Second Child Of Agni: Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Azula stormed through the palace halls like a dragon on a warpath. Servants turned away from her stormy gaze and royal guards stiffened as she passed them by. Fury seemed to radiate from every one of the young princess’s pores. At a passing glance, most were sure she’d be puffing smoke from her nostrils if she were any more capable of it.

She slammed her sister’s door open without any due ceremony. The room had been emptied of all but the most basic furniture; even the books and scrolls on the shelves had vanished, leaving dusty outlines in their place.

Furious gold met crystal blue as Tanya turned to look at her. Azula noticed that she was carefully stacking yet more scrolls into a small box and frowned heavily. One of her hands was bandaged, a spot of red bleeding through the white. 

“So, the rumors are true,” Azula began, her tone as displeased as it had ever been. “You’re leaving.”

Tanya met her sister’s fury with a tranquility that far surpassed it. Azula couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen anything but a calm expression on that face. She also couldn’t remember the last time it had infuriated her so much.

“I am.” Tanya gingerly placed the final scroll in the box and locked it with a key. “I meant to tell you later this afternoon. As you can see, I had quite a bit of packing to do. It was a last minute decision and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”

“Why?”

Tanya raised a brow. “Why?”

“Why are you leaving?

Azula hated how the question came out. She was feeling her emotions a bit too keenly right now and it was affecting her more than she liked. Her sister noticed and her brow raised further, but she didn’t question or comment, instead drawing herself up to full height with her box in hand.

“Our colonies are having an issue with rebels and Ozai thinks that it could affect the war effort if something isn’t done about it. He’s sending me to quell the resistance and bring order back to the area before that happens.”

Azula’s throat bobbed. She didn’t understand. “Last I checked, the colonies were already your responsibility and you were handling things fine from Caldera. In fact, I recall you receiving a message from one of the garrison commanders that things had improved!”

Azula only realized that she let too much slip as Tanya pinned her with a lidded stare. Her older sister’s lips turned down in a frown that was seldom turned towards Azula and caused her to burn with a modicum of shame.

“I thought I told you to stop reading my private correspondence.”

“I read it before that,” Azula lied easily. Her eyes narrowed on Tanya. “You’re leaving something out, aren’t you?”

Tanya sighed, placing the box on her desk among her personal effects, which had been laid out to be packed away. “I suppose you’ll find out eventually. Iroh allowed Zuko to attend a war council, despite my urging. As you can expect, it did not go well, and now we’re both suffering the consequences of his actions.”

Azula’s heart sank. “Why are you being punished for something that idiot did?”

“Because I, in all my benevolence, decided to play the part of a good sister and try to save him from making a fool of himself. He took issue with one of the general’s plans and decided to make it known in a loud and especially rude manner. Knowing Ozai wouldn’t take kindly to the disrespect, I made my own displeasure known and somehow managed to not make the situation any worse,” Tanya said as she sorted her things. She held a comb up to the light, frowning at a chip in one of the fine teeth. “Unfortunately, the situation was already FUBAR.”

Azula’s brows furrowed at the odd term. “What?”

“Unrecoverable,” Tanya amended. “Zuko’s act of disrespect couldn’t be entirely mitigated by my own, so now we’re being sent away. He’s been banished, while I find myself set to spend the next decade or so amongst the mud and hovels our colonies try to pass off as housing. Assuming that I can’t wrap things up quickly and tidily enough to satisfy our dear Fire Lord.”

While usually, Azula would take issue with how Tanya referred to their father, she couldn’t find room for outrage among all the other emotions swirling around her chest. She found that beneath all the anger and panic, that she did not want her sister to leave. Or at least, leave her.

But she could not come with her. And she knew that couldn’t do anything to stop her from leaving. Azula may have been young, but she knew that her father would not allow all three of his children to leave the capitol. That he had sent two of them away meant that he expected her to stay for the foreseeable future. She’d normally be pleased to have his personal attention all to herself, but for some reason she was… not.

Azula stifled her feelings, hiding them behind that wall she’d been building up since her mother abandoned her. She drew herself up, staring at her sister with a calm expression.

“Well then, I hope you have a safe journey,” she said a bit stiffly. “And I do expect you to write every once in a while. Zuzu probably lacks the skills to pen a decent letter, but yours would probably make for entertaining reading.”

Tanya smirked. “Of course. I’ll keep you updated on any interesting developments while I’m stomping out rebel encampments.”

“Good.” Azula’s shoulders remained stiff as kept her expression schooled. “Then I guess I’ll leave you to pack.”

She turned and made to leave, but she was stopped before she could reach the door.

“Azula.”

The princess stopped, one foot hanging out the door as she slowly turned. Her sister was staring at her, a small frown on her face. It wasn’t the expression of disappointment that she’d worn earlier, but Azula was at a loss for what the expression could actually mean. “Come here. I have something for you.”Confused, Azula stepped back into the room as Tanya turned away to rummage through her desk. “I’d meant to give you this on a special occasion, but I guess I won’t have that chance now, so it will suffice as a parting gift.”

Tanya turned and Azula found a thick scroll being pressed into her palm. It was yellowed with age and the crest on the rod had been chipped. She stared at it, confused. 

“It’s a scroll on firebending forms, dating back to well before our great grandfather’s time,” Tanya explained. Azula’s eyes widened. “General Hao sent it to me as a gift, but I imagine you would be able to get more out of it than I would. You take much more pride in your firebending than I ever have.”

Azula held the scroll with a bit more reverence, gazing at her sister in surprise. Tanya smiled. “Homework probably isn’t the best gift, but maybe when I return, you’ll have something to show me.”

Azula stared at the scroll in her hands, then back up to her sister. Her mouth opened, then closed. For once, the sharp-tongued princess seemed at a loss for words. Her sister was right; her firebending was her pride and joy, the skill she took time to hone above all else. Father had noticed, and so had Zuko, albeit mostly because she rubbed it in his face almost constantly. But she’d never felt the need to do so to Tanya.

After a moment, Azula schooled her expression, though none could deny the pleased smirk on her face. Her fingers clutched the scroll tight, but oh-so gently. “I’ll have mastered everything in here long before then.”

Tanya returned her smirk with one of her own. “I have no doubt.”

My sloop looked almost serene, bobbing on the waters of Caldera’s main port. Its hull had been polished to a gleaming finish from bow to stern, proudly sporting a new coat of water-resistant paint that would survive maybe a week in choppy Earth Kingdom waters.

The ship beside it was a much less impressive sight. Perhaps two-thirds the size and sporting a dull grey hull, the thing spat heavy clouds of blackened smoke into the air as its monstrous engines idled. I recognized its make from texts detailing early days of the Hundred Year War, in the prime of my grandfather, Azulon. They were sturdy beasts, but inferior in almost every other way to my own ship.

Which was why I was surprised to hear that it was being commanded by none other than my older brother.

“Princess on deck!” A voice cried as I stepped onto the gunmetal hull. The sailors and soldiers around me snapped into sloppy salutes and I took them all in, unimpressed by the congregation.

“Where is my brother?”

After a bit of confusion, I was led to the ship’s bridge. There, I found my brother in the midst of arguing with none other than my uncle.

Zuko was donned in traditional armor that seemed intent to drown his pubescent form. He’d probably grow into it properly in a year or so but as it stood, he looked every bit the teenager that he was. Especially with that scowl on his face.

“—could have been gone yesterday, Uncle! Why do we need to wait for more supplies?” He was saying, an exasperated edge to his voice.

“You cannot rush these things, Prince Zuko.” Iroh replied, serene in the face of my brother’s anger. “We are not going to return to the Fire Nation for a very long time. It is best to stock up on comforts while we can and take as much of home as we can with us onto the sea.”

“They’re just tea leaves! You can get them anywhere!”

“Not these leaves.”

“Ugh!” Zuko turned, clearly preparing to storm out, only to stop as he saw me standing at the entrance to the room, arms crossed as I watched the argument unfold. His eyes widened in surprise before a complicated expression crossed his face. I couldn’t quite parse it, but I recognized the flicker of regret in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m departing today, so I figured I’d pay you a visit.” I pushed off of the doorframe and walked past him, looking around at the squalid bridge. “I can’t say I expected to find you here. What are you doing in this tub? Don’t tell me you requisitioned it from the reserves.”

Zuko scowled at my back. “It was the only one they would give me. I’m not allowed to take my own ship because I was banished.”

I paused. I hadn’t considered that. Of course Zuko wouldn’t be permitted to use his royal ship after being banished. At the moment, he was barely even considered a member of the Fire Nation, let alone the royal family.

“I see.” I ran a hand over the dusty cover of the wheel. The ship seemed like it hadn’t seen active service in fifty years. And maintenance in thirty. It was the kind of vessel people were stationed on to punish them, one geared toward war rather than leisure or even slight comfort.

I straightened, turning to Zuko. “Gather your people and have them transfer your things to my ship.”

Zuko looked startled. “What?”

“This heap of iron is barely sea worthy, and certainly not the kind of ship a prince should be traveling in, banished or not.” I gestured towards a steam valve that had been hastily patched with a strip of rubber and some dirty cloth. “You can join me in the colonies until Ozai sees reason and lets you come back to Caldera. I’m sure I have enough room to accommodate your crew on my—”

“No.”

I paused. “Pardon?”

Zuko’s fists were clenched and he looked like he had swallowed a lemon. He looked between me and Iroh as if weighing his options.

“I said no,” he said, a bit louder this time. “I’m not going with you, Tanya.”

I stared at him, completely nonplussed. I glanced at Iroh, hoping for some explanation. He seemed almost exasperated.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “If you’re willing to turn down such a generous offer, I’m going to assume you have some other heading in mind?”

My tone said what I wasn’t. Whatever his excuse, it had better be a good one.

Zuko's jaw tightened. For a moment, it seemed like he wasn’t going to tell me. Then he drew himself up to his full height, which still fell a few inches short of my own, and said…

“I'm going to find the Avatar.”

There was a beat between his proclamation and its registration. I blinked slowly, unsure if I had begun hallucinating, or if I had truly heard what I heard. A moment passed, then another. The ship creaked around us and I slowly came to the realization that he might actually be serious.

But how could he possibly be? The Avatar hadn’t been seen in nearly a hundred years and there was no indication that that was going to change anytime soon. It had been at least four generations since the previous Avatar walked the earth. Few if any Air Nomads had survived Sozin’s genocide, and if that debacle at the Southern Water Tribe was any indication, an Avatar certainly hadn’t been born there.

If there even was an Avatar in the modern age, the most likely case was that he or she was hidden away somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, either unaware or deeply frightened of the powers they held. The Earth Kingdom would jump at the chance to have an all-powerful bender on their sides, and a force to rally behind that wasn’t their own rock-hard will. That they hadn’t meant they likely couldn’t.

I pressed a hand to my forehead, worried I may be coming down with something. What sort of leap in logic had Zuko managed to perform to decide that hunting one possible nonexistent person across the entire world was the best way to regain his honor?

“Zuko, the Avatar has been missing for nearly a century. There is no evidence that one even exists anymore. You're talking about chasing a ghost across the entire world on the off chance that—what? You'll stumble across them?”

“I don't expect you to understand,” Zuko replied, a bit of heat entering his tone. “You've never had to earn anything in your life. Grandfather set you up for success, while I have to fight for every scrap of approval I can manage to get from Father.”

I held back from pointing out how utterly wrong that statement was, saying, “Ah, so that is your plan. And how long do you think that will take exactly? A month? A year? Ten, maybe?”

Zuko looked away. “However long it takes.”

“However long it—!”

I caught myself before my voice could climb any higher. I inhaled through my nose, pressing hard on the healing scab covering my knuckles to calm myself.

“Let me lay this out for you clearly,” I began again, much more calmly this time “Your banishment comes with one condition, that you cannot return until you’ve “regained your honor.” Ozai is the only one who decides when or if you’ve managed to do so, and running off on some wild goose chase will only reinforce the idea that he was right to banish you in the first place.

I let out an incredulous laugh as something occurred to me., “And that’s not even mentioning our nation itself. I mean, can you imagine it? If word got out to the people that the Crown Prince was running around the world looking for a ghost while they suffer from the war, you’d never be able to set foot in Caldera again, much less rule when Ozai passes! You’d be a laughing stock!”

Zuko’s fists trembled at his sides as he stared at me angrily. I lowered my voice, saying a bit more gently, “Come with me, brother. Join me in the colonies and earn your honor by bringing glory to the Fire Nation. If you prove yourself to the people who matter, Ozai will have to acknowledge you.”

For a moment, I thought it worked. Something in Zuko’s face shifted, his stubborn will bending just slightly. He turned to Iroh who was watching impassively. When he turned back to me, his jaw was looser and the fire in his eyes had dimmed, just a bit.

And yet.

“It’s my path to choose.” The words came out quiet, but firm. “I won’t be your follower. I’ll earn honor myself, my way.”

I withheld a sigh. “I’m not asking for anything like that. I just don’t want you wandering the sea on a fool’s errand. I’m trying to look out for you, Zuko. Outside of the safety of Caldera, I would feel better if you were somewhere I could at least keep an eye on things.”

That turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

“Feel better? Keep an eye on me?” Zuko’s face twisted into an ugly expression.”I don't need you looking after me, Tanya! I'm not a child!”

“You're thirteen.”

“I'm the Crown Prince!”

I scoffed. “Titles mean very little once you leave the procession meant to cater to you. How many royal guards do you have on this ship? How many competent firebenders? What do you think would happen if you just happen to sail into an area occupied by Water Tribe raiders or Earth Kingdom vessels? I doubt they’ll care about your title aside from how much they can ransom you off for.”

“I don't care what you think!” Zuko's voice cracked, and he seemed even angrier for it.”I can take care of myself without you watching my every move!”

“Can you?” I challenged, getting a bit heated at the boy’s stubbornness. “Because you’ve displayed an incredible lack of judgment both in professional settings, and in private. You let your emotions control you, and I can tell you right now that you’re going to get yourself killed if you don’t think, Zuko. I told Ursa I’d do my best to look out for you and Azula but if you—”

“You’re not her!”

Zuko’s outburst was accompanied by a burst of flame that popped open his closed fists and quickly faded into curling smoke before it even reached the floor. I took a step back, watching somewhat warily as my brother huffed and puffed with rampant emotions. To the side, Iroh moved forward, one hand raised as if to place it on his nephew’s shoulder. After a moment, he seemed to think better of it, and watched silently as Zuko gained control of himself.

“You’re not Mother,” Zuko repeated quietly. “And I don’t need you.”

The ship listed under a rolling wave. Metal groaned as years of dust came loose, before settling a moment later. Down below, one of the crew members yelled something, and it was followed by a smattering of laughter that echoed all the way up to the bridge.

"You're right," I said evenly. "I'm certainly not our mother. You can do what suits you, Zuko, but my offer remains open whenever you decide to stop being so damn stubborn."

I turned toward the door, my boots ringing against the metal floor. Then I paused, glancing back over my shoulder, meeting Iroh’s eyes.

“Don't let him get himself killed.”

He nodded solemnly, and I cast one last glance at Zuko before leaving. An hour later, I was on the open seas, leaving Caldera far behind me.