Azula slipped out of her armor. In this setting it was nothing more than a setback, extra weight that she didn't need. It would only slow her down in the long run as she moved through stance after stance. Besides, there was a large part of her that wanted to feel the sun on her skin as she trained. That was, after all, why she had chosen to practice outside as opposed to within the palace. Something about the breeze mingling with the sun, seemed to make her practices go more smoothly. It was the serenity of it, she realized.

Azula worked through her first few stances without a conscious thought, all of them had become second nature. She looked over at the wall of decorative swords. She shrugged to herself, it was time for something new. Her father never told her that the decoration swords could be used in practice, but hadn't told her not to use them either.

With a certain grace about her, she reached out for the sword lowest on the wall, finding that she had to stand on her tip-toes to even brush her fingers over the bottom of her desired sword.

"Need some help?" TyLee offered.

"I've got it." Azula mumbled as she made another reach.

"Clearly." TyLee noted. Despite the princess' refusal of help, the acrobat retrieved the sword for her.

Taking it with a degree of bitterness, the princess muttered, "I told you I could get it myself." TyLee caught her brief glance at one of the courtyard benches.

"So you'd let the bench help you, but not me?" TyLee asked.

Azula sighed, "I'm a bit busy TyLee. Either be quite and watch or go back inside." She drew the sword from its intricate sheath. She held it out in front of her and examined it against the sunlight. "I never have had a chance to work with an ōdachi." She gave it a swift tester slash. "Yes, this will do." She walked back to the center of the yard and dropped into a stance TyLee hadn't seen her use as often.

She first offered the air a few quick jabs and then branched out into upper and lower cuts. Her form was sturdy, and the technique both enticing and elaborate. However, the actually art of swordsmanship was lost on TyLee who had found focus elsewhere.

Namely, the way Azula's muscles flexed with each slash, the way her hair fanned out as she moved into one of her elegant turns. TyLee had never had taken the time to apricate her friend for her physical beauty. She very clearly admired Azula's knack for intellectualism, her ability to calculate and plan every move. However, she never did pause to apricate Azula's overall aesthetic. Her body delicately toned, skin softly tanned by her constant time in the sun. The focused look in her soft gold eyes. The kind of focused glisten that her eyes only held when she was training. The way her hair didn't even look slightly disheveled, despite her rapid and relentless firebending and cutting moves.

She spun around, cut the sword through the air, and lifted her arm back into a more natural stance with a fluid wave-like motion. A little more artistic than she actually needed to be, but TyLee had no qualms about it.

She tossed a brief glace over her sword arm, locking eyes with TyLee. She gave the girl a quick smirk, before turning around and offering her a different view. TyLee blushed and watched as Azula dropped into a sort of ducking maneuver, with her head tossed back and her arms thrust to the side. She quickly rose up again, making for a swift uppercut. Her hair cascaded alluringly back over her shoulders. And with much more splendor than needed, tossed the sword into the air, caught it, and drove it back into its holster. With that she dipped into a bow.

"That was amazing, Azula." TyLee smiled, not entirely sure if she was complimenting the firebender for her flawless display of technique or her flawless display of herself.

The princess dropped herself down onto the bench next to TyLee and crossed one leg over the other. She leaned in close and in TyLee's ear, muttered, "you're welcome to join me during practice any time you'd like."