Honor is a flower

II

When the sun peaked over the skyline and showed through the curtains, Anju was already awake. She had laid wide awake the entire night, petrified of the conversation she had overheard the previous day. The little girl had toyed with the idea of trying to visit Ursa. However, it was hard enough to get into the common areas without Azula, which meant that any words she shared with Zuko's mother would be in her company.

"Anju," she could hear her Uncle's voice call out from behind her bedroom door.

When the girl didn't utter a response her uncle swung the door open. There was a look of melancholy over his face, his pupils holding the sunlight captive. "Anju," he repeated.

"What?" She asked, her voice muffled as she burried herself under her bedsheets.

"Azulon is dead," he remarked.

Anju raises her head slightly to look up at her uncle. He stands there stoic, unmoving. "Who is going to become Fire Lord?" Anju asked. Although deep down she knew the answer already.

"Ozai," her uncle answered with a slight smile.

When Anju didn't share his excitement her uncle became angry. He walked toward her and pulled the sheets off from her bed. "This is great news, don't you get it?" He questioned with a scowl.

"Azulon seemed healthy," Anju shook her head in disbelief.

"You're best friend is going to become a princess," her uncle stated, disregarding her comment.

Anju rolled her eyes and sat up in her bed. "She was already a princess," Anju added.

"Yes, but her title means far more now," her uncle remarked proudly. He talked about Azula often. Boasting to others about what good friends Anju and Azula were. He never did that with Zuko. The first born sons name was rarely in his mouth, passing through his lips only on occasion.

"You must get dressed. You're parents will be arriving soon," her uncle expresses and waved in a few maids holding a various array of clothing.

"Parents?" Anju questioned fearfully.

Her uncle chuckled and waltzed back toward her bedroom door. "Ozai will be crowned Fire Lord tonight. That's not something for them to miss, given our families position," he explained. "I must be going now. Ozai requested special security outside the palace," her uncle added before closing the door behind him.

Anju felt disasocciated as the estate staff clothed her. The attire was a bit more formal, and stiff than what they normally dressed her in. Meaning that there would be no training today, giving her the hours of early morning to stop by the palace. Given her young age and status not very many passerby's ever questioned where she was off to. They did not fear the little girl, but they feared her family. That's why not a single merchant or worked stopped her as she ran back along the street and down toward the palace.

Nearing the front gates Anju noticed the heavy amount of guards protecting the entrance to the palace. She had thought her Uncle was exaggerating such matters at first, but his word was proven true right before her eyes.

Halting her steps Anju took a minute of rest by the fence enclosing the edge court yard. In the distance she could see Ozai's figure looming over the pond, his son laying on his knees behind him. A sigh of relief exited Anju's diaphragm as she saw Zuko alive kneeling next to his father. From her position she could not see how distraught Zuko was, or the stoic expression on his fathers face. All that mattered was that Zuko was still alive.

"Anju?" Azula's voice rang out.

Swiveling her head Anju came face to face with Azula, who was accompanied by a series of guards—One of which a relative of Anju's. In one of the guards hands held a stream lined white outfit, something usually worn on important occasions in the Fire Nation.