Chapter One: You Have Been Invited

It is an early morning, during the beginning of the fall season. The temperature in the Fire Nation was starting to cool down a bit, not enough so that a tourist would notice but for the civilians, the change was drastic.

Fire Lord Tingzhe is sitting in his throne room in the capital of Caldera. His meeting with the nations generals was almost complete and Tingzhe wanted to leave as quickly as possible. His faithful attendant had informed him of someone who could train his son to become a great fire-bending master. That information alone was enough for the Fire Lord to completely dismiss this meeting from his thoughts. Finally the generals stood up, bowed to Tingzhe, and left the throne room.

"Finally",

The Fire Lord mumbles,

"Da! Come here!"

A middle aged man, adorning long robes, enters the room and bows to his Lord,

"Yes, my Lord?"

"Call my son for an audience. Also, send two of the Sages to find this fire-bending master. What's his name again?"

"She, my Lord. Her name is Xia"

Tingzhe had forgotten the fact that the master was a female. He isn't sure if he wants his son being taught by a woman. Though he knows that if his wife, Fire Lady Wen, found out he skipped on the opportunity of having his son learn from a great fire bender, she'd never let him live it down.

"Hmm, are you sure about this bender?"

"Yes, my Lord, I've heard that she's the best in the world. A prodigy, perhaps surpassing the power of some of the generals, rumor has it she was touched by the Sun Spirit as an infant and her fire is blue!"

"Very well then, send the Sages."

"Of course, my Lord."

With that Da went on his way to carry out his orders, first sending two Fire Sages to find the master, then setting off to find prince Zihao. After searching the usual spots where the prince loiters and having no luck finding him. Da finally discovers him in the Royal Arena, training with his previous master.

"Prince Zihao,"

Stopping with their training, the master bows respectfully before leaving the two alone and Zihao looks expectantly at Da,

"Yes? What is it Da?"

"Prince, your father requests and audience with you"

Zihao sighs, shrugs, and then starts to move towards the Arena's exit.

After wiping his face with a hot towel, Zihao follows Da into the throne room to his awaiting father. Once hearing the quick footsteps enter the throne room, Fire Lord Tingzhe looks up to see his first-born kneel in front of the flames that separate the Fire Lord from the audience.

"You wished to see me father?"

"Yes, Zihao, tomorrow you will have a new fire-bending master teach you."

"What? But father, I already have a master"

"Yes, and you have already surpassed him in talent. Da has told me that this fire bender is much ore powerful and quite the prodigy herself"

"She? You'll have a woman teach me father?"

"Yes, well, I've heard great things about her so if any of those rumors are true then she will be a great teacher to you"

Zihao purses his lips and only responds when his father sends him a certain look,

"Yes, father",

And with that Zihao takes his leave.

The two Fire Sages travel into the town by carriage, the town in which the fire bender they are looking for lives. The sun has set and the Sages are running out of time to find an inn to stay in and find this girl known as Xia. Once they pass an inn, the two decide to stop and rest for the night. As they walk in, the innkeeper looks up and smiles at his new customers, bowing after noticing the two are Sages,

"Room for two?"

The two Sages, Fu and Fa, look to one another, then nod to the innkeeper.

"Right this way, then"

The keeper leads the two to their temporary room for the night and is about to bid them a good night when Fu asks,

"Do you know of a fire bender named Xia in this town?"

"Xia? Well, yes, she's the daughter of a friend of mine. Cheung, he's the local carpenter, practically built this inn himself. Why are you looking for her?"

"The Fire Lord wishes for her to teach prince Zihao more advanced fire bending"

"What an honor!"
"Would you tell us where we might find her?"

"Surely, Xia should still be at the local arena. She helps out there with the young benders and stays afterward to clean up for the next morning session. It's not too late, she should still be there."

Fu and Fa look at each other and silently decide to head out once more to this arena. They tell the innkeeper they'll be back soon and head out to find Xia. Sooner rather than later, the two arrive at the local arena.

"Hello here, may I help you?"

At the sound of a young girl's voice the Sages look over their shoulders to find the person they've been looking for,

"Might you be Xia?"

Fa asks,

"Yes"

She replies warily. The two Sages bow to her and Fu says,

"You have been invited by the Fire Lord himself to enter the capital and train his son, prince Zihao, in fire bending."

At the news Xia's mouth slackened and she became speechless. After a few moments of silence Fu finally asks,

"Will you come?"

"I, um, yes! It'd be my honor to train prince Zihao! Of course, I'll have to tell my parents…"

"That is acceptable. Fa and I wish to leave tomorrow morning so that we might reach the capital by nightfall. You will meet us at the local inn tomorrow morning as soon as you can. You won't need to pack heavily, the maids at the Palace will be able to attend to anything you need while you are there."

"R-right! Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning"

Xia bows accordingly to Fa and Fu and runs to the back of the arena, on her way home. While the Sages make their way back to the inn.

After the two Sages left, Xia finished tidying up the arena and began her run home. Once her house was in sight she could see her father picking up firewood from their storage house next to their small main house.

"Father!"

At the sound of his daughter's voice, Cheung looks up to see his daughter running towards him,

"Xia! Is something the matter?"

He asks once she is in front of him, panting,

"No! Something wonderful has just happened! Two Fire Sages came looking for me and said that the Fire Lord himself has asked me to come to the capital to train prince Zihao!"

Like father, like daughter, Cheung's mouth slackened and he dropped the firewood,

"Come inside! We must tell your mother! She'll be so happy"

"But Father, the firewood!"

Cheung paused, then let out a heartily laugh,

"Right, I completely forgot!"

Xia helps him pick up the wood and then they enter the house together and immediately Cheung cries out,

"Ling! Ling, come here! Xia's got great news!"

"What is it dear?"

Ling asks, coming into the foyer from the kitchen, the smell of noodle soup wafting from the other room.

"She's been asked by the Fire Lord himself to come to the capital and teach prince Zihao fire bending! Isn't that great?"

"Way to let me tell mother"

Xia joked and her father rubs the back of his head,

"Sorry, dear"

Ling simply smiles and pulls her daughter into a warm hug and whispers,

"Congratulations my darling"

Xia returns the hug and murmurs a,

"Thank you"

"When do they want you to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning"

"Then you might want to start packing! I'll keep your soup warm until you're ready"

"Thanks mother"

With that Xia went to her room to begin packing, keeping in mind to pack light. Meanwhile, her parents walk into the kitchen, chatting about their daughter's good fortune.

The next day arrives almost too quickly for Xia. As instructed, she packed as lightly as possible, only carrying clothes and instruments needed to train along with a few day and night clothes; all fitting in a single, medium sized, bag. Walking towards the inn where the sages said to meet up, Xia thinks about what she'll do once she reaches the capital,

"I wonder what the royal family looks like. Will prince Zihao like me? What am I thinking? He's the prince! He'll probably only think of me as his teacher, if that. Hopefully he won't simply dismiss me as a commoner… though he almost certainly will…"

Xia continued to have thoughts such as these until Fa brought her out of her reverie,

"Are you ready to leave for the capital?"

After looking back down the road the leads to her home, she replies,

"Yes, I'm completely ready"

And with that, the three were off.

A/N: Hello there! I'm proud to say that this story has gotten 11 visitors in just one day! Yay! Also, thanks to tenneyshoes for being the first to review. If anyone was wondering, I get most of my sources from wikiavatar and the reason why Xia going to the capital is such a big idea is because if you're not royal you can't enter the capital unless personally invited by the Fire Lord, which is very rare. Now, Tingzhe= may the court be wise, Wen= refinement, Da=intelligent, Fu=wealthy, Fa= setting off and Zihao= heroic son.

Love, Pastry~