A/N: Not a lot is known about Lu Ten, and I thought it would be so fun to explore him as a character. So, this story is very much AU.

Feedback is always appreciated!

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"New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings."
—Lao Tzu

Sena sat in front of her expensive looking glass, trying to ignore the haunted look that was suspended around her reflection. She brushed her dark hair slowly, knowing it might be the last time she could do so and consider it her own, and not the property of her future husband. She tried to concentrate on the soothing, methodic insertion of the teeth of the whale comb slipping into the tresses and sliding through with ease.

She found her mind wandering and, as the stroking of her hair became more and more languid, her thoughts returned to her doubts and anxiety. Shunning the presence of her maids in favor of spending her last night in her home alone, Senna sat and ruminated on the misery of her arranged marriage.

I don't want to marry him, she thought bitterly. There are hundreds of women that want his hand in marriage; why can't he marry one of them? I don't want a hero. I want a man. Lu Ten, a commander of the fearsome Fire Nation navy. I shall be queen to the Fire Nation's future ruler.

"I don't even know him!" the exclamation fell from Sena's lips unbidden. Uncharacteristically apprehensive that someone overheard her, she glanced uncertainly about her bedchamber. For the first time, a decision she truly couldn't fight was being forced upon her, and Sena knew she was powerless to change it.

Lu Ten, a man accustomed to brutality and violence. He will control me because he doesn't understand how I am, she thought resentfully.

In a rare fit of temper, she hurled her comb into the wall beside her mirror. The delicate ornament shattered, neither accustomed nor designed for such abuse. Almost immediately, Sena rushed over to collect the pieces. Shells were a rare commodity in the Northern Water Tribe, yet the reason she was so upset ran deeper than material value. As she pieced together the shattered teeth of the comb, her body racked with sobs.

Mother, she wept silently, salty tears streaking down her tanned face. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break your comb... I wish you could save me from this. I don't want to live in a foreign place—to live in a home that is not my own.

Sena crushed the shell fragments in her palm and leaned against the wall, drawing shaky breaths as she tightened the reigns over her emotions. The cold temperature of the wall cut through her sleeping gown quite sharply, but the iciness helped to clear her head.

She sighed, noiselessly easing down against the wall in a jumble of silks and furs. Sena slumped to the floor, drained and defeated.

I cannot meet my betrothed like this, she thought listlessly. Her hand dropped at her side, spilling the contents across the floor. As the infinitesimal comb remnants skittered and rolled across the cold floor, Sena ignored the tiny sounds they made and stared at the ceiling.

My ceiling is vaulted. It's so high, yet it still contains this massive room, she thought. Maybe I will be this room and Lu Ten will limit me, as well. Maybe he will enclose me and make me smaller than I really am. Perhaps I should resign myself to my fate...

Sena spent the night huddled against the wall of her room. In the morning, her maids found her and bade her ready herself for the journey. Unnerved at her unusual compliance, the servants did not complain; the princess was not a troublemaker by any stretch of the imagination, but her disdain of the marriage was well known and the maids were troubled when she apparently stopped fighting it.

Allowing herself to be dressed and primped by her maids, Sena sat stoically as she was attended to. Usually preferring to do such things herself, she was determined not to take action that would be deemed cooperative short of being problematic.

A soft knock on the door made her jump.

"Daughter?" a voice asked tentatively. It was Chief Arnook.

I'd be careful, too, after marrying off my only daughter to a complete stranger, thought Sena acrimoniously.

"Yes, Father?" she answered sweetly.

"Leave us," he commanded the maids, who instantly fled. He shut the door that the last maid had carelessly (or not so carelessly, thought Sena wryly) left open. After locking it, he turned to her, studying his daughter carefully.

"Sena," he addressed softly, his face bestowing a gentle smile. "I know you are unhappy, but I do not wish for you to leave this place harboring feelings of resentment. I would be greatly pained if the last memories I would have of you were sad. You are my only daughter; your inner strength rivals the combined might of my seven sons. I am proud of you, my child."

"Why can you not accompany me to the Fire Nation?" she asked, abandoning her anger, knowing it was fruitless now. "If I am to be married, you should at least be there to preside over the ceremony. Fire Lord Iroh would surely want to see you after all these years, Father."

Arnook shook head head. "Once you are there, it will be even harder to let me go if I were to accompany you," he reasoned. "I am not going to be a part of your new life, Sena. You must accept that."

"I know, but -"the princess chokes on a sob. "I'm afraid, Father."

He chuckled softly. "My darling Sena, afraid of a man?" he teased lightly, but drew her closer at the genuine look of anguish that crossed her delicate features. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he held her reassuringly.

"Prince Lu Ten is not to be feared," Arnook promised. "I met him while he was in his youth. The boy was very skilled with a javelin and remarkable with a sword. He is now head of the Fire Nation navy; he will protect you. And, by all accounts, he is a good man."

"Who told you that?"' questioned Sena, peering up at him intently.

To Sena's dismay, her father laughed again. "It's nice to see you finally taking an interest in the man you are to marry."

"Father, who told you that he is a good man?" she persisted. "It would be his father's duty to do so, and if Fire Lord Iroh is responsible for your high opinion of the prince then I fear I shall retain my skepticism."

"Fire Lord Iroh would not lie," Arnook told her solemnly.

"How do you know" asked Sena, narrowing her eyes.

"Because I was originally going to arrange your marriage to his younger son, Hiro," Chief Arnook revealed. "He was the better looking of the two, so naturally I thought of him first."

Sena made a sound of disgust when her father winked at her, obviously teasing her again.

"The fire lord told me, after I described you to him, that you would be too strong for Prince Hiro," Arnook explained. "Though Iroh loves his youngest son, he says that Prince Lu Ten is the better man to marry. He will be faithful to you and true to any promise he makes. Besides, Hiro is too short for you."

Giving her father a good-natured shove, Sena freed herself from his grasp. "You're hopeless, Father."

"But there is still hope for you yet, my daughter," he countered. "Perhaps Prince Lu Ten can tame all of that strength you have inside you."

"Only the man I love will be able to do that," swore the princess.

Sighing patiently, Arnook gathered his daughter in his arms once more. "I am sorry that you are a victim of your times," his voice was gentle and soft, one only saved for his daughter. "But you, child, are strong, brave, and beautiful in all ways that count. You make your people proud, and will continue to do so in your new home."

Tears escaped Sena's eyes unabashedly. "I love you, Father."

The elder man smiled into her hair, murmuring, "I love you, too, Sena. Be happy," as he held her in their home one last time.