#merida was pretty open with her discontent

[julietwiskey1]

Have you ever thought of a Brave AU with Ursa and Azula?

I haven't. Or at least not until you sent this ask, which prompted me to watch Brave for the first time. It definitely would work well for an Azula and Ursa AU with some significant changes.

Assuming that you want it to be kept mostly Canon compliant and after the war when Ursa and Azula have found there place in the Fire Nation again it could be interesting. Though it could also work for a no war AU and stay more true to the original story.

For those who don't know in Brave Princess Merida is being set up for an arranged marriage by her Mother Queen Elinor. In all Merida and Elinor clash quite a bit over the Mother training her daughter to be the perfect lady and princess. A lot of demands and Merida is not that type of girl. She is tomboyish, would rather shoot arrows from a horse then command a room. Not wanting to go through with a wedding Merida is given spell by a witch to change her mother and therefore stop the wedding. But also changes her mother to a bear and the pair have to work together to change her back. Ultimately requiring them to repair their mother daughter bond. Just the type of thing that I love in my stories about Ursa and Azula.

So emotionally and story wise I would love to see Azula and Ursa experience something likes this. And come on, Ursa is just asking to be turned into a bear with her name. Ursa I think works quite well in the slot of Elinor, she wants the best for her daughter but making Azula the perfect princess is important. It also allows them to have tender moments like Merida and Elinor did.

The real issue with making this AU work is slotting Azula into the role of Merida. While they both are forced to be the perfect princess they react to the role in opposite ways. Merida chafes at the demands and requirements, outwardly rebels and seems to do a rather poor job. Azula excels at being the prefect princes and makes it look easy while enjoying it, but is also a rather submissive character to her father and mother. Azula also represents duty above own desires, the aspect of her character that makes me love character. And one that makes this AU difficult.

For Azula an arranged marriage isn't unexpected, but rather her duty to her nation. Such notions as a marriage of love probably wasn't a thing she grew up expecting or desiring. It just was never going to happen. And quite frankly I am the wrong person to talk to about "true love" and other such babble.

So I think changing the conditions Azula finds herself contacting a witch would change. Its most likely something that comes up in a moment of weakness and seeks her out, knows what she wants even if Azula would never indicate it. And in that weakness Azula takes the witch up on the offer and Ursa is turned into a bear. And the inciting incident is a lot more subtle then an arranged marriage, these character would be better served by it coming about by a ton of just inconveniences that build up unresolved.

The story would also change what needs to be fixed between Ursa and Azula. Most importantly its communication more than anything else. Why Azula used a spell wouldn't be anything she outright admits or says, at least not for awhile. It also requires Ursa to pause and push Azula to talk and to really listen to what Azula wants and the hints that she drops. For Ursa it would be putting together the clues to know and understand why her daughter is unhappy.