Of Fire

Chapter 14

Ba Sing Se, the Capital of the Earth Kingdom. The great walls, and there were many walls, all decorated in rich earthy colors of greens and browns and yellow had all four children of the Fire Nation's royalty staring out of the open windows of their trolley. It was a joyous occasion: the crowning of a new ruler. But this was the first any of the children had left the safety of the Fire Nation upper class and the new scenery amazed them. Even Detia, who was not easily impressed, set on her knees looking out the window at the sheer vastness of the city. A while back Ty Lee had informed Detia that Azula, along with Mai and herself, had succeeded in breeching Ba Sing Se's inner sanctum and taking over the city. When she was told, Detia was staring at the map of the world and was slightly impressed considering the scale size.

But seeing the city in its grandeur and acknowledging that her mother had taken it over at the ripe old age of fourteen had her more amazed than she had ever been before – excluding the first time she watched her mother create lightning. The lightning bender looked at her mother and smiled, telling her without telling her what she was thinking about. Azula smirked, turning her gaze to the two earth benders moving the cart. Her smirk grew as they tensed. They still remembered what that then fourteen year old had done to their great city and were weary of the Fire Nation Princess.

"It's cold here." Ursa noted as she moved away from the window and into her father's lap.

Zuko chuckled, "Yeah, it's a little cold."

Detia continued looking through the window, mentally noting the difference in temperature. It was the middle of summer in the Fire Nation temperatures were raising to one-hundred degrees in the shade and the royal family would be enjoying the high temperatures in their home on Ember Island. But the Earth Kingdom was higher north and thus colder. It felt like a Fire Nation fall and even though they had dressed in heavier clothing than they normal would this time of year the wind cut through their clothing like a cold knife.

Lu Ten set down in his seat between his parents, getting bored with the scenery, and turned his attention to his aunt. "I heard that you conquered Ba Sing Se during the 100 year war, Aunt Azula." He asked with the innocence of a child, completely ignorant of the Earth Benders shooting him a dirty look.

Aside from the twins, no one else missed the look the Earth Benders were giving him and just because she was who she was Azula answered. "Yes I did with the help of Ty Lee and your mother, of course."

"It was all your planning, Azula." Mai surprising intoned before Ty Lee could say anything.

Excited, Lu Ten's eyes widened, "Wow, how did you manage that? I read in history class that no one else had ever managed it."

Azula smirked, lend back slightly and crossed her arms. "Now that is my secret."

"Aw, come on. Please Aunt Azula." Lu Ten whined lightly.

The Fire Nation Princess' expression lessened somewhat, only enough for Ty Lee to notice, at her nephew's whine. She really hated it when children whined. However, before she could say anything Detia jumped down from her window, walked over to her cousin with a rolled up scroll in her hand and hit him square in the forehead with it. He fell back dramatically as Ursa broke out in a peel of laughter, Ezra smiling as well. The adults tried to stop themselves from laughing, some doing a better job at it than others. Mai for example managed to keep her expression completely neutral whereas Azula was chuckling lightly. "What was that for?" Lu Ten yelled as he rubbed his head.

'You were whining.' Detia answered, returning to her seat between Ty Lee and Azula, 'It was irritating.'

Ty Lee pulled her daughter a bit closer, in a gesture of complete love, as she tried to suppress her own laugh. In turn, Azula look her eight-year olds hand in the same gesture except with a bit a pride thrown in there. Lu Ten huffed childishly and reasoned, "You could have just told me to stop. You didn't need to hit me."

Detia's golden eyes rolled, 'You wouldn't have listened, you never do. Because I'm 'younger''

"You're lucky you're younger than me." He remarked indignantly.

'You're just saying that because you can't come up with something better to say.' Detia replied with a slight smirk.

For his response Lu Ten stuck his tongue out at his cousin huffed again. "That's mature." Ezra commented, reinforcing her sister's giggles.

Lu Ten sighed heavily then mumbled, "I wish I had a brother."

Mai smiled at her son and pulled him into a hug. "It wouldn't have changed anything if they had been boys."

The boy smiled brightly as he hugged his mother back. The trolley jerked to a stop as a loud song-bird like call echoed across the vast opening that made up the Earth Kingdom Palace's entrance. The sound shortly followed by a smaller meow-like roar. "We're here." Ezra remarked lightly.

Lu Ten and Ursa jumped up instantly, barely waiting for the trolley to come to a complete stop before jumping off. Their united voices echoing, "Uncle Iroh!" had Ezra's steps quicken.

Azula, Ty Lee, and Detia were the last off the trolley, coming to a scene of the rest of their family hugging Iroh. 'Aren't you going to say hello to your great uncle?' Thunder's young male voice questioned as the large yellow bird dropped down from the top of the trolley, followed by the golden dragon.

Sunstone cawed in agreement as her front claws latched onto one of Azula's shoulders and her back claws latched onto the opposite shoulder – acting much like a large golden scarf. "Don't you start." Azula warned the dragon sternly as she rubbed the hard scaled nose.

'I second that.' Detia remarked, thumping Thunder's beak enough to make him jerk back.

"Oh! You finally made it." Toph's voice boomed, the only warning she gave before Detia found herself six feet in the air, holding onto black hair almost franticly.

'Toph!' Detia yelled mentally before she settled, finding herself on Toph's shoulders with her fingers digging into Toph's eyes.

Toph's answer was laced with annoyance, "Those are my eyes."

'It's okay, you don't need them.' Was Detia's response once she calmed and gained her bearings.

"Toph," Iroh's surprised voice called. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your coronation?"

Toph scowled, the annoyance in her aura flaring. "It's tomorrow, Iroh. There's only so much primping I can handle. Ask Katara, the last time someone tried to clean my feet did not end well."

Iroh chuckled and placed his niece on the ground. "Is everyone else here?" Zuko inquired, talking to his uncle.

'You really should have clean feet when they announce you queen.' Detia remarked offhandedly, drawing Toph's attention from Zuko and Iroh to the child on her shoulders.

The Earth Bender rolled her eyes. "My feet are fine the way they are. I'll soak them for a while before the ceremony."

'Yeah, cause that'll get all those years of dirt and mud off your feet.' Detia observed sarcastically. 'I bet someone could tell everywhere you've been if they'd studied the dirt on your feet.'

Toph growled lightly, more amused than angry because what the lightning bender said was probably true, but she could still act like it upset her. "You're lucky your mother's right beside us or else I might have to get mean."

'I don't think my mother would mind much.' Detia offered.

"I wasn't talking about Azula." Toph clarified. "I can handle another bender. It's Ty Lee that scares the shit out of me." Ty Lee giggled at the confession. "If I threatened you in a just a little way I'm positive Ty Lee would have me on the ground in like less than three seconds. I've seen her in action – and don't get smart with me" she pointed a finger in the lightning bender's face, stopping her from refuting that Toph saw her in action. "You know what I mean."

Detia chuckled. 'All playfulness aside, I could probably help you get your feet clean.'

"For real?" Toph asked skeptically.

Detia thought for a second before nodding. 'It wouldn't be that hard, wouldn't even take that long.'

"Detia!" Yue's voice echoed across the open ground as the young Earth Bender rushed down the stairs followed shortly by her brother.

Instantly, Detia found her feet on the ground and a light shove droving her towards Yue. The little princess only had time to look back for a second to see the smirk playing on Toph's lips before she was tackled in a tight hug by Yue. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Toph address her parents and the three walked off. "It seems like it's been forever." Yue was saying, her grip having yet to loosen. "I've missed you so much." That statement confused Detia more than anything. "So, what have you been up to, anything interesting? I've been here mostly, learning to be a better Earth Bender. What about you."

Yue stopped talking suddenly as just as suddenly Detia could breathe again but only for a second before the bone crushing embrace returned – this time by her younger cousin. Ezra loosened her grip slightly, just enough so that Detia could breathe properly. With this chance of being relatively free Detia looked at her surroundings, noticing Lu Ten, Ursa and Atreyu laughing uncontrollably to her left, Iroh, Zuko and Mai talking amongst themselves not far from the three children and Yue on the ground in front of her. How she got there Detia could only guess. And given the death glare coming from Yue's sky blue eyes and the equally menacing aura Ezra was giving off her guess was more than likely right.

Not one word was spoken between Ezra and Yue as their very wills seemed to battle. Detia rolled her eyes and offered her hand to Yue, while keeping Ezra pressed against her with the other hand. The tension evaporated instantly, as Detia knew it would. Yue took the offered hand and pulled herself up, not wasting a second to reclaim Detia in another hug. Though the second hug was much shorter. "Come on." Yue smiled as she tugged Detia's hand. "I'll show you around the palace. It's pretty nice inside. Only the finest stuff has been put out in preparation of the ceremony."

Thunder cawed lightly, 'You can explore.' Detia told him as she was dragged away.

~x~

The palace decorations were everything Azula believed it would be, though she thought it was somewhat pointless considering Toph was blind. "I don't remember seeing half this stuff the last time we were here." Ty Lee remarked, clearly amazed by the beautiful, hand stitched tapestries and rugs and the dark green hand-painted vases and pots that adored the palace like spots on a hippocow

Toph chuckled, "I know, the staff replaced just about everything in the palace."

"So are you excited about becoming Queen?" Ty Lee questioned as her wife continued to examine the palace.

The Master Earth Bender shrugged, "Yeah. I think it's a lot of unnesicary work, but that's just me. Apparently, the Earth Kingdom loves their paperwork." She answered with a 'what can you do' shrug. "But anyways, as requested, we're going to go over the security detail during the celebration and your stay here. Just so you know I understand why you asked this. There are a few people left who would like to see you and your family killed."

"Well, that saves me the time of explaining myself." Azula commented as she laced Ty Lee's arm around her own.

Toph nodded, "In that past, before Bumi took over, there was the Counsel of Five." Azula nodded that she remembered. "There still is a Counsel of Five but their power has lessened greatly since Bumi took over, I plan to continue that. However, the Counsel has suggested that our best soldiers be placed around the palace at certain intervals and they will rotate in shifts." Toph chuckled. "If nothing else there are a large number of soldiers so that might deter anyone trying anything." There was a slight pause. "General How will be joining us shortly to give you a full report. I'll be here to make sure neither of you tries anything." she turned abruptly to Azula. "He's still soar about that coup during the war. But either way, don't make my job harder. So don't be needlessly cruel and malicious."

"What you're really saying is: don't be like myself." Azula translated.

Toph crossed her arms over her chest and huffed lightly. "Exactly. I would hate for Detia to leave the ceremony before it even started."

"What does that make us, just added bystanders?" Ty Lee questioned good naturedly.

Toph shrugged as she turned back around and continued her forward, "Pretty much." There was a light pinch on her shoulder and her entire left arm went numb. "Ty Lee! Damn it."

Azula burst into laughter when it registered what her wife had done. The Fire bender kissed her love soundly for the thirty seconds it took for Toph to regain feeling in her arm. With Ty Lee completely breathless, Azula pulled away and turned to a less than amused Toph. "It could have been much worse." Azula remarked, pulling a dazed Ty Lee past the Earth Bender in the direction of where she remembered the war room was.

Toph caught up quickly and warned, "I would suggest that you don't do that again, Ty Lee."

Ty Lee giggled, "I don't know. If I get kissed like that I might just have to do it more often."

Azula smirked and Toph rolled her eyes. "Seriously, if you do it again in front of anyone they might see it as an assassination attempt and I would hate to lose half my army and your daughter's friendship when she breaks you out of prison."

Azula's expression softened slightly, the aura she gave off making Toph uneasy. "Aw Toph, come now. It'd be more than only half your army. Whose daughter do you think she is?"

"Right," The future Earth Queen deadpanned, "Anyways, General How is just around the corner."

Azula nodded and followed Toph around the corner. The first person she saw was the back of General How before he turned on the approach of his future Queen. He hadn't changed a bit since she last saw him many years ago, well aside from the lines around the corner of his lips and eyes. His dark eyes hardened at the sight of the Fire Nation Princess and any other day the expression on his clearly Earth Kingdom features would have her ego rising and the smirk on her face would be dominate. But the person standing beside General How garnered all of Azula's attention. "Ah." His voice was deep and full of an emotion mimicking arrogance. "Princess Azula."

"Long Feng." Azula addressed coldly, matching his understated threat with one of her own. Ty Lee watched Long Feng's aura flare with pure hatred and Azula's mimic in lesser tones of mere dislike. "What is he doing here?" Azula inquired.

"I'm a changed man." Long Feng remarked with a dramatic hand to his chest, "working off my debt to society." Toph rolled her eyes the exact moment Azula did and Long Feng's aura darkened to rage though his physical expression remained pleasant. "We all get what's coming to us eventually, Princess." The slight lifting of the corner of his mouth unnerved Azula, though that didn't show in her facial expression. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

The instant he was out of ear shot Toph remarked with a hard pat on Azula's back, "He's harmless, don't let him get to you."

"You should be careful of him, Toph. He's loyal to himself only." Azula warned, ignoring the sting from her back.

"We know." General How replied, "But you really have nothing to worry about when it concerns him." The general looked at his future queen, who nodded in affirmative. "Now, let's go through the palace, I'll show you the security measures we've taken to ensure the safety of you and your family and the other guests."

~x~

"And this is the garden." Yue intoned happily, as she gestured to the large open garden. "As you can imagine there are many other gardens on the palace grounds but this is one where Sifu Toph likes to train."

'She's training you?' Detia inquired, more surprised that the Garden looked pristine and perfect than she was that Toph trained others.

"Yeah, my parents had to pull the 'we're friends' card to convince her." Yue laughed.

Ezra scoffed lightly, still clinging to her cousin. "I can't imagine how she deals with you."

Blue eyes glared daggers at the young royal, who's golden eyes carried a very similar look. 'Uh?' Detia mouthed, they'd been at each other's throats ever since they meet that day.

The sound was enough to draw Yue's attention to the lightning bender. The Earth Bender smiled and tugged Detia's hand as she continued their exploration of the garden. Ezra rolled her eyes but didn't let go of Detia's arm. They continued through the garden and more of the palace until they stopped at another garden. This one was much smaller than the other and while it was mainly open space filled with lush green grass there were more bushes and trees and more importantly a pond. "This pond is reserved for royalty only." Yue explained, smiling mischievously. "Sifu Toph showed it to me a couple of times. It's a good place to relax she says. I wouldn't know, I'm usually not allowed in here." She chuckled. "So be quiet so we don't get caught."

Again dull golden eyes rolled. "We don't have to be quiet; both Detia and myself are royalty." Ezra remarked as Yue led them into the garden.

The Earth Bender didn't even turn to Ezra as the ground below the younger Fire Nation royal shifted, pitching Ezra forward. Had she not been holding onto Detia she would have fallen flat on her face. Golden eyes glared at the Earth Bender's back but she didn't say anything in regards to what happened. 'Are you alright?' Detia asked, a comforting hand falling gently on one of Ezra's.

"I'm okay. I just lost my footing." Ezra answered, aware of the smirk on Yue's face.

A white eyebrow lifted, she knew that Ezra didn't lose her footing. Ezra never lost her footing. She was still thinking of why Ezra would lie to her when Yue flopped down by the pond, motioning for Detia to do the same. Detia set beside her friend and Ezra set beside Detia. For a moment the trio stared into the pond, watching the multi-colored koi swim erratically. Ezra put her hand in the water and almost smiled when one of the koi brushed against it.

Movement caught the little royal's eye and before anyone could blink a knife flew towards Yue, landing only a couple of inches from the Earth Bender's hand. Yue looked in a stunned stupor at the knife protruding from ground before angry blue eyes turned to Ezra. "There was a spider." Ezra answered, the small smirk crossing her lips barely visible.

Yue looked again as she pulled the knife from the ground. Sure enough on the end of the small knife was the eight-legged body of a brown spider. Instead of thanking the young royal, though Yue only glared. "Hey," Toph's voice called sternly, making Yue tense. "I've been looking all over for you."

The master Earth Bender entered the garden as the three children stood. Her tone was clearly for show, the fact that Yue was in the garden meant for Royalty meant nothing to her. In fact she often wondered why Yue didn't go into the 'forbidden' garden more often. She knew that if she was younger and someone told her she couldn't do something she'd do it anyways. 'Where are my parents?' Detia inquired.

"Discussing the security with General How. I got bored so I left." Toph admitted as she stood in front of the Lightning Bender. "Come on, I have something to give you."

'A gift?'

Toph smirked, "Maybe. You'll just have to see."

With a reassuring hand on Detia's back Toph lead the girl out of the garden. And once she was gone Ezra turned to Yue sharply. "I know what you're doing and it won't work. Detia is my best friend."

Blue eyes glared daggers at the young royal. "We'll see. There are just some things you can't do with family."

Golden eyes narrowed, "There is nothing she can do with you that she can't do with me."

Yue smirked before sighing dramatically and placing a hand on Ezra's dark hair. "So young, you'll understand when you're older."

Yue patted her head and left the child in her confusion. The confused expression on Ezra's young face showed clearly and she stood there for a minute trying to figure out what Yue could possibly mean. "What?"

~x~

Detia followed the future Earth Queen down many halls and passed many room until they finally stopped at large double doors. "This is my bed chambers. Don't be too impressed."

A lifted eyebrow was the only response Toph got, not that she could see it, as the Earth Bender opened the doors to the room. The first thing Detia noticed was the general disarray of things. The sheets on the bed, dark green in color with yellow fringe, were tangled and bunched up in the middle of the foot of the bed. 'Does no one clean in here?' Detia inquired, also noting the various clothes strewn around the floor. Toph shrugged as she went over to her vanity. 'Why do you even have a vanity?'

"Look," Toph started, clearly amused by the questioning. "This room came with all this stuff. I had nothing to do with it."

'And the mess?' Detia inquired, the smirk apparent in her voice.

Toph chuckled as she opened a drawer and pulled out a green velvet box. "Well, the mess was all me. Don't usually come in here except to sleep so the servants don't clean till right before I go to bed." She turned to the lightning bender, pushing the box in her direction.

Detia took the offered box gingerly but didn't open it. If she didn't know better she'd think the box had a ring in it and the first thing her mind went to was marriage. Though, she quickly chided herself for such thoughts. It was only a Lightning bender custom to give your partner a ring, no other nation did it. The only nation that came close was the Water Tribe with their necklaces.

Toph rolled her eyes before taking the box back and opening it. "It's just a tile. I noticed you play Pai Sho a lot."

Gently, Detia picked up the smooth white tile, her hawk eyes examining every crevice in sheer awe. The tile was a smooth jadeite stone, as green as the crisp grass of the garden outside. In the exact center was the Pai Sho symbol for the White Jade, made of smooth white nephrite – softer than the jade around it. It was one smooth tile, the nephrite and jadeite merging together as if they were one single stone. To the naked eye that's the way the stone appeared, as if it were one but Detia could feel the softer Nephrite with her fingers. Golden eyes looked up into pale green ones, only a truly powerful Earth bender could create such a magnificent stone. 'You made this…for me?'

Toph shrugged lightly, "Yeah, I noticed how you favor the White Jade. Like Iroh favors his White Lotus. I never got into Pai Sho but the White Jade has always been my favorite too. But it's just a thank you gift for teaching me to read." Toph clarified.

The lightning bender clasped the stone in both hands, bringing it protectively to her chest. 'Thank you.'

Toph smiled a true smile, causing a sharpness in the lightning bender's chest that Detia did not understand. "No problem. It's the least I could do. Well, that and ask that you sit on the stage next to Bumi during my inauguration."

'What!' Toph chuckled at the honest surprise in the lightning bender's voice.

A calloused hand landed softly on Detia's white crown of hair, "You are an integral part of me becoming Queen. You deserve that spot. And let's face it; if you're up on the stage with me I won't need any guards. Between you, me, Bumi, and your parents – who'll probably find a way onto that stage faster than lightning if something happened to you – no one would dare try anything."

Detia chuckled and nodded, 'True. Okay, I'll do it.'

Toph thumped Detia on the back, causing the young royal to wince. "That's what I like to hear."

TBC.