"My name is Zuko. I am Lord of the Fire Nation… and I am your son."

Noriko didn't understand. The young man in front of her had clearly suffered some sort of detachment from reality… Claims of being the Fire Lord, claims of being her son. Noriko had never been married before Noren… she had certainly never had children before Noren.

But the boy looked so earnest. Such a handsome boy... his sister, too, though there was more than a touch of madness in the girl's eyes. They were both clearly strong- in body and in character. They would make any mother proud.

But Noriko was not their mother. "I'm sorry," She said as softly as she could. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. I can't be your mother."

The expression on the boy's face sent an icy stab through her heart and Noriko had to look away. The dark-skinned girl, Zuko's girlfriend, was glaring at her with cold blue eyes and a disapproving frown. What did she expect? For Noriko to indulge the boy's delusion? She clearly loved him, and Noriko was glad the children had each other for support but she couldn't be expected to play along.

The sound of Noren setting down his teacup caught Noriko's attention. His eyes were downcast, pained, and Noriko was briefly concerned he would throw the children out.

Wait, that wasn't right. Her husband was a kind and patient man. He would never lose his temper or…

"Take the brat from my sight."

Not Noren. Noren would never... Another man.

"When I saw you in the village, I recognised who you must be," Noren said softly, looking back up at Zuko and his sister, Azula. "I had learned everything I could about Ursa's life at the palace, knowing it would come back to haunt us one day. I was surprised to realise the stories about your scar were untrue… I'd have believed it of Ozai."

Noriko frowned at her husband; she hadn't known he'd looked into Ursa's story. It made sense, she supposed, that he'd known her… but to investigate what had happened to her was odd.

"Forgive me for not confessing the whole truth before," Noren's voice was rough, hoarse. "I had hoped to give you enough information to… to satisfy you whilst still protecting my home here with Ursa… but that was selfish of me."

There was a distant ringing in Noriko's ears, like a gong had been struck too hard in the distance, and the echoes danced in her mind. "Ursa?"

A faint spark, somewhere behind her eyes. Gone as quickly as it was there.

Noren reached for her hand, his touch warm and familiar. Noriko's chest felt tight, like she was bound in tautly pulled rope and it was getting hard to breathe. "I was able to lead Ursa to the Mother of Faces," Noren smiled and kissed the back of her hand, meeting her eyes with an expression of such deep love it made her chest ache even more. "Because I, too, used to have a different name… Ikem."

Ikem.

There was a sharp intake of breath from Zuko's direction but Noriko couldn't tear her eyes from those of her husband. She wanted to scold him for indulging the fantasies of children but her voice had been lost and her face was wet with tears. Wordlessly, she tightened her hold on her husband's hand.

They had been together just a few years but the depth of the love and trust between them was undeniable. She had never felt safer than she did with this man.

So why was he saying these things? Why would he say them if they weren't true?

"You're Ikem," Zuko breathed and she tore her eyes away to look at the boy's young, hopeful face. "Maybe… maybe this is where I belong too, then… With my mother, sister and father."

Noriko put a hand to her head. This was all too much. Noren - or was it Ikem? - stilled. "Father? That's not possible. Ursa and I never…"

"Enough of this," The girl, Azula, stood. Her expression was cool and aloof but Noriko could see a deep pain in her eyes, it made Noriko's own heart ache and she stood to reach for her, this damaged, broken girl.

Azula was quicker. Stronger, too. She lunged for Noriko and a pale, firm hand wrapped around Noriko's throat, pushing her backwards against the wall hard enough for Noriko's head to spin. Stars flashed before her eyes and a distant roaring sound overwhelmed the strange ringing in her ears.

Dimly, as though watching through water, Noriko could see Noren and their guests jump to their feet. Zuko was shielding Kiyi behind him even as he tried to advance on Azula but he was little more than an obscure shape behind Azula. Noriko's vision was filled with the furious, heartbroken girl's tearstained face.

"Mother," Azula spat. "Is this another device to torment me? Haven't you done enough?" Her voice was high and even without knowing her, Noriko could feel the accusation, the betrayal in her tone.

Struggling for breath, Noriko lifted her hand to cup the girl's flushed cheek. Such a beautiful girl, in so much pain. "If it's true," She gasped, the edges of her vision darkening. "If I really am your mother…" It hurt her, the hand at her throat, but she was filled with an unknowable sorrow and she wasn't sure why. "I'm so sorry that I didn't love you enough."

Azula's eyebrows creased in thinly veiled anguish. The wetness beneath Noriko's hand made her face feel almost sticky to the touch but Noriko ran a thumb across the skin soothingly, as she had done when Kiyi had been teething, or when her other daughter had lost her first tooth.

What other daughter?

The thought was jarring, and Noriko's vision was fading. Suddenly the pressure on her neck released and she dimly felt herself fall. She couldn't hear anything, but could feel hands on her body and a cooling sensation on her neck.

Through the darkness, she caught flashes of another life, another face. Another husband. Cruel, burning hands. "Say goodbye to your parents properly." His voice came softly from the darkness as though he cared not for the pain the words caused.

Crushing, aching loneliness. A small room where…

No. Her heart lurched. I don't want to remember.

The desperate cry of a newborn baby.

"I'm so sorry… This was a mistake," She could hear a voice speaking softly over the blood pulsing in her ears. "We should go and leave you in peace."

No. But she couldn't make a sound. The cooling sensation on her neck intensified.

"Stay," The voice of her husband, kind and earnest even through his panic. "I think… I think it's time it all came out."

"I don't want to cause her more pain."

"If you leave now, you'll be hurting her as well as yourself," The voice of the dark-skinned girl, Katara. Strong and close by. "Now she knows some of the truth… do you think she'll be happy with just that?"

"You promised…" Azula. "Zu-Zu, you wanted this!" Noriko's eyes strained to open. "You could be free- free of a throne you never wanted, free to fuck your foreign girlfriend, free to-" A crash.

"Shut up!" Noriko finally opened her eyes to see the Water-Tribe boy, Sokka, standing over Azula who was pressed against the wall by his hand, bunched in her tunic. "Don't you dare talk about my sister that way!"

"Are you okay?" Katara's face swam into Noriko's vision, her hands steady on the back of Noriko's head. "You might still be a little tender."

"I'm sorry," Noriko said forcefully, bringing a hand up to grasp the young girl's arm. "She shouldn't have said that- what a horrible thing to say…"

"It's… well, not fine, but don't worry about it," Katara's smile was capable and steadfast. Exactly the sort of girl any mother would want for her son.

"Mummy!" Kiyi was warm and forceful against Noriko's stomach. Noriko sat up, holding her tiny daughter tightly, fighting tears. Her head was still swimming and she didn't know what to think, or feel.

"I'm sorry," She sobbed into Kiyi's head. "I'm so sorry."

She looked up at the two dark haired children who might be hers. Zuko's face was pale and tense, keeping control of his features even as his eyes told of loneliness and sorrow. Azula was wild grief and fury, panting and sweating from her place against the wall, pinned down by Sokka and the warrior girl, Suki. Her eyes on Noriko's were burning.

Like his.

"I'm sorry," She whispered into the room.

There was a soft footstep behind her and she turned to see the monk, Aang… The Avatar. He knelt down beside her with solemn grey eyes and a gentle smile. "Noriko," He said gently. "If you like, I can undo what the Mother of Faces did to you. I can give you back your memories along with your true face… but only if you want me to."

Noriko's eyes looked past the Avatar's to where her husband knelt, face pale with worry. She reached for him and he rushed forward, kissing her hand and pulling her close. "I'm scared," She whispered into his neck and his large, warm, soft hands smoothed her hair and wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

"I'm with you. No matter what," He breathed. "Nothing will take you away from me again."

She didn't know what he meant by that at all and the thought of missing so much of herself was achingly sad… but the man with burning eyes and hands was somewhere in those memories. Did she truly want them back?

She looked back to Zuko and Azula. Two children haunted by a past she didn't know, by her own selfish actions. "Yes."

"You're sure?" Aang confirmed.

She met the boy's eyes, tears springing fresh from her own. "Yes. Do it," A shaking, tremulous breath. "I want it all back."

He took a deep breath and reached for her face. Holding tightly onto Kiyi and her husband, Noriko closed her eyes.

It was painful, so painful. Noriko had never known pain like it…

Ursa had.

It left her gasping, breathless and hoarse. She hadn't expected her very soul to feel like it was ripped apart. Her heart struggled against it and her head felt like she'd been crushed. Slowly, slowly, it began to ease. Her hold on Ikem and Kiyi must be bruising, so she lessened her grip only to find they were holding onto her just as tightly. Grateful, she squeezed back.

As the pain began to fade, the memories fell into place and with them, the familiar ache in her heart. Noriko's simple joy in life slipped away and the melancholy of lost love took its place. As Noriko, she'd never really seen the probing anticipation in Ikem's eyes everytime she got lost in her own thoughts, she'd not really understood the sadness in his face when she'd dreamed of having more children. It had been simpler, life as Noriko. She'd been blissfully ignorant.

Now she was awake and it was so painful.

She opened her eyes, lip trembling as she finally saw Zuko. The little boy she'd left behind wasn't gone, exactly… but he was lost. The young man before her was what, eighteen? Nineteen? She didn't know- she hadn't kept track of his passing birthdays as she should have. Those bright, wide, sunny eyes had narrowed and hardened to a cool gold, framed by her eyebrows and his father's hair.

Her heart broke as she saw Azula, who had been so young. What had become of her beautiful, clever, viciously talented daughter? Azula had been released by Sokka, her filthy words not forgotten but put aside and she was now crumpled on the hardwood floor. Her eyes were wilder than Ursa could ever remember Ozai's being… But then, he'd never been capable of the emotion that their children possessed.

The pain of it was almost worse than when Aang had taken her face back. It was a rolling, endless pain that surged inside her like the ocean. Noriko had never felt anything like it but again, Ursa knew it all too well.

She fell to the side, sobbing, reaching with the hand that wasn't holding Kiyi tight against her. Nothing mattered but her children and she'd left them. She'd chosen to forget them.

Zuko stepped forward first. He stumbled and fell against her, tears falling from eyes that were so much like her mother's. How had she not recognised him? His face had been always there, just out of sight in her mind. He heaved great, wrenching sobs into her shoulder and she pressed her face into his hair, inhaling deeply. Her son. Her son was in her arms again.

She blinked through tears at Azula, still crumpled against the wall with burning, hurting eyes. "Azula, come here…" The girl shook her head, lips twisted in focused concentration as she watched them. "Azula, please..."

Her eldest daughter brought her hands up in fists, clutching at the sides of her head, thick tufts of hair poking out between her fingers as she crumpled in on herself and sobbed into the floorboards.

All too soon, Zuko pulled back, wiping furiously at his cheeks and turning away from her. "Zuko…"

He took a deep breath, hands braced against the floor and looked up, away from her, at Katara. The Water Tribe girl met his eyes and Ursa could see the girl had also been crying- her eyes were red and cheeks damp. The girl stood and looked to the others. "Come on, I could do with some air."

Aang's hand pressed briefly to Ursa's shoulder and she smiled at him in breathless gratitude. The Avatar nodded at her and wordlessly followed Katara out onto the veranda.

Sokka was still stood over Azula and when Suki gestured for him to follow he scowled but trudged reluctantly after her.

Once the door closed, Azula's voice was sharp. "Leave us."

Ikem froze, eyes seeking Ursa's in hesitation. Ursa swallowed against the fear her daughter's eyes elicited and nodded. "Here, take Kiyi."

She lifted Kiyi's arms from around her middle and Kiyi began to cry loud, frightened wails that only intensified when she saw Ursa's face. Ursa reached for her daughter to comfort her but Kiyi flung herself into Ikem's arms, screaming in fright.

One painful thing at a time, Ursa reminded herself. A mantra that had been her armour in the palace. One step at a time.

Hushing their daughter, Ikem retreated after the others, onto the veranda. He gave Azula a wide berth.

When the room was empty save for the three of them, Ursa found herself feeling empty. Zuko wasn't looking at her and Azula was so… hurt. She was trying to look angry and she was, but Ursa could see the anguish beneath her scowl. Yes, it was a little bit comforting to know that she still understood her daughter even after all this time.

It was Zuko who she didn't know and the thought was agonising. "I didn't want to forget you," She whispered softly. "I was going to get a new face and come back…" She took a deep, shaking breath and stood, more elegantly than she'd known how to as Noriko, but elegance had been part of her conditioning at the palace and with the memories came the habits.

"Why did you leave?" Azula asked, voice hard and flinty. "Did you kill Grandfather?"

The directness of the question made Ursa's heart lurch. "Yes. I did."

Zuko's head whipped around and he stared at her, eyes wide and looking so much like the boy she'd left behind. Ursa forced her eyes to meet his unflinchingly. "Why?"

Ursa sighed and sat at the table, gesturing for her children to join her. "You may not remember, but that day we received the news of dear Lu Ten's passing in Ba Sing Se."

"I remember," Zuko said, grimly. "Ozai wanted Grandfather… Fire Lord Azulon to name him heir as he could continue the line," He said the last words distastefully, as though they were venom.

"As punishment, Azulon demanded your father do the unthinkable. That he should murder his own son in penance for his words…" She swallowed. "Ozai agreed."

"We know," Azula said coolly, and Ursa turned to look at her. The girl was slumped against the wall still, feigning indifference. "I listened from behind the curtain."

Of course, she had. Ursa nearly smiled. Her Azula was far too cunning to be dismissed by some sad old man with a crown on his head. "In order to save your life, Zuko, I offered Ozai a deal. When I grew up in Hira'a my mother was the local healer and wise woman. I could make any remedy… or any poison…" She paused, the words thick on her tongue. "I am not proud of what I did, but it got Ozai what he wanted- the throne. In return, he promised no harm would come to you," She shook her head, regret making her sick. "... but I had to leave and never return."

"Why?" Zuko asked. "Why banish you? Someone like Ozai… surely he would want to use your skills further?"

"Dummy," Azula scoffed, eyes alight with speculation. "How long until our father found himself poisoned if he did that?" She smirked and Ursa's blood ran cold. "I would do the same. Mother wouldn't dare reveal what happened as long as we were at the palace, under father's control."

Ursa nodded. "I wanted to take you with me… both of you. He held you as… collateral."

"Why marry him? Why, if you loved Ikem?" Zuko frowned. "Was it that desirable? To marry into the royal family?"

What was that look he was giving her? Ursa reached across and took his hand. "No. I-I was engaged to Ikem. We were going to marry but I came home one day and…"

Her mother, crying. Her father, speaking with the Fire Lord and his youngest son in the greenhouse.

"The Fire Lord came and wanted me for his son. I had no choice. He wanted Avatar Roku's line of descendants to merge with his own."

Her beloved Ikem, ready to fight the soldiers with nothing more than a wooden sword. Her harsh words to force him to stand down.

"When we married, I wasn't meant to have any contact with anyone from Hira'a, including my family…" She choked, tears rising unbidden to her eyes.

Returning to Hira'a after so many years, banished from the palace… only to discover her parents were already long dead.

"But you did," Azula challenged, shedding any pretence of nonchalance. "You wrote letters… You met with Ikem."

"What?" Ursa asked. "I mean- yes, I wrote letters but I never…" Azula was holding something tightly in her fist, a piece of white paper. "Azula, what is that?"

"Proof," Azula hissed victoriously. "Zuko was always weak and now I have proof as to why!" She grinned a terrible grimace and Ursa frowned, holding out her hand. After a long, silent moment in which Ursa simply held her daughter's eye, Azula jerked, as though to hand the letter to her mother but snatched it back, glaring at her own hand in accusatory anger before tucking it away in her clothing.

When it became apparent that Azula wasn't willing to play along, Ursa let her hand fall with a sigh.

"I thought I had a friend in the palace," Ursa said, eventually. Zuko was staring into his tea and she reached for him again, wrapping her fingers around his wrist. "An older servant woman who would pass on my letters for home. I knew nothing would be able to come back to me in the palace, not under Ozai's… care."

The room. Locked doors and bound limbs.

"I grew suspicious and began feeding lies into the letters. I was trying to trip him up, you see, to prove he was intercepting them. I underestimated him."

Always. I always underestimated him.

"He knew I was lying- he'd kept me too tightly leashed for there to even be a chance… But I spoke out against him and said that I wished that you weren't his son… that you wouldn't turn out like he had."

My precious, bright-eyed boy.

"He promised to grant my wish."

Furious, blazing eyes and burning hands.

Ursa's voice trembled and broke. "From that point on, he promised to treat you as though you were… as though…"

The first time Ozai snapped at the boy, the shocked guilt in Zuko's eyes as he tried to figure out what he had done wrong.

Zuko's smile was bitter. "I see."

"No," Azula hissed. "I don't. The throne is my destiny. Mine."

Zuko looked up, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Azula. I can't give you the crown," She glared at him, aghast. "I think I always knew I couldn't give it up for you- no matter how much I might want to."

"So many betrayals, brother." Azula scolded darkly. "And you," She turned those awful eyes on Ursa. "A liar, a murderer and a coward. You're not fit to be called a mother!" In a move swift as lightning, she stood, holding her burning hand high. Zuko sprang up just as quickly, settling into a bending stance between Ursa and her daughter.

"Wait, Azula!" Ursa cried, stumbling to her feet as bright blue flame licked at her hands. Her face was alight with a terrible smile. "Don't!"

"Don't what?" Azula challenged. "All you do is lie!"

"I love you," Ursa tried. Her one redeeming feature. She had lied and deceived but for the rest of her life, Ursa would always love her children. "Please."

Azula hesitated. At least, it looked like she did; her fire dissipated and her body froze but she gave out a frustrated, wordless scream and glared at the doorway to the veranda, where Katara stood with her arms outstretched and sweat dripping from her brow. "Calm down, Azula," She said firmly and did something that brought Azula, screaming in indignation, to her knees.

"I love you," Ursa whispered. "I'm so sorry, Azula. I love you so much," She shuffled forwards and wrapped the girl in a tight embrace, holding her fragile daughter to her chest as though she could undo the damage of her own neglect.

The pain in her chest was keen and sharp but she cradled and nurtured it, embracing the pain rather than running away from it this time. The pain wasn't bad, itself, it was just that she was out of practice with her two eldest children. Her heart had some growing to do, that was all.

.

.

.

Not gonna lie, this was a rough one. I hope it makes enough sense without being too heavy on the exposition or angst. Ursa's a tough character and I want to do her and her grief justice without going too heavy. Also… there's a lot to unpack between these three. It's nowhere close to being their happy ending yet.