Flames Of Fate (Zuko X Reader)

Chapter Nine: The Past and the Present.

(Y/N) was having a literature lesson with one of the tutors the Fire Lord sent in to her quarters. Unlike the History Lessons she actually did like learning characters and reading.

She held the brush and the tall posh woman with a sharp nose glared down at her, hoping that (Y/N) would make a mistake so she'd yell at her again.

Dipping it softly, she watched with fascination as the ink seeped into the brush. Her eyes twinkled in awe.

"Gentle strokes this time please Dragoness." Her tutor Ava pleaded, shuddering at the thought of (Y/N)'s previous 'masterpieces'.

"I got this." (Y/N) steadied her hand and gently pressed it onto the clear white paper.

Suddenly the same sharp stab in her chest from earlier in the garden flashed through her entire body. She gasped in pain and slammed her hand across the sheet, the chaotic black streak of the ink filled brush made Ava screech.

(Y/N) barely heard Ava bustle past her grabbing the sheet of paper and scolding her. Her whole body throbbed for a few seconds and her fist clenched. Her mind went numb.

All her wounds were healed, this pain was not from a mortal wound.

Hisashi!

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Later that evening the skies were a hazy blue with tuffs of white clouds that filled the afternoon sky. The sun peaked just beyond the thick layers of cloud, its rays beaming into the Royal Garden where Ursa sat with her two children by the pond.

The ducks floated around gracefully, making circles in the pond.

Azula and Zuko had just finished from their fire bending lessons. It was one of those rare afternoons where Azula and Zuko sat with their mother without Azula poking fun at Zuko and him scowling at her.

Zuko loved how the cherry tree reflected on the pond while Azula was watching the ducks, perplexed that they seemed to just be making random circles around the pond with no destination at all.

"Mother." Azula said, breaking the comfortable silence.

Ursa turned to her daughter. "Yes Azula?"

"I asked my instructor about the Little Dragon and he didn't seem to know anything."

"Her name is (Y/N), Azula." Zuko interjected from Ursa's left.

Azula rolled her eyes at her bigger brother. "Whatever Zuzu."

"Settle down Zuko. And Azula, maybe after I tell you her legend you'll give her more respect."

Azula and Zuko looked up at her with curious twinkling orbs, eagerly awaiting the story. She smiled down at her children with such love.

"Well. I guess I'll start from the very beginning. There are two worlds, the physical world is the one we live in and the Spirit World is one that is home to immortal and supernatural beings that created and gave life to the physical world."

"Do people go to the Spirit World?" Zuko asked. "I mean it is possible right?"

"No dummy," Azula quipped, "That's why it's called Spirit World, right mother?"

Zuko huffed."I was asking mom not you."

Ursa ruffled both their hairs and chuckled in amusement. "Settle down now and you're both correct I guess. Before people could go to the Spirit World freely because the spirit portals in the North and South Pole were open but the humans and the spirits lived separately you see. But Avatar Wan closed the spirit portals, separating the two worlds as it is now; only the Avatar is the bridge between the two worlds."

"Ohhhh." Azula and Zuko echoed together.

"Now back to what (Y/N) is, not a lot is known of her kind, just an old lore. She is a Child of the Forest. They are half spirit half human you see. They were first four children of the great Lion Turtle, spirits of the purest elemental form; water, earth, fire and air. They grew to love the humans and were close with them, they admired the human's infinite capacity to love and their curiosity of everything around them. So these spirits offered to give up half their immortality to manifest into physical forms and created pacts with elemental animals. The Dragons, Badgers, Sky Bison's and the Moon saw the sacrifice they were willing to make and agreed. They became the first Benders. They guided the humans into learning how to bend from the Dragons, Badger moles, Sky Bison's and the Moon."

"But why would they give up immortality?" Azula asked. It didn't make sense to her.

Ursa smiled."I'd like to think it was because of love."

"Are there more of them?" Zuko quipped "And if there are do they live in the Spirit world or the Physical world?"

"The lore doesn't say. It's said there was a great war that wiped them all out and none were left, both in our world and the Spirit World."

"What was the war?" Azula asked.

"Only the oldest Fire Sages know. The knowledge of that time has died out."

Azula and Zuko turned to each other, their eyes widened in awe.

"Whoa." They both echoed.

"So (Y/N) might very well be the last of her kind."

"Why is she held prisoner then? I mean shouldn't we try to make her feel at home if she's the last of our bending ancestor?" Zuko asked.

"You can't be that dumb Zuzu," Azula said in a sharp voice. "It's because grandfather intends to use her as a trump card, if it were up to her she'd be gone and lost, why else did it take capturing her to bring her to the Fire Nation."

"She's not some weapon Azula!" Zuko haughtily argued.

Ursa watched her two children bicker; they really were like fire and ice. One reminded her of all the principles and values of Roku and the other reminded her so much of the resolute and regal qualities of Azulon.