I was use to being in the garden alone. No one really came here, but the servants. It had became a empty area, until I came back. I turned it in to my own home away from home. The palace was filled with people and diplomats, a lifestyle I had left years ago. For the past three years I had been here gardening alone, until she came home.
She had only watched me at first, never getting to close to me or speaking to me. It intrigued me, she was a new person and I was lonely. Well she was not new, but changed. She was no longer my little girl, but a grown woman. A woman who never spoke to me and it brothered me. I wanted to get to know her again, so I made a plan. Every time I saw her I would wave at her, it was a slow start but it worked. She waved back at me, but she looked stunned. Like she didn't expect me to acknowledge her or like I didn't see her.
That was the start, after that I spoke to her.
"Good morning Azula," I said.
"Good morning Lady Ursa," I heard her say. Her tone was simple and normal, but her eyes roamed over me. She knew I noticed and decided she had enough, she walked away.
Over time she got over the lite talking and we moved on to full talks, but she never came in the garden. It was not the only place she watched me, she watched me at dinner and if I was at the pond, but the garden though was where she watched the most. Hours on a bench just out side the garden, just looking at me. I never told her to leave or asked her to come in, she would do it in time.
One day I was walking threw the garden and saw red in patch of panda lilies. It was a weird sight with them so white and the red so dark. I got closer and noticed it was her, she was sitting where I would have sat. She knew my flower schedule, she watched me enough. I walked over to her and sat down, she was planting a seedling with care I had never seen her have. Her hands were smooth with the plants and her fingers worked with perceptiveness.
She turned to look at me, "Why do you come out here?"
I looked into dark gold and sighed, "To much noise in the palace and too many people,"
She looked to be thinking, her brow up and her mouth closed. Her hands put the seedling in the dirt and patted it lightly. Then she looked at me, "Oh. Do you mind company?"
I was happy to get the chance to spend time with her, "No, I would love it,"
…........
It had been five months since she had been coming to the garden. The palace had become less crowded, but she kept seeing me. Everyday she would come with tea and we would plant flowers together. She loved to plant flowers lilies, roses, any kind I showed her. She loved the panda lilies which were my pride and joy. They took up almost half of the garden and were always taken care of first. She had taken it upon her self to help me with them every day, since they took so much space.
Did I mention the garden was huge. It was bigger then the largest courtyard in the palace. You could get lost if you didn't know your way around it. I walked threw the garden quietly, my robes blowing gracefully behind me in the fall weather. The weather was braking and soon my flowers would not be as beautiful. Even though the fire nation was not that cold during the winter, it was not warm enough to keep my flowers alive. With winter around the corner, I would have to find a way to protect them from the cold. Most years I just let them die and replant, but this year I wanted to keep them.
"Lady Ursa," a voice called.
I looked ahead to find her sitting in a patch of jade roses. It was a small patch in the garden that she took care of. The roses that grew there was a project of hers. When I reached her she was sitting on the ground, no longer in her robes. She was wearing a simple shirt and pants combo, the color still red. I stood next to her as she planted the final jade roses of the season. They went out of season quicker then the other flowers.
"A glasshouse for the winter," she spoke.
I looked at her to see she was finished and now was just sitting on the ground. She looked serene, "How quick do you think we could get one up? The winter season starts in a few weeks,"
She ran a hand over the petal of a flower, "We could get one up in a week,"
….....................................................
A week was shorter then I had though. I had asked my son and the next day my nursery was built. It took a few days, but it was put up. All glass walls surrounded my flowers, with heaters to keep the heat up. While out side it was forty degrees, inside it was at least eighty. The heat kept the windows steamed with condensation, making it hard to see inside. I walked out in to the garden and saw the greenhouse, it looked different form the rest of the palace. With the flowers inside the colors made it stand out against the red of the palace.
When I walked inside the heat hit me in the face, it most be on high. I knew Azula was here, she had told me she was planting something new and that she wanted me to see. I walked until I reached what use to be a empty spot in the garden, but now had fire lilies.
"I had to turn the heat up so they could be planted," she spoke to me smiling.
I looked at her she was wearing just pants and a chest warp. Her hair was sticking to her head and sweating was rolling off of her. She looked like she had been working in the heat all day, "Azula where did you get these? These flowers are out of season,"
Fire lilies only grew in the summer and were hard to find. I had looked everywhere during the spring, but could never find seedlings. She must had been looking for them because the patch was covered with seedlings.
"I went to Ember island a few months ago and found them. I had to turn the heat up in here to keep them alive. Do you like them?" she looked at me.
"There beautiful," I said. I looked at her as she stood up to admire her work.
The garden did look great with her help and the fire lilies really looked good. They would bloom soon and would bring more life to the garden. I looked over to see her watching me, a feeling a heat rushed over me. A blush creep on my face and she smiled, "Lady Ursa,"
"Yes Azula," I said.
She rubbed her hand across her forehead, "Would you like tea like in my chambers?"
"Yes," I said.