A/N: First of all I don't own avatar at all! Second, I really wanted to write a story about Azula's (it IS about Azula, even though the first chapter has to be told from Zuko's POV) life and why she is the way she is, with some clever (*pats herself on the back*) morals thrown in there if you can find them. This is my first Avatar fanfiction so I would love to hear feedback, whether you love or hate it. If you hate it I'd prefer CONSTRUCTIVE criticism so I can improve my writing, that's very welcome, but no flames.

So...

ENJOY! (I hope).

Prelude

"Zuko?...I can see you there, young man. Come here and meet your sister," Lady Ursa said weakly. The two-year old prince timidly peeked around the legs of his nursemaid. Zuko had always been shy, and with all of the people in the room he had been doing his best to stay hidden. Ursa smiled at him, looking exhausted. He stared at the strangers who were standing silently around the edges of the room, and glanced anxiously at his father before dashing over to Ursa's bed and scrambling his way up to sit beside her.

"Her name is Azula," Ursa told her son as he looked with wide eyes at the squirming and crying bundle in her arms, "Can you say that?" At two years old the boy would still hardly say a word, and Ursa was starting to worry whether it was just simple bashfulness or something more. "Azula," she repeated after a moment. Zuko's eyes darted to Ozai again, then to the midwife and the healer before landing back on his baby sister but he said nothing.

Ursa waited another few moments before asking, "Would you like to hold her?" The prince's amber eyes met his mother's as he shifted into a position better suited for holding a baby on his lap.

"Ursa-" Ozai started, but his wife interrupted him.

"It's alright," Ursa said sternly, putting one arm around her son, and using the other to help support the newborn's head. As he held Azula (with Ursa's help) Zuko smiled a little and looked at his mother.

"...Lula?" The boy asked quietly.

Ursa's face broke into another tired smile, "Almost," she said, then after several seconds, added, "You're a big brother now and you have to help take care of her."

Zuko nodded seriously, "Lula," he said again in awe looking back down at his sister; she looked back and Zuko made a quiet promise to himself and Azula that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He was jerked away from his thought when the midwife spoke from the other side of his mother's bed: "Excuse me? My Lady... We have to take the princess now, you need to rest."

Ursa frowned but nodded, releasing her baby to a nurse. Zuko took one more look at his new sister and watched, fascinated, as his father even kissed her forehead before she was taken away.

Zuko heard Ozai say to the man beside him, "The sages who read the stars tonight predict that she will be blessed by Agni," but the little boy didn't know what his father meant by that.

"Didn't they also say that she would be a boy?" The man replied with a touch of sarcasm. Ozai's victorious smile disappeared and one of his eyebrows twitched. Little Zuko hardly saw his father, and even he knew this was a bad sign. The man tensed when he realized what he'd said but his shoulders relaxed when Ozai turned away from him without responding; Ozai was still just a prince but his temper was already legendary.

The feeling of reverence in the room seemed to lift when Zuko's elderly nursemaid, Weiqi, spoke up cheerfully, "Come on, handsome, we need to let your mom get some sleep." Zuko pouted for an instant, then turned and kissed his mother's cheek before allowing Weiqi to help him off the bed. The spell had been broken; the guests began filing out of the room, offering their congratulations to Ursa and Ozai. The good mood of the latter had apparently not been ruined: he even gave Zuko a pat on the shoulders as Weiqi led the little boy out.

Zuko had been afraid when his mother told him that he would have a little brother or sister; afraid that his mother and father would love the baby more, and he wouldn't get to see them anymore, not that he saw Ozai very often anyway but that was alright with Zuko, the man was a little bit scary. Now that Azula was born, that he had met her, that his mother had hugged him like normal, and his father had even shown a very rare gesture of affection, Zuko's fears were starting to melt away. He was excited to have a little sister.

I'll be the best big brother ever, he thought, still feeling his father's hand on his back.