The fire war renaissance

Chapter 23: Haunting

Sorry about the lateness on this chapter. My mother was hogging the computer again with her online car shopping…sob…so this was the only spare moment I could get on.

The later parts of this chapter might seem a little confusing, but I really wanted to convey the effect of how the memories appear in Azula's head. So, just bear with me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter Twenty-Three: Haunting

"Azula," Ursa gasped with joy and before Azula could comprehend anything else, Ursa had her in her arms, hugging her tightly. There was something about the hug, something...Azula couldn't exactly put a word on it but it was something wonderful.

"Uh," Azula muttered. "Excuse me?" She didn't know what to do in the situation of a hug. She'd never even hugged Tin Ri, and she couldn't ever remember being hugged before she 'hit her head' but she had to take the information she retained from her so-called-past with a grain of salt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I just got carried away. I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me." Ursa apologized.

That's when it hit Azula like the lightning almost did that night. The word she had uttered when she first saw Ursa…mother…she knew that's what this woman must've been to her mother. And then it hit her again. That she had found what she was looking for.

But, it wasn't at all how she had expected it. Ever since she hit her head she was overwhelmed with a need to leave the mental institute and find what she was looking for. Tin Ri even said before she hit her head that she said she wanted to go find something she would never locate. Her thoughts of finally finding this thing, her mother supposedly, where supposed to be joyous and overwhelming and filled with euphoria what she wouldn't even be able to contain her happiness. But it was nothing like that. Her mind and expression were rather dull with confusion, and a very empty stomach.

"Why am I here?" She felt it was appropriate to ask. She really didn't know how it was that she remembered passing out in a field on fire and yet she woke up in a cozy, little country house.

"Well," Ursa started, "I saw the lightning strike a couple miles down and I went to go see if everything was alright. Then I found you passed out, which was odd because no one usually finds their way over here. To think I found my own daughter, it feels like a miracle." Ursa's eyes began to water but wiped the tears away before they could fall. "Oh, Azula," Ursa sighed and hugged her child, "you don't know how much I've missed you. All these years apart have been so hard."

Azula, once again, had nothing to say and didn't know what to do in this situation.

"You weren't with me?" Azula asked. She knew as much to know that a mother was supposed to live with her daughter. Certainly, no one came to visit her all the months she was in Hoi-ten, that she could remember at least, so perhaps there was a reason?