The Traitor Princess

Chapter 66 - Sozin's Comet, Part One

It was another typical day of preparing for the comet on Ember Island. Zuko took charge of Aang's training that morning. Sure, the siblings made a great team, but Eziri struggled to be harsh with Aang and a bit of tough love from Zuko couldn't hurt. Instead of training firebending, Eziri was at the edge of the courtyard teaching Sokka, Mila, and Suki to throw knives. She had purchased a new training set in town and decided the skill could be helpful to their group's non-benders since everyone else was focused on practicing their element.

Suki picked up on the skill rather quickly. Sokka had some instruction from Eziri before and wasn't half-bad by this point. Mila took a bit longer to learn but she was determined and never gave up when her knife missed the mark. She had been practicing with Suki every day to learn the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors. Eziri had a sneaking suspicion that Mila would gladly join the warriors after the war.

The four teens could see Zuko and Aang from where they stood, but tried not to pay any attention to the pair. Aang had a bad habit of getting distracted and starting side conversations so they all did their best to ignore the young airbender.

The group's training was interrupted when Katara called out from the house.

"Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?" Sokka promptly dropped the training knives and hurried over to his sister. The three girls lightly laughed at his abrupt departure and followed. Aang had to fight Zuko a bit to make his way over but was happily sitting on the steps sipping his juice by the time Eziri made it over.

Eziri noticed her brother scowling at the other teens as they sat around sipping on watermelon juice. She walked up beside him and nudged his shoulder with her own but he paid it no mind.

"If you wanna lounge around like a bunch of snail sloths all day then go ahead!" He started to storm off and Eziri took a step to follow. She was torn between wanting to comfort her brother and agreeing with his frustration. Everyone had seemed a bit more relaxed lately. While that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, they couldn't risk getting sloppy with the comet fast approaching.

Just as she started to follow Zuko, the group had apparently decided today was perfect for a beach party. Eziri crossed her arms and shook her head as all their companions scurried past the firebenders towards the water.

Zuko watched everyone but Eziri stroll off to the beach. "Well?" He asked expectantly.

Eziri looked at him weirdly. "Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to join their stupid beach party?"

Eziri huffed. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because, shockingly enough, I agree with you." Eziri crossed her arms. "And I don't like sand." She added quietly.

Zuko scoffed. "Since when?" Eziri was always in the water when they were kids. The sand didn't seem to bother her then.

"Since I was almost buried alive in the Si Wong Desert."

Zuko snapped his head towards her and just stared in shock. "You were...what?!"

Eziri shrugged. "I'm gonna go inside and read. Try not to spontaneously combust while everyone has fun." She left her brother alone without an explanation.

–

It wasn't much later when Eziri's peaceful quiet time was abruptly interrupted. She heard distant shouts and what sounded like firebending. She furrowed her eyebrows, marked the page in her book, and peered out her window. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary so she decided to go down to the beach and check on her friends.