The dragon pit was one of Azula's favorite places to be. Even now that there were only Kyin and Ruk left, and they were already very old and not as powerful as they once were, it still felt magical - it was the home of two divine creatures, after all. Neither of the two flew as much, but when they did, or so much as spread their wings, it was truly a sight to behold. Their teeth, claws and even their size could intimidate anyone just as much as their flames. However, the heat they radiated was oddly welcoming, and their beauty was alluring. Ruk's white, almost silver scales would still glow when he was in the light, just like his golden eyes, and Kyin's black scales and eerie blue irises gave her a strange, yet magnificent look that was rare even among dragons. The princess and her brother could stay there, looking at them for hours.

But at the moment, the most important thing in the world to them were their own dragons - or rather, the dragons they would have. They would be even greater than all of their family, just like Azula herself and her twin. But for now, their future companions were still hidden inside the eggs, that the princess could swear were getting warmer each day, even if just a little bit.

"Have you figured out what you want to name yours yet?"

"Kind of. I'm not quite sure it's a good idea"

"Tell me!" she asked, grabbing his arm and tugging on his sleeve.

"No" he replied with a smile that he had to know would annoy her.

"Why not?" she was genuinely outraged.

"Because getting on your nerves is fun" he answered in the tone he always used to impersonate her. He laughed in her face as she punched in the arm, which only served to anger her more, but she calmed down despite herself when he pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. Zuzu was incredibly lucky that he knew how to make her more mellow, otherwise Azula would have made sure that being her sibling would be a nightmare for him.

"But seriously, tell me"

"No"

Before she could argue, they heard a guard coming in, saying their father wanted to talk to Zuko... in the Agni Kai room. Azula instantly became excited, guessing that Ozai would want to her brother to demonstrate his firebending abilities. Her twin guessed the same, and was far, far less excited about it. The poor thing looked absolutely terrified.

"Everything will be okay, dum-dum. You're doing much better, and you have a lot of potential" she gave him a quick little kiss "Now go. Dad doesn't like to wait"

As she watched him leave, Azula had to control the urge to go follow him and asking their father to let her be in the room, so Zuko would know there was at least one person who was sure he was more than capable of being on her level. But she knew Ozai would not like that, and that it would just put him in a bad mood and make things more difficult for her brother. She hoped that he'd be able to create his own blue flames soon; it would make things go back to normal.

But the princess was also well aware that a small part of her was enjoying this situation and would continue to enjoy it for as long as it went on, as she had done every time she picked up on something faster than he did. Azula truly felt it was only fair that, for the time being, she was the who didn't have to prove herself. Despite them being twins, a soul that had been split in two bodies, but that was still one in the eyes of all the gods, Zuko had been born first and was technically older in the eyes of men. If anything were to happen to Lu Ten and Zuko married someone else, she'd lose the throne, all because of the few instants the two of them were separated - and not even completely separated. She had been the one following him at the very beginning of their lives, coming into the world holding his foot; he would be the one having to catch up with her now.

And she knew he would. After all, her brother could be a slow-learner sometimes, but he still learned. Zuko could be a dum-dum, but he was a talented, dedicated dum-dum. He was fierce, strong, smart, hard-working and stubborn. He was born a fighter.

And he'd have the best teacher he could possibly want.

If it had happened a few weeks before, Zuko would have been happy to have his father watch him - solely him - practice his firebending. But right now, having seen what Azula could see and being well aware that Ozai would be expecting him to do the same, or at the very least come close enough to it that his father thought there'd still be hope for it, the prince was unbelievably nervous. He couldn't let his father down. But he would not be as good as his sister, nor would he have her support.

Ignore your worries for now. You always do worst when you're panicking, he could almost hear his sister saying. But as usual, he couldn't bring himself to actually calm down, especially not without Azula by his side, and definitively not with his dad staring at him as if waiting to be let down and have an excuse to be mad. Ozai scared him much more when he was silent.

Eventually however, he spoke up, telling him what moves he should perform. The prince had never felt clumsier in his life - it was as if his body did not no longer obeyed him, and was actively fighting against his commands. When fixed his posture, his movement slowed down. When he tried going faster, his flames weren't as strong. When he tried concentrating to make them bigger and more powerful, he'd quickly find himself in the wrong stance. Pathetic and embarrassing didn't begin to describe his predicament, and he saw nothing but disdain in Ozai's eyes.

Suddenly, his father got up and grabbed his arm, twisting it, but not doing anything else. It hurt, but it'd likely not even leave a mark. Zuko understood his father wanted him to try and break his grasp - he had seen many soldiers and generals doing that during training, and Azula had told him their dad had put her through this same test. He tried remembering what he saw and what he heard, but his mind went completely blank and instead of trying any technique, distraction or literally anything else, the boy just foolishly tried to use his own strength, that was, logically, nothing compared to his father's. Ozai scoffed, and left, almost throwing his son to the ground.

The boy stood there in the middle of the room in shock for a few moments, before coming back to his senses and leaving, still shaken. His dad could be mean, and even cruel sometimes, but Zuko had never seen him so apathetic before, at least not to anyone of their family, not even to uncle Iroh who everyone knew he had many issues with. His father had looked at him as if wasn't even a person. Like he was a broken machine that was damaged or obsolete, and could be easily replaced.

Don't cry. Don't be weak.

Humiliated, the prince went to the bath chambers, then ran to his bedroom, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Unfortunately, his mother was there waiting for him, and she just wouldn't leave no matter how many times he told her to. He fought the tears that still insisted on coming back every minute or so, and whenever Ursa tried to place a hand on his shoulder or embrace him, he'd snap at her. If she wasn't his mother, he might had lost his temper at her well-meaning but unwelcome attempt of comforting him and truly lashed out against her, using his fire to make her back off, or hurting if she insisted on stay too close.

I am like you, father. I won't let anyone look down on me. Not even mother. Not even you.

After a while, his mother finally left, and even though he was sure she would come back, he just didn't have the energy to do something as simple as getting up or locking the door so he'd be alone. Or perhaps he was hoping that his mom or Azula come in to comfort him... or that his dad would show up and apologize.

But deep down he knew that wouldn't happen. Ozai was proud and stubborn, and he'd rarely apologize to anyone about anything, let alone about something he was right to be angry about - and he was right about this whole thing.

Azula is stronger in every way. She'll bravely defend herself and others if she has to, and she'll destroy our enemies. And she won't need me. She won't me around anymore.

That thought finally did him in and cried, feeling absolutely pathetic. He felt even worse when his sister showed up, and while he tried to push her away like he had with their mother, Azula was much, much more persistent, and he eventually just let her hold him tight, soothing him while also fueling his shame.

"You'll pick up and father will be terribly sorry for ever doubting you. It will be okay, dum-dum. We're two halves of the same whole, remember?"

He did. But every single day it was becoming clearer who was the inferior half of the person they were.

Ozai was angry at himself. He had not really been expecting the boy to succeed, but it was still disappointing to see that not only had Zuko obviously been the denied the power Agni had blessed his sister with, he was also weak enough to fail in basic tasks. He should have known that Azula would sing her brother's praises no matter how he was actually doing in training. She had always been great at instantly taking on whatever role she was expected to play, and she knew that someday she'd be the wife of a less than ideal prince, so it made sense she'd already be trying to get people to ignore his mistakes and supporting him regardless of his failures. He should not have expected any less of her, and he should not have expected anything of his son at all.

"The boy is merely a child. You're an adult and you're still not able to bend blue flames; why should a child of yours be any different?"

Because his sister is the only one who can. My daughter is the only one who can, he had wanted to scream at his father, but bit his tongue.

He had also had to fight the urge to laugh at the fact that he was being berated by Azulon of all people for being unfair. As if his father had ever been fair to him, or given him a chance to prove himself, or ever recognized that he had already become a stronger fighter than Iroh, even with all the sages, masters, soldiers, generals and admirals saying so. As if he had ever even considered that either Zuko or Azula would ever amount to anything, simply because they were his kids and not his brother's. As if he had not ignored a prodigy for the sake of praising a boy who was mediocre at best just because he happened to be Iroh's son. As if Azula had not had to become a legend at the age of seven for him to look at her for more than two seconds.

If he had had any siblings or if any of his bastards had lived long enough to have descendants of their own, my children would have had to fight to even kept their positions as second and third in the line of succession, let alone ever actually getting the throne.

"Why give up so soon on the boy anyway?"

Because you already have. Like you gave up on me.

"He is nothing like his sister. He is too impatient, insecure and reckless to truly achieve that level of greatness"

His father smiled cruelly "The boy is your son after all" he said, finally dropping the pretense of minimally decent, just ruler. It made it easier for Ozai to keep his temper in control. Nothing got to him like being talked down to and treated like a fool that would believe anything that came out of Azulon's mouth simply because of who he was "But at least it seems he is not a quitter or a lost cause"

Neither am I, father. You'll see it eventually. You'll see I've surpassed you and my brother in every way. And I'll make sure you'll pay dearly for the way you've treated me.

Ursa went to Azulon's office, knowing she'd find her husband there. The whole palace was talking about how Ozai and his father had had some kind of fight, and that the prince had stormed off, before deciding, once again, that if he helped his father with some of the 'less important' aspects of ruling, then he'd at least be a little less enraged at him for challenging his authority. The servants and guards were unaware of what had caused the fight in the first place, but there was no doubt in Ursa's mind that Ozai had tried yet again to offer Azula as an option for Lu Ten to marry in the future. She had known that idea was in his head the second he knew one of his kids was a girl.

...And she might have eavesdropped on their conversation. She knew it was, to say the least, hypocritical to do so when she had reprimanded Azula so many times for doing the exact same thing, but this was for her own good too. Ozai was playing a dangerous game - one he could not win - by questioning Azulon's decisions so openly. He of all people should have known better, since he was constantly saying that the Fire Lord's will was sacred.

And she had to admit, she wasn't happy about how he was trying to find any excuse to break their children's engagement off. Couldn't he see that this was the safest option? Couldn't he understand that separating them would only break both of their hearts?

"Ozai, they're in love"

"They're kids. They think they're in love because we told them they were supposed to be. My father would have likely not even decided they should be engaged if he wasn't enough of a fool to believe idiotic legends and he was able to say 'no' to his demented whores. The heir should always be with someone from the same family, even if it's not immediate family. That's how we've kept ourselves in power for so long, or have you forgotten? Even my brother agreed to it. Iroh married a cousin, so did my father, and Sozin before him"

"These marriages offered us nothing we didn't already have. Lu Ten's marriage to Allya will give us more money, more warriors, more allies, and most important of all, less enemies right outside the palace. Azulon is making sure we will have even more control over our nation and more resources to win the war against the rest of the world."

"He's bargaining for things that are ours by right and handing off one of our own to an enemy" he argued, using that harsh tone he saved solely for when he decided, by himself, that whatever discussion they were having was over "They call themselves our loyal subjects now, but three centuries ago they were trying to usurp our power. No advantage they can give us erases that. Nothing is worth submitting to traitors who are beneath us"

"I'm a descendent of Avatar Roku. Am I an enemy as well?"

"This is entirely different"

"Yes. His war against Sozin was less than a hundred years ago, and my family did not surrender until we had no other option. Yet you did not object to marrying me"

"Roku had royal blood"

"Our nation isolated itself from the rest of the world many times. If you look back enough, everyone amongst nobility, common folk, prisoners and even the poorest men you could find has some connection to this family, and to many past incarnations of the Avatar. Incarnations that did not go against their Fire Lord"

"I'm the second son, not the heir" he must have been really desperate to win if he was even willing to acknowledge that fact he was always trying so hard to forget about.

"But you were always trying to gain your father's favor. You never gave up on your ambitions, you're just pursuing them in a way that won't require treason."

"This isn't about me" she was pretty sure Ozai had never told a less convincing lie in his entire life "This about protecting our nephew and our family as a whole"

Knowing she wouldn't get what she wanted if didn't play along, Ursa changed tactics "Ozai, we should be careful and not let our guard down around people who went against us in the past, yes, but Lu Ten will be Fire Lord. He will hold all the power in our nation, and in the entire world someday. If anyone is in any disadvantage here is that girl. She will leave her home, marry a stranger, and be under the Fire Lord's thumb, with his entire family paying attention to any mistake she might make, and she'll be easily replaceable"

"You sound like you're talking from experience" he said, clearly trying to make this conversation seem like an attempt of hers of complaining about him so she'd feel bad and apologize. He had been doing that a lot recently. But she still didn't back down.

"I am very grateful for the life you've given me. But you're no fool. You're well aware that your position offered you far more privileges than mine, and that even though I gained more power by marrying you, I was still afraid and it was still a risk. A risk I chose to take. I don't know of many families who would offer their daughter a choice on such an important matter, certainly not Allya's family from what I've heard. But none of that matters, because you're still missing the point"

He looked at her with a challenging expression on his face, the same he'd often make when he wasn't entirely sure if he was angry at her, or intrigued by what she was saying "And what is the point, Ursa?"

"Your father is not going to change his mind. Not now, not ever. He is a proud, stubborn man, and he decided this alliance needed to happen long before our children were even born, before you and I were even married. Nothing Azula does, no matter how amazing, will make him think she should be the one to marry Lu Tun. And if someday, for whatever reason, Allya is no longer an option, he's just gonna have the daughter of some other important family be Fire Lady. Azula can either marry her brother and be here with us, where we know she'll be safe, or Azulon will use her as another way to make peace with former enemies through marriage. That would be losing one of our own"

"I won't let him do that"

"You don't have a say on the matter!" she said, losing her temper for a brief instant, then quickly recomposing herself, and going back to making her point clear before he had the chance to snap at her "If you upset him too much, your father will make sure that Azula is handed over to some other family, just to remind you that he can. Just to punish both you for your insolence and her for having inspired it in the first place. You know he's more than capable and willing of doing that kind of thing. Our daughter is strong and smart, but even she might not survive being surrounded solely by enemies her whole life. And you've not been paying attention if you think your son wouldn't be willing to start a war for her"

He scoffed at her comment about Zuko, as if he wasn't important at all, which was starting to become too much of a recurring thing for Ursa's liking, but he didn't shut the conversation down like she had been expecting him to "So what do you advise me to do?"

The question caught her a bit of guard, even though she was technically already advising him. Even at the very beginning of their relationship, when Ozai had offered her all the kindness someone like him could ever possibly show to someone else, she wasn't allowed to be so honest with him, at least not on topics that would anger him, he was still reluctant to ask for her help, and was even worse at actually ignoring his pride and going along with whatever she had told him.

She took a deep breath, already preparing to be yelled at "Make peace with your father. And with your brother"

He looked at her with what could only be described as pure hatred in his eyes "You're out of your mind"

"Yet you're the one being unreasonable"

"I will not tolerate this kind of insolence, Ursa"

"And neither will your father. Or Iroh, or Lu Ten" she forced herself to go on "Ozai, I want the best for our family, and I care about our lineage just as much as you do, but our children won't be the ones on the throne. This doesn't have to be our goal. Make peace your current Fire Lord and with the next ones. Let our children get married and have kids of their own. If we do everything right, we can make sure that one of our grandchildren will marry Lu Ten's heir. It will give our lineage all the power in the world, just as you want to do now. It will just require you to be patient and wait a little longer"

"That's enough. Leave"

Realizing he was no longer willing to listen - assuming he had not already ignored everything she had said - Ursa silenced herself, bowed respectfully and left, but making sure to not once say she was sorry. She had more important things to worry about than Ozai's ego.

"You want me to learn to fight using a sword?" Zuko sounded genuinely surprised, though Ursa couldn't say if he was excited, confused, disappointed or all three.

"Well, I know you like swords, and I think you're old enough to learn at least the basics. If you agree, I'll just have to choose a master to teach you" that was only partially true. She had been thinking of giving her son that option for a while, yes, but what she really wanted was for him to stop focusing solely on what he couldn't do - on what made him different from his sister - and instead shifted his attention to something that he could enjoy and excel at.

"Just me?"

"Yes, honey. Just you"

"But shouldn't I do everything with Azula?"

"What's the harm in having something that is your own? Even if your fire turns blue, they won't the same as Azula's. No two people are the exact same, not even twins"

That was clearly not what he wanted to hear, and Ursa knew that, but it was better not encourage this strange mentality her children seemed to have. She had seen twins developing absurdly strong bonds, but their situation was starting to concern her. She considered saying that, once he was able to create blue flames, he could just have Azula join him on his lessons with a swords master, but decided against it. She knew they loved each other and would make each other very happy someday, but right now they needed to start forming their own identities, separately from each other.

"Zuko, this will be good for the two of you. Don't think of it as some kind of betrayal to your sister because it isn't" she put her hands on his shoulders "And besides, I know you like to impress her. Why not do it with something she's not expecting?" he still didn't say a word despite taking a moment to carefully consider her words. There was obviously still something bothering deeply "Tell me, dear, are you afraid Azula won't love you anymore if you're not able to do everything she does?"

He nodded sadly, and Ursa pulled him in for a comforting hug.

"Would you love her any less if you were in her place?"

"No!" he answered immediately, sounding exasperated that she, or anyone, would ever even think of asking such a question, let alone actually saying it out-loud.

"Well, there's your answer. Your sister loves you just the way you are. Nothing could ever change that" she pulled him in for a comforting hug, hoping that this conversation would at the very least remedy, even if just for a little while, a bit of the damage this gift Azula had - or rather, the reactions to said gift - seemed to have brought on.

"Lady Ursa?" Li and Lo said at the same time from right behind her, making both her and Zuko jump up. The two old women had this terrible habit of sneaking up on people when they lead expected, and even Ozai and Iroh were always caught off guard by them as well. Sometimes she wondered if that was one of the reasons why her husband disliked them so much.

"Yes?"

"We are sorry to interrupt, but your son is late for the training" Li said, kindly.

"It was my fault. I apologize" Ursa gave her son a kind look "Don't forget what I said, okay?"

Her son nodded and ran ahead, being followed by the twins. Ursa went with them as well; it had been a while since she had last watched them practice. The second Zuko opened the door to the Agni Kai room, Azula threw herself in his arms, almost tackling him to the floor. He then pinched her arm and gave her a small burn, and Azula did the same to him before grabbing his hand and brought him into the room. They had been leaving marks on each other from the very moment they were able to create even the tiniest of sparks. Ursa had told them a million times to find some other way to show affection to each other - or irritate each other, she was never sure - but they wouldn't listen. She couldn't understand why they liked doing that.

But she supposed that something as rare and especial as what her kids had simply wasn't meant to be understood by anyone besides the two of them.