Contorted Welcome (2)

Nik, Katara, and others watch in amusement as the entrance of the mansion opens to reveal a group of 'Ty Lees'. Every one of them is clad in a different color but a similar crop top to Ty Lee to an extent. The guards chase after them but entirely lose their cool when all six of these women jump across the gate with such practiced ease that... they felt no worse than Ty Lee.

"Ty Lee!" They scream at once. Six identical bodies flit through the air. Similar ponytails whip around. And seeing their fierce looks, Ty Lee flinches and lowers her head, and accepts her fate.

She deserves to be punished, she muses internally. She has no intention of comparing auras or acting childishly at the moment.

Bracing herself for any slaps, Ty Lee shuts her eyes tightly and clenches her fists in preparation.

*Oomph*

The first of her sisters hugs her and pushes her down on the ground as Nik rolls his eyes and steps slightly, causing a gust of wind to cushion their fall. It would seem that like Ty Lee... her sisters, too, share the same brain cell almost exclusively.

"Woah! Bouncy air!" The third sister chimes as she feels another blow of air cushioning her fall upon the two of her sisters... then the fourth one, then the fifth, sixth, and seventh.

"Oh, look... a mountain of Ty Lee," Azula narrows her eyes, "Let the chosen one hike them and plant his—"

"Azula," Ursa finally glares at her daughter sternly, "It's enough already!"

"Fine... mother..." Azula sighs.

"Forget the chosen one," Nik crosses his arms and shakes his head, "Aang is busy with Stormbenders, after all. I'm happy to relieve his duties."

Ursa then throws Nik a similar glare but that falls face first when met with Nik's grin and a wink.

"I... can't... breathe..." Ty Lee's groan echoes from under the mound of her sisters.

"What?" Nik questions as others look at him once more.

"We thought you'd have something more to say," Kya chuckles.

"Oh, no. I completed Azula's joke and cushioned their fatal sisterly love. I've done my part," Nik shrugs with his arms still crossed as six identical faces suddenly look up with their wide brown-greyish eyes looking at him unflinchingly.

"Ty Lee, who are they? Wait... we recognize the Princess, Prince, and Queen. But what about the rest?" One of the sisters questions.

Sighing again and this time with a groan, Nik stomps his foot which creates a massive gust of pressurized wind that causes all six identical sisters to float midair as they squeak in surprise while Nik looks at Yue, "Would you check on Ty Lee if she just passed out from suffocation or got some injured ribs as a welcome, too?"

"On it," Yue complies quickly and all six of the Ty Sisters look at each other sheepishly and then point at each other almost at the same time, "It's your fault!/It's your fault bitch!" One of them, in the yellow crop top, is the only sister who adds the 'Bitch' in the end.

And she instantly won Nik's and Azula's interest.

---

"So, this is Ty Lin, Ty Lat, Ty Lao, Ty Liu, Ty Lum, and Ty Woo," Ty Lee introduces her sisters to the group. Both sides look at each other with inquisitive gazes.

At this moment, they are present in a spacious guest hall with servants bringing in tea and snacks while Ty Lee takes a seat beside her sister.

After the introduction, Azula looks around incredulously while Ursa sighs softly. Everyone knows what is going on in her head and... that is because the same thing might be going on in everyone's head.

'How are we supposed to keep track of who they are?'

But leaning forward, Nik chews his bottom lip in thought for a moment before pointing at them, "Wait, if I remember correctly... Ty Lin plays the flute. Ty Lat practiced the harp. Ty Lao went for Origami. Ty Liu swims really which shows." He eyes the sister in the green top for a second longer and continues to the last two siblings, "Ty Lum dances. Again, it's rather easy to observe, and you..."

While both sides are appropriately shocked by now, Nik stares at Ty Woo who is in a yellow crop top and sports a knowing grin.

"You insult people," Nik concludes.

"With horrendous passion," Ty Woo snickers, "But you might just be someone I won't insult, 'Hero.' Of course, you've gotta work your way up the mound to plant all you like!"

"Wait... you remembered all that when I first told you?" Ty Lee looks at Nik blankly.

"Why wouldn't I?" Nik furrows his brows, "They're your family. The least I can do for you is remember the differences."

"Who's the oldest?" One of them suddenly speaks with a curious expression.

"The one who plays the flute. Ty Lin," Nik answers without hesitation and points at the sister who questions him, "That would be you."

"Who's the youngest?"

"Ty Lee."

"Who's the quickest?"

"Race for me and I'll answer to that, too."

Ty Lat, the one who plays harp, chokes a bit before sending Nik an indignant glare.

Cutting in between her sibling's impromptu quiz, Ty Lee smiles while somehow feeling a lot less burdened, "Thanks... for remembering all that. It wouldn't have been easy."

"It's not hard," Nik doesn't bat an eyelash and looks around, "Anyway, if you guys need to talk things out with the circus and all, we can visit later unless you guys want to stay."

To be fair, Yue, Katara, Suki, Jin, and Azula wanted to witness the dynamic between the seven sisters but what Nik proposed is truly... more sensible.

"Can't you guys stay?" Ty Lin, the eldest, suggests with a grin, "Ty Lee has been away for two years! She barely writes a letter or two every year so we want to hear about her adventures as much as we can!"

These words pull a slightly complicated look from the other five sisters while Ty Lee bites her bottom lip with a guilty expression and looks sideways.

It's clear at a glance that things aren't as harmonic between the seven identical sisters as one would expect and that is why Nik suggested leaving...

Knowing about family matters is one thing but interjecting in them is another.  If Nik was so keen on being nosy... he would have accompanied Sokka, Katara, and Kya to meet Hado, too. But he isn't THAT nosy.

"We are expected in the palace," Ursa smiles, "But we will be happy to return once we have gotten a chance to rest and perhaps a change of clothes. I'm sure Ty Lee wouldn't mind resting a bit, too."

"But... mother," Azula throws her mother a distressed look. The unruly Princess very much wants to stay.

"Hmm?" Ursa raises an eyebrow while Zuko and Nik glance at each other, too. Equally distressed.

Consider their plan to hit the tavern shuttle down to the abyss now.

But where there is hope, there is a way. Nik isn't about to let his plans off that easily.

"Oh, yeah!" Ty Lin nods and smiles widely, "We will prepare a great show for all of you. In reality, we have only heard a little bit about the situation outside the Capital so everyone, at least, those without any political seat, does not have a clear picture."

"Of course," Ursa smiles while Azula holds back the urge to comment that Ursa did not even need to freshen up. After all, she just joined the group this morning.

The group is eventually escorted out by the servants while the cordiality around the sisters doesn't take a moment longer to feel awkward and brittle.

After their momentary excitement, joy, and relief at the fact that Ty Lee is safe... all that remains are a bitter set of memories of her disappearance two years ago.

"I..." Ty Lee feels her throat and voice acting against her will. She has so much to explain but all that emerges is merely another lie.

"I have been busy... that's why I couldn't write more..."

"Of course, you were. Busy as a working bitch," Ty Woo is the first to scoff and get up. Not waiting for any form of explanation, the professional troll takes her to leave.

"Don't mind Woo," Lin sighs with a smile, "We're really glad that you're safe... I'll have the servants draw you a bath."

"I know," Ty Liu suddenly suggests with a bright expression, "Let's get the large bath ready. We'll all get in like the good old days. Lum can get Woo to agree, right?" Ty Liu looks at the third youngest sibling of theirs.

"Actually," Ty Lee stands up, "We should bath like that some other day... sorry. I just need to rest for a while."

Ty Lee now understands why she is considered problematic to others because the moment she says this... she has to face five clearly heartbroken expressions. Five, no, six individuals who have been waiting for her this entire time but even now...

She just cannot do it.

"It's... alright," Ty Lum squeezes out a smile as Ty Lee nods with an equally bitter expression and leaves to meander across the familiar paths of her... home.

Ty Lat sighs after a while, "Let's just prepare for the usual routine for Ty Lee's friends."

"Would she even want us to do that?" Ty Lao questions, "I mean Lee... let's just not. At least while she is still around..."

"And lie to her again?" Ty Lin shakes her head, "I don't want to lie to her. If only we'd been more open... none of this would have happened."

"But she would clearly hate us for this," Lat's shoulders slump, "I don't like that."

"Maybe I can just do my usual dance routine," Ty Lum smiles, "It's not that hard. We'll get in sync in no time."

"No more lying," Ty Lin asserts with a determined stare, "She needs to know what happened... and why."

The five of them fall silent after that.

"Not it!" Ty Lin, Lao, Lat, and Liu speak instantly while the third youngest of them, Ty Lum, the dancer, is a second late and scowls, "Damn it!"

She throws Ty Lin an accusatory glare, "It's your idea! I'm not gonna say anything!"

"Hmph," Ty Lin pouts, "You will! We all said 'Not it's before you. These are our sacred vows, remember?"

"I remember," Ty Lum states glumly.

"Say," Ty Lao changes the subject, "The 'Heroe's' Aura was mixed... right? Or did I get that wrong?"

"Soooo... mixed," Ty Lin huffs.

"Indecent..." Ty Liu pouts and Lat nods, "I agree."

"But despite being mixed it was..." Ty Lum gulps.

"Massive, right? Totally my type~"

All five siblings yelp at once as Ty Woo is already sitting beside them once again with a dreamy expression, "And he even had the queen's aura wrapped around him. Makes you wonder how... he's got it."

Shooting their odd one out an annoyed look, all five siblings silently stand and take to their leave as Ty Woo giggles impishly, "Don't think too long about that majestic aura in the shower bitches~!"

"Shut up!" All five of the scold their youngest right before Ty Lee.

However, once all five of them have left, Ty Woo sets her head in her arms and sprawls them across the table.

Underneath, her eyes water down quickly as she sniffs, "Shit... I'm never going to cry for Ty Lee again... what a stone-cold bitch..."

---

"Hah... you know, we can heat the water all we want but the setting of a bath is just as necessary for enjoyment," Dipping into the wide pool of water with steam limiting one's vision all around them, Nik lets out a relieved sigh.

Not far from him in this bath for men set for royalty as their group was received rather warmly in the Royal Palace due to Iroh being in charge of this location for more than six years now, Zuko lets out a similarly relieved hum, "It's almost a pity we'd have to leave it all for good once you... what do you call it? Teleport away? Was that it?"

"Sassy, huh," Nik chuckles, "We'll see the sharpness of your tongue when we get to a tavern and get you acquainted with someone."

"As if that's possible," Zuko groans. With Ursa making plans for every one of them... they indeed find themself in a pickle.

It's as if she did not want her lover to take her son to the tavern.

"Come on now," Nik grins, not letting this weigh on him, "We've suffered worse than this but.. can I ask you something?"

"Would me saying 'no' stop you?" Zuko shoots back.

"Not really," Nik hums as he spreads his palm over the porcelain edge of the bath. His eyes stare off blankly at the space ahead as he whispers, "I know you guys are mostly joking about regretting leaving the palace... but if there is a part of you. By you, I mean you and Azula... then you guys should just tell me outright."

Looking at Nik through the steamy hindrances created by the hot water, Zuko leans back equally and stares off at the roof.

"I'll be honest... I am used to village life. I enjoy it quite a lot. So much so that I even plan to start a farm of my own again in your personal space. You know. Farming and training. And raising my dragon once it hatches."

"Sounds pleasing," Nik smiles, "I might just start a farm to compete with your produces."

"You just have to ruin it," Zuko scoffs and then admits, "But... I can't truly speak for mother or Azula."

"Yeah, I figured," Nik lets out a chuckle, "You should also know that I'm not really sorry about keeping the true nature of my personal space for so long from you."

"No, I get that. Kei Lo... even if my friend, was a disaster," Zuko releases a hollow sigh and then questions, "How did you differentiate between Ty Lee's sisters?"

"Dunno? I got a gift."

"Liar."

Smiling grimly, Nik shrugs, "Might as well unload it on you since you're asking. In my previous life... well, make sure to not mention it to others. I trust you this much, at least. Anyway," Nik exhales from his nostrils, "I once served triplets. They are like Ty Lee's siblings. Wore the same clothes... spoke in the same manner. Laughed at the same jokes... and branded my body with heated seals for all the same reasons— When I could not tell them apart."

Concluding with a rather nonchalant expression as if it did not bother him anymore, Nik shakes his head, "My body and mind just learned to instinctively note the differences between identical siblings after the third brand."

By now, Zuko is staring at Nik incredulously.

"What the fuck?!"

"What?" Nik smirks, "You really thought you had it rough after all you went through, amateur? This is one of my less painful lessons. Fuck, Koh is actually on my top list despite being a recent encounter. The bastard shattered my knee!"

Zuko grows silent and then once again turns to look at the ceiling, "We're having that drink tonight."

"I like that resolve," Nik snickers, "Might as well bring drinks to the show... Sokka and Rena might appreciate a good show, too."

"Better than brawling in the tavern, at least."

***

Alternate Title: Don't Ask Questions You Don't Need Answers For; The Brands of Identity; Nik's Recollection of 'Happy' Memories; Ah, the Good Old Days; The Ty Mess; Magnificent Aura; Nik's Gonna 'Mix' All Seven in His Aura, Right?! Right?!!; Ty Woo Earning Respect With That Gud Tongue

***

A/N: I suggest not thinking too much about the differences between Ty Sisters. As I wrote, they practically share the same brain cell and reactions. Their wants, desires, and dislikes are more similar than they let others on. So is their love for Ty Lee... including Ty Lee.

Besides, I wished to pull this chap to 3k+ words but all the major points were already completed including a bit of Nik's past, the cause of his ability to differentiate between Ty Lee and her sister not just being a womanizing skill, and finally, the hidden conflict between all the sisters. So, I guess, 2k+ words would suffice for this chapter.

***

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