Azula Amongst the Stars

Chapter 4

Azula walks at her fathers side as a child of four years as they make their way to address Fire Lord Azulon while he holds a private meeting with prince Iroh. Ursa was in the gardens with Zuko as per usual and Ozai felt it was necessary to give Azula a jumpstart in the complexities of the fire nation royal court in hopes that she will grow from this experience and not be infected by the weakness of her mother and brother. When they entered the throne room Their meeting was a less formal affair as Azulon spoke with Iroh, his throne vacant and the overpowering flames extinguished with the room only being lit by torchlight.
"And you are certain this siege will be successful?" Azulon asked, stroking the end of his mustache.
"I am." Iroh stated, a wide smile on his face and jolly manor to him that conflicted with his father's more stiff demeanor, "The Earth Kingdom overestimates the strength of their walls and Ba Sing Se is no different."
Ozai, seeing this, felt the need to be a part of any plan involving the taking of the Earth Kingdom capital and pulled Azula along with him.
"Daddy, I want to go play in the garden with Zuzu." Azula complained as she struggled to keep up with him.
"Silence Azula." Ozai commanded, "Such foolishness is beneath you. If you want to grow up to be powerful you must take every opportunity you can to achieve it."
Azula pouted, puffing out her cheeks, "Okay daddy."
Prince Ozai abruptly enters into the conversation, "Father, Brother. I hope I am not interrupting anything important." he says in a silky smooth tone.
"Oh brother!" Iroh exclaimed, "Nothing too important. We were just about to have some tea as we discussed the war. Would you like to join?"
Ozai only gave his brother a scornful look, "Perhaps later. I heard something regarding Ba Sing Se. Surely you are not thinking of trying to bring the Earth Kingdom to its knees all on your own."
"Oh, you've heard." Iroh responds with a raised brow then notices his niece standing next to him, "Maybe this is a conversation best left in the absence of children?"
Ozai scoffs, "Nonsense, Azula is here because I feel it necessary to expose her to the workings of the court as early as possible so that she can gain an edge later on in life."
Iroh only gave his brother a skeptical look before turning to their father for his opinion.
"I see no issue with this Iroh, after all I allowed you and Ozai the same experience when you were children." Azulon said.
Iroh only sighed but went through with his outlines for the siege of Ba Sing Se and while the adults spoke Azula found herself growing bored very quickly. She was filled with too much energy that she wanted to expend running around the royal palace and getting into trouble with Zuko. As the conversation continued she began to wander aimlessly around the throne room not even bothering to listen to what was being said with her eyes resting on the throne. Father always spoke of it as the most important thing someone of her status could achieve and that it should always be sought after. Even at her young age it was ingrained deep into her how important the throne of the fire nation was, only the Fire Lord could sit within it looking down on their subjects and holding all the power in the Fire Nation and maybe even the world.
She wandered closer to it climbing the steps until she was at the coveted seat of the Fire Lord and promptly sat down on it kicking her little feet back and forth as she enjoyed her elevated view of the throne imagining herself bossing around all the servants as Fire Lord demanding that they serve her all the sweets the royal palace kitchen could make and declare that no child would abide by bedtimes. She giggles to herself at the thought of it.
"Azula! What do you think you are doing?!" her fathers voice cut through the air with a familiar fury pulling her out of her daydream.
"Get down from there this instant!" He demanded and she promptly obeyed running back up to him with her head hanging low fighting back tears from his sudden reprimand.
Her grandfather gives his youngest son a stern look, "It would seem your youngest needs more discipline, Ozai."
The younger prince only tightened his jaw in discontent, however Iroh only let out a belly laugh, "You are all too hard on the girl, she's only a child. I'm sure she would like nothing more than to play with her big brother rather than listen to us old men talk about boring adult things." His voice was filled with nothing but carefree passion and adoration at her exploration.
He approaches his niece kneeling down to her height, "Isn't that right? Wouldn't you rather do that, niece?" he patted her head.
At first she wanted to say the truth, that she did want to play with Zuko but a stern look from her father made her say otherwise.
"N-no. Playing is for fools that are beneath us... I don't want to play. I want to be Fire Lord." she stated, parroting Ozai's sentiments.
Iroh's wide jovial smile faltered slightly at that. Seeing a girl so young saying such things always made him feel a little sad, like part of her childhood was stolen from her.
"She shows great ambition. Wouldn't you agree father?" Ozai said proudly.
The Fire Lord only continued to stroke the end of his mustache, "Perhaps. We'll speak of the siege later, I have other duties to attend to."
With Ozai's need for being their no longer present he dismisses himself and calls for Azula to follow, but before she could go Iroh leaned closer to her and in a hushed tone and a soft smile said to her, "Don't worry niece, once I become Fire Lord I'll let you and your brother sit on the throne whenever I'm out doing more boring adult work."
"But my daddy wants to be Fire Lord." she said innocently.
Iroh frowned once more and gave his younger brother a dejected look, "I'm sure he does."
He patted her head again and made his leave just as Ozai impatiently called to her again. She runs to her fathers side and before they leave she takes one last look at the throne, the seat meant for the Fire Lord. The most powerful person in the world.