March 95AG
Azula was playing in the garden. Her father was in an important war meeting. He had to attend more and more of those since Iroh and Lu Ten were at the siege.
With Ursa doting on Zuko, and Azulon leading the meetings, Azula was often left on her own.
While she ran up the hills just to jump back down, a little turtle duck went to go play. It had been left behind. Its mother took its siblings and left the little guy behind.
"It's okay," Azula said to the little turtle duckling. "I'm on my own too. You won't be lonely."
Azula would come out and play with this one duck every day. It was nice to have a new friend. She named him Bobo!
April 95AG
One day, Azula went to play with her friend, but a fire fox came to eat it.
She caught the fire fox with the turtle duck in its mouth.
"LET MY FRIEND GO!" She threw a fireball at it, harming the creature, and it dropped the duckling.
XXX
Azula ran it to the royal doctor only to hear, "sorry Princess. There's nothing I can do. He's too badly hurt."
The doctor euthanized the duck. Azula was sad, but she knew it was for the best. She decided to give it a proper burial.
She made a little pyre for it and gave the turtle duckling a noble funeral.
XXX
Unfortunately, Ursa and Zuko saw the injured fox before they saw the dead turtle duck.
"It's been burned mommy!" Zuko told her.
Ursa took a look. Did Azula do this?
They went to find her and saw her with a fire.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm giving him a burial. He's dead."
Ursa assumed Azula killed the duck so she could give it a burial. Was she trying to do the same thing to the fox?
"Zuko, honey. Go inside now."
"Yes mother."
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She turned to her daughter. "Did you kill him?"
"No."
"And what about that fox?"
"I burned him, but …"
Ursa was disgusted. "How could I have raised such a monster?"
Azula's eyes welled up. She ran before her mother could see her cry.
It was then that Ursa realized she had said that out loud. "Azula, wait …"
Their relationship was never the same.