Friend

What did that word mean? For the longest time, Azula thought she knew what it meant.

Father had told her that friends are to be controlled by using fear. That she shouldn't trust them, or anyone else. The only one that she should trust was him.

Father had never been wrong about anything before, so Azula saw no reason to not believe him about this.

When she met Mai and Ty Lee, however, she found herself feeling conflicted. She didn't want to use fear to control them, to get them to be friends with her. They seemed to like her well enough without that. Ty Lee was nice, bubbly, and sweet. Mai was quiet, but she was always there for you. So what was the point of using fear to control them? She certainly didn't see the need to.

Then, father sent her out into the battlefield to capture Zuko and Uncle.

After her first attempt to capture them failed , she decided that a small man team would work better for the mission. So she went in search of Mai and Ty Lee. They were her friends so surely they would have no qualms with helping her, right? Friends are supposed to help each other, after all.

Ty Lee seemed to think differently. While she expressed great joy at seeing Azula again, she declined Azula's offer to join her on her mission, saying that she's found happiness at the circus.

Azula didn't understand this.

Who cared about the dumb circus? Didn't Ty Lee see that her friend needed her?

Perhaps father was right when he said trust is for fools and fear is the only reliable way.

In the end, Azula convinced Ty Lee to join her. They then went to Omashu to collect Mai. Azula hoped that she wouldn't have to use fear tactics again like she did with Ty Lee. Hopefully Mai would come along with them without putting up a fuss.

"Count me in! Anything to get me out of this place."

Well that was easy enough

As they continued to travel in pursuit of the Avatar, her brother, and her uncle, Azula noticed something.

She didn't need to use fear to control Mai. Mai didn't seem afraid of her at all, really. She seemed to like being around Azula. What did that mean though? Should she use fear to control Mai or not?

Father's way of thinking when it came to the word "friend" was truly confusing.

"I love Zuko more than I fear you."

What?

Mai had never seemed to be afraid of her at all. She had been more than willing to join Azula on her mission, which was why Azula didn't see the need to use fear to get Mai in line. And now Mai was telling Azula that she always feared her?

In the end, both of her friends end up leaving her. Which did not make sense to Azula. She had used fear to control Ty Lee (even though she really didn't want to) and Mai just admitted to being afraid of her. If that's the case, why did she end up losing them? Didn't father say that by using fear to control people, it would ensure that they would stay by your side no matter what?

Was her father actually wrong?

Oh great

Mother is here

"I wouldn't want to miss my own daughter's coronation."

What a liar. Azula knew what her mother always saw her as: a monster. So why would she want to see a monster be crowned Fire Lord? Mother had always feared her too.

If she had to choose, her mother would be the one person who Azula would never want to fear her.

"Don't pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster."

"I think you're confused. All your life you used fear to control people, like your friends Mai and Ty Lee."

Well of course she did, that's what father told her to do! And isn't that what children are supposed to do? Listen to their parents?

"Well what choice do I have?! Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way. Even you fear me."

"No. I love you, Azula. I do."

If there was one thing that Azula was sure of now that she wasn't sure of three years ago, it's that father was wrong about the word friend. He had told her to use fear to control people. To control her friends. They would never leave her if she did that.

And yet, in the end they did end up leaving her. She ended up losing the people she cared about, even though she had used fear, like her father suggested.

In the end, doing what father suggested cost her everything. It caused her to lose against her brother. It caused her to lose her mind.

Father's view of the word friend had been wrong.

And as she enjoyed a cup of tea in the palace courtyard with Mai and Ty Lee, laughing and talking after not being able to see each other for a while, Azula slowly began to realize what the word friend meant, and most importantly, what it meant to her.