Her brother was swaying in the masses with all the grace of a man with only one leg. Actually, as Azula observed, General Iyak was dancing better with the wooden leg than her brother. Luckily for Zuko, Mai seemed fine with his fumbling and just stood in front of him and swayed in a way that was impressively disinterested.

The celebration around her was for her father's 11th year as Fire Lord. Everyone was here. Even if the guests didn't approve of her father or what his plans for the world was, they were here and bearing gifts. Being absent would only result in their 'accidental' death.

Azula had been to ten other of these celebration. This time; however, a lot was different with this one. Her 'beloved' brother returned for his first one in a long time and he actually had a date on top of that. Her father actually bothered to show as well. His usual habit of not showing to these celebration was a power trip that her father enjoyed quite a lot.

The big difference was that there would be no males asking for Azula's hand to dance. Her father had stumbled upon her secret of preferring the female form. Instead of anger and disappointment like Azula had feared would happen, he was overjoyed. Once again, he had said, Azula had proven to be the perfect child.

Apparently, a few outer but vital colonies had began questioning Ozia's ruling. They feared that only 'model' fire benders would be allowed to live once Ozai completed his overtake of the entire world. If Ozai had no problem slaughtering the other nations, what would stop him from going after fire benders that were not quite the norm?

Azula's preference was the answer. In fact, Ozai's reputation had only increased for being so accepting to his daughter's sexual preference.

The Fire Princes was content with it. Since the announcement, Azula had been offered many nobleman's daughters, maids had thrown themselves at her, and other nations were offering up beautiful women in hopes of saving their own hides.

But Azula did not accept the invitations. She had her eyes on a singular woman. She didn't love her. No, that was a ridiculous idea. She was just fond of this girl.

But the girl was playing games. One wouldn't think that Ty Lee was capable of playing games. She wasn't good at them but she did try to play them.

She was playing one now. Ty Lee had two men bidding for her attention. One was brutish with bulging muscles and chiseled features. The other thinner with a more scholarly look to him. Both were very attractive and interested in Ty Lee.

But Ty Lee was not half as interested. She would do something flirting; giggle, bite her lip, or touch one of them casually but then her eyes would instantly flash to Azula to see if the princess had seen. Ever since Ty Lee had heard about Azula's preference, Azula noticed that Ty Lee seemed to be trying to trick her into admitting her love…ahem, fondess for the acrobat.

That was something that Azula would not just do.

Ty Lee's hand traced the outline of the larger male's forearm and she batted her arm. When Ty Lee's gray eyes went to see if Azula had saw, the princess glanced away like she was observing the artwork around her.

Azula knew it was a game but that did not stop the feelings. She wasn't jealous. She didn't have a reason to be when it was so clear that this was all from her benefit. No, it was a feeling of frustration that she felt. She knew that if Ty Lee would just stop being coy, that it would be Azula that Ty Lee was touching, was flirting with, and was with. But, if Ty Lee was determined to play her little games, Azula was just going to have to speed the process up.

Turning her golden eyes to the crowd, she finally found the perfect victim. The girl was shorter than Azula but taller than Ty Lee. She was one of the rare blondes in the fire nation and, because of that, she would be considered desirable. Her eyes were nearly black and her clothes left very little to the imagination.

She probably didn't like girls but, someone so desperate for attention like that, would make an exception for Azula. Straightening her back and squaring her shoulders, she began to walk into the masses of bodies.

Azula didn't need to look back to know that Ty Lee was now tilting and bobbing her head around to keep the princess in her gaze.

The blonde's friends were standing around her. When they saw her approaching, the began to grin and float away. The blonde turned towards the princess and attempted to look attractive. To anyone else, she probably would have succeeded but, to Azula, she looked silly with her hip overly cocked, her arms pushing her breasts up so much, and the pout to her lips.

"You dance?" Azula's version of an invitation. The girl looked taken back by briskness of the invitation but quickly shook it off and nodded.

Azula held her hand out and walked the two of them to a place that was well within Ty Lee's view. Azula pulled the blonde much closer that need be which the other girl was more than willing to do. In fact, the blonde seemed very susceptible to Azula's advances and made sure that there was no air between their two bodies.

Over the blonde's shoulder, Azula locked eyes with twin disapproving stares. Zuko and Mai were no longer swaying awkwardly and had decided to poke their nose in her business instead. Mai excused herself and went to Ty Lee who was glaring at Azula's dance partner.

Zuko knew what his sister was up to. He'd pretend to dislike it on the outside but, inside, he didn't know what Mai and Ty Lee had expected. The second Ty Lee decided to try to manipulate Azula's affections, he knew that Azula would not rest until Ty Lee was forced to be the one to confess.

"…of the Southern Isles."

Azula blinked. She had been watching Mai and Ty Lee converse from the corner of her eye. The dance had been engraved into her bones, so she had allowed herself to be lost in the proceedings around her. So lost that she didn't realize the blonde had been talking.

"Repeat yourself." Azula stated when the blonde stared at her expectantly.

"Did you not hear what I said?" The blonde asked timidly.

"Obviously or I wouldn't have told you to repeat yourself." Azula said testily.

"My apologies, Your Highness." The blonde quickly apologized. "I said I am Malia. Granddaughter of General Sukya and daughter of the Baron of the Southern Isles." Azula arched an eyebrow at that. If Azula hadn't already picked a suitable partner, this girl wouldn't have been a bad choice.

If Ty Lee didn't work out, maybe Azula should be careful not to burn bridges with this young lady. Personally, she did nothing for Azula. She was too tall, too submissive and not in the good way, and she didn't like the sound of her voice. Professionally, this girl would be a brilliant suitor if it got Azula a foothold in the Southern Isles.

As she was debating her next actions, the song ended and Azula saw as Mai gestured her over. Ty Lee was staring expectantly with a scowl across her face. Deciding not to make anything easy, Azula grasped Malia's forearm and pulled the young woman over.

Stopping in front of Mai and keeping an awkward hold on the blonde's forearm, Azula cocked an eyebrow. "May I help you?"

Mai just blinked slowly as she took in the blonde. "We were only interested in learning about your companion."

"Yeah!" Ty Lee squeaked. "If you are looking for a suitor, we figured we better make sure she can handle you. So," Ty Lee's gray eyes narrowed and looked piercingly into Malia's, "Can you handle Azula's wild outbursts of temper?"

Malia just blinked. She seemed tempted to shy into Azula's side but thought better of it because of the mentioned 'wild outbursts of temper'.

"I'm sure she can handle them." Azula said offhandedly. "I'm sure she has a trick or two that could…distract me from doing anything rash."

Ty Lee blanched and glared menacingly at Malia like the girl had suggested it herself. Azula tried not to smile but she could feel the traitorous tip of the right side of her lip tweak up without permission.

"I'm sure she can." Mai soothed. The assassin had spotted the lip tweak and knew exactly what the Fire Princess was doing. "But can she handle the sadistic aspect that comes with that?" Mai examined her nails and pretended not to notice the panicked look on Malia's face. "Not everyone likes it that rough, Azula. That last girl had to be taken to the looney bin after only one night."

Azula narrowed her eyes knowing well that Mai was just making up stories now. Poor innocent Ty Lee's eyes were now wide as she looked between Mai and Azula. The acrobat was suddenly trying to decide if she had another girl to be jealous of. What if this strange girl got out of the asylum? Azula had already slept with her and may do it again!

"Well…" Malia started.

"And does she even know about the branding process?" Mai drawled.

And that was all the Malia could take. It appeared that even the attractive princess's affections could not talk the girl into 'the branding process'. With an excuse of an upcoming curfew, the blonde quickly left the three teen's presence.

Azula watched her go. So much for not burning bridges, she though. That just meant that Azula couldn't let things go bad with Ty Lee.

"Well, you've managed to scare away my company for the remainder of the party." Azula faked disappointment. "Now who will I spend the rest of the night with?"

Ty Lee saw her chance. "I'm not doing anything, Princess!"

"Oh no." Azula mocked. "But I've seen you with those two handsome young men. I couldn't pull you away from such attention. I'll just find another woman to keep me company all night." The teen made a show of glancing around as if looking for her next victim.

"No!" The acrobat exclaimed. "I don't even like those boys. I was just killing time before I could hang out with you!" The acrobat lunged forward and clung to the Fire Princess's arm and looked up with her big gray eyes that were pleading Azula not to make her let go.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy for the talking part." Azula stated. "But I'm under strict orders that I must actually dance as well from my father."

"We can dance." Ty Lee was quick to assure Azula. "We can dance a lot. Would you like to dance with me right now?"

Mai saw the victorious grin split Azula's face. "Why, Ty Lee, with all the attention you've been giving those boys lately I would never have thought you would want my attentions in that way." She put a clawed hand to her chest and continued to mock surprise. "I hope it wasn't part of your plan to make me jealous or something."

Gray eyes filled with understanding and Ty Lee shot a sheepish look to Mai who was giving her a 'I told you not to try to outsmart Azula' look in return. Ty Lee looked up at Azula and hesitantly pulled her towards the dancing masses.

The princess allowed herself to be pulled over.

"Mai was kidding about the girl you slept with going to the looney bin, right?" Ty Lee asked meekly. Azula rolled her eyes.

"Yes she was." The princess pulled Ty Lee into her. Both hands grabbing the tunic at the small of her back possessively. Ty Lee wrapped both of her arms around Azula's neck and both girls knew that even a flash flood wouldn't make her let go. Yes, Azula was very fond of this girl.