The next day, Azula went to visit her father.

"Fire Lord Azula, what a lovely surprise."

"They wrote a play about me."

"Who?"

"The College wrote it, but it's being performed by the Capital City Playhouse."

"All good things I'm sure."

"It's actually quite an accurate representation of my life from my birth until I ran away."

"So you'll be cancelling it."

"Why would I do that?"

"Surely you don't want your flaws on display for the country to see."

"They're already out there. If I cancel it now, I just look like I got my ego bruised."

"Isn't your ego bruised?"

"Should it be?"

"Why are you here?"

"Why did you banish Zuko?"

"What? Why do you care about that now?"

"I don't know."

"I wanted him out of the way, so you could rule instead."

"How did they know that?"

"Who?"

"The people who wrote the play. They knew that. I didn't even know that."

Ozai chuckled. "Now I remember. Back when I thought you were dead, some guy came to interview me. I figured if I talked to them, I'd get a bigger part in the play. Is the actor who plays me handsome?"

Azula rolled her eyes. Why did she come here? "I saw the play with mother."

He cackled. "Oh she must have loved it."

"They said you killed Azulon in the play."

"Those lying bastards."

"I guess you didn't impress them so much after all," Azula said as she left.

Azula wasn't sure why she cared, but it seemed to matter that Zuko was punished to get him out of the way instead of his actions actually being offensive. She needed to talk to someone who could actually help her.

Dear Uncle Iroh,

I am not sure what to do with Zuko. Since he passed a treason bill that covers his own conduct, his punishment is solely in my hands. I have already taken capital punishment off the table, since that would be unfair to Ursa II, but I don't know what else is left.

Do I just say life sentence and forget about him? Do I offer him parole if he gives up his firebending? Banishment?

I haven't even stripped his title yet because I'm not sure if I should. Mai would lose her title too, but she may divorce him in which case, that won't matter anymore.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Azula

Iroh was relieved that Azula decided not to take her brother's head. He thought life imprisonment would be generous, but Azula seemed to be considering leniency. Iroh thought this was good so long as she wasn't underestimating any threat that he might still pose. He needed to know more of her reasoning.

Dear Azula,

I am not sure what you should do with your brother either, but you should consider the following things. Punishment can be used to satisfy multiple goals: rehabilitation, just desserts, deterrence, and community protection are the four that come to mind. You have to think about what you want Zuko's sentence to accomplish.

Do you think he can change? Do you think he needs to get what's coming to him? Do you think he will always be a threat to your safety? How likely is his punishment going to influence whether another tries to harm the crown in the future? These are the questions you have to ask yourself before you can decide what to do.

Some of these factors may mean more to you than the others.

You are wise to be making this decision carefully as it is a most difficult one. How long do you have before you have to decide?

Iroh

Sokka and Ty Lee arrived in the Southern Water Tribe after staying at Katara's for a week. She said they could stay longer, but Sokka and Ty Lee weren't sure if they could handle being there any longer.

"Your sister is loud," Ty Lee told him.

"Don't remind me."

"I meant generally, but that too."

"I miss the thick walls of the palace."

They got home and Hakoda was excited to see snow again. He quickly made snowballs and started to throw them.

Ty Lee was amazed at how pretty it was here. "This is so beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it. It always looks like this."

They got their stuff into his house and he took her to meet his Gran Gran.

"This is my fiancée, Ty Lee."

"Isn't she lovely?" Kanna hugged her. "Tell me about the proposal."

While the adults talked, Hakoda went to find the other children.

"This is a lovely ring," Kanna told her soon to be granddaughter.

"It's perfect."

"Tell me about yourself."

Ty Lee explained her upbringing in the Fire Nation, her tour with the Kyoshi Warriors and what happened since she got custody of Rei and Hiro.

"You've been a busy one, all over the world. It must have been fascinating."

"Oh it's been great, but I'm looking forward to settling down."

Ty Lee liked where her life was going. That evening, she met Hakoda. She had seen him around, but she had never really talked to him or Pakku.

She had sea prune stew for the first time and didn't spit it back out.

"That might be a record," Hakoda teased. "Outsiders usually hate it."

"It's not as bad as Mai trying to cook," she retorted.

"When was that?"

"During the war. Azula swore Mai was trying to kill her and threw the soup at her head."

Sokka's jaw dropped. "Did I miss all of the fun antics?"

"Oh yeah. Between Azula's demands for perfection and Mai's blasé responses, it was really something."

Ty Lee thought an early summer wedding would be nice. "It would give us enough time to get everything ready and to write invitations. She would need to give her family and friends enough lead time to get to the tribe."

"Do you want to get married here?" Sokka asked her.

"Not in this spot," she teased.

"How about the hall?"

"I would like that."

March 109 AG

Zuko was in his cell, still unsure of his fate when he saw a familiar face.

"Aang?"

This was the first time the Avatar confronted him since the truth came out. He didn't have any words before.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"I don't know. It's mostly up to Azula now."

"Mostly?"

"She hasn't asked me to take your bending yet. I haven't decided whether or not I'll do it either."

"Would you give me a second chance?"

"How many second chances can I give you?" Aang believed in redemption, but almost ten years later, Zuko was back to his old ways.

"It doesn't get much lower than this. My bending is all I have left at this point."

"You still don't get it. You have a wife and a daughter. They are something. They should be everything, but instead all you cared was power. Because of it, you ruined yourself."

Aang left. Ozai had a parting shot. "Do you still believe in second chances? I never got one."

The disgruntled avatar was confused as to what he should do. Azula requested that he come to the palace, so they could discuss his fate. He decided to go now before he got even busier.

Katara brought Bumi and stayed at the palace, while Aang went to see Zuko. She thought if she went to the prison, she might hurt Zuko for his betrayal.

She had been the last to trust him. She had been the most hurt when he proved to be sinister. "He saved my life," she had cried, remembering that fateful agni kai, "but then he tried to do the same thing to her, all over a stupid crown."

Bumi was playing follow the leader with the Ursa II, Hiro and Rei.

Meanwhile, his mother was having tea with Mai.

"How have you been?" Katara asked her. The girl must be devastated.

"Okay. I have my good days and my not so good days." Sometimes Mai wakes up and expects Zuko to be there, just to remember why he's not.

"If you and Ursa ever want to visit, you're always welcome at the temple."

"Thank you," Mai said sincerely. Maybe she did need to leave the palace more. "Azula did make me go on vacation, so I am not always here."

"Where did you go?"

"She took everyone to Ember Island. It was a hot mess, but it was still fun."

"Was this when Sokka was here?"

"He didn't tell you. He proposed to Ty Lee there."

"That was during a royal family vacation?" He just talked about them being on the beach, not everyone and their mother being there. "I wasn't there, but everyone else was." She was pissed.

"We didn't see the proposal either."

"But you knew like five seconds later and I find out like a week later." It had actually been three days.

"I thought you knew."

"That butt face."

While Katara complained about her brother always leaving her out of the loop, Azula discussed the fate of her own brother with the Avatar.

"Have you decided what you are charging him with?"

"High treason, two counts." She could have gone for a murder charge for the hitman, but that would be hard to prove. She only had the word of one guard who was told to ditch the body. "I don't need to try him, given the new treason statute he passed. His sentence is in my hands."

Ironic. "What are the possible sentences?"

"Everything from probation to life without parole. I'm not hanging him. He's still my brother, and it wouldn't be fair to his daughter."

That was a wide range of possibilities. "Has he shown any remorse?"

"Not to me. I think he's still mad he got caught in Ozai's web, but I'd like to think that someday he could redeem himself."

Possible parole. "What about his bending?"

This was the hardest part for Azula. Even at her worst, he never tried to take her bending, not that she knew of anyway. "I can think of two reasons to take it, to discourage him from trying to start a coup and to prevent him from hurting someone with it, but I don't know how applicable those are if he stays in prison."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean from prison, he will have trouble hurting anyone he would want to harm, other than Ozai, and he will have a hard time launching a coup."

"So let him keep his bending if he's in prison. What happens when he leaves?"

"Maybe after some time, I give him the choice, keep your bending and finish your sentence or lose it and you can leave." He could still try to kill her with a sword or poison, but he would not be able to sit on the throne again. Maybe she should consider banishment. "Is energybending reversible?"

"I don't know how to reverse it, but I assume it is."

"What do you think of a probationary period? Like he can leave prison without his bending and if he stays out of trouble for his probation, he can get it back." If not, then it stays gone.

Aang pursed his lips as he contemplated it. "It could be feasible." Then he frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't ask me to give Ozai his bending back."

Azula scoffed. "No. It's been almost ten years, and he hasn't learned anything. I don't think he wants to change. He'd rather muse about his glory days and annoy people."

Aang still hadn't decided if he would take Zuko's bending. What Azula was offering sounded fair when she could just lock him up and forget about him, but it was still stealing apart of Zuko's soul. Would it be better to keep him locked up with his bending? "If you had been given a choice to leave prison without your bending or to stay in prison with your bending, what would you have chosen."

Azula frowned. "Since I was insane, I would have probably opted to stay in prison and then tried to break out."

Aang frowned. "I suppose. What would you choose now?"

"If I knew that I could have a good marriage and my children, I'd say goodbye to my bending, but that wasn't enough for Zuko before. I don't know what it will take for him to appreciate a life without the throne now."

For at least half of Azula's life, she defined herself by her bending abilities, and even she would take freedom over being a firebender.

"I want to see how Zuko does before I decide on whether I will take his bending."

"Me too." Something about the play compelled Azula to want to give her brother a second chance. Maybe that was dumb of her.

After their meeting, Azula went to look in on the children. It wasn't that long ago that she would be inside the kitchen, making ramen while her two children played outside. Now, she had four children and a crown on her head. She wondered what it was about the crown that made it so easy to kill to get it. Putting aside her own family drama, Fire Lords have taken the crowns from their predecessors in agni kais for centuries.

The first Fire Lord got the job by killing everyone who protested his rule. She found herself with a role she had been once willing to kill for and she struggled to understand what about it was worth such a heinous act and how she would have gotten through the role alone. She would have been alone if she had killed Zuko. Iroh would have never tried to work with her nor would Ursa have come home. She would be down her two best friends and never would have fallen in love with Haru. She would be alone on the Crown. It would have been miserable. Would Zuko have taken such a deal? What if he had killed me and Rei and Mai left him, taking Ursa II with him? Would it have been worth it if he didn't get caught, even if he lost everything else?

She stopped thinking about her brother when she saw her daughter and her son running in the garden. Bumi II was chasing them and little Ursa was chasing him. Haru was outside with them and Mai was with Ursa. Azula joined her husband.

"Escape from work."

"For a little while."

"I bet we could get Mai to watch the kids and …"

"Not so fast. We can do that tonight."

"But that's not now."

"No, it isn't." Azula kissed him chastely.

"Why don't we take the kids into the city tomorrow? We haven't explored Capital City much."

"Good idea. We can go to the city square, see the street performers and get comet cake."

"Tasty." Haru kissed her again. "Sure we can't …"

"Patience."

"But I'm impatient."

"I know."

That night, Azula delivered on her promise, much to Haru's delight. He held her in the afterglow, kissing her forehead as she leaned against his chest. "I love you."

Azula kissed Haru's hand. "I love you more."

She always says that "How do you know?"

"I wouldn't be here without you. Your love saved me."

"Then I love you most."

Azula slept soundly that night.

Zuko did not. He knew judgment day was coming. Aang was here, so if he was going to lose his bending, it would be soon.

The anxiety kept him up. To make it even worse, he heard Ozai snoring like a fucking baby. I guess it's easy to sleep when you've resigned yourself to never leaving.

He wondered what his daughter thought of him now. No way would Mai ever bring her to visit and even if she would, Zuko wouldn't want her to see him like this. He had wanted her to be proud of him, to look up to him, and to continue his legacy, but what was his legacy now? Zuko the fool who lost the crown to his sister by trying to kill her before she took it. Awesome!

Azula must be laughing her ass off right now. She did nothing and got the throne she had been willing to kill for. She had his throne, his family, and her past crimes were a distant memory to many. It's like his sin absolved her.

His world was darkness, and he lived in shadows. He wondered if he'd ever see the light again.

Date Night

Katara wanted to go on a date. She and Aang seldom had the time since he worked so much and he didn't have to leave the city for two more days.

"What do we do with Bumi?"

"He can stay with the nurses or maybe Haru will watch him." He had become the defacto babysitter.

"Actually, we're going out for family night. He's welcome to come along."

"What are you all doing?"

"Watching the street performers and getting them some type of treat. I don't know the city too well and Azula hasn't been through it in almost a decade, so we thought it would be nice to look for some of her favorite places from back in the day, see what is still open."

Aang and Katara agreed to leave Bumi with the Royal family while they went out to dinner and a show.

Azula went to see if Mai and Ursa wanted to come to family night.

"Can we go Mama?"

"I had been hoping to rest," Mai admitted.

"We can take her if you want to stay here."

"I don't want to put you out."

"She won't be any trouble."

"Be good Ursa."

"Yes Mommy," she kissed her mother's cheek before running to join her aunt.

Ursa and Ikem decided to have their own date night in the palace since so many were leaving and Kiyi was going to a friend's house.

"It's just us and the sprouts," Azula said.

"I like it that way," Haru admitted. "Not that I don't like the adults, but we can just go where we want instead of catering to everyone."

Azula agreed. They would eventually become known for being Team Avatar's babysitters, taking all of the kids in a large group. They got a carriage and took six kids with them. The children paired off by age, Rei and Ursa II, Hiro and Bumi, Ta Min and Lu Ten II stayed with their parents, in their baby carriers.

Of course, Hiro had to go potty as soon as they left. Azula told him to go in the house, but five minutes ago, he didn't have to go.

They stopped at a teashop and decided a drink and bathroom break for everyone. They squeezed into a booth and got boba for the kids. Hiro loved the bubbles. Bumi liked using them as projectiles.

Azula handed out a few coins to each child to give to his or her favorite performer. Her favorite was a harpist Haru chose the juggling trio as did Hiro. Rei of course, liked the fire-breathing group, and Bumi struggled with the concept of giving the money away. Eventually, he settled on a bearded lady because he had never seen one before.

A man in black approached Bumi, offering him some candy. The boy started to follow him until Rei threw a plume of fire at the man, scaring him away.

"Don't leave with strangers," she cautioned. "They might hurt you." She decided to take his hand for the rest of the trip. He was too little to wander around by himself, even though her parents were just a few meters away. They hadn't seen the threat. It was safer in their hometown, almost nothing happened there.

They were too distracted by Hiro who had managed to climb onto a wall behind a performer, inadvertently joining the act.

While they enjoyed the street fair, Katara and Aang enjoyed dinner at a vegetarian grill.

They grilled everything from the bread to the fruit and Katara was surprised at how good the food tasted. "I thought grilled moon peaches would be nasty, but it was surprising good."

They had gotten a grilled sampler platter to split. "I didn't think they'd have a vegetarian place here." The Fire Nation is known for its meat, roasting it, grilling it, and smoking it.

They finished their meal and made it to the playhouse. "The Crown is playing," Katara said.

There was a drawing depicting Azula and Zuko with Ozai, Ursa and Iroh in the back.

What Would You Do for the Crown?

"It's a two part play," Aang read under the tagline.

"Let's see if it's any good." She was surprised they were doing a play about the royal family. She hoped, for their sake, it was better than Ember Island playhouse.

"Have you seen this play before?" the couple next to them asked.

"No, is it good?"

"Oh it's great. This is our third time seeing it."

"Third?"

"I know, but the character who plays Azula is amazing. She read her old diaries and stuff." They had been donated to the local college.

"They even got the actress's brother to play Zuko," the husband added.

The lights were dimming. The show was about to begin.

While Aang and Katara experienced The Crown, the Fire Lord and Fire Man ushered the children to a restaurant. She grew tired of their running around and decided a seated activity would be best.

"Can Bumi eat meat?" Haru asked her.

"He's almost three."

"But Aang's a vegetarian."

"Let's see what he likes." Azula wasn't too worried about one serving of meat. Aang didn't say his son was a vegetarian.

They made it to a fire grill, where they cook the meat right in front of you, doing tricks as they make it.

There was a long wait, but when they saw the Fire Lord, they pushed the family to the front of the line. There were eight for a table, so they took six spots, the babies not needing their own spot. A couple joined them to finish the table.

"We'll need four kids portions," Azula told the waiter, "and two adults."

"Of course."

Azula and Rei both got unagi. Haru and Hiro both got komodo chicken. Bumi got cow pig and Ursa got the turtle duck.

First came the salads and then the soup. Hiro frowned at his salad. "There's no meat in it." Azula usually topped his salad with chicken, so he would eat it.

"The meats coming later buddy."

"Aw!" He reluctantly ate it.

Ursa was quite used to salad. Rei would eat whatever her mother ate, so she made no fuss.

Bumi didn't want his.

"I guess he's not a vegetarian," Azula said dryly. "The salad is good for you."

"Yuck."

"If you eat it, I'll let you get ice cream for dessert."

"Ice cream!"

"Eat your salad."

"Doesn't the meal come with ice cream?" Haru asked.

"Don't tell him that." Azula was trying to use subtle deception to get him to eat healthily.

The soup came next. Again, Hiro wondered where was the meat. "They don't even have dumplings in it or noodles."

"It's a clear soup. It's more for digestion I think," Haru said.

The fun part came. The chef arrived with his platter of meats, vegetables, rice, and noodles.

He set the grill top on fire, exciting the crowd as he prepared vegetable volcanoes to burn next and seasoned the meat. He did hand tricks with his spatula, tossed food into people's mouths. Haru went three for three and somehow knew Hiro and Bumi were the kids who didn't like their vegetables as much, mixing theirs in with their meat.

Ta Min was starting to eat solid food, but she mostly breastfed. Azula let her try a couple pieces of pine carrot and unagi.

Lu Ten watched the show, but couldn't eat any of the food. Azula fed him before they got there.

The couple sitting at the end of the table was in awe. They were eating with the most powerful family in the country, but they seemed so normal as the kids watched excitedly and the parents canoodled.

Haru finished his plate and then went to help his wife.

She could have finished it herself, but she had some baby weight to lose still, so she accepted the help.

She did, however, refuse to share her ice cream with him. "Mine," she said as she protected her bowl.

The kids were sleepy after eating, so it was easy to get them to the carriage and back home.

When the couple went to pay, they found out that the Fire Lord had covered the whole table.

"Now this was a good date," the husband said.

It was intermission at the playhouse. Katara had gone to the bathroom. Aang was surprised by a lot of this story. Zuko had told him about his upbringing, but it was different to see it live. It was also different to see a more Azula-centric story and to get some insight as to how manipulative Ozai had been, driving a wedge between Azula, and everyone else in her family, putting an insane amount of pressure on her to take over the world and win the Crown.

Katara came back. "This was an intense first half." She was glad they hadn't taken Bumi to this. Watching the child abuse was awful.

The second half was even more intense watching everything from Azula's joining the war to her insanity while her brother found the light and assumed the crown. He lived in the limelight while she inherited the shadows.

Katara never knew that Azula took to drinking after Boiling Rock. She had always seemed so composed before the agni kai, but she had really been unraveling for years, the showdown at the prison sealing her fate. Knowing that Azula had suffered so much, she had a lot of respect for what the Fire Lord had accomplished. She found a way to give her children a much better life than she had ever had. If she was bitter about her past, she didn't show it.

Like everyone else, Aang was disappointed when they ended the play at the good part. He wanted to see where she went after the madness.

It would be another year before part II came out.

"I guess we'll have to come back."

"This was a fun date."

He kissed her. "Yeah it was."

They made their way back to the palace. "Bumi is already asleep," a servant told them.

They made their way to bed. Bumi was in the guest room on the other side of their bathroom.

"Why don't we keep this date night going for a little while?" Katara husked in his ears.

Aang turned out the light.

Ty Lee was getting to know the women in the tribe. They would do the chores, cooking, cleaning, and laundry, while the men were at work, hunting, fishing, or building.

Most of the women had never left the tribe. Ty Lee had been almost everywhere now. "I haven't been to the Northern Water Tribe yet, but I've been to every other continent."

They asked her about the food and the men. Ty Lee laughed. "I can't say I dated that much before Sokka." She had a boyfriend in the circus, but that ended long before Azula came to get her. Her first year or two as a warrior was focusing on her work and she dated, but nothing really amounted to anything. "I guess I got sick of Fire Nation guys. They rarely interested me while I was at the palace."

"Are they all super serious?"

"Some of them, but when I went to Ember Island. They just partied all the time. They thought it made them cool. I needed more balance."

The women all helped each other, watching each other's kids, making soup when one of them was sick. It was nice to have a big family again. The warriors had felt that way at first, but things changed when they left the palace. Now, she knew why, Suki's loss and her gain.

Hakoda fit right in with the other boys. It didn't matter that he was always coming and going, travelling with his dad around the globe when most of them stayed here. At his age, it was boys vs. girls, always.

Now, it's time for a snowball fight.

In the Fire Nation, Hakoda's cousin was playing with Hiro, Haru and Ikem They were having guys' time eating milk and cookies while the girls had a tea party.

Rei was making the tea. She carefully poured each cup, one for Katara, one for Mai, one for Ursa, one for Ursa II and one for herself.

"This is a nice tea," Katara told her.

"I mixed it myself." Her mother had taught her how.

"What is it with the family and tea?" she asked.

Rei didn't know. She drank it with her mother, unaware that the rest of the family had a tea addiction.

The servants brought tea cookies and little quiches. Katara and Mai asked them about family night.

"It was great," Ursa II said. "We got to see the jugglers and the fire performers and got to go to the fire grill."

"We got boba tea," Rei added.

Katara looked at her.

"What? I like tea. It's a fairly healthy addiction."

"I don't think Bumi likes tea," Katara said, not actually sure.

"He threw the boba at people instead of eating it," Ursa II added.

Katara shook her head. "Tell me Azula stopped her."

"First Mom said 'you probably shouldn't do that.' Then, when some lady got mad, she took his cup away."

"Only probably?" Mai said dryly.

"She always says probably. You could commit murder and she'd say, 'You probably shouldn't have done that.'" Rei bit into a quiche.

"I probably shouldn't have conquered Ba Sing Se," Mai tried it out. "Doesn't work for me."

"Your inflection's wrong. 'I probably shouldn't have shot the avatar when I took Ba Sing Se.'" Rei did her mother's voice perfectly.

The girls started laughing.