Chapter Text
Ursa was in love. You could tell by the way she walked and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear awkwardly around her childhood friend, Ikem. Those two were inseparable, like two peas in a pod. Young love birds joined at the hip, and yet both were too insecure to admit their feelings to one another. Their innocent love was brought to ruin on that fateful day. That was the day that Fire Lord Azulon brought his second son, Ozai, to her house and ordered that Ursa would be his bride.
Their parents all talked about bloodlines and prophecies and it all swam around in Ursa's head like a tidal wave. She was dizzy and felt utterly sick. Nobody would even talk to her about it. Of course, her parents didn’t have much of a choice when it came to this match but Ursa still felt utterly neglected in the moment. She felt like she was alone and drowning on dry land. During this whole ordeal, Prince Ozai had remained silent as well, but he didn’t look panicked or scared like she did. He just seemed utterly unfazed by all of this. But at one point, he took her off guard and he grabbed her hand when she felt like she could fall over at any moment.
“You’re so cold…” He whispered. Ursa’s hands always got cold when she was scared. She instantly pulled her hands back.
This wasn’t supposed to happen! Ursa was in love with Ikem! If she had just told him how she felt maybe he’d feel the same way and they could run away together, or if he rejected her at least maybe she could leave this place with some fucking dignity!
“We’ll send another carriage to pick you and your family up in the morning,” Fire Lord Azulon addressed Ursa directly for the first time that night, snapping the young woman’s racing mind back into her cruel reality.
“Thank you,” Ursa and her family bid the royals goodbye for the night, but the cautious Fire Lord did leave behind two guards to make sure the soon-to-be Fire Nation princess wouldn’t flee in the night. Ursa threw herself into her parents' arms, sobbing like a little girl in fear. They consoled her the best they could, but what could they do? After all, isn’t this what Rina’s father would have wanted? It was what the fire sages said. Ursa just cursed her grandfather in her head, Avatar or not, this wasn’t fair.
The next morning, fancy royal carriages arrived. One was for her parents, one was for the firelord and the last, decorated lavishly with windows you could very clearly see into, was meant for Ozai and Ursa. They were to be proudly paraded out of the town like Koala-sheep to slaughter.
Ozai extended his hand in a gentlemanly manner to let Ursa into the carriage first. Ursa weakly smiled and returned the gesture. For her future husband, she should at least give this much effort, they were in the same boat after all. Ozai showed her a surprisingly sympathetic smile in turn as he followed her into the carriage. As the pair were paraded away, a commotion was started on the road. It was Ikem trying to get past the royal guards. Ursa worried the guards might lop off his head if he kept at this. She also felt deep sorrow and shame for not telling Ikem how she felt. So to keep Ikem safe, and to bury down any feelings either could have held in that moment Ursa decided to take action.
Where Ikem could view her in the carriage, she made a show of hooking her arm with Ozai’s and nestling her head into his shoulder. She was surprised how firm it was, and his hair was long and soft. She actually liked this feeling, to an extent.
“Guards, don’t mind this village boy, let him pass peacefully so my fiancé and I can get to the capital as soon as possible,” Ursa said loudly to the guards. Ikem heard it too.
This act finally deterred Ikem off of the road, letting the carriage pass. Ursa peeked out from her fiancé's hair and out the window to see Ikem with a solemn expression. She felt like complete garbage in that moment.
As they left Hira’a, Ursa unexpectedly kept her head on Ozai’s shoulder as she let silent tears fall down her cheeks. Ozai held her hands in his own in a stiff attempt to offer her comfort. They were still so cold.
The wedding was planned very meticulously but still went by in a flash. Crown Prince Iroh, who had been welcoming to Ursa as soon as she arrived in the capital, told her about his own wedding.
“I never really was fond of the idea of marriage. My wife was a young, talented firebender who wanted a say in her own marriage. We fit well like that and formed a marriage of convenience not too dissimilar to yours.” Iroh told her over a cup of tea one day. “My father had considered having me continue my lineage with you at the fire sage's orders, but I said I was still in mourning for my own wife.”
“I… would have no idea how to feel about that,” Ursa said in response to Iroh’s sudden confession. The crown prince was a kind man, but that age difference would have made Ursa utterly sick. At least the one good grace of her and Ozai’s relationship was that they were much closer in age. She thought about it later as she had dinner with Ozai.
The pair had been talking more to the point where they could maybe consider each other friends. They both had an appreciation for the arts, Ozai preferred watching dances over plays since the movements reminded him of powerful firebending stances and techniques. It was a perspective Ursa never considered, being a nonbender herself. She found herself enjoying learning these new things from Ozai, it was certainly more interesting than her court etiquette and fire nation history lessons. Ozai also seemed to enjoy hearing Ursa’s impassioned talks about theater and writing; she even boasted that one of her new tutors had begun to teach her how to sew, and she’d love to do embroidery as well. Truely, they got a lot of positive things out of these interactions. At first.
That fragile peace was cracked when Ursa had brought up what Iroh had said to her at tea.
“Yes I had been aware that it was fathers intention to set my brother up with the descendant of Avatar Roku, but the sages only said that Roku’s blood would be mixed in with the royal family, they never stated that Roku’s grandchild had to give birth to an immediate heir,” Ozai explained cooly as he sipped on his wine. “So I was glad that this golden opportunity fell to me instead. I’ve taken the lead in this development.”
“What do you mean by that?” Ursa asked. She hadn’t understood why Ozai had spoken like that. Their eyes met and his cold eyes bore into her like she was some sort of prize instead of his soon-to-be wife. So far, only Ozai and Iroh had yet to treat her like an object; everyone else in the palace saw her more like a useful pawn or a doll.
“I mean that this is influential for me, the sages now have loyalty to me, and loyalty, of course, means power,” Ozai explained. To Ursa this seemed a bit overboard, while Ozai felt like he was just explaining to a child why the sky was blue.
“You are the second son of Fire Lord Ozai, you are the fourth most powerful person in this entire empire,” Ursa pointed out with a bit of an annoyed glib in her voice.
“That’s not enough,” Ozai said with a sigh. “I may not march off to war like Iroh, but that doesn’t mean I don’t navigate a battlefield of my own in the royal palace. Politics are simply battles fought with words instead of swords, and it’s an art I master well to protect myself. If I have a firmer position, it will also protect you, my wife.”
“I don’t need your protection, especially since I had no choice in being here,” Ursa said while also subtly reminding Ozai of the circumstances that brought her here. Ozai didn't react to her guilt trip.
“If you keep that mindset up, you might be sent out of this castle not by your own two feet but in a casket,” Ozai said pointedly as her glared down at Ursa across from him. Ursa slammed down her utensils in frustration.
“I am done here,” She said, standing up and marching out of the dining room. The servants lined up against the wall kept an awkward silence while Ozai just continued his dinner without giving the situation any more thought.
On the day of the wedding, Ursa had shown up in the hall in an all white kimoni. While it wasn’t exactly rare to see traditional white gowns at a wedding it was basically an unspoken etiquette that one should wear shades of red with their wedding attire as it was tradition. The only time pure white was worn like this was for a funeral. Fire Lord Azulon looked absolutely furious when he saw her. Ursa expected Ozai’s reaction to be the same, she made this bold decision as discreetly as possible after her first fight with the prince. She wanted to prove she wasn’t just a pretty thing that would make him look better. But instead, she saw Ozai beaming with a cocky smirk she had never seen before. He was oozing with pride. Perhaps she didn’t need his protection after all, if she had the gall to pull off a stunt like this. When Ursa met him at the end of the aisle he took off one of his ornate red sashes and gently placed it on her shoulders. She was now in fire nation colors. Some saw this as a romantic gesture of his dedication to her, while others saw it as his claim of Ursa as his own. Either way, it appeased his father and made him look like a loving husband and a true Fire Nation patriot.
After vows were exchanged, Ursa and Ozai were urged to seal the union with a kiss that would bind them together forever, in holy matrimony. This would also be their first kiss. Ozai leaned down to Ursa, she wasn’t that much shorter than him but in that moment she felt as tiny as a baby turtle duck. Ozai grabbed her hands before his lips met hers. The warmth that formed as they locked their lips seemed to travel to Ursa’s cold hands. She felt a little more relaxed and before she knew it the kiss was done and the newlywed couple turned to face the guests with polite smiles before walking back out of the ceremony room to the reception hall.
The party was lively with the drunken chatter of military officials and generals at one end of the hall and gossiping nobles at the other. At least Ursa got a kick seeing Lu Ten, who was only three at the time, running around, dancing, and just doing his best to enjoy the night. Iroh played with him just as jovially.
Later that evening, after the reception ended, Ozai led Ursa to a specific location in the palace where her parents were waiting. There Ursa embraced them and they all shed tears as Ozai informed her almost as soon as she arrived at the palace that once she became crown princess, it was tradition to cut off all contact with her non-royal family. Ursa could not visit them, they couldn’t visit her, and the family couldn’t even exchange letters. It was just another cruel thing Ursa had to face with this marriage. Ozai assured his wife that as much as this hurt it would at least keep her parents mostly safe from palace schemes and Earth Kingdom rebellions. Ursa made sure her final words to her parents were full of all the love and appreciation she had for them. Finally she gave them the sash Ozai wrapped around her a few hours ago as a moment, and then they were in the carriage and slowly driving out of her sight.
Ozai let his wife stay out in the cold night and watch until she could no longer see her parents' carriage anymore. He then held out his hand for her so he could lead her back inside.
“It’s time for us to go to our wedding chambers,” Ozai told her. She stayed still so Ozai leaned in and whispered to his new bride. “I already have an attendant set up to smuggle letters out to your parents… It’s not much but-”
Ursa cut him off with a soft kiss. “Thank you.”
The new princess gave a seemingly genuine smile as she grabbed Ozai’s hand and let him lead her to their room.
That first night was rough. Neither really knew what they were doing in the bedroom. If Ozai had any experience before this, he might have been the first of the brothers to have a child, probably out of wedlock, with that handsome face of his. Ursa similarly, was out of her element here; before this she had only shared brief stage kisses back in the plays she did in Hira’a.
Her back was sore and her legs hurt, and the swaying of the boat didn’t help as she traveled to the honeymoon location Ozai had specifically picked out. He had insisted on keeping it a surprise from Ursa, which she found odd, as he didn’t really help in any other process of the wedding planning. Soon the boat found itself docking on Ember Island. It was a well-known vacation spot for the wealthy, which didn’t make it a unique for a honeymoon but it seems it wasn’t really the island itself Ozai was trying to hype Ursa up on. The couple was escorted to a beach house with a gorgeous view and a private beach that Ursa absolutely adored. On top of that Ozai had personally selected a location close to the Ember Island Theater just for Ursa. It was a detail Ursa was touched by.
“Now that we own this beach house, we can come here every summer with our growing family to see the plays,” Ozai explained with a warmth Ursa had never seen from him before. She smiled peacefully, hearing about these plans for the future and actually found herself equally as excited. Since she had never even confessed to Ikem before, the thought of having a family hadn’t been prevalent in Ursa’s head. Once she arrived in the palace, many people brought it up to her as a source of obligation, but when Ozai spoke about their future kids… it actually sounded like something she would enjoy and not just a duty or one of his power plays.
Ursa grabbed her husband's hand and led him out onto the beach as she also began to describe what their future kids might be like and what they might do at this little vacation home. Unexpectedly, they both found each other in marital bliss as the sea breeze blew by. Ursa thought her cold hands were finally beginning to thaw, but in reality, Ozai was just leading her into a wonderfully warm illusion.