Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor do I financially profit from this fanfiction.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome! Please, come sit as I spin you a short tale, of how Azula and Ty Lee first met.

Azula was halfway through the routine when her foot caught the stone. She tumbled onto the hard, grey steps, throwing her arms out to break the fall. She lay on the floor momentarily, her arms heavy and her hair splayed. Breathing deeply, Azula pushed herself from the ground and backed away from the series of steps leading towards the room's entrance.

She bowed her head and ran her fingers through her undone hair, stopping when she came to the two hairsticks. She grasped them and tugged until they came free from the tangles. Azula glared at the gilded, wooden sticks, before throwing them towards the open doorway. The two accessories clattered to the ground, just shy of the heavy, red and golden draperies that hung across the threshold from both ends, forming an entrance half the size of the doorway itself.

Sighing, she turned to face the large standing mirror. The red-jeweled furnishing shimmered in the low light from the oil bowls hanging from the top of the room's many pillars. Azula looked at her reflection. Her hair lay limply across her shoulders, its tangles reaching down to the newly formed tear in her sleeve, revealing reddened skin. Why was it so hard? She assumed the beginning stance of the routine. Even Zuko had grown proficient at this skill. One step forward, raising both arms. Mother said that nobody could be talented at everything. Two steps to the left, whilst turning the body and keeping the face forward. Father said that talent was everything. Two steps back, while extending the left arm and bringing the right arm in.

Azula gasped as her left foot hit her right, forcing her off-balance. She righted herself and scowled at her reflection. This whole things was absurd. Pointless. She was about to begin the routine once again when a small, silvery laugh brushed her ears. She swung around to find its source. A girl about her age stood at the top of the steps, lightly twirling one of Azula's discarded hairsticks in her hand.

The young girl smiled broadly, gracefully descending into the depression that made up the centre of the room. She twirled the hairstick around her fingers once more, before pointing it at her head. "Do you want me to fix it for you?"

Azula stood speechless. No servant would ever act so glibly before her. Though it was clear from her bright and elegant clothing that the girl before her was no mere servant. A noble perhaps, or maybe the daughter of some common war profiteer that her father had taken to inviting to the war councils. There were so many these days.

The girl appeared to take Azula's silence as acquiescence and bounded forward, taking the princess by the arm and sitting her on the nearby bottom step. Shocked by the strange turn of events, she did not resist even as the girl began to bundle her hair, but simply watched their reflections in the mirror. The girl flipped her braided hair over her shoulder and, using the two hairsticks, began tie the princesses hair. Azula's eyes narrowed as they fell on the girl's heart-shaped face. She was certain that she'd seen this girl before.

They both sat in silence. The mystery girl smiling as she worked with the princesses hair and Azula staring intently at the girl's light grey eyes, willing a close yet concealed memory to cross the void into perception. The girl straightened up and placed her hands on her hips. "All done!"

Azula turned to look at herself in the mirror. Her hair lay neatly on her head, with nary a solitary strand out of place. Even her long-time handmaidens had some minor difficulty with her often unruly hair. The still smiling girl stepped down in front of Azula and extended her hand to the princess. "Do you want me to teach you?"

Azula's eyes widened sharply as her memory of the girl returned. She was a student at the Fire Nation Academy for Girls. The one whom the instructor had praised as moving like a soft current of air. Azula took the girl's hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

"Now," said the girl as the two faced each other, "shall we begin?"

Azula assumed the starting stance of the routine, raising her arms, registering the girl's similar movements from the corner of her eyes. Two steps to the left, whilst turning the body and keeping the face forward. Two steps back, while extending the left arm and bringing the right arm in. Then, grasp your partner's right hand with your left, while placing your right on the small of their back. Azula turned her head to face her partner, finding that the girl had done the same.

They kept eye-contact as they continued through the intricate motions of the dance. Golden to grey They flowed across the stone floor, fast then slow, like an ever-changing wind. Their hands parted as they came to a stop a few minutes later and Azula took a step backwards. "What is your name?"

The girl's face lit up. "Ty lee, your highness."

"Call me Azula... Ty lee, you are clearly talented. I want you to be my dancing partner."

Ty lee looked as if she was about to explode with glee, and began hopping from foot to foot. "Of course, Azula!"

Azula smiled. She would best Zuko yet.

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