This review is very late in coming, but I've read this story several times and enjoyed it so much every time! I fully prefer this interpretation of Ursa and her life before A:tLA over what we got supplemented in the comics. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I owe you several detailed reviews now that I'm back on and glad to have this saved in my favorites, where it should have been for years.

Review 700! :D

Ursa's finally figured out how insane and callous the royal family is. They weren't so before because, simply, they had no reason to be. Now that an opening has appeared, they're drawn to it like sharks to blood.

Great, great story.

Oh, Ursa. It'll get much worse soon. Perhaps the worst -and best - part of this story is seeing how much Ursa genuinely cares for the family. In canon, not much was known about her so it could be inferred that she was distant from them. The Search supported this fact, as she was practically forced into an arranged marriage and deeply longed for her old life. Here, she actually cares about her family, and she has to choose between them, and won't even get to keep any of them.

:'(

Aww.. things are almost over.

I can't help but notice that Ozai's disappeared entirely, and isn't even doing his political duties(being Ursa's escort). Is he just sulking and plotting in his room?

Lu Ten's a good kid. Poor boy.

Studywork. A combination of two unpleasant words. Shudder.

Ozai's finally being a jackass. Boooooo. I liked the nicer side of him. Sigh

I'm enjoying this story very much. Discounting The Search, this is exactly how I'd expect the Royal Family to be. Ozai's character was the most interesting. He's power-hungry, but not THAT bad, and he's distant but he hasn't started abusing Zuko because there's no reason to. He has, at most, vague designs on the throne, so he doesn't feel the pressure of being heir and raising perfect heirs in turn.

It's weird seeing Ozai like this... and kind of defending Zuko (even though I think a part of him agrees with Azula) when in the show he practically treated the kid like shit. I always got the feeling Ozai hated his son for some reason...

In my head cannon "Zuzu" was Azula's first word. lol xD

I also think he feels like he could sympathize with her more and it's his way of saying, "I'm ready to be a father... to my second child only because I've had enough of first borns being favored." or something, maybe he also thinks Ursa coddles Zuko too much and regrets not being active in the beginning so is now so that she doesn't scre up his second child... who knows.

Ty Lee?
Oh and by the way, I wonder what prompted Ozai to name Zuko, Zuko. He seemed to be looking at the kid weird like there was a connection or something in the last fic? I like the think he feels some connection to the kid someway but he feels conflicted about it for some reason, might be because Ursa almost died or because he just doesn't know how to be a father hence the reason why he's hoping to only deal with them when they start to firebend, because he can teach firebening, but he doesn't know all the fathering thing, and because Ursa could've died and had she died, taking care of Zuko would fall into his hands and he wouldn't know what to do. I wonder how it would've gone had that happened.

You are evil! It was mean of you to make us get attached to Lu Ten when we all knew what was going to happen. You are a very gifted writer and this story is superb. Thanks for posting xx