I joined the circus to be different. But - not just that. I thought it would be better for everyone. So I wouldn't hurt any more boys when I smiled at them. That's what the circus is. It's just fun. Everybody knows the girls are just smiling at you because that's what they do. They don't really mean it." Ty Lee made herself even smaller. "I do really mean it, sometimes. But we can't just have fun and walk away. The Temples would do that, sometimes, when it wasn't a festival... and that was wrong. Not because of us. Because it hurts you."
Mai refused to blink. "Because it hurts us?"
"Well, yes. It's fun. But, it's not just fun for you. It means something for you. Something it doesn't mean to us." A sad shrug. "You know who you are. You always have to know."
Mai found her mouth hanging open. Closed it. "Are you saying-" She couldn't say it. She couldn't. It was too cruel. "Ty Lee. Your people marry. Your parents are married. I've met them."
"You met my mother." The acrobat smiled. "Everybody has a mother. Even if - well, even if she doesn't raise you, you still know who she is. Look at the compass to read the storm, right?" A tiny shrug. "But Kazenobu isn't my father. Or - well - not like you have a father. He might be my father. But that's not important. What's important is that he's my mother's partner." She swallowed, a little pale. "Is that okay?"
No, was Mai's first, instinctive reaction. Marriage was about clans. About lineage. About knowing, when everything else fell apart, who would watch your back.
But this is Ty Lee. When it comes to what matters, when you know her limits... when hasn't she been someone we could count on?
Mai swallowed her words, and focused on what mattered. "If you needed help, would he be there?"
Gray widened, utterly surprised. "Of course he would! When I needed to get away, he helped me get into the circus. He's Mom's partner."
"Then that's enough for me," Mai said firmly. Quashing all the little voices yelping otherwise. If Ty Lee was happy, if she got what other people would get from their clan - it was enough.
But oh, what a mess.














