Azula: Dragon Tales

The Law

Huang smiled as he watched the small princess work with pride. She had come far since she first started coming here, and he was pleased with his part in her progress.

But he would be lying if he said he understood what her current project was.

"...What are you doing, princess?" He asked hesitantly, wincing as he looked at the stockpiled material next to her station. While the palace artisans had no shortage of resources provided to them, his heart was silently grieving the waste of such fine leather.

"I am working on another saddle," Azula said casually, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Huang almost believed he was making a mistake in the face of her self-assurance, but one look at the pile, which was taller than the girl, set his mind at ease. It was just the princess that was going crazy, not him.

What a relief.

Shaking his head, he prepared himself to question her further, though he knew that there was no hope of convincing her to stop now. Once the girl had an idea in her head, he found it was damn near impossible to stop her.

"And what is this saddle for? Another ostrich horse?" He did not attempt to hide his sarcasm, despite how improper it was in the face of royalty. Thoughts of impropriety had left him in the early stages of this strange arrangement, and this... project did not inspire him to fix that.

Plus it was fun to tease the princess.

Hiding his smile, he watched as her eyebrow twitched, the only indication she gave to her annoyance. She was good at remaining composed, but she had too much passion and pride to completely ignore a slight.

She turned and gave him a sweet smile, though coming from her it looked more like she was contemplating ways to... get rid of him. What an ominous eleven-year-old. "No, this one is for me. It is meant to be for decoration."

That made sense, Huang supposed. The only animal the saddle would fit that he could think of off the top of his head was a dragon, which was impossible since they were extinct. Still, a saddle for decoration? "I worry for the man who has to deal with your decoration skills."

Huang laughed at his joke, oblivious to the distant look that briefly crossed the princess's face before it passed. She scoffed at her older friend. "You are just an overgrown manchild aren't you?" She said in a snappish tone as she focused on her project once more.

The craftsman merely tussled her hair in response to her words, ignoring the resentful glare he received for the action. As much as she expressed her dislike towards such actions, she never actually told him to stop.

"I'm just saying, this saddle is a bit..." He took a quick glance at the sketch the girl had drawn up, the measurements almost comically large. "...Big for furniture." Huang finished lamely.

Apparently, that had been the last straw for the girl who set down her tools, turning towards him to no doubt (dramatically) tell him off. Fortunately for the man, he was saved before the princess could go off on him.

"Oi, lay off Huang. If the kid wants to make a saddle then let her." A raspy, laidback voice spoke from beside the two. Turning his head, Huang spotted his fellow artisan and irksome friend, Jun making his way towards them, one scarred hand holding his smoking pipe with the other behind his back.

Azula huffed imperiously, eyeing the new addition with a look that was simultaneously thankful and irritated. "I am not a kid." She said testily, though this only caused Jun to chuckle, unbothered by the smoke he was releasing as he did so. The man had something of an addiction to the substance.

"Sure you're not, little lady, just like I'm not an overworked middle-aged man," Jun said sarcastically, smirking as he pointed toward his rather deep eye bags. Haung sighed in response to the other man's words as he watched him take a drag from his pipe. As much as he respected his fellow artisan, he had a habit of complaining far too much about actually doing his work.