I'm back hopefully for good to continue the stories I promised to finish. I will try to update both stories bi-weekly or hopefully sooner. Finals are coming up quickly. This story needed a complete overhaul in terms of writing and plot , so I'm giving it that. I still have a lot to learn about writing but hopefully those who follow both my stories noticed an improvement over the 5 or so years I've been writing through high school to college now. I drew inspiration from other writers who wrote about this as a plot point a long time ago, and this has been waiting to be released. I hope you all enjoy it.
Update 2 10/02/2023: I have long felt disappointment in myself for not finishing what I started here. College is finished and I have a job now. I aim to finish both this story and my other story, working continuously until they are complete. I am going to continue with the ideas I drafted a long time ago, hopefully with some improvement in my writing. I am writing an actual fantasy novel in the background that has been in my head since before I started writing fanfiction on this website. That will be my priority. For those who read this story and Taming the Dragon, enjoy the journeys these stories will embark on!
SIGNIFICANT REWRITING HAS OCCURED FOR QUALITY REASONS.
An AU where Aang drowned at sea. The next Avatar was unrealized - captured in a Fire Nation raid at a young age, dying alone in prison. The next was an Earthbender, too stubborn and grounded to leave from behind the walls of Ba Sing Se. Desperate, the spirits chose a girl who was born a prodigy. A princess trained in the art of war, burdening her with the spirit of balance. A unwilling child thrust into a war that she must end. After avoiding her responsibility as Avatar, she is forced out into the world to face her destiny and right the wrongs of her nation. An Avatar Azula Story.
Azula was three when she first bent fire. Azulon's court declared her a prodigy. Not a soul in the firenation knew her past lives mastered fire thousands of lifetimes in a row.
Azula was five when a jug of water exploded amidst some servants, sending them scattering. Afterwards, she stepped from behind her hiding place to look at the mess she made. Monster. That's how they saw her - Ozai's daughter. They were lucky all she did was scare them. Her own thoughts began to take over: Disgusting - Waterbender - Avatar. She sobbed alone with only the painted heads of Firelords past as her company.
She was seven when the Avatars previous lives began to interfere in her life. It began with whispers that she desperately tried to ignore. The murmurs and ghosts spoke of treasonous things. Azula would avert her gaze and press her palms to her ears. According to some of the voices, this wasn't supposed to happen. They didn't pity her though, as the old one, Roku, had said, "Balance must be restored. Your tears will not change that fact, I'm afraid." A flash of fire soared at the spirit, but Roku was gone. Azula found their voices much more difficult to ignore after that.
She was nine, playing outside, when Ty Lee discovered her secret. A botched front handspring nearly concluded with a broken neck and a crippled Avatar. Azula generated a gust of air strong enough to propel her upright before she shattered her spine. After a moment of awkward silence, Azula faced Ty Lee quickly. A dark expression distorted her face.
"Speak of this to anyone, and you will never speak again." The princess snarled threateningly. It was a shocking, harsh threat from the mouth of a nine-year-old girl. Self-preservation trumped everything for Azula. Her life would be forfeit if Ty Lee told anyone. Trust was the one luxury the princess could not afford.
Ty Lee's face turned ashen, and her head rapidly bobbed up and down. Azula smiled, the wicked expression hiding the trembling of her little fingers and gnawing in her tummy. Their play date didn't last long after that. Azula considered following Ty Lee to her home. Her fists smoked as the girl crossed the threshold of the palace.
You have to trust her. The young air monk had whispered, and Azula could hear the horror in his tone.
"Trust is for fools." Azula's retreated to her room. She could trust no one in this serpents den. "I only allowed her to leave because she fears me. Ty Lee, despite being a little air-headed, knows the consequences of disobedience." Azula laid back into the comforting warmth of her bed, expecting to be left alone.
Is it better to be feared than loved and respected? The old voice of Roku chimed in, which she ignored, ferociously growling and clamping pillows down over her ears and sinking into her mattress. The troubling reminder that she couldn't hide forever nibbled away at her peace of mind. How could I have been so stupid? Azula torched a pillow, throwing the charred remains into a corner and breathing heavily. The palace had become a gilded cage. And dragons cannot be confined, lest they burn their captors.
Azula couldn't even trust herself, apparently. Her own body betrayed her, bending elements that it should not. Azula dared to imagine the consequences of a mistake in front of father. How outraged would he be if he found out? Azula swallowed, looking into the unlit corners of her room. She imagined father's guards, seizing her in the dead of night, hauling her off to an empty cell. Maybe they would chop off her limbs to cripple her bending ability.
Azula mulled over her morbid thoughts in her dark room for hours before falling into a restless sleep. Terrible visions plagued her as she drifted into a distressed slumber. Azula dreamed. The bison she rode struggled against the wind and rain. Her small hands tightly grasped the reins. Appa hold on! Lightning struck the water near them and the bison lost control, groaning as he spiraled lower and lower, until they sunk beneath the waves. Salt water flooded her lungs, burning her chest. She gagged and gagged, only taking in more water. Her spirit began to leave her. She felt something very cold and her field of view froze over in a wave of blue. Azula woke up, grasping her throat, sweating into her blankets. Her lungs burned.
"A dream." She choked, alone in the room. Her parched, dry mouth felt like grit and sand. "Just a dream."
The Avatar spirit cannot tolerate another failure. The world cannot handle another weak Avatar. You cannot run. Face your destiny. Roku's voice taunted her from another dream. She snarled in her bed, throwing her blanket over her head. Azula was not weak. She was not Zuko. Azula was better. The best.
"I wonder how much long your own inner fire will tolerate this. You cannot control the other elements. The goal of the Avatar spirit must be satisfied." Perhaps, taking steps to learn something would appease them. Hopefully, the spirit of the avatar would relent and allow her to rest. Azula kicked the comforter off her legs and climbed from her bed.
"I'll show you control." She growled aloud, throwing her door open. The princess strolled to the library, ignoring the surprised expression on the royal librarians face.
"I don't need any help." Azula waved off the sniveling bookworm, settling cross-legged before shelves upon shelves of scrolls. Her journey to discover only one book about another element began.
For a month the princess scoured the shelves. Unfortunately, she discovered the fire nation held no love for the inferior elements - at least, not enough to study them in their libraries. Then, Azula grew bolder, searching more taboo locations, and eventually discovering an entrance to the palace tunnels. Her exploration led her to the Dragon Bone Catacombs, where she found old texts hidden among the skulls of hunted dragons. Azula lit a flame in her hand, hearing her own footsteps echo off the cool and damp walls of the caves. Careful not to ignite the delicate substance, Azula sifted through hundreds of scrolls in the firelight. A handful of the withered scrolls described the innate differences between firebending and waterbending. Some described water dragons and vengeful spirits of the ocean. Azula finally uncovered a scroll that compared water whips to fire whips. Despite the vague description, after hours of studying the one scroll, Azula understood the basics of the bending form. The spirits had not spoken to her for some time, so she pressed on, grateful for the tentative peace. Azula found herself awake under the pale light of the moon, moving to her interpretation of the scroll.
After a few moons of practicing the form without water, Azula felt ready to find a sufficient place in the palace to practice her heretical bending. After carefully scouting her options, the training rooms were chosen. While, during the day, Zuko and his tutors occupied the hall, no one used them late at night. What sort of backwards firebender practices at night? Further, the palace guards only passed by a handful of times after sunset. Azula spent a few days watching their rotations to ensure her safety and decided to move when the full moon shone. If the scrolls were correct, her connection to the water would be strongest then.
Unfortunately, the eyes in the palace walls watched her. Father heard about her frequent visits to the library, which would have been a given. The librarian babbled to anyone and everyone that the princess had visited the library for the first time. The true shock followed - when father mentioned her infiltration into the catacombs. Azula vowed to herself to never get caught again, berating herself for the slip up for weeks and further delaying her attempts at waterbending. However, Ozai appeared pleased at his daughter's thirst for knowledge, praising her for seeking out the secrets of the palace, which comforted Azula. The elation withered away quickly. Azula doubted Father would have any words of praise, if he understood why she had sought out the Dragon Bone Catacombs in the first place. The Avatar spirit dwelled inside her and for that alone, she would be bound and chained. Every hope and dream stripped away by her own father and nation. Gon, the previous earthbender, had planted those vile thoughts in her head not long ago. Azula argued in vain against them, until she asked her father for his thoughts.
"The Avatar," she recalled her father's expression looking akin to him tasting something rancid, "cowers behind the walls of Ba Sing Se. Should he be apprehended, he will be chained, and kept alive just enough so that the cycle does not reset." Ozai was unaware that Gon died. Azula held back a smirk.
"Won't the Avatar be born again in the firenation whenever he dies? Wouldn't that mean the Avatar is a firenation citizen?" Azula schooled her face, trying to make the inquiry as light as possible. Ozai only laughed harshly.
"No. The Avatar's ultimate purpose is to bring 'balance'," Ozai spat, "The Avatar has no loyalty to any one nation by nature. The last fire nation Avatar, Roku, had threatened Sozin with death. And for what? Sozin wished to spread our greatness to even the most undeserving nations. Roku stood in the glorious path of our nation. For that, he deserved to die and Sozin killed him. Then my grandfather failed to wipe out the air nomads, leaving the Avatar spirit wandering the nations, keeping just enough hope alive. The Avatar exists without the firenation's- without my consent. Air, water, earth, even fire, The Avatar must be imprisoned for us to see our great nation rule the world." Azula had swallowed a large lump in her throat and bobbed her head obediently. Would I have to fight father someday?
Azula banished the memory, but Roku chimed in. The firelord is a menace to balance. You know this. Consider the suffering of others the rule of the fire nation would bring, you've seen it for yourself. Your duty as the Avatar is to bring balance, It is in your nature-
"Silence," She hissed, "Do not lecture me. I know what he says is... wrong. Still, he's my father, what do you expect me to do? Kill him?"
Suddenly, someone's knuckles rapped quickly on her door. Azula jumped a little.
Steadying her breathing, she called, "Come in."
One of her father's servants stumbled into the room quickly, looking rattled - perhaps it was bad news.
"Firelord Ozai wanted me to inform you that your Uncle will arrive at the palace in a week. The Firelord will meet with Prince Iroh in the throne room to offer him a position within court and you are expected to be present." The servant rambled off his message quickly and was dismissed with a wave of her hand.
The great Dragon of the West has returned? Azula rolled her eyes. Her magnanimous uncle had come crawling back home with his tail tucked between his legs. Who cares? Later that week, Azula dragged herself to the appointment. Her body slumped with exhaustion from her place on the dais, watching the border of fire rise and fall. Azula imagined waves in their place.
Her inattentive gaze drifted to the throne room doors as the guards heaved the hulking metal open. Finally. The imperial firebenders waited for a short man to pass under the archway, shutting them behind him. Prince Iroh strolled across the throne room, as though he had not kept them waiting. The old codger walked toward the dais, lacking the dignity expected from a Prince of the Fire Nation. His clothes had been reduced to traveling wares, dirty and tattered from months of use. Azula wondered if this man was truly her Uncle or a farce.
The Dragon of the West stopped infront of the flames. Azula's eyebrows rose as he kowtowed before the firelord. However, the gesture did not lack insolence. Iroh craned his neck from the floor to gaze at Ozai. Azula heard a hiss of disapproval and the fire which separated them rose higher. Iroh's amber eyes drifted to Zuko, where his gaze lingered for several moments. His eyes flickered over to her for only a mere second, before returning to the firelord. Azula scowled and rolled her eyes at the mess before her. Her own gaze wandered from dark circles under his eyes to the sad frown of his lips. The once proud Prince - no - General had withered into a depressed husk. Azula imagined the man infront of her was more of a hollow marionette-dragon strung up for a street show than the Dragon of the West. A pitiful puppet held up only by the silk strings of his past.
"Welcome home, General Iroh." Azula heard the gloating smirk plastered on her father's face, as he sat on the throne once meant for his brother, relishing the ability to look down on Azulon's firstborn.
"Much has changed in my absence, Ozai." Iroh declared in a flat tone. To Azula's surprise, the flames rose dangerously at Iroh's casual rebuttal to his brother.
"You will address me as Firelord Ozai now." Ozai sneered, "After your failure to bring down Ba Sing Se and capture the Avatar, our father revoked your birthright and made me the heir to throne in your place."
Azula understood her father had acquired the throne he coveted by... unsavory means. So she observed Iroh carefully, searching for a hint of suspicion in the old man's gaze. However, Iroh surprised her by shrugging.
"Perhaps that was for the best, brother." The flames rose even higher, but Iroh seemed unconcerned, "I never could see myself mounting the stress of ruling a nation and managing a war at the same time in my old age." The flames remained steadily above the normal height as she heard Ozai growl lowly. Did Father actually believe this? Azula wouldn't trust her Uncle.
"Perhaps indeed." Ozai ground out the words, controlling his temper. "Welcome back to the palace. Your quarters have been attended to and there is an open seat on the war council for all your... accomplishments in the war."
Iroh shook his head, "I am afraid that my interests lie elsewhere. However, I will accept the seat as a matter of decorum." A minutiae of suspicion wrinkled Azula's nose. Perhaps Lu Ten's death had shaken Uncle more than she thought. The brothers watched each other for a long moment. Azula held her breath.
"If that is all, then I have more important matters to attend to." Ozai's dismissal gave way to a quiet exhale of relief from Azula. Iroh stood, bowed, and left as he came, while Zuko leapt from his place, scrambling to catch up with Iroh. Azula held back an insult and instead gracefully followed behind, watching them with thinly veiled disdain.
"It is good to see you too, Prince Zuko." Iroh hugged the boy tightly, not batting an eye as she scoffed and stomped past them both.
That night, she found an unexpected squatter in her training rooms. Uncle practiced something very different from firebending in the moonlight. His arms extended slowly together, pointing at the wall. Then he directed one hand towards his chest, tracing the arm that remained steady. His fingers moved under his stomach and pointed out in the opposite direction, at the opposite wall. Then, he repeated the movement. And did it again. Azula cursed under her breath, waiting for her Uncle to finish so she could use the room. She considered returning to her room and sleeping off the night. Iroh chose that moment to finish ... whatever he was doing, and Azula glared daggers at the back of his head, remaining in the shadows and observing as he strolled through the doors, humming a soft, melancholic tune.
Her fists clenched at his nonsense, annoyed at how much time the doddering fool had stolen from her. Time that she needed far more than him. Exercising control over the water had proven harder than she initially thought. It required a flexibility that she did not yet posses. A flexibility of the mind or the body? Karuuk asked.
"Shut up." She snapped aloud to the empty room, unrolling her scroll and beginning her katas.
Fall and Winter came and went, but the nights continued in the same pattern. Every now and then, Iroh practiced his strange technique that accomplished absolutely nothing, and Azula followed after. Eventually, an epiphany struck her. Iroh performed the moves for what must have been the hundredth night, but this time Azula made a connection. His movement resembled a waterbender, directing his energy like flowing water through his body. Her head cocked to the side at her own revelation. Iroh practiced some hybrid waterbending technique? How did he learn this?
Azula only needed a week of occasional snooping through her Uncle's belongings before she discovered a secret. Her hands trembled at the very blue and not red drawings on a waterbending scroll, locked away in a hidden compartment of his desk. Azula thought to steal it for herself, when another, more brilliant thought crossed her mind.
Her body shivered as her heart thudded faster. Azula calculated her next move carefully, writing a note, and pocketing the scroll. Her thoughts raced on her walk back to her room. Iroh had changed after Ba Sing Se. Yes, Uncle was always a peculiar man, especially for a Prince of the Fire Nation. This discovery went well beyond his usual peculiarity. In the current climate, no general dared to utter even a faint word of praise for the other elements. Let alone whatever fuddy duddy Iroh was practicing. The revelation sparked hope and curiosity in her young soul.
So, after a long year, the young avatar watched her Uncle from the shadows, discovering that perhaps she was not as alone in the palace as she once thought.
Iroh strolled through the palace quietly, humming to himself despite the anxiety that bubbled in his stomach. In his hands, he clutched a letter that had cleverly been left in his dagger's scabbard, almost designed to fall out when he removed his armor. The training rooms, at midnight on the night of the full moon. The letter - singular, hastily written - made him fearful that it could be blackmail. Or worse - a surprise attack - but he was confident in his own fire bending to dispatch any threats to himself should he be ambushed. However, an instinctual feeling nagged at the back of his mind, telling him this encounter was not something to be expected. Iroh took a deep breath and enjoyed the comfortable silence to the training hall.
Stopping before the training hall doors, Iroh could hear only one distinct, light set of footfalls in the room.
Quietly, he opened the doors to the room and slid in, unnoticed in the darkness. The cause of the noise basked in the moonlight pouring in the open sunroof. A small girl, her back turned to him, stood in the center of the room with a bowl filled with water. Then, she turned her head, twisting into a series of unusual movements. Azula? Iroh stifled the noise of surprise in his throat. Her face, absent of its usual arrogance and malice, was nearly unrecognizable. Iroh's brow furrowed at Azula's serene expression as she quietly waved her arms over the water. Now, this made him reconsider everything, as to his knowledge, Azula only operated under the orders of Ozai. Perhaps his brother still harbored suspicions about him.
However, his thoughts paused. Azula's movement caught his eye.
Her arms shifted gracefully, unlike the aggressive stabs of firebending. Azula danced around the water basin with more grace than an ember island player. A bizarre idea nicked at Iroh's mind, but he dismissed it as impossible. He took a step back, preparing to leave. Then, she stopped and two pairs of eyes locked. Panic flashed briefly through the visage of his ten-year-old niece before she smoothed her facial muscles into a smile.
"It's not nice to keep a lady waiting, Uncle." Her voice held no inflection of hostility, but her movements were too erratic to be casual. Though, the schooled face clearly tried to impress that feeling onto him. Iroh watched her pace back and forth like a nervous komodo rhino. Eventually, she wandered his way.
"So you were the one who left this? If you wanted to talk, Azula, you could simply have asked." His tone was warm, inviting, and curious, but Azula didn't relax her guard. She looked him up and down, then glanced back at the basin, focusing on the reflection of the moon. After a long moment, she swallowed and addressed him.
"Would you believe me, Uncle? Zuko says I always lie. I'm sure he's told you such things." Iroh nodded, careful not to show his apprehension. The threat of Ozai, sending her in his steed, crossed his mind.
"I have heard him say that once or twice." He conceded as the girl casually sat before him on the cool wooden floor, making him do the same.
"Zuko thinks I lie only to cause trouble, but sometimes you must lie to protect yourself." That admission caught Iroh's attention. What would the daughter of Ozai need protection from?
"I can only imagine you would lie to protect something important." Azula smiled nonchalantly as their eyes met. The bright golden eyes of Azula flickered away quickly - too quickly - while Iroh's darker amber continued to warily regard his niece.
"I think you would too, Uncle. Especially if it concerned some of the things I've seen in your study." She removed an ancient, yellowed scroll and unrolled it. Iroh recognized it from one of the hidden - formerly hidden - compartments in his desk, "You seem to have an understanding - a sympathy or a weakness Father would say - for the other elements. Perhaps that feeling extends beyond the elements. Maybe you sympathize with the rebel nations. I wouldn't hastily jump to those conclusions. Though, Father might." Iroh watched as Azula's calculating smirk wavered. His eyes flickered to the stolen scroll in her palm. He recognized the pattern Azula performed before she had seen him. He wondered what else Azula discovered while snooping around in his study. Though, best not to dwell on that now. It was too late to cry over spilt milk. And a scolding would not be productive for this moment. No use in denying anything; she could have seen far more than the scroll.
"Yes, I collected many things in my travels. I studied with the water tribes for a brief time before I returned," Iroh answered warily, acknowledging her game of blackmail.
"Hmm, that is not all though is it, Uncle?" Her eyes gleamed, "You have changed quite a bit since you've returned from Ba Sing Se." Her phrasing innocently probed him for answers, and her tone didn't seem inherently malicious. At least, no more malicious than she could be on a good day. Iroh found his attention drawn to her taught brow and nervous tremble of her lips. Iroh assumed Azula held all of the cards. Now, Iroh suspected that was not the case. Just why had she called him here? He sensed that for once, Azula did not feel in control. Her air of superiority had been blown away.
"War and loss can change a person," Iroh answered carefully, still unsure what answer his niece sought.
"That's right. How do you feel about the war, Uncle? You told my father that your interests were elsewhere. I think I know where they wandered off. I've found other interesting materials in your study, much more than this waterbending scroll. Things that some might call traitorous. You seem to be distancing yourself from the goals of our nation, if not outright rejecting them." Her disarming tone contrasted her tense arms and straight back, he noticed.
"You are quite observant, Azula." Iroh ventured, knowing his niece was hiding something. This was a special kind of blackmail - the desperate type. Experience told him that there was a bigger fish here, lurking under the murkiness of this conversation.
"I know. I've also observed the things you tell Zuko when you teach him. Dumb things." A glint appeared in her eye, "Treasonous things, if you listen hard enough. You've tried whispering in his ear to change how he thinks about the world, or at least you try. Little Zuzu is too dumb to know what you're truly saying. He doesn't understand subtlety. But I do, and I think ... how should I say this ... I think your fire burns differently than the rest of the fire nation's." Azula's intense gaze would have seared him if it were possible. It was a hardening of the eyes and soul, a determination that Iroh had seen before in his own soldiers. It was a strengthening of resolve, the commitment to do something that took a great deal of courage.
"You are correct in saying that." Iroh affirmed. She nodded absently, as if figuring as much, then stood.
"You have been honest enough, and I think you know what I can do to you after reading your books and letters. Now, I think it's time I am honest as well." Azula purposefully marched over to the basin, staring intently at the shimmering water.
"I need a teacher." His niece whispered so quietly, Iroh almost didn't hear her, "I-" Her voice broke. "I can't control it anymore. I'm always looking over my shoulder. The spirits, they keep telling me I can't run anymore. So, here I am. Help me, Uncle." Azula's hand swished far above the basin, and yet the water flew from the bowl, spilling onto the ground, shining in the silver moonlight. Time stood still for a moment, and Iroh's heart skipped a beat.
"You are the Avatar." The words left his mouth as though the air had been punched from his gut. Azula winced, looking away. Iroh's world turned upside down.
All her strange questions and veiled threats made sense now. He'd thought it impossible - truthfully, Iroh hadn't considered this at all - even with Roku's suggestion that he begin his search closer to home. That would mean the Earth Avatar had died in Ba-Sing-Se long before his siege at the wall. Lu Ten's death was for naught. He clenched his jaw, feeling wetness sting in his eyes. No, losing Lu Ten led him here to a girl who needed his guidance. It must be fate.
Yet it felt impossible, even wrong still. Two Avatar's in the royal line? Iroh had taken Roku's words into consideration, but to think this? That the spawn of Ozai would also be the one to restore balance. Zuko was also born of Ozai. That inner voice reminded him. He watched Azula stew over the water basin, as he numbly realized she had attempted a crude imitation of waterbending. She was not in control yet.
"I can't- I just can't-" Her voice broke, "I'm the princess of the firenation. Why- why did the spirits curse me? I can't even think anymore Uncle! I'm always afraid that someone will catch on, always looking in the shadows. All I wanted was to be the perfect princess - to make Father happy! I trained with Father until my muscles ached and my bones cracked, but it is not enough!" Her breathing became labored, and the bowl sloshed even further, controlled only by Azula's raw emotion. "I can't listen to what he says anymore and pretend to nod and swallow what the spirit wants. I thought I could do it, but it's impossible. He wants the Avatar locked away. I can't be both the princess and the Avatar. I was told that I will have to make a choice, someday, not today, maybe not for a long time. But, eventually, I will be forced to choose between life I was born into and made for, or an undeniable part of me that wants to bring the world into balance. Of course, Father won't care for that. He'll think that I'm a miserable failure - like Zuko!" Azula forcefully kicked the basin, spilling more water onto the ground, "I can't even bend this stupid bowl of water! I'm supposed to be a prodigy and now I, one of the best firebenders since Sozin, need a teacher!" Iroh watched her collapse under the impossible weight she bore. A child being tugged in two different directions would break. He could help show her the right path. Her emotional turmoil struck something deep within him. Her bravery in admitting that their own nation - her own father - could even possibly be in the wrong mirrored what he went through on his own journey. Even if her commitment to balance could use a few gentle nudges. Could Azula even be nudged? It didn't matter. Iroh resolved to try.
His mind had been made up. Iroh wordlessly rose to comfort her, enveloping his niece in a tight hug. He braced himself to be shoved away. At least this once, under all the pressure she felt, Azula leaned into him. Her small hands grasped his nightrobes, and she buried her head into the cloth. Iroh could feel tears seep through the fabric. His heart ached for his niece.
"The spirits are louder than ever, Uncle - I'm not - Roku says I don't have a strong connection with the spirit world, but things are urgent, something is coming! I need to take action to quiet them, and Roku told me I can trust you." She mumbled tearfully into his robes, tugging at the aged general's heartstrings. Roku spoke to her? Iroh filed away that nugget of information for later. For now, his niece needed his comfort and assurance.
"You can. I will teach you everything I know." Iroh whispered fiercely. He'd been under the assumption that Azula was nothing more than Ozai writ small - shaped by his narcissism and cruelty. He'd nearly missed something by not looking hard enough, and now he thought of Lu Ten. His loss had changed how Iroh thought about the world and the sins he had committed in service of his nation. Now, he realized that perhaps he could find redemption in Azula - a girl - his niece - a princess - the Avatar - Avatar Azula, Princess of the Firenation.
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