"Ow!"
Zuko yells. His face is covered in snow.
Azula laughs from across the courtyard. She's holding another batch of snowballs. How the hog monkeys did she make them so fast?
"Maybe you should have faster reflexes next time!" She says. Her breath puffs into the air.
The prince groans. Maybe she should stop taking these games so seriously. Nobody was watching; who was there to impress? They were just playing outside the palace.
He cups a ball of snow with his hands. But then again, if she wanted to play like that…
"Hey!" He shouts.
"What?"
His eyes widen. "It's Uncle Iroh! Naked!"
"Huh?"
Her head darts behind her. Perfect.
He throws the ball, and it splashes on the back of her head.
"Ow!"
"Gotcha!"
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did!"
"No you didn't!"
Azula stomps on the ground, fire coming from her nose. She burns the snow below her. It used to intimidate him. Not anymore.
"Loser! Loser!" He says, laughing.
"Agni! I hate you!" She stomps on the ground again. A blueish flame appears this time, burning the snow into black charcoals.
Zuko stares.
"Yeah! That's right. Get scared!"
He squints.
"Haha! That's what you get for making fun of me!"
"Uh ... 'Zula ..."
"I know, I know. Bow down to me. It's okay, dum-dum."
"Uh ...". His mouth feels like it is about to drop from his skull. "What ... was that?"
She frowns. "What was what?"
"That thing you just did."
"What thing I just did?"
"Like ...". He taps his chin. "Uh ... pretend you're mad again. Stomp on the ground."
"Pretend ... I'm mad?" She pushes a lock of hair behind her face. "What?"
"Just stomp on the ground."
"Uh ... okay." Azula stomps on the snow. Nothing comes out. She looks at him with that face; the one she always makes when she tries to figure out what he's thinking.
"Never mind," Zuko says, shaking his head. "Maybe I was just seeing things."
Was he seeing things? There was no way he just saw her release a gust of blue fire, did he? Was that even possible? He really did need to read up on this.
"You really are weird, Zuzu," she says. She drops her snowballs, as if bored. "Let's go back. I'm getting cold."
"Sure, I guess..." Huh. Maybe he did imagined it.
Maybe.
(X)
The library is quiet, except for the flapping of Zuko's book. He runs through the pages, putting his fingers on the words and reading them carefully.
Fire ... lord Sozin didn't have blue fire, he thinks to himself. Neither did Firelord Zoryu. So …
Azula peers behind him, scrunching her nose.
"Finally, you're reading something useful," she says, looking at the title. It was the History of the Best Firebenders.
"Hey, look it's grandfather!"
She points to an image of a bearded man in red robes. He's bending fire. Red fire.
"His beard looks shorter," says Zuko.
"Of course dum-dum," she says, knocking his head. "This is a older image."
"Okay! Okay! Stop!" He frees his head from her hand. For a moment, they stare at the book.
Then he says, "hey 'Zula."
"Hmm?"
"Do ... do you know anyone who's bent blue fire?"
"Blue fire?" Her ears perk up. "When were you interested in that?"
"Just answer the question."
"Hmm ... well." She taps her lip. "Blue fire is very hard to bend. I don't remember anyone whose done it. You need extreme talent and dedication, I assume. More than anyone else in the world."
Huh. Extreme talent and dedication. More than anyone else in the world.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She says.
"What?" He blinks, and realizes he's been staring at her. "I-Oh, I ... er ... nothing."
"Weird again," she says.
"I'm not weird!" He says.
"If you weren't weird, you wouldn't have to say that."
"Huh? What do yo-"
He stops, and then growls.
(X)
Mai's here ... again. She's in the courtyard ... and she's with that other girl. What was her name? Ty - Lee.
He stares. Should he go to them? He thinks for a second. Then he shrugs. Mai would come another day. He turns around.
"Hey! Zuzu!" shouts Azula from afar.
He looks back.
"We're playing a game! Come here!"
He puts his hands in his pocket, and walks again. She was far enough that he could pretend he didn't hear her.
"Zuzu, come here or else I'm going to cremate your entire bedroom!"
He sighs, and looks back. Agni, her face looked serious. And Mai was looking at him.
Fine. He walks to them, face frowning. "What?"
"Ty Lee, explain the game," Azula says.
Ty Lee's face seems to light up at the mention of her name. "Okay! So in this game, we-"
"Oh! I forgot!" says Azula. She smiles at him. He raises his eyebrow. "I left my hair brush inside. Come with me Ty Lee."
"Oh, but-"
"It's urgent!" She rushes off to somewhere, and Ty Lee follows her.
Zuko looks at Mai, who's standing in front of him. He palms his face. So, that was her game. Agni!
"H-Hey," he says, turning red. "You're - uh - Mai, right?"
"You forgot my name?" She says.
"Uh, n-no, of course I didn't," he says, panicking. Damn! Damn! Damn! "I remembered since last year."
He'd remembered since last year? That was weird. Weird!
"N-No, I meant ... Gah!" His shoulders drop. "Whatever."
Mai doesn't say anything. What was she thinking? That he was weird? A loser? Maybe a stalker? No! Anything but a stalker!
"H-Hey," he stumbles. "Do you want to see the Fire Tree with me?"
"What's that?"
"It's just an old tree. It's only a short walk from here."
Mai nods. Okay. That meant something, right? They walk together. Finally, they reach the tree. It's in the center of a pathway.
It's leaves are red, even though it's spring. They flutter down and into the ground. He reached out for one, but the wind bows it away.
"It looks like a tree," she says.
"Huh?" He stares, dumbfounded. "Well, yeah, but it's a cool tree."
"How?"
"It's been in the palace since Fire Lord Zoryu," he says. "That's a thousand years!"
He tries a smile. Maybe that'll work.
Her face does not change.
"Woah," she says flatly.
He pouts. Damn, he sucked at this. "Yeah."
Silence. The leaves rustle against the wind. He looks at Mai. She's resting her head on her hand.
He blushes, then looks back. His heart is pounding. He can hear it against his chest. He feels something. Something that made him want to sink into his clothes, but jump at the same time.
Hmm. Whatever it was, he decides on a thought that leaves him grinning: she was beautiful.