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Heavy breathing, crying—all the princess could hear with eyes shut in exhaustion and pain.
"Congratulations, honey, it's a boy," Katara announced joyfully, handing over the wailing newborn to his mother. "Get used to that; you'll listen to it every day now," she said with a chuckle. "You are a mother now."
It was finally over—the 9-month wait for her child. Princess Izumi was a mother.
And she couldn't be any happier.
"Hi, my boy... I've been waiting for you," she sobbed for the child, tears running down her cheeks, one or two falling on the baby's little face. She held him close, against her bare chest, offering the comfort of her heartbeat until he stopped crying and calmed down at Izumi's warmth. "I love you," she said in a whisper.
The baby cooed in her arms.
***
Iroh II lied to his mother. Iroh had lied to his ever-trusting mother. "She won't believe me; trust me again," he thought.
Three weeks ago, the 16-year-old prince visited Republic City with his grandfather as part of a diplomatic trip to arrange the last details for the anniversary of the end of the hundred-year war... or at least that is what they told his mother. Well, it wasn't a complete lie; Zuko was there for that. It was Iroh who stayed over at Air Temple Island with his uncle Bumi.
Three weeks ago, the prince visited Republic City to join the army. To join The United Forces. Starting next summer. In six months.
So there he was now, going back to the Fire Nation, being part of a foreign army, with his hair cut—a man without honor in his culture— and probably burning all the trust Izumi placed in him, all he built. As soon as he arrived, his palms started sweating. The Fire Lord, the Avatar and a Captain in the United Forces were with him to deliver the news, and he still couldn't feel any safer. If his grandfather had screamed at him when he saw his hair, he could not imagine what his mother had to give.
"You cut your hair." Izumi stated when she saw him. She ran her fingers through her child's hair, with nostalgia in her eyes. "You're taller," he wasn't. Iroh surpassed his mother in height years ago. She hadn't noticed?
"Is it bad?" The boy asked with fear. Worry? Sadness? In his eyes.
"No, not at all; you look handsome," she gave him a reassuring smile. "You just... look older, darling. I guess I have to get used to it," she added.
"Did your grandpa give you any trouble?"
"A bit." He answered with an ashamed smile.
He couldn't tell her. The bomb could wait a few months.
***
Amon had been defeated; the Chief of Police and the Avatar got their bending back. And there it was the loyal General Iroh to receive the Commander. "Bumi!" he shouted. "Thank you for coming, we-"
"Go home, kid"
"What-"
"Go. Home. Iroh" Bumi insisted, with a hand on the
man's shoulder, pulling him close. "Your mom is waiting for you." He had been kidnapped. By Amon. He could've gotten his bending taken away. He could've been killed. And his mother... she knew it. The general went home as fast as he could, he tried to help his men, tried to heal his wounds as best as he could, so she wouldn't see him so deplorable, checked on the council, the Avatar and after a week he was in an aircraft towards his nation.
"Why are you so nervous?" he asked himself aloud. "You have no reason to be. You've done this a million times before; you're just... going home," Iroh said, walking around and playing nervously with his hands. The aircraft landed on the hangar faster than he would've liked. Why was he so nervous?. The ridiculous amount of soldiers and servants there to receive him didn't help; why was it so dramatic? "Haven't visited in two months," he thought.
"Welcome home, Prince Iroh" One of them said. He hated being called that. "Prince," it made him feel like... a child. The Fire Lord was nowhere to be seen, so he just walked past them, ignoring them.
He walked. Fast. He had to find his mother.
The throne room? Not there.
Her studio? Not there.
The kitchen? Not there.
The library? Not there.
"Mom..." He choked. Of Course, she was at the greenhouse, with her plants and her flowers. That was where she went when she was... upset. "Mom," Iroh called out. Why did he want to cry like after that one day with his father?. Izumi turned around to see her son with relief and surprise in her eyes and walked up to cup his face with her hands, always soft and warm. "My boy..." she muttered before hugging him.
"I'm sorry" he whispered, accepting the embrace.
"It's okay... You get used to it."