Chapter 26

Ty Lee's eyes slid shut, and a soft moan slipped passed her lips as Azula's tongue did the same. She eagerly returned the kiss, her warm mouth soft and pliant against Azula's. The firebender found herself getting lost in the sensation—only aware of the feel of the other girl.

"Azula," a voice interrupted, causing them to abruptly break apart. Azula looked up to see Iroh standing in the doorway, his expression inscrutable. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

She stared up at her uncle, stunned. There was a touch of curiosity in his golden eyes as he stepped outside into the sun to stand before them. Ty Lee was blushing slightly, keeping her gaze averted.

"Not at all, Uncle," she said after a moment, finally gathering her wits somewhat.

"Good. I was hoping that you would join me for tea. You're welcome to join us as well, Ty Lee."

Azula looked over at her friend, who glanced at her and offered a shy smile. Azula felt like her mind was running slower than usual—she put her hand up to touch her still tingling lips, the reality of what they had just been doing starting to sink in.

"Maybe some other time," Ty Lee said, peering up at Iroh, still blushing.

"Some other time then," Iroh said agreeably before turning his gaze on his nice. "And you, Azula?"

"I can't," she said, suddenly remembering her prior agreement. "Katara's supposed to meet me here when she gets back from the market." The realization that it very easily could have been Katara that had walked out and seen her kissing Ty Lee was not lost on Azula.

"Ah, well then perhaps later," he said. "I'll be at Jalus's if you need to call on me for anything."

Azula nodded as Iroh went to take his leave.

"Oh, hello, Katara," the older man said, spotting the young waterbender coming through the door. He shot a sideways glance at his niece as he passed by. Azula's heart dropped to her stomach, her hands unconsciously clenching at the cloth of her pants.

"Hi, Iroh," she replied with a smile. "Leaving so soon?"

"Yes, I have some catching up to do with my friends. See you girls later."

Azula found herself letting out of a small breath of relief now that Iroh was gone, fearful that he might say something about what he had seen. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do, and she hoped that Ty Lee wouldn't say anything until she figured it out.

She hadn't meant to kiss to Ty Lee. It had just… happened. Like some invisible force was drawing them together.

It answered as many questions as it created. Now there was no doubt that her feelings for Ty Lee were on par with what she felt for Katara, and knowing that Ty Lee felt the same way left her feeling equal parts excited and uncertain. She just didn't know what it meant for her and Katara.

It was the not knowing that was most nerve wracking to Azula. One thing was for certain: she definitely didn't want to lose what she had with the waterbender.

"Hey," Katara said softly, her arms wrapping around Azula's shoulders from behind as her warm breath washed over her neck, pulling the firebender from her thoughts.

Azula said nothing as Katara settled down beside her before placing a quick kiss on her lips. She felt a slight panic and wondered if Katara would somehow be able to tell that she had been kissing Ty Lee—if she somehow tasted different because of it.

If she noticed, she didn't say anything.

"It's good to see that you're able to get around, Ty Lee," Katara said, looking over Azula and toward the acrobat.

"Yeah, it's nice to be able get out," she smiled, feeling slightly elated and not at all worried. "I still need someone to help me though."

"I'd be happy to help whenever you want to get out."

"Thanks, Katara." There was a note of flirtation to the way Ty Lee said it and a twinkle in her eye that was not lost on either Azula or Katara—causing the waterbender to blush and Azula to look at them both with raised eyebrows.

"Anyway," Katara said, clearing her throat. "Why don't we take you around town, Ty Lee? You haven't really had a chance to see, Norbu yet."

"That sounds great," the acrobat replied, and both girls looked at Azula.

"Sure, why not?" she said, getting up to stand as she eyed Ty Lee curiously.

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly enough. Azula pushed Ty Lee's wheelchair through the marketplace while Katara and Ty Lee chatted conversationally.

"They do seem to get along quite well," Azula noted to herself as they went. "That doesn't surprise me though. They're kind of similar in a lot of ways. Still, it does seem that Ty Lee's almost… flirting with Katara." Surprisingly, it didn't bother her. "She's always been like that," she reasoned. "I'm not even sure she realizes she's doing it. She's always been a flirt."

"But I still don't know where that leaves us. Was that just a one time thing? Should it be? I can't help but want to kiss her again," she thought as she watched Ty Lee's lips as the girl spoke. Her eyes then followed Ty Lee's up to Katara's moving mouth, her dark skin, and laughing blue eyes. "But I don't want to give that up. I hope I haven't made a mistake."

"You seem a little distracted," Iroh said as he poured them each a cup of tea.

Azula sighed. She really didn't want to talk about it, especially not with her uncle.

"Are you having problems with Katara?"

"That is none of your business, Uncle," Azula said sharply before letting out another sigh. "But no, I'm not."

As if completely ignoring her, he continued on. "There are two main ingredients to a successful relationship. Love and trust. Without them both, a relationship will always fail." He paused, taking a sip of his tea. "You may love someone, but if you're not honest with them, it cannot last."

"Uncle, it's too premature to be talking of love," she said, wanting the conversation to move onto something else.

"Love comes in many forms. It doesn't necessarily have to be romantic. It can be the love of a friend, a teacher, a student, or family." He set his cup down. "I know we haven't always had the best relationship, Azula, but I am here if you need me."

She looked at him, somewhat surprised. She had assumed that Iroh hadn't really cared for her much, always so concerned about Zuko.

"Like I told your brother, family sticks together."

Azula frowned. "Not our family. We've all acted against each other."

"True, but that's changed recently."

"Not for all of us."

"True again—my brother may be beyond reach right now."

"Not just my father, Uncle," Azula began before stopping herself. Just because things were more friendly between them now didn't mean she was ready to discuss personal matters.

Iroh regarded his niece thoughtfully. "Your mother."

Azula said nothing, not meeting his gaze. Her mother was a sensitive topic that she wasn't ready to talk about with anyone at the moment.

Iroh waited patiently for Azula to speak again. If she wanted to talk about it more, than the door was open. If not, so be it.

Finally, the prodigy cleared her throat and looked back toward her uncle. "Yes, well, enough about that." There were some things regarding the upcoming invasion that she actually wanted to speak about with Iroh this evening. "As you know, I've decided to help play a part in ending this war and join you all for the invasion."

"Yes, I know. Although, I'm curious as to what your exact reasons are."

"I imagine they are similar to yours," she said. "I've realized that a lot of what I thought about the war before is… well, not necessarily wrong, but… uninformed. Almost like I was seeing it all in a vacuum void of the human element. I didn't understand it until I came out of my spiritual sickness."

Iroh nodded in understanding.

"But anyway, that isn't really what I wanted to talk about. I've been thinking about the invasion. There's something about it that concerns me. Even if we do take down my father, the Fire Nation will see it as a coup. The war has been a great financial boon to our country. Do you really expect the citizens to just go along with this? We're all taught that the Avatar is the number one enemy—the one who will try to put an end to the Fire Nations greatness."

"That is an excellent point, Azula. While it's true there may be some opposition amongst the military elite and those who stand to gain financially from the production of weapons, overall there has been a great unrest in the Fire Nation since your father became Fire Lord. No one would dare speak against him outwardly though. To do so would be suicidal.

"However, my contacts in the Fire Nation, which include several members of the nobility, have apprised me of the political situation. The people are ready for a change, and many of them are unhappy with Ozai. The loss of an entire naval fleet at the North Pole and his recent defeat near Ba Sing Se haven't helped matters, and the fact that he is the only remaining member of the royal family has left people questioning the direction of our country. They are feeling uneasy about it, to say the least. The Fire Nation is ready for a change."

"How much longer do you think Azula will be gone for?" Ty Lee asked, glancing out the window to see the sun beginning to set.

"Probably another hour or so. She said after dusk sometime," Katara replied, looking up from her scroll. With the way Ty Lee's head was turned it was hard to ignore the gash near the top of the girl's head. It looked worse than it actually was, but Katara couldn't help wincing a bit at the sight.

"I'll probably fall asleep before then. Today kind of took a lot out of me," Ty Lee said, turning to look at the waterbender, who was sitting in a chair beside her bed.

"Then you make sure to rest," Katara said, placing a comforting hand on Ty Lee's shoulder. "You need it. You're still healing."

Ty Lee smiled at her concern.

"Do you want me to do some waterbending before you go to bed?"

"You don't need to ask me twice."

As they had done several times before, Katara repositioned her seat to the top of Ty Lee's bed. Bending the water to her hands, she began to gently move her hands over the acrobat's scalp, causing the girl the murmur appreciatively. Katara found herself smiling in response.

"I had a lot of fun today, even though I was stuck in that wheelchair," Ty Lee said as the waterbender moved down to her rib cage. "Thanks for taking such good care of me, Katara."

"It's my pleasure," Katara replied, offering her a warm smile.

"Is it?" she asked softly.

There was something about the way that Ty Lee was looking at her that made Katara swallow hard as her hands slowed down a touch. She realized she'd been reacting like this around Ty Lee a lot the last few days. "Maybe it just has something to do with doing so much waterbending on her—our chi has been working together so intensely. Unlike other people, she's actively working with me. That's why she's healing so fast… but I have to admit, it feels good for me too."

"It is," Katara finally said, her blue eyes locking on Ty Lee's.

The acrobat saw the uncertainty mixed with some affection and maybe something more in Katara's aura. Still, she didn't know Katara as well as she knew Azula, and didn't want to push too much more. Besides, she actually was really tired, even though it felt good to have the waterbender's hands on her. Ty Lee placed her good hand on top of Katara's, bringing them to a halt and pulling the girl out of her reverie.

Katara blushed again. "Right, well, I think I'm going to turn in now."

"Okay," Ty Lee said with a yawn. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ty Lee," she said, moving over to her bed and slipping out of her clothes and down to her underwrappings. She blew out the candle on the nightstand and climbed into bed.

"What is going on with me? I'm acting like I did when I first realized I liked Azula." Her brow furrowed slightly at the thought. "It's the healing," she tried to rationalize. "I'm just making her feel better, and helping people makes me happy." Momentarily satisfied with that answer, Katara quickly fell asleep.

"Our time together is coming to an end," Guru Pathik said to his young pupil as they sat atop the uppermost section of the Eastern Air Temple.

"What do you mean?" Aang asked. "We still have over a week together."

"You will be called away soon—both you and your friends."

Aang knew without a doubt that his guru had insights into the true nature of things and could see beyond ordinary appearances. He looked at his teacher thoughtfully. "How do you know this?"

"Time is an illusion. Ultimately, past, present, and future are no different. When you open all your chakras—and keep them open—nothing will be hidden from your mind or your heart."

Aang fell silent for a moment, contemplating Pathik's words. "I feel like I made progress the first week with you. But then I started thinking about my upcoming fight with the Fire Lord, and I feel as though I'm taking a step backwards."

Pathik nodded at the boy, urging him to continue.

"The more I think about facing the Fire Lord, the more confused I get. The monks taught me that all life is sacred, and I truly see it that way. But I don't know how I'm going to defeat the Fire Lord without taking his life. Killing him goes against what I know to be right. Yet if I don't stop him, he'll keep hurting people."

"You're looking at it as if your only two choices are to act with violence or to not act at all. The important thing is to maintain understanding of the true nature of whatever action you take.

"Whichever choice you make, do this act without feeling attachment for even a moment. For the truth is that you can reach the highest of goals by acting, if it is done free of attachment."

"That's been something I haven't been able to do. Why do I have to let go of my attachment? There are people that need to be saved! There is a world to be saved!"

"No one is denying that. Let me explain something about freeing yourself from earthly attachment. It doesn't mean you don't care about the people you love. It doesn't mean you don't keep working towards saving the world. It means letting go of your wrong ideas about how the world works—your illusions. Things seem to be themselves, but ultimately, they are not themselves at all.

"There is nothing at all that I do. There is nothing I fail to reach, and nothing I reach. Yet still I move, and still I act. Think how those who fail to understand still go and perform their acts with attachment. Those who possess understanding perform the very same acts, but use their understanding—for their dream is to help the entire world."

Aang's face lit up as it finally made sense. Tears of happiness came to his eyes as he smiled at his teacher, who returned it. "I understand, Guru."

It was late when Azula arrived back at the hut. She was surprised at the ease at which she found speaking to Iroh. She could never understand why so many in the military held him in such high regard or why he was Fire Lord Azulon's favored son, but now it was becoming clearer. She had always thought him to be fat, lazy, and bordering on senile, but she was beginning to realize that he was anything but that. It actually was very intelligent on his part—it made him appear to be less of a threat, which worked to his advantage.

"Perhaps I could learn a thing or two from him," she thought with a disbelieving smile as she came to the door of her bedroom. She quietly entered the room so as not to disturb its sleeping occupants, forming a small flame in her palm so she could see.

Azula padded over to the bed she shared with Katara, gazing down at the sleeping girl. Her eyes then shifted over to Ty Lee's sleeping form, and thoughts of their kiss from earlier rose in her mind. Looking back at Katara, she thought of what her uncle had said about trust as she quickly changed into her sleeping tunic.

Honesty was such a rare thing in her life, she reflected. How many lies had she told? "Spirits, I've lied about everything and anything, no matter how big or small. I lied about not caring that my mother was gone. I even taunted Zuko about it." She sighed, getting into bed and gently wrapping one arm around Katara, careful not to disturb her. "But I'm getting distracted. What am I going to tell her if I tell her anything at all?

"A kiss itself, like anything else, means nothing. It's the intent behind it. I do care for Ty Lee. And I care for Katara," she thought, gently resting her forehead between Katara's shoulders. "If only there was some way I could have them both."