Surrogate

Perhaps it was that despite years of struggling to stand firm against it, the environment of endless palace intrigues and maneuverings finally corrupted her. Or perhaps she was always like that, but in denial, able to convince herself and others that she was kind and honest, a simple illusion what with the cruelty and ambition of her husband so conveniently available as a comparison. After all, she somehow brought Azula into the world. Perhaps the girl really was her mother's daughter. Perhaps there had always been a manipulating, murdering conspirator lurking behind her mask of a strong woman, faithful wife, and loving mother.

No, Iroh thinks. It wasn't about intrigue or politics. She had been backed into a corner. Just as a she-bear turns savage to protect her cubs, the Fire Lady gladly did whatever it took to protect her firstborn son. And wouldn't he have done the same for his beloved Lu Ten, if any such avenue had been open to him?

He could have stopped her. It would have been easy. Ozai may have usurped his throne, but the Palace was in confusion that night, and he was still a Fire Prince and a general, and she had assassinated the Fire Lord. By pure chance he had encountered her as she was turning from her only son's bedroom doorway for the last time. With hardly any effort he could have called the guard, had her arrested. Killed her, even, for taking away his father, before the mourning period had even passed for his only son.

Twenty years earlier, perhaps he would have done so. But grief had softened him and wisdom had strengthened him, and instead of anger he felt pity as she faced him, utterly unafraid of her own fate.

"Take my son in Lu Ten's place," she had begged, elegant and regal even bowed nearly to the floor, and for not the first time Iroh wondered what life might have been like if the politics of arranged marriage had brought her to him, and not to his brother. "Not as a sacrifice, but as your own. His father would give him over to flames for no more than a throne, and the war has robbed you of your son. I know this can be only small recompense—but Zuko is a good boy, and I know that under your guidance he will bring you honor."

With guilty hands she offered up her firstborn to him, like an orphaned lamb soaked in the blood of a stillborn and presented to its new surrogate mother. And Iroh had accepted, and helped Ursa to escape the palace. His first act as father would not be to continue the cycle of bloodshed in the family and have Zuko's mother executed. The boy would suffer enough through her absence.

And when his younger brother gives Zuko his second life-changing lesson in suffering, this time in fire and humiliation, Iroh cannot watch; he can only be grateful for the small mercy that Ursa is not here to see him fail a second time to protect his son.