AN: This is my first fanfiction. It's a romantic political thriller inspired by Game of Thrones, that is meant to present a more adult version of the show that delves deeper into the world and even deeper into Fire Nation infighting.
Pairing: Azula/Ty Lee-centric. Mai/Zuko, Katara/Jet, Yue/Sokka, and prominent one-sided Aang/Azula.
AU: Aang wakes one year late, and the world suffers the consequences.
Beta: FanfictionVillainess
Warnings: violence, realistic teenagers, mature themes.
Disclaimer: I don't own A:tLA.
Kissed by Fire
"We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy."
(George RR Martin, A Game of Thrones)
On a chilly, indigo night in the Earth Kingdom, a Water Tribe girl stares aimlessly into the thick trees.
Katara sits around the fire, as she gazes, sighing in frustration and toying with her lower jaw. She never thought she could hate fire more, solely because it both helps and hurts her. It keeps her alive through the night, but it will always leave a foul taste in her mouth. As she sits silently, her brother and father are rummaging around in the camp with a ragtag group of other members of the rebellion. They have been attacking supply lines, attacking soldiers, doing everything they can.
Sokka went to fight in the war and, of course, Katara told him that there was no way he was going alone. They bickered for nearly an hour before the sun was close to setting and Sokka cut his losses.
"Could you take any longer?" Katara says mostly to herself as Sokka passes her with his hands full with nails to pitch tents.
"I'm not the one who was making fancy splashes all day instead of working," Sokka replies sharply and Katara takes a deep breath. He has a point. She has been more focused on trying to waterbend than she has been on work for the rebellion.
Katara is the last waterbender of her tribe. And, therefore, lacks the skills to use her bending in a real fight. The Northern Tribe wants nothing to do with the war, the rebellion or their sister tribe. They are the last civilization standing that is not property of the Fire Nation, and they want to keep it that way. Katara has frozen a few soldiers before, made distractions, but she only has the moves she makes up. And every day she feels more like a burden on the rebellion and she feels if she can just master waterbending, she won't just be an outspoken accessory weighing down her companions.
"We have news," Hakoda declares and Katara's ears perk up. She has found that she has been left out of the loop more often than she would like to be. "After their victory, Fire Lord Ozai is sending Princess Azula on some kind of political tour. She's vulnerable."
"Vulnerable exactly how?" Sokka raises an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure she took down Ba Sing Se herself during the comet."
"She's away from home. Traveling constantly. We have the exact order of the stops in the tour," Hakoda says calmly and Katara narrows her eyes. "Our friends in the Fire Nation are going to strike. This might be enough to cause their Civil War."
"Why are you telling us if it's happening in the Fire Nation? It's not like we can just prance in," Sokka says and Hakoda breathes in slowly due to his son's disrespect. He and Katara have much to learn.
"Because I'm sending you both back to the Southern Water Tribe," Hakoda explains and Katara's cobalt eyes flash. She cannot go back after experiencing the world. She can't. "It won't be safe if the Civil War starts. And trust me, if we don't get to the princess, someone will."
Katara frowns into the fire.
She knew this day would come; Hakoda said he would send his children home if things became too dangerous.
Yet, after all she has seen, she does not think she could ever be content staying out of the fight.
"This is all unnecessary," Azula says regally to her father across the dining room table. "Completely unnecessary. It isn't as if they'll stop obeying us. Especially after, what is it we did? Oh, right, won the war last year."
Ozai is not convinced. Or perhaps he knows, as he examines his daughter through his glass of wine. She has not eaten her food yet, but she has massacred the meat in her long speech about how displeased she is with the arrangements. Her rage intrigues him; it is so controlled, yet so, so vicious and petty.
"People like you. You're beautiful and know how to exploit people," Ozai says, shrugging. "I think you should put that to use if you want the throne. Particularly now that your brother has returned."
"Returned to prison. Well, with invisible bars, but a prison all the same. Father, I find it hard to believe that Zuko will ever be Fire Lord," Azula says, pushing her plate away. She has nothing resembling an appetite. "And my mystery engagement? How clever of you to not forewarn me who I'm marrying so I can't try to sabotage it."
"Azula, I accept your input when it involves placement of soldiers and words for my speeches, but you're growing... indignant. You will go on tour, and you will spread a love for the Fire Nation now that we are an empire." Pause. Ozai swirls his glass around, examining it and ignoring his daughter. She masks her anger well, but he can sense it radiating from her like an icy heat. "Don't question me. I have reason for all of this."
Azula sighs, and says, "I'll be going to my room, father."
He does not protest, although he finds it rude. Azula does not usually speak to him like that; she is too afraid that he will remove the throne from her future. But he finds that he is softer for her, and does allow her to get away with more than he should. It adds to his sinking paranoia; if she thinks the throne is granted... it... hmm.
Ozai reassures himself by deciding that she is clearly just disgruntled about being forced to do anything. But he reigns absolute over her life, deciding everything she does, down to how much she is allowed to sleep or do. Relinquishing control will be impossible for him, which is exactly why in the night, as Azula lies in her bed, tossing and turning, Ozai confronts two girls sitting with their legs crossed in a parlor.
The parlor is a more casual setting for what he is about to ask for. One girl seems to find it very exciting, the other is displaying no emotion in the slightest. He has done this before; distractions in order to spy, in order to keep people in line. Azula is clever, but she is just as susceptible.
They both seem reasonably eager to join Azula on the tour. But, of course, Ozai has more to be planned.
"You're going under the paperwork of bodyguards. That's what the head of the tour believes; that's what I'll tell Azula," Ozai says, examining them closely.
Mai cocks an eyebrow; Azula will never believe she needs a bodyguard. She is the most powerful firebender in history, and Mai finds it low in likelihood that Azula would ever need two teenage girls protecting her. Ty Lee is oblivious to the ridiculous aliases, and she seems pleased and honored for her job.
"So, we report back to you... and?" Mai asks, trying to sound polite but coming off as uncaring. It is not her fault that her parents beat her emotions out of her.
"And make sure Azula stays on task," Ozai replies, giving the girls both a glance that solidifies their loyalty.
Azula may be their friend, but they are loyal to Ozai at this point beyond her. The repercussions for losing his favor are much higher in stakes.
Ozai retires to his room, having the girls escorted out after his lengthy speech about their rules, and hopes for sleep.
He has been getting increasingly less of it since the comet.
As Mai and Ty Lee pack their bags to go on tour, Azula paces in her room. She tries to go through what her choices could possibly be. She needs to know why she is being displayed like a dress up doll of the Fire Nation, and she needs to know why her father will tell her nothing about who she is being forced to marry.
It is because he fears her, she finally decides. He thinks she plans to usurp him, in the paranoia that has set in of late. Since the comet, her father has been exposing trusted generals as standing against him, which Azula finds entirely ridiculous.
He fears Azula, doesn't he? Ozai thinks that if he does not put her on display on order her to go on a ludicrous tour of celebration and a show of good faith to the resettled colonies, she will plot against him. Azula almost laughs when she realizes it.
Then again, she supposes it was inevitable eventually. She recalls the thousand times that she, as crown princess, was forced into political events. It was not for people to genuinely hear her opinion, or for her to grow as the girl next in line to be Fire Lord; it was to show her off as her father's accessory.
And this tour is exactly that.
Azula sighs after going over it in her head endlessly and flops down on her bed. Tomorrow she will wake early, be made up to the point of a beauty queen and not a formidable princess who was vital in the assault during Sozin's Comet, and then she will take the royal procession west.
First west, then east, then into the Earth Kingdom. It will be lengthy and painful. And in the east, before she heads into the Earth Kingdom, her father promises to announce her engagement. It is elaborate, showy and exactly the kind of thing that Ozai would do to his daughter.
She is restless in the night. Finally, prying herself out of bed and deciding that sleep is pointless, she creeps down the hallway towards her brother's room. He was brought home before the assault during Sozin's Comet. Ozai may have killed his father and in succession his wife, but he would not kill his own children. Patricide is one thing; floricide simply too wicked.
Azula knocks on the door, wrapping one arm around herself. At first there is no sound, but finally there is motion behind the heavy and ornately carved wood. Zuko opens the door, rubbing his eyes. Azula's golden eyes linger briefly on his scar after he removes his fists from his face.
"What do you want?" Zuko sighs, leaning against the doorframe. "You've come to mock me?"
"Maybe." Azula invites herself into his bedroom. He sighs again and shuts the door behind her. "I want to discuss something with you."
"I didn't know I was promoted to your advisor," Zuko rasps and Azula glares at him. She sits down on his bed, swirling her fingers around the blankets.
"This ridiculous tour I'm going on... I want you to do something in my absence..."
Miles away, "This is good for you," Mai's father says and Mai rolls her eyes. Of course. "Bodyguard for Princess Azula is an admirable position. Would I prefer you marry a prince? Yes. But, it is impressive for your credentials."
For his credentials, Mai thinks, but she does not show her thoughts on her face.
"I'm only doing it because I have to," Mai responds earnestly. "I'd really rather stay in the Fire Nation to be honest."
"I know you would," mother says in an artificially high pitched voice. Mai fights the urge to roll her eyes and nearly crushes her molars from clenching her jaw so forcefully. "But you honestly need to think about your future more often."
"I know," Mai says before slipping up to her room. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Her first job for Fire Lord Ozai was watching Zuko. And to this day, that has been what she is doing. Making sure he does not strike out. Why Ozai believes that Azula needs to be watched like that, Mai finds ridiculous. Azula is far from a threat to Ozai, although she may be a threat to everyone else.
Watching Zuko, sleeping with Zuko, realizing she has a multitude of mushy feelings for Zuko. And Mai knows she is being forced to pack up with Azula because she has gotten too close to Zuko. It interferes with her ability to do business properly.
Mai sighs and figures she should finish packing. None of her material items matter much to her. She has been showered with them since her youth and money has no meaning to her. Moving back to the Fire Nation after the fall of the entire region angered her father, but Mai has been pleased so far.
She looks at the letters she and Zuko have written. His are pathetic attempts to sound romantic; hers are... well, what they would be coming from her. He has been the best thing about her return before the comet. Azula's victorious power rush after consuming Ba Sing Se in bright blue was incredibly grating.
Mai cares about the princess more than she cares about most things, but Azula's ambition has been spiraling out of control recently. Ozai fears her. If Azula did not love her father, she would have usurped him after the comet.
Mai knows it.
Morning comes far too quickly. Ty Lee is peacefully sleeping when her mother all but forces her out of bed. She blinks with her round eyes and glances around, dazed and confused. Her room, pink frills and red, garnet studded vanity, and clothes on the floor, is about to be removed from her.
"Are you packed? The royal procession leaves in two hours," mother says gently, removing Ty Lee's hair from its braid. She starts to re-do her daughter's hair after combing through it with a golden brush.
Ty Lee picks at her lips, squinting at herself in the mirror. This mission excites her in a number of ways. It has been a long time since she has seen Azula. She ran away to the circus, only to come back briefly before the comet. And Azula was waiting for her. Angry beneath the surface, abandoned. But her friends were here and Ty Lee was happy.
And now she is about to go on an amazing vacation with both of them. Plus, bodyguard work sounds even more exciting than contortion and acrobatics. She is shaking in her seat as her mother finishes her hair, now wide awake from her rush of jitters.
"I'll miss you, mom, but now I'm going to go on a fantastic adventure!" Ty Lee chirps while she gets dressed. She slings her bag over her shoulder and picks up her two extra bags.
"Have fun," mother says, the same thing she said when Ty Lee declared she was joining the circus. It is rather nice to have little parental supervision, even if Ty Lee hates being ignored.
Azula sits very still, her hair being done slowly. A tremendous amount of effort goes into making it perfect. Her eyelashes are done to the point that they are almost bigger than her eyes. She finds the eye make-up distasteful, and it stings her eyes if she blinks for too long.
"Hello, princess," a gravelly voice says behind her. Mai invites herself into the room. "Are you excited?"
Azula laughs mirthlessly as Mai smirks faintly.
"This is one of the worst days of my life," Azula sighs, examining her freshly lacquered fingernails. "I don't think I could be less pleased about something if my father revoked the throne from me."
Mai does not tell Azula that the princess is exaggerating greatly. But she settles in place and watches the absolute absurdity that is seven servants readying one girl. One girl who looks like she would bite off one of their fingers if they mess up.
"If you stab me with that pin again, I will put it right through your eye," Azula says sharply, bringing the woman adjusting the top of her shirt to nearly the point of tears. Mai chuckles in response.
Azula gives more orders as Mai finds herself amused. Ty Lee arrives like a tornado and Azula slips out of the room before she has to deal with her. Mai narrows her eyes at it; she finds herself curious about Azula's sudden discomfort about being around Ty Lee. Likely she's pissed about the circus, or maybe something else. Reading people is Azula's thing, not Mai's.
"You should say goodbye to Zuko," Ty Lee says after listing everything she has packed in her bags, all of which seems frivolous. "You won't be back for a long time."
"It's not like we're together anymore. It was all a sham that the Fire Lord put me up to," Mai says, rubbing her temples. She does not want to face Zuko today. Or any day for that matter.
"I still think you should say goodbye," Ty Lee replies in a sing-song tone and Mai groans. She puts her foot down and Ty Lee feels Mai will regret it for a long time to come.
"Not happening," Mai replies and Ty Lee frowns for a flicker of a second.
"Well, we should probably get going." Ty Lee grabs her bags again, having an easy time carrying them despite their weight. Mai rolls her eyes and follows.
"That was a good speech," Ty Lee comments brightly to Azula. The princess shrugs.
"I've done better," she says, standing at the precipice of their journey. They are on the other side of the Caldera, soldiers set up, an endless entourage.
"We're not walking to the other side of the country, are we?" Mai catches up to them after being locked in an uncomfortable conversation with Zhao.
Admiral Zhao. Who is going to be overseeing the protection of Princess Azula, and most likely is also a spy for Fire Lord Ozai. He simply cannot get enough spies.
"Of course not. Well... I'm not at least," is Azula's reply with a small smirk.
Zhao walks forward, passing Mai who feels a shiver being near him. He just seems creepy to her. Ty Lee finds him "icky".
"These are your bodyguards. Apparently, they're... competent," Zhao says, introducing people Azula has known since she was seven years old to her as if it is a brand new development. Azula examines him in a way that would intimidate most humans, but he seems to think he can stand up to her. That displeases the princess greatly.
"I don't consider them my bodyguards," Azula sighs, examining her fingernails pointedly as she speaks. "You think I need bodyguards? I took out the entire army surrounding Ba Sing Se singlehandedly. This is clearly a ploy by my father to keep me in check."
"You are the Fire Lord's young daughter, regardless of your bending," Zhao says and Mai thinks the man is going to get electrocuted to death. But Azula simply narrows her eyes.
"I have entirely no need for a bodyguard. This tour is a joke. This engagement is a sham. And you... stay out of my way."
Zhao grits his teeth.