Zuko walked beside his mother towards the Fire Lords throne room with a look of indifference on his young face. He was dressed in the dominant colours of red and black, his hair tied up neatly, cleared from his sharp young features. His mother wore a beautiful long red and black dress, one which accentuated her height and elegance. The top portion of her hair was pinned up with a royal clip with the Fire Nation emblem engraved on it while the rest of her hair flowed down her shoulders gracefully.
He was with his mother at the pond watching her feed ducks when a servant informed them that the Fire Lord had requested an audience with them in the evening. So instead of having a quiet evening of peace with his mother they had to dress him up in his formal attire and drag him to another long boring meeting.
The Fire Lord had returned from a mysterious absence. Azula told him that their grandfather went 'dragon hunting' whilst his mother explained that he left to go to the great Fire Temple for wisdom of the great sages there, he believed the latter over the former because his sister was always trying to trick him one way or another. Such a sneaky little brat.
As they walked into the throne room, the rising seemingly eternal flames that rose to the ceiling in front of the Fire Lord's seat lapped onto their cool skins, warming it. Zuko and his mother stopped next to Azula and their father who were already there, obediently kneeling down before the Fire Lord. His Uncle Iroh was to his father's side so he couldn't greet his favourite male figure.
They were like two separate factions always split into pairs; Azula and their father, Zuko and their mother.
Zuko looked around curiously and was shocked to see almost all the important officials, generals and elders of the Fire Nation present. This must be a very important meeting to have so many important faces present in such a short notice.
"Ah finally my grandson and his mother has joined us." The Fire Lord acknowledged with approval in his voice. Zuko, who was still looking down in reverence, smiled. Fire Lord Azulon rarely even acknowledged him; he must be in a good mood. Whatever it was, Zuko was pleased.
"Let us not prolong this meeting. As-"
Fire Lord Azulon's voice droned out when Azula said quietly to him, "Dimwit you're late as usual. When is grandfather going to realize your incompetence?"
Zuko ignored his sister. She was younger than him by two years and yet she was the sharpest eleven years old you could ever come across. Sometimes she was even more intimidating than his grandfather when she wanted to be.
He let her presence sink in the background, thanking the dimly lit room with nothing but the Fire Lord's burning flames as light because it made it easier to just imagine that she wasn't there kneeling next to him and smirking dauntingly.
"-And I was successful." He heard Fire Lord Ozai raise his voice with a sick triumphant laugh that echoed off the walls. "Yes. I was successful in my search of the one object that can turn this stale war in our favour. Something that would prove our dominance over all those other pitiful Nations, the very thing that can ensure our supremacy and strengthen our hold on world domination and ABSOLUTE BLISSFUL POWER!" The Fire Lord yelled the last three words and his flames scorched the ceiling with such ferocity Zuko and almost everyone who couldn't handle the heat had to flinch back a few steps.
He felt sweat trickle down his temple and he swallowed, his fist clenched. There was something about that booming voice that brought shivers up his spine and instilled in him primal fear.
He glanced up and saw that Azula and Ozai were both smirking, the flames reflected in their eyes burned with a malignant glint in their almost identical orbs. The intense fire cast direful shadows across their faces.
A hand curled around his and he turned to the owner. His mother smiled at him warmly, the flames that cast dreadful shadows across his sister and father's face heightened her maternal features, showing the comfort and love in her brown eyes. She squeezed his hand encouragingly and pulled away before anyone could catch it, they might have thought he was weak to be scared in the face of such absolute brutal show of power.
"Bring it in!" The Fire Lord ordered.
Zuko wandered what it could be. If he hadn't listened to his sister he wouldn't have missed what his grandfather had said, then he would've understood why everyone in the room suddenly looked frantically excited, his uncle looked worried and why his mother paled instantly.
Loud murmuring erupted in the throne room, excitedly rising until everyone was outright talking.
"Zuzu I told you grandfather went dragon hunting." Azula said to Zuko over the loud talking in the hall. This was the first time he'd ever heard talking in the hall that his grandfather allowed.
"There are no such thing as Dragons, Azula." Zuko snapped.
She smirked and she turned to him fully. "See for yourself."
As she said that the sound of heavy metal being dragged across the floor filled the room and everyone glanced towards the left of the Fire Lords throne. From out of the shadows Fire Nation guards pushed a giant metal crate that looked like a cage for an animal...or perhaps...a dragon.
"No." Zuko heard his mother whisper in a small pained voice.
Finally they pushed it to the centre of the room and the murmurs, hushed whispers and talking deceased faster than it erupted. General Enzo, Fire Lord Azulon's most trusted General stood next to the cage his whole right arm bandaged. The General glared into the cage. That looked like a recent burn injury, Zuko observed.
Zuko's breath hitched and his eyes widened.
If you dropped a pin in this room someone would burn you for being too loud.
The flames in front of Azulon's seat were so strong it lit the whole room with a strong orange glow. So bright no one could even question what they were looking at inside the cage.
It was definitely not a dragon...it was a girl; probably around eleven; Zuko's age.
No one dared to breathe a word of objectification, that this was a human child and not a scaled creature with claws that could breathe fire from its bowels.
Fire Lord Azulon laughed. Low at first but with every second passing it raised higher and sharper until it bounced off the walls and echoed even beyond the closed doors of the throne room into the hallways. The guards standing outside glanced at each other awkwardly.
Everyone who cared for their lives laughed along, despite an absence of humour.
The girl in the cage curled to the edge of the metal box she was imprisoned in, her (H/C) silky hair falling around her like a protective blanket. Her skin was pale. She looked like the white of a candle against the orange light from the flickering flames close to her.
Four guards stood around her cage and one went in front and opened it before cowering back with his weapon in front of him. Zuko clenched his jaw, was that even necessary?
With the cage door open the girl glanced at it numbly, her (E/C) eyes blank.
"Get up and dance, Child of the Forest." The Fire Lord commanded in a booming voice drenched in authority and power.
"Did he say Child of the Forest?" Iroh muttered in shock, his eyes widened. Only him and Zuko's mother knew how wrong this was and how it went against the balance of the human world and the spirit world. Everyone else in the room just watched eagerly, unaware.
Zuko felt a rise of anger inside of him; to put a girl in a cage, surround her with huge fully equipped guards and demand her to dance in front of power hungry adults and two kids was beyond sickening. He did not have the knowledge that his mother or uncle possessed but he knew that everything about this was wrong.
The girl in the cage looked up at the Fire Lord and barred her teeth, the fire in her eyes stronger than the wall of flame before her.
General Enzo, a tall bald man with little to no hair on his face, walked closer towards the cage and leered down at her. He whispered something and the girl's eyes widened; that seemed to break her resilience for now. She clenched her hands into fists and stood up.
The girl/dragon wore a long plain white dress. The bottom of her dress that touched the floor was shredded, burnt and covered in grime. Her hair was longer than he thought, reaching her hips; it fell around her like a (H/C) waterfall. Zuko was enchanted.
"Someone's growing a crush already." Azula teased.
"Shut up." Zuko said fiercely.
Azula's eyebrows shot up in shock. That was a first.
Everyone watched sceptically. She walked to the centre of the room, her pale feet barely making a sound. She stopped at the centre and glanced back defiantly at the throne, then after a few seconds of contemplative silence she turned to the audience.
The girl closed her eyes and she stretched her hands out as if to intimidate flying. She started singing in a foreign tongue; her voice was soft and pure, it brought shivers up Zuko's spine. Soon the roots of her hair started turning red, it spread from there, like red ink dropped onto a white cloth and seeping into the rest of the cloth. Everyone gasped as her hair turned red completely.
She began dancing as she sang. It looked more like a combat dance than actual dancing but it was done with so much grace and flexibility it was like she was born to do this dance. Every part of her body moved in sync Zuko watched with awe, he couldn't take his eyes off her.
Finally she twirled and extender her arms in the air, her red hair dancing in the wind and whipping around are small figure as she jumped up. She remained air borne for five seconds and from her open palms flames of all colours burst. She circled her hand to the ceiling and away from the audience. It raced up and burnt the ceiling with such intensity they could smell the ash and their eyes stung from the smoke.
Everyone gasped and backed away in fear of being burnt, everyone except for Zuko, he didn't care that the heat from the rainbow flames was heating his body so much it was like he was in an oven; he was transfixed on her.
The flames overflowed from the ceiling and rushed back down straight at her in a surging speed. Zuko felt his heart jump up to his throat; that flame would burn her alive!
"No! Move away! You'll get burnt!" He yelled to warn her but it was too late. The flames surrounded her and twisted around her, all the colours morphed against each other and twirled around her, engulfing her entirely.
Upon hearing his voice she turned and their eyes met beyond the fervid flames. Her eyes were now a glowing orange, she looked at him with curiosity dancing amidst the flames in her eyes. His gaze softened when he saw that she had the softest content smile on her face; the flames weren't burning her, they were caressing her, they were one with her and she was one with the flames.