"What?" She blurted without thinking. She knew exactly what he was asking, and she most definitely had not seen this coming. His face was warm gold from the red fire he held, showing his good side. The shadows it cast hid his scar, and she briefly wondered if it was better or worse.
"That night, after your performance for grandfather Azulon. When I ran off to bed, but you stayed behind and overhead whatever it was they were saying. The next day, grandfather was dead, father was heir, and mother was gone."
And you said something about father meaning to kill me.
"What does it matter now? It happened, and she's gone." This was rare, Azula was uncomfortable about something. He pressed on.
"You know what happened. You came to brag, then she overheard and dragged you off. You told her grandfather wanted father to kill me, and then she did something..."
"Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."
Great Spirits, she killed grandfather. The Fire Lord. To save him.
"So she killed grandfather. Then what? Was she caught? Executed?" Banished?
She shook her head. "I don't know what happened to her."
So he was right.
"Father didn't want to do it, you know." What?
"He argued against grandfather, but he said if father didn't do it" if he didn't kill you "he would cut him and his line from the Royal Family. You know he would. So father agreed...
"And I didn't come to brag."
Of course she came to brag, what else would she-
"I'm only telling you for your own good. I know! Maybe you could find a nice Earth Kingdom family to adopt you!"
She came to warn him, and gave him the idea to run away to the earth kingdom.
He didn't know how to react to this.
"Thankyou."
She nodded once and lay back down, so he let his fire go out.
It was a long time before either of them slept, but not another word was said.
oOo
The siblings woke to the sounds of small claws scampering about them. Apparently it was dawn, or wake up time anyway. They called red fire and began the arduous business of waking up.
They exchanged generic greetings and dressed in their extra layers of clothing while munching idly on some dried meat; a rare indulgence of not holding themselves to the formal eating habits normal required of them. Kizu and Shori chased each other around the tunnel and leapt of the walls with such ease it looked practiced. Which it probably was. All alone in the dark tunnels whenever the parents went out to hunt, they most likely knew every crack and crevice in the whole cave.
Zuko rolled up the sleeping mats and packed everything back up, hidden near the exit incase they needed to make a quick getaway. Meanwhile Azula 'cooked' the chief and watched with a little too much enthusiasm as the cubs ate. She slowly turned her fire blue and the cubs, with a little hesitation continued eating and soon regained their confidence. Breakfast finished, they all went outside to play.
The sun was just starting to rise, making quite a sight over the top of the temple. Azula moved across from Zuko to face him as they went through their morning forms, mirroring each other as they flowed through each set first one way, then the other. He finished their routine with the 'Dancing Dragons' and started practicing his lightning generation while she continued with some new Sun Warrior-like forms, before joining him.
The dragons watched every other flicker of flame but played with each other in between forms. So the day passed. The Royal siblings practiced their bending, sparred, rested, played with their dragons in between and explored the surrounding area when the dragons were having their post-feast naps. By Zuko's estimate, the blue dragon torso would last less than a week at this rate, which was ridiculous given the size disparity. Somehow the little cubs seemed to stuff more meat down their guts than should possibly fit.
They saw no sign of the Sun Warriors or the Boiling Rock criminals all day, and idly wondered what they might be doing. It was unfortunate that they were unable to spy on them, but the dragons came first. Maybe one of them could slip away one night. It would feel strange without his mask, not that he told her that. But they decided against any night time scouting for now. They didn't know the landmarks, had no back up, and firebending would give their location away immediately. Besides, there was no real need. They knew the general location of the criminals, and the temple would always have Sun Warriors there to feed and protect the Eternal Flame.
"Maybe we should bring the Eternal Flame back home to father. It would be quite the gift, and who knows what benefits it might bring."
Zuko considered his sister's words. "It would, but maybe we should bring some Fire Sages to see if there is anything bad about it. We don't want to mess with Spirit stuff without knowing exactly what we're doing." They both forced back a shudder; he had told her more than enough about the invasion of the north.
oOo
The days passed in much the same way. The dragons became used to blue fire and sought increasing amounts of physical contact from their new masters, who were only too happy to oblige. The smooth patterned texture of their scales coupled with the warmth radiating from them made petting them quite the tactile experience.
Zuko finally learned how to hover consistently while Azula learned to throw lightning mid-flight, if only one handed. Still, it was useful and oh so satisfying; she felt like some deity smiting puny insects from the heavens. But most of all they worked on their endurance. Oddly enough, 'cooking' for the cubs and sending them to sleep with long streams of controlled fire seemed to help the most.
They also learned that the touch-images worked both ways. If they or the dragon involved were touching the forehead of the other, images and emotions would flow towards the one touched, with some smaller amount of feedback. It lasted only a moment but the silent communication conveyed everything. Azula discovered it while scratching Shori's forehead and wondering how long she was, considering they were always curled up one way or another. Shori then casually moved to lie perfectly straight, almost as long as Azula was tall, before turning her gold eyes to meet Azula's, and then moving back up for more scratching.
It was unsettling to think their very thoughts could be laid open so easily, but then the cubs weren't exactly talkative, and it would make things much easier. By the end of the day the cubs were flying about in synchronised patterns that just so happened to spell out 'Dragon Queen Azula'. A happy coincidence.
The next day the cubs understood certain verbal commands after having them paired with touch-images several times, and with rewards of extra food and petting upon obedience. 'Come', 'go', 'hide', 'quiet' and 'retreat' were understood and obeyed readily, with retreat making them rush back to the den and hide there. But they were having some difficulty with 'attack' due to the lack of targets. So they decided they would have to acquire some.
They left the caldera and headed for the forest, hovering at a pace slow enough for the cubs to keep up; they couldn't fly very far yet so they sort of skipped and glided after them. After several lapses due to not enough flame and speed, Azula grew impatient and called Shori over, gesturing 'come'. Shori twisted up around Azula's leg and up over her torso to rest her head against Azula's shoulder, body and tail wrapped around holding her there. It was strangely intimate.
Now carrying Shori like a backpack, Azula was free to glide along as fast as she liked. Zuko and Kizu copied the manoeuvre, and sped along trailing behind their sisters before falling face-first into the ground. Growling out unintelligible curses, Zuko glared at his apologetic dragon. In the excitement, Kizu had spread his wings, suddenly generating unexpected lift and drag, throwing them off balance. Ignoring what could only have been Shori's snickering, and Azula's outright laughter, Zuko dusted himself off and tapped the naughty cub on his nose. Bad dragon.
Although if the wings had been larger, and properly secured...
This defeat is the gateway to many victories.
He had to tell her his idea, the advantage they would gain, the possibilities!
...Though perhaps he should wait until she stopped laughing.
And got the dirt off his face.
oOo
The cubs liked hunting. They liked searching and spying out prey. They enjoyed the quiet stalking, moving closer and planning exactly what to do. And they loved the eternal, poignant moment frozen in time when they sprang and the clever prey realised they were dead, but tried to keep moving anyway.
But even that couldn't compare the sheer bliss when crimson warmth flooded their mouths and swept down their dry throats, soothing and exciting all at once. It meant the hunt was all but over, they had almost won, nearly there , so close... Ahh...
They relaxed along with the stilled prey, silently drinking in the only meal they would ever eat uncooked. The moment passed and then the soft two-legs blue-fire parents came forward with soft, happy sounds and blue heat to cook the meat, clean their scales and renew their energy. The parents were getting better at it, too.
oOo
Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, The Duke and Teo huddled around the campfire trying to absorb as much warmth as they could. Thanks to some earthbending they had shelter, and Katara had managed to wring freshwater from the ocean surrounding them, but they had no food and no blankets. Their supplies had been lost when that blue explosion had nearly knocked them off Appa. It had knocked Teo over the side, but Aang had swooped down to catch him, saving the day once more.
Too bad he couldn't catch their bags as well.
Or Haru. He'd screamed all the way down, a tumbling mess of hair and limbs and high-pitched screaming that echoed off the canyon walls and through their nightmares. Aang would never forget the expression Haru wore at the exact moment he realised Aang wouldn't be saving him. Teo would never forget that it could have been him; he hadn't said a word since.
Morale had never been lower. The invasion had failed, costing the lives and freedom of so many, and then just when they thought they could rest and recover, the giant airships had caught them unprepared. They were lucky to get away, lucky Appa's legs weren't blown off.
He still couldn't move them properly, even with Katara's healing waterbending.
All in all, things couldn't get much worse. Which was strangely liberating. The deadline didn't matter anymore, the Fire Nation had already won even without the comet. Aang now had as much time as he wanted to master all four bending arts, and they could come up with the best plan ever. Maybe even wait for the next eclipse.
So why did it still hurt so much?
"I need to learn firebending."
Aang stating the obvious again. Sokka couldn't be bothered answering. Not surprisingly, Katara was the one to respond.
"We'll just have to find Jeong Jeong again. How hard can it be?"
No one said a word when Toph snorted.