Work Text:
when you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart
"We have a baby."
It was one of those statements that was blunt, obvious, and full of processing, but as Zuko laid next to Mai in their bed, his finger wrapped tightly in her tiny, little palm, it felt like they had made it to the end of a long, treacherous journey.
In fact, with Mai's response, it made it clear to Zuko that she felt the same about their small daughter swaddled against her.
"We did it."
"When are we going to tell the others?" Zuko prodded softly, watching the rise and fall of his, of their daughter's, tiny chest through the swaddle before finally bringing his vision up to Mai's tired eyes.
"Let's just soak in her being ours, just ours, for a little longer."
"I'm okay with that," Zuko mumbled softly, pressing a gentle kiss to Mai's cheek before brushing a stray strand of black hair away from the baby's face, "our little Izumi."
you will come of age with our young nation
"A day like this, with Agni herself shining down on the Fire Nation, is always a triumphant day. But today is a particularly special one for all the members of the Fire Nation, especially our royal family!"
"Are you doing okay?" Zuko asked softly as the herald continued to spiel on the front steps just ahead of the three of them.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Mai breathed, her voice a whisper as she brushed a strand of hair away from Izumi's soft, sleeping face, "I just don't want her to wake up, that's all."
Zuko leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Mai's forehead, taking in the faint hint of dark under-eyes that were still visible up close despite the make-up that had been painted on her face.
"I'll take her tonight, okay? Let you get some sleep?"
"Don't you have to go to Ba Sing Se tomorrow?"
"I'll take a nap at the Jasmine Dragon after I'm done," Zuko insisted, gently squeezing her shoulder, unable to feel anything but pride and admiration, "and after that, all I have is light work here."
"Like?"
"Just a meeting with the Avatar that he has insisted isn't a ruse for him and Katara to meet Izumi, and a meeting with a high-ranking member of the Beifong family, and a meeting with the ambassador to the Southern Water tribe who is being escorted by two Kyoshi warriors."
"So all of our friends are coming to meet our daughter?"
"If I use their official titles, it sounds like I'm actually doing my job."
"You are a workaholic, Fire Lord."
"-so it is a honor to introduce to all of you, the newest member of the Fire Nation, Princess Izumi!"
Zuko gave Mai a quick nod of assurance before snaking his arm around her shoulder and guiding both her and his daughter into the shining sun to face the crowd of their people.
my father wasn't around, i swear that i'll be around for you
The soft glow of moonlight illuminating the nursery, the same one that both he and Azula were raised in until they both turned three years old, was soothing to the soul.
Izumi, however, did not feel the same way about it that Zuko did and was determined to scream within Zuko's gentle, secure hold as she profoundly refused sleep.
It was the most noise he had heard her make since her first few cries of life less than a week prior, and even though he vaguely remembered how much Azula cried as an infant and how tired his mother had been in his earliest memories, Mai's dark under-eyes made a lot more sense now.
"Izumi, darling," Zuko spoke just above the cries, his heart pounding as her cheeks stayed bright red and her blue eyes stayed squeezed shut, a mix of what he could only assume was anxiety and guilt cycling through him, "Izumi, you need to calm down. It's okay."
That, however, did nothing to console the infant; in fact, Zuko was pretty sure that it made her scream louder.
"Okay, sorry, sorry, it's not okay, that's on daddy," he apologized, gently bouncing her in his arms as he sat down in the carved rocking chair, adjusting her in his arms so he could grab one of the books next to the bookshelf, "how about I read to you, okay? Will that help?"
Izumi, as Zuko expected, let out another wail but it wasn't louder and her face wasn't growing more red, so he counted it as a win and flipped the first page of the book open, squinting in the darkness so the small amount of vision in his left eye would adjust.
But at the end of the day, Izumi wasn't even a month old yet, and after one page stopped her screaming and six pages had her sleeping soundly in his arms, he gently closed the book and held her close to his chest, muttering softly under his breath.
"You're safe with me, Izumi."
i'll do whatever it takes, i'll make a million mistakes
"No, no!"
"Zuko, can you hear me?!"
"You have to stay awake…Izumi needs yo…"
The first sensation Zuko felt when he opened his eyes was fire.
The burn lapped at his body, engulfing him whole, concentrating all of its effort just above his left hip.
He knew fire because of the way it fled his fingertips, and he knew burns because of the way they marked his skin with everlasting pink flesh.
"I came as soon as I heard."
He managed to move his head, his neck, to turn and make eye contact with the figure in the wicker chair, his wife who looked exceptionally displeased as she held their surprisingly alert daughter in her lap.
'The ambush, the fight, running in front of Sokka-' it all rushed back in an instant and explained the anger and fear in Mai's eyes without a word exchanged between them.
"Mai-"
"You can't…" she paused, a sniffle cutting her off before she blinked up at the ceiling and tried again, "you can't do that anymore, Zuko. Izumi needs you, she needs her dad."
"She needs both of us."
"Don't do that. Don't twist my words like that, don't invalidate yourself like that," she demanded, the tears fully falling down her face now, cracking her foundation which ran next to her cheeks, "I need you too, Zuko."
"I am sorry, for scaring you, but I'm not apologizing for saving Sokka," Zuko sighed softly, gently reaching a hand out, gently trying to rest a hand on Izumi's that she had managed to wiggle out of the swaddle Mai had her in.
And Mai, no matter how angry she was, moved the chair closer so he could see his daughter and her bright blue eyes that were slowly shifting gold with every passing day.
"I don't expect you to be sorry for saving him," Mai sighed after a beat, "I just…I need you to be safe, Zuko."
Zuko just offered a sad smile as he brushed a gentle hand over Izumi's cheek, getting a small noise in response that sounded like the mix of a coo and a sigh, "safety is never guaranteed for the Fire Lord."
"I know. I did marry him, after all." Her words were accepting, but her eyes flicked to their daughter's with a sadness that almost always loomed around Mai in a way where he knew, he just knew, that he wouldn't be able to take it away from her.
"Hey, Mai," Zuko whispered, taking his hand away from Izumi's cheek and bringing up to Mai's, wiping away a smudge of tears and make-up, "I will do everything to protect her, you know that."
"I do…and that's what really scares me."
And Zuko, he couldn't relieve her fears because he had nearly identical ones, that he would lose Mai or lose Izumi, that he wouldn't be able to stop it, and he would have to continue living without them.
"We can't focus on that, it'll just drive us both crazy."
"I know," Mai sighed, her shoulders slumping as she looked back down at Izumi with shimmering sadness in her eyes, "I know."
and you'll blow us all away