Imagine you were some Fire Nation mid-rank officer under Princess Azula's command.
Imagine that, for some weird reason, she trusted you a bit more than the average soldier in the army. Not close or anything emotional of cource, just trust.
Imagine also that you were in love with her for your own reasons (not that hard to imagine this one).

How would you have helped and pulled her out of that self-destructive path she was walking on?