Chapter Text
Ten Years Ago
The training rooms within the palace were rarely used for something other than bending practice, that was until Iroh encouraged his son to take up swordsmanship after befriending Piandao. Zuko loved watching his cousin practice, though usually Lu Ten would get nervous if he noticed he was there. They both knew what others thought about a Fire prince training with a sword. Zuko never understood the idea that knowing another fighting style could be bad. If there could be a plan to get rid of the moon, no matter how foolish, could they not also possibly have the sun taken as well? What would they do if the sun were to vanish from the sky? Zuko knew better than to voice thoughts like these, he was young and knew very little, and according to his father, his instructors, he was weak. He’d only just started bending, while his sister, who was nearly two years younger than him, had been able to for months now.
Zuko loved copying the way his cousin moved when he fought with his swords, it was so different from the firebending he’d seen. He wasn’t proud of it exactly but a few weeks before he’d managed to take an old set of blades from Lu Ten’s room, and so now when he mirrored his cousin’s forms he did so with swords in hand. When his cousin left for the day he stayed a little longer, repeating what he believed he’d not done as well as he could.
He wasn’t sure how long it had been, it couldn’t have been all that long, he was sure. Except the sun looked low in the sky, with the windows facing out to the coast. As he lowers his blades, turning to leave the room he finds Lu Ten, eyes wide as he looks at him.
“Where did you learn to do that?” his cousin asks, running up to him. his flinches as the older boy loops his arm around his shoulders, “that was amazing!” He ruffles his hair with a laugh.
“I’ve been watching you…” Zuko mumbles, looking up at his cousin, unsure if he’d be displeased to hear it. He always tried to make himself scarce when he sat in on his training, making sure the other didn’t notice he was there. Zuko was always rather good at staying hidden when he wanted to, it was kind of a necessary skill in his opinion.
“You have? You mean you learned all that from just watching me?” Lu Ten asks.
Zuko breathes a sigh of relief, because he doesn’t sound angry with him, and his smile certainly doesn’t look angry. He nods with a slight smile.
“What do you say if I teach you what I learn from now on? We’ll learn together?”
____
Nine Years Ago
“Do you know how to play Pai Sho?” Zuko asks his tutor, looking up from his writing. Honestly this lesson was getting boring, all they were doing was going over the same maps they had been for two weeks, he was pretty sure he knew all the colonies by now.
“Focus Prince Zuko,” the man sighs, tapping the page he was working on without answering his question, or looking up from his book.
“Well I was writing about Moriko, their main export is lumber but they’re known for the Pai Sho tournament in Spring.” Zuko comments, it had been something his uncle had mentioned in a letter after Zuko asked if he’d teach him new Pai Sho tricks the next time he was home.
“That’s not in your lesson material,” Botan says, actually looking up from what he was reading.
Zuko shrugs, not really understanding why that matters, “it’s more interesting though, we’ve been doing this for weeks,” he grumbles.
“What’s the main export of Jasmine Island?”
“Jasmine Tea…”
“Yú?”
“Freshwater fish.”
“Rangi?”
Zuko pauses, because Rangi isn’t a colony, and he’s not sure what their export is, fish too maybe? It is a port town, he’s pretty sure. “Rangi isn’t a colony, it’s a port town in the northeast Earth Kingdom.”
“What is their export?” Botan asks, tapping his fingers on his now closed book.
“We haven’t learnt that,” Zuko says. Why does it matter what their export is, they aren’t going to trade with them. He watches as Botan’s eyes narrow at him, as if glaring will get him an answer that’s different from Zuko not knowing.
“You also haven’t been taught to talk back but here we are.”
He realises a little too late that he’s managed to annoy his tutor, sitting straighter as his scowl doesn’t diminish when he stands. He doesn’t say anything as he taps the table now. Zuko doesn’t argue, closing his own book before putting both his hands on the table. He yelps as fire cuts across his arms, one, two, three times.
He doesn’t move until Botan sits back down, “finish your writing.”
He winces as he moves his arms, but he opens his book and goes back to answering the same questions they’d been going over for weeks, but this time he doesn’t argue.
____
Eight Years Ago
“Lu Ten don’t bring them too far into the water please,” his mother calls after them as they run down to the beach. She stays on the veranda of the house, not going back inside but not coming down to join them either. She never came swimming with them, and as Lu Ten got older she didn’t come down to the beach either, instead sitting with a book on the porch.
Ember island seemed to make things a little easier, it was like everyone was just a bit calmer, including Azula, who if you asked him was a terror. He’d never say that to anyone besides his mother of course, even Lu Ten would tell him that he should try to get along with her. On Ember island they didn’t fight as much, he preferred it. They’re laying on the beach, drying off in the sun from the ocean water when everything goes sour.
“Hey, Lu Ten…” Azula stays, actually sounding unsure of herself, she’s sitting up, looking at the older boy, who just hums in question, still laying in the sand. “Why does your mom never come with us on vacation?”
“I don’t have a mom,” he answers simply, not sounding all too bothered by the question, he doesn’t even open his eyes.
“Oh…” Azula says, sounding rather confused. “But dad said..” she’s mumbling to herself but Zuko’s close enough to hear her talking.
“What did dad say?” he questions, genuinely curious what could’ve brought this up. Uncle Iroh never spoke about Lu Ten’s mother, only ever saying that he wished one day he’d seen her again, but that he didn’t know if it would ever be a possibility. Zuko knew from a young age not to ask, Lu Ten knew just as little as everyone else, and Iroh wouldn’t say much, so it became a silent rule that asking was sort of off limits. Azula rarely thought anything was off limits, Zuko isn’t sure if he was like that at six, or if it's just an Azula thing.
“He said–” Azula’s voice goes a bit more formal and she attempts to make it deeper, like she’s trying to imitate their father– “You should renounce your claim, your only heir is some Earth Kingdom whore’s son.”
Lu Ten is sitting up in a second, he’s looking at Azula with wide eyes, and uncertainty Zuko’s never seen him show, his fingers digging into the sand. “Your father is a liar, don’t ever repeat that again, Azula.” He’s never found his cousin very scary, not even when he’s had a sword to his neck with him at the other end, but right now, well he looked furious.
“Dad’s not a liar!” she shouts at him, standing with balled fists. “He’s not!”
The yelling seems to get their mother’s attention because Ursa is coming down to the beach almost immediately after Azula starts yelling. “What’s going on down here?”
“Lu Ten called dad a liar!” Azula accuses.
“I’m not arguing with a six year old.” Lu Ten gets up, brushing the sand off himself before he’s walking back to the house. Zuko wants to follow but his mother stops him.
“I want you to tell me what happened,” she requests of him, before turning to try to calm down his sister.
____
Seven Years Ago
“How would you feel about meeting my sword master?” Lu Ten asks him one morning after breakfast.
“Really?” he asks excitedly, “today?”
Lu Ten nods with a light smile, “I’ll be heading over to his school later today, I thought maybe you could join me.” The teen offers as they walk back toward the family wing of the palace.
“He doesn’t come here?” Zuko questions, remembering the few times he’d seen the man in the training room with Lu Ten, he always made sure not to interrupt. Now that he thinks about it, it had been a while since he’d seen him around the palace.
“He used to, but he prefers his school I think, so I’ve started going there for my lessons. I enjoy the time outside the palace. I’ve made some friends too, I think you’ll like it.”
____
“You must be Prince Zuko,” the man greets, he looks stern, but not in the way his father does, more so in the way his Uncle is. Zuko bows his head slightly, because even if he is a prince when it comes to swordsmanship Piandao is the most talented in the world.
“Nice to meet you, Master Piandao,” he greets politely. He sees the man smile slightly, nodding in a silent greeting back.
He looks to Lu Ten, “he’s younger than you were when you started training.”
“Only by a year, he’s just kinda short, besides he’s better than me back then anyways,” Lu Ten smiles. Zuko’s not certain when Lu Ten started training with Piandao, but he has always been short, considering he and Azula are the same height despite the two year difference. His cousin’s not a good liar so he doesn’t assume he’s lying now either.
“Would he be alright sparring with Soma?” the older man asks. Zuko’s not sure who Soma is, but he spars just fine with Lu Ten so he can’t imagine anyone else would be an issue.
“You want to finally fight someone your own size?” Lu Ten asks, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
He doesn’t bring up that technically he does that all the time considering he and Azula train together in firebending. Instead he just nods in agreement, because he would actually like to spar with someone who isn’t easily double his size. He loves training with Lu Ten, but he’s very sure he would lose to him if they weren’t just practicing.
____
The boy who he assumes is Soma is doing forms as they walk in, he knows them well, they’re similar to the ones Lu Ten made him learn when he first started teaching him, they are basic forms, but still quite different as unlike he or Lu Ten, the boy has a jian, a straight sword. He watches quietly for a little while, noting how different his movements really are. Soma lowers his sword after a moment, turning to their group. He blinks a few times, eyes wide as he looks past Piandao to where he and Lu Ten are. He bows his head after a few moments of gawking.
Zuko is somewhat used to people bowing, but people his own age rarely do, he’s in school with plenty who seem to have no issue ignoring his title, not that he particularly minds, it would be really awkward otherwise. That being said the bowing is making him a bit nervous right now, he can feel his cheeks heat, looking away slightly from the other boy.
“You’ve met Lu Ten, Soma, don’t act so nervous.” Piandao sighs, walking farther into the room, gesturing for them to follow him over to the black haired boy who finally raises his head as they get to him.
“Hey kid,” his cousin greets with a smile, to which Soma seems to calm a bit, smiling back at him. “This is my cousin, Zuko, he’s gonna start training with Master Piandao. Zuko, this is Soma, he’s the youngest of the Kouzuki family.” He straightens at the mention of his family, likely not expecting it to be part of his introduction.
Zuko knows the family, or more specifically he knows Soma’s father, Sai Kouzuki. He’s someone Zuko does his best to avoid, he’s heard of his accomplishments, and despite knowing they are important to the war effort he can’t bring himself to agree with the man’s methods. Looking at Soma again he still can’t see his father in him, despite looking for the resemblance now. It isn’t surprising they haven’t met, Soma is the youngest of five if he remembers correctly, meaning it’s unlikely he’d come to any events with his parents, more often it’s his father and the oldest of his siblings, Masaru, someone Zuko might dislike even more than his father, just because to guy is so annoying.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Zuko says, though he’s not sure he’s being truthful now.
“You as well, Prince Zuko.” Soma says with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.
Lu Ten bursts out laughing not a moment later, “Spirits, Soma try to look less terrified. Should I be offended you weren’t this nervous meeting me? You know I out rank him right? He’s like fifth in line, and he’s smaller than you!” His cousin doesn’t stop laughing as he talks.
Zuko glares at him while out of the corner of his eye he notices Soma’s cheeks going redder than before. Was he really making him that nervous?
“I was nervous! You just laughed at me!” Soma yells at him, cheeks still red, but he’s glare just as Zuko is, though it doesn’t seem to last as long, as Zuko can feel him looking at him again.
Lu Ten looks at Soma for a few moments, then at Zuko who is breaking his glare to figure out why Soma is staring, but before he turns he sees was seems like a look of realisation on his cousin’s face, a smirk growing on his lips, the way it does when he’s up to something. The teen’s attention quickly goes back to Soma, smirk still in place.
“How do you feel about sparring with Zuko?”
____
Soma’s flat out on the mat for the third time, Zuko pulling back his practice swords from the other boy’s throat. He puts out a hand to him, and he’s having trouble not looking annoyed because he’s pretty sure Soma’s letting him win.
“Give me a sec.” The amber eyed boy breathes heavily, his sword clear across the training courtyard. He looks up at him, at first with a sort of annoyance, but it quickly shifts to what Zuko recognises as confusion. “Why are you annoyed, I’m the one losing,” he asks between breaths.
Zuko doesn’t bother to dignify it with an answer, glaring slightly instead. He motions for him to take his hand, because he’s definitely not standing there all day, especially because he’s getting tired now too. Soma hesitates, he hadn’t taken Zuko’s hand the other two times either, and for a moment he thinks maybe he’s nervous, maybe that’s why he’s letting him win. He takes his hand this time though, and Zuko pulls him up, feeling a bit less aggravated, having not been ignored this time.
“I think that’s enough for today,” Piandao says before they can decide to go again.
Zuko only realises he’s still holding Soma’s hand when the other goes to get his sword, leaving both of them stuttering out an apology with red cheeks.