A/N: Ever since I started to watch Avatar a few weeks ago, I knew that I wanted to write a Zuko/OC fic. I also started to read the comics and when I saw that Mai and Zuko ended things in "The Promise" I automatically knew what I wanted the fic to be about! So this fic is about Zuko and his wife, or at least how I imagine his wife to be, and their journey throughout the comics starting during the events after "The Promise" and mainly throughout "The Search". Now I just want to go ahead and get this out of the way before I even begin. I am not a Maiko shipped at all, but I do love Mai as a character so I will not be slamming her intentionally. If anything derogatory is said about Mai by my OC or anyone else in this fic it is not MY personal beliefs, it is purely what I believe the character would say in the moment when anything is said. So now that is out of the way, I hope you enjoy the prologue which is set about 40 years in the future after the events of "The Promise".
Disclaimer: This fic contains spoilers for the Avatar comic series and for the television series. Sadly I do not own any part of Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything else associated with this amazing franchise, everything belongs to Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino. I am merely a fan with way too much time and imagination on her hands!
A young amber eyed boy ran through the hallways, that were lit only by the light from the evening sun, of the fire palace, his laughter filling the nearly empty halls. Not too far behind him a greying man with a scar chased after his spitting image, a large smile illuminating his slightly aged face.
The young boy could hear the heavy footfalls of the man running up behind him, so when he spotted a pillar, he quickly dove behind it, trying and failing to staunch his childish giggles.
The aging man slowed his jog to a walk and passed right by the little boy, oblivious to his whereabouts. When the man was far enough down the hall to turn a corner, the young boy leaped from behind the pillar and ran as fast as his four year old legs would carry him.
At the same time of the young boys daring escape a woman with grey streaked dark brown hair and a face seemingly untouched by age came walking out of one of the many rooms that inhabited the private quarters of the fire palace. Shutting the ornate, and in her opinion much bigger than need be, door behind her, a familiar sweet tinkle of laughter reached her ears.
A wide smile broke onto her face as the young amber eyed boy rounded the corner, slipping on the marble flooring. The woman's blue eyes widened as the boy fell to the floor with a loud thud and she quickly rushed to his side, scarlet robes fluttering behind her.
"Iroh! Sweetie are you alright?! What have we told you about running in the halls?!" The woman quickly dropped to the floor and pulled the 4 year old onto her lap and meticulously looked him over for various bumps and bruises that he could have received during his hard fall onto the hard floor.
Iroh looked up at the woman with wide amber eyes and flashed a toothy smile before climbing from the woman's lap and pulling her to her feet.
"Gramny, you have to help me! Poppy said that he was going to let you and Aunty Katara freeze me in a solid block of ice and that I was going to have to eat Earth Kingdom food for the rest of my life and that I was never going to get to have Fire Flakes ever again! You have to help me Gramny!" Iroh stared up at his grandmother and clutched her long scarlet robes.
The woman smiled and her blue eyes crinkled as she laughed at her grandson's actions, wondering if her husband would ever learn how to act his age. Looking down into her grandson's amber eyes that were so much like her husband's, she knelt down to her grandson's height. She quickly masked her happy joyful expression with one of false worry and concern.
"Oh no! Iroh what in the spirit's names could you have done to make Poppy threaten to have me freeze you! I couldn't dare freeze my precious little fire ferret! We must go and speak with him at once?" The woman straightened and picked her grandson up, not even giving him a chance to tell her what he had don't to warrant her husband to be so "mad" at him, and placed his tiny body onto her hip before heading down the corridor to her and her husband's bed chamber. Iroh rested his head onto his grandmother's shoulder, wrapping his small hands into her greying brown hair much like his mother Izumi had done when she was a small child. The woman looked down at her grandson and smiled when she saw him yawn, he probably hadn't had a nap while her husband was in charge of watching over him. That wasn't really much of a shock. Ever since their daughter Izumi had been born some 25 years previous, her husband, Firelord Zuko, had learned that he was not immune to the puppy dog eyes that his child had given him in order for her to get anything and everything that she wanted, and it appeared that their grandson was no exception to Zuko's weakness.
The woman shook her head before she heard a man calling her name, to which she immediately stopped walking and turned to see a guard jogging towards her.
"Firelady Kaska! The Firelord requests your's and Prince Iroh's presence in the royal bedchamber." The guard quickly bowed to the royals before jogging back down the hallway.
Iroh was wide awake and looking at his grandmother before he smiled and leaped from her arms, running towards the ornate doors at the end of the corridor. Kasaka shook her head at her grandson's rambunctiousness and silently prayed to the spirits that they could give her some of Iroh's energy.
By the time Kaska reached the much too large doors of the royal bedchamber, Iroh was leaping for the door handle, beads of sweat forming on his pale forehead. Kaska had always found the ornateness of the royal bedchamber to be a bit too much, and even after being married for 33 years knowing each other for 38, Kaska still wasn't used to the extravagancies of being royalty.
When Iroh heard his grandmother walk up behind him he pouted, which looked so similar to the look that she herself had given on more than one occasion, and pointed up to the door handle which she twisted all while silently chuckling.
Once Kaska had opened the door Iroh ran straight into the room only to be grabbed by her husband. Iroh's laughs and squeals filled the chamber as Kaska tried her hardest to keep a serious look on her slightly tanned face. When Zuko noticed his wife of so many years in the waterbending stance that he had seen, and had unfortunately been on the receiving end of, on more than one occasion, he winked at her and gently tossed their squealing grandson onto the large red bed.
"Ah, Firelady Kaska. What a pleasure to see you." Zuko bowed to his wife in what had to be the most dramatic unnecessary ways that she had ever seen.
She held back her laughter and willed herself not to roll her blue eyes so instead she squinted them at her husband, stance widening just a fraction in preparation for her "attack".
"Firelord Zuko, what do you want with my grandson?" Kaska slowly began to walk towards her husband as Iroh buried himself under the heavy crimson blankets on the bed.
"Earlier this morning I caught our grandson in my private dining area. At first I didn't think much of it, however once I discovered that he was eating my last bowl of fire flakes I could not let the evil deed go unpunished!" Zuko clutched his chest with one hand and threw the other across his face, shaking his head the entire time.
"So you think that Iroh's love for fire flakes warrants a threat of having me to freeze him?! I think not!" Kasaka winked at her husband before waterbending a stream of water from the pitcher that sat on the bedside table. She easily bent the water to hit Zuko in the chest before she made a run for the bed that Iroh was cocooned inside of. However, Zuko grabbed her around her waist and picked her up as he had done all of those years before on their wedding night, and gently tossed her onto the bed where Iroh soon emerged once he felt his grandmother's weight being thrown onto the bed.
Kaska chuckled silently before yelling for her grandson.
"Iroh! Oh Iroh my sweet fire ferret please help me! The evil Firelord has captured me!" She dramatically threw her hand over her forehead and pretended to faint, one eye cracked open just a sliver so that she could see the interaction between her husband and grandson.
Iroh jumped from the bed and onto Zuko's back, which was turned towards the bed, and proceeded his attempt at pulling his much taller much heavier grandfather onto the bed. Zuko soon fell to his grandson's yanking and landed softly beside his wife who quickly shut her partially open eye once she saw that Iroh was crawling over to where she lied.
"Gramny! Gramny! I saved you from the evil firelord! Wake up Gramny!" Iroh climbed in between his grandparents and began to shake his grandmothers scarlet clad shoulders.
Kaska quickly opened her eyes and puller Iroh into a hug.
"Oh Prince Iroh my hero! How could I have survived without your braveness! I am forever in your debt!" Kaska smothered Iroh in kisses all over his face and tickled his sides as Zuko watched his wife and grandson in amusement.
Soon Iroh had fallen asleep in between his grandparents, hands firmly wrapped in his grandmother's hair. Zuko had his arms securely wrapped around two of his top 3 people in the world, if only his sweet daughter Izumi hadn't been in Republic City dealing with diplomatic issues. Kaska kissed her grandson softly on his forehead before looking into the amber gaze that had been the last thing she had seen nearly every night for the past 30 some odd years, and smiling.
"What are you grinning at turtle duck?" The firelord brought his callused hand to caress his wife's cheek, a small but loving grin fixed upon his face.
"Oh I was just thinking firebug." She replied, placing a kiss on the palm of his large hand.
"Oh really? And might I ask what thoughts have my lovely wife grinning at me as if she has seen the most entertaining play that the Ember Island Players have ever performed?" Zuko propped himself up, hand behind his head, as he stared even deeper into the light blue pools that had so captivated him 40 years prior.
Kaska merely smiled wider before also propping herself up and leaning over closer to Zuko.
"I was just thinking about how unbelieveably lucky I am to have married the most handsome, kind, loving man in the entire world?" Kaska then leant over and kissed her husband deeply, sighing as she inhaled his scent which smelt so wonderfuly familiar. Like sandlewood and smoke.
Zuko returned his wife's kiss before pulling away and kissing her forehead.
"Are you sure that you are talking about me and not Aang?" Zuko lied back down on his side, head places on his arm. A playful smirk illuminating his features even brighter in the firelight of the torches that were always lit in the fire palace.
"Oh my dear! You've caught me. His shiny bald head has always made me feel things that I never knew I could feel!" Kaska dramatically spoke before bursting into hysterical laughter, only stopping when Iroh began to turn in his sleep and began to pull her long hair.
Zuko also began to laugh at his wife's predicament, only to be silenced by the look that she gave him.
"I'm only joking turtle duck, Come here let me take the little rascal to his room so that we all can get some rest." Zuko rose from the bed and walked to the other side where his wife was detangling their grandson's small hands from her hair. Once that laborious task was complete Kaska kissed her grandson on the cheek one last time before Zuko carefully scooped him up and left the room, a snoring Iroh in arm.
Kaska rolled over onto her back before rising to change into her night dress. Once her day robes were off and her night gown was on, she sat at the vanity began the task of taking her hair down. First went the crown that she had worn for 33 years, then the ribbon that held the upper part of her hair in the top knot much like her husband. Once her unruly curls were down and out in their full force, she quickly ran a brush through them and tied her hair into a loose side braid.
Once her nightly rituals were complete she climbed into the oversized bed, grabbed the book that was lying on her bedside chamber and began to read. The book was one that she had read numerous times, it was one that she felt she could connect with. The main character was a young girl who fell in love with a prince and against all odds they had been married and had lived happily ever after. It was a nice concept, but in most real life scenarios that rarely happened. She sighed and placed the book back down onto the bedside table, rolling over onto her side as she waited for her husband to return from putting their grandson to sleep. She couldn't help but laugh at how much sugarcoating the story books had laced on her and her husband's relationship, the whole "Love at First Sight" idea that the story, and even History books had placed on their love was a big steaming pot of trash, but she couldn't help but admire what little the story tellers HAD gotten right.
Her own life story had much more depth and detail than the story books depicted it, and it was one that wouldn't be lost to the ages, or so she hoped.
Now, it is high time someone told the truth of the matter. How Kaska, a young half breed girl had defeated all odds and become one of the most powerful women on the entire world.
A/N: So, there is the prologue! I know that most people will be a little adverse to the idea of Zuko marrying anyone else other that Mai, and I just want to remind y'all that this is a work of fiction!
I am going to stick as much to the canon as the story and where it takes me! So I hope that y'all enjoyed the prologue! I am hoping to have the first REAL chapter of the story, which takes place just after the events of "The Promise", 38 years prior to the prologue!
Review, Favorite and Follow for quicker updates! The more I see people enjoying this story the more motivation I have to actually write it! I will try my absolute hardest to update this story every week, and if not then, then at least once a month! I am not a perfect writer, so if any of you see grammatical errors please just let me know so that I will be able to fix them!
Thanks a ton for reading!
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