Karma to the good hearted is different than karma to the wicked. To people like Azula. For taking down the wall of Ba Sing Se, she lost her crown. For needlessly tormenting Zuko, she found herself lost and hungry in the way he one was. And for trying to control and manipulate everyone's minds, she lost her own. It was such a poetic and, dare she say, just downfall. Indeed, good and bad karma are surely two sides of the same coin. And where Zuko had earned all the good karma the world had to offer, Azula had simply messed hers up beyond repair. She chewed on her lip. That's why, she realized, she could never be happy. Not anymore. Not ever again. Though she longed so badly to feel a smile upon her face. A real smile. She knew deep down that those days were over and because of her own hatred and evil.
The princess sank to the floor. She wondered if she could turn it back. But as things were, the damage seemed irreversible. She swallowed the knot in her throat. All she wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before. Or at least for things to fix themselves.
Nothing ever fixed itself though. Azula knew this. She had always known that if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself. The problem was that Azula had no idea where to start. Even the most sympathetic and kind-hearted souls seemed to turn away from her. TyLee, Katara, even Aang probably. Not a soul would trust her to try to make things right.
Did it matter if she wanted to undo damages? Was that alone enough? Of course it wasn't. Especially since there was a degree of underlying selfishness. She swatted tears angrily from her eyes. It didn't make sense, even if she truly did want to make things right between she and pretty much everyone it still wouldn't matter because there was still a part of her—however small—that was self-serving. That was her problem, she was out for herself. But if she wasn't, then who would be? She balled her hands into fists and wiped at her eyes with the exposed part of her palms.
She should be doing something. Anything rather than just moping bitterly to herself, feeling completely useless. But at the moment all she felt that she could do was cry. Cry and hope that whoever was in charge of fate and karma would take pity on her. With no one else to do it, she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Are you okay?" Came a small and shaky voice. Azula looked up to see a child, no more than eight years old, standing alone in the middle of the forest.
Azula managed to shake her head no. Truthfully Azula was just a girl too. Also, lost and alone. At least the child had someone who was probably worrying for her, unlike Azula.
The girl came to sit down next to her. "That's okay, I'm not okay either." She toyed with the hem of her dress. "I'm scared and I don't know how to get home."
And so Azula decided that she would ease the worries of the girl's parents. And ease the worries of the girl herself. She pulled the child into the kind of hug she longed to receive. "I'll take you home."
"You know where I live?" The child looked up at her with hopeful eyes.
Feeling the child nestled against her breast. A child who didn't even know her name nor recognize her. Azula came to realize that she would have to start here. Here with the frightened and lonely child, whose only hope was a damaged and broken princess. How cruel was fate, even to small children.
"I'll figure it out. We'll find where we belong." Azula closed her eyes and whispered. But for now, the princess was content to taken in the sound of the child's breathing. Finally, she had someone to talk to. Someone to care for. Someone who didn't know her well enough to see her as a monster. "I promise, we will."