Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

287. Chapter 287: Family Reunion-Str Bonds 5

Family reunion/Strengthening bonds

5

Lu Ten had claimed his uncle was a very tall man, with great hair and a funny beard: the reality of how handsome he was, however, was something the child had neglected to mention. Perhaps it was for the best that he had: his good looks had a strange, insolent air to them… though that aspect of his personality was certainly mitigated while he stood before her, admiring her openly after hearing her name.

"Lady Ursa…" he repeated: he seemed to savor every letter of her name, and Ursa repressed a shiver of delight as best she could. What was the matter with her? Perhaps Prince Ozai was, indeed, the most handsome man she had ever met… but that was no reason to lose her composure. "A… a beautiful name, yes."

"Why, thank you, Prince Ozai," Ursa said, with an amused smile. "Though I suppose that compliment isn't meant for me, seeing as my parents were the ones who chose my name for me."

"O-oh, well, I… yes, well, perhaps," Ozai blurted out, and the fact that he seemed to be at such a loss over how to act normally only brought a stronger smile to Ursa's face. "Do excuse my, uh, poor choice in words."

"There's nothing to excuse, Prince Ozai," she laughed softly. "You have committed no blunders that require any forgiveness."

"I… I see," Ozai responded: it seemed he was utterly perplexed over the notion of not having made a terrible mistake, or not having to apologize for something. Strange behavior from a Prince, Ursa thought… especially since the much younger boy still standing near them certainly exhibited no such reluctance or insecurities.

"Your nephew has spoken to me about you while I waited in the gardens," Ursa said, smiling kindly at Lu Ten, who grinned proudly at Ozai. "I didn't expect any company at first…"

"I do hope he didn't make you uncomfortable," Ozai said, and Ursa laughed again, shaking her head.

"Not at all. I welcomed having someone to talk to," Ursa said. "He spoke quite highly of you, Prince Ozai…"

"Truly? I'm surprised to hear as much," Ozai said, and his nervous expression shifted into judgment as his eyes trailed off to where his shameless nephew stood.

"Are you, now? It seemed to me you are his hero," Ursa laughed, a hand by her lips. "He says he hopes to be a firebender as talented as you are, someday."

"Oh, I've heard him claim as much," Ozai said, with a slow smile. "And I've also told Prince Lu Ten that he must train extensively to achieve that goal."

"Like you do, I take it?" Ursa asked him, though Lu Ten was the one to speak next.

"Uncle Ozai trains all the time, I told you!" Lu Ten chuckled. "Like… thirty hours a day!"

Ozai grimaced, shooting the boy a displeased glare over his exaggeration… perhaps he was humbler than he appeared. Perhaps he didn't want to give her the wrong impression. Whatever his reasons to be so cross with the boy, though, Ursa didn't need a split-second to decide she'd intervene by distracting Prince Ozai's attention anew.

"My, my. Then you truly must be the most extraordinary firebender ever born, Prince Ozai," Ursa said, with a smile that she knew was far flirtier than she'd initially intended. "Is it you can bend the sun itself, then, to keep it high in the sky for six more hours than necessary every day?"

The likely scolding Lu Ten had been close to receiving fell to shambles over Ursa's response. Ozai was petrified, though his cheeks reddened noticeably right away at the obvious, mischievous praise the noblewoman had offered him…

"Yeah! That's exactly what he does!" Lu Ten exclaimed, proudly. Ursa laughed, her shoulders shaking again, and she bowed her head in Ozai's direction.

"Then you most certainly cannot be underestimated, can you, Prince Ozai? What remarkable talents you possess…"

"I… well, it is a matter of practice, training," Ozai repeated, as though he had no other answers in mind for any such subjects. "And so, if you ever hope to measure up, you should go train now too, Lu Ten. Going by your attire, it is what you're meant to be doing."

"Yeah, yeah, I was just taking a little break," Lu Ten grinned childishly, raising his arms and placing his hands behind his head.

"Then off you go, while I… while I take a walk with lady Ursa, if she wishes to accompany me," Ozai said, nodding curtly in Ursa's direction.

"I would be honored, Prince Ozai," she said, nodding graciously right back at him.

She offered Lu Ten a gentle smile, and the boy snickered before rushing off into the Palace corridors. Ursa's parents smiled most delightfully over her success at obtaining the Prince's attention, so Ursa smiled back at them before approaching Ozai, who had only taken one step and then frozen in place upon fearing she might not follow. He moved at an awkward pace once she did, as though he were accustomed to walking faster, taking longer strides, than the rhythm he now imposed upon himself simply by being near Ursa.

"It's a remarkably beautiful garden," Ursa commented, after Ozai failed to speak for well over a minute – the exchange of pleasantries, clearly, was not his forte. "Your nephew was quite adamant that I had to see the catfishes' pond, though I admit, he also mentioned one with turtle-ducks. I have never seen a turtle-duck, but it sounds like they must be quite adorable."

"They… are suitable," Ozai said: Ursa didn't masquerade a smile at the sight of his visible disgruntlement over his own choice of words. "I can take you there if you wish to see them. It isn't far."

"Oh, I would be delighted, Prince Ozai. Thank you," she said, smiling graciously. Ozai smiled back, though still quite nervously. "I presume you already have been briefed regarding… well, my family's intentions upon visiting your fine Palace?"

"Ah. Yes, of course," Ozai said, nodding promptly. "Your parents wish for us to… f-for us to be wed."

"I take it the Fire Lord isn't particularly keen on our match, though, is he?" Ursa asked, casually. Ozai frowned.

"You… can tell?"

"It's easy enough to guess that, if he were a supporter of my mother's certainty and belief in the superiority of Avatar Roku's lineage, our match would have been made even before our request for an audience was accepted," Ursa said, with a shy smile. "I suppose I have very little promise to offer where firebending is concerned. As much as it may be true that the next generation of my family might boast of enormous power if joined with the royal bloodline, this story of yours, of thirty hours of daylight…"

"That is… it's but a childish exaggeration," Ozai clarified unnecessarily, as Ursa laughed quietly.

"I'm aware. I went along with it to amuse your nephew. He seems to be a good-natured boy," she smiled. "And he certainly looks up to you and your firebending abilities. It's a good thing that you encourage him to continue training as you do. I would have expected members of the Royal Family, having a retinue of Royal or Imperial Guards following them anywhere, might believe they scarcely need to polish their own abilities… I'm quite pleased to learn otherwise."

"Well, I… I have trained in firebending all my life," Ozai said, with a shrug. "I do it several times a day, too. In the morning, before breakfast, I follow a routine without bending, to strengthen my body and prepare for the strain of bending later in the day. Then, once I eat, I practice my forms until noon. I study and read after lunch, and then I practice my forms once again when I'm finished, and once more before bedtime…"

"Goodness. Are you certain that's a healthy regime?" Ursa asked, amused. "No doubt you must be in, uh, excellent form, but…"

"It is perfectly safe," Ozai confirmed, with a proud nod. "Though… I cannot pretend that I can harness the power of the sun just yet. I might need to add another training session to my schedule to achieve that."

"Why, will you replace your sleeping hours with further training?" Ursa asked, amused. "Or perhaps you shall continue to firebend while you eat your meals?"

"It… sounds unhealthy, I suppose," Ozai admitted, with a stronger smile than before. "But I might as well try it, if that's what it takes to…"

"To… what?" Ursa asked, raising her eyebrows.

"To harness the sun indeed, I mean," Ozai said, swallowing hard: his cheeks had turned a deeper crimson than his own robes, right then and there. Ursa bit her lip, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, then. You seem to be a terrible liar: a good trait in a man," Ursa smirked, and Ozai's embarrassment only increased for it. "It's quite alright, Prince Ozai. I shall remain intrigued by the truths you hide inside your mysterious mind…"

"I… I apologize for my dishonesty. If you must know, I thought that… if it was what it took to impress you, I might just… attempt it," Ozai blurted out, bashful still.

And yet the weight of his words startled Ursa, almost enough to make her stop on her tracks. She gazed at him, mystified over his words… at his earnest clarification, and the implications in what he'd just said.

"You… wish to impress me?" Ursa repeated, a hint of amusement in her confusion. "I can't say I follow. Should it be you who wishes to impress me rather than the other way around, Prince Ozai?"

"Well, that is… I do not wish to bring you to regret this choice, is all," Ozai blurted out again, and Ursa's eyebrows contracted, slightly. "If it is your hope that we are wed, then surely it is for the best that… that I would prove to be worth your troubles."

"Regret this choice?" Ursa repeated, with a slow smile. "What should I regret about it? You are, after all, the Second Prince of the Fire Nation. A life in this Palace would be… satisfactory, for certain."

"Is that all you anticipate it would be?" Ozai asked, seemingly confused over her wording. "You could have anything you want, lady Ursa. Say the word, and I would have the power to make it happen. If we are wed, you would gain the same power. Is this truly not enough to… to impress you?"

"Well… I anticipated as much, to a fault," Ursa smiled. "If by 'impress', you mean 'surprise'…? No, I'm not surprised. As to your offer… I could have anything I want, you say? I'm afraid I don't quite know how to take that."

"You don't?" Ozai asked again, perplexed…

Naturally, he wouldn't understand her hesitation. He was a Prince, he had been born to royalty, to greatness… to a life he took for granted, in all likelihood, because it was the only one he had ever known. He had no notion of the struggles anyone else had to face, only of his own… and perhaps that was fine. But the very luxury of wanting, of wishing for anything, simply because she could do so…?

It was a foreign notion for Ursa, one she found herself pondering as they turned in the gardens to find the most beautiful pond with an ornate fountain from which water poured in a seamless flow.

"Oh, my…" Ursa smiled, her thoughts on hold over the beautiful sight before her: ripples in the pond revealed the water was being disturbed by something small… something of a coppery-gold color, it seemed. "Are those the turtle-ducks?"

"Indeed. If you wish to see the catfishes, they are in another pond further in," Ozai said, nodding in her direction.

"Marvelous," Ursa said, smiling brightly as an adult turtle duck climbed out of the pond, shaking its wings and feathers to dry up after swimming and cleaning up in the pond's waters. "They are… they are even more adorable than I expected."

"Oh, certainly," Ozai said, smiling proudly. "We can step closer, if you'd like. They won't harm us."

"Of course. Gladly, Prince Ozai," Ursa smiled, following him anew.

They wound up standing underneath a tree's shade: Ursa closed her eyes as a blissful sense of peace permeated her. The squawks of the turtle-ducks, the trickling sounds of the fountain… and the strong breaths of the Fire Lord's son, right beside her.

"I must admit, Prince Ozai… that I do not know what I want," she said, smiling graciously as the turtle-ducks played together in the water. "You may just be the first person who has ever asked me that question."

"Me?" Ozai repeated, perplexed.

"It must have felt so natural to ask it…" Ursa smiled. "But perhaps you are already aware, or already suspect, that this match was not my idea. My parents intended me for it… they chose you as my best possible prospect for a husband, though I cannot say I know why they were so certain that I would be the ideal wife for you."

"Is there anything I should know about you that would suggest otherwise?" Ozai asked, frowning. "So far, you appear to be, well…"

"Yes?" Ursa asked, encouraging him to continue when Ozai froze mid-sentence.

"You appear to be… a suitable match," he finished. Again, he made that face, as though he knew he'd wasted a chance to say something far bolder, something perfect to sweep Ursa off her feet… and his failure to seize said opportunity, perhaps, endeared him more to her than it would have if he had made the most of it, Ursa suspected.

"I see," she answered, with a tame smile. "Though you don't know enough about me yet, do you? I wouldn't imagine my parents disclosed all my life's achievements to you in such a short meeting…"

"W-well, no, they didn't…" Ozai said, and Ursa laughed once more. He gazed at her, cheeks reddened, when her mirth declined. "But if you wish to share all such stories… I would be honored to hear them."

"Oh, I jest, Prince Ozai. I haven't achieved anything noteworthy, let alone anything you absolutely must know about me," Ursa smiled. "I graduated from the Royal Academy for Girls at age twelve with top marks. The next half of my life, I have spent it learning everything I needed to know in order to be an adequate wife for the man I might be fortunate enough to marry. I fear there isn't much of note to bring up beyond that."

"Truly?" Ozai asked, gazing at her intently. "Perhaps… anything you like to do on your spare time?"

"Ah? Why, I suppose… I do enjoy attending theater plays," Ursa smiled fondly, though the grin waned at the immediate downwards twitch of the corners of Ozai's lips. "Ah? Did I say the wrong thing?"

"N-no, well, I… I cannot say I've seen many theatrical productions worth my while, is all," Ozai said, grimacing. "But… perhaps you would have a few recommendations for which troupes are worth watching?"

"Perhaps," Ursa said, with a teasing smile. "I'm afraid not all of us can afford to spend thirty hours of a day training with fire, can we?"

"That…" Ozai started, though he smiled and closed his eyes after a moment. "If art interests you at all, we have a vast collection of artworks by many court painters in the Palace, from many generations."

"Art interests me… to a fault. Music? That I do have a weakness for," Ursa said, with a teasing smile. "Have you, by any chance, learned to play any instruments, Prince Ozai?"

"I… I'm afraid not," he said, taken aback, more so when she laughed.

"Unfortunate. Neither have I," she shrugged. Ozai smiled again at her confession. "I fear ours might be a rhythmless, dissonant marriage if our lack of musical knowledge stands for anything…"

"If it does… we shall have to remediate the problem by learning to play instruments, perhaps," Ozai suggested. Ursa smiled fondly at him.

"If you wished to do so… I would be delighted, for sure," she said. His cheeks reddened again, even if he continued to smile. "Though I fear I shouldn't get my hopes up, should I? The Fire Lord might just determine the benefits I can offer as your wife cannot quite remediate the shortcomings of my erratic bending heritage, which, as we know, is the only reason why I'm an eligible wife, to begin with…"

"Do you truly believe it is erratic?" Ozai asked. Ursa shrugged.

"My mother is the only one who faithfully expects otherwise," she said, simply. "I imagine the potential drawbacks of a match with a woman who isn't guaranteed to provide you with any firebending heirs might be too steep to dismiss. To my knowledge, there are records of powerful benders who have joined their bloodlines only to produce non-bending children, in the past…"

"Indeed, it has been so," Ozai confirmed. Ursa smiled sadly and shrugged.

"If that's the case, I cannot even pretend I'm the ideal match for you at all, Prince Ozai. No doubt your noble father must expect much from you… and it's far more likely that your bloodline will remain pure and strong if you take a wife whose ancestors have a much firmer claim on firebending than mine do."

"It almost sounds like… like you don't wish to wed me at all," Ozai said, tentatively.

"Oh? I did not say that," Ursa smiled, and Ozai crooked an eyebrow.

"Then… you do wish to?"

"Is it truly that important, what I wish for?"

"It is to me," Ozai said, and for once, it seemed his words were the ones that had left her speechless. "The drawbacks of your bending heritage… they are meaningless if you do not wish to be married to me in the first place."

"Odd that this would matter so much to you," Ursa said, eyeing him with suspicion and uncertainty. "Not that it's wrong, only… Princes usually get whatever they want, much as you said I would, if I were to marry you. If you wanted this match to be made, why bother wondering whether I want you back at all, Prince Ozai? Or is it you, in fact, are just as undecided as you believe I am?"

"Are you not?" Ozai asked, puzzled. "Or is it that duty guides you, rather than…?"

"Rather than… what?" Ursa asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Than… wealth. Fame. Power," Ozai said, lowering this gaze: something told Ursa those weren't the only words he was thinking of, but they were the ones he spoke out loud. "Is it perhaps you believe your potential marriage to me is a matter of duty to your family?"

"It most certainly is," Ursa smiled. "My parents have endeavored to ensure that I am matched to the best possible husband they might find for me. I certainly didn't always understand that their sights were set on the Fire Lord's son… but you are, indeed, the best possible husband I might find in high society, are you not?"

"It… is hard to say," Ozai said. "I, evidently, have never been wed, thus, I cannot pretend to know whether or not I will be a suitable husband."

"I haven't been wed before either, so perhaps I am the one who would be a terrible wife," Ursa suggested: Ozai smiled. "Ah, see? And the notion even amuses you…"

"It amuses me solely because I… I cannot imagine that could be possible," he admitted, with a shy smile. "But have it your way. You would marry me, then?"

"Yes, Prince Ozai. If you will it, I will marry you."

"And is this marriage what you want… or is it, perhaps, something you might come to want, in the future?"

"Hmm… perhaps it will be. I suppose time will tell," Ursa said, smiling as well.

Had he been the straightforward man she had expected, she wouldn't find herself wavering suddenly at the very end of the line. She had prepared her for this moment all her life, she had worked extensively to become the perfect bride, whether she would be Ozai's wife or anyone else's… yet the man, of all things, had chosen to ask her if she truly wanted this. Did she? How was she supposed to know the answer to that question? She hadn't chosen him. She hadn't taken her time to acquaint herself with him properly, to find out if he truly was as agreeable for her as he appeared to be right now. Wasn't it entirely possible that, in the future, she might discover he wasn't merely the charming, awkward prince who surely had spoken to few women close to his age and social standing in his life? Would he turn out to be a much more complicated man than that?

She had studied the Royal Family's history. She knew more than enough about the darkness they could conceal underneath a façade of perfection. The intrigues, the strife, the chaos… presumably, all families had such things, but the Royal Family of the Fire Nation appeared to be a special case of it, surely in no small measure due to the power they wielded. Could she pretend to know, right then and there, whether their potential marriage would succeed or fail? She simply couldn't.

But she wasn't expected to question her husband's choices, was she? If Ozai determined he would marry her… she would accept it, simply. If he chose against it, she would set aside the match and hope, if nothing else, that her future, potential husband might be someone she had known for longer than one afternoon stroll…

For yes, Ozai seemed to be a good deal, far better than she had anticipated. She had seen Prince Iroh in the past during his public appearances, and while he appeared to be a much more jovial and sociable man than Ozai, she had felt no interest in him, certainly not like the one she had felt over Ozai. She could acknowledge she was being terribly shallow about her interest in Ozai too, for there was no denying that the Second Prince was quite attractive… but that alone couldn't suffice in a relationship, could it? Her duties as a wife were obvious, and she would certainly go about them well enough if the man she was married to was appealing… but was that it? What else was there to look forward to beyond knowing their family portraits would be beautiful?

"All this being said…" Ursa spoke again, after a long pause in which she should have been enjoying the sight of the playing turtle-ducks, rather than ruminating over Ozai's strange behavior. "You seem to wonder whether I wish to marry you, yet you haven't expressed your own opinion on the matter so far. Would you wish to marry me, Prince Ozai? Am I truly that appealing to you? No doubt you must have countless highborn ladies waiting for you to ask for their hands in marriage…"

"You believe so?" Ozai asked, with a lop-sided smirk. Ursa laughed softly.

"Oh, so bashful, but you needn't conceal the truth from me. I was never under the impression that I'd be the only one to seek a chance to wed you," she said.

"Even if you're correct to believe as much, you're still the first one who makes a strong enough case for it that my father has taken you into consideration," Ozai pointed out, startling Ursa. "I won't be able to make any choices without his approval, as you no doubt can imagine…"

"Oh, I certainly can," Ursa said. Ozai breathed deeply and nodded.

"But… he did seem to believe I should be the one to decide whether you would be my wife or not," Ozai said, glancing at Ursa. "If I'm not saddled with the burdens of duty when it comes to this arrangement, you shouldn't be, either. Does that clarify the reasoning behind my many questions?"

"It does. You are far more generous than I anticipated, for a Prince," Ursa said, with a kindly smile. "I would marry you, if you will have me, and if Fire Lord Azulon approves of it. But, again…"

"You worry over the harsh competition, of course," Ozai teased, and Ursa laughed softly. "Your family wants this match, however. Surely, even if I'm but the Second Prince, your parents will gain further notoriety through our marriage."

"They would. And they would be quite proud to know their legacy lives on in the Royal Family, no doubt," Ursa said, with a nod.

"Would they be disappointed in you if I were to turn down this match?" Ozai asked. Ursa laughed and shook her head.

"That is of no cause for concern, not for you, Prince Ozai. I shall certainly be devastated to know a man so handsome rejected me, but I vow I shall only weep about it for a fortnight. Afterwards, I will simply gather all the highborn ladies I know and invite them for frequent tea parties in which I shall constantly regale them with tales of the days in which I almost became Princess of the Fire Nation…"

"Quite the specific future you've envisioned," Ozai smiled. Ursa laughed again.

"Let's just say… I have experience on the matter. If just by standing on the sidelines of such events," she said. "I make no demands, ultimately, Prince Ozai: I shall respect your choice, no matter what it is."

"No matter what it is," Ozai repeated, nodding sagely. "Well… I thank you for walking with me, lady Ursa. And for your gracious conversation. I admit, I wasn't quite prepared for meeting my first potential wife today…"

"Ah, the first, after all?" Ursa smiled. "I suppose you will wait for better offers rather than settling for me, indeed?"

"I… did not say so," Ozai pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"It is quite alright, like I said, if you do," Ursa grinned, shrugging. "My heart shall heal from the devastation in due time: this I swear."

The unique fondness in Ozai's smile almost felt as though he weren't a stranger – it was as though she had known him all her life, rather than for just these few moments. Urges and impulses threatened to run away with her… but Ursa knew how to keep them under control. She knew how to negate them… how to prevent them from showing themselves, altogether.

So she smiled as she performed a respectful curtsy once again, and Ozai did the same upon bowing in her direction. Whether or not their match might be made in the future, Ursa suspected this would be a day to remember for the two of them.

The definitive answer arrived two weeks later. She had been sitting at one of the balconies in her family's ancestral home, gazing out into the morning-touched rooftiles in the buildings in the distance… pondering, inevitably, the words and doubts Ozai had unknowingly planted in her mind. Did she want this? Should she settle for this? Should she ask, demand, for something more…?

"Ursa! Oh, dear, Ursa! My dear, they've accepted! Oh, Ursa, darling: you will be a princess!"

Rina's excitable cries reached Ursa even though her mother was still in the building's lower floor, and she was in the upper one. Ursa's hand, holding up her chin, slowly slid down as the young woman's eyes widened upon hearing the news.

Too late, then, to ask for more. Too late to truly ponder what was it she wanted, deep down.

At the very least, he was handsome. He seemed shy, in a manner of speaking, and far too decent for what she had anticipated from a Prince. It was definitely a terrifying change, Ursa would never deny as much… but as her parents marched into her balcony to hug her, crying tears of proud joy, Ursa could only cling to the hopes that, in the end, Ozai's question would be answered in a favorable way. If she didn't want him yet… maybe one day she would. Maybe one day…

Maybe, one day.

---

The sound of crackling fire awoke her anew: she snapped back into focus after her mind revisited those easier days, long gone by now. The unnerving sensations of coming back to herself receded faster than usual, though: Ursa stirred inside the sleeping bag, soothed by its warmth… by the keen awareness that it belonged to her son. The boy she had long parted ways with… the boy who was now a man, with children of his own. The bittersweetness of that knowledge weighed heavily on her: knowing he had found someone to love, someone who loved him back, was wonderful news… and yet Ursa had missed out on all of it. Perhaps Zuko had even been better off because she hadn't been there to see it happen… his wife was a young woman from Kyoshi Island, no less. A warrior, a fighter… everything Ursa, once upon a time, had believed no woman should strive for. Fool that she was, for believing it was so…

She opened her eyes to find another young woman nearby – another fighter, as she had understood the previous day. The waterbender who accompanied Zuko seemed well-mannered and kind-hearted, but Zuko had been quite adamant about pointing out that she was a fierce warrior in her own right when he had explained his story. The waterbender had seemed to be caught between wanting to downplay her strength and boasting about it to mock Zuko… it seemed theirs was a rather strange friendship, Ursa couldn't quite grasp its nature just yet. Though in a way, they were family, too… through the bond that joined their siblings.

Azula… to this moment, so much about Azula still tormented her weary mind. The knowledge, substantial and solid now, of how much she had hurt her daughter served as a torment upon her mind, which hardly ever seemed to stop revisiting the memories of her once-mischievous and unruly daughter. What an adult could treat as something temporary, something easily dismissed, something that could be amended later, could also be something that a child would see as a devastating, fundamental life experience instead. Fool that she was, she had failed to realize as much on time… she had taken for granted all along that she would have other opportunities to make amends with her daughter. That one day Azula would understand, surely she would…

Then, everything had fallen apart once Ursa had no choice but to leave the Fire Nation. Later, she had realized she would never have a chance to make amends with her daughter at all.

Now that Azula's ambitions and dreams had been utterly obliterated, going by all she knew, Ursa regretted her choices and actions all the more. Long ago she had attempted to warn her daughter of the dangers of being too headstrong, too ambitious in a complicated society like the Fire Nation's… and yet now it was clear that those dangers had been no reason to hold her back. Ursa should have stood by her, forsaken all her fears, all her confusion, her one-track-minded behavior, she should have allowed her doubts to push her to take risks… she should have done better, so much better, and she hadn't.

Even so, Azula had grown up into a splendid woman, into someone capable of saving her nation, perhaps even saving the world. Surely she would have done so, if only she had been free to continue on the path she surely had charted for herself, with Sokka by her side… if there was one thing Ursa could yet do for her daughter, it would be providing Azula with that opportunity once again: she would make sure that goal would guide her every choice, going forward.

"Ah. You're awake?" Katara smiled kindly at Ursa, who returned the grin half-heartedly, pushing herself up to a sitting position. "Good morning. It's just us for now, but the others should be along any moment now. They're looking for food."

"I see," Ursa said: their campsite certainly appeared emptier right now than ever before. Even the large sky bison was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you feeling alright?" Katara asked: she was stirring a brew in a small pot over the fire. "If you need any water, I can get you some. This soup… well, depending on which of the guys comes back first, it'll be finished when I have either fish or meat to put in it. If you want to snack on something before we can have proper breakfast, though, I think there's still some fruit you could eat…"

"I can wait," Ursa said, with a kindly smile. Katara bit her lip.

"You sure? You look like you haven't eaten properly for a while…" she said, softly. "I mean… I'd ask how long you'd been in the swamp, but I don't know if you'd know…"

"I don't," Ursa confirmed, and Katara sighed.

"Well, I hope you could eat something or another while you were there," she whispered. "I also hope the White Lotus people fed you properly when you were with them…?"

"They do. Usually," Ursa said, with a gentle nod. Katara grimaced.

"Usually?" she asked again. Ursa smiled sadly.

"It wasn't the norm, before. But… someone saw to it, later," she answered, enigmatically. Katara blinked blankly but smiled again.

"Well… good to know, then. I, uh, I think…" she said, biting her lower lip.

It was strangely difficult to speak to the older woman, more than anything because, even now that she seemed so lucid, Katara struggled to understand most of what she meant with her cryptic words. Beyond that… it always appeared as though Ursa's mind were on a wholly different spectrum from theirs. As though she had a deeper insight and understanding of countless things… and she wouldn't relinquish her knowledge easily, not unless she were asked to do so in the right way.

Before Katara could continue to ponder how to go about wording such questions, the sound of rustling vegetation by the edge of the forest revealed that someone had returned. Both Katara and Ursa turned to the source of the noise to find it was Zuko… and, to his mother's utmost astonishment, he carried a large animal on his back.

"O-oh… you're up now, Mom," Zuko said, smiling weakly as he approached Katara, whose jaw dropped at the sight of his catch.

"W-what the hell is that?!" Katara nearly squealed, eyes bulging as Zuko hauled the large creature into their camp, setting it down by the fire carefully.

"It's… a boar," Zuko answered, with a simple grin. "I wasn't sure I'd find anything to hunt, turns out I ended up finding something big enough to feed us all for about three or four days, huh?"

"And the others were off finding food, too…" Katara grimaced, glancing over her shoulder as though she might be able to spot the other three members of their group by doing so.

"You… hunted this, Zuko?" Ursa asked, eyes wide. Zuko smiled and nodded, cheeks reddening over his mother's astonishment.

"I know it's not something you'd be used to, no one has to do this sort of thing in the Fire Nation, after all… not that I know of, anyway," he said, scratching the back of his head nervously. "But, well, I've been hunting for years now. It's no surprise to find that it's much easier hunting in the Earth Kingdom than it is to hunt in the South Pole, of course…"

"It's… it's quite admirable," Ursa said, eyeing the boar with a mix of apprehension and admiration.

"Hopefully, it'll be better than whatever the swamp people fed you," Zuko sighed, eyeing Ursa with uncertainty. Ursa smiled and nodded.

"You found it for us… that will make it the best meal I've ever tasted, Zuko," she said, reaching out to clasp her son's hand.

Ursa's presence had changed Zuko: even if he had been different, far more open after their experiences with Guru Pathik, there was a strange innocence in him now, a joy Katara wasn't sure she ever would have associated with the typically grumpy firebender. She found no fault in it, of course… if anything, she understood all too well why he'd feel that way. Her vision of Kya in the swamp had only been a vision, but it had triggered no shortage of emotions in her aching heart. Zuko, unlike her, had been granted the chance to reconnect with his mother, at long last… and it only made sense that he'd be that much happier because of it.

Merely a few minutes after Zuko's return – time during which he had taken to cleaning the hog before beginning the gradual process of skinning and cutting the meat to make it usable for their small soup, two pairs of footsteps returned to the campsite: Sokka and Kino were back, and to Ursa's astonishment, each had their own haul of captured prey as well.

"Woah! That's… a lot of fish," Katara blinked blankly, as Kino grinned proudly and raised his quarry in Katara's direction.

"It is! And I caught it all by myself because Sokka went off on his own to get…"

"Cranefish. No idea what they'll taste like, but I thought it would be a good idea to…" Sokka explained, setting down the birds he'd hunted… only to notice, then, that Zuko had certainly found big enough prey for all of them already. "Hey, now… if you were going to catch a boar, why didn't you say so in the first place? Kino and I could've just slept for longer…"

"I had no idea I was going to find it," Zuko reiterated, working systematically with the boar. "Clearly, we're not in the South Pole anymore."

"Yeah," Kino smiled awkwardly, handing the fish over to Katara, who scoffed in his direction. "What? Aren't you going to put it in the soup?"

"I have so much to put in the soup that I don't know what we're going to do with this meal anymore," Katara pointed out, with an awkward smile. "The pot's not big enough for all your fish, let alone for Sokka's cranefish or for Zuko's boar…"

"Eh?! B-but we all worked hard to get food…" Kino pouted… then he shot a clever glare at Sokka and Zuko. "Wait. Are you saying that whoever finishes preparing the fish, or the cranefish, or the hog, first… will get his quarry in the pot?!"

"Uh, well, I didn't really say that but…" Katara grimaced… yet the damage had been done.

In a matter of moments, Sokka, Zuko and Kino had exchanged fierce glares… and then they got to work, rapidly skinning their prey as Katara watched them in disbelief.

"Oh, you three are just… are all men like this, really?" she asked into the air, shaking her head… almost missing out on the sound of a soft chuckle coming from Ursa's direction. "Though, well, at least I'm not the only girl around anymore. That is a relief, for sure."

"They're quite lively," Ursa said, watching with undisguised amusement as the three men shot fierce glares at each other while working hard with their respective catches.

"Hey, I don't want any nasty entrails in my soup, alright? So make sure you get rid of the gross stuff on each of your prey, got it?" Katara pointed out, scowling at Kino as he slid his knife over the fish's scales. "And you: no fishbones either, got it?"

"I know, I know…!"

The loud roar of a large beast startled Ursa mere moments before Appa descended slowly in his spot in the camp's clearing anew. Ursa's eyes widened as she watched the massive creature defying all laws of gravity by floating as it did…

"Ah, it's a beautiful morning!" Aang's voice drifted from the sky bison's neck, as he grinned brightly at Katara. "I found lots of fruit we can eat on our way to…"

His enthusiasm dwindled immediately, replaced by chagrin, when he caught sight of his three friends, hard at work with their respective quarries. He grimaced with distaste, and Katara smiled apologetically at him.

"I stand corrected: one man is different for sure," she smiled to herself as Aang shuddered and turned his head away from the carnage in the camp.

"It's… a massacre. You guys went overboard…" he groaned, shaking his head. "I guess I'm just going to… sit with my back towards you all until it's done, yep."

"Probably better for you to do that, yeah," Katara agreed, smiling sadly at Aang as Ursa raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Well… Zuko did explain yesterday that Aang's the Avatar. He's an Air Nomad… and so, he's vegetarian. He doesn't really blame us for eating meat but…"

"Ah. I see," Ursa smiled graciously and nodded. "I admit… I don't know nearly enough about the Air Nomads. All I know about the Avatar is that the previous one was my great-grandfather."

The work in the camp suddenly slowed to a halt after her casual words. The first to stop, of course, was Zuko, who frowned in puzzlement as he raised his head towards his mother.

"Say… say what?" he blinked blankly. "Wait. You're not saying… you're a descendant of Avatar Roku's?"

"I… am saying as much. Which makes you one, too," Ursa smiled, shyly: Zuko's jaw dropped.

"Woah! Related to the past Avatar? That's… that's wild. You just keep getting better and better, Prince Zuko!" Kino smiled, patting the man's shoulder in a friendly gesture that Zuko couldn't seem to register just yet.

"Say… does that mean we're related, too?" Aang asked, with a wild grin. "Awesome! I'm your great-great-grandfather, Zuko!"

"You're not! That's not how it works, and…!" Zuko flinched, shaking his head before noticing that, out of everyone in the camp, only one person had seemed unfazed by the revelation.

Zuko grimaced, turning his head slowly towards Sokka, who was almost done preparing his cranefish. The Gladiator only raised his head in Zuko's direction after he was done carving the dead creature with his knife.

"What?" Sokka asked, slowing down under the scrutiny of Zuko's scowl.

"You just heard I'm related to Avatar Roku and you didn't even blink. You… you knew already, didn't you?" Zuko said, raising a hand in Sokka's direction. Sokka, of course, merely shrugged and waved a hand dismissively in his direction before returning to his work.

"Of course I did. Why didn't I tell you? Because it never came up. I know you'd never expect the Water Tribe guy to know more about your ancestry than you do, but that's neither here nor there…" Sokka said, with a teasing smirk. Zuko's irritation only increased further, however, when the Gladiator turned to Katara. "Alright! I'm ready, you can use my cranefish."

"Hey!" Kino winced. "I'm almost done with my…!"

"We'll save your stuff for the next meal," Sokka declared, with a proud smile.

"Ugh, unreal…" Kino pouted, working further on his fish. "Fine, then! Mine's next!"

"Hey, I got us a huge boar! You guys aren't going to let it go to waste, now, are you?" Zuko scoffed.

Yet the question went unanswered, and it remained so for the next few hours of cooking and working to prepare bundles of food for the road. Now that there was one more person in their group, the extra food certainly was welcome… though it was also far too much, no matter if they were six now instead of five. The discussion regarding whether or not the next meals would feature Zuko or Kino's boar and fish, however, was a whole other matter… for their next step hinged, exclusively, on Ursa's effectiveness in directing them successfully to the Order of the White Lotus's headquarters, as well as how close or distant said headquarters might be.

"Alright, so, now we're all happier and surprisingly full after a good breakfast, even if it is a breakfast on the road…" Sokka started, once everyone was done cleaning up, and the food had been tucked away safely. The fire was still running at the center of their small encampment, offering some extra light to shed upon Sokka's spread map of the world. "It's time, then, to chart our course for the White Lotus's fortress, right? Because… you did say, last night, that it was a fortress?"

Everyone gazed at Ursa with uncertainty as she nodded, almost shyly. Zuko swallowed his misgivings, his insecurities, even if it was hard: while his mother had listened to his story, she hadn't shared her own. He had the feeling Sokka understood Ursa's circumstances far better than he did… all by his mother's choice. That she would be more forthright with Sokka seemed odd, but perhaps it was simply easier for her to talk with someone she barely knew…

"Then… uh, do you think you can at least tell us more or less where it would be, on the map?" Sokka asked, awkwardly gesturing at the map before them. Ursa's grimace answered the question on its own: clearly, Azula hadn't inherited her map-reading skills from her mother.

"Well, we're around here right now, aren't we?" Kino said, gesturing at the cliffs by the west of the swamp. "Any chance you know, um… if this fortress is around trees or mountains, or just anything like that? It would help a bit to know how far it is…"

"It can't be that far, though," Sokka said, eyeing Ursa with uncertainty. "How long does it usually take you to walk to the swamp, whenever you escape from their fortress?"

"About… a day and a half, maybe," Ursa answered, hugging her knees to her chest.

"A day and a half, at a walk… that really can't be that far away on the back of a bison," Sokka decided, with a firm nod. "Besides… you managed to get to the resting campsite after the third stage of the Race, right? And it happened after those dreams, so it means…"

"Uh… the Race?" Zuko asked, glancing between his mother and Sokka warily.

"Oh… w-well, I… I told you I had seen Sokka, before," Ursa said, lowering her gaze. "By the fire…"

"We made sense out of it, last night. Looks like the bad dream Azula had… it somehow linked their minds together," Sokka shrugged. "They both had dreams about each other. Ursa says she felt the need to go north afterwards, and that… that implies our destination has to be further south than that place, of course."

"Where was the end of that race's stage?" asked Katara, raising her eyebrows. Sokka only had to scour the map carefully for a moment before pointing his finger at the right spot, not far from the tall cliffs from where he and Azula had been knocked down, at the start of the final stage of the race.

"It was by these forests, so… the fortress would be south from there," Sokka concluded, glancing at Ursa. "Is it by the sea? I suspect as much, but…"

"Yes. It has a walled fortification right by the shore," Ursa said. "And yes… it is within a mountain range. Perhaps that is why it… it escaped Fire Nation notice, thus far."

"Woah, but… you actually got to see them in the race, then?" Kino asked Ursa again, eyes wide.

"I… didn't see much, by the time I arrived it was quite late, so…" Ursa explained softly. Zuko gritted his teeth.

"But then… you were guided there by your dream? To… to Azula?"

"I was," Ursa admitted, a streak of remorse crossing her features. "Even so, I… wasn't ready to face the truth back then. Had I dared, well…"

"Gee. Can't imagine how that would've turned out," Kino said, eyes wide.

"It would have seemed so random for you guys," Aang smiled awkwardly at Sokka. "For Azula's mom to show up so suddenly, but… it might have been nice, even."

"I don't know. Maybe," Sokka said, with a weak smile. "Though…"

"Though… what?" Katara raised an eyebrow, and Ursa flinched, clearly dreading Sokka would point out what she considered obvious: that Azula wouldn't have welcomed her presence at all.

"Well, just… Iroh was there, too," Sokka said: his words startled the older woman out of her self-deprecating abyss, and she frowned at his words. "Can't say I know how Azula would've reacted, but… Iroh was sketchy during those two stages, when we were near the swamp. He made a point of telling me and Azula not to try to avoid our opponents by running through the swamp… it only makes sense to think that he warned us that way so we wouldn't get anywhere close to the White Lotus's hideout. If he had noticed Ursa had seen us, if she'd reached out to Azula that night, well… I just don't know if the White Lotus would've wanted her doing that."

"They wouldn't have. Iroh wouldn't have," Ursa said: her voice sounded more stable now, as her brow contracted slowly.

"Have you seen him?" Sokka asked, eyeing her warily. "Is he there right now? In the fortress?"

"He was when I last left. It's one of the reasons why I left, in fact," Ursa said, cuttingly: now that she seemed angry, the sharpness of her glare was yet again something she had in common with her daughter. Sokka swallowed hard, but before he could ask any other questions, Zuko intervened.

"You… left because of him?" Zuko asked, grimacing. "Mom, I've suspected this for a while, but… did he know you were there, all along?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what sort of information he was given… I don't know if he had any opinions on my presence with their Order, though he wasn't surprised at all when we crossed paths in the fortress the first time. So, I suppose he did know, whereas I… I didn't know he was one of them for a long time," she said, bitterly.

"Uh… is it a bad thing, that he is?" Kino asked, dubiously. "I mean, well, other than because of the obvious fact that he's betraying the Fire Nation, I guess, if that still matters to you…?"

"It's a bad thing because Iroh seemed to have determined to make all the worst choices he could, for his own agenda," Ursa scowled, glaring at the fire. "Not only… n-not only did he spend years at sea with Zuko and never helped us communicate at all. But when I left… I… I'd heard of what he'd done to Azula. I…"

"You did?" Sokka asked, eyes wide. "Then… the White Lotus knew the truth, of course they would. He did it himself, so… guess the bastard owned up to it, at the very least."

"Whether he owned up to it or not, the damage is done," Ursa said. "I've been away from my family for all those years, held back by the White Lotus to serve as a bargaining chip for whenever it suits them best… and he was part of them. He was among those making such decisions. I won't even pretend that I was… that I could have helped Zuko or Azula in any way. She might have even pushed me away, if I'd tried, and when I had the chance to reach her, I still failed her… but even the opportunity to write to Zuko might have helped, both him and me. I didn't need to be hidden away, kept as a dirty secret of a sort… and he didn't need to spend all those years fearing for my fate. But none of that… none of that mattered to the man who lost his son irreparably. He was fine with inflicting that same pain upon others… upon his own family. I dare not imagine what Lu Ten might say if he knew what kind of man his father has become."

The group fell heavily silent after Ursa's harsh words. Zuko shuddered beside her, again confronted with a reality he found he might not be as ready to face as he had hoped to be… as he had thought he was when he had set out from the South Pole.

"I… I've accepted my uncle has made terrible choices," Zuko said, softly, staring at Ursa warily. "My first instinct was to reject it, to find any excuses, to shut away the truth…"

"An impulse I know terribly well, son," Ursa whispered, lowering her gaze. "When you care about someone… the last thing you want to believe is that they will disappoint you. That they will make terrible, heartbreaking choices no one ever should. It's bad enough to see other people making said mistakes… worse yet when it's someone you love."

"I get that. It's why I… I'm trying my best to accept a lot of things about my uncle, but I just…" Zuko grimaced, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "I can't stop thinking he had to have a reason to… to make all those mistakes."

"Would that make it any better?" Ursa asked. Zuko clenched his jaws.

"No… probably not. I guess you've had much more time to accept his mistakes…" he mused. Ursa grimaced.

"Well, I have, but… I didn't know Iroh's current allegiances all along," Ursa confessed. Zuko frowned. "I wasn't, exactly, among the most privileged people while I was in the custody of the White Lotus. What little information I weaned… it was either the work of people who decided to share that information with me, or rumors I heard in passing. They didn't trust me to know Iroh was a member of their group… I only learned the truth recently."

"So… that's one of the reasons why you left, you said?" Sokka frowned. "Because… of the things you learned Iroh did? Or was it because of Iroh himself, when he showed up at the fortress?"

"Both," Ursa said, bluntly. Zuko grimaced.

"Then you really… you really don't feel any affection for him anymore?" Zuko asked, confused. "All the awful things he's done… they've made him unforgivable for you?"

"Oh, Zuko…" Ursa sighed, glancing at her son with a hint of remorse… the source of which Zuko misplaced, instinctively, until she spoke anew. "There are many things… many things you don't know. Many things you couldn't have known… you were a child, so…"

"Wait… what?" Zuko frowned. Ursa sighed.

"Not everything is as we see it, especially when we're too young to know any better," Ursa confessed. Zuko's brow drew together

"Then… what, I misunderstood things? Are you trying to say you and my uncle… you weren't actually friendly, once?"

"You are far too honest, far too kind, for the kind of family and world you were born to," Ursa said, lowering her gaze in clear shame. Zuko's eyes widened. "The truth is… I exchanged letters with your uncle, I invited him with us to Ember Island, we even enjoyed family dinners with him and Lu Ten, sometimes, and yet it wasn't… it wasn't because he and I were the closest of friends, Zuko. It's because… because he was family. Whether I liked it or not."

"W-what does that mean?" Zuko asked, his voice tinged with confusion and fear. "You were… what, faking that you got along with him? Really?"

"Zuko…" Ursa sighed, closing her eyes. "It's disturbing, I realize as much. But… it's hardly unheard of, in nobility, that people would put on a mask to hide their true selves. Iroh has countless masks of his own, and your father… he always wore his own mask with Fire Lord Azulon, as well. Eventually, the time came when he deposed it altogether. You, however… did you ever suspect your father despised your grandfather profoundly?"

"I… w-well, no. I mean, I guess I'm not the most perceptive person when it comes to that sort of thing, but I didn't really think he despised him, outright," Zuko said, with a shrug. "I figured… I figured my father was trying to be the best son he could be, and it was never enough for his own father. I guess I even felt bad for him, sometimes, but… then he went and acted the same way with me, so I guess that was a waste of compassion in the end."

"Unfortunately… Ozai's hatred of Azulon somehow resulted in him becoming far more similar to his own father than he'll ever be likely to acknowledge," Ursa said, sadly. "But it wasn't only Azulon that your father found disagreeable…"

"Well, that I do believe. He and Uncle Iroh never got along, either," Zuko said, frowning. "Though it always looked to me like Uncle Iroh was… well, the one in the right, so to say. My father was harsh whenever they spoke, only keeping him around for… for pretenses for his council and the nobles, I guess. Which makes sense with what you were saying earlier, too. Masks… pretenses of cordiality? Is that how it was for you too? But… I really didn't think it was feigned back then. It didn't feel that way…"

"Well, believe it or not… it was. On both ends, too," Ursa whispered. Zuko scowled.

"Uncle Iroh didn't like you any more than you liked him?" he asked. "But… ugh, why? The hell is wrong with this family…?"

"How many times have you found yourself asking that question since the day you were born, eh?" Sokka asked, with a dry grimace. Despite himself, Zuko could only acknowledge Sokka had a point.

"I just don't get it, okay?" Zuko huffed, shaking his head. "Look, my father was an ass, not just to me, but to Azula as well. I have no idea how he sent you away, Mom, or why… but he shouldn't have done that. He probably just did it because he thought he'd be free to rule the world in whatever messed up way he wanted to if you weren't around. And then you… you may have made mistakes, but you're not a bad person, no matter what you say to claim otherwise! And Uncle Iroh… he has done awful things, but he did good ones, too. He helped me in countless ways, and he practically raised me after you were gone, Mom…"

"And your sister is the greatest person in this whole damn planet…" Sokka pointed out: Zuko's eyes shifted towards him. "Yet you were at odds with her for most your life. Weren't you?"

"W-well… yeah," Zuko admitted, frowning.

"You guys figured out your problems, to some degree, and started to get along better. The rest of your family? They didn't do that part of the work, as far as I can tell," Sokka said, with a shrug. "The man who was the surrogate father who helped save your life when you were at sea… he ruined your sister's life, just as well, out of some petty vendetta, as far as anyone knows. Maybe he did good things: he did bad ones, too. Maybe he reserved his good side only for his son, or for you, or for public appearances… and maybe he was a much more complicated person than you ever knew."

"Iroh was a different man when I first came to live in the Palace than the one you've known, Zuko," Ursa whispered. Zuko grimaced. "He was jovial, friendly, sociable… everything your father wasn't. And yet there was an honesty in your father… a sincerity so blunt that made him utterly incapable of hiding behind his masks with me. Thus… I could see the way Iroh's very presence unsettled him. The dismissive comments Iroh made around Ozai, the way they constantly seemed to be in some mindless competition to outdo each other… you couldn't see it, you couldn't know, it was worse when you weren't even born yet, truly. But the effect Iroh had on your father…"

"And my father wasn't the one at fault there?" Zuko asked, scowling. Ursa sighed.

"I won't pretend he wasn't, in his own ways. But…" Ursa said, glancing at Zuko remorsefully. She had meant to say something dangerous, something poignant that her son might just reject… and so, she chose not to say it at all. "Even if Ozai is not blameless, I always kept my distance from Iroh. I never felt completely comfortable around him. He was a good uncle to you, a good father to Lu Ten, without a doubt… but he wasn't a good brother to Ozai, much as Ozai wasn't a good one to Iroh either. It was why I… one of the reasons why I tried, to no avail, to encourage you and Azula to get along. Yet it often seemed that… that my every attempt resulted in failure anyway."

Zuko frowned, uneasy about his mother's silences. About the unpleasant parallel she now drew between his father and uncle, as well as himself and his sister. He hadn't been a good brother to Azula… Azula had been a rather complicated sister to him as well, for her every offer of kindness seemed conditioned, in the past. And yet… just as Sokka had forced him to realize on that unpleasant night, Zuko had never offered kindness to her, outright. Who had been worse? Who had been the bigger problem? He couldn't tell, not for real. Part of him wanted to own up to it entirely, yet another part of him, stubborn and still deeply damaged after many years of toil and abuse at his father's hand demanded that he pinned the blame on Ozai, and on a lesser level on the younger Azula, who once was her father's proud second-in-command, free to do with as she pleased under his protection…

Zuko swallowed hard as he glanced at Ursa, uncertain about asking a new question that bubbled out of his lips before he could restrain it.

"If my father hated his father, and it was mutual… was Uncle Iroh wearing a mask too, with my grandfather?" he asked, uncertain. Ursa shut her eyes tightly, calming herself with a deep breath. "I… don't have a lot of memories of him, but he was never a kind man. So… I don't know. Was he… playing favorites, the way my father grew to do?"

"Your father certainly believed so," Ursa answered: Zuko's heart sank heavily. "And I don't think I need to say more for you to understand, well… who his favorite child was."

He listened in that day, by the curtains of the Throne Room: he had heard, directly, how Azulon had lost his temper and yelled at Ozai, outraged by the Prince's request to name him his heir. It had been a bold move, the wrong one to make a mere few hours after learning of the death of his nephew… but Azulon's fury had been like nothing Zuko had seen from the usually stoic and unimpressed man. He shuddered, grimacing again at the mirror Ursa held for them… at the realization that, perhaps, the family member he despised the most happened to have far more in common with himself than he ever wanted to admit.

"Iroh was a complicated man. He still is one. Nobody is exempt from failures and mistakes. Nobody is purely good, or purely evil," Ursa whispered, lowering her gaze. "I, as well, have… have committed mistakes that nobody ought to forgive of me. No matter my intentions, no matter my hopes to do right by others through my sacrifices, I still have made choices that nobody should have ever made. Letting myself be torn from your side when you were but a boy, Zuko… that is part of the baggage I cannot make amends for. Your uncle is no better… no different. It may be easier for you to bear with his sins than it is for me… it may be you can embrace him still as part of the family, but I fear…"

"You used to say family was the most important thing," Zuko frowned. Ursa nodded. "He's still family."

"If you choose to see it that way… he certainly can be," Ursa said. Zuko eyed her desperately. "I, however… cannot sit idly back and think of him as family after… after learning of the wrongs he's done to your sister. After realizing he had kept us apart for as many years as he did, despite having the power to make a different choice. What else has he done that we don't know of? What more harm is he responsible for that we are unaware of? I cannot say. Yet this… this is enough for me. He has played no small part in driving our family to pieces… in isolating you from the rest of us just because he could do so. I'm afraid I'm not strong enough to forgive him for it."

Zuko grimaced but lowered his head. This conversation would get them nowhere, as far as he could tell… and it left a bitter taste in his mouth, too. Discovering now that the two people he had loved and admired the most in his younger years were actually feigning their amicable relationship, or at least, his mother was… it was a devastating blow, far more powerful than he had expected it to be. He had truly believed he understood more than enough about Iroh's wrongs so far… he couldn't help but hope that, perhaps, Iroh hadn't known of Ursa's presence among the White Lotus, and that that was why he hadn't said anything about her to Zuko. Yet…

"We're… we're sidetracked entirely, I think," Zuko whispered, biting his lip and shaking his head. "Whatever this means, I… I'll figure it all out when I see him again, okay?"

"I'm sorry if this is hard to take. Truly, Zuko," Ursa whispered, and Zuko sighed… yet Sokka shook his head before them, and Zuko felt the urge to glare at him for the gesture he, at first, interpreted as dismissive.

"We're not sidetracked at all," he said, surprising Zuko and, fortunately, stopping him right on time before he caused more trouble than necessary by reacting poorly to Sokka's reaction. "I mean, maybe the family conflict is something you'll have to deal with far later in the future, but… Iroh being there is important information for us. Not only because it means I'll have to do my damnedest to control my temper, which I should be better at now that I know for sure that he'll be there… but it also means we should focus on figuring out who else will be there, and how we'll approach the White Lotus's fortress in the first place."

"Didn't you say you'd improvise…?" Aang asked. Sokka scoffed.

"I said that after waking up with the worst panic attack I've ever felt, and it wasn't even my own panic attack," Sokka pointed out, and Aang smiled awkwardly. "I wasn't ready to think things through back then, but now that we have Ursa with us, we have a chance to plan ahead, to a fault. We've narrowed down the location of the fortress, somewhere within these mountains, right? But we need to know who we'll find within that fortress. Iroh is there, right? Is he… is he a leader of their group, Ursa? Do you know that much, or…?"

"I don't know," she admitted, lowering her gaze. "But I would be surprised if he were a common grunt in their ranks."

"He probably isn't one," Sokka acknowledged, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "Depends, I guess, on how long he's been a member. But he's been with them at least since the White Lotus's attack on the Capital, I have no doubt about that…"

"He helped attack the Capital…?" Ursa repeated, raising her gaze to Sokka in sheer horror. Sokka grimaced but shrugged.

"Well… to a degree, I guess. I suspect he enabled White Lotus agents to impersonate guards and soldiers, and he must have also told them how to escape through the secret river under the Palace," Sokka said. "They were trying to break out their own members from prison after Ozai caught them, so it wasn't a full-blown attack like… well, like some other things that happened later that weren't their direct responsibility anyway. Still, no point in dwelling on that now. There's a few other people I know who are members… not a lot of people, but I have at least three more names to bring up. I'm pretty sure he was a grunt himself, so I'll get him out of the way first: does the name Genta ring a bell?"

Ursa shook her head. Sokka sighed and nodded.

"Alright… then the ones I do suspect are bigger fish," Sokka said, running a hand over his hair before uttering the more agreeable name of the two he had in mind: "Master Piandao?"

He wasn't truly surprised when Ursa nodded this time, he had expected as much, counted on it, even… but his heart still jolted with relief to know that at least his old master was there. At least he would be able to reunite with him, after so many years…

"Well, that's good. At least one person who probably won't want me dead…" Sokka reasoned out loud, with a smile that soured quickly. "As long as he hasn't changed his mind about me in recent times, though. Might be he wasn't too big on my latest public choices, but…"

"He spoke highly of you," Ursa said, startling Sokka. "He's… the one who told me about you, in the first place."

"Oh… huh. I see," Sokka bit his lip, wishing his cheeks wouldn't flush over those words. Piandao had told Ursa about him, then? Surely in relation to Azula, no matter if Ursa wasn't ready to accept her daughter had grown older, back when Piandao talked to her about him…

"That's how you knew they were gladiator and sponsor?" Zuko reasoned. "He did train Sokka… by Azula's request or demand, I guess."

"By his own decision that I was worthy, actually," Sokka said, with a sigh. "I wonder if I still am, in his eyes. But yeah, he… he saw us at our very earliest in our partnership. No idea how he'll have felt about… well, everything he may have heard that happened later. Such as how Jeong Jeong tried to kill me, which… heh. I've brought him up now, so might as well ask…"

"He's there, too," Ursa confirmed. Sokka grimaced.

"Nice. Two guys who have tried to kill me and one guy who, hopefully, might still be on my side…" he recited.

He had known Jeong Jeong would likely be a hardship he'd have to deal with once they found the Order of the White Lotus, but he wasn't entirely sure he was prepared to face him and Iroh at the same time… Iroh, if he had even a smidge of decency left, might regret his utterly deplorable decisions. Jeong Jeong, however, wasn't likely to regret anything at all: if anything, Sokka imagined the man would be disappointed that Ozai hadn't succeeded at killing him where Jeong Jeong himself had failed in the past.

"That doesn't sound very fun," Kino grimaced. Sokka huffed.

"I honestly don't know if Iroh is a bigshot among them. If he isn't, then hopefully Piandao is one, but… I don't know for sure. Guess that makes things even worse, right? Jeong Jeong is the only one I know is a big commander among them, if that's even how they fashion themselves, anyway," Sokka said, waving a hand dismissively before focusing on Ursa again. "Is there anyone else of note there? Any names you learned, maybe? Any other leaders…?"

"Well… there's another man," Ursa said, softly. "Though I don't know if he's even part of the Order. He may just be the true owner of the fortress, going by how he acts whenever I see him. He wears an expensive armor… I think he used to be a general when the Earth Kingdom's government still stood."

"Ah. A non-Fire Nation guy, finally," Sokka pointed out, raising his eyebrows. "Though… I haven't heard of any army leaders of the Earth Kingdom, so I doubt I'll know this guy."

"His name is… General Fong," Ursa said, after seemingly forcing her memory to retrieve the man's name. "I don't know him very well. No doubt, he doesn't care for me, as most of them don't, but… whenever I have come across him, it seems to me that he's quite impulsive. Piandao often seems weary of him whenever they have any meetings together."

"Huh…" Sokka blinked blankly as Zuko frowned, beside his mother.

"Are you… uh, close to Master Piandao?" he asked. "I mean, he did train me, but…"

Ursa gazed at Zuko with that strange remorse he wasn't sure what to make of, once again. She sighed before answering his question:

"He… is the one who helped me escape the Fire Nation."

Everyone by the fire, even those who had kept mostly quiet so far, fell silent at once upon hearing those words. For the first time, Ursa had given away new information about her certainly complicated past… and it was information that brought up countless new questions, especially for her son.

"I bonded with him back when he trained you, Zuko," Ursa explained, avoiding her son's gaze. "I thought of him as a friend… though he was a complicated man. He always said… confusing, even infuriating things, and I found myself questioning countless matters I took for granted because of him. I wasn't particularly grateful for all that, but… by the time things took the turn they did, I had nowhere else to go. When the ship carrying me was near Shu Jing, at night, I… I jumped. They couldn't follow me in the dark. I nearly failed to find my way, but I reached the shore and rushed to his mansion, soaked, exhausted and… and he took me in. Eventually, soldiers searched the island on the next morning and he hid me safely. He hosted me in Shu Jing for some time, hoping to help me reunite with you once you came back for your next lesson…"

"My… oh," Zuko grimaced, fists clenching over his knuckles. "If… if I'd just been adamant about going back for another lesson, I really might have seen you again?"

"It's what we hoped for…" Ursa admitted. Zuko scoffed, shaking his head.

"I'm an idiot. My father didn't… he didn't care much to see me training with weapons anymore. I thought that meant he wanted me to focus on firebending, so I could be his worthy successor… he just didn't give a damn about me, of course, but I didn't realize it then. If I'd just tried…"

"You couldn't have known, Zuko… don't punish yourself," Ursa said, shaking her head. "He sent forces to search the island for me multiple times, too, but I couldn't go back home, it wasn't safe… and I couldn't stay in Shu Jing forever, either. After… I don't know, months, maybe even a year, Piandao said he had friends, people who would look after me… people who would keep me out of the reach of those who might wish to harm me. I didn't know what he meant, but… I trusted him. I did as he told me, and…"

"And his friends were the White Lotus," Zuko finished. Ursa nodded.

"I was grateful for all his help, at first. And then I resented him, once I understood who these people were… what they stood for," she said, bitterly. "I had to stay with… with Jeong Jeong, for a long time. Before the fortress, before the swamp. He talked and talked about how wrong the Fire Nation was, showed me the harm of it all, and I… I had to accept the truth in his words, no matter if I resented him for it, all the same. Apparently, that I could believe that the Fire Nation needed to be better while not wanting my husband dead didn't sit well with him, so… after some time, he stopped trying to reason with me. I became a burden, only kept around because I might be a useful political tool in the future. Once we relocated to the fortress, once I found out about the swamp's powers… Jeong Jeong himself showed me a way out of the fortress so that I could go there. He wanted me gone."

"He did?" Zuko asked, eyes wide. "But… why? I mean, sure, you didn't agree with him, but…"

"You've never met the bastard, Zuko," Sokka sighed, shaking his head. "His head's rammed so far up his ass he probably could roll downhill like a wheel, with how contorted his body is…"

"Sokka…" Katara huffed, and Sokka only shrugged nonchalantly at her apparent disgust at that image.

"My point is… yeah, that sounds just like him," Sokka said, with a shrug.

"Well, if that's how it is, how come is Mom here now? Why was she taken back to the White Lotus if their leader wanted her gone?" Zuko asked.

"It wasn't only up to him," Ursa said, softly. Zuko grimaced. "I don't know how long I was away back then, I… I don't remember. It's harder to remember things ever since I started visiting the swamp… but the one who retrieved me was Piandao."

"Woah. Wait a minute… he couldn't have done that, not for a long time," Sokka pointed out, frowning. "He trained me for three months, and…"

And then he had vanished.

Sokka's brow drew together as he pondered Piandao's mysterious disappearance. He had spoken in a strange, cryptic way right before Sokka had taken off to his first fight against…

Against Toph.

On the very same day Iroh and Zuko returned to the Fire Nation.

"Shit," Sokka rubbed his brow again, as everyone waited for him to explain whatever was wrong with him now. "Okay, so… it's a lot of guesswork. I have no idea what the truth is. Might be we'll only figure it out once we reach the fortress, but… I think Piandao left because you were lost in the swamp, Ursa. Maybe… maybe someone from the White Lotus communicated with him about you, perhaps that General Fong guy or even someone else, and told him you were missing. As Iroh and Zuko were about to return to the Fire Nation… it meant another important White Lotus member would remain in the Fire Nation, even closer to the Fire Lord than Piandao could be. Hence… he wasn't needed anymore. He could give up his station in Shu Jing and… and travel to their new headquarters, to do his best to keep you safe in the fortress even though Jeong Jeong was ready to let you lose yourself in the swamp for good."

"Wait, but… you say my uncle and I had just returned when he vanished?" Zuko repeated, frowning. Sokka nodded.

"You and Iroh arrived… on the day of my first fight against Toph, if I'm not mistaken," Sokka said, squaring his jaw. "Iroh saw her fighting that day, took her as his gladiator because… well, because he took for granted that she'd be someone I'd never be able to defeat. Azula believed, from the first moment, that he just wanted to sabotage her career in the League… considering the shit he pulled a few months ago, her theory makes plenty of sense to me. But as far as I know, you two showed up on that exact day. Which means it was… two days after Piandao said goodbye to me. He left that White Lotus tile for me and nothing else. I could be wrong, but… if he left to help Ursa, it's quite likely that it's also because he could relinquish his position in the Fire Nation as a high-ranked member of their gang, since…"

"Since someone else with a high rank was going to be there too, from that point onwards," Katara repeated.

"But Iroh left too, didn't he?" Kino said, glancing at Ursa. "He's in the fortress now. Who's left in the Fire Nation?"

"Nobody. Maybe a few smaller spies, beats me," Sokka said, with a shrug. "Iroh got himself into that pickle on his own, though. He could have simply not done what he did, and he wouldn't have had to scram to make sure he wouldn't get hit by the shitstorm Ozai unleashed afterwards. If his decision cost them their best-positioned spy in Ozai's court, it's all his damn fault."

"Yeah, true enough… though it's a really sloppy mistake if that's how it is," Kino said, grimacing.

"Is there anyone else who seems important, in the White Lotus's fortress?" Aang asked. Ursa shrugged.

"Not more important than them. Piandao may not be as powerful as Jeong Jeong, or as General Fong… I don't know for sure," she confessed. "He's the one who talks with me most often. The one who usually comes find me when I'm in the swamp. But I don't really know what his role in the organization may be. If asked… I'd believe Jeong Jeong leads the Order, and General Fong provides them the headquarters for it, which gives him some prestige of his own."

"Alright… alright," Sokka said, with a deep breath. "What we know of the White Lotus, then, beyond this… is that these guys want to end the war and defeat the Fire Nation. This, above anything else, is what moves them. Many of us agree with their ends, but I'd hope most, if not all of us, disagree with their means to go about their mission. They've made awful mistakes, but it's pretty clear they've been pulling strings and doing dangerous things for a very long time. For starters… the White Lotus may have tried to recruit Iroh even before Lu Ten died judging by that strange attempt on Iroh's life, back when he was still leading Fire Nation troops. As far as I understand, Piandao may have been part of this attempt on Iroh's life but it failed, evidently, and it revealed the existence of the White Lotus and their hostility towards the Fire Nation.

"Afterwards, they were quiet for a long time, presumably because they were gathering their forces and their strength to strike at the Fire Nation when the right opportunity arose. It's quite likely, by Azula's guesses, that the first opportunity they were relying on was Zuko: Piandao trained him in an unconventional swordsmanship art, which could have been mastered relatively quickly and yet Zuko spent well over six months attending lessons with Piandao. Right?"

"Well, right, but I didn't go every day or so…" Zuko grimaced, shrugging.

"Still suspicious that he taught you dao swords rather than jian when that was his preferred style, though," Sokka pointed out. "Mastering dao takes less time than mastering jian, and it's potentially deadlier, too. If he just wanted to keep you as his student, he would have been better suited by teaching you his specialty: why rush it? Why give you the means to kill someone quite so soon in your apprenticeship, when you were that young, too? He may not have pushed you outright into killing anyone, be it your father or grandfather… but maybe they wanted you to know how to do so, in case you needed those skills for the future. Now, then, Zuko was the first in line for the throne once Ozai became Fire Lord: he was banished, and Iroh went with him for all those years, no idea how that really went down, but you never did get to meet any White Lotus people in the process, did you?"

"Uh… no," Zuko admitted, and Sokka nodded.

"Did you feel like he was, I don't know, trying to teach you how to be a better Fire Lord or so?"

"Possibly. Sometimes," Zuko said, raising an eyebrow. "He always shared weird proverbs with me… always tried to impart wisdom that I typically rejected just because I was too angry about my circumstances to care about anything else."

"Then it's entirely possible that he intended to prepare you for the role of Fire Lord, and you were too stubborn to let him," Sokka smiled. Zuko only shrugged in response. "Alright, then… teaching Zuko the error of the Fire Nation's ways and providing him with the tools to get rid of Ozai and install him as Fire Lord when the right opportunity arose was probably plan A. This plan was sabotaged by Ozai's banishment of Zuko and… and his support of Azula as his Crown Princess instead. By the time I came along, it's even possible Piandao didn't think I was all that worthy… regardless, it seems he may have seen an opportunity in my partnership with Azula. He apparently talked about what an asset I could be for the Order, the goons who attacked the Palace told me as much… but my encounter with Jeong Jeong further persuaded me that Piandao believed I could help steer the Fire Nation, and the world, in another direction. He encouraged me to get along with Azula, he also shared some wisdom and advice with her even if she wasn't all that appreciative of it… it seemed as though he believed he didn't need me to be inducted in the Order at all as long as I could be a good influence on Azula."

"And you were, going by everything you've said," Aang whispered.

"If she helped as many people as she did, if she grew out of so many bad beliefs… no doubt, you were one," Katara agreed, softly. Sokka smiled a little.

"Well, thanks, guys. But the point is… I was their plan B. Or at least, I was Piandao's plan B. Jeong Jeong, apparently, didn't give much credit to the claim that I might be of some use in steering the world towards a better path. Therefore… we have Zuko, who probably is valuable for three potential or factual leaders of the White Lotus, and me, only valuable for one of them, while I was also almost killed by the other two, each in its own way. Meaning that, once the time comes for us to reach out to them…"

"What… you think I'm in a better position to negotiate with them than you are?" Zuko asked, eyes wide. "I… haven't done anything like that in my life, Sokka. Would you really trust me not to fuck up our first contact with the White Lotus?"

"I mean… do I have a choice?" Sokka asked: Ursa, beside Zuko, tensed up. "Is there any reason why Zuko shouldn't be our, well, spokesperson, at least at first? Do you think they could mean Zuko harm, Ursa?"

"I… I don't know. Maybe not, if Iroh is there, but…" Ursa grimaced, shaking her head. "I don't know for sure. It's hard to say. A lot of their people are really unpleasant. Some resent Jeong Jeong, even if he's their leader, for being Fire Nation-born, no matter how much he hates his own nation. I fear most of them in the fortress merely because…"

"Because it's better than anywhere else?" Sokka ventured a guess. "Being with the White Lotus guarantees they'll get to rebel against the Fire Nation, to some degree…"

"Exactly," Ursa sighed.

"Then, if it's not safe for Zuko to go… should I go?" Aang asked. Sokka scoffed and shook his head.

"Hell, no. Not you. You're actually the biggest and best asset of all, in the White Lotus's eyes," Sokka pointed out. "Look, Zuko could be in some danger, but if Iroh still cares about him, and I imagine he's the only person he does care about, it means Zuko has a chance to at least arrange a meeting for us with their leaders, if nothing else. If he doesn't want to go alone, he probably can go with, uh…"

"Me?" Kino asked, with an innocent grin. Sokka grimaced.

"I don't really think you're the best choice for this. If we're worried about their members being against everything Fire Nation out of principle alone, don't you think it'd be very dangerous to send you to them, just like that?" Sokka asked. "Zuko's the Fire Lord's rebel son, so they shouldn't do anything terrible to him, but…"

"Ah, so because I'm not important, I don't get to go…? Well, to be honest, that's fair," Kino smiled awkwardly.

"Then who? Katara?" Aang asked, grimacing too. "I don't know if that's the best idea…"

"Well, it's not the worst one," Katara sighed. "Though I'm not sure how much use I'd be. These White Lotus people sound like they'll either piss me off beyond reason or I'll think they're awesome regardless of all the bad mistakes they've made. I'm probably too emotional and impulsive to do this the right way."

"But that means we're all out of people," Kino smiled awkwardly. "Unless you want to turn yourself in, Sokka?"

"I don't," Sokka clarified. "My idea is having Zuko set up a meeting for us with the White Lotus leaders to establish ground rules that they would have no choice but to follow if they want to have the Avatar on their side. I mean, sure, they'd get me too, but Aang would matter more to them, especially as they shouldn't hate him the way they hate me."

"B-but I wouldn't even know where to start with any of this…" Aang grimaced. "You know them better, you know the enemy better… if they don't want to listen to what you might have to say, they're not very bright."

"Well, their decisions haven't been that bright, historically speaking," Sokka sighed.

"Perhaps, if I go with Zuko…" Ursa whispered, surprising her son. He shook his head quickly.

"No. I… I mean, you haven't really gone in-depth with what they've done to you, but…" he started. Sokka stroked his chin.

"It's probably a bad idea. If they see someone unknown bringing you back to their fortress, they might assume you've betrayed them somehow. They might hold back from attacking, but we can't take a risk of that magnitude," Sokka said.

"But we can risk sending Zuko alone?" Ursa asked, puzzled.

"If I ask to see my uncle right away and make it clear to him that I'm bringing alliances with important people, maybe it'll be okay to risk sending me," Zuko said.

"If it doesn't go well, if things look grim… well, we can always stay close by, watching from a safe distance. If we see they're trying to attack Zuko or so, we can always charge in and save him, if he needs it," Sokka said, with a shrug. "Though, for safety's sake, bring your swords with you. Maybe you won't have to fight anyone at all, but if you drop them on the ground they might understand you're not there for hostile reasons. Of course, though… you'll take my tile, too. Even if they had guards who wouldn't know who Prince Zuko is, I'd think they shouldn't attack you as long as you have it."

Zuko nodded. Without waiting for other opinions, Sokka rose to his feet and stepped to his pack, quickly rummaging through it to find his White Lotus tile. Ursa drew in a breath, glancing at her stern son with uncertainty.

"I know I've said many things you didn't want to hear, but…"

"No. Don't apologize for the truth," Zuko said, shaking his head. "Look… we have a lot of things we need to talk about, there's so many stories I probably need to hear. I'm not going to pretend this doesn't bother me, but… I'd rather know what was really going on all along than continue deluding myself with my idealized version of whatever was happening when I was a kid. I told Sokka not to take for granted that things wouldn't have changed as much when we set out on this journey, to stand by his decisions regardless of every blow that might come his way… I'm not going to do anything less than that."

"You're much stronger than I am, if so," Ursa whispered, lowering her gaze. "But it's true that there's much you don't understand… just so, I fear I don't understand everything either, not anymore. I took for granted that I knew your father, that I understood him, but… the man I thought I knew would have never…"

"Would have never hurt his children?" Zuko asked, glancing at Ursa almost reproachfully. She clenched up, but she nodded.

"You said… that maybe he sent me away so he could rule freely?" she asked, softly. Zuko grimaced – he had spoken without thinking, only realizing now that he was entirely unaware of the circumstances in which his mother and father had parted ways. Yet he couldn't quite believe it had been in an amicable way, not for real, not his damn father… "But it wasn't him who sent me away, Zuko. He didn't… he didn't want me gone."

"W-wait… what?" Zuko frowned. His heart shot off, beating at quicker speed now as Ursa breathed deeply, clasping Zuko's hand. "But then… why did you leave if it wasn't his fault?"

"There were many monsters that night, when… w-when I left the Palace. I was one of them," Ursa whispered. "But… your father wasn't the worst of them. Our family may be rotten in countless ways, Zuko, but true evil isn't… isn't restricted to Sozin's bloodline alone."

"I… I mean, I guess I know that, but… someone else forced you to leave?" Zuko asked, perplexed. "Wasn't he going to be Fire Lord, though? He was crowned right after grandfather's funeral. Couldn't he just use that power to screw over whoever sent you away?"

"I wanted to think so… I doubt he could do it, in the end," Ursa reasoned. Zuko grimaced. "But again… I didn't understand him as well as I thought I did. After all this time, it's apparent that I didn't know him quite as well as I should have. Perhaps you're right and he did want me gone, but even then…"

"Even then… you care about him?" Zuko asked, his heart clenched upon uttering the words… upon seeing the desolate expression on his mother's face. "I… I didn't think you two loved each other. At least, not in those last days…"

"Love?" Ursa repeated, speaking the word softly, emptily. "Well… I didn't think we did, either, if that… if that makes you feel better."

"It confuses me, if anything," Zuko said, eyeing Ursa warily.

"I don't know how long you and your friends will be with the White Lotus. Surely not… not a short time?" Ursa asked, glancing at Zuko. "Even if all goes well…it will take some time before you're prepared to take action with them. I suppose, whenever you're not too busy, I can try to… to explain whatever I can? Whatever I think I know, as inaccurate as it might be…"

"That sounds like a good plan, Mom," Zuko said, with a tense grin. "I… I'll look forward to it. But for now…"

"For now, we should get going," Ursa finished, nodding.

Sokka had returned: the rest of their group were already collecting the bags and loading them on Appa. The Gladiator flipped the White Lotus tile at Zuko, who caught it with a single hand.

"Be very careful, alright?" Sokka warned him. "We'll stay nearby, if anything looks dangerous or sketchy, well… shoot a plum of fire upwards. We'll come save you and then try to figure out some other way to deal with these people. Maybe we'll end up going about this very differently, could be by finding other allies, I don't know…"

"Maybe," Zuko sighed, rising to his feet and helping his mother, too. "I should be prepared to meet my uncle after so many years, but… I don't think it can be the happy reunion I had hoped for, long ago."

"I'd be sorry to hear that, but even if you don't appreciate me saying so, that old bastard isn't worthy of a nephew like you, Zuko," Sokka said, with a sigh. "Try to get through to him, and if he regrets what he's done, all the better… but do your best not to lose focus. I know it sounds rich coming from me… if you succeed at arranging a meeting at all, I'll likely be a bigger problem when it comes to staying rational as soon as I see him."

"Well, you did say, ages ago, that I should join this trip if just so I could stand between the two of you and make sure you don't try to kill him…" Zuko said, with a simple shrug. "Guess I'll be fulfilling my destiny a lot sooner than expected."

"Looks like it," Sokka agreed, as Zuko sighed and made his way to pick up his own bags.

Sokka ventured a glance at Ursa, who stood by watching Zuko now, appearing tense and uneasy. He bit his lip, ever unsure of what to do whenever she reminded him too much of her daughter.

"You don't want to go back there, I suppose," he ventured a guess, startling her when he addressed her alone. Ursa simply sighed and shrugged as Zuko marched up to Appa with his bags. "Well… if things go well, this might be the last time you ever have to go there. If that makes you feel any better."

"It does. And yet…" Ursa said, grimacing as she gazed at Sokka with uncertainty. "You know why I'm agreeing to this. I have made too many mistakes… done too much harm in countless ways. But if I help you now… I will do right by Azula, for once. Even if… if it means you'll bring hell to Ozai."

"Then you're choosing her over him?" Sokka asked, a strange sensation of wishful hope bursting in his chest. If the answer was positive, he could only hope Azula would hear of it one day…

"I'm choosing her… over everything," Ursa whispered: her earnest reply shook Sokka even more deeply than he had expected it to. "Even that won't be enough… nothing I do will ever be enough. But just… just knowing that she may yet be happy anew, with someone who cares for her as much as you do, is more than enough. She deserves happiness, love, peace and stability, and… and I'm hoping she'll get them all, with you."

"She had them, once," Sokka said, softly. "It's what I hope to bring back to her, yeah. And this time… no one will ever pull me away from her again once I've found her. Nothing will ever break us apart again."

"Good," Ursa said, with a pained smile. Sokka's heart clenched at the sight of it. "I know… I know all too well what it's like. Living in the hopes that… that something, somehow, will happen. That a miracle will occur, that one day I might find my way back to the place where I belonged… but I can't belong there anymore, and I never again will. But you… you still have a chance. Both you and her. Whatever it takes, Sokka…"

"Whatever it takes. If that's what you hoped to hear… believe me, it's what I've always intended, from the moment I decided I'd take action and come back here, for her," Sokka said. Ursa's smile gained strength.

"Then… I'll be honored to support your efforts in any way, even if only by helping you find the White Lotus," she said. "You… you truly are a good man. Piandao was right about you."

"Heh… let's hope he still thinks so, once we get there," Sokka smiled awkwardly, gesturing at Appa. "Alright then, you should climb on. The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll get this over with."

Ursa nodded, stepping towards the sky bison's saddle as Sokka collected his bags at last. The others still seemed shaken by the revelations Ursa had made so far, perhaps confused by most of them, especially Zuko, so Sokka suspected it would be a quiet trip. Once Aang was safely sitting on Appa's neck, and the rest of the passengers settled on the saddle, the Avatar called out the flight command and the bison took to the skies.

"We're flying north-west, Aang," Sokka called out to him, confirming the route through his map. "All the way to that cluster of mountains by the shore. With any luck… we'll be there before we know it."

Aang nodded, shaking Appa's reins in the right direction. Water clashed into cliffs on every league the bison would carry them across… but the beautiful sights couldn't enthrall even Katara anymore. The first part of their journey finally seemed poised to end… just so, it was only the beginning. As challenging as they'd found their first week and a half on the road, it was bound to be nothing compared to the many difficulties the future had in store…

And in order for those difficulties to be a matter of concern at all, they had to get through this first hurdle safely, too. Sokka's heart pounded so hard he felt the blood drumming in his ears once the mountains were in sight, in the distance. He and Azula had certainly toyed with the idea of an alliance with the Order of the White Lotus, never taking it all that seriously, never expecting it would ever truly happen. Now, that potential alliance was his one hope to return to her side… an alliance with people who had already attempted to kill him in the past, people who seemed to believe the ends justified the means, people who clung to every toxic belief he had once staked his very life on, disregarding the humanity of the Fire Nation in order to make it all the easier for himself to oppose them…

The Order of the White Lotus was dangerous, Sokka had never questioned that, not since his first encounter with their people. They would be no less dangerous now that they would approach them in their own territory: they had to be wary and cautious, and Sokka had to do his best to get through to them and succeed at building bridges with those he had once deemed his enemies. He had done it in the past, remarkably successfully… he doubted he'd be as successful this time, and yet he meant to see it done all the same.

He'd earn their respect, if not their trust. He'd prove his worth as a leader, though never as their member. He wouldn't sell his soul to them: he would ensure they understood as much. He would stand his ground, resolute in his convictions, in his purpose to end this war and to set Azula free. However uneasy as he might feel about joining forces with the Deserter who had once attempted to kill him, with the Dragon of the West, who had destroyed the life he had shared with his wife… that alliance could provide him with the power he needed to rescue Azula from Ozai's clutches. If it did, every sacrifice he had to make would be worth its cost… for his heart was prepared to choose Azula over everything, no matter what challenges this new leg of their journey would have in store for them all.