Zuko's Betrothed

Nerves and Burns

I wake up and am shocked at what I see, Zuko. Memories of last night flood my brain and I immediately feel disappointed in myself, how could I be so stupid as to come into his room, let alone sleep in here? If we were caught... I think and I feel my thoughts falling down a rabbit hole of fear. I think back to when I was a princess in training and my instructor Osara, she use to smack me with a ruler whenever I didn't act according to what was deemed appropriate. If she knew I had done this I'm sure she'd beat me to death with that stupid ruler.

I quickly pull myself out of bed and then pull my robe back over me. I make my way across the room to the door, yet I look back at Zuko before touching the handle. He's still sound asleep I smile and then go back to the mission at hand, I crack the door open and peer out slightly assuring no one is patrolling the hall. When I'm sure the coast is clear I bolt out of Zuko's room and down to my room. I let my back hit the door and I can still feel my heart racing at the thought of getting caught. 

I shake the feelings and go into the bathroom, I stare at myself intensely. What am I doing? I think and I feel shame course through me. I begin getting ready for the day and I begin to attempt to put myself back together. "You are the princess. Next Fire Queen," I tell myself reminding myself why I can't do something like that again. I pull my hair up into the high ponytail I usually wear and then secure my crown in place. I close my eyes and exhale the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

I leave my room for breakfast and I don't see Zuko the whole time and mentally thank the spirits. I wasn't sure if I'd know what to say to him, or if I was ready to face him. He probably felt as foolish as I do this morning for letting ourselves slip. When it was time to train I felt nervous to see him, but I pushed my fears out of my head. I wrap my hands carefully to protect them since I was working on defense today. I didn't wait around for Zuko or Iroh, "Arlo! Would you spare with me this morning until Prince Zuko show up?" I ask seeing him close by. 

"Of course Princess," Arlo replied coming over to me. We circled each other for a while until Arlo fired towards my legs trying to catch me off guard. I responded quickly by jumping in the air propelling myself towards Arlo. I flip in the air using Arlo's head as a touchdown spot my hand grabbing on as I flip over him. When I land behind him I turn quickly taking in a deep breath before letting out an attack. Arlo flies forward from the force of the attack to his back, and when he hits the ground I hear applause. I turn to see Iroh and Zuko side by side, a blush rises to my cheeks and I bow to Iroh. 

"Excellent technique Honna, avoid, deceive, and attack!" Iroh explained and let a smile tug at the corner of my mouth "I've learned from the best," I tell Iroh as he and Zuko come closer. I feel myself avoiding Zuko's gaze, but he seems to be doing the opposite. He stares at me intently trying to capture my gaze. "Are you ready to begin today's lesson then?" Iroh asks and I nod, but Zuko has little to no trouble getting the jump on me all during training. 

I couldn't look him in the eye, how was I supposed to predict his moves? "Honna! Focus!" Iroh called out to me ask Zuko nearly hit me with a flaming fist. I finally make eye contact with Zuko and find myself overwhelmed with nerves. What was wrong with me? That's when I felt overwhelming pain hit me. I was hit... "Ahh!" I shout as I clutch my arm noticing my shoulder with a red burn covering it. It wasn't bad but not great, "Honna!" Zuko shouted as he and Iroh ran to my side.

"Are you okay?" Zuko asks I meet his gaze and nod "I'm fine... I just need to patch this up. Isn't the first training accident, right?" I say standing trying to not let on how badly the burn hurts, but with every movement, I feel pain surge through me. Tears begin to sting the corners of my eyes. Don't cry, I repeat to myself as Zuko continues to escort me in silence. "Honna... I'm really sorry," he said noticing the tears threatening to spill. 

I let out a strangled laugh "Zuko, it's okay... I'll be fine," I try to convince him. Once in the infirmary he sits me on a chair and begins digging through cabinets. He comes back over with burn cream and bandages. As a firebender I am no stranger to burns, especially since Zuko's first Agni Kai, but that didn't make them hurt any less. As he rubs the cream over the burn I try not to wince "There's no careful way to do this I'm afraid," he tells me and I nod. "I was disappointed when you weren't there this morning," he tells me

All of a sudden I'm distracted from the pain. "We can't do that again Zuko," I tell him "I should have never shown up there in the first place," I continue "Then why did you?" Zuko asked and I stared at him. "I-I needed you, I needed you to know I didn't hate you," I told him