"Ouch! Oy, do you really have to be so rough?"
The teenage boy scoffed over to his sparing partner, annoyed by the way she was trying to hide a giggle with her prop wooden staff.
"It's not like this is a dress rehearsal!"
"Sorry, Ikem," the young girl replied easily, swishing her long play-weapon back to a ready position. "I fought off two mongoose-wolves yesterday with this thing. I need to be more aggressive."
Ikem laughed, the Adam's apple in his throat bobbing like that of a proper man. It made the girl smile, but she hoped the color in her cheeks hadn't suddenly matched the sakura pink of her garb.
"My dear lady, are you comparing your best friend to a mongoose-wolf?" Ikem teased, taking a bit of the sweat out of his forehead with the back of his free hand. "Let me remind you that if it hadn't been for my groveling at Master Gan, he would never have taken a girl into his summer theater camp."
The girl just shook her head that, though deep down, she knew Ikem was right.
Up until a few years ago, the department of arts and culture in the small city of Hira'a had been strictly male-oriented; even the roles of women in their plays had been given to young boys – the apprentices training to be full-time performance artists themselves someday. Ursa remembered that festival of Summer Solstice as a child, seeing it as a lovely birthday present when her parents took her out of their rural farm-town of Poulain to watch the tragic story of Love Amongst the Dragons.
It wasn't until one year, when she had snuck into the back of the stage during intermission to admire the brilliant costumes and makeup of the Dragon Court… that she realized it was a boy who had been playing the brave Dragon Empress opposite an older, more muscular-toned Dragon Emperor.
That boy had turned out to be Ikem.
He had been placing a finishing touch-up on his cherry red lips, and Ursa had felt more fascinated or shocked at such a revelation. But she hadn't scurried away. Ikem noticed her… that girl perhaps no older than ten… watching him with intrigue as he did his make-up in the mirror. Ikem had smiled at her warmly, gesturing for her to come closer while dozens of other boy actors seemed to swim in costumes between them. Ursa had stood still, nervously shaking her head with a 'no,' and so Ikem did the grand gesture of meeting her where she was.
The Dragon Empress looked so beautiful. Radiant. Magnificent. Ursa couldn't believe she'd been a he. A scrawny, fourteen-year-old boy, by the looks of it.
Would you like to try some on? Ikem had asked her, offering little Ursa the tiny red brush he had used to paint his lips. After what seemed a lifetime, Ursa had smiled and moved her head for a 'yes,' closing her eyes, letting her lips be painted a womanly red for the very first time. He had brought a small pocket mirror with his other hand, and when Ursa reopened her eyes, it was like she had been reborn into a Dragon Empress herself.
'What do you think?' Ikem asked, admiring the giant smile coming from this little girl. 'Cool, huh?'
Before the girl could say anything, the end-of-intermission bell had rung a bellowing CLUNG! CLUNG! and Ikem was called in for places. Ursa watched him disappear among the moving pool of costumes. When she finally returned to meet her parents outside in the spectators' hall, her father had almost spilled his tea at the redness of her lips. It wasn't until the performance had ended when little Ursa had tugged at her mother's sleeves and pointed to the ensemble of actors giving their curtain call on the stage, saying 'I want to do that!'
Her parents were reluctant – for good reason - to give Ursa that opportunity to shine.
War had become more and more of a common theme ever since Fire Lord Azulon had ascended the throne, and the peaceful town of Poulain did not want any part of this colonization of the Earth Kingdom. With Azulon's reign came the military requirement for all boys to serve their country for at least two years, and while her father and done his time and set free to work his family's farmlands... others had not been so lucky to return.
War had taken the boys of Hira'a out of their dreams of theater and arts, in order to use their stage-fighting and impeccable grace as training for the Fire Nation's army against the Earth Kingdom. At the age of fourteen, Ikem was declared a man, and called to duty to serve his country.
With many boys like him taken out to war, the department of arts and culture in Hira'a would have had to close its doors… had it not been for Ikem suggesting to Master Gan to bring girls in.
The opportunity was there. Ursa's parents could see it…in the bulletin boards… theatrical posters asking for girls aged ten and older to be temporary apprentice actors while the boys were on leave. Knowing it was what she wanted, her parents complied.
But there was a catch.
'Ursa, listen to me' her mother said, while the other patrons were quietly exiting the theater grounds. 'You know your grandfather's name, right? The one we always tell you about in our stories?'
The little girl gave her mother an odd look. 'You mean… the one whose name I'm never supposed to say?'
'Yes, sweetheart,' her mother caressed her daughter's face sadly, 'And there is a very good reason for that. When you're older, we will help you understand why our country hated him so much.'
Ursa's golden-brown eyes rose curiously, but desolately, wondering if there would ever be a day when her parents would stop promising things to her and actually talk.
Her father spoke, then.
'We think it best that you take on a new name for as long as you are training here.'
'What?' Ursa gasped, 'But why? I love my name!'
She did; the story was that her grandmother Ta Min had been the one to honorably name her after such natural beauty and grace.
Her mother shook her head. 'Yes, dear, I know. But this will only be a temporary name… so that any ties between you and your legendary grandfather can be safely hidden.'
And so the girl nodded, but in a strange, abundant sliver of hope as her parents signed her up for the theater arts in Hira'a. She happily got to play with Ikem and the other boys during those few months before they were drafted out to Earth Kingdom sea.
For years, she would pretend to be the Dragon Princess while still feeding her family's keep of pig-chickens and fighting off their mongoose-wolf predators that would sneak into their coops. She would leap off of the fences and sneak stealthily into her mother's herbal greenhouse, concocting a fake version of magical potions that would disguise her dragon form into that of a human, and she would repeat the lines of the play naturally, poetically… as if she knew that someday… she could grace that stage in Hira'a and steal Ikem's thunder the moment he would come back from war.
And he did. Injured and bruised, the boy returned from his active duty to continue his love for the theater. By the time he had returned, the arts council of Hira'a had brought in a handful of girls eager to work the costumes, the makeup, the lighting… and in most cases, the roles themselves. Ikem had let time pass between him and this little girl he had met backstage, watching her be as careful as a butterfly-crane as she applied makeup to the actors. As he let his battle-wounds heal, he taught the girl how to master the walk, the musical instruments, even the delicate fans that made the tiny servant-girl roles so difficult to get as an apprentice actor.
But here she was, at the age of fifteen, playing fiercely with the long wooden bow-staff in the hopes of getting that role she always wanted.
Ikem could see that sparkle in her eyes. She could feel that this was her year, and she had only a few days before she could audition for Love Amongst The Dragons for the first time as a potential performer.
She could see the weight of each sparring blow that Ikem threw at her during that quiet sunset that this was what she was meant to do.
Where she was meant to be.
"...and though I was trapped in the body of a mortal," Ikem began to recite to her, "you willingly gave me your heart."
"Only with your glory hidden in false form could you finally recognize my devotion!" the girl responded promptly, throwing her staff down in a resting position with a huge grin on her face.
Ikem rested his weapon as well, and politely gave a respectful bow to his most devoted apprentice.
"It has been a great honor to work with you, my lady Zuko."
And though the girl kept her smile, that sparkle in her eyes had momentarily begun to fade.