**So the story begins. I truly am so excited for this story. It's going to be... Wonderful! Literally everything is a circle, every little detail (well, maybe not EVERY, but the big things) are all tied together as a single plot. Obviously it's not apparent now, but it will be! Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**
Sun light filtered in through the sheer gold curtains that hung over the balcony door. The light slowly reached each corner, each piece of furniture, until it finally landed on its destination. The orange sunlight casts itself over the large bed that currently only had one occupant sleeping under the thin red covers. As the light touched the eyes of the sleeper, a soft groan sounded in the peacefully quiet room.
The occupant of the large bed was none of than the Fire Lord. When he arose, sitting on the bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the light reflected off his pale, toned chest.
Over the past few months of his reign, the people around him had noticed how his build had been becoming that of a man, much more mature and subtly demanding authority. Some even say that his newly forming muscles are like those he had when he had been exiled and forced to find the Avatar.
The sleep filled golden eyes of the young Fire Lord glanced beside him to the empty bed. The indentations in the bed and lingering warmth indicated that the one who shared the bed with him had only gotten up just before him.
Pulling himself out of bed, he pulled on the silk robe that laid on the chest at the end of the bed. His eyes caught sight of the sheer curtains billowing into the room due to the open balcony door. The silhouette he saw beyond the sheer curtains only caused his lips to tug up in a gentle smile.
Quietly pulling back the curtains and walking out onto the balcony, the Fire Lord was greeted with the sight of his wife only clad in a thin sheet wrapped around her body. The way the wind blew her hair off her shoulders and sent it spiraling softly against her back… The way the sun gently kissed her darkened skin… The way the sheet was carelessly draped over her thin body, exposing her beautifully smooth back… How did he get so lucky to be married to such a goddess?
"Good morning, my Lord." Her soft voice was carried to him by the same gentle breeze that caressed his face.
"What are you doing up so early?" His arms wrapped around her thin waist and he rested his chin on her shoulder. The Fire Lord's lips gently pressed themselves against her neck in a loving manner.
"I wanted to watch the sunrise." Her hands moved from the gold railing to the pale hands that rested on her stomach. "I was going to wake you… but you looked so peaceful sleeping."
A soft giggle emitted from the Fire Lady's lips as her husband spun her around, descending his lips onto hers. When they parted, a soft blush brought a pink tint to her darkened cheeks as she noticed his hands had twisted in the fabric of the sheet that covered her body, a flimsy shield that covered her nude body from any onlookers that may be awake wandering the Palace grounds. "Zuko…?"
"Come back to bed, Katara…" Zuko's lips tickled her ear as he whispered huskily into her ear.
Katara's head turned, her teeth pulled her lip, eyes still glued to the vast expanse of lands before her. "I'm not tired…" A soft gasp could be heard just barely after she finished her sentence. Zuko's hands had made their way into the break of fabric, and were currently tracing wickedly over Katara's stomach, slowly making their way up her sides.
"Bed." His voice was heavy with want, and there was a slight tone of mocking authority. Zuko knew he didn't need to order his wife around. Anything he wanted her to do he could just ask. She was loyal and faithful to him, so why would he truly need to give her orders?
Katara's ringlets moved against Zuko's cheek as she nodded her head. Zuko wasted no time with picking her up into his arms and carrying her back into their bed chambres.
The Fire Lord dropped his wife onto their bed, a devilish smirk etched onto his handsome features. He crawled overtop over his wife, the silk robe he had been wearing shed to the floor, leaving him just as nude as his beautiful water bending wife.
"Zuko, you have a meeting with Court-"
"At noon. I have time to spend with my wife." Zuko's lips touched her neck, and the Fire Lord smirked as Katara began moaning softly.
"Zuko… I have my-" Katara cut herself off as she moaned, her husband's hand doing deliciously pleasuring things between her legs.
"You are mine, Katara. My wife, always."
Katara couldn't help but feel her heart swell in joy at his words. Zuko had always been awkward and stumbled a lot when it came to voicing his feelings. A kiss or a hug would have been enough for Katara, but her husband wanted her to hear his love everyday, and just not through the three simple words that she herself said way too often to people who weren't her husband.
"Katara…"
A loud knocking sounded at the door, causing the Fire Lord to growl under his breath, "Yes? What is it?" He snapped at the poor soul who stood on the other side of the door.
"The Lady Katara is late for her appointment."
"I tried to tell you…" Katara mumbled as she pushed her irritated husband off of her. After pulling her robe on, Katara walked to the door, peeking out to the servant who stood there, "I'll be slightly late." She flashed the man her signature smile and closed the door. Her smile faded once she felt Zuko pressed her against the wall, his teeth tugging at the skin of her neck. "Seriously, Zuko. I have an appointment with the Palace Physician. I can't be late."
"Yes you can." Zuko growled as he pressed his hips against hers in an attempt to keep her in the room long enough.
"No, I can't." Her hands pushed his shoulders, giving him a hard look. "Go take care of yourself, Zuko."
Zuko glared at her back as she walked away and into their washroom. Grumbling to himself he bent over, throwing his robe and the sheet onto the bed before slumping onto the bed himself, glaring at his arousal. "It's all your fault, you know…"
"Talking to it isn't going to solve anything, darling." Katara was shifting through her armoire for something simple to wear.
When Zuko shifted his glare up to Katara, the inner fire in him flared up again. She was nude, water slowly dripping down the expanse of her back and clinging to her hair. "Fucking tease." Zuko got up and childishly stormed into the washroom.
*.*
"So, my Lady, what brings you here today?"
"Please, Mother. You're the last one I want to hear using formalities."
Katara was sitting across from her mother, Kya, who had become the Palace Physician once the last one had quit due to Zuko being Fire Lord. Kya had become wildly popular as the sit-in Physician. She used a mix of Water Tribe and Fire Nation healing techniques. However, since she was just a sit-in Physician, her job would end once Zuko had found a permanent Palace Physician.
"Sorry, Katara." Kya gave her daughter a smile that mirrored Katara's. "What brings you here?"
"W-Well…" Katara bit her lip, her blue eyes shifting down to the floor between her and her mother. "I've missed my menstrual cycle for three months now… I guess… A-Am I pregnant?" Katara's hands were shaking, her face had paled.
Kya's smiled faltered at seeing her daughter's anxiety. "Very well, then. Lay down and I'll be back in a few minutes."
Katara nodded, watching her mother leave the room. She walked over to one of the beds and laid down. Her eyes stared at the ceiling, mind racing. If she was pregnant… how would Zuko take it? Would the public accept the Fire Lord's heir so soon into this new era of peace? Would Katara herself be able to handle a child?
Katara jumped when she heard the door close, signaling her mother's return.
"Here, Katara. Drink this. When you do, let me know what kind of taste it gives you." Kya handed Katara a small teacup and sat in the chair beside the bed.
Katara propped herself up on her elbow and hesitantly took a sip. After draining the contents of the cup, Katara looked at her mother, "It tastes like… chamomile and peppermint."
Kya's head nodded as she took the cup from Katara, "Well, my dear, you are not pregnant. If you were that would have tasted horrid to you. Now, to figure out why you've missed three months of bleeding…" Kya looked over her daughter, lost in thought for a moment, "You have been stressed, more so than your life before living in the Fire Nation, but I imagine that your life as Zuko's slave would have been more stressful than now. So we can rule that out… Hmm…"
"Excuse me? I was told the Fire Lady would be in here?"
The door had closed quietly as a man walked in. Katara eyed him, wondering how this man got passed the guards stationed just outside of the door.
"Who are you?" Kya asked the older man.
"Fire Lord Zuko sent for me last month to be the new Palace Physician. It took me quite some time to get here. Ah, yes. Sorry. My name is Kyotik." The man was a little on the short side, definitely older than Kya by quite a few years, but he had a gentle look on his wrinkled face. "I have studied all types of healing, but I do excel in the Water Tribe techniques, simply because I am from the Northern Water Tribe. Could you tell me, please, what brings my Lady here?"
Katara eyed the elder man, not sure if she should trust him. Her eyes caught sight of a quiet figure leaning against the wall beside the door. Her blue eyes quickly darted away as she realized it was Zuko.
"My Lady?" Kyotik stepped closed to her, but kept a respectable distance.
"W-Well… I haven't had my…" Her eyes darted to Zuko again, but looked back down at the floor as she felt a blush of embarrassment heat her face. "I haven't had my menstrual cycle in a little over three months… I thought… I thought I was p-pregnant, but I'm not…"
Kyotik nodded his head and pulled one of the chairs up beside the bed Katara was laying on. He brought his hands up, pulling the water out of a small metal basin on a table in the corner. Katara sighed softly as the physician's hands glued blue as they hovered over her stomach.
The room was quiet as Kyotik searched inside of Katara for the answer they all needed. Kya's eyes were on her daughter in a worried way. Zuko was leaning on the wall, watching the new physician as he tried to find out why Katara hadn't bled in three months, a fact he himself didn't know.
Kyotik's eyebrows stitched together before he pulled his hands away, "Could you all give us a moment alone?" He didn't bother turning his head to look at Kya or Zuko. The elder man waited until her heard the closing of the door before he spoke again. "My Lady… I'm afraid I have some… troubling news."
"… What is it?"
"Well, there is quite the amount of tenseness around your reproductive organs. That is why you haven't had your cycle yet. I'm afraid I'm not sure what the cause is… but I do know what the inner stress and tenseness causes." The dark blue eyes of the elder physician looked into Katara's worried blue ones, "My Lady… you will not be able to bare children… Any child conceived will be… You'll suffer from a miscarriage if you do get pregnant. I am… terribly sorry, my Lady."
Katara's mind was reeling.
She couldn't bare children?
How could that be? Her whole life she strived to be healthy; Not too skinny, eat the right things, just be perfectly healthy so that when the day came that she had her first child- and the next, and the next- she wouldn't have to face any complications. But now…? Any child she did come to bare would lose its life before even leaving the womb.
Katara was the Fire Lady, her duty was to produce an heir for the throne. If she couldn't do that… Zuko would surely send her away, find himself a new wife who could bare healthy children and give birth to them.
Zuko… What would he say? Would he strike out at her in anger? Yell and scream, maybe even hit her? Would he be sympathetic, promise to never leave her because of such a thing? Would he remain quiet, not giving away any hint of how he felt? How would he react?
This news… This heartbreaking news echoed in Katara's head. The tears had been numbly falling down her cheeks, soft sobs leaving her lips every so often. This news was too much for her to handle. How could she- Fire Lady Katara- not be able to produce children, one of whom would be the heir of the Fire Nation? What was she to do…?
As Katara looked out the window, feeling the sunlight kiss her face in a way that brought a fresh wave of tears, yet an odd comfort, she saw one of the servants who worked in the Palace out in the gardens playing with her son. The servant looked so happy as the little boy jumped on her lap, showing his mother something he had picked up off the ground.
Katara would never know the joy a child could bring. She would never know what it's like to be a mother and love someone so unconditionally.
As the sunlight continued to attempt to soothe her, Katara finally broke. She would never know…
