TyZula Drabbles

Candle

The evening lay still and quiet over the stretch of Ember Island. In the royal family cottage, Ty Lee was awoken by a familiar emptiness. She stood up, and found her way to the cupboards in the kitchen by moonlight, tip-toeing gingerly---careful not to disturb Mai or Zuko who nuzzled each other in their sleep, or Azula who slept alone. She found a candle and a box of matches, which she then struck alight. With the candle burning, she snuck to where Azula was, and with a few drops of wax on the floor, she set the candle a safe distance away from the sleeping princess. She then sat cross legged on the floor, hands on her thighs, palms open, and eyes watching the princess; savouring each rise and fall of her breasts from the fabric of her nightshirt, languishing in the sight of her delicate lips, her porcelain skin, and the gleam of her ebony hair. In the unbroken silence, her ears could discern Azula's calm breathing, which in her sleep no longer bore any tension or trace of iron will. The emptiness in her heart faded. In a voice lower than a whisper, so quiet in fact that it seemed she thought it rather than said it, she muttered: "I would give my life to have you breathing always..." And now she came near, so near that her lips almost touched Azula's own pouting lips. It was so cute, thought Ty Lee. In a more audible voice, she said, "Don't you know 'Zula, that you look more beautiful by the light of a candle?"

Dog

The ranks of the Fire Nation military parted into two lines, bowing respectfully as the Princess of the Fire Nation and her entourage passed by. One soldier, thinking that he could not be heard, said to the one beside him, "That girl with the braid... she always follows the princess like she's her dog. Do you think..." but the soldier beside him was already moving aside, bowing lower. Clearly oblivious to the fact that Azula heard his remark clearly and had taken insult, he looked up, seeing the black armour of the princess in front of him. Azula grabbed him by the helmet, and planted her knee into his face. He fell face forward before the princess' feet, nose bleeding. He spit out four of his broken teeth. His heart almost stopped as he heard Azula's stern command: "Execute this mongrel dog!"

Light

Azula was a creature of the night. Her heartless and manipulative father made sure of that. Even though Zuko was true to his word, and had sent her to a mental-hospital after she literally snapped, her heart was still clouded. She still held deep grudges, and she retreated back to her darkness, wallowing in the pain and the feeling of abandonment. During her stay at the facility, Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee constantly visited her. She knew part of healing the pain that drove her almost completely insane was to let people through. She knew she couldn't heal her heart alone. But the darkness she was thrust into became, erroneously, her twisted "comfort". Mai stopped seeing her after a month. Zuko, after five months. But Ty Lee never did. She came to see her every day. A year and a half went by, a year and a half of being confined to a room, and an occasional stroll in the facility's gardens. A year and a half of hating, of wallowing in darkness... wait... no... the hate is gone... The sadness is still there, the hurt... but not the hate. Not anymore. She was walking with Ty Lee, the acrobat picking flowers from the many plants in the garden, even though a sign was posted that said: Please do not pick the flowers. For the first time in a very very long time, Azula giggled. A short, tentative, girlish giggle. Not at all like her wicked laugh, not even close to her mad laugh... She actually giggled! Ty Lee turned to look at her, a little bit astounded at this sudden display of mirth. "Zula? You okay?" genuine concern lacing her melodious voice. She smiled at Ty Lee, and Ty Lee smiled back, holding her illegal bouquet of flowers in the crook of her right arm, while she drew close to Azula, caressing her face gently with the fingers of her left hand. "Oh 'Zula... you're smiling!" She felt tears welling in her eyes, but she willed it away. She smiled at Azula some more, and drew her into a hug. The scent of crushed flowers, of stems, or the grass, and the fresh air; of Ty Lee's perfume, or her hair, her skin, the feeling of human contact, of human warmth... of love---of joy experienced for the first time was so overwhelming for Azula. Ty Lee didn't see the tears that now streaked Azula's still smiling visage, did not know Azula's thoughts when she said to herself, "I will leave the darkness you imprisoned me in Ozai. I will leave it behind completely. I found her... no... she found me. I have my light at last."