The Legend of Percy: Book 2 - Through Grief

8. An Agni Kai (They Sound Pretty Cool)

Azula woke the next morning with a plan. Well-rested and somewhat bright-eyed, the princess strode through the hallways of the palace. The early morning sun flickering on and off her back as she moved between the columns.

It's desperate.

The harshness of the voice in her head screaming at her. But after a night surrounded by the soft fur blanket, she found herself able to rid herself of it. But he kept coming back.

She made her way to the room where she'd be meeting the man and his family, hands shaking only slightly.

I have a plan. It'll work.

She kept repeating it to herself in her head like a mantra.

Unlike usual familial proceedings, there would be multiple people in a room with the Fire Lord. And this wasn't a military matter, so they weren't doing it in the throne room. It was another royal meeting room, but she was very pleased that it wasn't by that throne. She could barely think straight as it was, and there was something about that room...

Azula hid her appreciative smile at seeing both of her friends waiting for her outside the entrance. Hearing them follow along behind her, she entered the room. There was a low table, not unlike the one used in the throne room for war meetings. Azula sat on the one to the right of the head of it, with Ty Lee seated next to her and Mai one further down. Azula was actually quite happy to see Zuko's absence from this particular meeting. The princess took up a meditative pose and it seemed that both her friends knew to just let her focus.

After a few minutes, she heard the scuffling of footsteps and the sounds of people speaking. Azula opened her eyes to see what she could only assume was the Sei'naka clan family. Her eyes immediately locked onto the youngest member of the group. He looked to be in his early to mid-thirties, and held himself with such arrogance it made Azula smirk.

It might be a lot easier like this.

He was looking at her as well, although his eyes moved up and down her making her skin crawl. She just wanted to snarl at him. Not only was it disgusting, but she was royalty. With the way he was looking at her, the princess could tell that he felt he had the control.

Well, time to take that away.

The man sat opposite her, with the rest of his family sitting down along the other side across from her friends. Just before the Fire Lord entered, he managed to slip one sentence in.

"I look forward to becoming the Fire Lord from you, Princess."

She narrowed her eyes at him, watching as he leant back and seemed to bathe in his victorious moment. His family beside him seemed very wary of how he was handling himself, but did look the part. They were obviously a noble family that was undying in its fidelity to the Fire Lord.

Her father entered and she bowed, as did the rest of them. She noticed how the man seemed to stoop incredibly low.

He'll bow like that to me soon.

Once he'd waived his hand in dismissal of the bows, they all sat back up. Azula felt Ty Lee's hand slide into her lap and squeeze her own hands. She maintained her focus, but realised that the shaking of her hands had increased. Almost imperceptibly, she nodded back to her friend and Ty Lee let go.

"We're here for the marriage between my daughter and Junsik." The Fire Lord started. "Your family comes from a long lineage of firebenders, and for that, you will serve the Fire Nation well."

"We are your humble servants, Fire Lord Ozai." The father, it seemed, replied.

"Good."

The coldness of his voice made Azula start to shake once more. Her heart palpitated as it was all going too fast. Her father continued, unencumbered.