Trust No One...

FAVEUARY DAY 2: AS A PRINCESS/ADVENTURER/WIZARD

I chose to draw Tom as an adventurer since he went on a trip by himself(which he both deserved and needed). I hope it was a good experience.

Azula gives Mai and Ty Lee acknowledgent, purpose, the idea that they're worthwhile individuals that deserve more than the bare minimum.

Mai is blunt and honest, something that noblewomen, especially pretty noblewomen aren't going to be able to find in any other relationship.

Ty Lee is caring and warm, something both Azula and Mai lack in the rest of their lives.

Mai is really the only person who can reasonably push BACK against Azula, so without her Azula and Ty Lee become a textbook one-sided exploitative, codependent abusive relationship.

By the same token, without Ty Lee’s caring, warmth and general ability to play peacemaker in a pinch, Azula and Mai almost definitely just end up killing each other before too long.

And without Azula, Mai and Ty Lee just don’t work as a relationship, as they’re simply way too opposing extremes of personality energy. Something we see in the show with how they quickly their personalities start clashing whenever Azula isn’t around, and sometimes when she is.

Oddly enough, Azula basically acts as a bonding and balancing agent between Mai and Ty Lee, acting as a middle-ground between them. Tempering each of their extremes to the point where it can be bearable and even enjoyable/helpful to each other.

Admittedly it's all still a quite unstable balancing act of a relationship that only needs one good nudge to any one of the pieces, or even just one piece becoming metaphorically 'misaligned' for the whole thing to fall apart (which is exactly what we saw).