Chapter Five

When Ozai returned to his brother he was smirking. He stiffened, remembering what Iroh had witnessed, he only smiled wider. He took a few strides forward.

"So who is she?" Iroh asked as he grasped Ozai's shoulders, knowing that his brother was not one to go pronouncing around with women. He was never that much of a romantic, always quite reserved around everyone, except on the rare occasion that Iroh could get him drunk. This girl seemed different. Ozai was quiet for a moment, his expression odd. Iroh eventually realised that it was the physical closeness between them. He released his grasp on him quickly and he watched as Ozai visibly relaxed. He had never been one for physical contact.

"Her name is Ursa," the younger prince said, looking towards the gates, "She magistrate Jinsuk's daughter." Iroh blinked.

"Lady Rina's husband?" Iroh asked, pausing. He looked at his brother when he said nothing.

"Avatar Roku's granddaughter?" Iroh almost gasped. Ozai snapped his attention back to him.

"Yes. His only living descendant." Ozai's formality had returned. Iroh didn't like that.

"And?" The crown prince asked, swatting him with his hand.

"And?" Ozai scowled. Iroh huffed and raised his eyebrows.

"What's she like? What did I miss? I didn't come home from war to find my little brother kissing some stranger only to hear nothing about it." Iroh's tone was light and Ozai exhaled.

"Come with me, I want you to tell me all about it," he said, elbowing his brother. Ozai scoffed, but secretly he was excited. He was excited because for once the attention was on him and not the crown Prince.

Ursa sat in the living room watching the sunset end, the inky black of the sky bleeding into the light. She admired the streaks of red and pink that stained the sky like blood. It reminded her of home. There, she would always sit on the beach in summer while the sun set, the sand cool underneath her feet, and enjoy her comfortable solitude. It felt good. In the capital, however, she was a perfect young lady. There was no late night strolls and no beach escapades.

And so she sat, still and patient, her small hands daintily sipping her tea. The garden here was beautiful. It was situated in the center of the house, with the many rooms surrounding it. Ursa was on the ground floor, in the extra tatami room that no one used. She sighed lightly, thinking of Ozai. It was a strange feeling she got when she thought of him. Ursa had mixed emotions, she supposed. Every time she thought of him her heart beat faster, and not entirely because of affection. She supposed that her nerves were in fact warranted. People called him reckless, a firebrand. She immediately thought of the kiss and forgot to breathe.

She took another sip of tea, enjoying how it burned in her throat. It reminded her of him. He was so warm, even through his thick robes. When she had touched his cheek the skin there was flawlessly smooth and hot to the touch. Before she lost herself in the moment, there was a knock on the door. Ursa set down her tea and stood quickly, walking towards the foyer. She walked out from behind the rice paper divide, coming to stand in the doorway. She turned her head to look behind her, and when she saw no one there, she decided to answer the door herself.

"Hello," she said, bowing her head quickly. The young boy in front of her bowed deeply,

"Good evening, Lady Ursa," he said, and Ursa noticed his servant attire, and a carriage behind him.

"I have come on Fire Prince Ozai's behalf. He sends gifts for you, my lady," the servant boy explained. Ursa didn't know what to think, so she simply turned to look at the carriage as the boy turned around and went to the carriage. He opened the doors at the rear and removed a large box, then a vase with flowers, and finally a separate note, closed with the royal seal. Ursa huffed in excitement and possibly awe. She had only seen him yesterday.

"Will you take them inside, please?" Ursa asked politely, stepping to the side. The boy nodded and quickly brought the gifts into the foyer, and handed Ursa the note. She smiled at him,

"Thank you." She ran her thumb across the rice paper. He bowed again at the waist.

"You are welcome my lady. Good evening," the boy said and then turned and walked back to the royal carriage. Hearing the horses, her mother walked over from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel.

"Ursa?" Rina asked her daughter, "What's this?" She gesticulated to the gifts on the floor.

"They're from Ozai, I think," she said softly, opening the letter in her palm. Her mother walked over to the box and looked it over while Ursa read.

To Lady Ursa, firstborn daughter of Rina and Jinsuk, overseers of the Hira'a province,

I cannot write much now, and for that I apologize, preparations are beginning for an Earth Kingdom mission I am involved in. For now, I must dedicate the majority of time to the war effort. It is possible that I will be deployed within the next month. I beg you, my lady, stay in the caldera a few weeks longer. I must see you again before my likely departure. I hope that the gifts I send will quell your unrest until we can meet once more. Tell me what you want Ursa, name it, and it shall be yours. You deserve everything I could give you and more. None of that compares, of course, to the ambrosia of being in your company, but I digress. Write to me soon.

Your Prince,

Ozai

Ursa lowered the letter once she had read it and bit her lip. He was most certainly persistent. But his romance had a certain hardness to it, she thought. With every gift came demands, expectations. Ursa had a strong feeling that he almost always got what he wanted. Something in that scared her. But her bad feelings were quenched when she looked down to the box. Her mother had opened it, and she pulled out a smaller box that was just on the inside. Rina turned to set it on the table and opened the lid. Inside there were a whole arrangement of amezaiku - traditional intricate candies shaped to look just like flowers and animals. It must have cost a fortune. When she saw the center one she smiled, seeing that it was in the shape of a panda. He remembered. It was her favorite animal.

"How beautiful," Rina said, picking up an extremely intricate coy fish, engraved with scales and fins and even eyes that sparkled where the light hit them. She looked over to see her daughter smiling and laughed a little.

"Did you tell him about the panda?" She asked, and Ursa nodded bashfully. For a moment, they both laughed. It seemed so giddy, they thought, to have a Prince of the Fire Nation know her favorite animal.

"These must have cost a fortune," Rina remarked, and Ursa didn't say that she had been thinking exactly the same thing. They were much too beautiful to ever eat.

"Well, let's see the rest," her mother continued, walking over to the box. She pulled out a heavy silk fabric, made up of both light blue and light purple, the colors intertwined beautifully in the design. Below that was the sash, to wear with the kimono. It was pale green, embroidered with silver thread. Her mother sighed.

"Gorgeous." She held up the kimono so Ursa could see it. She smiled. As her father walked into the room, Rina moved the flowers to the dining table, smelling the fire lilies. Jinsuk scowled,

"What is this? More gifts?" He asked, walking over to the flowers. Rina smiled,

"Yes. From the Prince," her tone unusually cheery as she arranged the flowers in the vase.

Jinsuk came up behind her and placed his hand on her waist, reaching down to grasp the letter Ursa had set down.

"May I read this, dear?" He asked, looking to his daughter. Her large amber eyes stilled, and she tilted her head to the side, thinking.

"I... alright," she said. Rina turned around to look at them both. She pursed her lips and then shook her head once she saw Ursa's expression.

"Jinsuk, no," she said, trying to convince him, "Let's give her some space. She is nineteen, she is old enough to have her privacy." Her husband turned to look at her, studying her greying face, thinking. He sighed and watched his daughter as she looked between them, biting her lip. Jinsuk loved her deeply, and he hoped that she knew what she was doing. There was no going back now.

A/N: Please, please, please review! I love them so much, they keep me going. And don't worry, Ozai won't go for long.