Azula ran the brush through her tangled hair, wincing as the snarls unwound. She hated fixing her hair, really, she saw no reason to. She believed in being presentable, but there wasn't going to be anyone important to present herself to, so she really didn't see why she was bothering. She set the brush down and ran her fingers through her now soft and neatly combed hair. Now where was that ribbon? Azula looked down at the side-table next to the mirror and picked up the ribbon. She didn't really mind having her hair down, but her father said that having it up made her look more mature, so she always wore it up.
After she'd tied her hair in its regular top-knot, she smiled at herself and giggled. Her stomach growled as she put her shoes on. Again with the "presentable" thing. Anyone else her age would just go to breakfast with their snarly hair and pajamas, but not her. Oh no, not her. She had to get dressed, brush her teeth, which made the food taste disgusting, comb her hair, and to top it all off, put shoes on. She certainly didn't know anyone who wore shoes to breakfast, or around the house for that matter. Slippers, maybe. But shoes?
She walked over to her bedroom door and walked out. Maids waited outside her bedroom door, waiting to escort her to breakfast. Having maids was a luxury of being royalty, and for the most part, she loved it, but being escorted to breakfast in her own house really was over doing it, even for her.
"Are you ready, Princess?" One asked, smiling sweetly at her, though the smile did not quite reach her eyes. They'd all heard stories about the Princess, and were not particularly fond of her. She sighed.
"
I suppose so." She let the maids lead her to the dining hall, where she knew the rest of the royal family was eating their breakfast. The two maids in front opened the door and stepped aside, allowing her to step inside. Azula made her way to the empty seat next to her brother. A maid ran from behind her and pulled the chair out so she could sit. Azula sat down and looked down at her plate. Pancakes with fruit. Nothing too special.
"
Good morning Father, Mother," she turned her gaze towards her brother "Zu-zu,"she added, smiling as her brother glared at her. Her smiled soon faded as she realized neither of her parents were going to acknowledge her existence.
She sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar over the tops of her pancakes and began to cut them into little squares. She was surprised that the maids had even let her do that much herself. Sticking a piece of pancake with her fork, she brought it up to her mouth. It was so silent that she could hear herself chew, swallow, and repeat. Finally her mother cleared her throat.
"So Zuko, how did you sleep?" her mother asked.
"Fine . . . I guess."
"That's good to hear," her mother took another mouth full of pancake and said nothing more. Azula looked back down at her plate and tried to ignore the fact that her mother hadn't asked her anything. In fact, her mother hadn't even said hello to her this morning. She shoved more pancake in her mouth and tried to concentrate on chewing her food silently.
"I think I may invite Ty lee and Mai over today," she stated, rather than asked. Again, neither of her parents said anything. Her brother, however, seemed to take an interest in this.
"You should," he said, blushing slightly. "You know, so I don't have to deal with you alone all day,"
"Of course. Dealing with me is quite the challenge, isn't it?" she forced a laugh. Though she knew the real reason her brother wanted her friends to come over was because he had a crush on Mai, she couldn't help but wonder if what he said was also true. Was she really so awful that her brother needed help just to get through one day with her? She shoved the last pieces of pancake into her mouth before standing up.
"Wow Azula. Six pancakes? That's more than I could do and I'm a boy!" He teased. She stared down at her stomach to discover that her stomach stuck out more than she'd last remembered. Was she gaining wait?
She stood up and walked out of the room.
"Remember, you have training this evening Azula. Do not forget." her father called. Oh, so he can talk.
Next to the wall, a group of maids were talking with each other. Azula walked up to one of them.
"Send a message to Mai and Ty Lee which instructs them to come over as soon as they receive said message, do you understand?" she didn't wait for the maid to respond before she turned her back and started to make her way back to her quarters.
"O-of course, Princess. Right away," the maid responded as she sped down the hall. Why did it seem like she was running for more reasons than to send the letter? Azula knew that the first word that came to mind when someone saw her wasn't 'kind' or 'sweet' like it was when one thought of most 9 year old girls, but she really didn't think it was 'terrifying' or 'awful' like everyone else seemed to think it was. She walked briskly towards her quarters, looking no where but up as she walked. A princess must always walk with her head held high, whether she is in the presence of others or just taking a stroll in the garden.
For what seemed like ages she walked until she reached her bedroom door. She walked in the room and grabbed a book and began to read. Azula loved to read about the beautiful princesses and their princes that came to save them. She wondered if she would ever be the beautiful girl who was saved by the handsome prince who wanted to marry her. But she knew she never would be. Who in there right mind would wantto marry her? She was no beautiful heroine. And she definitelywas not a helpless little girl who needed to be saved from a silly dragon! A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Azula! It's me!" shouted Ty Lee from the other side of the door. Azula smiled. Oh Ty Lee . . .Sure, the girl was a handful and was obnoxiously happy all of the time, but Azula found her to be strangely endearing. She set her book down on her nightstand and walked over to the door to open it.
"Hello Ty Lee," Azula said, keeping her tone light. She really did like Ty Lee, even if Ty Lee didn't really like her.
"Hi Azula!" she giggled, wrapping the black haired girl into a tight hug. If anyone else had made this close of contact with the princess she would have called her guards, but this was Ty Lee. Ty Lee was different.
"So what are you doing?" she asked, that stupid grin still plastered on her face.
"Just reading." she responded. From behind Ty Lee another girl walked into the room.
"Mai!" exclaimed Ty Lee, leeching herself onto the poor girl. Mai shifted uncomfortably in Ty Lee's death grip.
"Ty Lee, please let go of me," she smiled weakly. Ty Lee let go and laughed with that obnoxious bubbly laugh of hers.
"Hello Mai," said Azula. She liked Mai, she really did, but sometimes the girl freaked her out a bit. She'd never seen anyone who was so void of emotion. Not even she could pull that off.
"Hello Azula," Mai smiled, stronger this time.
"Do you guys wanna go do something? Because I'm really bored right now," said Ty Lee, bouncing up and down.
"I guess we could go outside or something," said Azula.
"Or we could play with dolls!" exclaimed Ty Lee. Mai groaned.
"Dolls are stupid. Let's go outside," Mai and Ty Lee both looked at Azula for the final decision.
"Whatever you guys want to do is fine with me," Azula decided. She really didn't care what they did.
"Alright, we're going outside," Mai said.
"But-"
"Nope. We're going outside. End of story." Ty Lee frowned for a minute then almost immediately perked up. "I learned how to do a front aerial the other day. I could show you guys if you want!" she basically shouted as she ran down the hall. Mai sighed.
"That girl is really something," Mai muttered as she started making her way down the hall. Azula laughed.
When they finally got outside, Ty Lee was cart wheeling around the garden. She stopped when she saw them.
"Do you guys wanna learn now?" Ty Lee asked. Azula didn't really want to learn anything from Ty Lee, but she supposed that it could be fun.
"I don't see why not," Azula said thoughtfully. Ty Lee squealed delightedly and began explaining to them how to do a front aerial.
"So pretty much, you just go like this!" Ty Lee said as she ran into a perfect front aerial. Azula sighed. Only Ty Lee would take the time to learn how to do something so silly and useless.
"Alright, are you guys ready to try?" Ty Lee asked, still smiling.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Mai whispered to Azula. Azula got into the position she needed to be in to complete the task. She ran a little and jumped into a front aerial. She almost landed it, but she instead fell on her butt. Ty Lee laughed. Azula glared.
"Oh like you did any better when you first tried!" Ty Lee laughed.
"I never said I did! Try again. I'm sure you'll get it this time!" Azula brushed imaginary dirt from her skirt and tried again. She ran into the front aerial and just barely landed it.
"I told you you'd get it!" Ty Lee said. Azula growled. The girl could be so annoying at times.
"Alright Mai, you're turn!"
"Yeah, no thanks," Mai laughed.
"Hey you guys!" called a voice from the entrance of the palace.
"Looks like someone forgot to take the trash out," Azula muttered. Ty Lee giggled.
"Hi Zuko!"
"Hey Ty Lee," he said, looking around until his rested on Mai.
"Hey Mai," he blushed. Mai looked away slightly.
"Hello Zuko,"
"So uh . . . what are you guys doing?" he asked.
"Well at the moment, we're not doing anything because Mai's being a poop-head. But that's nothing new I suppose." Mai glared at Azula.
"Well, would you guys mind if I pla- hung out with you for a while?" Zuko asked, trying to make his voice sound lower than it actually was.
"Actually-"
"Definitely! I mean like, we wouldn't mind," Mai sputtered, blushing. Azula rolled her eyes.
"So, what should we do?" Ty Lee asked, squirming. Does she ever stop moving?
"Well, we could play kickball or something?"
"Kickball? Oh come on Ty Lee, is that really the best you can do?"
"Well I . . ."
"I love kickball!" said Zuko.
"Oh ah . . . me too!" said Mai nervously.
"Looks like I'm outnumbered. Let's play." Azula and Ty Lee were on a team, and Mai and Zuko were on a team, as was expected. Azula and Ty Lee were on kicking first, Zuko and Mai were on outfield. Zuko pitched the first ball to Azula. Azula missed the ball.
"One out!" called Mai from where she was standing.
"What? No! You pitched that bad! I demand that you re-pitch that!" Azula growled.
"That pitch was fine!" defended Zuko
"No! It was a lousy pitch! Now re-pitch it!"
"Or maybe you're just a lousy kicker!"
"I am not a lousy kicker! Pitch that ball again and we'll see how lousy I am!"
"Fine!" Zuko retorted as he pitched the ball. Azula's foot came close to hitting it but just didn't quite make it.
"Hah! I told you you were a lousy kicker!" teased Zuko.
"Am not!" Azula yelled back.
"Are too!" Zuko laughed, obviously enjoying himself. Azula glared at him and picked up the ball.
"What are you- Azula!" Zuko shouted as the ball burst into flames. She laughed.
"Why would you do that?" he yelled. Azula responded by shrugging her shoulders.
"Gods, I hate you! Why out of all the girls in the world are you my sister! You always do things like this! You're so destructive, annoying and just awful! Sometimes I just wish you'd disappear and die so that I wouldn't have to deal with you anymore!"
"Yeah well, I hate you too!" Azula said, trying to mask the hurt and surprise from her voice. Zuko just turned his back and stormed off. Azula watched him go, and then walked away herself. She could hear her friends whispering, about her no doubt. She kept walking. She felt a tear drip down her cheek. Quickly she wiped it off when she heard voices from around the corner.
"Mom, you should have seen her! She missed the ball so she burned it! She'd insane!"
"Zuko, don't talk about your sister like that!"
"But mom, she is! She ruined my kickball! No sane person would do that!"
"Your sister is a little . . . different, but Zuko, you have to remember that that's not her fault." Different?
"I just don't know why she would do that!"
"Because she can't control herself, that's why. I'll talk to her Zuko, okay?"
"Fine," he muttered. She smiled at him.
"Don't worry Zuko, I'll get you a new ball," She said, wrapping her arms around him.
"Okay," Zuko said. Azula heard his footsteps going down the hall. She stood there for a minute, not knowing what to do. What did she mean by different?She started to walk away from the hallway where her mother was when she heard footsteps coming towards her. She turned around to see her mother giving her a very stern look.
"Azula," her mother said flatly, almost like just seeing her daughter made her unhappy. "Why did you do that to your brother's ball?"
"Do what to my brother's ball?" she asked innocently, making her eyes as big as possible.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about Azula. Don't play this game with me," her mother said angrily. She would never get mad, or really even care, if Zuko did something to her, but the minute she did something to him, there was hell to pay.
"So I burned his ball. I don't see what the big deal is," she spat.
"The big deal is you burned his ball. Burning things isn't okay Azula! I would've thought you would've learned that by now! It doesn't seem like anyone else's child has a problem with burning things, so why do you?" Azula sat quietly, focusing on the wall behind her mother.
"Sometimes I wonder about you Azula . . ."
"Wonder what about me?" she squeaked.
"I wonder how in the world I got stuck with- I just wonder why you do some of the things you do, Azula," Ursa said, turning her back to Azula and walking to where Zuko had gone. She felt her hands trembling. She couldn't move. Her mouth felt dry. She took a deep breath and started walking calmly towards her chambers. She past by a few maids who gave her dirty looks. The guards as she walked by the throne room seemed to glare as she walked by. Even the paintings of the past Fire Lords seemed to look down upon her. Her bedroom door was insight. She kept her calm and collected composure and opened the door, and gently closed it behind her. She turned the lock on her door and walked over to the mirror.
"Am I really so awful?" she asked aloud. "Am I really so awful that my own motherdoesn't even want to be around me?" She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She watched the tears drip down her long nose onto the ground.
"Why doesn't anybody like me?" she cried. Because you're ugly. She put her hands over her face. Because you're stupid. She fell to her knees, tears leaking out of her hands. Because you're fat. She could feel her breakfast moving in her stomach, turning into fat. Because you're mean. She took her hands away from her face and looked in the mirror again. Because you're you. She screamed and put her hands back over her face, unable to look at that horrifying reflection anymore.
