"Breaking these chains is possible but so damn hard." Very true. And I have a lot of respect for those who do.
"I always feel, that Zuko is blind for this fact as well, due to the canon plot." I would agree there."The canon plot has build up high and thick walls to climb or break, if you try to fix the mother-daughter relationship, in my opinion." Oh yeah, Ursa and Azula reunions are kind of tricky to write because there's so much to untangle. "Maybe the idea, that Ursa was lost and lonely as well, as she was in the Palace with Ozai might be a starting point for both. At least I think so." I would agree there. I feel as though that's one of a few routes to take.
"If I think back this scene and then the way, they have treated Azula in the cartoons, it's just a bad joke." Tbh I sometimes feel as though they only did that to her to get her out of the way in a sense. I am under the impression that Zuko and Katara would have not been able to win had Azula been herself and at the top of her game. Like she would have had the Dai Li and her own power. There is no way that they would have won. So the writers crippled Azula's mind which has always been her greatest tool. But I'm kind of glad that they did it, because it did give her some depth.
"It captures Ursas grief, the damage she has seen on her children and her worries how to fix them." I wish that the writers would let her make amends with Azula in canon. And I wish that they would give this family a chance to realize that a lot of damage came from Ozai. Basically I wish that the writers would give them a chance to be a real family. "They all have recieved this damage on their own somehow, but they could heal together. A hard and rocky way, covered with broken glass." Exactly! This is what I wish would happen.

Azula hadn't longed for her mother in ages.

No. That wasn't strictly true. She hadn't longed for her mother at all.

Not until now.

Not until her body finally started changing. She was an early bloomer, according to her servants. Apparently, that was something to be proud of. But she had to admit that she didn't feel any sort of pride. She felt awkward and out of sorts and she wished that she still had Mai and TyLee around. But Mai was on her way to Omashu and TyLee...Azula didn't know where the girl had gone to.

At first it wasn't so bad, she was growing taller, at least a little. Her face had lost much of its baby fat, it wasn't quite as soft as it had been. In general, she seemed sharper, more defined in some sense. This, she was more than alright with, even if it did take some getting used to. Sometimes she would forget and her reflection would rattle her some, but the surprise would give way to that sense of pride her servants spoke of.

It was when her robes stopped fitting right that the problems began to occur. Her servants would talk but they didn't give much information as to exactly what was happening to her. Azula liked to think herself intelligent; she could gather well enough that her figure would eventually have some more fullness to it. More curves. But that didn't alleviate any discomfort when it happened and she had to make her way to see the palace tailors.

It helped even less to hear their dotting, fawning remarks.

"Our princess is becoming a woman." Said one as she took Azula's new measurements.

"A beautiful woman." Replied the other when snipping away at cloth.

They meant well. But they always left her cheeks tinged a shade or two of pink. She had done her best to keep things private but eventually the palace chatter had befallen her father's ears. The man had pulled her to the side, she braced herself for an awkward conversation about the changes she was about to undergo and had already underwent. But instead he noted fondly, "I think that it is almost time to bring you to the council meetings."

It had put an optimistic glimmer in her eyes. She was finally old enough to truly be a part of royal affairs. To truly make a name for herself in the family legacy. She hadn't been left with much time to revel in it. She woke up the next morning to a stabbing pain in her abdomen and bloodied sheets.

She was in pain.

And it wasn't any matter she could discuss with her father.

She wasn't entirely sure if this matter correlated with her coming of age or if it was a chance occurrence. She hadn't heard the servants mention anything about something like this. She wondered if something had gone amiss.

Just like that, she wanted mother home.

She could ask Lo and Li, but somehow that seemed bizarre.

She supposed that she would have to pick one of her servants and inquire. She bore her discomfort throughout breakfast, hoping with all of her soul that she wasn't making a mess of her chair. And she weathered it further as she sat for a spa treatment that did little to relieve her stress.

For it her mood became particularly sour, worse than it had been since she had first entered womanhood.

Finally, on the third day when she could stand no more, she made her inquiry. She was seated for another spa treatment when she finally snapped and turned to the woman running a brush through her locks.

The woman offered her a warm and reassuring smile. She had pulled her aside and gave Azula the reassurance that she had yearned for. That there wasn't anything wrong with her. That she wasn't sickly and on the verge of death. The woman walked her through how to care for herself and keep herself sanitary, though Azula had figured much of that out on her own. The servant rolled her eyes and left her with a rather impressed, "I can't believe you put up with that for three days! I cried within the first hour of not knowing what was happening."

Azula had shrugged it off.

The next morning, she had a seat at the council.

.oOo.

She had thought that, that was when she had become a woman.

She came to realize that that wasn't so.

No, she had become a woman when she learned to forgive.

Truly a woman when she found the strength to let go of the hatred and prejudices that had been instilled in her. Truly a woman when she found it in her to toss her pride to the side for a moment. A moment long enough to reach out to her brother.

Her brother who had become a man, himself.

With a degree of resentment she realized that he had, in some way, matured mentally sooner than she. Physically had had been on his way to manhood since thirteen, perhaps fourteen years. He truly had become a man at seventeen when he finally had the guts to look their father in the eye and choose his own path.

Physically Azula had become a woman, or started to become one, when she was only eleven. She realized, not happily, that she hadn't truly become so until she was, nineteen. Nineteen and finally aware that she needed to change.

Puberty in the physical sense had been a bitch and a half. Getting a firmer, more adult, hold on her mind was twice that.

Physically, coming of age had done her wonders. She was an alluring woman in body. She just hoped that her mental development was doing the same favors. This metamorphosis scared her almost tenfold. It seemed to break her in a way that her physical coming of age did not. It left her in tears-mostly born of frustration-more often than her first step into womanhood did.

But this time was different.

This time when she longed for her mother's wisdoms and comforts, she had them.

Azula closed her eyes.

The servants were speaking of her again.

Of another transformation.

She made trips to the tailors when she needed to be fitted for her ceremonial wear. She was to be a sort of second in command for Fire Lord Zuko. Soon she would have a crown of her own. The same woman who had adjusted her robes so many years ago, worked with them now. Wrinkled, sometimes shaky hands took measurements and placed pins.

Azula was patient with her. More patient with her than she had been as a girl. She listened to the woman speak about her granddaughter and how she was just learning to firebend.

They doted over her again. About how her spirit was finally growing to meet her physical age. About how she was easier to talk to and work with. About how her soul was blossoming beautifully. In this regard she was a dreadfully late bloomer.

But she was finally a woman through and through.

And she finally had a functioning family.

She stood next to Zuko, still terribly short in comparison, puberty wasn't all too generous in that regard. He placed a hand between her shoulder blades, a gesture she returned. They stood before a crowd, she picked out her mother. He would soon accompany her to the crown.

A man and a woman. A brother and a sister. And a teary eye'd mother with a smile on her face.