Chapter 5: Someone New
The Fire Lord's Quarters
Izumi burned her bedpost for the third time that morning as Iliana laced her corsets.
"You don't know how much I despise receiving foreign dignitaries," Izumi grumbled as her fingernails dug deeper into the charred cherry wood.
"You're not receiving a foreign dignitary, My Lord. You are receiving a Queen," Iliana reminded Izumi as she pulled long and hard on the laces at the waist.
"But the Queen has always been like a little sister to me, and once I marry Masaru, she WILL be a little sister to me," Izumi replied, gasping for air. "Is this— really still necessary— especially—considering— our age?"
"It is not necessary as much as it is customary. You can't change everything during your reign, My Lord." Iliana replied gently. Izumi whimpered as Iliana pulled the laces straight up tightening the corset around the Fire Lord's rib cage crushing her torso before tying off the laces.
"For someone who is nearly eighty, you're still frighteningly strong," Izumi commented with a frown.
"I am Fire Nation, My Lord. We are strong," Iliana said with a smile. "Come on," Iliana said, holding up the Fire Lord's more formal robes with golden trim along the sleeves and skirts for Izumi to slip into. Iliana snapped the buttons at the throat closed, then folded the robes over and tied them closed under Izumi's right armpit and down her right side. Izumi turned as Iliana went to get her sash. She held up her long sleeves as the maid wrapped the golden sash around her waist tightly against the corset underneath.
Then Iliana picked up the Fire Lords shoulder ceremonial armor fitted with spikes over the shoulders. Izumi ducked into it and folded her cuffs back as Iliana ran a cleaning brush over everything to get any dust off of the gown before letting the Fire Lord leave.
"If it will make you feel better about wearing your ceremonial robes, I can fetch your knives. I know how they make you feel less helpless in times like these," Iliana offered.
Izumi smiled, and her kindly maid ran off to get them.
Armed with her knives, Izumi walked flanked by a dozen imperial guards to the throne room and up to her seat. She looked at the dark trough where she lit a wall of blue fire at least once a day, every day for the past seven years. Then she looked up at the ceiling as they closed the skylight, blocking the clouds from view.
"Father, you say fire comes from the breath, but how do you make fire when your breath has been taken away?" She asked herself as she placed her hand on her nearly completely disabled diaphragm for a moment trying to also still her spinning head. With a wave of both arms, she lit the trough with blue flames that ran the width of the room and sat down cross legged with only mild difficulty in her restricting robes.
"May we present to you the Earth Queen, Suyin Beifong of Zaofu and Gaoling?" the page asked.
"You may," Izumi said, seeing the doors open through the wall of blue flames.
The Earth Queen entered, flanked by two Dai Li Agents and followed by a half dozen metalbending guards from Zaofu in addition to a dozen Royal Earth Kingdom guards.
Izumi had a guard of three dozen imperial firebenders in front of her wall of fire, and two members of the Amber League hidden in her wall of blue flames.
"Fire Lord Izumi," Suyin said, bowing, her head touching the floor as her entire entourage followed suit.
"Earth Queen Suyin, rise," Izumi said stiffly.
Suyin stood.
"Now if you will, dismiss your guard from the room so that I may be rid of mine," Izumi ordered.
Suyin raised a hand and her entire Earth Kingdom entourage bowed and backed out of the throne room.
Once they all left, the Imperial guard split and marched out of the throne room at both sides. Izumi stood up and walked through her wall of fire and embraced the younger Beifong woman and current Earth Queen.
"I curse your new status, Suyin," Izumi informed the woman.
"Why?" Suyin laughed, embracing her old friend.
"Because they made me wear ceremonial robes to greet you since you're a Queen now!" Izumi whined. "It's not fair that I have to get all dolled up while you get to appear before me wearing the same peasant garb from Zaofu!"
Suyin scoffed and gave the Fire Lord a playful shove. "And they claim the Earth is rigid," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Tell me about it," Izumi droned with a smile.
"So where have you locked up my brother and sister?"
"Your sister and her husband left to explore the Capital again hours ago. My agents should know where they are. You can ask any one of them. As for your brother, he's probably at Earthen Fire Headquarters here. He has two more days before he's free for the week leading up to the wedding."
"Do you need help with the set-up or planning?"
"Actually, I've had a change of heart about that. As much as I enjoyed the camaraderie of planning Lin and Tenzin's wedding, I didn't very much like the chaos. I have assigned a team will take care of the planning. Meanwhile, I've asked you all here early to trick you into taking a forced family vacation here in the Fire Nation," Izumi explained.
Suyin choked. "A family vacation? Why, may I ask? Is this a trap? Should I be worried about potential extermination?"
"Not slightly. I'll give you a hint. Lin's not the only one who keeps really…big secrets," Izumi said obscurely.
Suyin thought for a moment then shoved Izumi to the floor then encased her in entire body in rock.
"HOW MANY!" Suyin shrieked.
"Counting the adopted one or no?" Izumi asked from the ground.
"Counting!"
"Seven?" Izumi said closing her eyes.
Suyin released the Fire Lord and turned away, thinking.
"When Lin gets back, I'm killing you BOTH!" Suyin yelled, stomping her foot at the Fire Lord.
"Understandable," Izumi grunted blowing a lock of loose hair that came undone. "But how will you explain it to my Father?" Izumi asked, struggling to get up. Suyin rolled her eyes and took pity on the Fire Lord before propping her up with an earthen pillar.
"So," Suyin said as she watched Izumi dust off her robes manually.
"Iliana will be livid! She just cleaned them this morning!" Izumi muttered shaking the skirts.
Suyin rolled her eyes again and bent all of the dirt out the fabric. "There! Clean. Now, tell me about these babies!" Suyin said, looping her arm around the Fire Lord's.
Izumi smiled. "Well…" she took a breath and looked up with a smile. Suyin giggled. "Where do I begin?"
"With the first one, obviously!"
"Well, Takeo is a First Class General..." Izumi began.
"All good..." Suyin commented listening to her old friend reveal everything.
The Courtyard
The two sky bison were cleared to land in the pastures where all of the royal family's animals were housed, fed, and trained.
"Stable master Tonkin says the last time there were Bison here were when Avatar Aang attended my mother's first wedding almost exactly forty one years ago!" Ursa said catching a bag as Huifan threw it off the back of Sam.
"And now there are THREE bison!" Ikki yelled referring to Pepper, Sam, and Oogi who had arrived a few days prior.
"And now there are three," Ursa said with a smile.
"Wait! So no airbender has come to the Fire Nation Royal Palace in 41 years?" Jinora asked, shocked.
"Nope. Well, none ever needed to come to the Palace to help with anything. Avatar Aang and Master Tenzin occasionally visited their favorite islands for vacation, but never once did they have to come to the Palace," Ursa answered.
"That's good. It means that your grandfather was doing well and from what I've heard, his rule was just," Jinkun commented.
"It was, and I am proud of him, but don't discredit my mom either. Even though grandfather officially abdicated in 167AG, Mother had been the de facto ruler since 150AG," Usa responded.
"Really? That is soooooo cool!" Jinora exclaimed.
"You know, your mother kiiiiiind of scared me for a long while, but the more I hear of her, the more I like her," Ikki confessed.
Ursa smiled. She initially found the child rather rude, and almost annoying on Ember Island, but her energy was growing on the princess slightly.
"Ikki! Don't tell people that! It's rude!" Jinora scolded.
"Speaking of mothers," Kang says pointing.
"Mom! Dad!" Xiaoyu flew off of Pepper and ran over to Lin and Tenzin as they strided over to the pair of bison and the group.
"You're safe!" Lin exclaimed, running towards Xiaoyu and scooping up Ikki and Jinora on her way.
"And you're dressed in Fire Nation clothes!" Huifan replied from atop Sam.
"The red suits you," Jiexue nodded, removing the reins from Sam's horns.
"It's safer that way," Lin replied, mussing Meelo's hair.
"Princess Ursa! So good to see you! Thank you for hosting our children Ember Island!" Tenzin said bowing to Ursa politely.
"The pleasure was all mine," Ursa said with a smirk, exchanging a deviously knowing glance with Huifan who helped her sneak into all of the formerly off-limits rooms with her metalbending so they could pry into their parents' past lives.
"What did you find?" Lin asked, not missing the shared glance between the two young women.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Aunt Lin!" Ursa lied while Huifan laughed.
"Don't worry, Lin. I'm sure all of your secrets are safe," a new voice said as Suyin appeared. "I had some Dai Li agents break in and extract anything on you or me that might be… incriminating, once I ascended the Earth Kingdom throne."
"Su, you're here! When did you arrive?" Lin asked, hugging her sister.
"This morning, but you and Baldy had already gone into town," Suyin replied, "So I have been meandering through the gardens waiting for someone interesting to come by when I felt two sky bison landing nearby."
"Have you seen my mother already? Is she busy?" Ursa asked eagerly.
"Unfortunately yes, my dear. She had a meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs right after formally receiving me. I swear the customs here can get really annoying!" Suyin said.
"Tell me about it!" Ursa groaned, rolling her eyes with a smile.
"You know what I do when I get annoyed with protocol?" Suyin asked, draping an arm over the crown Princess of the Fire Nation.
"What?" Ursa asked.
"Say, FUCK IT! And do my own thing! You should try it sometimes!" Suyin encouraged, beaming.
"Su! You're going to get us all banished for corrupting the princess!" Lin scolded.
"I'm not corrupting the princess. I am teaching my soon-to-be-niece how to live a little and have a some fun," Suyin replied slyly.
"Aunt Su! Since you're here, does this mean Wing and Wei are too?" Hungjian asked excitedly from atop Sam.
"Yes! I believe they're exploring the Palace," Suyin answered.
"They're going to get lost," Ursa mumbled knowingly with mild concern.
"Hopefully their seismic sense is good enough for them to find their way back to something familiar," Suyin responded.
"If it isn't, we always have Huifan's range. I bet she could map the capital, and find them quickly enough," Ursa said with a wink to her friend.
"Yes, but I'm sure Huifan won't always be available to help find every lost soul in that Palace. To prevent that from becoming necessary, Ursa, dear, would you mind giving your soon-to-be cousins a tour of your home so they don't all have to always travel en mass? " Suyin asked the princess. "In the meantime, I need to have a word with Lin and Tenzin."
"Yes, of course!" Ursa said with a nod. "But first we have to finish unpacking."
Just then a team of Imperial Guards arrived near the stables led by Genkei.
"Princess Ursa, welcome home. Your mother would like me to ask that you go enjoy your time with family. We will take care of the luggage and the bison," Genkei said with a bow.
Ursa glanced at Huifan and then to the others. "Alright. Thanks, Genkei." Ursa said bowing to the man before waving her friends to follow.
The Fourth Floor Bathroom
Deep in the heart of the residential quarter of the Fire Nation Palace, three metalbenders wrapped in red towels made their way through the halls, two of them dragging their reluctant older brother behind them.
"I heard there's a GIANT bathtub on the fourth floor!" Wing yelled as he and Wei dragged Huan up the stairs.
"Yeah with a hundred water spouts!"
"And rainbow water!"
"And fancy soaps!"
"I have no interest in rainbow water or fancy soaps. Why couldn't you just let me bathe in peace, in my assigned private quarters?" Huan groaned.
"Because! We're brothers! We couldn't let you waste a bath in such a kickass palace in a standard tub! Come on!" Wei said pulling harder. Huan rolled his eyes.
When they entered the bathroom they weren't alone. A man already sat at the far end of the tub up to his neck in bubbles with a butler bent down beside him holding a tray with tea.
"Oh, sorry. We'll come back later," Wei said turning away to leave the bathroom, blushing as the glimpse of the man's long black hair, pointed chin and striking Amber eyes remained in the font of his mind.
"Oh no, don't worry. Do join me, I wouldn't mind the company-" the man replied sipping his tea. "Are you guests of my mother?" he asked with a Fire Nation Accent that made Wei shiver.
"I'd answer, but we don't know your mother," Wing replied, yanking the red towel around his waist off with a flourish, stripping while Wei kept his back to the stranger to disrobe himself.
"We came with the Queen," Huan informed the stranger, unfazed by his presence.
"In that case, I should apprise you that my mother is the Fire Lord, and my father, your uncle," the man said. He transferred his alluring gaze to Wei who had turned to face him aghast, trying to find some sort of resemblance that would prove they could never be together. "Sorry to disappoint you, Wei is it?" Tetsuya asked with a smirk, his long black hair flowing around him in the water. Wei nearly choked.
"Oh? Did you have a crush on a cousin?" Wing asked jokingly punching his twin brother in the arm.
"I did not!" Wei replied shrilly, defensive in his tone.
Huan rolled his eyes.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of Wei. We do not get to choose whom we love. If we did, my mother would have saved everyone a headache and stayed with Hisoki Ibonara... and I would not be here," the man said placing his empty teacup on the butler's tray to take to refill.
"Wait so... who are you? Our mother told us we had seven new cousins but couldn't remember their names," Wing asked curiously.
"I don't blame her," the beautiful man shrugged. "We're not very memorable, not yet at least. My name is Tetsuya. Tetsuya Lee." the man said draping his arms on the rim of the tub.
"Tetsuya," Wing tried rolling the name off of his tongue. "I like that! It's very dramatic!"
"And how do you know our names?" Wei asked suddenly, his emotions filled with suspicion. "Even our mother sometimes doesn't know our names."
"No, she knows them, she just can't keep them straight," Wing corrected his twin.
"I have had some birds watching you from afar for a while now. There are some subtle differences I knew to look out for. The first being your mirrored haircut, the second being your jewelry,"
"Little birds... like spies?" Wei asked.
"Precisely. I am a regional head of a division of my mother's Amber League. Have you heard of it?" Tetsuya asked.
Wing nodded with uncertainty. "It's like the Dai Li right?" Wing asked.
"Yes, only much more moral," Tetsuya replied with an air of contempt. "And far better dressed, I might add."
"You mean not dressed at all?" Wei asked with a wink at Tetsuya's bare body.
Tetsuya smiled. "You definitely have your maternal grandmother's humor."
"Yes!" Wei whispered pumping his arm in the air, proudly.
"Brother," another rather elegant man with waist-length, layered black hair cascading down his sculpted back said entering the bathroom and shrugging off a robe.
"Brother," Tetsuya said looking up at him.
Wing and Wei watched as the newcomer pulled the flame decoration out of the bun that contained half his hair and pulled the ribbon out of it letting the rest all fall in beautiful long black locks before he stepped into the large tub. When he finally turned and sat down, Wing and Wei gasped.
"You're identical twins too!" they exclaimed in unison at the sight of the two twin sons of the Fire Lord.
"We are!" the newcomer confirmed with the same sly grin.
"Yet what we share in physical likeness, we lack in the similarity of our personalities," Tetsuya informed Wing and Wei.
"Ahhh!"
"Cool!"
"Can you elaborate?" Huan asked, blank-faced.
"I inherited mother's brains. He inherited her strength," Tetsuya replied simply.
"Woah!" the twins gasped.
"And Azula's fourteen-year-old arrogance," Huan muttered.
"Pardon?" Tatsuya asked turning to the long-haired son of Suyin Beifong.
Huan shrugged and didn't respond.
"You're a quiet one, aren't you, Huan?" Tatsuya asked turning to the earthbender with the green bangs.
"What's there to say? You already know everything about us-" Huan shrugged dully.
"It is just casual conversation. Don't you want to get to know us?" Tatsuya asked feigning hurt.
"I was earth King for a week. Do you really think that in that time I wouldn't have placed a couple Dai Li agents under my command?" Huan asked blasé.
Tetsuya and Tatsuya were both smiling while Huan couldn't look more disinterested.
"You're a wise man, Huan," Tetsuya said raising his teacup.
Wing and Wei laughed. "Huan? Wise? All right, I guess we can give him that," Wing chuckled.
"But we're the cool ones!" Wei clarified.
"Yeah and the good-looking ones," Wing boasted.
"Of course you are," Tetsuya said raising a glass winking at Huan while the twins were distracted by their own raucous laughter. Huan showed no response.
The Guest Quarters
The chambers Lin and Tenzin were given were in the Royal Resident Quarter of the palace, close to where Izumi and her family were staying. There was a massive four poster bed in the center of the room on an elevated platform, a wardrobe in addition to an empty walk-in closet, a makeup table, desk, bookshelf filled with selected works from the Royal Library that some of Izumi's advisors thought Tenzin might enjoy, and a full bar and tea kettle and stove top as well as an assortment of only the finest teas the Fire nation had to offer.
"Leave it to Zumi to provide such classy accommodations," Suyin said, sitting on the crimson blankets that covered the bed.
"She is the Fire Lord," Lin reminded, Suyin changing out of the Fire Nation Red into some green Earth Kingdom robes while in the castle.
"Did she tell you?" Suyin asked.
"About her kiddos?" Lin said, changing into green robes.
"Yep. What do you think?"
"She's screwing herself over." Lin said, neatly folding her clothes and putting them away in the closet.
"How so?" Suyin asked, her eyes watching her sister with interest.
"By letting them find each other on their own."
"How would that screw her over?"
"Iroh knows the oldest three and Taemon he brought home, so the existence of the youngest three probably won't come as a surprise, but I have a feeling that Ursa won't be so accepting."
"And why is that?"
"Because she has known Saru all her life, and has never even known he had children."
"Well we've known our mother all our lives and didn't know she had Saru until less than a year ago," Suyin replied, laying down on the crimson clad bed. "This is no different."
"No different? Zumi wants to name Takeo the heir apparent!"
Suyin sat up quickly. "She did not mention that when she was telling me about her babies earlier."
"Well she told Tenzin and me after one of her henchmen confirmed that Ursa did not want to be the next Fire Lord."
"Well if Ursa doesn't want the crown then what's the problem?"
"The problem is that Ursa grew up thinking it was just her and Iroh. After Iroh went and joined an international army, Ursa believed she would have to become Fire Lord. Now suddenly her mom is remarrying and just happens to have another heir lined up already? Zumi's dishonesty could seriously damage the trust between them." Lin explained. "But I guess you wouldn't know much about honesty, would you, Su." Lin added quietly.
"Hey! You take that back!" Suyin yelled chucking a rock at Lin's head. Lin ducked and returned a metal strip yanking Suyin off the bed by the wrist.
"Make me!" Lin replied.
"What is going on?!" a new voice interrupted.
"KYA!"
Above the Dragon Ballroom
"And this is the Dragon Ballroom… It used to be where Sozin and later Azulon would showcase the heads of the dragons they slayed after returning from their various hunts. The remains of the dragons now reside in the Dragon Bone Catacombs underneath the city…" Ursa said pointing through an open archway in the hallway where they walked now to a cavernous ballroom below decorated with an abundance dragon designs crafted out of massive amounts of gold and rubies. There was a throne in every room as if the Fire Lord were expected to simply sit during any social function.
"Did you ever get lost in here as a child? Have you ever tried climbing one of those dragon-wrapped pillars? They look climb-able! Is your dragon allowed to come inside with you like a racoon-cat or a fire-ferret or a catfish? How many dragons are left in the world? When was the last 'event' that was held in this ballroom? Why are there SO MANY ballrooms? Why are there so many rooms? So many of the ones were just empty. What is the purpose of all the extravagance and excess…" Ikki rattled off breathlessly.
Huifan rolled her eyes and enjoyed the scenery of the ballroom. Not all of the rooms were empty, she thought. This one surely wasn't, Huifan thought as she spotted a trio of handsome Fire Nation men standing in the ballroom, looking up at the throne, talking about something.
"Princess Ursa, who are they?" Jinora asked pointing at the three down in the ballroom.
"The one furthest right is Kohaku. He is an intern for the secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs," Ursa answered as they walked. "I don't know the other two."
Huifan couldn't seem to take her eyes off the three men in the Dragon Ballroom. Two wore their hair long like Fire Nation royalty, but couldn't possibly be Fire Nation Royals. There were only three. Izumi, Iroh, and Ursa. Iroh already rebelled and chopped off his locks when he was eighteen and joined the United Forces. So who were these two.
"Fa-Ni! You coming?" Jiexue called from down the hall.
"You go on without me. I don't need the tour. I'll find my way back eventually with my feet," Huifan replied, waving them off.
"She'll be fine. We're safe here," Ursa said dismissively as she led the group down another hall.
Huifan turned back to the hall to find only two men remaining. The one who previously stood in the middle of the three was gone.
"I must say, the opulence is rather arresting," a smooth voice with an ambiguous Fire Nation accent said beside Huifan. She jumped to the side after realizing a man stood mere inches from her, leaning on the same railway, looking down at the same place. How long had he been there? How did her seismic sense not pick up his presence? Why didn't anybody else warn her some stranger was coming and… wait…
"Weren't you just down there?" Huifan asked the man, sliding away from him cautiously.
"Yes," he replied plainly, looking up now at the chandeliers.
"And how did you get up here so quickly? The nearest stairway to this level must have been at least eight minutes away walking," Huifan said, checking the layout of the palace with her feet.
"There aren't only firebenders living in this palace," the man replied with a smile.
"Are you an earthbender or something?" Huifan asked, checking the floors and walls for evidence of any disturbance.
"No," he said opening his hand to reveal a small red flame. "I wish I were, but alas, I have been cursed with such a common form of bending," he replied. "You know, firebenders are the most numerous type of benders alive today."
"Probably because they've killed off so many other types of benders," Huifan said suspiciously, trying to read the man's difficult heartbeat for some irregularity.
"In the past, yes, but times have changed," he replied.
"Who are you?" Huifan asked the man.
He finally turned to face her.
"My name is Lee. Taemon Lee," he said, bowing to her.
"You introduce yourself by your surname first as if you were a lord or someone of high standing." Huifan commented.
"Is that a crime?" Taemon asked.
"No, simply an observation."
"Yet you sound surprised."
"It's just that Lee is such a common name here in the Fire Nation." Huifan replied.
"Perhaps I am simply particularly proud of my branch of Lees. Perhaps my branch does indeed have standing? We are in a palace, are we not? Such a thing should not come as a shock to anybody."
"Forgive me, I didn't mean to offend," Huifan said with slight regret. Why did his gaze make her feel the need to look away?
"You cannot offend me." Taemon said proudly. "What do they call you, my lady? By the way you speak of people with high standing, I can tell you too are from a great family."
"Yeshe. Huifan Yeshe." she answered.
"You're a granddaughter of the last Avatar," Taemon said.
"How do you know?" Grandfather never used his surname, and my parents didn't publish our last name in the Republic City Newspaper after their wedding. Most of the world still thinks we're all Beifongs.
"My father told me," Taemon replied.
"Your father must be a very well-read man to have unearthed such a piece of information."
"He's a bit like yours in that sense, though I must say, much more- fun and free-spirited."
Huifan laughed. "Is he a monk or one of the Fire Sages?"
"Oma-Shu, no! He's a businessman, and a great one at that."
"Have I heard of him?"
"Most likely," Taemon answered with a slightly devious grin that made Huifan's heart flutter slightly.
"Are you flirting with me?" she asked, not liking the expression he gave her.
"Spirits no! Don't worry! Besides, it is forbidden for me to court any daughter of Beifong,"
"You know of my mother too?" Huifan asked.
"Who doesn't?" Taemon laughed. "You act as if you are still living in isolation on that grand estate in Republic City. Times are changing, Huifan. We don't have to hide what we know anymore."
"And what else do you know that you're not telling me?"
"That there are other ways of hiding in plain sight of your enemies," he said, looking directly into her emerald eyes.
"Are you an enemy?" Huifan asked warily.
He smiled. "Not slightly." he said. She felt his heart then. He was being genuine.
Just then they were joined by a messenger. "Master Taemon. Your mother has summoned you," Unako said to the man standing before Huifan.
"Just me?" Taemon asked.
"You and your siblings," Unako replied.
"May I bring my new acquaintance?" he asked nodding to Huifan.
"She did not specify if you were to come alone," the messenger replied.
"Very well. Let us go," the man said, offering his arm to Huifan. She hesitated for a brief instant before linking wrists with him.
Unako eyed the two nervously wondering why Taemon didn't protest to Izumi being referred to as his mother as he usually did rather staunchly. Must have something to do with the Earth Kingdom Lady. She is very beautiful. Thought the messenger as Taemon lead them to the chamber.
"How do you know where you're going?" Huifan asked curiously as they walked for a while through corridors Ursa hadn't yet shown her and her siblings. "The messenger didn't specify a meeting place to see your mother?"
"We have a arranged to always meet at the same default location. It makes life so much easier since not all of us have spent as much time in the Palace as some others," Taemon replied. Huifan found herself walking a little bit taller than before when beside him.
The Throne Room
"The Throne Room?" Huifan asked recognizing the massive doors that lead to the gallery before the throne room from the pictures in the history books.
"Yes," Taemon replied. The doors opened for the two of them. The hallway just inside was lined with Imperial Guardsmen, and then there was the smaller curtain with the Royal Family's flaming insignia embroidered in it hanging over the final entrance to the chamber.
Huifan gasped. The City Hall in Republic City had been big when she visited for her mother's retirement party, but this Throne room alone would have been able to engulf that building twice over with room to spare. The dragon-wrapped pillars were three times as large as those in the Dragon Ballroom. It was bright with an open skylight letting rays of sunshine in to reflect against the incredible amounts of gold on the pillars.
"Oh? What's this?" a man leaning against a column with his arms folded, one foot up, and a mane of long, loose yet tidy black hair flowing freely down his back and a single lock hanging in front of his face asked tauntingly with a rather alluring smirk.
"Has Taemon found himself a girlfriend?" the man whom Huifan saw in the Dragon Ballroom with the long, dark, loose ponytail asked standing next to the first. Huifan took a double take. Those two were twins! Both had identical faces, and an identical lock of hair falling down the middle of their faces.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Taemon replied defensively, quickly letting go of Huifan's hand. "She can't be. She's a Beifong!"
"Oh?" the twins glanced sideways at each other, both smiling.
"Technically you can still love her since you're not a blood Beifong," a man with slicked, long black hair secured in a low and tight ponytail at the base of his neck said standing without the support of a pillar reminded Taemon.
"Yeah, we don't get to choose who we love. It is just something that happens," a rather rougher, buffer looking man said looking directly at Huifan with a wink as though he knew something she didn't. Though he was well-dressed and well-groomed, Huifan could tell he had not been trained in high society etiquette as the others in the room.
"Oh Kuto, we don't need any more of your swamp philosophy," one of the twins groaned.
"No, Kuto has a point. We don't get to choose who we love," Taemon said turning to Huifan with a smile. She stepped away.
"Okay, look, I only just met this guy! We're not dating and certainly aren't anywhere near even wanting to love each other"
"I would believe you, but unfortunately for you, your heart tells the truth!" the gruff and buff man said throwing his arm over Huifan's shoulder as if he were already on familiar terms with her and had been for years. She tensed under him and then shoved him off of her and into the ground with a heavy thud kicking up a cloud of dust.
"You're an earthbender?" Huifan asked looking at the man on the ground. How else could he feel their heartbeats? And how could he read Taemon's. Taemon's was so… tricky… as if it were trained against truth-seers.
"Yep!" the man said finding his feet rather clumsily again.
"So does anyone know why Mother summoned us today?" the man with the long free hair asked leaning on his pillar.
"Does anyone ever know why Mother summons us any day as of late?" the oldest of them all asked standing solo with his long hair secured in a high pony tail that resembled the paintings and portraits of young Fire Lord Zuko.
"Where is she anyways?"
"Right here, forgive the delay. Minister for Foreign Affairs never does stop talking. I swear if we don't get him replaced by the end of the year, I am going to melt his mouth shut!" a familiar voice said entering the room.
Huifan turned and saw the Fire Lord entering brusquely with Masaru walking to her left, and the man Ursa identified as Genkei walking to her right with at least a dozen guards following them. "Aunt Zumi?" Huifan asked blinking her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"Huifan! I didn't expect to see you here. I see you've met the boys," Izumi said with a nervous smile as she joined them with Masaru.
"Uncle Saru?" Huifan asked blinking a couple of times again.
"Was Kuto being rude at all?" Izumi asked frowning at the earthbender who now stood but was still busy brushing himself off.
"He-"
"Or was it Taemon?" Izumi asked reading the looks on both of their faces, and seeing only the same childish innocence that always existed on Rikuto's face.
"No, neither were particularly rude, why do you ask?" Huifan asked.
"Well, Taemon does have a tendency to get himself into trouble. He and Tetsuya. You would not believe how often dear Sasuke has had to bail them out of rather… sticky situations, if I might say," Izumi said laughing lightly, motioning to the man leaning on the column with long flowing hair when she said Tetsuya and the standalone man with tight low ponytail hair when she said Sasuke.
Huifan looked at both. Wait… the messenger said to Taemon his mother summoned him… And Tetsuya and the man with the ponytail asked about where their mother was and Izumi entered saying 'right here' and...
"Sasuke Lee," the man with the slicked back hair and low ponytail said with deep bow. "I am a lawyer based out of the village of Shu Jing. I've also a firm in Fire Fountain City, Omashu, Ba Sing Se, and Zaofu."
"Lee? Wait! You're all Lees?" Huifan asked. And then Taemon said they had a default meeting location…
"Well, I was adopted, which is why they say it wouldn't be morally disgusting for me to fuck- I mean love you," Taemon said with a casual wave of his hand.
Izumi punched Taemon in the stomach as she walked forward past him to Huifan as if to make sure she wouldn't flee. "Yes, they are all Lees-"
"Uncle Saru- Aunt Zumi- They're yours?" Huifan asked stepping away from them warily avoiding Izumi's touch as if she were a physical flame. Because not all of them have spent as much time in the Palace as some others...
"Yes, Huifan, they are ours, but before you say another word, let me explain, and thank you and your family for everything," Masaru said stepping towards Huifan since she wouldn't let Izumi come nearer.
"Wait, thank us for what? Why?" Huifan asked stepping back with her hands up, mortified, seeing not family but strangers standing before her, strangers that only knew her name… and were coming closer.
"You've given us courage to go public with our relationship, to get married, and legitimize our children. You've inspired us to come out of the shadows. Because you and your siblings have assimilated so well to the world, blending in seamlessly with the masses, and acting with humility and grace, we thought our children may be able to do the same and join you in the light of each day..." Izumi answered for Masaru.
"You- you lied to us!" Huifan said stepping away from Izumi. "You lied to the world!- For decades!"
"Huifan, like your mother, we had our reasons for keeping our children a secret from everybody," Izumi said .
"Do Iroh and Ursa know?" Huifan demanded.
"Huifan-"
"DO THEY KNOW?!" Huifan repeated.
"Iroh does know of some of them. Ursa doesn't." Izumi said in defeat.
Huifan thought for a split second before turning on her heel and heading for the door of the throne room. Izumi clenched her fists, changing strategy instantly.
"Huifan Yeshe, where do you think you're going?" Izumi yelled at Lin's metalbending daughter in a condescending tone.
"To tell MY friend, YOUR daughter, what YOU should have told her a LONG time ago!" Huifan replied throwing open the curtains.
"BAR THE DOORS!" Izumi barked. There was a heavy slam and the doors to the antechamber shut.
Huifan turned on the Fire Lord. "Let me pass!" she demanded.
"Huifan, you must understand what we did we had to do for numerous reasons beyond your comprehension. Those aside, you have no right to interfere with the relative stability within my family-"
"Your family? Since you're marrying my BLOOD uncle, your family is mine so I have every right to interfere!" Huifan argued.
"Why are you so angry? Your own father didn't tell Jinora and her siblings about YOU!" Izumi argued.
"To protect Pema and secure the future of the Air Nation! Who were you protecting by withholding this information?" Huifan demanded.
"Ursa and the Fire Nation!" Izumi replied.
"And how was that supposed to protect either? What was your plan then? To let Ursa read about this little 'development' in the morning paper the day after your wedding? She's waited long enough Aunt Izumi! She deserves to hear the full story from family not from some random journalist who found a leak!" Huifan said turning to the door.
"And you still don't know the full story so don't you even think about taking one more step, young lady!" Izumi said.
"Oh and what are you going to do to stop me, My Lord? Burn me? Banish me? You need my mother and father as allies, if your precious Fire Nation is ever going to survive!" Huifan replied bowing to Izumi. She swung her leg backwards kicking right through the massive throne room doors and left the room fuming using earthbending to increase the speed at which she got away.
"Kuto, use your seismic sense. Find Ursa, we must intercept Huifan and stop her," Izumi ordered.
"Yes Ma'am!" Rikuto replied obediently kicking up a pillar so he could use all four limbs to map the palace.
"Uh… Mother, what about the rest of us?" Takeo asked.
"Yeah, were you going to talk to us about something?" Sasuke inquired.
"Succession, but unfortunately that conversation will have to wait," Izumi replied.
"FOUND THEM!" Rikuto yelled.
"Excuse us," Izumi said breaking off into a run, nudging Rikuto's arm to join her.
Some Hall in the Palace
"Huifan's angry," Jinkun said suddenly as he and his siblings followed the Princess, Ursa down another expansive hall.
"How do you know?" Ursa asked halting her pace, turning to face the earthbending artist son of Lin and Tenzin..
"She makes these tremors when she walks when she's angry," Ikki explained. Just then, the ground really began to shake.
"Huifan is REALLY angry!" Meelo announced, frightened.
"We should probably run and hide," Kang suggested.
"No, I need to know what happened in my palace. Why would my friend be so angry?" Ursa said firmly walking towards the source of the quakes. "Are you alright?"
"You know those three guys we saw in the Dragon Ballroom?" Huifan asked breathlessly.
"Yeah?" Ursa said with her brows knitted with worry
"You said one was a guy called Kohaku,"
"Yeah?"
"Well the other two are your brothers," Huifan said seething with rage. "They're half-brothers but still brothers."
Ursa shook her head. "That is impossible. I only have one brother. Iroh… Mother would never-"
"I was just in the throne room. Both YOUR mother and MY uncle Saru confirmed it-"
"Uncle Saru? No!" Ursa yelled. "He wouldn't! Mother said he refused to touch her when they were teenagers because he cared too much for her reputation! She was married to my father for fifteen years before he was murdered in cold blood by assassins. Uncle Saru WOULDN'T engage in adultery! He knows it would ruin us! He- he's good! He has always been!" Ursa cried incredulously.
"I thought so too, Ursa," Huifan said hugging the princess.
When Ursa lifted her head from Huifan's shoulder, she saw her mother standing behind the earthbender, accompanied by a dozen members of the imperial guard, Genkei, and a man Ursa had never seen before. He wore Fire Nation clothes but no shoes like an earthbender.
"Sorry it took so long to locate them, Mother. My seismic sense is not as strong as the Beifong Girl. Grandma Toph says its because I'm a boy and boys are weak and-" the man rambled on.
"That will be all, Rikuto, you are dismissed now," Izumi said sternly, looking at Ursa in Huifan's arms.
"He called you Mother?" Ursa noted out loud, tears stinging her eyes. Huifan let go and turned to face the Fire Lord.
"Should I stay?" the man, Rikuto said.
"I said you were dismissed. Were you not listening?" Izumi asked dangerously.
"Forgive me mother," the earthbender said bowing before running off in the opposite direction.
"And his grandmother is Toph?" Ursa asked holding back sobs.
"Ursa, I can explain," Izumi said stepping towards her.
Ursa slid back. "It is a little late for that now, Mother," Ursa replied shaking her head before breaking off into a run.
"Thanks a lot, Huifan," Izumi said to the metalbender.
Huifan shook her head. "You brought this on yourself, Aunt Zumi," Huifan replied taking off in the same direction as Ursa.
Seconds later, Suyin, Kya and Lin arrived.
"What did you do?" Lin demanded of the Fire Lord Izumi.
"Why are you assuming this is my doing?" Izumi asked.
"I could feel my child quaking from six miles away, and last time I checked, my daughter was on good terms with all of her friends and siblings, which left only you to fall out her good graces."
Izumi sighed.
"And then as I got closer, I could feel your daughter's heart breaking," Lin added.
Izumi closed her eyes, and tried to hold back her emotions. A Fire Lord wasn't allowed to cry in front of so many people, ESPECIALLY her own family.
"Let's get you guys tucked into rooms," Suyin said rounding up all of Lin's children with Kya's help ushering them away to let the two old friends to calm down.