The Traitor Princess

Chapter 53 - The Beach /The Avatar & the Fire Lord

***9 years ago***

Zuko happily knelt down on the beach adding the finishing touches to his sandcastle. He was just about to call his mother over to show her his creation when Azula came up and blocked the sun.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm building a sandcastle." He mumbled.

"Why?"

"We're at the beach." Zuko shrugged. He ignored Azula and smoothed out the edge of his little castle. Azula smirked and stomped her foot down right on his hard work.

"Azula!" He shouted. Azula just laughed and skipped away, in search of her sister. Zuko sighed and started to rebuild the castle his youngest sister destroyed.

He had just managed to finish his new creation when he heard his name in the distance.

"Zuko, look!" Eziri shouted. She hurried over to her brother with her arms full of shells.

"What are you–"

Eziri tried to kneel down and drop her collection next to his sandcastle, but the pile of shells tumbled out of her arms and knocked off part of Zuko's castle. Eziri gasped and gave her brother an apologetic look.

"Zuzu, I'm—"

"Look what you did!" Zuko said angrily.

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to show you my shells." She said innocently. "See?" She picked up one of the fallen shells. "This one has these little—"

"I don't care about your stupid shells, Ezi! Just go away!" Zuko shouted. He went back to fixing his sandcastle and ignored her. He was sick of his little sisters ruining his day.

Zuko started to gather another pile of sand but heard a sniffle. He looked up just in time to see Eziri run away with her head in her hands. He glanced down and saw that she left her pile of shells in the sand.

"That wasn't very nice."

Zuko jumped at the voice behind him and turned to face his mother.

"But she ruined my sandcastle!" Zuko whined.

"Zuko." Ursa just gave her son a disappointed look and he sighed.

"Fine." He mumbled and stood up. He picked up one of the seashells and started in the direction he saw Eziri run.

He found Eziri out in the backyard of their beach house. She was sitting with her back against a tree and her knees pulled to her chest.

"Ezi?"

Eziri snapped her head towards her brother. She hastily wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "What do you want?" She grumbled.

Zuko slowly approached and sat down beside her. He placed the shell on her knee. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Eziri picked up the shell and ran her fingers over the ridges. "S'ok." She mumbled. "I'm sorry I ruined your sandcastle."

"It's ok." Zuko said quietly. "It was an accident."

Eziri brought her eyes from the small shell to her brother. "I brought the shells over because I thought we could use them to decorate your castle."