A/N: Based on "The House of the Rising Sun", loosely.

Ty Lee is going back to the Fire Nation to wear a ball and chain.

Someone is sitting beside her on the ship, an old woman holding her unruly granddaughter. The small child smiles at Ty Lee and Ty Lee smiles warmly back. She feels at the precipice of a terrible decision; she is giving up and it wounds her to the soul.

But she is doing it anyway. She is willingly accepting shackles. Because they are made of love, for some reason she does not think they are chains at all. But she only wishes she had listened to her mother all of those years ago, who told her never to get involved with Azula because she would both drown and burn.

All she could do was tell her younger sisters, the young girls on Kyoshi Island, the people she is trying to justify herself to whether young or old, not to do what she has done. They should never tighten their own noose, despite the hips the invite her and the lips like wine. Don't let yourself be blinded by love or lust, or you will be a slave to that unwise desire forever.

"Where are you headed?" the elderly woman asks as her granddaughter settles for staring out of the window at the ocean.

"Caldera," is all Ty Lee manages to reply. She is going to the Fire Nation to spend her life in pleasure and misery in the city of the rising sun.

Her father was one for gambling. He could afford it, being the fourth richest family in the Fire Nation and the colonies. He was good at it, if you can be good at gambling. Made him think he has luck. Azula always bemoans her luck running dry; it sounds kind of like her father. But Ty Lee always responds that her luck has not run out, because she will always have one person.

"You have family there?"

"I used to. They moved to the country." Hesitation. "My girlfriend lives in the city. I'm going to go live with her."

It only occurs to Ty Lee at that moment that she is. She is going to live with Azula, packing up her entire life into a suitcase and a trunk. She looks at her belongings and knows that she will want for nothing in the Fire Nation. But she wishes she had more to her name, for some reason. This is the third time she has run away from home.

But home is not where you run from; it is where you are running to.

"That's sweet," the woman says and Ty Lee knows it is. Azula may not be sugary but she is the best thing Ty Lee has ever had. But Ty Lee has never really offered herself anything better than Azula. She could have, possibly. Maybe at some point she could've.

"I'm excited."

"You don't sound very excited," the woman says and Ty Lee wonders if she is. She glances for a moment at the glare of the sun on the ship window and has the brief urge to jump into the ocean and start swimming away.

But this is what she has always wanted. Always. And it still is. One part of her says that Azula is the best she is ever going to do, and the other part of her says, 'I agree'.

"It's been a long time," Ty Lee says softly as land comes ever closer. There is no turning back now. No turning back. "But I love her. And I mean, love is important."

"What are you leaving for love?" the woman inquires and Ty Lee bites her lip for a moment. She does not want to speak ill of her decision for fear of changing her mind.

"My dream job and all of my friends. But I'm getting older and I want to live happily ever after. I love her like I've never loved anybody," Ty Lee says, feeling ridiculous. She does love Azula. How could she not love Azula after all they have weathered together? "And she needs me. She really needs me."

"Go where you're needed." And then there is a pause that makes Ty Lee nervous. "But you need yourself too."

"I know," Ty Lee whispers, her expression knotted with concern. The ship stops and she hears the guttural shrieking of the anchor. She waits with her eyes closed for the ship doors to be opened.

Ty Lee sets her feet on the docks and looks at Caldera. She has visited so many times to be with Azula, to hold her. On her vacations. She started traveling the world, but when Azula came home to the Fire Nation, Ty Lee kept going to her. Azula needed her. Ty Lee was the only one, and she has never been the only one. In her childhood, or the war, or especially with the Kyoshi Warriors.

She keeps her thoughts focused on Azula's lips as she walks towards the palace, passing sleazy shops and people walking their pets. The life is so vivid, but the palace is always cold and statuesque. Ty Lee continues walking, reveling in the people ogling her for what will likely be the last time. When she goes out with Azula people are very reluctant to be caught looking at her tits.

But Azula's lips taste perfect. Bitter, but perfect, like strong liquor or breathing in campfire smoke. Jarring. Yet soft like the silk blankets they tangle themselves in at night. Warm, or maybe feverish. They were so cold when Ty Lee kissed her for the first time since Azula's breakdown. She was nearly catatonic. And Ty Lee is responsible for fixing her.

But now she is responsible for the maintenance of the princess. But she loves her. She loves her and the sharp taste of her lips and the way her eyes look with this conviction and desire. Azula has taken what she wants. Ty Lee is bound for her like she enjoys to be bound in bed.

The familiar part of town is getting closer. Ty Lee smiles faintly at the neighborhood where she grew up.

And so Ty Lee goes back to Caldera to wear that ball and chain.