Rewrite, Rewind
So I'm not very confident in this one, go ahead and tell me your thoughts on it. I like the idea I've been brewing on it, but I'm not positive that'll it go anywhere good.
Eventual Zuko-Katara. Not sure when, but eventual.
Days turned into weeks and it was evident that Ursa would survive the traumatic birthing, there was no such hope for their son. His breathing was slow and shallow, but it was a steady rhythm, which put hope in Ursa but Ozai refused to acknowledge that the boy had a chance at life. Azula grew stronger as well, seemingly drawing strength while her male counterpart appeared to grow weaker. Where Azula could lift her own head and babble, her brother refused to do anything more than eat the very minimal amount of food and sleep. When Azula started crawling, her brother started lifting his head and rolling his head from side to side. When Azula started walking, he started eating mush-foods; a phase Azula had long since by-passed.
Fearful of his demise, Ursa refused to place the baby boy down anywhere. She bathed with him, ate with him, slept with him; there was never a moment in his young life where she wasn't holding him close to her chest. She even changed her own clothing style to be more convenient for their weak son. He responded best to voices and greetings when he could hear her heart, forcing Ursa to wear off the shoulder dresses and thin silk tops that exposed her neck and collar bones. It wasn't that Ursa didn't want someone else to hold her son, it was just that their son would suddenly stop breathing whenever someone else held him.
The first time Ozai held his son, the boy stopped breathing and turned into a little tiny statue-baby. If a maid held him he started crying and thrashing, if he wasn't transported to his mother soon enough he'd stop breathing and go still. The first time Lu Ten held the boy, he went straight into hysterics, making the older boy start crying as well. Iroh tried holding him resulted in a bald spot on his chin where the baby grabbed a fist full of beard and pulled it straight out; Iroh forever refused to hold the boy ever again. Ursa was given no other choice but to keep her son in her arms at all times, where he was calm and docile. When she brought up the small problem with Azulon he immediately demanded to hold the tiny baby boy.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Azulon asked, "he pull out my chin hair? I don't have a beard." Azulon smiled as he held his arms out expectantly, "Come on, we don't know if we don't try." Ursa glanced at her husband, who quickly put a hand on his own beard and leaned away from her. Smiling to herself, Ursa slowly got up and walked around the dinner table before crouching beside her adoptive father. Azulon carefully took the young baby boy into his arms and adjusted his sitting so the boy could see Ursa as well.
"Hello grandson," Azulon greeted the baby staring up at him with bright golden eyes. "hah, you're gonna be a fire bender for sure. I can see that spark in your eyes."
"I haven't seen any sparks in his eyes," Ozai grumbled into his cup.
"That's because he started screaming at the sight of your ugly face," Iroh grumbled back, grunting in pain when Ozai set his pant leg on fire. Iroh tried to discreetly pat the fire out while trying to pretend like nothing happened, when he looked up again he found Azulon and Ursa staring dully at the grown pair of siblings.
"Ah he's hungry," Azulon said, grabbing his handkerchief and dipping it into his soup, "here try this." He passed the handkerchief into the boy's mouth and smiled when he began to eat.
"Father, how'd you know he was hungry?" Ursa asked, "he usually pulls my hair to tell me such things."
"Ah, he made the same gesture Ozai did when he was hungry," Azulon smiled at the baby. "he looks like he's trying suckle on the handkerchief even though it's not in front of him."
"I refuse to believe I did such a thing," Ozai retorted immediately; his disagreement stemmed mostly because that sounded stupid.
"Everyone was a baby at one point in time," Azulon replied with a roll of his eyes. "You wouldn't believe half the stories of what you used to do when you were a baby."
"I can vouch for the other half," Iroh grinned. "I got some stories—"
"Try it, dear brother, I dare you," Ozai hissed at Iroh, one hand raised in a yellow-flaming fist of warning.
"Where is Azula?" Ursa asked, swiftly interrupting the fight that was about to occur. "I haven't seen her in weeks."
"Azula discovered a mud puddle," Ozai rolled his eyes. "She's bathing before she comes down for dinner."
"Ah," Ursa sighed, "today is the first time our son could attend dinner with everyone. I was hoping I could see her here too."
"I'm surprised he's eating more foods, aunty!" Lu Ten smiled at Ursa. "Last time we met you always hid behind a screen to feed him. By the way, why was that?"
"Um," Ursa looked at her husband for help, unfortunately, he was feeling vindictive and simply stuffed his mouth full of food. Iroh chose that time to take a long slow slurp of his tea, closing his own eyes while he was at it to avoid the look of pleading form, Ursa.
"You'll understand when you're older," Azulon smiled at Lu Ten. "Just be glad that he's lived this long."
"Huh? Why? Is he going to die soon?!" Lu Ten asked, jumping to his feet and smacking his hands on the table, worry contorting his round baby-face. "But he's lucky Jia Chen!"
"Lu Ten," Iroh groaned loudly, "that's not his name."
"He'll be turning a year next month," Azulon smiled, ignoring the nickname from Lu Ten. "One more month and I can name you, little prince," Azulon murmured to the suckling little baby in his arms. "hm? Ah, it looks like he went to sleep Ursa."
"Alright," Ursa gently took the baby boy in her arms and stood, "I'll go rest now father, husband, brother."
"Ming," Ozai called the maid over, "ensure Ursa's safety back to her room and make sure the doctor takes another look at the boy."
"Yes Prince Ozai," the Maid, the survivor from the disastrous birth eleven months ago, bowed and walked ahead of Ursa to the nearest exit.
"You two no longer share the same room?" Iroh asked Ozai, curious about the strange development.
"Ursa has taken to sleeping in the room beside the infirmary with the boy," Ozai explained. "That boy sometimes stops breathing in his sleep so its best to keep a doctor nearby for him and Ursa is the lightest sleeper in this palace."
"Ah," Iroh hummed in understanding, turning back to his meal without showing his own thoughts on the subject.
"Daddy!" everyone turned to look at the dashing little girl charging Ozai, "Daddy! Up! Up!"
"What do you say?" Ozai asked, raising one eyebrow at the tiny near-year-old girl shaking his sleeve.
"PWa-eeee-zzzz!" Azula whined loudly, "Up!" she demanded again, a big grin on her face. Ozai relented and carefully pulled the girl into his lap, where he proceeded to share a small portion of his food with the girl.
He's not biased at all, Iroh thought as he rolled his eyes and turned to look at his son. Must be a dad thing, Iroh thought again as he reached over and brushed food off his son's face again. "Food goes in your mouth, not on your face Lu Ten," Iroh smiled as his son blushed bright red.
"Yes daddy," Lu Ten ducked to hide his red face.
"How did the bath go?" Azulon asked the maid closest to them. "I hear she discovered a mud puddle?"
"Yes, it was a challenge to clean princess Azula thoroughly, but she is perfectly clean now." The maid in question answered. "We've discovered she has a strange fascination with water." Azulon choked on his drink, but whatever questions he may have wanted to ask were interrupted by Azula's voice.
"Mommy?" Azula questioned, looking about excitedly. When she didn't see a woman at the table she looked straight up at her father, an expression of sadness and confusion on her round face. "Wha-air mommy?"
"My apologies Prince Ozai," the same maid from before seemed to cringe slightly as if expecting a beating. "I had mentioned that tonight was an auspicious night, as the young prince seemed to have enough strength to join the family dinner this night. The young princess was excited to see her mother tonight."
"Ah," Ozai looked down at his daughter. "Your brother fell asleep, so your mother went back to rest for the night."
"Oh, okay," Azula huffed and turned back to the plate of food. Sighing Ozai turned back to the conversation his brother was trying to have with their father, something about his planned attack on an earth kingdom city. Azula saw the nearest cup and immediately grabbed her own handkerchief into the nearest cup.
"Ah! Not that one!" one of the maids shouted, moving to take the handkerchief from the young girl.
"Thirsty!" Azula declared, stuffing the cloth into her mouth.
"Oh no," the maid paled at the sight, prompting Ozai to look down at his daughter. It took him hardly a second to realize that his daughter had taken a drink of his very strong wine.
"Azula, spit that out!" Ozai ordered but his demand was too late.
"Waaaa!" Azula screamed, closing her eyes and leaning back into her father, dropping her handkerchief while a burst of golden fire erupted from her mouth.
"…well that answers that question," Azulon mumbled, staring at the smoldering space left behind from the sudden burst of fire bending.
"owy!" Azula shrieked and leaped down from her father's lap and charged the closest maid. "owy! Owy! Waaa! aaah! haaa!"
"oh come here sweet girl," the closest maid smiled and stooped for the young princess. "Here, stick this on your tongue," she produced a damp rag and held it close to the young princess, who immediately stuffed the cloth into her mouth without a second thought. "There you go," the maid smiled gently at the princess and carefully patted the girl's hair out of her face. "Does that feel better now?"
"Uh-huh," Azula sniffled around her handkerchief, whipping at her eyes with her free hand.
"Go back to your father princess," the maid instructed. "When your tongue doesn't hurt anymore you can eat some more, okay?"
"ut ursty," Azula whined around the cloth in her mouth.
"Your father will show you which cup you can drink from, okay?"
"ow-ai," Azula relented and dashed towards her father, tugging at his sleep impatiently because she was hungry. Ozai sighed and pulled his daughter back into his lap, purposefully pushing his wine-cup out of her reach.
"Daddy, did I ever do that?" Lu Ten asked his father curiously.
"Nope," Iroh grinned, "your daddy is smart enough to start drinking tea after you were born."
"That's what happens with one-night stands," Ozai retorted with a glare. "At least I didn't get drunk with my wife before we met."
"No, you just stole someone else's bride," Iroh retorted smugly.
"Enough boys, this is a dinner, not a battlefield," Azulon sighed, "Yang, make sure the doctor tends to Azula's tongue."
"Yes Fire Lord," the maid closest to him agreed.
again not confident in this one, please tell me what you think of it