Of Fire

Chapter 24

By nightfall the storm had been fifty or sixty miles away, just far enough to prompt her to sleep. It had taken her hours to finally fall asleep with a storm so close, but she managed it, oddly enough finding a resting place in her grandmother's bed. Seeing as she wasn't the only one affected by the stormy weather, and with Azula's newly acquired amped energy levels, it was needless to say that her parents were doing a lot of things that did not involve sleep. So she couldn't sleep with them. Yuna and Angi had no room left in their shared bed, and she felt asking Toph would be odd. The next logical place was her grandmother. More than once, as she entered her grandmother's room, she thought about simply turning around and going to sleep on a couch or bed somewhere. Awkwardly, she stood in the room, watching her grandmother sleep and thinking that she didn't know the woman well enough to ask. She should just find an empty room and try to go to sleep.

Luckily the choice was taken from her when Ursa's golden eyes opened, spotting the little lightning bender. Surprisingly, Ursa's first thought was that Azula must be afraid of the weather. Of course, then she remembered that Azula was a grown woman and the last thing her fearless daughter feared was the weather. Waking up a little more, the older woman noticed the white hair and the awkward stance. "Detia?" she questioned lightly as the girl thumbed the fabric of her white night shirt. "What's wrong?"

'Nothing,' Detia thought out of habit. 'I…I just don't have anywhere…to uh…to sleep.'

"Oh?" Ursa inquired as she sat up, lighting the lamp beside her bed. "What are your parents doing?" Detia blushed and looked down. "Oh. I see." She smiled warmly. "And you came to me?"

Detia blushed in embarrassment, still not making eye contact, but nodded slightly. 'I didn't know who else to go to. At the palace, Ezra was always sleeping with me, so I could focus on her instead of the storm and go to sleep,' Detia answered quickly.

"I see," Ursa said, her soft smile not giving away just how ecstatic she was that her granddaughter, who she had only known for less than a week, would ask to sleep with her. She moved the comforter out of the way and patted her bed lightly. "Come on, then."

'Are…are you sure?'

The older woman's smile widened. "Of course." Hesitantly, Detia walked over to her grandmother and slipped into the bed. Her expression never changed from unsure as Ursa tucked her in and blew out the light. "Goodnight, Detia."

''Night,' Detia thought and felt her grandmother lay down.

For a while the girl lay stiff and awake, fully aware of the semi-foreign presence beside her and the fact that the storm was doing nothing to make her mind focus on one thing. Swallowing hard, Detia turned on her side and cuddled against her grandmother, hearing the woman's increased heartbeat and surprised intake of breathe. Ursa knew that Detia was not afraid of the weather and for a second wondered what it could be. But she didn't question it. She only wrapped her arms around the child's slim frame and held her granddaughter. Detia sighed without meaning to, focusing on Ursa's heartbeat as it evened. The tenseness eased slowly, but the instant it did, Detia found sleep.

However, once the first bolt of lightning painted the sky within the city's borders white, Detia awoke, her golden eyes snapping open. Carefully, she extracted herself from her grandmother's hold and went to window. The lightning bender watched as the black sky split with bolts of white and yellow, the sound of the electrical force rattling the walls. She smiled as the hot lines jumped from cloud to cloud and reached to the ground. In the back of her mind, she knew that going outside would probably make her parent's mad or something. But of course, that was in the back of her mind, quickly and easily silenced as a bolt almost completed its journey to the ground.

When Ursa woke just a few minutes later due to the thunder and lack of warmth, she groggily got out of bed and began looking for her granddaughter. Her mind, which until that point was still hazy with sleep, woke fully when she found the young girl outside in the rain, standing in a puddle barefoot with her hands reaching to the sky. At first, the only thing she did was stand in the doorway and stare as the bolts of lightning rushed to Detia's hands, circling around her wrist but ultimately forming a ball before dissipating. The heat from the lightning as it neared burned the surrounding ground and caused the water to sizzle and evaporate.

Ursa, being the intelligent woman she was, went back inside and immediately to her daughter's room. She knocked first and was surprised when Azula opened the door, fully awake and thankfully clothed. The ex-princess' scowl lessened at the sight of her mother but still radiated displeasure. "I just thought you should be aware," Ursa answered before Azula could say anything, "that Detia is outside."

Azula looked out the nearby window, seeing the lightning streak towards the ground, her scowl returning full force as she tied the sash tightly around her waist. Mumbling unhappily, Azula more or less stormed down the hall to the door leading outside, followed closely by her mother. The ex-princess didn't even hesitate as she exited, giving her daughter one warning as she approached. "Detia!"

Immediately, the lightning in the girl's hands died, and she turned to her mother, putting on the best puppy dog face she could, which was pretty good since it made Ursa chuckle and feel sorry for her. Azula, however, was not nearly as soft-hearted as her mother and completely ignored the expression. Stopping halfway between the door and her daughter, Azula pointed to the door. "Inside. Now," she growled.

Detia flinched as she passed her mother. She half expected to be hit, even though Azula had never raised her hand to the child. Honestly, Azula wasn't half as mad as she gave off being. She could understand Detia's want to go outside, and somewhere in her consciousness, a voice reasoned that Detia more than likely would not be struck by lightning again. However, that did not stop the memory of watching helplessly as her daughter nearly died from overriding that voice. They sat in silence in the kitchen. Not a word was passed between them, but Detia, who was dry, would flinch every so often as her mother, who was not dry and was not happy about it, replayed the time Detia was struck by lightning and the things it did to her parents.

"I'm sorry," Detia finally said.

Azula continued to glare for a few seconds more before sighing. "I know. You are not to go outside in this kind of weather, no matter how powerful you are. Do you understand?"

Detia nodded solemnly.

~x~

The afternoon found the lightning bender sitting at a table with one hand propping up her head and the other plucking the strings of her metal violin in perfect time with flash of light from the lightning. Angi and Yuna had left early that morning with all their gear. The fire bender made sure to rub their ability to go outside in Detia's face. No one even batted an eye when said fire bender was thrown out the door by a burst of lightning. Had Yuna not stopped Angi from going back inside, a fight would have ensued and the God of Fire would have learned what it really meant to fight a lightning bender. But Yuna saved her life that morning, and they were off to explore the 'underwater caves of lightning benders' – as Angi had so kindly renamed it. Detia tried to reason with her mother, to allow her to go with them. After all, she wouldn't really be outside. But Azula was firm with her resounding no.

The instant Ty Lee woke, which was around noon, Azula found it prudent to inform the acrobat about what had happened earlier that morning. This of course ruined whatever chance Detia had to convince her mommy that it was okay to follow her friends to the caves. Ty Lee was shocked but not necessarily angry; she couldn't be with how miserable her little girl looked. All she did was walk up to her daughter and asked if she had been properly scolded. Detia nodded, not even bothering to look up from where her head rested on the table. Toph ran her hands over the day's newsletter, finding the comings and goings of this village very dull. Occasionally, she would glance over to Detia and sigh mentally. Arjuna loved this kind of weather and would stay outside for hours enjoying it, much to the amusement of Terren. The kid must have been completely miserable. "You know," Toph remarked offhandedly, "Arjuna loved this kind of weather. She would stay out in it for hours and never get hurt, or wet for that matter."

"True," Azula easily conceded from her place in front of a Pai Sho board, easily winning a match against her sister. "But Arjuna did not have parents, did she?"

Toph remained silent for a second before nodding, feeling Detia flinch at her mother's tone. "Yeah," she remarked. She'd rather not get into the whole origin of the gods story. She really hated telling it. Toph turned to Detia and whispered loudly, "I tried." Detia hummed her thank you. "I was wondering." Toph decided to try her best to get the lightning bender's mind off the outside weather. "Whatever happened to Linka after the war?"

"I donna know." Detia slurred, in no mood for conversation.

"You don't know." Toph repeated. "How do you know so much about Maya and Alia but not Linka?"

Detia sighed, plucking the strings of her new instrument, again, in time with the lightning. If she had a bow she'd at least be able to control the lightning. But no, that idiot archeologist had given her an instrument without a utensil to play it. "Both of my parents' families have very detailed family trees. I just examined them." Detia answered deadpan. "Maya even founded the academies. Over the centuries her picture has gotten distorted. She's male now with black hair.

"The books on the history of the school said the painting of the founder was changed two times. I'm sure someone of higher standings looked at the picture and said 'A woman couldn't have founded this great school' and changed the image to a male. And then another person looked at the picture and thought, 'What member of the fire nation has yellow hair. The artist must have been an idiot. Change it back to black.' But according to the journals she founded them. Why I don't know. I hated that place.

"Before Alia got married, she joined the circus, traveled all over the world and performed some super difficult move that she called the golden…something or another." If she thought about it, she could remember the name of the technique, but at the moment, she just didn't feel like it.

"The Golden Phoenix?" Ty Lee inquired, the amazement in her tone telling Azula that the technique had to be amazing.

"That sounds about right." Detia answered, ignoring her mommy's amazement, she had seen an old picture of Alia in mid performance, a flyer advertising the circus. The words were worn and hard to read, but the picture was in perfect condition. "But Linka just dropped off the face of the planet after the war. For a while, there were records of her going from town to town doing mercenary work but then nothing."

"Oh," Toph remarked as she and Detia continued to ignore the trio as Ty Lee went into telling Azula and Aziza how the Golden Phoenix was performed, and how during her time in the circus, which Aziza was completely thrilled about, she had never seen anyone perform it.

The Earth Queen flipped the newsletter over, running her hand over the lone picture on the page and droning out the voices. Her sensitive fingers ran over lettering that she didn't immediately recognize. Running her hand over it again, she concentrated on where she had seen similar characters. "Detia," she said, grabbing the girl's attention again as she set the page in front of her. "In the picture there's a man holding a piece of wood with carving on it. It's your people's language, right?" Before Detia could confirm, Toph continued. "What does it say?"

"Dr. Sara," Detia answered after a second of looking at the picture, again using her deadpan tone.

"That's it?" Toph questioned, it was an awful lot of characters to only say two small words.

"That's it," Detia confirmed.

The Earth Bender paused as she took the paper back. "Do you know who that is?"

Detia sighed again, searching her memory before answering. "Dr. Sara was a scientist for my kingdom who specialized in cryogenics. More specifically, Cryonics."

"Cryo-what?" Aziza interrupted, hearing the foreign word and unable to stop herself from asking.

"Cryonics," Detia repeated, running a hand through her hair. "It is the study of how extremely low temperatures could be used to preserve a human or animal. The technology was relatively new. Dr. Sara believed that a person could, in a way, cheat death with this technology. For example, let's say you come down with an illness that has no cure at the current time. Dr. Sara believed that we'd be able to put you in a suspended state until which time a cure was found. In theory it was a sound idea." By now the lightning bender had the attention of everyone in the room. "And it had a lot potential. However," Detia sighed, striking a harsh note as lightning struck the ground somewhere just outside the city borders, "it was highly experimental. Sara had not developed a way to reverse the effects, and I had to banish the technology from my kingdom."

"Why?" Aziza inquired.

Detia sighed, but it was Azula who answered, "Essentially, without a way to reverse it, the technique was killing people. I wouldn't want some kind of technology that killed my people."

"Oh," Aziza remarked.

"Besides," Detia started again. "I set her up somewhere in the Earth Kingdom near the ocean. Apparently, the tube used to freeze a person or animal gave off a lot of heat."

Toph scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Sure, set her up in my kingdom and don't even tell me about it. What the hell is up with Hishou Raikou withholding technology from the rest of us? You did it a lot."

Detia smirked, the only emotion besides being miserable that she showed all day. "You wouldn't know what to do with all the tech we had. Primitive people such as yours would only use my technology for war or something equally as stupid. Being the Balance, it was my job to make sure that didn't happen."

"So you kept it all for yourself."

Detia's smirk widened, "Naturally."

The Earth Queen ground her teeth together to stop from saying something inappropriate, ignoring Ty Lee's little giggle and Azula's grin. "Aziza!" Toph yelled, the girl in question stiffening considerably.

"Yes," she asked tentatively.

"You have ostrich-horses outside right?"

"Yes," Aziza answered.

"Good." Toph remarked. "Go get me a single hair from its tail."

"Okay…"

"Now!" Toph ordered, watching in satisfaction as the girl rushed out of the room.

Azula chuckled, "Ordering people around has benefited you I see."

Toph only smirked to agree. Aziza returned quickly, breathing heavily as she handed the Earth Queen the single hair. "What was that for?"

Toph didn't answer as she removed the space rock from her wrist. Taking the hair, Toph moved the rock around it, creating a black violin bow. She tossed it to the lightning bender, who caught it deftly. "Shut up and play." The Earth Queen remarked, mentally smiling when Detia's entire posture changed to a happier one.

With a lifted eyebrow, Detia examined the bow, pleased with its black color and smooth texture. Before placing the base of the violin to her neck the little girl pulled out a small vial of thick amber colored liquid. Opening the vial she placed the thick smooth liquid along the bow. "What is that?" Azula inquired.

"Rosin." Toph answered. "It's to keep the string from snapping. She probably made it hoping that she would get a violin. It was her favorite."

Detia only nodded to confirm as she lifted the violin to her neck and placed the bow against the strings. As if waiting the storm outside stilled, all was silent in anticipation. The instant the bow ran across the strings, the storm outside seemed to alter, matching rhythm with the tune, lighting the sky at just the right moment or creating the proper boom to match a long chord. Everyone in the room sat in silent awe as the symphony of nature continued.

Ursa, who was sitting silently watching her family (and Toph), gasped at the melody, easily the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. It tore into her soul, as if the song was made especially for her. From the expressions of everyone else, the melody had much the same effect on them as well.

~x~

The caves were surprisingly dry considering they were located under a lake, cold but dry. Well, that was once you got past the miles of water that clogged up the tunnels. They were easy enough to get to, the caves that is, what with Yuna's master water bending. The red flames of Angi's fire lit the tunnel, which barely contained walking space for two adults. So they were okay with space. "This remind you of anything?" Angi remarked with a suggestive smirk.

Yuna rolled her eyes, ignored her companion and traversed on. "Not now," The water bender remarked. "I think there's an opening up ahead."

Angi made a whimpering sound but took the lead, considering she was the light, and followed the tunnel to a vast cavern. "This place is huge," Angi stated as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Watch out for the-" Yuna tried to warn and sighed when the fire went out briefly as Angi tripped over a metal box.

"Fuck!" Angi cursed loudly, the word echoing in the cavern as light filled the room again, this time larger than the last.

"Well, we found the boxes," Yuna remarked dryly, moving to Angi and the large fire she created. "We should bring some back for Detia since she couldn't come."

"What the hell for?" the Fire Bender questioned. "That bitch shouldn't have listened to her parents and just came with us."

Again Yuna rolled her eyes. "Don't make fun of her because she's a good daughter."

"Whatever," Angi scoffed. "I don't know why you stopped me from fighting her this morning."

"Uh," Yuna started, thumping one of the metal boxes to see if she could judge what was in it. "Because she would have killed you. Duh."

Again the lightning bender scoffed. "I could have taken her."

"During a lightning storm? I think not," Yuna reasoned, moving to another metal box, surprised that there seemed to be so many. "You can't take her on a normal day with the sun high in the sky. What makes you think you can take her with the weather in her favor?"

Angi chuckled. "I'm awesome like that." Yuna chose to stop arguing. It was a pointless battle that would never end. "Besides, with her parents close by, what could she have done? She's so whipped."

The Fire bender laughed just as a large boom vibrated the cavern, a burst of white seeming to appear for an instant inside the cave, sending dust of rocks floating down and scaring both benders into silence. "I'd stop if I were you," Yuna warned.

Before Angi could remark with some snide comment or another, the earth under their feet began to shake. "What's going on?" Angi yelled, grabbing hold to the nearest box, the fire in her hands going out and sending the room into darkness.

"I don't know," Yuna answered back, also holding onto a box.

An eerily blue glow filled the cavern as freezing white clouds billowed onto the floor. The shaking stopped, but there was no need for Angi to turn the fire back on. Angi walked up to her partner. "What do you think it is?" she asked in wonder, too afraid – but not willing to admit it – to go towards the door that had just opened.

Yuna shook her head in the negative, grabbing Angi's hand and started towards the newly opened door. The door lead to a small room covered in large chunks of ice. It appeared that once the room had been larger but a rock wall, with less ice on it than all the other walls, blocked the rest of the room. They waited hand in hand until the air cleared before moving inside. With a flip of her hand, the ice from one section of the room evaporated, revealing metal boxes with screens on them. "Isn't that lightning bender technology?" Angi asked, recognizing the black screen and box design that apparently still worked seeing as it was flashing.

Yuna nodded as she let go of Angi's hand and moved over to the screen. The fire bender blew hot air onto her hands. It was cold even for her abnormally high body temperature. The light emitted from the hot air brought her attention to a long cylinder object against the wall, covered in ice. Shrugging, the fire bender walked over to the wall, using enough heat to melt the ice. Her red eyes widened at the sight of what she found. "Oh my," Yuna gasped, as she stopped pressing buttons on the screen. "This is…."

"Undine." Angi called with a smirk, drawing the water bender's attention to her. "You think Detia would be happy to see this?" she asked as she used her thumb to point to the object.

The water goddess looked at the object and gasped again after a second look. "I think she would. Especially if what I just found out is true."

Angi lifted an eyebrow and walked over to her companion. "What did you find?"

Yuna pointed to the screen and Angi's smirk grew. "Oh yes. I think this is something she would die to have."

"Indeed," Yuna replied with an expression to match. "The only problem now is getting it to her."

~x~

According to the captain of the airship, they would be arriving at their destination soon. Ezra was at the window looking down at the forest with Sunstone looking over her shoulder. They'd been in that exact spot the instant they got the news. She saw the village before anyone else and was as excited as she could get. It was true that it had only been a week since she had seen her best friend, but it felt like forever. The ship grew closer to the city, the people below close enough to see them gawking. Before the ship was low enough to officially make a landing, Sunstone ran to the door they would exit from, her claws making long jagged marks in the metal. "You want out?" The dragon's red eyes looked at the young princess as she made a whining noise. "I want to go too."

A long golden tail wrapped around Ezra's leg, and the dragon whined again. Ezra smiled just a little as she approached the latch on the door. Ignoring her mother's yell of protest Ezra pushed with all her might and the door swung open. The rush of air pulled her out of the ship and for a moment she was falling and for a moment she thought she might not survive. She jerked suddenly, hearing the tear of clothing as sharp claws tore through them. But the clothes held tight and her descent was smooth. The white among the green and brown caught her attention immediately. "Detia!" Ezra yelled, prompting her cousin to look up.

"Is that Ezra?" Azula's voice carried as the ex-princess shielded her eyes and looked up.

"Looks like it," Detia confirmed, holding out her hands and catching her favorite cousin as Sunstone dropped her.

Ezra clamped onto her best friend, not letting go. Detia smiled, out of the corner of her eye watching Sunstone curl around her mother and begin to purr – the dragon's horned head rubbing against Azula's cheek. "I missed you so much," Ezra stated.

Detia chuckled, "I was only gone a week."

"It was too long," the little princess came very close to whining.

"Where is everyone else?" Azula inquired.

Ezra shook her head, "Not here yet. I jumped out of the balloon before it landed."

Azula and Detia stood silent for a moment as what Ezra said sank in. Azula chuckled first. "Alright then. Let's go back to the inn. They can meet us there."

"What about my friends?" Detia inquired, though really she wasn't that worried about them.

Azula waved her hand dismissively, "They can take care of themselves," Her golden eyes turned to her niece, who had released Detia from her death grip but was holding her hand. "You really jumped out of the airship?"

Ezra nodded; her expression neutral. She was aware that her mother would probably be cross with her for doing it. But at the moment she couldn't make herself care. "Aunt Mai is not going to be happy that you did that," Detia stated what her cousin was thinking.

The little princess shrugged, gripping her best friend's hand tightly. "Whatever," Azula remarked. "If you ever do something like that, I'll expect you to land on your feet."

'Why? I can fly.' Detia thought only to her mother, though she sighed and nodded physically.

'What?' Azula thought back, slowing so she was beside her daughter and niece and staring at her daughter.

Detia smirked and answered, 'I'll tell you later.'

'You better.' Azula responded as threw the back doors to her mother's inn open. "We're back." she yelled.

"You found them already?" Ursa called from somewhere close by.

"Nope," Azula answered as her mother appeared from behind the corner and stopped at the sight of a little girl holding onto Detia. "We found something more important," Ursa smiled at how much the little girl reminded her of Mai. "This is Ezra, Zuko and Mai's youngest daughter."

The little girl glared at her aunt, somewhat. "We're the same age," Ezra remarked as close to crossly as her stoic emotions would allow her.

"I see," Ursa answered as she moved closer and knelt in front of the girl, noticing how her dull golden eyes held the same depth and apparent coldness that Azula's once had. She ignored it. "Hello, I'm Ursa, your grandmother."

Before Ezra could greet her grandmother another voice, happier in tone but the same pitch as Ezra's yelled, "I found them!" then a little girl, identical to Ezra but with a warmer feel, rushed through the back door. "I told you. Twin powers ru-" and ran right into Azula. The little girl looked up at Azula and blushed. "Hi, Aunt Azula."

"Hello, Ursa," Azula replied evenly and moved out of the girl's way.

"Ursa, if you don't stop running off, Mom and Dad are gonna get mad." An almost teenage boy remarked as he walked into the building. "Besides you can't just walk into buildings. Hi, Detia. You don't even know who lives here." He paused then turned to his cousin.

"Hello, Lu Ten," Detia answered, smirking at his slack-jawed look. "It seems you managed to grow a little since I've been gone."

He puffed out his chest as a smug expression crossed his face. "Yep. I'm becoming a man."

"Translation: I'm becoming an idiot," Ezra remarked deadpan, though it made little Ursa and Detia chuckle.

"How can he become something he's been his entire life?" The younger Ursa quipped.

For a second, Lu Ten looked indignant. Azula moved to stand beside her mother and watched as the children argued with each other. "Detia, defend me. You've known me the longest."

"I've always thought you were an idiot," Detia admitted easily.

"Are they always like this?" Ursa inquired, amused by the argument more than anything.

Azula shook her head in the negative. "They usually get along just fine. I think they are just making up for lost time."

Ursa nodded her understanding. "Regardless of how idiotic you are, there is someone here that you want to meet."

"Oh yeah, who?" Lu Ten questioned.

Detia sighed, 'Idiot,' She gestured to her grandmother. "This lovely woman is our Grandmother Ursa," Detia introduced. "Grandmother, this is Lu Ten and Ursa."

Lu Ten and Ursa looked at each other and bowed politely as they chorused, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"So formal," Ursa cooed gently, she already loved them – so much like her Zuko. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

Her golden eyes fell on Detia and Ezra. She easily saw Azula in both of them. Resound, she vowed to not make the same mistake twice. After all, she could easily admit to loving both Detia and Ezra as well. Detia smiled just slightly, letting Ursa know that she had been reading her thoughts. The older woman wasn't sure how she felt about that violation of her privacy. "You get used to it," Azula whispered, confusing her mother just slightly but didn't elaborate.

"Does this make me a junior?" The younger Ursa inquired cutely.

Lu Ten laughed as he answered. "No, it makes you a second. But we can call you Little Ursa."

Ursa scowled at her brother, she did not like that nickname at all. "Then can we call you Little Lu Ten. After all you're a second as well." Detia countered, stopping him from laughing and causing Ursa to laugh and Ezra to smile. "Or better yet, we can call you Lulu."

At this point Ursa was bent over in laughter and Ezra was chuckling. "I hate you." Lu Ten remarked deadpan. "Sometimes I just really, really hate you."

Putting on an air of gratitude, Detia faked sniffing noises but before she could reply with a witty, sarcastic remark about how honored she was to hear that, Azula intervened in a demanding tone. "That's enough."

The laughter stopped immediately, which pleased Azula greatly and there was silence for a moment. "Ezra," Lu Ten called, the seriousness in his tone informing everyone that he was not trying to be funny. "Just a warning. Mom is not happy with you. She was expressing it physically."

"What did you do?" the younger Ursa asked in amazement.

Before Ezra answered, a shadow loomed over them, and though it was in their imaginations, Ursa, Ezra, and Lu Ten felt the temperature in the room plummet. "She jumped out of the airship." The tone was cold and dripping with ice. Ezra gripped onto her cousin for protection. "Oh no, she cannot protect you," Mai, dressed in her dark red Fire Lady gown, pointed to the spot in front of her. "Here. Now." Slowly, the little girl who looked just like her mother wandered to the spot Mai was pointing at, her dull golden eyes looking up. "If you ever do anything that stupid and life threatening again, you will never, ever leave your room in the palace again. Never. Do you understand me?" Ezra nodded once, her eyes cast to the ground. "Good." The Fire Lady knelt and pulled her daughter into a hug. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"I won't," Ezra promised. "Sunstone probably won't leave Aunt Azula."

"Sunstone?" the older Ursa asked her daughter. She had noticed the golden dragon armor Azula walked in with, but she thought nothing of it. The dragon in question tilted her golden head and cawed, drawing Ursa's attention to her. The older woman looked twice before jumping. "By the spirits! It's real. I thought it was armor."

"No, she's a real dragon. Very young though." Azula answered, rubbing the bottom of Sunstone's jaw.

Hesitantly, the older Ursa drew a hand near the dragon, looking up at her daughter as if asking permission. Sunstone took the initiative and rubbed her head against the outstretched hand. Ursa smiled at the smooth texture of scaly skin and silky strands of golden hair. "Lady Ursa," Mai called lightly, her hands still holding her youngest daughter close to her.

Ursa smiled as her expression turned to Mai. Far from the shy little girl she remembered, the Fire Lady stood tall and proud – if not a bit emotionless. But that wasn't something Ursa didn't expect. Mai had never been a person who showed many of her emotions. "Mai. Or should I say, Fire Lady Mai."

Mai smiled lightly as she bowed. "It's been a long time, good to see you are well. I see you've met my children."

Ursa smiled at the three children she met that day. "Yes, they are beautiful."

Mai's smile softened, her hand placed on Ezra's head. "Why don't you children go explore the village? Your father will be here soon and I'm sure he'd like to spend some time with Lady Ursa."

They nodded and immediately surrounded Detia. "Show us around town." Lu Ten and Ursa chorused as Ezra grabbed Detia's arm.

The lightning bender sighed in resignation and nodded, allowing her cousins to drag her out the door. "Hi dad." Lu Ten and Ursa yelled as they passed their father, who was entering the inn as they exited.

"Where are the children going?" Zuko inquired his hands in his sleeves as his eyes followed the children.

"To explore the city." Mai answered.

Zuko looked up at his wife, his gaze going directly to the woman standing behind her. He froze. After so many years, he was finally seeing his mother. The two stared at each other, not saying a word, not knowing what to say. No one else mattered. Azula rolled her eyes at the sappiness, but Zuko had always been that way. The ex-princess examined her brother closely. There was something off about him. He looked tired and worn, well more so than usual. Silently, she mentioned it to Mai and the ex-assassin answered in covert taps on the wood that he hadn't been sleeping well. Azula smirked, knowing that her brother was torn by what he had done made her more than a little happy.

The eye contact between Zuko and Ursa, and Azula's thoughts, were broken when Zuko was shoved out of the way. Suddenly, a face that looked exactly like her own was in Azula's face. "Big Sis!" Aziza yelled, throwing her arms in the air and everything.

"I'm right here you don't have to yell," Azula scolded. "And what have I told you about calling me that?"

For her part Aziza completely ignored her. "I was in town with Toph. She got a message from her people by the way, they'll be here by night's end. Anyways, I was with Toph in town and then this huge red balloon..."

"An Airship," Azula supplied.

"Yeah whatever, this balloon was above the city. Do you think it belongs to Zuko?"

Azula smirked. "You know, Aziza, I think you might be on to something." She placed her hands on her sister's shoulders and turned her sister around to face Zuko as he stood straight. "Aziza, this is our big brother, Zuko and his wife, Mai." She turned Aziza to face Mai before turning her back to Zuko. "Zuko, Mai this is our little sister, Aziza."

Zuko stared at the fifteen-year-old who looked so much like Azula wearily. He had hoped to find his mother but not another sister. At first glance, the only thing he saw was another Azula. But then she blushed lightly and cast her eyes to the ground, shyly looking back up at him. Azula threw her hands in the air and rolled her eyes. "What is this?" Azula remarked. "You make it your mission to get on my nerves every chance you get, but when you finally meet your 'big brother,' you're all shy. What the hell?"

"Aww." Aziza cooed, an evil glint appearing in her golden eyes as she turned to her sister. Azula had crossed her arms but that didn't stop Aziza from throwing her arms around Azula and rubbing her cheek against her sisters'. "That's because I like Big Sis best."

"Whatever," Azula replied, unable to see Mai and Zuko (and her mother but she didn't mind her mother) smiling. But she could feel it, and it made her mad.

"So," Aziza whispered. "Do you think he'd mind if I asked questions, you know, about him?"

Azula smirked, remembering exactly how up in your face Aziza was when asking questions. "I don't think so," Azula whispered back.

In an instant, just as Azula predicted, Aziza was up in Zuko's face, mere inches away. "What happened to your face? How did you get the scar? Does it still hurt?"

"Uh…"

"Can I touch it?"

"Aziza," Ursa scolded, making the girl tense. "Come over here and be nice."

Aziza pouted and moved back to her sister's side, "Fine."

Ursa smiled and hugged her son. "Zuko," she said as he hugged her back. "My baby boy." She kissed his cheek as her hand caressed his scar. "It's been so long." She didn't ask about it, though. That would come later, this was a happy moment.

"I feel…weird," Aziza admitted as she watched them. "Like I'm being left out."

"Get used to it," Azula answered.

Ursa released her son immediately upon hearing this. At least, Aziza was forth coming with her feelings, and she wondered how often Azula, who was not forthcoming with her feelings, felt the same growing up. "Well, let's move to the living area so we can catch up."

"Yes, let's," Zuko agreed.

~x~

"Hey, I found you guys," Toph said as she entered the living area. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Aziza answered while sipping her drink, "Just the tension between Azula and Zuko. Nothing important."

Toph smirked and sat down on a couch. "Good to know. I'm guessing the loud mouth over here," She gestured to Aziza, "told you about the message I received."

"Hey!"

"Yes, she informed me," Azula answered.

"Excellent. Is bubbles still asleep? It's almost noon."

Azula nodded. "She was up late last night."

"Damn," Toph remarked. "You two need to slow it down. You're not teenagers."

She couldn't see it, but she felt the cold death glare directed towards her from Azula as Aziza, Mai and Zuko chuckled. The chuckling stopped when Azula smirked. "I think you might be a little jealous, Toph. After all, you're how old? Two years younger than me, correct?" Toph didn't respond. "And you have no one. Frankly, you're well past the prime age of marriage."

"Azula, if you don't shut up, I might seriously attack you, regardless of what Detia would do to me if I did," Toph warned.

"You were asking for it," Azula remarked, unfazed.

Toph only grumbled, because it was true. "So Toph," Zuko started. "Now that Azula's your problem, what will you have her doing?"

The Earth Queen perked up. "Come now, Zuko. Azula may be the biggest bitch in the world ,and I mean that in the nicest way possible," Azula didn't comment but she didn't seem offended, "but she's also the best diplomat in the world. Benefits of being a lightning bender, I guess. They were always the best. Of course, being a bitch probably helps as well."

"Wait, so you're making her your advisor?" Zuko questioned.

"Head advisor if she wants it," Toph corrected. "I just assumed she would. I figured we'd work out all the kinks once we get back to Ba Sing Se."

"What will the people of the Earth Kingdom think?" Mai inquired.

"Uh…" Toph began, she actually hadn't considered what her people would think.

"We'll play it off as some kind of victory for the Earth Kingdom," Azula supplied evenly. "I'm sure the Earth Kingdom wanted me for themselves during my trial."

"See, genius," Toph approved.

Ursa frowned, there was a lot in that sentence that she did not understand. "What trial?"

Azula looked at her mother, unsure if she actually wanted to tell her about her trial. Because that would open the can of worms, and she wasn't sure if she wanted her mother to know about that part of her life. At least, not yet. Zuko hummed, drawing her attention to him. She could almost see the gears in his head working. What he was thinking though she could only guess. Azula knew, just as Zuko did, that she had been a detrimental part in the revival of the Fire Nation after the war. She was a diplomat – and just egotistical enough to believe she was the best in the world – and without her the people of the Fire Nation would not have survived the retribution the other nations wanted after the war. She wondered if he realized exactly what he was losing when he pulled that stunt.

These thoughts ran through her mind in three seconds tops, and she turned back to her mother. "Hey is Detia in here with you?" the smooth, deep female voice resonating with power asked as a tall woman entered the room, setting down a heavy metal box as she did so. Everyone, aside from Toph and Azula, stared at the toned woman in a red and black top with a thick, cloth black belt that held a long red loin cloth in place and long legs covered in black tights standing there. "What?"

"Your hair is on fire," Azula remarked as if stating the sky was blue.

The tanned woman ran a hand through her flame red hair. "Didn't bother changing it," she stated as she sat down next to Toph.

"Everyone this is…" Azula paused, looking for permission from the god in adult form

"Go ahead and tell them," the woman waved off, leaning back against the coach as if she was exhausted.

"This is the God…dess of Fire, Agni," Azula finished, everyone who didn't know gasped. "Where have you been? Detia was worried."

A red eyebrow lifted. "What the hell for?"

"I don't know," Azula answered honestly.

Agni grunted and crossed her arms. "Undine and I found some things we wanted to bring back to Detia because she couldn't come with us. Unfortunately, Lightning Bender technology is far too complicated for either of us to figure out, so we need Detia to fix it. I'll just wait here for her, don't mind me." Her red eyes closed as she leaned her head back against the back of the couch.

Zuko looked at his sister, then back at the seemingly napping goddess. "That's the…" he whispered. "How do you know…."

Azula looked at her brother hard. "I've met Agni before, about two years ago. He was male at the time and started a fight with Toph. That's how I got these scars on my back."

"Your kid punished me for that," Agni pointed out, her eyes still closed.

"I'm aware," Azula remarked as if she didn't care. "Anyways, she's Detia's friend now."

"I don't know how I feel about you leaving the Fire Nation with all these connections." Zuko remarked deadpan.

Azula smirked. "Never one for tact, were you Zuzu?"

The Fire Lord sighed. "Look, I know what I did was wrong. You should come back home with mom. You don't have to leave."

The ex-princess only looked at her brother. She knew his motivation, it was easy enough to read. But she did want to spend more time with her mother. Things were going so well for them. Then again, she couldn't trust her brother not to make the same mistake. After ten years of peace and only a slightly strained relationship, he didn't trust her. How could she live there? "No," she said, glancing at her mother and hoping that she could forgive her. "I'm not moving back."

"The Fire Nation is where you belong, Azula. It's your home." Zuko tried.

"How can I go back after what you did to me? How can I expect you not to try to control me? Why would I put my daughter through that? Despite how she undermines me, Toph respects the person I am. And I'm not going to change." She paused to let that sink into his thick head. "What kind of honor would I have if I returned?"

Everyone was silent. Aziza and Ursa were innocent bystanders who weren't quite sure what was going on. "Challenge me to an Agni-Kai!" Zuko offered as a solution. "You can get your status and honor back."

Azula rolled her eyes, it was like talking to a brick wall with him and she was seriously fed up with it. So, she hit him where she knew it would hurt. "I can't participate in an Agni-Kai anymore, Zuko. I can't fire bend. You took that from me!"

His golden eyes widened in surprise. "What? But the ritual wasn't complete. You should have been fine."

"Well I wasn't," Azula growled, her nails digging into the wooden table.

"How is that even possible?" Aziza interrupted, this was all new to her.

Agni answered the question, "It's called soul bending and..."

"It doesn't matter! That's in the past. I'm still the Fire Lord, and you're still a member of my Nation." He stood, his bulky form hovering over his sister. She was unfazed. "I forbid you to go."

"Zuko!" Zuko froze at his mother's voice. "She is your sister, not your subordinate or your subject. And no matter if you banished her or whatever happened she will always be your sister, your equal. You will not talk to her like that. Do I make myself clear?" he nodded dejectedly, as if he was a little boy being scolded. "Honestly, you're acting just like your father."

Agni smirked and because she did not like to be interrupted said, "Oooo, burn."

Zuko stood there, as if he had been punched in the gut. "I'm…I'm not…"

Ursa stood and took her son into her arms. "I don't know what kind of lapse in judgment you made towards your sister, but you cannot treat her like that. You seem stressed. Maybe you should let someone else take over your position for a while so you can relax."

Zuko sighed in defeat. It was a good idea. From the start, he felt overwhelmed at being Fire Lord. His father made it look so easy. And when Azula was finally deemed mentally stable, he had been so relieved. To himself, he admitted that he was jealous of how easy Azula made the job look. She could easily take over for him and he looked at her. The ex-princess looked back, reading his expression like an open book. "Why don't you ask the original ruler of the Fire Nation?" Ursa inquired, looking over to the god lounging on the couch.

"And creator." Agni put in, still not opening her eyes.

Zuko's eyes lit up, the last thing he really wanted to do was admit defeat to his sister. "Would you be willing to become Fire Lord until I feel more up to it?"

One red eye opened to examine the man. "I suppose we could work something out." Agni answered with a smirk. "I'd have to discuss it with my mate but we'll see."

Zuko smiled. "Thank you."

TBC!

A/N: Something funny: Chapters 16, 17, 18, and 19 were all suppose to be one chapter. Also, I totally stole the technique the Golden Phoenix from Kaleido Star.