WHEN THE FLOWERS BLOOM IN MARCH ~ INCHEON~ PART ONE

1.

Start date: March 11, 2019

I see horses.

I see warriors on horses.

I see warriors, armed warriors wielding swords.

They kill our armed men.

They kill our armed women.

They kill the young.

They kill the old.

They even kill our animals.

I know I am going to die.

I know what this will be at the end. I and my people, annihilated by anti-elementalists.

I burst into tears. I, princess of fire nation will die sitting in her nightgown, surrounded by rubbles, because I sprained my ankle.

I have killed lords, slain kings - I have taken the great and small - but not without any justice - not from taking nonsensical delight.

I will die powerless, unable to defend myself. The thought not only scares me but infuriates me. I hear the ground-pounding before I see him.

I tilt my head up.

Does he even know who I am? This is the last thing I am thinking when he smashes my head with the hilt of his sword, galloping away to cause more damage.

I am not dead when I open my eyes. I know death. I have lain in several battles with the smell of death.

My ankle throbs.

If I was dead I will not feel a thing, not even in heaven. In heaven, I would rather forget and live in peace.

I touch my bandaged head. It is swollen and the ache is unbearable.

'Good, you're awake.'

I fly to the other end of the tent as soon as I see who it is. It is him; crown prince Seiichi of Injo Forte, an enemy of the fire nation. He is an ordinary man as far as I am concerned, but that is what the royal family are for - figureheads.

This is why they are ruled by their factions and not by their abilities.

I am a threat to him, but fire nation has never been part of Injo as far as I am concerned. We are an independent nation.

He thinks unifying the four nations under his rule will bring peace, but what is Injo? Is it not only a section of the dominion?

Seiichi holds an impossible dream.

He fights with the wind. Soon enough Injo might as well lose to Sookhe, our greatest nemesis right now.

'You bastard' I wimp

I think it was stupid to fly from the cot to collapse on my fractured leg. It is fractured.

His black, beady eyes tear into me. 'I didn't kill you. It was on purpose.'

'Why?'

He shrugs. 'You will know.' He smirks. He is still in his armour. 'Sorry about the mess.' He says. His voice is the snow of deep winter.

'I don't care.' I hate his condescending attitude. 'I have fought in greater battles.' I highlight.

'Good, this should not mean anything to you when I say get ready right away and meet me outside.' His soft gaze pins me down, stabbing me in the heart.

'Fine' there is no use lying down when I am awake. I am anxious about what is left of my people if I have any people left.

When I step out I see him talking with a general from his battalion.

As soon as he sees me, he signals for me to come over. They don't wait for me; they just walk ahead, expecting me to keep up. He walks to the barracks' fields.

'Are you preparing for war?' I ask.

'Yes,' he replies, turning his attention to the general he was walking with. 'Bring the priest.'

I watch and wait. I don't understand why he would bring me, the enemy into his private grounds.

His army is endless, not even I owned anything beyond a thousand fire army. Despite this, one fire soldier is equal to fifty soldiers.

'He's here' the general addresses crown prince Seiichi.

'Marry us' Seiichi commands the priest.

'What?' I exclaim.

He pulls out a seal from within his armour and hands it to me. It was my father's former seal.

My father had fought for fire nation as had his fathers before him. This was until the boundary was broken and my father was forced to serve Injo Emperor and General.

'Read it.' He instructed, but I was already tearing through it.

I was dumbfounded.

Father had told me explicitly that if something happened to him it meant that the emperor had not fulfilled his end of the bargain.

When father died fighting Sookhe I knew Injo broke our treaty. It meant fire nation was once again not part of any country.

We were our own people. Yet, this letter was written in my father's distinct scribbles that I should marry Seiichi, the soon to be emperor and our greatest enemy.

'I know how hard it is for you. We'll take your father's body to king slayers' valley.'

'You will do that?' we all knew that kingslayer's valley was the place where fire nation's kings were buried.

It is believed, after so long fighting against Injo, that all fire nation's king is a kingslayer.

We don't take Injo king, who calls himself an emperor, to be an emperor talk less of our king.

'I will do that so that you know that we did not break the treaty.'
'Fine, what about my people?'

'They are not all dead. They will no longer be your people, but our people - people of Injo.'

'Why are you doing this anyway?' I demanded.

'I'll marry you properly when I return from fighting Sookhe at the boundary. This is only a contingency to silence further rebellion.'
'Indeed' I say fuming within.

'Indeed, I'm glad that we understand each other.' He turned to the priest. 'Carry on'

'Wait!' I exclaim.

'What?'

'I can't get married like this.'

His eyes traipse through me, up to down. 'What is wrong with the way you are?'

'I -'

'We are not consummating the marriage until I get back and marry you properly. I still have to take this to court.'

'If you say so then'

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