Ursa had heard the stories of course. - Everyone had- the stories of prince Zuko, the scarred prince, the evil prince, the most vicious child the fire nation had ever given birth to. And every time she heard them she wept. She prayed long into the night that the stories weren't true- that her baby hadn't truly become the monster everyone claimed, hadn't truly become his father's son. And yet as the stories became less and less fantastical and more fact based even she could not deny the ring of truth to them. People's faces would go hard at any mention of the name Zuko and they would question with venom in their voices at what he had done now. Ursa heard tales of how her son mercilessly tracked and hunted the avatar, how he lay traps for the young boy and his companions and ambushed them at every turn, how he allowed neither them nor himself a moments rest as he chased them across the nations.
For two years the stories continued- each one worse than the last. There was word that Azula had joined him on his quest, as ruthless and evil as her brother. More so some said. She hated to hear these stories, Azula she could believe, there had always been something wrong with that child. But not Zuko, never her sweet, loving child who had cried when bitten by a turtle duck.
The news of the fall of ba-sing-se reached the small province town she had been hiding in through a group of bandits passing through. News of Zuko and Azula's majestic defeat of the only empire left to oppose the fire nation and of the death of the avatar.
For six months whispers of the horrors being done by Azula in ba-sing-se were heard throughout the world, even the fire nation was shocked by the stories they heard. Ursa could easily believe them, she was everything Ozai had ever wanted his child to be: ruthless, cold and evil to the core. The one thing that gave her hope was that no word had been heard of Zuko since the fall.
Whispers came. Slowly but surely they came: a masked blue bandit. A saviour of the people, someone who was thwarting Azula's plans from the very capital. Then more whispers, a girl. A painted water spirit. She fought at his side, together they were slowly but surely turning Azula's new fire nation into a pile of burnt out embers. Soldiers came, they dragged every boy and bender over 12 away from their parents and to the capital, Ursa was glad, it meant Azula was struggling.
A year passed, and the people began to lose hope again, the bandit and his painted lady had disappeared, the avatar was nowhere to be found, many began to believe that he truly had been killed in the siege.
A muttering was heard, tales of the fallen prince were circulating one more, he had been cast out of the fire nation, Ozai had placed a price on his head for high treason and some claimed he had gone to join the band of resistors the avatar had commanded- hidden in the air temples of the western sky.
Three years passed since Azula had taken control of the earth nation. All hope had nearly died for the people, everyone was now sure that the avatar was dead and the small hope the blue bandit had temporarily brought was now nothing more than a distant memory. A few resistance fighters still stood but their attempts were rarely heard about and never for long, for each new group to spring up Azula crushed two others. It was whispered that Zuko was dead as well, but Ursa couldn't bring herself to believe that. Ozai would have made a huge deal of his execution; he would have wanted Zuko to die with the utmost shame and dishonour to his name. No, Zuko was alive. She knew that much at least.
Four years. Azula was at the height of her power; Ozai was growing old but was as spiteful as ever. People whispered that Azula soon planned to take the throne of fire and rule supreme, Ursa didn't doubt it, she knew not even her own father would be able to stand in Azula's way when it came to conquering the world.
It was Zuko's birthday today. He would be 21. Today was the day he was supposed to ascend the throne and be named heir of the fire nation.
Two weeks later the news came. Ba-sing-se had been attacked on the day of Zuko's birthday. The avatar was alive as were the blue bandit and the painted lady. Ursa smiled for the first time in years.
Zuko.
They had caused chaos, guards had been killed, armies of benders obliterated, the palace almost destroyed and Azula dead.
Ozai was furious.
The avatar was no longer a child; he had grown up to be a man and mastered all the elements. Ursa knew Zuko had been the one to teach him fire bending.
She heard tales of the blue bandit and the painted lady, she wondered who she was. She was convinced that the blue bandit was Zuko and was sure his lady was water tribe from the stories. Could she be the girl who Zuko had hunted? The avatars companion. The stories claimed the two shared a great love, they were never parted it was said. Some people even claimed that the two were the actual re-incarnations of the original spirits whom they portrayed. They travelled with the avatar now. Marching towards the fire nation, they had retaken the earth nation and left two members of their main group to restore order. A water nation warrior and a former dai-li agent.
News came to the tiny province town faster now that the fire nation was no longer in charge, information flowed freely and tales of the fire nation spread across the world at an unbelievable rate.
A huge resistance network had suddenly appeared, all working from plans that seemed ingrained within them, they needed little communication with each other and were all he more deadly because of it. Ozai found it impossible to stop them. The avatar had not been idle these last four years it seemed. His powers were beyond reproach, his body wielded into a weapon. His skills could match that of any and all masters he came up against in both bending and physical ability. Where he had once been skinny and small he was now muscled and tall. His head and hands still proudly bore the marks of his heritage but that was all that remained of the scared little 13yr old boy he had once been. At seventeen the avatar was vastly changed.
As was her son Ursa mused as she watched him stride confidently through her small hole-in-the-wall town.
It had shocked her to see him, they had stopped here to rest and gather supplies. Him and his lady. The avatar had been spotted briefly as well, on the outskirts of the town descending from the sky on his legendary flying bison, his tiny but magnificent blind earth bender seated proudly at his side, they had camped on the outskirts of town for two days- all of them together before splitting up into their pairs; the avatar and the legendary little earth bender and Zuko and the girl. The first two had taken off back into the sky heading east towards the fire nation border while the second pair had headed into town.
She watched them from her place at her small stall. They made no attempt to disguise who or what they were, it was clear to everyone. He was fire nation; with his traditional red robes which looked new, his hair pulled up into the fire nation knot and of all things- the fire nation insignia holding it in place. The mark of the prince. He wore the scar on his face proudly, no longer a mark of shame but one of courage. She was obviously water nation: her hair long and dark, intricately woven and braided about her head, her rich robes were the colour of the ocean and of the moon, they changed as she walked and varied from the deepest midnight to the lightest aquamarine to the greenest turquoise, they clung to her curves and fell to her calves. Around her neck she proudly displayed the symbol of her nation in a delicately carved water emblem.
She was tall for her tribe from what Ursa could tell, and although very curvaceous by fire nation standards not at all overly voluptuous like the women of her own, her skin was naturally tanned a light golden brown, both a gift of her heritage and from her years of travelling in the open sunlight. Zuko was similar to what she had imagined when he was younger, he was as tall as his father and his hair was the same midnight black it had been as a child, he was well muscled, she could easily see it from the way his robes fit and with the ease in which he carried both the girl and his own large packs. His skin was pale as his blood dictated however it was no longer the pasty sick looking colour it had been when he was younger. Her son was no weakling, not anymore. His father should be worried.
Allowing herself to get closer to her son Ursa risked a glance at his face, so absorbed had she been with his and his lady's appearance she had as yet failed to properly look at him, or take in his actions.
He was laughing.
One of his arms was wrapped around the water nation girl, she was looking up at him and smiling in delight- a look of unmistakeable love painted across her face while she watched him; head thrown back, eyes squinted shut, teeth exposed and laughing. The sight brought tears to Ursa's eyes. Her son had never laughed like that as a child. He had never been allowed or given cause to, yet it seemed that in the middle of a war, walking down a dirt track town road, with his arm around the girl he loved he was happy. Truly happy.
He looked comfortable in his own skin, his eyes- the opposite of what she had feared- were light and free, the delicious golden brown colour he had inherited from her shone brightly as he looked down at the girl in his arms and smiled.
They wandered around the meagre stalls collecting supplies together; food, some material, a hunting knife and sewing supplies. They teased each other and told jokes to make the other laugh. They began arguing heatedly at one point -in which Ursa worried Zuko had inherited his father's temper- but it soon changed into a joking sparring match when the girl showed herself to be a water bender and playfully whipped Zuko with water conjured from the skein at her waist. He had stared at her for a moment, a challenging gleam in his eyes and a smirk on his lips before unexpectedly launching a small ball of blue flame towards her.
People in the market had gasped and momentarily panicked; thinking they were fighting for real. They soon realised the joke when the water bender laughed and deflected the flames with ease, a small crowd gathered to watch the game between the two and soon most of the town had formed around them. The obvious delight the two expressed as they danced and circled around one other was shown in their eyes and in the taunting words thrown as easily as their elements towards the other- all accompanied by a laugh or a smile.
Ursa was amazed. She had never known her son could be so playful. As a child he had been serious and quiet, weak in his fire bending and unable to even come close to Azula's standards. He far surpassed her now, she could tell just from the way he stood- the control he exhibited that he had truly become a master of his element. The girl- Katara she heard him call her- was equally as good, a prodigy she was sure. She must have been the one to teach the avatar.
They finished their sparring contest in a huge controlled burst of both fire and water; a giant dome of flame came up to swallow them both, quickly encased in a layer of transparent ice creating an amazing show for the onlookers of the town, where the fire would have consumed the ice calmed and moulded, making it into something amazingly and when the two combined it was something unnaturally beautiful to behold.
When the two elements cleared in a cloud of steam the two benders could be seen once again, arms around one another, mouths' caressing each other's and hands gently mimicking. They pulled apart and continued on around the stalls as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, smiling- in the girl's case- at the townspeople who clapped and whistled for their performance and looking nonchalant on her son's.
They left two days later having gathered all the supplies that were needed and resting at the local inn. She cries as she watched them leave, joking and laughing, kissing and arguing just as they had when they arrived. She was sad to see her only son leave without getting to talk to him but she knew, he had a mission that needed to be done, for all the happiness and hope her town had felt while the two were there they were still in the middle of a war and that took priority over her own feelings. Once the war was over she would get word to him. She would be able to be his mother again. If he would have her.
Six months later the fire nation fell, the avatar had defeated Ozai. The blue spirit and the painted lady became legend and disappeared back into myth.
Fire lord Zuko was crowned.
He abdicated and fire lord Iroh was given the throne.
Lady Toph- as a member of the ruling houses of ba-sing-se was offered the throne of the earth nation. She declined and chose instead to return with the avatar to the air temples to restore his home and make their own in the earth province towns nearby.
General Sokka and mistress Sukki remained in the earth nation as chief commanders of the newly restored dai-li army
Master Katara was offered a place as head of the southern water tribe in the reconstruction effort by the northern tribe. She considered it but declined- Instead giving the title back to her father when he was released from a fire boat prison.
One year after the fall of the fire nation and Ursa was again shocked to see the face of her son wandering her small town. With him came Katara and tied to her back in a water sling was a tiny baby girl. This time they were there to find her and introduce her to her granddaughter.
I'm not even going to try and justify this one; it was in my head so now it's out there for y'all to read. I don't own it, not sure if I'd really want to or not except to make zutara a reality of the show. Hope you enjoy it, it's yet another wacky piece with very little to none of it actually making any sense to me. ENJOY!!
Xoxox
Becca