#azula lies to sokka but not rlly bc she actually is intrigued by ty lee’s not so subtle infatuation with suki

[avatraang]

“Stone walls do not a prison make, / nor iron bars a cage; / minds innocent and quiet take / that for an hermitage; / if I have freedom in my love / and in my soul am free, / angels alone, that soar above, / enjoy such liberty.” —richard lovelace.

@tysukiweek 2022 day ii: patterns/prisoner.

Azula tells Sokka that Suki is her favorite prisoner, but this isn’t exactly true. Suki is her favorite prisoner from a very particular distance and for a very intriguing reason. One of her girls has taken quite an interest in her, and this interests Azula. She sees the way Ty Lee looks at Suki when Azula brings her along to visit the Boiling Rock, sees the way she perks up at mention of visits even as Mai sinks further into her seat. She sends Ty Lee alone, once, with explicit instructions to terrorize the girl, just to see what might happen. Curiosity has always been one of Azula’s biggest faults, and when she sees the way Suki looks a fraction calmer the next time she visits —with Ty Lee in tow, of course— knowing and jealousy infiltrate Azula’s marrow. She puts an end to the visitations. She’s gotten all she needs from interrogating Suki, and Azula doesn’t think she wants the risk of overstepping her win.

It seems she oversteps it anyway. It happens in the blink of an eye —Azula tastes dirt for the first time in her life, and she finds it to be as dry as it seems. In retrospect, it isn’t a surprise that Ty Lee betrays her. Not only does she trust Mai more than her, but Ty Lee is helping the girl she likes get away while she betrays the Princess who captured her.