Black Jade - Zuko X OC

In the Mirror of a Bad Dream

Dai Yu's new nursemaid reminded her very much of Nanai, even though objectively they were completely different. Seijun was also an older woman, but while Nanai's hair was completely stark white, Seijun's was black with stripes of dark gray that met at the back of her head in a tight topknot. There were a few less wrinkles on her face, but very deep laughter lines for someone who never seemed to laugh. She was equally bossy, but maybe that was just something you needed to be when your job was to boss children around.

But while Nanai had always insisted on avoiding discussions of the future because Dai Yu was a "child" and "shouldn't be worrying about that yet anyway", everything Seijun spoke about revolved around Dai Yu eventually becoming Fire Lady. How are you ever going to be a proper Fire Lady with subpar calligraphy? Fire Ladies don't fidget, or pick onions out of their food, and they definitely don't ask those kinds of questions in their history lessons.

Dai Yu had the idea to ask Seijun the same question she'd asked Nanai a little over a month ago, just to see what different answer she might get. "When do I get to have a baby?"

Seijun didn't even bother to look up, instead continuing to gaze down at Dai Yu's schedule for a moment before she finally answered. "Hm...Probably not too long after the Fire Lord decides you and the Prince are mature enough to sleep in the same room."

"Is that why I can't sleep in his room now?" Dai Yu asked, grabbing at this little piece of information. Was that how it worked?

"Your music instructor says you are doing exceptionally well, and your literature instructor says you're doing fine too. But it seems you still need to improve your geography knowledge. We'll review the names of the islands today during lunch."

Dai Yu sighed into her food.

The older woman rolled the paper up. "It is a good thing for a Fire Lady to aspire to provide heirs, but it isn't relevant to us today. Now, let's finish your breakfast and get dressed. I'm sure Sifu Xiran is already waiting for you."

A single female servant helped her dress, mostly to hold out clothing pieces in the order they go on and occasionally clasp or tie something out of Dai Yu's reach. Otherwise she stared at the ground and said nothing. Dai Yu thought she might be one of the women who got her ready for her wedding. She felt like she should maybe apologize for throwing a stool at her. But embarrassment always kept her from doing so.

Dai Yu hadn't had a breakdown in the palace since that night. Thankfully it seemed the staff got the hint and followed the instructions Nanai had left for them. Which meant breaks between every couple classes and a minimal number of hands on her at any given moment.

The outfit she practiced bending in consisted of loose knee length pants, a band of cloth that went around her chest, and a short sleeved overshirt with buttons down the front. The shirt was mainly for modesty when walking around and would be taken off during actual practice. It still felt strange to have so much skin exposed outside of her room or bath, even if she never left the women's quarters to get to this particular training area. But nobody else seemed to think anything of it, so Dai Yu put on the clothes as she did everyday and followed Seijun to meet with her sifu, who was indeed already waiting on them.

Sifu Xiran did not teach Zuko or Azula. Since Dai Yu was so completely new to firebending they contracted a teacher who used to head the youngest class at the Fire Nation royal academy for girls, and had never before now taught anyone over the age of eight years old.

They were barely a few minutes into daily meditation when her instructor had to correct her. "You stopped controlling your breath."

Dai Yu adjusted her breath at once. In...not bothering to say sorry because Sifu Xiran did not want apologies, she wanted her student to stop zoning out during meditation and breathe properly. Out... it hadn't seemed this difficult to keep up when Uncle Iroh had shown her, but then again he hadn't made her do it for an entire hour every single day. In...