Chapter Text
Prologue
Tell me, Mother. Did you have to have a new daughter because your last one turned out to be such a monster?
Ursa awoke with a gasp. The unfamiliar folds of silken sheets pressed against her back, so unlike the rough linens she had slept in as the unfettered peasant woman Noriko. In the early morning darkness, her eyes fell on the form of her own hand, stretched above her, as though straining to touch something just out of reach.
A deep sigh rose in her throat, and she slowly let the hand fall back to the bed.
"Mommy?"
Ursa blinked and glanced down to see Kiyi peering up at her. As usual, she had pressed herself against Ursa's side, with the small Kiyi doll Ursa had once made her tucked under one arm.
"Mm?" Ursa said, smiling distractedly.
Kiyi gave a wide yawn. "What are you thinking about, Mommy?"
Ursa paused, surprised at the question. Then, bending her head, she whispered, "Someone very important to me."
"Zuzu?" Kiyi asked with another yawn, rubbing her eye.
Ursa smiled wistfully. "No. Someone else."
"Oh." Kiyi seemed to lose all interest at this, and she clutched the worn sackcloth of her doll again. Her big brother was her favorite topic of conversation, and Ursa didn't doubt that if she had her way, she would spend most of her time either riding on top of Zuko's shoulders, or imitating his firebending forms.
It had been an unexpected surprise to find out Kiyi was a firebender. After all, Ursa was not a bender herself, even if she was a descendant of Avatar Roku, and neither was Ikem. But, Ursa was glad it was something Kiyi could share with her other siblings.
Ursa reached up to stroke the hair back from Kiyi's young face, and leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead. Kiyi really was such a strong girl. She had been through much for her age, but she seemed so strangely unfazed by it. Fearless, even.
A dark image from the dream cut through her mind—a pale face contorted with rage and madness.
So I've imagined all this? You haven't been trying to take me down from the moment I was born?
Ursa's smile slowly faded, and the warm air of the Fire Nation spring abruptly felt chilly against her skin. She reached out a hand to stroke Kiyi's face one last time, but then hesitated, instead glancing down at her fingers.
Trying not to rustle the sheets, Ursa carefully extricated herself, and stepped with bare feet onto the floor. Glancing back once at Kiyi and her sleeping husband to make certain she hadn't disturbed them, Ursa made her way quietly around the bed to the tall gilded window, rubbing her chilled fingers against her forearms as she went. She paused just beside the curtains, unmoving in the still air.
Outside, the palace walls blocked her view of the sea of crimson-roofed villas of the Fire Nation capital. And yet, she could still make out the shape of the caldera mouth in the distance, as a pale yellow line glittered over the edge, where the morning sun would soon break. Back when she had first come to the palace as bride to Fire Lord Azulon's second son, she had often looked to that jagged horizon, and hated how the volcano made the night longer.
Ursa drew her shawl a little closer around her shoulders.
I promised that if I ever saw you again, I would end you and everyone you've ever loved.
Ursa bent her head. But then, she raised her eyes to gaze unflinchingly at the crater wall. She let the hands wrapped around herself fall to her sides, where they closed into fists.
Tell me, Mother...
A single tear trailed down her face, but she didn't look away from the darkness.