Azula lived for fighting, the absolute freedom of attacking her enemies with wild, calculating, burning abandon. She kicked a wheel of flame at her opponent and leaped away from his attack. As she’d planned, it forced him to crouch low to avoid it. As he did so, she punched, hurling a fireball.

  To her astonishment, he dodged it, but only just. The ball of flame knocked him sideways. This man was one of the greatest firebenders to ever live. How could he fail to block her attack?

  She almost didn’t capitalize on his mistake. She created two streams of fire, like the breath of twin dragons, with her hands. Closing her hands together, the fiery whips closed in on their target. This time, her opponent did block. He did more than that. He batted the flames away. He approached her, slowly but inevitably parrying each attack.

  She gave a last, desperate attempt to sweep his leg. When hers connected with his, neither leg moved. His stance was as solid as the strongest banyan-grove tree.

  She smiled at him, her golden eyes flashing with fear. “See, Father, I have learned much.”

  His golden eyes didn’t respond with any sort of smile. All that was left there was cold fury. “You burned my arm.” He spoke quietly so that only she could hear. He picked her up by her collar and threw her to the ground. He turned to face the audience, raising his voice. “You are a proud girl, as befits a daughter of the Fire Lord. But you will be taught a lesson in humility that only I can give, Daughter.

  Terror quickened in her heart, and she did something she never imagined she would do. She bowed as low as she possibly could and groveled before him. “Please, Father. I only meant to show the world your great strength and prowess.”

  “You will feel my fiery purpose,” he said loudly, pressing a hand against her eye. For a moment, Azula hoped he would still show mercy. Instead, his hand glowed red in the darkening light, and pain—incandescent, indescribable, excruciating pain—was the last terrible thing she felt before she lost consciousness.

  ***

  Azula woke in the dark, cold confines of a Fire Nation ship. Chilled sweat beaded on her brow and soaked her tunic, giving her the sickening feeling of being both too hot and too cold. She crawled off her bed, scurried over to a bucket in the corner, and retched the contents of her stomach into it. She cradled the bucket in her arms a while longer, her right hand trembling.

  How had it come to this? She was the prodigy; her brother Zuko, the disappointment. It ought to have been he whose feet were made numb from the cold steel of this ship, not her. This season of banishment had been almost more than she could bear.

  After several interminable minutes of waiting on the floor, she gained enough control over her heaving stomach to stand and ready herself for the day. She put on her red Fire Nation uniform and strapped armor over it. After everything was donned, she stared at herself in the mirror, which revealed a tiny, disheveled girl with long, jet black hair pulled back tightly. A small topknot was tied above it. A bright red scar had been violently seared over her right eye.

  There was not much more to the rest of her. Once, she’d had perfectly symmetrical bangs on either side of her face, but now her hair was poorly kept, at least in her estimation. She raised a shaking hand to straighten them. She’d long ago trimmed her long nails, deeming them impractical. She did her best to will the tremor in her right hand to stop, but it had stubbornly refused to leave ever since that awful Agni Kai that had destroyed her life. She could only banish the offending tremor for a time; then it would return with a vengeance.

  Once finished, she steeled herself for what was to come. She could not afford for her men to see any weakness. She gripped her hands until they shook no more, and then she opened the door of her room and walked out onto the deck of the ship. She breathed in the frigid air of the southern pole of her world. Fire Nation sailors shuffled about the deck. Those who saw her gave salutes and then hurried back to their business.

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  Her Uncle Iroh sat close to the bow, sipping some tea. She scowled when she saw him. She still didn’t understand why he’d tossed away his own future and joined her in exile. He spoke very little to her, and often only when she spoke first. It was to be expected. She wasn’t his dead son, Lu Ten, or her brother Zuko. Everyone loved them more than her. She was the detritus of the royal family. Unconsciously, her hand began to shake once more. She balled it into a fist and walked toward her uncle.

  He rubbed his large, round belly and then stroked his white beard, but he didn’t turn to acknowledge her as she approached. “Would my sweet niece like some tea? It is particularly well-brewed today.”

  Azula had been called many things, but never sweet. She snorted. “How can you drink tea when the Avatar may be nearby?”

  He finally turned to her and grinned. “You have been searching for a long time, and yet we are still empty-handed. How can you not drink tea?”

  “I won’t rest until he’s captured,” Azula said. She glared at the unfortunate sailor who took too long to walk past her. “We are not all lazy like you.” She paused for effect. “I don’t care about your silly tea, Uncle.”

  His usually placid eyes hardened slightly, which gratified her. At least she was still able to get under his skin. He’d shown far too much skill in doing it to her. As quickly as they hardened, however, his amber eyes grew soft and amiable once more.

  She was about to say something else to antagonize her uncle when a bright beam of light shot into the sky. She raced to the railing of the ship. “What was that?”

  “It is probably the celestial lights,” Uncle Iroh said. “Don’t get overexcited.”

  She shook her head and glared at him. “It’s a good thing I’m in charge, Uncle.” She pointed to the beam, which stuttered and died. “That came from a strong source. We’ll investigate it.” She said it loudly enough for the captain to automatically begin to turn the ship. She’d long ago trained them to follow her commands, even if they were subtle. “I have to capture the Avatar.”

  “Can’t you regain your honor some other way?” Iroh said.

  She rolled her eyes and shook the tremor out of her hand. “Please, Uncle, as if I cared about your stupid honor. That’s my dumdum brother’s obsession.”

  “Then what do you care about?” Iroh asked.

  She turned away, not wanting to tell him the answer: redemption. Redemption and love. A second chance. These were things she’d never been given. Even now, she didn’t know if she would ever receive them.

  “Full speed ahead, captain,” she said. Her golden eyes flinted into the arctic cold with a confidence she didn’t feel. “We’ll have him soon.”

  Her uncle poured another cup of tea. “Are you sure you’d rather not have this instead?”

  She growled. Her uncle was so infuriating.

  ***

  As the sun rose higher in the sky, Azula squared off against two soldiers. Uncle Iroh sat on the side, playing a game of Pai Sho with a soldier, though he was supposed to be training her. It was said that he was also one of the greatest firebenders in the world, the Dragon of the West, surpassing even the terrifying skill of her father, but she’d never seen it.

  She motioned for both of the soldiers to begin. They nodded and shot two blasts of fire at her. She effortlessly flipped over the attacks, unconsciously enjoying the fact that this was the only time her hand never trembled. She landed, cat-like, on the ground and seamlessly spun into a low roundhouse kick. Flame sliced out in an arc from her foot, sweeping them off their feet.

  She stopped, bowing to them, and then turned to her uncle. “Was that not flawless, Uncle?”

  He didn’t bother to look up. “Your stances should be a little wider. It makes you unstable.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Nothing I do is ever good enough for you. I’m a true prodigy.” Her father had said that once. She pumped her fists upward, blasting blue flame in the air. The two soldiers flinched.

  “Even prodigies must master the fundamentals,” her uncle said. “Besides, you are young and small. A strong opponent will use that to his advantage. Master the fundamentals, and you will be difficult to beat.”

  She was about to retort when she saw an explosion off the port bow. “What was that?” She snapped at a sailor for him to give her a telescope.

  Her uncle sighed. “Who knows?”

  “Has your failure to take Ba Sing Se sapped your curiosity so much?” She said with a wicked smile before extending the telescope and peering through it. “It’s an old Fire Nation ship. Two people are jumping out of it, and one just bended air! It must be the Avatar!”

  “Perhaps you are seeing things,” Iroh said.

  She snapped the telescope shut, ignoring him. She turned to the captain and pointed. “They are headed for that Water Tribe village. Let’s go!”