Small Sacrifices 93 AG

In the palace, I was traded between tutors. My handmaiden, Hueling, monitored my lessons in order to maintain maximum efficiency. She was the first to discover 30 minutes a day was wasted in greetings between disciple and mentor. Henceforth, she dissuaded all mentors (except my fire bending instructor) to discontinue pleasantries. Thirty minutes a day was important. In 30 minutes, I could read the news, practice my breath, and memorize 5 foreign words. In one day alone, 30 minutes was nominal, but the effect added up. Against the rough grain of time, any skill could be sharpened.

I did not tire. Strategic breaks were allowed and taken. I took solace in seconds, I coveted moments. I held onto them, day by day. Saving them like small sweets wrapped in paper.

It could be the way the sun glides through the trees, or the sound of rain at night. It could be a pause in my step, or a memory of my mother playing the guitar.

It was one breath stolen, and released.
In an instant, used and tossed aside.

Back to work.

I could not falter.

I was a princess, not a prince. Princesses were fragile, princesses rested on their laurels, princesses wasted time, princesses smiled brightly and wore obscene jewelry.

From a very young age, I knew I could not, like my mother sit alone, in a room of self pity, hanging as a dried flower hangs on the wall.

Like most children, I wished I could be the hero of the tale. I wished I could change the world with a passing whim. I wanted to be the avatar, specifically avatar Kyoshi.

I both worshipped her and scorned her.

She was not an idealist, she was a general. Unlike all of her predecessors, she seized her power, refusing to sit idly upon a ceremonial title. She fought in the great war, and killed those who opposed her. Her acuity created an era of peace between kingdoms, 233 years of it.

She changed the nature of warfare.

But, to this day, her story is a joke. It is a comedy about Chin the Conqueror. It is famously depicted by a caricature of Chin, a man of short stature, stripped naked by Avatar Kyoshi's airbending.

This fable originates from the fact that Kyoshi stripped the oppositions' campsites. She stripped them of their resources.

In the night, she would monotonously strike the enemy camps with strong gales of wind. They could not pitch their tents. They could not sleep through the noise. They could not keep their fires aflame and their own weapons flew through the air, like shrapnel.

Haggard and distraught, the soldiers morale was 'stripped' camp by camp.

Every night,

For a year.

Each day, Chin's army marched. Each night they were blown back, or pushed back, or washed back.

Chin the conqueror created laughable countermeasures, such as forming earthen huts, strapping down cavalry, and creating an elaborate harness system where to keep the units intac. Such measures were his undoing.

Unsettled by warfare with a human god, the men deserted one by one. In the final push, Chin faced Kiyoshi on Shi Rah straight; a narrow road between the mainland and Shi Rah Peninsula. She defended the village on the outcrop. Blocking the way of the straggling campaign.

It was in the full light of day sliced the earth with her fans and carved out an island (now known as Kyoshi.) Of course, this feat required earth, water, and air bending in conjunction. But it is speculated, she used only the wind itself.

Such is the strength of the avatar, creator and breaker of kingdoms.

The battle of Shi Rah Straight could have been the most foolish battle in mainland history, or the most clever.

It is a tale of psychological warfare. Not the first of its kind, but the most ingenious.

I kept these sentiments to myself. As a princess of the fire nation, I could not speak so freely. Such notions bordered on treason.

I did not wish to bend air, earth, or water. I would not simply be known for the title "princess." I would earn my place in the history books as "Lord Azula, General of the United Fire's Republic."

Most of all, I would not be, a mere

joke.