Throne of Ashes (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic)

Burning Blood

"Please. Save my son."

Rage coursed its way through every bone in his body, the fire he controlled with bending, wanting to erupt in every direction, yet the mere thought of taking his anger out on the woman kneeling in front of him, who dared to enter his bed chambers, the chambers of the Fire Lord late in the night—she, in the end, wasn't the one who deserved to face the wrath of the Fire Lord.

"No. The one deserving of that fate is my son, my flesh and blood," Fire Lord Azulon thought to himself, his jaw clenched, his anger at Prince Ozai having grown even more since his son deemed it appropriate to approach the Fire Lord in his throne room, demanding the Fire Lord's firstborn be stripped of the right of inheritance in favor of making Ozai his heir.

Everything started then, but in reality, everything started with the death of his firstborn's only child, the heir of the heir, the fresh blood the throne would need, given both his and crown Prince Iroh's old age and Lu Ten's youth would insure the throne would proceed far into further generations, and yet that blood, that male heir was lost in battle, bringing such grief that Iroh retreated from Ba Sing Se despite being so close to victory.

And it was that act of retreating in the moment of grief that Ozai attempted to present as a moment of weakness, a thought unfathomable to Azulon as weakness, the mere thought of losing his own first-born sending chills through the fires that coursed through his body. "Family is not a weakness, Prince Ozai."

Yet there Ozai was—

Prince Ozai didn't realize how carefully his father watched the build-up to the treasonous words of asking for his older brother's birthright, of how his son presented not his first-born son, but his second-born, a daughter, using words to paint the girl as some kind of genius for having such skill as a bender.

His eyes were wise, having ruled already for seventy-five years. Yet, Ozai didn't seem to understand this, but then, as Azulon watched, he saw definite power behind the girl's movements that were far more powerful than many her age; he also saw flaws in the most basic elements of firebending such as her breathing technique and in all the raw power Princess Azula was simply that. Still, the lack of perfecting things like breathing, even fortifying her mental psyche would come back and haunt her later on down the line.

Azulon also saw—

There was no mistaking what he saw with Ozai's actual firstborn, the one Ozai should have focused on and presented.

The skill wasn't there with Prince Zuko as it was for Princess Azula. Yet, where Ozai saw a child who would bear no fruit, Azulon saw a childbearing no fruit due to intentional neglect but a child who obviously craved some form of nurturing from his father, and it was this child that the woman in front of him now begged him to save.

After all, when the children left the throne room, he'd not minced words with Ozai, quite clearly saying he'd have to sacrifice his firstborn.

In this, Azulon's train of thought was clear. "Take from the neglectful son the unwanted firstborn and give him to the one wronged by that brother to nurture and care for and thus giving that other son a reason to live."

Princess Azula twisted his train of thought into a perverse idea, that he'd want Ozai to kill yet another male heir to the throne for the slight the youngest prince committed towards the crown prince.

These words were what led Princess Ursa, the wife of Ozai, to his bed-chamber, begging for the life of her son, yet also revealing another important detail to Fire Lord Azulon.

Prince Ozai took his sins further by trying to use the love of a mother for her first-born child to orchestrate the assassination of his own father, yet Ursa in all her wisdom knew there might be a far better option, that of turning to the one who gave the order, and yet there was the inkling in Azulon's mind that if she felt she needed to, she would indeed go so far as to commit treason and kill the current Fire Lord so her child could live.

"Have Prince Ozai arrested," Fire Lord Azulon said, then—

Ursa remained on the ground, the guards waiting for him to dismiss them.

"No. I'll do it myself," Fire Lord Azulon said, getting out of bed. "And I will confine him myself to make sure he can't create any form of rebellion against me or my bloodline again, but apparently, he's forgotten Prince Zuko is of my bloodline. To that end—"

Ursa glanced up, her eyes widening at his words.

"Secure Prince Zuko. Bring him and his mother to the safety of my section of the palace."

"And Azula?" Ursa asked.

"As if Ozai would harm his favorite, his personal tool," Azulon said. "Although, to that end, I'm also not inclined to give the child who twisted my words against her eldest sibling with the same zeal as her father tried to steal his older brother's birthright any favors tonight and she shall live with whatever befalls her tonight, and whatever I may deem necessary further down the line."

And there he saw it, the mother's love for their child, yet behind that mother's look—

"You've seen it as well, that she's headed down the same path as her father if she isn't already there if the rumors I've heard from various palace staff are of any worth, but sometimes what may seem like the cruelest thing to do for a child is instead the kindest."