A/N: Some Quick Facts About This Fic:
Sequel: This is the sequel to Restraint. It makes no sense without reading Restraint first.
Chapters: 20 chapters.
Pairing: Ty Lee / Azula.
Rated: M for sexual content, suggestive dialogue, references to past abuse/incest, moderate coarse language and violent references.
Aphelion (noun) - The point at which an orbiting object is at the furthest distance from the sun
prologue: gone
Tell my love to wreck it all
To cut the ropes and let me fall
"Skinny Love" - Bon Iver
Ty Lee wakes alone. She remembers the fight last night and figures Azula is somewhere in the palace, or perhaps has trained all night. The acrobat intends to apologize even though she did nothing wrong. It is always easier to let Azula win, regardless of the truth.
She was trained to be Azula's friend, after Azula brought her home for the first time. Lessons in friendship from stuck up and condescending old men that Ty Lee eventually learned to disregard. Ty Lee found it both enticing and baffling. Being friends with a princess was exciting; being a princess, less so.
When she walks to the dining room, it is too early for there to be food. No one else in the family is there, as they usually are when Ty Lee stumbles out of bed last. On the table is a note and her heart jumps into her throat.
If it is a suicide note, Ty Lee would die. She would die too. She would.
Panic surges through her as she picks it up and then her expression changes from fear to anger. It takes her a while to read it, longer than it should for someone her age. She never paid attention in school or read for fun. She still can hardly spell.
But this note is clear. And she reads it a thousand times.
Zuko arrives in the dining room is Ty Lee is sitting and staring at the note, opening and closing her mouth feebly.
"What is it?" Zuko asks, looking at her tear stained face with concern. Ty Lee picks at her lips and tears them open before she speaks.
"Azula's gone," Ty Lee manages to say as Mai arrives directly behind Zuko. "She just left a note!"
"Now you know exactly how I feel," Mai mumbles before sighing. This is serious, as much as she shoots a glare at her husband. "What did she say? Is it real or is she just angry?"
"Was it my father?" Zuko snaps, seizing the note and nearly slicing open Ty Lee's hands. "Sorry, sorry. But if it was him..."
"It wasn't him. It was me." Ty Lee starts crying hysterically. She throws herself into Mai's arms melodramatically and Mai rubs her back awkwardly with her neck bones jutting out and her amber eyes bulging.
"I apologize if this upsets any of you, not that it would, but I'm leaving," Zuko says in an imitation of his sister's voice that is uncanny. "Don't come looking for me. You won't find me, I'm not dumb enough to get caught. I have realized that my daughter would be better off without me, and I need to find out who I am before I can take care of anyone else. I intend to return eventually, so don't order a funeral or anything. Although if you do... It just kind of rambles on conceitedly for a while. She could've gotten to the point a lot faster."
"This is kind of serious," Mai says dryly and Ty Lee is enraged that they are both being so calm about it. Zuko is squinting at the letter, Mai pulls herself away from Ty Lee, and only the acrobat is left wondering why they are not panicking or sending the military after her.
"Ugh, this is exactly like when the resistance captured her and you two didn't want to look for her. We found her with her hand broken and drugged and..." Ty Lee begins, exasperated.
"Azula clearly left with intent. Check the handwriting. Nobody has textbook perfect characters like that but her. Especially not some assassin," Mai says, gesturing at the letter with a small patronizing smile.
"How do you know what assassin handwriting is like?" Ty Lee squeals and Mai breathes in through her teeth. She just made this worse. "I know it's her handwriting. And it... kind of seems like her. But... she can't just leave her child and-and me."
"It's a terrible thing to do. But if there's anything she's good at, it's doing terrible things," Mai remarks with a small shrug and Ty Lee bursts into tears again. Zuko sighs.
"Mai, you're not exactly making this better," he says, patting her arm gently and causing her to roll her eyes. She rubs her arm where he touched it and begrudgingly decides not to interfere. "She's been weird since she had Azusami. She's probably just going to go walk around for two weeks before she realizes she doesn't know how to wash her own hair or buy things in stores and she'll come home. I had to tell her what a price tag was last week; you have nothing to worry about."
Ty Lee bites her lip. She knows he might be right. Azula wouldn't leave her. She couldn't leave her.
"She'll be back," Zuko says, setting down the letter and making a sympathetic face at Ty Lee.
Ty Lee has to believe him. She has to.
chapter one: torn
"Only your actions will be remembered. May you choose them well." - Samara, Mass Effect 3
Three weeks before Ty Lee finds the fateful note, in the bright morning glow, Ty Lee walks her fingers up Azula's pallid arm.
It is crisp and airy in their bedroom, the windows left open all night. She is vaguely reminded of doing this long ago, five years ago, when she first decided to leave her life and redeem Princess Azula. Of course, her feelings got in the way, and one marriage, one child and one attempted coup later, she is still lying in the same bed with the same girl who makes her a little dizzy to look at for too long.
So much has come to pass since the day Azusami was born, and the day Zuko executed The General. It has been three years and one day. Ty Lee kisses her wife on the neck and it still does not rouse her from her sleep.
Azusami is a firebender. And the day after tomorrow is Ty Lee and Azula's fifth anniversary. And Ty Lee expects to have a wonderfully sentimental gift from her wife. Azula presumably will figure it out.
"Wake up; your daughter is a firebender," Ty Lee whispers, stroking Azula's arm. Her fingers stray further, towards her breasts.
Ty Lee cradles her one year old daughter close to her body as she has servants draw and heat a bath. She coos to the babbling baby, blushing and smiling. Ty Lee loves her child more than life itself. The baby is precious, even if she drains away some of her energy.
Azula sees it, shivers in disgust and walks away.
"Why did you do that in front of Azusami?" Ty Lee demands that night.
"You were bathing with her like some kind of sick pervert," Azula snarls and Ty Lee purses her lips.
Azula hated her mother, and Ty Lee fears that Azusami will hate her as well.
And Ty Lee tells her. And Azula throws her on the bed, Ty Lee deciding not to fight because it is easier than hurting Azula, even though Azula hurts her.
She runs away.
But she comes back; she always comes back.
Azula wakes to the sensation of her nipples hardening. She inhales sharply and looks around in the crisp morning air. It is nearly winter, not that the Fire Nation ever gets cold. Ty Lee is on her, kissing her and she tries not to be perturbed by it.
She rolls onto her side and kisses her wife on the mouth.
Ty Lee digs her fingers into Azula's back as she slips onto her lap. Their lips bump against each other, leaving feverish sensations on smooth skin. Tongues intertwine in a final kiss as Ty Lee's hands move towards Azula's cleavage again. Azula moans into her mouth and it feels fantastic.
The sun glitters on their bare skin as they strip each other down to nothingness.
They finish when both have climaxed, tongues against cunts, licking clits. Azula lies there, staring at the ceiling for a moment as Ty Lee gets dressed and tries to salvage her hair.
"Our daughter is a firebender," Azula finally says, stunned. Ty Lee nods in response.
"Yes, our daughter is a firebender. I'm glad you're excited," Ty Lee says, beaming and glowing from sex and love. Azula brushes her hair from her face and finally stands up.
She dresses herself and combs her hair carefully, tying it into a topknot and puncturing it with a crown. Ty Lee's crown is much looser in her braided hair. Azula kisses her cheek, teeth brushing against her cheekbone, and Azula leaves her bedroom to locate breakfast.
Her daughter is a firebender.
[X]
"How did it go?" Zuko asks as Azula returns with Azusami in her arms. The child is beaming, which is an alien look on the small version of Azula's face. Azula looks as if she is about to go on a tirade, but she sets her daughter down first.
"Reasonably well," Azula says with a shrug. "She had fun I think."
Azusami starts running in circles, attempting to throw fire at things and mostly just conjuring enough smoke to make Zuko cough. She leaps onto a table and actually makes a spark and jumps excitedly. Azula watches, her eyes scrutinizing every move. Zuko simply hopes that Azusami does not destroy the furniture.
"I remember when I first firebent and father took me to go... it's picking out a prize. We've glamorized this so much but it's really just picking out a prize, isn't it?" Zuko says, his wistful tone instantly changing to one of an adult who realizes a childhood fable was a scam.
"I picked the best prize," Azula says with a knowing smirk. Zuko fights the urge to roll his eyes.
"You picked a firebending scroll."
"Mhm. That was the best prize. You picked out...?"
"Look, I was a child. You were a weird child, Azula," Zuko replies defensively and she shrugs. Azusami summons a ball of flame and then almost loses control.
Azula snaps out her hand as the ball of flame grows larger than Azusami's head and seizes her daughter's wrist. The fire fizzles out and Azusami sits down, golden eyes rotund.
"You almost died, Azusami," Azula says in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Be more careful. I'm not always going to be around to rescue you."
"You are terrible," Zuko sighs, rubbing his neck. "So what prize did she pick?"
"A tacky and expensive necklace. Ty Lee has raised her terribly. Azusami, for the love of Agni I just told you not to make fireballs bigger than your face. Do you want to go to prison like mother?" Azusami instantly stops and puts her hands behind her back. Zuko chokes, trying not to laugh."The weirdest thing happened when I was out with her. This peasant woman─ oh, look who's appeared out of the walls while I'm about to say something personal to my brother," Azula says, cocking an eyebrow as Ty Lee and Mai walk in.
Ty Lee reaches for her daughter and Azusami starts running.
"It's a little Azula," Mai says, examining the child running around an attempting to firebend as Ty Lee tries to stop her from burning things. "She just needs to learn how to say witty one liners and insults vaguely disguised as compliments and we'll have a little Azula. She looks just like her."
"I am so glad she looks nothing like her father," Azula says, watching and not trying to stop this at all. Kazou is fortunately, in prison for the rest of his life. Azusami is the offspring of two convicts, yet so far does not seem on the road to prison. Azula's wife grabs Azusami around the abdomen and clutches her as she writhes.
"Her father was really hot," Mai replies casually and Zuko looks are her with a slight stare of jealousy. "Don't look at me like that. I'm allowed to look at other men."
"She won't leave you, ZuZu. I mean, I admire your relationship because you two aren't going to do any better than each other," Azula comments from her armchair, which she sits on like a throne.
"Exactly what I'm talking about," Mai says with a faint laugh. Ty Lee sets Azusami on the coffee table. "Insults disguised as compliments."
"You stay there. Azula, please give her firebending lessons. She was so calm and polite and easy. Once she stopped crying all night she was so easy but now I don't even know what to do," Ty Lee says, holding her child by the knees. Azusami stops fighting and falls extremely limp, onto her back.
"Don't stop this, Azula. Please," Mai says, smirking. "It will make me feel so much better for having such a rude and hyperactive child."
"Okay, I am picking you up. Don't play dead," Ty Lee states, gritting her teeth and putting her daughter over her shoulder. Her head bumps into her mother's back as she remains entirely motionless with her eyes closed.
"She has dedication. Maybe she can be an actress when she grows up," Zuko comments kindly as Ty Lee drags Azusami away and to her room.
"My child is not going to be an actress. That's a step above prostitute," Azula says with a sigh.
"It would be fun, though. Nobody in this family does anything exciting with their lives," Mai argues, enjoying this idea.
"My uncle opened a teashop," Zuko offers with a shrug.
"Oh, I can barely contain my excitement. A teashop," Mai says with a roll of her amber eyes and Azula snickers. "She would be a good actress."
"She doesn't have to work; she's a princess," Azula comments and Mai nods halfheartedly. "That's the definition of princess, I think."
"Lazy?" Zuko asks and Mai laughs. Her husband has finally developed a sense of humor.
"No, selfish and delicate," Azula says snidely, looking down her nose at her brother.
"And also a combat powerhouse," Mai adds.
"Well, that too but I think I stayed fairly delicate while attempting murder." Pause. "And succeeding at murder... Now, I was telling my brother something before this tedious interruption."
"Yes, please continue," Zuko says, holding out one hand and gesturing for her to speak. There is no such thing as conversation without interruption with two tiny princesses running around the palace, demanding the attention of anything that breathes.
"This peasant woman referred to me as the crazy princess. Right in front of me," Azula says slowly, her eyes slightly glassy. Mai hates that face; it makes her skin crawl. "Oh, Zuko, don't give me that look; you would know if I went on a rampage in the fucking shopping district. No, I didn't even notice she had called me that because I'm so used to it."
"I never call you that," Zuko says as if it is consolation. The entire Fire Nation has referred to Azula as 'the crazy princess' for ten years, and Azula is well over being upset about it.
"She was crying hysterically before I noticed she had said it. Mucus dripping from her nose. Anyway, I barely noticed. And then it dawned on me, a painful revelation," Azula purrs, punctuating her speech with dramatic and well timed breaths. "Princess Azula the Conqueror never caught on."
Mai bursts into laughter. Zuko suppresses a smile and tries to be serious.
"I tried and tried to make people call me that. I completely deserved it," Azula sighs, continuing with a haughty shrug of discontent. "I did conquer Ba Sing Se and several small villages. But no one ever called me Princess Azula the Conqueror. I even asked father to introduce me as that and he completely refused and said it was ridiculous. Ridiculous? Crazy Princess is ridiculous. Princess Azula the Conqueror is genius."
"They're both pretty terrible. I can think of much more inventive things to call you," Mai says, sniggering still.
"I'm sorry that people call you the crazy princess. You've really moved on from the whole banishing swarms of innocents, spitting blood on therapists and going on murderous rampages in Ba Sing Se phase of your life," Zuko says calmly and kindly and Azula rolls her eyes so forcefully she thinks they will pop from her skull.
"If you were really sorry you would call me Princess Azula the Conqueror."
[X]
"You're going to hurt yourself," Azula says sharply in a voice Zuko has never heard before.
He has heard her scathing tone, her mocking tone and her deceitful tone, but never this one. He tries to fade into the shadows as he studies her with her hands clasped with her daughters. Zuko has to admit he feels a mild sense of shame associated with Azula's firebending daughter, and how he wishes Izumi were like that. But the fact that Azula has common ground with Azusami is a relief to everyone in the palace, and, possibly, the entire Fire Nation. Nobody needs Princess Azula to go on another rampage.
"I want to," is Azusami's response, which she possibly learned from Izumi. They both are incredibly whiny children, to Zuko's dismay. Then again, he and Azula were incredibly rude, selfish and spoilt.
"Fine, go ahead and burn alive, see if I care." Azula shrugs and Zuko smirks. Princess Azula stands up and turns away pointedly. Azusami pouts and then tugs at her mother frantically.
"Okay, okay I won't," Azusami squeals loudly and Azula returns to her knees in one fluid motion. Zuko enjoys this more than he should.
"You can't just run around with your hands on fire," Azula says as Azusami tries to light her fingertips again. "Fire is a weapon of destruction and you can't play with it."
"You do." And that is the end for Azula. Her eyebrows shoot up and Zuko gulps.
"Now is when I interrupt," comes Fire Lord Zuko from behind his sister. Azula glances up at him. "Aang is here to see you. I'll monitor Azusami."
"Don't give her any of your bending bad habits," Azula says, standing up and walking in the direction Zuko points towards.
She walks to the throne room slowly, picking at her sharp fingernails as she goes. Pushing open the door, she can only recall the thousand times she walked in for audience with her father. She is glad he is gone, pleased that she has spent three years without needing to appeal to him. The last she saw of Fire Lord Ozai was his wide eyes as she relayed to him a very twisted tale.
"Hello, Avatar," Azula says, looking at Aang as he studies the curtains. "They're the fourth set. Apparently no one in the Fire Nation knows how to make things decently flame proof."
Aang chuckles. "I have something important to ask you about."
"I'm listening." She crosses her arms.
"It's about your father."
Azula swallows. "I've detached myself from him since Azusami's birth. The last time I saw him was when I was pregnant with her."
"I've seen him more recently," Aang says and Azula feels a surge of something angry and bitter inside of her. A vehement jealousy that makes her mouth taste strongly of metal. "I left him alive because─"
"Because you're merciless," Azula interrupts sharply and Aang is stunned. He supposes he should not be so shocked by Azula's tongue, but she has been quieter and more muted, as he noticed when he saw her at Azusami's birthday party. "He would have preferred death, Avatar. I would have."
Aang does not know what to say. Katara has said almost the same words to him, as has almost every bender he has encountered. It should be natural to hear it from Azula, who could not restrain her bending until she could use it for purposes other than drastic violence. But he takes a deep breath, enjoying the union of air and his blood and nods.
"I've seen how you've changed. I think you can do that for him," Aang says softly and Azula thinks she knows where he is going with this. And quite honestly, she does not like it.
"I changed because I had to. There was no other choice. He doesn't feel the same way," Azula says, feeling comfortable speaking for her father.
"You changed because you wanted to," Aang says and Azula fights the urge to slap the soft, gentle, patronizing smile off of his face. But she has learned restraint too well. "And I think you can make your father want to. You're the only one he trusts."
"Is that what he said or what you assume?" Azula is getting colder and more vicious, like a glacial fire. Aang swallows and hopes he is not making a terrible mistake. "Don't interfere with my family, Aang."
His first name. She has only ever called him Avatar, and she means it now in a demeaning way that Aang is still surprised by. Azula is... Azula, though. He needs to be more steadfast with her.
"I don't want to interfere. But I'm going to be in town a while, and if you change your mind about redeeming your father, just tell me," Aang says and Azula shrugs. She wants to say something vicious, strike him down with lightning again, but she makes a passive scoffing sound and waits for Aang to slowly leave.
Zuko would have shouted, Azula is certain.
She conceals the information from the Avatar for the rest of the day. The decision weighs heavily in her mind as she tries to decide whether or not her father has the right to be redeemed. She does love him, but she does not know if it would be wise or practical.
"Why is the Avatar at dinner with us?" Azula asks as soon as she walks into the dining room. She managed to isolate herself today and keep to her thoughts, but Azusami is telling Aang a barely coherent story and Azula wants to yank her daughter away from him.
"He's a guest, Azula," Ursa says forcefully and Azula fights the urge to throttle her or make some snide remark. She sits down beside her daughter, away from her mother, and grits her teeth. She knows he has something planned and she does not like it.
He cannot do this to her.
"So, how are Fire Nation things going in the Fire Nation?" Aang asks, glancing around. The look Azula is giving him is making him sweat. And she notices.
Silence. Zuko looks like he doesn't know the answer; Azula is looking at Aang like she is about to strike him down with lightning again. Mai clears her throat and everyone looks at her. Oh the labors of being Fire Lady.
"Well, Azula has been implementing unions. For the first time in history," Mai says and Azula nods belatedly, her eyes not moving from Aang. They are narrowed on his throat, Ty Lee notices with discomfort.
"Wait really?" Zuko asks abruptly and Aang laughs. "I'm not kidding. That doesn't sound like something she would do."
"You're confusing professional Azula with personal Azula. Personal Azula would tell the peasants to slave away with forced labor and no rights; professional Azula knows how to make the public happy," Mai explains, not surprised that Zuko only looks over half of his sister's work. He does about half of everything since he got so caught up in Republic City.
"I knew she was... never mind," Zuko says, shrugging. Listing what he actually knows about Azula's upkeep seems tedious and defensive. It is better to just let it go.
"So, unions, that's good," Aang says, forcing a smile. Azula realizes she has to respond and frees her jaw from its chokehold on itself.
"Yes. It seemed like the logical step in, well, making the public hate us less. That's been my job for four years. I'm good at it." Azula dissects her meat like a particularly sadistic surgeon and Aang watches with a grimace and wide eyes.
"There haven't been any rebellions in three years," Ty Lee offers feebly, her voice cracking with the discomfort of the dinner. Aang looks up from Azula's precise massacre of a dead animal to rejoin the conversation.
"There were no rebellions for a hundred years before Zuko took the throne," Azula says into her glass and everyone pretends not to hear her.
"I think that it was a really good move putting Azula at the forefront of the Fire Nation. Kind of the face of you guys, oh... uh..." Ty Lee suddenly trails off at face. Zuko does not react; he is used to it by now. "Well, it's been a good three years since that really nasty revolt. Mostly because of my wife. And sometimes Zuko, when he's not travelling or saving the world."
"Just sometimes Zuko," Mai chuckles to herself.
Aang takes a deep breath and the room churns slightly. Azula feels dizzy for a moment as he shifts the air with his calming breathing. Airbenders are weird as fuck.
"Speaking of Fire Lords," Aang announces and everyone is eerily silent. Even the two children stop babbling at each other and Ursa. "I gave Azula a proposition today that's really important to me."
"Azula, you're leaving marks on your..." Ty Lee whispers awkwardly, gently trying to pry Azula's fingernails out of her own palm.
"What proposition?" Zuko asks as Azula's eyes narrow. Aang tugs at his sleeve.
"Well, I was thinking that, you know how we made Azula good and everything? I was thinking we should do that for your father."
Aang cringes, expecting more of an outrage. But everyone is very quiet. Azula glances between her family members. Ursa averts her eyes, Zuko seems to not know how to react, Ty Lee seizes Azula's knee under the table and Mai is... Mai.
"I don't think he's going to change," Zuko finally says and the table is no longer frozen in time. The royal family shifts their weight, fidgets, does anything but have to face the reality of Ozai. "Aang, Azula is one thing, my father is entirely another."
"I actually was considerably worse than him. I mean, he's a dreadful person. But if you really think about all of the negative things... I was behind most of them," Azula says and Aang's eyes glitter with hope. "I didn't want to change but, ugh, I did. Now I'm a well adjusted and well respected leader of a nation and not... burning down mental hospitals and killing earthbending gangs in Ba Sing Se. People can change."
"I think this is a terrible idea," Ursa says with vivacity in her voice that stuns her children. "He's not a human. He's a monster."
Azula scoffs loudly and Ursa's cheeks redden. But she does not stand down at her daughter's outburst of disgust.
"I think it's Azula's decision," Mai says and there is a general agreement from everyone but Ursa, who is clutching a fork as if she is about to stab someone. "She's the expert on this whole redemption thing."
Zuko makes a similar but more masculine noise than Azula. Mai rolls her eyes.
"Yes, Zuko, I know you flipped sides. But I think it's up to her for a lot of reasons," Mai says and does not continue based on the glare Azula is giving her. "She knows him better than all of us. Even you, Ursa. And she's the only person here he's ever going to trust. If it makes you feel better, if Azula decides to liberate him, I'll oversee everything to make sure they don't usurp Zuko or anything."
"I agree with Mai," Ty Lee chirps and Aang is smiling now. Ty Lee blinks a happy blink at the Avatar and Azula grits her teeth. "It's Azula's decision."
"I need a little time before I decide if I want to take on the task of changing my father. Who I, if no one noticed at all, severely mutilated four years ago," Azula says, raising an eyebrow. Ty Lee rubs Azula's knee so fiercely that it burns. "I'll decide."
"Thank you." The dinner continues, albeit permeated with severe awkwardness. And Ursa spends the entire dinner thinking of the words to convince Azula not to make the mistake of letting Ozai back into their lives.
[X]
"Azula, did you tell our daughter that if she firebent without your permission she would go to prison?" Ty Lee sighs, slumping on the sofa. It has been an impossibly long day and Azula is sitting down half asleep. Ty Lee sets her head on Azula's lap and Azula vaguely strokes her wife's hair.
"It was effective. She stopped burning things down," Azula says and Ty Lee rolls her eyes.
"She's terrified. You need to give her lessons, not lie to her," Ty Lee states sweetly and Azula purses her lips. This parenting thing is impossible, even if Zuko says she's not terrible at it.
"I'm just a little occupied with deciding the fate of the man who conceived me," Azula says and Ty Lee frowns.
"Just let him die in prison. It will be much more satisfying for you," Ty Lee says and Azula blinks and shakes her head.
"He wasn't always a bad father. He... he's the only person who ever took real interest in my life," Azula says and Ty Lee squeezes her eyes shut so she can pretend this is not happening. She cannot believe how foolish the Avatar is for putting Ozai's fate in Azula's claws. "You know," Azula remarks with a small smirk, "he's the only person I ever openly told that I liked girls."
Ty Lee cannot pretend to be invisible. She laughs hysterically and Azula shakes with silent giggles.
"What did he say?" Ty Lee asks, turning over to make eye contact with her wife.
"He didn't really respond. He kind of just looked at me for a moment and I thought momentarily I would be harmed but he just commented, 'Well that's good for you,' and left as quickly as he could."
"Well that's good for you?" Ty Lee is crying from laughter. "That was his response?"
"Yes. He never brought it up again." Azula smirks, eyes sparkling slightly. And then Ty Lee's gut turns to stone. No.
"You know, you're only remembering him fondly because you haven't talked to him in three years," Ty Lee says, suddenly looking intense. Azula sighs and fights the urge to roll her eyes. "No, it's true. If you talked to him again, you would remember why you hate him."
Azula leans back and clenches her jaw. She knows that Ty Lee is right, but she does not want her to be.
"I don't think I hate him," Azula replies and Ty Lee swallows. "Maybe he deserves a second chance like I had."
Ty Lee swallows and decides to be supportive regardless of her feelings.
But, she knows this is not going to end well.
A/N: Ozai will not be redeemed; I promise you. He is deplorable, however, I do think that Aang would at least ask. After seeing Azula change and become a productive member of society, while I think nobody else would even consider it, Aang is the kind of guy to suggest it. However, Ozai will not do anything evil or bad either. I just figured that it would eventually be an issue that would come up in an Azula Redemption storyline of this length.