Chapter 1

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It was a warm day, with the sun shining in the clear blue skies over the small garden of the Fire Nation's grand palace. The Fire Nation, the most powerful nation in the world, and has been for nearly a hundred years. Though once a proud nation filled with beauty and strength, was now a source of terror for all the other nations of the world.

It was even bathed in the blood of hundreds of air nomads, because of a fear the Fire Lord, Sozin, had at the time. That the Avatar would keep him from starting the war just as the previous Avatar did so many years ago before he was killed. 

So, to begin the war and to show a sign of strength, Fire Lord Sozin issued an order to wipe out ever single air nomad in the world, so that the Avatar would not be reborn to face his nation, such as the previous Avatar did before. Little did he know that the avatar was still alive, hidden away until the day came for him to awaken to save the world from the Fire Nation.

However, that is not where our story begins. No, our story begins with a sunny day accompanied with the laughter of children running around in the gardens near the beloved turtle duck pond. In the back gardens of the Fire Nation palace, were the two young heirs to the throne.

Prince Zuko, a young boy of age six with a bright smile and an even brighter future ahead of him, as he was the only son to the second born of the Fire Lord Azulon, Prince Ozai. The young prince smiled, as his younger sister, Azula, chased after him laughing at the fun they were having. It was one of the few times the children ever had fun. Between their firebending training, their studies on ruling the nation, and their meetings with their Grandfather once in a while, they hardly had time to be normal children.

However, today would be the day that everything would change. Zuko was tackled by Azula, forcing him to the grass.

"Got you again, Zuzu!" Azula teased.

"Don't call me that, Azula!" Zuko said back, but smiling thinking that the nickname wouldn't catch on. 

The two sat up in the grass, only to hear someone talking on the other side of the turtleduck pond. They looked up and saw two of the fire sages walking with someone in between them. They walked towards doors leading inside, when the stranger they were escorting stopped.

The sages looked down at the stranger concerned, "Is something the matter, milady?" One of them asked.

The stranger walked away from the sages and turned towards the young prince and princess. The two were finally able to get a decent look at the stranger. They were wearing a black cloak with a hood covering their hair and face, so the prince and princess couldn't see who it was. They were small, seeming to be about their age or so, and from what the sage had called them, the two knew the stranger was a girl.

Slowly, the stranger walked over to them.

"Milady, please, we must be going." The other sage said. The stranger shook her head.

She walked up to Prince Zuko and raised their tanned hand up to his head. Zuko backed away a little, but the girl stepped forward to get a little bit closer. She raised her hand and brushed out some grass that had gotten stuck in his hair from playing with his sister a moment ago. 

"A prince of the Fire Nation, should not waver in his strength, nor his appearance" she said, her voice soft and delicate. Zuko could feel his heart thumping in his chest. He had never heard such a soft and delicate voice before. Everyone in the Fire Nation had loud and commanding voices, hardly ever holding a sense of delicacy or kindness, so hearing a voice such as hers was something that neither the prince nor the princess had expected.

The girl then turned towards Azula, brushing off a bit of dirt from her cheek and clearing the grass from her dress.

"Neither should a beautiful princess like you be so covered in dirt. A beautiful girl like yourself is something precious to her people." She said, and then walked back over to the Fire Sages, "Shall we get going now?"

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