A.N. So, as some of you can tell from the title, this chapter involves some references to The Search Comics. However, I've never personally actually read them (or any of the other comics tbh), so you don't actually need to have read them to understand what's going on in this chapter. I more borrow character names, settings, and some plot points that happen pre-canon. And I don't know if this is technically comic-compliant or not, but I'm just going to go with what I want to write.

I almost split this into two chapters because it got a bit long, but I decided it flowed much better as one chapter. So, there's just a lot happening in it.

Hope you enjoy!

Azara tossed and turned in her sleep, sweat beading on her brow as she gripped the sheets under her tightly. Flashes of images flew through her mind, images that she was sure were not memories, but perhaps . . .visions? Did she even get visions?

A forest. Or perhaps a jungle was a better descriptor.

A tall rock formation.

A small river cutting through the space between the jungle and rock formation.

Fire lilies decorating the ravine.

More flashes of fire lilies.

The river flowing down the landscape.

A small town appearing from the side of the river.

People milling around the small village.

A small sign overhanging the entrance to the town.

'HIRA'A' scratched across the sign.

Her and Zuko standing under the sign, looking up at it.

Azara gasped, sitting up suddenly in bed. As she tried to catch her breath, Sokka awoke beside her, and rolled over. "Are you okay?" he whispered out, still half-asleep. She could feel his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.

"I'm okay," Azara confirmed, wiping some sweat from her forehead.

"You have a nightmare?" he asked, sitting up, and moving to grab her hand.

"No . . . more like a vision."

"A vision?" Sokka questioned, sounding confused.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Of what?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Azara replied, turning back to her boyfriend.

When morning finally came, the first thing that Azara did was pull out one of Sokka's maps of the Fire Nation. Searching the whole map over for anything marked Hira'a, she grew frustrated when she didn't find it anywhere. Walking out to the courtyard where everyone else was gathered for breakfast, Azara walked over to Zuko.

"Have you ever heard of Hira'a?" she asked, causing her brother to shoot her a confused expression.

"Hira'a?" he repeated, getting to his feet. "Never heard of it."

"It's not on any of Sokka's maps either."

"Did you try checking the maps in the office?" Zuko suggested before leading the way back into the house. As they pulled out old scrolls and maps from the old office in the back of the house, Zuko glanced at his sister. "Why exactly are you trying to find this place again?"

"I had a vision last night," Azara mentioned offhandedly, causing Zuko's eyes to widen.

"A vision?" he repeated, not sounding like he believed her.

"Yes. There was a bunch of fire lilies, some landscape, and a small village called 'Hira'a'. The two of us were standing underneath the sign," Azara recounted, pulling out a more detailed map. Rolling it out over the top of the desk, Azara and Zuko searched for the town.

"Here!" Zuko pointed out, his finger landing next to one of the most remote towns in the whole Fire Nation. It was just about as far from Caldera City as one could get while staying in the mainland Fire Nation. "At least it's in the Fire Nation."

"You say that like it makes it easier," Azara sighed, rolling up the map.

"Well, what are you going to do with that information?" Zuko asked, following her out of the office, and back to the courtyard.

"I don't know yet."

They reentered the main courtyard, where everyone was sitting in a circle, and eating breakfast. "Did you find it?" Sokka questioned as he handed Azara a bowl of breakfast.

"Yeah, we did."

"Find what?" Aang asked, looking curious.

"I had a vision last night," Azara revealed, causing the group to share surprised looks. "At least . . . I think it was a vision."

"Can you describe it?"

"There was just a lot of flashes of images. Some of a jungle and some flowers. Then there was a town, which we found on the map. And then one of me and Zuko there," Azara recounted, opening the map on the ground to show her friends. She pointed at the town on the map before turning to the only other person who could possibly understand her predicament in the group. "Any advice on visions, Aang?" she sighed, resting her head on her hand.

"You said that you saw yourself and Zuko there?"

"Yeah, and then I woke up."

Aang looked like he was thinking over the information for a moment. He frowned slightly, before turning back to Azara with a serious expression. "I think maybe your connection with Uzume and Amaterasu is trying to tell you something."

"So . . . we should go then?" Zuko questioned, staring down at the map.

"What do you think you should do?" Aang replied, glancing between Azara and Zuko. The siblings shared a look for a moment, before nodding firmly to each other.

"Looks like we're getting a sibling field trip after all."

They packed quickly, preparing for the journey ahead of them. Zuko climbed up onto Appa, securing their supplies to his saddle as Azara turned to say goodbye to Sokka. "Be careful," Sokka reminded her as he hugged his girlfriend tightly to his chest.

"I'm always careful," she replied, a tone of teasing slipping out, before she grew serious again. "Besides, that's what Zuko's there for."

"I know. I'll still worry." Azara pulled out of the hug for a brief moment before cupping Sokka's cheek with her hand. They shared a kiss before resting their foreheads on each other's for a moment. "I'm pretty sure your brother is glaring holes into my soul right now," Sokka joked, opening his eyes.

"Eh, he'll be fine," Azara shrugged, pressing a kiss to Sokka's nose before taking a step back. "We'll be fine," she reiterated confidently. Climbing up onto Appa's head, Azara grabbed his reins, and nodded to her friends. "Yip yip!"

The journey was not particularly long, but it was still a few hours before they finally reached the town that they were looking for. "There it is," Zuko observed, leaning over the edge of the saddle. He pointed to a quaint town below, one that Azara recognized from her vision.

"That's it."

Azara directed Appa down, landing outside of the town, and in a band of thick vegetation. Sliding down, Azara and Zuko adjusted their Fire Nation disguises before turning to Appa. "You going to be alright on your own, bud?" Azara asked, rubbing his side. Appa grunted in affirmation before trudging over to the edge of a small pond and settling down.

"So, what are you looking for in particular?" Zuko asked as they shuffled towards the town.

"Some kind of fire lily. There was a whole bunch in my vision. It must have some kind of significance," Azara explained as they reached the outskirts of town. The town name—Hira'a—was carved into the wooden arc over the entrance to the village.

"What's so special about this flower? Or this village?" Zuko questioned as Azara glanced around at the townspeople.

"I'm not sure. But my vision told me that this place was important."

"Could your visions be a little more specific?" Zuko sighed as they walked along, quickly drawing the attention of the townspeople. After all, a small town like Hira'a did not often entertain outsiders within their quaint abodes.

"Excuse me," Azara called, turning to a passing man. "Do you know where we can find fire lilies around here?"

"Fire lilies, you say? You might want to check down the street. There's a herbologist that lives with a big garden in the back. You can't miss it."

"Thank you for your help," Azara nodded sincerely, before walking back to Zuko. "Come on, let's go check it out."

"And what if they don't have it?"

"Then, we'll look around some more," Azara replied with a shrug as they walked along. Reaching the end of the street, Azara spotted a quaint house with a large garden in the back, as promised by the man from town. "There, that looks like a herbologist's house."

"Let's get this over with," Zuko sighed, clearly not believing in Azara's vision.

Walking up to the door, Azara knocked twice, before stepping back. She could hear shuffling inside before the door opened a crack, revealing a middle-aged woman. She glanced between Azara and Zuko, her eyes lingering longer on Azara, before clearing her throat.

"Yes?"

"Is this the herbologist's residence?"

"Yeah, it is. How can I help you?"

"We need a particular kind of fire lily, and we were just wondering if you had any," Azara explained as the woman paused for a moment, before nodding.

"We have fire lilies. Please, come in," the woman offered, opening the door for them. Azara and Zuko stepped inside the home, which was filled with all kinds of of plants, before leading them towards the back. "Now, what kind of fire lily were you looking for again?"

"Uh . . ." Azara trailed off, glancing around the garden, before spotting the one from her vision. "That one. Over there."

"Good choice," the woman nodded, walking over to collect some for Azara. "These grow where the forest meets the stream that feeds into our town. Only place in the whole Fire Nation with this particular species," the woman explained. She recited a price, which Azara forked over without a second thought, before leading Azara and Zuko out of the greenhouse.

"Thank you for the flowers," Azara spoke sincerely, the bag clutched in her hands.

"Kiku, who are you talking to?" a man's voice called from the other room, causing the woman, Kiku to walk over.

"Just helping a customer, Seiji," she replied as an older man walked into the room.

"Oh, good. I hope my wife was helpful," the man spoke to Zuko and Azara, who nodded back respectfully.

"Very helpful."

"What did they buy?" the man asked his wife, who walked over to stand beside him.

"Some of those fire lilies from the edge of the forest," Kiku reported, causing Seiji to smile and nod at her words.

"Ah, yes. Some of my favorite flowers. No one managed to get them to grow well outside of the forest until a woman named Rina finally figured it out. The greenhouse used to be full of them."

"Are these flowers particularly difficult to grow?" Azara questioned, hoping to get to the bottom of why she and Zuko were in Hira'a in the first place.

"Well, they're particularly finicky plants because much of their beauty feeds off of the residual spiritual energy around the forests here," Seiji replied with a shrug. Azara and Zuko shared a look at the information before turning back to the couple. "But I suppose if anyone could have figured out how to manage spiritual energy, it would have been the daughter of an Avatar."

"Seiji," Kiku hissed, clearly not wanting to talk about the topic, "I'm sure that these kids don't want to be bothered by your old stories."

"No, wait," Zuko interjected, taking a step forward. "You said that this . . . Rina woman . . . was the daughter of the Avatar?"

"Avatar Roku," Seiji confirmed. Zuko and Azara shared another look before Azara took a step forward to join her brother.

"So, is Rina still around here? Perhaps we could talk with her about these flowers," Azara suggested but Seiji sighed and lowered his head.

"I'm afraid Rina passed away some time ago. She and her husband were completely heartbroken at the loss of their only daughter. Terribly tragedy. She left the greenhouse to me, and I kept the place open to honor her."

"That's very noble of you," Azara responded as Zuko thought over Seiji's words.

"They lost their daughter?"

"Not in the traditional sense. At least, we didn't think so," Kiku responded, leaning on her husband. "She was sent away for an arranged marriage. Didn't have much choice, the poor dear."

"That's horrible," Azara commented, thinking back to the situation she had just escaped. Seiji and Kiku nodded before Seiji turned to Azara, studying her face for a moment.

"Actually, you look quite a lot like her."

"Me?" Azara inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"I can see the resemblance," Kiku agreed with her husband, though she looked like she was nervous to even be having this conversation. "You're very beautiful, dear, just like Ursa was."

Time seemed to slow down before stopping all together. Zuko froze in place as Azara nearly dropped the bag that she was holding at the name Kiku had just mentioned offhandedly. All of the pieces suddenly flew together all at once—Hira'a was where Avatar Roku's daughter, their maternal grandmother, had lived with their mother. Their mother's village. They were in their mother's village.

"I'm sorry . . . did you just say . . . Ursa?" Zuko asked, disbelief clear in his eyes.

"Yes, she has an uncanny resemblance to Ursa when she was that age," Seiji replied as Azara felt like she was going to throw up.

"A woman named Ursa lived here?"

"Years ago. Haven't seen her since she left. The poor dear. I wonder what happened to her."

"We should get going," Azara cut in, seeming to regain her senses. "Come on Z—Lee," she corrected herself at the last second. "We have a long journey ahead of us."

"Thank you . . . for the flowers," Zuko told the couple before following Azara out of the house. Once they were outside, he immediately turned to his sister. "Can you believe—"

"—Shh," Azara hissed, glancing around nervously. "We can't have this conversation here. Let's go back to camp first and then we can talk."

The two siblings walked in tense silence to their small makeshift camp in the vegetation outside of the village. Azara placed the flowers down on the ground as Zuko started to pace behind her. She closed her eyes, preparing silently for Zuko to inevitably explode into a spat of word vomit.

"Well, are we going to talk about it now?" Zuko demanded, throwing his arms out to the sides.

"About how we just found our mother's village that we never knew about?" Azara sighed, staring away from her brother. Her lips were pursed into a hard line.

"Where's your reaction!?" Zuko exclaimed, looking over at Azara incredulously.

"This is my reaction," Azara sighed, turning to face him. "I'm still trying to process everything."

"Is it too much to ask for you to be a little happy that we found where our mother came from?"

"Why should I be happy, Zuko?" Azara asked, glancing up at Zuko with a hard expression on her face. "Great, we found where she came from. But we don't have any family here. And she isn't here either. You heard Seiji and Kiku." Azara looked away, frowning slightly. "Without any family here . . . it's just a random little village. It means nothing."

"How can you talk about this like that!? This is where our mother grew up! People knew her here! Before she got married! Before she had us!" Zuko shouted, walking over to his sister.

"So what? You want to live off of other people's memories of her then? Is that what you want Zuko?" Azara demanded, getting to her feet. "She's still not here!"

"Because she was banished! She's probably out there somewhere and we can find her! We can talk to people here and maybe they can give us some idea—" Zuko started to ramble, clearly more motivated than ever to track down their mother.

"—If she really loved us, she would have found us already!" Azara screamed, cutting off Zuko. "If she really cared, she'd be here, Zuko! She'd find us! There would be nothing in this world that would have kept her from finding us again!"

"We don't know that! Maybe Father threatened her and—"

"—We were gone for three years, Zuko! We were traveling all around the world for three years . . . and not once did she come looking for us." Zuko's expression hardened as he glared at his sister.

"Why are you so angry with her!? Why do you hate her so much!?"

"I don't hate her!"

"Well, you don't seem to love her either!"

"Why should I love someone who clearly didn't love me!?" Azara shouted back with her hands clenched into fists. Zuko's frowned at Azara's words.

"How can you say that? Of course, she loved you!"

"She didn't even love me enough to say goodbye before she waltzed out of my life!" Azara screamed back, her voice growing hoarse.

"She didn't just leave because she wanted to! She was banished! She left to protect us!"

"She left to protect you!" Azara corrected, spitting out the last word like a sour berry. "Don't you dare lump me and Azula in with you! Don't you dare, Zuko!"

"She's our mother, Azara!"

"Then why did she only love you!" Azara shouted, her hands clenching into fists. The two siblings stared each other down for a moment. "I needed her too, Zuko. I needed my mom. But when I needed her, she wasn't there. She was never there when I needed her!"

Azara took a step towards her brother, her whole body shaking. "She left us, Zuko. For noble purposes, perhaps, but she left. And I picked up the pieces. I handled our shit. Not her—me! I was there to hug Azula when she was letting the expectations get to her! I was there to fix your form so that Dad wouldn't yell at you! I stayed up all night with you after the Agni Kai, changing your bandages, and applying the salve! And I got the absolute shit beaten out of me to protect you and Azula!"

And suddenly it felt like a thousand pounds of emotional weight that she had been carrying around since she was nine-years-old were lifted off of her shoulders. Her biggest secret, her biggest piece of shame and pain, slipped right out of her mouth like a dagger straight to Zuko's heart. And then the tears finally flowed freely.

"What? What are you talking about?" Zuko asked, walking over to his sister, who refused to meet his gaze. "Azara, what are you talking about?"

Azara pursed her lips together, collecting herself for a moment. "You remember that time I bruised my wrist really bad? Had to get it wrapped and everything? That wasn't from getting it stuck in the door," Azara started, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Remember that time I broke my wrist? I told you I feel out a tree." Azara paused for a moment, her jaw clenching and unclenching. "I didn't fall out of a tree, Zuko."

Azara continued on, listing all the childhood injuries she had chalked up to clumsiness or perhaps just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Injuries that the court physicians tended to with grim eyes, but stoic mouths. Ones Azara refused to discuss with her siblings for years, for fear that the same or worse would befall them if she did.

"And when you guys brought me back to the Fire Nation, the only reason Dad spared me was to marry me off. But when he was offering it to me . . . he threatened that if I didn't do as he said . . . that he'd hurt you or Azula. Like he always did. He always threatened that if I didn't stay silent, he'd do worse to you guys."

Zuko stared at his sister incredulously for a moment, at a loss for words. "Why would you do that?" Zuko questioned, his voice barely above a whisper as emotion clogged his throat. Tears were building in his eyelids as he looked at his sister with a completely horrified expression.

"Because I love you. I love you and Azula," Azara cried, wiping the fresh tears away from her eyes. "I did what I thought Mom should have done for all of us. I protected you like . . . like how I dreamed Mom would have if she was there."

At Azara's final phrase, the two siblings finally broke down. Grabbing onto each other, they both sobbed their hearts out of their chests. Zuko squeezed Azara so hard to his chest that it was hard to breath, but she gripped the back of his shirt like it was her anchor point. They cried for themselves, for each other, for their family, for all the pain and suffering two kids their age should have never had to bear in the first place.

"I never knew . . ." Zuko whispered out, his tears dripping into Azara's hair. "How could I not have known . . .?"

"Don't go down that path. Don't you dare go down that path," Azara replied firmly, though she was still shaking. "Don't do it, Zuko."

They held onto each other for a few moments, just lost in their sorrow until Appa walked over, nuzzling them. "Appa!" Azara complained, trying to push the sky bison away, but he was intent upon covering them in a few licks of slobber. "Alright, alright!"

Zuko grunted as Appa landed on top of them, nuzzling them again with his big head. "Can you move?" Zuko asked, glancing over at his sister.

"No. You?"

"Not even a little bit." Appa eventually got off of them once he was sure that they had stopped crying. Zuko was the first to stand up, offering Azara a hand. "I'll make a fire. Maybe that'll help dry this . . . stuff off."

They worked together, gathering kindling, and setting up a fire in the center of the clearing. Sitting beside each other, they stared into the fire, the emotion of the day catching up with them for a moment. Zuko turned to Azara, who was warming her hands, her eyes closed meditatively.

"Did Azula know?" he asked quietly, breaking the silence.

"No. I never told anyone," Azara replied, lowering her hands into her lap. "Not until I ran away."

"Can . . . can I ask why? I mean . . . we were gone . . . for years."

". . . I don't know why I didn't tell you after we left." Azara turned to her brother, fresh tears shining in her golden eyes. "I just felt so . . . weak, ashamed . . . helpless . . . and I just didn't want to talk about it. I didn't even realize how much of it I had suppressed until I started having nightmares again."

Zuko nodded, staring into the fire for a moment, reflecting over everything he had learned over the past few minutes. "Do you . . . do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Doing all of that . . . for me . . . us."

Azara paused for a moment, staring into the fire. "I regret being born into a situation where that was a reality. But, to answer your question . . . I . . . I don't think so." Turning to her brother, Azara rested her head on her hand. "And even if I did, you know that . . . my anger . . . about all of that . . . it's not directed at you, Zuko. Or Azula."

"I just . . . I'm so sorry, Azara."

"It's not like you two lived perfect lives either. We all have our scars," Azara replied, turning back to the fire. "They just look different. But they're still scars at the end of the day." They sat in silence for a moment, just basking in the heat of the fire.

"Do you resent Mom? For all of it?" Zuko asked, causing Azara to turn back to him.

"I definitely used to," she admitted, curling up into herself. "I . . . I didn't understand why I was in that position. I didn't . . . I thought . . . she told us so many stories about moms protecting their children. I just wondered why I wasn't one of those kids." Azara paused, staring deep into the fire.

Scoffing as more tears came to her eyes, Azara wiped them away halfheartedly before turning back to the fire. "Which, now I recognize is super fucked up. No one should have to be in that situation. No one." They sat in silence for a moment before Azara continued, her thoughts still scattered, but she still had plenty to say, to finally tell her brother.

"But now . . . I don't know how I feel about her. Sometimes I'm so angry. Because if she left to protect us, to protect you . . . it didn't work. Your Agni Kai, my abuse, Azula's mental state . . . she left us behind and it didn't even matter. It just made things worse." Azara wiped another tear from her cheek before continuing. "Which, again, is super fucked up, but . . . I just . . . I don't know how else to feel about it."

"Guess complicated pasts really are a family tradition," Zuko murmured, staring into the fire.

Azara turned to Zuko, watching him for a moment, before speaking. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Do you think . . . all those happy times together that we had as a family . . . do you sometimes wonder if they were . . ." Azara trailed off, not sure of how to finish her sentence.

"Real?" Zuko supplied, causing Azara to nod. He turned back to the fire. "All the time." Zuko looked down at his hands for a moment, thinking back before his Agni Kai, before their mother left. "Like a dream I'm still chasing, trying to remember." The two siblings sat in silence for a moment, reminiscing about the past, before Azara turned back to Zuko.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked, looking rather surprised.

"Well . . ." Azara trailed off, staring into the fire. "I know that . . . Mom . . . you had a lot of good memories with her. I just . . . me and Azula . . . our complicated relationship with Mom . . . I don't want to make you feel like you can't . . . you know, remember those times. The good times for you."

"Oh . . ." Zuko nodded, glancing at his sister out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry that you . . . I never realized that . . . you and Mom and Azula were . . . you know . . . I just thought . . ." Zuko sighed, lowering his head as he continued to fail to string together a proper sentence. "I just thought that when Father would spend more time with you and Azula . . . I was wrong. And I'm sorry for that."

"Don't be. He was always so horrible to you . . . I just . . . I never wanted to . . . be in your position." Azara turned back to her brother, resting her head on her knees. "You were always the least like him. It's probably why . . ." Azara lowered her head for a moment, staring into her lap. "It's probably why Mom . . . you know."

"Still . . . I'm sorry you . . . you didn't have her . . . the way that you needed her. I guess I always just thought . . . you guys didn't need her like I did." Zuko paused, turning back to his sister. "Which I see now . . . isn't right."

Azara blinked a few times, before lowering her head. "You know, I don't hate her," Azara spoke, tilting her head to the side slightly. "I don't. I don't think I ever did. Not really. I just . . . I'm so confused. Father was rarely around, but when he was, he'd always praise me and Azula for our firebending. When Mom was around . . . she . . . we . . . it was just . . . never easy. I think . . . I think she was scared of us . . . sometimes."

"Scared of you?" Zuko asked, sounding mildly surprised. "Why would you think that?"

"She said so," Azara supplied, causing Zuko to frown. "You know, adults think kids don't pick up on things . . . but I heard . . . and felt . . . she never hugged me as tight as she hugged you. And she hugged Azula even less." Azara paused, taking a breath. "I guess . . . I just want to know . . . what was wrong . . . with me . . . us . . . for her to feel that way."

"You really think she was scared of you?"

"If she wasn't scared of us then, she was certainly scared of who we'd become," Azara replied, staring into the fire with a somber expression. "But who we were, who we were becoming . . . we didn't ask to be turned into weapons. She didn't have a choice, but neither did we." Azara paused, letting more tears flow for a moment, and drip into her lap.

She could feel Zuko's hand on her back, but she didn't acknowledge it for a moment. "I . . . I know now that what Father offered us wasn't love. It wasn't. But before she left . . . most of the time that Father spent with us . . . he was always telling us how proud he was of us, how well we were doing with our firebending sets. Calling us prodigies, gifted. And Mom . . . I don't know if she ever told me that she was proud of me."

Zuko didn't have a response to that because he didn't remember their mother doing that. Sure, he knew that their mother cared for Azara and Azula, but their relationship was always . . . it was never what his and his mother's relationship was.

"I guess . . . I guess I just don't know how . . . we were just kids, Zuko. We were just kids," Azara stated, more tears coming to her eyes. Feeling Zuko beside her, Azara leaned into her brother. He wrapped an arm around her. She didn't say anything, but she could feel him shaking as well.

"You know what I always wondered?" Azara turned to look up at her brother as he continued. "If she was banished . . ., why didn't she . . . why didn't we . . . why did we stay? Why didn't she just take us in the middle of the night and flee?"

"I don't know," Azara murmured, staring into the fire. "Could you have imagined that? The four of us on the run together? That would have been something. Would have definitely been rough . . . we were all spoiled royal kids."

"Yeah, but we would have been together. We would have managed."

"Yeah . . . together," Azara agreed, nodding slowly. They sat in another stretch of silence before Azara turned back to Zuko. "Where . . . if you think she's out there . . . where do you think she is?"

"I don't know. Though, if I was her, I would try and stay close, you know. Try and keep up to date on what was happening in Caldera."

"On what was happening with us, you mean?"

"Yeah."

Azara nodded before turning back to the fire. "I guess . . . this is all . . . really . . . complicated."

"Yeah, I think that's probably a good assessment." Zuko paused for a moment before staring down at his little sister. "Does that mean . . . you . . . forgive Mom?"

Azara contemplated Zuko's question before shaking her head. "I don't think forgive is the right word," she admitted, turning to Zuko. "I still . . . there's still resentment there . . . a lot of resentment. And if she really is out there . . . I want to talk to her, I want to . . . I want that closure." Turning back to the fire, Azara let out a breath. "But even if we never find her . . . I . . . I accept that what happened did happen."

"What do you mean?"

"I accept that . . . we were all far from perfect . . . and Father . . . he did so much damage . . . to all of us. But still . . . I was a kid . . . and . . . part of me will probably always resent her choices, her words." Azara paused before turning to Zuko. "But . . . I want to move forward. I don't want to hold onto the anger, the pain anymore. I'm so tired of being angry. I just want to . . ." Azara trailed off as realization hit her.

"Azara?" Zuko called after a moment. Azara gathered her thoughts, blinking a few times.

"This was never about the stupid flowers," Azara realized, getting to her feet.

"What are you talking about?"

"My vision, it wasn't about the flowers. It was about Mom," Azara explained, dusting herself off.

"Why would the Sun Spirit want you to talk about Mom?"

"She said I had to work through my inner conflict about my family. I worked through it with Ozai, and Azula, and you . . . but I couldn't work past it with Mom." Azara walked around their camp, moving to gather more twigs and wood for the fire. "Step back," she warned Zuko, holding her hands over the fire, and forcing it to burn hotter.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed, backing up a few steps.

"What I should have done weeks ago." Azara took a step back from the fire before turning to Zuko for a moment. "Don't interrupt me."

Azara began her firebending set. Moving around the fire methodically, she gathered the heat from the fire. Zuko watched, eyes wide, as Azara circled around the fire. She stopped in her original position before beginning her push and pull move with the collected heat.

"Azara, you scared me!"

She could feel the blockage, her body and mind telling her that the memory was painful. But Azara pushed forward. She refused to give up now. She needed to push forward. She needed to move on. She needed to move past it.

"Azara, why would you do that?"

Sweat started to trickle down her brow, but Azara maintained her position. She gritted her teeth together, bringing her arms around in a circle again.

"What is wrong with that child?"

This was it. The moment of truth. Releasing a shaky breath, Azara could feel her arms trembling as she fought against her body and her mind. She paused for a moment, gathering her bearings, before pushing through. She could feel her inner fire grow stronger as she rotated her arms around.

"Zuko, where's Mom?"

She tensed again for a moment, but Azara was more determined than ever to push through this. Her inner fire grew more and more as she maintained her concentration and moved forward with her memories surrounding her mother.

"Azara, honey, everything your father says isn't true."

Azara released a shaky breath but continued with the movement.

"You and your siblings need to get along, dear. You're family."

Azara pulled her arms in, pushing through to the final memory. Her inner fire grew stronger with every inch that her arms moved.

"I love you, Azara."

Before she could move to release a cleansing fire blast, a new vision suddenly hit her.

She quickly recognized the setting as her childhood bedroom. Azara could see herself, still a baby-faced nine-year-old sound asleep in bed. The door opened silently, a figure walking forward. Pulling their hood off, Ursa revealed herself.

"Mom," Azara breathed out as she watched the vision move forward.

Ursa walked carefully over to the bed, kneeling in front of Azara's sleeping form. Tears were dribbling down her cheeks as she carefully brushed some hair from Azara's forehead. Ursa leaned over, pressing a kiss to Azara's forehead before lowering her own to rest against her daughter's.

"I love you, Azara. I love you so much," Ursa spoke before getting back to her feet. With one last longing glance at her youngest child, Ursa pulled her hood over her head, and turned towards the door once more.

Azara finally released a cleansing blast of flames, the white light filling the clearing. She could feel the power, the energy, the fire flowing through her veins. Zuko stepped back, amazed at the power of the blast. Azara straightened up, staring at her hands for a moment, before turning to Zuko, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Are you alright? What did you do?" Zuko asked, running over with a concerned expression.

"I did it," Azara explained, a small smile gracing her lips. "I unlocked my inner fire."

"That's . . . good, right?"

"Yeah, Zuzu, it's good," Azara chuckled before pulling him into a hug. "It's really good."

She knew that one little memory was not enough to erase all the years of anger and resentment that she had felt towards her mother. And she definitely knew that she still had a thousand questions for her mother, wherever she was. But it was a start. She was tired of feeling angry. She was ready to heal. With or without her mother there.

Azara frowned suddenly as she felt something like a heartbeat coming off of Zuko. But it wasn't his heartbeat, Azara knew. It didn't sound, didn't feel like the normal thump of a chest. No, it felt stronger. Like a ball of pure energy. A ball of pure energy that acted as the center of the greater network of energy running through Zuko's veins. Straightening up, she studied Zuko curiously for a moment.

"What? What is it?"

"Hold on, let me test something," Azara replied. She placed one thumb in the middle of Zuko's forehead and the other on his chest as Uzume had done with her. Closing her eyes for a moment, Azara took a deep breath.

"What are you—"

"—Shh, shut up. I'm concentrating."

"What?"

"Shh!" Azara hissed before focusing on her concentration again.

Releasing a breath, Azara reached out with her inner fire. She could feel the ball of energy within Zuko—his own inner fire, she realized. Taking another deep breath, Azara pushed forward. Slowly, but surely, she could map out the flow of energy—Zuko's chi paths—starting with his inner fire and moving outwards using the same technique that she herself had used.

"I can sense . . . your chi," Azara gasped, releasing her hold on Zuko.

"That's ridiculous. You can't sense chi," Zuko insisted as Azara shot him a look.

"I know what I felt," Azara huffed, thinking back to her own process of healing herself. She realized now that she was simply clearing, cleansing, her chi paths with her inner fire. Her eyes widened as she came up with a new idea, thinking back to her talks with Ty Lee. Zuko continued to argue from beside her.

"Firebenders can't—OW!" Zuko yelped as Azara pinched a nerve on his arm, effectively chi blocking him. Zuko pulled away from his sister, rubbing where she had pinched him. "What the fuck was that for!?"

"Try firebending," Azara stated nonchalantly, ignoring his anger.

Zuko rolled his eyes before holding out his hand. However, when a flame did not appear from the palm of his hand, his eyes went wide. "What the!? How did you—"

"—You didn't believe me," Azara reminded him, studying his arm with curiosity.

"Fix it! Now!" Zuko demanded. Azara rolled her eyes at her brother.

"Calm down, Zuzu. It'll wear off quickly. I didn't even hit you that hard. But let me try . . ." Azara trailed off, placing her hands in the same position as she had before.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, before pushing out with her inner fire. She once again started with Zuko's inner fire, before slowly moving down to his arm, where she had chi blocked him before. Reaching the blockage, Azara frowned and pushed forward with her inner fire. It took a few moments, but she could feel herself pushing Zuko's chi down the path, until the blockage finally cleared.

Azara opened her eyes once she felt the blockage clear, lowering her hands back to her sides. "How did that feel?"

"That felt . . . weird," Zuko murmured, rubbing his arm.

"Try firebending again."

Though he scoffed at her demand, Zuko help up his hand anyways. And gaped in surprise once he was suddenly able to firebend again. Azara's eyes widened in shock, before a wide smile overcame her face. She did it—she healed his chi path.

"You're kind of freaky, Azara. You know that, right?" Zuko told his sister, shooting her a look.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Azara spoke with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest. "Guess healing can mean a lot of different things."

"So, you . . . healed me? How?"

"I could sense all of your inner energy. Your chi, your inner fire. And I could bend it, force it through a blockage. I could cleanse your chi path," Azara explained, though she sounded like she was mostly talking to herself.

Zuko raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Whatever. Just don't do that to me ever again."

"Maybe if you're not annoying, I won't," Azara offered with a small smirk.

Zuko flexed his arm a few times before he was satisfied that his bending was completely intact. About to suggest that they head home, Zuko noticed the bag of discarded flowers left on the ground. Walking over to pick them up, he handed them off to Azara.

"Well, what are we going to do with the flowers?" Zuko asked. Azara paused, glancing down at the bag for a moment, before turning back to Zuko.

"I think I have an idea."

As the sun started to set behind them, Azara and Zuko walked down the path from the village to a small adjacent graveyard. Passing by markers of various sizes and shapes, they finally stopped in front of one marked 'Rina'. Their maternal grandmother. Her marker was clearly worn with time, though with some careful firebending, Azara cleared the debris from the stone.

She and Zuko read the marker, before turning to the adjacent one, which was referenced by Rina's description. The adjacent marker was in a similar state to Rina's, so Azara cleared it off as well. The grave belonged to a man named Jinzuk, their maternal grandfather.

Working together, Azara and Zuko cleaned up the rest of their grandparent's grave site. Once they were done, Azara pulled out the flowers from the bag. Sharing a look with Zuko, they each took and placed a bundle of flowers in front of the markers, one for Rina and one for Jinzuk.

"I wish we could have met you," Zuko started as he kneeled beside his sister. "Or even learned about you from our mother, your daughter, before she was banished. We know that you cared a lot about her and we're sorry that you probably never got to see her again before you passed on."

"But we hope that you're both at peace," Azara added, sharing a look with Zuko. "And that maybe . . . you can bring peace to your daughter, our mother . . . wherever she is."

Azara and Zuko bowed their heads, silently reciting a quiet traditional Fire Nation prayer, before getting up and leaving the graveyard. As they passed by the Hira'a sign in front of the village again, they both paused, caught up in their own thoughts for a moment.

"You really think we'll see her again? One day?" Azara asked Zuko, who nodded firmly.

"I know we will."

A.N. So, since I threw a thousand things at you guys again, here's another behemoth of an author's note to explain everything that happened again and why I did what I did that you can totally skip if you don't care.

About Azara's relationship with her mother:

I tried to emphasize that Azara does NOT completely forgive her mother. Because I hate it when years of resentment and anger are just swept under the rug after five seconds of hugs and tears.

However, Azara doesn't hate her mother and she's more open to forgiving her in the future. She understands better where her mother was coming from and recognizes that Ozai is the center of most of their family problems.

BUT Azara still has some anger and resentment left over. She was still a child, and she was still hurt by her mother's actions, so forgive is the wrong word.

Azara has essentially made her peace with the relationship—she's willing to move forward

I tried to really walk the line with this chapter since Azara needed to make her peace with the situation to unlock her powers, but I also didn't want to just negate all of the anger and resentment that she felt over the course of her life. So, it's kind of like she understands better why her mother did certain things, but she was still a kid, and she was still hurt by a lot of her mother's decisions—so she understands but also has every right to have anger and resentment for what happened.

There's a lot of trailing off in the exchanges between Zuko and Azara because stylistically I was trying to communicate that there's a lot of conflict and they're really struggling to process these things. So, they struggle with complete sentences because they haven't completely thought through everything yet. Sorry if that was annoying to read.

An original draft of this chapter involved Zuko and Azara meeting Noren and Kiyi (though not knowing who they actually are) but I decided to scrap that idea because frankly I don't know if I can commit to The Search Comics storyline for Ursa post-banishment. Cause I don't want to hurt the fire babies right now after all the other stuff they went through. So, I think I'll just leave it open ended like the original creators for now.

Just a little insight into Azara's newfound abilities (Chibending?):

It's not actually energybending because I don't want to overpower firebending or Azara, so energybending is strictly for the Avatar. Azara is NOT able to take people's bending away or bend spirit vines. She's able to sense people's chi paths and cleanse/heal them with her own inner fire if need be. It's a step down from Avatar energybending.

What is it based on?  

Fire, in its purest form, is energy. And chi is essentially internal energy. I also based it around some ideas from that LOK scene with the fire priestess, firebenders referenced as having 'inner flames' (mini suns or heartbeats), and the lion turtles.

My rationalization for its existence (which is completely up for debate, but I'm just sharing my ideas and thought process to clarify what's going on in the story):

The ATLA world is founded on the principle of balance—and the best example is in the balancing of the four elements, primarily through the Avatar.

Fire and water are opposite elements, and as such, should be balanced against each other (have equal strength). And although the Fire Nation is winning the war, water as an element seems much stronger in canon than firebending (bloodbending, healing, etc.). And I know that combustion bending is super powerful, but it seems more like an ability that you're born with and not something an exceptionally powerful bender could pick up no matter how hard they try, which kind of puts it in a separate category in my mind

Firebending lacks the versatility in its sub-styles that waterbending has (particularly as they added spirit healing to waterbending in LOK and really overpowered bloodbending in my own opinion. Idk that Yakone trial scene just really frustrates me for some reason). And firebending also seems to lack a highly spiritual sub-style as well. Especially since lightning became so mainstream in LOK, so it lost a bunch of its spiritual/high-level significance.

So, in a way, fire is the weakest element because it lacks the versatility and spirituality that the other elements have. Ironic that they're winning the war.

Chibending is my response to the weaknesses found in firebending

I also personally headcanonized that chibending was a lost art among firebenders (that originally sparked chiblocking as a nonbender technique since Ty Lee was the first chi blocker we met and she's from the Fire Nation) because the Fire Nation cut off their spiritual roots with their element (see The Firebending Masters)

I also thought it would be cool for firebending to 'heal' one of the few things that waterbending can't—chi blocks

Anyway, so yeah, I've now developed two new subsets for firebending mostly because I felt that there was more potential there with firebending than we were given in canon. Still completely love the series and the main creators are my heroes, don't get me wrong. I'm just building off of what they gave us. 

Chibending is not a fully fleshed-out idea without its weaknesses, but I always found it odd how lacking firebending was in sub-styles, particularly as water and earth just kept adding them with every season/comic/installment. And it's not like there was a lack of powerful firebending characters in canon.

Anyway, please excuse my rambles. I have no one else to share them with, so they come out here in ridiculously long and unmanagable author's notes. 

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting! Ember Island Players is next, and I'm hoping you guys will like it. Might be kind of crack-ish, but oh well.