Saturday: Handwriting

Azula glances at the list and then cackles.

Ty Lee, however, does not seem to find any of it very funny.

"What is this?" Azula asks with an innocent look in her eyes that can look only murderous. She cannot believe the paper in front of her, neatly handwritten lists with little boxes to check off tasks. It's like a to-do list but not for servants.

Ty Lee sighs and glances around their new home. It's a very nice Republic City flat that Azula ought to be more grateful for in Ty Lee's opinion, but the part-time Kyoshi Warrior tolerates it. Mostly tolerates it.

"We have to take care of this place ourselves, and seeing as I have a job to do and you're not allowed to leave..." Ty Lee smiles as if that can help.

Azula laughs and it is a very scary laugh. Ty Lee smiles and it is a very scary smile.

Zuko clears his throat because this situation has escalated much too quickly. "So, are you two settled and okay here?"

They both look at him and he shifts his weight, his knees jerking slightly towards the door, and his hands moving to burn this entire apartment to the ground. He offers the welcoming face he uses on skeptical dignitaries and Fire Nation peasants ─ citizens, he means ─ who clearly want to spit on him more than greet him.

It does very little.

"ZuZu, she's serious. I want you to take me home with you," Azula says sharply, her breath catching with the affected fear. It is exceptionally pitiful, and Zuko wonders if that is her intention. "I'm not going to do any of the things on this list."

Azula holds it up and it is torn from her hand so quickly that she shrieks. This high pitched bloodcurdling sound that Zuko has woken up to in the night more than once due to the impromptu heart attacks it causes. Ty Lee shoves the list into her shirt, unfazed by the sound that probably has made enemies of all of their neighbors.

"Why did you take that?" Azula snaps. "I was just going to show my brother how ridiculous these suggestions are."

"You were going to burn it," Ty Lee says and Azula glares daggers. "Don't even protest; you were going to burn it. Azula, it isn't a hard list or anything and you don't even have to do this stuff every single day."

"How about none of the days? How about ZuZu buys us a house that comes with servants like a civilized person!"

"Houses don't come with servants..." Zuko then frowns. "I think. Are there houses that come with servants, Toph?"

"I dunno. Now shut up; this is getting entertaining," Toph snaps back without a second thought. She has stopped setting up and monitoring for security reasons and is partially obscured by the apartment wall so she can hear the action.

"Even if there was a house that came with servants," Zuko begins in the voice of a true ruler, "I would not get it for you. Not because I am cruel or unfair, but because enough people hate me."

"I hate you, though! You should be much more worried about my hatred than that of fictional peasants! You have made yourself a very powerful and angry enemy!"

"That I already had." Zuko shrugs. "You don't have to do anything Ty Lee says. You're not her slave. She just has a disproportionate amount of power over you that I think we are all grateful that she's just using to ask you to wash dishes and dust cabinets that you haven't bought yet."

Toph mutters, "I'm not grateful about that. That's so boring."

Azula sighs, points her nose towards the ceiling and slinks away out of sight. Ty Lee shakes her head very slowly.

"I'm going to make her wash so many dishes." Ty Lee giggles until she cannot breathe.

"Be reasonable. She's fragile... and so are your plates and bowls," Zuko whispers with a wink in Ty Lee's direction. He then stops before walking out of the door. "I'm sorry. That was an awful thing for me to say. Your cabinets are very fragile too."

Toph's lips crack into a smirk.

Ty Lee sits down and looks at Azula. The princess looks miserable and Ty Lee feels horrifically guilty.

"We just have to sleep on the floor tonight. You're going to be okay," Ty Lee says earnestly and Azula glares again. "Please don't be mad at me. I hate it when you're mad at me."

"I hate it when you make me live like a prisoner."

Ty Lee looks around at the fancy flat, and the small handwritten list of chores that is chafing against her breasts.

"This is really not how most prisoners live."

"How would you know?"

"Because you sent me to prison for like a month."

"I didn't sign any execution orders..." Azula looks Ty Lee up and down and then looks at her sleeping arrangements. It is both of their sleeping mats, and an entire silk and fur king sized bedding set. "Which I am regretting."

"You have lived in worse conditions. You have done worse things. You have been through worse ordeals. And I love you dearly."

"I hate you, though." Azula lies down and crawls under the blankets to avoid admitting Ty Lee is right. "I'm going to run away tonight."

"Well then I will be forced to wrap you very tightly in those blankets. Like a prisoner."

"You've gone mad with power," Azula says bitterly and Ty Lee does not think she is joking. She hopes Azula is joking, but she doubts it.

Ty Lee smiles, though, and lies down with her small quilt on top of her. "I know. A list of chores, the wedding rings on your fingers and ownership of an apartment is definitely way too much power for me to handle."

"It is," Azula whispers, and that's all she says before disappearing beneath her blankets.