Lien bowed lowly as she approached Ozai's throne, not sure of what to say to him. She waited silently for him to make the first move.
"So you have not changed at all and wait for us to speak first," he said observing, and she bowed her head and closed her eyes for a few moments in respect. "Is this from habit, or from respect?"
"I do it in respect for our most gracious Fire Lord," she replied, this being from the honest truth. "I cannot thank you enough for permitting Prince Zuko to come home, my liege."
"How interesting, you did learn something on your travels. Respect. But, of course, I am most curious about the circumstances around your house burning the day that you left."
"That confuses myself as well, sir, but I will try to answer your questions as best I can," she said slightly confused, but hiding everything behind an emotionless mask once more.
"What was your mother yelling at you about?"
"I told her that I wished to join Prince Zuko in exile to help him restore his honor since he was once my fiancée," she replied calmly. "She grew angry and demanded that I stay home. My loyalty to Prince Zuko was more than that of to my mother, and so I tried to ignore her words and wrath as I packed my bags."
"And the fire?"
"That is where I am the most unsure, my lord," she said bowing. "Please, I do not know how the fire started, only that I had a lit candle in the room and that it erupted as my mother lunged to attack me."
"You believe that she has been hiding firebending abilities?"
"I believe that it is quite possible my lord, for whenever I asked if she had them or not she would remain silent or change the subject immediately."
"I see. And do you believe that you have firebending abilities?"
"I do not believe so, my lord, for I have been trying very much during my travels but to no avail. I gave up after a year, your highness."
"Your travels have done you well," he complimented, referring to her respect, not realizing that it was calm but very much forced and secretly hiding growing ill will.
"Thank you," she smiled. "I would never have achieved such if you had not banished Prince Zuko and permitted me to join him in his quest."
"Also," he began, and she looked up. "If you wish to return to the deal that I made with your father then you may do so."
"Thank you, my lord. I have always cared for Prince Zuko more than my own life," she beamed and bowed. "It is an honor to be back in the family. Does Prince Zuko know?"
"No, not yet. Tell him as you will."
"F-Fire Lord Ozai?" she stammered, and he glared down at her. "If I may be so bold… as to ask for my mother's banishment?"
"I will not banish Dani for punishing you, seeing as that is how a normal parent should behave," he said coldly. "However, I will interrogate her. If she was going to burn you, then the least that she should have done – seeing as how you have been at a higher social status than you – is to have the decency and honor to ask for an Agni Kai instead of trying to murder her Fire Princess."
"My most humble and grateful thanks, Fire Lord Ozai," Lien bowed.
"Just go tell the servants to fetch her."
Lien swallowed as she left, telling a servant what Ozai demanded, and then going back to her room to contemplate what to do. Iroh had said to follow his legacy. But how was she supposed to do that?
"Well, when in doubt go to the library," she sighed as she got up and left her room once more.
…
"But it wasn't me!" Dani protested angrily, with Lien secretly hiding in the darkest recesses of the interrogation room. "I didn't do it!"
"Whatever," a soldier snapped, and she noticed that there were two non-bender servants that were bringing in a candle.
Lien silently matched her breathing with her mother's and wished with her entire being that the candle would react to her mother's emotions. To the soldier and servants' shock, the candle flared angrily, sentencing the woman as a liar.
"No!" she screamed, and two soldiers dragged her off.
…
"Take her to the Boiling Rock," she heard Ozai say as she walked down the hall later that day with her nose in a book to calm herself down.
"Hm?" she said looking up, now staring at her mother, whose eyes were wide. "You! You little brat! I give birth to you, I raised you, and this is how you repay me?!"
"Silence!" Zuko roared, storming past Lien angrily. "How dare you speak to an honorary Princess in such a manner?!"
"She is no honorary Princess! That's a lie!" Dani shrieked. "You two are plotting something, I'm not stupid! Why else would my child be reading?!"
"because I wanted to learn the legacies and graces of Fire Lord Azulon from before I was born," she said emotionlessly, lying once more calmly.
It may not have shown in her tone or in her outer features, but Zuko knew where to look to for the indication of a lie in Lien's case. This, he knew, was a lie, but he defended her anyways and ordered Dani to be escorted out of the palace. To his interest, she was to be taken to Ozai for a meeting.
This time, however, he wisely decided to keep his nose out of the meeting and leave his father be. Lien also kept to herself, only her reason was to look up her mentor's legacies and background, which was luckily in the same history book as the one that most of Azulon and Sozin's legacies were in.
…
"Wow," Lien breathed as she saw the family tree for the Fire Nation royals.
She noticed how they were very well kept, and how it usually went for the current Fire Lord or Crown Prince up until four generations back on both sides. Zuko's was very interesting to see, and she of course knew who the Fire Lords were before Ozai and Azulon. She had known that Ursa was a nobleman's daughter, but the former Princess had one person missing from her family tree's records – her grandfather.
"Odd," Lien frowned. "I'd better check the other records."
"Other records for what?" she heard, and she snapped the book shut and turned to find Azula glaring down at her. "Looking at family trees? Trying to find your mummy's parents? Or your daddy's?"
"I wanted to learn of the different Fire Lords so that I could learn more about each one in turn and get a better view of what they looked like," she said beaming up at her. "Would you please do me the honor of joining me?"
"Well, then good luck," Azula laughed. "Not that it will do you much good to learn it since I have no doubt that my idiot brother will ignore you for Mai."
Lien frowned and began plotting once again. it was, after all, one of the things that she had grown good at during her travels with Zuko – plotting and deceiving others with subtle methods that involved other people doing what she wanted.
