Nature versus Nurture

Six Months Later

"Oria, please stop." Zuko says, trying to escape from his nine-month-old niece who had a death grip on a chunk of his hair. He was starting to regret letting it grow out. Who cared if it was custom for the Fire Lord to have a majestic mane of hair? He was going to be bald if Oria kept trying to rip it all out of his skull. Taking a hold of her tiny pale hand, he pries his hair away from her only to have her grab another handful in her open hand. "Just like her mother." He mutters under his breath. "This torment all over again."

It had been months since Azula had left her infant daughter in the care of Zuko and Katara. Zuko had the whole Fire Nation searching for his sister since the day she had left, but just like before, Azula seemed to have vanished without a trace. The Fire Lord was still having problems wrapping his head around what had happened and how he came to have custody of his sisters (assumingly) illegitimate daughter. Finally managing to get his hair out of her grip, Zuko quickly hands his niece the doll that Uncle Iroh had sent for her. Squealing in delight, Oria hugs the doll and places a slobbery kiss on its face. Even though she was far too young to be showing any signs of bending, Zuko had slightly expected her to set the Earth Kingdom doll up in flames.

"She really loves that doll." Katara says, walking into the room and taking a seat on the floor next to him. "It sounded like you were having trouble earlier." She says, reaching over to run her hand through Oria's raven black hair. The girl's hair was at that awkward stage of growth where it stuck up at odd angles. "What happened this time?"

"She was trying to rip out my hair again." He says, rubbing the still sore spot on his scalp. "With this and the biting, I'm starting to worry that she is going to be just like her mother. It's not completely impossible, right? Bad genes seem to run in the family."

Katara laughs lightly. "Zuko, plenty of babies bite and pull hair. It's hardly uncommon. Gran Gran used to talk about how Sokka ripped off one of the Elders wigs in front of the whole Water Tribe. I don't think that she ever forgave him."

"That sounds like something that Sokka would do." Zuko laughs, feeling slightly better about his niece's behavior. Maybe there would be hope for her not to turn out like the rest of his messed-up family.

"Fire Lord Zuko." Oria's nanny stands nervously in the doorway, a large white towel in her slightly trembling hands. Katara had brought the young girl, a nervous girl in her late teens, back from the lower ring of the Fire Nation. His wife always seemed to be bringing home strays who needed help. He couldn't fault her for it, the girl was a hard worker who took great care of Oria. Katara had mentioned that the girl was raising her five younger siblings on her own after the tragic death of her father in a mining accident. Her mother had died in childbirth when the youngest was born. There wasn't much of a secret to why the Fire Lady had chosen to help her. "It's -It's time for Princess Oria's bath."

"I'll do it today, Rei. Go home and get some rest. We will need you here early tomorrow for the Avatar's arrival." Katara says, standing up and taking the towel from the other girl. Zuko's eyes momentarily drift down his wife's figure and settle on her rounded backside. The moment is cut short by a wooden block to the side of his head, followed by Oria giving a loud belly laugh at her uncle's pain.

"I think it's getting close to bedtime for little girls." Zuko says, standing up and lifting his still giggling niece onto his shoulder. Katara said this behavior was normal for kids, but Zuko wasn't so sure. It was starting to seem deliberate on Oria's part. Maybe Azula had just possessed the baby.

"Are you going to help me?" Katara asks, kissing her husband's cheek.

"I'll be there in a few minutes." He says, reaching down to toss some of the child's toys into her toybox. "Just let me clean up in here a little bit."

A lot had changed over the last few months. Zuko and Katara had gotten married in a small, private ceremony. The whole thing took place in his mother's garden under the cherry blossom tree's. Close family and friends had been invited, Gran Gran and Pakku had managed to make the trip from the Southern Water Tribe to be in attendance. Neither Aang nor Mai showed up or had even bothered to answer their invitations. Katara wouldn't admit to it, but she seemed to take the avatar's dismissal of the wedding to heart. Zuko on the other hand was relieved that Mai ignored the invitation to the wedding. He had invited her solely because of Ty Lee's frequent insistence that he should.

Of course, when everyone showed up for the wedding, the couple had to find a way to explain Oria. Katara and Zuko had made the abrupt decision to pass her off as a daughter that was born to the two of them out of wedlock. It was the only way to assure the safety of the small child, especially with the vast amount of people who wanted Azula's head on a platter. This had caused a small stir among the families. Iroh was absolutely thrilled with the prospect of having a grandchild and chastised Zuko for not letting him know sooner. Ursa seemed skeptical about the whole thing but didn't say much on the subject. Katara's family hadn't exactly been thrilled with the news. While Gran Gran had tried to be supportive of the situation, Hakoda had pulled Zuko aside for a long "talk" that mostly consisted of him threatening Zuko's life.

As for the main group... Toph had quickly detected the lie. Sokka had tried to fight Zuko for "defiling" his little sister and ended up frozen to the wall while Katara explained the situation to him and Suki. After explaining their concerns to everyone else, they agreed as a whole that it would be better to keep Oria's lineage a secret. The fact that Katara had not been around many people for the last year had provided the coverage they needed to play off the small child as their own. Those who had actively spent time with the Fire Lady had been sworn to secrecy. So, hopefully no one would ever have to find out that Azula's daughter was living comfortably in the Fire Nation.

"Aang will be here in the morning." Zuko says, running his finger lightly over Katara's bare spine. They were sitting together in the large inground tub of the Fire Lords private bath. Katara was positioned between Zuko's legs, her body slightly turned so that she could rest her head on top of her toned arms on the side of the tub.

"I know." She replies, gooseflesh rising on her tan skin as Zuko's hand moves across her body. "This will be the first time we have seen him since the fight." Katara shifts positions so that her back lays flush against his chest. His pale hands move to ideally draw random patterns across her stomach.

"He wasn't happy with us when he left here the last time." He says, placing kisses along her neck. His nose curls up slightly as hair chocolate brown hair tickles his face.

Katara shrugs. "I wasn't happy when he left me alone in the temple for six months with only a note saying that he would be back soon. I wasn't happy with him when he was back for a week, staying in a motel with his fans without so much as a thought about how I had been without him. I wasn't happy when he told me he had needs when he was gone."

Zuko wraps his arms tightly around her. "I was happy when you came here." He says, kissing her cheeks until she started to giggle. "You changed my life for the better, Katara. More than once."

"You make me happy too, Zuko." She says, twisting to kiss him deeply. "Let's go to bed."

Zuko and Katara wake up before sunrise the next morning. The Avatar would be arriving soon and even though Zuko really didn't care to roll out the spectacular welcome parade for his former good friend it would be bad politics if he didn't. A part of him wished that his uncle hadn't drilled him about manners for the majority of his life. The castle was a buzz with preparation for the arrival of the Avatar. The cooks had been up all night preparing the breakfast feast, the maids were scurrying around checking for any dust particles that could have been missed the day before.

Even though they tried hard to hide it, he still heard the mentions of the scandal that was his relationship with Katara. If she had been dating anyone else before they had gotten together, it wouldn't have been news, but the Avatar's past girlfriend? Now that was news worthy.

"It'll all be over soon." Katara says, from her place in front of the large vanity. She was twisting her hair back into the style that she had taken up when she had first come to the Fire Nation. Truth be told, it was his favorite look on her. The outfit that she had specially chosen for the occasion was a mixture of both their cultures. It had her signature blue color, combined with the trending Fire Nation style.

"You're right." He smiles, placing his crown into his own hair. "He's only going to be here for a few days, then everything will go back to normal. His letter said that he spent a lot of time in the spirit world the past few months. He might just sleep the whole time he is here."

"We can only hope that is the case." Katara says, standing up and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. She places her weight on his shoulders, causing him to laugh as he stumbles back towards their large bed.

He catches his lips with hers as he pulls her down onto the red silk sheets with him. His hands grip her thighs, pulling her up to straddle his waist. "Do you think we have time?" He mutters against her lips.

A knock sounds at the door, making the couple split apart like a couple of teenagers caught doing something they shouldn't have been. "Your majesties." A servant says. "The Avatar has been spotted off the shore."

"That would be a no." Katara sighs, lifting herself off him.

"It could be a move quickly." He smiles, tugging on her hand.

Rolling her eyes, Katara swats his hand away. "We're on our way."

Zuko stands with his small family in the courtyard as they wait for Aang to arrive. He smiles softly as he watches Katara cuddle with his sleepy niece. The little girl was dressed up in a simple purple dress, her hair was word down in soft waves, that reminded him of the last time that he took a vacation with his younger sister. The young girl places a thumb in her mouth as she lays her head on Katara's narrow shoulder. Though she was trying hard to hide it, Zuko could sense the stress that Katara was feeling. As Appa appears on the horizon, Zuko reaches over and takes her small hand in his own large one. Somewhere in the towers, the bells ring. Appa lets out a roar, before coming to land in front of them.

Aang jumps down from Appa's head. He looked a lot different from the last time that Zuko had seen him, older somehow. His head appeared to be lazily shaved and he was growing out his beard. Which didn't appear to be going too well from the patch way that it grew in.

"Hello, Aang." Katara says, pulling Oria closer to her body.

"It's good to see you again." Zuko says, letting go of his wife to step forward in greeting.

Aangs eye's narrow when Oria turns around to look at the disturbance behind her. "Who is that?" He asks, ignoring both Zuko's and Katara's greetings.

"You haven't met." Zuko says, gesturing between them. "This is our daughter, Oria."