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CHAPTER ONE: Prologue

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August 5th of the 3rd year of the reign of Fire Lord Zuko

"Protection is the highest form of love."

Katara

I didn't dream last night. I had real sleep. Restful sleep. It happens so very, very rarely.

Usually, I wake up screaming and crying, memories flashing through my dreams and tormenting me. Months have not made the past any less potent. Sometimes, I even wake up attacking some invisible enemy with the water in the basin on my bedside. My husband has the same difficulties. He wakes up yelling, to. We try to help each other. When I wake up from my nightmares that were once real, he holds me in his warm, strong arms until my sobs subside. When he wakes up from his nighttime terrors, I hold him until the tears stop flowing.

I sat down on a garden bench and started the fountain with a flick of my wrist. I leaned back, closed my eyes and crossed my arms across my gradually swelling stomach.

But the memories aren't confined to my dreams. That is the closest to real that they've been in almost four years, but they haunt my waking hours, to.

Quiet feet approached, and I began organizing and attack in my mind before I remembered that I was now a queen, the war was over, and no one could have gotten into this garden without causing a very noisy entrance.

I opened my eyes to look at who the intruder was.

"Mommy?" My son's crystal blue eyes stared back. I bent down and lifted him up to sit on the bench beside me.

"What is it, my son?"

Akeo swung his legs back and forth and stared at the dirt.

"Did you do something wrong?"

"You didn't scream last night."

For a few moments, I was too shocked to reply. How had he known that? "Akeo, were you out of bed last night?"

He didn't reply, but he didn't need to.

"Akeo, you need to understand, your father and I have nightmares, to. Our nightmares are…terrible. Most of them are of the war. We love you, and we don't want you to know yet. We are protecting you, Akeo. Someday, when we think you are old enough to understand, we will tell you why our memories torment us at night. Not before then."

"Why didn't you have bad dreams last night?"

"Last night we were lucky. That doesn't happen often. Now promise me that you won't go wandering the palace at night. Okay?"

"I promise." His voice was disappointed, and I could see as plainly as the nose on his face that he had been expecting a more interesting answer.

"Now, why don't you go find one of your friends? It's a warm day, and you could be playing in the River Garden with them. A swim would be nice today."

Akeo jumped off the bench. "Okay."

I leaned forward playfully. "Give Mommy a kiss." Akeo kissed my cheek and ran across the garden, disappearing through the big red doors.

I sat there for a few more minutes before standing up and walking into the palace in search of my husband.

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"An angry mother is the most terrifying and deadly creature of all."

Zuko was in the meeting room with a dozen or so of his advisors. He hated the throne room because sitting amidst all the flames that circled the symbolic chair made him feel intimidating. In the meeting room, he was still the Fire Lord (no one could forget with the gold flame-shaped piece thrust through his top-knot), but he sensed that the other men talked to him more easily. I thought (though I had never told him) that he looked similar to his father when he sat on the throne, and too many of these men remembered Ozai's short reign of cruelty.

No one noticed my entrance at first.

"And what are the rebel groups doing?"

"It's hard to know, they guard their secrets obnoxiously well, but we believe that one or more of them are preparing to attack. Thankfully, however, they aren't working together."

"Attack who, precisely?"

"We are still trying to deduce that, but the targets seem to be the Fire Nation capital and royal family, and the Earth King."

"I want to be informed immediately if anything develops. And I want some information on these people—especially the leaders."

"Yes, sir. Shall we send a bird to Avatar Aang?"

"No. He'll be visiting soon. We can tell him then. I'd like to keep this information from civilians, so please, tell only who you must. Our position of peace is precarious."

Just as he opened his mouth again, I knocked on the door frame. Everyone in the room stopped and looked up at me. Zuko smiled, and so did most of the other men there. The difference was that the advisors all put a hand on their chest and bowed to me, though some did it reluctantly. Many of them were old-fashioned and still didn't like me, but hey, I didn't really like them either. Zuko and Akeo loved me, and I didn't give a damn what the other lords thought.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Zuko for a moment. Alone."

"Milady, we will be finished within the hour. I'm sure that whatever you need to say can wait until—"

"And I am sure that rebel groups will be unable to organize a full attack in that same amount of time." I smiled sweetly at Kinmer. He was one who didn't—and would never—like me. Oh well, you can't please everyone.

"What is it about, Kat?"

"Akeo."

"Excuse us, gentlemen. A father's duties come first."

The men filed out, some grumbling, while others wore understanding or amused expressions. Old Naroku winked at me and I smiled in return. I had always liked him. One man muttered as he passed "Gods only know where that boy learned to be a father, because, may Koh take my face if I'm wrong, he sure didn't learn from Ozai."

Naroku was the last one out, and he shut the doors behind him. The second we were alone, Zuko sank into the nearest chair.

"Gods, I hate this."

"Ruling?"

"Yes! It's like dancing on the edge of a knife. No matter what you do, someone is always unhappy, and their voice is usually the loudest. I think some of the lords just like to complain and bother me. I shouldn't be surprised, though. Most of the world still hates the Fire Nation. But you're not here to listen to me gripe. What about Akeo?"

So I told him what our son had told me. When I finished, Zuko stood and walked over to me, and pulled me into a strong, comforting embrace. "Kat, we knew that this would happen sooner or later, and now we just have to deal with it. I suppose you just gave him some non-answer?"

I nodded, and despite my best efforts, a tear leaked out.

"It'll be okay, Waterdancer. I love you, and Akeo loves you."

"Zuko, He's not even three yet, and he's already asking questions! How do we answer him? How do we explain so he can understand?"

"We don't. We let him forget. We occupy his mind until there is no room left for speculation about the war or our dreams. I'll find a way to keep him in his room at night. He won't even remember until we remind him, years from now, when we tell him everything."

"He's just so young…I just want to preserve that beautiful, intangible innocence as long as I possibly can."

"We will. When he's old enough, he'll find out through us. Not through another source and not until then. The same will go for any other children we have."

"I'm sorry. It's just…we never did find Azula. If he knew about her…or if she knew about him…I don't even want to think about what'd happen."

"Azula will never hurt Akeo. If she did…she would be sorry she was ever born into my family."

I smiled. "I believe it."

"You know, Aang sent a bird. He's visiting soon."

"I know."

So why don't you go south with him? You could see Sokka and Suki, and Suki's only a month or so behind you."

"Are you sure? You seem pretty stressed." I wanted to go, to see Gran-Gran again, to be there for the birth of my first niece or nephew, to be with waterbenders again—the people that I had grown up with, people I hadn't seen in far to long.

"Go. I'll be fine. I know you miss everyone, and it's about time you saw them again."

"You promise to be there before the baby is born?"

"I promise. I wouldn't miss the birth of our little waterbender for anything."

"How do you know it'll be a waterbender?"

"Oh…just a feeling." There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye that I hadn't seen in weeks. I was glad that it was back.

"You are impossible. But I think I will go south. I do miss Sokka and Suki."

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Two weeks later, Appa took off from the beach with some extra baggage. To be exact, he had me, and two shoulder bags full of necessities. Many of the other noblewomen had been appalled when they saw exactly how much I was taking, but then, none of them had roamed the world for almost a year, and they couldn't imagine living without featherbeds, silk tents, and servants to cater to their every whim. I had only had those luxuries for a few years.

I had limited myself to the bare necessities of road survival—except for the bag of Fireball candies for Sokka; he loved them.

For the first day, Aang and I talked and caught up with each other. But it would be another week or so until we reached the South Pole, and we couldn't talk all the time. So, when we weren't talking, I amused myself in the way I had done many times before while flying—I thought. And I remembered.

Suddenly, it was the last year of the war once again.