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The Fire Lily - Chapter One
The Sun shined over a calm lake in a secluded forest area somewhere outside the caldera in the Fire Nation Capital.
While a regal young woman sat with her legs folded beneath her as she gazed out across the lakeside.
Azula was staring out over the sunlit lake with callous amber golden eyes.
She was none other than Princess Azula.
The Day of the Black Sun was nearly upon them...it was just two days away.
Soon the rebels would discover just how deadly she could be...even without her bending.
Her eyes narrowed upon the horizon while picking up a small stone before tossing it across the waterside.
Her thoughts drifted to the Fire Nation boy that had just recently spurned her on Ember Island.
Chan.
She destroyed his house in retaliation, but the memory of him rejecting her still infuriated her.
Azula's face entrenched into a furious scowl as she glared out across the once relaxing waters.
"How dare that boy think that he is too good for me." Azula hissed while she threw a flaming pebble across the lake.
It landed in the waters before plunging down below with her blue flames vanishing in an instant.
As she sat there brooding that was when she heard the faintest snapping of a twig that quickly gained her attentions.
"Who is there!?" Azula barked while spinning around with her piercing gaze scanning foliage with evident annoyance in her eyes.
She specifically instructed that she was not to be disturbed!
Her fists lit up with fire as she turned to face the direction of the approaching footsteps.
"If you think that you can spy on me then...think again!" Azula called out while speedily lunging for the bushes.
She leaped at the foliage while swiping at the leaves with meticulous precision.
Any thoughts of being pursued by an assassin or a spy vanished from her mind when a girlish cry echoed into the air.
Azula found herself looming over a young girl that had clumsily fallen upon her backside having just narrowly avoiding her strike.
She glared down at the evident peasant in her ruthless eyes while she briefly scanned her dainty form.
Only for her amber golden eyes to widen in fascination and her lips parted in surprise when she noticed that the peasant girl had exotic golden hair!
In all her life she has never before seen anyone with golden hair!
And that was all it took for her to suddenly find herself gazing down at the golden girl in captivation.
As she found herself unable to take her eyes off the girl and her almost angelic golden hair.
A girl with golden hair!
Her long golden hair flowed down over her shoulders and just above her chest.
The girl had amber eyes...that were pitifully widening in fear.
She was also fair-skinned.
She was small...laughably so.
Yet she found herself admitting that it was not a bad thing.
As she has always had a secret fondness for petite girls.
The girl was wearing a worn long-sleeved white shirt and blue pants were nearly torn from her sudden fall.
And lastly slung over her back was a backpack.
She was strangely foreign looking.
Even beyond her exotic hair color.
She almost looked...out of this world.
She was what virtually anyone who wasn't blind would consider to be a lovely little thing.
And she found herself unable to deny that she would the girl to be just beautiful!
She forced herself to shake off her astonishment over the girl's exotic looks.
And then she narrowed her eyes into an utterly intimidating stare as she glowered down at the girl.
As she watched in satisfaction under her imperious amber golden gaze.
"How dare you try to spy on me, lowly peasant!" Azula snapped in an icy voice while glowering down at the much shorter girl.
"I-I wasn't spying! I r-really wasn't, Princess!" Elle exclaimed while peering up at the tall young woman's breathtaking form.
"Is that so? Then why were you creeping about in the brush?" Azula demanded while bending over the girl with her palms clasped behind her back.
She came out here not to be disturbed and lo and behold!
She finds a dirty peasant girl snooping on her in the bushes.
Although she did mentally admit that the girl didn't appear as dirty a most other peasants that she has seen.
And yet despite her anger over being disturbed.
She once again found that she just couldn't take her amazed eyes off the girl's golden hair.
"O-okay. I admit that I followed you. But it wasn't to spy I swear it! I-I just wanted to give you something." Elle blurted out while laying on her back as her heart began to race under the controlling girl's hardened stare.
"Give me something?" Azula questioned in an unfathomably stern voice while quirking a brow elegantly as she peered down at the timid girl.
"Y-you see I..." Elle stuttered nervously while the older girl stared down at her rolling her eyes impatiently.
"Explain yourself, girl! Quit stuttering!" Azula hissed in an imposing voice as she asked herself why she was even speaking to this little peasant.
And then she found herself begrudgingly revising her thoughts while she still gazed down at the exotic girl in hidden awe.
This little golden peasant.
"S-sorry! It is a habit of mine! I...wanted to give you..." Elle mumbled as she sat up while fishing in the grass beside her for an unknown item.
Azula's eyes followed her movements in an eagle hawk like manner.
Only for her stern countenance to transform into one of surprise when the petite girl held out her hand.
In her scraped palm was a carefully protected fire lily.
The princess gazed down at the crimson flower with her eyebrows furrowing in shock.
Before she knew it.
She was already clutching the flower in her right hand while she studied it with taken aback amber golden eyes.
"You...followed me to give me a fire lily?" Azula asked in a noticeably calmer voice than before while glancing down at the now blushing girl.
While she found her glacial eyes were now staring down at the lovely girl in even greater fascination than before.
"T-that's so. I...just wanted to tell you...that I think y-you are b-beautiful, Princess. I-I think that you are the most beautiful girl in all of existence." Elle confessed while fiddling her fingers as she nervously averted her eyes from the older girl's stare.
Despite Azula's best efforts.
She found that the girl's innocent declaration hit her in a place she did not expect.
Her amber golden eyes were widened ever so marginally as her palm fell to her side with the flower clutched to her hip.
And then she returned her merciless gaze down to the exotic girl in captivation once again.
All the while as she tried to ignore the faint stir of emotion that she could feel within her chest.
And she could only think to herself in astonishment.
Over how a beautiful little golden-haired girl came to bring her a fire lily!
And tell her that she was the most beautiful girl in all of existence!
She was so caught off guard by the gift.
That she found that a tiny sliver of a blush nearly formed on her regal cheeks.
Only to force herself to squash it as she scowled imposingly down at the quivering girl once more.
"You wasted your time, girl. I already know that. Now get lost...dirty peasant." Azula remarked coldly as she studied the now saddened girl's crestfallen expression.
"Y-yes, Princess. I...apologize." Elle murmured as she shakily pushed herself up with the taller girl eying her harshly.
She expected a response like that...but it still stung.
Azula made no further comment as she watched the sorrowful girl stagger off into the brush with her elegant brows furrowing in confusion.
It was a strange feeling really.
But as she gazed down at the small crimson flower.
She couldn't help but feel a faint twinge of remorse.
This...was the first time that anyone has ever taken the time to give her a flower.
And the first time in her life that she has ever seen anyone with golden hair.
Much less a beautiful girl with golden hair.
And she...came to deliver her a fire lily.
The only girl with golden hair that she has ever seen in all her travels around the world.
Quite possibly the only one in all the world.
And she came to gift Princess Azula of the Fire Nation a fire lily.
She soon pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind.
As she told herself that the peasant girl wasn't worth any further thought.
Golden hair or not.
A peasant was still a peasant.
Even if she had golden hair.
And all peasants were beneath her.
Despite those cruel thoughts.
As Azula walked the opposite way she found herself inexplicably clutching the fire lily within her hand to her hip.
For reasons that escaped her...
She chose to keep the fire lily.
And even more perplexing.
She found herself thinking that she wanted to meet the golden girl again.
Hello, and thank you for coming to check out my long running story.
I have had some confusion lately about who is the main character in this story. Azula is the main character, not Team Avatar.
If you love the character of Azula like I do and if you are in search of a long running Azula centered plot driven epic where she undertakes her own journey to become Fire Lord. Then this story may be something that you may enjoy.
This story is canon divergent, meaning there are some significant changes to the story line.
Everything, regarding the plot prior to the opening chapter is similar to canon, with the exception of some changes. The first being that everyone's birthdays are shifted exactly six years backwards. Instead of Aang awakening in 99AG, he awoke in 93AG.
Another significant deviation from canon is that Aang spent six years in a coma after Azula struck him down in the Crystal Catacombs under Ba Sing Se.
Because most of the spirit water spilled by accident when Katara was distraught when she was making her escape, which left Katara with only a fraction of the needed dose. It was enough to save him from death, but it ultimately left him in a six-year coma.
All of the other events in book one and book two prior to the battle in the Crystal Catacombs, including Aang meeting Katara, Sokka, Toph and everything else were the same.
Aang then awoke in the Awakening which took place six years later. And everything from there is similar in circumstance to canon right up to the Day of the Black Sun. Apart from a few differences here and there, such as Azula being older and even more deadly when Team Avatar confronted her on the Day of the Black Sun.
From there it diverges heavily from canon with my own original story direction that is Azula centric.
I have several good reasons for doing the six-year time lapse that will be revealed as the story progresses. One of the reasons is that I wanted to write a slightly older Azula that had more experience ruling under her belt.
The main difference from canon is that the characters are older, and their ages can be found below as follows:
Azula: 20
Ty Lee: 20
Mai: 21
Elle (my original character and eventual companion of Azula): 13 years, 9 months
Note: For anyone concerned about Elle's age, this is not an underage smut story. This story is largely centered around Azula and Elle forming an inseparable emotional bond, and book one is about the development of their bond.
There are a few bathing scenes scattered throughout the story, but for the most part the bond that they form is more heartfelt than anything else.
Elle is younger for reasons related to the plot that will become apparent for those that read further in. The story will eventually transition to Elle being several years older, but for now she will remain younger for plot purposes.
Zuko: 22
Aang: 18
Katara: 20
Sokka: 21
Toph: 18
I want to state right out of the gate that this is NOT an Azula joins the Avatar story. That will not happen in my story.
I feel that Azula is too great of a character to follow suit as just another converted follower of the Avatar, in my opinion that would ruin what makes Azula such a compelling character.
This is a story that primarily follows Azula as she forms her first bond that is not founded in fear. It is a tale of friendship that eventually transitions into a slow burn romance.
This story is largely about Azula's path to becoming Fire Lord and her own personal journey to find her humanity. It is about her learning to conquer her inner torment to become a ruler in her own right.
She isn't exactly a villain in this story, but she also isn't a hero. She is callous, selfish and amoral, with a strong belief that bringing greatness to her nation through conquest is what is best for her country.
She doesn't become friends with Team Avatar in the story. But she does learn to improve her relationship with her friends and learn to make new friends of her own.
In real life, people don't change overnight. Which is why in this story she evolves slowly over time. She is still manipulative and cruel, and she hurts people along the way on her journey.
I think it is in character of Azula to always be cold and cruel on some level, but in this story I explore her learning that she can maybe at least be a little bit better.
That maybe she doesn't have to be a villain, and maybe she also doesn't have to be a hero. That perhaps, she can be something in between.
I do my best to keep Azula in character and I hope you find her characterization to your liking.