Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, I do own this story. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

It's been three years since the fall of Ba Sing Se. I took over the city from the inside out. My father had every confidence that at the age of 14, I could accomplish what so many great Fire Nation generals before me could not. And so for the first time, I left the Fire Nation. While leading an invasion with a small but elite force, I managed to take over several key outer Earth Kingdom cities, such as Omashu. But it was a battle against a group of highly skilled female warriors hailing from Kyoshi Island, that inspired me to go about my mission in a much more unorthodox way. After all, there was a reason Ba Sing Se couldn't be taken over with brute force. The outer and inner walls made it nearly impossible. And the earthbenders guarding the outer wall had completely destroyed the drill we tried to use to penetrate it.

I recruited two of my closest allies, Mai and Ty Lee, to help me with my plan. At that point, I no longer needed my other troops and went on ahead without them. It was a risky course of action, but if I was successful, it would be so much more satisfying. Disguising ourselves as the Kyoshi Warriors, we were greeted as honored guests in Ba Sing Se by the Earth King himself. At first I thought it was too easy. But things were not what they seemed in this city, and I quickly realized the king was a figurehead who had no idea that there even was a war with the Fire Nation. I learned at a banquet held in the honor of the King's bear, that it was Long Feng and his Dai Li agents that ran things around here. Whoever controlled the Dai Li, controlled Ba Sing Se. But first I had to get the Earth King to turn on Long Feng.

Then, as luck would have it, a rebel turned refugee claiming he had seen firebenders in the capital blew the lid off of Long Feng's closely guarded secret. Normally the Dai Li would have gotten to him first, but Mai managed to discreetly help him evade the agents without them ever being the wiser about it. That kept us "Kyoshi Warriors" still in the trust of all concerned. The Earth King realized he had been manipulated and promptly threw Long Feng in jail. Despite that, the Dai Li remained loyal to him. But I was about to change that.

I knew that there were Dai Li agents almost everywhere, constantly keeping their eyes and ears on all the happenings in the city. Sensing the opportunity to begin a coup against the Council of Five—who were in charge of all Earth Kingdom military operations—I had Mai and Ty Lee purposefully give away the fact that we were Fire Nation while the Dai Li spied on them. Then, just as I had hoped, that night, Dai Li agents took me to Long Feng's prison cell. He knew that I was the Fire Nation Princess. It was so easy to read him and I played him like a fiddle.

From there I took control of the Dai Li and gaining subsequent control of Ba Sing Se was quite easy. My divine right to rule was apparent, and the agents were smart in who they chose to follow. They let the walls down for the Fire Nation military, led by my father, Fire Lord Ozai. And just like that, the Earth Kingdom was his.

I was honored as a war hero, and my reward was to stay on and rule the former Earth Kingdom. At first I relished the chance to be in an even greater position of power. But, unfortunately, as I came to learn, politics were stifling. I missed the excitement of battle, and I began to get restless. The only thing that kept me entertained anymore was the occasional rebel uprising.

Truthfully, I was more than a tad lonely. Mai ended up going back to the Fire Nation capital and Ty Lee rejoined the circus. Besides the two of them, I didn't have many friends growing up. I was so busy training as a firebender and military strategist that it left little time for socializing. Now I was surrounded by people I knew despised me, but would fake pleasantries in court.

Lately, I had taken to disguising myself as a commoner and wandering out into the streets of the city I had so easily conquered. I usually did so at night, so as to cloak myself in the shadows. I don't know what possessed me to do it. At first it was to keep my stealth skills sharp. But now… now it was different. And it unsettled me. There was someone I was actively seeking out.

One week earlier…

The Water Tribe had been completely decimated by the Fire Nation. There were still some pockets of them here and there, but mostly they had given up fighting. Many of them resettled in the former Earth Kingdom, some right here in Ba Sing Se. They were easy to spot. Their dark skin made them stand out among the rest of the citizens.

One night, I observed as two Water Tribe teens, a boy and a girl who had to have been around my age, broke into a small food shop. Curious to see what they were up to, I watched through a window as they loaded up on goods. I felt someone approaching and snuck back into a shadow. Turning the corner was a Dai Li agent, and now it was just a matter of time before they would be caught. For some reason, I didn't want them to get caught even though they were stealing in my city. I had to know why they were doing what they were doing. So I decided to create a diversion by setting off a small explosion with my bending at the other end of the street. It did the trick and while the agent was distracted, I saw the Water Tribe teens make their escape.

I followed them back to their "home" if one could even call it that much. It was a small mud hut, and I could see peering into their window that there was barely enough room for the two of them to sleep in it. There was a small fireplace, although on a night this warm, there was no need for a fire.

"Did you see that explosion, Sokka? What could it have been from?"

"I don't know, Katara. But something wasn't right. I feel like we were followed back here."

"What do you think the Dai Li is waiting for?"

"It wasn't the Dai Li."

I had always thought Water Tribe peasants—well, peasants in general—were dumb, but these two struck me as smart, if not resourceful. I don't know what came over me, but I decided to knock on their door. Mai always did say I was crazy.

I could sense them freeze at the sound of my knock, and I couldn't help but chuckle. I always did like having that effect on people, even if these two didn't realize who I was exactly. Slowly, the door opened a crack and a pair of blue eyes were staring at me.

"What do you want?" It was the girl's voice.

"Company," I replied simply. I didn't feel like coming up with some convoluted lie. Her eyes narrowed.

"We don't normally have visitors. What do you really want?" My, she was perceptive. I couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Fine, you got me. I saw you stealing back at that food shop. A Dai Li agent was minutes away from catching you in the act, so I created a little diversion."

"Why would you do that? And why did you follow us?" Her voice was filled with mistrust.

"Because I wanted to know why you felt you had to steal."

"Great. What are you, the morality police?" I should have gotten angry at that, but I found the comment ironic considering who I was. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Spirits, no."

"Katara, who is it?" The boy's voice now. I briefly wondered if they were lovers.

"Why don't you come and see for yourself," I replied, a little louder than necessary. The door flung open at that, and I could see him holding a short sword. It was obvious that he knew what he was doing, but even unarmed, I could take him.

"What do you want?" he asked, getting into a defensive stance.

"As I was telling your girlfriend here, I wanted to know why you were stealing," I said with a dark smile.

"Ew, he's my brother!" They both had a disgusted look on their faces and I laughed again.

"Why do you care what we were doing?" he asked.

"Curiosity. I mean, why didn't you pay for it?"

"Because we don't have any money," Katara said, her voice getting a little softer.

"You can't find work?"

"All the businesses around here are run by the Fire Nation. We don't want to work for them!" Sokka said harshly and my eyes narrowed at him. He saw it.

"You're Fire Nation, aren't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" I said with a bored tone. I don't know what I expected when I started this whole thing, but the boy—Sokka I believe his name was—took me by surprise by pushing Katara out of the way and lunging at me with his sword. I easily avoided his attack with a back flip. I was careful not to firebend, because that would definitely give away who I was. The Fire Nation Princess was the only one to bend with blue fire. Instead, I taunted him. "Is that all you've got? No wonder the Water Tribe was so easy to defeat." That really got to him, but I laughed as I once again evaded his ill-timed slash. Then with a quick series of movements, I disarmed him. He stared at me, dumfounded.

I smiled triumphantly at him. But my triumph was short lived as I felt the crack of a water whip against my back and stumbled forward. Foolishly, I'd forgotten all about the girl. Wait a minute, I thought to myself. She just used waterbending on me. All the waterbenders from the North and South Poles had all been captured or killed.

I quickly regained my footing and turned myself so that I was facing both of them. I could easily take them both, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to strike back at the girl. Odd.

"I didn't come here to fight you two." It was true, I didn't go there for that reason. I loved a good fight and everything, but that wasn't what I had been looking for that night.

"Then what did you come here for?" Katara asked, still wary.

"Curiosity, I guess. I wanted to see how commoners lived in the city." Her eyes widened at that.

"You're Fire Nation nobility?" I nodded. "You sure don't look it." I scowled at that. I had always prided myself on my impeccable, regal appearance. Then I remembered my disguise. I wore a long black cloak to cover my body, which was adorned in nothing more than brown pants and a red shirt. My hair was pulled back into a ponytail and I didn't wear any makeup. Nothing particularly noble about any of that.

"That's the point," I replied with a hiss. They both continued to look at me with suspicion.

"You won't tell the Dai Li about us?" Katara asked, her eyes now pleading, and I thought I would lose myself in an ocean of blue. Shaking my head slightly, I broke my reverie.

"Why would I waste my time telling them about a couple of common thieves?"

"You didn't answer the question," she replied. I smiled at that.

"No, I won't tell the Dai Li. I don't want a pretty thing like you ending up in those jails." I gave her a once-over and she blushed. Her brother glared at me, but he had more sense than to say anything to invoke my ire. Then I might just tell the Dai Li to spite him. I smirked at him before bringing my gaze back to the girl.

Katara looked at me curiously now. I was fascinated by the contrast between dark skin and bright, blue eyes. Even though she was a foreigner, she was very pretty I decided. In fact, she could be downright beautiful if she wasn't a peasant.

"We need to get to sleep now," Sokka said a little testily, interrupting my musings. Before I could retort, Katara chimed in.

"Yes, we should," she said, agreeing with her brother. "It was nice meeting you…" she trailed off, looking for a name. I simply shook my head and smiled. "Right. Well, thanks for your help earlier."

"Not a problem…" I moved in closer to her and finished with a whisper, "… Katara." I cupped one cheek with my hand while I placed a gentle kiss on her other cheek. I would be lying if I said I had any experience in seduction. But I'd observed people all my life, and felt fairly certain that I knew what I was doing. Plus, it tickled me to no end how much this annoyed her brother.

I pulled away, and Katara blushed again while Sokka held in his anger. I assumed it was a big brother protectiveness thing. He knew I was dangerous, regardless of the fact that I helped them tonight. I briefly wondered where Zuzu was. Probably still off at sea on that fool boy errand my father sent him on five years ago.

"Goodnight," I said, flashing a flirtatious smile at Katara before vanishing into the shadows once more.

So here I was, back at their sorry excuse for a home, looking for the girl. She intrigued me to no end. Her brother wasn't bad looking either, but I found I never really got along well with boys. They were always so intimidated by me.

I looked in through the window and noticed no one was home. It was quite late, and I figured they would have been asleep by now. But I didn't know much about the Water Tribe. I did know waterbenders were strongest at night—when the moon was out. Maybe they were nighttime people. Why did I even care?

For the next three nights, I continued to go back, but they were never there. Upon closer inspection, I realized that everything was exactly as it had been every day before. Damn, they must have gotten caught by the Dai Li. The next best place to look was the prison. Making my way back to the palace, I snuck in unnoticed. In another life, I must have been an assassin.