Ursa's world had crashed around her on multiple occasions. The first time was when she met the prince, it was love at first sight, and she didn't know what to do with it. After all, she was a member of a lower house, and in no way entitled to be with the prince, she wasn't even good enough to be his servant. But when the prince was near her, she didn't care about anything at all, all she wanted was to be with him.

The time she spent with him became more and more, and Ursa could only hope that the feeling was mutual. Her mother and father couldn't believe their luck when a messenger from the Fire Lord came to ask the hand of their daughter in marriage. Ursa, who was tired of the protocol, went to see Ozai herself to tell him her answer, instead of sending back the messenger. Her ignorance of the protocol didn't went unnoticed by the Fire Lord, so the first years of her marriage, Ursa was taught to act and believe like a member of the royal family should.

She had thought of giving up so many times she lost count, but her love for Ozai kept her going, his love for her was what soothed her weary soul.

Sitting next to the turtleduck pond, she couldn't help but think that she and Ozai were like a tree. She was the leave which kept turning in the wind, adapting to everything new, while he was the trunk, unable to bent and a fierce storm could knot him down, no matter how inpenetretable the trunk seemed.

Seven years after her marriage, she became pregnant. Overjoyed, after all, they had been married for seven years already and their marriage hadn't produced anything yet, she ran to Ozai's office and together they went to a fortune teller.

Needless to say, the fortune teller didn't tell Ozai what he wanted to hear. Instead of telling him that his son would be the strongest fire bender that would walk the earth, he told him that the child would have many difficulties in his life which he would have to overcome before he could reach his true potential. The fortune teller kept chattering about a burning tree, and scattered leaves.

And then the moment came when she had to give birth to Zuko. Giving birth to him was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life. He wasn't in the right position in her womb, and they almost lost him during child birth. Everything seemed to be against him. Zuko was smaller then other children, and to top it off,, he was born in the winter, which wasn't a good sign for any future bending abilities.

At first, Ozai was happy with Zuko. He took him everywhere with him, proudly showing him off until the day that she gave birth to Azula. From the moment Ozai laid eyes on Azula, Ursa knew that Zuko was a loss cause. Unlike her older brother, Azula was bigger, stronger and thicker then most children. Her bending abilities showed up at the same time as Zuko's , but while Azula's flame was a burning ray of light, Zuko's was like a small sunbeam.

For them on, Ursa had to sleep alone on multiple occasions, which hasn't happened since their marriage.

And then they received the message that Iroh was going to return from Ba Sing Se in a week , having given up the seize on the once great city. Ozai became obsessed with bypassing Iroh, and two days before Iroh's return, he went to see his father, the Fire Lord. His father had always preferred Iroh, instinctly sensing Ozai's troubled nature. That was one of the reasons why he refused to appoint Ozai as his heir, and as a punishment for Ozai's betrayal to his brother, the Fire lord ordered Ozai to feel the pain Iroh felt, he ordered him to kill his "beloved" son. Luckily for Ozai, the fire lord didn't know about the Azula/Ozai thing.

That was the second time Ursa's world came crashing down. She wouldn't allow her husband to touch her son, Zuko was hers to keep. And that night, Ursa committed the ultimate act of loyalty towards her son, and her husband.

She killed the Fire Lord.

She didn't have the time to properly say goodbye to Zuko, she didn't even have the time to visit Azula. All she remembered of the night was saying goodbye to Zuko, killing the Fire Lord and then saying farewell to Ozai.

She never would know that Ozai burned the tree that symbolised their marriage down, the day after she left.

The third time was when she found out that she was expecting another child, one Ozai didn't know of. To make things worse, her child died in child birth, suffering from the same difficulties as Zuko did.

She tried to make a life for herself, by running an inn near a hotwater spa. She couldn't forget Ozai and most importantly Zuko. News only reached her when visitors came, and they hardly did during the war, so news travelled slowly

The day Zuko joined the avatar, the news about his banishment (and scarring ) reached Ursa.

She closed the inn and travelled to the Fire Nation as fast as she could, no longer caring about the possibility of being caught.

She arrived on Zuko's coronation day, but didn't have the courage to face him. She had left him in the hands of a madman, she had known that , but she couldn't have done anything else.

Every time she saw his scare, she was reminded of her failure as a mother.

So finally, after a year, she could muster up the courage to confront him, confront her past.

It was so different from what she expected.

The moment Zuko spotted her, he ran towards her, not caring if his ancient robes got dirt, and before she knew it, she was swept up in a bear hug.

The first thing Zuko showed her was a small tree near the turtleduck pond.

And she couldn't help but cry, no matter how broken her family was, they would find a way to flouring again.

Seeing the tree gave her the courage needed to visit her daughter, and her husband.

No longer was she just waiting for her time to pass, she was taking matters in her own hand again, following the directions of the wind, the directions her told her to follow.