Chapter 6
Ember Island




“I’m not going to pack everything for you.” Ty Lee mumbled as she sat on the floor piles of clothes around her, there was a hill of pink beside a mountain of red. The poor acrobat had been sitting there stuffing things into bags for so long her bottom had gone numb by now.

The princess was lying on her bed, her head leaning off the edge of the foot of the bed. She was staring up at the ceiling throwing a red ball up into the air and catching it as it fell back down. The only thing covering her well toned body was her robe which was lazily thrown on. Since her head dangled off the bed, Ty Lee had a good view of Azula’s cleavage.

Once again the princess had a perfect catch, she leaned her head even further back to look at the acrobat upside down. “But Ty Lee you know I can’t overdo anything with my back hurt and all.” The princess said in a self pity tone. The acrobat crossed her arms and pouted for a second, Azula looked away and threw the ball into the air again.

“Your back didn’t seem to be a problem for you last night.” The bendable girl huffed out. The fire bender’s head jerked back to glance at the girl. The ball flew down and landed on Azula’s forehead, bounced onto the floor and rolled over to Ty Lee’s foot. The acrobat picked up the ball. “Azula I love you and all but I’m not your slave.”

The prodigy giggled. “Of course you are.” The pink wearing girl raised her arm threatening to throw the ball at the princess face. The fire bender grinned. “I love you?” Ty Lee lowered her arm and Azula relaxed knowing she was safe. When the princess wasn’t expecting it, Ty Lee raised her arm and threw the ball hitting the top of the prodigy’s head.

The fire bender brought her gaze back to Ty Lee who was laughing uncontrollably now. When she was able to get herself to calm down she spotted the princess crossing her arms, her lower lip sticking out, the look of death on her face. “Oh come on that was funny.” The princess’ evil glare didn’t change. The acrobat crawled over to the upside down fire bender. “Where’s that smile?” She teased grabbing Azula’s cheeks and pulling them so an uneven smile formed. “You know being angry isn’t good for your skin. It would be so sad to have a blemish on that pretty face of yours.”

Azula laid there like a rock, her expression not changing at all. The princess’ angry face tightened before she spoke. “I don’t know why you’re bothering to talk, I’m not listening to you.” The acrobat’s shoulders dropped.

“Okay fine. I guess I won’t finish packing for you.” Ty Lee said starting to turn away. The prodigy simply looked the other way. “And you can stay here ALL alone. With no one but daddy to keep you company.” The princess didn’t seem to care at all, still. “And you won’t get the surprise I had for you.” She turned her back completely on the princess but a firm hand grabbed her sleeve. She looked over her shoulder at the fire bender whose look of anger changed to curiosity. “Heard that did you?”

Azula tugged on the acrobat’s sleeve and Ty Lee was thrust towards the princess. The fire bender leaned up and crushed the bendable girl’s mouth. The acrobat moved back. “Not so rough.” The girl whined but Azula only met her lips again even harder. While glued together the acrobat pulled the princess off the bed. The fire bender landed on her back, the ground punched the wound the arrow had caused.

“Damn it Ty Lee!” The prodigy hissed going to reach for her back. The stinging and throbbing coming from her back made the fire bender wiggle in place. Ty Lee felt bad now and petted the girl’s forehead.

“Sorry, I forgot about your ouchy. Do you need a hug?” she asked sincerely and the princess looked at her like she was insane.

“No! I don’t need a stupid hug.” The prodigy yelled. Ty Lee wrapped her arms around the princess anyway and the fire bender tried to shove her off but it was useless. “Ty Lee get off of me!”

There was a light knock on the door. Azula and Ty Lee looked over to find their tall bored friend standing there covering her eyes. “Please tell me you guys are wearing clothes.” Mai complained.

“Of course we are Mai!” Ty Lee laughed as she snuggled closer to Azula, feeling the soft skin of the princess’ exposed skin on her cheek.

First Mai split her middle finger and her index finger revealing her dark eyeball, finding that it was safe the knife thrower lowered her arm. The tall girl strode over to the wall like a shadow and leaned her shoulder against it huffing out, pretending as if the three steps took a large amount of effort. Ty Lee had always wondered if Mai was aware of time, Mai seemed to take her time with everything, the knife thrower could care less if she took all day long strolling down the hallway. So naturally before telling them why she interrupted their “snuggle time” the assassin’s eyes wandered over to the window, lost in a day dream. Eventually she opened her mouth and decided to speak a few words.

“Zuko said the ship’s ready to go.” Mai announced. “But judging by that-,” the tall girl stared at the two piles of clothes. “-I see you’re not ready.”

The princess lifted her arm observing her nails normally as if the acrobat wasn’t using her as a pillow. “I keep telling Ty Lee to hurry up but she won’t listen to me.” Azula sighed and Ty Lee frowned, the prodigy spoke of her as if she was some kind of servant. The pink wearing girl decided to try and say something but the sound of footsteps coming up the corridor made her change her mind.

“Mai!” Zuko’s frustrated voice came from the hallway. “I thought I told you to tell them-,” Azula jolted upward almost flinging Ty Lee off. Mai turned and disappeared into the hallway to keep Zuko from walking in. Azula and Ty Lee stared through the open doors listening in on the conversation nosily. “What do you mean I can’t go in there?!” There was a sound from Mai but not clear enough to understand. “Naked? No one is naked in there!” More unclear noises from Mai. “Not right to barge into my sister’s room my ass!” Zuko said in defeat and his footsteps went the opposite way down the hall.

Mai stepped back into the doorway. “If this is how I’m going to be spending my vacation you two can forget it.” The knife thrower warned with a dagger in her hand pointed towards the prodigy. The hostile girl slowly stepped back then gazed at Ty Lee with her knife. The acrobat went stiff with fear. Mai turned around a left them in peace.




“EEEKKK!!!” Ty Lee squeaked right next to Azula’s ear. The acrobat was hopping up and down with excitement. The prodigy glanced about hoping to death no one could see them, especially as they made their way towards the smallest beach house possibly ever to exist. The two of them were walking behind Mai and Zuko who followed Azula’s teachers. “Oh this is going to be so fun won’t it?” The acrobat said just blown away by the surrounding of the tropical trees the sound of the sea. Azula had been here so many times she’d been burned out on it so there was not even a hint of happiness on her face.

“Come on kids hurry along.” Lo and Li said together. The old ladies hiked up the steep hill (the only ones who found it difficult) to the beach house. A few people were passing by and utterly stripped of her pride, the princess lowered her head as they walked into the box size house. This feeling of being embarrassed was still very new to the prodigy and she hated the emotion with all her guts.

The princess relaxed as they stepped into the house hidden from the eyes of the islanders. The four of them were given a tour ending with the one room they would all have to share. The princess felt her stomach sink at the thought of having to share, she shouldn’t have to share anything she was the prodigy of the Fire Nation for goodness sake. She turned to Lo and Li.

“Aren’t we a little old to be sharing a room?” She muttered. The two elder women turned to her with their innocent old lady smiles.

“You all know each other. I’m sure sharing won’t be a problem.” Lo spoke ever so kindly.

Ty Lee had jumped onto one of the beds making herself comfortable when she heard what the princess said. “Yeah Azula we could share a room, we’ve done it before.” Ty Lee said with a wide chipper smile. The fire bender’s face turned bright red, Azula swallowed deeply hoping with Lo and Li’s old age the two of them wouldn’t understand what the acrobat meant.  

“But…surely,” She coughed uncomfortably. “M-Mai and Zuko would want their own room.”

“I’m sure the two of them won’t mind sharing.” Li answered looking at Mai. Azula’s fists were beginning to tighten. She just wanted to be alone with Ty Lee for two darn seconds without Mai and Zuko there.

“But they are a couple, they deserve their privacy!” The princess said through her teeth trying to give her teachers a hint without blurting out the fact she wasn’t straight and wanted to be alone with her girlfriend.

Everyone fell silent, it was odd for her to be so passionate about someone else’s privacy. The others were wondering if the sun had fried Azula’s brain already or she was actually being selfless for once. They decided it must have been the first one and their reaction was exchanging confused glances.

The princess shrugged and walked over to the bed on the furthest wall. She flopped onto the stiff mattress and wondered if this could even be considered a bed. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. This vacation spelled miserable all over it.



It was midnight. It was almost completely black in the room except for some of the moonlight beaming down on the island. The gentle sound of the ocean sweeping the dirt off the beach echoed in the distance. The over sized leaves on the exotic trees chattered as the wind pushed them out of its way. Somehow her stiff bed had become comfortable after piling on a million blankets and pillows on it. Right now it would seem like she’d be getting the best sleep a princess could ever ask for and she would if it weren’t for Mai and Zuko whispering on the other side of the room.

She was trying to be patient hoping they’d get tired of complimenting each other’s features, it seemed by now the only thing left to say they adored was the way each other sweated. It was so tempting for Azula to sit up, toss a pillow at their heads and order them to be quiet. Instead she tried to remain calm, somehow drift off into the dream world but that was asking for a miracle.

She heard them whisper and giggle loudly almost right after that she coughed obnoxiously. They tried whisper something else-, “COUGH! COUGH!!!” She glared at the darkness hoping they saw how frustrated she was. Thinking it was alright now she cuddled up with her pillow and set her head down on it ever so lightly. Instantly the whispering continued. She grumbled and tried to lay there and not shoot a bolt of lightning in Zuko’s direction.

The princess huffed out. Thank the spirits her and Ty Lee never sat there just staring at each other admiring the others’ existence. Never whispered sweet nothings…yeah what was so great about that anyway? She shrugged and stared up at the ceiling for the forth time that day. Maybe…just maybe she wanted to do that.

She felt a light pressure push down on the edge of the bed. The princess lifted her head to see Ty Lee hesitantly trying to sneak onto the bed. It must have been too dark for the acrobat to notice Azula’s open eyes. The girl came to her side and slowly slide under the covers and rolled over so her back faced the prodigy.

Without thinking she placed her hand on Ty Lee’s hip. The acrobat squeaked from being scared. The princess wrapped her arm around the girl’s stomach and pulled her close to let her know it was her. “Shhh,” She chuckled into Ty Lee’s ear.

“You scared me.” Ty Lee said breathing heavily now her blood racing through her body. The princess smiled faintly before resting her head next to Ty Lee’s. She seemed frozen as she lay there clinging to the acrobat. Her nerves going wild from being so close, she could feel her skin become warmer. They hadn’t done this in a while.

She heard Zuko whisper something nice to Mai and the girl seemed to laugh cheerfully. Azula looked at the back of Ty Lee’s head wondering if she should even dare pull the same move. It seemed like years since the last time she made Ty Lee smile, even if it was just a few hours ago.

You would think by now the princess would have overcome her nervous habits when she was around Ty Lee, but tonight obviously it was clear she’d never be calm around the acrobat. She slowly broke the little space between them and leaned closer to Ty Lee’s ear. Her body was shaking from the adrenaline pounding through her. It was a miracle the acrobat could not hear her heart. As she got ready to say something she realized she was missing something important. She had no clue what to say.

Her eyes darted around the darkness trying to think of something to say but it was simply impossible. Ty Lee started stirring and acknowledging the fact the prodigy was trying to attempt to fuse their bodies together. Azula panicked and said the first thing she could think of. “B-beautiful night…tonight…” The fire bender whispered. Ty Lee made a noise agreeing with her. Azula stared down at her peaceful acrobat and without thinking, the words trapped in her heart made their great escape. “…almost as beautiful as you.” She breathed into the girl’s ear.

She watched as Ty Lee’s signature wide grin grew. Without being able to stop herself she smiled now. The acrobat turned onto her back and looked up at the princess confused. “What’re you doing?” the acrobat chuckled. Azula became confused, partly because she was staring at Ty Lee her brain didn’t process the words. The prodigy shook her head but too faintly for Ty Lee to notice. “Is there something…you want…”

Suddenly, a smooth hand came to the bottom of Azula’s thigh and slid further up. The princess’ was thankful for the darkness because she just turned redder than the Fire Nation’s flags. If it was even possible, her heart seemed to go even faster. Her breathing was almost non existent; she stared down at Ty Lee who seemed aware of the princess’ shock. “Is that why you’re being so nice?” the pink girl whispered with a sneaky grin on her face as she slid her hand under Azula’s robe. The princess jerked away faster than she would’ve liked.

The prodigy was now on the edge of the bed trying to keep her distance from the acrobat, because if she didn’t she might let things get out of control. She might forget her brother and Mai were in the same room. She would like to keep her dignity for as long as possible, if she lost it now there would certainly be no Fire Lord throne for her. The temptation though was so difficult to overcome. She could only lie there as Ty Lee stared at her wondering if she’d answer the question or not.

“I was just…” She swallowed deeply still unable to think straight. The acrobat giggled and reached over grasping Azula’s cheek. The princess closed her mouth and went quiet. The pink wearing girl came quickly across the gap between.

“Azula, you’re burning up.” the acrobat said worriedly. “Are you sick or something?” The prodigy laughed and took in a deep breathe before attempting to speak again.

“No, you just make me nervous.” The fire bender admitted. Ty Lee grinned and hugged Azula before they closed their eyes. Tomorrow was supposed to be a fun day in the boiling heat.