Final submission for the Pro-bending Tournament Season 1

The day went by like any other for Ursa - Until her little boy came home for a visit.

Mongoose Lizards:

Beginning: He/She ran about the room in a frenzy, doing anything and everything he/she could to distract him/herself.

Ending: His/Her little boy/girl had finally come home.

Object: a small wooden and worn toy boat

Manager:

Prompts:

(dialogue) "Were you expecting someone else?" (1 point)

(emotion) surprise (2 points)

(character) Ursa OR (character) Unalaq (3 points)

Round element: Any except Fire, Water, Earth or Air

Round element used: Lava

Word count: 1018

The day had started off as any other would for Ursa, waking up with the squawk of the roosterhawk then off to wake Kiyi. After eating it would be time to scratch the animals, and then take the Ostrich Horse, which her husband, formerly known as Ikem, had bought her on his last expedition into Earth Kingdom territory as a gift, to town to sell the vegetables they had grown, earning an euan here and there to help the family.

This past season, Ursa had travelled back to visit with the Mother of Faces with her supposed son Zuko, wanting to know what her life had been like before she had traded her face. Of course, the Mother obliged, although she only gave one favor a season to the humans before disappearing again.

With her memories restored, they often haunted Ursa as she went about her daily activities. She doesn't recall why she had chose to seek out the Mother of Faces in the first place, only that she had left behind a son and daughter, who had meant to world to her. What had led her to leave the family she had? Was it love for another? These thoughts ran through her head day after grueling day, but no answer was shedding a light at the end of the tunnel, a secret that seemed forever lost.

Dinner time rolled around without incident, just another day in the lives she led with Ikem and Kiyi, the pair she knew she would never leave.

Shortly before bed, a sharp rap came upon the door, a possible visitor asking for entrance into the family's home.

Ursa quickly rushes to answer, happy to comply to any help needed for anyone knocking upon her door. She opens the door a crack to take a small peek at whoever it is waiting for her on the otherside.

It was none other than Zuko, the son whom she forgot she had until recent months. She pulled the door open the rest of the way, stifling a shocked gasp with the sound of the squeaky hinges.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Zuko asks, a slightly bewildered look falling across his face as he watches his mother.

Ikem emerged from the bedroom as Kiyi ran through the house jumping into her half brother's arms.

"I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" She shouts. "You hardly come see us anymore… Not since last summer."

Ikem's surprised look couldn't be masked as he watched his wife flit about, not too long ago she had been ready to get a good night's rest, but now she was running around the room in a frenzy, doing anything and everything she could to distract herself. The fact that her son had come home yet again was a huge surprise to the whole family, as they thought he wouldn't ever return.

In his hand he held a small wooden and worn toy boat, one that he had played with as a child. Ursa immediately recognized the small object and rushed forward to take it from her son, memories flooding her mind of the times she had taken Zuko to see the turtleducks in the Imperial garden, or all their trips to Ember Island. that boat had always seemed to be there.

"I.. I thought you might want to have this…" Zuko starts to speak, his voice breaking with emotion. "I know I don't visit often, but I've got a lot of… responsibilities now…" Tears streaked his face as he held out the small memento to his mother.

Taking the boat, tears welled up in Ursa's eyes. It had been so long since she had held her son, thinking about it made her body heavy with emotion. She moved forward, enveloping her little boy in her arms, glad that he had come home.

By morning Zuko had awoken, and fixed the family breakfast of roosterhawk eggs as a thank you for allowing him to stay the night. Not too long after they had gathered and begun to eat, yet another visitor came rapping at the door.

Zuko answered to find no other than Azula standing outside, looking as impatient and frustrated as he had ever seen her.

"Well Zu-Zu, are you going to just stand there? Or are you going to let me in?" She stated, her voice thick with sarcasm.

"Who's at the doo-" Ursa starts, coming up short for words as she spies her daughter standing in her doorway.

"Well Hello again, Mother." Azula says with a sneer.

"Why are you here Azula?" Zuko starts, his voice rising with each word. "Haven't you caused enough damage?"

"I don't know what you're talking about dear brother," she states, clearly offended by the acquisition.

The two had since moved from the doorway and were now sitting on the chairs within the hut, having a stare-down that could last for centuries.

"What's this?" Azula asks, breaking her disinterested gaze with her brother in favor of the small wooden boat sitting on the table by the door.

"Looks like that raggedy little boat you always carried with you," a cynical laugh breaking free from her throat. "What a pity you couldn't come up with a better present for Mother."

With that being said, Zuko merely gazes upon his sister, an almost smug expression settling upon his features.

Slowly, the ground around Azula begins to break apart and bubble, bringing up bright red and glowing orange lava. The chair she was sitting upon breaks apart almost immediately, burning up.

"What is it you think you're doing, Brother?" Azula's voice almost shocked and surprised at her brother's actions.

"THAT'S ENOUGH." Ursa shouts, walking in on what had developed in her sitting room. "Clear out the lava, and stop this foolishness."

Almost as soon as the lava had begun to boil, it dissipated into a hardened black mound on the floor where Azula had once sat.

With an exasperated look, Ursa sits on the floor between her children. Now she could feel whole inside, knowing that although her family was broken, her little boy and girl had finally come home.

Please excuse how horrible the ending of this is… First time ever writing about Zuko and Azula, let alone Ursa. Leave me some feedback if you want :)