the thing you wanted all along

Part 8

It took me about half an hour to find and get Sokka to come with me to prince Zuko's room. When my brother found out about the breakup and prince Zuko's will to marry me, he insisted on being a part of the conversation, as is water tribe tradition when it comes to marriage. He came up with many ridiculous conditions for the engagement between the prince and me, including a massive engagement party to which my entire tribe will be invited. I had to stop him and agree to all conditions on prince Zuko's behalf to get him to leave.

"I'm sorry, he's a little crazy when it comes to traditions. You don't have to do any of them, your high... Zuko" prince Zuko smiled.

"I do want to do some of them, the party with your tribe sounds fun, and a good chance to get to know you better" He took my hand, stopping me from organizing his closet.

"as soon as we're engaged, you're free from servant work" I looked at him, wondering why he was so nice all of a sudden. Mai excused herself and left the room, to have sex with Ty-Lee for the first time most likely.

"I don't want a big party, I don't want anyone to know until we have to tell people. And most importantly, I want to keep working as a servant" He let me go.

"are you sure?"

"all my friends are servants, and I get paid for my work. Will I have money of my own when I marry you?"

"it is customary for the husband to keep his wife and children's money, when they want something, they come to him and ask for it, then he sends people to buy it for them" I sighed and turned from him.

"look, I can change it after I'm fire lord" my eyes widened. Fire lord. That would make me fire lady, how could a servant move to fire lady so quickly? We will both get killed the day we're married. I sat on the floor and hugged my knees into my body. He sat down next to me.

"are you okay?"

"we can't let anyone know, if they find out that the next fire lord married a water tribe girl, a servant, what do you think they'll do?" He stopped to think.

"accept us because they have no choice?"

"they will kill us" He laughed.

"let them try" I got up and kept organizing his closet.

"I will leave as soon as I'm done. I suggest telling your uncle about your breakup with Mai, he might be able to find you someone who fits all three conditions and is also fire nation, someone who's not a servant" He looked at me sadly before leaving the room.