Avatar: The Book Of The Phoenix

The Old Name

She did not wait for permission. The throne room still smelled like the argument.

"Father." Azula stopped at the proper distance and then ruined it by taking another step. "You can't send him. Zuko started the fire. Aarslan said one ugly thing. That is not worth a ship."

Ozai regarded her as if a piece on the board had moved itself.

"You are very certain for someone who was not asked."

"I'm certain because I was there." Her chin was up. Her hands were fists in her sleeves. "He's loyal. He's good. He makes me better, and you like when I'm better. If you throw him to the front because Zuko got jealous, you are punishing the wrong person."

Silence. The braziers breathed.

"You love him." Ozai said. Not a question.

Azula's mouth thinned. "I like winning. He helps."

Ozai almost smiled. It did not reach anywhere kind. "Then this is your first useful lesson in winning. The Fire Lord does not keep a general's son in the palace because his daughter has grown attached. Attachment is a vulnerability. I am closing it."

"That's not fair."

"Fair is a word for people who do not have a nation." He flicked two fingers toward the doors. "You will not follow him to the dock and make a scene I have to hear about later. You will go to your rooms. You will remember that you are a princess, not a girl on a leash."

Azula stood there long enough to prove she had heard him.

Then she bowed, because that was the only move left that was not setting the hall on fire.

She went to him anyway.

The palace air was heavy with incense and the kind of quiet that meant someone had already lost.

Azula had both hands in Aarslan's tunic and would not let go. Thirteen, and for once she did not care who saw.

"He can't," she said, voice cracking on it. "Father can't just send you away. You didn't even start the fire. Zuko did. I was there."

Aarslan looked at her like he was trying to memorize a room. The mischief was gone. What was left was a boy being walked out of his own life.

"I know," he said. "But it doesn't matter. He said go. If I fight the guards it's worse. If I fight him it's over."

Tears showed up in her eyes and she hated them on sight. "You can't leave. You're the only one here who gets it. Everybody else wants me to be useful or quiet or scary. You just—stay. You stay."

She shoved her face into his chest so she would not have to watch herself do it.

His voice shook and he let it. "I'm coming back. I don't know when. But I'm going to get so strong
nobody can take me out of a room again. Not him. Not Zuko. Not a bunch of men with spears. One day I will be the most powerful firebender in the world. Okay? That's the deal."

Two guards filled the doorway.

"It's time," one said.

Azula's head snapped up. Aarslan had to peel her hands off the cloth. He did it like it hurt him more than the order.

"I will come back," he whispered. "I promise. Don't forget my name just because they told you to."

Then he let them take him.

On the dock the ship was a black cut against an orange sky. He looked once at the palace. One tear got away from him. He wiped it like it was an enemy and went up the plank anyway.