Princess of the Fire Nation

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Not much had happened since Zuko and Lian were beaten by the Avatar at the nunnery. After using some perfume to help Zuko and June move, the group left with June leaving by herself to recover her confused shirshu – without a scent of the Avatar or his friends, there was no point in June sticking around although she wasn't too displeased once she was paid.

After paying the nuns some gold for cost of repairs to the abbey, Lian followed her father and Zuko on the long journey back to their ship. Luckily Lian still had her ostrich or the journey would have been much longer.

Since returning, Zuko had hardly left his room. Instead he spent his time devising new plans to capture the Avatar. She had told her cousin that the Avatar was most likely at the North Pole by now learning from the best waterbending teacher there was – as expected, Zuko didn't take the news well.

Lian too spent most of her time alone since returning from the Abbey. It had been such a long time since she had fought with fire. Normally, Lian relied on her skills of fighting rather than firebending and yet she had firebended against the Avatar effortlessly. She would never admit it out loud but sometimes firebending made her feel like a monster. Her Uncle believed her skill was something that could be used in their war against the other nations, it was one reason why she was tasked with teaching Azula. However, as got older, Lian preferred to use her words rather than her fists – something her Uncle realised and thankfully let go. It didn't matter to her Uncle anyway, she had taught Azula how to be one of the greatest firebenders out there.

Lian clicked her fingers producing a small red flame at the tips of her fingers. She clicked her fingers again and the flame turned blue. Blue flames are much hotter than red flames and therefore a lot more deadly. Not many firebenders could produce a blue flame and Lian had always taught Azula that it wasn't a skill that should always be used, not that Azula ever listened.

Despite spending much of her time in her cabin, today Lian joined her father on the deck for music night which the crew tried to do often when they were docked. While she wasn't much for music, she couldn't turn down her fathers begging unlike Zuko who decided to stay in his room.

Lian clapped and laughed along as the crew, including Lieutenant Jee, performed a small musical note about the four seasons and love.

"Winter, spring, summer and fall. Winter and spring, summer and fall. Four seasons, four loves. Four seasons, four loves" sang her father. Lian preferred not to sing but the mood around them was definitely joyous – she was glad her father had convinced her to join them.

One of the crewmen sitting next to her playing the drums attempted to convince her to join in the singing but Lian just laughed as she shook her head. No one needed to hurt their ears by listening to her voice.

Suddenly, the music came to a halt and her father froze as a group of masked Fire Nation soldiers came aboard the ship including Admiral Zhao. Lian looked over curiously at the men wondering what they could possibly want now. Whatever it was, Lian knew Zuko was not going to be happy.

"General Iroh, Princess Lian" said Zhao, bowing in front of them.

"To what do we owe this pleasure Admiral?" asked her father kindly. Lian was glad her father responded instead of her because there would have been nothing kind about her tone.

"It's time the Fire Nation takes the North Pole" said Zhao proudly.

"Well, good luck with that Admiral" responded Lian, bored. "That still doesn't explain why you're on this ship."

Zhao smiled at Lian making her slightly uncomfortable, not that she would show it. "The scale of the operation means this crew will also be recruited for the mission."