QWE: Azula Writes: Something For Her Mom
Title: Azula Gives In To Her Mom’s Request - Novel 2 - “The Man She Left Behind”
Summary: Under the premise that Azula writes trashy romance novels (see damagectrl’s fanfic “The Island That cleanses” AU) for fun that are totally not about her brother and her waterbender friend, I’ve randomly started writing various scenarios in which the trashy romance novels would happen if she wrote them. In this case, we join Azula as she receives a visit from Ursa and gets a “suggestion” she would rather not have gotten.
**No previous reading required. Just pretend Modern Day AU Azula likes to write trashy romance novels.
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The black-haired woman stretched her arms up and above her head and she allowed herself to relax. Finally, the last chapter of her latest book was ready to be sent to her editor. Smirking triumphantly to herself, Azula saved the file once more just to be sure, and opened up an email to send to her editor.
She typed a quick, to the point message, and signed it “Her Grace, Princess Azula.” before attaching the file.
Her cursor hovered over ‘send’ and then sent it away. “Done.”
A heavy breath escaped Azula and she pushed her seat back, ready to stand and perhaps do a bit of exercise to stretch out.
The sound of the doorbell filled her sprawling luxury condo and she turned towards the door, raising a curious brow. It was the middle of the day; most people she knew who would drop by her highrise were at work.
She glanced at her laptop to make sure the file was sent once more before slipping out of her study and to the small foyer. Once more the doorbell rang and Azula scowled with irritation. She reached a small screen beside the door and pressed a button.
A woman was standing on her doorstep, clutching a small paper bag with a designer purse slung over her shoulder. She had her back to the little camera and seemed to be talking to someone standing behind her.
Still, Azula could identify the woman immediately. She unlocked the door and pulled it open.
“Mother,” she greeted politely as she held it open and bowed her head. “Please come in.”
“Azula!” the older woman’s kind voice floated in as she stepped through the hallway. “Look who is here!”
Azula lifted her head and smiled slightly as a dark-skinned woman her mother’s age followed Ursa into the condo. “Good afternoon, Aunt Kya.”
“Azula, it is good to see you again,” the other woman beamed. “I brought you some ice candy from the pole.”
“Thank you,” Azula said as she closed the door behind them. She bowed her head once more and accepted a small, flat box from the visiting woman. “Please come in. Have a seat in the living area; I will prepare some tea.”
“Thank you, my dear. And don’t worry about any snacks. I’ve brought tea cakes,” Ursa beamed as she lifted up the paper bag she had been holding. Azula nodded and headed into the kitchen. As she plugged in the hot water boiler, she frowned.
She had not been expecting visitors today and hadn’t bothered to put on any make-up. Granted, she didn’t need any, but it helped top off her usually polished look. In addition, she was a bit tired from her revisions and didn’t feel like entertaining anyone. Still, she could not turn her mother and her brother’s mother-in-law away. It would be rude.
Ursa and Kya went everywhere together when they were in the same vicinity and Azula had lost track of the many times her father had exclaimed he needed to relax and then called Hakoda to see if he and Kya were free to visit. Since their parents and Katara’s parents met, it had been as if they were long lost friends. Zuko found it disturbing, but it was amusing to Azula.
She poured the hot water into small, but proper tea kettles, placed it on a tray with several cups and saucers, and made her way back.
“I’ve set out three different teas, but if none are to your liking, please let me know,” Azula told them.
“Thank you, Azula. I will have this jasmine,” Kya said as the young woman carefully poured the tea.
“Now,” Ursa said as she set out the box of pastries. “I am sure you are wondering why we have come.” Azula had been, but didn’t see the need to voice it. They would tell her on their own.
“The thought did cross my mind, Mother,” Azula said. “I heard that Katara’s parents were in town and thought you would be showing her around.”
“She did,” Kya told her. “But we wanted to talk to you about your book.”
Azula nearly faltered, but years of keeping her posture saved her. She calmly poured herself a cup of tea before placing the kettle down. “My book?” Her voice was steady and confident, as always. “Which one?”
“Actually, darling, it isn’t about one you’ve written,” Ursa said as she sipped from her tea cup. “It is about one you haven’t.”
Azula raised a brow. “Come again, Mother?”
Ursa calmly placed her tea cup back on its saucer. “You write so much about young couples....”
Alarms and red flags began to sound in Azula’s head.
“Yes, and don’t get us wrong, they’re lovely books,” Kya insisted. “It’s just that your readers aren’t just newlywed twenty-something years olds sitting in a tub of bubbles on their off day.”
Azula’s face didn’t show any emotion, but she knew where this was going. “Really.”
“I am sure that more...mature ladies, such as ourselves,” Ursa said, looking somewhat enthusiastic. “Would love to read more with characters our own ages.”
There it was! That was it! That was the reason they had come with tea cakes and imported candy! This was a trap!
“We know you have your own writing plans and what not,” Kya admitted. “But it is just a thought.”
Azula could feel the pressure coming off of the two women.
“Yes, Azula, one day perhaps?” her mother smiled hopefully.
Well played, Mother. Well played. Azula pasted a smile on her face. “I am sure I can figure something out.”
The Man She Left Behind
“You left him.”
“I...I left him.”
“You sent him the papers?”
“I sent him the papers. By courier.”
“And if he won’t sign?”
The other woman hesitated. “I will make him.”
She was met with a moment of silence. “Good...I never liked him.”
Ursa lifted her head and looked at the blue-eyed woman sitting across from her at the kitchen table. She lowered the hot cup of tea in her hand.
“I thought you said you liked him,” Ursa said quietly.
“I said I liked that he would take care of Zuko and Azula as if they were his own,” Kya said. “I didn’t like that he seemed to remind you of that all the time and wasn’t so much a father as a man who gave them a place to live.”
“He still treated my children well,” Ursa said, though admittedly, not as well as she would’ve liked. He even found it uncomfortable when the children called him ‘Dad’, telling them instead to just call him Ikem. “I didn’t mind.”
That was a lie.
“He treated them as well as he could, living most of the time away,” Kya frowned. “I don’t know why he bothered to marry if he’d spend most of his time shooting at some random location, miles from his family.”
Ursa swallowed a lump in her throat. “Ikem had to put food on the table. And even if he was a bit possessive, he was good to me.”
Kya looked back at her and frowned more so. “Zuko and Azula were hospitalized after the fire and he wouldn’t let you fly back,” she reminded her, anger still laced in her voice. “You are their mother. He knows how much you love them and told you to wait with him in that spirit-forsaken swamp, until they were done filming! It’s like he held you captive!”
Ursa closed her eyes tightly. She knew the situation and it had been the last straw.
Ikem had been complaining that the children were old enough to be left with a nanny and could do without her for a few weeks. He urged her to come stay with him in the southern Earth Kingdom, where he was playing a supporting role in some film.
A fire broke out at their mansion and while everyone had gotten out safely, ten-year old Zuko had burned his face and eight-year old Azula broke an arm. Against Ikem’s wishes, Ursa had named Kya and her husband, Hakoda - two college friends of hers, as emergency contacts and they had raced to the children.
Until Ursa returned, Kya would not leave their side, even while caring for her own daughter and son. Ursa looked out towards the pool outside, where Katara and Azula, with her good arm, were throwing water balloons at Zuko, who was trying to float in a plastic donut with a bandage around his head. He was screaming retribution. Sokka was sitting on the low diving board clutching his water gun, cheering them on.
“You didn’t need to marry Ikem,” Kya said softly. “I know you were in love with him, but you rushed into it. He had changed....”
Or perhaps, he had always been that way and Ursa had just ever noticed. The black-haired woman lowered her head. “I was in a troublesome spot. Azula was still a baby and Zuko a toddler...Ikem said he wanted to help.”
Kya frowned. “ You know their father would’ve paid for everything. He would’ve given you everything you needed to help with them.”
Ursa’s face turned away. Her children’s birth father. “Ozai only would because he would feel it’s his responsibility.”
“It is his responsibility!” Kya insisted.
“But he doesn’t love us!”
The brown-haired woman looked at her sadly. “It was an arranged marriage, Ursa, I understand, but Ozai accepted the divorce and wanted to provide financial assistance.”
“He was always such a cold man,” Ursa frowned. “Everything about the business...but his father put so much pressure on mine to marry us....” She lifted her hands to her face. “Even after I said I wanted to be with Ikem! And when I finally could, that was just as big a mistake!”
Kya released a heavy breath. “I know, honey, I know,” she said. She stood up and rounded the table, reaching over to stroke Ursa’s back comfortingly. “You’ve had a lot to do today. Why don’t you go upstairs and rest? I’ll make sure the kids don’t kill each other.”
Ursa shook her head. “What about dinner?”
“Dinner?’ Kya chuckled and smiled warmly. “Since when did the soon to be ex-wife of a famous actor cook dinner?”
It was a joke of course, Ursa enjoyed cooking. Still, the other woman nodded. She took one last drink of her tea and slowly headed through the large house. Along the way she passed by numerous pictures and portraits on the wall of Kya and her family. Briefly, Ursa wondered if that was how her walls should’ve looked like - dotted with reminders of a happy family.
Kya was a good friend from college. By some stroke of luck, they were paired as roommates their first year and remained so until graduation. Ursa was studying theater arts and Kya was a medical student at the time. Now, she was a doctor specializing in pediatrics. Her husband, Hakoda, was an engineer who, along with some friends, started up a successful company. Yet, the two still had time to raise two children who were now playing with her own.
Ursa remembered the day an infuriated Kya returned from her martial arts lessons, having been shown up by some ‘nerd from the engineering department’. Somehow, the nerd had managed to coax popular and athletic Kya out.
That was how Ursa first met Ozai - he was a friend of Hakoda. At the time, she didn’t know that his father and her father knew each other or that Azulon wanted her father to agree to marrying her to Ozai. She was still madly in love with her high school boyfriend, Ikem - then a struggling actor. While Ursa was in school, Ikem was auditioning for small roles and trying to break into show business in the Earth Kingdom.
Ozai was a business student from a wealthy industrial family. He was arrogant and proud and Ursa thought he seemed only to be in Hakoda’s company because Hakoda was brilliant. She and Ozai were never particularly close; they just had common friends in Hakoda and Kya.
Her view of the spoiled rich boy Ozai changed on her last summer with Kya. While at the beach, Hakoda was trying to catch Kya’s hat as it flew away in the wind. Kya was yelling at him to forget about it, but he was determined. Hakoda lost his footing and fell down a rocky cliff.
Ozai tossed his phone to Kya, ordered her to call the paramedics, and climbed down without any hesitation. He carried Hakoda on his back, up the cliff while saying that the drop was too narrow for paramedics, and went with them to the hospital once the paramedics did arrive.
“Whatever he needs, get it for him!” she remembered Ozai barking at the hospital staff. She had never seen him so frazzled.
“Ozai, it’s fine,” Hakoda choked out as he laid on a stretcher.
“It will be fine,” Ozai scowled. “Don’t worry about the costs, Hakoda. I’ll take care of it.”
“Ozai-”
“Kya, I’ll buy you a new hat, too,” he told the woman who was sobbing while holding her fiancee’s hand tightly.
“You’re an idiot,” Hakoda wheezed. Ozai didn’t look the least bit insulted.
“I take care of my own,” he stated proudly. “Just...just don’t leave me behind, alright?”
Hakoda had been wheeled off, but smiled. “I won’t. You only have one friend.”
Ozai had raised a brow, suddenly reverting back to his usual arrogant self. “Do you want me to pay for everything or not?”
Yet for a moment, Ursa had seen the loyal friend Hakoda assured her was beneath all that bravado.
Though, all that bravado was nothing in the face of his father. Azulon convinced her parents to agree to an arranged marriage with Ozai by putting pressure on the small beachside business her parents had in Ember Island. Her father begged her to agree to the marriage, fearing that Azulon would completely demolish the island if she disagreed.
Ursa did and Azulon lead Ember Island into a prosperity it hadn’t seen in years. The same could not be said for her engagement to Ozai, who seemed to just do what his father told him.
Hakoda had been the best man at their wedding with Katara the Matron of Honor. Everyone knew the situation - that it was an arranged marriage, but Ursa had put her theater acting to the test and feigned love for her new husband.
She cried her wedding night and Ozai, uncomfortable, left her in the room. Instead, he sent Kya to speak to her. Their first night together and Ozai slept in another room. It would be another two months before he actually touched her.
The man was always busy and since they weren’t a typical couple, didn’t call each other or kept in contact while the other was away. There were times Ursa wished they did, but what would they talk about? She knew nothing nor was interested in business. Ozai thought the theater was a waste of time.
“You need to talk to her,” she once heard Kya and Hakoda chastising Ozai on one of the occasions they were all together. “At least try, Ozai.”
“And talk about what? The only thing we have in common are you two,” Ozai pointed out, irritated.
The weekend afterwards, he had taken her to see “Love Amongst the Dragons” - her favorite play. Kya had probably told him. It was a valiant effort. He stayed awake and managed to discuss the underlying themes, but clearly did not share her love it. It was another reminder of their difference.
Sometimes she wondered how they even managed to have two children, though by the time she was pregnant with Azula, she could no longer take the man who spent more time at the office than with them.
When Ozai missed Azula’s birth, as he had missed Zuko’s because he was in Ba Sing Se for business, Ursa told their friends that she wanted a divorce. Kya and Hakoda weren’t sure how to react, but offered their support - for the both of them. Ursa knew she put them in an uncomfortable position.
Ozai was given the documents and after reading them through thoroughly, he signed them.
The last place they had met was at their old house, just a few houses away from Kya and Hakoda’s. They sat across from each other in the kitchen and he slid her the papers across the table.
“At least let me support the children,” Ozai said. He didn’t sound hurt at all and it was another stab in her chest. “I am their father, after all.”
Ursa shook her head. “I will manage.”
“Ursa, you’re still on maternity leave from the university theater. I doubt that’s enough to support you and the children.” He sounded angry. She refused to look at him.
“I have support,” she insisted. “I...I’ve spoken to Ikem.”
He knew full well who Ikem was and when Ursa looked up to see him, she could see a pain in his eyes that she had never seen. It was quickly masked over with anger and Ozai’s shoulders trembled.
“Very well,” he said in a cold voice. “If that is what you wish. I know you’ve been in love with him since we met. I cannot stop you.”
She wanted to cry, suddenly. “I am sorry, Ozai.”
He pushed his seat back and stood up. “Should I the children be in need of anything - anything,” he stressed. “Tell me.”
He stormed out of the house and she had started crying.
They hadn’t talked directly since and Zuko and Azula never saw him again. Ursa choked back a cry as she entered her guest room and slumped back against the door. She began to cry as she slid down and crumbled against the back of the door.
Ikem was a mistake, just as the arranged marriage with Ozai was.
Downstairs, Kya stood at the bottom of the stairs and closed her eyes tightly, silently praying that Ursa stay strong.
“Aunt Kya!” Zuko called from the kitchen. The blue-eyed woman quickly tried to straighten up and turned her attention down the hall.
“Yes, Zuko?” she called as she put on a smile and walked towards the back of the house.
“Where’s my mom?”
“She went upstairs to rest. It’s been a long day for her, but I’ll make sure to wake her for dinner,” she smiled.
Distracted by the thought of dinner, Zuko perked up - his unbandaged eye looking excited. “What are having?”
“Hmm...well...why not seafood noodles? The cold ones, with some peppers,” Kya beamed. “She used to love eating those when we were roommates.”
“That sounds good,” Zuko said. “I’ll tell the others!” Before she could tell him to be careful, he raced out. The sound of water balloons popping was heard, immediately followed by Zuko’s pained cry.
“I told you he’d come back!” Azula laughed. “Katara, let’s get some more water balloons!”
Zuko screamed back at them, his face flushed. “This isn’t over!”
She could hear the sound of muffled voices piercing her sleep. Ursa turned her head to the side, closing her eyes tightly as she tried focus.
Slowly, her gold orbs opened and she looked around the well furnished room. From the window outside, the sun was setting and it would be dark soon. Her room was cast in shadows from the dusk and she was still on the floor, beside her door.
Grimacing at the awkward position she had fallen asleep in, she wiped at her face to check for dried tears. She shook her head. She was a grown woman and she cried herself to sleep on the floor of her best friend’s guest bedroom.
“Mom, what’s going?” Ursa looked back at the door. That was Katara’s voice.
“Just stay in you rroom,” she heard Kya saying. Curiously, Ursa turned the door knob and opening the door, peeking down the hall. All four children were crouched by the stairs, looking through the railing bars and down to the foyer. She could see Kya’s head disappearing down the stairs in a rush.
“I know you and your wife are hiding her! She’s not at the house, so bring her out here!”
A cold chill ran down Ursa’s back and she stumbled back into her room. That was Ikem’s voice - and he sounded furious.
“You are not welcomed here!” Hakoda growled. “Leave before I call the police!”
“I’m not leaving until Ursa comes down and tells me what the hell this is all about!” The sound of papers slamming against the marble tiled floor filled the foyer. He had received the divorce papers.
Ursa could see Katara withdraw against her brother while Zuko wedged himself between the railing and Azula. Azula, however, was glaring down at the foyer.
“He’s upsetting Auntie and Uncle,” the golden-eyed daughter said. “I’m going to tell him to leave.”
“Azula, no,” Ursa said, opening her door and getting their attention.
“Mom, it’s Ikem!” Zuko whispered. “He’s looking for you! Stay there!”
It was not the job of her son to protect her. Not now. His words filled her with a sense of irritation and anger at Ikem. How dare he make Zuko worry about her? He was only a child. Taking a deep breath, Ursa straightened up and walked down the hall.
“What’s going on here?” she said as she stood at the top of the stairs.
Hakoda was firmly standing in the doorway of the entrance, with Kya behind him. Ikem was standing on their front stop, wanting to go inside, but hesitant to fight two people he knew were still active martial artists.
“Ursa!” he called. He was fuming and narrowed his eyes as he watched her walk down the stairs. “What is the meaning of this!? Divorce papers? Is this a joke?”
Ursa reached the foyer, but did not get any closer to the door. “No, it isn’t,” she said. “I want a divorce.”
“What?” A genuine look of confusion filled Ikem’s face and for a moment Ursa wanted to throw something at him. Did he really not understand what he was doing wrong? Even Ozai had acknowledged that it wasn’t working out and in part due to him. “What are you talking about, Ursa? Stop this non-sense and come home.”
“I’m not leaving,” Ursa said as Kya moved closer to her in an effort to show her support. Hakoda had not moved from the door and kept his eyes on Ikem. “I understand now that while you’ll offer your support to raise my children, you only see them as a means of controlling me. You don’t care about Azula or Zuko,” she said. “You don’t care about my relationship to them or how much I love them. You never did.”
“Ursa, I am in love with you!” Ikem choked out. “I’ve told you a thousand times! I never once stopped loving you! I don’t care if you had children with another man or were married before, I just want you!”
“You want to keep me like a prize!” Ursa had tears in her eyes. “Always at your side and not to be shared. Since we’ve been married, I’ve hardly seen my friends or family. You had Zuko sent away to boarding school and are planning to do the same with Azula! You’re taking everyone I love away from me! You try to keep me away from those I love!”
“Ursa, you don’t understand,” Ikem told her desperately. “I am the one who loves you the most. If anyone should be at your side, it should be me.”
She shook her head, a pained expression on her face. “So you would keep me away from my children.”
“They are just reminders of that man who trapped you into a marriage years ago, remember?” Ikem told her. “I am only trying to free you of the marriage that made you so miserable, you came crying back to me.”
Ursa was shaking. “I love my children,” she said in a low voice. “And I will never stop loving them, regardless of who their father is.”
Ikem’s eyes narrowed. “Their father?” he spat out. “Who they haven’t seen since he left? Do they even know how he looks like?”
“I’ve seen pictures!” Azula shouted from the stairs.
Kya whirled around. “I told you four to stay in your rooms!”
“But Aunt Kya, he won’t leave until Mom goes with him!” Zuko said.
“She’s not going anywhere with him,” Hakoda assured them. “Ikem, I’m telling you one more time, get out of here. Ursa wants a divorce and she and the kids are welcomed to stay with us as long as they want.”
Ikem was seething. He never did like Ursa’s friends. His face and neck were flushed red as his hands fisted at his sides. “She’ll come back,” he said in a low voice. He looked towards Ursa and shot her a haughty look. “You came back before, Ursa, and when you’re ready, we can talk through this. I’m sure we can work it out.” He raised his eyes and looked up at the children crowded at the top of the stairs. “I’ll even accept your scarred and broken children if you do. After all, you don’t have a job or any means of support. You won’t be able to survive without me.”
“Leave, Ikem,” Hakoda’s voice was now threatening. “I’m warning you.”
Ikem sneered at Hakoda and took a step back. “Let’s see how long you’re willing to house that whore who sold herself for Ember Island.” Both Kya and Ursa let out gasps of shock as Hakoda stepped forward.
“You take that back!” Zuko yelled behind them. He was running down the stairs, red-faced with his hands in fists. Sokka darted after him to try to hold him back.
“Zuko!” Kya yelled. He ran past her, ready to fight the older man. Ikem laughed and held her arms open wide.
“Go ahead and try, you one-eyed brat! Take your best shot!”
A pale hand grabbed onto his right shoulder and suddenly, Ikem was whirled around. The cocky look on his face disappeared as one of confusion filled it. He barely recognized the man behind him as a fist slammed into his face and sent him tumbling to the ground.
“If you say anything more about them, you’ll be lucky if you have one eye remaining after I’m through with you,” a low, male voice said from the brick walkway.
“I heard a crack,” Kya said as she rushed to the doorway. Ikem was curled on the grass, grasping his nose as blood poured from between his fingers.
“If he didn’t break it, I would’ve,” Hakoda said. He looked towards the man looming above Ikem. “That’s enough, Ozai. I think he understands.” He craned his neck and saw some men rushing out of a car parked across the street. They were calling Ikem’s name.
“Ozai, get in here before his bodyguards try to fight you,” Kya said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the foyer. “Hakoda and I will talk to them.”
She slipped outside with her husband to confront the body guards, demanding they take Ikem away before they called the police.
“Tell the media, too!” Azula said. “It’ll ruin him!” She was yelling towards the door, but kept her eyes on the tall, slender, black-haired man in an expensive suit standing in the foyer.
Katara glanced from her friend to the man below. “Uh...,” she said. “Hi, Uncle Ozai!”
“Hello, Kat. Sokka,” he greeted. Sokka, who had run after Zuko, gave him a nod. Even as he spoke, his eyes were on the black-haired woman in a wrinkled pink blouse and dark pants over baby blue guest slippers. “Ursa.”
Her heart was racing. She opened her mouth to try to speak to the man she hadn’t seen or spoken to in years, but nothing came out.
“Excuse me,” a little girl appeared and seemed to squeeze between them. Black hair in neat pigtails moved around her head as she tilted it upwards to get a better look at the man. She seemed to be studying him. “Katara, is this him?”
“Uh-huh,” Katara said. “That’s him. Mommy said so.”
Azula narrowed her eyes. “Mom,” she said, not taking her critical eyes off of the man. “Is he our dad?”
If Ozai was surprised, he didn’t show it. Ursa could barely breathe. She nodded her head slowly. “Zuko...Azula...,” she said. “This is Ozai Souzin.” As she said their last name, the two children seemed to perk up. “He is your-”
“Ooh! Wait, wait!” Sokka said, earnestly moving in front of them. He tugged on the sleeve of Ozai’s blazer. “Uncle, you have to say it! Say the line!”
A wry smile tugged at his lips. “Alright,” he said. “Zuko, Azula,” he began as Sokka looked on excitedly. “I am your father.”
Notes: gram-stained-paws asked about an Ursai fic, so I thought I’d give one a try. I also have my Ozai and Hakoda go to a (possibly magical) boarding school fanfic, where they are teenagers. This was an exercise using the scenario where they are adults and children exist. This is also a QWE, so I’ll just pick it up from time to time. Thoughts? Let me know! Thanks for reading, everyone! :)