Author's Disclaimer: I don't own a thing belonging to "Avatar: the Last Airbender!" Not a darn thing.
Author's Notes: and further on the path we go! I had a lot of inspiration from messages and reviews to add on to what I had already in the works. Credit goes where credit is due.
Maraghoul: First dedication always goes to you. This story wouldn't exist without your messages 😝 Thanks again.
QueenTyzula: Thanks to inspiration from QueenT for a significant scene in this chapter! You'll know it when you get there 😝 Thanks, buddy!
CharlieBarrow: Nods and credits to Charlie B for asking the questions that needed answering. The indication that consistently surging his chi over the baby's WOULD make Zuko exhausted. That would be noticeable to quite a few people for sure! Also the scene with Ty Lee in Azula's bedroom is solely due to your suggestion. Thank you.
As for the rest of you:
NeverFoundandLost: Eyes are being opened all around 😝
Harley Quinn Davidson: Just wait and see….
"Stoking the fire"
Chapter thirty-three "Hidden thoughts"
"She's so beautiful, Zuko!" Katara gushed. Aang was rocking Izumi in his arms. The swaddled infant stared at him curiously. "Congratulations to you guys!"
"We're glad to have her." Surprisingly, those words came from Mai. She handed Aang a cloth to settle between his tunic and the infant's mouth when she began to dribble. Aang gave the Fire Lady a gentle smile, sending his comforting chi her way. Her chi was still somewhat erratic around Zuko and Ty Lee, but at least she wasn't throwing knives at them. The three seemed to be in an unspoken agreement about their situation. Aang noted Zuko's chi spiking in uneven jags when he moved around both women. It was apparent to him he hadn't been intimate with either in quite abit of time and his aura longed for release with a partner.
When Ty Lee brushed a hand along his forearm, his chi settled, but then spiked up wildly again. Aang raised an eyebrow, but kept his thoughts to himself. His girlfriend and Sokka doted on the princess on either side of him and he had to admit, holding a new baby was a lot of fun. Especially now that Katara wore his betrothal necklace….
On cue, Ty Lee noticed the new necklace and giggled. "Congratulations, Katara! Aang finally popped the question?"
Katara beamed at her, fingers tracing the Air Nomad spiral carved into the necklace. A water droplet had been carved intertwining with it, and the implication was more than obvious. "He did! We haven't told my dad yet, but whatever, I'm wearing it."
"I think Zuko's shown us we must move forward to the next steps in our lives," Aang said. Longing was in his grey eyes as he gazed into Izumi's scrunched face. She yawned and moved her lips against his tunic front. Zuko blushed, scratching his cheek with one finger.
"Well, it's not much I did, Aang," Zuko stammered. Mai raised an eyebrow, staring at his scar in profile beside her.
'Oh, Zuko, you have no idea how right you are,' she thought. Ty Lee laughed when Sokka offered the baby a pacifier and she got his finger instead.
"Oh, he's done enough," she said wryly. A flash sparked between her and Mai. They held a silent stare and Ty Lee shrugged, as if conceding the point.
'I want Zuko to go to you as it is,' Ty Lee thought. Her body longed for his familiar comfort, but she couldn't think solely of her pleasure. She had the future of the Fire throne itself to think about as well as the lives of those she loved….. Ty Lee gave herself a silent shake as Aang gently handed Izumi to Katara. The Water Tribe woman gazed at her daughter with soft love and her heart ached.
'Geez, have the nation's heir and your mind goes grandiose…..you know what you need to do,' Ty Lee thought. She gave Zuko's arm a squeeze in passing though. The look Zuko flashed her profile was wanton longing.
"Okay, your Fire Lordliness, I hope you'll agree to something," Sokka was saying. He was setting up an elaborate set of equipment and it seemed to require a lot of maintenance. He grunted, darting this way and that around a tripod and square device perched precariously on top.
"What? What is that?" Zuko asked. Mai and Ty Lee were curious as well.
"Oh no, Sokka, it may work, but that flash is like to blind you!" Katara complained. Aang cupped the back of Izumi's head as she rocked the baby.
"The Alchemist and I are still getting the kinks out!" Sokka protested. He flashed a grin to the royal family. "We discovered how to capture image on paper with this machine, and I'd love to be the first to do so for your family. I already got one of the Avatar and his fiancée."
"Capture an image? Is it like a painting?" Ty Lee asked curiously.
Sokka laughed. "No, Ty Lee, it's like…. Blink an instant and focus on what's in front of you. That's what this thing does!" he explained none-too-helpfully.
"Why not?" Mai shrugged. "The royal painters have to get us too, at some point."
Zuko signaled servants to bring in stools and he sat in between his wife and concubine. They all wore their long red robes, so they looked the part for a portrait. Katara gently settled Izumi into his arms. Zuko flashed her a smile and gazed down into the child's eyes. Izumi's eyes were fluttering open and closed. Just as well, with the amount of time Sokka took to pose them and fiddle with the box on a stick. When he was finally ready, he held a triangle of powder beside the box and pulled a curtain around the box over his head.
"Ready?" he called, sounded muffled.
Zuko blinked. "Ready," he said, not sure what to expect. Mai's fingers tightened on the sleeve of his robe.
"Lean in towards Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee," Sokka suggested. "Okay…..say turtle-ducks!"
Before any of the royals could speak, Sokka clicked a button on the box. A flash of fire went up from the powder and a flash as bright as the sun erupted in front of Zuko's eyes. It danced in his vision a good ten seconds and finally let go. Mai and Ty Lee gasped beside him.
"That was so bright! Is it over?" Ty Lee whimpered. Sokka bent out from the curtain and grinned.
"Over! Sorry; we're still working on the brightness of the flash," Sokka explained. Zuko blinked rapidly, trying to regain his rightful vision. Izumi had wakened and she wailed against him. Zuko surged his chi in comforting waves over her and shushed her gently.
Mai grimaced and scrubbed her eyes with her sleeve. "If there's more of that to come, this world is doomed," she lamented. Katara and Aang wound up laughing as Sokka pouted.
"I'm telling you, you'll change your mind once I develop the image! Soon everyone will be able to capture moments in their lives like us. We're making pictures of history," Sokka said grandly.
Zuko blinked, willing the dancing spots of bright light to fade from his vision. He watched his friend take a large slide from the side of the box and gingerly carry it to a carrying case. He slid it inside and latched the top gently.
"I should get an image of the Kyoshi Warriors," Sokka said, finding a new slide to put into the box. "Has anyone seen Suki?"
Ying, at attention, regarded him with a smile. "I'll go get her. Will it really capture our image?"
"Just wait," Sokka promised. Katara and Aang joked with him as Ty Lee took Izumi aside to feed.
Suki was hugged the instant she entered the sitting room, all the Kyoshi Warriors at her heels. Zuko noted she put up with Sokka's elaborate embrace and her eyes darted toward him, despite herself. Zuko gave a weak smile as he settled his hand on Ty Lee's arm. The concubine hummed softly as she fed the infant.
Sokka stood Suki in the center of the Warriors, sat a few in front of the back row, and positioned everyone.
"Sorry, ladies. When Sokka gets excited, we usually have to stand around and wait for him to be done," Katara teased. Sokka stuck his tongue out at his sister and went to operate his machine.
Aang settled an arm around Katara's shoulders as he watched the Fire Lord and Mai watch over Izumi.
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A few days later, their friends left.
Ty Lee paused in the hallway.
She felt slightly guilty for putting her best friend off. She left Ying with Zuko and her daughter, claiming she wanted some time in the royal sauna and she wanted the pampered treatment alone. Zuko, of course, let her go gently, as she knew he would.
Before she made her way to the sauna, Ty Lee crossed over through the inner corridors until she was outside a familiar door. Azula's bedchamber. The room she kept since she was a child, and had been familiar in Ty Lee's youth for slumber parties. The last time she had been in this room was quite recent and, well…
Ty Lee blushed, her hand on the doorknob, re-hearing Azula's howls of passion in her memory. When they had stumbled into her bedchamber, Azula had mounted her on the carpet, the guards scrambling to shut the door after them.
'That night we made Izumi. Oh, Azula….' Ty Lee thought. She hardened her resolve and pushed into the bedchamber. No one had been in here for awhile, and she sneezed as dust settled through the motes of sunshine coming through the slats of the windows. The covers of the wide canopied bed were slightly rumpled and Ty Lee's eyes saddened as she made out the manacles attached to the chamber wall.
She toed one of the chains with her shoe, and moved on. There was a series of chests and tables along one wall and Ty Lee rummaged through the top drawer of one at random. Amidst the top knot ornaments and hair bands was a tangled chain. Ty Lee drew it out, curious. It was evident at its location that Azula had hidden the piece of jewelry.
'She kept it!' Ty Lee thought, her heart drumming hard. Her fingers smoothed over the jade pendant. A fireflame was carved into the center of the green circle and she bit her lip as tears threatened to slide from her eyes.
She had given that necklace to Azula, so long ago. It was during the campaign through the Earth Kingdom. In disguise at a local village, she had found a transplanted Fire Nation tea shop. She had bought the necklace, certain Azula would love it, from the tray of baubles the proprietor had on display for his customers. Azula had merely sniffed and tossed it at the cot in her bedroom inside the metal carriage they rode in.
"A fine sentiment, Ty Lee, but it's really not me," were her stuck-up words. It had hurt, but Ty Lee had merely smiled and followed Azula out to the control room of the carriage.
The fact that she HAD kept it, even brought it home to her bedroom in the Fire Nation, told Ty Lee something else entirely.
It told her she was doing the right thing by focusing on her plan.
"I'll save you, Azula….. even though you don't want me to," Ty Lee muttered under her breath. Her words evaporated in the still air of the bedchamber.
She pocketed the pendant in her robe and carefully snuck out of the chambers. Ty Lee pushed her braid over one shoulder and headed to the royal sauna, so her outing wouldn't be a complete lie.
It made her heart lurch that involuntarily, she WAS lying to Zuko.
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When Ty Lee finally emerged from the sauna, damp hair in a loose braid over one shoulder, and clad in a loose robe, she found Mai rocking Izumi. Zuko was sleeping on the sofa beside her, one long leg hooked off the furniture. The wet nurses were cleaning up and one of them was adjusting her robes as if she'd just fed the princess.
"Lady Ty Lee," one of the nurses smiled, giving a bow. Ty Lee met Mai's gaze and sat beside her. Together, they gazed down into her daughter's face.
"Sorry to put her off on you," Ty Lee murmured. Mai shrugged.
"Zuko insisted, and I couldn't bear to leave her. Especially when he passed out," Mai said ruefully. Her gaze softened, going over the contours of her husband's sleeping face.
"He's tired," Ty Lee murmured. The urge to run a hand through his bangs went through her mind. She squashed the urge, fingering the pendant in her robe pocket. It killed her that she was making herself drift from Zuko, but when she considered the possibility….that one or the other sibling could defeat and kill the other, she hardened her resolve.
She had to…..
"Leave us," Mai said loudly for the wet nurses. The two women bowed and exited the concubine's chambers. Once the door closed, Ying took up residence at the slab of wood on guard. She caught Ty Lee's eye and gave a soft smile. "He's constantly lacing his chi through Izumi's…..no wonder he's exhausted."
"He's doing a good job. She smells like him," Ty Lee noted. She settled her nose along her daughter's scalp and inhaled. "Just like him."
"I noticed that," Mai said softly. "I suppose in time, he won't have to keep doing that…. Izumi will be sufficiently blanketed by his presence."
"Yes," Ty Lee said. She leaned closer to her friend as she gently stroked Izumi's balled up fist. "Zuko's been having to constantly put his chi over her, but I wish he would take the time to be with you. I know you miss him."
A blush stained Mai's cheeks despite herself. "So what?" she tried to scoff. "He has to do this for the baby, since he claimed it. I know that…"
Time to mend more fences. Ty Lee watched Izumi drift off to sleep, cradled in Mai's arms. "We haven't been intimate for weeks," she confessed. "Just ask him to be with you. You know he loves you."
A scowl crossed Mai's features despite herself. "You do know he loves you, too?"
Ty Lee gulped. "I know….."
Mai looked aside sadly. "It isn't easy…having to share your husband. It's not even a fifty percent scenario."
Ty Lee clasped Mai's elbow in a friendly manner. "Zuko is wonderful. He's tender and fiercely loyal to those he cares about. I care about him. But he loves you more than me, I'd say."
Mai gave a sad smile. "I know you're trying to help, Ty, but it's not your fault in the long run, I guess. Zuko did what he felt he had to. We all just got caught up in the mess."
Zuko snored and shifted on the sofa. Ying raised an eyebrow from the door. Mai's gaze was tender looking down at him despite herself.
"And a fine mess it is," Ty Lee agreed. "I'm just so glad you're my friend still."
"I know how you feel about Izumi's sire," Mai murmured. She rocked the sleeping infant. "Despite Zu trying to capture you all to himself."
Ty Lee blushed. Her body surged with warmth, remembering Zuko's embraces, his wild kisses, his strong hugs. Her body burned for it all again.
"Izumi is our world now. We have to focus on her," Ty Lee said. Mai sighed.
"I agree."
The Fire Lord slept on beside them.
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"Oh, Iroh! I didn't see you there!" Ursa laughed. She edged into one of the royal sitting rooms, with an armful of bedding.
Iroh raised his tea cup in a toast to her and waggled his thick eyebrow. "The servants can do that for you, Lady Ursa."
"Oh, I've gotten used to it," Ursa laughed. She made her way to the table and set the linen on the table. She sat across from her once brother-in-law, giving a friendly smile. The smile stretching Iroh's mustachioed lips was warm. "Believe me, it's just a chore."
Iroh nodded. "Are you enjoying the comforts of the capital again?"
Ursa made a face. "I remember your father asking me that. Don't talk like him, Iroh, please."
Iroh raised an eyebrow then smiled. "I am sorry. Please, how was your day? Have you seen your granddaughter again? How are your daughter's lessons coming along?"
Despite herself, Ursa's heart lurched at 'daughter.' Azula flashed through her mind. Her fingers clenched into a fist.
"Kiyi's doing well, despite her not liking the tutor her father and I picked out for her. She needs to keep up with her lessons now that she's a lady," Ursa said ruefully.
Iroh smiled indulgently. "She is so like Zuko was when he was that age. So bright and ready to face the world. This time, we'll make certain she has nothing but good experiences."
Ursa's eyes saddened as they met Iroh's golden gaze. "But you were still there with Zuko, even at the worst times Ozai gave him. I can't thank you enough….."
Iroh's heart lurched and his long fingers twitched around his tea cup. He set it on the table and cleared his throat. "I promised you…" he murmured, daring to voice his heart over their shared experience the night she had been banished by his brother.
Ursa's eyes shimmered with tears. "Iroh….."
The portly man moved around the table. He clasped Ursa's shoulder and she turned into him for a hug. The breath from Iroh's lungs exhaled heavily and audibly as he dared to put his arms around her again.
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It had been shortly after returning in shame and defeat from his campaign in the Earth Kingdom. Iroh could only blame himself for his army's defeat; they had been winning, had broken through the outer walls of Ba Sing Se, but after he had been delivered his son's battered body, he had dissolved the battle and pulled his troops back purposefully.
Fire Lord Azulon had been furious, even though he was as sympathetic as, well, the Fire Lord could possibly be in the wake of a personal tragedy. He had sorrow for his eldest son's loss, but had suggested the selection of a concubine or two to bolster Iroh's line. Iroh had sorrowfully declined.
The days had been so tense. Despite his grief, Iroh had plenty of time for Prince Zuko, who wanted to cheer him. Princess Azula didn't care about Lu Ten's passing and ignored him as usual. But there was an undercurrent of dread that ran through the palace and through Iroh's blood when he dwelled on the memories of those horrible days back home.
Ursa had been a wonderful comfort, sitting and reminiscing with him. She had helped him scatter a portion of Lu Ten's ashes in the royal gardens one sunset, before the rest of the urn was to be interned in the Fire Sage's mortuary for the royal family. Ursa's arms had been warm around him as he sank to his knees, tears soaking his beard. The small container they had used to dispose of the handful of ashes fell to the grass beside them.
Involuntarily, the conversation had turned from Lu Ten to his brother. Ursa's husband couldn't have been a warm person, even in private towards her, but it galled Iroh to hear Ursa confess that he had started lifting a hand to her if she didn't submit to him. Ozai had tried to be passionate at one time with her, but those days were long gone. Even if she didn't want to, she had to spread for the Fire Prince whenever he commanded it. Ursa sighed with frustration that Ozai seemed to order it just to ruin her nights. He didn't even seem to want to touch her anymore half of the times.
"I'll kill him," Iroh had growled. Ursa looked terrified. She clutched his shoulders as he stood and made to take off across the gardens.
"No, don't! He'll know I told you!" Ursa had cried out. Iroh slowed, knowing her words to be true. It wasn't unheard of for a royal to dispose of an unobedient spouse, and it would kill Iroh if he had to tell Zuko something had happened to his mother.
Iroh remembered he had turned and taken her hands in his. He bent to kiss the back of her slender hands, trying to soothe her world, her life with the chivalrous gesture.
"You don't deserve that…. how could he do that to you!" Iroh had gasped. He lifted his head and Ursa's eyes were very sad. She had stroked his cheek and beard and confessed something that Iroh thought had only been in his head.
"Why couldn't your father have married me to you? You were good to your wife. You would have been good to me…." Ursa had bitten her lip, trapping the traitorous words between them.
Iroh had clasped her face in his hands and kissed her beneath the sinking sun. Ursa's hands had clung to his back, but she kissed him back. Passion surged between them before Iroh extracted himself from Ursa's arms, gasping. They had stared at each other with new recognition before resigning themselves to their former roles. Iroh had given a clumsy bow and taken his leave of her, no matter how much he had longed to continue. Ursa stared after him, one hand over her mouth. And the moment had been gone.
One night, Iroh had woken to find Ursa in his bedchamber. His heart had beat a staccato rhythm, thinking she had come to be with him despite his brother, when he noted the clothing she wore. She was fully dressed and had a long black cloak with the hood drawn over her head to hide her features.
"Ursa, what is it?" Iroh had climbed out of his wide bed, pulling his nightgown down past his knees.
She had been obviously distraught, but wouldn't tell Iroh what was going on. She had been cryptic and vague, but one thing she said had haunted Iroh ever since.
"Please watch over my children… promise me!"
"I promise," Iroh had said.
The kiss Ursa pressed against his lips was soft, sweet, and full of bitter regret for what could have been. And then she had gone.
"Mom! Where's Mom?" Zuko called the next morning. Iroh woke from a fitful sleep and gathered the boy into his arms. He squeezed the confused child, trying to keep tears from welling from his eyes.
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In the present, Iroh pulled back from Ursa and gave a tentative smile to her. "Things have moved to better places. You have a wonderful husband and a new child."
"Yes," Ursa smiled serenely. "Kiyi is quite taken with you. I guess we all are."
"That means a lot," Iroh said lightly. Ursa clasped his hand in hers. Iroh was surprised when she brought his fingers to her lips. She kissed his knuckles softly and pressed his palm against her cheek.
"I can't ever thank you enough…. Azula may be lost, but you were there for Zuko. Thank you…."
"I would have even if you hadn't asked me," Iroh confessed. "I consider Zuko to be almost my own son."
The flash of hurt and emotion in Ursa's eyes struck Iroh to his core. She gently laid his hand down. Iroh longed to take her in his arms, kiss her, finish what they had started so many years ago, but he was a man of honor. He would never take a good man's wife from him. And Noren was a good man. Unlike the disheveled ex-Fire Lord who rotted in a prison cell.
"I know," she said.
"Mother!" Kiyi scampered into the sitting room, Noren on her heels. Iroh moved across the table, far from Ursa, as the child ran to get a hug. "There you are! Hi, Uncle Iroh!"
Iroh smiled gently and greeted Zuko's half-sister. "Hello, Lady Kiyi. How are your lessons going?"
"Everyone keeps asking me that." Kiyi puffed her cheeks out.
Noren stooped to kiss Ursa's cheek. "That's because you have a fine education available to you. Thank your brother for that."
"Zuzu won't make me study all day," Kiyi brightened. Iroh was glad the girl adored Zuko so much. She had accepted his sudden presence with all the ready happiness a child could give.
"He might. He does have his hands full. The council, the baby…." Ursa smiled gently.
"That reminds me, I put away your knitting, dear," Noren said as he took a chair beside her. "I know you want that blanket to be in one piece."
"I guess we're lucky we all are here together," Ursa confessed. Iroh gave her a slow wink across the table and Noren nodded.
"Yes," he agreed, even if he missed the looks Iroh and his wife shared before looking aside. Ursa laid her hand over her husband's and squeezed.
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Azula had her soldiers make camp, and stood at the top of an icy hill, surveying the landscape beyond. They were a few days off of a village, and no one was around the expanse of white snow. She inhaled and exhaled, steam leaving her nostrils. Her chi flexed as she warmed herself with her firebending. They would have to backtrack to Lady Sachiko's to collect the rest of the soldiers, as she had opted to make the hike with only two regiments and her Kemurikage.
The going had been slow, but aside from the icy wind that cut like a knife, the landscape was not that difficult to travel over. The ice broke beneath heavy boots and supported their weight. If the rest of the soldiers wouldn't puss out and put up with the temperature, they could very well make the march to the capital a heck of a lot sooner than spring.
And wouldn't that be the icing on the cake, to surprise Zuzu that utterly? Azula could see his squinty eye surrounded by the puffy red flesh of his scar. Her hands tightened into fists as she pictured smashing one into the perfect flesh around his right eye. She would black it, mar the perfect skin left to match his hideous scar before she killed him. Azula smiled to herself. Yes, that was what she would do….
And when she was seated on the Fire Throne, she would command his wife and concubine thrown at her feet, and watch them grovel as to who would have the pleasure of taking her cock first. Heck, she may bend one of them over on the floor of the throne room, her followers be damned. They may appreciate the show. Azula licked her lip as she played over Ty Lee's remembered curves, as well as Fire Lady Mai's. She thought of how her hands fit in the grooves along their sides above flared hips when she took them from behind, and how she would do so again once the coup was complete…..
Whether they enjoyed it would be strictly up to them. Azula smirked to herself and turned, breath steaming, to head back to the tents.
End for now
End notes: Iroh may not have arrived back home by the time Ozai and Ursa's little agreement to take out Azulon came about, but I'm making that so for the scene above.
Thanks for inspiring the what-ifs between Ursa and Iroh, Queen T! 😝 Check out her story "Let's watch the world burn together." That's where I got the nudge to do it.
Azula's thoughts of blackening Zuko's other eye to match his scar came from CharlieBarrow.
And I figured Sokka would have helped invent photography :P
Like it, smash that button and do that review thing!
Most sincerely, pen
3/15/2017