Ursa stepped through the veil of worlds, holding her children's hands tightly. As always, the translation to Hell made her stomach heave and her vision go black.

When she came back to herself, her knuckles were white as she gripped Zuko and Azula's hands. They looked around curiously at the antechamber in Ozai's mansion. This was their first visit to Hell, now that they were old enough to understand it and withstand the strain of translation.

The doors swung open, and a golden demon waltzed into the room. For the briefest of moments, Ursa thought it was Ozai, but-

Well, Ozai never had tits like that.

There were other differences- Ozai was nearly half a head taller than her, but this demon looked to only come up to Ursa's chin. She wore her copper hair in a thousand small braids, beads at the end of each. Gold wings trailed behind her, and brilliant topaz eyes sparkled with delight. She was opulent with jewelry, hardly wearing more than that and a few wisps of silk to preserve modesty.

"Darlings!" The demon called gaily, dropping to her knees to envelope Zuko and Azula in a hug. "Oh, look how adorable you are! Such pretty reds to bring out your eyes!"

Azula squirmed uncomfortably, fire puffing from her mouth. Zuko looked up at his mother with wide, panicked eyes.

"Hello," Ursa said simply, trying to keep an edge out of her voice.

The demon released her children from the hug and stood. "Hello. I'm Ilah the Golden, Ozai's mother. You must be Ursa."

"I am," Ursa said, "And these are my children, Zuko and Azula."

"My grandchildren," Ilah said fondly, her wings flexing. "It's so good to meet you for the first time. Ozai has told me a bit about you, but he never says anything important."

Ursa relaxed her grip on her children, and Azula pulled away. Zuko, however, just grabbed onto her hand harder. "Like what, Ilah?"

"Like how pure you are," Ilah said, one wing flicking out absently to block Azula from leaving the room. "Tainted with the Fire Nation's war and your own choice in lover, more than a little wrathful, but most women who deal with Hell are vile. Most men are, too."

"A side-effect of what they're dealing with, I'd expect," Ursa said cooly.

"Indeed," Ilah said with a too-sharp smile. "Now, you should join us for dinner. Come along, darlings! Who wants to help their grandmother finish making the cookies?"

Both Zuko and Azula perked up at that, and Zuko finally pulled away from Ursa to trail after the gold demon.

***

Outside the antechamber, Ozai caught her by the elbow. "How was it?" He asked in a low voice. "Did she do anything to hurt you?"

"No," Ursa said, gently trying to tug free so she could follow the children. "She seemed... decent enough. As demons go."

Ozai's wings fluttered, and he nodded. "All right. Ursa, about the dinner..."

"Ozai, the children-"

"They'll be fine. You probably shouldn't eat anything; I don't think most of it will be appetizing at all, and it might make you sick."

Ursa turned a glare on her husband. "If it makes me sick, what will it do to the children?"

"I don't really know? I've never had half-demons over for dinner."

Ursa broke away from her husband. "Show me where she took the children, Ozai."