Ursa didn’t have long to gather her thoughts together… she looked ahead as she heard footsteps echo through the hallway. She saw the elite guards from earlier on running towards her. Doing all she could manage to conceal her shock, she broke away from the doorway and walked towards them, stopping as they did.

“We heard the Fire Lord coughing! It didn’t sound good… What happened?” the first guard asked, sounding mildly suspicious. He then frowned, narrowing his eyes while studying her. “Why are you shaking?”

Ursa gripped her left hand with her right, as though it might help cease her shaking. “I-“

“What’s the matter with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…” the second guard continued.

“Thankfully, the spirits have spared me of a haunting… so far.” “Oh, it’s nothing awful… The Fire Lord was just having a… spluttering fit of sorts. He is fast asleep and well now…” Ursa held her right hand to her temple. “However, I do not feel so well myself…”

The guards looked at each other. Ursa concealed a frown. These guards were beginning to annoy her… It was their sole duty to be sure that the members of the royal family are kept safe from harm; as such they were more interrogative than most guards. She could not afford to be discovered now…

“I dunno… It sounded pretty bad to me.” The second guard said in an inquisitive tone.

Ursa knew they felt suspicious; this would not end well… “Honestly, it-it’s-”

“I’m going to have a look…” the first guard announced in an authoritative, yet edgy tone of voice. He swept past her and entered Azulon’s bedchamber, closing the door behind him.

Ursa tried not to let her guilt or panic show. She looked to the second guard with a calm expression; he was watching her like a hawk… He frowned around a second after she had turned to look at him, with this she responded with a frown of her own. “… Wait a minute…” the guard whispered roughly.

The second guard was interrupted as the doors burst open. Both he and Ursa almost leapt out of their skins and spun around to look at the first guard. His eyes were slightly wide and his lips slightly parted. “Hi-His pulse… The Fire Lord… he’s dead!!”

The second guard looked back at Ursa, wearing a strange expression of awe. It took Ursa a moment to notice that she was not responding accordingly to the situation... The two guards were both looking at her now, each wearing a frown and drawing closer… She was giving herself away! What would she do? Did she have the time with which to do it? … Did she need to think about what to do, wasn’t it obvious?

The second guard grabbed her roughly by the arm. “You’re no servant, are you?” he muttered in that same rough whisper.

Ursa responded the only way she could think. She ducked to the ground and tripped the man over, causing him to let go of her in shock.

“Hey!” the first guard yelled out. Watching Ursa sprint away, he took a stance and aimed carefully, releasing a fireball from his fist.

Quickly dodging to the side, Ursa spun around a corner and ran down the hallway. She could hear the guard’s hurried footsteps and the words “Murder, murder, alert Prince Ozai!” echo around her.

Princess Azula woke up from the end of her bed with a start. She heard footsteps pass by her doorway… She scrambled off her bed and opened the door to her quarters slightly, peering out into the hallway. She saw two guards running around a corner and two, maybe three sets of footsteps approaching from the opposite corner. Slipping out of the doorway and closing it behind her, she ran behind a nearby pillar and peered around it slightly upon hearing voices to try and catch some of the conversation.

“I just don’t believe it…” said the deep voice of what sounded like a bodyguard.

“You’re not the only one…” replied a softer, more solemn voice from an armoured guard.

“Do you really think it was the servant girl Delun mentioned?”

“Has to be… The fact that she ran from the scene of the crime like that is enough evidence, if you ask me…”

“I dunno… I mean no disrespect, but the Fire Lord’s pretty old. He probably died just a while after she entered the room and the poor thing ran for her life… I mean, they didn’t uncover any evidence of murder, did they?”

“Not one scratch… If you ask me, though, something smells fishy… All the storage crypt servants have been gathered together, they’re all present and Gen-Dai and Delun haven’t identified her.”

Their footsteps began drawing closer to Azula as the two men walked down the hallway. “Even if she is guilty of the offence, she’ll be long gone by now…”

“… Although…” Both sets of footsteps stopped, Azula turned to see the smaller of the two men turn to face the taller. “Gen-Dai told me to keep this a secret; so if I tell you don’t tell a soul, or it could be off with all three of our heads…”

A deep, booming chuckle came from the bodyguard. “All o’ Gen-Dai’s ‘secrets’ end up turning into palace gossip… But I’m curious, so I’ll keep it a sworn secret.”

There was a pause. “Well… Gen-Dai thinks the servant girl looked a lot like Princess Ursa…”

Azula frowned and peered around a little more. The bodyguard’s mask was in his left hand, he was looking to his partner in shock. He then burst out laughing. “Princess Ursa? That’s a good one! She wouldn’t hurt a fly. Why, I remember years back when she brought that poor liger cub in from the outskirts and went to the Fire Lord to ask if she could keep it. She was a good girl… better than most, in fact.”

“I wouldn’t put it past us, though… Remember that commotion between the Fire Lord and Prince Ozai earlier on?”

The bodyguard responded with a nod.

“Word’s been going ‘round that Ozai’s been giving suspicious orders against his wife to stop her from leaving the palace with the young Prince Zuko and Princess Azula…”

The bodyguard gave a sceptical moan. “Probably just rumours… If they were true, we’d be given the orders as well, wouldn’t we?”

The guard sighed. “Yeah… suppose we would…”

Azula almost sneered as she watched the guards turn a corner. How incompetent they were… A huge game of treason was being played from literally right behind their backs. Being as chatty as they were, what did they honestly expect? Azula walked out from behind the pillar, keeping her ears sharp for any noise, and headed towards her grandfather’s bedchamber.

Ursa draped a travelling cloak around her shoulders. She had quickly changed back into her royal clothing after the elite guards had, thankfully, mistaken her footsteps for other fleeing servants and had stopped to question them. She decided it best to leave no trace of evidence in case she was still void of any accusation; as such she had managed to dispose of the poison vial and the servant’s clothes, she had decided to keep the dagger and the deed to the Fire Nation throne hidden well inside her robes.

However; even if the guards might now be relentlessly chasing her she would not leave without Zuko and Azula, which brought her to her next mission… Ursa pulled the hood of the cloak over her head and slipped quietly and unnoticed out of the servant’s quarters.

After walking a small distance towards the bedchambers, she walked down a shadowed, deserted hallway which was dimly lit in the centre by the moon shining through small crevices in the ceiling. She heard footsteps, and two voices in conversation… She recognised them as the two elite guards from earlier on. Were they unaware that she was here, or… did they know? As Ursa began to back into the wall, she noticed that they mysteriously stopped talking and walking to the sounds of two loud cracks, one sounding not too long after the other. She saw the guards fall dead to the floor, their eyes wide with shock.

As Ursa let out a sharp intake of breath and made to run away in panic, she was suddenly hauled into a dark corner by the torso and a warm hand covered her mouth, stifling her screams. Ursa began to struggle and fight against whoever was holding her, but to no apparent avail. Fear ran through her mind; fear for Zuko’s life, maybe Azula’s? Fear of capture, execution, her life… Just before she could think to firebend; a cold, familiar voice whispered into her left ear and shocked her into standing still. “Keep your mouth shut and stop moving!”

The doors to Fire Lord Azulon’s bedchamber creaked open and shut. His granddaughter scampered over to his bed and looked at him. Sitting down on the bed, she lifted her grandfather’s arm slightly; then let it drop back onto the bed. She frowned at him, as though contemplating whether she should be upset or not… She then jumped out of her skin as the doors creaked open again.

Two guards had entered the room, their eyes widened when they saw Azula. The one to her left-hand side spoke up after a few seconds of silence: “Princess Azula! … What are you doing in your grandfather’s bedchamber?”

Azula did what came naturally and her shocked expression changed to one of fear and distress. “I… I heard noises outside… I got scared… They said grandfather Azulon had been killed… I-I couldn’t believe it…” she looked down at the floor, then back up at the guards.

The guards both looked at each other; one wore an expression of pity while the other wore a deadpan, almost sceptical expression… “… I-It’s nothing, princess. You can go back to sleep now…”

Azula didn’t move. “Where are mother and father? I looked in their rooms on the way here; they’re gone…”

The guards frowned, however Azula thought could sense the falseness in their expressions by that fact that the guard wearing the expression of pity was shifting a little; the guard to her left-hand side, the one wearing the sceptical expression, spoke up: “Are you sure…?” he said in a voice of fake uncertainty, he looked to the other guard and took off his helmet, quirking a brow. “Busy, do you think?”

The other guard whacked his partner around the head and hissed: “Don’t speak of such things in front of the princess-!!”

Azula cut in. “Are you fools going to tell me where my parents are or not?” she said in a monotone.

The sceptical guard turned to Azula and stood rigidly. “We don’t know, princess…” Azula had to give him credit for how sincere he sounded then, but she still wasn’t buying it…

Azula raised her eyebrows just before the other guard asked, “Have you asked Prince Zuko?”

“My brother is sleeping…” she then sighed and walked towards them. “Oh well; if you won’t tell me. I guess I’ll just go back to bed…”

“Good idea, princess. You need sleep. I should think you’ll find your parents tomorrow…” the sceptical guard said, sounding a tad more at ease.

Azula walked past them, smirking as soon as her face was out of their sight. She reached the same pillar she hid behind earlier on and rushed behind it when the guards walked off and another four rushed by from the opposite corner. Her grandfather, the monarch of the land, had been murdered; and her mother was a suspect… And she would not pass up an opportunity to boast about it all to her brother in the morning.

Ursa held her breath as three guards walked down the shadowed hallway. They approached the two dead guards, only noticing them upon approaching the end of the hallway. They both spoke in whispered panic to each other before rushing away around the opposite corner.

“The deed?”

Ursa jumped, she had forgotten about her husband’s deathly-quiet presence behind her. Not turning to face him and not giving him a reply, she began to consider her options.

“The deed?” Ozai repeated, his voice lost a hint of patience that second time he said it…

Ursa took the deed from out of her robes and handed it to him. There was no point in keeping it… What’s done is done, and who knows what Ozai would do if she left the palace with it? He would certainly never allow his brother to claim the throne…

Ozai stepped out into the irradiated centre of the hallway, looking hungrily at the contract as he unrolled it. “The wonders of heat-sensitive ink… The only useful present I ever did receive from my brother, really…” he re-rolled the contract and pocketed it. Ursa thought, with a hint of relief, he would then walk away.

All too easy…

Yet… he just stood there, his back to her… Ursa walked away slowly. In a split second, Ozai grabbed her wrist and yanked her in front of him. “Don’t you want to see the children before you go?” those words sounded strangely subtle…

“Yes… I would like to say goodbye to them.” She waited for Ozai to release her wrist, he did not…

“May I please-?” she gasped as Ozai abruptly snatched her other wrist with his other hand.

Ozai raised his eyebrows. “How do I know you can be trusted?”

Ursa frowned before looking him sharply in the eyes. Ozai responded with a wicked grin. “I heard everything…”

Ursa’s eyes widened. She had openly told Azulon of her intentions to take Zuko and Azula away… Why did she have to do that, even if she was ‘sure’ nobody would be listening in? “How could I have been so stupid?”

“… You listened in on your own father’s murder?” Ursa said, slightly disgusted.

Ozai laughed lightly. “You sound strangely concerned, my wife, being the murderer…” Ursa scowled at that.

Ozai decided to spare a short explanation: “When I left you, I went straight to my father’s bedchamber. Curiously enough, he was not there… Neither were the elite guards, for that matter… I waited behind a corner. When I saw you enter, I listened in.”

“But…” Ursa frowned, “the elite guards…”

“Those fools, as sharp as their hearing may be, can not do their job properly… need I say more?” Ozai smirked towards them.

“… You’ve ordered them killed!” Ursa said in a shocked voice.

“Correct… All evidence must be destroyed. Isn’t that right?” he smiled warmly back at her. “Now, dear wife… I don’t recall ever permitting you to leave with the children…”

Ursa gave him a blank expression back. “My lord and husband, I don’t recall you ever ordering me against it…”

“I didn’t need to…” Ozai said lightly, Ursa frowned a little. “You swore to leave dutifully, as banishment instructs, if you would have to assassinate my father…”

“Your point? I have every right to take them away, Ozai…” but Ursa’s words sounded as weak as Ozai considered them.

“Come now…” Ozai smirked. “I think we both know you are wrong.”

“I will not leave until I have my children!” Ursa yelled at Ozai, struggling against his vice-like grip on her wrists. Ozai’s expression contorted when she set her hands alight.

“Listen to me!!” he yanked her closer to him, making her stand still again and extinguish the fire in her hands. “There are guards everywhere!” Ozai said viciously. “If they see you with Zuko, they will bring you both to me alive. I’ll kill him, right in front of your eyes.”

“And Azula…?” Ursa said, biting back an enraged response to his threat.

Ozai smirked maliciously, “Well, that’s out of the question…”

Ursa ignored the jest of that reply, keeping her mind focused on getting her children away from this monster… “And what if I manage to escape? With both Zuko and Azula?”

“What if Azula doesn’t want to go with you?” Ozai replied, sneering.

“… It’s for her own good.” Ursa said, momentarily uncertain.

“Or is it merely for your own good? Ursa, that is so selfish…” Ozai spoke patronisingly…

Ursa merely looked away. “Selfish… You would know the word, wouldn’t you Ozai?”

Ozai snarled; his head drawing closer to hers. “Maybe I should just burn them both!?”

Ursa swiftly faced him again, a look of horror on her face. “Ozai, no-!”

Ozai gave off a laugh. “Maybe now you have acknowledged who exactly is in power here! I will be the new Fire Lord in a matter of days; our marriage has been terminated and you are barely worth more than a useless peasant!”

Ursa gave him a bitter look, changing the subject. “And I suppose you planned to stop me from taking my children from the very beginning?”

Ozai suddenly appeared calmer, he looked away. “I have no choice… If you take them, they will be targeted. There are too many risks involved with taking them, some risks of which you are not aware of… They are safer here than with you…”

Ursa frowned, trying to face him… Oh, how she wished he would just let her go. Just what was going on in Ozai’s mind? He seemed sincere in what he had said, yet she could not bring herself to trust him…

Ozai closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I’ve known you for almost 20 years of your life, Ursa…”

Ursa suddenly felt enraged… how could she have considered trusting the man who was once her husband, the man who would murder his own children to get what he wants… so wrapped up in his own problems that he barely spared a concerned thought for anyone in his own family? She would not be played for a mindless, doting fool… She raised her eyebrows. “You mean you truly paid attention to me outside of my presence in your bed? This is surprising news to me…”

Ozai’s face then warped into a frightening expression, he turned and literally snarled his next words at Ursa. “Do as you wish! Get the children killed! Whatever happens, I am still the Fire Lord!!”

If Ozai was not still holding her wrists, Ursa would have attacked him at that very moment. She merely resorted to giving him the dirtiest look she could manage. His expression relaxed and he released his grip on her wrists, shoving her into the wall. “We’re finished…”

Ursa looked ahead as Ozai walked away, feeling slightly bewildered… Half from a small pang of guilt towards his sudden outburst and half from wondering how she could ever have loved that man… Needless to say, she felt a little conflicted. Whether she should or not, she somehow wasn’t sure after Ozai had said his last words…

“This fine gentleman will escort you out…” Ozai muttered, gesturing to the side as he walked down the corner of the corridor that was free of the two dead bodies.

Ursa frowned, all feelings of confliction momentarily forgotten. “What…?”

Loud, almost metallic-sounding footsteps caught her attention. They were approaching from the place Ozai had gestured to, the place where the two elite guards lay dead on the floor... The ‘gentleman’ Ozai had spoken of emerged from behind the wall and stood at the mouth of the hallway. Ursa drew back slightly, eyes wide.

The man was huge; he had to be around 7 feet tall! Accompanied by his formidable height, his appearance seemed none too friendly either… He possessed what looked like a tattoo on his forehead and a metallic right arm and leg. Ursa stared ahead at him and then, deciding to take her chances while he seemed to think that she would just come quietly, turned around and sprinted full-speed out of the moonlight and down the opposite end of the dark hallway.

J. Idanian: Hope this chapter answered your question! If not, don’t be afraid to say.

So, it took a little longer than expected… My apologies; I have my mock exams next week and school is, as usual, an absolute nightmare…

I was going to make this chapter twice as long as it is now to make it worth the wait, but this really did seem like an appropriate cliff-hanger closing.

Thanks for reading!

I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.