A/N: Oneshot, not connected to any of my other works.

A/N2: Edited some parts, fixed other, hopefully it's a lot better now.

The scent was spicy and strong, yet sobering and calming, a strange intimate aroma. But it was not the gift itself that raised her attention, but the occasion. Today she should be giving a gift to her mother, not the other way around. Then again, everything in her family was topsy turvy. Why would holidays be different?

"Why?"

She saw her mother smile. It was that warm smile she could only give her and her brother, the type of smile a mother can only give. It brought her warmth, much like this place, this weather. After two years in the mental hospital she was moved to a private place for the final part of her rehabilitation. Not surprisingly to everyone, not even for the troubled princess, Ursa decided to move in with her daughter and prepare her for the eventual return to the palace.

It was a modest house by royal standards – two rooms for the two servants, a room for the doctor and separate rooms for the mother and daughter; a kitchen, a dining room and a common room, as well as the small garden the two women were occupying. The women themselves wore nothing but simple, if finely made, robes A serene, calming house on a small island in the center of a lake, with only the occasional warm breeze passing by. It was exactly the type of location where you'd send someone to heal.

"No reason." The elder woman reply. The woman in question had an interesting life, at first when she appeared in front of her damaged child she had the sad, wary look she was remembered by, but now life has turned around. There was cruelty in her past, but that time was left behind and with it.

"It's mother's day." Her daughter countered.

"Silly me, I forgot."

Azula just stood there, looking sadly at her mother. In a fit of irony, it was the young princess who now wore that expression her mother was well known for. It didn't trouble Ursa, life was like that – you have your ups, you have your downs.

There was a calm, serene silence between them. The young woman looked deep in contemplation, the older one just enjoyed the weather. After a long while Azula spoke.

"I'm going back soon, aren't I?"

The elder woman's face lit up. "Yes, you are."

The Firelord's sister gave a heavy sigh, prompting a small chuckle from her mother.

"Scared?"

A sad smile crossed Azula's lips "Failure like me…"

Ursa frowned. "Don't talk about yourself like that."

"But it is true."

"You made a mistake, we all do."

"I'm failure."

"Your father failed at becoming the Phoenix King, Iroh failed to protect his son, I failed to protect you and your brother from Ozai and Zuko and…well, you know about your brother." Ursa was looking sternly at her daughter "Does that mean that we are all failures and should hide ourselves in a hole?"

"No."

"Then don't speak like that about yourself. You made your mistakes, everyone else did theirs. Don't degrade yourself for being human."

A moment of silence followed before the young woman could give a counter-argument.

"They'll hate me."

"The general consensus is that you've suffered enough and learned your lesson."

A still quite dawned yet again. This time, however, instead of speaking her mind Ursa moved in closer, rubbed her daughter arms and kissed her forehead.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you?"

"You are? Why?"

"Firstly, because you are my daughter; secondly – you craw back from a very dark place, not many people can do that."

Azula looked her mother in the eyes and gave her that new, unrefined smile of love, compassion and gratitude. Many people would find it strange, but that smile, along with the glitter in her eyes suit her, in fact, should one meet her as she is now without knowing who she had been, he would believe that it was always there. Maybe, in a way, it should have always been there and it was misfortune that held away such happiness for so long.

Then again, maybe she could only appreciate the light because should stumbled in the dark.

"You were there for me." The girl firmly said, leaning in and giving her mother a kiss on the cheek. The stern, harsh perfectionist that drilled itself, the stern woman who would stand up to anything, the girl who could make the world move by sheer force of will – that was still there. But that girl has grown, it no longer feared showing compassion or accepting love, nor did it shy away from giving it.

"That's what mothers are for." Ursa replied.

They just stared at each other, the tragedies of their lives seemingly non-existent, just enjoying the company. The mother being happy to be with her child and the daughter being happy to be with her mother; neither took the other for granted, they've been through much, too much, they knew what they meant to each other.

In a moment Azula pulled a small packaged box, she was still supposed to give a gift today.

"As I said, it's mother's day." She said, smiling.

Ursa took the present and acknowledged it with a cheerful nod. Despite the nod though, she didn't unpack it immediately, there was no hurry. She already got her gift anyway, seventeen years ago.

Done for mother's day, dedicated to my mother, because she's the bestest mother there is.