
"What happened?" She demanded again.
"Would you shut up?!" He whisper shouted. "I didn't tell you to follow me! Get lost!"
"No." She sat crosslegged in the dirty water and folded her arms.
"Why are you so stubborn?" He growled.
"Because I have to be. If I don't stand my ground on some things, I don't get a say in anything." She took a deep breath.
"Look," She said, finally. "I know something's up. And whoever's in your class knows something's up. And I know that nobody is likely to tell me what's going on. But a cool part about being unimportant is that nobody pays any attention to you when they're talking. And if it was bad enough for them to let me out of detention before bringing you in, then I'll hear it from the teachers or someone eventually."
"Why do you even want to know?" His whisper is hoarse and strained.
Silence speaks for her.
"Fine. But if you tell anyone anything about this, I'll have my uncle throw you and your sisters out of his school." He growls.
She crawls to a more dry place, somewhere across from him, and rests her back against the wall of the tunnel.
"There was an accident today at the steel mill. My dad was inspecting a shipment going out to one of the naval factories. I don't know details about what happened, but my dad's hurt real bad and a good part of the mill came down. Mom's taking me to see him later tonight. We'll probably stay with him. They think he'll be ok, but...I'm still worried."
"I'm so sorry." She heard herself say.
"I don't care!" He shouted. She jumped, and waited coiled as tight as a rope for someone to come yank them out of there.
The dirt around them seemed to absorb the shout, and it sounded sort of muted.
The only sound to come after was that of the peeper frogs in the ditch outside of the tunnel, and even that sounded frail and distant.
"I only told you because, like you said, you'll find out eventually." He lowered his voice to a whisper again.
She couldn't think of a response, and wasn't sure if she could get one past her dry, stinging throat. She moved to sit on his side of the tunnel, with plenty of space between them.
Silence except for the distant sounding frogs, no breeze to stir the air. No harbor stench either.
Time seemed almost suspended in a sort of surreal unreality. Black as the hole in the ground that they sat in.
"We should probably go. My uncle will be done with the Teacher's Meeting soon, and he'll wonder why I'm not home in bed." He finally broke the silence.
Ty Lee realized that there was no longer a hint of sunset as they stepped outside the tunnel. It was dark outside, and from the chill in the air, it had been for a while.
An icy fear gripped her, stealing her breath away and she sprinted home as fast as she could, forgetting all about the boy behind her.
She pulled up short, legs numb when she saw the guards outside the door to her home. Her mother and sisters were all held captive. Mama had a deep gash in her lovely face, and Ty Woo had bruises all over from her fight with a guard.
"Where's Daddy?" Ty Lee asked.
Silent tears rolled down Mama's face, and the sisters all sobbed openly, except for Ty Woo, who glared accusingly at Ty Lee.
"Where's my Daddy!" She screamed, lunging at a guard. He shoved her down, bound her hands behind her back and sent guards into the house.
He emerged with old clothing, wooden pendants and beads, scrolls, and various toys that they'd played with when younger. He threw it all into a pile in the middle of the narrow street, where various similar articles had been discarded from neighbors' homes.
"You should have been home on time, little Nomad." He smirked and set the pile ablaze.
Ty Lee's body went completely numb and she collapsed, sobbing.
((page break)) ((page break)) ((page break))
"That's awful!" Katara exclaims. "They killed your father, because you were late coming home from school?"
"No. They didn't. I haven't gotten to that part yet." Ty Lee stares up at the sky, unwilling to meet Katara's shocked gaze. "They burned all the old Air Nomad contraband they found in all the houses. And slapped people around a bit. But no, they didn't kill Daddy."
"Why didn't they find anything before? You said there were frequent searches."
"I guess they must have known we had things and where it all was, and the adults sort of had a "live and let live" agreement with the guards. It's the only way it could have happened." She shrugs. "But when the accident happened at the steel mill, some thought Daddy and a few of the other men from the neighborhood were to blame. I never got the full story, but I don't think Daddy had anything to do with it, even if they were responsible. He helped to get people out."
"Was he alright?"
"Well..."
((page break)) ((page break)) ((page break))
Ty Lee wandered around the courtyard during the free hour, not really listening to anyone, not playing with her sisters, not doing anything other than just wandering.
She didn't dare meditate while at school. It was a forbidden practice for people like her and her family. And after the previous night's events, she didn't want to provoke any more hostility from the guards.
Nobody knew what had happened to Daddy. He hadn't come home from work. The guards weren't talking, even to taunt them with the possibility of prison and torture. The neighbors knew nothing, from what Mama said. None of them would look at the sisters.
Ty Woo had bitterly suggested tying a red ribbon in Ty Lee's hair to mark her as the one to avoid.
Mama said that they would all get through this together, and that no one would be singled out for punishment.
Nobody was particularly happy with Ty Lee, but even they couldn't tell her apart from them, so they gave up trying to ignore her.
"Psst! Hey, are you Ty Lee?" A boy's voice whispered.
She turned to see the boy from the night before.
"Yes...What do you want?" She asked, not really caring or intending to listen.
"Thank goodness! I had to ask your sisters. Every one of them! And I think I ran into Ty Woo twice!" He sighed, relieved.
"Well, you have me now. What is it?" She snapped.
"I need you to come to my uncle's office with me. Now." He grabbed her arm and started to haul her in that direction when she didn't immediately follow him.
"Want to explain?"
"My uncle will." He promised.
When they get into the office, the door was closed and locked behind them and the principal asked them both to be seated.
"Ty Lee, correct?" He asked, clasping his hands under his chin.
"Yes sir."
"I understand you're the reason my boy was home late. Is this correct?" His eyes narrowed. But they had a sort of softness to them.
"Yes sir." To answer otherwise would have meant a lengthy explanation. And it would have been the wrong one, even if it were true.
"Then you have my thanks. You've spoken to nobody of this matter?"
"No sir." She was really beginning to wonder where this was going.
"Excellent." His eyes lost all pretense of being stern. The hard look is replaced with one of sympathy.
"I assume you know what happened to your father."
"Nobody told me. The guards killed him, didn't they? Because I was late and they found all our contraband?" She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't!
"What?!" The surprise and anger in his eyes was sincere. "Nobody told you?! And they let you assume... Nevermind that now." He schooled his face back into a more neutral expression. "Your father died a hero, Ty Lee. He was a very brave man. Very brave indeed. He saved my brother, Asahi's father. He died of his injuries later in the night. I'm sorry for your loss, but know that your family is indebted to mine. I'm honorbound to pay that debt. I've spoken to my brother and his superiors. He's received a huge promotion for his service to the country in putting down the steel mill...issues. As such, he's in a position to arrange for one of you to attend the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. We unfortunately cannot get all seven of you in, seeing as you're all... Well, given the sorts of contraband recently found. But, we can get one of you in. And maybe give you a better chance at a good future. I wanted to speak with you, specifically, in order to personally thank you for being a good friend to my son, and keeping this all to yourself so that the school won't gossip about him. Discuss with your family who will go, and the arrangements will be made."
He rose and opened the door for them to leave. Ty Lee and Asahi trudged down the hall in silence.
They were in history class together later that afternoon, and Asahi took the place next to Ty Lee.
She did her best to ignore him. To ignore the whole situation. She didn't want to start crying in school.
A paper brushed her hand. She glanced up at the teacher and quickly slid it under her assignment sheet. She slipped it out to read in a few moments when she was certain the teacher was busy with another student.
Are you ok? I'm really sorry about your dad. And being such a jerk for the last couple years. You have the patience of a monk. I mean that in a good way.
Can we be friends?
Dimly, she remembered the ball being repeatedly thrown at her head. Being told that she wasn't in a position to do anything, even if it was wrong for the treatment to continue.
But she also remembered being taught ever so patiently by Mama and Daddy to forgive others. That nobody was born evil, just as nobody was born poor. Everything was a choice. Anger and forgiveness. Hatred and kindness. Sadness and happiness. Everything a choice, and in the choices, balance.
Did she want to hold on to the memories of harsh words and wounds? Or did she want a new friend? Her first friend?
We can be friends. She wrote back. She wasn't brave enough to write anything else when she heard the teacher moving to another desk behind her.
His smile was in no way discreet when he read her reply.
"Just what is so amusing, young man?" The teacher demanded, catching his expression.
"Just something in the assignment paper, Teacher." He replied. She strode up to him and glared at the paper, inspecting it for anything remotely entertaining.
"And just what amusement do you find in reading about the evil that the Air Nomads inflicted on our great Nation?" She asked, outraged.
"That they were so arrogant, and not only lost, but were wiped from the world!" He made a dramatic sweeping motion to illustrate.
A small smile appeared and disappeared in an instant. She may not have bought his story, but his act had made up for it.
She continued on to the next student.
Are you ok? Another note asked.
I don't know. She wrote back, honestly.
Want to talk after school? I can come to your place. The guards will let me in.
Ok. If you're sure you won't get in trouble.
(page break) (page break) (page break)
"Ew! Ty Lin's hanging out with a boy!" Ty Woo screeched and made a disgusted face.
"I'm Ty Lee." She muttered. She wasn't in the mood for Ty Woo's taunts and insults.
"Oh. In that case, how did you manage to get anyone to talk to you? After what you did?" She scoffs. "What did you do anyway, rat us out? You know what the neighbors will think when they see a school administrator's son walking with you. They'll think you betrayed us."
"Leave her alone, Ty whoever you are! Or you'll have my uncle to answer to!" Asahi warned.
The sisters all simmered around her and Ty Lee glanced longingly towards the harbor, wishing to take a fishing boat and set out for the endless horizon.
Anywhere was better than here. Anywhen was better than now.
When they got home, Asahi had everyone sit down and explained everything his uncle had told them.
Mama and the sisters were grief stricken to hear about Daddy, but they seemed to forgive Ty Lee for the abuse they had suffered at the hands of the guards the night before.
"My uncle requests that we have an answer by tomorrow, so the arrangements can be made. I wish we could send all of you. You all deserve better than this." He glanced around the little living area, as if wondering how they all managed to fit in there.
"Girls, if you would please do your homework while I speak with Asahi. Ty Lee, would you please cook something up? I believe we have some cabbage and carrots around back."
Ty Lee stepped outside and went to the ration bin. There may have been cabbage in there before, there were a few leaves at the bottom to show it had been. But there were only some half wilted carrots remaining.
She did the usual walk around the neighborhood to see if anyone had any food they were willing to spare. It was a sort of agreement in the community that if one family were a bit short on food rationing for the day, everyone would chip in and share. This was done so nobody could be bought out by the guards. It fostered trust among the neighbors.
But unusually, nobody was willing to give their food up that night. They wouldn't look at Ty Lee, and almost hit her with the door in their hurry to shut her out.
She stopped to listen in on Mama's conversation with her new friend on her way back in. Carefully, she peeked her head around the doorframe to see.
"She should have found something by now, right?" Asahi asked, his eyes darting towards the front window.
"Yes. But I'm afraid our neighbors won't be taking the events of last night lightly. Those guards aren't very kind to us, Asahi. When Ty Lee was late coming home, they searched our homes and hurt our families. They took things that we valued. It's difficult to forget. And when you showed up here, as important as you are..."
"Would it be better if I left? I know it won't help with the food for tonight, but..."
Ty Lee silently begged him not to leave.
"No! No, please stay! I'm so happy to see my daughters making friends at last! We can deal with whatever happens. Believe me. We always have before. They'll just have to get used to it." Mama reached out and patted his shoulder.
"I wish I could help you all. Why do they treat you this way? It's been a hundred years since the Air Nomads attacked. And nobody here seems to remember their history." Mama's smile tightened a little at the last remark.
"There are some wounds that time won't heal, I'm afraid. I wish an end to this war, so that we can all live happily together. But for that, we would need the Avatar. And it would seem that the cycle is broken, and he may never return." She handed him some warm water to drink.
"Ty Lee, you don't need to hide." Mama remarked, glancing over at her.
"I'm sorry, Mama."
She started cutting away the bad parts of the carrots and dropping the good bits into the boiling water over the fire.
When the carrots were finished, she doled them out into bowls, giving Asahi the largest portion since he was a guest.
He looked into his bowl, and even with the larger portion, it was clear this didn't constitute a meal for him.
"I can try going around the neighborhood myself, dear. We'll see about getting something more." Mama said, rising and pulling her evening shawl from the hook.
"No. Please, sit." He got up and guided her back. He looked into the sisters' bowls and, with a determined look, began dividing his portion up between them.
"Asahi! That's so kind of you!" Mama exclaimed. "Really, you don't have to. We have better rations coming tomorrow with the meat shipments! We'll be having a large breakfast."
"That's alright. I have all the food I need at home. I can eat later." He insisted. He sat beside Ty Lee, after verifying it was her.
"Now, girls. We must decide who will be taking this opportunity Asahi speaks of." Mama idly ran a hand over Ty Lee's braid.
"None of us should take it! It could be a trap! Just think of the bullying and the spying." Ty Lat (Ty Lee was fairly certain it was Ty Lat) said.
"Nonsense! You would be moving up several stations socially. You may not be equal to your new classmates, but you'll be treated far better than you are at this school. And you'll recieve a much better education. One tailored more for loyal upper class citizens." Mama reasoned.
"I think Ty Lee should go. Things will be bad enough here for a while. But if she stays, we might as well give up all hope of ever getting back to the way things were. It's only been a day and I'm already tired of starving!" Ty Woo pouted and glared at who she thought was Ty Lee (it was actually Ty Lin).
"Ty Liu! That's enough! We will make this decision together, as a family. And you need to stop antagonizing your sister. She was performing an act of kindness. And it should be rewarded, not punished." Mama chided, gently.
"I'm Ty Woo, Mama." She responded flatly. "And if anything was the way it should be instead of the way it is, Daddy would still be here and we wouldn't be being ignored by the neighbors and starving!"
"Ty Woo! I said that's enough! It's rude to argue in front of guests. Apologize."
"I won't." She stood. "I've had it with this! And I've had it with you!" She turned on Asahi and shoved her finger in his face. "If you hadn't shown up, none of this would have happened! Everyone thinks we're traitors now! Nobody here will have anything to do with us, and that means we'll go hungry. We're sure not getting help from your people! We could die because of you!"
"Ty Woo! Go sit outside. Right now!" Mama stood and steered her out the back door.
"I'm very sorry, Asahi. It's been a rough few days for us. I hope you can understand." Mama looked torn between wanting to hug Asahi and bowing to him in apology.
"It's alright. I understand."
Ty Lee had to give him credit. He showed no sign of being upset or offended. Given that he could have retorted that his father had been seriously hurt in the accident and that he hadn't had a very good time of things either, he was taking this disgrace very honorably.
"If I can volunteer an opinion?" Ty Lin asked, in her mild mannered way.
"Yes. Go ahead." Mama nodded.
"I think Ty Woo may have had a point. I'm not saying Ty Lee did the wrong thing though. I'm just saying that since certain things were found and taken, and since we have one of the highest ranking kids in school now visiting our home, and since it was Ty Lee's actions that brought all this about, maybe it really would be for the best if she was the one who left. We all depend on each other here to survive. And if we can't trust each other, that ability to depend on each other breaks down." She explained it all so calmly, but the fear in her eyes was evident.
Whoever went could not come back. Ever. That was plain.
"Maybe for a while." Mama conceded. "But don't you all think you're missing something?"
"What?"
"Why can't you all go?" She asked, smiling. "You all look so alike, you even get each other confused. Who's going to know it's a different girl, as long as you're careful and pass important information on so that you can all act smoothly. You can all get better education, better food, and a better life. You can all slip out to the Earth Kingdom when you're older, one by one. If you all have that elevated status, there is nothing to stop you."
The girls all thought it over for moment, then, faces falling, everyone glanced at Asahi.
"I won't tell. Believe me. Not after what I've seen here. I know I've been horrible to you all in the past. But, you all aren't the awful people I was led to believe. And Air Nomads or not, nobody deserves those bruises for just being late getting home." He nodded at Mama's arms.
"Then that's settled. Ty Lee will go for a few months, then we'll switch out. We'll find a way to get you all switched out without anyone noticing. There must be a way." Mama said, smiling.
"I should be getting home. My uncle and I are going to see Dad tonight. But I'm glad everything worked out. And Ty Lee?" He stood up and headed for the door. She followed.
"Thank you so much for being a friend when I needed one. Those kids I hang out with at school only hang out with me because my uncle's the principal. And most of the ones in our neighborhood think that I'm below them because my dad was just a manufacturing inspector. Things will probably change now, but you were a friend to me when nobody else would be." He said. He hugged her, somewhat awkwardly, and then followed the guard who had shown up to take him home.
Ty Lee laid awake in her bedroll that night, smiling and thinking how amazing it was that she'd be going to the best school in the Fire Nation, and how there would be no sisters there to be confused with, and how she had a friend for the first time.
She was still sad about Daddy, but she couldn't help but feel that wherever he was, he was happy for her.
Then, it occurred to her: She probably wouldn't be allowed to see Asahi again. It was the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, after all. And it was across the city from where they were. How did Mama expect to switch them out without a host family noticing the swap, let alone anyone along the route?
It was too late to say anything, and honestly, Ty Lee knew Ty Woo and Ty Lin were right. What other solution could there be?
Would she ever see her family again?
A/N OK, so I know it's been a while. As in months. And I'm sorry! I promise the story isn't abandoned, but this will likely be a continuing pattern. I have no shortage of plot material and ideas. My problems are time to write, and getting the ideas organized in a way that makes sense and then making it all sound right. This is turning into a longer, in depth story involving character analysis for way more characters than intended, and I don't think I can drop anyone and have it make sense. Maybe in the future, I'll try writing an abbreviated version. lol! Anyway, I do frequently check back on reviews and views. I see you all checking back religiously every two weeks! And it really makes my day! Thank you all so very much for sticking with the story. Instead of sitting down and trying to write giant chapters all at once like I used to, I write and edit whenever I have time, but smaller amounts. So, rest assured, the story is being worked on even though it's technically on hold. Again, thank you all, and as always: Any advice or constructive criticism you can offer is immensely appreciated. :)