#seetang

Although you couldn't see her, as you were bowing when talking to her, you could feel her gaze rest upon you, when she began to talk again: "That 'discovery' I was sent to investigate better be worth my precious time." She sat down in the chair that was delivered from the palace solely so that she could sit comfortably on this ship.

While inspecting her nails she began talking again: "What was it again, that they have found?" You had also read the letter, so you knew what was waiting for you at the southern air temple: "They call it a balloon - a ship that can drive through the sky, my princess."

"Well, hopefully that balloon is faster than this slug.", she said, pointing approximately in the direction of the engines of the ship. "I am terribly sorry that you are dissatisfied with the speed of our ship, but I assure you that the crew is doing the best they can. Is there any way in which I could calm your indignation, my princess?" You at least wanted to try to calm her, as you didn't want her to get angry at the crew.

You had expected her to command you to threaten the workers responsible for the engines or to simply dismiss you, but she really seemed to consider your offer, as it took a while until she answered.

"You may stand now.", she said. You stood straight again. She looked at you for an unusual amount of time, making you nervous. You watched her eyes roaming all around your body until hers finally met yours, making you blush and look at the floor, hoping she hadn't noticed.

Finally, she answered, a smug smile creeping on her face: "Give me a massage."

You said nothing, as you weren't sure if you had understood her right. "Won't you come and massage the shoulders of your princess, y/n?" You had, in fact, understood her correctly, she had even said your name, so it was clear that she wanted you to give her a massage, but still you needed a moment to mentally process that request.

You had to answer quickly to not let Azula wait, so you answered with a simple "Of course, my princess." and walked behind her chair. Now the difficult part began, as you were not very experienced with giving massages. You hoped your modest skill was enough to satisfy her.

But before you could start, a small chuckle escaped her throat: "You may want to remove my armour before beginning, y/n."

Only now did you realise that giving her shoulders a massage while she still wore her shoulder plates would have been a difficult task, to say the least. You were embarrassed you hadn't noticed earlier. Taking her shoulder plates off was quite easy, as you knew how to handle armor, wearing some yourself.

After you had laid them down, you finally started massaging her shoulders. At the start you were rather careful, because you did not under any circumstance want to hurt those precious, royal shoulders of hers. But over time you got used to the shape of them, you almost didn't feel the fabric of her uniform that was dividing your hands from her skin anymore. Although it was exhausting, massaging her actually felt quite nice.

Also, you finally got to think for a bit, as there were a few things needing to be sorted in your mind. For example, why did she know your name? She was Azula, princess of the fire nation; remembering the names of her subjects was not worth her time or effort. Also, you hadn't even been introduced in the first place; to her you were simply an officer in her escort. But you were happy she knew your name; it felt special to hear it from her sublime lips.

"That will be enough for now.", she said, making you immediately remove your hands from her shoulders, "You will be free to go after you put my armour back on."

You attached her shoulder plates to her armour again, bowed, and were about to go away when she stopped you to ask you something: "Also, y/n, why do you call me 'my princess'?" You didn't know what to say. You had assumed that calling her by her title was the correct thing to do; you hadn't expected to break some formal code. She grinned at your sudden consternation.

Altough you had only started writing a few years ago you had made yourself a name amongst the calligraphers of the fire nation, and it would be a shame to let your reputation be tainted by an order not delivered on time, wouldn't it? You could enjoy the festival later anyways, there was no rush.

But suddenly there was another sound. It didn't come from outside but from within your walls, no doubt. You put your writing tool back into the ink pot and headed to the main room of your workplace. Could it be that you had forgotten to close the library before you had started writing? No, the door was locked, so no one was inside. But what could have made such a sound? It almost sounded like footsteps. You decided to check the shelves, maybe a parchment roll had fallen out, although you would be greatly surprised if it was the case, as it had never happened before.

Before you were able to check anything, you saw an animal appearing behind a shelf. It was a lemur-like creature, you had seen it before in one of the books about animal life in the air temples… wait - the air temples? What did such a creature do here in the fire nation and how did it even get inside your library? You tried getting closer to the animal, in hopes of being able to catch it before it could cause any harm to the old parchments that were stored here. But just as you were about to reach the surprisingly calm creature you were greeted by a boy with arrow-like tattoos on his body, holding two of your most important scrolls on bending, awkwardly smiling and obviously trying to make up an excuse for his presence. You had not even started to think about how he had gotten inside when you saw the window behind him being wide open. You were sure it had been closed when you had last left this room, so he was a proper housebreaker, although he didn't seem too dangerous. As there had never been any burglaries in your house before you were unsure of how to act, but one thing was for sure, you were getting those scrolls back. You decided to give him a chance before calling the guards: "Put those back.". You were impressed at how sharp your voice sounded after hours of silence.

The boy grabbed a long stick as if to defend himself with it, and that was the moment when it hit you. He was the one you had seen on the posters from the government, he was the avatar. Suddenly you were overwhelmed by fear, not for your life, but for your library; one could not know how much damage he was able to cause, how many books could be lost. That did not change your way of handling the situation, though. You were not about to let an enemy of the fire nation steal from your possessions, not without trying to stop him, no matter how powerful.

You stretched out your hand, obviously waiting for him to hand you the scrolls. For a few seconds you waited, but just as you were about to say something again you noticed the avatar grinning at something behind you, accompanied by the sound of footsteps from where he was looking. You turned around only for your face to be met by the fist of another, slightly older boy.

The power of the blow was enough to let you sink to the ground immediately. You needed a few moments to recover; enough time for both boys and a girl that had just now appeared behind another shelf to run towards the window and begin crawling out of it. When you stood up again you didn't even bother chasing them and ran to the door instead, ignoring your bleeding nose. You opened it and screamed for the guards, telling everyone that could hear you that the avatar was here. You saw the guards at the end of the street running in your direction before you could even get started to scream about the theft.

There was someone who looked familiar leading the guards, but before you could make out who it was, you realised something. Since the window the three kids escaped through was leading to your backyard, the street you stood on was their only escape route, and if they reached the next crossing before the guards arrived, they might get away. The only thing standing between them and their escape was you.

For a moment you froze, not daring to imagine what they would do to you if you tried fighting against them, but on the other hand you couldn't simply let them pass you, not with the guards watching you. Your honor was at stake!

So you turned to face the three kids, swallowing thickly. The only hope you had was the sound of the arriving guards from behind you.

The avatar boy noticed your intention and didn't waste any time directing a massive blow of wind in your direction. You gripped onto the door handle to not be blown away entirely, your hand hurting from how tight you clenched the metal. To your surprise you were still standing, but that would not be enough to hold off the avatar, so you focused on anything that could motivate you.

You thought of the fights you had been observing and writing about; there were always soldiers, simple humans facing off against benders, a single one of them strong enough to take on a whole army, but yet the soldiers did not falter and stood against them with nothing but their will to fight for the greater good!

It was a pathetic thought you could achieve anything by doing the same, really, but what choice did you have?

When they finally reached you, you threw your body against the boy that had hit you, because he was carrying the scrolls you needed to protect. He dodged you with ease, letting you run into the air behind him. That was enough. You were not going to let him embarrass you like that with the guards watching. With a terrifying scream that probably scared you as much as the boy, you turned around, grabbing him by the sleeve and pulling as hard as you could to make him fall. It didn't quite work because he hit you again, resulting in you letting him go, but he dropped the scrolls, so it was worth it.

With the scrolls now returned and the kids having taken the next turn, the guards close behind, you finally were able to relax. You hadn't even realised how exhausted you were.

You picked the scrolls up and leaned against the nearest wall, holding your nose to stop the bleeding. You closed your eyes and tried to think about everything that had happened. A task that proved to be very difficult, especially with the noise of the festivities everywhere.

After what felt like a few minutes, you heard a voice again, speaking directly to you: "Let's have a look at what the ever so great Avatar was so interested in, shall we." Curious to whom that beautiful voice belonged to you opened your eyes, and they soon grew wide in shock. Before you stood the person that had led the guards, the person that looked familiar because you had seen her in various pictures before. Princess Azula. You bowed as deep as your hurting body allowed and extended your arms to hand her the scrolls the thieves wanted to steal. "It is an honor, my princess." You didn't know what else to say. You could hear a smile in her voice when she spoke to you again: "You may rise now, and show your princess the contents of those parchments."

Embarrassed that you had held the scrolls in a way as if she was to take them in her royal hands you didn't dare wasting any time and opened the first scroll, nervously avoiding her gaze.

When she lowered her eyes to study the scroll, you dared looking at her. you almost fainted at her looks; she was far more beautiful in person than in any depiction you had seen.

"Bending scrolls," Azula noticed, "pathetic. The Avatar can't even handle the basics of bending without having to steal instructions." To you it seemed a bit weird that it was pathetic; you had never seen a bender master his element without some kind of instruction, but at the moment you were simply grateful to hear Azula's voice.

She looked straight at your face before you could move your eyes away, spreading a slight blush on your face. Your heart thumbed heavily; what was going on? You had met many persons of high rank before, even the brother of the firelord, General Iroh himself had honored you with his presence once, but you had never felt as nervous as now. For that short moment you had looked in her eyes it almost felt like butterflies in your stomach… but it was not the time to think about this, as Azula once again granted you the pleasure of talking to you, a curious look adorning her face: "Have we met before?"

You swallowed before answering: "I have been to the royal palace one time, to deliver the finished report of the siege of Ba-Sing-Se to the royal library. Maybe your highness was also present." You cursed yourself for being so overly specific on why you had been there and for not knowing if she had been there too. Surprisingly she answered without hesitation: "Then you must be y/n, the one who makes sure that 'the victories and history of the fire nation may never be forgotten'." Although she made you embarrassed of your dramatic marketing, your heart almost skipped a beat when she said your name. "I am deeply honored that your highness has remembered my name.", you answered truthfully.

"Well, y/n," she continued, "I must leave now, but be assured that your devotion to the fire nation and your selfless fight will not be forgotten."

You were not quite sure to what degree this was sarcasm, but you appreciated the compliment nonetheless. You bowed lower than ever before and only began to rise when you heard her turning away. You looked after her for as long as she was visible. Finally, after the last of the city guards escorting her had gone out of sight, you turned away and went inside to finish the text for Admiral Zhao. And to close the window. When you had finished that, you would take the rest of the day off. You had already done more than enough today.

< • ◇ • >

You enjoyed the silence on your way to the library. After all the action that had taken place yesterday you didn't mind the festival being over at all. Well actually, you did. Maybe it had been noisy, but at least you could keep the library closed. Normally you were happy to welcome people who wanted to read, but today you just needed some rest. Sadly, that was not a valid reason to close the library, as you did not suffer from any serious injury or disease.

You sighed, arriving at your workplace. Although you could not deny being proud of yourself for your short intervention yesterday, that little bit of pride was not enough to give you the motivation to work today. Maybe no one wanted to read in this town today? With little to no hope of that happening you opened the front door, only to be welcomed by emptiness. The whole building was completely empty, not even the furniture was there anymore. For a moment you thought that you might have entered the wrong house, but then your keys wouldn't have worked. You decided to go inside to search for any possible clue on what had happened. This Avatar boy couldn't have stolen literally everything from this house, could he? Unfortunately, searching for anything would be harder than you thought, as the light sources were also absent, so you needed to open the windows - something you had planned to avoid doing since the incident from yesterday.

To your surprise another kind of brightness filled the room before you could flood it with daylight. It was the flickering of blue flames. Clueless about what might be the source of that unusual light you turned to the direction from where it seemed to come, immediately bowing deeply when you realized that it was no other than Princess Azula herself, casting blue flames from her fingertips. Even though you had bowed as fast as you could, you had managed to get one quick look at her smiling face. If she was smiling, it couldn't be too bad, could it? Her smile truly was beautiful. Wait, what were you thinking? She was your princess, after all. Of course you had to find her beautiful, but not in t h a t way, right?

Once again you were interrupted by the soothing voice of hers: "You may stand now." You stood straight. You almost felt happy to do as Azula instructed, suddenly feeling the urge to always be with her to have her will fulfilled. Just now the thought crossed your mind that you might need some fresh air. "Do not fear for your belongings, y/n." You felt your heart beat faster when she said your name. "They have not been stolen, they have merely been moved to a place that is worthy of their presence… a place that would be a more appropriate environment for you too." You swallowed, excitement and hope suddenly filling your thoughts. "Like I said, your devotion to the course of the fire nation and your courage have not been forgotten, and we have come to make the decision that the royal palace will fit your noble nature better than this provincial town." Her smug smile almost turned to a grin while she watched you struggle for words, looking at her in disbelief and trying to comprehend what she just said. What could you possibly do to repay her for this? You roughly knew what the royal librarians got paid, and everyone else who knew would have reacted just like you. But for you the most important part was how she spoke of you. Surely much of it was courtesy and even to you some parts sounded a bit silly, but still you would never have imagined to receive such compliments from the Princess, especially after you had seen how perfect she was herself. If you wouldn't have k n o w n the only reason for your nervousness was her high status, you would have thought she flustered you simply by speaking to you.

Since you couldn't think of anything elegant to answer and you did not dare being silent for too long you got straight to the point, your voice almost trembling from excitement: "My gratitude cannot be put into words. How am I to ever repay your highness for this act of kindness?"

She clearly liked how submissive you acted around her as much as she enjoyed you being obviously flustered from the way she treated you.

"Oh, your loyalty is all I could ask for as a compensation for that little favour, y/n. You will fulfill that wish of mine, won't you?" She said your name again. And why did she formulate it this way? She had to be doing this on purpose!

At least it was easier to find an answer to this than before. "My loyalty will be yours forever." It felt unfitting to say it like this. It almost sounded like something you'd say in a marriage. Actually, it didn't - but to you it felt like it.

To your relief Azula seemed to be more than happy with your answer, telling you to follow her outside, not missing the opportunity to call you by your name.

You would have liked to open the door for her, but as you watched how confidently she marched ahead, you quietly decided it would be best not to interfere with her path. You felt a bit relieved when she looked away from you. This much eye contact had made your knees go a bit weak. The last time you had felt like this had been when you had been crushing on a young saleswoman from the market, and feeling the same way for someone like Azula was usually not good. Surely you were just overwhelmed - those feelings, if they even were any, would pass soon. To your surprise she was the one now holding the door opened for you to walk through. Having the door held open by the princess of the fire nation truly was not something everyone could claim of themselves. You slipped by as fast as you could and attempted a small bow on the way to express your gratitude, but it turned out more like a nod. Good enough, she would probably get the message. Outside there was a luxurious carriage waiting for you. "We are leaving now, y/n.", Azula explained. "Since I don't expect you to be able to ride Komodo Rhinos I thought you would appreciate taking the more comfortable way to the capital - this coach will transport us to an airship just outside the town." You liked the 'us'-part. Before you could even open your mouth to answer, Azula already continued talking: "The private belongings from your house are being packed as we speak." You said something to signalise that you understood. Right when she began walking to the carriage you sprinted past her, opening the door and bowing like any good servant would. You were no servant, though, so your small but eager attempt at pleasing her made her grin. "It is nice to have finally found someone who knows how to treat their princess, unlike the others." At this point you truly did not know what you had accomplished to receive this amount of compliments from Azula. "I am looking forward to having you around mineself often in the future." If you hadn't bowed down she would have seen your face turning bright red. A few moments later, when you assumed your face to have a more normal colour again, you entered the carriage too.

Inside you were met with a precarious situation; only now did you realise that you would have to sit face to face with Azula for the entire ride. You sat down opposite to her with an awkward smile, trying not to touch the decorated walls of the cart. You felt a slight shake when the carriage began driving, but the road was very even, it almost felt comfortable. You desperately tried to think of something to talk about, although you knew pretty well that you wouldn't dare being the one to speak first in her presence. Her eyes permanently lingering on you did not make the situation more pleasant either, even if you couldn't deny liking the feeling of her giving you attention. Slowly a blush creeped up your face. Finally, she began talking, but not in a way that would calm you down: "I think I don't want to sit with my back facing the front anymore, y/n." With that she stood up, walking over to your bench. At this point you couldn't imagine her not hearing your heart beat like crazy. "Give your princess some space.", she said, sitting down beside you. Even though you were pretty sure giving someone space meant something different, you happily let her take a seat next to you. You were not sure if you were going to survive the trip to the airship, or if you were going to die of a heart attack before you arrived.