A/N: Well, it took a little while but, for better or for worse, we're finally back with the second part.

I'm still likely to come back for more revisions later, but I had been wanting to start getting this out ahead of the standalone Azula graphic novel, since it will be exciting to get more canon content with Azula again, and I wanted to do something to celebrate. (And because who knows what they're going to do with Azula's story, they're certainly teasing it as something important.) Will be hoping to get the first three chapters up sometime next week, we'll see.

Note: Part 1 was drafted before the release of the comic North and South, and so this series is set after Smoke and Shadow, disregarding anything that comes after. (I will probably appropriate things here and there, but they'll be adapted to fit with events from this particular storyline.) It's possible you might be able to read this story without reading Part 1 if the premise is more interesting to you, I'm not sure. Pairings will be canon or assumed canon.

Obligatory disclaimer: Probably wouldn't try to claim ownership of this series even if I could somehow get away with it. I don't envy the creators walking the tightrope that is creative content production.

Rated T for violence and emotional trauma. The tone of these stories may lean toward dark, and major character death is always a possibility.

Prologue

Tell me, Mother. Did you have to have a new daughter because your last one turned out to be such a monster?

Ursa awoke with a gasp. Against her back were the unfamiliar folds of silken sheets, so unlike the rough linens she had slept in as the unfettered peasant woman Noriko. In the early morning darkness, her eyes fell on the form of her own hand, stretched above her, as though straining to touch something just out of reach.

A deep sigh rose in her throat, and she slowly let the hand fall back to the bed.

"Mommy?"

Ursa blinked and glanced down to see Kiyi peering up at her with sleepy brown eyes. As Kiyi often did, she had tucked herself against Ursa's side, with the small Kiyi doll Ursa had once made her under one small arm.

"Mm?" Ursa said, smiling distractedly.

Kiyi gave a wide yawn. "What are you thinking about, Mommy?" she asked, rubbing one of her drooping eyes.

Ursa paused, surprised at the question. Then, wrapping one arm more securely around Kiyi's back, she whispered, "Someone very important to me."

"Zuzu?" Kiyi asked with another yawn, rubbing her eye more vigorously now.

Ursa answered with a wistful smile, "No. Someone else."

"Oh." Kiyi seemed to lose all interest at this, and the hand working to wake herself up fell back to clutch the worn sackcloth of her doll again. Her big brother was Kiyi's favorite topic of conversation, and Ursa didn't doubt that if she had her way, she would spend most of her time either riding on top of Zuko's shoulders, or imitating his firebending forms.

It had been an unexpected surprise to find out Kiyi was a firebender. After all, Ursa was not a bender herself, even if she was a descendant of Avatar Roku, and neither was Ikem. But, Ursa was glad it was something Kiyi could share with her other siblings.

Smiling fondly, Ursa reached up to stroke the hair back from Kiyi's young face, and leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead. For a long moment she simply gazed down at the slumbering, peaceful features of her youngest child. Kiyi was really such a strong little girl. She had been through much for her age, but she seemed perfectly unfazed by it. Fearless, even.

A dark image from her dream cut through her mind—a pale face contorted with rage and madness.

So I've imagined all this? You haven't been trying to take me down from the moment I was born?

Ursa's smile slowly faded, and the warm air of the Fire Nation spring suddenly felt chilly against her skin. She reached out a hand to stroke Kiyi's face one last time, but then hesitated, glancing down at her own thin fingers.

Trying not to rustle the silken sheets, Ursa carefully extricated herself from her daughter's grasp, and stepped with bare feet onto the floor. Glancing back once at Kiyi and her sleeping husband beside her to make certain she hadn't disturbed them, Ursa made her way quietly around the bed toward the tall gilded window, rubbing her chilled fingers against her forearms as she went. She paused just beside the curtains, unmoving in the still air.

Outside, the palace walls blocked her view of the sea of crimson-roofed villas that was the Fire Nation capital. And yet, she could still make out the shape of the caldera mouth in the distance, as a pale yellow line glittered over its edge, where the morning sun would soon break. Back when she had first come to the palace as bride to Fire Lord Azulon's second son, she had often looked to that jagged horizon, and hated how the volcano made the night longer. How it seemed to block out the light.

Ursa drew her shawl a little closer around her shoulders.

I promised that if I ever saw you again, I would end you and everyone you've ever loved.

Ursa bent her head slightly. But then, she raised her eyes to gaze unflinchingly at the crater wall. She slowly let the hands wrapped around herself fall to her sides, where they closed into fists.

Tell me, Mother...

A single tear trailed down her face, but she didn't look away from the darkness.