"I didn't pass again."

Izumi was standing in front of the throne. She had just gotten home from taking her final fire bending test, for the second time. Zuko immideatley got up from the throne, and went over to his daughter.

"Come here," he said, as he wrapped her into a tight hug. "Hey you'll pass eventually, ok?"

"I know." She said, as she leaned into her father's embrace, tilting her head up slightly to look at him, her chin resting on his chest. "It's not just about passing though. I really want to become a good fire bender."

"I know you do. We will keep practicing." Zuko told her.

"Ok." Izumi said, pulling out of the hug. "Also Master Oshu said that he wants to meet with you regarding my fire bending progress."

"Mmmhh. Alright why don't you see if he is available to meet with me tomorow at around 6?"

"Ok." Izumi stood and hesitated for a moment. "And Dad?"

"Mmh?"

"Thanks for practicing fire bending with me and for all the things you've been teaching me in regards to it."

"Izumi," Zuko said lovingly, "You're welcome. But also, you're my daughter. I love helping you with your fire bending." Izumi smiled at Zuko.

"Now, I have a conference in a few minutes. I will see you tonight at dinner." Zuko told her.

"Ok. See ya." Izumi headed out of the throne room.

The next night, Zuko got in late from work. He slowly opened the door to Izumi's room to see if she was still awake. Her room was dark and she was in her bed.

"Dad?" She said sleepily, lifting her head up slightly and turning towards him.

"Hey," he said softly, approaching her bed and sitting down on the edge of it. Izumi scooted over to give him some room.

"I talked to Master Oshu and I think that, as long as you're ok with it, I'm going to pull you from your lessons and be the one to teach you fire bending from now on."

Izumi shifted to face her dad more. "What?" She asked confused. "What happened?"

"Well...he suggested that I send you to a Military type school, one that has a fire bending course, because the training in those schools is more intense and rigorous than normal lessons. He thinks maybe that's what you need to succeed in fire bending. He said that you might even become a particularly skilled bender if you had that kind of instruction. I of course refused. Then he went on about how useful that type of instruction is and how he tries to make his instruction as much like that of military school as possible, how some kids just need a hard push to bring out their bending talent. So, I told him that he is not to employ those methods with my daughter, in which he said that he employs those methods with all his students. So I told him that then maybe you shouldn't learn from him..." Zuko began to rub the back of his neck.

"What did he say?" Izumi asked, her eyes growing wide with interest.

"Well, he said that I'm free to pull you from lessons whenever I like...So as I was saying, I would like to be your fire bending instructor from now on. I mean I can find you a new instructor if you like. There are other fire bending dojos out there, but I think I can help you with your fire bending. There are some... things I know that a lot of instructors out there aren't well versed on. I'd like to at least try to teach you."

"I'd love for you to be my fire bending instructor, Dad." Izum said reassuringly, and barley letting Zuko finish his sentence. "And to be honest I've never paticularly liked Master Oshu since he started as my instructor a year ago. He has always been a bit harsh. There was this one time that Nolan was trying to help me with a form and Master Oshu wouldn't let him."

"What? You never told me about that."

"I guess I just didn't see the need to. The incident didn't seem like that big of a deal on its own. I just didn't like it."

"And you have every right not to like it. He shouldn't have stopped Nolan from helping you."

"I know." After Izumi responded, she shifted to her side, as to get ready to fall asleep. Zuko moved in closer to her, putting one hand on her back.

"You go to sleep." He said, begining to rub her back. "I will have Mr.Oshu notified that you will no longer be attending lessons with him. You go ahead and meet me in the outdoor fire bending rink at 5:00, before dinner, and we will start our lessons then."

"Ok, Dad." Izumi said, as she began to shut her eyes and move her body in closer to where he was sitting.

Zuko continued rubbing her back for a minute. He stared down at his princess. She had always had everything she needed in life and most of what she wanted. Some might say she was spoiled. But at the least, her wants and needs were always taken into consideration. There was no way he was sending her off to some military school where that wouldn't be the case.

Izumi's breathing evened out and she appeared to have fallen asleep. Zuko slowly and silently got off the bed. He would have given her a goodnight kiss, however he didn't want to wake her up. Instead he made his way out of her room, quietly closing the door behind him.