[ but sharing this story, his side of the story (the story most are often unwilling to listen to), is very cathartic for him — liberating, even. confronting ozai and saying these things to his father was one thing, but telling someone else is another, and something he was very much unwilling to do for the longest time. it's yet another big step for him, a sign of how far he's come from the angry sixteen-year-old who threatened an old woman at the south pole while on a pointless quest to capture the avatar.

there's still a lot zuko's sorting through that he hasn't come to terms with — like how avatar roku is his great-grandfather and what it means to be the great-grandson of both sozin and roku, how he and aang are both parts of roku's legacy. there are still choices to be made, but he can say honestly that, for the first time in a very long time, he's finally confident in the ones he's made so far.

he's doing the right thing, even when it feels like it's wrong. ]

Royalty doesn't always have that luxury, and it's not unheard of for members of royal families to turn on one another for political gain... [ there were plenty of examples throughout history, from times long before sozin's reign and within the earth kingdom's monarchy, too, that he remembered from his studies. ] But, that doesn't exactly excuse burning a child's face, does it?

[ zuko scoffs. ] The only member of my family I still believe in is my uncle. [ ozai be damned.

he has mixed feelings about azula, having seen shades of his sister he'd forgotten were there during his time back in the fire nation before he made the decision to leave and join aang, but he can't let that get in the way. if forced to choose between his sister and the avatar a second time, azula's not the one he's going to be siding with. ]

I don't get compliments a lot, so... Thank you. It's actually kind of nice hearing that. I'm not exactly known for making the best of choices, so it's good to know that I've finally got the hang of that.