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- one -
Despite the screaming and cursing and finger crushing from his wife, Zuko never left Katara's side during her labor. He didn't care that her grip on his hand felt like it would cause his bones to pop or that she seethed around her gritted teeth; he knew it was nothing in comparison to what her body was undergoing. So he let the royal family physician and Northern Water Tribe healer work, simply allowing himself to be an anchor for Katara and whispering encouragements under his breath. He hated watching her be in pain, wishing there was a way he could help, but those worries dissipated after hours of labor when a high, new cry announced itself.
Zuko could hear his pulse leaping in his throat as he watched the healer take the small bundle to the side, preparing to wash it clean of its mother's fluids. He swallowed and watched in stunned silence as the physician cleared the dirtied sheets and checked in on the new mother. He gazed at his wife in admiration and wonder, the corners of his lips curling upwards at his wife's exhausted smile and the soft squeeze to his hand. Grabbing a handkerchief, Zuko reached forward and carefully wiped away the sweat from Katara's face, placing a feather-light kiss on her temple.
"I'm so proud of you," He murmured, stroking her hair. Katara could only manage a soft chuckle, breath still working to return to normal. The new parents sat quietly, one regaining her strength and the other still in awe of it. As the royal family physician completed her checks on the Fire Lady's health, the Northern Water Tribe healer finally approached the pair with their child. Zuko swallowed at the lump in his throat at the sight of the bundle wrapped in the blue blanket its great grandmother had made. "It's a girl, your majesty," the healer announced, briefly peeling aside the cloth to reveal the baby.
Zuko's world stopped for a moment. A girl, a princess! He stared down at her little face, taking in his daughter's features. The newborn had her mother's thick locks but her father's dark hair, her mother's nose and, upon peeking them open, her father's gold eyes. He watched speechlessly as his daughter momentarily fussed but remembering himself, he reached over to help his wife in opening her robes and settling their daughter against her chest. The baby soon soothed, sleepy eyes drifting shut as she warmed against her mother's chest and listened to her mother's heartbeat and breathing.
In that moment, Zuko fell in love faster and harder than he had ever before.
"Zuko," Katara breathed, one hand cupping their daughter's back. "She's beautiful." She looked up at him, warmth and the tinge of tears in her eyes. Zuko could only nod, his throat threatening to close up. "She is," he managed, a shaky hand hovering over the newborn. Katara smiled before taking his hand, bringing it down to finally brush against their daughter's hair. He could only stare as he stroked her locks, heart already melting. Suddenly, a cry arose from their daughter and Zuko retracted his hand instantly, afraid that he had hurt her. His heartrate only slowed when Katara took control and, with the aid of the physician, guided their daughter to nurse from her breast.
The Fire Lord, typically composed and collected, felt overwhelmed by the piling emotions in his heart. He felt like a fool just sitting there, merely watching as their daughter had her first meal. A small part of his soul felt fear, memories of his childhood and his own father threatening to bubble to the surface. Yet, those fears were largely swept away by the sheer amount of adoration and love he already felt for the child before him. He could feel his heart filling up to near bursting as he acclimated to the idea that he was a father; that he and the love of his life had created a new life.
As their daughter unlatched from her mother's breast, Katara cradled the newborn in her arms. Zuko again could only stare, finding himself desperately trying to commit the sight to memory. His beautiful wife and their beautiful daughter, the beautiful Fire Lady and the beautiful crown princess. He then realized his wife was suppressing a smile and he blushed, realizing he had been staring. "Here, take her." Smiling fondly, she turned the bundle in her arms and carefully passed their daughter into his grasp. Forcing himself to breathe, Zuko guided the princess into the crook of his arms.
Rocking his arms slightly, Zuko felt his world stop again when their daughter opened her eyes and gazed sleepily at her father. Pride welled up inside of him along with tears, pricking at the corners of his eyes. Shakily, he lowered his head and gently pressed a kiss to the princess's forehead, heart tugging at the small gurgle she gave in response. Clutching her a little closer to his chest, Zuko felt the room shrink to only him, Katara and their daughter. "What should we name her?" Katara asked, her voice watery and her smile fond.
"Izumi. Crown Princess Izumi."
The tears blurring Zuko's vision finally fell as he broke into a smile, a small laugh following. Katara smiled back at him and at their daughter, intently staring as the name solidified in her mind. "Izumi.. That's a wonderful name." Elated that she approved of the name as well, Zuko nodded, wiping aside his tears with one hand. Forgetting his station, the Fire Lord sat himself on the bed beside his Lady and the pair basked in the light of their first child's birth.
- two -
It was no secret to anyone that the twin princes were troublemakers. In retrospect, the Fire Lord and Lady realized that that was already the case even during her pregnancy and then their births. For Katara, it was already cumbersome to carry twins but the difficulty increased tenfold when the twins were already active while inside their mother. It was already late into the night (or was it early into the morning?) when Prince Kozuki arrived before the moon dipped below the horizon and his twin brother Prince Roku followed with the rising of the sun. Years later, their mother would joke that out of all her children, they were her toughest pregnancy.
The boys were rambunctious even from a young age, filling the palace's halls with the sounds of running and yelling. They were quick to goof off during school, much to their mother's embarrassment as she had insisted her children attend at a public school she had helped create. Whereas their older sister Izumi was a star student for her grade, the young princes were more popular among their peers and infamous to their teachers. Their energy only seemed to double upon discovering their abilities to bend at ages 7 after attempting to copy their parents' movements while watching their spars.
While Zuko and Katara had been impressed to find Izumi bending fire at the same age, the parents had only looked at each other with slightly uneasy faces as Kozuki managed to control a small orb of water and Roku had short bursts of fire in his palms. Their father had been instructing their sister for her firebending whenever he had time to spare but both parents suddenly found themselves back in mentor modes as their sons enthusiastically embraced their bending. Katara had been elated to finally have a waterbender, excited to teach her son just as she had taught her other pupils in her home country and joking that Kozuki reminded her of a certain Avatar with how quickly he took to learning. Zuko was equally pleased to have another firebender, also reminded of the days he was the Avatar's teacher and, upon seeing Roku bond quickly with Zuko's own dragon Druk, wondering if his firebending children were also worthy of meeting the original masters.
Even when their parents weren't teaching them, the princes were practicing and sparring. This sometimes lead to the destruction of small parts of the palace. One day while Katara tended to their youngest daughter, Zuko entered the palace gallery only to hear the panicked voices of his sons. "Ah, Kozu, put it out!" Zuko quickened his step and rounded the corner as the hiss of fire being doused by water only amplified the princes' panic. "Sheesh, Roku, you have to be more careful!" The Fire Lord's eyes widened at the scene: his two sons, one's robes singed and the other's doused, and the royal portrait of Ozai scorched at the corner.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, the two princes wheeled around, rigid with fright. "Dad-!" Kozuki's blue eyes darted from his father to the burnt tapestry, Roku's gold eyes never leaving the floor. As Zuko neared his sons, they cowered, realizing the gravity of their actions. "Were you two fighting again? You know your mother and I have told you not to do so indoors." Kozuki dropped his head in shame and Roku merely nodded, still refusing to look up. Zuko crouched down to their height, heart slightly breaking at the way they shrunk. While Zuko hadn't known his brother-in-law at his sons' age, he imagined that Sokka had looked the same way upon getting into trouble as a boy.
His shoulders shaking, Roku spoke, not looking at his father. "I couldn't put out my fire," He explained. "I got carried away and Kozu had to use his bending." Roku finally raised his head and Zuko was surprised to see tears brimming in his son's eyes. "Please don't be mad.." Kozuki nodded once, hands gripping his waterskin tightly. For a moment, Zuko was stunned. In the back of his mind, a memory emerged of being only a few years older than his sons and cowering just the same before his own father. Willing the thought to go away, he took a deep breath and placed a hand on each of his sons' shoulders.
"I'm not mad at either of you." Thinking back to the other occasions when the boys had gotten too reckless, he and Katara had never been too upset since the damages were typically easy to repair. The boys stared at their father silently, watching as he stared at the portrait of their paternal grandfather. "Yes, you two should know better and you made a mistake but that's how you learn." Zuko felt an unconscious want to laugh; he was sounding like his uncle. The boys even seemed confused at first so Zuko continued, "No one is perfect at first. In fact, I had trouble with firebending when I was your age."
Kozuki was quiet, digesting his father's words, but Roku spoke again. "Then how did you learn?" Suddenly, Zuko was young again and his mother's words from years ago came to him. "By getting back up even after falling down. By never giving up without a fight." His sons' eyes widened but they nodded, considering their father's words. The twins surged forward and embraced him, almost knocking him over. "Thanks, Dad," Roku sighed into his father's robes. Upon pulling away, Kozuki added, "And we're sorry. We'll be more careful." Smiling, Zuko ruffled their hair despite their protests.
(A week later, the Fire Lord ordered for the gallery to cleared of the past lords' portraits and had them sent to Ba Sing Se University for preservation.)
- three -
During a much needed vacation to the Ember Islands, Zuko found himself sitting in the shade with his youngest daughter Kya. After tiring herself out with playing in the surf with her mother, the small princess returned to her father's side and played in the sand. Zuko let out a long exhale, allowing the smell of the sea to wash over him and calm his nerves. He watched his family contentedly, keeping an close eye on his 9 year old sons roughhousing in the water and smiling fondly at the sight of his 12 year old daughter excitedly search and show seashells to her mother. His gaze wandered back to his youngest, realizing that even at 6 years old, Kya was the spitting image of her mother but with her father's dark hair.
When the family arrived to the beach house, Zuko had had it slightly renovated to fix the damages it had acquired during the time he, Katara and their friends had used it as a hideout and cleaned from its neglect. With that came their childrens' requests to hear about their adventures, the parents preferring to be honest but watering down the details to make the stories more appropriate for their age. Even then, the Fire Lord and Lady couldn't ignore the nostalgia they felt upon returning to where their budding crushes on each other first began. When the children had been put to sleep, the pair would go for walks on the beach with only the moon and stars above for lighting.
Zuko resisted the urge to snort. Not only had Li and Lo's words about the Ember Islands wiping clean the slate of anyone who visited them rang true once but twice now that he found himself back again, yet again different than the boy who was angry with himself and the boy who was crowned ruler of his nation at nearly 17. Now, he was a man and with a family he loved to boot. These musings entertained him for a while as he continued watching his family enjoying their time at the beach. "Daddy!" The call for his attention and a tug at his trousers brought him out of his thoughts and to the direction of Kya. "Look at what I found!"
In her pudgy hands was a round disk made of hardened clay. Its edges were smoothed, probably due to the wear and tear of the weather and sand. The indentation in the middle was also weathered but it was clearly a small human hand print. Zuko's mind flashed with the memories of kicking down the door, resting his hand against his infant hand print, and leaving it on the house's front steps. He saw the pillar of flame he erupted, briefly felt a flash of the anger and regret he had in that moment. "Ah," He mentally noted. "I guess the slate might be cleaned for the future but the past still remains."
Crouching down to her level, Zuko observed the clay disk. "Huh, where'd you find this?" Kya beamed her gap-toothed grin, pointing towards the small trenches she had built around her lopsided sandcastle. "I found it in the sand!" She turned it around to stare at the hand print before pressing her own to it. The young princess giggled, displaying how her hand was large enough to cover the print but not the whole disk. "I wonder where it came from," she pondered aloud, plopping down to sit in the sand and staring at the disk as if it was treasure.
Zuko sat as well, pulling his daughter into his lap as she squealed. "Well, you know how Mommy and I stayed here when Uncle Aang was your sister's age?" Kya nodded along, glancing over to Izumi, who had left their mother on the coast with her seashells and had joined their brothers in the water. "And you know how the house is from Daddy's side of the family?" His daughter nodded again, gripping the disk in her hands. "Well, I used to come here with my parents when I was your age." He brought his arms around his daughter, hands lifting hers to display the hand print.
"This is my hand print when I was very young, younger than you are now."
Kya wiggled around in his grasp to gawk at him, amazed by this information. "Really? How old is this then?" Zuko chuckled, mentally calculating the years for himself but replying, "Pretty old. I hadn't even met Mommy yet and that's also a long time ago." His daughter absorbed his words, thoughtfully thinking them over. "So you have loved Mommy for a long time?" Again, flashes of his memory returned with visions of his wife still wracked with anger over confronting her mother's killer and how he had comforted her before leaving to bring the rest of their group to the island. Grinning besides himself, Zuko gave a light tickle to his daughter's sides and relished the laughter she gave.
"Yes, yes I have." With the sound of approaching footsteps, Kya and Zuko looked up to find Katara coming towards them, the hem of her skirt pulled up to carry her eldest daughter's seashells. "Well, what's going on over here?" Bursting out of her father's lap, Kya made a beeline for her mother, intent to show her what she had found. "Mommy! Look what I have!" Zuko could only watch in amusement, letting out a chuckle at Kya's excited explanation that "this is Daddy's old hand print!" and nodding along when Katara looked at him for confirmation. Katara set down Izumi's seashells, helping Kya arrange them out on the sand to look at them.
By then, Izumi and the twins returned to their parents and were all equally amazed by the relic their little sister had found. With amusement twinkling in her eyes, Katara stood and beckoned her children to follow her to the waterline. Zuko followed along, realizing first what his wife had in mind. Together, the parents dug into the soft sand in search of fresh clay. Catching on, the older children helped gather more, only Kya still confused. Katara used her bending to draw out water from the clay, bringing it to a drier but still pliable state. As each child formed it into their own disks, Zuko helped Kya mold her hands around hers.
When the children were done pressing their hand prints into the clay, Katara took each disk aside and used her finger to neatly write each child's name and the day's date. Zuko stepped in next, willing a small fire to his hand and carefully using it to dry the clay further. When the disks were finally solid enough to retain their shape and engravings, he returned each them to his children who admired their work. As the family packed up their things and started the walk back towards the house, Kya was still enraptured by her creation. Zuko, holding her other hand and mirroring her by holding his own disk, gazed down fondly at his daughter as he lead her back to their home.
Later that night as the children were asleep, the parents looked over their childrens' hand prints and could only imagine what they'd be like when they got older. Zuko denies it but Katara swore he had torn up when comparing his old tiny hand print to their youngest daughter's.
- four -
Looking in the mirror, Zuko found himself staring at his ceremonial robes. He had donned something similar decades ago when he was the one being crowned and he eyed the hairpiece signifying his title. Beside him, Katara was styling her grayed hair, free of the hairpiece that had belonged to his mother. She was in traditional Water Tribe robes for the occasion and despite seeing her typically dressed in the reds and golds of the Fire Nation, he secretly loved seeing her more in her home's blues. Going to her side, he hooked an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her hair.
"We're getting older, hm?" To this, Katara laughed and despite the color of her hair and the wrinkles adorning her skin, Zuko still felt his heart swell at the sound. "Yes, we really are." Jokingly, she reached over and gave a light tug to his beard. "Even our children. Can you believe that that little girl we had so long ago is going to be the next Fire Lord?" Zuko gave half a shrug, pressing his wife to his side. "I mean, yes," He admitted, humor in his voice. "She was born the crown princess, after all." Katara shot him a glare but it quickly dissolved into light laughter. "You know what I mean."
And he did. His children were no longer children, but men and women of their own accord. That day was Izumi's coronation day and figures from every nation, the United Republic included, were set to attend. That involved seeing their old friends and nieces and nephews, along with their children returning from their work. Kozuki was the closest to home, considering his position as Fire Nation Navy admiral and the fact that he would be transitioning to being under his father's jurisdiction to his sister's. Roku was the second closest, tending to the preservation of the culture of the Sun Warriors and the protection of the new brood of dragons. Lastly, Kya would be traveling furthest, coming from Republic City after taking leave from her hospital.
The day went by quickly, welcoming their guests and having small reunions with their children and friends. After preparing for the proceedings, Zuko and Katara found themselves standing ready on the terrace with the Fire Sages. As a gong rang, the curtains were parted to reveal their eldest daughter. Standing tall and regal, she first bowed to her parents then to the sages and took her place in front of the crowd. With the sun high in the sky, Izumi was illuminated and the gold accents of her robes and jewelry reflected all the same. As the Fire Sages conducted the ceremony, the soon-to-be retired Fire Lord and Lady watched, pride evident on their faces.
Eventually, the Fire Sages motioned Zuko forward. The crowd watched in bated breath as the old firebender reached up to his hair and removed his hairpiece. Standing in front of his daughter, Zuko again felt pride well inside him as she upheld his gaze, no fear or nervousness in her eyes. "I was almost 17 when I first received the throne. It was a great responsibility and our nation has fought hard to redeem its honor. I am proud to pass the title to you now, my dear Izumi, because I know you are strong, smart, and very capable." His eldest daughter could only smile, bringing the memory of a newborn child cradled in his arms to the forefront of his mind. The Fire Sages rang the gong once more, the head sage calling, "All hair Fire Lord Izumi!" as Zuko carefully sheathed the hairpiece into her bun.
As the new Fire Lord bowed once again to her father and mother before turning to address the crowd and her nation. Zuko retreated, reclaiming his side next to his wife. Katara took his hand as he approached, giving it a gentle squeeze. She realized that he was shaking and upon looking closely, she saw a tear cascade down his face. Smiling softly, the retired Fire Lady wiped it away. "It's okay," she soothed. Meeting her eyes, Zuko merely nodded, his mouth set in a bittersweet smile. "I know," he replied, an exhale escaping his nose. "I'm just proud of our daughter."
Returning the squeeze, the pair turned back to attention at the coronation and felt peace settle into their bones.