A/N welcome to part two. We have jumped about 9 months back in time, 4 months post comet [PC] The last chapter closed at 13.5 months PC for anyone interested in my timeline. I have opted to ignore 99% of the comic The Search. The only parts I have kept are the fact that Ursa returned to her home village of Hira'a and the alternate name that she gave herself. Everything else is different. No new husband, no new child, no memory wipe or new face.

ALSO thanks to Zutaraeasrobbed for pointing out something important I left off of the last chapter. Baby Kya's description. She has skin more like Zuko's though not as pale. Her eyes will be a dark cerulean blue and her hair will be black like her daddy's but curly like Katara's. Right now its feathery and straight but I imagine it might get wavy as she gets older. Obviously at the moment she is a chubby baby so… lol Hope that helps. I plan to go through and make a few edits once the story is complete, prompted by a recent reread of the first chapter. CRINGE. I will probably add this in there somewhere or when we finally see her again. I'm not sure yet. ANYWAY, without further ado, part two!

Chapter 35

It had taken nearly three weeks by cart and by ferry to reach the care home on Ember Island. There had been fair weather and calm sea while they traveled and Yun Sui was thankful one thing at least had been easy. As a Fire Sage, he had been trained in the chi blocking arts and had been able to keep princess Azula from bending. He could not however, keep her from her insane ranting.

It was painful to see the princess in such a state. While Yun Sui had never been close to the royal family, he had served in the royal temple and had watched the children grow up. He had also witnessed the Fire Lord's abusive manipulation of his daughter. Ozai had separated Azula from her mother as much as he could from the day she first fire bent. While he continued to allow Ursa to dote upon the son he viewed as worthless, Azula was twisted in his own image.

Now she raved, wasted from a childhood spent bereft of her mother's love and abused by her father. In her madness she raged at the parent who, in her mind, both hated and feared her. Ursa plagued her day and night, reminding her of the monster she was. Yun Sui visited every day. Sometimes she would know him, screaming at the man who had taken her from her home. Others, she merely wept to herself and the apparition only she could see.

As the weeks went by, the fresh air and peaceful environment free of her poisonous father seemed to be benefiting Azula. She still wept most nights and raged at her mother for abandoning her but she was increasingly lucid. There was less screaming when he visited. They would have brief conversations about anything from the days weather to what Azula remembered of her early childhood. After three months Yun Sui decided that if she was ever going to truly heal, she needed to face the one person who tormented her most. Her mother. So he left Azula in the capable hands of the healers and set sail for Hira'a.

It was while he was traveling south to find Ursa that he learned of Prince Zuko's death. Apparently the news was more than two months old but the tiny village home to the care facility was rather isolated from the main towns on the holiday island. Not many ventured there and it was more or less self contained. This made it ideal to hide the Princess but most news was late in getting to them.

He had been shocked and devastated. Yun Sui was actively working with the White Lotus to supplant Ozai with his son. The Fire Nation needed Prince Zuko. It needed a just and honorable ruler to end the war and restore its people. Besides this, Prince Zuko was s good man who did not deserve to be burned to death in some Earth Kingdom forest on his father's orders. According to the notice he'd seen, there had been a water tribe person with him who was also killed. Master Katara no doubt. At least, he supposed, Prince Zuko had died with his lover beside him.

When Yun Sui arrived in Hira'a after two weeks sailing south along the island crescent, it was with a heavy heart. He had planned to tell Ursa her son was alive and in Ba Sing Se with his uncle. Now he searched for a mother in mourning. Hira'a was a comfortable and out of the way village on one of the south-easternmost islands in the nation. Due to its size, he hoped it would be relatively easy to find Ursa. He had gone first to the small market to enquire if anyone knew her. At first the mention of her name resulted in shuttered glares and avoidance. Eventually he gave it up and, buying lunch from a street vendor, ate on his feet as he made his way to a small inn.

The matron there had been the first person not to turn away when he asked after Ursa.

"Please ma'am, I am merely an old friend with news of her children. I know she will want to hear what I have to say and I swear to you I harbor no ill intent." The tall, red faced women squinted as she appraised him before finally nodding.

"I can see you are hiding something but I believe you when you say you are not a threat. Yes, I know of Ursa. She did indeed return here some years ago and lives on the edge of town. Though, she no longer goes by that name, Noriko is what we call her now. Our herbalist."

"Thank you ma'am, I will go there now. May Agni bless your family."

Knowing where to find her he wasted no time, he hadn't even taken his pack to his room before heading out again in the direction he had been given.

oOoOoOoOo

Ursa had been reluctantly happy since her banishment from the palace. It had been difficult for many years, abandoning her children to her cruel former husband left an ocean of grief in which she had nearly drowned. Additionally, years of regret over her inability to understand and bond with her daughter ate at her when she thought of what Azula would become with only her father's influence. The bits of news she heard over the years about her children had done nothing to ease her burden.

Her time in exile was not all misery and heartache though. She had reconnected with friends from her life before Ozai and established a modest living for herself. Growing up learning about medicinal plants and all the ways to use them at her mother's side, those skills translated well to life on her own. There had not been another with her her mother's skill in the village since she had died so Ursa had taken her place. Adopting a new name just in case Ozai sent anyone after her, she had lived day to day, always listening for any news of her children.

When she had learned of Zuko's banishment more than five years earlier, she had wanted to find him. She had gone so far as to travel to some of the larger port cities to learn what she could of his destination and where she might go to meet him. Upon learning what Ozai had done to him and demanded of him should he want to return home she had been furious. Evidently time and distance had made her forget just how cruel her former husband could be. There had been a small ship headed for the Earth Kingdom colonies and Ursa had already booked passage when she learned Iroh traveled with Zuko. Iroh, her kind hearted brother in-law that had always loved her son. Iroh, who had always been one of the most honorable and strong men she had ever known. He would be able to care for him and guide him towards the path that he should take. Her son didn't need her. In fact her intervention would likely only hold him back.

Azula though, she still needed her. Even though Ursa could do nothing for her daughter but stay close by, she would do that. She had not known how to be what Azula had needed when she was little and that certainly hadn't changed. This though, this one thing she could do for her. So Ursa had stayed in the Fire Nation, as close to her daughter as she could be, while her son sailed around the world chasing a ghost.

Some years later she had been hopeful again when news came to their little village that her son had been welcomed home again. That hope was diminished when she learned the circumstances for her sons return. With the Avatar dead would the war ever end? Would the world ever change? Then, what had seemed mere days later, Zuko had apparently turned traitor and abandoned the Fire Nation to join the very not dead Avatar in his quest to defeat Ozai. Pride in the man he had evidently become filled her then. Ursa knew well what it took to stand up to Ozai and Zuko had lived his life attempting to please the man. His future may have once again become uncertain, but she was proud of his courage nonetheless.

With Zuko's final betrayal, Ursa had worried for Azula again. Would Ozai punish her for her brother's short comings? No, Ozai had always favored his prodigy of a daughter. Heartbroken, Ursa thought it likely Azula would have been sickly pleased to officially have lost all competition for the throne once and for all. Then Sozin's comet had come and all the violence it left in its wake. Her two children had fought each other to the death. Zuko had killed his baby sister. No matter what Azula had been by then, no matter how contentious their relationship had always been, they were siblings. They were meant to love one another. Ursa wept and raged for days afterword, cursing Ozai for turning them against one another, and herself for not fighting for her daughter when she had had the chance.

For more than a month after she had mourned Azula. Lamenting her role in her death and questioning every choice she had ever made. If she had gone to Zuko years ago would it have changed anything? All of the 'what if's' and the pain of her death at her own brothers hand was nearly too much to bear and Ursa wondered if she could survive it.

Then the notice was hung in the village square.

Zuko, her son, her beloved boy was dead. Standing in the market staring at her son's scarred face, her legs had gone lame beneath her and the broken sobs that wracked her body echoed along the crowded streets.

Dead, and Ozai the monster, had ordered celebration in honor of the occasion. In their remote corner of the nation the mood was confused and angry. How could the FIre Lord celebrate the death of his son and only remaining heir? What kind of a man ordered a national festival to proclaim the end of his line and murder of his children? Ursa knew. She had always known and she blamed her own cowardice for their death. Maybe if she had been selfish or foolish enough when she had first been banished and stolen her children away and fled to the Earth KIngdom… No. Azula wouldn't have left with her and Ozai never would have stopped hunting them.

Even knowing she could have changed nothing, Ursa allowed herself to succumb to the guilt and the grief. If it hadn't been for her friends and neighbors coming by to force her to eat and care for herself she would have followed her children to the Spirit world. Until then, she had lived hoping that one day she would see them again. Now, there was nothing for her. She ate little and slept less. During the day she would grind roots and mix herbs, it was thoughtless and kept her busy. Focusing all of her energy on mixing tinctures and salves for injured villagers helped, giving her a reason to get up every day.

Weeks passed this way, three months in a world without either of her children. It was winter in the Fire Nation, the heat of her greenhouse had become a refuge against the chill that blew in off the sea. Ursa was working on a burn salve when a sharp rapping on the greenhouse door roused her from the gentle grinding of her mortar. It was not unusual to have visitors, her friends still dropped by to check on her almost daily. Sighing, she set down her pestle and picked her way through potted plants and opened the door to greet her guest.

"Good after…" The words died on her lips when she recognized the man on her stoop. Yun Sui, the fire sage who had smuggled her out of the capital city nearly a decade before.

"Ah… Lady Ursa, good afternoon. I know you must be shocked to see me but... may I come in? I have something terribly important to discuss."