Azula blinked and sat up. Where was she? Everything looked so unfamiliar to her. She didn't remember falling asleep and quite frankly didn't remember waking up either. The last thing she remember was . . . well actually, she didn't really remember anything happening before this.

She seemed to be in a valley of some sort. She'd never seen any place like it before. Tall green grass which layered the meadow tickled her legs as it swayed to the silent symphony of the wind. The sun scintillated on the mass of land below it. The only object that offered any protection from it's harsh rays in the meadow was a massive willow tree which rooted in the corner of the meadow. From one of its branches hung a wooden swing, moving with the breeze. Its ropes were unraveling and it looked to be quite old. The seat, however, appeared to be perfectly intact. A bird perched on the branch from which the swing hung, chirping a melody that fit the spring time atmosphere well. Flowers in their bloom embellished the small meadow, giving it character. Honey bees flew against the wind to try to get to these flowers, though not successfully.

She pulled up a bit of grass and inspected it. What on earth was she going to do? A smooth breeze ruffled her hair and caused a shiver to run down her spine.

"Azula" She turned her head towards the source of the sound. To her surprise, no one was there. Only a small pond which seemed unmoving. She must be hearing things.

"Azula" the whisper said again. She saw no one. Only the same still pond she had seen before. Was it possible . . .? No. She stood up. No one would get away with messing with her like that. She started to walk around when she heard it again.

"Azula" Azula flipped around ad pointed in the direction from which the noise had been made.

"I know you're there!" Her gaze fell again on the pond where the noise seemed to be coming from. She walked over to it. She saw only her own reflection in the pond. She was wearing a white nightdress with lace lining the hem which rested on her knees. She just stared for a minute. At her long nose. At her small eyes. At her thin lips. At her chubby cheeks. At her stringy hair. Why wasn't she pretty? Her mother was pretty. Her father wasn't bad looking. Even Zuko wasn't that horrible deformed. Why did she have to be the black sheep of the family? She pulled on a piece of hair and bit her lip. She really couldn't find any logic in it.

She glanced over the pond to see mountains; snow powdered on the tops.

Wait, snow? Being from the Fire Nation, she'd never actually seen snow. The Fire Nation has never had any snow. The temperature was always too warm to have snow, or even have winter really. So she couldn't be in the Fire Nation. But if she wasn't in the Fire Nation, where was she?

Looking around at all the flowers and perfect green grass, she decided that it wasn't the Earth Kingdom, and it obviously wasn't one of the Water Tribes. Azula had never actually seen any pictures of the Air Temples, but she was pretty sure that they were higher up than she was now. They weren't called Air Temples because they were on the ground.

Sighing in defeat, Azula she brought her hand down her dress to straighten the wrinkles out of it. She was about to sit down when she noticed that her hand was wet. She brought her hand up to her face and studied it. What was it? Surely it can't be . . . She looked down at her white dress, now stained with blood across the stomach. Azula yelped. What was going on? Was she bleeding? Azula looked down into the pond to see the blood spot increasing. She grabbed her stomach to try to stop the bleeding. Why was this happening? Soon blood had stained her entire middle and was moving down to her knees and up to her chest. She felt light-headed and sick, yet she felt no pain. She coughed and saw blood lining the grass under her mouth. Still grabbing her stomach, she dropped to her knees. She put her hand on the ground and looked into the water. The reflection that smiled back at her was not her. It was a girl about her age, with golden eyes and black hair which she wore in a top-knot, letting two pieces frame her face. She was much prettier than Azula. Much, much prettier. The girl reached one of her slender arms out to Azula, seizing her arm, and began pulling her into the water. Azula shrieked and pulled back. The girl cackled and pulled harder. Soon Azula's whole body was submerged in water. She couldn't breathe. She could feel her lungs about to explode. Desperately she tried to swim back to the top, to replenish her lungs with they oxygen they so longed for. But the girl wouldn't let her go. The girl kept pulling her under. Deeper and deeper, until all she could see was the pretty girl pulling her under to her sure death . . .

Azula woke with a start, sweat trickling down her face as she sat up. She could feel her heart hammering in her eyes as she tried to get her breathing back to normal. It was just a dream. She reached her arm up and wiped the perspiration off her forehead. Lifting the blankets off of herself, she walked over to the bathroom, and turned on the fosset on. She just needed to wake a bit, then she'd be fine. Azula put her hands in the basin and splashed water up into her face. She dried her face with the towel next to the sink. See? Better already. She avoided the mirror as she walked to her closet. Really the only reason she kept the silly thing was to make sure there was nothing in her teeth after she ate a meal. She opened the closet door and started shuffling the contents inside. Grabbing a jumper off a hanger, she went over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of black leggings and started to get her self dressed. The leggings were a little tighter than she remembered them being. She should really stop eating so much. After throwing on a pair of shoes she started on her hair again. So much work, and she was just going to breakfast!

The tangles in her hair came out with ease. Tying her hair up in a top-knot, she walked towards the door. She could hear her usual maids talking quietly outside her door. She reached for the door handle and pulled the door open. The minute the door was open, the whispers ceased. Azula sighed. Well gee, I wonder who they were talking about? Her maids started walking towards the dining hall. She sped up to get ahead of them. She really didn't need maids to escort her to breakfast. Even though she was only 10 years old, she was capable of a lot of things, one of those many things being able to successfully bring herself to breakfast. The maids got the hint and slowed a bit to make sure Azula kept the lead.

When she reached the door, she opened it like she had many times before. The seat next to her brother was empty, just like it always was. She mumbled her morning greetings with no response and sat down like she did everyday.

Her plate had four pieces of french toast. She felt her stomach grumble and started to cut the french toast into bite size pieces with her fork. The little pieces were cooked to perfection, as they should be. She stuck a piece in her mouth. Delicious. She looked down at her plate and was about to dig in when she realized what she was doing. Four pieces? Four pieces of french toast? She already seemed to be gaining weight, why inflict the gain of more weight when she could just eat a bit less? After she'd eaten two pieces of the toast, she got up.

"Are you finished, Princess?" a maid from behind her asked shyly, about to grab her unfinished breakfast.

"Well, I stood up, didn't I?"

"Yes, but-"

"But what?"

"Nevermind." Silly maid. How you still work here, the Gods only know. She started to walk back down the hall where she had come, when she had a sudden change of heart. Today, she would read in the garden.

After fetching a book from her private chambers, she ran off to read it in the garden. She had always liked the palace garden. It was one of her favorite places to be. Though she wasn't exactly a sweet little girl who needed sunshine and rainbows to thrive, she still liked a little fresh air from time to time. Besides, it got boring just reading in the palace library or in her bedroom. She needed to change things up a bit.

Book in hand, she plopped herself down against a tree trunk near the turtle duck pond and opened her book. She was reading about Princess Masami, a princess way before her time. Princess Masami was a good person. She was good to her people and everyone around her. Before she did something, she would always think of the benefits her people would get from it. Children would crowd the streets whenever she left the palace, always wanting a glimpse of their beautiful princess. And she was as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside. She had brownish black hair, a bit lighter than Azula's which she would always wear down. She was said to have been about 5'5, maybe a little taller. Her perfectly white skin free of blemishes. Her soft pink lips captivating without the application of any sort of cosmetics. She was simply gorgeous. And everyone loved her. The only thing Masami and Azula seemed to have in common was their eyes. They both had those piercingly golden eyes. But Masami's seemed . . . softer. Better. Azula sighed. Was she even really a princess? All the princesses she read about seemed to be different from her. They were beautiful, kind, and loved by their people. And they all had a prince charming. Masami, being as lovely as she was, had many suitors after her from wealthy families around the Fire Nation asking for her hand in marriage, but she instead chose an Earthbender she'd met when she went to visit the Earth Kingdom. So in other words, she married a peasant. Azula wasn't any of those things, and she certainly didn't have any men asking for her hand in marriage. And she doubted she would when she got older and could officially have the title of Fire Nation Princess either. If her own mother couldn't put up with her, why would anyone else be able to?

"What are you doing out here?" asked that whiny high-pitched voice she knew all to well.

"I have a book in my hand. The book is open. I am looking down at said book. So what do you think I'm doing Dum-dum?" she rolled her eyes. Why did her brother have to be such an idiot?

"I knew that!" he said defensively. Sure. "So uh . . . what are you reading?" he asked

"Oh Zuko would you just go away!"

"I was trying to be nice!"

"Attempt failed." Zuko frowned and was about to turn away. "I'm reading about Princess Masami. You know, the princess of the Fire Nation when Chikai was in rule,"

"And why are you reading about that?" he asked.

"I don't know. Because I just thought this would be interesting I guess," she responded, trying to keep the annoyance from her voice.

"Is she really as pretty as people say she is?"

"From what I can tell, yes. But these are only drawings, not actually what she looked like."

"Yeah. I bet she was a lot prettier in person," Zuko said thoughtfully.

"Or maybe she was a warty troll. We'll never know," she laughed. Zuko plopped next to her and peered over her shoulder to look at the drawing.

"She's beautiful,"

"Was." Azula added.

"If I were you I wouldn't wanna learn anything about her. It would just remind me of how much I have to live up to," Zuko said. Azula looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's just, she'd perfect. She's a great ruler, everyone loves her," Zuko looked back down at the drawing. "And absolutely beautiful. I know that if there was some extremely perfect handsome charming prince somewhere in the history books I'd skip over it," he said earnestly. He wasn't trying to hurt her feelings. He was too stupid to purposely hurt her feelings.

"Oh. Well, I guess . . . I don't really mind," Azula responded, looking away. She didn't know why she felt bad at all. Her brother was just repeating what she already knew, so why she felt sick to her stomach was a mystery to her. Maybe it was just hearing it repeated. Hearing it out loud. Maybe it was the fact that it meant everyone else saw her flaws too. If someone as stupid as Zukocould figure it out, the whole world must know. She tightened her grip on the book and bottled up the sick feeling. No need for that. Not now. Not in front of Zuko. Zuko may be a cry baby, but she certainly wasn't. Closing up the book, she stood up and started to walk back inside.

"Where are you going?" Zuko called from behind her.

"I don't know yet," she said as she entered the palace again. She wanted to get away from the sunlight now. It felt like it was suffocating her some how. She passed door after door until she finally reached the one she knew as her own. She turned the knob and stepped in quickly, shutting the door behind her. The maids hadn't made it to her room yet, the blankets on her bed were still shuffled around like she'd left them that morning. She set the book on the bed and walked over to her door, turning the lock. Azula stood with her back turned to the door, unsure of what to do. Finally, she walked ever so slowly up to the mirror. She stared at the girl on the other side for quite some time, yet not really looking.

The first thing to come off was her shoes. Then her dress. Then her leggings. Then her underwear, until she stood completely naked in front of the mirror. And there she stood for what seemed like hours. Analyzing every detail of her body. She started with her face. Her long nose. Her squinty eyes. Her chubby cheeks. Her huge forehead. Her thin lips. Her elf ears. Her bushy eyebrows. Then she moved down a little. Her long neck. Her broad shoulders. Her flat chest. Her fatty stomach. She moved down further. Her thunder thighs. Her large calves. Her wide feet. Her weird toes. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek. Why couldn't she be pretty? Pretty like Masami? Pretty like Ty Lee? Pretty like her mother? Azula let more tears through, until she was full on crying. She pulled her clothing back on and flopped onto her bed, hiding her face in her pillow to muffle the noise. If her father had seen her like this, he would have been furious.

Azula cried until she didn't have any tears left to cry. She curled her kneed up to her chest and closed her eyes, wishing not for the first time that she would never have to open her eyes again.