Chapter Text
The Fire Nation was a lovely place, a chain of islands where every day was sunny and a rainbow followed every rainstorm. It was a paradise of the world's best designs, with the warmth of the populace and its peoples and cultures assuring that there was never a cloudy day. The entire world knew of the beauty and abundance of the Fire Nation, ruled by the generous hand of the royal family.
"Your highness, the birth was a success..."
Yet little probably realized the Fire Nation could also be a lonely place.
"The baby is a boy."
Ursa had always seen the Fire Nation, the royal family, as lonely, but lately, it seemed slightly warmer. It appeared less lonely in this palace of ivory towers and hushed horrors hidden behind locked doors.
"He seems to be healthy."
Her pregnancy had offered her a chance; she had finally found something that might make her feel less alone in this cold palace of fire. She finally found something that might make her forget being torn from her home and forced to marry the Firelord's second son, leaving her family and lover behind her to serve her nation.
"Although he is smaller than expected-"
"Let me..."
Urea's voice was hoarse and tired after giving birth, but she had to try. She had to try and fight her utter exhaustion from childbirth and raise her sweat-laced hand towards the Fire Palace doctor holding her crying child, "Let me... hold him..."
Ursa had to hold her child as soon as possible.
"Please..."
Ursa's child, her baby boy, was alive.
"Let me name him."
Ursa had to hold her baby and tell him he wasn't alone in this palace. She would be there and never leave him alone like she had been abandoned. She would whisper sweet lullabies in his ears and thank the spirits for his birth because she had been alone and was now free.
"Let me see him."
Even with the murmur of disapproval from the nearby priests and the frown on the palace doctor's face, she held her hands gently outstretched. Her eyes were firm even as her body struggled to stay awake after labor, sweat lining her body as she spoke with more conviction than the words spoken prior.
"Let me hold my child."
Ursa would not be denied the right she held as a mother. Her voice was laced with the authority she held as a member of the royal family, and it trampled the hesitancy of the doctors who helped ensure her birth ran smoothly.
"Now."
A slight murmuring flew between the physicians and court doctors, but a few seconds later, her freshly cleaned baby was in her hands, and she could see the slightest twitch of its nose and hear the sound of its cries.
"Hello, little one..."
Ursa's baby was tiny, but he had some lungs on him; crying was healthy for babies, and hers was doing a lot of it and only stalling when she started to cradle him in her arms and rock him back and forth, murmuring the sweet lullabies of her village until her baby had stopped crying and looked at her with wide golden eyes.
"There, there..."
Ursa decided then and there that there could never be anything as precious as a child.
"My baby boy..."
Ursa decided she would live her life for this one beautiful baby boy in her arms who had taken up her whole heart just for being born.
"My little Zuko."
Ursa, like the world, had gotten a little brighter-
"All hail the Second Prince Ozai, son of Fire Lord Azulon!"
Then, just like that, it crumbled, her eyes frozen in fear as the doctors and sages bowed, and a cruel man with long black hair and narrow eyes stepped into the room and instantly commanded everyone's attention. His royal robes glinted in the morning sunlight that slipped through the windows of the palace as he turned his gaze towards Ursa, who had lowered her head just as the others did to offer her greetings, "Hello Ozai, have you come to see-"
"Is it a boy?"
Ursa flinched at the uncaring tone, hiding her clenched fists beneath the covers as she nodded, looking up to see Ozai giving a slight nod before walking over and holding out his hand the same way one would ask for a product they had just bought at the one do the market stalls.
"Let me see."
Ursa subtly ground her teeth, making sure her face was clean of emotion as she nodded before handing over her baby with gentle hands. She watched with a hidden worry as her husband took her baby in a single hand and looked at it with a tilted head and an analytical murmur.
"He's small..."
The seconds passed before Ozai's expression became tinted with the smallest frowns and an icy tone.
"And he has no spark."
To Ursa, it was like a hammer had struck her. Her eyes were wide as she tried to keep the growing panic out of her voice and convey an expression of blatant indifference: "He is just a late bloomer."
"Do not lie, Ursa!" Ozai roared, scaring the nearby doctors and sages as the torches in the room flared in response. His eyes were narrowed in anger as he watched Ursa's indifferent mask crumble and panic etched into her eyes, "I am not; in time he'll-"
"In time, he'll become as useless as his mother," Ozai said with a disdainful scowl, and a flash of panic crossed Ursa's face before she could think to bury it. She watched helplessly as her husband turned and started walking to the nearby window, open to give fresh air to the room drenched with sweat and blood from childbirth. Ozai's words ringing in her ears, "Late bloomers are just hopeful lies told to worthless children, and I will not waste my time raising a worthless heir!"
They were on the second floor. Ursa felt her stomach drop at the thought.
"Ozai, wait! Please don't! I'm begging you!"
Ursa's cries echoed through the room as she fell off the bed and crawled to her knees. The pain of childbirth faded from her mind as she saw Ozai pause in front of the window, turning back with a raised eyebrow as Ursa put her head to the ground and begged with a shaky voice.
"Please do not rush; the sages will tell you that his chances of being a late bloomer are high. And even if..."
Ursa's breath hitched at the thought, her trembling eyes closed as she gulped and let the sick words pass her lips, "Even if he is a non-bender, we can have another child."
The thought of having another child with this monster shook her to her core.
"Zuko would love to have a little sibling to play with."
Yet she held fast, and her offer echoed through the quiet room as she kept her head to the ground. Listening to the small him that left Ozai's lips as he considered her offer, his next words no longer directed at her but instead at his head doctor: "Is what she says true?"
Ursa looked up, watching the doctor glance at her wearily before turning back to Ozai and saying, with the slightest tremor in his old voice, "It is true. With your blood in his veins, the chances of him not being a bender are small."
Ursa watched helplessly. The doctor gulped as Ozai's eyes narrowed on him, collecting his wits as he gave a logical and rational explanation for the baby's condition: "The boy is small for a babe. Once his body grows, it is likely his bending will follow."
Ursa prayed to Agni, "Was it enough? It should be enough. Please be enough."
A late bloomer. It was a logical explanation, if not a slight reach, but the doctor's words didn't alleviate the Second Prince of the Fire Nation. Ursa could tell. Ozai's eyes were narrowed in distaste as he turned back to his son, scanning the small boy in his hand who had started crying.
Please don't take my baby boy...
Ursa cried, her eyes wide as she saw the frown on Ozai's face. His eyes flicked towards her as he seemed to mull it over. Ursa gulped, the faintest hint of hope creeping into her gut as she watched his cruel smirk become cocky. Cocky meant arrogant. Arrogant meant appeased.
"What did you say, Ursa? You will have another child."
If appeased meant her child could live, she would gladly suffer through it.
"I will."
Ursa said with a flat response, her eyes never leaving her child as she watched Ozai seamlessly move it inches away from the window. Ursa's eyes were too focused on her baby to realize the cruelty of the words that left Ozai's lips until it was too late.
"Then if the child survives..."
Ursa's eyes went wide with horror as she wretched forwards. Her body crumbled as it fought against its utter exhaustion to try and reach Ozai, who had moved his hand back towards the window and held the baby, her baby, out of it with a lax grip.
"You can keep it."
Ursa was sure the unholy shriek that left her lips once gravity had her baby in its grasp could be heard throughout the palace.
It was ten minutes before the doctors could get back into her room, nine minutes after Ozai left after having claimed he had dealt with enough of her 'incessant screeching.'
Please...
It was ten minutes...
Please let my baby be alright.
Ten minutes of utter torture.
Please Agni...
Ten minutes that felt like an eternity.
Please don't-
"Your majesty, the servants have found the baby," a stray sage informed Ursa, pulling her out of her prayers as she turned with frantic and wide eyes. The sage shrank under the painful hope that littered Lady Ursa's eyes as he walked out of the way so a servant could bring the baby inside.
"We are sorry, he won't live long. He would have died instantly if he hadn't landed in a patch of Fire Lillies... you... you should say your goodbyes."
The dying baby.
"No..."
Ursa said with a shaky breath as she watched a palace servant walk in with a bundle of bloody cloth in her hands. The waiting lady held back her tears as she handed Ursa her baby and watched as the mother broke down in agonizing sobs.
"My b- baby..."
Ursa's wretched cries wracked her body as she grasped her baby boy close to her chest, her ragged breaths filling the room as she prayed in a fit of hysterical despair. She was holding her baby close. She tried to feel his breathing, which was getting quieter with each passing second. Like the air in its lungs was taking its time until it left indefinitely.
Please...
Ursa prayed and prayed in a fit of broken sobs as she held her baby.
Please Agni...
Ursa prayed to the spirit of the sun to save her child.
Please save my baby boy...
Ursa prayed and prayed for what felt like an eternity. Her shaky breaths and trembling hands froze as she felt a warm sensation crawl through the air and heard the watching eyes gasp. Ultear's eyes, drawn red from tears, opened to see a golden light peeking through the windows, shining in her baby boy like a bright blessing.
Please Agni...
Ursa watched with wide eyes, barely able to keep herself from fainting with relief as she saw the bloodied baby boy in her arms shine. The bloody cut over his left eye was sealed shut as the golden light touched it and left a golden tattoo, reminiscent of a golden flower with the sun's curling rays, over the side of his face. The miraculous light fading as murmurs flooded the room.
"It's Agni..."
"Someone get the Fire lord..."
"A blessing of Agni..."
"It's a miracle..."
"Agni has blessed the royal family..."
Ursa ignored the frantic gossip of the sages and the palace staff. Her eyes never left her baby boy, whose little eyes peeked open, blinking up at her with a slight giggle. As bright as the sun's rays, if not brighter, she shone a light on her dreary life in the palace with a gummy smile.
"Thank you, Agni."
Ursa murmured her heartfelt thanks as she reached out a shaky finger, an exhausted smile etched on her face as her baby grabbed it.
"Say thank you too, Zuko..."
Ursa smiled for the first time since she had been taken to the palace as she held her curious baby, her little miracle, in her trembling arms. A grateful son escaped her lips as she watched with a tearful smile and relieved breath as the cute little thing tried to eat her pinkie finger.
"Agni has blessed you."
Ursa would have endured a thousand hardships in this cold palace to see that little smile.