I opened my eyes slowly, looking up at the dark red canopy over my large bed.

"Milady, please wake up. You're father and mother are already eating breakfast." Mera, my most trusted maid and a close friend reminded me as I groaned and rolled out of my bed. "Okay, Mera. Thanks." I could hear her steps towards my wardrobe as I sat up on the edge of my bed and yawned, soon standing up and rubbing my long black hair with my nails.

"Mera, is Hay Lin back yet?" I asked her as she came back with my black dress pants and a dark red Chinese tank top. She tied my sash around my waist and handed me my slippers. "Not that I know of, Miss," she replied as I fell back onto the bed and put on my slippers.

"Man, I miss her. I can't believe her parents dragged her back to the Southern Water Tribe." I whined as I stood up and went to my vanity. I sat down and looked at myself in the mirror.

I look a lot like my mother; I have her rich black hair color and sometimes her facial expressions. I have my father's pure golden eyes that are wide, unlike Mom's or Dad's. My hair falls down past my back and almost past my butt.

I began to sigh as Mera started brushing my hair up into my traditional high pony tail. I watched her tie the red ribbon around it and as she put my flame into the front so it would be recognizable.

"There you are, Princess." She smiled and put her hands on my shoulders for a moment before stepping back.

"You know, Mera, I can do my hair myself and I can get up on my own too." I reminded her as we headed out of my room and down the hallways.

"That may be so, milady, but you wouldn't know when to get up if I didn't help you." She smiled at me with her grandmotherly face as I entered the dining room.

"Good morning, Rui." My mom, Mai, said as I walked to the right side of the table and sat down. "Good morning, Mom." I said back as I picked up my chop sticks and took a piece of meat from my bowl.

"Hey, Dad?" I asked to my father, Zuko, who sat next to me at the head of the table. He looked at me. "Yes?"

"When is Hay Lin coming home? They were supposed to be back by now." I stated as I took another bite of my meat and a few clumps of rice.

"From what I heard, they should be back sooner than you think," Dad smiled at me, making me raise an eyebrow. "You aren't planning anything, are you, Dad?" I accused as I pointed my chop sticks at him. Mom chuckled slightly as Dad smiled at me. "Not something bad, I promise."

"Who missed me!" I heard a female voice yell through the dining hall as the doors opened and my best friend, Hay Lin, the daughter of the Avatar and Katara, made her way into the hall and running towards me. She wore her traditional Water Tribe dress with the leggings underneath and her little slippers. Her hair is the same color as her father's hair would be if he had grown it back out and her eyes were blue, like Katara's.

"Hay Lin!" I smiled and shot from my chair, running my own way towards her and we embraced each other. "I missed you. Next time you have to take me with you!" I reminded her as we pulled away and walked back to my chair. She took the seat next to me after bowing to the Fire Lord. "Hello, Fire Lord Zuko."

"Come on, Hay Lin. You know you can call him 'Zuko'. Just like I call your dad 'Aang.'" I corrected her as I smiled at her parents. "How's Sokka and Suki?" I asked as I continued to eat and the new coming family was brought breakfast by the maids.

"They're fine. Suki just had her second child." Katara explained.

"So that's why you kidnapped Hay Lin from school last week?" I assumed, getting a laugh from all the adults. "It's not funny! I was actually preparing to tackle the Avatar down to the ground." Mom looked at me and shook her head. "That's your father's attitude right there."

"It is not!" Dad and I said together, getting laughs from the rest of the group at the table.

"Come on, Rui. You need to help me out. I have all these papers the teacher gave me when I got back and I don't understand a thing of it! And I need to practice my bending a little more." Hay Lin explained, scarfing down her food and standing from the table. I looked at her like she was insane. "You, Hay Lin, want to do homework? Are you sure you're feeling okay? You didn't catch a cold, did you?" I asked as I put a hand on her forehead. She laughed and swatted my hand away.

I took out all my food with a few bites and bowed before standing up too. "Fine, I'll help. But you have to take me flying again." I proposed to her as we walked over to the window while she contemplated. "Okay, deal." We shook hands.

"Okay, let's work on your bending. You may be the Avatar's kid but I'm not going to take it easy on you." I warned her, cracking my knuckles.

"Fine, I won't take it easy on you even if you are the Fire Lord's daughter. Bring it on," she said, taunting me with her fingers.

"They are so their kids," Mom and Katara laughed, making the men look at each other. "Are we that competitive?" Dad asked to Aang. "I don't remember us being like that when we were kids."

"Um... Dad?" Hay Lin smiled and looked at her father. "You may not have been like us because we're girls. And you two are gross, icky boys." Hay Lin and I made grossed out faces and said "Ew!"

"Now, let's d-." I stopped and looked out the large window that overlooked the entire nation within sight. There was the ocean and a large fleet with an unknown flag was sailing towards us. The flag was a Fire Nation flag with a skull and crossbones etched over it.

"Mom? Dad? What's that?" I asked as Hay Lin looked at me and followed my gaze and my finger as I pointed at the fleet. Dad walked up behind me, followed by my mom who stood at my side with a hand on one of my shoulders and one on Hay Lin's. Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara joined them as they looked out at the scene.

"Are they part of your fleet?" Aang asked his friend as his eyes narrowed. "No, Uncle Aang. Look at the flag. It's ours but it has a skull and crossbones painted over it. Why would someone do that to our flag?" I corrected and asked, putting my hand over my father's that was on my shoulder.

"Mai, take Rui and Hay Lin to the safe room. Make sure guards are set there. Aang, go scout over the area. Katara. Go by foot and see what you can find out." My father ordered as Mom grabbed mine and Hay Lin's arms and pulled us away, making me gasp. "What? Dad!"

"Just go with your mother, Rui."

"But I can help, Dad! Please! If it's a war that's going to start again then I want to fight!"

"Rui! Go with your mother now!" Dad yelled, making me jumped and get dragged away by my mom.

Hay Lin and I watched as her parents flew out of the windows, her dad on his glider and her mom on a wave of water, and Dad followed out after us, only heading down the opposite way.


"Mom, why won't Dad let me and Hay Lin fight? We're top in our class! Heck, even our whole school. Why won't he?" I asked as guards joined us soon enough as we came to a large metal door with a small peek slide-thing at at the top so people can see in. On each side, a guard stood there after one pushed open the door and revealed a bunch of weapons and a table with a few chairs.

"He doesn't want you to get hurt." Mom pulled us in and stood in front of us and put hands on our shoulders, bending down in front of us. "Your father loves you, both of you. That's why he wants to protect you. Rui, you understand, right?" Mom looked at me as I averted my eyes and moved my feet around. "Yeah, I guess," I mumbled. She smiled and kissed my forehead.

As she made her way out, the door flew closed and locked hard tight.

"Mom told me that Aunt Mai used to be really mean and scary. Now she seems a little nicer." Hay Lin told me, looking at me. "Dad told me that once. He said she changed when she found out she was pregnant with me."

I fell back on my butt and groaned. "Man! They treat us like kids!"

"Um, Rui, we are kids?" Hay Lin said, kneeling down next to me and putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Well I'm tired of it. Good thing last time I was in here I dug a hole to my room." I said, grinning widely at Hay Lin. She looked at me like I was crazy. "Don't look at me like that, Lin. You know you wanna help Mom, Dad, and your parents. Along with the soldiers of my nation! I'm going to be the next Fire Lord of this nation and that means I have to be willing to fight along side them when things like this happen." I reminded her as I slid over to the far upper right corner and moved the box that was there. In the metal floor was a large hole the led down through a dark tunnel.

"Now," I said, looking back at her, "you told me a long time ago that you're my best friend and I'm yours. And that meant that if I do something, and I ask you do it with me, that you would do it. And vise versa. Well I'm asking you to help me help my people." I told her, reaching my fist back to her.

Hay Lin looked timidly down at my hand and gulped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out. She opened her eyes when she did and butted my knuckles with her own. I smiled and swung my legs over the hole and dove in. "Now let's go!"

"Ah! I can't see anything!" Hay Lin yelled as we sped through the hole. I rolled my eyes and laughed. "You're such a baby!" I yelled back as I snapped my fingers, creating a flame over them and throwing it in front of us.

The fire flew down the tunnel as it fizzed out at a metal door that slammed us to a stop.

"We're here. Now, be very, very quiet. You don't know what's on the other side." I warned, reaching for the latch.

"I do. Mean, barbaric, murderous, evil, cruel, dark, raiding, invasive, and all around bad people." Hay Lin rambled on as I pushed up the door, making the cloth that hid it go up and dang in front of us. Just as I was about to put my foot out, the cloth painting was lifted and several man stood there in front of Hay Lin and I.

The man who held the cloth was old, maybe a little older than our dads and the kid next to him was probably the same age as us. They both had black hair and brown eyes and they wore rags with swords on their sides. All the others were mean looking men and just plainly stared at us.

We stared for a few moments before the man holding the cloth pointed his drawn sword towards me. "Are you the Fire Princess? Is that the Avatar's kid?"

I blinked and grid my teeth together nervously, clearly a little shocked as I gave him a fake laugh and waved my hand. I slowly brought my foot back up and gripped tighter to the hatch door's handle. "Oh, no, of course not, you silly! We're uh, the uh..." I started as Hay Lin joined in on the lie, though she personally hates lying. "We're just some of the maids here." Hay Lin said, making me look back at her and nod with her. "Yeah, that's it. We're maids here. We were told by higher ups to hide in here and so here we are." We laughed again.

"She's wearing the flame-shaped crown!" One of the men yelled, pointing at my hair piece.

"You just had to be a princess," Hay Lin hissed to me as I looked back at her. "You're one to talk!" I retorted, soon looking back at the threatening men in front of us.

"Yeah, well, gotta go!" I said and yanked the door back, while the men on the other side yanked at it as well. Hay Lin and I yelped as we kept trying to pulled down the latch that locked the door.

"What do we do?" I asked frantically.

"I don't know, you're the Fire Lord's daughter!"

"You're the Avatar's daughter! You think of something! Saving things is like in your blood!"

"So is blood! What do you want me to do? Bleed to death!" She yelled back at me as we heard yells from the other end of the tunnel.

"Oh crap! Dad is so gonna kill us! Then ground me for eternity! I don't know what your dad will do because he's a vegetarian but my dad is very violent! He's a meat eater, man!" I ranted as Hay Lin hit me in the back of the head. "Will you get a grip! We are two smart, talented, and freaking beautiful bender girls. We can get out of this." Since when did she get so confident?

"Okay, you fly out and push the outer guys out. I'll get the front ones." I said as we heard a big thud of men flying down my tunnel.

"Three," I started. "Two."

The sound was getting closer as I began to push up the hatch. "One!"