Ozai hadn't let on to anyone that he had found the prophecy. It was irrelevant anyway, he figured. The Spirit of the Sun itself would not stop him from seizing the throne from his lazy, happy-go-lucky brother. Iroh would be a disastrous Fire Lord, Ozai reasoned, and as such he owed it to the future of his country to seize power. It was how he would do it that Ozai hadn't quite figured out. In the meantime, he was betrothed and married to the kind and demure daughter of a nobleman. Ursa was as beautiful as she was warm-hearted, and people sometimes speculated as to how extraordinarily attractive their child would be. Ozai wasted no time in finding out, and soon Ursa was expecting.
It was during her 6th month of pregnancy that the Fire Sages informed the royal family of the possibility of a solar eclipse in the coming months. The sages gave their estimation of the date of the eclipse's occurance, so that Azulon might prepare the troops for the potential loss in firebending. As Ozai studied the date, his body tensed and his mind raced with panic. July 9th, Year of the Dragon. Ursa was due in early July. Flashing back to the prophecy, Ozai began to worry that the child with eyes like the sun was even now gestating in his wife's womb. Grabbing her roughly by the arm, he took her into their chambers.
"Ozai... what's gotten into you? Let go, you're hurting me!" Ursa wrenched her arm from his grasp and gave him a look of worry and dismay.
"I'm sorry, Ursa... I think we need to terminate your pregnancy." Deafening silence filled the room as the shocked princess processed what she had just heard.
"...What? Ter--... terminate the pregnancy? Why?" she whispered. She sat on the edge of their bed clutching her stomach protectively.
"There's... this prophecy," Ozai said with some hesitation, contemplating how to convince his wife without revealing his designs on the throne. "It says that in the year of the dragon, a cursed child will be born on the day of a solar eclipse."
"I've never heard of such a prophecy," Ursa replied.
"It's been kept secret, hidden away so that it can't be used against the royal family."
"How do you know the child in the prophecy will be royalty?" Ursa asked.
"It says the child will steal the throne from the rightful heir," Ozai fibbed, twisting the words slightly.
"That's terrible... and you think the child I'm carrying might be the child in the prophecy?"
"That's what I am afraid of," Ozai said, resting one hand on his wife's head. "Please, for the sake of our family, and the throne. Please do this for me." Ursa lowered her eyes.
"No." Ozai's brow furrowed just a bit. "I'm sorry, Ozai, but I can't take the life of my own child before he's even born, because of some prediction that may or may not even come true. So there's going to be an eclipse this year. So what? I simply can't take such drastic action based on so little evidence." Ozai said nothing as Ursa stood and left the room.