She woke with the rising sun. Azula turned on her side and saw the changing colours of the sky, indicating it was almost morning. Without making a single sound, she slipped out off her bed, tiptoeing through her room. She had picked her armour the night before. She lit two candles, so she was able to see her own, determined face. With even more eye for detail than usual, she put on her clothes and tied her hair securely in a top knot. She even put on her trademark red lipstick and dark eyeliner. She looked fierce.

She grabbed the bag she had filled the day before. Food, water, a sleeping bag, bandages and a dark brown cloak. She had found it in the laundry room, a few days ago, when nobody was looking. It wasn't hers, of course - she'd never wear brown - but it would make for a nice camouflage. Silently, she left her room, taking long passes. She wasn't the first one out yet. Some guards walked around, having been on duty the previous night. She knew that in the city, some firebenders would be up as well.

But they wouldn't question her, the princess.

The guards bowed before her and she nodded curtly, walking with all the confidence she could muster. Nobody payed to much attention to her, they all assumed she had a good reason to be up. Sometimes, she trained in the early morning, so they probably expected her to go to the training grounds.

She wasn't.

Azula left the palace and walked through the gardens. On her left, the training grounds. On her right, the large and beautiful gardens looked peaceful and asleep as the sky had a beautiful, deep blue colour.

In the city there were few people, as she had expected. They bowed deeply before her, but nobody dared to talk to her. Soon, she had left the volcano the city was built on top of behind her and she walked towards the forest. She could see the peaks of the mountain. It was too far away for her to see the dragons, but she imagined she could. One of them would be hers within a few days.

It would take her at least a day to get to the mountain – but it was part of the test. Showing you could handle yourself in the damp, life-filled forests before you reached the mountain. She had brought food and a sleeping back, so she could rest before she'd face the dragons.

No, the only thing that could stop her now, was her father – or the soldiers he could sent behind her. She wasn't sure if he would, though. She was sure he would want to keep her safe, but she had defied his wishes. He wouldn't take that lightly – but if she came back with a dragon, he would have no choice but to accept it.

She couldn't sit back and do nothing. She just couldn't – not when her countrymen were being killed by the Waterbenders. The enemy.

He couldn't find her anywhere. Not on the trainingsfields, not in the garden she loved so much… He figured he didn't know her well enough to be able to predict where she would go, but he decided to look for her in her room. If she wasn't there, well… he guessed he would have a day off. He'd love to explore the capital a bit more.

With the golden doorknocker, shaped in the form of a dragon, he knocked on the dark red door. Nothing happened. He knocked again, just to make sure. 'Azula? It's me.'

When she didn't respond, he shrugged before turning around and almost colliding with Fire Lady Ursa.

'I'm sorry!' he immediately exclaimed.

'She isn't in there?' she asked.

He shook his head. 'No, I'm sorry. I couldn't find her anywhere so I thought, maybe she has forgotten about our arrangement…'

'You mean your bending lessons?' she asked.

He nodded. 'Your daughter is a very good teacher, Fire Lady Ursa.'

She frowned. 'That's strange. She missed breakfast as well and the teachers told me she hasn't trained today either. That's so unlike her.'

Aang didn't know what to do, so he just smiled and nodded, hoping it would be enough. The Fire Lady looked like an older version of Azula, but softer, less… prepared to fight.

'I'll talk to Ozai,' she said, more to herself than to Aang. Her eyes darted back to him. 'Do you care to join me, Avatar?

He actually wanted to say no – on his free morning, he'd prefer to stay outside and enjoy the sun. But he suddenly wondered if Azula would get in trouble, so he decided to join Ursa. At least, he could praise Azula's teaching skills.

'Of course,' he therefore said, smiling widely.

Ursa smiled back and nodded. 'Are you enjoying your stay so far, Avatar Aang?' she asked as they started to walk.

'Very much,' he said. 'I've always wanted to visit the Fire Nation. My teacher – with the Air Nomads, I mean – had been friends with Avatar Roku.'

'What was it like, the Air Temples?'

'They… were beautiful. I don't know what they look like now.'

She studied his face, in a way that very much reminded him of Azula. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I shouldn't have brought that up.'

'No, it's good,' he said. 'If I truly am the last airbender, it's up to me to spread their legacy. So… ask me anything you like.'

'That's very brave of you. I'll wait with my questions until we've reached the Fire Lord, though. I think he'd want to hear your answers as well.'

He had expected they'd go to the throne room, but instead they went to what could only be described as living quarters. The Fire Lord stood in in front of a large window, through which Aang could see the palace gardens, his hands on his back. The guards nodded as they passed through the curtain.

'Azula wasn't in her room,' Ursa said.

Ozai turned. 'Where could she be?' he asked. 'I haven't seen her all day. I'm starting to worry about her.' His eyes fell on Aang. 'We have many enemies,' he added.

'Did you ask the guards?' Aang suggested. 'Fire Lord?' he added quickly.

'We did, but they hadn't seen her,' Ozai said.

'When did you ask them?' Ursa asked in surprise.

'Well, around…' he stopped mid-sentence. 'Perhaps the guards who were on nightduty have seen her,' he said.

Less than ten minutes later, two very nervous guards stood in front of the Fire Lord.

'So you saw her leave, just after sunrise… and you let her go?'

'We didn't know she wasn't allowed to leave, Fire Lord Ozai,' one of them said.

Ozai seemed angry, but not worried, Aang noted.

'Anything else you want to inform me about?' he asked.

There was a short silence. 'She carried a bag, Fire Lord Ozai.'

Ozai didn't respond. Aang looked at him and saw that he was thinking, very deeply.

'That was all?' Ursa asked.

'Yes, Fire Lady.'

'Then you can leave.'

They hurried out of the room. Ursa turned back to Ozai, but was surprised by the look on his face.

'She has left for the dragons,' he whispered.

'What?' Ursa asked.

'She left for the dragons!' he repeated, in a normal tone this time. He turned away from them and hurried towards the door. 'We need to stop her. It's too dangerous. I've told her many times...'

Ursa had turned pale. She buried her face in her hands for a few seconds before she regained her composure.

'How will you stop her?'

'I'll sent an elite force after her,' Ozai said. 'Dragonsquad. They'll stop her – and I can trust them to be discrete. No one will know about it.'

'Isn't there a change she'll be able to fight a dragon?' Aang asked. The moment he opened his mouth, he knew it was a mistake. Fire Lord Ozai's eyes darkened as he looked at him. 'I mean, I've never seen anybody bend like she does,' he continued, trying to smile innocently.

'Have you ever seen a dragon, Avatar Aang?' Fire Lord Ozai asked.

He shook his head. 'No, I haven't.'

'They're nothing like sky bisons,' he said. 'There intelligent, aggressive and very, very dangerous. Lethal, even.'

'I… am sorry?'

Ozai turned his back on the twelve-year-old and left the room.

She had a headstart of at least eight hours by now. Azula wasn't sure if there were soldiers following her, but if they were, they would be on dragons. She had grabbed her brown cloak and had put it over her head and backpack. That way, if they flew over her, she would be the same colours as the branched of the tree above her. Thankfully there were still a lot of leaves on the trees, thanks to the mild weather. They had coloured though.

It was mid-day when she heard the roar of a dragon. Above her. She froze, not moving an inch. It was more than one dragon,, she thought. She focused on the sounds of the wings, the noises they made. Three, four, maybe five even?

So her father had sent men behind her. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She stood like that for half a minute, until the dragons were at least half a mile from her. More cautiously, she proceeded, making sure to walk from tree to tree. About two hours later, she heard them again. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, taking deep and even breaths.

They flew over, without noticing her.

When the sky started to darken, Azula knew she had won – at least for this day. They wouldn't continue searching for her during the night. They might wait for her near the dragons camp… but that would be too dangerous. That meant that if she managed to evade the one or two people who stood guard… she'd have an actual change of reaching the dragons.

She had climbed the mountain aalmost until the treeline. The conifers weren't exactly a comfortable sleeping place, so she rolled herself in her sleeping bag. She didn't dare to light a fire, but she did cover herself with her cloak. She didn't think she would need the extra camouflage, but it wouldn't hurt. Besides, it could get pretty cold at night.

She awoke before the first rays of sunlight hit the trees. She immediately started to pack, grabbed some food from her backpack and made sure to leave no trace before she took a deep breath.

She didn't see anybody else, but that didn't mean they weren't here. Her father had bothered to sent them after her yesterday… so there was a chance they still were here. She walked slowly, carefully placing her feet to make sure she wouldn't make a sound.

The trees became smaller and more scarce, until eventually, there was only rock left. The first rays of daylight made it easier for her to walk the last mile towards the plateau where the dragons resided. It also made her visible for the guards her father had put out. She started to walk faster, as fast as she could on the increasingly difficult slope.

She could now actually see the dragons. One of them looked at her, but he clearly didn't think she was a threat. It flew away.

She suddenly heard a voice – a human voice, carried towards with the wind. It was to faint to actually understand what he was saying. She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to keep looking forward. Every mistake could cost her her life now.

With a sigh of relief, she arrived at the plateau. Immediately, an uncountable number of dragoneyes looked at her. She dropped her backpack and took a few steps towards them, mainge sure they wouldn't surprise her and try to push her off the edge.

As she stood there, she could feel the rays of sunlight. Azula took a few breaths. I can do this. She looked at each and every dragon, daring them to attack her.

There were so many, and each and every one of them was unique. Colour, height, shape. And they all stared at her. She stood there, hesitantly, not knowing what she should do now. One of them had to attack her, but right now they were just looking at her, making soft, disgruntled noises.

Until a large, black dragon moved towards her. She immediately focused on him or her, but also kept her ears open to make sure no dragon would attack her from another side.

The dragon roared, obviously meant to intimidate her. She didn't move an inch, but did bow her knees a little, prepared to jump or duck when necessary.

For a few seconds they just looked at one another. Azula felt as if all the other dragons looked at them. No creature made a sound.

She could almost hear her own heartbeat, the violent wind that blew through her hair.

An enormous roar broke the silence as the dragon jumped forward. She immediately moved out of the way, stood op and looked at the dragon again. His enormous mouth was opened. She smirked.

The fire turned blue as she took control over it. The dragon seemed startled, or maybe that was just what she wanted to think… but it didn't see her counterattack coming. This time the dragon had to duck.

He roared again.

She ducked a few of his attacks, concentrating on her footwork, making sure he wouldn't hit her. I can do this, she realized. She wouldn't fail - as long as she wouldnt lose focus.

The dragons yellow eyes were focused on her, following her every movement, but he didn't manage to hit her. 'Is that all you got?' she yelled.

The dragon didn't make a sound. She knew riders and their dragons could communicate, but it wasn't known if free dragons could understand human speech.

It appeared so.

She rolled over the ground, jumping up immediately and sending a fireblast his way. The dragon roared and flew up, quickly enough to escape her flames. She followed him with her eyes, suddenly feeling very wary. She wasn't used to fighting flying opponents and she now had a perfect view on its very sharp claws.

She had to duck two more of his attacks, but she realised this wasn't going anywhere. She had to think of something that would give her an advantage - and that would help her to win this fight.

Wen the animal attacked her again, she jumped and the flames that shot from her feet propelled her into the air. The dragon roared as she managed to land on his bag.

Flames erupted from her hands, close to the sides of his head. 'I've won,' she yelled at the dragon, daring it to contradict her, her entire body tensed up. She was waiting for the dragon to try and through her off his back. Instead it bowed its head.

She wasn't sure if this meant he had acknowledged her as his rider. For a moment, she waited for a surprise attack to follow, until suddenly a whole different world flashed in front of her eyes. Memories that weren't hers and feelings she had never known.

She gasped.

'Natsuki,' she said. Her dragon.

Natsuki made a roaring sound and jumped of the mountain.

Please review

Addition from 20.12.2019

I do intend to continue this story, but it will take me some time because I first want to finish my other fic The Banished Princess. So, if you have nothing to do: check it out, otherwise I will try to post at least once during the Holidays!