Note: It's back! This one gets unambiguously slashy (girl on girl) at one point. You have been warned. It is within the bounds of the T rating, though. Not beta-read, so again, lots of criticism please. :)
Note on hemispheres and polar regions: While writing this story I realized how Northern Hemisphere-centric my sense of the calendar and the seasons are. I forgot that the seasons are reversed in the South, and assigned the seasons (Water, Earth, etc.) based on the North. To any Aussies or Kiwis out there, I extend apologies for my hemispherism.
Unfortunately I'm just going to have to compound my North-centrism by perpetuating the view in my fics, because the northern hemisphere of the Avatar world still seems to be more populous than the southern. Ba Sing Se is in the northern half, as is the North Pole, and the Fire Nation is on the equator.
Hence, the reference to the Southern Water Tribe guiding the moon back during the (northern) winter equinox, since the South Pole at this time would be in summer and perpetual day. I can pretend this is true of the Avatar world because the South Pole scenes in the show were all in daylight, even though the North Pole had both day and night. I'm avoiding the latter issue by showing only nighttime in any North Pole scenes that take place in the Water (winter) months.
Everybody Loves Ty Lee 5. Ever After
Year 2 of Firelord Zuko's reign, second moon of Water
Her feet did not touch the pool. She floated a hand's-breadth above the water, her hair loose and floating about her though the air did not move. Around her was grass, and flowers, and beyond that a vast expanse of night sky studded with starlight.
She was looking about, her face open in wonder instead of tensed in fear, when a silver light wove into the night. She looked down, and the pool filled with cool radiance until she shielded her eyes, unable to look at it.
The night returned as the unbearable light faded. She lowered her hand, and her mouth opened at the sight of the moon that filled the sky in its planes of white and shades of grey, the light that spread across the sky in an eternal calm.
And before the moon stood a human form, or at least a human-looking form the being had chosen for mortal minds to comprehend Her. The pale hair fluttered and spread out through the sky like the moonlight itself, and her robes flowed on a current none could feel. The look in her downcast eyes might be one of sadness or compassion, from one who saw so much on her journeys through a world of night.
Floating above her pool, the mortal's jaws worked for a few moments without words. When the spirit met her eyes she tilted her head to hear though there was no sound. "Yes." She nodded. "Yes, I am Ty Lee of the Kiyoshi Warriors."
The spirit smiled, and the brightness came to Ty Lee's face as the sea reflects the moon. "Lady Yue," she breathed. "Yue, Lady of the Moon?"
Yue nodded once, gathering her hands before her. Eyes still curving in a smile, she inclined her head to Ty Lee.
"It was nothing!" Ty Lee scrambled to bow. "It was all I could do." The pride broke through the sadness in her voice. "I'm so happy you liked it. And your father is such a nice man."
Something shifted in the air as though the wind changed, though there was none. The spirit held out a hand at Ty Lee, the palm held up.
"Go... home?" Ty Lee concentrated. "Within, before, the winter solstice?"
Ty Lee's eyes widened. "Azula?" She reached out to the spirit, who was fading along with the tableau of night sky. "What's going to happen to Azula on the winter solstice? Yue!"
Yue was gone and Ty Lee fell, shattering through the surface of the pool. But there was no water, and she dropped through darkness with no stars and no moon to light it.
Warrior Ty Lee sat up with a gasp in her room in the North Pole, her eyes blank. In degrees she returned to her surroundings, the walls of ice, the folded green uniform by her side, the furs that had slid halfway from her. The full moon outside her window was a sliver above the sea. She rose, letting the furs slide away, and stood shivering in the blue tint of the air.
"Solstice." Her eyes were on the horizon where the moon lurked just below, another move in its complex dance with the hidden sun.
Year 2 of Firelord Zuko's reign, second moon of Water (Winter Solstice)
She was at the window when the moon rose. Outside it was quiet; winter solstice was a night of contemplation, a time to light candles and pray for the return of the sun. On the Poles a full celebration would be unfolding, the Northern Water Tribe under the moon thanking her for the bounty of the sea, the Southern Water Tribe singing songs to guide her back to them.
Ty Lee lit her own red candle in a silver holder carved with the moon through its cycle, though her countrymen might count it bad luck to invoke silver and the moon on this night instead of the golden light of the sun. She placed the candle on the windowsill and turned to the room.
"The moon is so bright tonight."
The figure curled on the bed didn't answer. Ty Lee went and sat down next to her.
"Azula." The princess did not move, nor did she acknowledge her. Her hair, grown past her thin shoulders, ranged over her pink pillow in a halo of darkness.
"I'm not sure what's going to happen tonight." Ty Lee tucked strands of Azula's hair behind her ear, uncovering dulled amber eyes. "That night I danced for her, Yue said something about you and the Winter Solstice. I'm not sure what, but no matter what happens," Ty Lee bent over Azula, her hand trailing over the pillow down the strands of black, "good or bad, I'm going to be here with you, okay?"
Ty Lee took hold of Azula's hand and lay down next to her. She watched the rising moon in the long breath of the night, the silvery circles floating in her eyes until her eyelids drooped, and closed.
"Ty Lee."
She stirred and turned over with her eyes still closed, a little drool trailing from her grin. "No, 'sokay, Haru." Her words slurred in sleep. "'m not cold..."
"Ty Lee. Wake up."
She did so, blink by blink, until her eyes focused on the pale oval of the face between the drapes of dark hair. The eyes that met Ty Lee's refracted the moonlight in tiny gold sparks, and regarded the world with suspicion and intelligence.
Ty Lee raised herself on an elbow. "Am I dreaming?"
"That's what I'd like to ask." Azula gazed around the room, taking in a painting of Kiyoshi warriors, a tapestry depicting water dancers, a portrait of an Air Nomad monk, a statuette of an air bison on a cabinet of dark wood inlaid with red and yellow stones. "Where am I? It looks like a junkyard for the entire world."
"Azula." Ty Lee sat up and held onto Azula's arms as if she might float away. "Is that really you?"
"Of course it's really me." Azula pushed her away and stood. "What happened? The last thing I remember..." she put a hand to her head as if in pain. She turned to Ty Lee, the light of her eyes cutting through the night. "What day is this? What," she faltered, "what year?"
"Winter Solstice, Zuko Year Two." Ty Lee's answer was automatic, her eyes never leaving Azula's face.
"Zuko?" Azula slammed a knee into the mattress and grabbed Ty Lee's shoulders, making her wince. "Year two?"
"It is you." Ty Lee reached for Azula's wrist and held it, her eyes glistening in the moonlight. "You're finally yourself again! Oh, I'm so-"
"Be silent." Azula pushed Ty Lee off, leaving her sprawled on the mattress in shock. Azula paced the room, muttering to herself. "Two years." The cabinet tilted when she leaned on it in thought, toppling several statuettes and trinkets. "Two years since Zuko took the throne."
"Year and a half, actually." Ty Lee cringed when a bracelet of clear green stones clunked to the floor. "He took the throne in summer. After..." her shoulders tensed, "the Agni Kai."
"And I've been doing what, since that joyous occasion?" Azula's lips twisted, her teeth glittering in the white light. "My memories stop with the Agni Kai."
"You were really, really sick, Azula." Ty Lee rose from the bed and approached Azula step by cautious step. "They kept you in this hospital. The doctors said your mind was on fire." Her giggle grated and died in her throat. "Whatever that means."
"And my father?"
Ty Lee gulped. "I... I don't think you should be getting all this at once." She headed for the door. "I'll get a doctor. And Zuko should know, and Mai-"
"Stop." Azula reached between Ty Lee and the door without looking at her, a blue flame blazing from her hand. Ty Lee stumbled back from it, her eyes white in the moon.
"I think I remember now." Azula put her other hand to her brow, frowning. "Yes, I heard the doctors talking. He's in prison, isn't he, with his firebending torn from him." She lowered her hands, the silver light flooding back in as the fire faded.
"I'm sorry, Azula." Ty Lee hung her head. "But I think it had to happen this way." She looked up and met Azula's eyes.
"It had to happen." Azula looked away with a rueful smile. Her eyes flashed as she faced Ty Lee. "So the rightful king had to be deposed and linger in a state worse than death?" Azula took a step toward Ty Lee. "A weakling puppet had to sit the throne, mocking the glory of the Fire Nation?"
Ty Lee shrank back from her anger even as Azula closed on her. "That's not the way it is! The world is peaceful-"
"There is no peace." Azula closed the distance as Ty Lee backed into a wall. "This isn't peace, it's death." Azula's hands closed on Ty Lee's shoulders. "Our Nation," she said, "is rotting."
"No." Ty Lee shook her head, her eyes huge in her face. "It's not! And if you could just open your eyes and see-"
Azula leaned across the space between them and caught Ty Lee's lips in hers, burning her words away in the heat of the kiss. Ty Lee's hand reached for her, whether to push her away or pull her closer; Azula took it and pressed it to the wall, their fingers locking together.
Azula drew back an inch, her lips brushing Ty Lee's. "I remember." Her words vibrated between them. "You wouldn't let me slip away. You came back, just like you promised."
Ty Lee's eyes fluttered open in shock. Azula's lips curved in a smile as she brought it to Ty Lee's ear. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You remembered." Ty Lee clung to her, closing her eyes in a moment of bliss. "You're really back!"
"I'm really back." Azula stroked her hair as she held her close. "Really and truly." Her eyes glinted gold over Ty Lee's shoulder.
"So... what happens now?" Ty Lee pulled back to look into Azula's face, her gaze wavering for a second. "The doctors will know, and Zuko."
"Eventually." Azula patted her shoulder, her thoughts elsewhere. She swayed in place, and Ty Lee caught her. "I'm so tired..."
"It's all this time you've spent in this room." Ty Lee helped her to the bed, where Azula collapsed onto the sheets and pillows. "You'll need to get your strength back." Ty Lee pulled a blanket with a fire-lily pattern over Azula, and held her hand.
"I can trust you, right?" Azula brought Ty Lee's hand to her face, and touched her lips to it before tucking it under her cheek. "You'll be faithful, this time?"
"Always." Ty Lee smoothed Azula's hair with her other hand, gazing down at her profile shining in the moonlight. "I'd do anything for you."
As Azula's face grew limp and peaceful Ty Lee looked up at the moon rising high outside the window, its touch soft on the tears in her eyes. "My Princess, so alone..."
She was back floating over water with silvery light pooling in its depths. The moon filled the sky, and before it the moon spirit with such sorrow in her eyes.
"It was you, wasn't it." The words were only half accusation. "Winter Solstice, when the sway of water is strongest over the world. Enough to put out fires in the mind." The sadness in Yue's face grew deeper.
"I should have known she wouldn't change." Ty Lee looked away. "I shouldn't be mad at you. You couldn't know. You just wanted to grant me the one thing I wanted."
She turned back to Yue, opening her arms. "Thank you, Moon Spirit." She bowed. "It was good to talk to her again. To see and..." Her cheekbones tinted a shade of shell pink. "Thank you."
For a time they gazed at each other across the night. Ty Lee took a deep breath.
"I don't know if it's only for this night, or if you can keep her this way. And I don't want to know." She squeezed her eyes shut. "But... whether because Solstice passes, or... or, because you choose to take this gift away..." She bowed her head and a tear dropped onto the surface of the pool, sparkling in the water before dissolving. "I'll understand."
The moonlight grew brighter, surrounding her. Ty Lee looked up to the sight of Yue an arm's length before her, floating with her over the pool of light.
"Why?" Ty Lee sniffled and wiped her nose. "Because I'd do anything for her." Her friends would not have recognized the bitter laugh as hers. "I can't help her destroy the world Aang and Zuko and everyone built." She paused. "But she'll burn that out of me. Her fire is too much."
Yue lifted her hands and cupped Ty Lee's face. Her look, when Ty Lee met her eyes, was one of understanding.
"Why can't I hate her?" Ty Lee struggled with herself as the tears came again. "Am I that stupid?"
Yue shook her head, closing the ocean brilliance of her eyes. They stood there suspended in timeless time, while the mortal soul fought the tides of longing it could neither control nor understand.
Mai found her among the rubble, two broken pieces of an Avatar Kyoshi statuette in her hands. She was trying to fit the singed bits together but they refused to lock together, something missing between them, some link or fragment.
Mai looked around the wreckage of the room, the scene of Princess Azula's worst relapse to date. Ashes and fragments of memorabilia from around the world littered the place, some of them cheap souvenirs, others works of art. Mai's mouth drew down in a frown at a charred piece of a monk's smile.
"They took her down to the basement cells," she said to Ty Lee's back. "They told me cutting her off from the sun for a while will calm her."
"She's a firebender." Ty Lee let her hands fall to the floor, letting the pieces of Avatar Kiyoshi roll away. "It'll be agony for her."
"Yes, it will." Mai's eyes narrowed at Ty Lee's singed and torn clothes, when she had escaped the room with her life seconds before it turned into a firestorm. "She'll have to deal."
"Will Azula be okay?" Ty Lee's voice was broken, like the smashed things around the room.
Mai sighed. "Maybe. The doctors think the end of Winter Solstice night could have had some kind of effect, but it didn't happen last time."
Ty Lee said nothing. Mai lifted her skirt over the debris and soot on the floor and bent down to take her arm. "Come on. Let's get you out of here."
"They don't want me back here, do they." Ty Lee leaned on her as she walked.
Mai gave her an unhappy look. "At least until she's stable, and they're sure having you here is safe."
"It's all right." Ty Lee looked ahead, her eyes clear over the bandage on her cheek. "It's for the best."
"Watch your step." Mai steered her away from smoldering bits of inlaid wood, the red stone still sparkling under the soot. "First you're taking a hot bath." She put an arm around Ty Lee's shoulders. "Then we'll get you something frilly and disgusting to wear."
"Can it be orange?" Ty Lee's smile almost reached her eyes.
"Why not, if you want to annoy me." They walked through the door together, leaving behind the destruction Azula had made with a kind of monomania.
Mai looked back once at the wasted room, and did not tell her friend the many good reasons she had to stay away from the hospital. Because as they took Azula belowground the princess had screamed out one name, raging and yearning for what had slipped from her grasp—"Ty Lee," over and over again.
Next: She knows how tempting it is to follow the leader, wherever it may lead.