They had not told the others of the young dragons and the eggs; if word got out it might ruin the element of surprise. Sure, the enemy might know about airships, but dragons could be much more devastating as long as they had the element of surprise. So they had given a sealed scroll to be sent to their father explaining why they had temporarily abandoned chasing the Avatar, and everything they had discovered.
If they left out the fact that two eggs had already hatched, well, it was an understandable oversight given so many new discoveries.
The sky bison was wounded once again, and besides, other airships could chase him down just as well. Dragons grew very quickly when they ate enough, soon they would be hunting the Avatar on wings. But first they had to tame their new pets.
Zuko and Azula moved around the rock walls obscuring the cave entrance, Zuko's request of the Dai Li before they left, and then glided down and back to the smaller lair. They had agreed to spend most of their time there with the dragons, acclimatising them to their scents and everything else unique to them.
Every Fire Nation child worth their spark knew the basics of dragon taming; it was an incredibly romantic idea to fly on dragon wings after all, and it had once been not so uncommon. You defeat the dragon in combat and subdue it somehow, then spend lots of time with it. Feeding, petting, subduing again whenever necessary, basically establishing mastery over it and proving dominance while engendering trust, reliance, and finally obedience.
No amount of pain or fear would tame a dragon, they had to be won over. Earned. Besides, it was not like they would fear fire.
The little dragons were waiting at the entrance to their little lair, just like the first time. Except they swooped down and rubbed against their knees before either sibling could react. They were fast. But no harm was done, so they relaxed a little more and followed the playful cubs into the cosy lair. Small yip-like growls filled the air; they were hungry.
There was only one kill left, so Zuko 'cooked' it while they at ate, basking in the warm fire. Azula inspected the eggs. Smooth, mildly warm, and utterly dull. Never would she have guessed such amazing creatures came from so plain a beginning. They made short work of their meal and began making sounds as if asking for more.
"What should we do? I don't think we could catch anything for them so late in the day, but if we share our food they'll eat it all at once." Ah, Zuzu. Always the slow one.
"I'm sure something will turn up. Lets go."
They left the cave and managed to entice the cubs after them with red firebending and nonsense sounds. Whenever they tried blue fire they would just still and stare, entranced. It was useful for the moment but it would need to be trained out of them before too much longer; it would not do to have them freeze mid battle to watch the pretty blue fire.
Eventually they left the cave and Zuko grasped his sister's intent. Not the prettiest picture. Two large dragon torsos lay before them, enough to last a long time, or so they hoped. Red fire washed over the nearest body and the little dragons pounced. Either they were oblivious or they simple did not care. Such was often the case with hungry predators.
So the last of the day passed. The dragons gorged themselves several times before finally deciding they were full, having eaten a shockingly large amount of their father. Zuko and Azula tried alternating their fire from red to blue while the dragons ate, with mixed success. They seemed to enjoy the warmth until they noticed it was the wrong colour, and then froze until it went red once more. By the time the sun started to set they could, if rather warily, eat under the blue fire.
It was getting dark, and their day had been rather interesting, so they ended their flight practice early and moved to the cave entrance. Kizu was leaping about with wings spread and gliding around very merrily. His sister Shori had gone partway down the stairs to explore something, the body of the chief. Upon discovering it was indeed made of meat, the little blue dragon tried valiantly to drag it back up the stairs, and failed.
"Argh. We should probably move him into the den." Azula held back a similar sound; this would not be fun. They flew down to the body where Shori had been joined by her brother in circling around it. Azula picked up the chiefs spear and decided to keep it for her collection of trophies.
"I'll take the legs?" Zuko offered. "No, take his wrist. I've got a better idea."
Each holding an arm, they glided up the stairs on cushions of blue. With some tweaking the body was slightly cushioned too, so they dragged it along with much less effort than expected. The spear made things a little more difficult but Azula had another brilliant idea. One new pincushion later and they were moving smoothly followed by their excited dragons.
They left the body in the main 'room' of the cave, having little desire to sleep near it. The dragons didn't seem to mind and merely leapt and scrambled their way up to their hidey hole, ready to sleep after such a feast. Zuko and Azula followed them and watched as they once more curled up around an egg each to sleep. But they didn't sleep, just kept on looking at them, expectant.
"What do they want? They went to sleep last time right away."
Zuko couldn't resist. "Perhaps they want you to sing them a lullaby." She shot him a dark look before considering his words. For all they knew, he could be right. She moved a little closer, knelt and murmured "What do you want?"
Shori moved to close the distance and touched her snout to Azula's forehead, and the world shifted. Gentled fire dancing over scales and eggs and floor, warming all and sending sleep and pleasant dreams.
The world flickered back into view and Shori stepped back. Woah.
"Interesting." She turned to Zuko. "How long was I gone?"
"Gone? What are you talking about?"
"How long did I stay still, how long was Shori touching my head?"
"Huh? It was just a tap and then you asked that random question. What happened?" She had... gone somewhere? The Spirit World?
"Hmm. It seems dragons can communicate instantly with touch. See for yourself." She gestured towards Kizu. He hesitantly copied what she had done, kneeling before his dragon, and received a similar vision when Kizu touched him.
"Woah."
"Indeed. Come on, lets put the babies to bed."
oOo
They watched the dragons purr in their sleep and snuggle up closer to their egg-bound siblings. It was rather adorable, even Zuko admitted it. They left and went to a nearby copse with a stream, taking turns to bathe as well as they could and relieve themselves. It was almost completely dark outside when they returned to the lair with their packs, quietly setting up camp just outside the den but inside the tunnel to it.
Zuko decided not to bother keeping watch, they were safe enough and well hidden. They lay down in silence and let the fires they were sustaining for light die out, plunging the cave into almost absolute darkness save for the small glowrocks acquired in Ba Sing Se. They gave off just enough faint green light to make out roughly where each other were, and nothing more.
The silence stretched on. A lot had happened that day, and they were lost to memories and thoughts. Somewhere during the night they started talking. Dragons, flight, Sun Warriors, criminals, things that had happened recently. Then things to come and things gone by; the war, Sozin's Comet, the dark day, and then Ba Sing Se.
"Why did you want my help? In the catacombs, " he held up his hand to stop whatever excuse she had planned. "No, you had the Dai Li, you didn't need me."
Azula didn't have an excuse, didn't have a reason lined up. She didn't need his help, though it had been most useful. She was glad she had, but because of things that had happened afterwards. At the time he had simply been all but a worthless failure. Why had she wanted his help?
"I don't know."
Silence fell once more.
"I knew you didn't need my help, you know. Back in the catacombs. I watched your fight and wondered where your agents were when I saw them hiding around the ceiling. They were well hidden but I knew they must be there somewhere."
She was suddenly very glad for the darkness hiding her face. He knew? "Why did you help me?" She could almost feel his shrug.
"You're my little sister. I knew you didn't need my help, but you asked for it. You wanted it, for whatever reason, so I helped." Another invisible shrug. "Plus I was kind of wanting another shot at that brat." She laughed softly. It was beautiful.
Silence once more, though warmer than before.
"Hey, um, do you know..." He swallowed, and held up a palm of fire to see her face.
"What happened to mother?"
oOo
A/N: Wanted some Zucest? Check out Pink Bead Girl's new ZUCEST STORY 'Blue Burns the Flame' Its a take on what may have happened with our favourite royal siblings all alone! Links on my profile page.
May or may not be considered part of this fic.