Returning to my estate I felt my mood return to the bleak state it was in when I was saying goodbye to my Uncle.

Despite the amusement I felt talking to Azula, the loss of both Zuko and Uncle Iroh was a great dampener on my spirits. Uncle Iroh was my biggest support in political circles and just pleasant to be around in general. He was also one of the few people safe to drop the mask of ‘princess of the fire nation’ around. I would miss the easy conversations where I could confide in him that I wasn’t confident in my plans and vent my frustrations without opening myself up to some subtle manipulation further down the line.

Zuko, on the other hand, was an interesting case for me. When we were children both he and Azula followed me around like baby turtleducks. Constantly looking for the attention of either myself or Lady Ursa. I was thrilled to have a loving family again, even if it meant putting up with Father, so I constantly tried to give them someone to look up to. I played the part of a dutiful daughter and tried to make sure his harsh perfectionist manner didn’t affect my half-siblings too much and that they knew I cared for them.

In fact I thought I was pretty successful until the death of our cousin Lu Ten and Father’s subsequent usurpation of the throne. With the death of Fire Lord Azulon and my step-mother’s banishment I was forced to try and shield the two of them from political vultures looking to take advantage of the natural chaos following a change in Fire Lord. But there was only so much a thirteen year old girl was capable of doing, even if she was a princess, so I desperately decided to go to my Father and request he keep Zuko and Azula away from politics until they could fend for themselves.

Father agreed to help.

Of course, he didn’t do so out of the goodness of his heart. In exchange for keeping my half-siblings away from court machinations, I would move out of the imperial palace and into the city.

An obvious move to get rid of an obstacle since it was known I supported Uncle Iroh more than I did Father, but there was no reason he could banish me without angering all the nobles backing Uncle Iroh. Especially since many of them didn’t support banishing Lady Ursa, suspicions of treason or no. But it was an offer I had to accept.

So within a few days Zuko and Azula lost their grandfather, cousin, mother, and I was forced away to only see them on occasion. Father wasn’t exactly the caring sort either, so it was little surprise we grew distant.

Azula latched on to our time together, desperate for the affection of family even as Father tried to mold her in his image. Zuko on the other hand seemed to view my departure as a betrayal of sorts. I tried repeatedly over the next two years to try and mend the gap in our relationship and explain why it was necessary but little came of it.

Since he departed without even seeing me, I doubt he forgave me even now.

With those dark thoughts on my mind, I made my way to the back gardens. The artfully kept trees and flowers helped raise my spirits and release some of the tension I was feeling. Watching the lotus flowers float through the pond was always relaxing to me, I spent a lot of time imagining them as my problems and just letting them float away.

Although it seemed like I would not get the chance today, as minutes after I sat down on one of the stone benches a maid came walking up to me with a nervous expression on her face.

“Hello Liu Yun, is something the matter?” I greeted her.

Liu Yun bowed low. “Greetings Princess, I am here to announce Trade Magistrate Zheng is here to speak to you.”

I frowned. He wasn’t supposed to meet with me today.

“Very well, bring me to him.”

-o-

“Greetings your Highness.” An older man in his fifties saluted me. Like many of the officials in the Imperial City, magistrate Zheng used to be a member of the Fire Nation Army. Even in his old age, he retained the lithe build of a warrior.

Though years of inactivity had softened his frame and his hair had long turned grey, he still had the look of someone who had been very imposing in his prime.

“Greetings, Magistrate.” I returned, walking over to a low table with some writing implements on it and taking a seat on one of the cushions and gesturing him to the seat across from me. “Can I interest you in some tea?”

Magistrate Zheng took the offered seat but raised a hand to stop Liu Yun even as she poured me a cup. “No thank you, Princess. I will not be staying long.”

“I see.” I accepted the cup from Liu Yun and took a moment to appreciate the aroma. You did not grow up around Uncle Iroh without learning how to appreciate tea. “Then how can I help you, Magistrate? If I recall we were not supposed to meet for another three days.”

Magistrate Zheng shifted uncomfortably and I started to get a bad feeling.

“Yes, our meeting… Unfortunately, I will be unable to make our meeting. Head Magistrate Zun has called a meeting in three days, so I came by to inform you.” he said, not meeting my eyes.

My bad feeling got worse.

“I see…” I said slowly. “...if it’s necessary, we could move our meeting to the following day. As you know, we only have another week to draft a proposal against the new taxes on the colonies.”

“...my apologies. My schedule is very busy these days, I don’t know if I will be able to find the time.” Magistrate Zheng said, while shrinking in on himself.

So that’s how it is…

I set my tea on a provided saucer.

“Of course...is there anything else, Magistrate?” He flinched at my noticeably colder tone.

“N-no, Princess.”

“I trust you can see yourself out then.”

Magistrate Zheng quickly stood up at my dismissal. He bowed and saluted me, then turned on his heel and briskly walked out.

I held my temper for all of a minute. Just long enough to be sure Magistrate Zheng was not in hearing range.

“RHAAAA!!” I slammed a fist on the table, ignoring the way it cracked as a plume of fire erupted from my hand and burned everything on it. I sat there huffing furiously until slight movement out the corner of my eye drew me out of my thoughts.

Liu Yun sat huddled in a corner hiding behind her serving tray, staring at me in fear.

The sight of her like that drowned out my temper and replaced it with an intense feeling of shame. I hated having the servants tiptoeing around me like one wrong move would be the end of them.

“Liu Yun, I…” I reached out to her but stopped when she flinched away from me. I sighed and waved a hand. “Go prepare a bath. I will be along in a little while.”

I turned back to the ruined table and tried to pretend her swift departure didn’t hurt my heart.

-o-

Lounging in the warm water, I idly played with a flower petal while I thought about the past few days.

Father had once again made sure I was unable to attend a scheduled war council. As the First Princess, there were several nobles I needed to appease by attending inane parties to ensure they felt important and continued to happily support the Royal Family. Especially when the Fire Lord had other things scheduled and was unable to attend himself.

Since there had been no major operations coming up, I was unable to justify not going as well, since it was supposed to be a minor meeting. So I was forced to attend the birthday party of some random official whose name I hadn’t bothered to remember in his place. It was just bad luck this was the one time Zuko managed to convince Uncle Iroh to let him sit in on a council.

Zuko managed to draw Father’s ire during the meeting, so when I returned to the Palace ready to give Father the well wishes that followed a member of the Royal Family attending an event in place of the Fire Lord, I was greeted with the sight of my half-brother being treated for severe burns while Uncle Iroh watched over him.

Then barely two days later, almost the instant Zuko was released from the medical center, Father banished Zuko and Uncle Iroh decided to go with him.

They had just barely left and already Uncle Iroh’s allies were cutting ties with me.

I closed my eyes and reclined against the side of the tub. Magistrate Zheng was one of the most influential officials that supported me and Uncle over the years. For him to suddenly distance himself from me when Father proposed taxing the colonies more just after Uncle leaves the country…

It seems he was no longer a supporter. Time would tell how many followed in his footsteps.

I realized my hands were clenched and I was shaking. Letting out a long breath, I allowed myself to slip under the water. For a few seconds I allowed myself to just… be. No worries about the future. No heartache about the present. I let the tension just bleed off into the water.

I only surfaced again once my lungs started to burn from lack of air and stepped out of the bath.

Two maids followed me to a lounge chair where they dried me off and began brushing my long midnight black hair. I idled about and played with a hand mirror admiring my reflection as the servants dealt with any knots or tangles. I especially liked how the light reflected in my bright golden eyes.

Fifteen years later, it was still almost unbelievable I had been reborn after all I suffered.

I had been the eldest daughter in my previous life as well, but rather than being the beautiful daughter of a high ranking family, the Royal Family even! I had been born to a mid-tier noble house. I would not say I had been ugly, but I certainly wasn’t much above average either. I was also not a firebender, so I was expected to marry well and secure an alliance between my first father’s house and my husband’s.

Unfortunately, my uncle at the time had been jealous of my first father’s position and had tried to steal it from him. In an attempt to assassinate my father and inherit his title, my uncle was discovered after successfully poisoning my father and killed in the resulting struggle.

Not that it mattered. Father never really recovered after the poison and spent the rest of his days bedridden and practically mad. My younger brother spent every hour at his side learning how to be a proper noble even as the rest of my family slowly bled us dry of money and property.

When father finally died, they stopped all pretense of caring for us and banished my brother from our estate at the young age of twelve before locking me in a small house to quietly rot away. I spent years growing weaker as food became worse, the house became more worn, and a sickness took root in my body.

The last thing I remember from that life was a pair of glowing white-blue eyes that entered my room as I finally succumbed to my illness after more than a decade of imprisonment. But rather than join the spirits of my ancestors like I expected, I found myself in the body of an infant in the same room as a man and woman.

At first I had assumed it was just another fevered dream that had plagued my weakened body, so I just watched in silence. The woman had collapsed on the ground in front of the crib I was in and was begging the man to know why he had killed her daughter.

The man took pity on her, and told her that the second prince had been ordered to marry the granddaughter of Avatar Roku by the Fire Lord. Since she was currently the second prince’s wife, Prince Ozai had ordered the two of us killed to make sure the union could proceed without issue.

At the time I had just figured it was my mind imagining a tragic story that mirrored my own circumstances somewhat and allowed myself to drift off to sleep. When the hysterical screaming of the maid sent to check on the room woke me up and I saw the butchered body of the woman in her bed, I realized I had somehow transmigrated into my current body after the assassin had killed the original inhabitant.

Remembering what the assassin said the previous night I realised, once again, my own family wished me dead for selfish reasons and broke out crying.

At the beginning, I decided that I would get revenge for my murdered mother and the original owner of this body, but after the birth of Zuko and later Azula that changed to just protecting them as best I could. I promised myself that our family would never be split up if I could help it, even if that meant abandoning revenge on the man who killed my mother.

To do so, I had strove to excel in every area and build a support base independent from my new Father. I was praised as a genius and for a while it was considered a huge tragedy I was removed from the line of succession since Father was not married to my mother when he took the throne. Thankfully those whispers died down once Azula began to display her own talents, even if it annoyed her to constantly have her progress compared to mine.

For fifteen years I tried to ignore my murderer of a father for the sake of a happy family.

Today, he managed to separate me from nearly all of them. And I am done trying to appease selfish people as they drag my home closer to ruin for their own ambition. Now I am going to fight back and reunite my family.

Even if it means tearing the throne from the hands of Fire Lord Ozai himself.