A love story mixed with some background. I have to warn you that the math (i.e., the ages of the canon characters) may be a bit fudgy. I am not entirely sure at this point how many chapters this will take. Feedback is love.
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Ember Island
Lady Ursa was born and raised in Longquan, a province in the Earth Kingdom colonized many years ago when Fire Lord Sozin made his first strike at the Earth Kingdom. As far as she knew, she had never been to the home land before.
So it was surprising for the seventeen-year-old to find out that it would be the second time she stepped on Fire Nation soil. Her mother, Lady Yumi, reminded her daughter of the first time they visited as they walked around the small ship pulled by a tan-colored Sea Lion. In front of them was Lord Yul, Lady Yumi's husband and Ursa's father, who was conversing with his trusted steward, Daisuke. Behind the two women were Lady Yumi's personal maid, Lady Ursa's aging Nanny Yuna, and two large bodyguards.
"You were only four years old then, dear child, no wonder you recall nothing of it," Lady Yumi said softly as she walked with her daughter around the small, luxurious ship. "Your great-grandmother made me promise that she would be buried at Roku's Island when her time comes."
"Why did she want to be buried there, Mama?" Ursa asked. "I saw Roku's Island when we passed by it. There is nothing there."
Lady Yumi sighed. She reached down, picked up Ursa's right hand and squeezed it gently.
"Because Roku's Island was her home then, Ursa."
Lady Yumi raised her head and looked at her only child with a small smile. "Before the twin volcanoes erupted, it was a beautiful place (so Grandmother told me). Grandfather built the house with help from the neighbors; it was the highest one on the island, almost near the base of the largest volcano. They almost didn't need to buy food from the mainland because the soil there was so rich and healthy...well, just the meat, because they grew all the vegetables we ever needed."
Ursa suppressed a giggle. "A noblewoman PLANTING???"
The older woman laughed. "It was a different time, then; a different life. They even had a pet dragon!"
Ursa's eyes widened. "Wow," she whispered. Ursa has never seen a live dragon in her life. They became extinct after Prince Iroh killed the last one some twenty years ago.
Lady Yumi's smile then became smaller.
"Life changed after the eruptions," she murmured. "We lost grandfather because of that eruption. Grandmother took Papa and Uncle Shou to live with her brother's family on Ember Island. Uncle Shou worked for your great-great-uncle. It was fortunate that he was very generous..."
"And then," Ursa continued for her mother, "Grandfather met Grandmother and had you, then you met Father and he took you away to live the life of a noble in an Earth Kingdom colony."
Lady Yumi nodded. She squeezed her daughter's hand and motioned her to stop and look up. Ursa did so obediently; the men in front of them have concluded their talk.
"We are about to dock at Ember Island in a few minutes, my dears," Lord Yul announced.
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Though the retinue of Lord Yul and his family were modest by Fire Nation royalty standards, their luggage was considerable. Lady Yumi and Lady Ursa had each packed ten trunks of personal items and clothing while Lord Yul had five trunks. Daisuke the steward was left behind to supervise the unloading of the baggage, his deep badgerfrog voice audible over all the grunts and mutterings of the servants and the general noise of lugging large trunks over the wooden slats of the dock.
The family walked towards the two-storey beach house that used to belong to the family of Ursa's maternal great-grandmother. The beach house was passed from great-grandmother's benevolent and childless brother to Uncle Shou, which Uncle Shou left it to his brother and his family in his will before his untimely death five years later, and then Grandfather left it to Lady Yumi, his only child, as part of her dowry.
Lady Ursa looked around, hoping that there was a sight, a sound or a smell that would trigger a memory of the last time she was here. She took note of the row of houses that stood next to theirs, from the smallest one standing on spindly stilts to the roof of the largest one that she spotted in the distance further to the right. The sea lion that pulled their vessel was barking in the background. She looked farther right, where another dock was visible.
And the vessel that was sitting in that space was quite a sight. It was larger and newer than the boat Lord Yul rented and decorated with large brass Fire Nation emblems, three on each side. The first deck seemed to be made of the same wood the hull was made of, and it was surrounded by blue-black pillars with brass at the ends. Above it was a tent lined with a rich, dark red canvass, brass, and red curtains. On top of this tent was a triangular red flag with the insignia of the Fire Nation. Even the Sea Lion hitched to this boat looked bigger.
"Oh my goodness," Lady Yumi said breathlessly, placing a shaky white hand over her red-clad bosom.
"Ah," Lord Yul said, stroking his reddish-brown beard. "It seems one of the Fire Lord's sons has come to relax at Ember Island as well."
Ursa looked at her father. "How do you know the Fire Lord himself isn't on that boat too, Father?"
Lord Yul grinned. "Because I saw the ship reserved for Fire Lord Azulon himself when he visited here in Ember Island the last time, and let me tell you, daughter, it was a whole lot BIGGER than that yacht."
"The last time?" Ursa repeated, surprised. "You mean when Great-grandmother was buried at Roku's Island?"
Lord Yul nodded. "Of course. Your great-grandmother summoned us here weeks before she died. She lived in this house—" Lord Yul gestured to the modest yellow and red two-story structure in front of them, "—for most of her life since she was widowed."
Lord Yul dropped his arm and looked at the ship of the Fire Lord's son at the neighboring dock. Ursa noticed that her mother's gaze hadn't left the magnificent yacht since first noticing it.
"Bah!" Lord Yul exclaimed, shaking his head. "It's not likely they'll take notice of us, lowly noble folk that we are. Let us retire before supper."
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Author's Notes:
Longquan is an actual Chinese city, which literally means "Dragon Fountain".
The names Shou, Yumi, Yul, Daisuke, and Yuna were Chinese and Japanese names I found online. Yes, Yul as in "Yul Brynner".
ETA: After considering the math problem, I did a bit of an overhaul. Ursa is now Roku's GREAT-Granddaughter. A hell of a liberty now that I chose to loosely translate Iroh's meaning in "The Avatar and the Firelord".
