155AG
Izumi just finished the final draft of an arms supply agreement with the 54th division of the Earth Kingdom Army. The treaty of Yu Dao in 100AG ordered that the Fire Nation maintain an army of no more than 5 million active personnel and 20 million reserve personnel in times of peace. Their navy could maintain no more than 100 active vessels and their air force no more than 350 armored airships and 800 war balloons. It was because of the restrictions that the mechanists and engineers of the country were so driven to innovating new artillery to maintain the strength of the Fire Nation's reduced military in the event any other nation decided to exploit their restrictions to reap vengeance on the former imperial state.
Whenever a an airship or a battleship was rendered obsolete, it was sold to another nation. The Water Tribes, still exponentially less wealthier than the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom could only afford to buy vessels as they were able, converting most of them into cargo and passenger ships to create one of the most extensive sea trading routes in history. Regional warlords in the Earth Kingdom, however, were the biggest customers of the Fire Nation's surplus artillery left over from the war to defend themselves from each other since their Queen, Hou-Ting only seemed to concern herself with the proceedings of Ba Sing Se's upper ring. Even if the entire Earth Kingdom pooled their collection of old Fire-Nation-made weaponry, they could not even hope to overwhelm the current, more advanced machinery in possession by the Fire Nation Army
Izumi ran her fingers through her loose hair and signed the document before picking up a fan out of her desk drawer to dry the ink. She replaced the fan, folded the parchment, and then sealed it with a bit of red wax and a stamp bearing her own seal of approval. She leaned back and rubbed her eyes and took a breath. Military proceedings were not as excruciatingly boring as social proceedings, but nonetheless still agonizingly tedious. She took a deep breath, tied her hair up again and replaced her crown before picking up the stack of finished letters to take to take to the mailroom. In the past, a Prince or Princess would have a secretary do such a menial thing, but not Izumi. She needed to stretch her legs.
There, last task for the day! She dropped the letters in and then began heading for her private quarters where she would change into something more comfortable and go check on her daughter's lessons with Masaru, when she was intercepted by a Palace messenger.
"The Fire Lord requests your presence as soon as convenient," the messenger informed the Princess.
"Where?" Izumi asked curtly. If it was just for a chat, they would speak over dinner. If it regarded the Avatar or his family, they would meet in person over tea or in one of each other's offices. If it were something to which he believed Izumi would not agree, it was-
"The Throne Room, Princess," the messenger replied.
Izumi closed her eyes for a brief moment and drew a breath. "Tell him I'll be right there," Izumi responded.
"Yes, Princess," the messenger bowed and hurried off.
What could he possibly want now? Izumi groaned to herself before following.
The number of guards that stood before the wall of flames that divided the Fire Lord from his subjects had been doubled in Izumi's absence. She hadn't been in the throne room for months as she preferred to speak to her father as a daughter and not a servant. "Princess Izumi, my Lord," the royal scribe announced from his desk to the side of the main galley. Izumi took a knee and bowed to her father.
"You called for me?"
"I did," Zuko's voice rang out above the flames, echoing throughout the chamber. "It has been decided that Princess Ursa will continue her firebending training and other studies under the distinguished instructors of the Royal Academy for Girls, like her predecessors, and not under the tutelage of Masaru Lee-"
"No," Izumi replied shaking her head in disbelief. "NO!" Izumi yelled, taking over the fiery wall that her father lit in the room, turning it blue and fueling it to hit the ceiling in her rage.
"Izumi!" Zuko scolded her, jumping through it as the guards split.
"Everyone else that isn't Father, LEAVE!" Izumi yelled.
"You do not command anybody in my presence!" Zuko replied.
"Why? You do not trust me? You gave your word that after the tournament, this discussion would be OVER!"
"After much deliberation, we have all agreed that it would be best for Ursa to go, so that she can make friends her own age."
"We or Miu, Father? Answer me honestly!"
Zuko ignored her question. "Was it not your primary complaint growing up in this damask palace that you were lonely?"
Izumi was fuming. She and Zuko could feel her temperature rising.
"Everybody leave!" Zuko ordered the guards and the scribes as the blue fire in the trough kept growing.
They all scampered out.
"Where is she?" Izumi demanded, hair turning completely blue like her fire.
"Already gone," Zuko replied regretfully.
"No… NO!" Izumi yelled, slamming her fists down on the floor of the Throne room.
Zuko shielded himself as her blue fire exploded, blasting the ceiling off of the room and destroying all of the pillars, burning everything. Zuko watched her cry, not strong enough a bender to get through her heat barrier. Above the cracking of the walls and foundation, the sound of a dragon came through Izumi's fire. Her dragon, Eiko, had gone to fetch Masaru from his estate. The Princess's lover jumped off of the dragon's back and crouched beside his lady, wrapping one arm over her shoulders and placing the other arm across her body. Only he could ever endure the heat of her pain.
Zuko watched as one of Masaru's hands moved to her back and the other moved to her abdomen. Izumi nodded to something he said that Zuko couldn't hear. The fires all extinguished with one wave of heat, leaving behind only the charred remains of the foundation of the Fire Nation Throne Room. Masaru kissed the top of her head and reminded her to breathe before standing, leaving her kneeling on the scorched floor with her arms wrapped over her torso, protectively.
"Thank you, Masaru," Zuko said with a nod.
"You sent Ursa away?" he asked.
"After much consideration-" Zuko began to explain.
"You were only doing what you thought was best for your family and your country. I understand and respect your decision. Zumi will too, eventually," he replied, looking down at her.
That evening, Izumi sat in her mother's quarters on the lounger farthest from the fireplace, her body wrapped in a blanket saturated with ice-water to cool her down. She leaned on Masaru's side as he draped an arm over her shoulder and across her body. Mai sat watching the fire burn blue in the fireplace as she sipped her cup of tea, avoiding her daughter's distant scowl while Azula sat in an armchair studying the overheating princess intently. Zuko entered the parlor in his night clothes and poured a cup for himself.
"I am sorry, Izumi," he repeated.
She refused to respond or acknowledge her father.
"Princess, the special tea that you asked for," a maid said, entering and handing Izumi the cup. She smelled it for poisons as she was always trained to do with anything she didn't prepare herself and took a sip.
"Thank you Rin," Izumi replied with a nod, snuggling up tighter against Masaru's body. The servant bowed and left the parlor.
"What makes the tea special?" Zuko asked.
Izumi refused again to answer.
"Milk of the poppy. It's moons tea to stop her cycle so she can't conceive."
"Why?" Zuko asked.
"So I don't ever have to split my soul into another piece only for it to be robbed from me," Izumi growled with the cup close to her lips. She shivered under the cold, wet blanket, but it was necessary.
"I could just slow your heart down, but I know you don't like that," Masaru whispered in her ear. She stilled herself under the blanket and allowed the exchange of her heat with the cold of the blanket.
"I heard a rumor the Throne Room got blown up for the first time since Great Grandfather Roku confronted Great Grandfather Sozin about the first of the Fire Nation Colonies," Azula said with a somewhat amused tone in her voice.
"It was not my intention to become so… destructive," Izumi replied.
"Don't feel bad. Dear little Zuzu was an ass to you. I would have done the same thing if someone took my baby away. Spirits forgive me, I would have torched the entire capital city until I got my way," Azula laughed, coming to kneel beside Izumi where she curled up against Masaru. Izumi remained scowling. "In all seriousness, though, Zumzu. Everything happens for a reason. If life were so easy, we would become bored, restless, reckless and even more destructive than we are already simply to entertain ourselves. There is something to be said for having some amount of strife in lives. Your father and I have both had to struggle and fight in our young lives and that is what's made us strong, helped us become able to make the decisions we make today. Coddling your babies will only put them at a disadvantage in the long run. We're not trying to hurt you, Izumi. We just understand a little better what it means to make sacrifices for the ones we love. The pain is temporary, trust me."
Izumi took a breath and exhaled, making her wet blanket steam.
"I'm going to get another one," Masaru said, standing up and taking the blanket to exchange it with another soaking in the tub of ice water.
"We love you, Izumi, even if sometimes it seems like we don't. The Academy is tough, but it still has some redeeming qualities. If I didn't go, I would have never met your wonderful Mother, and she wouldn't have ever met your Father, and you wouldn't exist, darling. Maybe Ursa will make some life-long friends there too. Give her the chance to meet people, and become something, sweet little Zumi," Azula asked.
Izumi glared down at her, but seemed to relax at least a little. Masaru draped another chilling blanket over her Izumi, and Azula laughed.
"What now?" Izumi asked.
"It's just that-it takes so much to control your fire. You're a special bender, Izumi. You possess an incredible power, one that no one has ever seen before, but with that incredible power comes incredible responsibility," Azula reminded the girl.
"I know," Izumi replied.
"You have to be careful."
"You all have to be careful with me. I am a bomb just waiting to explode."
"Waiting to?" Azula laughed. "Darling, you've already exploded. What do you call that display earlier today?"
"Nothing compared to the desert event," Izumi replied.
Azula reached up and ran her fingers through Izumi's streaked hair. "If that is so, then I think it is time for us to start training again." Azula turned to her brother. "Zuzu, I'm stealing your Princess for a week starting tomorrow. We're going on a trip."
Izumi looked up, shocked but not surprised. She just hoped it didn't involve posing as pirates.
The next day, Aunt and Niece traveled on the back of Izumi's dragon to a remote location in the Northern Tundra.
"What is this place?" Izumi asked as they landed on a wooden barge.
"Your training ground. Here, we keep our highest security prisoners deep underground. The extreme temperatures prohibits them from firebending," Izumi explained.
"And what does that mean for us?" Izumi asked her aunt.
"Our fires naturally burn hotter than others as seen in the blue color. We should be unaffected." Azula replied as they approached the doors guarded by two waterbending Fire Nation soldiers.
Azula took off her hood and motioned for Izumi to do the same.
The guards both bowed and opened the massive doors to the prison.
"Why are the doors so big if you don't want the prisoners escaping?" Izumi asked.
"Because most of these prisoners were delivered in the mouths of a dragon, Zumi," Azula replied as the pair stepped into the lift.
Izumi could feel the temperature plunging as the lift descended into the fissure in the glacier where the prison had been constructed.
"Warm yourself, girl, you'll need it." Azula said, rubbing Izumi's back.
The Crown Princess rubbed her hands together and blew a blue fire into them.
"You can show your true colors here. Most of these prisoners are on either death row or possess life sentences, so none of them can spill your little secret," Azula said, running her gloved fingers through Izumi's dark wavy hair that hung over her red parka.
Izumi blew the flame in her hand a little bit bigger and released a bit of her inner fire, turning her hair blue.
The lift finally came to a stop nearly a quarter mile below the surface of the glacier and opened.
"What's happening?"
"A rescue?"
"An extra meal?"
"Not even in your dreams Denkuo!"
"It's just two ladies!"
"Oh! Ladies."
"I can feel one of them all the way from here. She on fire or something?"
"Just about. Her hair's even glowing!"
"Like an avatar?"
"But Aang's still alive, ain't he?"
"Nah. Died three years ago, and this girl ain't look three years old, do she?"
"Aunty, where are you taking me?" Izumi asked.
"Here, I thought I'd start you off on a light weight," Azula replied, stopping at a marked cell.
"A lightweight?" Izumi asked.
Azula pulled out a set of keys and opened the door.
"NO! PLEASE!" the small man screamed curling up against the far wall in a nest of blankets.
"Relax, my niece will be much gentler than me!" Azula said to the man.
"Azula!" Izumi exclaimed. "I'm not going to torture him, if that is what you're thinking!"
"No, you're going to heal him! I will be doing the torturing," Azula replied.
"No! I cannot!"
"You can and you will, Izumi. You don't have a choice. You know how electrical impulses travel throughout the body. You know the nature of cell signalling. You know the structure of the brain, and you have a heart that is far greater than mine. If you are truly merciful, you will help this man, and erase his traumatic memories OF ME!" Azula said kneeling, planting a hand on the side of the man's head, electrocuting his body.
"STOP!" Izumi screamed aiming her lightning at Azula.
Azula redirected it into the metal wall of the prison cell, electrocuting everyone in that row except Izumi. Izumi covered her ears from the blood curdling screams that emanated from all of the cells in the row.
"Well thank you for making that so much easier," Azula said with a sick smile. She opened the door of the cell leaving the crumpled man convulsing on the floor and locking the door behind her.
"Azula!" Izumi screamed banging her fists on the door, tears streaming down her face, hair blazing.
"Tell me when you've successfully suppressed the right memories," Azula said tossing the keys in the air and catching them as she walked to the cell across the way.
"Hello, Artik! Remember me?"
"Please do-" then screams.
Izumi banged her fists on the door again then turned to the whimpering man on the floor and bent down.
"Please- don't touch me!"
"I promise I won't hurt you," Izumi said with tears in her eyes as she reached for his wrinkled face.
"No-" she touched his temple and mapped his entire system, including his brain, searching for the most active area within the memory cortex, and inhibited the signalling through it.
Izumi winced as she heard a third person's scream echoing throughout the icy fissure as her Aunt visited a third cell. Izumi watched the man's grimace relax as she finished the process of burning closed the synapses in the brain that contained the memory.
"Aunt Azula! I think I've got it!" she called standing up, looking down at the man.
"Are you a doctor?" he asked Izumi.
"No, just a firebender."
Azula threw open the door with a loud thud that made Izumi's heart skip a beat. He looked over Izumi's shoulder.
"I thought all of the guards were waterbenders, why did they send Fire Nation down here. Are we finally being set free?" the man asked obliviously.
Izumi looked down at him with pity.
"'Fraid not," Azula said with a sly grin, grabbing Izumi by the arm, yanking her out of the cell and slamming the door shut again.
"You're CRUEL!"
"And you're not, so undo my work for me! Just be a little more careful. You might have closed off too large a part of that guy's memory. He seemed far to ditsy than I would have preferred," Azula said.
"I don't even know what I am doing."
"And that's why we practice. These people are monsters, Izumi. Monsters like my father, like me. Because of their life sentences, they will never spill your precious little secret, so don't be afraid to keep trying. Perfect these techniques; perfect these applications of dark lightning. As such a powerful bender, it is your responsibility to not only to master your craft but to push the limits of fire and lightning. You were blessed with this power because of your heart and your ability to exercise restraint. You WILL use it to help people. You just need to trust yourself, then wait and see."
They entered the next cell together to treat a victim of the second-degree electrocution. This time, Izumi had guidance.
"You don't need to burn the connection site between synapses. You can just reroute the signalling," Azula told Izumi as she felt her niece's activity in the victim's head.
"I hate this."
"Hate what, Zumju?"
"Hate reaching inside people's bodies. I hated when Hisoki did it to me. I hate it when you did it to me. I even hate it when Saru does it to me even though he only does it when he has to. It is so- invasive! So… unsettling…" Izumi replied.
"You'll be grateful for the skill later, trust me," Azula said gazing down at her niece with her striking golden eyes.
"So how was the trip?" Mai asked her daughter as the girl entered the parlor with her aunt.
"Cold," Izumi replied.
"I think the Princess fared exceptionally well considering what we were doing," Azula said flashing a rare, proud smile.
"And what was it that you were doing?" Mai asked.
"Just refining her dark lightning," Azula said with a smirk. "Izumi will be the most powerful Fire Lord the world has ever seen."
"But I don't want more power. I don't want more responsibility." Izumi argued.
"And that my dear is why you, of all of us, will be the best to wield it. You will want to make your own life easier and to do so, you will rule justly and well," Azula explained giving Izumi's arm an affectionate squeeze before heading off to bed after their long journey.
Izumi scowled at the ground before also retreating to her own quarters in the palace, to sleep alone like all of the too numerous nights that Masaru was away.
