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The royal family beach house was rather comfortable, once Team Avatar cleaned the place up. The sun had long set when people chose rooms.
"I'll sleep in my parent's bedroom," Zuko said. "Sokka, you can sleep in my uncle's, and Aang can sleep in my cousin's. Um, Katara and Suki can stay in Azula and I's old bedroom."
"How comforting," Katara said. Everyone but Zuko laughed.
"Sorry, I'm taking Zuko's side," Suki said. She ran to the bathroom to get changed. Katara was inspecting her bed when her foot hit something underneath. Holding her breath, she removed three black and rectangular shaped objects. They read, 'For Azula.'
"Tapes?" she muttered. Eventually, everyone had prepared themselves for the night. They were all in the living room when Katara ran downstairs frantically asking if Zuko's house had a television.
"You need tapes," he said. "And I'm not watching any of those."
"But I have tapes," Katara said, grinning. "These were under Azula's bed. They say 'For Azula' but you said your family doesn't come here any more so I don't think she'd mind."
"Azula would be bothered if you used the same blanket she did as an infant," Zuko said.
"Too bad, she did destroy the Earth Kingdom."
"I'm kinda curious, Zuko," Aang said. Everyone else nodded. The prince threw his hands up.
"Of course you are, everyone's always curious to know about Azula. Have a nice night, I'm going to bed."
"Me too," Toph said. "I can't see whatever's going to be on there if you guys have forgotten."
"Wait!" Suki said. "Are you gonna show us how to use it?"
The tape slid in and the screen buzzed for minutes.
"They're broken," Sokka said. Just then, Azula's face appeared on the screen, and everyone on the couches jumped back.
"Zuko lied to us," Katara said, glaring. "It's a trap."
"Calm down," the screen said. "This is not your first pregnancy, Ursa." The camera focusing proved that the woman on the screen was not Azula. "Okay, hello baby Azulon! The physicians found out some interesting news about you. You're a girl! We'll have to change your name, thank the spirits. I'm not going to call you Azulon anymore. Hmm, I've got it. I'll call you A-zul-a! It's the same thing but so much prettier! Your father and your uncle are coming back to the beach house any minute now, and I'm going to tell them the news!" Ursa's happiness radiated through the screen.
"Aw, she seems so happy," Aang said. Just then, a tall man who looked like an older version of Zuko entered the room in swim shorts. He was drying himself off, and a younger looking Iroh followed behind him.
"Ozai!" Ursa exclaimed. Her grin expanded even more when he came into her view. "The royal physicians found some exciting news about the baby."
"We'd love to hear it, Princess Ursa," Iroh said. Ozai glared at his brother.
"She wasn't talking to you. Tell me the news."
"The baby is a girl. You're going to have a daughter!"
"Congrats! The line of Zoryu hasn't had a female born into the family for generations!"
"A girl," Ozai mused. "I suppose Zuko will be my strongest heir after all. What does a girl do anyway? She won't have ranks to climb or contemplate which marriage is best for her family like her peers."
"Enough with the formal stuff," Ursa said. "I can dress her up, and do her hair, and finally have someone in the family who'll understand me. It's going to be great."
"The Fire Lord doesn't seem all that bad," Aang said. "He loves his wife, apparently."
"Zuko's mother is no longer in the picture, he told me," Katara said, "And you had to have heard the way he talks about women, it's so sexist."
"Maybe it's just Fire Nation culture," Sokka said while putting in the next tape. A mouth covered the screen, until it pulled away and the face of a wide eyed toddler was revealed. A teenaged boy sat behind him.
"Move away from the camera, Zuko," he said. "Your mother will be here any minute now." Immediately, the door opened and Ozai ushered his wife in, who was holding a bundle in her arms. Her eyes were tired but love filled the room with her soft smile. She didn't take her eyes off her child once as she sang softly. Lu Ten sat up and helped his aunt into the chair. He peered into her arms and smiled. "Hello, Azula. She's beautiful."
"Who's beautiful?" Zuko asked.
"Zuko, my love come here," Ursa said, beckoning her son over. She pulled back baby Azula's robes so Zuko could take a better look. "This is your sister, Zuko. Her name is Azula. Like Azulon, but Azul-a."
"Zula," he said.
"Wrong," Ozai murmured.
"Hi 'Zula, I'm Zuko." The girl's eyes opened for the first time in her life, and the room quieted. She gripped tightly onto four of Zuko's fingers. "I think I like her."
There wasn't a dry eye in the beach house living room.
