Zuko glanced around the room nervously. Everything from the stoic guards stationed against the walls to the steaming food on the table seemed perfectly in place, but he still felt uneasy.

"I'm not sure if this is such a good idea uncle," he muttered his eyes now fixed on the reinforced iron door barring any entry or exit. He felt Iroh give his shoulder a firm squeeze.

"Whether or not Azula will comply is not up to us. The simple matter is that after everything that has happened. Azula deserves to be able to speak to us face to face, in a manner of equal footing," he replied simply. Zuko noticed him tightening the grip on the sheathed knife that he held his hand. He had been clutching the object with a sense of agitation all afternoon and had refused to tell Zuko what it was for. This annoyed Zuko somewhat but just as he was about to ask again, the iron door swung open.

"She is ready to join you now your majesty," one of the guards informed them as he stepped inside. Zuko nodded in response.

"Bring her in then."

Azula had a look on boredom on her face as she was marched through the threshold to the dinning room set out to greet her. She was escorted by two guards as was still in prison cloths, wrists shackled, and overall still a total mess. She did not trudge along nor try to hold up a regal posture. She just walked in quietly and calmly, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

"Could we speak to my niece in private?" Iroh requested, also gesturing for them to remove her shackles. The guards obeyed, then filed out of the room without objection, the last shutting the iron barrier behind them with a resonant pang.

Azula didn't even bother looking up at them from where she stood, her gaze loosely focused on the ground. She wore an indifferent expression on her face and remained exactly where her escorts had left her. The food set out for her went completely ignored.

"Guess you've finally got me cornered," Azula sighed sarcastically. "So what is it uncle? Public relations problems? Need me to come out and pose for the public and pretend to be 'sane'? Secretly disappear so that you can pretend that I'm dead? Or is there some covert military operation you want me tp go on? One left only for the damned?" She said sarcastically as she pretended to pick lint of her shirt and check her nails. Zuko wasn't sure how to respond. Did she really think so little of them that she'd believe that they were only here to use her? What is she playing at?

Beside him Zuko heard uncle Iroh breath out wearily in defeat. "As much as I wish I could, I cannot reassure you of the contrary right now," he replied. "You no longer believe a word I say." Iroh's sad and tired eyes met with Azula's. "I just want to you to know that I am sorry, that I still love you, and that I hope one day I can be someone you can trust again."

There was slight shuffle as Iroh rose from his seat and walked toward Azula, who shirked from him venomously. But Iroh gently pulled Azula's right hand away from its defensve position and pressed the knife that he was holding earlier into her palm and closed her fingers around it.

"I heard about the doll," he explained. Then he smiled at his niece. "I didn't get a chance to properly replace it before and give you the guidance that I needed to give, so here it is now. True strength is found not in your ability to defeat your enemies with your strength, but in your ability to overcome them with your vulnerability. This knife was forged by sword master Piandao from the residual ore of a meteorite that one of his students brought him. The water tribe boy, Sokka. Both you may recognize as your enemies due to the war, but I hope you can accept this gift non-the-less, and eventually understand the meaning of my words here."

Azula's glared at the offending object in her hand with distraught and contempt, and for a second Zuko was sure she will burn it too before she tightened her grip on it and looked back at Iroh.

"You haven't answered my question yet."

"I need you to help me find mother," Zuko blurted out in response.

A looked of shock and relief temporarily graced Azula's features before her those of anger and bitterness quickly snapped back into place.

"You're joking." Zuko was about to retort when she cut him off. "If you either of you two think that after everything that has happened, that I still want to have anything to do with you or my mother, you've got your pompous noses in the clouds," she stated bitterly as she let Iroh's knife roll out of her hand and clatter onto the floor. Her mouth twitched as her face struggled to hold back some sort of emotion. Pain? Zuko suddenly felt the urge to reach out and pull her into an embrace, when blue flames shot up from her fingertips. Then a wicked grin crawled across her face.

"Actually, I do have a reason to find mother." She snarled menacingly, as she increased the intensity of her flames. "Can you guess?"

The guards outside must have been eavesdropping attentively because Azula was restrained before she even began her attack. Surprisingly though, she did not try very hard to put up a fight as the guards dragged her back to her cell. Instead she just sneered at her relatives with loathing.

"This is why trust is for fools! You say you want me to trust you, that you love me, but you can't event trust me! You remove my shackles, but only because you have an army stationed right outside the door and because you know I can't win against both of you!" She shouted as she shook with uncontrollable laughter.

Another failure, Zuko thought as the guards hauled her out of his sight. This was supposed to finally be their breakthrough. This was supposed to work! How many more times will he have to go through with this drama before he finally gets through to her? Is that even possible? If not then how on earth is he ever going to bring mother back? Is she even still alive like his father implied? What if she was in grave danger and needed his help? He's wasting all his time here, when he should be saving her! No, he can't let that happen. Mother. He needs to save mother, there's no more time. No. This has to work. He'll make it work. Sane or not, Azula's going to help him find mother.

Without thinking he snatched up the knife that Azula's dropped onto the floor and raced after his sister. He reached her cell just as the guards shut the door behind them.

"I'm not through with her yet," he breathed. They stepped aside and allowed him inside without protest.

"You're lying," was the first thing he said as he walked in and shut the door behind him. Azula just laughed. "No!" He insisted. "You don't want mother to die and you don't want me or uncle dead either. Whether you'll admit it or not, you want to find mother as much as I do, for the same reason. Because you miss her." Azula was giving him the most viscious death glare he's even seen on her. Annoyed by the persisted resistance to his efforts of kindness and still agitated by his previously considerations, Zuko snapped, "I never needed you to go with me you know." Then the words came spewing from his mouth before he could stop them, "I was trying to do you a favour Azula. You don't want to cooperate, fine. I have a war balloon, I know where mother is and I'm leaving for her tomorrow at dawn. Without you." Then he crouched down to meet her at eye level through the bars and held up the knife, still in its sheath. "And since you obviously don't want this, I'm going to take it." And with that he stomped out, making sure to slam the door as he exited.

It wasn't until he reached his chambers and the heat of the moment died down that he realized what he had just done. Did he just taunt Azula of all people? Did he just ask his crazy and maniacal sister to break out of prison? What is he going to tell his uncle if Azula actually goes through with this? And is he supposed to just run off now like he just said he would, even when he promised his uncle that he will stay behind to get this problem fixed before he left, and what about - Zuko jumped as he felt a hand land on his right shoulder, spinning around to come face to face with...Mai.

Zuko didn't even realize that he was pacing and smouldering until he allowed Mai to still him with her firm grip on his shoulder. Looking up from his smouldering hand, he noticed his girlfriend studying him with concern, her hand steady on his shoulder. Eventually, that hand reached up to gently cup and caress his cheek and Zuko was able to meet her gaze.

"Tell me what happened."

"You're gonna dump me again." Zuko let out a nervous chuckle at Mai's satirical remark on his situation, before allowing himself to exchange smiles with her. The couple were now sitting on Zuko's bed, Mai wrapping a spindly arm around him, letting the quite hum of the night settle into the room. Thankful for Mai's sympathy, Zuko scooted closer to her, leaning into her embrace. Mai said nothing and just held onto him, her hand wound across his back stroking his left shoulder. But after a moment she released him and straightened up, causing Zuko to whine at the loss of contact. He looked over to her inquisitively only to be met with an incredulous stare.

"Don't you need to start packing?" Zuko blinked at the odd question.

"What?"

"You're obviously not going to be able to find lady Ursa overnight, so you should at least consider bringing some luggage," Mai replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Wait..you're letting me go?" Zuko asked as he gawked her.

"Well, you're going to have to go eventually. Might as well get it over with now," she replied indifferently. Zuko could hardly believe his ears.

"You're serious." He almost flinched at the smirk he got from Mai with that.

"Oh, I'm beyond serious. I planned for this," Mai replied grinning slightly.

"What!"

"You're family problems have a tendency to resolve by you or another running away or getting kick out by random notice," his girlfriend explained with a tone of slight mockery. "And since you've already got a trip planned, I figured I might as well prepare some disappearing Zuko protocol." Zuko didn't know whether to laugh or continue gawking at her over this unexpected revelation. Mai, seeming to have noticed his confusion, reached into the folds of her black vest and pulled out a small scroll. "I've already arranged semi-impromptu visits for you with colonies who have issues they need you to go sort out. So long as you go and all resolve these problems before you return, you can leave the palace whenever you like (under the guise of being on official duty) and spend as long as you like on this search without anyone suspecting a thing. I've already spoken with Iroh about managing your official duties here while you're gone, so there's really nothing you'll need to worry about in terms of that." She winced as she felt Zuko's heavy hands clasp her shoulders in excitement.

"You. Are. The. Best-"

"Yeah yeah - get packing," she ordered, rolling her eyes. Then Mai found herself abruptly yanked into a rough kiss. After letting go of her, Zuko cupped his hands to her face and stared her straight in the eyes.

"Thank you." Mai rolled her eyes again, but then slacked her shoulders and smiled as she watched her boyfriend frantically running around the room trying to gather his traveling equipment together.

Zuko yawned and sighed as he walked to the docking sight of the now seldom used war balloons, keeping a loosed hold on Iroh's knife. As happy and grateful he was of Mai's support, there was no way to know whether Azula would even come. It wasn't like his dare was obvious. Still, Azula probably figured it out instantly. On the other hand, she could very easily have ignored it, or saw through his bluff and just decided that investigating wasn't worth her time. The chance that she was held back by the security wasn't exactly unlikely either, her prison was heavily guarded.

As Zuko contemplated the possibility of needing to wait, his ankle got caught on something, causing him to tumble forwards. Quickly catching himself with a flip, he spun backwards to see Azula, now somehow cleaned up and dressed in commoner's clothes, studying the now unsheathed knife that was previously in his hands. Zuko noticed, that while her hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, her face was free of the heavy makeup he was so accustomed to seeing her in (outside of her time in prison of course). Apparently there were words etched on the blade, as Azula's eyes scanned it like a script, before curtly sheathing it again.

"Give me your duties roster," she demanded before he had a chance to gripe at her for tripping him.

"How did you -"

"You're obviously not going to be allowed to just leave on a family trip a month after ascending the throne. Someone would have to have arranged for an excuse," she replied knowingly, rolling her eyes. Zuko mentally smacked himself as he went to grab Mai's scroll. This is Azula. Of course she would have broken out with ease, cleaned herself up, and arrived on time with all his plans figured out.

"Yeah, Mai did," he replied, handing his sister the scroll. Azula scoffed.

"Of course." Zuko glared at her for the unsaid 'no way you would've thought of it' part of the sentence. Deciding to be the better man, he choose to let that go. Noticing her rapid eye movement and frowns, he decided to offer her a map. But...if she needed one, she'd asked for it by now - she probably has the whole world map memorized or something anyways. Still, she shouldn't need to bother till they get to Ba Sing Se - oh wait -

"Mother's in Ba Sing Se, so we should go there first. I can take care of these problems later on my own." Zuko informed his sister thoughtfully. Azula glanced up at him incredulously.

"Who told you mother was in Ba Sing Se?"

"Father." A snort.

"So you don't know where she is at all." Azula corrected, rolling her eyes again and returning her attention back to the scroll.

"What do you mean?" Zuko demanded, frowning. Azula sighed and rolled up Mai's scroll, handing it back to him.

"Father's not an idiot. There's no way that he'd leave loose ends like that untied." She groaned as she saw Zuko's confused expression. "Mother knows the truth about how he ascended to the thrown, so he can't risk letting her run free in case she ever rats on him. If he knew where she was, he'd have had her assassinated immediately, which brings up the point that you therefore don't actually even know if she's alive or not. Go figure."

Zuko felt his heart drop into his stomach. He completely vanquished any possibility of Ozai having killed Ursa in his mind after the eclipse. Was he so desperate to believe that his mother was alive that he let his father play him for a fool? No. She's definitely alive. She wouldn't let Ozai get to her that easily.

"She's alive. I can feel it." He affirmed determinately as he stared at his clenched fists. Azula let out a breath of exasperation.

"My eyes are going to get sprung from their sockets from rolling them at you so much," she replied irritably. Zuko looked up curiously as he heard her walk away, surprised that it was towards a nearby war balloon. "Well do you want to find mother or not?" came Azula's annoyed voice. She continued walking without bothering to look back at him. Zuko snorted in amusement as he went to catch up to her. Uncle Iroh may be right yet again.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone,

sorry for the ultra late update - I was busy with finals and other stuff, but I this chapter makes up for it somewhat.

Thank you everyone for your reviews, comments, and favourites. This is the first fanfiction I've every 'published' so I really appreciate all of your support. And yes, I have every intention of finishing this so you don't have to worry about that. That's all for now, I'll try to have the next chapter up by the end of next week, so see you all then and thanks again for your support!