A/N: So, here it is, why I joined fanfiction. To join in on all the Tyzula. I have a plot bunny for a full length fic but I'm testing the waters with this drabble. Tell me what you think and if I should write a full length Tyzula! (this is my first fanfic too, but I've been reading them for four years now)

And the way she moved was like water on fire, but she was as unpredictable as lightning. One moment she could be there, and the next, she wasn't. She was practicing with such fluidity that it seemed the lightning was an extension of herself. Ty Lee jumped every time Lo and Li shouted something, as she sat on the ship, sipping tea that kept spilling on herself.

They were going to go fetch Mai from Omashu. Which was a good five day trip, and Ty Lee was already incredibly bored. The only interesting thing that went on, besides the gossiping soldiers and the hitting on her soldiers, was Azula's training sessions, which were about two and half hours long, twice a day and required even more stamina than developing the core muscles to balance above a flaming net.

"You looked nice," Ty Lee said at the end, unsure what else to say.

"I didn't do well," was all Azula responded with, before ducking into her cabin and locking the door. Ty Lee stood, staring at the metal wall between she and her best friend, and she could only wonder how things could change so fast.

Because one moment she could be there, and the next, she wasn't.

Maybe there was something about it that made sense to one of them. It didn't make much sense to Ty Lee but she could feel it and that was what mattered. It was day three of travelling and Azula did not show up for her training session, therefore, Ty Lee was standing there pathetically, clutching tea that was already lukewarm.

Azula did not feel. She did not believe in auras, vibrations or human connections without strict power dynamics. And Ty Lee was vaguely okay with that. She did think that if Azula had a little love she would be, well, more pleasant to be around. But despite her generally terrible personality, Ty Lee could not help but want to be around her all the time.

Ty Lee waited for her again as the Earth Kingdom blossomed on the horizon. And they met eyes briefly for a moment. That was how it always was; this shared glance that was different from everything else.

"You look pretty, princess," Ty Lee tried to break the ice. Azula shrugged, and went on with her training.

The relationship escalated by the time they tried to drill Ba Sing Se. Azula would not tell anyone about it. Ty Lee found herself to be some kind of royal concubine and she imagined it was a lot better than circus freak because she imagined she loved Azula.

They fucked in Azula's bed and when Ty Lee woke up; Azula was gone. Because one moment she could be there; and the next she wasn't.

The Boiling Rock came and passed. Azula wasn't there again. The sex ended, the shared glances never came again, as Ty Lee stared at a cold, damp grey wall.

She was there; and then she wasn't.

Ty Lee saw Azula again when she was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and contemplating the benefits of an early death.

"You look really pretty, princess," Ty Lee said, sitting beside her.

And there it was, amongst Azula's misery; there was the shared glance. The one that started on a voyage to Omashu, the one that bound Ty Lee to her mistress like glue, made her a slave of sex and pain.

"I know," Azula whispered.

Their lips touched.

But when Ty Lee looked into her eyes, Azula was not there.

She never was again.

Because when she was bold and brilliant and fourteen she was there; and when she was dark and pained and eighteen, she wasn't.