Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC.
The Six Rules:
Rule Number One: Alec won't warn the Gaang about things in advance or solve their problems for them, with a few rare exceptions.
Rule Number Two: Only Alec has the right to tell people his true origins, and he will mostly limit this to group members. He will tell new group members his secret as soon as they join the Gaang.
Rule Number Three: There are some changes Alec wants to make, and he will use his knowledge of the future to make those changes.
Rule Number Four: Sometimes, to make a change, Alec will act in a way that doesn't make sense. If that's necessary, he'll tell the Gaang "I need you to absolutely trust me." After he says that, the Gaang has to either do whatever he asks or leave him to do what he needs to do.
Rule Number Five: After a change happens, Alec will tell the Gaang what happened in the original story, in the interest of transparency.
Rule Number Six: If a major change happens that Alec doesn't expect, the Gaang will have a meeting ASAP. In this meeting, Alec will break Rule One and tell them all relevant information that will help them figure out how to respond to the change.
Chapter 36:
Ursa
Alec POV
Of all the places I expected to find Ursa, underground in the Earth Kingdom working as an information broker for the White Lotus wasn't one of them. I also didn't expect her to be giving me a death glare.
"Well?" She demanded. "Answer me!"
Damn. I guess Azula didn't get all her ferocity from Ozai. I held up my hands in surrender. "She's alive." I said. "She's back at camp in Chameleon Bay with the others."
"He's telling the truth, Mom." Zuko said, pulling back from the hug.
Ursa's lip quivered. Then she collapsed down in her chair in relief. "Thank the spirits." She said, a few tears in her eyes. "I thought my baby girl was dead." She collected herself. "But what happened?" She asked. "And how did she end up with you?"
Zuko pulled up a chair from the corner of the room. Aang, Ikem and I followed suit. "What have you heard?" I asked.
"There was an article in the Fire Nation newspaper this morning that said Azula had been negotiating Ba Sing Se's surrender with someone named Long Feng for months." Ikem said. "They said that once the Avatar learned about it, he swooped in and killed her, and Long Feng got away."
"Yeah, all of that is a lie." I said grimly. "Long Feng was the head of the Dai Li, Ba Sing Se's police force. He was also the man really in control of Ba Sing Se for years, not the Earth King. He kept the Earth King in the dark about the war, and the rest of the world. We stormed into the throne room a week ago and revealed the truth to the Earth King. He ordered Long Feng's arrest. Long Feng somehow got a letter to the Fire Lord, offering to surrender Ba Sing Se if he was allowed to remain governor. Ozai accepted, on one condition."
Ursa looked at me. "What condition?"
Zuko swallowed. "Mom, I assume you know that Azula hunted the Avatar, Uncle Iroh, and me for months?"
Ursa's eyes widened. "Don't tell me." She realized.
"Because she failed to catch any of us multiple times, and Mai and Ty Lee defected, he thought Azula would be more useful…as a martyr." He said haltingly.
"Long Feng attacked Azula and nearly killed her." Aang added quietly. "Iroh held him and the Dai Li off so the rest of us could escape. Alec and Ty Lee noticed Azula was still alive, and took her with us." He said. "Katara healed her. She's back at Chameleon Bay with the others."
Ursa's fists clenched and shook with rage. "Just when I think I can't hate that man any more than I already do." She muttered. She calmed herself down and looked at me. "Thank you for saving her." She said. I nodded.
Zuko looked at her. "Mom, how did you end up here?" He asked. "What have you been doing for the last five years?"
Ursa held up a hand, asking for silence. "There's something I want to know, first." She turned to me. "Who are you? And what's your agenda?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but she cut me off. "And don't give me that 'I was born in the middle of nowhere in the colonies' routine." She said. "I have contacts in every census office in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. I know that's a lie."
I looked at Aang and Zuko like 'well, what can I do?' and took a deep breath. I turned back to Ursa. "I'm not from this world." I said.
She narrowed her eyes. "Did the spirits send you?" She asked. "Are you from the Spirit World?"
Despite the serious situation, I chuckled, as did Aang and Zuko. I looked at them. "When we get back, we need to tell Sokka I'm five-for-five." I turned back to Ursa. "I'm not from the Spirit World. I'm from a world beyond that." I said. "Lady Ài, the Love Spirit, sent me here to accomplish four tasks." My eyes widened. "Huh, I just realized they're all done now."
"What tasks?" Lady Ài asked with narrowed eyes.
I glanced at Aang and Zuko. "Guys, if I say what the second task is in front of you two, it might come undone." I warned. "Could you leave the room and cover your ears?" I asked.
Zuko and Aang looked at each other for a few seconds. Then they reluctantly nodded. They stood up and walked out. Ikem stood up as well. "I'll make sure they keep their ears covered." He volunteered, and followed after them.
Now it was just me and Ursa in the room. "So, what were these tasks?" She asked.
"Task one was to prevent Admiral Zhao from killing the Moon Spirit." I said. "If she died, someone else would have taken her place, and the Moon Spirit would be separated from her lover, the Ocean Spirit."
Ursa nodded, urging me to continue. "The second task was to help three specific couples get together and stay together." I said.
"And they are?" She asked.
"Aang and Katara, Sokka and Suki, and Zuko and Mai." I said.
She nodded in understanding. "You couldn't say it in front of Aang and Zuko because they might think you manipulated them into relationships." She narrowed her eyes. "Did you?"
I shook my head. "No. Sokka and Suki, and Zuko and Mai were pretty easy. The feelings were already pretty strong. I just had to get them on the same side and in the same room, then get out of the way."
"And Aang and Katara?" She asked.
"Those two needed…delicate work." I said. "They like each other, but both of them were hesitant to make a move at first. I had to drop some hints to Katara that Aang liked her, and tell Aang to confront his feelings and admit the truth." I shook my head. "Even that almost failed. I was this close to locking them in a closet together until they got the hint. I did help them get together, but those feelings already existed. I wasn't creating feelings out of nowhere."
She nodded with a slightly amused smile. "I see."
I raised my voice. "Ikem, you can bring them back in." I called. Ikem, Zuko, and Aang returned into the room and sat back down in their chairs.
I continued. "The third task was to help Zuko find you." I said. "And the fourth task was to find my soulmate."
"Ty Lee?" Ursa asked. "Iroh told us in his last note that you two were together."
I nodded and smiled.
Ursa frowned. "I understand the fourth task, but the other three have little to do with you." She said. "Why did she entrust those tasks to a stranger from another world?"
I took a breath. "This is going to be hard to believe." I said. "But in my world, this world exists in a story. Almost like a play. I knew the story by heart. I know the past and present of most people here."
Ursa and Ikem each raised an eyebrow. "I know it sounds crazy, but I can prove it." I insisted.
Ursa looked curious. "How?"
"I know who your grandfather is." I said. "I know why Azulon made you marry Ozai."
Ursa narrowed her eyes. "Tell me."
"Your grandfather was the only person in the world Sozin was afraid of." I said, careful not to drop names. I wasn't sure it was time to tell Zuko yet.
Ursa's eyes widened, then she looked at Zuko. "Did Iroh tell you who your great-grandfather is?" She asked.
Zuko shook his head. "No."
Her eyes grew even wider and she turned back to me. "You're telling the truth." She whispered in awe. Ikem looked shocked.
I spent the next several minutes explaining the Six Rules, and what had changed so far in the original story. Ursa shook her head after I finished. "You've had quite the fascinating journey, young man." She said. "And Zuko, I'm so proud of you for finally finding your way."
Zuko smiled. "It wasn't easy." He said. "And I made a lot of mistakes on the way." He looked around the room. "How did you end up working for the White Lotus?" He asked.
Ursa looked at me questioningly. "I'm surprised you haven't told them."
I shook my head. "I didn't know." I said. "When Lady Ài pulled me into this world, certain events changed. Everything you did after you left the Fire Nation is different, and she also told me recently that another thing has changed in the past, but I don't know what that is."
"I see." Ursa said.
"Actually, before you answer Zuko's question," I said, turning to Ikem, "What happened to you?" I asked. "I know all about your story up until Ursa left for the Capital. What did you do after?"
Ikem shook his head sadly. "I knew that Ursa was lying when she told me she loved Ozai." He said. "But I knew she was trying to protect me. So I wanted to return the favor. I contacted my brother Rezok, who worked in Fire Nation Intelligence."
Zuko's eyes widened. "The Intelligence Minister is your brother?" He asked. That explained a lot.
Ikem nodded. "He agreed to keep an eye on her for me. A few years into their marriage, Rezok contacted me and told me to get out of the Fire Nation, because Ozai was sending an assassin to Hira'a to kill me."
"Where did you go?" Aang asked.
"I stowed away on a ship bound for the colonies, and then I fled from the colonies into Earth Kingdom territory. I figured I was safer in the Earth Kingdom than the Fire Nation." Ikem replied.
"Then, five years ago, when I left the Fire Nation, Rezok met with me on my way to the harbor." Ursa said. "He told me that Ikem was in Omashu, so I went there."
"How did you end up in the White Lotus?" Zuko asked.
Ursa grimaced. "Even though Ozai promised no harm would come to you or Azula, I knew he would go back on his word." She said. "And when I traveled through the Earth Kingdom to Omashu, I saw the destruction and pain that the war had inflicted. When I reunited with Ikem, we came up with an idea." She swallowed. "We knew you and Azula would only be safe if Ozai was gone." She said. "So we presented ourselves to King Bumi and offered our services. We believed that between my knowledge of the palace and Ikem's connection to Rezok, we had enough information to be useful. We offered to help the Earth Kingdom win the war, as long as Zuko and Azula would be spared."
My eyes widened. "Presenting yourself to Bumi was a risk." I noted.
Ursa shrugged. "Maybe, but I would do anything to protect my children. Bumi laughed and said we were thinking too small. He told us that if we really had those connections, we could build an entire network of informants inside the palace." She smiled. "So we did. We contacted Rezok and asked him to investigate every servant in the palace to find out who we could trust. Thankfully, most of them remembered me fondly. All but one of them."
Something clicked in my head. "Elua didn't die in her sleep, did she?" I asked.
Ursa shook her head. "She didn't. She couldn't be trusted, she knew too much, and the other servants were reluctant to help us while she was around. So, partly to secure the spy network, and partly to get payback for intercepting my letters and giving them to Ozai, I made another vial of the poison I gave Ozai to use on Azulon. I gave it to one of the other servants, and she slipped it into Elua's tea."
Damn. Ursa did not fuck around. A thought occurred to me. "If you had enough resources to poison someone at the palace, why didn't you poison Ozai?"
Ursa shook her head. "Azulon and Elua were old enough that when they appeared to die in their sleep, it wasn't suspicious." She explained. "Ozai's too young for that to seem natural. The most likely suspects would be Iroh, Zuko, and Azula."
Ursa continued her story. "We spent a year building a network of contacts. Then we sent a message to Iroh asking to join the White Lotus, taking the codenames 'The Source' and 'The Mask'. Iroh was suspicious, at first, but he agreed when we were able to tell him things about the palace that he wasn't aware of. Bumi built tunnels under every Pai Sho house in the Earth Kingdom and had them converge here. We've been living here ever since." She looked at Zuko's scar sadly. "Our original plan to help end the war changed when Zuko was banished." She said.
"What changed?" Zuko asked quietly.
"Unlike your uncle, I knew that Ozai broke the rules of the Agni Kai." She said with a scowl. "We asked Iroh to try to help you realize that the war was wrong. Iroh tried for three years, but nothing happened."
Aang raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you come out of hiding and reveal yourselves to him?" Aang asked.
"If we did that while he still believed in the war, even if he became Fire Lord, he might have kept the war going." Ursa said sadly. "And we didn't tell Iroh about the rule-breaking because we knew that the first thing Iroh would do is storm back to the Fire Nation and demand justice. He might have won against Ozai, but there was no guarantee." She turned to Aang. "We waited for almost three years, but then you showed up and things became even more complicated."
"Because I now had a target to chase, instead of a completely pointless goal." Zuko supplied.
"Exactly." Ursa said. "I didn't know what to do, or who to help when the Avatar returned. If I helped him, it might put you in danger, but if I helped you catch him, the Fire Nation would win the war." She shook her head. "Things got even more complicated when Azula began to chase you. I could only let the White Lotus help you flee. If you or Iroh had asked for help fighting her, I would have refused. I won't help my children kill each other."
That brought up another question I had in my mind. I looked back and forth between Ikem and Ursa. "Do you two have children?" I asked.
Ursa shook her head. "No." She looked at Ikem fondly. "As much as I love Ikem, it would feel…wrong to have another child while my other children are in danger."
So Kiyi didn't exist in this world. Interesting. "Sorry for interrupting your story." I said. "Please continue."
"Azula sent a message to Rezok recently, asking for all the information about the Avatar and his companions." Ursa said. "He sent the information to us, first, asking if he should give them to her. Once we saw how dangerous your group was, I told him to send them to her. If she underestimated you, I was worried she might die."
I nodded. "That explains a lot." I said.
Aang and Zuko looked at me questioningly. "What does that explain?"
I looked at Zuko. "You weren't there, but when Mai and Ty Lee joined us, they told us that Azula had dossiers on Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and me." I recalled. "The dossiers said all of us were extreme threats to the Fire Nation. That made me suspicious. Fire Nation Intelligence knew that all of us were extreme threats, but all that happened after the Siege of the North was Ozai put a price on my head, and he sent Azula after all of us. Azula's an incredible fighter, but she's still only one person. Without Mai and Ty Lee by her side, we were able to back her into a corner in Tu Zin and force her to retreat."
Ursa nodded. "We asked Rezok to downplay the threat you posed to the Fire Lord in his reports to him, but we asked him to be honest with Azula."
"Okay." I frowned. "But that doesn't explain one thing: Of all the people in our group, why did you bring the three of us here specifically? And why did you glare at me earlier?"
Ursa gave me an apologetic look. "This morning, the newspapers in the Fire Nation and the colonies said Azula was dead. Then we received a coded message from Old Fish saying she was alive. I wasn't sure what to believe."
Aang raised an eyebrow. "Old Fish?"
"Pakku." Ursa elaborated. "We give codenames to every member of the White Lotus, as well as significant figures not involved in the White Lotus, including every member of your group."
Aang's expression brightened. "That's neat! What are our codenames?" He asked excitedly.
Ursa looked slightly amused by his excitement. "You're Arrow, Katara is South Hope, Sokka is Wolf Tail, Toph is Tiny, Suki is War Paint, Mai is Cold Dagger, Ty Lee is Warm Smile, Zuko is Exile, Iroh is Tea Maker." She turned to me and smirked. "And Alec is Foul Mouth."
Aang snickered, and Zuko even cracked a smile. I threw my hands up. "Really?" I asked with exasperation. "Who came up with that one?"
Ikem grinned. "Pakku did. Apparently, you gave quite a colorful speech to a group of waterbenders in the North Pole."
I mentally cursed Pakku. I shook my head. "Anyway, back to my original question, why invite us three? And why did you glare at me?"
Ursa took a breath. "I invited Zuko because it was time to see my son again." She said warmly. Her expression became awkward. "I invited you and Aang because I determined that if Azula was dead because of one of your group, the people most likely responsible were either you or Aang."
I raised an eyebrow. "How did you figure that?"
"Aang is the most powerful member of the group, especially having mastered the Avatar State." Ursa explained. "Whereas you have the most…kills." She admitted after a pause.
"What…would you have done if one of us had killed her?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"If it was Aang, I would have waited until after the war to act. If it was you, I would have served everyone a cup of tea." Ursa said, giving me a menacing look. "With an extra special ingredient in your cup." She shook her head. "That doesn't matter now. How is Azula doing? Has she woken up? Is she alright?"
Zuko shook his head and looked down at his lap. "Mom, when she woke up, she started crying and asked us to kill her." He whispered.
Ursa's eyes widened in horror and she gasped. "My poor baby girl! But why?!"
"She thinks nobody loves her." Zuko continued. "The Fire Lord ordered her death, Mai and Ty Lee defected and joined with us, and she thinks you thought she was a monster and abandoned her."
"But why?" Ursa's voice was barely audible, and a few tears formed in her eyes. "Why would she think that?"
I felt myself getting a little angry. "You really don't know?" I asked with a low voice and narrowed eyes. "I'll tell you why, but you won't like it."
Ursa looked at me pleadingly. "Tell me!"
I looked her in the eye. "You made two big mistakes when you were married to Ozai." I said. "First: you sent that letter claiming Ikem was Zuko's father, not Ozai." I shook my head. "I get that you were checking to see if your letters were being intercepted, but you should have done that in a way that wouldn't affect your children. After Ozai said he'd 'honor' your wish and treat Zuko as if Zuko wasn't his son, you had to spend every moment protecting Zuko. Azula thought you were playing favorites and didn't love her. So, she tried to earn Ozai's love and affection, even though he has none."
Ursa shook her head. "I wish I never sent that letter." She muttered. She looked at me. "What was the other mistake?"
"Not waking her up to say goodbye when you left." I said plainly.
"But I tried to make sure neither of them woke up when I left!" Ursa tried to argue.
"You're lucky that Zuko woke up." I countered. I turned to him. "Zuko, what would you have thought if instead of you happening to wake up and hearing your mom say she was leaving to protect you, you just woke up one morning and she was gone without a word?" I asked.
Zuko looked at Ursa. He bit his lip nervously before he spoke. "I would have thought that you abandoned me and didn't love me." He said sadly.
Ursa's eyes got even wetter. "I failed my daughter." She whispered. "I failed her."
I turned back to Ursa and nodded. "We've managed to stave off her suicidal urges, though." I tilted my head questioningly. "Did Iroh tell you that Zuko and I have pet dragons, now?"
Ursa nodded. "Yes, it was in one of his last communications."
"Azula saw them when she woke up, and Zuko and I let her pet them. She looks happy, but I think she's just burying the pain, not confronting it." I said.
Ursa gave a wistful smile. "Azula loved books about dragons." She remembered fondly. Her expression turned to one of fierce resolve. She stood up. "Ikem, we're going to Chameleon Bay. Now."
Ursa led us up a spiral staircase in the back of the office…cave…place where she worked. It took us almost five minutes to climb it. "How high up does this thing go?" I asked.
"A few hundred feet." Ikem said. "The transport carts need a steep drop to pick up enough speed to reach their destination."
We made it to the top and found the cart labelled 'Chameleon Bay Town'. All five of us climbed in and we pushed off.
A little over an hour later, we arrived back in the cellar of the Pai Sho house. Before we left, Ursa turned to me. "Out of curiosity, how many people know your secret?" She asked.
"Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko, Iroh, King Bumi, Ikem, and you." I listed. "I prefer to keep it limited to the people traveling with us, but Bumi figured it out, and you and Ikem called my 'born in the colonies' bluff."
Ursa nodded. "I see. I just wanted to make sure I didn't say anything to the wrong people. Let's go."
We led Ursa and Ikem back to our camp. It was dark out, probably close to midnight. The three members of Team Avatar asked Ikem and Ursa to wait outside the tent while we cleared out everyone but Azula. We opened the flap. We saw that the others were still awake. Ty Lee jumped up and gave me a hug. "Where were you?" She asked.
"Long story." I said, returning the hug. I looked around the group. Everyone had their eyes on us, except Azula, who was still focused on the dragons. "Everyone, there's someone who wants to talk to Azula. We need to clear out for a while." I said.
Azula looked up, confused. "Who would want to talk to me?" She asked. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you going to interrogate me? Torture me?" Her voice got louder. Ved and Druk got a little scared and flew to my and Zuko's shoulders.
I shook my head. "Nothing like that." I said vehemently. "I won't let anyone torture anyone else." I said with a shudder. "Not after what I went through."
Azula crossed her arms. "Fine." She said petulantly.
The rest of The Gaang got up and left the tent, leaving Azula alone in there. As soon as we left, Ursa entered with her hood up.
"And now, we hope for the best." I said quietly.
Azula POV
I wanted to keep petting the dragons. They were such majestic creatures, even the baby dragons. I wonder where Zuko and Hand Slicer got them? I was shaken from my thoughts when I saw a woman enter the tent. She wore a black cloak, and the hood hid her face in shadow.
So, she was trying to intimidate me, was she? I gave her my harshest glare and tensed, ready to spring into action. "Who are you?!" I demanded. "Show yourself!"
The woman pulled back her hood, and I found myself unable to breathe. It was my mother's face. She was sad, and tears welled in her eyes. I shook my head. She wasn't real. "Just another hallucination." I muttered, trying to keep myself calm.
"My baby girl." The vision said sadly.
I glared at her. "Stop that!" I yelled. "You're not real! You're just a vision!"
She shook her head. "Can a vision do this?"
She ran forward and embraced me in a tight hug. One hand stroked my hair in a familiar way that nobody had done in five years. She was…real? She was real! My mother was really here! But why?!
"Why are you here?" I choked out.
Mom didn't ease her hug. "I heard about what happened." She said. "I came to help you."
I felt my own tears begin to form. "But why?" I asked in a small voice. "You don't love me. You think I'm a monster."
Mom pulled back slightly and held my face in her hands, locking eyes with me. "No, Azula. You're not a monster. You're my daughter." She insisted. A warm smile formed on her face. "And I will always love you."
My lip quivered. "Then why did you leave?" I asked, trying to keep all these feelings dammed up. "You abandoned me!"
She shook her head. "I left to protect you and your brother." She said. "But I'm here now, because you need me."
The dam broke. All those feelings I'd buried for years came forth at once. I burst into tears and wrapped her in a hug. "Mommy!" I sobbed. "I tried so hard to be a good princess for Dad, but he…he…"
She wrapped her left arm around me and stroked my hair soothingly with her right hand. "I know honey, I know." She said gently. "Your father is a monster. He's not worthy to be called a father."
"All I ever wanted, all I ever really wanted, was to be…good enough." I cried. "I just wanted someone to tell me that all the work I did in school, or with firebending, was good enough!"
"You're more than good enough, honey." She replied kindly. "You're my precious baby girl."
I melted into her arms. My mom loved me after all!
Alec POV
Team Avatar and Ikem sat around the bonfire in the center of camp. Everyone else in camp was asleep in their tents. "So, Ursa was with the White Lotus all along?" Katara asked, petting Momo, who was lying in her lap.
"Yeah." Zuko said. "She was trying to help bring down my father."
Aang shook his head. "The monks taught me to never step between a mama platypus bear and her cubs. You'll get mauled."
Mai smirked. "No kidding."
Ty Lee looked at me. "Do you think she can help Azula?" She asked hopefully, petting Ved.
I shrugged. "I can't say for sure." I admitted. "Nothing like this happened in the original story."
Sokka gave Ikem a nervous glance. "Alec, should you really be talking about that in front of Ikem?"
"It's fine." Ikem said, holding his hand up placatingly. "Alec told Ursa and me everything."
Everyone looked at me with surprise. "Why?" Suki asked.
"Because Ursa and Ikem have enough contacts to figure out that my 'born in the colonies' origin story was a lie." I said. "And Ursa demanded that I tell her who I am before she told us how she ended up with the White Lotus." I smirked and turned to Sokka. "By the way, Sokka, five-for-five."
Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, while everyone else laughed lightly.
Azula POV
Mom told me about how she was forced to marry my father. Then she told me what happened during my childhood. What really happened. Father stole the throne from Grandfather, and Mom couldn't take me and Zuko with her because he would have hunted us down. Mom joined some secret society to try to end the war in exchange for our safety.
She apologized for treating me and Zuko differently. She explained that the false letter she sent about Zuko was the reason. She apologized for leaving us like that. She said her biggest mistake was not waking me up to say goodbye.
I thought back to how things were in my childhood. Father said whenever he gave me private lessons that he was trying to make Zuko stronger by treating him the way he did. But if he wanted that, why was he giving me private lessons instead of him?
When Mom told me how she built her spy network, I had a question. "How did you get so many of the palace servants to become your informants?" I asked.
Mom smiled kindly at me. "Because unlike Ozai, I treated them with dignity and respect when I lived at the palace." She replied. "I never took them for granted. I learned their names and became friends with them."
I frowned. Something didn't make sense. "But, they fear him." I said. "Why would they work for you if they fear him? I always thought that fear was the reliable way to keep allies."
Mom gave me a patient, but knowing look. "How did that work for you?" She asked pointedly.
I winced. "Mai and Ty Lee left me." I whispered. I looked at Mom with fresh tears in my eyes. "I wasn't a good friend, was I? Or a good sister."
Mom gave me a hug. "Maybe not, but maybe you can fix that." She said gently.
I shook my head. "I don't know what to do with my life." I said sadly. I looked at her with pleading eyes. "Tell me! What should I do?!" I begged.
"You have to ask yourself what you want to do with your life." Mom said gently. "You don't have to decide right now. You should get some sleep. You must be exhausted, you poor thing."
I gripped her tightly. "You won't…leave me, will you?" I asked.
She smiled and shook her head. "Azula, from now on, if I ever have to leave you, I'll tell you where I'm going and why. I'm not leaving this camp tonight." She gently pushed me down onto the sleeping bag I was sitting on. "Now get some rest, young lady."
I felt my eyelids get heavy, and I fell into dreamless sleep.
Alec POV
The tent flap opened, and Ursa emerged with a gentle smile on her face.
"Mom, how is she?" Zuko asked hopefully.
Ursa nodded. "I think she'll be alright." She replied. "She doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, but I told her she doesn't have to decide that today. She's sleeping right now."
I shrugged. "She could always come with us." I suggested.
Sokka and Katara looked at me like I was crazy. "Alec, helping her is one thing, but having her join us?" Katara said uncertainly.
"Do you not remember how scary and relentless she is?" Sokka asked.
"Wouldn't you rather have that kind of power on our side?" I challenged. "Imagine what we could do if she was working with us."
"We'll have to wait to see what she wants to do." Suki said. "If we try to force her, that won't work."
Ursa shook her head. "I messed up so terribly, and both my children suffered because of it." She said sadly. Ikem grabbed her hand to comfort her.
"We should all get some rest." Ikem suggested. "We can figure out more in the morning."
The Next Morning, Azula POV
I woke up to the smell of something cooking. I turned my head and saw my mother cooking what smelled like eggs and bacon in a pan over a fire in the middle of the tent. The others were sitting around the fire as well. A new man was there, sitting close to Mom. That had to be Ikem. Seeing my mother happy with Ikem reminded me of all the things my father had done. Seeing Ty Lee and Mai sitting happily with the others reminded me of how bad a friend I'd been to them.
All of those things because my father wanted me to be a weapon. And he tossed me aside as soon as I made a mistake. I didn't know what I wanted to do later with my life, but I knew what I wanted to do now.
I sat up, stretched, and made my way over to the others. I was tense and nervous. I knew how to assert my authority over subordinates, but here I was completely out of my element. I cleared my throat anxiously. The group stopped their various conversations and turned to me. I saw that some of them, specifically the Water Tribe members, seemed wary. The Avatar tilted his head, clearly interested. The girl with the facepaint looked at me neutrally. The blind earthbender planted a foot firmly on the ground and looked to be concentrating. Mai kept up her neutral expression. Ty Lee looked hopeful. And the Hand Slicer looked at me not with fear, but with curiosity. Mom nodded at me supportively.
"I…wish to say something." I began. The others remained silent, allowing me to continue. "I learned a lot of things last night about my family. Things that I wasn't aware of." I swallowed and looked nervously at Mai and Ty Lee. "One of the things I learned was that fear isn't the most reliable way to keep friends. I was a bad friend to both of you. I treated you like subordinates, and I made sure you were afraid of me to keep you loyal." I felt wetness in my eyes. I turned to Zuko. "And Zuko, Father told me that taunting you would toughen you up and make you a stronger person. I only realized last night that he was wrong." I shook my head. "I know I was a horrible friend and sister. I know that I don't know how to be…normal. I know that I'm…broken." The tears started to fall and I couldn't stop them. "But will you…please give me a chance to try to be better?"
The blind earthbender's eyebrows shot up. "She's telling the truth." She whispered.
Ty Lee stood up and walked over to me slowly, with wide eyes and a small smile. She wrapped me in a tight hug. "You're not holding back your feelings anymore." She whispered to me. "I missed you. The real you. It's good to have you back."
I awkwardly patted her on the back. "Still not a hugger, Ty Lee." I grumbled.
Mai looked up at me and nodded. "I'm not hugging you, but I'll give you a chance." That made me laugh lightly. I hadn't laughed in so long it almost felt foreign.
I looked at Zuko over Ty Lee's shoulder. He stood up, placing Druk in Mai's lap and walked over to me. Ty Lee broke her hug and sat back down next to the Hand Slicer. I locked eyes with Zuko. "I remember when we were really little." He said, his expression hopeful. "Back when you used to call me Zuzu and you didn't mean it in a mean way." His face turned sad. "I miss that."
"I miss it, too." I said. "Father took a lot away from us, didn't he?"
He nodded. For the first time in a very long time, I felt happy. I wasn't alone anymore!
I sat down and ate breakfast with them. I noticed Zuko and the Hand Slicer trying to feed their dragons some kind of jerky. "Bacon is better for them." I blurted out without thinking.
Everyone's attention turned to me again. "What?" Hand Slicer asked.
I took a deep breath. My mother gave me a reassuring smile. "The dragons." I elaborated. "I read a lot about them, including journals of dragon riders about how they cared for and fed their dragons. All of the accounts agree that the best foods to feed dragons, especially growing dragons, are hippo cow beef and pig bacon."
Hand Slicer's eyes widened. He immediately gave Ved his serving of bacon and ate the jerky for himself. Ved ate the bacon with gusto. Zuko did the same with Druk. Hand Slicer nodded. "Thanks, Azula." He blinked. "Huh, that's a sentence I never thought I'd say out loud." He mused.
I smirked. "I can imagine."
He looked at me curiously. "I have a question for you: what do you want to do?" He asked.
I took a deep breath. I noticed all their eyes were on me. "Long term, I have no idea what I want to do with my life." I admitted.
Zuko raised his eyebrow. "You don't want to be Fire Lord?" He asked.
I shook my head and grimaced. "No, Fire Lord is what our father wanted me to be, not what I want." I said. "Dealing with all the paperwork and running a nation sounds like a chore."
I looked into the fire. "I have to admit, I didn't particularly care about the war one way or the other." I said. "All I wanted was to earn Father's love." I frowned. "He cares more about winning the war than anything else. He tossed me aside like I was a piece of trash when I failed to live up to his expectations." I felt myself getting angrier. "I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life, but right now, I want my father to lose." The fire grew a few inches in height. "I want him to see the war he's leading fail. I want him to see the thing he cares about come crashing down around him." My voice got louder. "And I want him to know that I helped bring him DOWN!"
The fire shot up a foot for an instant before it returned to normal size. I calmed down. I looked around the group. Most of them seemed nervous. Mother looked grimly determined. Hand Slicer looked at me with understanding. The earthbender had an insane grin on her face. She pointed at me dramatically. "I like her!" She declared. "Let's get her to join us!"
I blinked. Join them? She wanted me to join them? "Huh?" I managed to get out.
She turned to me and grinned. "Think about it: you want to kick your dad's ass, and we want to kick your dad's ass, too."
The Water Tribe girl frowned. "Language, Toph."
Toph ignored her. I thought about her idea for a few seconds, then I nodded. "It makes sense." I agreed. "I have more up-to-date knowledge of the Fire Nation military and political situation than most of you. If you'll have me, I'll use every bit of what I know to help you defeat my father."
The Hand Slicer looked around the group. "Anyone object?"
Nobody said anything for a long time. Finally, Toph smirked. "Welcome to the team, Dragon Girl."
I raised an eyebrow. "Dragon Girl?"
"She gives nicknames to everybody." The Avatar explained.
"And I couldn't keep calling you Bitch Princess." Toph said nonchalantly.
I nearly sputtered, remembering that little insult of hers from our first fight. The Hand Slicer had the audacity to snicker. He calmed down and looked me in the eye. "If you're joining us, there's something you need to know. Our biggest secret." His eyes widened for a second, then he smirked. "Actually, I want to see if you can guess it."
The rest of the group looked at him, then back to me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to work out the puzzle. "Well, clearly it has something to do with you, specifically." I noted. I thought back to the dossier I'd read about him. "Several things about you don't add up. If you had been born in the colonies, there would be some record of your birth. And the fact that you seem to have discovered your firebending within the last year is unheard of. Most firebenders discover their abilities as soon as they're old enough to walk. You also have knowledge of things you have no business knowing. And that it's your biggest secret would mean it gives you a huge advantage." I looked him in the eye. "I can only conclude that you must be some kind of knowledge spirit from the Spirit World."
Everyone was silent, but a few of them covered their mouths, stifling laughter. Hand Slicer smirked and slowly turned his head to the Water Tribe boy, who pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "Don't say it."
Hand Slicer's smirk widened. "Six."
"Don't."
"For.
"Please no."
"Six."
The others snickered. Even Mai cracked a smile. I was confused. What was going on here? Hand Slicer turned back to me and nodded. "You were wrong, but that was pretty close." He said.
Alec POV
Of all the people I thought I would tell my secret, Azula was pretty close to the bottom of that list. I told her about the tasks (I didn't say what task two was, of course), and how I knew about the past and a version of the future. Ursa and the others backed me up. I told her about the Six Rules, too.
After I finished, she was silent for a long time. She took a breath. "No wonder I never caught you." She said. "You knew I was coming." She shook her head. "Well, that's hardly fair."
"All except for the infiltration of Ba Sing Se." I said. I looked down. "Now that you're with us, I feel like I should apologize."
She tilted her head. "For what?"
I looked at her. "For all the things I said when we were enemies." I elaborated. "I knew I couldn't beat you in a fair fight. I still probably can't. I knew from the story that you get sloppy when you're angry, so I was trying to get inside your head." I shook my head. "But I was kind of mean about it. I essentially told you Ozai didn't love you and that you would always be alone. I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "Don't feel bad. I would have done the same thing." She said, trying to brush it off.
I gave her a pointed look. "The fact that you would have done the same thing is probably why I feel bad about it."
She shrugged. "Fair."
"So, what do we do now?" Sokka asked.
"I need to speak to your father, actually." Ursa said. "The Fire Nation is making moves that he needs to be aware of."
AN: Next chapter will have more character development, action, and plot advancement.
I have made two minor changes to earlier chapters: First, in Chapter 31, I changed it so that Ty Lee learned chi-blocking from her mother. Second, in Chapter 32, I changed the reason for Sozin starting the Dragon Hunts to line up with the newly released Avatar Legends RPG. If you first read those chapters on March 3rd, 2022 or later, you will have read the updated version.
