OMFG, I was making a excel document to keep track of which characters appeared in which chapter (so I can update all the tags to reflect who appears in each chapter) and realized I literally forgot to post THREE WHOLE CHAPTERS between Chapter 9: “Coping” and Chapter 10: “Raising Hate”
So I am posting the missing ones now. This was supposed to be Chapter 10: New Izumi
Next is 11: Iroh, and 12: The Assassination Attempt.
This is sooooooo embarrassing I guess that is what I get for writing so far ahead and then not posting until I forget what I have already done *cries*
In the grassy courtyard, Izumi sat with her spine slightly arched, her shoulders down and back, neck stretched, ankles crossed and hands folded neatly on the edge of the table. Azula oversaw all of her training. She was the only one with enough patience, and raw power to deal with the incredibly unstable princess.
After a week of avoiding of all human life, Izumi began attending her lessons again. That only lasted a few days before she nearly killed her weapons master when she got frustrated with her broadswords and began firebending with them. Her weapons master was only wearing pants and suffered burns on his back when he tried to run away. She then exploded again during her Earth Kingdom etiquette lessons and threw a teapot at the wall and a small sandwich at her teacher’s face. Then during a gown fitting, she burned a set of robes to ash after she tripped on the skirt on her way to change. Every attempt to do anything left the Princess in tears and somebody hurt.
They supervised Hisoki having sex with her then gave him his own room for the night for his own safety.
Only Azula was able to ease Izumi into doing anything.
They began with just meditation two weeks after the wedding. Then from meditation, waterbending forms. No fire, no fighting, just motion. Then they began going to the kitchens, watching the bakers and the chefs, sometimes even helping.
“What is the trick?” Zuko asked Azula, visiting the kitchens to check in on his sister and daughter.
“Just don’t talk to her,” Azula shushed, watching Izumi rolling out dough. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and brushed her flour dusted palms on her apron. Fetching a dough cutter for pastries, Izumi cut the dough into little triangles and laid them out on a baking tray in perfectly symmetrical rows.
“It’s perfect, Princess,” the chef said, accepting the tray.
Izumi approached Azula and Zuko.
“May I pass to go to the bathroom?”
“Of course, Niece,” Azula replied stepping aside.
Now they were trying to give her her standard lessons again.
“Pour the tea, and if you get it wrong again, you have to do six hundred and eighty hot squats. And if you collapse before you finish, you will have to do a hundred and ninety more,” Azula ordered the Princess.
“It is just tea,” Izumi replied, staring at the ceramic pot with boredom. “How many ways can there possibly be to pour it?”
“One, but since you haven’t been able to pour a single satisfactory cup in the last six weeks, we have to reteach you now.”
Izumi’s eyes narrowed with annoyance. She picked up the pot with one hand and held the lid with the other pouring Azula’s cup.
“Good,”
Then her own.
“She is not focused,” Mai called quietly from the balcony above where she and Zuko watched with worry. And then the teacup over flowed.
“Flaming hog monkeys!” Izumi cursed setting the pot down standing up as Azula shook her head.
“Six hundred and eighty, Zumzu. Lets go,” Azula ordered.
“I’d rather do this for the rest of my life than pour that STUPID teapot,” Izumi muttered, starting the exercise.
“Language, Izumi. A Princess should never use profanity. It shows a lack of intellect.”
Izumi growled.
“Nor should one use guttural sounds. You’re not an animal; or at least we think you aren’t. Your recent behavior may indicate otherwise,” Azula said with a smirk.
After Izumi finished all six hundred eighty hot squats she collapsed, the muscles in her legs and lower back spasming.
“Did Azula just kill her?” Zuko asked Mai.
“Did you really just watch the entire time?” Mai asked. Zuko turned to look at her. She had gone away, fetched a whetstone, come back and now stood with her back to the courtyard, leaning against the railing, sharpening the dozens of blades she carried up her sleeves.
Zuko frowned. “I wanted to make sure Azula didn’t hurt Izumi.”
“She won’t,” Mai sighed. “Trust me. We have been discussing her methods and monitoring Zumi’s progress daily.”
“Go take a bathroom break and then stretch. I have to go receive somebody,” Azula ordered Izumi.
Izumi slowly pulled herself off the ground and walked off with great difficulty, cursing her merciless aunt under her breath.
“I thought Azula wasn’t allowed to have guests,” Zuko commented, turning to his wife with surprise.
“It is one of my guests. I thought he could be useful,” Mai replied.
“You know I really don’t like you going behind my back and conspiring with my sister again,” Zuko commented.
“We’re not conspiring against you. It is for Izumi, and you’re busy running the nation. Let us handle this.”
Azula returned with a young earthbending guard from Masaru’s Estate.
“Lu?” Zuko asked Mai. She nodded.
“Just watch, Zuko,” Mai reminded him. Zuko pouted and rested his chin on the railing.
“Here’s the deal,” Azula said, opening her hands casually. Izumi glared, recognizing him instantly from Saru’s house. “Lu here is a metalbender. We are going to practice your defensive forms now, and if you mess up, Lu is going to wrap this cable around your bare little midriff there and I am going to charge it,” Azula said holding up two fingers, making a couple sparks of lightning.
“That’s inhumane!” Izumi yelled jumping back. “I am a princess! Not a koala-sheep or a buffalo-cow that you can herd around!”
“Then start ACTING like a Princess, Izumi!” Azula yelled back.
“I’ve been trying!” Izumi yelled lashing out at her aunt with a fire whip. Azula blocked it effortlessly. “I have been my whole life! I just need a break!” Izumi yelled turning away, pulling at her own hair.
“Princesses don’t get breaks!” Azula replied.
“YOU had a break!” She screeched turning back to her aunt, stepping dangerously close to the former Princess of the Fire Nation. “A fourteen year break in PRISON!”
“That was forced retirement after my father destroyed me!” Azula laughed. “Yours asks so little of you and this is how you repay him? With defiance?”
Izumi laughed incredulously. “So little? Your father told you to conquer a kingdom! You got to be in command of ships, mechanists, zeppelins and soldiers when you were fourteen! I am twenty and what do I get to do? I get to be subject to STUPID lessons and rape DAILY!” Her teeth were bared like a feral animal, her normally beautiful face was scrunched up in agony, and her fists clenched so tightly that her nails pierced her hands and her palms bled.
Zuko’s eyes widened and his head hung in shame. He had been so consumed with his Fire Lord duties that he neglected his own daughter. He thought he was doing the right thing. Letting her be free in her youth then giving her responsibilities when he thought she was ready, but…..
Zuko and both Mai’s eyes widened at the outburst, with Mai doing a much better job than Zuko at hiding her shame. Ever since their daughter could walk they had subjected Izumi to etiquette lessons, firebending intensives, and hours of history lectures in an effort to arm her with knowledge and customs of all Four Nations, for at least half of every day, so that she may be better equipped than he had been to lead their nation through continued peace with the others. But in prioritizing the preparation of the new Fire Lord, they had neglected the girl underneath that would be the heart of their nation’s future. They both knew all too well what happened when a father put too much on his daughter’s shoulders, they thought sadly, looking down at his Azula.
Zuko leaned his head on the railing of the balcony in shame, coming to realize the gravity of the situation. He had been a fool to let her spend the rest of her time pursuing whatever she liked without restraint, building up unrealistic expectations for how a member of a royal family should behave. Or maybe he was expecting her to be like a royal of old in the first place? His rule was supposed to be one of reform in the Fire Nation, was it not? Had he not ended an oppressive 100 year war with the Avatar so that he could enact change and spread peace? And here he was with his new family; his daughter was feeling just as much, if not more, turmoil and pain as he did when he was fifteen. He had failed his daughter, and in doing so failed himself as a father.
Mai’s brows sloped downward only slightly. She too had failed as a mother. Like her own parents, she had spent the last few years worrying so much about how the family appeared to the nation, and heeding the orders of the Fire Sages, that she had severed fibers in the fabric that held their family. Everything had been for the good of the Fire Family, for the Dynasty, for Zuko’s reign. Just like how Mai’s entire image had been sculpted solely to support Ukano’s political climb in Ozai’s time. She had promised herself that when she became a mother she would never allow her children to be used as political pawns in a game that wasn’t theirs to play. But her inability to carry more children had left them no choice. Hisoki’s home was far from the Fire Nation Capital, and provided a solution to the Crown’s waning influence on the outer islands, but was marrying off her only daughter the only option to solving such prickly internal issues. Was it worth it? At the time, she thought they were killing two birds with one stone; Izumi having to marry full Fire Nation, and possibly preventing an uprising, but was it worth betraying her daughter? Sacrificing her life and happiness. Izumi had trusted her mother unquestioningly all her life, even more so than her father, and now look where they were. Izumi was under severe emotional duress and she had dismissed it as some small, temporary thing.
With no expression on her face, Azula too stepped forward, intercepting Izumi. She put out the Princess’s fire with ease and slapped her palm onto the girl’s forehead, freezing her entire body in place with the use of dark lighting. Azula closed her eyes.
“What does she think she is doing?” Zuko asked, about to march down to the courtyard to stop Azula before Mai caught his hand.
“She’s not going to hurt Izumi. Not physically, at least. I just asked her to check if Izumi is pregnant,” Mai replied.
A smile spread across the ex-convict’s face.
“Well that explains everything,” Azula said letting go of the girl’s head, making her fall to her knees.
“What did you just do to me?” Izumi asked panting.
“I mapped the electrical pathways in your body.”
“I don’t have electrical pathways in my body! I am not a robot or something-”
“No, you are not a robot. You are a human. Your muscles and nervous system operate on electrical pathways. And it appears you’re growing a second of each system in there,” Azula said pointing at Izumi’s lower belly.
Izumi looked up at her with misery.
“You’re pregnant,” Azula informed Izumi.
“No!” Izumi shook her head. “NO!” She screamed punching both fists into the ground, creating a wave of fire. Azula split the fire, Lu rose an earthen wall as a shield and Zuko blocked for himself and Mai.
“I don’t want to be, I am not ready!” Izumi cried. “It’s not fair!”
“Life isn’t fair. Your father and I know this only too well. You, on the other hand, have been spoiled! You think that because you are a princess, you get to do whatever you want. That you deserve peace. You deserve to be left alone when you want because you are unhappy. You don’t deserve anything! You have to EARN such privileges and liberties!” Azula said to the girl.
“I gave my body away! And for what?”
“For your family to continue to reign. For peace and stability in the Fire Nation? For inspiration?” Azula suggested.
Izumi turned away. “Why can’t mom and dad just put you back in prison?”
Azula walked over to the grumpy princess and bent down to whisper in her ear. “Because they, like you, know they can’t get rid of me, because I am family.” Azula stood up again. “I don’t know how you can still be so upset. You should be celebrating, Zumzu! You are going to have a new baby! … And at least eight months without cock up your cunt.”
Zuko gasped.
“Relax,” Mai said to him.
“You use profanity and you were a princess. Why can’t I?” Izumi grumbled holding her knees.
“Because I am no longer a princess and you still are so you must speak properly,” Azula explained.
The next morning, Hisoki, Mai, and Zuko all sat at the breakfast table waiting for Izumi.
“She’s late,” Zuko grunted.
“She is not coming today,” Mai informed her family.
Just then Iliana ran into the room. “My Lord! My Lady! Hisoki! The Princess is missing! Neither Kei-Lo nor I haven’t been able to find her all morning! She is not in any of the usual places and has an appointment in an hour to see a healer about the baby! What should I do?”
“Have breakfast with us,” Mai replied motioning to the empty chair.
Hisoki choked on his food.
“I b-beg your pardon?”
“She will be fine. I spoke with her this morning. She simply wanted to dress herself,” Mai explained. Hisoki glanced at Zuko with concern. Mai, on the other hand, remained unfazed by their anxiety.
“Won’t she be hungry? Or if not her then the baby? She can’t skip breakfast! It is the most important meal of the day!” Iliana said in a panic.
“She has already raided the kitchens this morning. Don’t worry,” Mai said dabbing at her lips with the napkin in her lap.
The four dined in awkward silence, Mai offering Iliana the best of what was on the table like a mother would her child, but Izumi was missing.
Then, everyone saw out of their peripherals, a delicate, pale hand with manicured nails that were filed round and painted with a clear gloss, set a blade on the table.
“Thank you for letting me borrow it, Mother,” Izumi said standing up again.
They looked up and saw Izumi dressed in her semi-formal robes, her hair, half its length from before, half tied up in a neat bun. In the bun, she wore her crown that she hadn’t touched since the wedding.
“Princess, please! Have your seat back!” Iliana exclaimed jumping up quickly.
“I’ve no need. I raided the kitchens before I dressed this morning,” Izumi replied. “But thank you for your kind offer,” she added politely. “If you will carry on, I shall wait in the hallway. There are only two articles in the papers I’ve left to read. I’ve been trying to catch up on what has happened around the world since… since my retreat,” Izumi said bowing, her long sleeves just touching the ground when she did before walking out of the room.
Hisoki coughed and Zuko’s jaw dropped at the sight of the Princess. The new haircut made her neck look longer and her chin sharper, made her look taller. Her posture was perfectly rigid, just how tradition preferred it.
After everyone finished eating, they came out to find the princess exactly where she said she’d be, in the hallway, reading.
“Are you ready to see the healer?” Zuko asked.
“Yes, Father,” Izumi replied, leading the way this time with a certain purposefulness in her long, brisk steps.
She undressed down to her chest bindings and underwear for the healer to inspect her body. The healer lifted a mass of warm, blue water and swirled it around her lower abdomen following the chi through her body, searching for any anomalies.
“Does it hurt?” Hisoki asked.
“Not at all,” Izumi replied with her eyes closed and her fingers intertwined over her belly.
“Congratulations, My Lord, Mr. Hisoki. She is precisely five weeks along. The child will be born in summer, a good time with a higher chance of being a firebender,” the healer said.
“That is wonderful news, Master Akira,” Zuko said to the healer.
“I am glad,” the healer turned to Izumi. “Princess?”
“Yes, Master Akira?” Izumi asked, sitting up.
“I must advise you against using your bending at all for the duration of the pregnancy. The electrical impulses and energy concentration required to produce fire blasts and lightning could overwhelm the embryo’s developing system, and kill it,” Master Healer Akira informed the princess.
Izumi listened and lowered her eyes, the other features of her face remaining unchanged. “Is there anything else I should keep in mind while he or she is growing?”
“Nothing that critical. We add provide the Palace Kitchen staff with a dietitian specializing in prenatal care to ensure you both get the nutrients you need, since we’ve heard, you have a tendency to skip meals when you’re angry,” Master Akira replied, glancing once at the Fire Lady Mai.
“Thank you, Healer Akira,” Izumi said politely. “May I dress again?”
“Yes, thank you for your patience,” Master Akira said, bowing to the princess.
They all watched Izumi pull on the exquisite robes shoulder pads and all and turn to face them again. “Father, may I speak with you privately?” Izumi asked.
“Of course,” Zuko replied, not recognizing the poised young woman standing before him. Hisoki glanced at Mai who ignored him, more curious about what her daughter and husband would discuss.
“What is it?” Zuko asked Izumi in the hallway. The Princess turned, the skirts of her robes swirling around her tiny waist.
“I would like to join you,” Izumi said up front. “I know my recent behavior has not been very- fit for even a princess, and I understand completely if you decline, but I think it is time I began shadowing you as a Fire Lord in training. I want to know what you do, and learn from you.” Izumi looked up nervously, expecting hesitation or rejection. Almost hoping for the latter.
Instead, Zuko began crying and pulled her into his chest.
“Father, why are you crying?”
“It’s just-you’ve grown up so much and in such a short amount of time!”
“I didn’t really have a choice,” Izumi replied with a perfectly steady voice, hiding all emotion. “And after all of my lessons, I have come to understand that such public displays of affection as this are no longer appropriate for people of our standing since they show weakness and vulnerability. Something our family must pretend to not have to stay influential in this backwards society.”
“Izumi,”
“I’ve caught up on reading the papers; the people think we are both weak for loving others, having others that love us and while I fully intend on continuing to do all of those things, I know we cannot afford to let others see or else your influence on the nation will begin to wane.” Izumi paused for a breath. “And I would like to do everything I can to keep our family in power since we seem like the only people in this country who don’t want to use our influence to reconquer the world.”
Zuko released his daughter and looked down at her. “That is very noble of you, Izumi. And I am so proud of you but so sorry for you at the same time. It was wrong of us to thrust so many huge responsibilities on your shoulders so suddenly, but you’ve managed to adjust so nicely and I could not be more grateful! I am be more glad to have you by my side as I rule the nation.”
“Thank you, father,” Izumi bowed. “So when can we begin?”
“The first session of the day will be at eleven in the throne room. You will sit by me on the throne-”
“Behind the fire?”
“Behind the fire.”
“Very well.”
“But first, I must warn you. This is a meeting with the council of generals. What we will be discussing is not something you can find in the papers.”
Izumi nodded.
“Therefore, I must have some confidential information delivered to your office for you to skim through ahead of time.”
Izumi bowed to him, and without even a hug goodbye, left for her office to await further instructions.
FanFiction by zhenyilani 