Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 102: Those Who Love You

"Azula...you still have a chance to redeem yourself...to take the title, the throne I gave to you...Fire Lord Azula."

Her eyes were drawn up to her father towering over her.

"Or are you weak like your brother?" he asked in a deep voice.

"I-I'm not weak..." Even she could hear the doubt in her voice.

"Then why is Zuko still alive? Why is your wretched mother still alive?" She could feel his piercing glare. "If you had been strong, worthy of being my daughter, you would have killed them by now..."

"Do not listen to him, Azula."

She turned to Ursa who stood in the distance. "Mother?" she whispered.

"You even let that savage outsider use her inferior bending on you," her father deeply scolded her. "You are a failure. You will always be a failure unless you kill them..."

"Ozai is wrong," said Ursa who seemed to be walking towards her but never drawing closer. "You are not a failure."

"I gave you power!" Ozai's voice boomed. "And you threw it away on these traitors!"

"But I...I didn't..."

"Maybe it was you I should have thrown from the palace walls after you were born," he hissed.

Tears fell down Azula's cheeks.

"Maybe it was you I should have burned and banished."

Her mother cried out her name as Ozai stretched out a fiery fist towards her.

Azula screamed, her hands covering her face.

"It's okay, Azula," said Ursa, her arms around her daughter. "You're safe. I'm here with you."

Azula opened her eyes to find herself wrapped in her mother's arms. She was stiff, but trembling. She ran her fingers over her left eye, but there was no injury or pain. Her tense body relaxed into her mother's embrace.

"What...what's happening to me?" she asked, her voice cracking.

Ursa tenderly caressed her head. "You've been dealing with so much, especially these last few days. You need rest."

Azula pulled away from her mother.

"How did I get here?" She felt confused as she glanced around the room. "We-we were outside..."

"You fainted. Zuko carried you here."

Part of her was troubled and ashamed that she was so weak that her brother had been forced to carry her.

"You've been feverish all night," said Ursa.

Azula realized the sun was rising. "I've been out all night?"

Her mother nodded. "Zuko, Chiara, and I stayed with you here."

Azula looked down at the mats on the floor where she assumed Zuko and Chiara slept nearby. Her mother had slept by her side.

"Chiara didn't heal me?"

"She tried, but it didn't work. She said it wasn't a natural illness and that your Uncle Iroh would understand it better. And Zuko said something similar happened to him too."

She was curious as to what her mother meant. "Where are they?"

"They're eating breakfast."

"You're not eating with them?" she asked.