Azula: Dragon Tales

Of Lightning and Uncle's

"Well done! It came out well princess," Huang said, smiling proudly down at his unofficial apprentice.

Azula mirrored the smile as she gazed at her first solo creation. In her hands was a simple pot, made of clay with a simple swirl design etched around the outside. It was perfectly round, something which had taken her many attempts, with a narrow bottleneck top. It was quite basic and ordinary, but her chest swelled at the feeling of accomplishment it felt.

"I'm glad I managed to make it even," She said while spinning the pot around to look for imperfections, "it's better than I expected."

Huang let out a laugh and clapped her on the shoulder, causing her to clutch at the pot tighter so as not to drop it. She tried to send the man a glare, but she couldn't find it in her to do so. Her mentor seemed very happy.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," He removed his hand, bending slightly to get a better look, "it was much better than my first attempt at pottery." His face turned slightly sheepish, causing the princess to smirk.

"Oh? Please tell me more about this first attempt." her smirk widened slightly as she spotted a slight dusting of red on his cheeks, indicating that the story was quite embarrassing.

"Who am I to ignore an order from my princess?" Huang took a seat, his gaze reminiscent. "It started when..."

Azula found herself listening intently to the story of the man's disastrous attempt at bisque pottery, or firing pottery. He had been an artisan for several years when he decided to try his hand at it, in an attempt to make a gift for his wife.

"...When I took it out I had a nice enough looking dragon, not including the occasional fault. I had been so excited that I brought her into my workshop to see for herself." Huang grimaced slightly as he took a second to think about the next part of the story. "What she saw was the fragments that remained after it collapsed. Turns out moisture and clay don't mix..."

Azula laughed as he finished, savoring the flush that colored his cheeks. She could imagine his wife had reacted similarly to her. She calmed slightly as she regained control of herself, taking the time to look Huang over. She paused at his face which, while still red, sported a content smile.

Azula had seen the expression on her mentor(?) before. It was always present when he talked about his wife or young children. At first, she had been slightly envious, severely doubting her parents had felt the same about her, but now she just felt curious.

She had spent quite a lot of time in Huang's company, but she didn't know much about the man outside of the odd story he would tell her. Much of their time together had been professional and focused, but maybe it was time to change that. They had finished earlier than usual after all.

"You said you were making a dragon right? Is your wife interested in them or...?" She trailed off as Huang started talking enthusiastically. She sat down on the small chair near his station with her pot in her lap, listening to the man with a pleased smile.

Line Break

Azula sighed as she finished her firebending set, practicing on her own in the outside bending area. She was on her own today, something that had been becoming more frequent in her training. While she still had much to learn, she was well on her way to gaining mastery, which included developing independence from another teacher.

It had been a couple of weeks since her sickness had passed, and she had quickly resumed her studies and training as expected of her. Her father had not been happy to learn of her 'resting', especially with her continued struggles with lightning bending.

He had been angered at her lack of progress almost a month after her first lesson but had thankfully stalked off to handle something. She had felt immense relief that he had, the poor shape she had been in after the last lesson with him still stuck in her head. Azula wasn't very eager for a repeat experience.