Thank you MusicPlayer81 for contributing the first paragraph of Yoko's essay!
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Princess Izumi was already forty-three years old. She was supposedly stopped having children eight years ago, after Ursa was born. She did everything. She drank a special tea with milk of the poppy to STOP everything, and yet here they were, with her down on the birthing table, nearly dying, hopefully for the last time. Masaru couldn't be there as he was all the way in Ba Sing Se on a business trip; he too thought he was done with helping in that field. She was on her own, with no choice but to keep going. He would never forgive her if she died before him. They had an agreement, that they'd see each other through every child's adulthood, before kicking the bucket and giving in.
For once, Izumi was thankful for the horribly dim lighting of the palace as she tipped her head back with relief as the child exited her body. "Princess Izumi, it's a girl!"
She should have been happy but she wasn't. In fact, she couldn't be more devastated. She got eight years with Ursa. Eight blissful years before the Fire Sages stole her away and sent her to a boarding school that kept her for weeks at a time.
"Aren't you happy?" the healer asked with brows turned down with concern.
"Just hand her to me, and leave, speak to no one of what happened today. NO ONE! Nobody will know about this girl! Not your associates, not your trainees, not your interns, NOBODY." Izumi ordered the healer. "I need a word with my parents in privacy."
"Yes, Princess." The healer bowed obediently and backed out of the room.
"What's on your mind, Zumi?" Mai asked.
"She's so fragile, and small. No wonder we did not even notice her growing," Izumi said looking at her flat belly. "Do you think the bindings from the ceremonial robes stunted her growth?"
"We could have asked the healer to check on her if you didn't send her away," Zuko replied.
The little girl was nearly half the weight of all of her siblings at birth. She was so tiny and, considering that she born without warning, there was no way to know if she was born too painfully early.
"How could you not notice that you weren't bleeding?" Mai asked her daughter, perplexed.
"I don't know, maybe because I was constantly running from village or one city to another, in meetings from dawn until dusk of every day trying to keep the country from going to shit while father prepares for his abdication."
"He isn't going to retire for another ten years!" Mai exclaimed, shocked at her inability to feel her child growing inside her.
"Then why am I left to do everything?" Izumi shot back. She drew a breath. "I am sorry. I guess I was so grateful I didn't need to change a napkin every two hours for five days of the month that I never thought about it once to complain," Izumi replied, sarcastically rolling her eyes as she stroked the tiny little lump of life resting on her chest.
She's so… tiny…
"What are we going to do with her?" Zuko asked, fraught with worry over the tiny being in Izumi's arms.
"What do you mean?" Izumi asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion at her father.
"Give her to Saru?" Zuko suggested.
"That is out of the question. She is too small. I'm keeping her with me, end of discussion."
"But Izumi, you are a princess. We can't just put you on leave suddenly without explanation-" Zuko protested.
"Call it the plague! You're the Fire Lord, Father. You can tell the generals and the foreign dignitaries whatever you like and they have to believe you. Whatever you decide, just know that I'm not showing up tomorrow. While this tiny thing can barely breathe, I am not leaving its side, and you can't make me. I WILL fight you on this right now if I need to."
"You insufferable girl," Zuko sighed.
"You insufferable father," Izumi retorted. "You allowed the Fire Sages to take one daughter from me, and I will not allow that to happen again."
Zuko went to the radio room to call for Masaru, but he could not be reached. Neither his direct line to the Earthen Fire location in the capital of the Earth Kingdom nor the direct line to his estate there were answering. "Where could the damned boy be?!" Zuko cursed.
"On his way," Mai replied placing a reassuring hand on her husband's shoulder.
"Huh?"
"I sent Eiko to fetch him a few minutes ago. The dragon is much faster than even a sky bison." Mai explained.
"How do you always manage to-never mind!" Zuko replied, shaking his head. "Let's get back to Zumzu."
The Princess was asleep in her own bed at this point, her frighteningly tiny baby asleep on her chest.
Eiko flew up to the Princess's bedroom window and practically threw the business man off its head and into the room. The thud of the business man's landing woke the Princess, and startled the newborn baby awake, filling the room with a pitiful, high-pitched wailing that made Masaru's heart stop for an instant.
"The note on Eiko's horn-" Masaru gasped, freezing in place as he spotted his lady turning to him with drooping eyes. "Zumi-" he looked in shock at her, then at the baby that the Princess was stroking with two fingers in an attempt to coax her back to sleep. "What-" Masaru choked, tears filling his eyes as he ran his fingers through his medium length wavy hair. "How did this happen? I thought- the moon tea-the milk of the poppy-" he began to stutter, tears filling his eyes.
"We have already sent agents to inspect the store. The contents of the tin had been replaced with untainted jasmine," Mai replied.
"Who would-" Masaru shook his head and rushed over to look at the tiny creature snoring on his love's chest. "Never mind- So this is-"
"She is yours," Izumi said weakly.
"A she?" he squeaked, squeezing his eyes shut, blinking away tears of joy. "And you delivered her all on your own? No panic attack, no-"
"I guess time does heal some things," Izumi replied with a slow shrug of her bare shoulders.
Masaru bent down and kissed her head, then moved his hands towards the baby before recoiling. "I don't want to wake her."
"She's slowly waking up again. I can feel it," Izumi said, stroking the baby's bare back with two fingers. Masaru looked over the infant to see her tiny fingers curling and uncurling against Izumi's skin. He saw a tiny mouth blowing spit bubbles and tiny eyes open and then close again, rejecting light.
"Why is she so small?"
Izumi shrugged. "Maybe she came early. We don't know."
"Don't know? How could you not know? Didn't you stop bleeding for…I don't know, a long time?"
"I guess I've just been too busy to keep track of such a thing," Izumi replied. "Would you like to hold her? Careful, she's rather… fragile."
"I can see that much," Masaru said slowly, moving towards the small baby.
Izumi sat up with one hand, the other making sure the infant didn't fall off her chest. She rolled the baby onto her back and placed her gently into Masaru's relatively uncalloused hands.
The businessman looked down at this tiny creature with glistening eyes full of love and … something else… worry? He bit his lower lip and furrowed his brow as he touched the tiny baby's cheek. Her minuscule arms reached for his massive finger and her mouth opened expecting to be fed or something. He moved his finger away from her mouth in wonder, triggering the girl to wail again.
"I'll take her," Izumi offered.
"What have the sages said about her?" Masaru asked as he handed the girl back to her mother, resting his elbows on his knees.
"They don't know, or they shouldn't know, not yet," Izumi replied.
"Are we keeping her?" Masaru asked.
Izumi shot him a death glare and turned slightly away from Masaru as she offered the infant her nipple.
"If you don't want her-"
"No, I do! I only meant that it will be hard all things considered. Ursa was supposed to be your last, eight years ago, and…"
"We will make do. If twenty-three years of training under azula has taught me anything, it's how to hide my true intentions. If someone does find out about this baby, and we find out about them early, I will suppress his or her memories." Izumi replied.
"Alright," Masaru said. "I trust you. Now may I please see her again?"
"Right," Izumi replied, untwisting so that she lay flat against her pillows again so Masaru could watch the feeding.
"Have you named her?"
"I thought I'd give you that honor, since… well… I did make the final call naming all of the others."
Masaru took a deep breath. "This is so sudden…" he said nervously.
"You don't have to name her now," Zuko offered. "I have heard of some parents not naming their child for the entire first year of life in case something happens to the child. They don't want to get too attached."
Masaru looked up in horror.
"Father, please leave," Izumi growled, frowning at some nondescript point at the foot of her bed.
"Was it something I said?" Zuko asked obliviously.
"Yes, obviously," Mai said, ushering him out of the room.
Masaru and Izumi waited for Izumi's parents to be gone before speaking again.
"Do you think she will live, being so tiny?" Izumi asked, looking down at the small creature suckling at her breast.
"She has to," Masaru replied.
"So what will we name her?"
"She may not be the strongest thing, or the fiercest, but she will be beautiful and smart. I know it already!"
"So what do you want to call her, oh so wise one?" Izumi asked impatiently.
"Miyoko."
"Miyoko," Izumi repeated. "I like that."
"For she is a beautiful child of a beautiful generation," Masaru explained, climbing onto the bed beside Izumi, draping an arm carefully(or gently) over her body to wrap under their new baby. He pressed a kiss to the side of her face then rested his chin atop her head. He then tucked his free arm behind her neck pulling some stray hairs out of her face. She turned and smiled at him, pressing a kiss to his lips, before returning her gaze to their new baby.
"She is mine, Saru," Izumi said with a devious smile as she looked down at their little secret.
"No, Zumi. Not yours- ours ." Masaru corrected her with a playful nudge, and another kiss.
"Alright, ours," Izumi relented, gazing back down at the feeding child.
They remained there the rest of the day, just staring at the tiny creature as it breathed there mostly in the lap of her mother, and occasionally in the hands of her father while the Fire Lady, Mai, watched from the doorway.
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Izumi hid the girl just out of sight, only ever giving her to Masaru, Mai or Iliana. She taught her daughter all of the hallways and the rooms that she would ever have access to as well as any fun places her daughter might enjoy getting into. She showed the girl how to crawl into the grates and how to signal her or Masaru for help if she ever got stuck. She personally loosened the bolts on several of them so they were easier for her tiny daughter to kick through.
"Nobody can see you, okay, little one?" Izumi told her bending down to look at the child through the golden bars. "You're my little secret." the little girl stared back at her with wide amber eyes and blinked.
"Why? What will happen if they do see me?" she asked in her small little voice, touching her mother's hand through the golden grills of the vent.
"They might take you away from me, and I could not bear that, my sweet little dragon baby," Izumi replied. The little girl nodded. "I'll see you later this evening, I promise."
The little girl blinked again then turned and crawled away into the wall space of the palace wearing nothing but a napkin and a loose, brown dress that resembled more of a pillowcase with a hole for her head and arms than anything.
She followed her mother around the palace using the tunnels like a little street rat and appeared in her private offices, tea rooms, and during meals times with her grandmother Mai and sometimes her father, Masaru. Covered in ash and dust, she looked more like a homeless orphan more than she looked like the daughter of a princess. She never did eat much and remained so thin that it worried Izumi and Masaru both.
"Please finish your bowl before disappearing again," Izumi ordered the small girl as they sat with her, Masaru in a suit, and Izumi in her ceremonial robes.
"Hm," the small four-year-old girl slouched impatiently, wanting to go explore.
"You need to eat to grow up big and strong so that when you do enter the world, nobody can hurt you, so you can fight back bravely and not need anybody to shield you," Izumi told the girl.
"I know," she sighed, taking another small bite.
Izumi sighed and wiped a line of ash and dust off of the girl's forehead with her thumb. She bathed every night, yet always was filthy by dinner because of the vents that she had to live in to stay hidden.
"There has to be another way," Masaru said that evening after their daughter was asleep in their bed, looking like an angel from the spirit world with her perfectly heart shaped face and long black hair in a neat, loose braid. "It hurts to see her like that, living in the shadows, completely unknown."
"Saru, your youngest sons are already seventeen years old and in the army. How will you explain that you suddenly have a four year old?" Izumi asked.
"What about you?"
"I can murder anyone who tries to hurt her, and my father will back me."
"If they don't murder her first for existing."
"Don't speak that way," Izumi whispered harshly, turning to look back at their sleeping babe.
"I worry that she is not getting the attention she needs since all of you are expected to do so much internationally," Masaru sighed.
"My mother is helping, and Iliana. Don't worry my love, we'll figure something out"
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Then one day, she started firebending.
"Where is Yoko?" Izumi asked Masaru at dinner. He shrugged.
They both checked the approved vent entrances and called for her to get no response.
Izumi tore off the grills and got down on her stomach. "Zumi, you don't fit in there, we'll find another way!"
"Like what?!" Izumi growled. "What if she was seen? What if she was taken!"
"She's not, I got her," Mai said, appearing with the four year old on her hip. The girl was hiding her face in the crook of her grandmother's neck.
"Yoko! What happened?" Izumi asked, taking the child from her mother and checking the girl's body and wiping fresh tears from her face, the tears making rivers on her daughter's dirt-covered face. Izumi tucked the child's head under her chin and held her tightly, fear still gripping her entire being as she quickly scanned the hallways for any non-family.
"Show them, Yoko. It will be okay. They don't feel the same pain as me, nor can they get burned," Mai said to the small child, tucking some of the girl's scraggly black hair behind her ear.
The girl sat up in her mother's arms, held out a tiny hand, and bent for her parents a little red flame.
Izumi looked up at Masaru. Neither were shocked, just… worried. Miyoko would need training so she wouldn't hurt herself in the vents, or accidentally asphyxiate herself in a small space with a flame.
Izumi heard the girl whimper and hide her face again in her mother's neck, afraid and ashamed. She'd never before seen anyone firebending or doing anything of the sort. She had only ever seen the portraits of the Fire Lord's with Fire in their hands and at their feet. She didn't realize someone as small as her could be capable of doing something so… frightening.
"Shhhh… don't be afraid of it, my love. It is just a little flame. It is like a tiny heartbeat. Fire is energy; it is life. It may be dangerous, but that is just nature. Respect its power, and you will be safe," she said cradling the scared four-year-old child in her arms and swaying in place until she stopped crying.
"I don't like it. It makes me feel… different." Miyoko replied in such such a small, quivering voice that brought a tear to Izumi's eyes.
"You'll get used to it, Sweet Love," Masaru said putting his arm around his two girls, rubbing Miyoko's back and leaning his chin on Izumi's head while Mai stood guard.
"We did," Izumi said, lifting Yoko's tiny chin with her index finger to make her look. Izumi held out her hand and made a matching red flame like Miyoko's then turned it yellow and orange and then green, purple, white and finally blue before closing her fingers and making the flame go away.
"I can do it too," Masaru said making a red and orange flame. "I am just not as talented as your dear mother and have much less of a temperature range," he explained making his red flame dance between both hands before bending it away.
Miyoko eyed them both warily, still suspicious then leaned back on her mother's chest and turned away, frowning, deep in thought.
The next day, Izumi rearranged her schedule, got her child some clothes more suitable for firebending and began training her baby in an open courtyard deep in Azula's quarter, far away from anybody who could possibly stumbling upon them and see.
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Izumi was called before her father in the throne room. Such a thing only happened when the Fire Lord was particularly displeased with her. "Izumi, my daughter," he said gazing down upon her from behind the flames, not giving her permission to rise and face him. "Your ever-increasing absence has been noted."
"Yet my tasks are still completed on-time, so what is the matter?" Izumi questioned.
"Leave us," Zuko ordered his guards. They filed out.
"The nation needs you, Izumi."
"But so does Yoko! You know this!" Izumi argued looking up.
"Yoko needs a teacher, yes, but that doesn't have to be you!"
"I will not have some warlord come into my home and abuse my daughter!" Izumi yelled, her hair turning blue in anger.
"It doesn't have to be a warlord. It can be someone kinder. Azula, perhaps?"
"Yoko is frightened of her." Azula may be in her 60s, but she was still just as formidable as she was in her prime. Izumi had been scared of her in her teens; she couldn't imagine how terrified her small daughter was.
"Masaru, maybe?"
"He's too busy with Earthen Fire Refineries."
"A member of your Amber League?" Zuko suggested.
Izumi fell silent. That…could work. They swore their lives to serving the Nation by preserving Izumi's sanity so that when she ascends the throne, she won't burn her nation down after her first encounter with opposition.
"We can hide her and her teacher just like when Azula trained you in secrecy," Zuko suggested.
"Very well," Izumi said. "I'll speak to Masaru about selecting somebody."
Masaru surveyed all of the trainers in the camps for the Amber League and made his selection, then presented the firebending master to Izumi and Zuko. Wanting only the best for Miyoko, they decided to test the man by having Izumi fight him in Agni Kai. It ended with him on the ground begging mercy from the Princess.
"Singe a single hair on her body and I will personally see you roasted alive," Izumi threatened the firebending master. The next morning, she introduced the master to his new pupil, her scrawny little six-year-old.
"Miyoko, meet Master Nikoru," Izumi said to the young girl.
The master examined the young pupil. "Are you SURE she is even a firebender? She looks so— fragile—and— small." Nikoru commented.
"She looks fragile and small, but she is getting stronger. Yoko, pretend Master Nikoru is your greatest enemy and show him what you can do." Izumi ordered.
"But I thought you said to talk to your enemies first before first fighting and to try to make peace," Miyoko recited with a little furrowed brow and a small frown. Masaru and Nikoru both covered their laughter. Izumi felt both great pride and great embarrassment in that moment. She wanted to laugh, but needed her daughter to take her training seriously, so she took a deep breath and modified her request.
"In which case, pretend Master Nikoru is me telling you to stop reading and go to bed early."
Yoko nodded. She sprinted towards the man, jumped up turning twice in the air generating a ring of red fire then as she kicked it his way, turned the flame a hot blue throwing him into the opposite wall.
"Well done, Love," Izumi nodded with approval.
"Huh, well done, Princess. And you've taught her yourself thus far?" Nikoru asked Izumi.
"Yes," Izumi replied with a stiff nod.
"I'm impressed. It's a wonder why the Fire Sages ever doubt you."
With training taking up most of Miyoko's days, started seeing less and less of her mother. She saw her father, her grandmother, even her grandfather more than her mother. She had less time to go in the vents and eavesdrop in on meetings and learn about proceedings with the Fire Nation and the outside world. She had less time to see her mother living.
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One day, Miyoko asked Nikoru for the day off. Citing a sprained ankle, she decided to go see her mother. She climbed out from under the princess's desk and waited for her to return from the war room.
"Mother, why can't you teach me?" Miyoko asked, revealing herself.
Izumi shrieked and four guards broke in, Miyoko diving under before being seen.
"Princess, is everything alright?" they asked.
"Yes, just- a spider fly fell from the ceiling. You may leave," Izumi replied, clutching her chest. As the door closed, she addressed her daughter. "Yoko! You startled me!"
"I thought you said firebenders were never afraid," eight-year-old Miyoko responded, crawling out from her hiding place.
"I know, but in the office, it's different. I don't usually have visitors coming out from under me," Izumi replied, taking off her crown and running her fingers through her hair.
"I'm sorry!" the girl replied on the verge of tears, leaning away from her mother, and ducking back into the shadows under the desk, pressing her body against the dark cherry wood, tucking her knees into her chest. "I just missed you. It's been eight days since I've last seen you—" She whimpered looking down at the open vent and the hole in the ground. "But if I'm interrupting, I'll go," she said about to slip away into the vents again. "I don't want to be the cause of more stress or pain."
"No, Yoko, don't go! Come here! I have a few minutes before the next meeting." Izumi said, reaching for her, pulling the girl into her lap tucking her head under her chin, and holding her tight. "I've missed you too, Love. Sooooo much," she added, planting a kiss on the eight-year-old's head.
"Where have you been?" Miyoko asked, looking her mother directly in the eye to make sure she was still in there.
"Working," Izumi replied with a heavy sigh looking at the papers on her desk. "Diplomatic ventures, representing my father in the United Republic and Earth Kingdom. He goes to the Water Tribes. He's a fool sometimes if I don't say so myself. My inner fire is stronger than his. If he were attacked in the tundra, he wouldn't last. I am trying to get him to switch regions, but he doesn't listen. Stubborn old man, he is" Izumi replied with a sigh of frustration.
"Can I help in any way, to lighten your load maybe?" Miyoko asked.
"What do you mean?" Izumi asked looking at her daughter strangely.
"I mean, if you're a princess and I'm your daughter, doesn't that make me a princess too? Maybe I could take over the United Republic and go on trips like you!" Miyoko offered. "If we went during the same month, instead of you going for two months, we could spend the extra month together on Ember Island or something! The place from Grandma's stories?"
Izumi smiled sadly. "I appreciate the sentiment, I do, but it cannot happen for along while, okay?"
"Why?" Miyoko asked, internally crushed, but trying to hide her emotions like her mother always did.
"Because... even though I love your father very much, he is not my husband. It is because of that that you cannot be a royal... not until I become Fire Lord and change things," Izumi explained.
"Oh," Miyoko said sadly.
"Don't be sad, Yoko," Izumi said tucking a lock of hair behind the girl's ear. "Besides. You really don't want to be a princess. It is truly bitter work. I despise it most times." Izumi confessed.
"But... you shouldn't have to suffer it alone," Yoko said quietly, hanging her head in dismay.
"But enough about that! What did you want to talk about, my sweet?"
"I didn't want to talk," the girl responded. "I just wanted you to see me. I know the world can't know I exist, but sometimes it feels like you forget too that I'm here, still living," Miyoko whispered leaning on her armor, but snaking her hand into her mother's robes to feel the warmth of her breast.
"That's not true. I could never forget you," Izumi said, crestfallen that her daughter would believe that could happen.
Just then there was a knocking on the door.
"Go!" Izumi ordered. Yoko bolted under the desk and Izumi replaced her crown in her bun.
"Enter!" Izumi called.
"Princess Izumi—" a voice addressed her opening the door.
"Sage Miu?" Izumi gasped.
Yoko didn't like the fear in her mother's voice.
"We've heard rumors of another bastard."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Izumi growled.
"And that she's living in the palace." Miu replied.
Izumi threw her pen down, raging with fury. "Fine! So what if she lives in the palace? So do several dozen other children of servants."
"She is not the child of a servant—"
"Really? Am I not a servant to you? To the country?" Izumi raged.
"You are a Princess of the Fire Nation," the Fire Sage Miu reminded her.
"Then treat me as such and stop telling me what to do!" Izumi barked.
"If the nation finds out about this girl born AFTER Ursa, we will eliminate her."
"If you get anywhere near her, I will personally destroy you, Miu. And if I am not with her, I will instruct her to. I won't let you rob me of another piece of my soul!" Izumi threatened.
"She not an issue you can continue to ignore."
"She is not an issue! You are!" Izumi responded. "Now get out of my office and never show your face here again, unless you want to get burned!"
Miyoko clasped her hand over her mouth. Eliminate? Was being illegitimate such a bad thing ?
Izumi waited for the door to slam shut and the footsteps to recede before crouching down under the desk to find her baby shaking with fear.
"Yoko-" Izumi began to say before the child dove into the vents and crawled away.
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Izumi went to Masaru's house to fetch her ten-year-old baby. Masaru looked angry with her.
"Where's Yoko?" Izumi asked.
"You missed it?"
"Missed what?"
"You missed our trip," Masaru said. "We were going to go as a family and you missed it."
"There was an emergency session! I couldn't just leave."
"It was Yoko's turn to meet the DRAGONS!"
The sun warriors. The ritual. The dance. The eternal flame… Izumi ran up the stairs of Masaru's estate faster than her legs could carry her to find her daughter laying flat on her stomach with her face buried in the sheets.
"Yoko! I'm sorry-"
"You're not!" She yelled, lashing out with a green flame. "You say you are but you're not! If you were, things would change but they don't! So just go away! I don't need you anymore! Just go— serve your country like the legitimate Princess that you are and leave me to my vents!"
"Yoko!" Izumi rushed forward, reaching out a hand.
"Don't touch me!" Yoko lashed out again but with a blue flame. She sat with her back to her mother and her knees curled against her chest, sobbing. Her arms and legs were still so skinny. Izumi took a step back to give her room to breathe, swallowing her tears to focus on her daughter.
"How was the ceremony at least?"
"Horrible. I was so scared. I thought I was going to die. I got distracted by my own fears and let the flame go out halfway up the stairs to their lair. I thought they were going to roast me alive, and that I wouldn't even get to say goodbye to you because you weren't even there," Miyoko sniffled.
"Yoko—" Izumi's Heart broke. How could she even respond? Her daughter would never forgive her for missing such a milestone. Izumi tried to reach out again.
"I said DON'T TOUCH ME!" Miyoko leapt out of bed and across the room in one jump into a corner with her knees pulled tight and her hands out in front of her as if to ward off some monstrous predator instead of her own mother. Izumi couldn't believe what she was seeing.
She wanted to just envelop the child in her arms and tell her everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't. The girl wouldn't believe her anymore since her actions told the girl everything. She was broken and afraid, everything Izumi never wanted her to be. Instead of forcing the girl to accept an the embrace she was fighting, Izumi relented and walked away.
"She'll come around," Masaru told her as she left Yoko's room. Izumi didn't hear him, for she was already crying as she ran to their bedroom.
Miyoko went in secrecy, back to the castle. It was her first time traveling between her Father's and Mother's home unaccompanied. She knew the guard patterns, which allowed her to slip into the palace walls unnoticed and make her way to her grandmother's apartments. Once there, she waited patiently for the Fire Lady to return from whatever function she was attending.
"Grandma Mai, could you teach me how to be a princess?" Miyoko asked, coming out of her hiding place behind a lounger in the parlor.
"Why?" Mai asked the girl.
"I just thought it might be helpful someday, and maybe... if I acted more like Mother, she'll want to spend more time with me," Miyoko replied, unmasking her sadness.
Mai's heart broke for the child. "Oh Yoko! Your mother already wants to spend time with you. She just can't. She loves you and would never leave your side if she could. You don't need to act like a princess. She's just really busy meeting the demands of the Nation."
"Can I please learn anyways? Maybe then at least I'll have something to take my mind off of things. Firebending gets boring," Miyoko asked.
"Okay, I'll teach you. But it won't be easy, sweetheart. Learning to be a princess is not at all how they write it in the fairy tales, ESPECIALLY learning to be a princess of the our great Nation," Mai informed the girl.
"I understand," Miyoko replied.
The very next day, they begun her lessons without tutors. Just Mai teaching her granddaughter everything. "You may not speak unless spoken to, you may not ever finish your plate of food..."
"But what if there's barely any food on the plate to begin with and I'm hungry?" Miyoko questioned.
"Then you starve," Mai deadpanned.
"But why?" Miyoko asked.
"It's customary to show you're not a peasant-"
"But I thought we were supposed to sympathize with the peasants-"
"That's where the starving comes in."
"What is done with the leftovers? If it doesn't at least go to those in need, I'm going to scream." Miyoko responded seriously, looking at her grandmother with a raised brow.
Completely unfazed, Mai stared back. "Yoko, princesses don't question authority."
"Mother does all the time. I hear her fighting the Fire Sages every time they come by her office to try to get just a minute of her time—" Miyoko muttered.
"Yoko, do you want to learn how to be a proper princess or not?" Mai asked.
Miyoko sighed. "Yes." Mother is right. It is bitter work.
The etiquette wasn't so bad, and neither was the heightened expectations for her firebending. But having to keep ones mouth shut was driving Yoko to near insanity. Miyoko got to learn how to dress nicely in new clothes that Grandma Mai had made for her and some days, they both went undercover and ventured into the capital for Miyoko to practice her manners in different venues and restaurants in the Fire Nation Capital. Mai showed the ten-year-old the streets, museums, art galleries, operas, and plays... It was overwhelming. There was so much more to the world than she had ever imagined.
A few days later, Masaru asked Izumi if she'd seen the girl. No.
"She left for the palace shortly after you returned. I thought she went to find you," Masaru said confusedly.
"Well she didn't."
"She's been with me," Mai told Izumi later that evening. "She wanted to learn to be a proper princess for when you DO legitimize her. She wants to help lighten your load."
"Really? Why?"
"She misses you, Izumi."
"She can come visit."
"A few minutes between meetings is not enough." Mai replied sternly.
Izumi became the spy, sneaking around and watching her daughter's lessons from balconies. She acted so differently now. The mischievous spark in her eyes was gone. Her optimism and energy completely decimated. She looked like a ghost. Her hair was always clean and tied neatly, her chin held high, her shoulders down and back, and her torso rigid as a board. She walked with the pride of a war hero, or a survivor.
"Yoko," Izumi said, entering her room to find her child practicing calligraphy.
"Mother," she replied. Not turning around.
"I wanted to apologize for... for everything— for missing so much of your life."
"Don't feel sorry, Mother. I understand that your duty as a princess is to serve your country however the Fire Lord sees fit."
"Thank you for understanding," Izumi said.
Miyoko looked out her window. "I also know my duty as the bastard of a princess is to stay out of your life so you can do your job accordingly."
Izumi's eyes widened. How did her daughter hate herself? Why had she become complicit in her own daughter's self-torture? "No, please tell me you don't truly believe that. PLEASE!"
"You said so yourself. Nobody can know about me or they'll take me away. I'm just a hindrance to you being a good princess and they want to protect the royal family."
Izumi fell to her knees. "Yoko, I'm begging you—"
Miyoko pivoted in her chair and looked down at her mother.
"Please, Princess Izumi. Save your energy for what's important. The Earth King will be here soon and I don't think The Fire Lord would appreciate him seeing you weeping."
"You are my daughter, Miyoko. You are and always will be, and I am so sorry for hurting you! I am so sorry for not realizing. If there is anything I can do to make up for it all, please! Tell me. I will walk away from it all if I could! I can at least take some time off, we can go somewhere—"
"You can make it up to me by doing your duty to our nation and our family and stop crying. I'm okay. I know my place. It's time you've understood yours," Miyoko replied, looking down at her mother with annoyance as opposed to the apathy that she conveyed before. Izumi curled her fingers into the ground, her hair streaked blue with grief.
"What can I do to change her perception of me?" Izumi asked Masaru as she turned down her end of their bed at his estate.
"By changing? Becoming more involved in her life?"
"How?" Izumi asked.
"Just by being here. If you want. Maybe you can come to the meeting I have with her teacher in a few days. Then you can hear how she is doing in school," Masaru suggested.
"I'd like that, since she won't say one word to me that isn't 'get back to work'." Izumi's said climbing into bed at Masaru's Estate.
"Did you ever find out why the moon tea didn't work?" Masaru asked climbing in after her, pulling her over.
"Someone has replaced it with a placebo."
"Who? I don't know."
The next day, Izumi gathered all of her hair in a bun at the base of her neck and secured it with a crimson ribbon. She dressed a little nicer than what she usually wore at Masaru's Estate but not something too nice that would indicate royalty. She settled for some casual dark red robes with a black over coat and no gold.
"You look... different," Masaru commented.
"Good. I don't want to be recognized," Izumi replied tying the coat at her waist.
"So what's your story going to be?"
"My story?"
"Yoko doesn't have a mother listed on her school papers."
"I can be your girlfriend or your concubine. I don't mind either," Izumi responded bluntly.
Masaru sighed. "Fine, you are my girlfriend. And if they ask why Yoko never mentions you?"
"The girl despises me, obviously. Unfortunately for her, my love for you is greater than my fear of her, the little baby dragon," Izumi replied, applying a light pink gloss over her lips before turning to face him.
"Ready?" he asked, extending a hand.
"Ready," Izumi replied accepting his.
They drove to the school. It was so strange for Izumi to hear the voices of so many children since she never did have the opportunity to go to any of her sons' schools as they grew up.
"Our appointment is twenty minutes after the bell," Masaru said parking their Satomobile. He got out first and opened the door for her and held out his hand. Izumi noticed immediately that Masaru was well known on the campus as children and parents alike began pointing and staring.
"Was this a bad idea?" Izumi asked, beginning to second guess everything.
"Don't worry," Masaru replied. "This school is far enough from the palace that none of the other lords who would recognize you would dare to send their children here." He rested his hand on the small of her back, guiding her to their daughter's primary classroom where they would wait the remaining ten minutes before the meeting.
"If school only just got out ten minutes ago, where's Yoko?"
"Probably off with one of the clubs she's joined."
"Clubs?"
"She's on a recreational kuai ball team that practices five days a week, and she's joined a pai sho club and calligraphy. That each meet about twice a week.
"Spirits, how does she have time for that?"
"She's like you in that sense,"
"What do you mean?"
"She smart, quick and has the energy to run non-stop from dawn till dusk if necessary." Masaru said with his arm around his lady as they sat on the bench outside the classroom waiting.
"I'll see you next week Kami!" Yoko's voice called as she appeared out of an adjacent building waving to another pupil.
"See you next week, Miyoko!" The other pupil replied.
Miyoko ran over with her eyes fixed on her father. Then she noticed the woman beside him and blanched.
"Long time no see," Izumi said plainly to her daughter just as the door to Yoko's classroom opened as a mother and a son exited.
"Thank you for coming!" the teacher said. "Mr. Lee and..."
"Feng, Ziyuan Feng," Izumi replied.
"Ms. Feng. Nice to meet you. I'm Mrs. Dao, Miyoko's teacher. And what is your relationship to Mr. Lee?"
"I'm his—"
"—girlfriend," Masaru answered for her quickly in case she had forgotten.
"Oh! And how long have you known each other?" Mrs. Dao asked, eying Izumi warily as she waved the three into the room.
"Our whole lives, but circumstances separated us for a while. Only recently I got a post at his company and we reunited and... here we are now," Izumi shrugged.
"Congratulations. I only ask because Miyoko has never mentioned a prospective mother."
"We just… haven't seen eye-to-eye in a long while," Izumi replied, not looking at Yoko as they sat down across from the teacher's desk.
"So here are copies of her progress report for each of you. Miyoko is currently enrolled in the standard six core subjects that this school offers which are: Language Mechanics, Composition and Literature, Mathematics, History, Alchemy, World Cultures and Philosophies as well as two electives: Orchestra and Theatre.
"She is an incredibly unique pupil who has managed to negotiate terms of enrollment with both the orchestra conductor and the theatre director enabling herself to participate in only half the rehearsals and yet still perform at the same or even higher caliber of the other performers. Despite her huge time allotment to the arts, her marks in Mathematics, Alchemy and Language mechanics have remained high, never once dipping below perfection. That being said, we, as teachers are still very concerned with her marks in Composition and Literature, and World Cultures and Philosophy, which are less than satisfactory..." Mrs. Dao said, turning the page of her copy of the progress report.
"Just because the prompts asked for one's HONEST opinion and mine differs from yours doesn't mean that—" Miyoko began to protest.
"Quiet, Yoko," Izumi commanded, silencing the girl instantly.
"If Miyoko holds less than conventional opinions on worldly matters, yet still completes the assignment per prompt within the constraints of the rubric in the more subjective classes, why is it she is still marked down?" Masaru asked flipping through the more detailed break down on his daughter's performance in more specific areas, seeing nothing less than "O" for outstanding. His daughter's structure and format was all marked highly, completeness of thoughts, collection of evidence all good. Only the final mark was a fail.
"Here is a sample of her writing. While eloquent, the school cannot condone or promote blatant disloyalty to the crown." The teacher said.
Prompt: write 300 lines on whether or not you agree with one of the following and why.
1. Fire Nation involvement in policing the black-market trade city in the heart of the Si Wong Desert.
2. The debates between the Fire Lord Zuko and Grand General Hao regarding the sale of obsolete military artillery to
foreign parties.
3. The conscious decision of the Fire Princess Izumi to not involve either of her children in the regular duties of the Royal
Family.
In Republic City the orphan situation is so dire that all four nations are working together for the first time since before the Air Nomad genocide to help alleviate the strain on the United Republic of Nations while in the Si Wong Desert, there is an entire city dedicated to illicit dealings in the realms of drugs and human trafficking. What do these two disparate issues have in common? They both could benefit from the services of Prince Iroh II and Princess Ursa of the Fire Nation. However, Crown Princess Izumi has chosen to not involve her children, claiming that they need more time to become acquainted with the world's workings before becoming more involved in national and international policy decisions. This claim is wholly invalid especially for the Prince Iroh, whom by the ripe age of 33 is already a man well traveled with vast experience in military and leadership as well as international negotiations. While a majority of the Fire Nation takes this explanation at face value, there is more to the Crown Princess's explanation than meets the eye. Rather, Prince Iroh has not been involved in decision making due to his high-level engagement with the United Republic Forces; thus, as a military leader of a foreign power he cannot be trusted to work favorably on behalf of the Fire Nation. Princess Ursa, on the other hand, has shown her devotion to the Fire Nation through her bending studies, yet she as well has shirked her royal duties with her mother's consent; instead, an ambassador has taken on the majority of her duties. This begs the question: would the Fire Nation be better served by a republic framework modeled after the United Republic of Nations?
"We are going to have a long conversation about this later." Masaru said folding the essay sample in half before tucking it into his breast pocket.
"Long conversation, huh? Was it not you who told me that brevity is the soul of wit?" Miyoko asked.
Masaru sighed and Izumi rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to strike her insolent child.
"Does the school have a firebending master that offers lessons to the pupils?" Izumi asked, changing the subject away from her daughter's less-than conventional writings.
"Yes. The school has a physical education class that segregates benders from non-benders. Miyoko was placed in the highest level class of firebending with Master Duy-Lam but decided her time there would be wasted. She then challenged her instructor to an Agni Kai with the agreement that if she won, she would receive credit for the class and enroll in a second elective."
Izumi frowned disapprovingly. "So you think you're a master?" she asked Miyoko.
"Yes, no thanks to you," Miyoko muttered slouching a little in the seat between her parents.
Izumi rolled her eyes. Maybe I should test you.
"Is there anything else we should know about Yoko's schooling? Is she getting along with the other children?" Masaru asked.
"Some of them." the teacher replied a little less confidently.
"Only some?" Izumi asked, her eyes narrowing, getting the sense there was more to what the teacher was telling.
"Miyoko, will you please step out of the room," the teacher asked.
She stood and exited silently.
"We know she's bullied. She never complains about it for some strange reason but myself and some of the other instructors have heard her being called the Highborn Bastard of Earthen Fire Refineries."
"And have you confronted the children saying this?" Izumi asked sternly.
"Yes. They seem to think that because she doesn't react that it's okay to say what they say-"
"Have they suffered any consequences for their cruelty?" Izumi asked darkly, standing up.
"N-no, Ms. Feng."
"Ziyuan, cool it-" Masaru ordered reaching out a hand to give her a small dose of dark lightning upon contact to slow her heart and calm her down. Izumi glared at him before sitting back down angrily. "Thank you, Mrs. Dao for informing us on my daughter's performance in school and her disposition among her peers. We will definitely be speaking with her about her rather… unconventional beliefs regarding our royal family's decision to exclude it's youngest members from political activity. We completely agree that disloyalty should not be rewarded and will express that to her this evening. Will that be all for the meeting?"
"Yes, I believe so," Mrs. Dao said checking her papers.
"Very well, then thank you for your time," Masaru said hurriedly, not letting go of Izumi as the three of them stood up. They bowed to each other then all made their way to the door.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Lee," Mrs. Dao said opening the door for them.
As soon as the door closed, Masaru spoke. "What time will you be home, Yoko?"
"Seven, like always," Miyoko replied instantly.
"Good. Don't be late. We have a lot to discuss," Masaru replied turning away as Miyoko also started in the other direction.
"Wait! You don't pick her up from school?" Izumi asked.
"She can find her way home on her own," Masaru replied.
"Is that safe?" Izumi asked.
Masaru leaned into her ear. "She learned from the dragons, she is safe," he replied.
Izumi took a deep breath and looked back at Yoko who waited for absolute clearance before sprinting off to resume her extracurricular activities.
"She's still just a girl,"
"But she is YOUR girl, and you, too hate being perceived as weak, Princess. So don't do it to her." he reminded her in a whisper. "Yoko, you may go," Masaru confirmed and the girl took off sprinting.
That evening, Miyoko came home to the estate to find both parents waiting at the dinner table for her.
"You're still here," she said glaring at Izumi.
"And you're still surly," Izumi replied pointedly.
"Enough, BOTH of you," Masaru snapped taking the essay sample out of his coat pocket and setting it on the table before Miyoko. "Explain yourself."
"I did, very well according to Mrs. Deng, the history teacher," Miyoko replied.
"Yoko," Izumi began sternly. "You cannot be having these- thoughts!"
"And why not? Grandfather said that all are now allowed freedom of speech under his regime. Why CAN'T I express my opinions openly?"
"Because you are a daughter of a member of the royal family-" Izumi began to say.
"But I am NOT a member of the royal family, so what does it matter?!" Miyoko asked, heading straight past the dining room to the hall that lead to the stairs to the resident quarters of the massive estate.
"Yoko!" Izumi yelled, chasing after her.
"Zumi-"
"You listen to me right now!" Izumi yelled, grabbing the child by the wrist and pulling her close, bending down to be eye-level with the child.
"You ARE MY DAUGHTER whether you like it or not and though you may THINK that you don't need me, I need you too, okay?" Izumi said, holding onto her. Miyoko freed her hands with a quick yank.
"Need me for what? To distract you from doing what you're supposed to do? I KNOW I was a mistake! I KNOW I was an accident. I KNOW I am not wanted by anybody except MAYBE Father, and CERTAINLY not you! So just leave me alone and let me pave my own way! Isn't that what you want for all your children? For them to be what they want to be without the Fire Sages dictating their every day and their every developmental stage? Just- go back to the palace, Princess and leave me be!" Miyoko yelled.
"Yoko, you still have to eat dinner!" Masaru tried.
"NOT HUNGRY!" Miyoko replied, slamming her door.
"What do I do?" Izumi asked Masaru in tears that evening.
"Just… stay. Persistence is key."
"I thought that by keeping her near me, I would be protecting her from the world, but she just… hates me!"
"She doesn't hate you. She just wants to feel loved as does anybody. She just needs time. Time alone and time with you, believe me!" Masaru said.
Izumi made Miyoko's lunch and added a bag of roasted fire flakes. She added a raspberry tart to the girl's after-school snack bag, and a bottle of ramune in the pocket opposite her water in her satchel. She followed Masaru to work and learned a little about the factory proceedings then waited at home for her daughter to return.
"Do you ever get bored in the evenings, when you're not working?" Izumi asked playing Pai Sho with Masaru for the first time since they were in their teens.
"Not at all. Usually I read the paper when I get home, check up on the Amber League's activities, ask Lu and Yen about the guards, their personal lives, their wives and children... Sometimes I go for a walk along the docks or accompany the chef to the marketplace…"
"How doesn't that get boring?"
"I always have company," Masaru replied, playing his white lotus piece. "Don't you get bored reading and signing the same papers all day all alone in your office?"
"Sometimes there are meetings. Some with Father present, and some without," Izumi replied, moving an airbender piece. "Some generals aren't too annoying, same with the ministers."
"How come I haven't heard of them?" Masaru asked capturing her airbender piece with a firebender.
Izumi shrugged as she played a water tribe piece to take his firebender. "They're more or less always the same. Never interesting, just not annoying," Izumi replied.
"And what are their names?" Masaru asked, inching his white lotus tile closer to the center of the board.
"Mister Jung, the Minister of Infrastructure in the Fire Nation, General Xong Fu of the Reiben Island, and Minister Cao of Telecommunications. He actually agrees with me that we should invest in extend wiring to all homes and not restrict access to the telegram network to the wealthy," Izumi replied moving an earthbender into position to attack Masaru's white lotus tile.
"Hm… I'll have to thank them all for making your days at the palace bearable," Masary said, moving his avatar piece. "I win!" Masaru said showing Izumi the board. His avatar perfectly in position to capture her 'trapped' white lotus tile.
Just then the door opened and Yoko returned home.
She took one glance at Izumi and started for her room.
"Yoko, if you run away one more time, I'm taking away your lute and burning it," Masaru threatened.
Miyoko froze. "You wouldn't."
"Try me," Masaru replied.
She sighed and joined them in the parlor.
"Take my place and beat your mother for me, will you? I have to go check on how dinner is coming. Don't worry. She's not that good honestly, and such a disgrace to Great Uncle Iroh who taught us both how to play," Masaru told the girl.
"Thanks, Saru!" Izumi called after Masaru, frowning.
Miyoko snickered as she helped to reset the tiles.
"Do you really suck that badly at pai sho? Father's not usually so demeaning," Miyoko asked.
"With me he is, because he knows he can get away with it." Izumi replied, pressing her hands together above the table, then opening them to show they were empty as her daughter mirrored her.
"Do you love him?"
"Yes?"
"More than anything?"
"No."
"What do you love most?"
"My babies."
"Am I really one of them? One of yours?" Miyoko asked.
Izumi cocked her head to the side and frowned. "Why would you even ask such a thing?"
"Because you spend a majority of your time working for the nation and not… being a mother." Miyoko replied.
"And yet here I am now, risking exposure, risking my family name trying to make up for lost time. Why would I do that if I weren't certain that you, Yoko, are my own flesh and blood, my baby? Why would I keep you near me in the palace when you were young? Why would I personally oversee your firebending training and be so adamant about you being able to protect yourself as you grow up?"
Miyoko shrugged.
"I already lost one daughter to the Fire Sages." Izumi confessed to Miyoko.
"Princess Ursa?" Miyoko asked.
Izumi nodded. "She was just a little girl when they sent her away to a boarding school. You attend a day school. You get to come home and see your family. She only gets to return on the holidays: the solstices and season's festivals. She changed that first year. They tried to brainwash her into an imperialistic little shit. Fortunately she was stronger than they had hoped."
"Where is she now?" Miyoko asked.
"Traveling. Dropped out of school, thank the spirits!"
"Alone?"
"She wanted to go alone. She wanted to prove herself capable and independent as she traveled to study the ways of the benders of other elements."
"So you let her travel the world alone, but don't trust me to walk home from school on my own?" Miyoko asked.
"Ursa is eighteen. You're only ten, AND you're tiny, for your age" Izumi replied bluntly.
"That is true," Miyoko sighed, moving another piece.
"What were you like when you were my age, Mother? Did you go to school like Ursa?"
Izumi laughed as a flood of memories rushed forth in her head. "I had tutors at the Palace. They kept me away from other children, since there was still so much resistance to change. I was born only five years after the end of the great war, so many of my would have been classmates were very anti-Zuko and anti-international cooperation. My parents worried I'd get bullied or even assassinated if I went to school."
"Did you have anybody your own age?"
"Your father," Izumi said with a smile.
"What did you do in a day?"
"Lessons typically nine hours a day. Sometimes from early morning until late afternoon, sometimes midday until night. Sometimes they split it up with a brief gap of free time in the middle," Izumi replied. "I learned how to adapt to an ever-changing daily schedule."
"What did you do on your free time?"
"Play pranks on the palace staff with your father."
"Pranks? A Princess?"
"Would you believe it? One of my favorites was after Masaru learned how to brew wildfyre in alchemy. It is a type of liquid that once lit doesn't extinguish for DAYS no matter what you pour on it or what bender tries to extinguish it."
"That sounds dangerous," Miyoko said suspiciously.
"It is dangerous, but it was still fun to light up the bathrooms and watch all of the fancy lords and ladies have to just piss on the flames or risk wetting themselves and their fancy robes," Izumi replied.
"OH! Mother! That is absolutely disgusting!"
"What is?" Masaru asked, returning as Izumi snickered at her daughter's discomfort.
"You did NOT light the bathrooms up with wildfyre and watch the nobles of the court piss on the flames."
Masaru went red in the face and turned accusingly to Izumi. "IZUMI!"
"Oh my god! My parents are idiots!" Miyoko exclaimed.
"Aren't all parents idiots to their own children?" Izumi asked with a smile.
"I suppose," Miyoko sighed.
"Excuse me, Mister Lee, Princess Izumi," a messenger asked, arriving. "It is your Father, Princess. He requests your audience immediately."
Izumi groaned and looked down at her daughter with longing.
"It's the effort that counts," Miyoko shrugged. "Your nation needs you, Princess Izumi. Just… don't EVER forget that we need you too."
"I won't, my love," Izumi replied, kissing the top of her daughter's head before following the messenger back to the palace.
