Disclaimer - I don't own them.
"May I help you?"
Suki almost want to leave the study she has occupied secretly for the past thirty minutes. Azula's light night gown gleamed under the torch light. The spectacles perched over her nose gave Suki an odd twitch. Thinking of the past required a bit of an open mind. Suki's heart would always sink in just how life bent back, forwards and back again for the past ten years.
"I'm sorry for sneaking up on you like that," Suki said. Azula removed her spectacles. "I wanted to speak to you about…"
Azula blinked. Her golden eyes were almost too yellow under the light. "We never speak."
Suki laughed. "Of course...but I think you're the best person to speak on this to."
The Fire princess's lips twitched. Azula went from a blood thirsty killing Fire Princess, a political advisor to her brother, Firelord Zuko, and to being the Fire Nation ambassador to the Earth Kingdom. The strangest phenomenon about Azula's current state, was that Aang would ask for her hand in marriage in two days - and only Zuko and Suki knew it.
"Alright, you have a seat if you'd like," Azula gestured to the seat across from her. When she spotted Suki's hesitance, she tapped the seat. "I'd rather have you here."
Suki never spoke, and never budged. She removed her face paint earlier, and knew it took Azula a bit to get used to her not guarding Zuko at every meeting. Her short mission to protect Zuko during the first few years of his reign turned into the most draining ten years of her life. Suki walked with an open wound on her chest, and burn in her throat, and the constant urge to give in to poisonous words that could ruin her reputation.
At the thought of it all, her eyes burned. One blink. Azula did not move, but watched the Kyoshi Warrior release warm tears, which ran down her cheeks. She had no idea why she was crying in front of a woman she says one word to per month. The dead weight dragging her feet, loosened the more tears fell.
Azula blinked. "I understand. You want to ask me how I manage being with him."
"How did you both…" Suki sniffed, and wiped her cheeks. Azula took a small napkin from a silver kit on the table. She rose, standing a few inches taller than Suki, and handed the warrior the napkin. "...I don't know what to do. I don't know how to tell him about this. "
Azula waited. "How far along are you?"
Suki froze. The deafening silence forced her to wipe her tears gently. The soft tissue was silk to her skin. "How did you find out?"
"Mother said it...I didn't believe her," Azula said. "Is it my brother's?"
"If I were with twenty men, it would still be him," Suki said. "...I'm three months."
Azula kept staring.
"I'm going to get rid of it tomorrow...I'm sorry. I didn't expect for you to know-"
"Did he tell you to get rid of it?"
Suki paused. "No."
"Does he know?"
"...no."
The air shifted. Suki watched Azula slowly forget the paperwork over her desk. Many who worked closely with the Fire Princess, would mention strange moments where the woman who stop and slowly lose track of thought. Suki saw this first hand, and it read like a dream.
Azula had beautiful eyes, and Suki understand why Aang would fall hard for the crude and busy woman. He adored the princess in ways Suki wished...just wished it were like that with Zuko. She, being the selfish woman she was, almost felt giddy anytime she thought of days where Zuko would drop it all, and give it up just for her.
But Zuko was not Azula, and Azula's status did not have any effect on her social standing.
As forbidden as her love to Aang was, it still did her good politically to stay by his side.
Suki had no chance, and she knew it the moment Azula blinked back into reality and inserted her paperwork in a thin leathery packet. This was it...the moment Azula would tell her the truth, and ask her to kill her child because it tarnished the royal-
"You will have this child."
Suki blinked. "What?"
Azula sent her a quick look before sealing the packet, "You heard me. Whether or not Zuko agrees, I say you will have this child."
"...but what if?"
"It does not matter if he says no," Azula said. "And this isn't me agreeing with your relationship with him. Zuko's business is out of my league...the fact that Zuko does not know you are carrying his child, is enough to know he will kill you if you try getting rid of it."
"I'm...just a personal guard-"
"You fought in the war, and you own the Kyoshi Warriors," Azula said. "The warriors once trained by Avatar Kyoshi, the warriors who already occupy many history books. I remembered you being a lot more smart than you are now."
"I didn't ask to be insulted."
Azula's lips twitched. "What do you think Zuko will do if he finds out?"
"He will ask that I leave."
The Fire Princess blinked.
Suki's eyes narrowed. "And if you both have any ideas about keeping me a secret, it won't happen. I'm getting rid of it, and Zuko will have my resignation letter tomorrow."
"Do that, and I will let him have you arrested." Azula said.
Suki read something in the other woman's eyes.
Azula rose and grabbed the teapot on the tray near her. Suki wondered how the water still kept hot, then remembered.
"Come drink."
Suki walked to the table and sat down. She took the drink from Azula's hands, which held a soft grip before letting go.
"Mother makes me drink this tea for my headaches," Azula murmured. "But I heard it is good to drink before birth."
Suki took a sip. Something spiced touched her tongue, but its sweetness beckoned her forward. She felt the other woman stare at her, in a way that made her feel as though she were drinking medicine her late mother brewed just for her.
"I prefer this child than one from one of one of those royal idiots," Azula murmured. "Ty-Lee tried pairing him up with her sister. I can see why it never worked."
Suki ignored the glimmer in the princess's eyes. "I was the one who set her dress on fire at the ball."
"I figured," Azula grinned wolfishly before she leaned on her elbow. "You and Zuko will be fine."
The warrior nodded. They had to be, whether Zuko was prepared or not.
"We better be."
End
