"Did you hear? Prince Zuko is meeting with his father!"

"It'll be the first time in years!"

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"The prince is probably boasting about killing the Avatar!"

"Do you think the Fire Lord will apologize for banishing him?"

Everyone laughed at the absurdity of the question, including myself. Nighttime was when the palace truly came to life. The staff would gather in the kitchen and gossip about the royal family. As I had expected, I was excluded from the conversation. I stood in the corner like the unwanted little Water Tribe girl that I was and merely listened to the festivities and laughter.

"You wanna hear the funniest part?" Someone said between gasps of laughter. "Prince Zuko brought that waterbender girl back with him— and now she's working with us!"

They clearly didn't know that I was there.

Someone said. "She was a brat, and ugly too! Thinking she could walk all over us just because Ursa and the prince had taken such a liking to her. She's getting what she deserved!"

"She deserves worse!" Someone shouted, "I always hated her!"

Everyone was howling with tearful laughing.

I let out an obnoxiously loud laugh and caught everyone's attention. "Do you all want to hear something that's absolutely hysterical?" I asked between fake laughs, wiping away tears that I pretended were from laughing so hard. "I was brought here against my will on both occasions, and I was able to make a life for myself before my seventeenth birthday! And here are all of you, grown adults holding a three-year grudge against an orphan! I mean, it's hilarious, right?" My laughing slowly morphed into sorrow. I kept the smile plastered on my face to pretend that I was still laughing, but my voice and tears suggested otherwise. "Here's the best part: I hate me too!"

I looked around and continued to sob with a quivering, forced smile and tears streaming down my cheeks. Almost everyone's face had transformed from joy to guilt, while other's were livid that I had interrupted their good time. I bolted out of the kitchen. I ran down a hallway and slumped against a pillar. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face into my arms. I felt a hand on my shoulder and refused to look up. Please, don't be Zuko, I begged. The last thing I needed was him at that moment.

"Saki," Bao said softly. "I'd ask if you were alright...but it's pretty clear that you aren't." He sat beside me and wrapped an arm around me. He didn't say anything or ask any questions. Bao simply held me and allowed me to cry until I'd nothing left. After I was silent for a while, he finally spoke. "You've changed a lot since we last spoke— but, I had a feeling that it was beginning to happen when you attacked me at the North Pole."

"You remember that..." I said sheepishly, curled into him.

He smiled softly. "I thought about it a lot. I knew you'd be strong—"

"I'm not strong," I mumbled. "You saw what just happened. I'm weak. I'm a coward."

"You were strong enough to finally say what's been on your mind all these years. That's real strength. True cowardice is bottling up your emotions and projecting false joy." He looked down at me and smirked, seeing my shocked expression. "You aren't the only one who's changed."

I sat up and hugged him tightly. "Thank you," I said quietly.

He hugged me back, squeezing me. "I've missed you," he whispered.

The next morning, the palace's staff was awkward around me, to say the least. Gossip had gotten around between the maids and the cooks and the guards and so on that the Water Tribe runt had snapped. That she was an emotional wreck. You know what? They couldn't have been more right— but, then again, they were simply pointing out the obvious. After watering every plant in the courtyard, I returned to the Staff's Quarters to find a bouquet of fire lilies resting on my bunk, and a scroll next to it. I sat down and unraveled the scroll.

Today is your special day. Don't let everyone get to you. You have more of a right to be here than any of them ever will.

~Bao

I smiled as I read the note. Just I was stood and began undressing so that I could bathe, someone let out a startled cry. I whirled around to see one of the guards from the day before standing in front of me. I yelped and snatched my blanket up from the bunk, covering my body. His face was absolutely engulfed in a fluorescent shade of red as he stuck out his arm, holding another scroll, and I'm sure mine was as well. "T-This is for you!" He stuttered, averting his eyes. "From Prince Zuko!" I snatched the scroll away from his hand and screeched for him to get out when he continued to stand there. He scurried away and I shut the door again, blocking it with one of the others' bed.

I set the blanket down and stepped into the room temperature water in the tub. Once I was submerged in water, I unrolled this second scroll and muttered the words to myself:

It saddens me that we're no longer speaking. I want to make things right between us. Meet me at the turtle-duck pond so that I can properly wish you a happy birthday.

I sighed and set the scroll on the floor as I washed away the dirt that had found its way onto my skin and into my hair. I quickly dried and dressed myself. I couldn't stop reciting the note to myself. This change seemed so sudden, but, against my better judgement, I headed to the garden.

I sat at the pond by myself for a long time, and I was growing impatient. What a waste of my time, I had thought. Of course he wasn't coming. I stood to leave, and found Mai and Azula approaching me. "Good morning, peasant," Azula smirked. Mai didn't say anything. She only glared at me.

"I have a name."

"Must not be that significant if I haven't bothered to learn it," Azula shot back.

"Where's Zuko?" I asked.

"Oh, ZuZu couldn't make it to our little affair," she shrugged. When I tried to pass, she grabbed my by the arm. "Not so fast. We seem to have a little problem. You see, you just won't seem to leave my poor brother alone. He has more important things to concern himself with. Isn't that right, Mai?"

Mai finally spoke. Her voice was as dull as her personality. "Stay away from Zuko," she warned me. "You may have had the Avatar's protection before, but there's nothing stopping me from shredding you into ribbons now."

"From now on," Azula continued, "you are to serve me, and only me. If you so much as speak to Zuko, you will regret it." Her lips curled into a sneer. "Do I make myself clear?"

In the distance, I saw Zuko entering the garden. His expression was unreadable. Sourly, I replied, "Crystal." She released my arm and I walked as quickly as possible into the palace, passing Zuko.

He raised his hand as if to wave. "Saki! Happy bir—" My shoulder bumped his as I sped into a run.

Yeah, I thought bitterly. Happy birthday to me.