Unfinished Business

"Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return."
Leigh Bardugo

"Why are you here?" growled the former Fire Lord Ozai, his golden-yellow eyes illuminated by the dim light like a tiger trapped in a cage.

The prison in which Azula stood was not a welcoming place. But the look on her father's face made her want to leave more than any of the grimy walls or weak lamps.

She had never spoken to him after the war. Certainly not after she accepted the carrot of a high political position Zuko threw her after her so-called rehabilitation. At first, Azula was ashamed of her father and his failure. She did not want to even look at the sorry excuse of a man who turned out to not be a god like she once thought he was. His failings as potential Phoenix King disgusted a young Azula. But now Azula was ashamed of herself, and she was loath to acknowledge that now she was afraid he would be disgusted by her.

"I needed to talk to you," admitted Azula, trying not to look at the fallen man who once was invincible in her eyes.

Ozai gave a hollow laugh that made her feel cold and weak. "I thought perhaps you just took a wrong turn."

"I've avoided you. Yes. I will not deny that." She straightened up and focused on him at last.

Ozai remained in silence for some time before saying, "Perhaps I can't blame you. I can't imagine what you must think of me. A failure. A true and utter failure."

"I don't think that."

"Of course you do. I know you."

Azula huffed and clenched her fists. "I need something from you."

"Seeking closure like your brother?"

"No," said Azula, hanging her head ever so slightly. "Seeking advice."

"Advice?" He looked puzzled, a strange expression on a usually stoic face.

"Ty Lee's sister offered to be a surrogate for a child. I am still contemplating the offer."

"And you're afraid."

"I am not afraid. I am better than fear," insisted Azula, expression contorting into one of rage.

Ozai was not fazed by her fit. "I always wished you could see one key thing. Your greatest talent is not deceiving others; it is deceiving yourself."

"I am not afraid. I am reluctant. Because every single person I know has one deep critique of me. The only one I believe. The only one that cuts deep because I don't care who calls me the Crazy Princess or tells Ty Lee she's the crazy one for being with the insane girl. They all say there is far too much of you in me. That I am just like you."

Ozai cocked an eyebrow. "Does your little wife say that?"

"She says I do not want to be like you, but I am. She says that is why she married me." Azula almost laughs. Instead she sighs.

"She says she married you because you are like… me?" a perplexed Ozai inquires.

"Inexplicably."

"And that is why you came to me."

"No. I came to you because the only reason I do not want a child is because I do not want to raise him or her like you raised me."

Ozai scoffed and she shrunk, a child again under his mocking, cruel gaze. "I raised you as well as I knew how."

"Yes. And as well as I know how to raise a child is how you taught me to."

Ozai said rather simply, "That is the curse of our family. Our heirloom isn't a crown; it's pain. You ought to know that by now, princess."

"I suppose some people are just born with tragedy in their blood. And that tragedy could be losing the child. There are a lot of people who would use it as leverage, even kill it. It could be my child being a disappointment to me like Zuko was to you."

"Tragedy will only come to your child if you let it. Only if you let it."

Azula's molten eyes burned. "And so you take credit for the tragedy that has come to me?"

Ozai almost seamlessly changed the subject. He still had the charm of a Fire Lord even as a toothless beast locked in a cage. "You are strong enough to protect a child. I trained you well."

"That I will admit," said Azula. "And if she turns out to be… displeasing to me?"

"I am disappointed in who you chose to become. Perhaps even sickened and enraged. When I hear about your political support of Zuko I want to grab you by the throat. But that does not make you any less my daughter."

"I…"

"Don't. Don't make me regret those words by showing weakness. I taught you better than that."

"Yes, father."

Father. He had not heard that word spoken so kindly in a long time. It led him to wonder if she was asking for something else in addition to her advice, and therefore he chose to cut it off before Azula could suggest it.

"If you're looking for a paternal figure, you are in the wrong place," he said.

"For this potential child, I will have the role of a father, knowing Ty Lee."

"Well then, perhaps I can provide advice after all. My father told me only one thing about that role. Would you fight for your darling little family with the circus freak?"

"That's what I came here to find out." She could not stop herself from asking a question she did not want to ask. "Would you still fight for me, even after who I have become?"

"Princess, I would still burn down the world for you, if I could." His words were as hollow and sallow as his face.

Azula knew in one moment her answer. "And I'd burn the world for her. For… them."

"Then I think perhaps you have already made up your mind."

Azula gazed at him for a little too long before wordlessly exiting.

As Azula left the prison and began her trip home to the palace in Caldera, she found she had too much time to think.

Maybe Ozai was right about her deceiving herself. Maybe she wasn't looking for advice. Maybe his first assumption was right.

Maybe she was looking for closure, like Zuko.

Maybe she needed to resolve the unfinished business.

To know that maybe… maybe he loved her.

It made Azula sick to think that she could ever want that.

But perhaps she did.

That evening, as Azula undressed and tried not to look at Ty Lee, already in bed, too much, she knew what she had to do. She made up her mind. She tied up the loose strings.

Without turning around to face her wife, she said, "I will accept your sister's offer. Perhaps it is time for us to breed."

Ty Lee giggled at the word breed before the words set in. A child. Azula agreed. Ty Lee could hold a baby in her arms, she could play with him or her with Azula by her side, she and Azula would have something permanent to signify their love that they worked so hard to keep and recreate over the years.

"Azula. That's amazing! I'm so happy!" Ty Lee leapt up and ran to her wife.

"Do not get too excited. Some people are born with tragedy in their blood, and if I know myself and my family, our baby will be too."

Ty Lee nearly lost her mind over hearing Azula say our baby for the first time. But the dark words still punched her in the gut.

Enthusiastically, Ty Lee insisted with utter sincerity, "You're not a tragedy. You never were. You're Princess Azula the Conqueror and the world will always remember your feats. You broke because you were too strong, too perfect. And maybe what you call a tragedy is losing your perfection to your mental illness. But guess what? You're still perfect to me. You will always be perfect to me."

Azula hesitated for a moment before commenting, "You mean that, don't you?"

"Yeah. And I mean it when I say that you're going to be a wonderful mother," whispered Ty Lee.

Azula smirked. The flattery never failed for only one person in this world: her wife.

"Did I ever tell you how glad I am I married you?" asked Azula.

"Not once," replied Ty Lee.

Azula laughed that wicked, twisted laugh Ty Lee loved so much. "Oh. Well then I ought to save it for a special occasion."

Ty Lee giggled and gently, pulled Azula into a deep kiss.