Azula: Dragon Tales

Heir

Azula watched the large ship from the skies as it departed from Caldera's dock, her uncle and brother leaving their home for the foreseeable future.

She was too far away to see any individuals but could feel their unique signatures through her resonance. While they would normally be far out of her range, she found that was not the case if she and Sora used the ability together to extend their range.

It hadn't taken all that long for said dragon to learn the technique, especially with Azula being able to convey the information directly through their bond. If anything, Sora had taken to it with more proficiency than she had.

Still, the two could only follow the ship for so long before they had to return to the clearing. Before she knew it, her two family members were out of range of the shared sensing technique and soon would leave the nation altogether.

This would be the last time she would see them for... a while.

The princess felt an ache in her chest at the thought but did not let a tear shed. She had done enough of that earlier and knew she would see them again. Crying would not do her any good now.

Before long the two touched down in the clearing and Azula got off, quickly undoing the saddle. Sora let out a groan as the last of the straps came off, causing Azula to chuckle slightly. "I know girl. We'll have to get a new one made soon. Maybe I'll even make additions to it."

There were several ideas for improvement circulating through her mind, but she would consider it more once she actually started...

Which she was not looking forward to. Sora had grown considerably since she and Huang had created the first saddle, which had already been awkward enough to begin with. Her excuse had been faulty enough the first time, and any she gave now would be laughably terrible with Sora's current size. Still, it was a necessary burden.

Sora's comfort was of the utmost importance if they were to fly, which the princess had no plans of stopping. The joy and tranquility the activity offered was a balm to the newly found sorrow she was feeling.

The girl looked up as she was nudged gently, easily reading the concern present in her dragon's eyes even without the bond. At times, it felt like she knew Sora better than she did herself. "I'm..." Azula trailed off slightly as she patted her dragon's mane, adjusting her answer to be more truthful, "I will be fine Sora. I'll miss them, but I still have you."

The words would have been embarrassing had she said them to anyone else, but that was not the case with her dragon. She was essentially her other half, her 'sister' as she had declared during their first singing lesson. There was no one else, dragon or otherwise, to whom she would entrust her vulnerabilities as she did Sora.

However, that thought did give her an idea that would bring her mind to less dreary places. She glanced up at the sky, smiling slightly when she realized that they still had a bit of time left.

"Hey, it's been a while since we had a singing lesson hasn't it?" Sora perked up excitedly at her words, literally bouncing around her in joy. Azula laughed as she casually dodged a swipe from Sora's tail as the dragon did a spin. Learning to react quickly was a necessity when around such a clumsy giant. "How about we pick up where we did last time?"

It took a few minutes for the hyperactive dragon to settle down (she rivaled Ty Lee in her excitement), and Azula started singing various pitches for the dragon to imitate as much as their differing biology would allow.

The princess found herself, for not the first time, amazed at Sora's ability to improve at this art. When she had first started teaching the dragon, it had been to appease her companion and to amuse herself.