The bushes and flowers of the Royal Gardens were in full bloom; the Fire Lilies reached toward the radiating sun desperately, and the tall cherry blossom trees rained buds of pink onto the ground.

She had just gotten out of an exhaustive lesson with Professor Wei from the Ba Sing Se University, and she was eager to exit the stuffy classroom and enjoy the soft afternoon sun. As she skipped around the Royal Gardens, trying her best to ignore the distant, helmeted figures of the Imperial Firebenders watching over her, she stumbled across the small pond. A blooming cherry tree reached over the water, casting a large shadow over the small, clear pond that hosted a small family of Turtle-Ducks.

She liked this pond, and she had seen her father sitting by it once, but she had left him alone, because he looked so sad. Now, curious, she leaned against the firm bark of the tree and watched the family of ducklings quacking happily in the corner. While she normally preferred warships, awesome bending battles, and adventurous tales to the normal poofy things Aunt Ty Lee seemed to adore, she had to admit, the ducklings were cute.

She stretched, and relaxed, extending her cramped limbs with a groan of fatigue; it had been a long lesson. Her mother was in the Earth Kingdom, visiting Aunt Suki on Kyoshi Island, and her father was doing important Fire Lord Business. Whatever that meant.

So she was all alone. No one interesting was around; she didn't know where Uncle Aang was, or Aunt Katara; Aunt Toph and Lin were similarly gone, as was Uncle Sokka and Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya. There was usually someone interesting around the palace, but for the first time, she felt bored. The only people that shared the palace with her were guards, dignitaries, noblemen, and officials. Not the most interesting company to share, she reflected.

She idly considered going to mess with one of the Imperial Firebenders, but she remembered that each one could probably demolish her with a flick of their finger, and she pushed the idea from her head. Still, it would be fun… Then again, the last time she had set off firecrackers underneath the Imperial Firebenders, they had jumped ten feet in the air and almost burned the eastern wing of the Palace, the royal quarters, on fire. Her father had yelled at her that time, and it hadn't been the first time her knack for getting in trouble had gotten her a stern reprimand.

Dad always said that she was a lot like Aunt Azula.

She had never met Aunt Azula, of course. She had heard the stories, of course. Everyone always talked about how Aunt Azula had gone crazy after Grandfather Ozai tried taking over the world. She had never met her, but people always told her that she looked like Aunt Azula a lot and acted like her sometimes. Iria had often stared at the Firelord's Painting in the Firelord's Hall. She had heard of course, how Azula's reign had been the shortest in history, only spanning one single day. It never failed to amaze her, the paintings of Aunt Azula and Father, and despite her the strangeness of seeing her father as a young man, she had to admit that she did look a lot like her long lost Aunt.

Zuko had, however, taken her to see her grandfather once.

"My father is a terrible man, but I think you should meet your grandfather and he should meet his granddaughter," he had said.

Mother had gotten very angry at that and Iria's parents had argued endlessly for hours. Reluctantly, however, mother had allowed her to visit Grandfather in prison. It had been very exciting of course; the Capital Prison had been a dark and foreboding structure, and all the soldiers gathered around was awesome. It was like the adventures she had read about before.

Grandfather had been in his cell, cross-legged. She had been a little scared of the man, truthfully. She had heard so many stories about how the madman Ozai had tried invading the Earth Kingdom, and how Uncle Aang and Grandfather had fought a great and terrible battle to decide the fate of the world.

The man in front of her had been a tired looking old man with scraggly white hair and a slightly unkempt beard.

"Father," Zuko had said. Mai had stood behind him, holding an arm over Iria protectively. Additionally, several Imperial Firebenders stood in the hallway and right outside the door, attentively waiting for any indication of trouble.

"This is your granddaughter, Iria."

The old man looked at her and smiled slightly. Iria had bowed in the traditional way, and Ozai looked slightly bemused.

"How old is she, son?"

Zuko bristled at the reference visibly, and looked hesitant and suspicious at best.

"She's twelve, father. I thought that she should meet her grandfather."

Ozai bowed slightly and stared at his granddaughter, the same small smirk on his face.

"Am I correct in assuming you know who I am, granddaughter?"

Iria nodded, nervous but interested.

"And you know why I'm in here?"

She nodded again, and Mai glared at the old man suspiciously. Ozai, however, was unperturbed, and he bowed towards Iria, the same sardonic smile on his face at all times.

"She'll make a fine Fire Lord, Zuko. Raise her well."

They had left quickly, and the Palanquin had been silent for a while.

"That's who gave you the scar, right, Dad?"

Zuko had been staring out the window blankly, and had turned towards his daughter as Mai tried to quiet her.

"Yes. Many years ago, when I dueled him."

"He didn't seem that bad."

Mai frowned at her daughter disapprovingly, but Zuko had simply sighed.

"Your grandfather has lost most of his cruelty in prison. Prison has changed him."

They spent the remainder of the ride in brooding silence.

She briefly weighed the cost of pulling a prank on the Imperial Firebenders against the potential risks of failure. Father usually gave her a lecture or sent her to her room, so nothing major. Maybe, just maybe, if she did something very bad, he would yell at her, but he usually got over it quickly.

Mom, on the other hand…

She opted to leave her guards alone. She watched the Turtle Ducklings until she drifted to sleep underneath the tree, bored but relaxed.

"Nice place to take a nap," noted the voice of her father.

Jerking awake, Iria looked up at her Dad innocently, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, Dad… I just drifted off."

Her father towered over her, dressed in his full ceremonial robes, his bright-golden crown shining brightly in the summer sky. For a moment, she feared a lecture or grounding, but her father's face softened as he sat himself down besides her, putting an arm around her. A few officials walked up to talk about the annual farming quotas, but he waved them away, and they bowed deeply and scurried to whatever lair they called home.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was just curious, dad. I remember seeing you sitting here a few days ago, so I just wanted to check it out. I'm sorry if I broke the rules or something."

Zuko chuckled, kissing Iria on the cheek.

"It's fine; you didn't break any rules. This is actually one of my favorite places in the whole palace."

"Really? Why?"

Her father looked towards the family of ducks sadly.

"My mother and I spent a lot of time here, when I was a little older than you."

His face was sorrowful as he stared wistfully into the water; mom had told her not to bother dad when he got like this, so she kept her questions to herself and leaned her head against his shoulder. Her father got sad a lot, but she knew that he always brightened when she was around.

She had met grandmother Ursa many times. Aunt Kiyi had lived in the palace for a while, and was very kind, and her other Grandfather Ikem, the kind one, had given her lots of presents and taken her to watch his plays on Ember Island. However, they had decided to live in some village called Hira'a, and Iria rarely saw them. Every few months, they'd journey to see her, and Iria always looked forward to getting some treats from Grandmother.

Then, to Iria's astonishment, a duckling swam over and started quacking at her father, to which Zuko smiled slightly. He reached forward, taking care not to soak the sleeve of his robe in the water, and patted the duck gently on its furry little head. He motioned for Iria to do the same, and she tickled the duckling under the beak, causing it to shiver and quack in amusement, to which they both laughed.

"It's so cute," she noted, grinning, her normal fascination with pyrotechnics, sharp objects, and general chaos momentarily forgotten.

Gently, Zuko picked the duckling up in his hand and gently deposited it into Iria's hands. The duckling was warm and fuzzy, and it looked up at her, slightly confused, and quacked softly, rubbing its warm, fuzzy body against her fingers.

"It likes you," Zuko noted.

Then, the larger turtle duck swam by and started quacking loudly. Zuko softly took the duckling from Iria and let it swim into the pond, and the Turtle duck and its ducklings swam away, quacking merrily.

Zuko smiled, and wrapped his arm around Iria, and they both sat at the edge of the water, talking and laughing quietly in the cool shade of the cherry blossom tree. As the sun began to sink lower into the sky, Zuko was suddenly reminded of sitting by this very pond with his mother, doing the same thing. Iria leaned against his shoulder sleepily.

"I love you, Dad," she murmured, her eyes drooping.

"I love you, too," whispered Zuko.

Then, he kissed her softly on the forehead and carried her towards her room.

It had been a good day.

EDIT: I changed a few words and sentences I didn't like and I added a few new sentences and ideas.

Happy Father's Day!

My father has been a constant force in my life; a role model and an inspiration, but most importantly, a friend. I wouldn't be the person I am today without both of my parents, but happy Father's Day. Those of you that have fathers, make sure you thank them, and if you don't have one, then make sure to find someone who has been a role model to you and give them a hug.

I've always thought that Zuko would be the greatest dad ever, and I think I caught the essence of his parenting here. I always imagined he would be timid about being a bad parent, given that he had a messed up childhood. Of course, he would be protective of his daughter, but he would also probably spoil her and treat her like royalty (which she is).

I spend too much time thinking about this, but whatever; it gives me the feels.

I want to point out that most of my fan fictions about Mai and Zuko being married and Zuko being a father are based off the massive feels that I got when I was looking at Viria's artwork on Tumblr. Check her stuff out; she's a great artist and I just get massive feels whenever I see her work. Her blog is called "That's Rough, Buddy", and I would recommend taking a look.

As usual, thanks for reading and Happy Father's Day,

IGdude117