Death of the Fire Lady

"Suki. Don't talk. Please, save your breath. Katara will be here soon."

"No…Zuko." the Fire Lady gasped in a shallow voice

"Katara can't …help…me…anymore."

The Fire Lord looked at his wife on the bed, then at his daughter in his arms, "Honey, don't say that. Yes she can. Just hold on."

She slowly, weakly lifted her hand and brushed the tear from his eye before it could roll down his cheek. "No…she…can't." she moved her hand over to her baby's cheek and the baby giggled. "My sweet…little…Ursa. Momma…loves you…my baby." she moved her hand into her husband's and grasped it as tight as she could

Zuko winced, knowing Suki was trying to squeeze his hand, but she didn't have the strength. He wrapped his fingers gently around her hand "Suki. I don't think I can make it without you."

She smiled at him a bit "Yes…you can. You…are Zuko…The great…and…powerful…Fire Lord. You…can do...anything. You…have to…take care…of Ursa. You have…to…raise her…to be…as wonder…ful as you…are." he smiled a weak smile at her and raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I love you…Zuko."

"I love you."

She smiled at him, her chest rising with each shallow breath. He smiled back, fighting back the tears, trying not to cry in front of her, or their little girl. Then her grip released, and her chest stopped moving.

Katara walked down the hall with her basin of water for her regular healing session with Suki. It had been a month since she, Aang, their newborn daughter Kya, and Sokka had come to the Fire Nation after getting the message that Suki was ill. Toph and her new fiancé came a few days later.

When she first walked in, she smiled. Zuko was sitting in his regular chair next to Suki's bed, holding her hand and they were looking at each other. As she got closer she realized that the scene wasn't what it appeared to be. Suki's eyes weren't focusing, she wasn't holding on to his hand, she wasn't breathing. "Zuko?" Katara said quietly.

Katara?" he said in a weak voice, tears threatening to overflow. He looked at her, then back at his wife "She's gone Katara."

"I'm so sorry Zuko." the water bender said as she went over a put a hand on the Fire Lord's shoulder. "Let me take the baby to the nursery, and I'll be right back, okay."

It was a minute before he turned back to her "Uh, yeah. That's a good idea."

Katara took little Ursa into her arms and walked silently out of the room. She'd only taken a few steps when she saw Aang, Kya and Sokka coming towards her. She rushed to them and told them that Suki had passed. Before she could finish Sokka ran off to be by his friend's side. She took Kya into her other arm and Aang headed to the room as Katara continued on to the nursery and to tell Lady Ursa, Azula, Iroh and Toph the sad news.

When Aang walked into the room Sokka was standing next to Zuko with a hand on his back and tears streaking down his face. Zuko sat leaning over on the bed, his head buried in one arm his other hand still holding on to Suki's, and sobbing. Sokka reached out reverently and close her eyes.

Soon Iroh and Ursa Senior came. It took them a bit of soft talking and cajoling, but they finally got Zuko to leave Suki's side to allow the undertaker to come and take her body away. He dried his tears and went to the nursery to get his daughter. She was all he had left of Suki, her spitting image with golden eyes and dark brown hair.

When the little princess saw her father she abandoned her toys and toddled over to him. He put on a smile and stooped down, opening his arms to the little girl. Toph, who had been sitting with the babies along with Moo Chee, turned to him. She felt his fluttering heartbeat as he picked his daughter up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She heard him choke back a sob. The little earth bender got up and went and stood next to her friend. She didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say, so she put a hand on his arm. When he put a hand on top of hers she knew that he understood.

There were two funerals held for Suki. The one in the Fire Nation was a traditional royal funeral. Her body was placed in her best dress robes and set atop a pyre. Her family and friends stood dressed in white as the Fire Sages carried out the ceremony.

Zuko held on to Ursa, trying his best not to cry in front of his baby and failing miserably. The child studied her father, trying to wipe the water from his face. When it was time to set the fire, the Fire Lord nodded to Suki's assistant, On Ji, to come and take Ursa inside. When the woman came and reached for the baby, she snatched away.

"Ursa baby, go with On Ji." Zuko whispered to his daughter. She whimpered and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "Ursa," he voice cracked "please go with On Ji."

On Ji put her hands around Ursa's waist "Come little one," she said sweetly "let's go see if we can find you a cookie."

Zuko gently pulled her little hands from around his neck and as the young woman walked away the baby screamed out and reached for her father. Anyone who hadn't already been crying at the premature loss of the Fire Lady was now crying over the loss of a young mother.

The Fire Lord hung his head and let his tears flow freely. Azula stepped closer to her brother and wrapped her arm around his. He lifted his tear drenched face and looked at her. Azula, her own tears beginning to drip over her long, black lashes, said "Zuzu. It's time."

He looked at her and nodded. Silently, with his sister by his side, he stepped forward to Suki's body. He reached into his sleeve and pulled out her favorite pair of Kyoshi fans, the set she used when she was guarding him. He held then to his lips for a moment and then placed them under her hands. He squeezed his eyes together tightly as he touched her hands gently one last time and stepped away. Then he nodded to the sages.

The old men said one more prayer then sent a burst of flame to the pyre. They stood there and held on to each other, Katara's face buried in Aang's robes, Aang's arm around Zuko's shoulder. Azula still holding on to her brother. Ty Lee held on to Azula and Sokka stood between her and Toph. They stood and watched the pyre burn, and held on, and cried.

The next morning the group of fiends and the two baby girls sat quietly in Appa's saddle as they headed to Kyoshi Island. The Fire Sages had gathered Suki's ashes and placed them into an urn that Azula now held on to. Zuko sat next to her with Ursa in his lap, thinking about how her second trip to Kyoshi was for such a somber event. Sokka, Toph and Ty Lee sat in the back of the saddle, Toph holding on to Sokka's arm like old times because Moo Chee had to go back to Yu Dao. Katara sat next to Aang as he steered with her head on his shoulder and Kya cradled snuggly in her arms. She cried silently. She'd been holding it in for the longest, trying not to cry in front of Zuko or Ursa.

When they arrived, the Kyoshi Warriors were waiting in full uniform. They greeted Zuko, then Ty Lee and the others. Ty Lee went to dress in her uniform as everyone gathered around the area marked off in front of the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Suki's cousins, the only family members she had left, received the urn from Azula.

They stood as the procession started. Suki's cousins, Akira and Kenji, carried a tray with her ashes. Behind them were the Kyoshi Warriors singing the song they'd sing for a dead warrior with Aang bringing up the rear. Her cousins buried her ashes in a hole that had been dug in front of the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Then Aang stepped forward. Oyaji had asked him to place a monument for the young warrior. The Avatar stood for a second, looking down at his friend's grave, then he took a deep breath and looked up at Kyoshi as if they were having some sort of silent conversation. He nodded his head and went into a bending stance, bringing a huge block of solid stone on top of the grave. After a few movements the excess stone fell away and he stepped back.

There she stood on a pedestal , a life-sized statue of Suki in her Kyoshi Warrior uniform standing in a fighting stance, holding an open fan in one hand and a sword in the other. An eternal monument to the warrior, the Fire Lady, the friend, the wife, the mother, Suki of Kyoshi Island.

I've been thinking about this for a while and I finally started writing it. I have three chapters done, so I'm going to go ahead and post the first three. I'll try to update often, but I'm working on a few things at once, so please be patient. This is my first story that is mostly sat, so please bare with me.

I have taken Bryke's world and injected it with Zuki feels. Bwahahahahaha

Names:

Akari -Japanese- Light; brightness

Kenji - twice as wise