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From the birth room's bed hidden from view of the large crowd below the room's balcony, the tired and sweaty woman could hear the announcement being made a few balconies over of the arrival of the new Fire Nation princess, Azula. Ursa smiled with contentment as she held the small child to her chest, the joyful cries of the people below faded to the background as she pulled the soft red blanket with gold trimmings over her daughter’s tiny body, before tenderly cupped her child's head, smoothing over her dark hairs as she slept.
Again, Ursa was in awe of the beauty and joy of having a child. The horror of the Monster who fathered them was another story and one she didn't, and couldn't imagine holding against on the precious gifts she calls her own. No, her children is the only real happiness she would ever get in this hole of her life as the wife of the prince of the Fire Nation.
The midwifes had left her and her baby a while ago to give them some time to rest, leaving the room mute all except for the soft breathing of the baby girl filling her mother's ears. "My precious Azula, I love you." Ursa whispers, her heart flooding with the emotion for the little girl in her arms. “How touching, Ursa, why don’t I get this adoration from you?”
Ursa’s happy and peaceful world of her and her newborn’s flew away from her as she stiffened, enclosing her shoulders and body mechanically around her naïveté infant from the cold, heartless man whom she would grow up to know as her father. “What do you want, Ozai?” she required coldly, and instantly feared the outcome of her manner. And she soon regretted it though she wishes she didn’t have to feel that way. He strode wordlessly towards her till he stood over her, his eyes filled with fury never once straying from her face. “Don’t think you can speak uncivilly to me just because you have provided another child to my name!” he whispered coarsely, his face only inches from her face where she could feel his hot breath and hear the detestation in every symbol of his words.
Every part of her feared him and his power, and she hates having to live with the feeling everyday since she came to live in the palace. But when he used those she cares about in an inhumanly cruel way, she can’t be silence.
“This child is your daughter! Not a pawn!” she is nearly hissing, her anger controlling her tone while also trying not to wake Azula. “But you will not ever understand that, will you? You still haven’t looked at Zuko with that understanding!”
“he can’t even firebend! A firstborn and of the royal family, he’s a disgrace to me!” he snarls at her.
“He’s only a year old, you haven’t given him much time!”
“He haven’t got much time.” He muttered with a smile. She was ready with a informative comeback when she felt Azula squirm in her arms, most likely due to the argument above her, she concluded, before the little girl erupt with a loud holler. Ursa immediately begins to tend to the infant and began readying herself for Ozai’s uncaring comments about Azula’s crying when she was abruptly taken from her arms.
Ursa’s heart skipped two beats. “Ozai, please!” she begged, fear gripping at her tightly. But Ozai paid her no heed. Standing besides the bed holding a wailing Azula arm length away from him, his eyes began searching with an obscured undertaking at her baby’s face. Her baby. “Ozai, please-”
“Ursa!” he bites at her eyes ablaze as he finally takes his eyes off her daughter’s face. Slowly, his eyes gleamed and an almost affectionate smile appeared upon his face and he brings the baby into his arms for the first time since her birth. Ursa felt emotionally and physically sick as her and the motherly fear grew as she watches as Ozai continues to hold Azula.
“she has it.” He whispers roughly.
“what?” she questions with a shaky voice, honest confusion and fear of his answer lacing her tone.
Ozai looks at her with a frosty smile and she is afraid. “she’s a firebender,” he pronounces gleefully. “It’s in her eyes.” With the newborn still crying, he begins to moves slightly towards her and she instantaneously reaches for her baby. He pulls her out of her grasp. He chuckles at her before finally letting her have the baby in her arms. She makes a tight hold, whispering sweet endearments and rocking her back and forth, quickly quieting the girl, ignoring the man she despises besides her. “this one is mine, Ursa.” He promised throatily before he left the room.
A tear escaped as she checked the baby over for any rough handlings, and once she was sure there was none, she laid back with the infant on her chest, stroking her tiny back in comfort. For whom she was comforting, it was not only for her child. Another tear fell. “I love you so much.” She choked, “I will always love you, Azula. Please, don’t let me lose you.” She could feel the slow peaceful breathing of being asleep from the small life on top of her and she held her a little closer to her. “you and Zuko are all I have. And in the long run, we are all you have too.” Ursa felt asleep that night weary from crying and heart filled with fear for the life that had just begun.