This is a revised version of my story. It was going in a direction that I did not want it to go. I hope you like this version better. I think that the characters are more in character and they react better. I will hopefully get the rest of the chapters up before school starts the 27th. :D So, ENJOY! :)
Oh Yea, I don't own Avatar (darn :c)
"Princess, the Fire Lord will be here soon, best get the dress on quickly." Alethea sighed, as the maid walked away, she knew her maid was right, but Agni knew that she didn't want to. The Princess always dreaded these visits. They meant ridicule at the hands of her father, Fire Lord Zuko. It was never said to her, around her or about her, everything that needed to be said about how he was disappointed was said with his eyes and expression. He had this habit of looking at Alethea with a pitying look, while he looked at her siblings with absolute joy in his eyes. Alethea looked at the dress she was holding; it was a beautiful strapless, pink satin floor length dress with a tight bodice and it had a shawl that went with it. She stepped out from behind the screen and several servants rushed forward as she went toward the vanity. After about twenty minutes, her hair was styled up so that her hair was in a bun behind her head, fastened with a small golden tiara. Her blue eyes seemed to ripple and shine like water when she looked at herself in the mirror, but they changed to icebergs when the maid shortly told her that her father was waiting downstairs for her.
She descended the house's staircase that entered into the parlor where the fire lord was waiting; she noticed her twin brother talking to her father and her younger sister sitting primly on the ottoman. The parlor was used rarely except for when the fire lord and his waterbender wife, Katara, visited, and had a large chair that by the head had an oil lamp that was burning when the Fire Lord sat in the chair. Most of the furniture in the room was red except for a blue chair reserved for either Alethea or the Fire Lady. It was a simple chair, but it had blue paint that had some red steaks in it and a blue satin back and seat. The chair was on the left of the Fire Lord's seat and Alexei's seat was on the right side. Alexei was her twin brother who was about six hours older than her, and was the heir to the crown instead of her. They, however, could not be any more different. He had black hair and she had brown. She had blue eyes like their mother; he had hazel eyes like their father. She was high-strung and he was shy around large crowds. Even with their differences they were inseparable and had some lessons together. But it was obvious to many people that the Fire Lord liked Alexei better than Alethea. The two princesses, however, could not have been more different.
The youngest of the trio was Princess Veronica. Vicky, as her siblings called her 'cause she was so 'icky', was the most spoiled of the three. She was only nine and she had more things than Alethea had. She had been spoiled by the nurses; they were told to give her anything she wanted since she was born. Whenever she did something and Alexei wrote to Father, he said that they were exaggerating and they should be nicer to Veronica. The young princess was certainly beautiful even at nine and she knew and used it to her advantage at school. Veronica had no bending abilities, whereas Alexei could firebend. Alethea was her mother's favorite because she could bend water, and she was secretly glad to have a water bender for a daughter so the tradition would continue in her family.
As she descended the stairs, her father looked up as she curtsied to the Fire Lord. He nodded his head as an indication to rise and sit down. Alethea knew this and played her part to a dot, as if putting on a professional play. She sat down in the chair that was especially reserved for her and her mother as waterbenders in the royal family. She sat there primly paying close attention to the conversation in case her father asked her a question. She wanted immensely to join in on the conversation, but knew that it was not proper and would get a lecture from Father and her governess later if she did.
So after about an hour of sitting there looking pretty and not being able to show her intelligence, a servant came in telling the fire lord she was sorry but the Princess had her acrobat lessons to attend. The fire lord glanced at Alethea but there was no emotion on her face, something she had inherited from him. He nodded and said, "Alethea, go get your training outfit on and we will all watch you practice." As he looked over at her, she gracefully rose to her feet and bowed. "Yes, Father," she said in a slightly bored voice. Then she swished out of the room and up the stairs to her room.
She was wondering which outfit to wear, the blue one, the gold one, the red one or the blue and red one. She eventually decided on the blue wrap top with a blue mid-thigh skirt that had white tights that went down to her knees. Her normal training hairdo was a simple braid with two strands of hair on either side of her face. Her braid went down to about the small of her back and was fastened at the end with a simple hair tie. She took off all of the makeup she was wearing and she looked at herself and smiled. This was what she loved to look like; simple, clean; ready for action.
She sighed, her father would criticize everything she did even if it was absolutely perfect. Her mother said that it was because he loved her but she thought that he never wanted a daughter as it would reminded him of his sister Azula, but then she came along. Fire lady Katara asid that when she was born Zuko thought she was the cutest baby he had seen.
She put the finishing touches on her outfit and looked in the mirror to double check. She got up and walked out of the room ready to face whatever task her father threw at her.
She squinted as the bright sun made its way into her eyes. This was the perfect day to bend, but when she was learning what Master Ty Lee knew, she wasn't allowed to bend. Ty Lee made acrobatics and pressure points look easy, but when Alethea tried, it looked very hard. When her father told her it was for her own good so that if anyone disabled her bending she could still fight back, she thought that he just wanted to keep her busy and out of trouble.
When she came out to the arena, she saw that the family was all there, except for her parents. She knew her mother was in shame back at the palace, but she didn't know where her father was. Unfortunatly her father's mistress Mai was there watching her with a smirk on her face like she knew something the princess didn't.
She knew that this was her time to shine in front of her father and it gave her great satisfaction knowing she could do it. Alexei looked in her direction wistfully and knew exactly what he was thinking. He had told her many times that he wished he could learn acrobats with her, but never voiced this opinion to their father because they both knew that nothing would come out of it. She saw her Ty Lee come out of a door to a changing room, and she realized that this wasn't going to be a normal lesson.
Ty Lee came up and they bowed to each other and then Ty Lee said, "We are going to try something new today and you should do well, but remember your performance reflects on both of us." It was then that she realized who she was facing as Ty Lee made her way to the middle of the platform. She was about to face her father in a Kai. Then, to make matters worse, she heard her teacher proclaim, "The crown Princess will face her father's firebending and see how she fairs." She now realized what Mai was smirking about, and her eyes became wide as saucers when she saw her father as she turned around to face the arena. "Begin!" she heard Ty Lee say.
Hope you enjoyed this story! I will try to keep them coming! :D
-Giggles
