Chapter 36

"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."

It took Ursa a full 30 seconds to respond she was so utterly shocked to see the man before her. Blinking slowly and trying to comprehend what he had said, she nodded, backing into her greenhouse.

"Yun Sui… What are you… What… Why are you here? It has been so many years." He stepped around her and wondered around the plants, inspecting a leaf or bloom as he made his way to her work bench to sit.

"Yes, it has been quite a long time my Lady." Suddenly his face crumpled and he looked briefly at the floor. "I am sure you are aware… about your son?" At her curt nod he continued. "My deepest condolences Ursa, my own sadness at learning this news I know is a pale shade of what you must feel. I confess I heard only recently. I have lived something of a hermits life these last few months. The Fire Nation has truly suffered a great loss."

Ursa swiped roughly at her eyes and gestured for him to sit. The older man sank heavily onto the bench and groaned, rubbing his knee as he caught his breath.

"Yun Sui, why are you here? Has Ozai… Has he decided to hunt me down and kill me as well?"

Ursa watched her old ally closely, the shock at her assumption was genuine. He shook his head.

"No, my Lady the Fire Lord doesn't know that I am here. In fact, if he thinks of me at all I am sure he would assume me dead. I fled the capital after the comet and have been living in hiding ever since"

At the mention of Sozin's comet, Ursa stiffened and her voice was hard. "The day my son killed his sister. Tell me Yun Sui, how did my daughter die? All I have been able to learn is that my children fought an Agni Kai and Azula was killed."

"Ah, and that my Lady is why I am here…"

"Please, I am no longer the Fire Lady, Ursa if fine Yun Sui."

"Yes, very good. Ursa, Prince Zuko did not, in fact, kill his sister. Princess Azula lives."

Blood rushed in Ursa's ears and her heart felt as though it might burst through her chest. Her daughter was alive! If that was true then what about Zuko?

"If she is alive, what about Zuko? Was that lies as well?"

He didn't have to answer. His face said it all.

"My son is dead then." She closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel the fresh wave of pain his confirmation brought before thinking of her daughter again. "If Azula lives, where is she? Why has Ozai told the world she was killed?"

"That was what we wanted my uh.. Ursa. On the day of the comet, Prince Zuko and another friend of the late Avatar, a master waterbender named Katara defeated Azula. Prince Zuko was gravely injured, and were it not for Master Katara's healing abilities he would have died then. When we heard Fire Lord Ozai had defeated Avatar Aang and was returning to the city, Prince Zuko and Master Katara were forced to flee. Your son asked me to take Azula away. She was… not well at the end. He knew there would be no saving her if Ozai was allowed to control her again so we let him believe she was dead. By the time Prince Zuko had arrived at the palace, the princess had dismissed nearly all staff and indeed any of the court that had remained after Ozai left out of paranoia. Once the four of us left as well, assuming she had perished at her brothers hand was the simplest conclusion he could have drawn."

Ursa was quiet as she turned this new information over in her head. Zuko had spared his sister in the end, and even done what he could to protect her after the fact despite all that had passed between them.

"How was he injured?"

"As you know, Princess Azula was a prodigious bender. She attempted to strike Master Katara down with a bolt of lightning. It was unexpected as she was not participating in their Agni Kai, but Prince Zuko was fast. He threw himself in front of Master Katara and was nearly killed redirecting the lightning without proper grounding. It was actually Master Katara that subdued Princess Azula before healing Prince Zuko."

Ursa was not surprised that Azula had mastered lightning, but to turn it on a bystander? What was this woman to her son? Why would Azula try to kill her and why would Zuko die for her? Her thoughts must have written themselves on her face as Yun Sui nodded and answered.

"Master Katara, they were lovers you see, the two seemed extremely dear to each other in the brief time I was with them. I believe Princess Azula knew something of this and tried to use her brothers weakness against him despite the rules of an Agni Kai. As I said, by that point I am afraid your former husband had damaged the princess's mind. She was not well. She is still unwell, although her new environment has had a somewhat calming effect."

"Are you saying my daughter is mad? That Ozai broke her mind? How is that possible?" Ursa stood and paced away as the old guilt over abandoning Azula drove her to panic. "Oh Agni that bastard! I never should have left her. Either of them."

Yun Sui tried in vain to calm her. "You can not blame yourself for this, there was no way you could have stayed nor could you have taken them with you. You know this!" She spun and towered over him where he sat. Ursa was no bender but she felt as though she was breathing fire.

"I still should have tried. I abandoned my children to that monster and see how he betrayed them. His son he mutilated and banished and his daughter, the one he supposedly favored, has fared no better. Maybe we could have, gone to the Northern water tribe? Hidden there? Oh I don't know." She sank down beside Yun Sui on the bench and held her face in her hands. After a moment, the former fire sage place a tentative hand on her shoulder and spoke again.

"Forgive me Ursa, I did not come all this way merely to upset you more. I came to ask you to come with me to the care home where I hid the princess. I believe seeing you again, spending time with her mother and the two of you working to repair your relationship would help her immensely."

Ursa looked up at her guest and searched his face. It was hesitant as though he kept something important back, but honest and pleading too. She didn't need to think about her answer though. Azula needed her. Ursa had not been able to love her properly when she was a girl, and hadn't been there for her as she grew into a women. She would not let her down again.

"I can leave tonight."

oOoOoOo

The sea spray was cold on her face and soaked through her sleeves but she didn't want to go below deck. They had been at sea for a week and a half and had nearly reached Ember Island. Ursa had spent the time thinking about her children and all that Yun Sui had told her about them. Zuko had had a lover, and a water tribe women at that. She scrunched her nose. Even though she knew he had been 18 when he was killed, in her mind he was still a little boy. She wondered what she looked like and if she had loved her son. From the images in his wanted posters and the notice of his death, Ursa knew Zuko had born the mark of his father's hatred across nearly half of his face. It soothed the pain of it somewhat to know that it hadn't stopped him from finding happiness, even if only briefly.

What would Ozai have said, she wondered, if he had known. The crown prince of the Fire Nation consorting with a lowly water tribe women. She laughed bitterly imagining his reaction to such news. Although, she supposed he wasn't the crown prince by then anymore. Perhaps Ozai wouldn't have cared about the romantic inclinations of a banished, ex-prince. Ursa hoped that this Master Katara, had made her son happy to the last. Yun Sui said they had been traveling together when they were caught and must have died together. At least he hadn't been alone.

Running her hand along the rail, Ursa walked slowly up the deck of the ship. Yun Sui joined her as the sun began to set behind the islands to the west. She could sense his anxiety as he followed silently beside her.

"I can tell you are holding something back Yun Sui. Please, my son is dead and my daughter has apparently gone mad, what could you possibly have to say that would be worse?"

He let out a long sigh and reached a hand to her arm, gently forcing her to stop walking and face him.

"You are right my Lady, Ursa. I have kept something from you but it was only because I know you already blame yourself for your children's fate. Princess Azula, she well…" He sighed again as he struggled to find the right words. "The reason I came for you was that I felt confronting you and trying to build a new relationship free of Ozai's influence would go a long way towards healing her mind. I came to that conclusion because… well because it is you, or rather a delusional version of you, that torments her." Ursa sucked in a breath and felt her eyes sting with unshed tears. "Some combination of the mother she remembers, all the lies her father filled her head with over the years and, I think, her remorse for her own actions. I suppose I thought that seeing the real you would help."

He kept talking even as she turned away from him and braced herself against the gunnel. She only half listened. More assurances that none of this was her fault and that she had done the only thing she could have. It didn't matter. What could it mean that she was the object of her daughters delusional ravings? Was Yun Sui right in thinking she could help or would she only hurt her again? That was all, she was sure, she had ever done. How would she react when she saw her again? As the sun sank dutifully below the horizon, Ursa hoped she would know what to do. She had to, she had to save her daughter.