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Family dinners for the Royal Family were normally a peaceful affair. Zuko was more often than not a few minutes late. He would rush in to see his wife and daughter sitting at the table and waiting for him. He would murmur an apology before planting a kiss on Izumi’s head and one of Mai’s cheek before sitting down. They would discuss their days, share a few laughs and end the night with a pot of tea.
It was a calm, peaceful affair. Normally, at least.
Izumi reasoned that tonight would not be a normal dinner.
It was eerily quiet that night. Her father kept glancing at her, while her mother kept glancing at her father. It wasn’t until they were almost done eating that he finally broke the silence.
“So,” Zuko started, setting down his chopsticks.
Izumi looked helplessly towards her mother.
Mai met her daughter’s gaze and raised an eyebrow. There was no way she was getting out of this conversation. She briefly survived the room, looking for possible exits or ways she could get out. She briefly considered pretending to choke on her food before she looked up to see her mother’s expression now fixated on her. Izumi felt a shiver run down her spine.
“So,” Izumi responded back. Her voice was much smaller than she wanted it to be.
Mai sighed as she looked between . “If you two keep beating around the bush, we’ll be here all night.”
They sat in silence for another moment. Mai looked between her husband and daughter, trying to gauge who was going to break first.
“Sneaking out? Really?”
That was Zuko. His voice was seeping with anger and concern.
“It’s not that big a deal,” Izumi insisted. “Sometimes, I just want to get out of the palace. Explore the city and all that.”
She was lying through her teeth. She’d gotten into the habit of sneaking out to explore the city a few months ago. Normally, she was careful. Her parents had stressed self-defense from a young age. Izumi wasn’t dumb - wildely over confident, but not dumb. She’s been careful. She had found an old theatre mask hanging up in an old guest room to disguise herself with. At first, she’d stayed close to the palace, in case something did go wrong. Gradually, her confidence grew and she started exploring more and more of the city.
No one had noticed. At first, Izumi was a little concerned that none of the guards saw her sneaking out but later grew to accept this unawareness as a testament to her skill. In fact, what had begun as an innocent exploration had turned into a thrilling series of nighttime adventures. Half the time, Izumi didn’t even want to explore the city, she just wanted to prove that she could sneak out without anyone noticing.
She could and the fact that she was able to bypass the security of one of the most secure buildings in the world continued only added fire to the flames of her ever growing ego.
That was until last night, when a guard caught her sneaking out of the palace gates.
Izumi had gotten sloppy. She knew that.
Of course, her parents had been furious at her, but had decided to talk about it in the morning. Luckily for Izumi, both of them were pulled into meetings.
She couldn’t avoid the conversation forever, though.
Izumi looked at her father, trying to gauge just how mad he was.
Zuko looked at her incredulously.
Really mad, she thought to herself.
“You could get hurt!” he exclaimed.
Izumi shrugged. “That’s why I carry knives.”
“You’re the Crown Princess. You could get recognized.”
“I wear a mask.”
Mai let out a little snort at this.
Both Izumi and Zuko turned to look at her.
“What?” Zuko questioned. “How is this funny?”
Mai looked at him. “A sixteen year old. Wearing a mask and running around with blades. Doesn’t that at all sound familiar to you?”
Izumi saw the color drain from her father's face. She felt a twinge of curiosity as she looked at her mother’s now slightly amused expression.
“This is different,” he insisted.
Mai raised an eyebrow.
“It is!” he said again.
“I’m just saying,” Mai said, as she quietly set her chopsticks down, “It’s a little ironic that you’re mad at her about this.”
Izumi looked between her parents in confusion. “Are either of you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing,” Zuko said quickly. “I can’t believe you’ve been sneaking out of the palace.”
“I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal!” Izumi exclaimed. “It’s not like I’m going out unarmed.”
“You could get hurt. The palace guards said they saw you scaling the walls. You could have fallen.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Izumi retorted. “I’m not going to fall.”
Zuko sighed, “Mai, please. A little help here.”
“She’s sixteen Zuko. She’s going to do, dumb, idiotic, stuff.”
“You’re taking her side?”
“No, I think she’s being ridiculous and overconfident right now,” she said with a raised eyebrow in the direction of her daughter. Izumi shrieked back and stared down at her empty bowl. “But,” Mai continued, “I also know that when we were sixteen, we did stupider stuff. I trust her. She's her father's daughter. That's for sure.”
“We were in the middle of war!”
“You broke into a Fire Nation stronghold wearing a theatre mask!”
“What?!” Izumi cried. She looked at her father with wide eyes.
“That was different. I had to break Aang out.”
“Wait,” Izumi exclaimed, “You were the Blue Spirit?”
“It’s not what you think!”
“You were the Blue Spirit? Isn’t he just a spirit? Also, wasn’t he a criminal?”
“Technically yes, but not really. And to be fair, we were all criminals.”
Mai nodded. “I was in jail when the war ended.”
“Wait, what?” Izumi said in surprise. “Why were you in jail?”
“That’s not relevant,” Mai said. “You’ve been sneaking out.”
“No, it is. You two treat me like a baby.” Izumi exclaimed.
“Because you are,” Zuko said. “You’re sixteen.”
“Okay, but apparently Mom was in jail at sixteen and you were a fugitive.”
"I was fifteen," Mai corrected. "Not that it matters."
“I became Fire Lord a few months after,” Zuko supplied. “Anyway, that doesn’t matter. It’s not about us, it’s about you.”
“I’m just saying, you two are hypocrites.”
“Izumi,” Mai sighed. “There was a war going on. You can’t possibly hold us to the same standards that we’re holding you too now.”
“I want the full story first,” Izumi said.
She looked between her parents and then quickly added, “Please?”
Zuko looked at Mai helplessly. She grimaced. “She was going to have to learn at some point. I’m honestly shocked we managed to hide the details for so long.”
Zuko sighed.
“What do you want to know?” he asked his daughter as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“So,” Izumi started. “To recap, you were the Blue Spirit.”
“Yes,” Zuko said miserably.
“Okay.” Izumi said, nodding her head. “Why?”
Her father shrugged. “I had to break Aang out of prison.”
Izumi looked at him expectantly. Zuko sighed again. This really wasn’t how he expected the night to go.
“Aang got captured by Admiral Zhao,” his voice tightened as he said the word Admiral.”I wanted to be the one to capture him, so I broke him out.”
Izumi raised her eyebrows and Zuko was shocked by how similar to her mother she looked.
“You know this part already,” Zuko said. “I was banished and was supposed to capture the Avatar so I could return home. If Zhao had captured him, I would never have been able to return home.”
“Oh,” Izumi said. She felt awful for bringing it up now. “Dad,” she started, but couldn’t find the words. She got up out of her chair and walked over to him, enveloping him in a hug.
“This doesn’t change how much trouble you’re in,” he said with a chuckle, as he wrapped an arm around her.
“Anyway,” Zuko continued, “the other stuff the Blue Spirit did- that I did- was just out of a need to survive. It was a different time, Izumi. I’m not proud of everything I did back then.”
Izumi nodded slowly. She’d heard other tales of the Blue Spirit, a lot less kind than breaking the Avatar out from prison.
Izumi sighed. “Why was Mom in prison?”
Zuko let out a little groan. “I’m sorry,” he said to her.
Mai rolled her eyes. “I was only in prison for a few weeks,” she supplied. “Besides, I don’t see how this is relevant.”
Izumi looked at her. “I just found out that my parents, both of whom are world leaders I might add, are former criminals. I would like to know why.”
Mai looked at her husband helplessly.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, as he reached for the pot of tea sitting on the table. “Although, you’re the one who brought it up.”
“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” she grumbled.
“Why were you in prison?” Izumi asked again.
“Because,” Mai sighed. “I was young and I was in love.”
“What does that mean?” Izumi asked, more confused now.
“What do you mean by ‘were in love’?” Zuko scoffed.
Mai ignored them both and reached for the teapot in the middle of the table.
“So,” Izumi said with an eye roll. “You’re just not going to continue?”
“The Boiling Rock wasn’t exactly a fun time in my life, Izumi,” Mai grumbled.
“The Boiling Rock!” Izumi exclaimed. “What did you do?”
Mai sighed. “I betrayed your Aunt.”
“You betrayed Kiyi?”
Mai shook her head. “Azula. Things were different back then. None of us were the people we are now.”
Zuko looked down at his plate, briefly letting himself get lost in thought.
“Anyway,” Mai sighed. “You remember the stories from the war? About how your father came back for a bit before he left to join Aang?”
Izumi nodded.
“Well, after he joined Team Avatar he and Sokka went to break Chief Hakoda out of prison. My uncle was the warden and told me. Ty Lee, Azula and I were all at the Boiling Rock that day. And, long story short, I betrayed Azula to help your father escape.”
Zuko was quiet. Izumi noticed his hand on hers and briefly wondered about all the things they weren’t telling her.
“You went to prison because you saved Dad?”
Mai nodded. “Azula was going to kill him. It - things were different then. Your Aunt has changed a lot since then.”
Izumi stared back down at her plate. She’d heard stories about her father and Azula’s relationship, but she didn’t realize how bad things were.
“Oh,” Izumi said uncomfortably. “So, um, what happened after?”
“Azula was not happy,” Mai said quietly. A part of her returned back to the moment, letting a strange mix of conviction and fear course through her body. She hadn’t thought about that moment in years, but suddenly she was there again - standing knives drawn and wondering if the next breath she took would be her last.
“Mai,” Zuko said quietly. He was still holding her hand.
Mai gave his hand a little squeeze, letting him know that she was alright.
“Anyway,” she continued. “Ty Lee betrayed Azula and the two of us were going to escape. But then the guards caught us.”
“And then you went to jail,” Izumi finished.
Mai nodded her head and reached for her tea.
“And then what happened?” Izumi asked eagerly.
“Nothing,” Mai said. “I was in jail until the war ended and that was that.”
“What?” Izumi asked in confusion. “You were in jail during the end of the war?”
Mai nodded her head.
“But, okay. Wait.” Izumi shook her head and then turned towards her father. “Wait. You left her there?”
Zuko groaned.
“You left her there?” she repeated again.
“Are you serious? After everything she did for you. You left her there?” she continued.
Mai sighed. “It was a little more complicated than that.”
“He left you there! After you saved his life!”
Mai nodded. “He did.”
“I’m sorry,” Zuko said urgently.
“But,” Mai continued. “I knew what I was doing. I did what I did so he could get away. It was a sacrifice I had to make. And every day, I’m thankful that I did.”
“Mom,” Izumi said softly. She looked between her parents. They were staring at each other and Izumi wondered about all the things they weren’t saying. There was clearly a lot more to that story, but she knew better than to push. Instead, she looked at the soft and loving expressions on their faces and tried to figure out what they were communicating.
“So,” Izumi said delicately, snapping Mai and Zuko out of whatever wordless conversation they were having. “When you both were my age, clearly things were different, but I would argue that breaking into a Fire Nation Stronghold and going to jail were worse than sneaking out to the palace. I think we can all learn something from this conversation and just move on.”
Izumi watched as her father's mouth opened in shock. He looked like he was about to say something, but Mai beat him to it.
She looked at Izumi with an icy glare.
“Oh no,” Mai said. “You are absolutely still in trouble. You’re not getting out of this.”
Izumi sighed.
It was worth a shot.