Chapter Text
A messenger-hawk had arrived, both with the news of Lady Ursa's return in general, and then another later. When she arrived on the island, she was expected.
It was not a particularly large lake, and the island was big enough for a single house, gardens attached, and the dock in a sheltered, tiny inlet for the boat that took one from the island to the shore and back again.
Mei Wan met the lady at the dock. She was alone except for Piu who rowed the boat, but if Mei Wan shaded her eyes she could see to the lakeshore and see the four soldiers Lady Ursa had left there.
Mei Wan bowed, when the Fire Lord's mother stepped onto the dock. "We are honoured by your visit, Lady Ursa," she said.
"Thank you," the lady replied. And her voice was level and cool when she said, "I want to see my daughter."
No you don't, was what Mei Wan thought. But she kept that locked away, bowed again, and said, "This way, if you please."
*****
They'd known she was coming, so they had administered the sleeping drink early. Azula was having a worse day than others, and better that her mother see her peacefully sleeping than cursing them all, crying, and maybe even trying to hurt herself or anyone who came near.
It was a warm day, so they'd laid her on the bed without covers. There was nothing to do about the scratches she'd left on her hands and arms, taking the wrapped cloth off her fingertips before they could stop her and replace them. They had had to restrain her just loosely, so that they would have some warning if she woke suddenly and in a worse state than she had gone to sleep.
Mei Wan led Lady Ursa to the room where Azula slept. "She is completely unbalanced," she explained, as they walked. "We have tried a number of treatments with some success, but never long-lasting. It is as if her body and mind are at war with one another, and her mind is at war with itself." And sometimes I don't think, Mei Wan thought but did not say, that she wants to recover.
"I was told she can no longer bend?" Lady Ursa said, her voice still cool and calm, only the faintest note of a question. Mei Wan nodded.
"It was necessary to ask the Avatar to take her firebending away," she said, making sure all the regret was there in her voice. "Otherwise, no one could get close enough to help her, or take care of her, and it would have been necessary to keep her hands chained at all times."
Mei Wan opened the door, and stepped back so Lady Ursa could enter. The room was light, the windows open to catch the breeze, everything clean and lovely - Mei Wan made sure of that. But Lady Ursa's eyes were only for the patient, as a mother's must be, and Mei Wan saw her take a deep, slow breath and let it out.
"She's restrained now," Lady Ursa pointed out in a voice that seemed carefully neutral. Mei Wan winced.
"Yes," she said. "Sometimes she wakes violently, and sometimes tries to hurt herself."
Lady Ursa kept moving. She walked to one of the stools by the table and, matter of fact, picked it up - though Mei Wan knew it wasn't light - and set it beside the bed before she sat on it. "The sleep isn't natural?" she asked, and then looked up when Mei Wan didn't immediately answer. "You drugged her," she clarified. Her voice was still very cool and very calm.
"Yes, Lady Ursa," Mei Wan said. She might have lied, but the woman's gaze made that difficult and it was almost a relief when she looked away. When Lady Ursa reached out one hand to brush back some of Azula's hair, Mei Wan felt she had to say, "I should tell you, Lady Ursa, that you are one of her most frequent hallucinations."
Lady Ursa's hand stopped. It stayed hovering in the air and she turned her face to Mei Wan again with an expression that told Mei Wan to go on, as if Mei Wan were simply telling her about a kind of flower or tree.
"The things she says are - " Mei Wan hesitated. "Not pleasant."
To her shock, Lady Ursa smiled. Granted, it was a very sad smile, as she turned back to her daughter, and let her hand continue its motion. "No," she said, and her voice was sad as well. "I would be very surprised if they were."
When her hand touched the princess' cheek, Azula did not wake. But her head turned a little into the touch, and Lady Ursa's fingers moved through her daughter's hair (longer now, a little: they had had to cut it all off, when she first arrived) in an accustomed way. "She always had such beautiful hair," the lady murmured.
Mei Wan didn't say anything. It didn't feel like her place. And when she saw the glint of a tear on Lady Ursa's cheek, catching the sun, she looked away.
Lady Ursa wiped it away with the back of her hand, giving it no notice. "You don't know what's wrong with her," she said, and it wasn't a question. Mei Wan grimaced. She hated to admit failure.
"We know what brought on the first fit, Lady Ursa," she said. "The sequence of events, at least. And we know that it perpetuates because we cannot bring her into balance - not her thoughts, not her chi, not anything. But . . . " she trailed off, opening her hands to admit that there was nothing more.
Lady Ursa simply nodded. In that same polite tone, she asked, "Is there any technique you know of that you have not tried?" And the question was polite, but it made Mei Wan look down. There was something about how she asked it.
"No, Lady Ursa," she said.
Lady Ursa simply nodded again. She bent her head, kissed her daughter's temple, and then stood up.
"There will be someone come to collect her within fourteen days," she said, and the manner in which she said it left no room for argument. "It won't be me, as I have to prepare a place for her. Don't drug her again unless it's absolutely necessary." Her eyes caught Mei Wan's, and she said, "Not convenient, madame. Necessary."
Mei Wan felt herself colour. But she rallied. "Lady Ursa," she protested, "with all respect, I am not sure you understand - "
"She is my daughter," Lady Ursa said, with deadly finality, as Mei Wan's words stumbled to a halt. "Unless you lied a moment ago, you have exhausted your options for her care. I appreciate all that you have done for her, but there are avenues open to me that aren't open to you. But above all, she is my daughter. I will be responsible for her. This is not a matter I will discuss. Those I send to collect her will come under the royal seal."
Mei Wan swallowed. "Yes, Lady Ursa," she said.
Lady Ursa's demeanour softened with that, just a little; her voice was kinder when she said, "Have someone write down everything that you have learned and observed as yet. It would be best if we did not have to repeat the same work, when I'm sure you have done it thoroughly and admirably so far."
"Should I tell her you came?" Mei Wan asked, and tried to keep her tone respectful.
Lady Ursa looked at her daughter, and her face was troubled and unhappy. But her voice was clear and even when she answered.
"Use your discretion," she said, and nodded to Mei Wan to precede her out.