Fire Nation Royalty

It remains a fact that the Fire nation is the world's most politically motivated country. Power is a prize most often sought after in any setting from the prestigious offices of the royal leaders to the streets of its citizens. It does not discriminate but only enlightens those who are worthy, the people of high honour.

Supremacy over another is also present in a family household, sadly. It can tear a lot of people apart. Azula would know a lot about that.

Princess Azula of the fire nation, dressed in earth kingdom security uniforms, studying some water nation scrolls having the concentration and patience that would make any air nomad monk nod in approval. Azula had been part of a family that had killed each other in exchange for a position of power and supremacy over an entire nation. She had been born with power.

Her life hadn't been the easiest. After the whole fiasco following the death of her grandfather, she had been assigned a counsellor of sorts. Uncle Iroh had personally advised her about it. He had seen her struggle more so than any else following the fall of Ozai. Azula reluctantly followed her Uncle, more so against her will. Iroh had used his power as fire lord to give her a direct order knowing she would not disobey a command from the reigning leader of the nation.

So, it began. The princess refused at first to talk.

The union of her father and mother had caused many tensions within the royal family. There were theories that her mother had poisoned Fire Lord Azulon. Ursa was banished and her father had played favourites which caused her bad relationship with her sibling.

Her father was dead and her mother was most likely as well. Zuko, she felt didn't have the same anguish as she did when her father passed. Zuko might have felt the same as she did for their father, for their mother.

When she was twelve, she would spend countless of hours wasting time thinking in her room. She would choose be preoccupied with fire bending practice rather than sit idle. Her brother Zuko would still be away in military training. She still had a year before she'd be allowed to go by which time Zuko would have already completed his.

Azula couldn't wait to be away. She was tired of the royal guardians, Tenji. Azula smirked as she remembered that Zuko had still been overseen by Tenji even at the training facilities. Thankfully, she was granted more freedom than him. Azula had not been intimidated by Tenji, no. But, his presence makes you wary and to build up power, one must diminish this kind of bothersome element.

So when she was given a chance to leave the palace, she took it without questions, no apprehension. Now, Azula only had herself to answer.

The meeting with the counsellor took place every fortnight or so and unfortunately for Azula, fourteen days had passed since he last saw him. Tonight, she told him everything directly leading up to her esca- assignment to the Earth Kingdom as an ambassador.

"That's quite…. astonishing." He said.

"Are we done yet?" She asked impatiently.

The man had quietly shook his head and bid his farewell with a bow. Azula made no move to acknowledge him. The man had exited the same way he entered and Azula resumed with her business prior to the counsellor's disturbance.

Niece,

How are you Azula? I do hope everything is going well. I wonder if you are due to visit home. We are swamped with work and I could use any excuse to get out of it, especially now with Zuko's marriage looming. I am not aware whether Zuko had informed you of this in his letters but he is engaged to be married! Zuko's engagement will be going on as discussed. The ships have been sent off to escort the princess a few days ago.

Regarding the matter discussed in your last letter, has the tensions lessened? I'm afraid if it had not, we will have another international issue to address.

When will we hold your wedding, niece? I do appreciate your work in the Earth Kingdom very much but I would appreciate it more if you were here in the fire nation with a family and more importantly my grandchildren.

Fire Lord Iroh

The princess snorted and burned the letter to crisps. Whether it was for the impression of her brother sending her letters or the idea of her getting married and having kids, she wasn't entirely sure.

Zuko paced a times in front of the door after purposely walking the longest way he could remember from his room to the Princess' current room. The guards who were posted to keep the princess safe remained stoic but were inwardly amused. It was not every day that you can see Prince Zuko flustered. After a few moments, Zuko had himself composed, nodded to the guard and they stepped aside to let him knock. He heard some steps behind the door and the door unlocked.

Zuko being nervous stuttered, "Umm… hi. I-I mean, good evening."

Katara stared at him incredulously before replying, "Good evening."

Zuko noticed she had changed her clothes from earlier. The princess had refused to look at him. He offered Katara his arm and she hesitantly took it clasping her own arm around his.

Zuko lead her down the corridor and away from the guards outside the princess' chambers.

"Look, I really don't know what I said." He exclaimed. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Katara stayed quiet and Zuko had a feeling she wasn't really listening.

"Did I say something to offend you?"

"No." Katara said coolly. "It was something you did."

"Care to enlighten me, as I am currently unaware?"

"You act like a total jerk."

Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to reply as they had reached their destination.

Katara had yet to meet the leader of the fire nation and she had a feeling that that will be ticked off her list very soon as she really hoped that she was not dining alone with Zuko. But the fire lord had yet to arrive, very important figures had better things to do than be early for supper.

As soon as they entered the dining hall, Katara noticed that there was no one in the room apart from several guards that were standing against the wall, for each one there would be another standing directly on the opposite side of the room. The palace was definitely filled with guards everywhere. There were guards stationed in every other corridor.

Every time she walked passed one of them since she had arrived a few hours ago, Katara felt self-conscious but didn't know why. It was not as if they had bothered her but she felt like they were still statues and the implications of their presence. Katara very much doubted that there would be as many guards if there was no threat to security. Was this the life at the top, being overly aware of what's going on around; being too afraid?

Katara took her mind off her first question of the fire lord's presence and of course gone off thinking about palace security in an effort to ignore Crown Prince Zuko. She thought of herself childish sometimes but remembered she is a child.

Children like her shouldn't be in a room with their future spouse, awaiting a leader of a nation and expecting to be having dinner with them. She should be outside speculating how they people do dine with major rulers not inside actually doing it. She wonders when she ceased being considered as a child or even been treated as a child.

A guard cleared his throat to gain attention. "The fire lord will be here in a few moments."

Zuko thanked him and the guard bowed and went back to his position.

Katara's mind raced. She hadn't heard much about the fire lord. She would however admit to hearing very bad statements about his predecessor.

"Fire Lord Iroh." The man boomed.

The fire lord entered and Katara was a bit surprised. She hadn't thought that the leader of the fire nation would be old as her Gran Gran. She tells a lie, he was about a decade or two younger than Gran Gran but honestly, she always thought that the fire lord would be about the same age or a few years older that her father. She was wrong.

"Sorry, I'm late. I didn't realize the time." The fire lord said sheepishly.

She bowed and noticed that Zuko had done the same. It was unusual to her to see the prince bowing down to someone even though that said someone is the leader of his nation.

"Good evening, nephew," the fire lord greeted. The fire lord glanced at the guest and extended the welcome to her as well. "Hello, miss."

"Good evening Uncle." Zuko said quietly. She had her back to Zuko and was unaware that he was staring at her.

There was a shift behind the Fire lord and Katara noticed that all the guards except two had exited the door and close the door leading to the hallway.

"I don't know your name, dear." Iroh confessed turning to her.

"I am Katara of the Southern Water Tribes; Pleased to meet you, my lord." She said pleasantly.

"Well, you're very pretty Miss Katara."

Katara blushed and quietly thanked him.

Iroh lead them to the dining table and he took the seat at the end of the table. Zuko had offered his arm again and she wondered why but took it anyway and he guided her to the seat to the fire lord's left and Zuko sat directly across her.

Zuko had tried to catch her eye again but she evaded him.

Thankfully, a few servants carrying trays had entered. They had brought tonight's food, many bowls and plates of fire nation food some stuff she didn't recognize at first but quickly recognized as water tribe food. She was a bit touched that someone would plan to serve food from her home nation on her first night in the fire nation. Katara felt ready to devour all of the food; it had been a while since she had had a proper water tribe meal.

They had set the food on the table in front of her and they quickly bowed and after gaining a gesture of recognition from the fire lord, left.

"Splendid." Iroh clapped his hands together in excitement. "Let us begin on this delicious set of food."

So, they did. Zuko and Iroh had moved to get their own food and after a brief moment of hesitance, Katara moved to get the bowl of stewed sea prunes. The aroma of the dish had been drawing her and she'd been excited to get a taste of it.

After feasting on it, Katara assessed that the sea prunes had been better than she expected. The sea prunes however were not as good as the way her Gran Gran made them at the home but it was passable.

Iroh had entertained them during supper and asked some questions. Even Zuko offered some reluctant conversation, not that she'd respond to him directly. Overall, Katara noted that dinner was quite an informal affair. It was very different from what she imagined it would have been.

She seemed intelligent and polite enough, Iroh thought relieved. Iroh could imagine the trouble if the princess was reluctant to cooperate. The fire lord confessed that he had been worried about her first night at the palace; however it would seem that she had fitted in properly tonight.

When he complemented her, he had meant it. Iroh thought to himself that the princess would make a fine leader one day after some few instructions. She gave Iroh the impression of someone who was strong and easily adaptable.

As the night had gotten deeper, the more Iroh had become interested in conversing with her. He also noticed that Zuko, despite keeping silent, had been captivated. Katara had offered a fascinating dialogue. Iroh noted however that Katara had been very unwilling to talk to Zuko or even look at him. He sighed; Zuko had not managed to fix his wrong.

Throughout supper, he had tried to get Zuko's attention but failed to get an appropriate response.

"So what do you do in your spare time?"

Katara swallowed and replied, "I used to explore the South Pole with my brother and travel to the North Pole."

"Your brother is Princess Yue's husband, yes?" Iroh asked.

"Yes, my lord." Katara said. "They got married nearly two years ago."

"Zuko's sister is in the Earth kingdom." Iroh said. He noticed Zuko flinch at her name but thankfully Katara had not noticed.

Katara nodded. "Princess Azula."

"She works as the fire nation ambassador to the Earth Kingdom." Zuko said.

They were silent. Eventually, Iroh had thought of another topic for conversation. Katara had still avoided Zuko and Zuko had seemed to personally decide to stop trying to get her attention.

Upon her arrival in the palace, Katara had been having a hard time trying to navigate around for something as simple as finding a place for peace. One of her personal maids had thankfully given Katara a tour around the palace. On her tour, Katara had come across and become intrigued by the library in the west wing. The room had restricted access but the maid assured her that she'd be allowed to use it.

"Are you sure?" Katara asked. "I don't want to get caught somewhere I'm not allowed to be."

"It's for the royal family's use." The girl insisted. "No one else is allowed inside."

"If you say so..." Katara said still uncertain. Katara looked at the doors to the library with longing.

"You can go in if you wish." She said noticing her facial expression.

"No. No." Katara said. "Let's just continue on." The servant girl did not argue and they turned into the next corridor, away from the library.

Since the tour around the palace, Katara had still not visited the library even though she had wanted to go. Katara had been in the palace for three whole weeks today. She had been keeping herself busy doing absolutely nothing. Most of the servants had been working and her fiancé and his uncle had been working and she had not been working. There was nothing to work on.

Katara had at least expected to do something related to her wedding but learned that there had been no preparation for the wedding at the moment and they were to do it nearer to the day itself. In the water tribe customs, preparation for weddings had usually begun within a fortnight of the engagement. The wedding was usually held 6 months at the earliest after the engagement because of the amount of preparation needed. She had informed them of this but was completely surprised by what they told her.

"You and prince Zuko aren't even technically engaged yet."

She looked confused. "The only reason I'm even in the fire nation is because of my engagement to the prince."

"Ah… Here in the fire nation, engagements are only official when it has been announced. There is a formal party and everything." The woman said, quietly, "Especially for something as big as the crown prince's marriage."

Katara then realized she had never really asked when the wedding was when her father informed her about her impending marriage to the fire nation prince; she had been too busy smashing ice sculptures outside the tribe's compound.

Her fiancé had probably been aware of their wedding date but there a problem arose. The prince had not uttered a word to her since the incident at dinner. Although sometimes, she would notice Prince Zuko was staring at her during supper but quickly returning to his meal when he noticed her looking back at him. Katara had sometimes felt that he wished to tell her something but, nothing.

Katara took her mind of the male and focused on reaching her destination. The guards had took notice of her and bowed soundlessly. It had taken a while before some of them had stopped being surprised when she walked around the palace unaccompanied. Apparently, it was not part of the norms for a guest to walk around without supervision. She could argue however that she was not a merely a guest but she would have rather not admit it out loud.

She reached the wooden sliding doors and entered. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. It was quiet. She was alone.

The room contained was full of shelves filled with hundreds of scrolls and texts. Carefully categorized, there were scrolls on about everything Katara could think of and more. Aside from storage, there was a single desk and a few chairs in different parts of the library.

Rushing to one of the shelves, Katara gently grabbed one that was labeled as 'Early Divisions of Qin Lo' and took a seat in one of the comfy chairs. She recognized the place as one of the ancient places that people had come to pray to the healer spirits centuries ago. The scroll began with a brief foreword confirming her minimal knowledge and gone on in detail about the disagreements that had torn the province apart. Qin Lo had today remained a vast ruin in the far eastern side of the earth kingdom.

Katara whom was fully absorbed in the new knowledge had paid no mind to her surroundings. Had she been aware, she'd notice that she was no longer alone.

"Princess Katara."

"Fire Lord Iroh!" Katara said startled.

She set down the scrolls and rose up from her seat. Katara bowed and the fire lord objected.

"None of that please." Iroh said. "We are just by ourselves."

Katara apologized. Iroh chuckled and took a seat across her and Katara followed suit returning to her position before being disturbed.

"What are you reading, dear?"

"Just some old scriptures about healing spirits," She replied.

"Is healing perhaps an interest of yours?"

She blushed, "Yes, sir." Katara hadn't really talked much about her home life and having the leader of the fire nation ask her a simple question was quite unusual.

"How is everything going with Prince Zuko?" He asked. "I have not noticed you conversing with him.

"I must confess, we haven't really talked that much." Katara said.

"He isn't very talkative, is he?" Iroh chuckled.

"I'm… he's very, well, different." She said sheepishly. Iroh had nodded and that gave her reassurance to go on. "It's like he can turned from a completely strong bossy prince to a shy stuttering boy. He's, I don't know."

"Zuko is used to dealing with strangers whom he will probably have a very slim chance of ever meeting again. He gets them every day in his nature of work. People from the city, nobles from far away in the fire nation; they do not have a day to day impact on his life." He said solemnly. "It takes a while for him to get used to permanent fixtures."

Katara looks away. She didn't like to be reminded of her situation. She thought it was quite pathetic of her to do so because there is absolutely no reason for her to be afraid or be ashamed of the fact. Katara was getting married but sometimes she wished for something more than this.

"How are you, my lord?" Katara said politely. "Has your day been well?"

"I am fine, thank you." Iroh replied joyously. "My day was composed of getting visitors from some of the western provinces."

They continued to talk about general things, about things that didn't have anything to do with her engagement.

Are the Fire Nation customs similar to the Southern Water Tribes'? The same question had been holding Katara back from weeks on end. It had been a full moon tonight, the first since she arrived in the palace and she's itching to water bend properly.

Tui and La had been calling her again. But, Katara remains frightened of the possibility that she'd be persecuted for practising offensive or defensive bending because she was a woman but she had no one to ask. It was not as if they knew she could bend anyway.

Travelling was always a problem for her in terms of her bending. When she was performing ambassadorial duties in the Northern Water Tribes, she had to keep her bending to a minimum because she knew that the elders would frown upon it.

Did the fire nation allow bending?

"It's late."

Katara turned around to find Prince Zuko standing at the other door to the balcony. He looked tired.

"I know."

"Why are you still awake?" He asked. "Unless you have a pile of paperwork lying around somewhere..."

She shook her head and chuckled.

"Why do fire nation people wake up at sun rise?"

Zuko shrugged. "We usually can't go back to sleep."

"There's your answer." Katara stated. "It's usually worse during the full moon. You don't really know why, but you're just… restless."

He just nodded in agreement.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"Do you- is bending forbidden here?" Katara said. "In the fire nation, I mean."

"No." Zuko said unsure.

"…Even for women?"

"Yes." Zuko nodded. "Why wouldn't women be allowed to bend?"

"I don't know."

"So, you're a water bender." He said as a matter of fact.

She nodded.

"You can go any time it's legal." He joked, "Which is all the time."

She laughed at his lame joke.

"There's a training ground that can be used any time you wish." The prince informed her.

"I confess I had been wondering about it, your bending abilities."

"I wanted to ask but, I never really got to do it."

They were both silent. They both knew the cause of their hesitance. Zuko had been feeling guilty about avoiding her for the past couple of weeks and intended to make up for it.

"I'm sorry." He said. "About not being able to talk to you for the past couple of weeks and for acting stupid when you first arrived."

She remained silent for a bit then responded, "Apology accepted. I guess I overreacted as well."

"I saw you having a conversation with Uncle earlier."

"Were you listening in?"

"No." He quickly denied. "I was just wondering what you were talking about since he won't tell me, unless it's a secret."

She rolled her eyes. "It isn't a secret but I'd rather not tell you."

"That's fine, Princess." Zuko didn't want her to feel pressured. He had a long time to think about how he was going to talk and act around her.

A silence followed. Katara was looking at the stars and Zuko had been fiddling with the sleeves of his robes.

"Prince Zuko, I'd rather you called me just Katara." She said quietly.

"Call me Zuko, then." He smiled.

Zuko was silent for a while and she really didn't feel like saying anything else.

When the tribe got together in the South Pole, Katara remembered listening into girls' conversations about how boys were confusing. She disagreed with a lot of what they said. Living with Sokka had been simple enough; sometimes she'd think he was just stupid, a simpleton, until, of course, Gran-Gran scolded her for such remarks. Now, Katara had understood what they were going on about: boys were confusing. Well, Zuko certainly was.

Zuko had to admit that he had never felt this nervous to simply ask a girl a question.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" He said brazenly.

She looked confused. "I have dinner with you every night."

"I mean just the two of us." He gulped and continued, "You know, like a date."

"Oh." She said.

"You don't have to do it."

"Of course Prince Zuko yes."

They spoke at the same time. There was a pause again.

"I don't want you to feel obliged to say yes." He frowned.

"No. I think it's a great idea." She grinned. She remembered what Iroh said earlier and thought that she and Zuko needed some time to talk alone and dinner seemed to be the only solution that came to mind.

"So, is tomorrow night alright?" He asked.

"Sure."

Zuko smiled.

After days of anxiety, Zuko finally did it. Zuko stripped his shirt off and slipped under his sheets. He had the date all planned, the food, the drinks, the setting, the time, his clothes and he was going to walk her back to her room after dinner.

Now, Zuko had to simply sleep, wake up tomorrow and follow his little plan. The first part of his statement was of course already becoming a trouble as he seemed too excited to sleep.

A/N Awkward and moody Zuko strikes again. AND AZULA. Yes, I wanted Azula in this story because of reasons. I personally think that Azula is a redeemable character if Zuko hadn't left was banished but I don't know your opinion so... Anyway, I know this chapter took like a month to finish but I had school, which is a valid excuse, and homework, which needs doing unfortunately, so sorry. However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this had over 4,000 words.

The next one will be published as soon as I get around to writing and finishing it. No time frames, sorry. Reviews please!