Part: One- The Lutdeo
Chapter: Twelve- The Sister of the Fire Lord
Author: Fritters-4-Psi
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the related characters. Nor do I profit from this fanfiction. The only things of my creation in this fanfiction are the Koertan, Kashi, Risha, the concept of the grith coin, Vioniza, and Raven's Watch. Also, possibly other things to come in later chapters.
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Sitting around a giant table, with tea cups in front of them, was Risha, Prince Zuko, General Iroh, Sokka, Katara, and Avatar Aang. The soldiers that Zuko had brought with him were in the barn. Appa was no longer in the barn. He was given leave to wander in the forest and eat. Risha, who was now back in her normal clothes, nervously looked at her newly found friends and wondered if they'd still like her once they learned of her past. "I'll begin by talking about my parents. My father was from the Earth Nation. He wasn't an Earth Bender, but he was a very powerful warrior. My mother was the sister of Fire Lord Ozai. Talk about sibling rivalry. They didn't get along, at all. Vioniza, that's my mother's name, never got a chance to explain to me why she didn't get along with Ozai," Risha started her story.
"I don't know the whole reason, but part of the reason was Ozai thought he was neglected as a child. Vioniza was the youngest, and the only girl. Our mother favored her more over Ozai. She thought that she could turn Vioniza into one of those women who spent all day being a lady at the court. Wearing dresses, curtsying, being polite and dainty. Risha, your mother enjoyed none of those things," Iroh explained, "She was Father's little girl with a warrior's heart. Once, when Father had been in his cups, he said that if he had to choose that day which one of us was to be his heir, it would be Vioniza. When our mother wasn't teaching her the ways of a lady, she was out training. Father always watched over her, critiquing her. Under his vigilant eye, she became a powerful Fire Bender and powerful with many other weapons."
"I thought that my aunt had only been a lady of the court," Zuko stated.
"When she was older, yes. That's how everyone remembers her. They remember her as that because that's how my brother wants her to be remembered. He doesn't want anyone to think that there was another Fire Bender that possibly could match him," Iroh stated, "Our mother died five years before Father did. That was when he began to distance himself from Vioniza. She reminded him too much of our mother. Her looks and her fighting style had both been inherited from our mother. Ozai was the least like our mother. It was he, when Father was on his death bed, that was chosen as the heir to the Fire Nation."
"It was also on my grandfather's death bed that he said that if my mother wanted to be in the Fire Nation army, no one had the right to deny her," Risha said, "My mother believed in the Fire Nation's cause and joined the army. Even though she was of royalty, she started at the bottom rank. Quickly, she worked her way up. It was when she became a colonel that she was allowed her own host of soldiers to command; twenty men and herself."
"I do not mean to interject, but I believe I can tell this part better. You weren't around yet, so I have a first hand experience," Iroh stated, and Risha nodded, "That host became legendary. It even earned itself its own title; Raven's Watch. Vioniza had watched the ravens and saw how they functioned. When they flew, there was the main group, one or two others on the left and right sides in the trees keeping an eye on things, and one flying slightly behind the others. Vioniza copied the ways that ravens travel. The person behind the main group was always the strongest, and it was always her. The enemy would think that the one straggling behind would be the weakest, but they would be wrong. Fire Lord Ozai always sent Raven's Watch on the most difficult missions. Ozai was always mad when there were casualty reports, if there ever were, Vioniza was never on them."
"One of the missions my mother was sent on, the entire host was captured by some Earth Nation troops. In the fighting, before their capture, my mother was knocked unconscious. She woke and saw an Earth Nation warrior. He explained what happened. She had been involved in some fighting and been hit on the head. While it was ordered that the rest of her host be killed, she was to be left alive. Chivalry, apparently, isn't dead in the Earth Nation. The thing was, during the rest of Raven's Watch's execution, the Fire Nation troops had managed to kill most of the opposing Earth Nation troops. The Earth Nation warrior was one of three that weren't killed," Risha explained.
"No one knows much of what happened after that. Upon her return to the Fire Nation, Vioniza explained that she had been treated extremely kindly by the Earth Nation warrior. Everyone was shocked that she had brought him with her, and not as a prisoner, but as a guest," Iroh stated, "It was a year before they married."
"My mother and father rebuilt Raven's Watch and went on missions together. For five years everything was going great for Raven's Watch, but then my mother announced that she was pregnant. It was a boy. They named him Teyo. While my father commanded Raven's Watch, my mother stayed at home and took care of my older brother. She still stayed in shape by going to the training grounds and working with the younger Fire Benders, teaching them. Teyo obviously couldn't go with my mother if she went on a mission and she didn't feel comfortable leaving him home with a nurse, so she stayed with him," Risha said.
"And then, six years after Teyo was born," Iroh said, "Guess who came along? It was little baby Risha. Ozai wasn't very fond of her, though. While Teyo looked like a regular Fire Bender, Risha had light brown hair and greenish-yellow eyes. She looked more like someone from the Earth Nation, then from the Fire Nation."
"I bet you were a cute baby," Sokka said, mockingly.
"She was. But she had a thing against clothes for a few years. Vioniza had the hardest time getting her to wear clothes, so after a while she gave up and let her not wear any," Iroh said.
"Okay, we don't need to talk about when I was really little. There's nothing interesting there," Risha quickly changed the subject, "I was six and my brother twelve, when my mother decided to go on a mission with Raven's Watch. Ozai had assigned what he claimed to be a simple task. Teyo begged and begged to be allowed to go. Our mother let him. I stayed behind with my father."
Risha looked down, but looked back up with a decisive look on her face. She was getting to the part in her life when everything seemed to go bad almost all at once. It was always hard for her to think about, let alone discuss it. "A week after they left, a report came back. Everything seemed to be going fine. Another week passed, another report came. Ozai called an assembly. Saying all that cared for Vioniza should attend. My father and I went. There Ozai stated that Vioniza and her twelve-year-old son had died at the hand of some pirates. While the attendees were sad, there was something in Ozai's voice that had a sound of triumph," a tear rolled down Risha's face, "My father and I stayed in the Fire Nation, but he never associated with Raven's Watch again. Something had died with him when my mother and brother had died."
Noticing the faltering tone in Risha's voice, Iroh spoke up, "Risha lived with her father for the rest of her time in the Fire Nation. He distanced himself from everything, though. He was still a good father, but he was never the same."
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A/N: Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I dodn't really like this chapter. Just they way it turned out, irks me.
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Chapter Eleven:
Alicat2315: Thanks! Here's an even longer chapter!