Imagine being conditioned to worship someone all your life, but once you get closer to them you realize that they’re not a saint like they seem. That’s how Hanae was taught to look at the fire lord, a god that could do nothing wrong. The most virtuous man in the fire nation who puts his people before himself. When she became a royal servant, she was convinced that she was the luckiest girl in the fire nation. She moved up into the ranks fairly quickly and with time she became more than just a servant. Her feelings for Ozai blossomed and she had high hopes for the two. But when she overhears the plans at a war meeting she questions the true motives of the war, and if her beloved fire lord has good intentions like she always thought. Its speaking out and what she does with that information that could give her a cruel reality check on her position and the man she loves. 

BACKGROUND

 

Hanae was born in fire fountain city in 74AG to her mother akane and father haruto. Her mom was a bender, ex army lieutenant who worked in a factory. By the time akane met haruto he was a jobless yet funny man living in his parents basement but she fell in love with his charm and humor. They wound up having a shot gun wedding while hanae was on the way. Akane was a typical fire nation mother, strict but in a loving and caring way. She emphasized the importance of keeping face and always looking presentable because she not only represented herself but her whole family. She ran a strict household that was interrupted by her father who didn’t believe in taking life so seriously and strict schedules. Her parents relationship was good but had its faults, akane complained about haruto’s laziness all the time. She got him a job at the same factory she worked at but his clumsiness prevented him from being promoted, he did a lot more talking than working unlike akane who took work very seriously. But they stayed together anyways despite her constant complaining because at the end of the day he was a good father and brought light to even the darkest days.

When hanae was 5 she was introduced to her new baby brother akuto who was a lot like her dad, which gave her mom a pounding headache. She put a lot of pressure on hanae to do something great with herself, she told her to marry a powerful and driven man not someone like her father. She remembers her mom pointing at a picture of fire lord azulon and tell her that was the kind of man she should marry. As she was saying that haruto and akuto were running after an elephant rat trying to catch it to make it a pet. Her family was definitely chaotic but they were close anyways. In school hanae was the top of her class and class president. While her brother was out developing an unhealthy gambling habit with their dad she was being the studious daughter that her mother always wanted. Everything about her was basically perfect.

In 89AG hanae was selected by the headmaster at her school with a few other girls to try out for the servant selection program at the capital that took place every few years. The best young girls all over the fire nation were sent to the capital to try out. Mostly girls from the capital made it but if you were chosen it was seen as a huge honor for you, your family, and your hometown. Not everyone could try out though, it was on a recommendation basis. To the headmaster hanae checked all the marks despite being on the older side but he decided to take the chance anyways because it would make the school look good too. When she ran home to tell her mother the news she’s never been prouder, she was always told that being structured and obedient was the way to be and so far it proved right. At 15 she had the chance to receive one of the biggest honors of a lifetime, to serve the royal family.

She went to the capital once before on a school trip and saw the palace from the outside but the inside was way more beautiful than she could ever imagine. She was one of three others from north chung ling that passed the test and from then on she's been living at the palace. She was one of the oldest trainees, training started as young as eight years old but hanae passed all the requirements and tests with flying colors. Her beauty helped her as well. She trained for a year before officially becoming a servant. Her starting position was an embroider at the age of 16 making garments for the royals and palace decorations. She was proud to even be there and sent letters to her parents talking about how amazing it was. There were times when they would get screamed at and some of the servants would get hit by those of higher authority for messing up but hanae saw it all apart of the process. It didn't take away from the fact that it was a dream come true for her.

As an embroider she made the designs on the outfits and things like curtains and bedsheets. During training they all learned the usual techniques and designs that were acceptable. While making a new robe for ozai hanae took a chance and decided to add a pattern of fire lillies along the cuffs and neckline for him. All the girls told her not to since he usually just liked his robes plain red with the nation's emblem in black on the back, but she thought it was a good idea. When it was presented to him he seemed upset and demanded to know who made such changes to his request. Hanae stepped forward to take accountability bowing down to him but defending her actions by saying fire lillies represent passion and purity, i thought this represented the royal family well since they're always looking out for the wellbeing of our nation with pure intentions. please forgive me... she was honestly scared for her life but instead of getting upset he smirked and said hmmm you're right, i like it. good job. back at the living quarters everyone was talking about how he complimented her which he never did to anyone. it was honestly the best day of her life. 

After two years of working in embroidery hanae got promoted to work as one of azula's personal servants. It 91AG and she was 17 at the time attending to all the needs of a 6 year old. It was the first time she worked for one of the royals hands on and she expected it to be an amazing experience but azula was terrifying. She understood why working for her was called the worst job for all the servants and it seems absurd to be afraid of a 6 year old but something about her seemed almost demonic from a young age. Hanae didn't let it get to her and didn't act like the typical servants that were filled with anxiety around her. She was a kid afterall so she tried her best to be nice and optimistic about her time there. Even ursa thanked her for not being so nervous around her daughter like the others.  

95 AG was a tense year for everyone at the palace, fire lord azulon passed away, ursa disappeared and ozai took iroh's place as fire lord. Emotions were high that year and servants were getting fired left and right for the simplest mistakes. In his first month as fire lord ozai fired all of ursa's past servants simply because one made his tea too hot causing him to burn his mouth. Due to this incident hanae and a few other servants were moved up to serve the new fire lord. Hanae was waiting for this day, she was happy no matter which royal she served but the fire lord himself was the biggest honor of all. 

Ozai remembered her from the robe incident years ago, out of all the girls she was the only one that he knew by name. Hanae was a detail oriented person, she somehow reached all of his expectations all the time. She even did things that he didn't ask for assuming that he would like it and he did. He was well aware of her devotion to him and when he privately invited her to his room one night she proved that she was willing to do anything for him. Their one night affair turned into more frequent private meet ups that got her to be promoted to head servant, she was basically a supervisor of all the others making sure that everything runs according to plan to accomodate him and she was definitely good at her job. 

For the last 4 years she's been in a secret relationship with the fire lord. Other servants are jealous of how fast she went up in ranks and question if she even deserves it but she doesn't care because she's happy where she is. She would do anything for ozai and she has high hopes that they'll get married and have children someday. But when she was serving tea at a recent war meeting, she overheard the cruel plans that was proposed and started questioning if the intentions of ozai are truly pure like she always thought. But there's no way that ozai could be some kind of monster, the war is for the benefit of the world, right?  

Likes. summer season. accessories. fashion. fire lillies. meat dishes. makeup. mangoes. dumplings. love stories. theater plays. card games. poems. deep talks. making friends. learning new things. butterflies. nature. ember island. 

Dislikes. people who talk bad about the royal family or the fire nation, you can talk bad about her but not her people. spicy food. mushrooms. violence.          

Habits. since she trained and has lived in the palace for the last 10 years her mannerism is reserved and polite. she bows to others and is mindful of her posture, gestures, facial expressions, the way she talks, etc.  

Sleeping habits. she's a light sleeper because she has to be prepared to wake up at any time of night to serve the royal family if they need her. 

Hobbies. paisho. cooking. sewing. reading. writing poems.  

Fears. her biggest fear is disappointing her mom because so much expectation has been put on her. she's scared of disappointing ozai and others in general too but not as much as her mom.

Cuisine. she prefers meat over fish, with her favorite being komodo rhino. she actually isn't a big fan of spicy food, it gives her tummy aches but she's been forcing herself to eat it for years and act like she likes it. she isn't a big eater, she watches what she eats so she doesn't gain weight because servants looks are often scrutinized. they're expected to look beautiful at all times since they work at the palace.

Firebending. hanae can't firebend but she always thought people who could were cool, she gets almost mesmerized by it. when she sees ozai firebend is when she finds him most attractive because he looks so powerful. but if she saw an actual fight she'll most likely find it scary. 

Flowers. hanae really loves flowers with her favorite being fire lillies. she likes to collect pretty flowers and put them into a notebook, one on each page with a few words about each. she likes to look back at it from time to time because it makes her happy for some reason. sometimes when ozai finds rare flowers he'll give it to her when no one is around and same with any of her many friends since they all know her obsession witth flowers.

Name. her name means blossom or flower because she was born around the time that the fire lillies bloom.  

Friendships. hanae has many friends in the palace, she knows a lot of the other workers by their names and has friends on all levels just because she's so easy to talk to. she's that friend that'll remember your birthday and get you a gift or even make you one months before. though she's the head servant she treats everyone with respect yet she can be strict when she has to because making the fire lord happy is the most important thing at the end.

Love. hanae is a hopeless romantic, it started when she saw the play love amongst the dragons when she was a student. the ending was the two characters being together despite their differences but learn they're more alike than they really think. she likes reading romantic stories with koharu and gushing about it. she's not the type to think ahead, she's more of a live in the moment kind of her girl but she hopes that her love life with ozai will end like the play, two people from different world having a happy ending.   

Firenation. hanae is super loyal to her nation, in their eyes they do no wrong. she's proud to be from the fire nation and would never talk bad about it. she believes the fire lord and royal family are great people helping the rest of the world, and that the war is to spread greatness. it only makes sense for the fire nation to conquer and destroy other lands because they're the superior nation. working in the royal palace only made this ideaology more drilled into her head than the normal person. 

Alcohol. the first time she drank was with during a day off with the other workers. they had hotpot after hours eating the left over ingredients lying around. other say she becomes cute when she's drunk. she's drank a few times with ozai and becomes extra affectionate being the kind of cute that she would call cringy if she was sober. 

Poems. she has another journal that she writes poems in that express how she feels that day. sometimes when she's alone she reads her poems aloud like its a monologue performing it in front of an audience. she can make poems so easily that she can make one of the spot if you ask her, and it'll actually be good. she's read a poem in front of ozai before and even he was impressed with her skills.