Chapter 10: What I Wouldn't Give After 23 Weeks

Azula slowly opened her eyes, the bright light of the midmorning sun pouring in blindingly through the thin curtains hanging over her window. The air was cooling, and Azula considered getting up to close the window. Instead, she just laid there, letting the wind dry the sweat on her skin.

As far as weird dreams went, that was probably the weirdest and most pointless dream she'd ever had. Riding on a dragon, then going swimming at the beach? There was little and less sense it. Azula looked at her hand. It was weird, though. She could still feel the way the air pressed against her skin when she was riding on the back of some unnamed dragon. Her scalp tingled and her cheeks felt cold and were probably pink. Having all that air around her was exhilarating, like nothing she'd ever felt before. There was a small part of her waking self that wanted to recapture the feeling. Pushing herself out of the bed with a grunt, Azula rationalized that the cool tingling had more to do with the open window than any remnants of a pointless dream. She slammed the window closed with more force than was necessary, and slipped her feet into her shoes, grabbing a light robe on her way out.

The guards all acknowledged her as she passed, dipping their heads or smirking or turning their backs on her. Azula dug her nails into her palms as she passed them, remembering the airbender breathing techniques Aang taught her. This time was supposed to be as stress-free as possible; after Katara nearly scared them both senseless with talk of irregular heartbeats Aang was doing his best to make sure Azula could relax. Not that she cared, of course. She was taking things easy simply because she didn't want to die. And having someone wait on her wasn't exactly the most unpleasant of things.

No one took notice of her as she walked outside the palace gates, and Azula was glad for that. She inhaled the crisp air, feeling the sun reach out to that place deep inside her. The fire chakra, Aang called it. The sun was calling to her fire chakra, and unlike her meditations, this feeling was pleasant and didn't cause the panic. It was familiar, even if she didn't have a name for it back then, and she reveled in that feeling. Azula pulled her robe tighter around her as she walked through the market, not really looking at anything. What she wanted was space to clear her mind and a little exercise, and a long walk would give her that. She moved around the market, listening to the conversations of those around her, storing away bits of information that her brother might find useful. Really, with all the useful tips she gave him, he should be paying her and making her a member of his council, or at least giving her some sort of position or compensation under the table. That ought to give those old coots a heart attack or two.

When Azula stopped in front of a trinket stall, she watched two Earth Kingdom refugees out of the corner of her eye. They'd been following her for the better part of her walk, perhaps thinking themselves stealthy since she hadn't outright confronted them.

"Ah, perhaps I can interest you in something for the baby, my princess," the stall vendor said, pulling Azula's attention away from her stalkers.

"What?"

"Well, as a father myself, I know children need things to occupy their time. Perhaps I can show you a few things that you'd like."

Azula studied the merchant's face, but she couldn't find a hint of mockery in his eyes. But then, it wouldn't do him any good to mock a potential customer. He ducked behind the shelf, rummaging in a few boxes, before returning with a stuffed dragon toy.

"Its design is modeled on the pictures of the old dragons," the vendor explained. "My wife can't make these things fast enough, parents just snatch them up for their children." He laughed nervously. "I don't care what the rumors say, princess, this child is the first under the new regime, and is thus special beyond our imaginations."

"Rumors?" Azula crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, her followers forgotten in the crowd behind her. "And tell me what some of those rumors might be."

"Really, they're not all that important," the vendor said, paling and trying to wave away the conversation. "The important thing is that you and Fire Lord Zuko are truly proving that love will transcend all, and heal the world."

"What?" Azula squealed, recoiling from the merchant.

"Well, of course, princess. I have faith in your brother. Soon, he will make it ok, and you and your boyfriend won't have to hide, and you can get married in public." He leaned a little closer. "We're really just a passionate people at heart. That's where you find the realfire."

The merchant winked at her, and it was all too much, and Azula flew away, her fists clenched, furious that anyone could concoct such a stupid, blatantly untrue story about her. This was all Zuko and Katara's fault. If he hadn't gotten the populace all worked up about secret romances, no one would even be contemplating such things about her. Did anyone even believe this crap? They had no idea just how far from the truth that little romance fable of theirs was.

"General Azula."

Azula stopped abruptly, that acidic, mocking tone recalling her two stalkers to mind. She hadn't even paid attention to where she was heading, just storming off somewhere far, far away from that prying merchant. Before, when she was worthy of the title general, Azula wouldn't have thought twice about her surroundings; now, she realized that she was trapped in a less than ideal situation. She'd walked down a narrower side street, houses closing in on both sides. There weren't enough exits close to her; she could run, but only for a brief spurt, and certainly not very quickly. If she could bend, it wouldn't have been an issue, either, though she would probably be off balance the whole time. Still, balance was something she would have been able to compensate for. She'd be limited to defensive maneuvers, which wouldn't do her any good if the two were earthbenders. Her best option was to move toward an open space and more people since they were still behind her, and she did just that, continuing down the narrow street without any pause in her stride.

"Look, Lee, the General's running from us," one said.

By the time Lee grabbed her, she was already at the mouth of the side street, and she used his momentum against him, slamming him hard into the side of a building and drawing the attention of people sitting at a nearby café. Almost as soon as she let go of Lee, though, a sharp pain ripped through her back like a knife, and she screamed, barely dodging a punch by Lee's comrade. That stabbing ripped down her spine, through the bottoms of her feet, making her legs weak, and Azula clutched her stomach with one hand, and braced herself against the fall with the other. She took deep shuddering breaths, not knowing what was wrong as her vision swam and her head throbbed with that pain, and wondering just how anything could hurt so much. She'd never felt any pain so strong.

"Back off!"

A gust of air flew past her, cooling her heated skin, and Azula tried to focus on the words around her rather than what was going on with her body. She bit her tongue to keep from wailing again and squeezed her eyes close, determined not to let a single tear fall. There was scuffling behind her, and Azula thought back to those airbender breathing techniques, and concentrated on the sun and her fire chakra, slowly drawing her mind away from the physical, and slipping into a light meditative state.

"You are hereby under arrest for assaulting a member of the royal family."

Someone was trying to lift her, but that only aggravated the pain in her back, and she screamed.

"Let her go, you're hurting her!" Aang yelled.

In his haste to obey the Avatar, the guard practically dropped her, but another ball of air cushioned her long enough for Aang to hook his arm around her waist and support her. The moment he did, she put as much of her weight on him as possible, holding onto him tightly, and that helped to lessen the pain in her back. As they turned to head back to the capitol, Azula glared at the guard who dropped her, and the man withered under her gaze. That cowering was almost enough to overcome the infraction. Almost. But not really.

"Here sweetheart," Ursa said, handing a cup to Azula. "It'll help with the pain."

Aang watched Azula wince as she stretched her arms out to accept the cup. Without hesitation, Ursa moved closer so her daughter didn't have to stretch as much. Aang briefly paused in his pacing, but only long enough to make sure that Azula wouldn't need him. She only winced once when twisting to hand the cup back to Ursa, but again, her mother was there, moving to accommodate her child.

"That guy was twice your size," Katara muttered, picking up her bowl of water and turning towards the bathroom. "You're lucky that all you did was pull a muscle. No arguments—this time I'm putting you on strict bed rest for the next three days."

Azula waved this away, and Ursa helped her slide down under the covers as the medicine began to take effect.

"What did you expect me to do?" Azula asked, her words already a little slurred. "Let them rough me up?"

Katara shrugged, starting to say something and stopping several times. There really wasn't a good answer to that. None of them wanted to see Azula hurt, but it wasn't like she had many weapons in her arsenal. And, of course, with the baby, balance was always going to be an issue. Aang sighed loudly, and Ursa looked over her shoulder at him, but she didn't make any move toward him, her eyes just as piercing as they'd always been. He wondered if she was seeing the thoughts as they formed in his mind. Did she already know what he was thinking? She sure acted like it. He was pretty sure she couldn't read minds, though, but then she'd done it before. It must be genetic, since Azula could do the same thing.

"Stop pacing," Azula commanded.

Aang sat in a chair by the door, crossing his arms and impatiently tapping his foot. Then a horrific thought struck him.

"Where's Zuko?"

Katara nearly dropped the bowl, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide. She shook her head slowly, her horror mounting. "Oh no…"

"Zuko's a very rational young man," Ursa said. "I'm sure he wouldn't do anything too drastic."

Azula let out a short bark of laughter. "Clearly you don't know little Zuzu as well as you think, mother."

Half a second later, Katara was nearly tripping over herself in her rush to get out of the door, tearing down the hall. For once, Aang couldn't really care what happened to those jerks. They'd gone out, seeking a fight with a pregnant woman. Or whatever they'd been intending to do before Azula roughed one of them up. He wouldn't say it in front of either Katara or Ursa, but Aang was proud of Azula. He was glad that she didn't just roll over and let them do…whatever it was they'd intended to do. He tried to keep his mind from going too far down that road.

"I'm going to help Katara," Ursa said, smiling slyly.

She closed the door quietly behind her, and Aang waited a few seconds before coming to sit on the bed behind Azula.

"Is the tea helping?"

"Very much."

Aang nodded, even though she couldn't see it, and heated his hands as he rubbed circles on her lower back. He traced the path of the muscle from her shoulder to her waist, slow, repeated motions. It was the path Katara allowed her water to take, and he'd seen the glow concentrating on her lower back, and so he concentrated his heat there, too.

"Tomorrow, you will begin teaching me combat bending," Azula said through a yawn.

"Wait, what? When did we decide that."

"I decided it just now, and this topic isn't up for discussion."

"You haven't even made it through a full meditation yet."

Azula looked at him with half closed eyes, rolling on her back and cutting off his massage.

"I've made up my mind."

It was quite clear that Azula was under the influence of some powerful drugs. She almost had a soft look in her golden eyes, and Aang imagined that she reached up toward him. Then he realized that he wasn't imagining things when she patted his cheek twice.

"Thank you," she said softly. "Thank you for being there when I needed you."

Aang fought against the blush, but when she smirked at him, he knew he failed. He'd never known Azula to show such sincerity and softness. It was so unlike her. It was so...womanly.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling. "But you know that no one should treat you like that, right?"

"Which is why you're going to help me with my bending."

"Azula," Aang gulped, glad that her back was to him again. "Azula, would you consider marrying me?"

"No," she said flatly.

"It's the right thing to do—"

"No."

"I could protect you—"

"No."

"Azula—"

"No."

"Oh come on," Aang said throwing up his hands. "You didn't even let me say anything that time."

"What were you going to say?"

"That I know it's probably not the way you imagined your life, and you probably thought that you'd marry for love, but at least you'll be taken care of. We're having a child together, Azula. It's what we're supposed to do."

"No. And I'm not drugged enough to forget this conversation, so I suggest you stop before you say something really embarrassing."

She raised her head slightly, and maybe it was the drug Ursa had given her, but Azula didn't look even the slightest bit angry. Aang took that as a hopeful sign. She might come around later. If she was his wife, he'd be able to keep her and the child safe; no one would think about harming the Avatar's wife. Maybe it would be better to approach the subject when she was well rested and in less pain. Reluctantly, Aang caved under Azula's stare, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I trust you will be ready in the morning?" Azula asked. "You will have an organized list of warm ups and exercises we will go through?"

Aang let his shoulders slump. "I'll come up with something. But I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Duly noted. Duly discarded."

Iroh sipped his tea, savoring the flavor as he swished it around his mouth before swallowing.

"What are you thinking?" Jun demanded.

"Ah, you know me so well, my dear."

Iroh took his time drinking his tea, knowing that it was only making Jun angrier the longer it took to answer. He'd seen her watching him as he observed the development of Aang and Azula's relationship. No doubt she already knew what was on his mind. There was no harm in making her wait a little longer for confirmation.

"Children are a wonderful thing."

"No," Jun said, poking him in the chest. "You will not get ideas."

"Ah, but the ideas were already there." He took her hand in his and kissed her palm, a gesture that always made her blush. "Destiny is a funny thing. How can we say today where the road may take us tomorrow?"