Disclaimer: I do not have anything to do with the creation or ownership of any characters from Avatar. I only like to watch the show and obsess.
It had been several days and still I had only seen Prince Zuko once. I had been walking past the training room, hoping to get a glimpse of Yoko. Instead, I saw the Prince, bare-chested and throwing fire. His uncle must have been training him, but I did not see and hurried on.
I was sitting, reading of course, in one of the many small maze gardens inside the palace walls. The gardens had become my favorite place for peace, for hardly anyone went there. They must be much too intent on being with other nobles, trying to be seen with the right people, forging marriage pacts, and the like. The day was sunny and very hot. So hot that it actually made me tired, strange for a citizen from the Fire Nation.
The only noise was the delicate fountain next to the bench I was on and the chirping birds, sitting in the twisted branches of the decorative trees. My eyes drooped and I decided to take a little nap. No one was around. No one would see. I slid the soft slippers off my feet and lay, body sprawled and dress gracefully draped across the bench. I was asleep within a few minutes.
……………………………………
Later, much later for the sun had lowered in the sky, I could hear a voice whispering in my ear.
"Aya. Aya, it's me. Wake up." It was barely more than a breath of wind. I slowly opened my eyes, still bleary and tired.
"Aya." The voice called more persistently. As the face of a young man came into focus, I sat bolt upright.
"Yoko!" I cried and threw my arms around his neck, a smile breaking over my face. The man laughed and put his warm arms around my body, holding me close.
"When…? How…? I-I thought you wouldn't be back for ages!" I said quietly into his ear. A few tears ran down my face. I held him tighter. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." He gently pulled away and kissed my forehead. He was just as I remembered him; only his hair was longer, pulled back into a bun. His smile was too large for his face, his gentle face that was a touch different. The face of a man.
"We were delayed at an Earth Kingdom port. I would have been back sooner, but our crew caught a case of sea sickness. Something in the food." He was talking, but I could only stare at his face, hold his hand, feel how rough he had become. He noticed, and sat next to me. I leaned into his shoulder, letting my head rest by his.
He ran a finger through a strand of my hair, loose from the nap on the bench. I sighed and he turned his head towards me.
"Reading again, I see." His voice was teasing and friendly. I picked up the small book and handed it to him.
"It's the one you gave me before you left." He took it from me and opened it. He flipped through the pages and chuckled quietly.
"Did you read nothing else while I was gone?" He put the book on my lap. I smiled and nodded. A bell sounded distantly, five hours after the noon sun.
"My parents will be looking for me. I must have slept for hours!" I said, lifting my head up. He smiled and patted my hand. Just as he kissed my cheek, a harassed looking Prince Zuko walked by. He glanced at us as Yoko bowed at the waist and I kneeled. He stopped and gave us a withering look. He took a hesitant step backward, then changed his mind and walked up to Yoko.
"Please, you have to hide me. They-they won't leave me alone!" He said, a few strands of hair coming loose from his ponytail. Up close, his scar was darker and a little wrinkly. Yoko's eyes widened and he glanced at me quickly, but his voice was steady and without much emotion.
"Who are you hiding from Prince Zuko?" There was the faint sound of laughter and I knew exactly who he meant. The Prince must have heard it also. His better eye traveled towards me and I looked down.
"Those…girls."
Yoko stifled laughter and turned it quickly into a cough. The Prince looked so helpless. I had seen tougher men than he crumple with embarrassment in front of a group of ladies. As far as I was concerned, he was doing pretty well.
"Why not," I ventured. "Hide up in the trees? Or behind the bench? It would be hard to see you there." My smile was slight and I was trembling with contained giggles. The Prince nodded and he looked up at the short tree, light red and pink blossoms covering its branches.
"Yes. Yes, that will work." He said absentmindedly. The prince walked swiftly over to the tree and hauled himself up the trunk, rustling the branches and then settled quietly. Yoko gave me a funny look and I shrugged my shoulders. Then, a group of young girls burst through the opening. They were silenced when they saw Yoko and me, standing alone. Ren, I was not surprised to see, was with them. As well as Natsumi, that pompous twig. There were others that I recognized, but I ignored them.
"Oh, how rude of us to intrude." Natsumi's high, breathy voice pierced my ears like a knife. Ren put her hand to her mouth and giggled with some of the other girls. I smiled tightly and bowed shortly.
"No intrusion, no. We were just having a…enlightening conversation." I said, starring her straight in the eyes, daring her to press me further. Yoko bowed gracefully to them and the girls blushed. All except for Natsumi.
"Oh, Aya my dear, we were just wondering if you happened to see that handsome Prince Zuko come by. We followed him into the garden and now he seems like he has just," she waved an intricately woven fan and widened her eyes. "Disappeared into thin air." Her smile was forced and pleasant at the same time. I looked around and Yoko coughed, covering up the slight rustling of the tree branches.
"He doesn't seem to be here, now does he? I did happen to see him pass by. In…that direction." I pointed to the path that curved around into the middle of the maze. Natsumi's smile was sour.
"I see. Thank you." She swept out and the group of excited girls followed her. Ren stayed behind for a moment.
"Did you really see him?" She breathed to me. I nodded. She turned to Yoko and started.
"Yoko, I did not know you were back! I didn't know it was you."
Yoko smiled and bowed to her.
"Lady Ren, always a pleasure." Ren smiled.
"Aya, I'll leave you two alone. See you at dinner?" I nodded again and she left. We waited a few minutes more, making sure the girls were really gone.
"My Prince, you may come out now." Prince Zuko slid down the tree and straitened his shirt. A few flower petals, I saw, were caught in his hair. He ran a hand through it and pulled them out, dropping them on the ground. Yoko walked over to him and bowed his head slightly.
"If I may so ask, why were they following you?" The Prince smiled tightly, a smile that reminded me of his father. I shivered and Yoko put his arm around me.
"Marriage. My father…" his eyes took on a cold look. "My father wishes it. By my seventeenth birthday, a bride must be chosen for me." Under his breath he said, "More like a bird. They chatter more any bird ever could." He looked back at us, and smiled, a genuine smile. And, for the prince, it must have taken all his willpower. A smile must not come easily to him.
"At least I'm home." He took a deep breath, and then looked closely at me. "Aren't you the one I saw in the hall? You're number," he thought for a moment. "Ten or eleven, I can't remember." He threw his hands up in the air. "Doesn't matter I guess. Thank you for helping me." Prince Zuko walked abruptly away, his hair still loose and his pants now a little stained with flower juice.
As soon as he was gone, Yoko put his head on my shoulder and was shaking from silent laughter. I leaned against him and laughed out loud.
"Oh, we need to stop. I feel bad for him." I said, standing upright and trying to shrug Yoko off. Yoko just grabbed my waist and held me closer. He smiled and I could see tears in his eyes.
"I do too." He said as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He sighed and sat on the bench, pulling me next to him. "Poor kid, not even seventeen yet and already the prospect of marriage is forced on him." I nodded.
"Let's not forget the girls although, they don't seem to have a problem." I said. Yoko held my hand and squeezed it.
"I heard that you are in line for marriage also."
I turned to look at him. His yellow eyes watched me seriously and my heart fluttered.
"What are you saying?" He turned his head and looked around.
"Nothing, only that if the gracious Prince Zuko decides not to marry you, I will." He kissed my hand and looked and me. "If you wish it." I couldn't help smiling.
"I wish it very much." He leaned in and really kissed me then.
…………………………….
Later, we returned to the palace to find both of my parents. As soon as my mother saw me, she rushed over, her mouth a thin line.
"Heavens child! Where have you been?" She said, her little body saying back and forth. Yoko came forward, bowing to her and my father. My father smiled, always having liked him. My mother, on the other hand, disliked the prospect of me being out and about with a young man alone. As Yoko and my father talked, she whispered her disapproval in my ear.
"Think about your station! What would the others think about your…wandering off with someone like him?" She jerked her head in Yoko's direction.
"Mama! Yoko is one of my best friends! Do you not remember him but at all? He is perfectly reasonable."
My mother shook her head and tightened her mouth, but said no more on the subject, for which I was grateful. My father, his round stomach bouncing, came over to us, Yoko trailing behind.
"Well, my dear wife, I have news for you! If the young prince does not choose our daughter as his bride, she will finally be married off to him!" He pointed to Yoko and smiled at my mother's upturned nose. "We'll at least be rid of her that way!" He smiled at me and pinched my cheek lightly.
"I've seen you two before, and if it didn't end like this, I would have been surprised." He whispered. "I hope you two will be happy." I kissed him on the cheek and smiled.
"Thank you papa!" He motioned Yoko over.
"But, I must say that no information will be revealed until the Prince's seventeenth birthday! Do not make yourselves known or there will be dire consequences! Understood?" He gave us both a stern look. We both nodded and smiled at each other. "Good!"
We walked into the palace hall for dinner. I had to sit at the table with the other brides, so Yoko sat with my parents. The prince, I was surprised to see, was sitting with us. He was next to Natsumi, closest to his father. I looked down at my plate and thought of Yoko. Looking up, I saw that he was staring at me. His eyes darted to the prince and we both smiled and hid our faces, shaking silently. Then the Fire Lord walked in. Everyone got up and bowed as he sat himself on the throne. He looked around, observing to room and its contents. When he came to his son, he smiled cynically. I shuddered.
"Begin." He waved his hand lazily and the servants brought out plates heaping with food. I ate very little, having only a few vegetables. Ren kept poking me in the side, wanting to know all about the prince or telling me what he was doing.
"Aya what was he wearing when you saw him?" and "Oh, look how he eats his food!" and "Who do you think he'll choose?"
I felt like I was going to throw up.
…………………………………..
After dinner, I went to my room. There, it was quiet, and I could read a new book that Yoko had gotten for me. I sighed and rifled through the pages, looking at some of the intricately drawn pictures.
The sun just bordered on the horizon, creating a magnificent sunset, something the Fire Nation was famous for. Turning to look out the open window, I could see the pinkish clouds in the sky, turning darker and darker as the sun sunk. Snapping my fingers, I lit the candle next to my bed with my own fire, savoring the heat I had created. Though I knew my father and mother disapproved of my firebending, would it matter if I did it once in a while? I shook my head and sat against the pillows on my bed, opening the book to the first page. I got halfway through when a new thought burst into my mind.
The Avatar.
How could I have forgotten him? How could I have forgotten the Avatar? Wasn't he the reason Prince Zuko could return home? Wasn't he the only thing stopping Fire Lord Ozai from winning the war? Wasn't he the only one who could save the world?
Wasn't he, at this very moment, captured inside the palace walls?
I sat bolt upright. How, above all things, could I have forgotten the Avatar?
I got out of bed. I shook my head and sat down. What did it matter? He was the Avatar. So what? The Fire Nation needed to win the war. The Avatar was in the way, so problem solved.
I got up again.
But it was the Avatar. I knew how bad the war had gotten, how many lives had been lost, how many children without parents, how many families without sons and daughters. I knew that the Avatar could stop their pain.
I sat.
I couldn't help, I knew. What could someone like me do? Nothing. Nothing, just sit here and let the Avatar and the world die. Only the Avatar could stop the war.
I stood again.
No, that wasn't true. Someone else could stop the war. Someone who knew about Lord Ozai's disdain for others. Someone who knew all about the war.
Prince Zuko.