Summer 99 AG
Coast of Ember Island

Zuko

I had never been the most patient man, waiting always seemed like torture and right now it may as well be torture. I haven't been given 'permission' to leave the ship, a reminder that no matter the circumstances I'm still an exile.

At least there was nothing to fear on land. Ozai could attack me with all of his strength and fury, and I would barely feel the heat of his flames, he could throw lightning at me, and it would do nothing more than lightly burn my skin and with my talent in swordplay I could escape even if I didn't use firebending.

The moment I became immune to fire any cause for concern in a fight for the throne disappeared, it wouldn't make controlling the population or the nobles any easier but there is no one apart from the Avatar that could kill me right now and even he might not be able to, running away was also one of Zuko's specialties.

"No need to look so tense prince Zuko" Iroh spoke as he got closer to me before whispering "Many people are looking at you right now and if you are to impress them you must keep your composure"

"I'm not tense uncle, I'm annoyed by their little power plays as if this was a normal court, everyone knows that power is the only thing that matters when it comes to legitimacy, Sozin made it so"
Iroh hummed noncommittally at my answer "Patience is a virtue that will help you in all aspects of life prince Zuko, be sure to embrace it as the land embraces rain"

"And for a moment I thought that you finally stopped with your useless proverbs uncle"

The voice of Azula had changed and like I had expected Ozai sent her to intimidate or otherwise drive the wedge between us further apart. She arrived followed by a ceremonial guard and without announcing herself, another way to show how little respect she had for me, but I will train the disobedience out of her eventually.

"You should show more respect Azula, he still has the rank of general"

"Oh did I make you angry Zuzu" she finally was in front of me and she was everything that I had expected, the beautiful unblemished skin, the rosy lips that make me want to bite them as if they were an apple and that body that will only grow sexier in time "But if we're speaking about showing respect, that makes me think that you finally learned how to keep your mouth shut. Your scar looks good by the way"

I had expected the venom in her words, prepared myself mentally for anything she might say relating to the scar, but it wasn't enough and as my fury grew the air around became a scalding thing, hot enough that every breath became more difficult, the guards that had accompanied Azula had started coughing and she had a look of discomfort on her face.

"There is no need to start this reunion with a spectacle for the soldiers, perhaps you can spar in a more private setting. It wouldn't be proper to receive a guest of the Fire Lord with a fight" Iroh moved in between us, ready to spot us if we moved with any intention of attacking "Prince Zuko it's time for the morning tea, would you care for a cup"

I debated with myself about the benefits of teaching Azula some discipline right here and now, but uncle was right in defusing the situation. Ozai could use this as an excuse to punish me more and making it impossible for me to contact any influential noble.

"Tea sounds great" looking back at Azula, who was now far wearier at the thought of fighting me if the look on her face was anything to go by, I gave her a small smile "regardless of the circumstances, I'm happy to see you again"

She huffed and made sure to give me the signature look of superiority that every villain knows "Don't get too comfortable dum-dum after this party you're going back to the ocean, you shouldn't waste time with sentimentality" she turned around and just when she was about to leave the ship, she called out to us again.

"I almost forgot" Azula said with a fake innocent smile "Father is waiting for you at the old beach house, you better hurry and he wants you to go alone" after those parting words she finally left.
"This is strange, Ozai is not one to hide away and ask things in private"

"He no doubt wants to see for himself if the rumors of my blessing are true, Ozai would look like a fool if he tested me in front of the court for everyone to see and it turned out to be true. He would be obligated to do something about it, for all that the nobles beg like dogs for his approval, they would jump at the chance to see him humbled"

"You've become very wise Zuko, I remember the time when you despised the games of the court." Iroh grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly "Are you ready to go back to your father's house?"

"it's been a long time since I thought of that place" I looked in the direction where it could be found and remembered the time when I had a happy family "I'm ready to put the past behind me uncle"


The house looked just like it did in my memories, servants scurried about as I passed, some looked and pointed at me without fear, others looked away from me and pretended I didn't exist, and a particularly brave idiot just made a joke about me and my mother.

I stopped and walked back to him, the smile on his face quickly disappeared from his face and the other servants around him quickly left with some minor platitudes. The man tried to do the same but as he tried to move past me I grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground with casual ease, his face paled as he realized just how strong I was and that I clearly had heard him speak.

"I want you to repeat it to me" my tone was low and while my voice was as calm as the sky at night the servant could clearly hear my displeasure "Say it again, right now before I lose my patience"

"P-prince Zuko i-I didn't mean anything by what I said" the smell of urine reached my nose as the man lost whatever composure he had "please forgive me!"

"Are you going to make me repeat myself for a third time" the idiot continued to babble and apologize but he didn't speak up "Very well, if you won't follow my orders then I'm left with no choice but to discipline you"

My hand reached for his throat and with my grip I prevented him from saying anything else, as a small flame covered the palm of my hand and started burning his flesh. The smell of burning human flesh accompanied by the choking sounds of the imbecile were starting to annoy me so I decided to end it before the smell impregned my clothes.

What was a small flame turned into an inferno hot enough to melt flesh in seconds, the flames grew as I poured my chi into the flames until they covered the head of the man and after a few agonizing seconds the rest of his body slackened as he finally died, i could endure many things, insults most of all, but that man had spoken about my mother in a way that i don't even care to repeat and he deserved death.

I let the body fall to the ground confident that it would be cleaned up and continued my way up the stairs into the house, like me Ozai was not a patient man.

I reached the front door and without knocking or waiting for permission entered the room and there on a throne Ozai sat while drinking from a golden cup.

"Welcome back prince Zuko" he stood up and walked until he was in front of me, the height difference accentuated by the way he literally looked down on me.

"I have heard an interesting rumor about you" he paced around the room while circling me as if he were a predator. "Care to put it to a test?"

"You are the Fire Lord, it would be my honor" he chuckled as I spat out the word honor and before either of us said anything more a ball of flame materialized in record time over his hand.

He held it close to my face, looking for any kind of discomfort and when he found none, he immediately blasted my face with it.

The heat felt pleasant and while the brightness forced me to close my eyes it did me no harm, there was no hair out place in my head and not a single part of my flesh was marred by the flames.

"Would you care to try again with a real attack?" it felt good to mock him and his powerlessness

"You shouldn't be so arrogant!"

Those words were followed by a whip of fire that struck all over my body, again and again he hit me with it, but the result was always the same, even as my clothes burned and as the wood beneath our feet started to smoke, my body endured.

"Is this enough proof, or will you continue until my clothes are all ashes."

I almost chuckled at his look of frustration, no doubt Ozai was jealous about my new ability to endure fire, jealous of my perceived worthiness in the eyes of the sun spirit and most of all jealous of the power that I now held in my hands over all the firbenders in the world.

His hands lowered and while there was a scowl on his face, I could clearly see him scheming something in his mind, for all that he was an awful father and human being in general, Ozai had great skill for politics.

"Your gift is very impressive, but the ability you have is not your own, the strength" he gritted his teeth as he spoke the word "you possess is not really yours, while we are celebrating a competition in which the best firebenders will participate against each other will be held. You will win, and you must do so effortlessly. It wouldn't do for the favored of Agni to lose"

He walked out of the house soon after his declaration, his plan was not a bad one. He wanted to humble or humiliate me, this way he could show the people that being favored by the sun spirit meant nothing, that I was still nothing and that there was no reason to revoke my banishment.

Ozai underestimated me and soon I would show everyone just how much stronger I was, but right now I needed to find better clothes, the robes I had were just about to fall off and one of the strikes of the fire whip hit my underwear, having the servants watching me move around the house naked was not ideal, weird rumors could spring up.

Sighing I passed my hand through my face, removing the makeup covering my little love spot, showering seemed like a perfect idea and an excellent excuse for the servants to bring me fresh clothes including underwear.

Just when I was about to call out for help the sound of running feet was clearly heard from the steps leading to the house, Azula was probably coming to see me, and this was a perfect opportunity to use my charming good looks to get her attention.

"You cannot enter without permission" the voice of an elderly woman said to the one trying to visit, it wasn't Azula, otherwise the old woman wouldn't have the courage to speak.

"I don't care" the monotone voice that answered was very familiar and while not my preferred target I wasn't about to send her away.

The door opened and in walked Mai, she looked very delectable in the beach clothes she was wearing, her breasts while small were very perky and held a fantastic shape and her long-toned legs looked good enough to worship.

She soon found me holding the remnants of my outfit, my chest was bared and the pants I was wearing were about to come apart at the seams, she was staring at me intently, no doubt making sure that she would never forget this moment and while Mai wasn't the most expressive person, there was no hiding how flustered she was.

"Mai, I'm very happy to see you again but as you may have noticed" my hand moved as I grabbed a piece of my shirt "I'm not exactly in a good position to receive visitors, so, unless you plan to join me in the bath, I'm going to ask you to leave for now"

At that moment my pants that had held on for so long finally broke leaving me in the nude, making no effort to conceal any part of my body. I looked at Mai's face and raised an eyebrow.

Mai opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds in a very good imitation of a fish, her face got redder, and no sound came out of her mouth even as she clearly tried to speak.

Deciding to be a bit playful I teased her a little more "Are you thinking hard about my offer of joining me in the bath"

Finally, she reacted by putting her hands over her eyes "I can wait, I just wanted to see you again" she peeked from behind her hands, and I just smiled as I noticed her eyes going downwards.

I walked slowly towards her and saw her flinch as I got closer, once I was close enough, I hugged making sure to press my body against hers in a way that let her feel every inch of it. Mai's breath grew erratic, and I felt as her body got hotter.

Then I kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear "I'm glad you came looking for me"

Without another word and not giving her any time to respond I walked out the room and headed straight for the shower.

Today was a really interesting day.


Author note: Sorry for the late post but today is my mother's bithday and i was left in charge of the party and only now found enough time to update this, like always i welcome all support on my , and beyond that hope that you enjoy this, i also noticed that QQ had been sending the alerts of comments into my spam folder so i will make sure to pay more attention from now on and i apologize for ignoring anything you might have said. i hope you have a nice night and see you next wednesday.

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