#108: Momma Don't Preach
Prompted By: Oh You in that Dress

Two decades after the war, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee sit in a courtyard permeated by the acrid stench of rotting leaves. Ty Lee relinquished all attempts to end the war of words between her wife and her best friend, and now sits watching in abject horror.

"You are not my child's confidante. My daughter tells me everything," snarls Azula, while Ty Lee painfully grins. She wants to roll her eyes or intervene, but she just keeps smiling. Staying on Azula's side has always been her favorite stance; it is the best and easiest one to take.

And Princess Azula is fighting with Fire Lady Mai again.

This time about the difference in parenting between the well-behaved and sweet Izumi versus the very brash and overbold Zise.

"If your daughter told you everything, you'd be a lot more stressed out than you are."

"I am very stressed out. I am always stressed. I am—I am fueled by spite and stress! They keep me standing, victorious, the greatest politician in Fire Nation history," Azula says, rising and smashing her heated fist down on the table.

And Mai says so cavalierly, "Yeah, but your daughter thinks she's pregnant and you don't even know," before standing up and walking away.

Azula almost strikes her down with lightning on pure impulse. Ty Lee can no longer support her exceptionally forced smile; it fades fast.

"Why would Zise not tell us that?" wails Ty Lee, tears blossoming in her protuberant eyes.

Azula sourly snarls, "Because Mai is a liar. We don't trust Mai. That's one of the rules of our marriage, remember?"

"Yeah, my princess. I hate who you tell me to hate," says Ty Lee in utter earnest. She hopes she does not sound as sarcastic as she wants to be.

"You do." Azula straightens her shoulders. "Where is Zise?"

Ty Lee leaps up and wraps herself around Azula's arm. "Let's find her!"

They embark side by side on their perilous quest.

[X]

As the two princesses storm through the palace, strictly focused on their intense mission, "I think we should be nice," Ty Lee suggests.

Azula glowers at her. "Being nice is just something stupid people do to hedge their bets. I am intelligent enough to successfully be cruel to my irresponsible daughter."

"I thought you thought Mai was lying."

"What makes you think that?" snaps Azula. "I wish I married someone attentive with an intellect to rival mine. Then maybe my daughter wouldn't be a slut."

"That's a little unfair."

"That is perfectly fair. I am fair." Azula spins around when she sees her brother. "ZuZu, where is my daughter who, may I say, is poisoned by your inferior lineage?"

Dryly, Zuko retorts, "We have the same parents."

Azula just scowls.

[X]

Cornered in a gilded corridor, Zise stares at her mothers. No, this could not be good. She knew they would show up and meddle in her life; they are overdue. The two women always must insert themselves where they do not belong and it exasperates the fifteen-year-old.

Azula glares at her like never before. Zise nervously rubs her lips together.

"So. Anything to say?" Azula coldly snaps. "A secret? Secrets? Afraid of something? Spit it out. To your mothers. Pitiful. It's pitiful. Disappointed! I couldn't be more!"

"Why are you talking in such short sentences?" demands Zise.

Her lips contorted into a snarl, Azula says, "Drama! Emphasis! Fuck off! You are the one who apparently thinks she is pregnant? Oh Agni, it better not be the baby of that peasant boy."

Zise loses it in two seconds flat. "That peasant boy is my true love!"

"You are fifteen. You do not know who your true love is."

Zise glowers at her mother. "Yeah, you started dating mom when you were like fourteen. Don't be such a hypocrite all the time."

Ty Lee interjects, stepping lightly past Azula. "So, do you think you're pregnant or not?"

Zise stares at them, shaking like a leaf. Azula wants to throttle her but Ty Lee's gentle hold on her elbow forces her to restrain herself.

"I know I'm pregnant," murmurs Zise, rubbing her arm with her eyes averted.

Azula and Ty Lee turn to each other, Ty Lee agape, Azula's eyes viciously narrowed. No one prepared them for something like this. Their family has struggled over the years due to one thing or another, mostly Azula's issues. But this?

"I cannot believe the sheer irresponsibility," snarls Azula, at last turning to her daughter.

Zise exclaims, fingers trembling ferociously, "You guys are lesbians. It's not like you get how accidents like these happen!"

Azula steps closer to her yet again. Zise does not stand down; she is the only person alive unafraid of Princess Azula. It kills her mother to not have fear in her arsenal.

Ty Lee claps her hands together and forces a smile. "We'll just have an abortion. So easy, right? And everything will be okay and we'll be a cute family and we'll have a picnic in Sozin Memorial Meadow! Just lovely, right?"

Azula and Zise whip around, simultaneously glaring at the acrobat.

"I'm not having an abortion!" protests Zise and now Azula truly considers choking her a little bit. Just to knock a little sense into the girl. "I'm ready for this, and so is Zheng!"

Azula fiercely attempts, eyes smoldering, "Zise, listen to me. A baby is a commitment. You're afraid of commitment."

"Not true! You don't know anything about me at all!" squeals the daughter, taking a huge and angry breath. "I am not afraid of commitment. I commit to things all the time, mother, which you would take notice of if you loved me. It's only the following through on the commitment that I take issue with!"

"I wish you were an accident," says Ty Lee with a soft sigh, her eyes downcast.

Aghast, Zise exclaims, "You're the nice mom! You can't say that!"

"I usually say whatever I want," shrilly states Ty Lee, attempting a cold expression. She masks her failure with an adorably angry pout.

Azula snarls, fists clenched, "You are too young to be having sex in the first place. Why would you even do that?"

Cavalierly, Zise shrugs and replies, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"How?" Azula growls, Ty Lee delicately tugging on her to hold her back.

Zise's hands begin to smoke as she breathlessly exclaims, "Okay, just because you're cold and composed and can like bend lightning and stuff doesn't mean you're better than me. It just means you're not romantic and don't understand passion!"

"Your mother understands romance and passion," weakly lies Ty Lee.

Azula turns to him. "That enthusiasm was low. Explain yourself."

"I only mean that romance isn't exactly your forte and we never do anything in the heat of the moment. But I really, really, really think that's not important because right now our fifteen-year-old daughter is pregnant which is important, right? Really important!"

Azula scowls, but ultimately leaves her wife alone. Their resilient relationship cannot be unraveled by one small comment.

"See? Of course I'm dysfunctional. I lived through my mother's insanity and my mom's complacency and it's honestly amazing I'm not a drug addict dying on the streets. Really, a young pregnancy out of wedlock is the least terrible thing that could come of your awful relationship."

"Our relationship is not awful. Our relationship is strong because we survived those things, and we survived decades together almost unwaveringly. Almost."

"Well, our family almost survived that stuff too. We'll survive this."

"Zise," says Azula, shaking her head, "just be reasonable about this. Maybe one day you can marry your peasant boyfriend, and you two can have as many dirty probably nonbending children as you please. But right now is not the time for any of that.

Silence.

At last, Zise coolly states, "Look, mother, you're just jealous of my perfect relationship, I am completely capable of handling my own life, and I'm in love so you couldn't stop me if you ever tried. It's what you would do! It's what Uncle Zuko would do! Guess what, you people made me! So I'm keeping the baby!"

Azula mutters to herself, "And this is how huge, life-altering decisions are made in our family. Pride, nonsense and petty envy."

Ty Lee and Zise ignore her, and Ty Lee inquires, "Does Zheng even know? What if he leaves you? Then me and your mother have to raise the baby and we so aren't gonna do that."

"He doesn't know about the baby yet but when he does he's gonna marry me!"

Ty Lee clasps her hands together and chirps, "Ooo! Royal Wedding!"

Azula whips around to face her. "Ty Lee! We are not letting her get married to some peasant! She needs to remain available as a political bargaining—"

Zise exclaims with immense conviction, "I am not a political bargaining chip, mother! I am a human being who is totally in love! And Zheng is totally in love with me!"

"Fine. Tell him."

"When?" squeaks Zise, clearly nervous. "I mean, we could let him figure it out. That'd probably make him feel smart."

"If you want the support of your mom and I, you must be responsible enough to tell Zheng yourself," Azula coldly states, locking eyes with her little girl. "Invite him to the palace tomorrow and inform him of the situation."

Zise feebly nods.

[X]

That night, Azula tosses a pillow onto her bed and sighs. "What do we even do?"

Ty Lee briefly hesitates before suggesting, "Keep an open mind. Your dad didn't want us together but look how great we turned out. We're the best couple in the world and we weren't based on a political choice. We were based on love and weird sexual tension."

"Our daughter cannot possibly love that peasant boy. She has standards, just like my brother and I mostly do." Azula's lips twist into a livid snarl. "He was probably born on a farm."

Ty Lee chirps, "My dad was born on a farm."

"But he is rich now. That cancels it out." Azula dismissively waves her hand.

"Okay, okay, you're right. You're definitely right. But, if I may give my opinion and stuff, I really think we should support her. How much did it damage us that our parents never gave any support unless it benefited them? Don't we want to be better than them?"

Azula crosses her arms.

"You will never hear me say this again, but perhaps you are wiser than me in this case. I think it would be best if we respect the vows we made to never drive our child into a mental breakdown, and you remembered that when I did not."

"Aww, thank you. You're the sweetest war criminal who ever lived." Ty Lee bats her eyelashes.

She steps forward and kisses Azula deeply.

[X]

Zheng enters the palace and smiles placidly at his girlfriend. He then shoots the same confident grin at Azula and Ty Lee, whom stand beside each other in solidarity. Zise looks ready to vomit.

"Hey, cherry dumpling," suavely says the messily dressed boy to his princess girlfriend. He smoothly runs his hand through his messy black hair and Azula grits her teeth.

"Hey, tiger-monkey." Zise wrings her hands and eyes him nervously, hoping he will not notice her smudged make-up and trembling fingers.

"The little birdy told me you had news," says Zheng, and Azula wants to gag. Someone who calls a messenger hawk a little birdy should simply be burned at the stake.

"I'm…" Zise pleadingly turns to her parents but they remain still as stone. "I'm pregnant."

Silence.

Zise thinks she might throw up before Zheng throws his arms around her in a tight, suffocating and adoring embrace.

He says while squeezing his girlfriend, "I love you, and I'll love your baby."

Zise steps back with a small smile, one she inherited from Ty Lee and certainly not Fire Lord Zuko. "It's our baby."

He brightly grins before kissing her on the cheek. "Even better!"

Azula and Ty Lee exchange an exasperated glance.

Ty Lee mouths, 'Royal Wedding,' and Azula rolls her eyes.

Princess Ty Lee slowly snakes her hand over and clasps Azula's in hers.

While she may be loath to admit it, Princess Azula supposes her family has faced harder times than these and survived.

To Be Continued...