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Chapter fifteen- Crossroads of Destiny

The general distrust in the room did nothing to Lu Ten’s confidence as he paced back and forth in front of the gathered men watching him raptly.

“The Earth King and the Council of Five do not trust the Dai Li. They imprisoned and murdered your leader, Long Feng. Soon they will do the same to all of you. Seizing power today will determine your fate. This coup must be swift and decisive. The Earth King and each of the five generals must be taken out simultaneously.” He came to a stop in front of an agent whose eyes were narrowed above his vertical cheek scar, “I do hope that you all understand what is expected of you?”

The agent said nothing and Lu Ten pretended to smile at him.

He had to pretend that he felt sympathy for the untimely demise of their former leader even though it had brought him untold satisfaction to place his ‘evidence’. 

None of them said anything so he announced, “you are dismissed.”

The men dutifully filed out and Lu Ten approached Mai and Ty Lee who were sharing tea.

He did not find the awe on their faces that should have been there.

Mai handed him a cup but he curled his lip at the beverage and placed it down on the table.

“Did any of them know when Azula would be back?” Ty Lee prodded.

Lu Ten pressed his lips together, tempted to tell her that she needed to focus.

That he was far more interested in achieving what the Dragon of the West couldn’t, even if Uncle Ozai probably wouldn’t agree with that sentiment.

“Once everything is in place, I’m sure we can find a way to lure her back to the city,” Lu Ten replied.

“And what about Zuko and your father?” Mai asked as Ty Lee slumped down.

Lu Ten had to cover his mouth to hide his distaste and instead tried to look thoughtful. 

“They have much to answer for, but I’m sure Uncle Ozai will be willing to talk to them if we can get them home,” Lu Ten replied.

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged doubtful looks but the prince was already walking away.

S

Iroh walked slowly towards the looming palace.

Midday sun glinted in his ember irises and some long-dead part of him was telling his muscles that they should be tense and he measured up the posted guards who did not react to the new arrivals.

Reflectively, Iroh said, “many times I imagined myself here, at the threshold of the palace. But I always thought I would be here as a conqueror. Instead, we are the Earth King’s personal guests, here to serve him tea. Destiny is a funny thing.”

“It sure is, uncle,” Zuko said enthusiastically.

The pair shared a smile before passing under the Earth Kingdom’s emblem and into the palace to meet the king.

S 

Appa was flying towards the Earth King’s palace as fast as he was physically capable of, but Azula still wasn’t satisfied with the speed.

Not until she knew that her girlfriend was safe.

In the saddle, Toph could feel the fast pounding of the Avatar’s heart so offered her something else to give her attention to.

“So how did it go with the Guru? Did you master the Avatar State?” Toph asked.

Azula looked away from the impending palace wall and replied, “of course.”

There was only one person on the bison who knew that she was lying and, thankfully, neither Sokka nor Toph could see the Air Nomad.

If they could, they would be able to see an unimpressed spirit boring into the unmoving Avatar.

She couldn’t admit that she failed to achieve both of her goals with Pathik.

There was only one person that she would consider telling that she failed before revealing it to the rest of the tea,

Toph didn’t pick up any indication of her lie, but Sokka somehow adorned an expression of suspicion. 

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes I am,” Azula replied and returned to looking straight ahead, leaving no room for further interrogation. 

S

Being in a palace again was nice.

Seeing the kind of decadence that could surely only be attainable through birthright was almost inspiring to Zuko.

If only he wasn’t here as a serving boy, he could have smiled fully.

As it was, he sat at the table opposite his uncle, who was pouring tea.

“What’s taking so long?” Zuko asked impatiently.

Iroh shrugged, placing the pot down lightly, “maybe the Earth King overslept.”

Dai Li circled them as he spoke and Zuko bristled.

“Something’s not right,” he growled, standing up ready to defend them both.

This notion vanished as a young man walked through the circle of agents.

“Lu Ten,” Iroh breathed, noting how he had somehow taken charge of these men.

In another life, he would have been incredibly proud of his son.

Circumstances had changed dramatically following his ‘death’.

He no longer wanted to rule the world, but unfortunately had no idea how it was that he could convince the prince to take a trip to the Spirit World with him.

It was the only way that he could think to demonstrate to his son that the Fire Nation was undeserving of his loyalty.

“Father,” Lu Ten replied, none of the Dai Li reacting to this as he swivelled round to their other captive, “and Zuko.”

Zuko sneered, but Iroh swallowed hard.

The hatred did not suit his son, but it was undeniable.

His intention was undeniable.

He would hurt his cousin in an effort to somehow atone for the last five, lonely years.

Iroh could not allow this to happen.

Not just for Zuko, he knew that Lu Ten as he remembered him would not be able to recover from taking the life of a member of their family.

With the extent to which they were currently outnumbered, he saw only one option to get away from this. 

He had to try reasoning with the boy, even if he already had an inkling of how it would end. 

“Please Lu Ten, whatever it is you’re about to do…”

“About to do?” Lu Ten laughed, gesturing around him widely, “I have already achieved more than you ever could. Do you know how ashamed I was to learn that the Dragon of the West abandoned his station?!”

Iroh set his jaw and replied, “I was told you were dead!”

“Stop lying!” Lu Ten boomed, “I know the truth.”

Against his better judgement, Iroh scooped up his tea.

It was obvious that getting captured would hamper his ability to eventually get his son to listen to reason. 

Plus, of his two family members in the room, his son was physically safe, unlike his nephew.

“Do you remember how I got the nickname Dragon of the West?” Iroh asked, knowing it would serve as sufficient warning for the boy that had witnessed the trick on multiple occasions.

Lu Ten stumbled back so that he was out of the blast zone, but didn’t get to the tip-off his agents in time.

Iroh had already drunk the tea, Zuko moving behind him in preparation. 

He was wearing a weary frown, uncomfortable with what his uncle was about to do for him.

Iroh blew out the tea and blazing fire seared around the circle, giving them the room to flee.

Outside the palace wall, all that could be seen was the sudden explosion that destroyed the wall and gave Iroh the chance to jump down into the collection of bushes below that cushioned his fall.

Zuko stopped at the edge.

“Come on!” Iroh urged, “you’ll be fine!”

“No!” Zuko snapped, “I’m tired of running! I can get him to listen!” 

“Zuko!” Iroh shouted and smacked his forehead as the prince rushed away from him.

Zuko didn’t have to move far before he was faced with Lu Ten approaching leisurely with his agents at his back.

“ You can get me to listen?” Lu Ten asked, his smile becoming more twisted now that his father was out of sight.

“You have to believe, he didn’t know! He mourned for you every day!” Zuko said desperately.

“I don’t believe you,” Lu Ten replied, “even if I did, do you really think I expected to return to find that my father had not only given up on the siege but allowed his brother to take his throne, to take my birthright?!”

“That’s what this is about?” Zuko asked, disgusted, “getting your title back? Do you really think there is anything you can do for my father to get that?”

“His current options are disappointingly limited,” Lu Ten replied and waved his hand, already walking away.

Zuko tore forward, not really thinking through his decision to shoot a fire blast at the older teen.

The Dai Li agents intervened though, pulling up a section of the floor to make a wall. 

This threw Zuko off-balance as the rock gloves also enveloped his feet.

The hand that he put down to catch himself was then also bound.

Lu Ten, already halfway down the hall, grinned.

Perhaps on the spot execution was not called for as he’d recently imagined?

 He could only picture the satisfaction that would come from Zuko facing the fact that his own father did not love him.

S

“Katara’s fine. You have nothing to worry about.”

It was the string of words that Azula most wanted to hear since feeling the Eastern Air Temple, but they brought her very little comfort.

It didn’t matter that they were coming directly from King Kuei himself. 

The man did not exactly have the best track record when it came to the goings-on of his own city.

There was also the fact that she could hear Katara’s scream in her mind.

That had to be real.

“Are you sure?” Azula demanded, her voice echoing around the king’s throne room. 

“Well, she met with the Council of Generals to plan the invasion and, since then, she’s been off with your friends, the Kyoshi Warriors,” the king replied. 

Sokka relaxed, draping his arm over the Avatar, “See, Azula? She’s with Suki, they’re probably back at our apartment right now talking about make-up or something.”

Azula looked at the warrior sceptically but the king interjected, “believe me, if there was any danger at all, Bosco’s animal instincts would sense it.”

Beside the throne, the snoozing bear, who was better dressed than the majority of the refugees, lifted his head sleepily.

Azula extricated herself from Sokka and said, “Thank you, Your Majesty, but I would prefer to check on Katara myself.”

Not at all insulted, Bosco went back to sleep.    

S

She should have told her!

The moment hadn’t felt special enough, especially with the rest of Team Avatar around during their parting.

As she remembers what could be the last time she would get to see her girlfriend, Katara wished that she had told Azula that she was irrevocably in love with her.

With the world hanging in the balance, it perhaps shouldn’t be at the top of her list of worries, but she couldn’t see this ending any other way. 

Azula and Sokka wouldn’t be back for days, who knew what Lu Ten could achieve by then?

It would certainly be enough time for the prince to set up an ambush in a city that they thought was completely safe.

The inevitability of not seeing Toph, her brother or her girlfriend ever again fuelled her packing back and forth across the crystal that was impenetrable no matter how much she water-whipped it.

She stopped as it broke apart above her and twisted around in time to see a Dai Li agent materialise. 

“You’ve got company,” he grunted and deposited his captive.

Zuko groaned as he rolled until he was at Katara’s feet.

Katara stepped back as the glimpse of the burnt skin registered and she adorned a mask of anger, “Zuko!”

The disgraced prince propped himself up on his elbow and he widened his eyes.

The crystal closed behind the retreating agent.

S

Appa crossed from the palace to their temporary home remarkably quickly but Azula still felt like it took an eternity.

She was off the bison before he even touched the ground so Sokka and Toph barged into the house a couple of seconds after her.

Azula finished surveying the area before they got there, during which Momo emerged and scurried onto her shoulder.

The Avatar placed her hand onto the shaking lemur, becoming increasingly sure that there was no reason to trust in a bear’s instincts.

“There’s no one else here!” Toph announced, the quiver in her voice betraying that she was harbouring more concern for Katara than she would ever verbalise.

Azula dragged her hand across her face, imagining what she could do to Long Feng to find out where her girlfriend was.

“Oh no!” Sokka said. 

“Wait! Someone’s at the door,” Toph said, approaching to pull it open. 

Through her blinding worry for Katara, Azula somehow registered two things at once. 

The first was that she recognised their uninvited visitor and the second was Sokka instinctively unsheathed his boomerang. 

She caught it just before it collided with the Dragon of the West, who didn’t even flinch. 

“Sokka!” She admonished, “you can’t throw this at my uncle!”

Sokka threw his arms out, close to his breaking point as he retorted, “why not? I threw it at your dad!”

“Do you not remember how that turned out?!” Azula asked. 

Sokka’s shoulders slumped and he patted at the phantom pain in his stomach. 

“I’m sorry but every time one of your relatives shows up, one of us almost dies!” Sokka bit back.

Iroh leaned past Azula, momentarily forgetting that he was her on an important mission for aid. 

“You threw this at my brother?” He asked.

Sokka shrugged, “he dodged it but…yeah I did.”

“That’s impressive,” Iroh replied.

Suddenly bashful, Sokka scratched at the back of his neck, “Er…thanks. I think so too.”

Taking this as an invitation, Iroh inched closer to the threshold with his hands up.

“Please, believe me, Azula, I am not here to hurt you. I need your help,” Iroh said, becoming more sullen now that his mental image of Ozai being hit with a boomerang was fading. 

“Help with what?” Sokka asked, still sounding over-protective. 

“Lu Ten is in Ba Sing Se,” Iroh said, clenching his fist as he uttered his son’s name.

Azula’s eyes widened, instantly knowing that it could not be a coincidence that her cousin was her and her girlfriend was missing.

“Uncle, I’m…” Azula started, but the former general held up his hand to cut off any show of remorse for her role in what happened to Lu Ten.

“He had your brother, will you help me get him back?” Iroh interjected. 

He only could worry about Zuko’s physical safety right now. 

“Of course uncle,” Azula replied, Iroh only pausing for a second in shock.

He witnessed a lot of evidence of how different she was, but an actual interaction with the Avatar was somewhat jarring. 

“Are we seriously not focusing on Katara right now?” Sokka called over the group, “I know he’s your brother but he’s still Zuko…”

“Lu ten would probably keep them together,” Azula said, missing off ‘if they’re alive’ from the end.

She also missed the addition of how nice it would be to have a competent adult on their side for once.

Instead, she said, “We stand a better chance united.”

Sokka crossed his arms and dragged his teeth over his lip as he replied, “fine. Do you have a plan?”

Iroh nodded to the door and left the house to lead the teens to the nervous, flailing agent that had been effectively peeled away from the pack.

Toph bent two pillars to force him to stand up and reveal the scar on his cheek, while Iroh removed the gag that he had placed there.

This prompted him to release the truth that the former general had already drawn from him forcibly. 

“Long Feng is dead. The Dai Li believed that the evidence points to King Kuei. Lu Ten has offered us a plan to overthrow the king out of revenge,” the agent explained in a hoarse voice. 

“How could the Dai Li think that King Kuei is capable of that?” Azula asked.

The agent frowned as if he’d only just thought about that, but Sokka cut off any follow-up questions.

“That’s not important. Where are they keeping Katara?” He asked, squaring up in preparation for the possibility that the agent required extra convincing.

The captured agent needed nothing of the sort, he replied, “In the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se, deep beneath the palace.”

With a destination, Team Avatar and Iroh rushed away with none of them thinking about letting the beaten agent out of his binds. 

S

Back in the Crystal Catacombs, Katara’s fists were balled hard at her sides.

Zuko had only flipped himself over so that he was now sitting, but otherwise, was not reacting as her shouting echoed around the ancient city.

“Why did they throw you in here?” She demanded but left no room for a reply, “oh wait, let me guess, it’s a trap. So hat when Azula shows up to help me, you can finally sacrifice her for your stupid honour?!”

Zuko twisted so that he was no longer facing her and she continued:

“You’re a terrible person! You know that?! Always following us! Hunting your own sister! Trying to capture the world’s last hope for peace. After what your people did to my mother, I thought that spreading war and violence and hatred was in your blood, but Azula proved that wrong a long time ago! She can change, why can’t you?!|”

Zuko set his jaw and turned around with narrowed eyes.

“She changed to save her own life! If she wasn’t the Avatar, she would be telling Lu Ten what to do right now! She would be next in line to be Fire Lord!”

This rendered Katara silent.

She’d never really considered that there was some alternate universe with Fire Lord Azula.

That there could be a scenario where she wouldn’t be longing to see her. 

Her unwillingness to think about such a reality led her to reply, defensively, “that doesn’t matter! She has done everything to be better!”

Zuko stood, crossing his arms and looking her up and down.

Did he have anyone who would defend him with such passion?

He may have finally gone too far past Iroh’s tolerance by confronting Lu Ten.

“You think that she’s so great, but did she ever tell you what happened to our mother ?” Zuko spat, resentment bubbling up and latching onto what seemed to be the most painful word that Katara had shouted at him. 

With Katara being the second person to tell him to be more like Azula, he had reached peak prickliness.

“She told me she was nine!” Katara replied, but stopped her onslaught upon finding the downturn of the banished prince’s mouth. He expected Azula to have never brought it up but he couldn’t understand the relationship she had with his sister and she almost felt sorry for him.

It was for this reason that she gave him something, “she told me she was banished, but not why.”

Zuko’s arms flopped limply and his eyes widened.

“Banished? Azula said ‘banished’?” He demanded stepping forward so Katara moved back, clenching her fingers as if there were any water to bend. 

“Yeah she did, why does that matter?”

“Because that could mean…that could mean she’s alive!” Zuko exclaimed.

Now out of things to yell, Katara stared at the prince’s processing face. 

S

Near the palace, Toph felt along the ground until she found what she was searching for.

“Well, what’d you know?” The earthbender said, “there is an ancient city down there. But it’s deep.”

To punctuate her exclamation, she created a tunnel and set about leading the way towards the Crystal Catacombs but Sokka halted her.

“We should split up. Azula, you go with your uncle to look for Katara and the jerk…” he trailed off, realising that he was now insulting Zuko to two of his relatives.

Azula appeared disinterested, focusing on the tunnel, so he addressed Iroh, “no offence.”

Iroh shrugged and replied, “None taken.”

“And I’ll go with Toph to warn the king of Lu Ten’s coup,” Sokka finished.

The team split in two with no objections, Iroh igniting a flame above his palm to light the way.

This gave him a good view of the surreal sight of his niece pushing back the earth to lengthen their path downwards.

It did have him briefly wonder why his brother would be foolish enough to push the Avatar away.

A version of Avatar Azula who was still loyal to the Fire Lord would have probably ended well for him.

That version of her certainly would not have agreed to join him, so it was a huge relief that Ozai was more short-sighted than most would guess.

The Avatar seemed content to bend in silence but did glance at the fire her uncle was bending before pushing the rock again.

The envy gave Iroh pause and he couldn’t resist spouting his statement, “I sense that something bothers you, Azula.”

Azula closed her hands just as she was about to deepen the tunnel.

She wanted to prolong the silence, as awkward as it was, but asked, “how could you…”

Iroh smiled kindly, glad not to receive an instant denial of his claim, and explained, “you and Zuko are not as different as you would each like to think.”

Azula sighed and turned from the end of the tunnel.

As much as she craved to find Katara, it would probably be difficult to talk to the master fire bender once he was reunited with Zuko.

No matter how much he changed, she doubted that the banished prince would be okay with helping the Avatar.

She opened her hand to show him the orange flame that stuttered to life, “We’re more similar than ever,” Azula said, closing her fingers in embarrassment, “A guru offered a chance to fix it, but I saw Katara in danger and I…”

Recovering from his surprise quickly, Iroh interjected, “And you chose love overpower? This is not a bad thing Azula.”

Azula’s eyes widened.

She’d never really thought about her family knowing about her relationship.

Not only as Katara of the same sex as her, but she was a peasant from a foreign land.

She quite literally couldn’t have chosen someone less likely to be accepted by the royal family. 

 Some instinctual part of her replied involuntarily, “Love? I don’t…”

Iroh chuckled which cut her off from the sentence that even felt wrong as it formed in her mouth.

He’d never heard Azula stammer before, it was the closest thing to a child that she had ever sounded.

“There is no need to lie,” he said, “your feelings for Katara are obvious.”

Azula swallowed.

Of all her family members, she wouldn’t have thought her uncle’s acceptance would mean much, but the strange bloom in her chest told a different story.

The sensation spurred her to ask, “And you’re not…disgusted by that?”

Iroh frowned until he touched his beard thoughtfully, “Ah yes, that foolish law. I never understood my grandfather’s issue but I suppose that our family has never been very good at love. Let me be clear, Azula,” he placed his hand onto the teenager’s shoulder as if it were natural for them, “I am proud of you regardless of who you love and I’m sorry that your father is incapable of feeling what he should.”

Azula bit her bottom lip to stop a shaking breath as she looked down to her feet, officially caught off guard. 

It meant so much more than it should, so perhaps he deserved something in return?

Reluctantly, she looked up to the older man and said, “about Lu Ten…”

Iroh took his hand back, “you don’t…”

“He tried to send you a letter every day but my father intercepted and pruned them all. He thought you abandoned him and so he changed. I’m sorry uncle, I should have…”

Iroh held up his hand, “this may surprise you, but I know what it is like to be loyal to the Fire Lord, to blindly follow his commands, including taking my fourteen-year-old son to war. In my youth, I would have done anything your grandfather asked of me. It took a lot of time and effort to learn that was I was wrong to do so, much more than it did for yourself.”

Uncomfortable again, Azula quickly changed the subject, “do you have a plan to get through to Lu Ten?”

“I had hoped that Zuko would no longer need me before I sought him out, I thought I was close but…”

“He’s Zuko?” Azula supplied.

Accompanied by a laugh, Iroh said, “exactly.”

Azula felt that phantom itch on her palm again and thought about bringing their talk back to her weak flames but pushed through it.

She should be helping her uncle get closer to reconnecting with his son.

She owed him that much.

“Well we can start by getting him to safety,” Azula said, turning to take up her bending towards the Crystal City.

s

Toph and Sokka ran up the stairs to their destination, Momo flying behind them, but the warrior threw out his arm upon seeing a man rushing up ahead.

“There’s General How!” Sokka whispered and pulled a compliant Toph behind a pillar as How continued up the stairs.

It gave Sokka a view of at least a few of the agents clinging to the other pillars before they revealed themselves. 

How barely had any time to react before his wrists were bound in rock and he was pulled to the ground. 

“What’s going on here?!” How grunted towards the agent who landed before him.

“You’re under house arrest,” the Dai Li agent replied to the struggling general.

Sokka’s eyes widened, counting too many agents for them to be of any help to their captive.

“The coup is happening right now! We’ve gotta warn the Earth King!” Sokka rushed out and he, Toph and Momo went at full speed while the four other generals were tied up in separate sections of the palace.

All of the men released similar growls of indignation at the Dai Li agents that appeared before them.

Meanwhile, Sokka, Toph and Momo had just reached the king who was sitting on his throne as if nothing was happening.

Kuei even smiled at the portion of Team Avatar.

Sokka put his hands on his knees and said, “thank goodness, we’re in time!”

“In time for what?” Kuei asked, his smile falling into confusion. 

“Yeah, what are you in time for?” A higher voice asked before its owner cartwheeled right in front of him.

Sokka recognised Ty Lee as soon as she narrowed her eyes at him, no doubt in response to recognising that he had Katara’s eyes.

That hatred underneath the Kyoshi makeup had Sokka scowling.

Toph knocked her back with a wave of earth, but the acrobat flipped over it before it could make contact.

“They’re not the real Kyoshi warriors!”

Kuei gasped and stood from his throne, staring at the girl lounging on the stairs. 

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Mai said sarcastically and then shot a collection of daggers at the earthbender who blocked them swiftly with a shield of rock.

She launched the shield at Mai which got her up so that she could jump and land near Toph but was then knocked over by a pillar of earth. 

Toph smiled triumphantly.

Meanwhile, Ty Lee was again in front of Sokka, punching jabs at the warrior who dodged each one by stepping back.

As she threw the punches, Ty Lee asked, “Is Azula here?”

Sokka ducked under her fist and replied, “You know she has a girlfriend, right?”

Ty Lee stopped, her nostrils flaring, which got worse as Toph added, “yeah, they’re disgustingly in love.”

The anger manifested in a flying kick directed at the Water Tribe warrior’s face, but he rolled out of the way.

“Stop this foolishness now!”

All present turned towards the throne, where Kuei was being held tightly. 

The king hadn’t even noticed the ‘Kyoshi Warrior’s attendant’ until he found himself restrained with an orange flame across his throat.

Toph and Sokka surrendered without question and Ty Lee was quick to chi block them with pleasure.

Momo tried to fly away to find Azula but was caught by a rock glove which pulled him down to the ground as the Dai Li emerged.

Lu Ten shoved the king towards them and said, “take them away.”

A few of the agents complied while the rest of them gathered, bowing their heads.

Mai and Ty Lee wearily looked at each other as Lu Ten smirked. 

“Can we look for Azula now?” Ty Lee begged.

“There’s something I must do first,” the prince replied, not picking up on the doubt creeping into his companion’s gazes.

He would have found it difficult to care as he, at last, sat upon the Earth King’s throne. 

s

Back in the Crystal Catacombs, a stunned silence remained between Katara and Zuko.

The latter of the pair was consumed completely by the revelation.

If it was true that Urs had been banished all his time, perhaps he could have dedicated his banishment to finding her?

Assuming that Azula wouldn’t lie to Katara, he could imagine that he could have been much happier with the parent that undoubtedly loved him rather than trying to get back to the one who he wished might.

Unable to take the silence anymore, Katara piped up, “I’m sorry I yelled at you before.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Zuko replied absently, too occupied by how his mother would react to him in his current form.

“We spent so long trying to protect you and your uncle from the Dai Li, I guess I was just frustrated,” Katara admitted.

Zuko’s attention was officially drawn in by this.

“Why would we need protection?” He asked.

“Didn’t Iroh tell you?” Katara replied, genuinely surprised as Zuko shook his head, bewildered, “the reason that we were in Ba Sing Se for so long is that the Dai Li Threatened to kill the two of you if we went to the Earth King. Azula couldn’t risk that…”

Zuko looked genuinely confused to the point that Katara felt sorry for him.

He rubbed at his face while considering this and drew Katara’s gaze up to his scar.

Up close, it was much worse, especially since she was acutely aware of how it happened. 

Her hand came up to fiddle with the phial of spirit water attached to her necklace and she wondered whether this could be what Pakku envisioned it being used for.

With the master’s disdain for Azula, she doubted he would be fond of her brother.

Still, Zuko without his scar felt like an entirely different person, potentially one who could live free of the past that was currently written all over his young face. 

Deciding that anyone subjected to being raised by Ozai deserved at least a chance to be better, Katara began, “you know, I could…”

The waterbender didn’t get to finish her generous offer, however, as the crystal split apart across from the unlikely pair.

The dust cleared and the offer flew from her mind while she registered the two figures entering the catacombs.

More specifically, relief bloomed as she recognised the shorter one and was hit with the revelation that she hadn’t missed the chance to ever see her girlfriend again.

“Azula!” Katara shouted and ran past Iroh who was approaching Zuko wearing a smile.

The banished prince didn’t take this in, however, he was too busy watching Katara enthusiastically bringing his sister into a tight hug.

That was strange enough, but what happened next left him flabbergasted.

Katara drew back and connected their lips.

The kiss was short but it gave Zuko enough time to look to his uncle for signs that he didn’t see this coming either.

The former general grasped his nephew’s shoulder and only smiled further at the youthful couple.

Of course, Zuko wasn’t able to just be happy for his little sister without first displaying some suspicion, but after their conversation, Iroh no longer saw any issue unambiguously supporting this new, unexpected version of his niece.

Zuko shrugged off Iroh’s hand and demanded loudly enough that Katara and Azula let each other go-to face him:

“Uncle, I don’t understand…what are you doing with Azula?!”

It seemed more pressing than the kiss, though, he was finally beginning to understand what could have turned Princess Azula against the Fire Nation.

He often thought that it couldn’t be out of some innate Avatar-induced sense of duty.

Azula tangled her fingers with Katara’s and bit back, “Resucing you dum dum!”

Zuko growled and made to launch forward at her but was held back by a strong grip.

“The two of you must stop fighting!” Iroh admonished his brother’s children.

“I stopped a long time ago,” Azula replied and Zuko tried for another confrontational step.

Somehow the antagonisation of her voice had overrides his desire to know why she would want to protect them or to demand what he knew about their mother.

“Zuko, it’s time we talked,” Iroh commands, and in the other’s direction, “Azula, you should help your other friends. We will catch up with you.”

The Avatar placed her closed fist into her flat palm and bowed deeply to the Dragon of the West. 

“Thank you uncle,” she replied and shot narrowed eyes at Zuko, sure that he’d at least said something hurtful to her girlfriend. 

Zuko returned the expression almost exactly as she took Katara’s hand again and led her away.

The waterbender looked at Zuko sadly as he went, wishing that she could urge the siblings to have the kind of conversation that they so desperately needed to have.

Zuko tried to go after the Avatar but Iroh blocked his path. 

Hurt tinged into his voice, Zuko asked, “why, uncle?”

“You’re not the man you used to be, Zuko,” Iroh replied, smiling proudly at his nephew, “you are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It’s time for you to choose, it’s time for you to choose good.”

Zuko contemplated this, picturing what ‘good’ would look like for him.

His father no longer felt like a legitimate option.

There was simply no way that he could take Azula without his uncle on his side.

He didn’t get to try and convince him that the Fire Nation was good despite all of the evidence to the contrary as crystals grew around Iroh, encasing him tightly.

Zuko yelled out, raising his hands offensively towards the agents sliding down into the chamber with their new leader at their front.

“Hello father,” Lu Ten said, grinning from ear-to-ear at the trapped former general, “I’m sure you’ll be proud to know that the Earth King had been taken down, it’s just a shame that a traitor can’t attend the celebrations.”

Iroh stared back at his son, disarmed again by just how different the boy was.

By what his brother did to him.

 “Release him immediately,” Zuko commanded since Iroh didn’t appear to have any words of wisdom prepared for the elder prince. 

A flaming blade blew out from Lu Ten’s palm, but he instantly reconsidered, extinguishing it as soon as it appeared. 

Zuko could almost detect the idea passing over his face and it made him warier.

“It’s not too late for you, Zuko, you can still redeem yourself if you help me,” he offered, adorning a charming smile that wasn’t even trying to be genuine.

Somehow, Zuko felt some underlying pull toward him.

He didn’t want to be banished anymore.

He didn’t want to settle for a life in the Earth kingdom that would be ‘good enough’ until the Fire Nation won the war and ruined it.

Most of all, he didn’t want to live in a world where his little sister was the Avatar.

“Why would you want that?” Zuko asked, his eyes becoming slits.

“I’m offering you everything, Zuko. You can go home, get your honour back and your father’s love. What does it matter why?” Lu Ten asked, spreading his hands as the second alibi he would need came together in his mind.

He was sure that he could find a way to make it work once he finally got home.

“Lu Ten, please, you must listen…” Iroh started but the young man whipped around to him.

“Silence father!” He shouted loud enough to stun the Dragon of the West and then, to Zuko, “you are free to choose, though I will remind you that this will be your final chance at redemption.”

Lu Ten waved to his men in lieu of a verbal command and the Dai Li earthbent the wall to allow the pursuit of the Avatar.

Iroh remained in stunned silence and Zuko hung his head.

It should be an easy decision.

Katara and Azula ran through the catacombs up ahead, a pace that started as soon as the waterbender was informed of the state of things.

“We've got to find Sokka and Toph,” Katara huffed through deep breaths.

Before Azula could agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, a wall of flame crashed just in front of them.

Azula reacted in time to wrench earth up to block it from touching either of them.

Simultaneously, Katara threw both arms out to blast the water flowing beside them at the next incoming attack.

The steam cleared to reveal Lu Ten landing, wearing a smug smile.

Azula’s jaw clenched.

Seeing his face was enough to have her forget her unspoken vow of pacifism, but the acceptance from her uncle was still lingering.

It was what stopped her from testing whether she could still lightening bend.

Instead, she thrust out both palms to create a gale-force wind directed at the prince.

He leapt out of its path and onto some jutting crystal to push off and kick three successive balls of flame to then land on one of the many pillars.

The first two blasts were caught by Katara’s fast water and the third by a ball of air from which Azula shifted to twist her hand so that the pillar beneath her cousin started to crumble. 

Lu Ten gasped as the structural integrity failed and he was forced to jump down so that he landed between the two younger benders.

He blew out a breath and asked, “What no fire Zu? Afraid of embarrassing yourself?”

Azula dug her nails into her palm and Katara frowned at the odd reaction. If there was one thing that she was sure that the Avatar couldn’t be questioned on, it was her firebending ability, but the look on her face told another story.

“What are you talking about?” She demanded.

Lu Ten tilted his head, his smirk returning as he asked, “Come now, have you been lying, Zu? And to your girlfriend no less. I thought you didn’t do that anymore?”

Finding shame on the Avatar, Katara demanded again, “what is he talking about, Azula?!”

Azula swallowed hard. 

Maybe if she had told Katara about this from the beginning, she would have been talked out of going to the Guru? They may not be in their current position if she wasn’t afraid of appearing weak, even to the one person in the world who she knew wouldn’t think less of her because of it?

Now was not the time for long explanations of intention, however, so she punched out two bursts of flames in the vain hope that the events of the last day had somehow culminated in the return of the blue.

She still didn’t understand what it was that resulted in it going away, so it couldn’t be impossible surely?

Unfortunately, that proved not to be the case, the orange flames did not even reach their target before they stuttered out. 

The display was better than anything Lu Ten could have hoped for, especially as another royal joined them in time to witness it.

Zuko appeared to still be unsure, but Lu Ten now knew exactly what to say to convince him, “I’m so glad you got to see the cost of betrayal, Zuko. Do you really want to accept weakness like your little sister?”

Azula tore her eyes away from the disappointment in Katara’s.

She knew very well that it wasn’t because of the ineffectual flames but because Lu Ten knew something about her that she wasn’t privy to. 

 Right now, Azula couldn’t think of a good reason to have kept it from her.

The widening of Zuko’s eyes didn’t help either.

If there was anything that could convince her brother of which side he should choose, it was the display of weakness.

Zuko fell to the expectations of his sister and their cousin as something snapped in him and he made his decision. 

 He blasted fire at the Avatar, who readily jumped out of the way.

Lu Ten smiled, watching as Zuko frantically punched flame after flame at his sister, which she blocked easily. 

He turned to try and take out the waterbender. 

 s

In the depths of the palace, Sokka pressed his face against the bars in the door that kept him, Toph and the Earth King in their prison cell.

His face had been firmly placed there since the trio were unceremoniously thrown in there.

“See any Dai Li agents nearby?” Toph prompted.

Sokka swivelled his gaze a few more times and finally stepped back satisfied with his assessment.

“Nope, all clear.”

Toph loudly cracked her knuckles while she took his place at the door into which she dug her fingers.

Vibrations passed through the impurities as they did for the last cage she was in.

She pulled the metal apart, Sokka and Kuei watching in awe as it crumpled like parchment and was then thrown from its hinges.

Sokka grabbed the stunned king to unroot him so that they could both follow Toph.

“Let’s go!” Sokka called.

“I’m not leaving without Bosco!” Kuei protested.

S

Azula did her best to keep tabs on what was happening with Katara and Lu Ten.

Of course, Zuko was making it difficult by being his usual persistent self,

She had a flurry of fire to dodge while she determined that Katara was faring well.

As talented as Lu Ten was, he’d never fought a waterbender before a fact that Katara was taking advantage of near the stream running through the crystal.

Katara just sent a sharp wave that almost hit Lu Ten’s surprised face as Azula pulled up a pillar of earth to launch herself over her brother. This both took her out of the path of his attacks and obstructed her view of her girlfriend who she was confident did not need any help.

This allowed her to focus on not getting burned by Zuko.

Just because she was having difficulties controlling her own flames, she hadn’t lost the ability to predict the trajectory of his telegraphed strikes.

This frustrated Zuko exponentially with each burst of orang that was swallowed by air or water or jumped over with the aid of pillars of earth.

With the Avatar perching on one of the said pillars, Zuko balled his fists.

He could have used the opportunity to ask what happened to her fire, but the words that burst from him instead were, “why won’t you fight me?”

Azula’s response was similarly ill-thought-out, perhaps spurred on by the recently opened truth chakra?

“Because Zuko, this isn’t what mom wanted!” She replied exasperatedly. 

Zuko dropped his stance, just as shocked by her words as she was.

He wet his lips, afraid of the answer to his question, “is she…is she alive?”

“Of course,” Azula replied, really considering the day of her disappearance now. Had Zuko seriously thought that she was quietly disposed of? It never really occurred to her that her brother had not been made privy to the truth, but he and Ozai never engaged in a real conversation as far as she was aware. Maybe this could make him reconsider his choice? “Father banished her to…”

Zuko, who was hanging onto each word, jumped back as the fire hit the pillar so that Azula was forced to leap high before finishing the sentence.

She landed roughly and stood with a frustrated sigh as she found Lu Ten blocking her path.

She briefly made sure that Katara was still fine.

The wave that hit Zuko proved that Lu Ten had not managed to harm her before she twisted her hand to bring up sharp crystals as Lu Ten blasted flames behind him to fly at her. 

S

Mai pressed her fingers into her temple, unable to give any of her attention to the pathetic creature she had been charged with.

Ty Lee had at last reached the end of her tether and set off in pursuit of Azula, insisting that it didn’t take two elite warriors to guard a noisy bear.

Having been alone for some time now, Mai felt a gloomier cloud than usual hang over her.

She could just feel that something bad was about to happen, but wasn’t sure to which side.

Lu Ten was characteristically evasive before disappearing, unwilling to reveal what he was doing, but there were only three things on his list of priorities now.

All three were his relatives, but it remained to be seen whether he had any intention of bringing them home.

If the prince was only acting on the orders of Fire Lord Ozai, who Mai had no doubt wouldn’t grieve for very long if he were to lose either of his children, then who was she to argue with him?

Any attempt to stop Lu Ten from whatever he was planning to do would surely be classed as treason, right?

As boring as the Fire Nation could be, she was no traitor!

Or could she be?

Which of the royal family would she be willing to become banished from her life of luxury for?

Without interacting properly with either Zuko or Azula for years, it was difficult to say which of them deserved her loyalty.

While the noble girl toiled over this unsolvable issue, the rock beneath her other palm closed around her fingers, pulling her down and keeping her in place. 

She reached for a knife but then realised that there was only one valuable thing in this room.

That bear was only really important to the king running up behind the earthbender and the Water Tribe warrior.

Mai allowed her free hand to move away from the knife as Sokka unsheathed his boomerang, searching for the acrobat who was liable to disable them swiftly and without announcing herself. 

She wasn’t currently available for such a thing, however, so Mai just said, bored, “just take the bear.”

Kuei ran forward, his arms spread wide.

“Bosco!” He shouted.

Bosco growled happily. 

S

In the catacombs, Lu Ten exploded the shards of crystal shielding the Avatar.

She brought the particles together into a concentrated ball, with additional air behind it, and threw it right at him.

He rolled out of the way but stumbled as the water hit him so he had to work hard to raise in time before Azula could flip and launch a small chunk of crystal to knock him out.

Lu Ten ignited a flame in each hand and said, grudgingly, “impressive.”

“I don’t need fire to defeat you,” Azula replied venomously, all anger and frustration crashing down upon her at once.

It was no longer a result of the fact that she was the Avatar destined to save the world, but because the villains in this fractured world had to be her family!

If she was only born as some peasant, she could have readily taken on the Fire Lord already with no conflicting feelings.

Instead, the prince she blasted with water just had to be the cousin that she already turned against her even before her Avatar-ness was revealed.

The water met his stream of fire, bursting into mist around them.

Lu Ten squinted, trying to find his opponent, but she used the circumstances as planned, running round to his back.

She didn’t expect another person to slide into the catacombs, so didn’t bother checking her surroundings. 

The earth underneath Lu Ten shifted as the mist cleared and he crashed down, catching himself at the last second.

At the same moment, Katara succeeded in throwing Zuko to his back, no longer feeling sympathy for him.

This allowed her to notice the clearing mist and the Avatar standing over the downed Lu Ten with a chunk of crystal raised to cause unconsciousness.

Katara almost smiled, but then she registered a blur of pink running up to the scene.

“Az…” she started, but was already too late, three punches were applied down the column of her girlfriend’s spine and she and the rock dropped to the ground. 

Lu Ten stood, wearing a triumphant grin as he looked at the acrobat, not at all irked that she had not stayed put as he ordered.

Then again, he hadn’t imagined that she would have chi blocked the girl she was so clearly in love with.

Azula groaned, trying to blink the blurriness from her gaze, nausea gripping her stomach as she flicked her eyes upwards.

Ty Lee’s eyes widened, unable to believe what she had just done. 

She’d had no idea that the rock was only destined to incapacitate, of course, so she couldn’t allow her friend to live with officially becoming a full-blown traitor. 

With the pain in the ember eyes staring up at her, she wasn’t so sure that she had done the right thing.

Unable to face what she had done, she caught Lu Ten’s eyes, to find that there was not a hint of concern for his cousin in them and she asked, desperately, “can we go home now?” 

Before the prince could reply, two streams of water blasted across the crystal, throwing the pair back.

Lu Ten recovered in time to land on his feet, but the disconcerted acrobat hit an outcropping of crystal falling unconscious. 

This helped Zuko also recover from his abject shock at what had just happened.

Never in his life had he imagined that Ty Lee could chi block Azula, even if she genuinely thought that she was helping her friend. 

Katara flicked a shield of water in front of her to catch Zuko’s latest barrage of flame and shouted, “Azula, please get up!”

The prone Avatar took in deep breaths and scrunched her eyes shut. 

This hurt more than she ever thought it would, but perhaps it wasn’t delivered to its full potential as she found that she was already able to move her fingers.

This fact got her to open her eyes, her vision still dotted with lights made worse by the light reflecting from the crystal all around them.

Her connection to the elements around her did not feel severed as Katara had described following her own chi block in Omashu.

Even so, it took a concerted effort to sit up, feeling a sudden on-set of deja vu as she found Aang in front of her, looking as worried as ever.

The reason for this became clear as her wits began to return to her.

Ignoring the pain in her back, she examined the area just as an army of Dai Li agents jumped down.

Half of them gathered behind Lu Ten who was wholly unconcerned for Ty Lee’s wellbeing as he moved forward with his widest smile yet.

This was more perfect than he could have ever planned.

The other half joined Zuko and Katara was forced to summon an octopus form to defend herself from all sides.

Azula hung her head and dug her nails into her knees.

Katara was powerful, but there were too many of them and, in her current form, there was nothing she could do.

Unfortunately, there was another option which couldn’t be ignored just because she didn’t like it. 

Summoning all of her will, she wrenched up the crystal around her, forming a small tent that gave her enough room to cross her legs. 

Before she closed her eyes, she heard Aang’s voice ask, “Azula…are you sure?”

Azula ran her tongue over her lips. 

The answer was ‘no’. 

The answer was that she did not think it was fair that she couldn’t have Katara after everything else she had already sacrificed.

But the answer was not quite so simple while Katara’s life was in danger.

“We’re outnumbered, I have no choice,” she replied, trying to sound confident, but the words did shake and not just because of the persistent pain in her back while trying to sit up straight. 

“But Katara…”

“I love her too much to let them hurt her.”

Aang was silent for a couple of seconds, but Azula waited for a response still, hoping that the spirit would suddenly remember something that could give her another way. 

Finally, he said, “just…be careful…”

Azula swallowed and closed her eyes.

The knots in her back loosened up and she was transported back to the glowing bridge, thoughts of Katara ‘flowed down the river’ as Pathik instructed and she walked upwards with determination. 

Power surged through her again, increasing in frequency the closer that she got to the image of herself until she was subsumed by the ball of energy held by the giant.

In the physical world, Katara didn’t get to enjoy the satisfaction of knocking Ty Lee out as she was trying to figure out how she could fend off this many men, plus two firebenders.

It seemed far too impossible, but a sharp bluish-white light exploded out from the crystal tent and her mask of concern spread into a relieved smile.

These men had no idea what was about to hit them.

The crystal broke apart to reveal exactly what she knew was coming, the Avatar’s eyes engulfed by white, air whipping around her along with particles of crystal.

The Dai Li were dumbstruck and Katara enjoyed seeing a similar expression on Prince Zuko’s face.

She kept up her water octopus, expecting to find terror on Lu Ten across the catacombs, but it happened so quickly.

Before reaching the top of the ancient city, lightning crashed right into the Avatar’s back. 

Inside Azula’s vision, the orb shattered around her and a moment of terror gripped her. 

She looked around for Aang but saw only the fading bridge before she tumbled downwards into the abyss.

In reality, her physical body was already unconscious, also falling downwards but towards the very real and hard crystal. 

Tears tracked incessantly down Katara’s cheeks as this happened, but she somehow bent her octopus into a wave that carried her over Zuko and the Dai Li to catch her girlfriend before her broken body could receive any further damage. 

Katara’s knees buckled beneath her and she cupped Azula’s cheek while she continued to cry silently.

She no longer cared that she was surrounded by the enemy. 

She buried her face into Azula’s neck, praying to feel breath that wasn’t there.

Lu Ten rubbed his smoking hands together.

He’d conquered the Earth Kingdom and killed the last Avatar in one day, pride was the only word for what he was feeling.

Zuko, on the other hand, approached with his eyes in wide circles, as if a closer look would tell him that it wasn’t as bad as it certainly was.

As if Azula’s chest was moving up and down underneath the smoke curling off her Earth Kingdom garb. 

Reluctantly, Katara dragged her face away from Azula.

Zuko and Lu Ten stood before her and she didn’t bother to determine what their intent was.

As far as she was concerned, they were both planning to take what remained of her girlfriend to the Fire Lord as some twisted trophy and she would not allow that.

Just as she considered whether she would be physically capable of letting go of Azula, the fire blasts started.

Confusingly, they were not directed towards her. 

Lu Ten blocked them as his father leapt down from the wall of the cave, using his body to shield his niece and her girlfriend. 

“You’ve got to get out of here! I’ll hold them off as long as I can!” He announced, refusing to look at Azula. 

He didn’t think that he could handle the chance that she was gone nor that his son could in any way be responsible for her injuries.

Instead, he focused on delivering flame to his son and nephew.

Zuko barely reacted to the attacks, so it essentially became one-on-one trading of blows with Lu Ten as Katara gathered up Azula’s prone body and used her bending to take her up the waterfall and out of sight.

The instant they were gone, Iroh stopped his attacks, not even bothering to deflect the ball of flame heading towards him as the crystal erupted around him to hold the former general in place.

He was vaguely aware of his son telling the Dai Li that there was no reason to go after the dead Avatar, but couldn’t bear to look at him or Zuko who had remained conspicuously silent while the earth benders came forward to apprehend him.

Zuko, though, was too paralysed by sudden, clenching grief to notice his uncle’s first instance of true disappointment. 

S

Team Avatar huddled into Appa’s saddle that also held the Earth King and Bosco.

No one said a word as Katara lay the Avatar down and the smoke curled off her devastated tunic while the bison soared into the air and away from the palace.

Sokka came to stand at his sister’s shoulder, unable to ask exactly what happened.

All that mattered was that his friend didn’t appear to be breathing, a fact that Katara had been acutely aware of since carrying her away from the catacombs.

Her fingers trembled, but she managed to grab hold of the phial at her neck.

Her hands moved independently of the anxieties racing through her mind.

What if this would be the day that would forever be remembered as the day that Azula died?

What if the last thing she said directly to the Avatar had been in an accusing tone?

How would she possibly move on from this?

The water she’d been carrying around for months spun into a disk and she pulled Azula up to place it over the charred flesh on her back where it glowed momentarily.

Everyone held their breaths in anticipation as Katara laid the Avatar back down, conscious that the saddle would probably be painful against the wound.

Azula’s head lolled inanimately to the side and tears gathered in Katara’s eyes, blurring her vision as she reached out to touch her cheek.

The firebender had never been so cold in all the time she had known her, a fact that caused physical pain in the waterbender’s chest.

“Please…” she whispered and her brother, who was refusing to look at his best friend, was about to reach over to squeeze her shoulder, but stopped upon being temporarily blinded by another glow flying outwards from Azula’s eyes that had cracked open as she took a heaving breath. 

Katara blinked away the blurriness to make sure that what she felt under her hand was real.

That it wasn’t a wistful hallucination born from not wanting to live in a world where there was no Azula. 

The pain melted away into more of an ache upon finding that Azula was indeed looking at her through slitted eyes.

The Avatar took in more rattling breaths and her head fell back once more, though this time, she was only unconscious. 

Katara collapsed forward onto her girlfriend’s chest and allowed the dam to smash under her emotions.

Against the sound of Azula’s heartbeat, Katara sobbed.

This precluded her from hearing Earth King Kuei lament, “the Earth Kingdom…has fallen.”

S

Zuko walked absently after being sent to clean his face.

He didn’t dare to look in the mirror during the exercise, so had no idea if all the soot had been removed.

He didn’t care either way.

His mind was too busy replaying the lightning strike over and over again, searching for any possibility that the electricity hadn’t passed through the Avatar’s heart.

That it hadn’t killed Princess Azula instantly.

When he entered the throne room, the grating sobs from across the room broke his fantasy that Azula had taken a breath when her broken body was caught by her girlfriend.

He narrowed his eyes at Ty Lee, whose face was buried into Mai, her entire body wracked with her sorrow.

Did she not realise that she made this possible?! 

Anger swelled in Zuko and he clenched his jaw harder as he noticed that Mai was scowling at him.

It was not the reaction he’d hoped for from his long-time crush.

Not that childish feelings were important now!

“I told them she was beyond reason, that we had no choice. Just go with it,” Lu Ten said, a gleeful tinge to his voice despite the solemn look on his face.

Zuko was too shell-shocked to find out what version of events the prince had told them.

It wouldn’t change the truth anyway. 

“Are you ready to return home? To have your honour restored?”

An hour ago, Zuko would have likely have shouted ‘yes!’ but with his uncle in captivity and his sister gone, that excitement had been quashed. 

Now that the inevitable goal of his mission had unfolded before his eyes, Zuko didn’t feel proud or excited.

Describing the feeling as grief would mean labelling his little sister as ‘dead’ so his fuzzy mind focused on Azula’s final statement to him.

He had to agree, this was certainly not what Ursa would want.

S

After her first wedding, Ursa often craved to return to Hira’a, to be allowed to see her parents again and to reconnect with Ikem.

It had been five years since she had been granted both, but there was still something missing.

More specifically two somethings.

Fire Lord Ozai’s ex-wife had grown rather adept at hiding this fact, especially at times like this.

Her four-year-old daughter did not know that she lived a whole other life just half a decade ago.

She and Ikem agreed that Kiyi had no reason to know that she wasn’t an only child until she was a few years older.

Pulling the blanket over the small form of the girl who was finally succumbing to sleep, she whispered, “Goodnight, my love.”

Kiyi yawned and replied, “goodnight, mommy.”

Ursa placed a kiss on her youngest daughter’s forehead and looked at her lovingly a moment longer.

Once again, she had that feeling that her life was perfect, so the guilt promptly followed.

Leaving the side of the bed, Ursa moved quietly out of the room.

Going to do chores was the best way to deal with her ever-present anxieties, so she gravitated to the dishes from her family’s dinner, finding that Ikem had already left a bowl of water for her on the way out to fix the fence at the edge of the farm

A fence that marked more than the end of her property for her. 

Being seen by any soldier beyond that point would breach the deal that she made with the man she hated most in the world.

That hatred boiled and she clenched her fingers around the plate that had yet to touch the water.

The farm and village were bigger than in her memory, but whenever her mind drifted to the two people who would always be outside the strict boundaries, it became suffocatingly small.

If she left now, all three of her children would be in danger, as she had to remind herself at least ten times a day.

The agreed lack of guard presence in her life was of little comfort, even if the rest of the villagers revered her for it.

They didn't understand what she gave up for their comfort.

A squawking had her look away from the unclean dish, a surreal break in what had become a routine.

Ursa placed the plate down to fully take in the royal messenger hawk.

She didn’t want to touch it but simply had no choice.

The first communication from the royal palace she’d concocted that poison couldn’t be ignored.

What if one of her children finally discovered her fate?

Her hand shaking, she released the rolled-up parchment and all hopes were promptly dashed.

She recognised the handwriting and it belonged to neither of her royal children. 

Her throat constricted even before she began reading, but it somehow got tighter.

At first, she didn’t understand the intent behind the letter.

So Ozai was proud that Zuko slew the Avatar?

Discovering what her little prince was capable of was absolutely painful.

She could easily see herself agonising about what being left with his father had done to Zuko, but this emotional turmoil hardly seemed worth the Fire Lord’s time.

Upon reaching the final line, the paper cracked under her vice-like grip and tears crowded her vision, preventing her from reading the entire letter again.

‘The people of the Fire Nation can finally rest easy in the knowledge that Avatar Azula has been struck down by her brother.

Ursa gripped wildly for the counter but succeeded only in swiping the dishes to the ground, where they smashed sharply.

Her knees buckled as the parchment crumpled against her chest.

Tears streaming wildly down her cheeks, Ursa repeated, “Ozai always lies, Ozai always lies, Ozai always lies…”