Chapter 37 – The Lives of a Lin and a Princess

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar – The Last Airbender

—Flashback—

"Dumb-dumb", she clenched her jaws, her facial expression didn't change a bit although her smirk did disappear. She let go of Zuko and started to walk out of the main hall without so much as turning backward to her brother who was grunting and clutching his sore shoulder.

No matter how we look at it, Azula was the winner; it was Zuko who sprang the trap she lay for him, it was Zuko whose temper exploded like a volcano while she smirked and toyed with him, it was Zuko who was arm-locked and it was clearly Azula who arm-locked him, almost dislocated his joint in the process. So, why… why was she the one who cried? She ran, yes, ran, across the cold windy lawn; she didn't use the warmer route through the corridors, too many people to run into: the maids and servants, the guards, the guests, her parents, too many people she didn't want to show her tears to.

"Stupid… Zuzu…" she muttered, cursed in her mind for her own weakness. "Stupid…"

"Stupid… …stupid… Mom!" she felt her face scrunched up, the sensation made her eyes even more teary as she ducked into a nearby bush, the one located near the training hall, the one in which a certain cousin used to dragged her into as he imparted his secret methods of pulling pranks and practical jokes. Inside the bush, shielded from the eyes of the unwanted 'stupid' people, she cried silently.

She was perfect, wasn't she: a top scorer in her class, honor student, the best firebender ever walked into the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, as Instructor Huo put it, smart, witty, polite and graceful if needed, clever and prodigious at all time. Azula, in all sense, was perfect; a princess worthy of her people and loyal subjects, worthy of the Fire Nation. So, why? Why was she crying when she was clearly a winner, a victor, when she claimed a victory over her own brother, older and more experienced than her? Why? WHY!!

She wiped her eyes, her face tensed up into a fierce scowl. When did it all begin to change? Hadn't it been her who spent more time with her mother and her turtle-duck feeding or embroidery crafting? Zuko had been the one tortured, no, no, not tortured, trained, by her father, right? When did they switch place, honestly? Azula couldn't remember… or didn't want to remember. But, why? What! What was it that she wanted? What was it that she truly wanted? Her mother's love? Or, for things to go back the way it had been? Or to defeat Zuko, to outdo him in firebending, in anything?!

To please her father…?

Ursa thought Azula was different now, that she was no longer the girl she was. Ozai thought she was perfect. Zuko had always believed that Azula was an annoying little sister, a smug princess who needed to learn the lesson of defeat and humiliation. Ozai said she was perfect. Her uncle, yes, she could still remember clearly, would sometimes played with her, defended her from the repercussion of her misdeeds, usually from Zuko; but there was something she couldn't understand: the reason why Uncle Iroh had chosen to go practicing firebending with Zuko and Lu Ten rather than helping her with her calligraphy lessons when her parents were too occupied to help her, the reason why for her birthday this year had sent, from the warfront, a golden locket with the shape of the Earth Kingdom insignia he procured from nearby jewelry shop that she would never wear while Zuko had got a broadsword he claimed from a fallen enemy general, the reason why her uncle loved Zuko more than he loved her…

"Stupid… Uncle…" although her tears fell down again, she didn't cry. And she went on with her list: Uncle missed her birthday few years ago and apologized by presenting her another useless trinket which she had received with grace befitting a 'perfect' princess like her, Zuzu was praised by Mom for trying and failing in performing a rather advanced set of firebending kata while Azula had received not even an appreciative look from her mother even though she performed the kata 'perfectly', her writing down a phrase of poem neatly and 'perfectly' had been ignored by her mother and Zuzu was rewarded by a special trip to Shu Jing for completing his calligraphy essay with his trademark chicken scratch and nearly failing the minimum requirement to advance to the level where Azula was, a trip that Azula couldn't participate in because she had to attend the academy while Zuko was excused exclusively from his study with the Royal Tutor for this trip.

"Stupid… Mom…"

"Azula."

The cold voice sent a shiver down her spine, tensed all her muscle up. Ozai's presence had that effect of the girl.

"What are you doing in there?"

Azula slowly got up, getting herself out from her fortress. Messy, tiny leaves sticking out from her 'perfectly' mended top-knot, she wiped her eyes, cursing herself for not doing it earlier inside the bush. There was a list of people she didn't want to see her crying; Ozai was at the top of that list. And, that was why she was extremely afraid when she felt her father warm hand wiping her tears of her cheek. She remembered the last time her father showed similar gesture; on the first day of her firebending training. And that was also why she was extremely surprised when the warmth of her father's embrace banished the cold of the winter as Fire Prince Ozai knelt down and pulled his daughter into a warm fatherly embrace. That was also why she was confused as why she hugged her father back, sobbing uncontrollably into his chest. She had never done this before… or had she? She couldn't remember.

They stayed that way for a few minutes; a father providing warm shoulder to cry on for his daughter, a daughter realized that even though the whole world seemed to go against her, to abandon her, she would always have her father. And Ozai, the father; what was he thinking? He was thinking that such act was necessary. It was necessary for his daughter to love him, to crave for his attention, his love. To need him…

"Are you alright now?" even Ozai was surprised of how loving, how weak, his voice was.

"Mmm-hmm", Azula nodded, wiping dry the remainder of her tears.

"Are you sure?" oh, please say 'yes', just say 'yes', Ozai begged in his mind.

"Yes, Dad."

She said 'yes'!!! Ozai exclaimed in his mind, unable to hide his triumphant smirk which Azula innocently interpreted as a loving smile of an understanding father her father had always been but she had never noticed until recently.

"Alright, then", Ozai got up, still smirking. "Get ready for training."

"Yes, Dad", Azula replied, smiling back. She then ran toward her room, to get change into her training garb.

"Who needs, Zuzu? Who needs Uncle?" she smiled smugly as her tiny feet carried her across the corridor. And she added bitterly when Ursa came up: "Who needs Mom? I have Dad."

—Present day—

How long had it been? A year? A year and few months. Yes, a year and few months since Iroh lay siege on the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se. And the Dragon of the West was still, to use Jiang's favorite term, pounding the wall of Ba Sing Se; the city had remained unconquerable until now. And now was mid-winter, too. The morale and fighting power of General Iroh's force was undoubtedly insufficient for staging a significant assault on the wall; according to the report that Jiang received, and conveyed to Lin, the most Iroh could do was sending several shots of catapults everyday at the wall. The damage, much to Iroh's bulging vein's chagrin, was repaired easily by the Ba Sing Se's soldiers' earthbending.

Lin sighed at the depressing thought. He still hadn't forgotten about the rumor of the 212th Battalion about to be sent as a part of the relief force next summer. Though it was still rumor, Lin wouldn't be surprised if the 212th Battalion would really be sent to aid General Iroh. With Ba Sing Se under siege and the Water Tribe remained stagnant, the enemies were forced to assume a defensive position and the Fire Nation wouldn't have to worry about a direct assault from any of the two remaining nations. Not that Fire Nation had ever suffered any direct assaults; the Water Tribe's manpower was too little to stage any assaults and the Earth Kingdom was known to be the master of defensive warfare. Fire Nation had never been attacked before. And thus, sending the 212th Battalion, one of the top battalions in the military, to a warfront as important and dangerous as the Siege of Ba Sing Se was pretty reasonable. No point of keeping a tiger in your front lawn when you need only to defend yourself against rats, right?

As for Lin, he was still formally the Battalion Strategist of the 212th Battalion. He would need to worry about the battle plan although he would be subjugated under Iroh as the supreme commander of the force, of course. Unless Iroh acknowledged and granted him a position in his own Council of Strategists, Lin wouldn't have any right to contribute his thoughts and ideas. So, now, Lin needed to concentrate on more pressing matter: Zuko and Azula's firebending training and his own assassin training.

Zuko and Azula… some say siblings were often like fire and water, summer and winter; complete opposites of each other. It was true in Zuko and Azula's case. Not only they had different gender, which Lin suspected had a major contribution to their constant rivalry, their abilities and personalities were like yin and yang. Zuko was hotheaded, temperamental, easy to anger, impatient. Azula? Cool, calm, collected; she did have temper but she had always managed to keep it in check.

In firebending, in the first training session, Lin had them demonstrating the level of their prowess. The result: Zuko was relying too much on his muscle; something that made Lin grateful that his grandfather wasn't the one who tutored the young prince, Jeong Jeong would spent every second of the day to correct such fatal mistake had he been the one who instruct Zuko. And Azula? Only one word in any known human vocabulary could describe her performance: perfect! Zuko could produce fire skillfully, more skillfully that kids his age, sure. But, Azula, she could do more than that. Performing kata for Zuko was like a sport. Azula managed to turn it into an art; the way she danced with fire around her, the way the flame looked so alive but, at the same time, intimidating and dangerous as she subjugated them to her will, it was perfect! Nothing sort of perfection. Compared to her, it was suitable, although cruel, to say that Zuko was worthless, although it goes without saying that Lin would never used that sort of language to describe him.

Lin, as an instructor, found it hard to tutored both royal siblings at the same time; teaching basic moves, Azula had mastered them already; teaching more advanced moves, Zuko had difficulties keeping up. Lin was half tempted to give Zuko an after lesson extra training but he was afraid that he would offend the prince's ego by suggesting such thing. Letting things the way they were; at least one of them would suffer the consequences in the long run. And besides, Lin's daily schedule was already full the way it was: morning to late-morning, training with Kaji; late-morning to afternoon, instructing Zuko and Azula; afternoon to evening, training the Celestial Dragon style in his own room (so that nobody could see the secret style in action) or meditating in his room; evening to midnight, training with the trio assassins in the secret training hall; midnight to morning, sleep.

The first few days were hell, even for Lin. He hated the assassin training. Apparently, the training regiment for Byakko was the toughest one since Byakko were spies and spies needed to be fully prepared to counter any situations, any situation imaginable. In a way, Byakko must possess at least the rudimentary skill of the other divisions. Lin was tutored in the basic hand-to-hand combat, a form of martial art called 'the Death's Touch', methods of using various assortments of weapons; throwing knives (a must for every assassins), daggers and short concealable blades (also a must), archery (just in case if he needed to take out a target from a safe distance), explosives (again, just in case…), and also the basic knowledge of poison making, exclusively to the ones that used common and easily available ingredients.

And, exclusive to Byakko, Lin was also required to learn the culture and customs of the Earth kingdom and the Water Tribe, to aid him if he was required to infiltrate the enemies' territories. It was via books, of course, provided by the Fire Lord's personal collections since books and documents containing the aesthetic values of the nations that weren't the Fire Nation had been purged from the society by Fire Lord Sozin. The Imperial Place had secretly kept some of them safe for future use. Reading wouldn't be too hard for Lin if Bara hadn't proposed that, in order to increase the efficiency of Lin's training, she and the other two would sneak-attack Lin during his study. It was hard concentrating on the pages while having to watch over your shoulder constantly and jumping from any suspicious sound. The trio attacking Lin with REAL weapons didn't help, either…

But, Lin admitted, he did feel the result of the training. He didn't like it, though. He hated the training altogether; it always left him too exhausted to do anything fun in the morning. He had even stopped fooling around during his training with Kaji, much to Kaji's delight. And it had been more than a month since he started his assassin training. He had almost finished his firebending training with Kaji, which meant, he would soon have more time to rest in the morning. A good thing… Until…

"Where's Azula going?" he asked Zuko when both boys spotted the princess, biting a piece of bread in her mouth while carrying a mountain of book, walking down a corridor, still wearing her training garb despite their daily firebending training had just ended and hour ago.

"Dunno", Zuko replied; rather bitterly, Lin noticed. Zuko had changed into his normal clothes.

"Why are you sulking, then?" Lin hit the spot unmercifully. Sometimes, he had to be very direct when talking to Zuko; the prince needed to learn a lesson of humility and since Iroh wasn't there to give it and Ursa was too kindhearted to give it, Lin decided that he would take the responsibility, at least, until Iroh returned. After staring sharply at Lin, who remained immoveable, Zuko sighed submissively.

"Probably having an extra lesson with my dad", Zuko sulked.

"Oh, I see…" Lin drawled, suddenly realizing where Azula's prowess came from. He thought that Ozai had stopped training Azula since Lin became an Imperial Firebending Instructor but, apparently, Lin was mistaken. Somehow, Lin felt uneasy about it. "Oh well, see you at dinner."

"Where're you going?" Zuko asked.

"I dunno", Lin shrugged. He, of course, couldn't tell Zuko that he was going to practiced his own firebending in secret; Zuko might want to have a look and it would be difficult to shake him off. "Sleep, maybe?"

Nope, Lin wasn't lying, not entirely. He did plan to have a little nap after he finished with his training.

"Sleep?" Zuko arched a brow but then, his face lit up as he came across an idea. "Hey, why don't you give me an extra training?"

"Huh?" Lin gawked, feeling an iron slap of irony on his face. He had been trying to find a way to propose this idea to Zuko but was unsuccessful. And now, it was Zuko who came up with the idea. But, the problem is, Lin could really use some extra sleep.

"Alright", he sighed, somehow finding himself cursing his own unselfishness. "With one condition: you will listen to everything I say. You will not disobey me, you will not complain. Understood?"

"Yes, sir", Zuko grinned. And with that, he dragged the Imperial Instructor to an unoccupied training hall. Well, if the yet another mysterious 'vision' Lin had seen in Zuko's future, the one with a scarred teenager, who freakishly resembled Zuko, being encircled by two dragons with one feeble bald kid at his side, Zuko did need some extra training.

Weekends… one of the things we take for granted sometimes. For Lin, weekends were gifts from heaven; no firebending training with Kaji, no training Zuko and Azula and had to deal with their constant bickering, and, more importantly, no assassin training. No assassin training equals no three well-trained killers trying to slit his throat while he was reading a book about the Moon Festival of the Water Tribe or having to dodge arrows while punching a training post or having to sneak pass a room guarded by the trio who could, Lin could have sworn, hear the footsteps of the spirits themselves.

Lin would still be training with his father and uncles in the Estate but he didn't mind this. At least, they were not snappish and grumpy like Kaji or trying to kill him like the trio (even though Bara had convinced him that he would be perfectly safe; wounded, maybe, but wouldn't be killed). And furthermore, weekends were the times when Lin could really relax, truly relax. In the palace, there was practically no one he could be comfortable with. Ursa and Zuko, maybe, but they were still royalties and when addressing royalties, proper decorum must be maintained to a certain level. In the Estate, he was the 'prince'; the twenty sixth Lin and the heir of the family; the other family members, even though he didn't mind it if they didn't, had to maintain proper decorum when talking to him, with exception for those who were the closest to him, maybe. After spending some time living with the Royal Family, Lin had come to realize how blessed he was being born in his family. He had always thought that his family was strict at maintaining proper and polite etiquette of addressing each other because they were nobles; the Royal Family had proven him wrong. Zuko and Azula were not even allowed to address Azulon as 'grandfather' for spirit's sake!

"Got anything?" Jiang asked.

"Nope", Lin replied.

They were fishing. Father and son were sitting at the edge of a pier located in an empty lake. Jiang and Lin were enjoying a peaceful evening fishing and enjoying the scenery; a lake, empty and calm it was almost mystical, the water so clean and unpolluted you could actually see the fish swimming around, trees, green and lush, surrounding the lake from all sides. It was actually the same forest where Jiang and Lin had confronted and killed the spy the Royal Family sent on them, Jiang was the one who did the killing, of course. The 'incident' didn't make Jiang feel any better at all; it had pretty much the opposite effect, in fact. Even though it was two on one and the spy was wounded on the leg, it took Jiang and Lin a lot of effort to take him down. If just one spy was that much of problem for a master like Jiang, he couldn't even imagine how much damage an army of them could cause. And Jiang was extremely relieved that he hadn't done anything drastic like staging a coup or running off with Lin. Though he hated to admit it, he knew that the Lin Family would be decimated in matter of seconds if an army of that kind of spy attacked them.

"How's life at the palace?" Jiang absentmindedly asked for the umpteenth times.

"Good", Lin replied casually.

It was a perfect evening for both of them, really. Well, almost… beautiful scenery, nice weather, slow and refreshing breeze with warm sunlight. Had it not been for the spy who were watching them from somewhere in the forest, it'd be perfect.

"Oh!" Lin exclaimed, pulling his fishing pole. "I got one!"

"Whoa!" Jiang abandoned his own pole to help his son with his. "Careful now."

Laughing and pretending that they were alone in the lake, both father and son worked eagerly to haul their catch, a rather large fish that would definitely end up as dinner at Kang's hand. Oh yes, Jiang and Lin were having a camping trip in the woods with Jiang's brothers and their children. Some of their children, anyway. Camping in the middle of winter wasn't exactly fun. Furthermore, Biao had decided to not participate because she needed to take care of her sick mother. Lin was about to stay too but Aunt Bing had managed to persuade him to go, saying that Lin deserved some moments of peace and fun.

"That should be enough", Jiang said, putting the fish into a basket in which some other fish they had caught earlier were flipping desperately every now and then. "Let's go back to the camp."

And so, carrying the basket, while Lin carried the fishing poles, Jiang led his son back to the camp, both were talking about superficial things on the way; firebending, 212th Battalion's activities during the winter, some hassles Jiang had to put up with in the military council, Lin's assessment on Zuko and Azula's prowess, etc. Nothing major; nothing that would incite an attack from the assassin, that is.

"How many?" Kang asked, sitting around a campfire, stirring a pot filled with soup. All around the camp, the other family members were setting up the tents.

"Ten", Jiang put the basket near Kang. "Quite a lot of fish this winter. Don't you think so, Masa?"

"Yeah", Masa retorted, casting a meaningful look at Jiang. Apparently, he also realized that they were being watched.

"I see you've got a big one", Kang added, shaking the basket and observed the content. "Quite… a big one."

So, Kang notice it too…

"Should we fry it?" Masa asked.

"No", Jiang sat down, yawning. "There's no need for such troublesome method. Grilling should be enough."

"Are you sure?" Masa sounded colder than usual.

"Yes", Jiang smiled although there was a subtle commanding tone in his voice.

"If you say so", Masa sighed. He then turned to the rest of the family member and shouted. "No fried fish tonight, guys!"

They grumbled they response, some of Lin's cousins complained. They looked as if they were really talking about fish. In fact, all of them were aware that they were being watched by someone. Were they to take an action against the stalker, they would have law on their side: the land they were camping in belonged to the Lin Family. The stalker, whoever he was, (nobody but Jiang and Lin knew the truth) was trespassing and therefore, the Lin Family members at the camp were justified to arrest him. But, they couldn't do anything without Jiang's permission and Jiang had clearly said no. So, they had no choice but to trust him.

"Be careful, though", Jiang added. "The fish could be troublesome. It is a big one, after all."

"So, how was your weekend?" Zuko casually asked.

"Well, nothing out of ordinary", Lin shrugged, munching his meal. "It was quite peaceful."

"Are we gonna learn something new today?" Azula dropped in the conversation, casting a hopeful look at Lin from across the dining table.

"No", Lin smirked, sipping his soup slowly. "Not until both of you—"

"But, we wanna learn something new", it was Zuko who pleaded.

"Was this conversation rehearsed?" Lin asked, suspecting a conspiracy.

"Yeah", Azula replied, surprisingly honest. Shouldn't conspiracy stay secret? But, then again, the fact that both siblings set aside their differences and worked together to gain something both of them wanted, it was a good thing, wasn't it? Teamwork?

"Give me a reason why I should teach you something new", Lin decided to set up a little negotiation.

"Cause I have mastered the one you taught us last week", Azula answered smoothly, then she added. "And Zuzu had almost got it."

"Yeah, just a little more", Zuko supported Azula's reasoning, ignoring the 'Zuzu' part. Hmm, Lin stroked his invisible beard. Azula said something nice about Zuko and Zuko displayed magnanimousness befitting those of a prince; surely they deserved a reward. Yes, and besides…

"Alright, then", Lin nodded, causing both royalties to grin widely. "Eat up! You're gonna go through hell today."

… it's time they learn something.

Author's note:

Alright… first of all, I won't be able to update for the next two or three weeks. I have to concentrate on my assignments. Three written assignments due on the same week, I am so dead. Sorry…

But, as soon as the #$% annoying little !%^% are out of the way, I'll update like usual again.

The flashback contains a little part from 'Chapter 34 – Three Proposals'.

To hpswst101, thanks for the name suggestion again, by the way. I'm glad you like the coded letter. It took me quite a while to work on just the letter. :)

Enjoy the chapter!