Violent Delights, ATLA

chapter four, a singing bird in a cage

04
A SINGING BIRD IN A CAGE

THE ROYAL PALACE WAS GRAND and nothing short of San's expectations. Though despite being grandly impressed by the sheer size of it on the inside already, she knew it could never compare to the warmth she had when she was at home laying beside her dear mother. The first her father heard of the news, he was overjoyed because it meant she was growing closer to the royal family and that was something anyone would find honourable. San wasn't sure why that was her father's first thought rather than processing the fact that he was sending his only daughter away but she supposed she wasn't surprised. Her father practically kissed the grounds the Fire Lord walked on and loved the Fire Nation with all his heart, leaving barely any room for pure fatherly love towards his only daughter (not that San cared anymore, she supposed).

Her mother, on the other hand, was skeptical. Her beloved daughter was being sent away to the palace indefinitely and as much as she should feel grateful, she grew miserable at the thought of not seeing her for a very long time. San felt the same. They shared a heartfelt and tearful goodbye and to make sure San won't feel alone, her mother gave her a recipe book. Not just any ordinary recipe book, however, a special one handed down from generation to generation in their family. It contained her mother's famous soup and a variety of tasteful dishes that were more or less easy to make in San's eyes. After all, she learned from the best.

As much as San was glad to be away from her father but heartbroken to be away from her mother, a request from the princess of the Fire Nation was simply not something anyone could refuse, especially someone of a lower status like San herself was. She heard many different rumours of the princess, about how temperamental she was and how successful of a firebender she was. That being said, Azula was her friend. Her first friend. And at the end of the day, she'll no longer have to follow her father's strict routine nor follow his patriotic ideals.

"You made your first friend? Congratulations. We should get you a medal for that." Tai Yang said sarcastically, having appeared in her dreams again last night. This time, they were in a flower field stretching for miles with a transparent lake nearby full of koi fish.

"A medal made of your scales?" San asked, curious and confused as she hadn't detected his sarcasm at first.

"I wasn't being serious." He grumbled. "And second of all, that's rude."

"How so?"

"It's like shearing sheep. Don't you know they feel embarrassed when humans do that to them?"

"Oh. But you have thousands and thousands of golden scales. Only one would be used to make a medal, hypothetically, because of how large your scales are too."

"I suppose that's fair."

"I give up!" San cried out suddenly, dropping her failed craft. Then she started gathering all the flowers she picked earlier and rained them down on Tai Yang's head. "I can't make a flower crown so have all these flowers instead."

"Should I be thanking you for dropping all these unnecessary plants on me?"

"At least I tried." She shrugged, brushing her hands together. "You know, Tai Yang, you've been acting a little distant. Is it because I made a new friend and you're jealous?"

"As if." He scoffed, steam diffusing from his nostrils. "This Azula girl just doesn't sit right with me. She sounds spoiled."

"Maybe. But despite what she seems like, she's been pretty nice to me." The dragon noticed how her eyes softened at her own thoughts, most probably remembering the interactions she had with the princess so far. "She's my first friend."