Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I didn't come up with it. I don't get paid for this. Please show your appreciation and review. It's the only form of recognition I get.

A/N: Dates are important! Making a quick mental note of what the date is will really help you understand.

Chapter One: Prologue

October 24th, the 2167th year of the Age of the Avatar
Dear Sokka,

In response to what you said before: you know, surprisingly, I don't miss the cold as much as I thought I would. I miss my family of course, but I've learned to love the warm climate. I know you could never get used to it.

How is Suki doing? How close has she come to killing you yet? I'm sure the added hormones haven't made you seem like any less of an idiot. How much longer until she has the baby?

Anyway, I'm coming to visit! Aang and Appa are here in the Fire Nation and offered to bring me along when he leaves in two weeks for the Southern Water Tribe. He'll have to leave after a few weeks like usual, but I intend on sticking around longer. I'd love to be there to help Suki through her delivery. Zuko can't be away for as long as I can, having Fire Lord duties and all, so he'll be along later. He'll bring Akeo with him. I decided that they should have some male bonding time. You wouldn't believe how big he is, Sokka! He can't wait to see you.

Give Suki and Gran-gran and everyone else my love. I'll be there soon.

Love,
Katara

xXxXxXx

January 17th, the 2168th year of the Age of the Avatar

"Fire Lord Zuko!"

Zuko spun around to face the message runner, a boy of nine or so, in a bright blue parka. "Is it time?" he asked. He tensed and clenched his fists, ready to sprint away.

"Not yet. But you've been summoned to the war room."

"Oh." His face fell with disappointment, causing the bundle of fish to nearly fall out of his arms.

The boy laughed. "Soon, Fire Lord. It'll be soon."

He smiled. "Take this to Gran-Gran, will you? And won't you call me Zuko? I'm nobody's Lord here. Just a common man."

He took the bundle, looking at Zuko with a mixture of fascination and respect. "But you're not common. You are the Fire Lord." He shrugged and turned in the direction of the home where Katara's grandmother lived, and Zuko walked off in the opposite direction, wondering if there was any way to get his wife's people to treat him normally. Living among the complex politics of the Fire Nation nobility made him miss the simplicity of peasant life. He loved visiting the Southern Water Tribe because it gave him the chance to return to that, if even only for a short time.

When he entered the war room, he was met with solemn faces. Sokka was sitting in the corner with his head in his hands, shoulders shaking slightly, but not moving otherwise. "What is it?" In an instant, the common Water Tribe man vanished, replaced by Fire Lord Zuko. His eyes scanned the room, searching for clues. Maps of the southeastern part of the Earth Kingdom were spread out, and a letter lay under Hakoda's calloused palm.

"Zuko…" Hakoda looked like he might go into shock. He tried a few more times to speak, then pushed the letter across the maps to his son-in-law. "Read this."

Skipping over all the formal titles (judging by the look on Hakoda's face, it didn't really matter), Zuko got to the first line of the letter and read.

I regret being forced to bear this terrible news, but my gamekeeper has found the body of Avatar Aang—

The letter fell out of Zuko's hand and landed on one of the maps, looking completely innocent. Found the body of Avatar Aang…body of Aang…Aang…

He groaned, trying not to be sick, and fell to his knees on the fur covered floor around the low table. "How in the four hells," he began, voice muffled by his palms, "did someone manage to kill the boy who singlehandedly defeated Fire Lord Ozai—" Zuko could never again call that monster his father—"less than three years ago? He eluded and defeated countless men who were far more experienced, trained, and who were much older, stronger and deadlier. How did this happen?" He looked up at the faces of the Water Tribe councilmen. They looked like a group of lost children.

"I…don't know," Hakoda whispered. "I don't know, Zuko."

No one spoke for some time. Without the Avatar, it would be all too easy for some of the more stubborn Fire Nation nobles reignite the war. The Earth Kingdom would cut off trade routes and stand ready for an attack, suddenly mistrustful of their newfound allies. Citizens and refugees that dwelled in lands other than their native home would find themselves sudden outcasts. The delicate peace that the leaders of the world had worked so hard for would fall apart.

But Zuko thought of none of this. His mind was dwelling on the face of his friend. Aang, the incurable child, always laughing and devising new games, or on a devious day, pranks that rarely worked. Sometimes, caught up in the simple joy he got out of life, you could forget how powerful he was. But you were always reminded if his anger was ever truly ignited. Sprits protect you if that anger was directed at you. So why was he dead?

No one spoke for some time. Each man was lost in his own thoughts, trying to push through the haze of grief that clouded each of their minds to see any way to ease the shock and pain of the situation, even in only the smallest way.

"Zuko, you know what this means, don't you?"

He looked up and discovered Pakku's eyes meeting his. Having no clue what the water tribesman was talking about, he took a guess. "Um…the world will fall out of balance?"

The elderly master managed a weak, humorless chuckle. "We certainly hope not. But I assume you know the Avatar Cycle?"

Air was last…what was first again? "Water, right?"

They all scrutinized his face, waiting for some reaction.

Finally, Zuko reached the end of his patience (though he'd never had much to begin with). "I have just been told that one of my best friends, the most powerful bender in the world and only fifteen years old, has been killed. We were in a very precarious political situation, and this is only going to make it worse. As if that weren't enough, my wife is pregnant, and she needs—" Zuko stopped dead. Suddenly it clicked.

"Now you see it."

Zuko's mouth opened and closed like a koi fish for a few moments before he managed to force a few terrified words out. "But…our baby is half Fire Nation…surely…"

"The spirits have been known to do the unexpected. She and Suki are the only pregnant women in the South, and we don't know anything about the North yet. It's too early for Suki to give birth, but Katara is a possibility, Zuko. It has been predicted that every third Avatar is female. If Katara has a baby girl within the next couple of days, it's a very good bet…"

Zuko was too stunned to say anything. His eyes were on the table, but he wasn't seeing it. He was seeing his wife, her stomach round with their child and her face glowing. The Avatar?

"Zuko." He looked up. One of the other men was talking now. "You should tell her."

All he could do was nod.

xXxXxXx

Katara smiled as she watched her young son play with the carvings of animals from all around the world. Tiny komodo rhinos, ostrich horses, sky bisons, and turtle seals littered the floor around him. She put a hand on her stomach and felt her second child kick.

"Kicking again?" Suki said.

Katara smiled at her sister-in-law. "Yes. He (or she, I suppose) is bored with being coped up for so long."

"Mine to."

"Yes," Katara said with a laugh, "but you've got twice the problem!" Suki, though a little bit behind Katara in her pregnancy, was noticeably bigger. She carried twins, her and Sokka's eldest children.

Both women turned as they heard someone enter the small house. Katara's smile instantly disappeared when she saw her husband's face, much paler than his already light skin tone, and his usually bright caramel eyes were a shade or two closer to brown. "Zuko, what happened?"

"Where…" His voice was hardly more than a croak. "Where's Gran-gran?"

"Making dinner. In the kitchen."

He collapsed in the corner, shoulders shaking and clenching his fists tightly around air.

Katara stood up with some difficulty and crossed the room to her husband's side. "Zuko, tell me." She knelt beside him and pried apart his fists with her own cool hands.

He looked up, tears running down his face. "Aang is dead."

Katara's world came to a halt. Three words, one of them the name of her dearest friend, resonated in her mind. No…it's not possible…The room around her disappeared in a haze of tears and Aang's face replaced it. He scrunched up his eyebrows in concentration as he tried to master a difficult waterbending move. He tried to sneak a sample of the dinner Katara was making and pouted when she smacked his hand with the spoon. He laughed as Momo stole Sokka's dinner and forced the clumsy teenager to chase him all around camp.

"Mama?"

Katara blinked, returning to the real world. Akeo stood in front of her, his slanted blue eyes watching her with innocent, childlike concern. She reached out to him and drew his comforting warmth close to her. "It okay, Mama," he said.

Oh if only, my sweet son. Tears ran down her face, soaked up by her son's brown hair. If only.

xXxXxXx
January 19th

For the second time in his life, eight months had not been enough time for Zuko to prepare himself for the anxiety of knowing his love was in terrible agony, and it was his fault. He cringed every time his wife's cries met his ears. It had been so different with Akeo…three midwives and the palace physician had been there, with the largest conceivable collection of herbs and medicines in case something went wrong. Here, everything was so—he winced when the first word that came to mind was savage. Reversing so many years of brainwashing was no easy task, and Zuko felt a pang of guilt every time such a thought ran through his mind. He left the small building for a bit of the cold South Pole air to clear his head.

The ice and snow was bathed in the soft white glow of a newly risen moon. Zuko swallowed hard as the thought came to him, yet again, that his child was probably the Avatar.

Suki had wanted to help, but Katara had made her leave hours before, not wanting her to be even more axious of her own upcoming delivery. So Suki had left in a huff and was now at home with Sokka, probably grumbling. They had taken Akeo with them and Zuko had been alone for several hours now. He paced, sat, fidgeted with tiny flames in his palms, and made little mounds out of the snow at his feet. When he eventually went back inside, he heard Gran-gran's voice and breathed a sigh of relief at her words.

"You're almost there, Katara," the old woman was saying.

Katara cried out and pulled on the rope loops above her head. She was naked and covered in sweat, her face flushed and tears running from her eyes. The ropes groaned in protest and Gran-gran had to admire her granddaughter's strength. Those ropes had never complained through hundreds of births. The young mother slumped in the momentary relief between contractions.

Gran-gran blotted sweat off Katara's face and neck with a cloth and smiled wryly. "You would think the Avatar could make this a little easier, wouldn't you?"

Katara managed a weak laugh, replying "We're not certain yet," before she was cut off by another contraction. "Push, Katara," Gran-gran ordered, and Katara did. The old woman moved closer to guide the child's body into the world. "The baby's head," She told her when the pain eased. "One more, hard, Katara!"

Katara obeyed, screaming with effort as her second child entered the world and slid into her grandmother's waiting hands. She finally released the ropes and collapsed onto the pile of furs, chest still heaving.

"A girl, Katara," Gran-gran said, holding up the bloody, wailing baby. "A beautiful little girl."

Could she really be the Avatar? Katara thought to herself as Gran-gran turned away to wash the child with warm salt water. They wouldn't know for sure for a few days, but Katara knew. She was her mother, and mothers know when their child is the most powerful bender in the world.

"May I come in?" said a shaky male voice from the next room. Zuko was anxious to see his wife and child. Gran-gran's birthing assistant quickly removed the soiled blanket from underneath Katara's bottom and spread a clean fur pelt over the young woman. "Yes, Fire Lord," she said.

The pelt that hung in the doorway was moved aside and Zuko walked in, his face ashen and golden eyes wide. He stumbled in his haste to be at his wife's side, and gathered her up in his arms as best as he could without moving her much. "Are you okay?" He kissed her forehead and moved sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes. He didn't even bother to correct the young girl's manner of addressing him as he usually did.

"I'm fine."

"Katara and Zuko, meet your daughter." Gran-gran turned so they could see the baby she cradled, wrapped in a thick gray fur. Zuko held his arms out, and Gran-gran placed her in the large and clumsy, but gentle, hands of her father. Holding her carefully, Zuko knelt next to Katara so she could really see her daughter for the first time. The baby's big eyes were green-blue, the perfect mix of Fire Nation amber and Water Tribe blue, her skin darker than his own but still far lighter than Katara's. She looked at her parents in wonder for a moment or two, then opened her mouth and began to cry. The sound was loud and healthy.

Zuko panicked. "What did I do wrong?" he said, looking at his wife and grandmother-in-law for advice. Both laughed.

"She's hungry," Katara said. "Give her to me."

Zuko handed the baby over, and she instantly found Katara's breast and began to nurse. For several minutes, the only sound in the room was that of the newborn sucking.

"When will we know?" Zuko asked. Both women knew what he was talking about.

"Soon."

xXxXxXxXx
January 24th

Katara and Suki stopped talking abruptly when Sokka and Hakoda walked into the house. "Well, there's no way to sugarcoat it," Hakoda said. Katara felt Zuko's arm, draped over her shoulder, tense in preparation for Hakoda's next words. "The Northern Water Tribe has had two baby boys born in the past two weeks. One baby girl was born but she was sickly and died. You're holding the next Avatar, Katara."

Katara looked down at her daughter, sleeping peacefully and a tear ran down her cheek. "My best friend dead and my daughter born, within a week of each other. Such sadness, and such joy at the same time. It's a wonder we all haven't gone mad yet from the confusion."

No one said anything for a few moments. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

"I know what I want to name her," Katara said once she had pulled herself together somewhat. "'Renata.' It means 'reborn' in the ancient language of the Water Tribes."

"Renata it is," Zuko said, looking lovingly down at his daughter as well.

Renata opened her green-blue eyes and stared up at her parents curiously, as if wondering why they both looked so sad. Upset by the expressions on the two faces she knew best, Renata opened her mouth and began to cry.