Welcome everyone. When I finished "Reign Predictions" I wondered if the next story I wrote should have Chulalongkorn, the Pretender to the Throne to the Fire Nation, as the protagonist and have it be about him under Zuko's reign during the comics. I felt his younger brother Taisho's adventures would be more interesting. Since they take place during the show itself, the chapters will be named after the episodes to tell just when they are set. The uniform the House of Mongkut wears is meant to be the same worn by the Fire Nation soldiers in the unaired pilot. Enjoy and review.

The Boy in the Iceberg

The House of Mongkut was a noble military family. Every Pretender to the Throne had come from that family ever since Mongkut had been given the title by Sozin himself. Mongkut himself had not served in the Hundred Year War as he had been dead forty-two years old by the time it had started. The latest Pretender to the Throne Chulalongkorn, Mongkut's descendant, refused to take part in the war on the grounds that Mongkut himself never participated in the war so why should he?

The House of Mongkut was full of redheads. It was solely a family of redheads in fact. Thus Taisho, the thirteen-year old younger brother of Chulalongkorn, was a red head as well. He was shorter than his twenty-year old brother who stood at a height of five feet and seven inches. He was five feet and two inches in fact. Chulalongkorn shared a height with their grandfather Meiji, a Pretender to the Throne during Azulon's first forty-four years, and Taisho would likely grow to the same height. He shared his brother's aquiline nose and strong jaw.

As a military family, the House of Mongkut usually wore a military uniform but one of their own design. Chulalongkorn and Taisho wore such a uniform.

In their home, Chulalongkorn stood opposite of Taisho. Chulalongkorn was quite comfortable in his ancestral home. Among the ambrosial aftershaves of incense and agile chambers of alabaster cobble he was happy. His accessories and assets he knew he was a boy of the awesome account that was written in the scrolls kept in this very house.

Taisho however could not have been anymore uncomfortable. As a second born son he felt like he was in the shadow of not just Chulalongkorn but every other Pretender to the Throne who had come before. Every Pretender to the Throne had been a firstborn son. Taisho was not destined for greatness and he knew it. He may have been born great, the son of a noble military family, but he would never achieve greatness, he would never have greatness thrust upon him.

Taisho breathed heavily. He was shaking. His eyes were darting. His discomfort was evident to Chulalongkorn and everyone else who saw him.

"Perhaps you should go to Ember Island to calm down." Said Chulalongkorn. He had a deeply melodic basso voice. Mongkut's voice had been the exact same. In contrast Meiji's had been a rich baritone.

And Taisho's voice? If he was a singer he'd be a tenor. "I don't know if going there will help."

"What will calm you down then?" asked Chulalongkorn. "What is the matter?"

"Chula, I don't think you could ever understand." Replied Taisho. "Why did you want to see me?"

"Because everyone has noticed how you have been lately. This discomfort is very strange. What is the reason for it?"

"Something you wouldn't understand!"

"Taisho, I became Pretender to the Throne and head of our family at fifteen. I have a better understanding of hardship than you think."

"You are firstborn, Chula! You'd never understand!"

"If this is about feeling like in my shadow, get over it. Fire Lord Ozai was second born and look at him now!" Chulalongkorn did have a point. Ozai achieved greatness when he probably wouldn't have until the death of the firstborn Iroh.

"Our father died alongside Prince Lu Ten and you use the latter's uncle as an example to make me comfortable?" asked Taisho, feeling not a little angered at this.

"I may not like the man but the point is that the second born son Ozai is Fire Lord now instead of the firstborn Iroh."

"Our father served under General Iroh! You should have supported Iroh's claim to the throne not give Ozai a phony prediction!" And with that, Taisho stormed off. He left the room, exited the house completely.

Chulalongkorn merely took a breath. Not just a breath but a deep breath! He would try talking to Taisho later.