Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Daddy's Little Girl

Azula peeked around the corner, watching as a pair of guards patrolled down the gilded hallway. As soon as they disappeared from sight, she sprang into action, her little legs pumping hard as she sprinted across, her chubby 4-year-old fingers clinging to the clay pot. Once clear of the intersection, she slowed to a more sedate trot. The pot wasn't very big, but her hands were small, too. It would be silly to come this far only to drop it.

She moved as quickly and as quietly as she could, ducking behind exquisitely spun tapestries and priceless vases to avoid the army of servants and guards that constantly swarmed throughout the palace. After practically forever, she finally approached her destination, a little used side door that exited into the gardens.

She stopped in front of the door and scrunched up her face in a frown. She had forgotten that the door handle was too high for her to open by herself. Still, she made the attempt. Cradling the pot in one arm, she stretched out the other towards the handle, but came up well short. After a moment of thought, she carefully set the clay pot on the ground and turned to face the door again. She reached as high as she could, pressing against the door for balance as she stood on her toes, both arms extended, straining to reach, her fingertips barely grazing the bottom of the handle.

Dropping back on her heels, Azula crossed her arms and pouted fiercely at the stupid door in frustration. It was still too tall, or else she was too short. She continued to glare up at it. No, it was definitely too tall.

She looked around for something to stand on, something to help her reach the ridiculously tall door, and saw a straight-backed chair-that-no-one-sits-in and a colorful, lacquered box-with-nothing-in-it. She had never understood the purposes of these items, much like she had never understood the paintings-that-no-one-looks-at and the bowls of fruit-that-no-one-eats and a myriad other things-that-no-one-used, but such things were spread liberally throughout the palace. She had strong suspicions that grown-ups probably didn't know what they were for either; it wasn't like they needed to stand on something to reach door handles that were too tall. But, since she did need to stand on something to reach door handles that were too tall, she found the chair-that-no-one-sits-in particularly handy at that exact moment, and chose not to dwell on the silliness of grown-ups.

Forgetting that she was supposed to be sneaky, Azula struggled to drag the chair towards the door, the legs scraping noisily across the stone. She hadn't made it very far when she was interrupted by a deep, resonating voice behind her.

"Azula!"

She jerked her hands away from the chair and spun on her heel to face the voice. It was a man, regal and stern and tall, even taller than that dumb door handle. He had straight black hair and piercing golden eyes, and was dressed in long, red robes.

Azula stepped in front of the little clay pot, hoping to shield it with her body, and waved at the man. "Hi, daddy."

The man stopped short, staring at his daughter with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh!" Azula gave a squeak as she realized her error (her daddy was a prince, and he said princes must be shown respect at all times, especially in public) and quickly corrected herself. She bowed deeply to him and tried her best to sound like an old person. "I mean, greetings Prince Ozai."

He gave a slight nod as he responded, "Greetings, Princess Azula. What were you doing with that chair?"

She gave a vague shrug, hoping he would be too busy with prince things to press the issue.

"Azula..."

Parents are never too busy at the right times.

"Azula!"

"I was trying to go outside," she answered quickly. That wasn't his Daddy voice. That wasn't even his Father voice. That was his Fire Prince voice.

"It's after dark. Why were you trying to go outside by yourself?"

She tried very hard not to look at the clay pot on the ground, she really did. But, as we all know, nothing is more difficult than not doing something we know we shouldn't do. An odd thing when you consider how very easy it is to not do something we are supposed to do. Regardless, when she tried so very hard not to look at the little clay pot, it is easy to understand why her eyes darted over to it for the briefest of moments.

Ozai, of course, noticed the glance. He was nothing if not observant, and 4-year-olds are not renowned for their subtlety. Stepping around her, he picked up the pot, removed the lid, and looked inside.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

He crouched down beside her, holding the bowl low enough that they could both see into it. Ozai didn't seem to be angry, and Azula was glad. She didn't like him when he was angry. She leaned closer and looked inside.

Inside the pot, scurrying around the bottom, was a small spider-scorpion. It was about the size of a Pai Sho piece. It had eight hairy legs and lots of beady little eyes. The wickedly barbed tail curved up and over the round, black body.

"It's a spider-scorpion," Azula answered.

"Yes. Amazing creatures." Ozai glanced at his daughter. "There is much that it can teach us. Did you know that, Azula?"

She shook her head.

He looked down at the arachnid, his voice taking the tone of a lecture. "Oh, yes. Much we can learn from this animal. It's strong, powerful, deadly. Do you see the tail, the sharp barb at the end of it? That's it's strength. But that is not what makes this creature so interesting. Many animals can sting, bite, claw. No, there is much more to it than that. A spider-scorpion doesn't run around searching for prey. It's much too smart for that. A spider-scorpion first spins a web, agonizing over each strand, working long and hard to make it perfect. Once it's finished, it sits, still and quiet, not moving a muscle, patiently waiting for the right moment. And when that moment presents itself... it attacks!! "

Azula jumped at the sudden increase in volume, her heart racing. She would have giggled at her own reaction, but her daddy didn't look like he would like that very much right now. He didn't like her to giggle when he was talking. Instead, she just looked wide-eyed at the ugly little bug as Ozai continued.

"We are like this creature, Azula. Firebending is our barbed tail, our strength. But there are many benders in the world. It is our wits that set us apart. Our ability to plot and plan, to wait patiently while our enemies come to us, to attack at that most perfectly opportune moment, that is what makes us great. That is what makes us Fire Nation. Do you understand?"

Azula didn't really understand, not yet. She was only four. She didn't want her daddy to think he had said all that stuff for nothing, though, so she nodded anyway.

Ozai nodded back. "Excellent. Now, perhaps you can tell me why you have this and what you were going to do with it."

"I catched it this morning and used it to scare Zuzu, and he screamed like a big, dumb baby. But then he got really mad and yelled at me and said it was dangerous and he was gonna smoosh it, so I knocked him down and ran away." She paused and looked up at her father. "Am I gonna get in trouble?"

"For knocking Zuko down?" Ozai scowled. "Your brother must learn to fend for himself, if he is to be an effective prince. So, no, you are not in trouble. You were simply defending this exquisite animal, which he had no right to try and take."

Azula smiled. She didn't know what exquisite meant, but at least she wasn't in trouble. She was glad she asked her daddy first. Mommy always took Zuzu's side. "And then I ran away and came here so I could go to the garden. I thought he would like it in the garden, and that way Zuzu can't smoosh him."

"Well, now, I am not sure that is the best idea."

"It's not?"

"No. Your brother was right about one thing. A spider-scorpion is dangerous. If you let it loose in the garden, you wouldn't be able to go barefoot out there anymore. It might sting you and make you very sick."

Azula wrinkled her nose. She didn't like being sick. It meant staying in bed and taking medicines and her goofy ol' uncle bringing her boatloads of nasty ol' tea. But not being able to go barefoot in the garden? That was almost just as bad.

"So what do we do with it?"

Ozai stood and took a step away from her before tipping the clay pot upside down, dumping the spider-scorpion onto the ground. The arachnid scuttled across the floor, but was cut off by a searing jet of flame. It turned and ran the other direction, only to be similarly diverted. This continued until it stopped running, standing motionless on the floor.

Azula clapped her hands in delight. She loved it when her daddy shot fire. She was learning how to do it too, but she couldn't do very much yet.

Ozai kept an eye on the stationary spider-scorpion as he said, "So Azula, what should we do with it? If we put it in the garden, it might sting you."

"We could put it outside the palace."

"We could. But what would stop it from coming back in? Or from stinging a soldier or a loyal Fire Nation citizen? It is dangerous, and dangerous things must be dealt with seriously."

Azula thought hard about what they could do, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. That's how she always did her best thinking. If they let it go, it might hurt someone. What was left? Her eyes popped open in sudden realization. "You mean you want to smoosh it? But you said it was 'squisite!"

Ozai knelt down beside his daughter once more. "You are a Fire Nation princess. It's your job to protect the Fire Nation and the royal family. When you see anything that might hurt you, or the family, or the Fire Nation, you must destroy it, completely and utterly. Never show mercy, Azula. Mercy means you are too weak to do what must be done, that you don't care about your family. It's up to you. What do you want to do?"

She looked from her father, to the spider-scorpion, and back again. She knew that he wanted her to say to kill it, but she didn't want him to kill it. It was just an ugly little bug that she used to scare Zuzu and it never hurt anyone. But what if it did? What if they let it go and it came back and stung her, or one of her friends, or even one of the servants or grumpy ol' guards? She knew her daddy was right. He was always right.

"Kill it, Da-, I mean, Prince Ozai." she said, as she turned away.

Ozai put one arm across her shoulders, turning her back towards the arachnid. "No, Azula. It was your decision, and you made the correct one. Now you must act on it. You must always be willing to act on your decisions."

She stared at him. He wanted her to smoosh it? But she didn't even want to kill it in the first place!

"You must, princess. Never be afraid to do what must be done. You have to be strong."

Azula bit her lower lip to stop it from trembling. She didn't want to kill it, didn't want to kill anything. And she couldn't cry. Crying meant she was just a little baby. She had to be strong.

She walked over to the spider-scorpion, knowing that her daddy was watching. She had to do it, had to show him that she was strong enough to be a princess. She stopped next it, pausing for only a moment to clench her fists tight, and raised a foot to stomp down on it.

"Azula, stop!"

She froze, one foot still suspended in the air. Maybe she wouldn't have to kill it. Maybe they could just let it go free and it wouldn't come back and no one would get stung. She turned to look at her father.

He shook his head. "We are not Earth Kingdom peasants, Azula. We are above kicking in the dirt."

She lowered her foot, confused. If she didn't stomp on it, how was she supposed to kill it? She couldn't use her hands.

"Master Tanren tells me you are advancing quickly in your firebending. I think I would enjoy a demonstration."

Azula wrinkled her nose. He had been at her lesson just yesterday, why would he need another demostration. And what did this have to do with... Oh.

She shifted into a firebending stance. She had always thought firebending was the most fun you could have. Even better than hide-and-seek or teasing Zuzu. It didn't seem like much fun this time.

She looked again at her daddy. He looked happy and excited, more than she had ever seen him before. He looked like Cousin Lu Ten did on his birthday, like how her friend Ty Lee always looked and how her other friend Mai never looked. He wanted her to do this.

Azula took a deep breath, getting ready to control it. The fire was sometimes hard to control. She took another breath, and then suddenly burst into movement, taking one step forward, punching out with her fist, and sliding her front foot along the ground. It was one of the first moves she had learned.

A jet of flame shot out from her tiny foot. It was small, and didn't last very long, but it was enough. The spider-scorpion ignited. It jumped and flopped for a few seconds before landing on its back.

Azula tried to jerk her head away, but Ozai was there, kneeling beside her once more with an arm around her shoulders, making her watch. The legs twitched and kicked before finally shriveling in on themselves, curling as they burned. She could smell the acrid stench of burning flesh. The tail also curled in the flames, leaving only a tiny charred ball where once was a living creature.

She buried her head in her daddy's robes, sobbing uncontrollably. Ozai wrapped his arms around her in a rare moment of affection.

"That's my girl."

A/N: Another little one-shot. This scene popped into my head a few days ago, and since I had some free time I decided to write it. It was very fast to write, and I finished it all in one sitting. All things considered, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

As a side note that may interest only me, I actually wrote this out by hand. I was away from my computer, with time to kill, and had a pencil and a notebook, so gave it a shot. I have to say, I actually liked doing it by hand. It took longer than it would have on a computer, but typing it in later was an excellent chance to edit it.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read, especially to those of you who review. I always appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

Coeus