The Royal Family Dinner:
Zuko's POV:
Zuko gave a small sigh as he lifted his long arms. Sareko, his personal servant, was helping him get dressed, much to his displeasure. The way he saw it was that he was nine years-and-a-half years old now and he deserved the right to dress himself like a man should, but no, his mother thought otherwise. Sareko apparently thought the same.
"I don't know why Princess Ursa wants me to dress a boy perfectly capable of dressing himself." he soliloquized as he pulled on Zuko's crimson tunic. Zuko, perfectly able to hear the servant, rolled his eyes, knowing that if he wanted to, Zuko could report this servant for disrespect to the Royal Family, but he knew that it would be just better to keep his trap shut. "Thank-you Sareko." he said quickly before racing out of his room. He really hated being in there alone with the decrepit servant sometimes, mostly because of his constant complaining. Also, there was the fact that he smelled like cabbages, a vegetable he hated, due to the fact a cabbage merchant practically tried to make him inhale a cabbage once… It took two Fire Guards and his mother to pry the man away. Zuko smiled back at memory, remembering even when out of meanness, the guards pushed the cabbage merchant's cart over, spilling it's products. Last he had heard, the merchant was somewhere far, far away in the Earth Kingdom, still grumbling about his poor treatment from the Fire Nation. Usually it was Azula to be thinking such mean thoughts, but after all, Zuko did have Ozai's blood in him.
Zuko, there you are! Why are you standing around like a sullen rhino! Dinner is about to start!" He emerged from out of his thoughts to realize that he was standing in hallway, looking idiotic. His mother was standing before him, looking extremely agitated. Zuko knew it was because this was the first time in over five years that the WHOLE Royal family had sat down for a dinner together… This included Fire Lord Azulon. "I'm coming Mother." he said, following her as she set off at a brisk pace towards the dining room. His rather skinny legs had no trouble keeping pace with his mom who still had a worried look on his face. He grabbed a hold of her arm and rubbed against her side. "Don't worry Mom. This dinner is going to be great, I just know it." His mother smiled down at him and used her arm to smooth back his tied-up hair. "Thank-you Zuko. Your optimism has already cheered me up." Zuko smiled smugly, acknowledging the praise.
Once they reached the intricately designed door that led to the Dining Room, his mother stopped and looked down at him with a firm expression. "Now Zuko, no fighting with your sister tonight… We don't want Fire Lord Azulon thinking that we're a disgrace." He nodded and gave her a small bow. "I promise that I won't fight with Azuliot, I mean Azula." His mother gave him one last stern look before pushing open the door.
Azula's POV:
Azula's lip curled up in a sneer as her brother and their mother entered. She was still mad at him for taking Mai away yesterday. Mai was her friend, not Zuko's, even though the two obviously liked one another, that was no excuse for Mai spending more time with Zuko than she was with Azula. And as for their mother, well, that was a whole different story. "Ursa, you can come sit down by me. Zuko, why don't you go sit between your sister and your uncle." Azula sighed as the two did just that. She didn't want her brother sitting next to her, but then again, that gave her the opportunity to do something to him and possibly get away with it. Well, no, she would probably never get away with it, Zuko being Uncle Iroh's favorite and all, but still, it wouldn't hurt to try. Azula smiled and turned her body so that she could have a clear view of Zuko who was twiddling his thumbs. She leaned closer towards him, a move that no one seemed to pay mind to, except for Zuko. "Get away from me Azula." he said, half whimpering. Azula laughed in that little patronizing way that everyone, including her beloved father, seemed to adore. "But what am I doing Zuko? I just want to have a nice sister-to-brother talk with you."
Her older brother, almost predictably, adapted a look of disbelief. He only believed in things told to him by our dear, favorite picking mother, or our fat, tea-loving uncle. Idiot. "Zuzu, why don't you believe me? I'm just trying to be nice." Azula said, widening her eyes as if to appear innocent. She had learned that trick from observing Ty Lee who had her eyes widened almost all the time. "Whatever…" He then dropped his voice. "Azuliot." Enraged, Azula shot a small flame at him and was rewarded as Zuko jumped up from his seat screaming, clutching his butt. Azula, being the lady that she was, smiled apologetically at everyone looking at her, some with curious eyes, others with angry eyes. Two pairs of eyes though held looks of suspicion, most predictably, her mother's and her uncle's. "I'm sorry family, but I was drinking my tea and I accidentally spilt some on Zuko's buttocks. It apparently was very hot." she said, earning a laugh out of a few people. "I assure you, my brother will get it back together."
"Yes, my son will get it back together. Zuko go sit in the corner until I tell you otherwise. You had no reason for acting like this!" their father commanded. Zuko obeyed and went to sit in a corner, staring at her with hatred all the way there. Azula felt proud. Looks of loathing from him were easily accomplished, but looks of pure hatred were hard to come by. Azula took it as a compliment to her abilities to see that she had achieved a look of pure hatred in just five minutes of the beginning of an event. That was an impressive feat.
Zuko's POV:
One timeout later, Zuko was back to sitting at the table next to a smug Azula and a sympathetic looking uncle. He was rather angry at the injustice of it all, but there was nothing he could do about it, except…. Fight fire with fire… After the appetizers (pickled fish tarts and fire coals), the servants came out with a huge slab of meat that was larger than even his father. Zuko had never seen such a sight so welcomed in his mind before. It would be perfect for the thing he was about to do, even though it would cost him about a week of being grounded. But he really didn't care as long it was worth it. Zuko, taking a sharp knife from his utensil's napkin, sliced off a small piece of meat and dipped it in some Tangy Barbeque sauce. He then, with a quick prayer to the spirits, chunked the piece right on Azula's red and gold dress.
The look on her face was worth it, so worth it. Her hair usually neat and tidy, began to stick up. Her face, almost always calm and collected, was scrunched up evilly, looking like a wrinkled pig. Uncle Iroh laughed, finding amusement in the matter also before turning towards his other neighbor as not to get in trouble. But Zuko did catch a wink from him before he turned so that gave him encouragement to take it even farther. "Hey Azula, I bet you can't do better…" he whispered. Most everyone seemed oblivious to what was going on. Zuko was grateful. "Oh yeah, we'll see about that." said Azula, taking the piece of meat off of her. She aimed it towards his head, but Zuko ducked and the piece of meat ended up hitting Uncle Iroh in the head. Both of us sat still, wondering what his reaction would be, when all of the sudden, he began to laugh. He began to laugh so hard that steam was running out of his nostrils. He and Azula shared a rare moment of conjoined laughter before Uncle cut a piece of meat off of the giant piece and dipped in some sort of yellow sauce. He then turned to chuck it at Ozai, but instead, it missed, and hit Fire Lord Azulon.
That's when the whole table stopped, literally. Nothing moved, nothing breathed, except for Ozai, who was turning red enough to have steam literally emitting out of his ears. But truly unexpectedly, Fire Lord Azulon took the piece of meat off of his forehead, examined it, and then with precise aim, threw it back at Uncle who this time, caught it on his tunic. That's when chaos erupted.
Food was flying everywhere. He and Azula, while giggling, were throwing assorted pieces of fruit at one another, but later they teamed up and attacked Uncle with a few steaming fire coals. Mom and Dad (surprisingly) were chucking rolls at one another. Zuko had been shocked at his. He had never see Dad, or more properly, Father, exhibit any sort of free play such as this. It amazed him to realize that his father was something else than a robot. Fire Lord Azulon was throwing food out at people randomly, his face lit up with childish glee. Zuko would have bet that a reporter would have paid their left arm and leg to see such a sight. He knew he would have. Uncle Iroh was flinging various foods at him and Azula, while at the same time doing the same to Lu Ten, his son, who had walked into late after the food fight had started. Zuko had guessed that he wished that he would have never walked in. But his guess was wrong as Lu Ten actually seemed to be enjoying himself. That was rather surprising, as his cousin was a seasoned soldier. But then again, if the Fire Lord could chuck various foods at people, then a soldier can do the same, presumably.
The epic food fight ended when Azula collapsed asleep on the floor. Zuko had had half the mind to do the same, but even falling down to the ground would require too much energy for him to exert. Some servants, wearing looks of disdain, came and carried Azula away. The adults began to sit down, looking weary, but joyful. After all, it is quite rare when the Royal Family has a food fight and the Fire Lord joins in. Zuko sat down also, but swiftly found himself laying on Uncle's lap. It was past his bedtime, but no one seemed to care. After all, the adults had been drinking that strange beverage that made them act weird. Zuko wasn't allowed to have any because it was a grown up drink and he could see why. It was a drink that made adults act like kids! But sooner or later, his mother realized that he was still up and ordered a servant to take him up to his bedroom, wash him off, and get him to bed. It was later in bed that night that Zuko realized that he had actually caused the food fight to happen, a feat worthy of history books. As he drifted off, a vision of a history book entered his mind. On the cover, was a picture of his whole family, covered in food. He smiled sleepily as the picture became ingrained in his mind forever. The Royal Family Dinner.
A/N: Read and Review please!