Chapter Text
Azula and Ty Lee were awoken once again by Kuzumi’s piercing screams in the middle of the night.
Azula turned over and looked at her wife.
“Maybe if we ignore her…”
“Don’t you dare,” Ty Lee said through gritted teeth.
Azula groaned and turned back towards the crib at the side of the room.
“You know that there are people whose sole job it is to take care of babies,” Azula said, swinging her legs out from under the covers and standing up.
“Their mothers,” Ty Lee said.
Azula rolled her eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” Ty Lee said.
“You didn’t even see,” Azula replied, scooping the child up into her arms. Immediately the cries got quieter as Azula bounced the baby.
“I could hear it, it was so loud,” Ty Lee accused.
“What’s wrong,” Azula said, swinging the crying Kuzumi side to side. “Are you hungry?”
“Of course she’s hungry,” Ty Lee said, slamming her head back onto the pillow.
“I’m sorry,” Azula said, taking her attention away from her newborn daughter. “I thought it was my turn to deal with the baby. If you want to give advice from bed maybe you want a few more turns?”
“Yeah, no thanks,” Ty Lee said. “You insisted on carrying the child for the firebending legacy or whatever, so now you feed her from your milk bearing tits.”
“Vulgar, vuglar,” Azula chortled as she lifted Kuzumi to her chest, allowing her to latch on and start suckling.
“Is she eating,” Ty Lee asked.
“What do you think,” Azula replied. “That I smothered her?”
“No of course not,” Ty Lee said, sitting up. “Why would I think that?”
“I don’t know,” Azula said. “I’m just tired.”
“You’re tired so you want to smother our baby,” Ty Lee said, a little panic finding its way into her voice.
“Ty don’t be ridiculous. I’m tired so I made a stupid, sarcastic remark that I realized too late was not appropriate,” Azula said. “I could never smother her. I like her too much already,” she said offhandedly, too delirious to realize how uncharacteristic that remark was. “She looks like me.”
“Oh,” Ty Lee replied. “That’s actually really sweet.”
“But if she grows into a bratty teen that gets pregnant before she gets married and gives us too much sass, maybe she’ll wish I smothered her,” Azula joked.
“She’s going to be a good kid,” Ty Lee said.
“How do you know?”
“I can tell by her aura.”
“A one month old child has a fully developed aura?” Azula asked, skeptical.
“Of course,” Ty Lee replied, exasperated, as if it was common knowledge.
“Does her aura say prodigy on it?”
“There’s no words on auras! How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“I was just wondering how useful your skill was at predicting the future of our daughter,” Azula said with a shrug.
“Our daughter…” Ty Lee said, trailing off. It hadn’t been that long since Kuzumi was born and since then everything had been a blur.
First there was the labor that started in the middle of the night. Then the birth, the hospital stay and finally the infant firebending test which Kuzumi passed, causing Azula to simultaneously sob and threaten everyone in the room that they better not tell anyone.
Following that was the chaotic drive home where Azula criticized every move Ty Lee made because she thought her jerky driving would kill the baby.
After that came the first diaper change, the first spit up and the first bath.
Even though Azula and Ty Lee were getting the hang of it, motherhood was taxing, even with both of them on maternity leave and a chef and a maid coming in daily to cook and clean so they could just focus on the child.
Kuzumi finished eating and let go of Azula. She held the baby over her shoulder and began patting her back and pacing around, waiting for her to burp.
“Come on ‘Zumi,” Azula encouraged, “you can do it.”
“‘Zumi?” Ty Lee asked.
“I thought it suits her,” Azula said.
“Mai and Zuko call their daughter ‘Zumi,” Ty Lee pointed out.
“They’re cousins, they’re going to be close, it’ll be cute,” Azula said.
“I didn’t realize you thought about that stuff,” Ty Lee confessed.
“This little girl is the only thing I’ve thought about recently,” Azula said as Kuzumi finally burped. “Good job,” she cooed as she kissed her little head and lowered the tired infant into the crib. She drifted off to sleep almost immediately.
“You’re good at this,” Ty Lee said, stroking Azula’s face when she got back in bed.
“Just following your lead,” Azula said, tiredly.
Ty Lee pulled her in for a soft, sleepy kiss.
“You’re getting up the next time. I pumped so… you know,” Azula said, unable to form a coherent thought because she was already asleep.
“You’ll be awake so maybe I can just ask you to help,” Ty Lee teased.
“I might be awake, but I sure as Agni am staying right in bed. It’ll be the green light for watching and making snarky comments. Maybe I’ll even learn how to read auras just to do a reading for you as you stand there with the tearful newborn!”
“I love you so much,” Ty Lee said with a smile.
“I love you too,” Azula replied, pulling her close to her as they fell asleep again, with no way of knowing how long it would last.