Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.

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She was staring at her mother again. And as always, her mother just stared right back at her. It was strange, to say the least. Before, whenever she was visited by the visions, the former Fire Lady was ever a picture of royal opulence. The crown sitting perfectly on her raven black tresses, not a single hair out of place on her head. Always the flowing gold and scarlet robes that she had seen her wear in her memories, the robes that her whelp of an older brother clung to and drenched in snot and tears after disappointing their father. Whenever she saw her mother, Azula would always see the same sad, loving face return her gaze.

So why was her mother so different now?

There were no sumptuous threads of silk hanging from her body, only thin white cotton that seemed to be cut from one piece. The perfectly styled locks, tamed and leashed tight by pins and ties now hung freely in matted, tangled knots in front of her face. And the warm glow that seemed to permeate from her skin was now a deathly porcelain pallor, and dark rings had formed under the Queen's eyes. Only the wet sheen of shed tears seemed to break the woman's solid tone of flesh, and even her lips that were once full and painted the same ruby as fireflowers barely amounted to a sallow pink. And when Azula's gaze traveled higher, her mother's gentle gaze was replaced by haunted, glazed orbs of amber.

Yes, her mother... she looked very different indeed...

"It's been four years. I refuse to believe that there hasn't been any change in her condition." Zuko muttered angrily as he observed his sister from behind the cold, iron bars of her cell.

"You must understand, my Lord, nothing we've attempted has reached her at all. She hasn't spoken a word since we've moved her into her accommodations, and all our therapies and medicines have absolutely no effect." the lead physician cowered behind his clipboard, as a prim and pressed medical staff shrank behind him, not daring to meet their Fire Lord's gaze.

"This isn't the Azula I know. At least, this isn't the one that I was expecting..." Zuko said, taking a step closer until only he was only inches from the bars of the princess' holding cell. The ghostly image of his sister, sitting placidly in front of her dresser just staring into the mirror infuriated him. He nodded curtly to the guard in front of the cell door, and the soldier stepped back primly to open the metal locks.

Four years ago, Zuko would have thought anyone willingly entering a room with his unbound sister, whether flanked by guards or not, would have been mad. When he first laid eyes on his sister after the coronation, after having her transferred from the prisons where his father still languished, even after reading the reports of her behavior from all the doctors and psychiatrists that had been observing her, he still was prepared to face down a monster. An enraged dragon chained to the stone. A cackling lunatic attending to delusions of grandeur. Even spiteful, angry little sister calling him names.

Three years ago, Zuko held the same opinion as everyone else. The same opinion that her act of silence, her near-catatonia was only a ruse, something that would fall away as soon as she found herself in a position to change her odds.

Two years ago, Zuko would never have envisioned himself actually sitting next to his sister, sharing the same cushioned seat as the conqueror of Ba Sing Se, as she slowly ran her fingers through her tangled hair. Wordlessly, the King of the Fire Nation reached for a finely crafted oakpine hairbrush, and gently assisting the once-powerful crown princess in fixing her now waist-long tresses.

One year ago, Zuko had given up any hope for his sister, and only prayed that she wouldn't fade away into nothingness.

As always, Azula's hand simply fell away as soon as Zuko's gently grazed her now soft skin, guiding her delicate hand down to her lap as he began to tend to the princess.

"Zuzu... " a dry, hoarse whisper broke the silence that seemed to hang in the air, and the gazes of several eyes suddenly all came to a single point in the quarters.

Zuko himself shared in their surprise, but for some reason did not feel the same sense of shock that the attendants were experiencing.

"Yeah Azula?" He replied, his tone no longer that of the highest authority of the nation, but taken back into time when they were headstrong children so long ago.

"Thank you. Mother's hair..." Azula whispered, her lips still moving to unvoiced words as she stared with half-lidded eyes at the sight in the mirror, her brother gently combing through the inky black strands.

Zuko's face betrayed his confusion, until he himself took a look into the princess' mirror. It was strange that his first time looking at his sister, really looking at his sister since the day she was defeated in Agni Kai, was in the impartial reflection of a mirror. He was surprised to see that he wasn't looking at the Fire Lord and his imprisoned sister in the glass. He saw for the briefest of moments through his sister's eyes. Their mother staring solemnly back at him and his hands as a little boy helping her arrange her hair.

His hand didn't stop combing out the tangles and knots, and no more words escaped Azula's lips.

But for the first time in four years, Zuko wept bitterly, his tears falling gently to stain the clean white cotton of his sister's robes.

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Author's note:

I think I'll write more. Please review.