April 89AG

Zuko finally produced his first flame. Ozai started his lessons right away. Azula watched from her window and did what he did inside.

She was more determined than her brother, this was much obvious, but she had no one to correct her form. Pain was her first teacher.

Azula promptly stopped practicing, when she heard the door open. The servant had come in to put away Azula's clean clothes when she saw the young girl's hands.

"Let's get you to a healer."

She took Azula to the doctor's office and they applied salve and wrapped her hands.

"You have to be careful," the healer told Azula. "You're a little girl and fire's a big tool."

Azula pouted.

Once her hands healed, she took off the bandages and start training again. Over the next two months, Azula came back to the healer again and again.

They always lectured her, but no one thought to tell her parents. They didn't know she wasn't supposed to be firebending until she was five.

One day, Lu Ten had an accident of his own and came to the healers. He was surprised to see his cousin.

"How did you get in here?"

"I burned my hand."

"Ouch! It happens to all of us. I got my own back today. I guess I'm not as good as firebending behind the back as I thought I was."

Lu Ten thought about it. "I've never seen you practice."

"I practice alone. Dad won't teach me."

"Why not?"

"He said I was too young. He was going to teach me, but mother stopped him."

Lu Ten asked the nurses. "How long has Azula been coming her?"

"The past two months."

Stubbornness ran in the bloodline of Sozin. Lu Ten knew she would keep training herself.

"How about if you stop training alone, I'll teach you?"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

She hugged him. "You're the best."

"Let's keep this our little secret."

The cousins would meet in Lu Ten's private courtyard, so he could teach her how to firebend.

Her skills were very impressive for her age, but there were times when it was apparent that she was only three. She had this clumsiness that came from her continuous growing.

A move would feel different a month after she had learned it, but the princess would never quit. She was going to be a great bender. She would show everyone.

Ursa, however, had her own ideas about what a princess should be.

"I don't like this dress." It was pink and fluffy.

"We want to make a good impression in front of your father's friends."

"Then why aren't you wearing this dress?"

Ursa frowned. "A lady knows how to present herself in front of gentlemen."

Zuko came in. He had just been playing outside.

"He's no gentleman. He's covered in dirt."

"Zuko, go to the servants and get your bath."

"Yes mother."

The princess presented her daughter in front of Ozai's friends.

"Isn't she cute?" they complimented.

She scowled at them.

"Azula!"

"I don't want to be cute. I want to firebend."

The men found her hilarious.

One of them said, "you should have her sing for us next time."

"NO!" Azula yelled at him.

Ursa dragged her away by the hand. "How could you embarrass me like that?"

"He embarrassed me. I won't sing for him!"

Ursa dragged her to her room. She was on time out. Azula looked at the faded marks on her hand. She knew exactly who she was, and she wasn't her mother's puppet. Ursa's hands were perfect because she didn't bend. Azula, however, was a firebender. Her hands were all the proof she needed.

Azula took off her dress and burned it.