Genre: Romance-ish, Villainy, Horror
Rating: K plus
Summary: Mother was right. Power is not for a young lady of honor. (BT, zero of three criteria reached, RBT, one of three criteria reached)
Boots clicked through the stone hallways, echoing up and down - not that anybody could hear it over the hubbub of officials, generals and sycophants clustered around the doors to the Fire Lord's personal chambers. These were the best of the best, the upper crust of the upper crust, the people who decided the nation's fate. And all of them were men.
Ursa tried to calm her shaking hands. Ozai was by her side, walking far too fast for her to keep up with comfortably, which did nothing to help her nervousness. She had to sprint back up to him every thirty seconds.
"Why are your legs so long!" she hissed after another sprint, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Slow down!"
He turned to her, slight amusement on his face. They were almost to the crowd. "I have to beat you there, don't I? To introduce you."
She glared at him with a face that she suspected was more stop-being-right than you're-wrong-and-you-know-it. Her suspicions were confirmed as Ozai gently pushed her off his arm. "Stay behind me now, up until you're introduced."
"Do you think they'll like me?" she managed to ask before Ozai walked away completely.
"It doesn't matter whether they like you, dear. It matters whether they'll follow your orders." He strode ahead now, and Ursa followed nervously. Her mother had drilled into her that a proper lady must be gentle and kind and submissive, and must never give someone a reason to not like her. They were not supposed to order, they were supposed to request, and it wasn't ladylike to want to have power.
Of course, she'd done a lot of unladylike things since she'd married the Prince.
His voice rang out, cutting through the court's babble. "Introducing the Princess Ursa!" Ursa spotted Zhao off to the side. He seemed - jealous? She couldn't tell from this far away, but her attention was diverted to the crowd in front of her as she stepped out from behind her husband. They were bowing, deeply, respectfully.
They were bowing to her.
Suddenly she realized why Ozai had told her to wait. Mother had always said that a woman's proper place was in the home, serving her husband. She'd said to be quiet, to be respectful, to be prim and proper and to never raise her voice. She'd said that power would corrupt a young lady, make her unmanageable (and no man wants an unmanageable wife), ruin her prospects and get her cast out of society. She'd said many things, most of which Ursa had chafed at.
The display in front of her was proof that Ursa was right.
Okay. Finally done with that. I am very much an Urzai shipper (is that why no-one reads my stuff?) and yes, I like to deal with feminist themes. Also, again, more headcanon for my son Ozai (even if he was a side character here). See if you can guess what it is. Review are very welcome!