They first met when they were only five years old.
It was on Ember Island. They went to their usual routine of seeing the horrible-but-fun Love Amongst the Dragons, but that day, the play seemed different than usual. The crowd would agree, as the usual yawns turned into amazed gasps. The narrator was also into telling the story.
It was more elegant than their usual goofiness. New, elegant dances were incorporated. The Dragon Emperor danced with the mortal woman elegantly and they seemed to be very in love. In the plot, through this love the Dragon Emperor gained his power back. The masked actor on the stage demonstrated by firebending extravagant flames.
In the final fight between the Dragon Emperor and the Dark Water Spirit, the two seem to be fighting very passionately. The Dragon Emperor firebended and the Dark Water Spirit fought with dual dao swords.
The Dragon Emperor of course won, and got together with his mortal girlfriend who turned out to be the Dragon Empress.
The play ended when the two lovers kiss. The curtains were supposed to close as the story ended, but a little girl ran to the middle of the stage. She was giggling and had a mask of her own, like the Dragon Emperor.
She ran around the two lovers with her white shawl and twirled, dancing elegantly likr the Dragon Empress. She replicated the Dragon Emperor's strong dance too.
The crowd had smiles on their face as they saw the girl happily dancing. Azula scowled next to Zuko but he could tell that she was impressed as well by the play today.
"With the Dragon Emperor and Dragon Empress's love, the Dragon child was born," The narrator explained as the dancing girl showed off her twirls.
The dancing routine was ended with the girl firebending sparks.
The crowd clapped and whistled in amazement. The performance today was amazing than usual.
At the encore stage, the crowd was excited to know who the main three actors was for the amazing play. It was a shock to all when the Dark Water Spirit opened his mask. It turned to be General Iroh. The general had a large smile on his face.
"General Iroh as the Dark Water Spirit, everybody! It's an honor to have you here, General!" The narrator introduced. The crowd gasped and clapped even louder.
Zuko waved his hands at his uncle in excitement. The man replied with a friendly smile as he made way for the two main characters to reveal themselves. The two lovers held the little dragon child's hands.
The Dragon Emperor took off his mask with a proud, though a little cocky smile. He was handsome like a noble, though a little bit tanner from the usual Fire Nation citizen. Zuko supposed it's because the man's under the sun all day. He had a muscular toned body unlike his Uncle's. He was taller than his father, at least. His hair was cropped short without a topknot. His eyes golden, burning with passion. Based on how he firebended and how stood, he looked like a soldier.
Ozai hummed in recognition of the man as the Dragon Emperor shared a laugh with Iroh.
The man smiled and gave a wave to the crowd, then motioning for the Dragon Empress to take her turn.
With a shy, elegant bow the lady behind the Dragon Empress took off her mask. She was beautiful, with her long, black silky hair and golden eyes that seemed to sparkle underneath the lights.
The man lovingly took the lady behind the Dragon Empress and with an arm around her waist, dipped her, and kissed her deeply in front of the crowd. The crowd wolf whistled at the passionate kiss the two lovers shared. The lady's face was red as the man stood them straighter. She took out a fan from the inside of her sleeve and hid her blushing face as she fanned it.
The little girl then squealed with her hands up in the air, and the man lifted her up in his shoulders with a laugh and opened the mask for her.
The crowd cheered louder for the girl.
She was around Zuko's age and had dark hair like her mother's. It was tied up in pretty jade ornaments in her half do. Her eyes were golden like both of her parents and most of Fire Nation people, yet they shone brighter as it twinkled.
"General Chen, his lovely wife Lady Yuna, and their lovely daughter, Lady Ryujin!" The narrator introduced. The crowd cheered again as they were introduced to the special guest star.
"Thank you for your performances, Generals, and Ladies. Too bad it was only a one time thing." With that last comment, the crowd whined.
Zuko was happy he saw that once in a lifetime performance. He could tell his family was quite pleased as well. Azula was already challenging him into a duel, ready to redemonstrate the earlier fight. His mother was in deep tought while his father looked reminiscent.
To his surprise, his Uncle brought the main leads to their Summer house along with their daughter. The adults got talking about the past while little Ryujin was told to go play with Zuko and Azula.
Zuko gulped as she approaced. Ryujin was very pretty yet seemed to be a bit shy as she looked down more. It was a contrast to Azula who always had her chin up in pride.
Azula was reluctant at first of the other girl. The young princess had a sneer on her face at the sight of her. Azula turned away to go, but was stopped when hesitant hands reached out to stop her before she could go.
Ryujin tried impressing Azula by firebending magic tricks. She turned a fire into a fire lily, and gave it to Azula shyly.
"Y-You're very pretty," Ryujin commented as Azula took the flower with interest. "What is your name?"
"Azula." Azula introduced herself proudly as she stood tall.
"I'm Ryujin..."
The girl turned to Zuko.
"How about you?"
With a gulp, Zuko answered, "I... Am Zuko..."
"Can I be your friend?" She shyly asked the two of them, looking back and forth. Zuko made eye contact with Azula.
He looked around and saw the adults observing them expectantly. His Uncle seemed very amused. He gave Zuko a knowing smirk. He looked back at Ryujin with a growing blush and slowly nodded.
"Sure. Nice to meet you Ryujin," He politely held his hand. Ryujin gave out a large smile and softly shook his hand. He could tell that she was excited.
Azula did not say a thing and looked at the given fire lily with intent.
"You want to play?" Azula asked her finally. The girl enthusiastically nodded.
"I saw you playing with Zuko earlier... I can be the Dark Water Spirit if you want." Ryujin offered. And with that, Azula smirked.
"Good, you better be better than him," Azula sneered. Zuko rolled his eyes and took off the Dark Water Spirit he hand on him to give it to Ryujin, but was quickly snatched by an impatient Azula.
"I will do my best!" Ryujin smiled and put the mask on. Azula put hers back on and went into a stance.
The two dueled back and forth, making an audience. The adults joined Zuko in watching them. Azula and Ryujin went back and forth, with Azula continuously going on the offensive and Ryujin on the defensive.
Zuko analysed and realized that Ryujin had been elegantly avoiding upcoming attacks, similar to the dance of the Dragon Empress earlier. Azula was getting impatient.
"Ryujin! Show off your skills!" General Chen cheered as his child started fighting back. The reenactment seemed to be like a full on duel right now between the four and five year olds.
Ozai was a little bit impressed.
"Your daughter has been holding on quite well," He surprisingly complimented. Zuko stilled. The girl had gotten a genuine compliment from his father, who had always scorned him.
"Of course! I have been training her!" Chen proudly exclaimed, earning an elbow nudge from his wife. Yuna gave him a pointed look. Chen gave a grin and held Yuna's hands.
"And Yuna have as well, of course."
"Ryujin seems to incorporate dancing with her firebending." Ursa commented as well, relieved when the new girl had good intentions.
"Well, Chen was set on teaching her firebending..." Yuna trailed off.
"...And Yuna was teaching her dancing." Chen continued.
"Yet both of them are incorporated as one, like yin and yang, in Ryujin." Iroh smiled as he saw the young girl was about to defeat Azula. He had a knowing look on his face as he glanced at his best friend Chen. Chen just sheepishly shrugged with a smile. They turned back to the kids duelling.
Azula was losing.
She was a little bit tired since she went aggresively in the start. She didn't expect Ryujin to evade her so swiftly. Ryujin was full on defensive mode. Every spot that she could ever thought of to attack was blocked by either a simple side step or Ryujin's own careful and elegant firebending.
Azula was frustrated.
Ryujin seemed to notice Azula glancing at her parents especially her father from the corner of her eye in slight panic. She sighed and let out an opening, which Azula quickly took advantage off and pointed her hand to Ryujin's throat.
"I win, Dark Water Spirit!" Azula said proudly as if she wasn't losing earlier
"I yield," Ryujin surrendered with a slight smile at Azula's happiness.
The audience clapped as the two youngest finished. The two took their masks off. Ryujin went to Azula and took her hand, surprising the princess. She then pulled her down to bow to the audience.
When they stood back up straight again, the two girls were smiling.
They all had dinner together at the vacation house. The two families traded stories. Lu Ten didn't come because he had schoolwork since he was in school. General Chen and Iroh were back from their post in Earth Kingdom and turns out Chen invited Iroh to come to Ember Island to meet his family. Iroh must have come by often since Ryujin was close enough to his uncle.
Chen's whole family mainly lived in Ember Island. They have a house in the capital but was rarely used, and was planning to move when Ryujin's about to start school. Yuna had been privately educating Ryujin so far. They enjoyed their secluded life in Ember Island.
Ryujin and Azula sat next to each other, and Zuko was next to Ryujin. The two newly acquainted girls whispered throughout dinner and giggled. Zuko looked at Azula every so often, almost surprised that his sister grew another head.
When dinner was finished Ursa took Azula back to her bedroom. Azula was reluctant since she made a new friend, but Ryujin promised she would visit tomorrow.
As Ursa took Azula to bed, Zuko went to the balcony to see the stars. He did not expect Ryujin to already be there, as he did not expect her moving earlier. She was very swift.
"Hello, Prince Zuko." She greeted with a bow. Zuko raised an eyebrow. She was calling him and his sister with their given names earlier.
"My mother told me to address you all with your titles. I'm sorry if I was impolite earlier..." She looked down.
"It's alright..." He said as he went to the ledge to look up to the stars.
"Want me to show you a trick?" She offered. He turned to look at her.
"Like earlier?"
She nodded. Zuko motioned her to go on. Ryujin smiled cheekily.
She did the exact fire motions earlier and produced a flower he had never seen before.
"It's a panda lily," She explained and motioned for him to take, "My father got me a bouquet from his siege to the Earth Kingdom."
Zuko hesitantly took the flower.
"He said that he had to go near volcanoes to find the flowers. I thought he may be exaggerrating though." She giggled the last part, making him blush from the sweet sound and looking back down to the exotic flower.
"I-It's pretty..." He shyly commented. Not forgetting his manners, he quickly thanked the girl. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it!" She stared at him intently making him gulp.
"Zuko, do you--"
Yuna's voice from inside the house was heard as she called for Ryujin.
"Oh. It's time to go home, I think." Ryujin said sad and disappointed she didn't get to finish her sentence, yet smiled again when she turned to Zuko.
"Thanks for today, it was a great time." She smiled. "You and Azula are my first ever friends..." She shyly added with a blush.
"I hope we play again soon! See ya!" She said with a wave, going back inside the house to her parents. Not long after, the family left.
Zuko was still awestruck in the balcony, he didn't even realize his Uncle came.
"Oh, a panda lily! Where did you get that, Zuko?" He exclaimed curiously.
"Ah, you must've gotten it from Ryujin. Chen bought a whole bouquet for her and Yuna. Took him to the volcanoes! What a smitten man!" Iroh laughed out loud.
"Did you know that the panda lily is a symbol of love, and is often used to win the heart of a crush?" Iroh winked and wiggled his eyebrows, making Zuko blush.
"Uncle! I do not have a crush on her!"