Chapter 3

Disclaimer .I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Story- Set 5 years after the series ended. A young fire nation officer is given the task of watching after Azula .Can he succeed after others had failed.

Featured- Azula/OC

The sun slowly set in the east as dusk fellow across the capital. Ando arrived at Azula's quarters as he had been commanded wearing his best uniform as he thought that if he was going to be in the presence of the Fire Lord that he best be dressed appropriately . He waited until she appeared wearing a long royal gown that went down to just above her feet. Ando bowed and watched as she walked past him seeming to take a close inspection as she did so.

"My your all dressed well Ando come let us walk over to the main hall but take your time if I know Zuzu he'll most likely be late anyway" Azula spoke an air in confidence in her words. Of course she had kept herself well informed with all the dealings her brother was doing in his role as Fire Lord. The poor fool was finding out that while he may wear the crown and have the title getting what he wanted would be tougher than he could have possibly imagined.. She had learned well from her father how to deal with the various internal factions within the Fire Lord's inner circle. Fear had kept them in check but now their was no fear and the various advisors each with their own goals in mind resisted any attempt Zuko made to change things. If not for the Avatar factor the Fire Nation could easily slipped into its own form of chaos where sides would be chosen and consequences high.

Ando followed behind Azula as they left her quarters and headed to the main hall. He had seen a glimpse of the complicated relationship between Fire lord Zuko and Princess Azula this morning at the royal garden's and it made him slightly apprehensive . He himself had no experience when it came to the relationship's between siblings being an only child and it was an established fact that Fire lord Zuko had stopped his sister's attempt at being crowned Fire lord during the war .Something told Ando that this dinner was not going to be the smoothest part of his new role so far and he hoped nothing drastic would occur. They arrived at the hall and were lead inside to find the Fire lord's fiancée waiting for them,

"Well you turned up and I see you haven't run this one off Azula you must be losing your touch" Mai said greeting them. She knew Azula generally avoided any attempts Zuko made for them to dine together so was somewhat surprised when she agreed to come this time around. Ad to the fact the young man Zuko had selected to keep an eye on her was still it seemed in one piece .Azula always did things for her own gain so Mai was mindful that her former friend and future sister in law might have a plan up her sleeve.

"There's still time for that besides Zuzu is late I see as usual and I'm starving" Azula replied not waiting and moving past Mai to go enter the hall. Ando looked at her apologetically as Mai turned and followed Azula inside. Unsure if he should leave them be Ando followed and to his surprise (on Azula's insistence ) was allowed to stay . The three of them sat and once the food had been served ate in silence. Ando looked back and forth between them neither lady speaking yet the emotion on their faces said a thousand words. The silence was only broken when a tired looking Fire lord walked in and slumped down in his seat. Ando stood and bowed and was barely back in his seat when Azula spoke up.

"What's the matter Zuzu council got you banging your head against a earth wall. Let me guess wanted more concessions before you pass one of your new laws" Azula teased smiling as Zuko looked back at her. She could tell from his look back at her she had struck a nerve they way he played with the food in front of him. As for the look on Ando's face that was a bonus as the young man's jaw nearly dropped completely to the ground and he was shocked by Azula's boldness.

"Its a work in progress Azula sometimes there are bumps in the road even a Fire lord has to tread carefully over" Zuko responded not wanting to let her bait him into another long and pointless argument he'd had enough of those that day. One aspect that did pleasantly surprised was that so far his decision to have Ando look after Azula was it seemed working though if he saw the young man running through the palace screaming and looking for the nearest exit gate tomorrow it would show Azula was just playing him as usual.

The dinner went by quietly after that Azula it seemed had made her point showing her brother that she was well aware that she was well aware for the difficulties he was experiencing running the Fire nation . The fact she hadn't used the opportunity to try and seize back the throne for herself surprised Zuko. Perhaps even Azula knew that certain forces both inside and outside the Fire nation would be unwilling to support her in any attempted coup. Still Zuko wondered what is sister was truly playing at and he had better find a way to prevent any information from making its way back to her.

"Well that was a delightful dinner but I must go .I don;t want to prevent the Fire lord from getting his rest now do I" Azula spoke as she stood to leave the table. she bowed almost begrudgingly as Zuko sighed and Mai gave her a glaring look. Ando looked back and bowed more respectful a look of apology on his face as he hurried after Azula who didn't seem to be in any bother to wait for him to catch up. They arrived back at her quarters where she dismissed her servants and sat on a chair kicking off her shoes and tapping the arm of the chair in a irritated manner. Ando thought he better go and turned to leave .

"Where do you think your going I'm not dismissing you for the night yet" Azula spoke out causing Ando to hurriedly turn back around to face her. She looked at him intently for a moment and beckoned him closer .

"Well I'm not tired yet so tell me about yourself I'm curious why you;d accept Zuzu's task of looking after me" Azula spoke. Truth be told she wasn't tired but if the young man wasn't going to leave willingly she'd find something she could use from him to eventually cause him to leave. Ando blinked for a bit then tried composing himself before working out what he should say.

"Very well your highness I hail from one of the outer colonies and only moved to the capital late last year to be trained at the new Fire bending academy before heading back to my home or wherever I was assigned" Ando began .Azula raised an eyebrow curious to how one of the outer colonies citizens could mange to get himself into the Fire nation academy . Zuko had rambled on to her once about opening it up to being more inclusive. than it had been in the past. She listened as Ando continued on.

"I finished my time at the academy and was resigned to my current role watching your highness . I guess it could be that I've not got much to go back to at the colony seeing I'm an only child" Ando softly spoke, He didn't know why he had told Azula that was it to get her to be sympathetic to him or just to justify why he took the job. He looked up at her and waited wondering if he should continue. Azula gave no sign of emotion just stared at him for a moment before standing up. She strolled over to a wall where her few pictures resided and closed her eyes before turning back to face Ando.

"My you have an interesting story I must find out more. Tonight you will stay here I will get a servant to supply you with a blanket and anything else you require" she turned to leave before stopping and turning to face Ando and her lips pursed into a wide smile.

"Tomorrow we will do some Fire bending training I want to see just what they've been teaching you " Azula smiled at the thought of putting Ando through his paces seeing if his skills were even passable . The time she spent away at the institution had forced her to refine some of her skills yet she was slowly getting back to her own high standards and now was the time to see if all her hard work had been worth it. Ando watched as she left him to retire for the night sure a small gleam had been in Azula's eye the moment she announced they would be doing some training and he knew that he would be in for a very busy day the next morning.

To be continued.

Hi all hope you enjoyed the 3rd chapter and things are slowly starting to build as far as the story goes .Thank you to those that have commented so far and please feel free to do more so and any advice or suggestions is welcome as this is my 1st Avatar set fic and I'm slowly getting the feel of it.

Comments and feed back are welcome but no flames please.