Lesson 5: An Academic Lady is always Dignified

"Hey, how do you feel?" Mai asked upon seeing Ty Lee's eyes open. She'd given students quite a scare when she'd fainted and began to twitch in an almost violent manner and only when Mai, with Aneue's help, began to try and carry her out of the room did most others offer some kind of aid; mainly stepping out of the way.

"What happened?" Ty Lee asked weakly.

"You fainted; it turns out, you have the flu." Mai answered.

"Oh." Her friend on the bed sighed and then turned away to the window.

Mai, figuring that there was nothing better to do, slipped out of the room unnoticed. A moment later, Azula burst into the room grumbling and raided the medicine cabinet for some ointment. It took her at least two minutes to notice that she wasn't alone in the room.

"How are we today?" she asked pseudo-sweetly.

"Fine." Ty Lee replied aloofly.

With a scoff, Azula exited the medical hold as well.

A few days later

'I must be delirious!' Ty Lee thought as she sat up from her bed.

Her entire family—five sisters and all—was there besides her.

"And Medea, Kauri, and Ali will all be joining you at the Royal Academy!" her mother finished.

Her other two sisters, Adrianne and Cassava, could not attend; they were not too young—Cassava was twelve and Adrianne was sixteen—the Akuro family just could not afford to send six girls to the elite and costly academy.

At that moment, Ty Lee wanted to burst into tears or scream in anger; but she knew that if she did, the Royal Academy would lose credibility; she had been there for little more than two months and her behavior should have reflected that.

A fake smile plastered on her face, she looked back at her family. "I am glad to hear that; welcome to the academy, Medea, Kauri, and Ali." It was as if she'd just said goodbye to her identity all over again.

(A/N: the sixth sister hasn't come into the world yet.)

On the Day of Atonement—which marked the three-week anniversary of when Ty Lee's sisters came to the academy—the students had to wake up early to report to the chapel for the atonement prayers.

Clutching her rosary, Azula barely listened to the minister as she pondered about how she could exploit Amaeru's weakness. A few days ago, when the academy served a mint cake, Amaeru had to go to the medical wing upon breaking out in a severe rash and suffering something of an epileptic seizure after consuming the dessert and Kiza having accidentally smeared on some of the mint frosting onto her face. "When there is a weakness, always exploit it." Sozun had once said.

"Let us pray." The minister boomed; startling most girls out of their sleepy state.

"Hey Azula—." Ty Lee began upon entering her dormitory.

Mai had locked herself into her dormitory with her roommates for some unknown reason; probably, she was off socializing and going to 'better places'.

"Not now, Ty Lee." Azula snapped brusquely; pacing around.

"But—!"

"Look, your sisters are here and they're going to stay; just suck it up and make the most of it!" Azula said in, what Ty Lee perceived was, a taunting manner.

Ty Lee stomped out; slamming the door behind her. It wasn't fair; both Azula and Mai had gone through their own problems and Ty Lee stuck with them, but suddenly, when her problem sprang up, they avoided her like the plague!

To others, it must have seemed that her life was a blessing; she was living in a suite usually reserved for authorities and she had family here as well, her friends needed of her support for their issues and they turned to her, she was even getting betrothed to a man from a wealthy family!

But once again, she was in the presence of her sisters who all looked like her and already, there were confusions among the school of who was who, her friends had all but ditched her because of their own issues, and her mother was only using the betrothal as an excuse to shut her up! Oh, yes; life was just great.

Ty Lee

Kurisumasu came, and Ty Lee's parents came to visit her and her sisters.

When they came, however, many thing seemed different about them; particularly when Ty Lee's mother shook her saucer of drink so badly that the cup almost fell off. The six sisters regarded their mother; confused. Not that their mother was the most graceful woman in the world, or that she never seemed nervous in her life, but it looked as if she was to have a nervous attack right then and there.

"More sugar, mother?" Medea offered kindly; to which their mother turned to her with a wild glare in her eyes.

"Sugar? You put sugar in tea here? Did I send you to a school where they teach you to put sugar in everything?" she nearly shouted.

"But mother, you yourself taught us to--!" Ali stepped in.

"Oh, so I taught you this! I'm the bad mother! I'm the undignified mother! I'm the burdening despot who can't even teach her female children to be ladies!"

"Stop making a scene; you're attracting attention." their father snapped.

"Attracting attention, am I? Well, you should be the one to talk! Kauri--!"

"I'm Ali!"

"D'you think I don't know the names of my own daughter? Ali, Medea, Kauri, and Ty Lee!" She was pointing at random people and objects throughout the room; maybe she should be locked in a mental asylum.

Ty Lee, about to slink away, was pulled back by Kauri. "D'you see it?" she whispered urgently.

"See—?" Ty Lee was about to ask, but a glance at their parents from across them answered the question.

It all became clear; the reason behind their father's aloof behavior from the moment he entered the academy, her mother's obvious distress at every little thing, and even why they didn't bring up the subject of marriage for the girls while they were there—their father wanted to separate from her.

Azula

Maybe being in the kitchens did have its benefits; because of her 'status' as an aid, she'd had access to the herb room.

Inside the dimly-lit though ventilated room, Azula had to cover her nose so that she would not get a headache from the abundance of smells that assaulted her nose the moment she opened the door.

Reaching up, she grabbed the knot of a string with a certain herb threaded in them like a needle with a thread. Before she suffocated, Azula ran out of the room; closing the door and looking closely at the foliage.

Mai

'…and so we regret that…' If there was a bigger lie than that, then she would kiss the next guy she laid eyes on at the Spring Fête.

"I bet she told one of her pages to write it." Mai murmured; crumpling up the note and tossing it.

Kyonyuu-Sama had relented and the teachers were passing out glasses of liquor for the occasion; one for every student over the age of twelve. The younger girls only received dry ginger ale and they politely sipped at it.

As Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula were all holding their drinks and talking to one another, some of the drunker patrons began to stumble across the floor over to the 'children's' area.

"I don't understand why they would give liquor to them." Mai pointed out.

"Really; just look at those idiots swaying and slurring, that flaky headmistress is stupider than I thought!" Azula said with disgust.

Both Ty Lee and Mai stared at each other; silently bringing up the subject of Azula's recent obsession with what she called 'revenge'. The last time they'd spoken, in the library, Azula was rummaging through the informative scrolls about—of all things—mint leaves and their affects.

The academy had a teacher who taught about herbs—how to find them, extract the needed parts out of them, et cetera—and she'd been gullible enough to tell Azula everything she'd needed to know; assuming that the first year just wanted to learn. The smell of mint had already begun to fill the air; even with the windows opened.

As she continued to work on her potion, she mumbled to herself like a mad scientist. Placing the 'juice' into a metal pan, Azula left it on the window ledge; letting the mixture cool down a bit.

"Trying to throw yourself out the window?" A voice taunted from behind her. It was Amaeru with a smirk on her features.

Azula smiled back; her eyes oozing malice.

Later

When night came, when Hinagata's snoring confirmed that all of them were asleep, Azula grabbed the metal pot and, after critically inspecting it, took out the remains of the leaves and carefully poured the contents of her small pot into the small bottle that was supposed to be for Amaeru's face oil; quietly humming.

Breakfast, the next day

As everyone was breaking fast, a loud shriek of resistance was heard from outside the doors.

Upon bursting open, Amaeru was being dragged in by two 'guardians'; her attire in disarray, her hair uncombed, and half of her face a bright pink and covered with plague-like boils. There were many audible gasps by those who were able to see.

The guardians dropped her at the feet of the three stairs that led to the upper platform where the teachers ate.

"Kyonyuu-Sama; this girl was found loitering in her chambers and the washroom." One of the guardians reported.

Azula turned to Mai; unfazed by what had happened and what was happening.

"Mai, please do pass me the honey." She crooned.

Mai passed her the golden pot; watching as Azula took out a large dollop, partially spread it onto her piece of crispy bread and gobbled it with relish.