Zuko is speaking with an advisor in the throne room when his ears catch a soft knock at the door. This is unusual – there are very few people permitted to bother him in a meeting, and this list should be enforced by the guards currently stationed outside. Confused, the Fire Lord gestures for a servant to open the door. He is only a little bit surprised when Mai strides in, their six-year-old daughter clutching at her sleeve. He should have known."Lady Mai."

"My Lord, Advisor Bang." Mai replies, bowing formally to each before nudging the girl to do the same. "I am sorry to interrupt."

"No need to apologize, my Lady," assures his advisor. "In fact, I was just preparing to leave. Please excuse me. I am correct in thinking that our business is concluded, my Lord?"

In fact, there were still some loose ends that required tying up, but there would be time enough for that tomorrow, and the two men had been talking for two hours already. "Yes, Bang. Thank you for your time." Zuko nods, and Bang, after bowing to the royal family, departs.

As soon as the door shuts behind him, Zuko's daughter emerges from behind Mai's skirts and runs up to him, leaping over the low flames into his arms. "Daddiiiiiieeeee!" she squeals.

"Well, at least you've been taught well enough to wait until he's out the door," Zuko says gruffly, but a smile spreads across his face despite himself. Ursa peeks up at him from his chest, golden eyes crinkled with a grin, pieces of dark hair that have fallen from their binding brushing her cheeks. "So what is the reason for today's interruption, hm?" He's looking at his daughter, setting her down in front of him, but the question is mostly for Mai.

"I just happened to catch the end of Ursa's firebending lesson today," Mai says. Her tone is almost conversational, but Zuko can hear the edge under his wife's voice. He looks up; her expression is a schooled neutral.

"Yeah, I have something to show you, Daddy!" the princess hops up on the balls of her feet to regain his attention.

"Something to show me?" He repeats, amused. "And this couldn't wait until after my meeting?"

"I thought you'd better see it for yourself," Mai answers dryly, moving to stand behind him.

The Fire Lord looks expectantly down at his daughter. "Well? I guess you'd better get to it then," he tells her.

The girl's eyes widen eagerly before she grins and runs to center herself in the echoing room. Ursa takes a deep breath and bows to her father, preparing for a firebending form, and for a moment Zuko is transported back to his childhood performances for his own sire in the very same throne room. The ever-present fear of failure, the desperation to please, the cold wall of fire that seemed to illuminate naught but his father's stern frown. He is brought back into the present when Ursa begins to move. I am not my father, he thinks. How different things are now.

And yet, at the same time, how very similar they are – for at that very moment, Ursa reaches the form's first punch. A blue flame, hot enough that the Fire Lord can feel its blister from his seat ten paces away, erupts from his daughter's fist and disperses harmlessly into the room.

Suddenly, inexplicably, Zuko cannot breathe. It is as though that one burst of blue fire had consumed all of the oxygen in his lungs, in the entire room – yet he knows that this cannot be so, since his daughter continues her form and her flames continue to burn. He sits in silence as her form concludes and she performs the closing bow, an azure blaze trailing her palms. When he is finally able to tear his eyes away from her flames and glances at her face, he finds her expression smug, eyes narrowed. Yes, Zuko thinks as he searches her eyes, she is pleased with her work. But there is also a tremulous hope and eagerness to please others there; she so desperately wants her father to be proudof her. Which he is, he always has been. Ursa possesses tremendous talent. Of course, he also happens to know that she possesses a tendency towards aggression, a wickedly sharp intellect, and a sense of self-awareness that seems eerily out of place in a six-year-old.

In that moment, as she stands in front of her father, Ursa looks more like her aunt than she ever has.

But, as Zuko reminds himself often, Azula was a monster of his father's creation. And he is not Ozai.

And his daughter is not Azula.

Mai places a hand on his shoulder and clears her throat simultaneously. Zuko has been silent a moment too long.

So he smiles – a genuine smile, even if there is probably a bit of pure panic behind his eyes – opens his arms for her to run into, and makes himself say the words: "I am so proud of you, Ursa."

Author's Notes:

…And then he takes the opportunity to tell his daughter that he and Mai will love her no matter what kind of bender (or knife thrower) she turns out to be, because she is a smart girl with a good heart and that's all that really matters.

At least I hope.

Who can know if Zuko would actually be a good dad after how messed up his own family was? At least we know he'll be trying his hardest!

Reviews and criticisms always appreciated. :D