Chapter 3

After Tye Lee brought Azula back we headed to the market place. On the way we could see the technological advancements of the fire nation. Currently they are in the steam era. There is also a working railway system. Seeing the level of modernization I could now understand how the fire nation was winning the war even with so little man power. The other nations were basically still in the feudal age or stone age so its an easy victory.

"Hey look its this store! I heard the noodles are heavenly." Tye Lee says excitedly. We finally arrive at our destination. The noodles were great the environment reminds of those classic Japanese noodle joints. We sat down and order the food. 5 minutes later the noodles arrived. We all took our fist slurp and it was really good.

"Wow they have the perfect texture and flavor is really good." Tye Lee who was wolfing down the noodles like her life depended on it said.

"I suppose these noodles are enough to satiate my royal taste buds." Azula said that but the face that she was making while she took each bite tells me she liked them more. The experience would be even better if the chef and all the waiters weren't staring at as like we were zoo creatures. They weren't really watching me but Azula. Even when we were walking down the road there was many stares at her. It kind off explains why Azula was a perfectionist in everything she does. With our bellies full we headed out. The shop refused to take our money saying that it was their honor to serve the princess but Azula just threw a pouch of coins at them and left.

We were now walking down the road visiting stalls as I wanted to buy something for mother since I was returning home for the next week. Azula was walking ahead of us looking at different items on each stalls. The stares were also present here.

"Is it always like this?" I asked Tye Lee while were were strolling.

"Well she is the princess Granddaughter of Fire lord Azulon. Each of her moves are always monitored by others." Tye Lee said while making a concerned face.

Well that explains a lot. Who wouldn't go crazy if you devote your whole life meeting other peoples expectations only to be shunned by them in the end. Thats basically what happened in the main series. Although her personality played a part if the people around her didn't pressure her so much she could have turned out to be better.

"What do you think your doing?" An authoritative childish voice broke me out of my thinking process. When I looked ahead I saw a girl about 13 who looked like she was about to cry infront of Azula. She had a hair pin in her hand which seemed to be the focus of the conflict.

"I was looking at it first. What gave you the right to snatch it from my hand." Azula said in a demanding voice.

"But princess I was the fir..." before the girl could finish Azula lashed out at her again.

"Don't dare lie you peasant! You clearly took it from my hand and after you realized who I was you started to act pitiful." As Azula scolded the girl there was already a crowd around us murmuring. From what I could hear they were bad mouthing Azula.

"Well you can have that cheaply made garbage. The royal family can't ware what you low lives ware." Saying so Azula turned around. towards us."Arima Tye Lee I will see you two later then." Saying so Azula took off. Before I turned to follow her I noticed a smirk on the older girls face. Well well will you look at that the future heir to the throne was actually plotted by a 13 year old. Guess shes just a 7 year girl after all.

The sun was setting in the west sea. Near the shore line you could see a girl hugging her her knees and staring off to the sun set. 

"You know you could have taken a milder approach in that situation." A boy came from behind her sat beside her.

"Oh are you here to lecture me too how my actions were wrong, how could I abuse my authority to bully the weak? or I'm just plain evil for being myself!" Azula who had tears in the corners of her eyes snapped at me.

Sigh..."Well not exactly. You see some times you have to take a step back to win some battles or you could be a better talker." I said while I took a hair pin from my back pocket and gave it to her.

Her eyes lit up for a second but then she eyed me suspiciously "How?"

"Lets just say in the back allies of the capital there's no better negotiators than me." I said while I lay down on the beach.

"Weren't you a goody two shoes?"

"Who said I'm not? That girl was a major drama queen she needed some extra lessons."

Laughing a little she also laid down on the beach. After some time I heard a barely audible voice.

"Thanks."

I snapped my head in her direction to see if I heard right but she was facing the other way. I said nothing and we just lay there until the sun went down. 

Night time my house at the capital. We were having dinner as a full family because me and my older brother came back from the academy. 

"Good work Arima. Although your bending talent isn't great your academies are second to only princess Azula. I also heard that you and the princess became good friends. good you understood your assignment. Remember in the future you must leverage this connection for your brother so that he can grow our family more." My lovable father whom I did not see for the last year said to me as I was eating my food.

"You better understand shrimp I have better bending than you so you must serve me in the future to earn your food or you will just starve to death." My elder brother who was two years older than me said to me passionately. 

"Lieo his your little brother how could you say that to him?" My mother said while being a little mad at him and ofcourse my father had something to say about it. 

"I don't see anything wrong there. Arima has to understand his role in order to better the families prestige. His fire bending isn't powerful enough. With such talent he will never get past the rank of major. He will be lucky if he achieves advance level bending skill before he turns 50." 

You see my father was a commander albeit a low ranking one and his life goal is to elevate our family status in anyway possible. 

"I think I had enough dinner for today I will go to my room then. Arima come to my room after your done I want to hear about how your school went" saying so she got up from her seat and went to her room. My father just continued to eat the food as if nothing happened.

I also got up from my seat and followed mother "If you'd excuse me father." before leaving I bowed to my father.

I was now in my mothers arms as she inquired about every single detail that she could get. "So Azula and Tye Lee are your friends. You must ask them to visit I wanna know if they will be my future daughter in laws." Mother said with a squeal. 

"Mother I'm only 7 and Azula is the princess." I said while I cover my face with my hand. 

"You don't have to worry dear, mother was great friends with queen Ursa. We grew up together. If you like her daughter I can set you two up." I mean wow mother as some background huh. Well considering Ursa used to work in a theater it is indeed possible that they are acquainted. Come to think of it my mother never said anything about her background suspicious. 

After chatting with her some more I went to my room. From last year my progression with my bending was phenomenal. My fire bending forms are also in sync with my breath of the sun making them more powerful. As for my physical strength it also improved remarkably. I can now punch smaller rocks to bits and If land a fully strength punch on non benders I could shatter bones. The reason I say non benders is because benders are physically really strong. In the show you Toph a 12 year old could shatter boulders with just a fist.

Though there are martial breathing methods that help to strengthen the body but they are just not as good at flowing the chi through out the body as bending. After studying at the academy I became sure that the world of avatar that I am in is an AU. The land mass is way larger. Its roughly the same size as earth. There are more islands than the original show and there is more than one language specifically each for one nation. I was born on 83 AG meaning me and Azula will be 17 when the canon starts and Zuko will be 19.

Now lets talk more about my bending. I got the fire part down but air is a different story. I don't have any material to go off by to train my air bending and I can't do it infront of others or else I might get branded as the avatar. I can do basic movement like making my steps lighter jump very high run fast and so on but they aren't as efficient as I would like them to be. So I temporarily stopped training in air bending until I get some air bending scrolls or some thing because if I develop it myself then it will take a lot of time. 

Therefore at present I will only focus on my fire bending. After tinkering with my flames for so long I finally have a better understanding of it than when I started. Fire bending it self is unique as its the element where oneself can produce the element. This causes many questions like what is used as the fuel? How can the temperature vary depending on mastery? To answer those questions the fuel of fire bending is generally chi and the output of the chi can be different based of the emotions one have when ones bending. Although fire filled with hate and anger can be powerful they are very hard to control. The most important thing for fire benders is there will and beliefs. The stronger ones will the stronger their flames will be. 

Flames that that burn with the intent of life and energy is more easy to control and gives the bender a deeper spirituality. Azula from the show achieves a blue flames which is the embodiment of perfect control even with the false bending art that she practiced. She is a true prodigy alright, and for that reason as a fellow fire bender she has my respect. 

After two days of lazing around the house a messenger came to our house. 

"Arima, subordinate of princess Azula you are invited to the royal palace and is expected today at noon." A haughty looking guy in a red messenger costume said while he read the letter in his hands. Talk about manners. After saying goodbyes to my mother who put me in the most fancy clothes I ever wore I headed to the palace and I have to say it was grandiose as hell. The whole architecture of fire nation looks like the feudal japan era and the main castle was huge. I must say I'm impressed.

Though as much as I was impressed by everything the palace had to offer I didn't expect this to happen.

"So you are Arima who my granddaughter insisted I invite." In front of me was Azulon Fire lord of the fire nation sitting behind a literal wall of flames.

"__"