The Bear and the Phoenix
. helium lost .

Author's Notes: The title is most likely a temporary one, so expect it to change. Anyway, here's my contribution to the massively underappreciated Ozai/Ursa ship :P This is being written for the 33-proposals challenge at Livejournal, so by the end of this, hopefully, the fic will be 33 chapters and somewhere around 100K words long. Eek—it's a daunting prospect, but it'll be great when I'm done, eh:D

Anywho, be warned that there are original characters, although they don't really play that much of a prominent role. ;)

I
Witnessed by the Ex

Prince Ruoko, although not a bad man (not at all—very nice, very pleasant, very well-mannered), was not quite the husband that Princess Ursa was looking for. True, as a princess of only a minor principality of the Fire Nation, she didn't exactly have that much choice, but—well, imagining a long and fruitful life with this man was a bit like imagining getting hairs pulled out of her head, one by one. It, to say the least, simply didn't excite her. At best, it was a horrifying thought.

"Oh, Princess Ursa, I would pluck the stars from the heavens for you! I would tame rivers and make them flow by your window so that you could see the sun glittering off the rivers' sweet waters when you wake; I would plant hundreds of trees if you desired an orchard!" He kneeled and kissed her hand. "Princess Ursa, I would call the moon to serenade you; I would pull strands of gossamer thread from the night sky and weave you a cloak; I would harness the sun and have the most beautiful dress in all of the world to be made for you. Oh, Princess Ursa, my love for you is undying, is timeless, is immortal, is…"

Princess Ursa sighed and looked away from the man. He wasn't bad-looking, and he was from a principality that was a bit more well-off than hers; he had no history of mental or physical defects; he was overflowing with passion for her… yet…

He stood and twirled, spreading his arms out before her. "Princess Ursa! Once we are married, I will have a palace made for you from the finest wood of all the Earth Kingdom, decorated with paintings and scrolls by only the most talented artists on this earth! Cities will be constructed in your name; I will instate a Day for the Celebration of Our Empress Ursa!"

Princess Ursa sighed and massaged her temple. Well, at least he was better than that Prince Aoko, who had been married off to her sister, Princess Dae… That man had a head so bloated, so filled with hot air, that she was (quite frankly) surprised that he hadn't yet lifted up and soared off into the sky. Poor Dae—cooped up in the palace for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with that man… It was a good thing that Dae was so patient; she herself would have killed him by now (or at least put a hole through his head—maybe all that ego would drain out that way).

"Oh, Princess Ursa—"

Princess Ursa frowned and drew back from Prince Ruoko. "I'm sorely sorry, but I have some, err, matters to attend to… Please forgive me." She straightened her hair and brushed a wrinkle out of her dress. "As you know—the annual ball is being held tonight at the Fire Nation capital… You're going, aren't you? Anyway, I really must begin to get ready."

His smile dropped and shattered on the floor. Her reached out for Princess Ursa's hand, and she sighed and let him grip it and caress it.

"Darling! But it's only ten o'clock in the morning! The ball doesn't start until seven!"

She sighed. "Yes, yes—but, well, it takes a long time for me to get ready. I must look my best tonight."

"But darling, you are already the most beautiful woman on the face of this earth! Your eyes shine like the scales of the jeweled fish swimming in the clear waters by Kyoshi Island; your skin is white and flawless like the finest Fire Nation porcelain; your hair is the deepest, most luxurious ebony-black, darker than coal, yet brilliant like the sun gleaming off silver; your—"

"Yes, yes," Princess Ursa said impatiently, then pried her hand away from his touching fingers. "That's what you say, at least—Father and Mother, however, do not agree so readily. I really must be off now. Father and Mother want me to look my best to attract more suitors." She saw the crestfallen look on Prince Ruoko's face and sighed again—how many times had she sighed today, anyway? "Not that, of course, you're not a fantastic suitor—" She winced at the grin that spread itself across his face. She needed to be less considerate. "—but Mother and Father want me to, well, keep my opportunities open. We are—after all—not yet engaged—" She rolled her eyes as the grin was wiped off his face again. "—but I'm sure that Mother and Father will have me marry you; after all, most of the Princes at the ball will most likely already be betrothed." The grin on this man's face could show itself and hide itself faster than the old geezers playing mah-jong could show and hide their tiles; it was rather unnerving.

"Look—I'd love to stay longer—but I truly must get going. It takes hours to do my hair correctly, you know." (Total lie—well, all right, the longest it ever took was two and a half hours, but that was only because the hairdresser was incompetent and couldn't find the brushes and hairpins, and when she did manage to find the hairpins, she always put them into her hair incorrectly, so that sections would fall right after they were elaborately twisted and pinned up again. Needless to say, Princess Ursa never saw her again.)

With that, she pulled herself away from Prince Ruoko (breathing a sigh of relief once she was well out of earshot) and strode down the hall, breaking into a run once she got around the corner. She leaned her back against a wall and breathed heavily. There was no way that she would be able to stand years and years of royal life with that man… Let's see, she was twenty-two now, and he was twenty-one… Her maternal grandmother was sixty-one years old and her maternal grandfather was seventy-five… and her paternal grandmother was an amazing eighty-six years old, while her paternal grandfather had died when he was eighty-two… Well, it looked like she would be living for another sixty years, at least, judging by those figures. Sixty years with that man? She let the back of her head hit the wall. Sixty years! She shuddered.

No, she needed to find a new man at this ball… All right, so about ninety-nine percent of the princes had already been betrothed, but it wasn't too late, right? Okay, so she was a bit older than most of the other girls (Dae had gotten married when she was seventeen), but she still had a chance, right? She had to! There must be at least one prince there who wasn't married… All right, admittedly, he'd be a nobody, but a nobody was better than Prince Ruoko. She shuddered again and made her way to the dressing room. What she told Prince Ruoko wasn't a complete lie; she did have to get ready—although it wouldn't take nine hours. She could read a book for the rest of the time, maybe. Anything to get away from that prince.

She slipped into the dressing room and found the maids busy powdering her mother. She sighed and took a seat, picking at a few stray threads on her sleeve. How did her robes always manage to have threads sticking out of them?

"Ursa, darling, is that you?" her mother called out, eyes closed as the puffs dabbed at her face.

"Yes, mother."

"Where have you been? The seamstress, silly girl, managed to lose your measurements halfway through making your dress, so you'll need to be remeasured as quickly as possible." She cracked open an eyelid and glanced at her. "And your hair! You haven't had it washed, have you? Well, you'll need to do that, too." She sighed. "Where have you been all morning? I tried sending out some maids to tell you about the seamstress, but they never managed to find you."

Ursa sighed. "Sorry, Mother—Prince Ruoko dropped by to visit."

Her mother laughed, then coughed after she inhaled some of the powder. "That boy? Ursa, I don't know why you continue to indulge him."

Ursa stiffened. "Mother, he's the one always coming to our palace! It's not like I want to see him, you know."

"Then tell him off!"

"I can't do that, Mother!" Ursa said, exasperated. "It's—well, it's not nice. And I don't want to make myself—or you, or Father, or any of us—look bad."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "That boy… Trust me, Ursa, I bet he's tiny. Or, even worse, that he can't even get it up."

"Mother!" Ursa squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't really want to think about that right now. Especially not when it concerns Prince Ruoko, of all people." She reached over and poured herself a cup of steaming tea, then took a sip.

The maids stepped back from her mother's face and let her sit up and examine herself in the mirror. She turned her head from side to side and checked that the coverage was even and that no blemishes were showing. "If you marry him, trust me, you two won't have any kids at all. Do you realize how sad that would be? Your father, on the other hand—well, there's a reason why you have five brothers and sisters, darling." She grinned slyly.

Ursa choked on her sip of tea, then coughed. One of the maids rushed over to pat Ursa on the back; she sputtered, then choked out, "Mother!"

"I'm only telling you the truth." Her mother touched a spot on her cheek, then said, "A little more here—I can still see that hideous spot."

Ursa frowned as the seamstress walked in with a handful of tape measures. "You don't need to tell me, you know." She took off her robes and stood in her underclothes as the maid began to re-measure her.

"It's for your own good, sweetie." The maids put down the puffs and reached for the makeup box, pulling out tins of rouge and smaller brushes.

Ursa spread her arms and let the seamstress measure around her bust. She rolled her eyes as the maids began to apply the rouge to her mother's cheeks. "Mother knows best, huh?"

"You got it."

Seven hours later (three agonizing hours of makeup and four agonizing hours of hairstyling—turned out that her hair needed to be much, much more elaborate for this ball than she had ever had it, and she was now carrying what felt like five tons of hair pins and ornaments on her head), Princess Ursa, dressed in fine robes, with her face made up to be absolutely flawless, her hair rising in delicate buns and curls on her head, and her feet squeezed into small shoes, was sitting in the courtyard with nothing to do. Her mother had forbidden her to read ("You always rub your eyes when you read—you're going to mess up your makeup!") and to feed the turtle-ducks ("You're going to get your robes wet!"). She had no choice but to sit in the courtyard and watch the musicians play pieces that she'd already heard hundreds of times already.

She sighed and restrained herself from leaning her head back against the tree (as her hair might get tangled in the bark), then idly picked at her fingernails. The sun was beginning to set, casting a red-orange glow across the sky, turning the clouds a brilliant pink color. The sky was already darkening as the first stars twinkled out from the blue-violet canvas.

"Ursa, darling!"

Ursa turned around and saw her mother waving at her.

"Ursa, it's time to go. Come on—the carriage is waiting!"

Ursa nodded and picked up the hems of her robes, walking across the grass to meet her mother. Finally—time to get out of the palace! The palace was, admittedly, not a bad place to be, but it could get boring after months of confinement… She walked briskly alongside her mother, through the halls and to the front gate, where a fine carriage being drawn by four horses was waiting. The two of them climbed in and sat beside each other.

"Will Father be there?" Ursa asked as the horses began their trot.

"Of course. Hopefully, he will have successfully sealed that trade deal with the capital… or else two weeks of negotiating will have been for naught." Her mother sighed. "I really hope that it went well—we need that trade deal."

Ursa nodded. "And… Mother, do you think there will be princes there that haven't yet been betrothed? I honestly don't think that I can stand even another day with Prince Ruoko!"

Her mother laughed. "Well, to tell you the truth, that boy isn't that bad. He is, after all, still a boy, and still immature. Why, when I married your father, he was the same way—but he got better over the years, and look where we are now. Maybe he'll get better, too—maybe you'll fall in love."

Ursa scoffed. "Are you kidding me?"

Her mother shrugged. "At least he loves you—better to have a man who loves you than a man who doesn't, right?"

Ursa frowned. "But Prince Ruoko—"

Her mother laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "Sweetie, don't worry—there are plenty of princes there. And besides—I heard the Crown Prince is still single and looking, you know," she said, then winked. Ursa rolled her eyes.

"Like he'll pay any attention to me! He'll probably have dozens of richer and prettier princesses hanging off of him."

Her mother wagged a finger at her and shook her head. "Now, don't talk about yourself that way, darling. You're pretty, you're smart, you're charismatic, and, most of all, you're Ursa. Now get those silly thoughts out of your head. You have to be confident! Then he'll notice you."

"I guess so…" She looked out the window and watched as the countryside rolled past. Within ten or fifteen minutes, they were passing through the village; people were craning their necks out from their houses and watching as the carriage passed by. The clip-clop of the horses' hooves rang loud and clear on the cobblestone streets of the village as people tried to gain a glimpse of the princess or the empress—they had never seen them; they were usually inside the palace (although they had heard that the two of them were very beautiful—it was a shame that none of them would even think about marrying peasants…).

Ursa sighed and attempted to sleep, but it was difficult to do so, since she was unable to lean her head against the window or against the back of the chair; it was too much of a risk to have her hair messed up now. Instead, she let her head hang at an uncomfortable angle and closed her eyes. It would take perhaps two more hours to get to the capital, and she would rather not spend the time staring off into space. Eventually, the rocking of the carriage lulled her to a shallow sleep.

Two hours later, they were at the Fire Nation capital's Royal Palace. Ursa groggily shook herself awake and blinked her eyes a couple time. She covered a yawn, then looked outside the window and gasped. There were dozens and dozens of carriages—hundreds, maybe. It was hard to believe that there were this many people coming. She nervously got down from the carriage with her mother, then walked beside her to the open gates.

Fifteen minutes later, she found herself—once again—with Prince Ruoko.

It was very difficult to resist the temptation to rub her temples (she might smear her makeup). In fact, it was like trying to force the sun not to rise.

"Princess! We shall dance the night away, you and me, like two beautiful cranes…"

She looked at the ballroom floor. There were only a few couples dancing at the moment, but more and more couples were beginning to join them. She saw some highly dissatisfied princesses and sympathized with them—they looked as if they'd rather be anywhere but here, with the idiot of a prince that they were betrothed to. Most likely, the only reason why they were here were to pay their respects to the Crown Prince and his family.

"Now, Princess," said Prince Ruoko, standing above her and breaking her gaze, "shall we dance?"

Ursa frowned and stood, giving her hand to Ruoko, who kissed it and smiled at her.

"All right."

She let herself be led to the floor, and sighed as she felt Prince Ruoko's clumsy hands come to a rest at her waist. They began to dance as the music played in the background. She winced. This dance was excruciating—when would it finally be over? All right, they had just started dancing, but still… Not only was Prince Ruoko, to put it gently, horrible at dancing, but this song was beginning to get on her nerves, as well; that fiddle was just too high-pitched for her tastes. She sighed and glanced at all the other couples on the ballroom floor—they all seemed to be having a good time. Yet… She sighed again, rolling her eyes at the fact that Prince Ruoko didn't seem to be paying any attention to her reactions and frustrated sighs at all.

At long last, the song ended with the wavering note of a flute, and Princess Ursa parted from Prince Ruoko. Prince Ruoko grinned, then gently kissed Princess Ursa's hand.

"Wait here, darling… I'll get us some drinks."

Princess Ursa rolled her eyes. "I'm not thirsty," she said, but he had already walked off to the banquet table. She sighed and began to walk back toward the tables, but she felt an unfamiliar hand seize hers. She whirled around and found herself face-to-face with the Crown Prince, who was looking straight into her eyes with a solemn look on his face.

"May I have this dance?" he asked in a soft voice as the first notes of the next song began to play.

"I—" she said, blushing, then recalled the words of her mother and straightened up, attempting to put on a serious, confident expression. "…Yes, please."

The Crown Prince raised her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it, sending chills up her spine. This man—Prince Ruoko had kissed her hand dozens of times, and she had never gotten this feeling before. He put his hand on her waist—a firm but not rough grip—and another shiver went up her spine. She was thankful for her robes; if they didn't have long sleeves, everyone would have been able to see the goosebumps on her arms. And, to think, she was getting so worked up and all he had done was kiss her hand and touch her waist… She smiled and tentatively leaned into him as he began to lead her in a dance.

A few moments into the dance, he leaned down and murmured into her ear (sending more chills throughout her—this guy was something, all right), "Tell me, do you know my name?"

She rolled her eyes and said (forgetting all the proper, correct ways to talk to princes), "Of course—you're Ozai, the Crown Prince. Anyone who doesn't know is an idiot."

He raised an eyebrow as he gazed into her eyes. "Looks like you're not an idiot, then."

She bit her lip and blushed. A smirk crossed his face.

"Tell me… What's your name?"

She inhaled sharply, then looked straight back into his eyes and said, "Ursa."

"Ursa…" he said, savoring the taste of her name on his tongue as he glanced up at the ceiling, tilting his head back as if to swallow the syllables. A moment of silence passed as they continued to dance, him leading and her following. He finally looked back down at her and smiled, a small smile that only touched the edges of his lips. "I'll remember that."

She smiled and leaned in closer to him. "You better."

"Impertinent wench," he murmured, and she stiffened, but a soft, low laugh escaped his lips and her smile widened as he brought her closer, pressing her chest to his. All too soon, the song ended, and Ursa let escape a small sigh, but Prince Ozai gave her hand a tiny squeeze.

"May I have this dance?"

Princess Ursa looked up and saw Prince Ruoko (back with a furious and hurt expression on his face, and without drinks) standing beside them. The smile was wiped off her face and she frowned, preparing to part from the Crown Prince—but the Crown Prince held on to her tight.

"No," the Crown Prince said, softly but firmly, a sharp glint in his eyes, expression cold. Princess Ursa opened her mouth but found herself unable to say anything. Did the Crown Prince…? She pinched herself hard under her robes and winced, holding back a curse. This was no dream, all right… Prince Ruoko slinked off, sulking, as Crown Prince Ozai returned his gaze to her.

"Now… May I have this dance?" he said. "And the following dance, and the one following that?"

Ursa blushed and nodded (a bit too eagerly than she should have, she thought).

"Yes," she said breathlessly, and the smile returned to his face.

"Correct answer," he whispered, and brought her to him again.

Author's Notes: Tell me what you think:D Feedback is always appreciated, be it constructive criticism, praise, whatever. I'll try to update every week. :)

2/5/2007