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As Ursa gazed at Azula’s reflection in the vanity mirror, sadness washed over her as she told her daughter that she looked just like her father.
Ursa may have thought she hid her sadness behind her smile, but ever so analytical Azula recognized what lurked beneath her mother’s façade. She could see how the light in Ursa’s eyes briefly dimmed. She heard her mother’s subtle change in breathing and tone. She felt her mother’s grip slightly loosen on Azula’s shoulders. All at once, at the mention of Fire Lord Ozai.
Although she recognized it, Azula couldn’t understand her mother’s solemnity at the familial resemblance. Ozai was everything Azula wanted to be: powerful, tactical, headstrong - all qualities that rightfully made him the Fire Lord. So why her mother’s dismay, when the most powerful man in the world chose her to be his wife?
As she grew older, Azula couldn’t help but feel that her mother favored Zuko most often. She couldn’t understand what made her brother so perfect in her mother’s eyes when he was a disgraceful firebender, therefore a disgrace as not only the son of the Fire Lord, but the first-born child at that. Her father let his disappointment in Zuko’s lackluster abilities be known, unrestrained.
All the while Azula was a natural-born prodigy at firebending and even excelled at other forms of combat. Azula trained endlessly to be just like her father, and was succeeding. So she couldn’t understand. Her mother grew to love her father despite the circumstances that brought them together. If she’s becoming more like her father, surely her mother could grow to love her too.
One day, Azula woke to the news that her mother left them in the dead of the night. Only then did Azula realize that her mother did not grow to love her father, after all. And since her mother never loved her father, how could she have ever loved Azula?