"Are you planning on staying up here all day?"
"I don't know, maybe.", replied the teen, her pale amber eyes still fixed on the sky.
"Hmm, so how long do we have to stay up here before you tell me what happened between you and your father?", asked Mai, walking over to her stretched out daughter. "Honestly Izumi, why the roof of all places?"
"I want some place where stupid people won't come and bother me.", answered the girl.
"Hmm, I suppose this is my fault then."
"Why?", questioned the princess sparing her mother a glance as the older woman took a seat beside her.
"I'm pretty sure I said those exact words when I was your age."
"Hehe, I'm pretty sure you said them this week when you hid in my room from those politicians' wives."
"I was not hiding, I simply prefer your company over theirs is all.", replied the Fire Lady.
"Is that how my life is gonna be?"
Mai remained silent, waiting for her daughter to continue speaking. The girl hated having to talk about things that were bothering her, it was much easier to just take out all of her frustrations in a sparring match with Kya or Lin, or even the targets in the palace's training area, but she would always wander off to be alone when it was too much for her to handle anymore. That was when Mai would seek her out, knowing she was finally ready to talk to her.
"Just meetings, and paperwork, and playing nice with people that hate me and that I can't stand. Going to stupid balls and dancing with foolish boys that get way too close to me and won't stop hitting on me, but I have to pretend it's okay because that's my duty as the royal heir and they are 'prospective suitors'. I didn't ask for all this responsibility, I didn't ask to be princess.", confessed Izumi, sitting up to draw her knees to her chest.
"Ah, so that's what you two were arguing about."
"Dad just doesn't get it, he chose to be Fire Lord, but what if that's not what I want? I never got a choice a whether or not I wanted to be princess or not, and all he says is that I have my role to fulfill and my honor as a member of the royal family."
That sounds about right. Zuko, when will you learn that she's still a teenager. "You want to know a secret, Izzy?"
"What?", asked the girl.
"I wish your father wasn't the Fire Lord either. In fact before we were married I even broke up with him one time because of all the problems his position was causing in our relationship."
Izumi looked up in shock, her mouth gaping as she waited for her mother to say she was kidding, but that was absurd. Her mother would never joke about something like that."
"He kept secrets from me, refused to let me take on any of the duties he had, and I watched him slowly break under all of the pressure until it was too much. I couldn't just sit there and watch him kill himself when he was too stubborn to let me help him."
"What changed?", asked the princess.
"I came to the realization that regardless of how selfish and moronic Zuko can be, I didn't want to spend another day of my life without him. He was the Fire Lord, I had to either accept that as a part of the deal or move on, so I accepted it.", said Mai.
"But weren't you mad that he put his work ahead of you? I mean you said yourself you wish he wasn't Fire Lord, it's not fair that you have to deal with all the duties and stuff of being Fire Lady just because Dad chose to be Fire Lord."
"You're right, it's not fair, but I will gladly put up with all of the annoyances that come with this position if it means I get to be with Zuko everyday. That's what you do when you love someone, Izumi, you sacrifice things for them. Hmm, and in a weird way, Zuko stepping up and taking his position even when he had no idea how to handle it is one of the reasons I fell in love with him, he is bound by his stubborn sense of honor, it's irritating at times, but that's who he is"
"So you're saying I just need to suck it up and do this because I love Dad, and the throne just part of the package of being the Fire Lord's kid"
"No, I'm saying that I'm not bound by some sort of chains to this position, I made a choice to be with your father knowing that we would have struggles because of his job and that I would have to deal with terrible people on a daily basis after I became the official Fire Lady, but that's the choice I made. I know it seems like your trapped under all of these duties right now and like you'll never be able to make your own choices, Izumi, but whether or not you become Fire Lord is up to you. Your father and I want you to be happy above anything else, so if you want to do something different then you can."
"Then who will rule after Dad steps down if I don't?"
"Who knows, maybe by then we will have changed into a republic just like the city your father and the Avatar built, but that's not something for you to worry about. You're only sixteen, Izzy, you're still young, so you have plenty of time to think about what you want in life."
"So I don't have to be princess if I don't want to be?"
"You're still our daughter so technically you'll always be a princess, but I don't want you forced into a life you despise, so if you're not happy when the time comes then you don't have to be Fire Lord."
"Would you and Dad be disappointed in me if I didn't take the throne."
"Well the standards for Fire Nation royals is pretty low, and you haven't tried to kill either of us yet or stage a coup so..."
"Mom! I'm being serious!", pouted the indignant teen.
"I love you Izumi, nothing you do will ever change that, and your father feels the same even if he doesn't always say the right things."
"I'll think about it.", acquiesced the girl.
"Good." Mai stood from her precarious seat on the rooftop, preparing to climb back to the balcony she had used to ascend in first place.
"I love you too.", whisper Izumi.
"If you want to talk some more I'll be in the library.", called Mai, disappearing off the roof as she slid down onto the terrace below.
"Thanks, Mom." Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being Fire Lord. As long as I find a guy that is half as devoted and awesome as Mom is to Dad, and when I have a kid they won't have to go through all these stupid etiquette classes and pretentious dances like I did, no they can choose their own path. I don't hate the idea of that, it actually almost sounds nice. "Fire Lord Izumi, hehe, I like the sound of that." Maybe I'll be ready in a few years to accept my duty, but if I do it will be on my terms, because I made the choice. No one is going to chain me into the royal life, I'll decide my future. "This is my life, my decision."