"Captain quarters?" Usually the hunt was enjoyable, but this time Azula wanted to end it quickly, her body wouldn't take this type of pressure, not in her current state – medicine or not.

"Yes."

There wasn't anyone in the corridors. Why would there be? Everyone who could fight them, fought them on the deck, if there was someone capable of wielding a weapon, he would have been on the front line. Neither of them spoke for a few moment, they knew instinctively what to do. It was ending now, this whole terrible day and this exhausting journey, were at their end.

Zuko showed three fingers.

Then he retracted one, leaving two.

Then another one.

He clinched his hand into a fist.

And a jet of flame blew the door away.

As the ship popped on the horizon both of them went quite. The flames behind them would have given their position a long time ago, so there wasn't any point of using stealth. They just crashed in on the deck and started to fight whatever was on there. And again, until the lightning started popping they weren't able to do anything, after that their opponent yielded. Whoever trained those troops, or designed their equipment, was good; a pity he didn't took lightning into account.

Azula asked the nearest soldiers where their leader was, and as the traitorous dog he was, he pointed them in that direction.

Zhi-Zu was a brilliant engineer, if he wasn't doing something as stupid as this Zuko may have recruited him, but kidnapping his mother was unforgivable. On the other hand Azula was willing to fry him simply because he was a traitor. It was a pity that it had to end that way.

They descended into the bowels of the ship. They knew their way, both of them have been in a Fire Nation ship, one of them longer than the other, and knew their way around. Take a turn there, take a turn here and then you reached the door.

"Captain quarters?"

"Yes."

The door was blown away. It lead to a well decorated room, not as elegant as the royal ship's one, but well decorated non-the-less.

Other than that there were two bodies on the ground.

The siblings walked slowly into the room, making sure that they don't trigger any traps. There weren't any.

"Dead?" Zuko asked, while walking towards them.

"Most likely." She looked at the bodies, they were dead.

Zuko frowned "There was a lot of explaining these guys had to do."

"We'll interrogate the soldiers, they're bound to know something." She smirked "They always know more than they let out."

"Alright, but first we are going to get mother."

His sister gave a nod.

"You go get her; I'll return to the dungeons and see if I can find whatever survived of our crew."

Azula turned, but before she could leave Zuko caught her by the hand.

"Azula, it's our mother, come with me, she'll love to see you too."

"Zuzu, we aren't going over this again. I don't want to see her, that woman wasn't much of a mother to me." Zuko understood, he himself had issues with his father. Mom wasn't like that, but like him before, she probably needed time. Time to think, time to evaluate, time to reflect, before meeting her mother. He was willing to give her that time, if only because he was in her position once, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't try to accelerate the process, when it was convenient.

Azula was backtracking her steps, from the ship back to the prison. It wasn't a short trip, especially when the medicine was beginning to wear off. She thought about taking some more, but then the side effects would kick in.

What was she to do now? Zuzu obviously didn't intended to lock her up again, but what was she to do? Go on a spiritual journey? Absurd, she wasn't Iroh. Take a political position? No, she had enough of that; she had enough of those people and their backstabbing games. Arranged marriage? The thought of ending up with someone like Chan was repulsive. Live on a small secluded island? What would be the point? Back in the military? Why? With Zuko at the helm the only thing the military would be good for is patrolling and parades, and that was as exciting as Mai.

Speaking of which – the palace would be full of people she disliked, or at least didn't like her. Zuzu would have disposed of anyone who was supportive of her father and these men were the one who liked her. The positions were probably filled with people like her uncle – people who wouldn't have anything to do with her. Not to mention that Mai and her mother would be there, uncle would come and visit as well. Then again, before people seemed to only exploit her position and favor never caring for her as a person. Why did she care about that right now? And why was she so introspective about the whole situation? She was the Fire Nation princess, she wouldn't just back into a corner.

His mother didn't pay any attention to him entering the room. She was staring at a wall, somewhat disconcerted with the world around her. She didn't even glance at the door when it opened. As he saw her there tears came running down his cheeks.

"Mom." He was never happier.

The woman slowly turned, her eyes widened. Her son, after so long, was finally with her. Zuko didn't know when it happened, neither did Ursa, but both of them were locked in a hug, an embrace which both of them longed for. Neither of them said a word, there wasn't a word in any language that could convey their emotion.

Neither of them knew how long they held each other before the silence was broken.

"Zuko, I missed you so much."

"And so did I mom."

They still held each other, none of them willing to let go.

"How have you been sweetheart?" Ursa said, finally after so many years she would find out how her child was.

"Where to start?" Zuko smiled, as if he was a little boy "I searched the world for the Avatar, for two years. Found him, almost captured him, and then I sided with him, became a Firelord and stopped the war. And then I searched for you." this was the briefest explanation he had ever given, but right now he had trouble using words at all.

"What happened to you?" She said with a smile on her face, gently stroking the scar. Normally she would be angry at it, or saddened, but right now she was with her son and that was all that mattered.

"You know, dad." Even this could destroy the joy in their eyes.

"Azula?"

Zuko had troubles putting it in words "She, I don't know much, you'll have to ask her what she did. I know she tried to capture the Avatar, almost succeeded. She finally brought Ba Sing Se under Fire Nation control." He could tell his mother was impressed when she heard about the great city "Then she suffered a mental break down and is currently recovering."

"Oh..." finally Ursa showed a sign of worry "How bad is it?"

"She has almost recovered." Ursa could tell Zuko wasn't worried about his sister, not because he didn't care, but because he believed in Azula "There is a scar left, an emotional one. It would take time to heal, but I do believe she needed it."

"You think your sister needed to be emotionally scared?" She didn't raise her son like that.

"I don't mean it like that. Maybe it's the influence my uncle had on me, but "he gave a pause to formulate his words "I believe we are the sum of our tears - too little and the ground is not fertile, and nothing can grow there; too much, and the best of us is washed away. My sister lived a life of royalty, she needed a little rain."

He gave his mother a smile.

"But she'll heal." He continued "And she'll be all the stronger for it."

Then he gave her a somewhat stern look.

"That being said, she blames you for a lot." His mother was taken aback by that "She believes you think her a monster." Ursa looked sad "Actually, Azula is here right now, but she refused to see you."

"What?" This was not tolerable for her, she waited so many years to see her son and daughter again "I never meant to hurt her or to..."

"I know, "he cut her off "make sure she understands as well."

Guys, no need to say it, I love you all. All of you who've read it so far.

And a special thanks to Bruna, Private Fire, Potkanka (I love negative feedback) and last but not least, FaeryMage.

Also, cheers to anyone who can tell where "the sum of our tears" came from without googling it.