"Come on, Kya! Faster! Yes, that's it. You're late on that punch."

The young princess repeated the move, earning a tight nod from her father. He watched as she flipped and brought a trail of fire from her foot, landing and then shooting her orange flames out of both her palms. The Fire Lord smirked as he watched his youngest. She was a prodigy all right.

The two sparred every morning until Kya was on the floor, covered in sweat and their breaths were coming out in gasps.

It was the only way the two truly connected.

Zuko offered the princess his hand and she took it with a firm grip."You did great, honey. You really are coming along in your training."

"Thanks, Dad. I have a great teacher," Kya said.

Zuko smiled, ruffling her dark brown hair. "With your appearance, you'd have an advantage if you weren't the princess of the Fire Nation. Too bad, huh?"

The young firebender laughed, her blue eyes twinkling. "Yeah, I wish."

They walked to the side of the arena where servants held damp towels and water for father and daughter. Zuko looked at Kya and his solitary eyebrow rose slightly.

"You're getting really dark."

Kya raised her tan hand and inspected it. "I've been in the sun a lot." She smirked at him. "Who would have thought there'd be a Fire Nation princess and firbender with tan skin and blue eyes?"

Zuko laughed. "You should have seen how freaked out the council was when you and your sister were born. They almost had an aneurism when we found out you could bend fire also."

"You were all so sure I would bend water? That's crazy. I would never want to be a waterbender," Kya said snootily.

The two walked back inside the palace and talked. Zuko was always surprised at something so simple. His daughter was getting into that "I hate you" stage and would constantly argue with him where as Akari had been his shadow since the day she could walk. Hell, the twins were sixteen years old and Akari still called him Daddy.

Kya was closer to Katara than he. They had the same personality and way of thinking, except, the princess wasn't as motherly as his wife. That was mostly Akari.

"Thanks for the training, Dad," the princess said.

"You're welcome, Princess. And tomorrow, be there before sunrise. I want to test you and your brother on some things. Make sure you tell him. Takero's probably in his chambers."

"Okay," Kya grumbled slightly. She bowed and turned down a different corridor than her father. "See ya later," she called with a wave of her hand.

Zuko smiled and continued to walk to his chambers where Katara was probably still sleeping away. He passed Akari's chamber door and pounded on it twice to wake the waterbender. He smirked, knowing quite well she had heard it, and kept walking.

"Hey, Dad?"

Zuko turned, seeing Kya at the end of the hall. "Yes?" he said.

"Can I go over to Ken's house today?"

"Did you finish all your assignments?"

"Well..."

"Not until you finish your work."

"But it's not due till next week!" she whined. "Can I just go?"

"I said no. Now go do your work. You need to be responsible if you want to be successful in the future," Zuko nagged. He felt like he was repeating these words to his youngest constantly.

"I have everything under control and-! You know what, whatever. You're right. I'm wrong. That's what it comes down to apparently." The princess bowed quickly to him and turned away to go to find her brother.

Zuko sighed. He always knew that once their daily spar was over, it turned from comfortable to strained. Their inner fire connected them to one another, yet it wasn't enough.

Zuko couldn't wait till her teenage years were over.

#4, Dark.