The Golden Trio

Prompts –

(easy) Tricycle,

(medium) Ursa,

(hard) Three Siblings/Triplets

Position (element/Team) – Waterbender/Kolau Komodo Rhinos.

Words – 1885

In the grand hall where Ursa married Ozai, guests of Zuko's Fifth Annual Firelight watch three little children execute a tug of war over a gold ornamented tricycle.

Izumi, the oldest of the three tries to bite at the second child, Jinora's, arm. Jinora shouts and snatches her hands away before she trips the youngest, Chu, from grabbing the tricycle's gleaming handle.

Chu's chubby cheeks covers most of her red face under short bangs, as she releases a defiant scream, "Gimme gimme GIMME!"

"Why do they all look like Azula?" Kiyi makes this comment sipping hot Fire Whiskey tanged with a slice of moon grapefruit, a deadly combination. She spares Azula a low lidded glance, "I worked hard to have my little Chu look a bit more like me, not bloated sister dearest."

"Azula!"

Azula holds a goblet in her hand, clutching it so tight that Ursa worries she might break it. Ursa sighs, "Not today, we already have these children fighting over the lovely tricycle your lovely brother decided to buy!"

"For the umpteenth time, it was on sale!"

"On sale!" Kiyi raised a brow, ignoring an elderly guest's glare from her side. Zuko throws his head away before Kiyi belts out a rant, "For a cheap golden tricycle? Ten years as Firelord and you're still bargaining in Fountain City!"

"That tricycle is not cheap," Zuko sneers. "It's antique, the best in three towns including Fountain City. It's the property of one of the Fire Nation's greatest generals before there was even a nation!"

"Sounds like someone ripped you off," Kiyi said.

"Mother, how can you let this wretch speak to me that way?" Azula snarls, glaring at Kiyi, who graces her with a bored expression.

"Well, no offense Azula," Ursa said. "Your bottom looks a bit more heavy since little Bo came along."

The table explodes, along with goblets, plates and platters with sprays of wine and sauce spilled over white cloth. Zuko's guffaw echoes in the hall before Azula uses the tip of a starch table cloth to slap his face. Ursa didn't react when he howls in pain, clutching his topknot.

A keening sound melts the hall. Kiyi sighs at Chu's cries and pushes her seat back. She walks in a trail of red brocade for the biting Royal Rugrats.

"Get your daughter, Azula!"

"I'm so heavy, I can barely pick myself up, so why don't you do it you foul mouthed, double crossing, instigating peasant-bred, tree hugging bi-"

"My, my," Kiyi smiles in glee through the swing stringed jewels adorning her headdress, "Aren't you turned up? And I'd do a double take on tree hugging, since you used to live in the Forbidden Valley, dearest eldest!"

Ursa shakes her head as Zuko's head falls back, mouth open in a silent laugh. He looks back down to find Azula's golden eyes right on him. "No! Azula wait-"

TWACK!

This time, the entire hall combusts. As the three girls tumble over the floors and are hauled aside by Kiyi, the guests in the hall laugh so hard that their voices make Ursa want to bury her head under the pillow. Her children make riots with style, and never fail to entertain guests. It's no wonder her three notorious grandchildren inherited this special quality.

Izumi is the oldest, ten years old with the world at her dainty feet. Jinora is the day eyed one, the little soft airbender of the family with her mother's features and unruly behavior. Chu, is three years old and already the palace's worst troublemaker. When Kiyi married into the family Chu inherited these deadly qualities from, Ursa was almost livid. But by the time Chu graced the world with her little indignant howls, it was too late.

All girls sit on the cushioned loveseat in the middle of the study. Arms folded.

"Now ladies, I understand you all adore that bike, but how about you let one keep the bike?" Ursa asked. Ursa swears that she almost hers crickets. Chu may be three, but she squeezes her eyes at Ursa. Izumi raises a brow before Jinora looks away with a harrumph.

"Who's gonna get the bike?" Izumi asks.

"Well," Ursa says. "Since your father bought…" The deadly look on the other children's faces make Ursa stop. I guess not. "Alright, well let's all play a game. Whoever wins can take the tricycle."

"No!" Chu says.

Of course, Chu is too small to compete for anything. All these girls seem to have a crankiness problem. They have all her three children's bad qualities wrapped in one. An idea struck Ursa.

"Would you all like to hear a story?" All blink in surprise and Ursa ushers them forward with her hands. "Come along! Let's have a little chat."

They settle in her arms. Izumi and Jinora sit on the pillows by her while Chu hops over her lap, and tries to squash Jinora's hand and kick Izumi's arm. They quarrel until they calm down and give Ursa their rare and precious attention.

"This all started when Izumi's father was banished from the Fire Nation…"

Kiyi notices the child standing in the middle of her bedroom. She tries not to jump at Chu's chopped up chestnut hair and watery amber eyes. She wants to ask the girl what she needed from her, but Chu rushes over and slaps her body against her legs!

"Chu-Chu, what's the matter?"

Chu wails.

Half a candlelight later, Zuko blinked, "Chu? Crying? She barely shed a tear when she was born and now you're telling me that she cried to you in your bedroom?"

"She started apologizing for all her wrongdoings and how she would be better from now on," Kiyi says, flinging her hands. "I don't know Zuko! I don't know what mother said to her and she wouldn't tell me!"

"She apologized for tripping King Bumi in King Kuei's Annual Birth Celebration?"

"Yes."

"For putting manure in Azula's robes?"

Kiyi nods so hard her hair flings about her face, "Yes. Even for throwing rocks at the turtleducks!"

"Azula never apologized for throwing rocks at the turtle ducks!"

"Exactly!"

The doors slam open. Kiyi saunters aside in time to find Azula with her and Aang's newest addition, Bo. The five month old loves being coddled, and Azula has no issues spoiling her children. She stops in the middle of Zuko's office at the strange looks sent her way.

"What?"

"Your niece begged for my forgiveness this morning," Kiyi said with a slump of her shoulders. "She wanted to be rid of her sins and lead a new life."

Azula's gaze flickers and she sidles up to Kiyi with a look of bewilderment, similar to the one Bo makes, "Did she apologise for throwing rocks at the turtleducks?"

"Even that! And you never apologized for those damn ducks!"

Bo whines and he grasps at Azula's collar with his hands. Azula still pays Kiyi attention as she hauls him up close enough to feel the heat from her neck. "How did this happen?"

Zuko says, "She just popped out of nowhere and-"

The doors slam open again.

"Izumi?"

Izumi's face takes on a strange shade of red. So red that Kiyi isn't surprised when Zuko gets up from his seat and approaches the child. Izumi starts to shake and whimper, "What's wrong, sweets? Is everything alright?"

Izumi's lower lips tremble before she breaks down and rushes into her father's arms. Zuko sends his sisters a desperate look before he hugs Izumi. Izumi buries her head over his shoulder.

"What's the matter? "

Izumi shakes her head, "I just miss you daddy,"

"Huh?"

Azula and Kiyi grin at Zuko's confused scowl. Izumi never says she misses her father, unless she wants something from him. Zuko rubs the child's back until she pulls back to kiss his cheek. Zuko blinks several times before he inspects eyes like his. He hoped his mother didn't give her anything.

"Are you okay, daddy?"

"Is this about the tricycle?"

"No!" Izumi shakes her head, her red eyes now spilling tears. "I just love you and I want to be good from now on. Thanks a lot for the tricycle."

An hour later, Azula nurses Bo in the open corridors by the gardens.

The sun toasts the back of her neck and a gentle breeze ruffles her hair. The turtleduck pond glimmers under the light. Water lapped at the gnarled trunks of the family tree. She strokes her little silent one on the head, watching him fist at her chest and kick his little feet. The maid who gives her pastries and tea on a silver platter smiles at the baby.

"He's so much like his father," she says. "They're both gentle and quiet."

"I'm not sure about quiet, but I'll give this little one credit for pretending he wasn't there the first six months."

The maid smiles, "Is that why he's called the slick one?"

"Yes," Azula smiles and tugs at his nose. Bo did sneak up on her and Aang. "The slick one indeed."

The bushes ruffle. Azula looks up to find her daughter walking towards her. The mopey look about Jinora's face and red eyes makes Azula wish she didn't sit by the gardens! By the platform, Jinora doesn't say much but fiddles with her feet, hands behind her back. Azula rolls her eyes.

"What is it, now Jinora?"

Jinora sobs and heaves, "Mommy, I'm so sorry I was a bad kid."

Azula ushers the maid away and gestures for Jinora to come forward. Once close enough, she tugs the girl's shoulder close until chestnut hair brushes against her nose.

"Stop crying," Azula says in a bored tone. Jinora quiets down and sniffs. "Now, this stays between me and you because you know I don't like secrets. What did your grandmother tell you?"

"She didn't say anything to make me or the girls apologize-"

"Jinora."

"Okay," Jinora pouts her lips.

"She said when Uncle Zuzu was little, he ate cookies that wasn't his, so the cookie monster took his face off. Then grandma said that Auntie Kiki fell in a well filled with dark magic water when she was living in Hir'ra and that's why Chu's been cursed with bad behavior. And then she told me that a distant cousin poisoned you when you were five because you used to cause too much trouble. And when you drank the poison you turned into a bad girl for so long that it's a miracle Agni's fairy returned you back to normal. So it's important for all of us to be together and act as a family."

The birds chirp and flutter about just as Azula realizes that the maid has yet to leave.

Azula hugs Jinora close so tight that both girl and baby feel her body vibrate as she cackles off into the distance with the maid.