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Azula watches her brother slowly work through a kata that he’s known since he was a toddler. He still stumbles on the same move that he’s stumbled on as long as Azula can remember. She lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes, leaning in the grass and closing her eyes to the sunshine.
She breathes in and out slowly, enjoying the (relative) quiet of the training grounds, interspersed with the grunts that Zuko makes when he attempts a kata and the gravelly murmur of the trainer assigned to her brother.
Azula finished her lessons hours ago and she’s sick of waiting for Zuko to finish his lessons so that they can be released. She doesn’t understand why she has to wait until Zuko is finished with his lessons for her to be released. She’s always done before Zuko is.
There’s a yelp of pain and Azula jolts up from where she’s been lying.
Across the training field Zuko is clutching his arm, face twisted in agony.
Frowning, Azula slowly stands. Zuko hasn’t been so incompetent as to burn himself in years, even if he’s useless at picking up katas. And no matter how incompetent he is, it reflects poorly on their line to walk around with a burn of all things.
Zuko takes one jagged step back away from the trainer, still clutching his arm. Even from across the field, Azula can see the smug expression that the trainer hastens to conceal.
Unacceptable. That’s her brother.
She smooths out the non-existent wrinkles in her robes and steps forward towards the training field. Clearing her throat, Azula crosses her arms and glares at both the trainer and her brother (she has appearances to keep up).
The trainer bows to her then steps back. Azula casts an eye at the burn that is slowly forming under Zuko’s hand. Lifting an eyebrow, she says, “Aren’t you too old to be making these novice mistakes, Zuzu?”
Her brother simply looks at the floor while the trainer smirks behind him.
“I think that’s enough training for today,” Azula masks her displeasure behind dismissal, “Seems like Zuzu can’t keep up with the level of training that imperial firebenders have. And I’m sick of seeing you fail over and over again in front of me.”
Azula watches the trainer carefully and, when he fails to hide his surprise and horror, smirks. Got you. There’s something else at play here other than the usual sabotage.
She waves a hand to dismiss the trainer who hastily bows and scampers off the field. She’ll have to follow him to see what he’s up to but first -
“Why’d you do that?” Zuko hisses.
“I was doing you a favor,” she returns evenly, lifting an eyebrow.
“No, you weren’t. I had that. I knew how to do it!”
“Then why’d you burn yourself?”
His mouth opens and closes like a slothfish. She rolls her eyes - her brother will not survive court politics if he can’t even figure out when someone is sabotaging him blatantly.
“Go get that looked at,” Azula turns, “We can’t let the eldest of our line be seen with a burn of all things. What will people say?”
Azula walks away, following the path that the trainer had darted down. Once she’s sufficiently alone, she breaks into a run until she catches up to the man. She slows and watches him slip into a sitting room that she’s only seen used by Father.
Clenching her teeth, Azula presses her ear against the door and holds her breath, listening.
“Well?” Her father’s voice rumbles deeply.
There’s the sound of something hitting the floor and she supposes that the trainer must have knelt hastily.
“I was unable to complete the task you’ve given to me, my lord. Lady Azula interfered before I could manipulate Lord Zuko further. He did receive a superficial burn though.”
There’s a loud clatter that has Azula rearing her head back.
“What use are you?” Her father hisses. “I ask you to do one thing. And you fail to even account for something as trivial as my daughter being annoyed with that pest’s incompetency.”
The man whimpers out pitiful apologies.
Azula sits back on her heels and stares at the door in thought, mind whirling.
She’d suspected that Father was annoyed with Zuko’s annoying habit of endearing himself to the other men in the family (somehow failing to endear himself to their own father though). Uncle Iroh and Cousin Lu Ten doted on Zuko. And Grandfather sometimes got that twinkle in his eyes that he really only got when their troops reported back a successful campaign when Zuko was privileged enough to be in his presence.
Azula and Zuko were the spares. Uncle Iroh was the Heir and Lu Ten was his heir. Azula and Zuko didn’t really have much of a purpose at all and she knew that annoyed Father who wanted more power.
She’d overheard Father and Mother’s arguments. Zuko had always been too scared and ran away at the first sign of shouting but Azula knew better. Neither Father nor Mother told them anything. How else was she supposed to learn about what was going on in her family?
Uncle Iroh always told her that she was too young to be involved in ‘such serious matters’ (the fool) and Cousin Lu Ten told her that she could ‘afford to be young’ for a little while longer (she’ll forgive him though since he does tell her things if she plies him just right).
Father was angry that Uncle Iroh returned from Ba Sing Se. Whether he was angry that Uncle had returned at all or that he was angry that Uncle returned without conquering the Wall was something that Azula was unsure about.
Standing, Azula walks away from the sitting room. Father can’t get away with this. All she has is Zuko. No matter how dumb he is at times.
Father is angry all the time with no control, his eyes only on the throne. Mother likes to shut herself up in her room for hours on end, bemoaning her status or something ridiculous, and only comes out to lay eyes on Zuko (her favorite) and make sure he’s still living. Uncle Iroh sometimes looks at her with blank eyes and she knows that he’s thinking of how she reminds him of Father. And Grandfather is Fire Lord. He has no time for her.
Zuko is the only one who seeks her out. The only one who asks what she’s doing and doesn’t look at her with horror when she tells him something that should horrify him.
(Cousin Lu Ten is getting better but he still clearly favors Zuko. But she can get along with Cousin Lu Ten when she must - namely when it regards Zuko.)
Walking down the hall, back towards the training field, Azula drums her fingers against her crossed arms as she ponders what to do next.
“Azula?”
She turns.
Cousin Lu Ten is standing at the end of another hallway. He walks quickly towards her, robes flaring behind him. He’s dressed in his fancier robes today - there must have been some sort of war meeting. No wonder Father seemed especially angry.
He comes to a stop in front of her and frowns.
(She doesn’t understand how he’s still alive with such an expressive face. The Fire Lord’s Court does not treat those who can’t hide their feelings well.)
“What’s wrong?”
She lifts an eyebrow. “What makes you think something is wrong?”
“That’s your plotting face,” he says flatly, crossing his arms to match her posture. “Who do you want to hurt? Or can we get away with just banishing them? I don’t have that much time this week to set up someone to be banished, but I’m sure we can manage.”
Azula feels a smile grow on her face. At least Lu Ten understands her where no one else seems to.
“Did Zuko do something?” Lu Ten continues.
She hums, “In a manner of speaking.”
He lifts an eyebrow, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“He got hurt.”
Slowly, Lu Ten repeats, “He got hurt?”
A pause, clearly meant for Azula to elaborate.
She looks around at the empty hallway and shakes her head.
Lu Ten watches her and then lets out a sigh. “We’ll go back to my room then.”
They walk in silence back to Lu Ten’s room.
Azula watches the servants scurry out of their way with a smirk even when Lu Ten shoots them a polite, reassuring smile.
“You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to be kind to the servants.”
She frowns, “Why should I? It’s not like they’re good for much other than scurrying around like rabbitmice.”
Lu Ten looks at her with a thin raised eyebrow, “They could be helpful.”
Azula snorts and rolls her eyes.
Lu Ten clears his throat and raises his eyebrows, “Servants hear everything and know a lot more about the going ons of the palace than you do, little cousin. You’d be surprised about how much you can learn by simply talking to them.”
Azula pauses, blinking at Lu Ten’s back as he increases his pace and pushes open the doors to his quarters.
What did he know that she didn’t?
Azula closes the doors to Lu Ten’s quarters behind her and watches Lu Ten settle on an armchair.
“So, what happened?”
She quickly reassesses how much she wants to tell Lu Ten and lets out a heavy (faked) sigh.
“I think Zuko’s trainer has a grudge.”
Lu Ten lifts his eyebrow again and motions for her to continue.
“I was finished with my training and, as usual, was waiting for Zuzu to be finished when he got burnt while doing one of the katas he knows. The trainer was smug and seemed like he was plotting something so I interfered.”
“And?”
She pauses, “And nothing else.”
“The trainer wasn’t taking orders from someone else?”
Azula shakes her head. Lu Ten had inherited their grandfather’s talent for perceptiveness and none of their family’s easily incited rage. She’d never seen Lu Ten angry and some days she wonders what it’d take to ignite the fire that lay within them all. Even Uncle Iroh got angry easily - especially after Lu Ten had nearly died at Ba Sing Se.
(Sometimes she wonders what would have happened if Lu Ten had died. And then she remembers what life had been like when Uncle Iroh and Cousin Lu Ten were at Ba Sing Se.)
Lu Ten simply cocks his head to the side and accepts what she’s said. She doesn’t understand why her brother and cousin trust her words so much. Even Mother didn’t trust what she said.
Words lie.
“What were you planning on doing to him?”
“Who said I was going to do anything to him?” Azula shoots back.
Lu Ten sighs, “Az, you had your plotting face on. I know you’re going to do something. The only question is how much and when.”
Crossing her arms, Azula stares at her cousin. “He hurt Zuzu. Even Zuzu isn’t so dumb as to make those kind of stupid mistakes anymore. Especially now that you and Uncle Iroh are back.”
“I know,” Lu Ten says patiently.
“There’s nothing to be gained from hurting Zuzu.”
Lu Ten lifts both his eyebrows, “You know that’s not true but we can go with that. What were you planning on doing?”
She smirks.
“Your mother doesn’t like it when people interfere with her garden.” Lu Ten looks at the small gate steadily, trying to conceal the curiosity and worry thrumming through his body. Azula can tell though - his voice gets just a little bit higher, his eyes shine, and his body weight shifts forward.
“She won’t know,” Azula says dismissively, stepping forward to open the gate.
And even if she did find out, Mother gave Azula permission to be here. Some of Azula’s fondest memories were from when she could barely walk and Mother took her to her garden and showed her all the different things she was growing. But that was before something Changed in Father.
Now Mother won’t step into the garden unless she’s alone but she’d never revoked Azula’s permission to be in the garden. It was one thing that she had that Zuko didn’t.
Lu Ten trails her into the garden, looking around in wonder. Internally, Azula smirks. He probably doesn’t even know what he’s looking at.
Azula leads them to the inner ring of the garden where Mother keeps her more potent… herbs.
She kneels by a small shrub and withdraws a pair of shears. Carefully, she clips off a sprig and places it into a small pouch, ensuring that it doesn’t touch her skin. Beside her, Lu Ten drops into a crouch and studies the shrub.
He slowly turns his head to face her. “This is -”
Azula matches his gaze. If he says anything that could get Mother in trouble…
Lu Ten studies her face, eyes flitting around to study her, and then nods. “I trust you.”
(She doesn’t understand why.)
They stand and Lu Ten holds out a hand to take the bag. She hesitates but at Lu Ten’s steady look she hands it over.
“Do you know how to prepare it?”
He shoots her a dry look, “I think I’ll manage. Don’t worry, Az, I promise that your cousin is competent when it comes to matters of the court.”
She looks away, feeling oddly chastened by the gentle rebuke in his words. She doesn’t understand why Lu Ten’s opinion means so much to her when even Father’s doesn’t anymore.
(She tells herself that it’s because he’ll be the next Fire Lord and that being on his good side could be the difference between life and death for her and her line. And it’s not like Zuko knows how to navigate court life and prevent them from angering the wrong nobles. Having the favor of the Fire Lord could be beneficial in saving her brother from some angry noble.)
They leave the garden and Azula closes the gate behind them.
“When’s Zuko’s next session with that trainer?”
Azula hums, “Tomorrow.”
Lu Ten leans against the gate and taps a fingernail in thought. “We shouldn’t wait that long. I’ll have it done tomorrow morning before your training session.”
Azula nods.
At least having Lu Ten assist her means that she won’t have to bribe any servants with the small amount of pocket money that she receives. Her cousin has amassed a network of people that feed him information easily whereas Azula has to work to threaten that information out of people.
(Perhaps Lu Ten had the right idea when it came to currying favor with the servants. She tucks that away for further thought.)
They part ways and Azula retires to her rooms.
Evening falls and Grandfather calls for a full formal dinner. They hadn’t had one after Father had had an outburst at the last one, complaining that he should be the Fire Lord.
Grandfather had not been pleased.
This dinner seems to go more smoothly. On the surface at least.
Father is carefully blank, but his eyes are dark and scheming. Grandfather is tense, a touch too sharp and brutal in his remarks. Mother is quiet and demure as usual though there is an undercurrent of nervous energy, tension running through her shoulders and fingers clenching her robes. Uncle Iroh is stoic, shooting glances at Grandfather pointedly. Cousin Lu Ten is the same as usual, though he does shoot Azula a wink at the beginning of the dinner where no one can see (she supposes that means that their plan is progressing satisfactorily). And Zuko is quiet - as usual.
When they’re finally dismissed, Azula waits for everyone else to leave (as the lowest ranked member of the family) before hurrying towards her rooms. She needs to find out what happened in that war meeting.
Before she can enter the hallways that lead to her quarters, Mother sweeps in front of her from a side hallway with a dark look.
“Come with me,” Mother says.
Azula follows her.
Mother shuts the doors to her rooms quietly and then whirls on Azula.
“Why’d you take it?”
The tone of Mother’s voice nearly makes Azula take a step back. She hasn’t heard that tone directed towards her, ever. (She has, however, heard it directed towards Father, many times.)
“You said I was allowed to be there.” Azula retorts. She won’t have Mother interfering with her plans. She’s more than capable of protecting her brother. Especially since Mother won’t bother to.
“That doesn’t mean you have my permission to take whatever you want.”
Azula grits her teeth. Mother had never cared when she’d taken any of the other, less potent herbs.
“Azula.”
She breathes out sharply and looks up at Mother defiantly. “It’s for Zuko.”
Mother’s eyes narrow and Azula watches as she starts to come to the wrong conclusion.
(Azula will never be trusted by Mother. She knows this, and yet it still hurts.)
“He won’t protect himself. His stomach is too weak and he can’t even see danger when it’s right in front of him,” Azula continues, “So I’m doing it for him.
Mother pauses.
“Cousin Lu Ten is helping.”
There. That should satisfy Mother. Lu Ten was trusted by Mother. And if Lu Ten was doing this, it must be right. Azula feels frustration well up within her. Why doesn’t Mother trust her?
(She knows why.)
Azula watches Mother reconcile this bit with the other knowledge that she has.
“Is your father involved?”
Azula stays silent, letting Mother draw her own conclusions.
Ursa dismisses her.
As she walks back to her rooms, Azula wonders what Mother will do. Mother has only ever cared for the well-being of Zuko. Even when Azula had been hurt in training (which was far less frequent because she learned her lesson), Mother only ever had eyes for Zuko’s pain.
The next morning finds Azula letting her body work on autopilot as she goes through the katas that her instructor has assigned to her. She’d already learned these katas months ago, but what’s the harm in letting the court think that she’s less advanced than she already is? They already know that she’s a fire bending genius. They don’t need to know how much of a genius she is. She knows the value of being underestimated.
In the field next to her, Zuko is slowly working through the katas that he’d been working on yesterday. Azula watches the trainer out of the corner of her eye.
He’s tense, glancing at her often while she moves through her katas. Azula ignores him. It wouldn't do to make it seem like she knew what he was up to.
Time passes slowly, with the trainer acting distracted as he pretends to train Zuko but spends more time watching Azula.
He’s definitely going to try something. But not while she’s watching.
She powers through the rest of her katas easily and walks away from the training field waving an attendant towards her.
“Please prepare a bath for me.” She makes sure her voice is loud enough to carry to the practice field.
The attendant nods and hurries into the building.
Azula steps towards the training field Zuko is on and says, “Forgive me, brother, but I must go prepare myself for a meeting later today. I hope you will forgive me for leaving early.”
Zuko’s mouth twists, in amusement? Something she can’t decipher, but he nods. She bows and casts one last look behind her as she walks away into the Fire Palace.
She heads to her rooms and dismisses the servants who tremble in front of her. Ignoring the steaming bath waiting in her bathroom, Azula pushes the curtains on her window aside slightly and gazes down on the training fields.
The trainer seems to have relaxed and is back to pushing Zuko hard through his katas.
Azula watches as the trainer makes a threatening move towards Zuko before freezing when a servant walks through the field. The trainer seems to quickly shift into a kata that he starts to demonstrate.
She watches with a growing smirk as the trainer starts to demonstrate the kata.
The trainer punches forward.
Flame sputters out of his fist.
Perfect.
She lets the curtain fall closed and walks into the bathroom, loosening her topknot.
Walking out of her rooms and down the hallways towards the sitting room that she’s supposed to meet Mai in, Azula lets out a sigh as Zuko steps in front of her, a deep frown darkening his face.
“Zuzu.”
“Azula,” Zuko pauses and his eyebrows furrow further, “What did you do?”
Azula crosses her arms. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play games, Azula. You know what I’m talking about.”
“I’m afraid I don’t, dear brother. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go meet with Lady Mai.”
She tries to walk past him, but he grabs her arm. “Why’d you do that?”
Azula scowls as she pries his fingers away from her. “Don’t do that. And I didn’t do anything.”
Which is true. In a manner of speaking at least. She’d gladly pin all of this on Lu Ten if it meant that she could avoid awkward conversations like this.
“Cousins!” Lu Ten’s voice startles them out of their stare-off.
Azula steps back, out of reach from Zuko.
Lu Ten smiles guilessely as he steps in line with Azula. “How was training?”
Shooting him a peeved glare, Azula bows to both Lu Ten and Zuko. “Please excuse me, I’m late for my meeting.”
Zuko murmurs a goodbye and she swats away Lu Ten’s attempt to ruffle her hair as she walks away. Behind her she can hear Zuko tell Lu Ten that “My trainer seems to be sick and suspended lessons for this week.”
Lu Ten murmurs something back and Azula resigns herself to being the subject of Zuko’s concerned stares and anger until the story tumbles out from Lu Ten’s lips. How her cousin manages to be so useless at keeping secrets from both of them yet manages to run a convoluted information network is something that she will never understand. But if it allows her to maintain her position in his court she’ll take it.
A week passes and Zuko slowly begins to lighten up. Azula knew this would happen. Everytime she does something to help Zuko that gets his lofty morals all up in a twist he gets mad and tries to stay mad. But something in Zuko’s very being prevents him from staying mad. Especially when she pretends to be on her best behavior until he forgives her.
She loves her brother but he is too quick to forgive. Which is why she’ll just have to make sure no one takes advantage of her gullible brother.
(Thank Agni he’s not the heir. She can’t imagine what it’d be like if he was on the throne. Maybe she’d have to make sure that she was the heir instead. But that’s treasonous talk.)
Azula wakes to shouting from the hallway. She quickly rolls out of bed and pulls on an outer robe while fixing her hair into an acceptable topknot. Walking into the hallway, she grabs the first servant that crosses her path and hisses, “What’s going on?”
The servant trembles under her grip and looks at the floor while stuttering out, “P-Prince Ozai w-was found d-d-dead this morning.”
“What.”
Azula lets him go and takes off on a run towards her father’s wing.
The number of servants and healers increase, whispers growing and growing, as she gets closer. She nearly collides with Zuko who is also running. Grabbing his arm, Azula stops him from falling over his feet.
“What’s going on?”
She rolls her eyes. Trust Zuko to not ask before running towards the commotion. “The servant said that they found Father dead.”
Zuko’s eyes widen and he drags Azula forward towards Father’s quarters.
They stumble to a halt in front of Father’s quarters. Mother is standing in her sleeping robes, hair in disarray, in front of the doors, face in her hands. Cousin Lu Ten is rubbing her back soothingly, murmuring with an uncommon serious look on his face. Uncle Iroh is leaning against a wall, eyes closed and brows furrowed.
Lu Ten catches sight of them first and he straightens. “Cousins.”
His words cause Uncle Iroh’s eyes to snap open and Mother to inhale brokenly. Mother rubs her face with her sleeves and gestures for them to come forward. Azula is dragged forward by Zuko who steps into their mother’s embrace easily.
Mother embraces both of them lightly and Azula swallows heavily. She can’t remember the last time Mother hugged her.
(Even if it’s all an act, she leans just a little more into the hug.)
There’s an angry shout from inside Father’s quarters and Zuko flinches.
“The healer is examining your father,” Lu Ten says softly.
“What happened?” Zuko whispers.
“We don’t know.” Lu Ten runs a hand through Zuko’s loose hair and gives Azula a pat on the top of her head. She tries to slap his hand away but Mother tightens her grip and Azula can’t move.
The door swings open with a crash and Grandfather storms out of the room. A healer trips out after him.
“Tell them,” Grandfather growls.
The healer audibly gulps before saying, stumbling over his words, “I have examined P-Prince Ozai’s body. A-And there is no r-reason to suspect f-f-foul play,” Mother’s body twitches almost imperceptibly around Azula and Zuko, “I-I believe that the Prince has passed from l-lightning abnormalities in his heart.”
Silence.
Grandfather waves a hand at a servant, “Summon the court.”
The servant trembles as they bow and then scamper off down the hallway. Grandfather turns to the healer whose eyes are still averted.
“How did you miss this? Lightning abnormalities are detectable.”
The healer flinches. “M-My Lord. S-Sometimes we are unable to d-detect such abnormalities. I-It is more common to be u-undetectable in those who are y-younger.”
Grandfather snarls and punches out sharply. The healer falls to the floor with a thud.
Zuko hisses softly, turning his head into Ursa’s chest and Azula jabs him in the stomach.
“Get rid of it,” Grandfather gestures to the body. He turns to them, hand still smoldering. “Prepare for the funeral.”
They all bow hastily as he sweeps away.
Azula quickly looks up at Ursa who is staring at Grandfather’s departing back with a blank face. There’s a hint of relief in her eyes.
“If you’re ever in danger from a man and need to escape, use this,” Ursa holds up a normal looking leaf.
Azula looks up at her with wide, curious eyes.
“It’ll simulate a lightning attack on the heart. It’s nearly undetectable and I don’t think anyone from the mainland has heard of it before. You have to make sure you’re careful though, Lala. You can’t get caught using it. Women aren’t supposed to speak out against the head of their clan here.” Mother’s voice is bitter.
Azula bites her lip as Mother lets them go, pushing them towards Cousin Lu Ten as she sweeps towards her own rooms. He takes both their shoulders and begins ushering them towards their wings.
“What’s going to happen now?” Zuko asks Lu Ten.
Lu Ten sighs, “I don’t know. But you’ll both be safe. I promise.”
Azula looks down. If anyone ever finds out what Mother did (to protect Zuko - it’s always for Zuko), they won’t ever be safe. Their whole line will be sentenced to death.
Lu Ten squeezes Azula’s shoulder and pulls them into a small alcove. He leans down and holds their hands. “I’ll protect you both.” Looking to the side once and then back at them he says quietly, “Father won’t be taking the throne after Grandfather abdicates or passes. I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
Azula and Zuko stare up at him in shock. She’d suspected something like this would happen. But she hadn’t expected it to have already happened.
She inhales, closes her eyes, and nods sharply. If Cousin Lu Ten takes the throne, he’ll do what he can to protect them. And she’ll do what she can to make sure Cousin Lu Ten is also safe.
(And maybe then her brother can live the safe, quiet life that he’s always wanted.)