Azula's world had turned on its head. Her mother was gone. Her cousin Lu Ten was dead. Her uncle had deserted the army at Ba Sing Se. And now her father was the Fire Lord. It was almost too much to handle. Shortly after her Father's coronation, she snuck down to Teo's room beside the workshop. It was still normal in there. Teo hadn't changed like everyone else. Teo would never leave her behind.
"Aza and Fandhir then drank the Water of Immortality, so that they could continue adventuring forever," Teo said, his arm still around Azula's shoulders as they lay on his bed.
"I am too old for dragon stories now," she sniffled and moved away from Teo.
"What will happen now?" Teo asked, sitting up next to her.
"I will start attending the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. And you will stay here. Father will want more inventions, so you should be busy enough without me," she curled her legs underneath her, not caring that she was wrinkling her best set of clothes.
"I want to show you something," he said, pulling himself towards the edge of the bed.
The Fire Princess watched him rummage around a moment before giving him a shove, causing him to fall off the narrow bed. She often found reasons to push him over. Make him fall. She didn't know why, but it made her feel better. Especially when he got back up again.
"Ow!" Teo lay on the floor, his legs tangled in the sheet. After a few minutes, he crawled back up on the bed with his princess and handed her something made of red paper and wooden rods.
"What is this? Some kind of terrible fan?" Azula turned the thing over in her hand.
"No, it's a glider. Here, I'll show you," he carefully and gently took it from her, an act that would usually end in pain, but she was curious enough to let him go. He held it in his hand and threw it, sending the glider along a long, graceful slope until it landed against the wall.
"It flies like an airbender?" the Fire Princess slipped off the bed and retrieved the toy. She aimed it back at Teo and threw, and the glider landed next to him. "What is it for?"
"For flying. It's modeled after the gliders the air nomads used. But modified for regular people to fly," he picked the toy up again, but did not throw it.
"Why would you want to fly?"
"Because if I could fly, then no one could tell me that I couldn't do something," he didn't meet Azula's gaze.
"My companion wishes to fly, and fly he shall!" She grabbed the glider from him and ran out the door of his room. Teo scrambled to his chair to catch up to her. Azula ran to the workshop and up the ladder to the catwalk. Along the way she found a brush and wrote Teo's name on the toy.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Teo stopped at the ladder, looking up at her.
"Go look out the window!" She yelled, then opened the window nearest her, tossing the glider out the window.
The paper glider was picked up by the wind and carried over the garden before it disappeared out of sight. The pair just watched the horizon. It was a long moment before the Princess came back down to Teo's level. She grabbed the arms of Teo's chair and golden eyes met brown. "You will do the same when I come home for the Summer Solstice Festival."
Teo just nodded. Azula had given him an order and he would follow it.
The Academy was boring. She was the most advanced student there. It was practically a waste of her time. Private tutors were sent. Extra lessons. Her Father's letters came less frequently and only received instruction from her tutors. She felt abandoned. Not even Zuko could bother to visit her. Zuko spent most of his time with Uncle Iroh. They were both traitors.
But at least here she wasn't alone. Ty Lee and Mai were there to keep her company. The three of them got along well enough. They were her oldest friends, after all. But she never told them about Teo. They had forgotten about the boy in the workshop. She didn't even share his letters with them. Teo belonged to her and her alone. As always.
Finally alone in her room, she opened Teo's letter and read. "Dear Princess Azula," his letters always started with formality.
"After damaging the gardens, Father and I were practically banished to the mountains until we perfected the glider. Fire Lord Ozai sees the potential in air travel, it seems. I have completed several short flights, but it is too difficult to stay in the air for longer, sustained travel. I believe we will work it out though. If Father will let me after the last fall. The village where we are staying is nice but their doctor doesn't know what to do with me. He doesn't believe that learning to fly is a worthy pursuit. But he also wouldn't believe that the Fire Princess Herself has ordered the task done! The next time I fall, I will just have to try to miss the ground!"
Azula smiled at Teo's humor, always making her smile.
"Send up a signal when you have the palace in sight. I will be waiting for your return."
The Fire Princess sighed. Teo wanted her and was waiting. He was even still trying to follow her unrealistic order to learn how to fly.
She burned Teo's letter and dusted off her hands. It wouldn't do for anyone else to know how he wrote to her. Or that he wrote to her at all. With that task finished, she headed to the practice arena. If she was to keep her Father happy, she needed to be the best. Not only did she need to be better than all the girls here, she needed to be better than Zuko.
Zuko had been Mother's favorite. But Azula planned on more than just stories and hugs. She wanted the throne. And once their father saw how powerful she was, he would understand that she was above toys and school and childish things. She would have her own rule once Ozai ruled the world.
With her own piece of the world, she could then be free. Just her and Teo. Free to fly and dance and do whatever they wanted. Without change. Without betraying mothers or dying cousins or things that make the floor drop out of her orderly world.
And as she practiced, she formed plans. And as she formed plans... her flame glowed hotter. It would all be hers. She just needed a little patience.