Hello everyone! So this is my first Avatar: The Last Airbender Fan Fic, but I usually write Other Character fics, like this one is. A quick over, Kasai is Zuko's twin, and Ozai favors her more (although I'm sure he would favor a pet rock over Zuko but I digress). I'm super excited for you guys to read this! It's been simmering in my brain for a long while. Enjoy!
She was at her window when she heard the door open behind her.
"Mother…" but she was cut off by her mother grabbing her shoulders.
"I love you, very much. But you must promise me something." The taller woman knelt and was visibly shaking. "Promise me that when the moment arises and you must choose between what is right and what is easy, you will choose what is right."
"You're scaring me mother, what's going-" The little girl was cut off by receiving a slight shake from her mother.
"You cannot be afraid, and no tears. Understand me? Promise me." The woman said more sternly.
"I promise mother." And she was pulled to her mother's chest in a tight embrace and she felt a kiss on her head. A servant opened a secret passage that she never knew was there.
"You highness." The small servant boy whispered. The woman stood from her daughter and told her for the last time that loved her. As the woman passed the boy, she spoke harshly,
"I was never here." And once she was over the threshold the servant shut the door.
"Mother!" the girl got up and ran to the wall, but it was smooth. "Open it."
"I cannot." The boy responded.
Crash! The sound of thunder, lightening…
"What is right… right… right…"
then a figure appeared, an old man. He was in fire nation garb with white hair both on his face and his head. His eyes were glowing white. With a wave of his hand all four elements obeyed and were shot at her…
Kasai bolted awake with a gasp. She was sweating and panting as she searched frantically around the room. She took a calming breath as she realized she was exactly where she fell asleep, her chambers in the Fire Nation Palace. The sky was beginning to lighten in the wake of the dawn that was to come, Kasai sighed as she got out of bed and put on her robe. She lit the fire in her, it set a bluish purple glow as she walked to her wall and felt it. She knew her mother went through an unknown passage behind the wall, but even these six years later, she never knew how to open it even though she all but knew her mother was dead. Her mother, Ursa, left when she was ten years old, and even at ten Kasai knew her mother probably did not make it out of the Fire Nation capital alive.
She walked down the corridor, using her own fire to light the way. The palace was in a rare state of silence, Kasai liked it better this way. She stopped at the door of another chamber, it belonged to her twin brother, Zuko. He had been banished years prior. Kasai remembered the day her brother was banished more vividly than she would like to recall. Mostly due to the fact that her father, Fire Lord Ozai had warned her against looking away from the viciousness.
"Kasai, what are you doing wandering the palace at this hour?" came a voice, cold as ice behind her. She turned promptly and bowed.
"Good morning, Father." She rose when he motioned her to do so. She knew she was her father's favorite child, but that did not make her an exception to truth. He was to be her Fire Lord first and father second. "I enjoy the Palace when it is silent, since it is so rarely so. If I may, you are up early as well."
"There was a message from the fire sages." He offered her his arm, he was sending her back to her room.
"Oh?" she took it, knowing better than to refuse.
"The eyes on the statue of Avatar Roku began to glow." He turned his eyes to gauge her reaction, Kasai was stone faced.
"The Avatar is alive and triggered his avatar state, for the first time in a hundred years." Kasai said factually, hiding her excitement in the prospect that her brother would be coming home.
"You know, your fire has always amazed me." Her father spoke. "Do you remember when it began?"
"It has been purple for as long as I remember." She said truthfully.
"Yes, I had never seen anything like it. Neither had anyone else. The sages said that it a phenomenon that appears so rarely, only one fire bender will be graced with it in a century. It only occurs when the fire bender is combination of both bending and spiritual prodigy." He nodded to her softly. "And you have proved that is true many times since."
"I can only recall one instance where I was of any significant use." She nodded back to him. "But I am humbled by your consideration."
"With your keen eye for blind spots, you devised the plan and both made and changed history. Your plan broke through the walls of Ba Sing Se."
"That was a battle we lost, father." Kasai gracefully reminded him. "As well as killed my cousin."
"That was your Uncle Iroh's doing. I am sure if you were old enough to General it yourself, it would have been a victory." They arrived at her door. "The servants will alert you when breakfast is ready." He opened her door and Kasai strode in, her father shut the door behind her. She tested the handle and found it locked.
"Damn it." She hissed then turned to her bed, bending down and lifting up a loose piece of obsidian marble, and grabbing a battered journal. She opened it and flipped a few pages to a half filled page. She made a line with her ink brush and wrote about her dream. That was the 10th time in a fortnight she had dreamt of her mother's last words to her, and every night she woke to Avatar Roku. She knew of the Avatar, as everyone did. Roku was the Avatar before the now present Avatar. Roku was a fire bender, hailing from the capitol. She now knew the past Avatar's spirit was trying to connect with her, but she didn't know why.
About an hour later, she heard the click of her door and a servant appeared, her favorite servant. Li. The boy, now turned young man, who ushered her mother out of the palace.
"Good morning your highness." He quickly tapped a knee to the floor. "Your breakfast is ready. Your father ordered your favorite, fire cakes and sticky sauce."
"Then I should get dressed and see what my father wants from me in exchange for his generosity." She smiled at him.
"A good jest my princess." He nodded, "But your father loves you and is a good and just Fire Lord."
"You keep believing that, boy." Kasai flashed coldly. "Leave me to dress. And tell my father I would like an audience with him, privately."
"Yes, you highness." And he bowed out. Kasai put on a nicer outfit. Her clothes all has finery in them, even her training clothes had gold embroidery. She chose a synched, tie dress with a small gap in the mid-section that had ornate pieced of cloth holding the top and bottom together. The dress went mid-thigh and underneath she put on black breeches. She called for her ladies to put her hair in a half top knot and let the rest flow down her back. She applied her own eye liner and crimson lipstick.
Kasai walked down the halls and groaned inwardly when she saw a figure walking towards the throne room.
"My Princess." The man acknowledged her.
"Commander Zhao." Kasai ground her teeth together, she could not stand Zhao with his pompous attitude. Which was made worse when she found it he had beseeched her father to be one of her prospective suitors now she was of marrying age, "My subjects are to bow to me when they greet me. I couldn't help but notice that you did not. I wonder… is it your plan to say that you are no longer my subject? A man of this nation?"
"No, Princess." He said.
"Well…" Kasai stepped forward, "You had better get to it before the thought sticks in my head." Zhao glared at her then dropped to one knee, head bowed.
"I am sorry I have offended you, your highness." He seethed, then made a move to stand up.
"I didn't say you could stand." She stared him down and before he could speak, she walked away, leaving him on the floor. She walked into the dining room, where her little sister Azula was already eating her breakfast. "Good morning Azula." The youngest fire nation princess merely looked up and looked down. Kasai then turned to her sister's trainers. "Has she perfected her advanced forms."
"I have." Azula finally spoke.
"The ancient forms?"
"No your highness." One of her twin trainers spoke.
"Those are impossible." Azula stated.
"I mastered them at twelve." Kasai snapped and turned to her sister's trainers. "She will start them today."
"You can…." Azula started.
"I can and I will. With Zuko gone I am next in line for the throne. You will obey and you will be respectful." Kasai spoke softly. "Understood?"
"Yes." Azula glared.
"Go… now." Kasai sat and dismissed her sister, she had just raised her food to her lips when her father walked through the door. Kasai stood immediately and bowed at the waist.
"Very nicely handled." He sat and gestured for her to sit as well.
"To what do I owe this? My favorite meal and your presence?" Kasai nodded, enjoying her breakfast.
"I am only here for that private audience you requested." That caught her off guard slightly, but she did not let it show.
"I wanted your permission to leave… a sabbatical if you will." Her father said nothing, so she decided to continue. "I know my duty to my nation father. I also know you are focused on this war, but not so that you have forgotten the place of a royal lineage. I know I am of marrying age, and if marriage does not happen, I know at least choosing a suitor. I know that means settling in and courting and all other manner of necessity. I humbly ask that you grant me this, a chance to travel. To see my subjects, visit troops who are fighting the war… something past this palace. You have my word that I will return and settle in for my duty as a daughter of you and the future mother of this nation."
"I agree. You may go." Her father said.
I hope you enjoyed! I plan to post as regularly as possible. Thank you for reading!