Chapter Text
Her Imperial Highness, Princess Anzu, second child of Fire Lord Sozin and younger sister of Crown Prince Kirin, stared at the girl.
The girl, for her part, stared back a little bit. Mostly she was just focused on dad, which made sense. He was, after all, the Fire Lord.
She never had responded as to if she had ever even heard of the Dark Water spirit.
Anzu took the time, as the servants brought back a pitcher of water for them, to examine the girl. But it didn’t add up. She was wearing clothes almost identical to Anzu (because she never bothered to change out of her sleeping clothes for her early morning walks with her father and Kirin). Her clothes were almost identical to Anzu’s, down to even the embroidery.
And that was where the problem lay. That embroidery was limited to the Royal Family of the Fire Nation. Normally there were about a dozen people allowed to wear that embroidery in the nation at once, but Father had no siblings, and neither she nor Kirin had any children. Only three people had the permission to wear that embroidery, and none of them were the mysterious girl.
Except, most people didn’t fall from the sky either. Perhaps people that fell from the sky were allowed to were the royal embroidery.
“Are you royalty?” She asked bluntly, amused at the way her brother gave her a confused look. Kirin didn't notice the same kinds of thing she did, he wouldn't notice the embroidery, likely more focused on surveying if the girl had any weaponry on her, seeing if she could be a threat.
Mizuki stared at the girl in return for a few seconds, wondering whether revealing her identity would be worth it or not.
"Yes.", She answered as though it was common knowledge, and then prepared herself for a number of questions. Maybe execution.
It took a moment. Then, Anzu smirked. “Well that explains that! Dad!”
“How about we just drink some water.” Sozin said, brandishing the pitcher of water and the cups delivered by the servant, as though they would safe him from the impending headache.
“May I know your name, Princess?” The Fire Lord asked. Princess. The easiest way to ask more. Prince or princess was the lowest possible rank to wear the clothes she wore.
Anzu was an imperial princess, technically. And Kirin was crown prince. She highly doubted the girl was the Fire Lord, though technically dad could also wear the embroidery if he chose to.
"Crown Princess Mizuki.", She answered, her voice more steady than Kyoshi's horse stance, "I'm the Crown Princess till my brother retires from the military."
Kirin, ever the older brother, rose an eyebrow at that. “Damn. Anzu, you want me to go join the military so that you can be crown princess for a couple of years?”
“Absolutely not.” She rolled her eyes as her father handed the girl a glass of water.
“Well, I do hope you recognise that you are not the crown princess here.” Sozin said, as though in an off handed way, though his eyes were analysing her. “Certainly an imperial princess though...”
"I understand perfectly— and I don't think I ever want to take the throne. Perhaps act as a Grand Advisor at the most, and the Head Palace Historian at the least."
It was like a game of pai-sho, Mizuki supposed. And yet, most pai-sho battles ended in a draw.
That was all she hoped from this— a draw.
“Yeah! The only reason I would ever want to be Fire Lord is because then I would get to be head of the Fire Sages. And that would be so cool.” Anzu chirped, trying to set the girl at ease, as well as dissuade her brother from the idea that he could just set her as his heir when he became Fire Lord. It wouldn't happen for years yet, but she was known for planning ahead.
Sozin hummed quietly. It was good— she wasn’t a threat to his children’s throne, but she would be a valuable addition to the family. “You are in your sleep clothes, child. Are you still tired? It is early here, as it must’ve been wherever you came from.” Whenever, it seemed to be, but he would ask about that later.
"I... I was sleeping with my grandparents, because my brother refused- he's eighteen, so I don't blame him, and I had a fight with my mom. But... then I had a nightmare, and I was scared, so I rushed to my grandparents."
Kirin furrowed his eyebrows. “Surely your mother would’ve still let you sleep with her, would she not?” Her father wasn’t mentioned at all, so he just assumed he was dead. His mother was dead, as was Anzu’s. The royal bloodline had a habit of killing the Royal Spouses for some reason.
“What was the nightmare about?” Anzu tilted her head and Sozin sighed.
“Dear, I doubt she wants to remember whatever nightmare it was. You do not have to answer that question, Mizuki.”
"My dad dying.", She answered, her voice lowering, "He's... he's in the army like my brother— and... I had a bad dream that he died."
She blinked, meeting Sozin's gaze when she realised something.
Her eyes were a shade of cold, greyish blue— something which she had gotten from her father, much like his hair.
Sozin simply offered her a small smile. “While it is a possibility, I’m sure, you must have faith that your father is capable. Death is a risk all take, it is a risk you inherently take just by being royalty. He knows the risks, and I am sure he is well trained against them.”
Oh he knew the child had nomad heritage. But if her father was in the military then he doubtlessly wasn’t an air nomad. Perhaps, like Anzu’s mother, he was one of the non-bender children given to those who lived around the temples, generally also descendants of the nomads that had mixed with the people of the area.
Mizuki simply amended her words, "I don't think that I'd be very grief stricken if he died, it's just that he died saving my brother... but my brother didn't make it out; that was a dream."
Her words must have sounded callous, it showed in Kirin's eyes, which widened.
"I suppose that it's not a secret that I love my brother more than my father?"
“I love Kirin more than dad.” Anzu shrugged, it was her way of trying to comfort Mizuki.
“Thank you, Anzu,” Sozin said dryly, but he was smiling. “It is not a crime to have a preference in your family, little diamond,” the nickname slipped naturally from his tongue already, he had half adopted her in his mind, “though I question what your father has done to make you not care if he dies. Are you safe at home, child?”
"Absolutely. It's just that my mother works late hours and dad is away for work— I'm absolutely safe.", She answered firmly, determined to rebuke the questioning of her family's parenting style.
"That's good.", Sozin mused, half surprised when he felt his heartbeat slow down, comforted by her answer.
He knew how to detect lies like a shirshu detected the faintest of scents, and Mizuki spoke the truth.
Kirin was oddly silent for the conversation, but at that he pulled a small candy out of his pocket and offered it to Mizuki. “Here, kiddo.” He knew his dad could tell Mizuki was telling the truth. Or, at least, that she thought she was telling the truth.
"Oh.", She replied, reaching forward to take the candy from his hand, her eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion.
There was no reason for a Crown Prince— Sozin's firstborn to offer a ruffian child a delicacy.
And while Sifu Jook had taught her well, ever since her grandfather had assigned him as her teacher, she still hadn't built up a tolerance to poisons, from the widely used to the ones whose existence half the assassins of the Earth Kingdom weren’t aware about.
She was supposed to develop the tolerance from the age of 12.
Anzu blinked. She could practically tell that the girl had the same— or at least similar— thought process she normally had with people. “Kirin is just a big softie, he doesn’t even have the forethought to poison it.”
She took a candy from her brother, who let out an offended “hey!” to prove her point.
"Well, shouldn't the Crown Prince have the foresight to poison it?", She questioned, well aware of the thin line she was treading on.
Sozin raised an eyebrow, and she took it as a signal to continue.
"And even at that, I believe that one should use the extract of soot-berry mixed with ginger. It tastes like a cleanser, and by the time it is recognised, the person would have already passed away."
Kirin pouted. “I don’t tend to offer my enemies candy. Last time I took enough offence to someone to bother doing something physically instead of demolishing them politically, I took it to an Agni Kai in front of the whole court.” That had been a nobleman who attempted something with Anzu.
She leaned against her brother silently in thanks.
“Thanks for the advice though, kid. Have another candy.” He offered her another.
"Aren't Agni Kai's banned though? Unless the Firelord gives explicit permis—", She started, only to fall silent as she realised that she would have given away her identity with a few more sentences. "What are you going to do to me?"
Sozin rose an eyebrow. “Agni Kais are not banned, though they are, of course, permissible only for those over the age of twenty. Anyone who challenges someone below the age of twenty to an Agni Kai will instead be punished.” He took his own sip of water as he looked at the rising sun. “You are royalty, and this family looks out for its own. It would be improper of me to not host you while we search for a way for you to get home— if that is what you wish.”
"Why would you want me?", She asked, leaning backwards as if to avoid a blow which would never come. "I'm not a bender, I can only do archery among other skills, and my dad says that I could pass for a mute child.", Her voice hardened, "Why would you want me?”
“Anzu is not a bender either, child, though she is remarkably skilled with a dagger. She’d also rather quiet, with the exception of when someone changes the topic to theatre or spirits. What makes you think you would be in any way worse or harder to manage, which, by the way, is not hard at all, thank my children already?”
Sozin also leaned back, away from her, to show that he was not a threat. Rage was already simmering on him at her parents.
She met his gaze, her hand clutching the soft, cotton bed-sheet wrapped around her, “If I was easy to deal with, then dad would spend more time with me. Even when he’s with me I get the feeling that he wants Roh instead.”
Her gaze lowered, a sickening feeling in her stomach, “He… he’s not a bad dad, he just… doesn’t know how to deal with me. He combs my hair when he’s home, and he calls me Mimi and— Roh’s just better, that’s all.”
“Your... sire’s,” for he refused to call him a father, “inability to interact with and raise you as a father should is entirely on his shoulders. You are a child, you are not to blame for anything.”
“Roh is your brother, right?” Kirin asked, raising his eyebrow as he wrapped an arm around Anzu. He couldn’t imagine if their father had been like that with either of them.
Sozin sighed. “Come along. Let us take this conversation to the dining room. We should all eat our morning meal.”
"Dad always cooks breakfast. Sometimes when Roh acts like... dad, the four of us sleep together, and dad gets up before us, and brings me, mom and Roh breakfast.", She spoke, not understanding why.
“Ah. I apologise, but we will have to suffice with their chef’s meal today, little diamond.” He placed a hand on her shoulder for a brief moment before pulling it back and standing. Instead of letting Kirin carry her, like he sometimes did even though she was eight, Anzu wiggled out of his grasp and went to grab Mizuki’s hand.
Sozin.
All her life, he had been nothing more than a stern faced portrait towering over everybody, a terror, a monster, someone who killed monks and nuns and held no love in his heart.
Yet—
She clutched Anzu's hand tighter, trying to steal the warmth for her own freezing, shaking hand.
Anzu looked over at her and offered her a smile. “I can’t imagine if I was torn away from my brother and dad. But I promise you’re safe here. Ok?”
"And mom." She added quietly.
"And your mom."