Hey all!

I think I've finally got a handle on Izumi's characterization. Let me know if you notice any inconsistencies. Criticisms are always welcome :)

Enjoy Chapter 2!

When Izumi told Sifu Enzi about her plans to train with her father, he seemed surprised and cautiously supportive. "If the Fire Lord believes that is the best way to compensate for your lack of progress, then of course I approve." There was something in his tone that made Izumi uncomfortable, but she just smiled and bowed in response. If this was enough to get her instructors off her back, then she wasn't going to complain.

She had doubled her efforts during her training in and out of the Academy. Before, she had always been self-conscious practicing in front of other people. (And of course, since she was the princess, she was hardly ever alone.) All she would think about is how pathetic must seem as a member of the Royal Family. But now fueled by excitement, she found she didn't care what others might be thinking. Her father, a master firebender who had once been in her position (though she had trouble imagining that), was going to personally train her. While she was learning her new movesets, she mostly concentrated on what she had already learned, refining them. It may have been what her instructors had advised her to, but her main motivation was to show her father she wasn't quite as terrible as she implied: to exceed his expectations.

She also realized later on that she could ask her grandfather for help once he arrived. He was too old - and too retired - to do any real training, but he could give her suggestions and guidelines. After all, he was the one who taught her father.

It had been three days since the dinner with her father. It was mid-afternoon and she with three of her closest friends, working on their history homework. They were currently studying the battles of the Hundred Year War.

"In 7 ASC, Fire Lord Sozin besieged the city of Han Tui. Despite being outnumbered ten to one, how did Sozin eventually win the battle?" Wan frowned. "I don't remember talking about this in class at all…"

"We didn't," Izumi said. "It was in our readings."

Reiko sighed. "Of course it was. How does Sifu Ota expect us to do all these massive readings and finish the homework every week?"

"Well, it was actually from last week's readings." Izumi pulled the appropriate scroll from her bag. Rolling it to the correct section, she placed it on the table for the others to see. "Han Tui had been suffering from a drought. The wind was in his favor, so Sozin was able to completely burn Han Tui's outer defenses and take the city."

"Izumi to the rescue," Quan said excitedly, scribbling down from her scroll.

"You guys really should do the readings…" Izumi said. "They only take an hour or two if you just sit down and do them."

"I honestly don't know when you find the time, Izumi," Reiko said. "Between all of our other classes and the extra practice you do, how do you have any free time?"

"I don't know… I never feel like I don't have free time. Maybe it's because if I'm not doing homework, I'm usually reading any historical scroll I can get my hands on. I know that makes me a bit of an oddity..."

"It's that massive brain of yours," Quan said. "You gotta fill it up with something. Meanwhile, the rest of us mortals are struggling to just to fit in all the stuff our teachers want us to know."

Izumi shrugged, uncomfortable hearing herself referred to 'not mortal'. "Let's finish this up."

By the time they needed to go to their next class, they had finished all but a couple questions. As they packed, Izumi excused herself. "I need to use the bathroom."

Once she finished her business and was walking back, she saw her friends huddled over the table, whispering to each other. Izumi frowned and was about to call their attention when she overheard them.

"... Princess Know-It-All…"

She froze in her spot. They were talking about her behind her back? In a way, she was almost in awe by their gall. After all, she had only gone to the bathroom, which only ever took her a minute or two. However, the sickening feeling in her stomach only grew as they continued to talk to one another, none of them having noticed her.

She knew she shouldn't; she knew she should just confront her friends directly. They probably had an explanation. But she found herself slipping quietly behind the gold and black decorative folding screen, hoping she had just misunderstood.

"... to my father. He still thinks it'll somehow gain political favor with the Fire Lord. I keep trying to explain to him that it's not going to work. The princess is way too… detached to give the Fire Lord recommendations based purely on friendship."

"She is rather robotic... Ugh, even if it did benefit my family's political standing, it's not really worth the utter boredom."

"I think it's worth it. If anything, she makes homework a lot easier. She may suck at fighting, but she's useful for basically all of our other classes."

"You're just using her…"

"Psh, like what you guys are doing is any better."

"Well at least we're not lazy bums who would have failed out of the Academy if his parents didn't keep throwing money at it."

The conversation was turning and Izumi knew there was no more reason to hide. She had heard all that she had needed to. And yet, she was paralyzed behind the screen, her skin numb and her insides swirling uncomfortably fast.

"Where is she anyway? It's not like her to take so long in the bathroom."

Izumi stood straighter, unnecessarily smoothing out her clothes. With a deep breath, she stepped out from behind the screen with the most genuine smile she could muster. "Sorry it took me so long, guys. I'm, uh…" She placed a hand on her stomach. "... not feeling too great." Which wasn't a lie. She was feeling sick to her stomach.

Reiko frowned. "Are you alright?"

Izumi could hear the concern in her voice, a concern she had heard before. She looked at Reiko, knowing that it was farce. All Reiko was doing was maintaining their faux friendship for her father's sake. "I'm fine," Izumi said with a half smile. "I think I'm just going to go home after class."

Reiko gave her one last look before shrugging and picking up her bag. "Well we better get a move on. We might actually be late at this rate."

As Izumi trailed behind her… her friends… there was an odd empty halo that surrounded her. She couldn't hear the others talking, feel the hard ground below her as she walked, or even really see her surroundings. Her body was on autopilot as she thought over the last couple of years. She thought over all those conversations where she played almost no part and realized that she was almost always a passive bystander. The only times they seemed genuinely excited to be with her was when they were doing homework. They almost never met outside of school except for those few times that they would celebrate the end of their monthly evaluations. And that was usually with a larger group. With their real friends.

If there was one attribute that Izumi held pride in, it was her intelligence: her ability to see and understand situations more clearly than others. But for all of her vast knowledge and intuition, she had been completely oblivious to the fact that Reiko, Wan, and Quan... weren't really her friends; that they were just using her. Perhaps she had been blinded by all her years of loneliness in school. Or perhaps it was because she lacked experience in matters such as long term friendship.

Either way, she knew now what people meant when they described her as cold. Because that's how she felt right now. Cold and empty. Izumi, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, top of her class in everything but bending… was friendless.

Izumi was usually slow and deliberate when she practiced her bending. She was always determined to move through her flows as perfectly as possible, no matter what pace she had to take. But not today.

The cold emptiness from earlier was gone, replaced by a burning liquid in her veins. It was a familiar - if old - feeling; a feeling she had successfully repressed when she was younger; a feeling that usually only made an appearance when she overheard someone insulting her father. In the past, her inability to control such a feeling would result in her hitting something or someone. Today, she poured all of this feeling into her bending, letting it flow out of her in waves of fire.

"Princess, I think you should slow down," Tasen said, standing a safe distance away. "At this rate, you're only going to repeat and solidify your mistakes instead of fixing them."

Tasen was an Imperial Firebender and a friend of Kanan. On Izumi's behalf, Kanan had asked Tasen if he could help guide her firebending before she started training with her father. Tasen had agreed, and the first couple of days had gone very well. Her progress was slow as always, but Tasen was quick to point out her problems and help her fix them. He was quite candid, which she appreciated.

Izumi took a deep breath. "I'm aware. But right now, I don't really have the patience to fix anything." She kicked her leg up, an unnecessarily large arc of fire exploding above her. She twisted her arm forward, another stream of fire intersecting the arc. Releasing her breath with a sigh, she stood straight. "I'm sorry… I know I'm not exactly in control right now. I just…!" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to get a hold of this feeling welling up inside of her. "I'm not really in any condition to train today. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"That's alright, Princess. I understand the need to blow off steam every now and again." He bowed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Your Highness."

Izumi nodded. "Tomorrow." She held a slight frown as she watched him leave. Blowing off steam? Is that what I'm doing? She was... upset... and firebending more recklessly than normal seemed to help relieve that stress. I suppose that would be how you would define that idiom.

Thinking it over more logically actually helped her calm down, though she was still upset. While she wasn't boiling the training grounds with her firebending any longer, she continued her less-than-refined practice. She hated this feeling and the loss of control that accompanied it, but right now, she would do anything to distract herself. Normally she would do homework when she was upset, but that was the last thing she wanted to do. Firebending was the something that separated her from them. They were non-benders. When they had their monthly evaluations, they were tested on their chosen martial art instead of bending. Though even by those standards, they excelled beyond her abilities.

Izumi stopped practicing with a frustrated sigh. The bending wasn't actually helping. She was still thinking about them.

Maybe that's what she needed to do: think about it. Consider the situation from every angle and analyze it to oblivion. That had always been her strong point.

She sat at the edge of the arena, wiped her sweat off with a towel, and thought. Or tried to think. Really, she could only hear their words repeating over and over again. She tried to splice out some other meaning, make their statements have some more innocent intent. But she couldn't. Their statements had been too explicit. It's not like they were talking about some other friend who had a close connection to the Fire Lord.

She buried her face in her hands, trying to quell the shaking in her shoulders. It was stupid to cry over something like this. She had only been 'friends' with them for two years. In the grand scheme of things, that was nothing. She would look back on this insignificant event, chide her past self for being so naive, and move on with her life. There was no reason for her to be upset.

So why couldn't she shake this feeling?

"Princess?"

It was Kanan. While it wasn't unusual for him to check up on her during the day - even when they were in the palace - she could only assume that he was here because Tasen had told him of her current state.

Rubbing away the unwanted pressure behind her eyes, she looked up. "Hello, Kanan."

He gave a slight bow. "I just wanted to see how you were. Tasen said you were blowing off steam, which I don't think I've ever seen you do."

Izumi sighed. "I was. Earlier. I've calmed down since then."

"Hmm… I'm a little sorry I missed it."

She frowned, looking up at her guard. "What do you mean? I was just firebending more recklessly than I should have."

"You were firebending recklessly. I've seen you get angry, but I haven't seen or heard of you acting in any way that would be considered reckless since you were eight."

"Yes, well… it won't happen again." She stood and started to gather her things. If nothing was going to successfully distract her, she might as well do homework.

"So what's wrong?" Kanan asked.

"Nothing of consequence."

He almost scoffed. Probably would have if she were not a princess. "You really think I'm going to accept that answer?"

"I am your princess and you'll do as your ordered!"

He seemed unfazed. "You haven't ordered me to do anything."

That was true. For a brief moment, Izumi wanted to order him to shut up, but then realized she was being immature. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just…"

"Upset. Even more upset than you were a few days ago before talking to the Fire Lord."

Izumi made her way to the exit of the training grounds, Kanan following closely behind. She didn't know if she wanted to tell him, but realized she needed to talk to someone. Ideally that would have been her father, but he didn't have time for such a trivial matter. "Do you think I'm… boring?"

"Boring?"

Izumi waited for him to continue, then realized that he wanted her to elaborate. She simply shrugged. "I'm always reading and studying, even in my free time. For most people, they would consider that boring. I'm also a bit more practical and analytic than others. Maybe that doesn't exactly make me 'boring' but I suppose it makes me… detached?"

"You're certainly not like other kids your age, I'll give you that much. But I would never say you were boring."

Izumi eyed him. "Are you just saying that because I'm the princess and you don't want to insult me?"

Kanan smiled. "Of course not. You're not a boring person. I speak from experience, seeing as I spend a great deal of my life being around you."

That was true. But Izumi had to also consider the fact that this was the opinion of just one man. His opinion may not be shared by others.

A part of her asked why she even cared. Who cares if she's boring? Or detached? Or robotic? That didn't make her a bad person. It might make her less relatable person, but certainly not a worse one.

These statements may be true, but it wasn't making her feel better.

"Well, at the very least…" Izumi said, "... I'm glad that you don't think I'm boring. Your life would be incredibly dull otherwise."

And with that, their conversation ended, just as she intended. She excused herself and then went to get washed up. As she bathed, she silently hoped her father would find time to have dinner with her tonight. They didn't need to talk about her friends, and she didn't really want to. She just wanted to have a nice casual conversation with him. Maybe let him rant about his overbearing advisers for a little bit. Just being with him would help make Izumi feel better.

Of course, when she got to their usual dining room, the chef gave Fire Lord Zuko's apologies, that he wouldn't be able to join her this evening. While Izumi wasn't surprised, she was disappointed. More disappointed than she had expected to be. But she told herself that it was alright. In a few days, Grandfather will be here, and he'll make her tea, tell her stories, and play pai sho with her. And he'll probably insist on dinners with her father.

But tonight, she ate dinner alone, once again trying to force herself not to think about her friends. After half an hour of picking at her food, she stood, thanked the chef, and returned to her room to finish her homework.

It was taking much longer than usual. Her mind kept going in tangents, still analyzing her friends' words or remembering a time when their actions should have clued Izumi in. It was starting to get quite annoying.

It was after midnight, and Izumi was still working on her last assignment. It was a history assignment that wasn't due for another week, but since she knew she was going to be busy with public functions and hanging out with her grandfather, she wanted to get it out of the way. Of course, this assignment was going even slower than all her other ones, but she was determined.

Princess Know-It-All

Did she act like that? Did she flaunt her extensive knowledge in people's faces? She certainly didn't try to, but maybe she did so unconsciously. Maybe she should consciously try not talk so much.

This homework should be easy. It was about the Harmony Restoration Movement, which she had heard about time and time again from primary sources like her father and Aang. So why was she having so much trouble even comprehending the questions?

Even if it did benefit my family's political standing, it's not really worth the utter boredom.

Kanan didn't think she was boring. Her father didn't think she was boring. Or did he? Maybe that's why he doesn't come to dinner as much anymore: because she bored him with all of her blather about what she had recently learned. The negotiations were just a convenient excuse.

Izumi shook her head. Okay, now she was just being stupid. If her father had thought she was boring, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to try and have dinner with her these last couple weeks.

She really needed to stop thinking about all of this. She just needed to finish her homework and go to bed. She would feel better tomorrow after some sleep.

With that thought, Izumi's brush froze in its position. Tomorrow.

With all of her focus on what had happened, she had given no thought on what will happen. She knew she needed to confront them, to tell them that she had heard what they said. But a part of her wanted to keep pretending for a little longer, to go along with the act and pretend she still had friends. After all, if she hadn't heard them, that is precisely what she would be doing: continuing to treat them and be treated as a friend, despite their secret motives. However, Izumi knew that she was a terrible liar. She wouldn't be able to keep the act up, and they would notice that she was acting differently.

So she had to figure out how and when she was going to talk to them. Just thinking about it made her feel unsettled. It was going to be a horrible conversation. There could be some hope that it was all a misunderstanding and that they would explain what they really meant, but she sincerely doubted it.

A slight shiver of anxiety ran through her body, and she sighed. She need to go to bed. She could finish her homework and figure all this out in the morning. She rolled up her scroll, the ink having already dried during her musings. Putting it away, she began to undress when Jaya walked in.

Izumi frowned. "Jaya? You're still here?"

While Jaya often assisted her in the evenings, she was allowed to leave at midnight even if the Princess was still awake. Izumi was capable of preparing herself for bed, even if her hair braiding wasn't as elegant as Jaya's.

Jaya bowed politely. "Yes, Princess. You seemed distracted earlier and thought you might want the extra assistance tonight."

Izumi shook her head. "No, I'm alright."

"Are you sure, Your Highness?" Jaya stepped closer, searching Izumi's expression. "You didn't even have me look after you during your bath."

"I know… I am a bit distracted. I just needed some time on my own to - "

There was flash of reflected light and Izumi jumped back on reflex, the blade barely brushing against her clothes. Unfazed, Jaya shouted out as she lunged at Izumi again.

Izumi barely processed the knife before she raised her arm to block the attack. She thrust her other arm forward with a pulse of fire, but Jaya twisted out of harm's way. Kneeling, she swept Izumi's legs out from under her, knocking her backward. Jaya made to stab at her, but Izumi rolled to the side just before the blade hit he ground. Rolling to her feet, Izumi struck both her hands out, releasing a large torrent of fire, but Jaya jumped over it and charged.

Jaya was easily outmaneuvering Izumi. She was trained fighter. Izumi couldn't win this.

"S-Somebody!" Izumi cried out, barely avoiding the ceaseless assaults. "Somebody HELP!"

That's when Jaya clipped her cheek, knocking Izumi off balance. Jaya practically tackled her to the ground, straddling the princess' hips so she couldn't get away.

Izumi stared up, breathless, and hardly able to recognize her personal aid of five years. One hand pinning Izumi down, the other poised to strike, Jaya's expression was one twisted with a rage Izumi had never before seen. But the rage was marred by tears that stained reddened cheeks.

Izumi knew. She was going to die. Jaya was going to kill her for a reason she'll never know.

Her voice hallow, Jaya breathed, "For my mother."

A deafening roar and a blur of red. And then nothing.

Izumi stared at the ceiling, her body unable to move despite no longer being pinned. Something just happened. She was sure of it. Her eyes had seen something occur. The fact that Jaya was no longer on top of her had to mean something.

Then her senses slammed back into gear, making Izumi gasp and cough for air. She was trembling violently as if she were caught in a snowstorm. She clutched her arms to her chest, trying to calm her frantically pounding heart. There was a dull ringing in her ears, but it wasn't enough to block out a familiar low rumble.

With more effort than it should have taken, Izumi rolled to her side. She couldn't see Jaya, only Druk's long twisted body. He was facing away from her, his tail twitching from side. He was agitated. Why would he be agitated? What was he doing in her room? How did he get in her room?

She wasn't thinking straight. Curling on the ground, she closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath. The cold floor against her forehead was soothing, slowly leeching out her raw nerves.

When she heard the familiar rumble again, she opened her eyes to find Druk had curled around her, one of his wings draped protectively over her. She placed a hand against his warm, solid body. It expanded and constricted slowly with his breathing, calming her own stuttered breath. Closing her eyes, she focused on the the motion, the sensations of Druk's living body. There were the different vibrations and tremors as he growled and snarled for reasons beyond her. The slow, almost sluggish, thumping of his heart resonated through her own body.

"-zumi…! Izumi!"

Her father's voice. It was the only voice that could break through her tenuous calm.

Druk had slightly uncurled his body and lifted his wing. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, Izumi looked up to see her father. His eyes were wide and frantic, his breathing quicker than normal. He brushed his knuckles against her lower cheek. "Are you okay?! What happened?!"

"I-I'm okay…" She tried to sit up, but it was difficult with her limbs still shaking. Zuko helped her, placing an arm across her back to support her. "Jaya t-tried t-t-to…" Her voice got caught in her throat. "J-Ja-ya…"

"Shh… It's okay." Zuko wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her with all his might. His voice was strained, but strong. "You're okay now. It's over."

Izumi gripped her father tightly, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Nestling into his arms, she soaked in his presence by breathing in his warmth and scent and allowing it to disperse through her body. She was still trembling, her heart fluttering, and her mind surprisingly blank. But it was okay.

Her father was here now. She was safe.

So what do you all think? Review and let me know. All criticisms welcome.