Noren's house was simple and small but very pleasant. His wife was home and while Aang and Katara sat around the table with her, Sokka off in the backyard helping Noren, Zuko and Azula sat by the fire pit where they noticed a little girl peeking her head through the back door.

"Hi," Zuko said to her in a sweet and encouraging voice, it kind of reminded Azula of the way Amaya talks to Rin considering the little girl isn't used to her.

"Hi," the child said in a small and shy voice. Azula decided that she couldn't be much older than Rin; in fact she looked to be a little younger. She looked very much like her father but there were some subtle traces of her mother in her, such as her nose and the shape of her face.

"Were you outside with your daddy and our friend?" Azula asked in the friendliest voice she could manage, Noren had mentioned that he and his wife, Noriko, had a daughter. The little girl nodded shyly and Azula smirked.

"Well I hope you're keeping an eye on them. I'm sure your dad can handle himself but our friend can be a bit of a klutz." She said and the little girl giggled.

"He's ok," she said and Azula smiled.

"Good," she said,

"Want to meet my doll?" She asked, a little more confidence in her voice.

"Of course," Zuko replied

"Sure," Azula said at about the same time and so with a bright smile lighting up the little girl's face she forgot all her shyness and plopped herself down in Azula's lap as she held out her doll.

At first Azula was taken back by this action, sure she shared a bed with Rin once but that was only because there was absolutely nobody else around Rin could've gone to. This little girl, there were plenty of people in the house she could've run over to, but she chose her and Zuko; and she chose to sit on her lap.

"This is Kiyi!" She proudly introduced her doll,

"Your dad told us your name was Kiyi," Zuko playfully mocked,

"It's such a good name, I used it twice!" Kiyi explained, her pride still in her voice.

"Smart, I wish I had thought of that when I was little." Azula said as she peered over Kiyi's shoulder to get a better look at the doll, not that she really cared all that much but it would be rude to let Kiyi know that.

Just then Noren walked in, followed by Sokka, and smiled down at his daughter.

"Kiyi, are you being nice to our guests?" He asked her and she nodded before getting up and trailing behind him over to the table.

"When did you become good with kids?" Zuko asked, almost with a laugh, and Azula simply shrugged.

"Probably at some point during my time with Uncle. My friend Guang has a sister about her age," she explained and Zuko nodded before heading over to join the others at the table.

"How are you doing?" Sokka's voice came as he took the space Zuko had just vacated.

"That depends, are you still holding my leash?" Azula questioned and although Sokka didn't want to he nodded. He knows he can't control her, even if he wanted to he couldn't. But he won't say anything because maybe, just maybe, all Azula needs to get through this is someone to hold her hand; and that is something he's more than happy to do. "Then, I'm as ok as I'm going to be." She mused with a sigh "I just can't stop thinking about if I were to-"

"You won't," Sokka assured her, face dead serious.

"I wish I could believe that," she scoffed but Sokka's face only hardened, if such a thing were even possible.

"You already do," he told her, "It was barely a year ago that you spent a good portion of your night telling me that you aren't a killer, and you're not." He said sternly but she still didn't look convinced.

"People change Sokka," She said but he wouldn't buy it.

"I know, and you did change." he tried to convince her but it still didn't seem to be working.

"Maybe not enough," she muttered and Sokka sighed but said nothing, instead he just got up and went over to the table before promptly returning with two dumplings and a cup of tea.

"Eat one of these," he more ordered than offered, setting the tea down in front of her and holding out the food.

"I'm not hungry," Azula muttered.

"Look I understand that you're going through some stuff and you can't keep a lot down, but you need to eat something. So please just drink that and eat at least half of a dumpling." This time he sounded more like he was asking rather than demanding but Azula gave in and took one dumpling from him. Even she had to admit that she felt a little better after this morning and this was the first time all week that eating didn't feel like forcing food down her throat.

"I must admit, I was a little suspicious when you all started asking about Ursa. But Sokka tells me that you're drama historians!" Noren exclaimed and while Noriko seemed to think that this was wonderful, both Azula and Katara gave Sokka deadpan glares.

"Really?" Azula finally asked in a whispered voice.

"I know, I know, you're amazed at my genius cover story." The Water Tribe boy said and Azula couldn't help but face palm.

"Ursa, the woman you asked about, was probably one of our troupes most famous members. But not for her acting. Years ago she was… well… taken to the Capital City but no one knows why." Noren explained and no one missed how the word "taken" seemed to sound more like "kidnapped" coming off his tongue.

"Supposedly she married into the royal family, of course I moved to town long after this had already happened but I've still heard the rumors." Noriko put in.

"What about Ikem?" Zuko asked, upon first discovering the letters he had been curious about what became of his mother's old boyfriend but now, now that he had reason to believe the man may be his father, he had to know.

"Ikem was another actor and Ursa's boyfriend, but he disappeared not long after Ursa left." Noren replied,

"What do people think happened to him?" Zuko questioned, wondering if maybe he had gone after Ursa and Ozai had him… taken care of.

"No one knows, but they say he was so heartbroken over Ursa leaving that he went into Forgetful Valley." Noriko answered,

"Forgetful Valley?" Aang asked,

"It's a forest just outside of town, but it's forbidden. No one who goes in ever comes out." The woman answered gravely before turning to her husband. "You know, I vaguely remember hearing something about Ursa coming back at some point, looking for Ikem." She said and her husband gave her a completely bewildered look.

"That can't be true! No one has seen or heard from Ursa since she was taken to the Capital City!" He exclaimed and Noriko sighed,

"I'm sure you're right but I wish I could remember where I'd heard that," she said and this time Noren sighed.

"Probably from Mrs. Takayama, she's always spreading gossip and rumors." he suggested and Noriko nodded.

"Probably," she agreed, Azula narrowed her eyes.

"If you don't mind my asking, how well did you know Ursa and Ikem, Noren?" She questioned and the older man sighed.

"Not well," he said, "I moved to town and joined the troupe the same year that they disappeared. We only knew each other for a few months and I'll admit that I was rather shy at first, they seemed very nice and I remember that they were always together…" He trailed off as if he was trying to remember more, or he was lost in thought. "I'm sorry, I wish I had known them better and could tell you more." He apologized but Zuko smiled.

"You've told us plenty, thank you." He said.

After leaving the house, much to the protests of Kiyi who wanted her new friends to say, the five teenagers headed back to where they had left Appa. For the most part they were quiet, Zuko and Aang were quietly arguing about something but aside from that no one had much to say. That is, not until Zuko decided that it was time they all take a trip to Forgetful Valley.

"What?" Sokka demanded, "What part of no one who goes in ever comes out, did you not hear?" He continued,

"Sokka, you've faced deadly sea-serpents, the entire army of the Fire Nation, and Azula and her friends. You can handle a forest." Zuko said and Azula crossed her arms at his making an example of her but she couldn't exactly argue it.

"Well you guys can go on ahead, I'll stay here with the bison." She said,

"Azula-"

"Zuko please," she said firmly, almost begging. "I'm sorry but I don't think I can handle going in there." She pleaded and Zuko nodded reluctantly, he knew that Azula was upset about all this. She was upset that she was the only child of Ozai and she felt like having a different father somehow took away all of his inner demons.

She's wrong of course, he still feels all of the pain and anger that he always has and if anything it's harder now that he has the knowledge that if this is true then he didn't HAVE to grow up that way. Things could've been so much different for him, but they weren't. He was raised by Ozai, and with all the inner turmoil that entails.

"Ok," he agreed, knowing that there isn't anything he can say to get Azula to see that they aren't as different as she thinks.

Sokka trailed behind a little as the group started to head off, stopping and standing by Azula for a moment.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked and she gave him a chuckle in response.

"I'll be ok, I promise I won't hurt anyone." She said and so he gave her a nod before hurrying to catch up with the others.

Once the others were out of sight Azula headed back into town and knocked on the first door she saw. A man opened the door, probably in his thirties.

"Sorry to bother you, I'm looking for a Mrs. Takayama? Do you know where I could find her?" She asked and the man replied with an address and so after thanking him Azula headed off.

She knew that Zuko was dead set on finding answers in Forgetful Valley, and even if he weren't she knew he wouldn't go for this. She could see it in his eyes; he trusts Noren. But she just couldn't. The only good thing Ozai ever did for her was he taught her how to read people. There was something about not just Noren, but his wife too, that didn't sit right with her. First off their names are Noren and Noriko; what are the chances of two people with such similar names ending up married? Second there's the way Noren kept conveniently cutting off the old woman who Azula can only assume is Mrs. Takayama this morning every time she was about to say what she believed had happened to Ursa, not to mention how quickly he challenged his wife when she brought up the possibility of Ursa having returned at one point. Then there was the bogus claim that he didn't know them well. Thanks to a criticism her five-year-old self had made about the Ember Island players being terrible she had once earned a rather long lecture from her mother about respect and appreciation, one that included a lecture of how players are so dedicated to their craft that they often spend more time with each other than their own families. If that's true, and basing judgment upon how quickly her friends had all bonded into a familial unit, it's highly unlikely he didn't know them well.

When she arrived at the house she was looking for she went up to the door and knocked, and unsurprisingly the elderly man from this afternoon answered.

"Hi, I know it's late but your wife was trying to tell my friends about a woman named Ursa earlier today, do you think I could speak to her?" She asked, being as polite as she could manage.

"Morgana! There's someone at the door for you!" He practically shouted as he marched away from the door. Azula wasn't quite sure of what to do with herself but it wasn't long before the woman she had seen in town earlier came to the door and led her into the house.

"Ursa was a very sweet girl," Mrs. Takayama began as she poured some tea for her guest and herself.

"Sweet? Her and that boyfriend of hers were nothing but trouble," her husband commented bitterly and the old woman sent him a scowl as he walked by and disappeared up the stairs.

"You'll have to excuse him," she said to Azula, "he's still sore about all the practical jokes Ursa and Ikem used to play on him." She explained before getting up from her seat and going to the bottom of the stairs in order to be certain that her husband would hear her. "They were ten years old and that barn was coming down anyway, get over it!" She shouted up at him.

He yelled something in reply but Azula didn't catch it, she was to busy snickering over the idea of her mother taking down an old man's barn as a child; maybe she didn't get all of her darkness from Ozai after all.

"Yes you do," A stubborn voice rang in her head and she groaned, couldn't she just have one moment of peace?

Grumbling to herself the old woman returned, "Like I said, ignore him." She advised before taking a sip of her tea. "Ursa was very sweet girl, involved with the theater troupe from the time she was a little girl. I was a good friend of Grandma Guchi, the old director. She was always raving about how hard working Ursa was. When she was nine she would crawl under the stage with a hammer and fix the supports that the men couldn't reach as easily. When she was sixteen she'd pout at her boyfriend until he put her on his shoulders so they could get the high scenery pieces up without waiting around for somebody to finish with the ladder. She loved every part she ever had, but from the time she joined the troupe she had her heart set on playing the Dragon Empress when she was old enough." The old woman spoke with a proud and rather amused smile before it faded into a mournful frown. "Poor girl, she worked so hard all her life to get that part one day. She finally got it too, but she was taken away to the Capital City before the first rehearsal." She finished and although a part of Azula was saddened by the story, another part of her was a strange mix of intrigued and, oddly enough, happy. The more she heard about her mother's life before the palace the more she started to be reminded of herself.

"Noren's wife said she had heard something somewhere about Ursa returning?" She asked the older woman who seemed very confused by the information; odd considering Noren seemed sure Mrs. Takayama was where Noriko got her information.

"If she did this is the first I'm hearing of it, and considering Noriko didn't move here until long after Ursa left she wouldn't have recognized her but word like that would've traveled fast." The old woman mused, gripping her chin thoughtfully. This wasn't adding up for her either.

"This might sound strange but humor me, can you tell me anything about how Noren knew Ursa?" She asked, the director's story still not sitting right with her.

"Noren?" Mrs. Takayama asked incredulously. "He didn't move to town until almost a year after Ursa left." She said and at that Azula nearly choked on her tea. Sure she had doubted Noren's story but she thought he at least knew Ursa.

"So he never knew her?" She asked and Mrs. Takayama shook her head.

"He couldn't have," she insisted and suddenly Azula felt as though she couldn't breathe. "Are you ok dear?" Mrs. Takayama asked; seeming to notice the unnerved look Azula had on her face.

"Um, yeah it's just, Noren said that he knew Ursa and Ikem?" She asked it more than stated it, but all the same, Mrs. Takayama shook her head.

"No, Noren came to town after Ursa and Ikem disappeared. I remember because of how heart broken Guchi was when they vanished, they had been with the troupe practically their whole lives, and how she seemed to finally stop mourning as if they were dead when Noren came to town. I couldn't tell you why, but he had some sort of calming effect on her." The old woman ranted and Azula knew to believe her, but at the same time she didn't want to, because it could very well mean that Zuko and the others walked straight into some sort of trap.

"What about Noriko?" She asked, maybe the story of Noren's wife could somehow explain this.

"Noriko?" Mrs. Takayama asked, clearly finding Noren's claims of having known Ursa just as suspicious as Azula. "She's a quiet one, sweet and friendly once you get to know her, but she mostly keeps to herself. She never knew Ursa either, or Ikem. She moved here about seven or eight years ago, eight! That's right because the little one is four now and they were together for a little while before getting married." She seemed to be talking mostly to herself, but Azula still paid close attention.

Eight years ago.

Mother had left when she was seven, and considering her fifteenth birthday had passed while she was out on her own, it had been eight years.

That couldn't be a coincidence. That Noriko, who seemed very off and was married to a man who clearly lied about having known Ursa, showed up around the same time Ursa disappeared from the palace.

Azula didn't know how, but she was going to get to the bottom of this.