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Katara crept into the room, pulling the sliding door across as she did.
Ember eyes peered over the top of a piece of parchment between her hands.
“Did you tell her?” Azula asked, placing the letter down to her lap as her wife approached their bed.
In theory, a family trip to Ember Island for a week seemed like an excellent idea.
Of course, their family happened to run the Fire Nation and with a significant stake in the Water Tribes, so perhaps it wasn’t the best idea?
Granted, in the ten years since Fire Lord Ozai had been so spectacularly taken down by the Avatar, things hadn’t been quite so busy since there wasn’t a world war to wage.
Still, a couple days into the trip, they received news of some major incident between the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe that needed the Fire Lord’s urgent attention.
That naturally meant that his most trusted advisors had to come with him.
Unfortunately there was a little four-year-old girl in the other room who had been a ball of excitement to spend a whole week with her normally exceptionally busy parents (though Azula was sure that she was kind of downtrodden since she spent the afternoon with her cousin but wasn’t sure why).
“She was upset when I told her that Aang is picking her up in the morning, but I told her we would be back in time for dinner,” Katara replied, yawning as the bed dipped underneath her while she slid up to the fire bender.
Azula placed the letter about the ‘incident’ to the side table and brought her fingertips up to her wife’s hair, feeling guilt coming off the other woman.
“I can tell Zuzu to deal with it alone if Kya really wants us to stay,” Azula suggested.
Katara twisted her head up to get eye contact and she smiled softly at the princess.
“I think he would be terrified to make a decision without his chief advisor, it’s probably safer for the world if we both go,” Katara replied with a light laugh, “I just...I guess I sometimes wish we could be a normal family for a while, you know?”
Azula hummed in agreement and replied, “if you were normal, we probably wouldn’t have met me.”
Katara let out a heavy sigh and fell back into the other woman, thinking back to the circumstances of their meeting certainly made it clear that they were not destined for the mundane.
Normal people were not ordered to capture the Avatar by their war mongering father at the age of fourteen, but Katara couldn’t be more grateful that the princess had been.
“Kya can spend the day with Kiyi and Izumi, she probably won’t even notice we left,” Azula said, placing a kiss to the yawning water bender’s hair.
“I hope so,” Katara said, laying fully down, her head on Azula’s chest who had also fallen down completely to the bed.
Katara closed her eyes and enjoyed the heat that always radiated from her wife and listened to the steady beating of her heart.
As always, her fingers came across to rest on the fabric that covered the lightning induced scar.
In this sweet moment, though, she wasn’t consciously thinking about the terrifying incident that caused it and what she had dubbed the worst day of her life, but touching it had long since become a habit that the couple had accepted.
“Try and get some sleep, Kat,” Azula whispered, “Kya will be okay.”
Katara nodded slowly against the fire bender’s chest and the pair were then surrounded by the kind of tranquil silence that could only be achieved on Ember Island.
This lasted only an hour, for Azula at least.
Her peaceful rest was interrupted by a timid tug at her sleeve which had her turning over to find a pair of bright blue eyes staring up at her, slightly wet at the corners.
“Kya?” she said hoarsely rolling over to more fully face her daughter in spite of her wife still fast asleep on her chest, “did you have a bad dream?”
The little girl’s chin wobbled as she nodded.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Azula asked.
Kya then shook her head instead, her face contorting as she clearly remembered what was keeping her from sleep.
Instead of pressing the matter, the princess tried another offer, “do you want to sleep with us?”
Her daughter returned to nodding, this time vigorously and she finally opened her mouth to actually form words, “yes please mommy.”
Azula smiled softly at the girl.
Katara really tried to convince her that Kya looked a lot like her fire bending mother, but Azula was convinced that she was basically just a mini version of her wife.
That meant she was always prepared to comfort her in the way that she never got during her childhood.
It was for this reason that she reached down to pull her up onto the bed.
Katara remained fast asleep as she did this, but she did automatically move to accommodate the little form, throwing her arm across her daughter and wife as she did.
At the same time, Azula used her own free hand to wipe the tears away from Kya’s cheeks before the girl burrowed into the crook of her neck.
The princess listened until Kya’s breathing evened out and she then pulled her more tightly into herself before she closed her own eyes and tried very hard to go back to sleep.
Aang was set to come very early after all.
Hours of uninterrupted sleep passed for the family, Kya no longer inflicted with the nightmare while she was nestled safely between her mothers.
Katara was the first to wake up, not at all surprised to find her daughter in the middle.
In fact, this was often her favourite way to start her day.
Who wouldn’t want to wake up to the adorable sight of their daughter tightly hugging their other mother?
On this particular morning, though, Katara did frown as she inspected the scene. Kya was definitely hugging Azula more tightly than she normally would.
The water bender’s movement caused her wife to stir only a moment later and she cracked her eyes open, squinting at the morning light filtering in through the window.
“Good morning,” Azula said, most of the words obscured by a yawn as she tried to sit up, only to be weighed down by the mass on her chest.
She opened her eyes more fully and looked down and remembered what had brought the mass of black hair to their bed and she placed her hand onto Kya’s back, lifting her so that she could actually sit up. As she did this, she felt the tiny hands tighten around her stomach and she drew her eyebrows together though she found that her daughter was still fast asleep.
“Did she have a nightmare?” Katara asked softly, figuring that it couldn’t hurt to give Kya a few more minutes to enjoy being close to Azula before they had to take off for the capital.
“She wouldn’t tell me what it was about,” Azula replied and Katara smiled at the obviously concerned princess.
“Kids have nightmares Az, she probably won’t even remember it by the time we get back,” Katara assured.
Azula hummed, clearly still worried and she asked, “how long do you think we have until Aang gets here?”
Katara glanced out to the sun, deciding that the morning rays were not that strong, she replied, “I think we got some time before we have to move.”
Azula yawned again, still holding Kya close, as she replied, “that’s good.”
The water bender let out a low laugh, inclined to agree as she returned her arm to where it was a few minutes ago, across the two people she loved the most in the world.
S
After some strong coaxing, they convinced Kya to get up and dressed.
By the time they achieved this, though, Zuko had already popped in to tell them that Aang was already here, which unfortunately didn’t leave much time for breakfast.
Kya sat cross-legged on her parents’ bed, watching her mothers get ready and she held out her arms when Azula approached.
The fire bender didn’t really consider that Kya could have easily walked to her grandparents in the dining room, she just scooped her up, not really noticing that she wrapped her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist, clinging on tightly.
Once they got into the dining room, they found Zuko was in the process of leaning down to give Izumi a kiss to her forehead before he leaned back up to share a smile with Ursa who was in the process of distributing the breakfast.
The Avatar was also sat at the table, happily eating and chatting about how the Fire Nation had been functioning in the absence of the majority of the royal family.
Azula came to a stop, her hand resting on Kya’s back to support her as she surveyed the scene.
Even though she had been rushing a moment ago, she couldn’t help but revel in how much things had changed in the last ten years.
Betraying her father had made it surprisingly easy to reconnect with their mother who Zuko found in some colony town that she had been banished to.
Admittedly, it was more difficult for her than it was for Zuko since they hadn’t exactly been that close before her banishment, but Azula soon found that she actually had more in common with Ursa when she wasn’t trying to be the perfect princess.
As much as she would have pretended in her youth that she didn’t care, it was actually really nice having her mother at her wedding, even if that came with a half-sister and step-father who she needed more time to get used to.
Having the woman back in her life also went a long way to giving Kya the kind of childhood that Katara envisioned for their daughter. On days like this when they were pulled away, the girl got to be looked after by her doting grandmother rather than by some servant.
When her eyes fell onto Aang who was preparing to stand, she remembered that there was a deadline here and she tried to pull Kya away from herself to place her next to her cousin.
Despite her best efforts though, the little hands tightened around her neck, which made it very difficult to actually get her to let go without using too much force.
“Kya, it’s time for breakfast,” Azula whispered, but felt her hair scrape against her neck as she shook her head.
Azula looked over to her wife for assistance and she stepped over to try and pull the little girl away but she just tightened her grip further.
“Don’t go,” Kya mumbled into her mother and Azula turned her eyes over to her own mother.
Ursa was smiling into her drink as she watched the scene. She may have always had a harder time connecting to the princess when she was younger, but now she very much enjoyed seeing her with her own daughter.
Against all of the odds, Azula really was an excellent mother and she couldn’t be prouder of her.
Katara took another step placing her hand onto Kya as she said, “we talked about this last night, remember? We won’t be gone for too long.”
Kya shook her head again and Katara made sure that Azula was just as confused as she was. Kya had been clingy in the past when they had to go to a meeting, but this was a whole new level.
She seemed genuinely upset about this.
“Is something wrong?” Katara asked softly.
Slowly, Kya pulled her face out of Azula’s neck, her cheeks covered in new tears.
She chewed at her bottom lip before she said, “I don’t want mommy to get hurt.”
“Why would that happen?” Katara asked. She may whole-heartedly agree with the sentiment but she had no idea why her four-year-old would suddenly feel so strongly about it.
“Zumi told me that she was hit by lightning,” Kya admitted.
Azula and Katara exchanged a look before the princess’s eyes shot to her brother who was still stood behind his daughter’s chair, the girl continuing to drink her juice contentedly.
The Fire Lord was suddenly shell shocked under his sister’s gaze and he held up his hands, “she asked me what the coolest thing her aunt ever did was, I didn’t know she would tell Kya!”
“And you chose the story that includes you redirecting lightning straight afterwards?” Azula asked, her eyes narrowing further.
Zuko shrugged and replied, “That's just how it happened.”
Kya hugged her even tighter, placing her face back into her neck.
Azula briefly glanced at her mother, feeling the sudden desire to ask her to tell Zuko off, but she reminded herself that they were both in their twenties and had their own children.
On her part, Ursa was looking down, her pride having turned to shame.
She absolutely hated that she wasn’t around while her ex-husband was hurting their children and it was at times like this that the shame almost boiled over.
At the very least she could take comfort in the fact that the Avatar’s success gave her the chance to be in her childrens’ and grandchildrens’ lives, but still, her hate for Ozai burned as hot as the lightning that he’d used to almost kill their daughter.
Dwelling on this stopped her from noticing that Azula and her daughter-in-law silently agreed to talk about this in private.
As they left the room, Azula made sure to scowl at her older brother who gripped his daughter’s chair, genuinely scared for a second of what would happen the next time they were alone.
Once the three of them had made it to another, private room, Azula kneeled down and Kya reluctantly let go of her.
Kya wiped her eyes and watched as her mother stood back up, getting a certain amount of comfort as Katara placed her hand onto her shoulder from behind.
Azula hesitated for a moment, really considering whether this would help.
She’d had ten years to get used to the scar, but it did sometimes bother her.
The topic couldn’t exactly be avoided now, though, so she untucked her tunic from her pants and pulled it up to reveal the large portion of her stomach that was marred by rough and uneven skin that bloomed out violently.
Kya’s chin wobbled again when she saw this and she looked away from it, but Azula dropped to her knees and pulled her face back up by putting a finger gently underneath her chin.
“This happened ten years ago, Kya, it hasn’t hurt in a long time,” Azula explained.
“How could he…” Kya began, but took in a deep breath instead, unable to put into words what she wanted to ask.
Azula got the gist though and she looked up to Katara who was smiling sadly.
Kya was aware of who her grandfather was, but the conversation had never gone much beyond that.
Frankly, Azula would have been glad if she never had to find out the details of Ozai’s life. In her mind, he didn’t deserve to be related to someone so sweet and innocent.
That didn’t change the fact that he was, though, and she supposed that it was bound to come up eventually.
“My father was obsessed with power and he would have done anything to get it,” Azula admitted, moving a lock of hair out of her daughter’s face and behind her ear, “I couldn’t let him hurt my friends which is why this happened, but you know that Aang took away his bending. He’s locked away and he can never hurt anyone ever again.”
Kya’s eyebrows were scrunched together as her young mind took in the information, but something occurred to her and she asked, “did he hurt Uncle Zuko too?”
“He did,” Azula replied, not really feeling the need to go into that more complicated situation, “but things are different now, your uncle is a very different Fire Lord, we’re all safe.”
Kya swallowed hard and brought her little hand up so that she could place it against the rough skin that scarred her mother’s stomach, staring up at her eyes for any sign of pain as she did.
She relaxed when Azula smiled back at her and she lightly sniffled.
Seeing that she perhaps needed some more comfort, though, Azula took her hand and added, “when I woke up...afterwards, your mother was right there. I was lucky enough to fall in love with the most talented healer in the Water Tribe and as long as we’re together, you should know that we’ll do everything we can to always come back to you.”
Kya smiled more fully at this and looked up to receive an encouraging nod from her water bending mother before she returned her attention to Azula.
She launched forward and hugged her still kneeling mother, Azula placing a hand onto her hair as she locked eyes with Katara.
Her wife was watching the scene lovingly.
Azula was right, she would definitely do anything to make sure that this would be part of her life forever.