"Come in."

It was Mai. "How's it going?"

"It's going fine."

"I know it's been a long week for you. It has been for all of us, but sometimes us adults get so wrapped up in our own drama, we forget about everyone else. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Thanks, but I feel like I should be saying this to you. Your life just changed a lot more than mine has."

"True, but this is your family by blood and mine by marriage. It can't be easy to see a nearly fatal feud between siblings, and your mother caught in the middle."

"I just wish she would stop blaming herself. This isn't her fault."

"When you're a parent, you want the best for your children and when something goes wrong, your first thought what could I have done to prevent it? I'm sure she's being too hard on herself, but as a mother, it is her instinct to be hard on herself in times like this."

"I just want to help her."

"You are, by being there for her but this is her battle to fight Kiyi. She's got to confront her own demons. If she doesn't, she won't find peace."

Mai confronted hers a long time ago. After Boiling Rock, she hated Azula, resenting her for putting her in jail and for trying to kill the love of her life right in front of her. Her hatred turned to pity when Azula fell apart, but she had no desire to help her get well or try and befriend her again. She was sure the Princess was a lost cause and was relieved when she ran away, but when she learned that Azula had married and had two kids only to die in a freak accident, she reconsidered.

Mai enjoyed travelling with Azula and fighting. She partied with the firebender after she shot the Avatar with lightening. She enjoyed spending time with her friend, even though she was bossy and domineering. Mai had made her own mistakes but she got a second chance. Surely, she assaulted enough people to deserve some time in jail and her uncle was the warden so it wasn't so bad. She got back together with Zuko and they got married and they had a beautiful daughter. She realized all Azula wanted was a second chance too, and it got taken from her and it just wasn't fair.

What made Mai so worthy of redemption but not Azula. Sure, Azula shot more people, but if Mai had been a firebender, would she have not used lightening if she could? Azula had been under the thumb of a brutal tyrant. Mai had just been bored. Eventually, Mai reasoned that blaming herself wouldn't do any good. The only thing she could do was keep the lines of communication open and someday hope she could be there for Azula's children.

But then Azula came back from the dead and after getting over her shock and anger, Mai was relieved to get a second chance to restore their bond. They had been a formidable team during the war, but they could be an even better one now because they were on the right side, and they were family. She was still reeling over her husband's numerous betrayals, but she would be okay. She wasn't alone and she knew she wasn't responsible for his treachery. Unfortunately, Ursa didn't know how not to blame herself.

Mai couldn't fix the bond between Ursa and Zuko, but maybe she could help Azula and Ursa get it right.

The next day, Mai went to visit her friend. On her way to Azula's office, she ran into Ty Lee.

"Hey Mai!"

"Ty, what are you up to this morning?"

"I'm going to do yoga in the garden. Did you want to join me? It's good for your aura."

"I think my aura is fine for now."

"Alright. See you later." Ty Lee got outside.

Mai got to the door to hear the tail end of an argument.

"You can't do this!" Zuko's chief of staff was irate that Azula was reaching out to Ozai's employees that Zuko had canned at the end of the war. He was sure that Azula was going to undo all of her brother's hard work.

"Really? Because the last time I checked this was a free country and I could have lunch with whomever I choose." Azula did not want to dismiss him right away, lest she repeat her brother's error in judgment.

"Those men can't be trusted."

"Who said I trusted them?" I just want to hear what they have to say.

"They tried to kill your brother."

"And I want to make sure the don't try to kill me too."

"What?"

"Do you know why they tried to kill Zuko?"

"Because he helped end the war?"

"No because he ruined their lives. These men prided themselves on their jobs, their ability to say they proudly served the nation. He swept everyone who ever worked for Ozai with the same broad brush whether they were military generals or in charge of agriculture. He made them a disgrace. Their prides were wounded and they had all the free time in the world, so they tried to get back at him.

I'm not saying he should have trusted them or kept them around, but he should have at least considered them one by one and thought about ways of removing the troublesome ones that would be less fragile to their egos: moving them into a fluffy position that doesn't really doing anything, downsizing the government over all, so it doesn't look like it was personal, but instead he just said 'get out.'

You can't do that to entitled people with money to burn and not expect consequences. I'm not looking to bring these people back or to restart my father's war. I just want to make sure there are no hard feelings because I am sick of people trying to kill me."

"Very well my Lord. I will schedule the lunches."

"Good."

He excused himself. The two were not fond of each other. Azula wasn't expecting the to be best friends, but if he didn't learn to check his attitude, he would be out on his ass.

Mai knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Mai, what can I do you for?"

Mai sat down. It was weird sitting on this side of the office. She was used to the chair next to Zuko's. Unsurprisingly, Haru was going to be less active in the day-to-day political affairs than Mai had been. He hadn't been raised for this life, and he had four kids to attend to instead of just one. "Have you spoken your mother recently?"

"Briefly yesterday. Is she okay?" Azula assumed her visit wasn't what she was hoping for. What Ursa was hoping for was some kind of temporary insanity or Zuko had been brainwashed not that he struggled with the same megalomania that had plagued those who went before him.

"Kiyi's worried about her. Ursa keeps blaming herself for what happened."

"Of course she does."

"You're not surprised."

"It's why I told her not to visit him in the first place."

"You think that made it worse."

"She wanted to hear something that she could understand, some way of humanizing what he did, and when she didn't get it, she blamed herself for not raising him better, and knowing her, she confronted Ozai about it only to get more disturbed by whatever it was that he told her."

"What do you think would help her?"

Azula shrugged. I got my sanity back by running through the Forgetful Valley. I'm not sure if I'm the person to ask. "Honestly, I don't know my mother well enough to tell you."

Before Mai could say anything else, Azula's door swung open. "Mommy! Hiro hurt his arm when he fell out of a tree."

Azula had to go. "Did you get a nurse?"

"Yeah, but he was crying for you."

"Let's go. Mai, I'll talk to her later and see what I can do."

The Fire Lord was gone. Mai saw herself out.

When she got to the infirmary, Azula saw her son with a bandage going around his arm.

"He didn't break anything, my Lord, but he got a nasty bruise."

"I used my earthbending to raise the ground, so I didn't fall as far."

"Good boy," Azula kissed his head. "Maybe you shouldn't climb so high next time."

"Yes Mom."

"He will need to rest his arm for a few days. We can give him pain medicine if he needs it, but we will have to keep the dose small given his size."

"Make sure you listen to the nurse," Azula told him. "She's here to help you get better." She gave him another kiss.

Haru had gone to get his stuffed badger mole. "Oh, here you are." He kissed his wife after giving his son his favorite toy.

Once Hiro got out of the infirmary, Haru took him and the other kids for a day inside, telling them stories and snacks while Azula got back to work.

She had trouble focusing. Her thoughts kept returning to her mother. The situation frustrated her. No matter how successful she was, it never seemed like enough. Ursa had a comfortable life in the palace, a husband, two daughters at home, and five healthy grandkids, yet she still can't be happy because Zuzu is a disappointment.

She knew this conversation was long overdue. Unfortunately, she had no idea how it was going to go.

After dinner, the children were playing tag in the garden.

"Make sure the kids avoid his bad arm," Azula told Rei.

"I will Mom."

Azula kissed her forehead, and they were off. It was nice that all of the children got along. Soon, Ta Min would be old enough to play outside with them. The little girl was growing up so fast.

Iroh went to see Lu Ten II. He couldn't believe it when Azula had told him the boy's name. He was a bittersweet feeling. The sentiment was touching, but he couldn't help but remember the son he had lost when he looked at him. His cheekbones were high, just like his son's. Iroh had wanted to give Lu Ten a sibling, but he couldn't. His birth had been complicated, Iroh's wife unable to have any more children.

"You're a lucky little one," he told the baby. "You got three older siblings to look out for you and a cousin." They were all fairly close in age. "At their rate, you're going to have even more siblings some day." Iroh never would have thought Azula would have looked forward to motherhood, making an heir sure, but she could have stopped with Rei if that was her only goal. She has a brood and seems close to each one.

Ty Lee and Mai were having girl time.

"So I heard there's a fella who likes you."

Mai blushed. "Maybe. I'm in no rush, but there's no reason not to at least write some letters and see if anything happens."

"Oh, this could be just what you need. It was you and Zuko so early and for so long. You never really got the chance to date around and see what's out there."

Mai frowned. She had a point.

"Did I say the wrong thing?"

"No. It's just…" Mai flashed back to a moment when she had visited Azula in the asylum.

"You know, you made a huge mistake right."

"Seeing as how you're the one behind bars, I don't think so."

"That's not what I meant," Azula said bitterly. "You and Zuzu. You will always put more into the relationship than he ever will. You're a convenient girlfriend. You will protect him. Your presence will help him politically. You're a good tool. That would be fine if he was just a stepping stone to be Fire Lady, but you love him. That is your mistake. It will only bring you heartache when you realize he will never really let you in, marry you maybe, have a couple of kids, give you a comfortable life, but he will never really be yours."

Mai had stormed out angrily, heartless bitch! What does she know about love? Mai had been determined to prove her wrong. When she learned about Zuko's visits to Ozai, she feared Azula right. He kept it from her, but then he won her back. They got married, had a gorgeous daughter, but he never stopped lying. He didn't tell her Ursa II couldn't bend. She had fainted upon delivery and didn't know that the doctor had told them.

He cheated on her, trying to have a child with another woman because he thought she was barren. When she saw Suki's medical record, what Zuko had said to the doctor, it made her sick to the stomach. He was there for Suki's medical visits. He wasn't there for hers.

The lies continued when it came to the state of the Crown. She had no idea how precarious his reign had been. He made it seem like some terrorist rebels, not a genuine shift of public opinion. He framed his sister, tried to kill her and their niece.

All the while, she loved him. What kind of fool was she?

When Mai told Ty Lee what she was thinking, the girl shook her head. "Look, Azula was bitter and crazy. You can't think she had all of the answers and you just ignored it."

"That's the thing. She was bitter and crazy, but even she could still see that Zuko was using me."

"Could she? She rambled about all kinds of stuff. Some of it was right, but that doesn't mean she wasn't just making it all up."

"I guess."

"Don't guess anything. You are a great girl Mai, and you shouldn't think less of yourself because of what he did. I can't imagine how hard this is for you, but you don't have to do it alone. Sokka and I will be here a little while longer and we're always a letter away. Take your time, but don't be afraid to let a new man into your heart because of your past."

Ty Lee confessed something of her own. "It was hard for Sokka to trust me at first. He didn't say it out loud, but I know that long distance really bothered him because of his first marriage. It got easier as we spent more time together, and now we can stay together. It's never just a walk in the park. There's always work when it comes to building trust."

"I never would have guessed. You two look perfect together."

"Well, perfection takes practice."

Haru and Sokka were sharing some whiskey, a common past time for the two friends.

"I never thought I'd be here," Haru laughed. He had only been to the palace when the war ended for Zuko's coronation. Now, he's living here, and he has his own servants, which he finds unnecessary, but they won't stop drawing his bath or washing his hair for him.

"Get your crown yet?" Sokka teased.

"No, I have to get my head measured."

"You can't just take Zuko's crown?" He won't need it.

"The jewel setting is wrong because he had a Fire Lord crown and I'm the Fire Man or whatever." I didn't care, but the sages made a fuss, so Azula said fine, make him a crown.

"You can't have the wrong jewel setting."

"That's what they told me."

The two laughed.

"I've been doing some jewelry shopping of my own."

"Are you going to get your own crown? You better not upstage me!"

"No, I'm going to propose."

"Oh, I didn't know you felt this way about me," Haru feigned seriousness.

"I mean to …"

Haru started laughing.

"You're a dick."

"Oh, I'm sure she's going to love it."

"I'm just waiting for the ring to be ready and I need to think of how."

"Don't put it in her food. I've heard too many horror stories from women who accidentally swallowed their ring. It's not as appealing once it has to go through the other side."

"EW!"

"I know right."

"How did you propose?"

"I took Azula on a hike. We went into the Cave of Two Lovers and as you know, it's pretty easy to get lost in there. She had no idea where we were, but I was able to use my earthbending to see to the end.

I told her the myth, that if we kissed, we would find our way out. When we did, there was a sparkling jewel in the distance. We followed it but it just kept moving. When we got outside, she saw that it was a ring that I had made for her. (He used his earthbending to keep moving the jewel, so Azula would have to follow it out of the cave)

I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me."

"I hope Ty Lee doesn't hear that story. It's a hard act to follow."

"You have an adorable son. If he handed her the ring, I bet she'd be beaming."

"Not a bad idea."

This isn't uncomfortable, Azula thought to herself. She was with her mother, a kettle of tea in between them. She really didn't know how to start. Everyone says there is something wrong with you, out with it, hardly seemed like the way to start the conversation

"How is your tea?"

"It's nice." Ursa usually didn't drink black teas. She found them too strong, but this one was fairly subdued.

"How did your visit go?"

"It was fine," Ursa lied.

"Really?"

"No," Ursa admitted. "I wish I hadn't gone."

"Why not?"

"Well, I got into a conversation with Ozai and that never goes well and I didn't get what I was hoping for."

"You were hoping Zuko had temporary insanity and now he's magically cured."

"Something like that," she laughed weakly.

"Did you want to talk about it?"

Ursa asked an unexpected question. "Why Ozai?"

"What?" Azula had no idea what that meant.

"When you were in trouble, you went to Ozai. Why him?"

"I knew he would believe me."

"You didn't think I would have."

"Would you have?" she asked quickly.

Ursa frowned. "Probably not." How could she have envisioned this?

"You aren't alone. Haru didn't believe it at first and neither did Ty Lee or Sokka. I had to make a choice. Out of all of the people I could have asked, who would have been the least likely to ignore the script and try to talk it out with Zuko. I knew that Ozai was my best bet."

"Because you're his favorite."

Maybe I was once. "Because he was spoon feeding Zuko his ideas. He had no reason to go 'say it isn't so,' to the person he was aiding."

Azula knew he was helping Zuko do all of this, of course she did. She knows her father's work like no other. "But you trusted him anyway."

"Define trust. Did I trust him to help me out of the goodness of his heart? No. Did I trust him to bring about Zuko's downfall the first chance he got? Yes."

"This was just a game." Her voice grew cold.

"Everything is a game to Ozai," Azula put her mug down and looked straight into her mother's eyes. She always knew how to reach right into her soul with her words. "For me, this was about my life and my family. I told myself I would never leave my kids, but I walked down the beach, knowing that they would believe the worst.

I told myself I would never be you, but there I was, hiding away in a cottage while my husband tried to find out who hired the assassins. I told myself I would never leave my children in danger, but I had to sit back while my brother tried to kill my daughter, putting all of my faith in Ty Lee to make sure she was okay. That wasn't a game. I became everything I didn't want to be because of him. Remind you of someone we know."

Ursa started to weep. "How could this happen?"

"You mourn the loss of an ideal mother, not a person. You always saw people as archetypes: heroes, villains, and victims. I used to be the same way, but I saw people as winners or losers, nothing else mattered. Zuko fit the mold you cast for him. He struggled through adversity, but he found the light. He was there to save the day. He was your assurance that you were a good mother, look how well he turned out.

It was just an ideal, a fantasy, an allusion. You didn't see the man within. Maybe he wanted to be "good," but he was never good at it. He was angry that dad spurned him, jealous that I bended better than he did, impulsive when it came to making decisions and selfish when it came to his family.

He lied to his wife, he betrayed her trust, and he used her for his own political gain, but he kept it all hidden behind a dark screen. Ozai might have baited him, but he never told him to lie and say Ursa II could bend when she couldn't, start an affair with another woman when he thought Mai was barren or to send a hit man after his pregnant sister, so she couldn't produce a firebender.

No person fits any ideal, mother. They all come with their strengths and their weaknesses, their moments of bravery and their cowardice. You won't find peace until you learn to accept the entirety of people. They won't stay in your little boxes. They aren't bonsai plants."

Ursa could feel her own heart breaking. Somehow, it happened all over again, except with a new generation. Ursa wanted to believe it wasn't her fault, but children learn their patterns from their parents. Was this destined? Ursa wondered if her fate had been determined the moment she said yes.

Suddenly, a gaggle of children appeared in the room. Ursa II ran to her grandmother. Hakoda II and Hiro climbed up to Azula. Rei chose her own chair.

"How was your game?"

"Rei was it!" Hiro said.

"He pretended he hurt his arm and when I went to go check on him, he tagged me and ran," Rei claimed.

Hiro laughed.

"Did you trick your sister?"

He nodded.

"You are a sneaky one. I'm gonna have to watch out for you." She kissed his forehead.

"Humph!" Rei retorted.

"I remember you using that trick on your father once or twice."

"It's my trick. He stole it!"

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery."

Rei hated it when her mother said that (Hiro was always copying her) and stuck out her tongue.

Azula stuck out her tongue right back.

"How mature," Mai said dryly.

Azula and Rei turned, both sticking their tongue out at Mai. She rolled her eyes. The other kids joined in on the fun and started making faces at each other.

Sokka and Haru appeared for their little ones. He scooped up his son, and kissed Ty Lee. "It's your bed time little man."

"AW!"

"How about I read you a story?"

"Yay!"

Hiro needed to go to bed too. Haru scooped him up.

The young adults got all of their kids in bed. Azula had to feed Ta Min. When she was done, she came back with her younger daughter in her arms to find everyone in the tearoom, except her mother.

Haru kissed Ta Min's forehead. "Whose my little princess?"

"Dada."

"He's not a princess," Azula teased as she kissed her daughter's forehead.

Haru started tickling Ta Min's tummy.

She had such a squeal when she laughed.

"I think Ty Lee has the same laugh," Sokka teased as he tickled her.

She shoved him playfully. "You jerk."

He kissed her nose.

"Where's Lu Ten?" Mai asked.

"He's still asleep. I'll wake him up before I got to bed to see if he wants to eat." She usually had to coax him awake for his feeding. He was fine with just sleeping the clock around.

Ursa had gone back to her bedroom. Her head was too full of thoughts to continue socializing with the others. You mourn an ideal mother, not a person. She wanted to refute those words as soon as they left Azula's mouth, but her throat betrayed her, not allowing a word out.

"Are you feeling better?" Ikem asked her as he hugged her.

"Yes," she lied. She hated burdening him with all of this. She left Hira'a to marry Ozai. Ikem shouldn't have to see her through all of the damage her previous marriage caused. She tried to put it in the back of her mind. "Let's go to bed."