Azula- baby of mine
Azula dreams of her mother, but her mother in her dreams was so different than she remembers her being.
Looking back on her memories, she always recalled a woman who was weak, who was blinded by her fear of her own daughter’s blue flame, who was so soft and caring to Zuko, but never shared her warmth with her daughter. A woman who scolded her constantly for the things her father encouraged.
A woman who left her in the dead of night, without so much as a goodbye.
At least her father spared no affection for both of them, even if it was always clear that Azula was the favored child.
(with good reason, she assured herself. Zuko was the weaker of the two, and father said that the weak don’t deserve the stronger’s pity. It was simply the natural order of things, right?)
Yet she dreams of a woman with soft hands and gentle words, who smells of fire lilies and ginseng tea, who holds her crying daughter close after a nightmare. A woman who kisses her brow and wipes away her tears as she sings her a lullaby to soothe her back to sleep.
“Baby mine, don’t you cry, baby mine, dry your eyes, rest your head down to my heart, never to part, baby of mine…”
Azula knows it’s all a dream, but a traitorous part of her whispers not to fight lt, to let herself pretend it’s real, to listen to her soft lovely singing voice and believe her mother is still here, that she loves her, that in the sanctuary of her arms she’s safe from all the things that a princess of the fire nation must endure to bring glory to her father’s empire.
She can’t remember feeling this safe and loved at any time in her life, but it’s so familiar it could almost be a memory from before she left, like there was a time when things were good, when she wasn’t her father’s weapon, the greatest fire bender of her generation.
Soon the tears wetting her mother’s silk nightdress are of nostalgia and longing instead of whatever had frightened her so terribly.
“Little one, when you play, don’t you mind what they say, let your eyes sparkle and shine, never a tear, baby of mine”
She clings tighter to her mother’s waist as her hands come down to stroke her face in a gentle caress her father would never even dream of giving her.
“From your head to your toes, your so sweet, goodness knows, you are so precious to me, cute as can be, baby of mine”
“sleep well my love”
The scene fades away before she is ready to leave.
She wakes with tears streaming down her face.