Fighting Against Destiny Chapter 2: An Heir to the Throne, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender…

Chapter 2) An Heir to the Throne

Katara looked up from her book as she relaxed in a plush chair. The window she leaned on and where her book rested overlooked one of the largest courtyards in the entire palace. It was second only the one where the wedding was held. Shouts and laughter echoed into the room where Katara sat from outside where a small group of six children played. Katara smoothed her blue dress over her legs as she shifted into a more comfortable sitting position to continue reading. Glancing outside for a quick moment, Katara spotted her five-year-old daughter Kasumi playing tag with the other five children her age. Their class had just let out for the day, so the six of them frolicked in the garden until the children's parents came to get them. The others were all children of some of the nobles who had given Zuko their full support in his position and his new ideas on how to fix what had been done to the world under his father. Of course, none of them believed they had been wrong, the Fire Nation could never be wrong; they were most likely trying to brownnose their way into more power through Zuko. He was completely aware of their attempts, so nothing would come from them.

The Fire Lord had decided that instead of being taught privately, Kasumi would be enrolled in small group classes. Although the only thing the class was learning was counting and numbers, the children were taught in one of the unused rooms Katara had set aside for them. Though most of the damage to the capital had been repaired in the five years since the comet's arrival, the Fire Nation Academy had yet to be rebuilt and properly staffed. The resources to rebuild anything but the basics had been sent to fix the Earth Kingdom's losses. While education was important, the council felt the damage the Fire Nation's armies had inflicted upon the Earth Kingdom was of much greater significance to the betterment of the world. Even though Katara and Zuko generally tried to avoid each other, Katara had voiced her opinion to him and the six council men about holding classes at the palace in one of the unused rooms. Zuko agreed, after stating he did not want Kasumi to have private lessons to Katara, and the issue was settled. The meeting had then moved onto more worldly affairs.

Katara heard a splash in the small turtle duck pond and twisted her head to see what had occurred. The water only came to her thighs, but that was at most, chest high for any of the playing children who might have happened to slip into it. Her blue eyes saw five children standing around the edge of the pool, looking into it. The three girls and two boys looked almost identical from the back, each dressed in his or her red outfit that they were required to wear to each session by their teacher. Katara closed her book and hurried from the room. She ran out the closest door she could find and sprinted over the grass.

"What happened?" she called. The five kids turned at the sound of her voice and each bowed their heads quickly at her presence. She looked at the faces of the children, each one with their black hair and brown eyes, searching. Katara paused and pushed through the line to peer into the pool. A pair of tearful golden eyes gazed back at her as the small girl struggled to pull herself back onto the grass. Katara, ignoring the gasps from the children behind her, took a breath, and lifted the water around her daughter in the pool into the air and over the grass. She bent the water back into the pool, leaving Kasumi to hurry into her mother's arms.

"Kasumi," Katara asked, "what happened?" Her daughter refused to look at her mother's face. Katara stared at her daughter's black hair; it was soaked, along with her red outfit, yet her tears were still visible on her face. Katara wrapped her arms around Kasumi and hugged her daughter close as she was gently pulled to the ground. Katara knelt with her before the group of children and looked at them eye to eye.

"What happened?" she asked again, "why was Kasumi in the pond?" One of the girls clasped her hands behind her back and swayed back and forth as she answered the question.

"I pushed her," she smiled. Katara hesitated a moment as she stared dumbfounded at the child. Before she could respond, she saw the door open out of the corner of her eye and quickly got to her feet. A servant held the door open for the five children's mothers, each of whom happily watched as their children rushed over to their sides. Katara took her daughter's hand but only had to walk a few feet to meet with the other women. They had crossed to garden to give their greetings, which, in the five years time Katara had lived here, still seemed strange. The woman whose daughter who had pushed Kasumi into the water paused as Katara held her back from leaving with the others.

"Yes, Lady Katara," she smiled. The lady's eyes focused on the large wet splotch on Katara's blue dress where Kasumi had rested her head and Katara knew she was laughing to herself; her voice held the same tone of hatred and disgust that all the nobles expressed towards Katara when Zuko was not around.

"It would appear that your daughter admitted to pushing Kasumi into the koi pond," Katara stated. Kasumi squeezed her mother's hand as she slid behind her.

"Maybe my daughter was just trying to tell her something," the lady said, her voice held fake sweetness as she spoke. Katara narrowed her blue eyes protectively.

"And that would be?" Katara asked aggressively. Kasumi looked to the ground when she felt her classmate's eyes on her. The little girl stood by herself, unlike Kasumi who hid behind her mother, her brown eyes held the 'I'm all that' look as she watched Kasumi.

"Probably nothing of course, most likely a child's petty fight over something irrelevant," the woman said, deftly ending the conversation and turning on her heel with her daughter in tow. Katara glared daggers at her back. She knew what the woman had meant. No one had actually said it to her face; she sighed, but who would dare to? She was royalty now, and if anyone cared about their position they would not come outright and say anything to her face, everything was done through gossip. She knew the woman had wanted to tell her that she was not fit to be here, not fit to be the Fire Lord's wife, she had no business at all in the Fire Nation since she was part of the reason it had lost, and because she was not worthy, her daughter, in turn, would be looked at the same way. Zuko would be forgiven, but she never would. She symbolized everything that the now passed Fire Lord had stood against. Katara turned to Kasumi and gave the child a comforting smile.

"Let's get you into some dry clothes," Katara suggested. Kasumi nodded and mirrored her mother's smile as the two walked to the child's room. Katara followed her daughter into the bedroom and opened her closet doors. Kasumi squished the water from her black hair behind her mother's back; her wet clothing dripped water onto the floor. Katara turned when she heard the water splatter onto the floor, a new dress in hand.

"Kasumi," Katara sighed, "don't do that." Kasumi stopped twisting her hair and letting the water pool on the floor and looked down at being scolded.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. Her golden eyes stared down at the water by her feet as her mother helped her get her wet outfit off and her dry one on. Katara smiled and lifted her hand. She gently pulled the water from her daughter's hair into her palm. She directed the water out the open window and let it fall. Kasumi touched her hair, smiled at her mother in thanks, and leaped onto her bed. Katara followed her and collapsed onto the pillows. Kasumi bounced a few times before falling onto her stomach and propping her head up with her hands. She glanced at the puddle of water on the floor from her hair and turned back to her mother. Her five-year-old smile, one that had been previously absent for most of the day, had returned to her face.

"Now, do you want to tell me what happened today Kasumi?" asked Katara as she pushed the child's hair from her face. Kasumi hesitated for a moment before recounting the details.

"One of the boys asked the teacher about bending today," Kasumi began, "our teacher had to explain it to us, but the boy's sister got bored and somehow burnt a piece of my dress. She got in trouble but then the teacher asked us if any of us could bend. The two boys raised their hands and so did she. I didn't cause, I've never bended anything. Can I bend mom? The teacher says you might be a bender if your parents are benders, and since I know you and Dad can bend, I should be a bender too, right?"

"You're still young, you have lots of time to find out if you're a bender," Katara replied, "but why were you in the water?"

"Oh," Kasumi nodded, "Li pushed me after class ended. We went outside and the Koi fish were jumping out of the pond. One the boys tried to hit one with his firebending but he missed and we leaned over the edge to try and find it, but I leaned too far and she pushed me in." Katara sighed and pulled her daughter into her lap.

"Oh Kasumi," Katara whispered, "I'm sorry." Just as she was looked down upon, her daughter would get the same treatment from her peers. While Kasumi had inherited her father's hair and eyes, just looking fire nation would never be enough…

A gentle knock interrupted the mother-daughter moment. Katara and Kasumi turned to see a messenger at the door.

"Excuse the interruption your highness, but you are needed," the man spoke as he bowed.

"Thank you," Katara nodded curtly. She got to her feet and turned to Kasumi, "stay out of trouble." She followed the messenger out of her daughter's room and down the hall. Katara knew she did not need to tell her daughter to stay out of trouble, Kasumi was an obedient child. She was quiet and somewhat shy until she was alone with her mother, only then would the child break out of her shell. The girl's room was the only place she truly felt she could express herself; the four walls and single door provided a safe haven from the other children in her class who often wandered the halls and gardens with their noble parents.

Most of the city had been destroyed, and the palace was the one place that seemed free of destruction, aside from the southern wing which was almost fully repaired. The messenger stepped aside and Katara entered the small meeting room that the court had assembled in. Zuko had offered them a refurbished room instead of the war room. Katara glanced over and saw Zuko sitting at the head of the table. One of the first customs to be done away with was the fact that the Fire Lord would not sit with the others at the table, instead being raised from the floor on his throne. Zuko had not challenged it when they suggested he joined them on the floor the first time they met, and it had not changed since then. An empty spot waited at his side and Katara took it, knowing it was hers since she was the last one to enter the room. The six men inclined their heads as she sat. Zuko watched her make her way to the spot next to him. Aside from at night, the two preferred to avoid each other. Kasumi, Katara had often guessed, knew both her parents had things to do and never questioned it. She saw her father for dinners but other than that she was attending her classes and did not happen to chance across him in the halls as Katara did.

Zuko noticed Katara seemed less cheerful that day then she usually was. Though she was not invited to many of the court meetings, as the group of men had dubbed it, and did not wish to be, she usually wore a more neutral face. A man from the Earth kingdom stood to address the others.

Katara tried to look attentive as they discussed the new measures that had been suggested to help the country. Trading and resistance struggles had been the only thing the group would discuss for the last five years. From their news, she had discovered that the Water Tribes had set up a good market for ice in the Fire Nation since the benders could keep it frozen for the entire journey, and that the Earth Kingdom was recovering its lost wealth through its various commodities which had escaped her mind at the moment. The Fire Nation had yet to bring in the amount of wealth it used to. The nation actually had to work for their profits now, so it was to be expected that the Fire Nation was a little behind. Work could also be done to improve the ports, where the pirates, their numbers seemingly increasing, hovered to steal the imports the Fire Nation was forced to buy to help the other two growing nations.

Katara noticed Zuko looked extremely bored. She wondered why she had been invited to this meeting at all, but then she recalled it was the first of the month. The meeting would review the plans set in motion for the next few weeks. While Zuko, as the Fire Lord, had to be present at every weekly meeting, Katara was only required to drop in every fourth one. She saw the men throughout the palace on some occasions when they moved from where they stayed on the grounds to where they conducted their business. Two of the men, one from the Water Tribe and one from the Earth Kingdom were in charge of trading between the nations. The two Fire Nation men were confined to internal affairs, but together they overruled Zuko's say on almost anything. The remaining two men worked on relations with the other nations in terms of rebuilding and anything out of trading that they were having issues with.

The meeting was ended over an hour later, freeing Katara from the prison the room had become. Zuko watched her disappear and hurry down the hall to where their daughter's bedroom was. The two Water Tribe men and the two Earth Kingdom men bowed to Zuko and left the room after Katara had. Zuko remained seated and watched the two Fire Nation members. The shorter one pulled at his mustache and looked to him.

"Yes," Zuko asked, he could see they wanted to speak to him alone.

"Your highness," began the taller of the two men, yet it was not as apparent when he was seated, "it had been brought to our attention that your daughter become five years old, and yet she has shown no signs of becoming a bender," he paused and then added, "for either fire or water."

"Not all children can bend at her age," Zuko replied calmly.

"Yes," the second man responded, "but they will at least show an interest in the element that they would be able to master by this age."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Zuko.

"We are only saying that you have but a single female heir, without the ability to bend," the man continued, "as I know you are quite aware, the throne would prefer to pass through a male heir, and preferably a firebender at that."

"We have decided," said the other man," that a male child will be necessary to pass the crown to when the time comes."

"And the sooner you have the child the better," added the shorter, mustached man.

"The crown can be passed to Kasumi without incident without another child," Zuko stuttered. He had no intention of trying for another child and glanced away for a second before staring at the two men, his composure returned.

"Yes," replied the man as he continued to talk, "but as I said, we have decided that it would be in the benefit of the country if you had a son. So much so, that we have made it a demand of this court."

"What," Zuko stammered, "you can't…"

"Yes, we can," replied the taller man, "we have the power to order whatever we see fit in the internal affairs of Lady Katara and yourself for the good of this nation. Never before has the crown passed to a female heir who can't bend and we won't let you break with an age old tradition." Zuko was silent, growling with anger under his breath, his teeth clenched in a primitive, yet hidden, frown.

"And if I refuse," Zuko stated.

"Then we'd be forced to take out of effect the placement of the firebenders you've sent to guard the merchant ships from the pirates," the shorter man said.

"But that's to keep the sailors safe and to make sure the ships make it to port without being looted. Pirates have become a big issue lately," Zuko said. He thought back to his own experiences with pirates, specifically blocking the memory of tying a certain waterbender to a tree from surfacing in his mind.

"You know that, and we know that," said the larger man.

"But the nation needs a male heir more than it does successful shipments of," he paused, "well, whatever it is you're shipping." Zuko bit his lip to keep his anger in cheek and narrowed his golden eyes. He wanted to shout and tell them that the shipyards were only importing what was required to try and get the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes into the world affairs of trade and business. Each lost shipment had to still be paid for even though it never reached port. He needed those firebenders to guard against the pirate raids. He had been given a limit for his standing army, and those men were a part of it. Zuko would have dissolved the military without the court's decision but kept the more seasoned units as standard procedure. At least to the fire nation citizens that was how it had been viewed. Zuko stood and walked to the door. As he passed through it the mustached man spoke.

"The guards will be removed until the lady is with a child," Zuko frowned and left the room. He knew they were laughing at him, enjoying giving him just enough power to pretend to have control of his country. Azula had been right; he was nothing more than a puppet king…

Katara took a sip of water from her glass and nodded as Kasumi continued to tell her story. They had almost finished with their dinner, only a few bites remained on her plate. Kasumi glanced over to her father, happy to see he had joined them for the entire meal, at least physically. Katara noticed his mind was deep in thought as soon as he sat down at the table. Kasumi did not seem to notice or mind, and continued to recite her story of what she had learned, along with a string of questions which were usually started by why and what if. Luckily, Katara had already answered most of them by the time dinner had begun.

Zuko stood, half of his food untouched on his plate, dismissed himself, and walked to the door, making his exit. Kasumi watched him go.

"Mom," she asked, "what's wrong with-"

"Nothing Kasumi," Katara said before her daughter could finish. The gold eyed girl watched the door for a moment longer, asked to be excused from the table, and then stood up with her mother's permission to go. She bounded off in the opposite direction, leaving Katara alone in the dining room. She eyed her empty plate and knew the servants would come in to retrieve the dinnerware once she left.

The waterbender rose and sighed to herself. She wondered why Zuko was acting the way he was. The meeting had gone fine; he had nothing to be upset about. She bit her lip, wondering if she would regret what she was about to do. She strode purposely from the room and towards the study where Zuko usually stayed during the day. She reached the door and pulled on the handle.

"Zuko?" she asked. She peered inside but did not see him. After a quick inspection, she left the empty room and walked down the hall. Katara paused to watch the sunset out of one of the western facing windows before walking down the rest of the hall. She paused at the doors to the bedroom she shared with Zuko. A gentle glow seeped under the door into the hallway. Katara pushed open the door and looked inside.

"Zuko?" she asked again. Her question was met by a pair of golden eyes. "I was looking for you." Zuko raised his eyebrow with surprise. Katara avoided his questioning eyes and made her way across the room to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Kasumi was worried about you," Katara added. She did not add that she was also curious as to his sudden change in mood. Zuko surprised her and got up, standing in front of her.

"Kasumi doesn't need to worry," Zuko sighed, "this is our issue."

"Our?" asked Katara, she swallowed nervously before taking a deep, calming breath. Zuko sighed and glanced away, refusing to met her eyes.

"The court wants a male heir," Zuko stated. Katara stared at him for a moment before realizing what that entailed. A blush came to her checks.

"No," she stammered, "Kasumi's fine, there's no law-"

"No written law," Zuko explained.

"What do you mean?" asked Katara. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest.

"The crown to the Fire Nation has never been passed to a female heir who can't bend," Zuko said, "while there is no law against Kasumi taking the throne, the court has made their demands clear so we can't break with tradition."

"Has a non-bender ever taken the throne?" asked Katara.

"Once," Zuko stated, "but his brother had him killed three days later." Katara shivered. What kind of people had the rulers of the Fire Nation been? She had never heard of anything like that happening in the Water Tribes.

"How have they," asked Katara pausing, her voice hinted at irritation, "what could they have done-"

"They've taken out the firebenders I've assigned at the ports and on the ships," Zuko cut her off. Katara frowned. She wanted to say to him 'so what', but she knew what he would say. While the trade was supposed to benefit both parties, it would only cause hardships if the shipments never made it. Zuko would never beg in front of the court to come up with another way, and Katara doubted that he would ever find one. The men, especially the two from the Fire Nation, seemed to think they could force their way onto Zuko and herself. They had backed off after Kasumi had been born to wait and see if she could firebend. Katara sighed, Kasumi was not a firebender, she was sure of it. The child appeared to show no interest in water either. Katara remembered how proud her mother had been of her when she had found her talent at Kasumi's age. Though making waves in a glass of water was nothing to be excited over, her mother had celebrated the knowledge. There were no waterbenders in the southern water tribe aside from her. She wondered if since the time her brother and her had left the tribe till now, any of the children she had left had found out they could bend. She pushed the thought from her mind, folded her hands, and closed her cerulean eyes. She wanted those children to grow up in a world free of warring nations. One misstep could cause reason for fighting to start in an already tense situation. Zuko and herself held the key to continued peace; at least that was how those men at the court had explained it to Zuko and herself.

"What would make them put the guards back?" asked Katara. Zuko slowly turned to face her and his golden eyes rested on her bowed head.

"You-" Zuko hesitated, "with another child." Katara nodded and slowly rose to her feet. She opened her blue eyes and released a deep breath.

Katara gazed down at the bundle in her arms. A year had passed since the court meeting, yet the baby was only a month old. The sun was warm on Katara's tanned skin as she sat in the grass. Kasumi happily braided her mother's hair. The group sat at the turtle duck pond under a tree. Katara's toes hung into the water, her shoes discarded in the nearby grass. Katara sat in her blue dress while each of her children where clothed in red. Kasumi tied off the sloppy braid and gazed around the courtyard. Her golden eyes spotted another figure walking towards them. The child pulled on the azure fabric of Katara's dress.

"Mommy," she whispered, her voice held a slight hesitation to it. Katara turned to see what had startled her daughter; she narrowed her blue eyes and got to her feet. The visitor held back a laugh at Katara's action but continued her approach. Azula stepped into the sunlight of the yard. Her surprise at finding Katara and the two girls vanished once they had seen her. She had done nothing to interfere with Zuko's ruling, and she wanted nothing to with the controlling council men who regulated the nation; she knew what was going on behind the numerous closed doors in the palace. She had remained in the palace, the princess who could claim the throne from her brother if deemed necessary. She refused to let herself be pushed down the path Katara had been; no one was going to marry her off anytime soon.

Azula stopped walking and laid her hand against the tree. She noticed the older daughter; her niece had seemed to have lost her fears and knelt to pull at the flowers surrounding the pool. Absentmindedly, Azula though to how much the girl had taken after her brother. Azula scoffed to herself when she remembered the girl could not firebend. It was almost unheard of for a blood member of the royal family to not be able to bend. The fact that Katara was a master waterbender was the only reason Azula found herself not annoying her as she would have done to any of the other idiot noble girls her brother could have been stuck with. It was not a requirement for the wife of the Fire Lord to be able to firebend, so they would have been easy targets for Azula to bother. While she had never gotten to know Katara, she found herself able to trust the water tribe girl, able to trust the fact that she would always be an enemy. Zuko had his good and bad moods, and Mai and Ty Lee were never around the palace anymore. While it was no longer essential to know who was on what side since the war ended, Azula found comfort in the fact she would always know where Katara stood.

Katara watched the Fire Nation princess walk away, both sets of eyes never leaving their targets until they were out of sight. Katara looked down to her newest daughter in her arms, Tala, and then to Kasumi on the ground. While she did not want to tempt fate, Katara desperately hoped Tala was a fire bender. She held Tala tighter to her chest and tried to enjoy the sun on her skin even though the warmth seemed to have faded.

Zuko pushed back the curtains of the library. He paused as he saw Katara teaching Tala to walk and found himself smiling. He had watched Katara bring both the girls into the courtyard for a little over a year. The Fire Lord returned to the letter he had locked himself in the library to write. Two words occupied the top section of the otherwise empty paper, 'Dear Uncle'. He knew what he wanted to ask, but not how he wanted to ask it. He knew Uncle Iroh could help. Zuko returned to his seat, picked up a brush, and dipped it in black ink. He wanted to ask his uncle about bending; not simple questions, everyone knew that family history played a major part in determining if a person could or could not bend. It was unusual for the children of the Fire Lord not to be firebenders. He knew it had happened before, but it was so rare. Zuko scribbled down the dilemma he was faced with and let the paper dry before rolling it up and leaving the room. He walked down the open hallway, passed Katara and Tala, heard Kasumi call out 'good morning', and turned left towards the aviary where they kept the messenger hawks. He hoped his uncle would get the message soon, even though he was halfway across the world in Ba Sing Se with his tea shop.

Zuko received his answer almost two months later. He pulled open the rolled parchment and read across the letter. He paused when he was done, realizing his uncle had written this and how much he missed him and wished he was still here in the Fire Nation.

'Zuko, I'm happy to hear Kasumi is well and about your youngest daughter. I'm not sure what you want to know about bending that you don't know already.' Zuko glanced through the letter. He referenced the tea shop and how Ba Sing Se was recovering as well as reminding Zuko how proud he was of him. The last piece of the letter caught Zuko's attention. It repeated the lesson Iroh had taught him about the elements when he had taught him about lightning, except only water and fire were mentioned. Zuko reread the section then read his uncle's last paragraph.

'I fear you may have your work cut out for you for you if those men want a child who is able to fire bend.' The dragon of the west wrote, 'benders of the opposite element have never come together in the way you and Katara have. Because you two have this elemental opposition I think any bending the girls could have would be canceled out. Like pouring water on the fire and changing it to steam which dissipates into the air, your abilities might not pass to your children.'

Zuko let the letter slide from his fingers and settle onto the floor. He leaned forward and rested his head on his hands. Zuko wondered if his uncle was right. The fact that he had understood his philosophy almost surprised him more than the fact that he doubted it; he wanted to doubt it. He had always seen Iroh as his ultimate source of wisdom in his life. If his uncle had not known the answer, Zuko felt lost. Zuko paused; now that he thought about it, he had even felt lost when his uncle had known the answers. The memories brought a smile to the Fire Lord's face. He stood and folded the letter into one of the books he had removed to read later in the day. Zuko left the room and walked out into the gardens.

The warm sunlight sparkled as it hit the water in the pond. Zuko spotted Katara lying on her back in the grass. Tala bounced happily next to her, pulling at the grass and tossing it into the air. A small pile had formed on Katara's lap, but she was ignoring it and letting the toddler have her fun. Kasumi lay on the grass on her stomach, her legs curled up in the air. The two children had on their red clothing; Kasumi dressed in her school outfit. Katara stood out once again in her favorite blue dress made in Fire Nation style. Her hair was braided, lying in the grass where it had flopped when she laid down to the watch the clouds.

Zuko wondered if she had done this with the avatar and her brother before he had joined them. When he became part of their group they had hardly had the time to breathe, let alone look at the clouds. She looked so peaceful, a smile on her lips as her blue eyes stared up, lazily half-closed to the sun. Zuko stood for a moment; he wondered if she knew he was there. The three of them had not even moved when he shut the door leading the garden rather noisily. He treaded over the grass to where Katara lay. The lush, green lawn bent under his feet; Tala looked to him and smiled, reaching her short, pudgy baby arms towards him in a simple request to be held. Katara, broken from the allure of the clouds in the sky, followed the baby's happy laughter with her blue eyes. Spotting Zuko, she pulled herself up until she was sitting, then grabbed Tala and rose to her feet. She balanced the toddler on her hip and faced Zuko. Tala happily quieted in her mother's arms, her tiny hands grasping the end of her braided hair to examine it. Silence fell between the two of them.

"I just received a letter from my uncle," Zuko said.

"Is he ok?" asked Katara, her face carried concern as she spoke.

"He's fine," Zuko explained. Katara relaxed slightly with the news. She shifted Tala's weight onto her other hip.

"What did the letter say?" Katara asked. She knew it had to be something important or Zuko would not have sought her out to talk about it.

"It's about us," Zuko said. His golden eyes left Katara's face to look at the pond. Katara blinked a few times, confusion apparent in her cerulean orbs.

"Kasumi," Katara called. Zuko watched as his eldest daughter pulled herself from her daydream and looked to them. A smile lit up her face.

"Kasumi, watch Tala for a moment," Katara said. The master waterbender set Tala on the ground next to her sister. Kasumi nodded and spun around so that she sat up and turned her attention to her little sister. With Tala settled in Kasumi's arms, Katara walked back to Zuko.

"Let's take a walk," she suggested. Her eyes glanced over him then stared straight ahead as she walked. Zuko hesitated slightly before he walked after her. The two walked side by side through the open hallways connecting the gardens. Their paces matched without them noticing or trying. Two opposites: red and blue, nervous and calm, walked beside one another.

"So," Katara spoke. The silence around them shattered, "what did your uncle say?" They passed one of the noblewomen whose son was in Kasumi's class, walking with her son in the other direction down the pathway. Once they passed them Zuko started to explain. "He told me why he thinks Kasumi and Tala are not able to bend," Zuko stated.

"Tala's just turned one," Katara said, "I would be surprised if she showed any signs of becoming a bender this early." Her tone was slightly chastising: Zuko was a firebender, he should know when children started to show signs that they could bend. She sighed and glanced up, their gazes interlocking for a moment, "and."

"He said he didn't think they'd ever be able to bend," Zuko explained. Katara stopped walking.

"What?" she questioned, "why? Both of us are masters," she paused, looked and Zuko, then back at the sky, "well practically masters. They should have a better chance because they have two different elements in their blood. That's two chances!"

"That's the problem," Zuko stated, "uncle thinks it's the other way around because Fire and Water are polar opposites, they might cancel each other out." Katara blinked a few times, processing the information Zuko had just relayed to her.

"Has your uncle ever been wrong?" Katara asked, her voice solemn. Zuko looked up to the clouds, lost in thought for a moment. That reasoning had first popped into his head as well, but he had brushed it off.

"My uncle always said 'destiny is a funny thing'," Zuko quoted, "this might be one of those times." Katara remained silent as she let the words sink in.

"I can't give up hope on their abilities," Katara spoke, "maybe, if we give them enough time-"

"We have two years," Zuko stated sadly.

"What?" asked Katara, confusion choked her voice.

"The court said if Tala doesn't show any signs of becoming a bender by 3 then…" Zuko cut himself off, not wanting to finish the sentence. He knew Katara knew what he would have said.

"Why three?" asked Katara, "no one can bend at three years old! I didn't even know for sure I could bend until I was six, that's twice that age!" Zuko looked away from her questioning gaze.

---

Zuko stood up from his chair in one shift movement. The meeting had slowly spiraled out of his control, as all of them seemed to do. The two men had expressed their dismay about Tala not being a boy throughout the entire meeting. Since the meeting had only been the three of them, Zuko wondered if that was the day's only topic.

"She's still too young to even try to bend, I don't-" Zuko replied calmly.

"How old were you, Firelord Zuko?" asked one of the men. Zuko had not been paying attention to know which one of them had interrupted him.

"For what?" snapped Zuko. He closed his golden eyes for only a moment before he regained his composure. He noticed he had been doing that a lot lately.

"When it was obvious you were a fire bender," continued the short man.

"Five," Zuko replied. The man nodded. Zuko stepped away from the table and moved towards the door. Halfway to the door, the shorter man spoke again.

"And your sister?" he grinned. Zuko hesitated in his stride.

"Three," he answered. He continued to the door, his hand pushing it open.

"We'll give the child three years then," the man stated. Zuko left the room, his anger veiled beneath a hardened mask fit for any of the previous Fire Lords.

---

"Why three?" Katara asked.

"That was when it was learned that Azula was a firebender," Zuko stated blankly. He tried to hide his emotions beneath an exterior of calmness when he saw a group of high ranking noble men enter the small garden Katara and him shared. He almost wished the palace gardens were closed off to the others, but he knew that many of them enjoyed the natural beauty uncommonly found in the fire nation capital.

"What could she have done at three?" Katara asked, her voice cracking. She turned to look at Zuko, her gaze level, cerulean meeting gold.

"She touched the flames on the candles without burning herself," Zuko explained. Her accomplishment had come a full year before he discovered his own hidden talent. Katara nodded to herself and turned away.

"I see," she said slowly. Zuko saw her lips quiver as she looked back the way they had come. He was shocked at the revelation but followed her slowly, only a step behind, back to the girls. He noticed bits of grass twirled into her braid. He stopped himself from brushing them off. The Fire Lord hesitated in his stride, questioning what was going through his mind. Zuko wondered why his gaze had fallen from her eyes to her lips. They'd only kissed once, the day of their wedding, and that one had been as chaste as kisses came. Their relationship was only smoke and mirrors, as long as the world believed they were in love and peace continued because the oldest of elemental enemies could get along, then things would be ok. He noticed that her eyes held unshed tears, but she would not let them fall, not here, not in anyone's presence. Katara had not changed so much, but it was enough so that if Aang or Sokka or Toph would have seen her, they would have to have done a double take. The war had changed her; Zuko watched it firsthand. Her trusting nature had vanished the moment he had picked his nation over helping her and Aang back in the catacombs. Now though, Katara seemed to only open up to her children. She never let them know that anything was wrong, but she acted like she used to act when she was with them.

Zuko stopped at the railing separating the gardens from the walkway as Katara stepped onto the grass and moved towards the two little girls. A smile graced her features, her eyes shining with happiness as she lifted Tala onto her hip once more. The child latched onto Katara, reaching out with her other hand to touch her mother's face. Zuko did not blame her; she had had to give up so much, so many precious things to the world and to him. Katara would only get back the continued peace of the world, the knowledge that Aang was safe, and the unconditional love of her two daughters. The Fire Lord turned and left them; he headed back to the library to reread the letter, praying he had misread it.

---

Katara turned to watch Kasumi as she fell out of her handstand. At nine, she still had shown no inclination to control the elements her parents could. Tala, only a day over three, had also not made any progress in the area of bending. Katara sighed as she realized that her daughters might never see the water as anything other than wet, cold liquid. They would never feel the magical healing powers that water could bless them with, the ease of protecting themselves and others, or the sense of knowing who they were and what they could be. As much as she wanted them to be able to control water, if they took after Zuko then the problem would be solved. If either Kasumi or Tala had a natural affinity for fire, then they could inherit the throne from Zuko without issue.

Katara glanced to the flower in her fingers, spinning slowly. Tala had presented it to her as she led them outside. Shaking off her fears, Katara smiled and stood. She pushed the meeting Zuko was attending at the moment out of her mind as she helped Kasumi do a proper handstand in the grass.

---

Zuko opened his golden eyes slowly after counting to five and exhaling purposely. He sat at the head of the table, accompanied by the two men representing the fire nation. Zuko scoffed at the irony. These two men represented what his nation had been, greedy and power-hungry men with nothing to do except try to assert their power on weaker persons. What annoyed Zuko more than that his nation was misrepresented was the fact that he was in the position of the weaker person. These two men had total control of what he did, and they knew it. The only reasons they did not have complete control of his nation were the other four members of the court, and that Katara, his two daughters, Azula, and himself, were all alive and, with the exception of him, they could stand up to their ridiculous demands without the laws of the pact hanging over their heads. He was facing one of those demands at the moment.

"Tell me again why we can't wait until Tala turns five?" asked Zuko, "five is the average age when a child shows signs of becoming a bender."

"We'd have to wait two more years then," said the shorter man. He'd grown his mustache into a full beard in the time since Tala's birth, "and we've already waited three, as we agreed."

"I didn't agree," Zuko snapped. He paused, taking another calming breath before speaking again, "you set the age and I had to agree."

"And now the world is growing impatient," the man continued. His partner was silent. The taller man had grown quieter in the privet meetings between the Fire Lord and themselves.

"The world is finally starting to recover," Zuko explained calmly, "it's been almost ten years since the war ended; the Fire Nation is starting to gain back some of its lost honor.

"Honor that will vanish if your sister takes the throne," the once silent man explained.

"Is that what's worrying you?" asked Zuko, "that my sister will take the throne?"

"Her birthright entitles her to it if you do not have a proper heir," the shorter man stated.

"Kasumi and Tala are both proper-" Zuko stated. One of the men cut him off, he was unsure of which.

"Not anymore," the man said.

"What?" Zuko asked, his calm gone.

"After our last deal, we changed the laws regarding the lineage of the royal family," the man continued, "you must have a son. It is now a written law."

"No," Zuko stated. He paused, "I can't do that to Katara." The two men exchanged a look.

"So you'll let the world fall into the hands of your sister because you don't want to enjoy-"

"Don't say it," Zuko ordered, his golden eyes narrowed. If looks could kill, both men would be dead on the floor.

"Then listen to reason," the taller man spoke.

"And the law," the bearded man ordered.

"You need a son," they stated together. The two men rose and left the brooding Fire Lord. They closed the door behind them and turned to each other. Zuko had wanted to tell them that his sister had no inclination to be married to anyone, let alone be a mother to an eligible heir of the Fire Nation, but he kept his cool. The two men began their walk to the building where they and the other members of the court lived.

"Do you think this will work?" asked the taller man.

"If not, I have other ways planned," the short man grinned.

---

A ceramic pot crashed into the wall where Zuko's head had been only seconds before. Katara reached for another item to throw; her slender fingers wrapped themselves around an iron candle holder. She pulled back her arm to throw it and gasped when her movement was stopped. Zuko's hand gripped her wrist, the candle holder still in her grasp. Katara tried to pull her arm back, but Zuko's grasp only tightened. His other hand had found her free hand, keeping them both secure in his iron grip.

"Let go," Katara commanded. Her blue eyes shown with determination as she met his golden ones.

"Not until you let go of the candle holder and listen to me," Zuko growled. He felt strangely powerful standing there, his grip on her wrists unfaltering. He'd let her have her way back when he had joined the avatar's group so she would accept him. Their interaction in the palace had been minimal as well, the only time they saw each other was at night or at meals.

Katara turned away and un-tensed her arms; they hung limp from Zuko's hands. He slowly brought them down and released them at her sides. A memory flashed through both their minds; a younger Zuko catching Katara's hands as she ran into him trying to escape. Her blue eyes held so much fear then, yet now they were set like stones, firm, unyielding. Zuko watched her replace the undamaged candle holder and met her eyes as she face him.

"Why aren't Kasumi and Tala good enough for them?" asked Katara. Zuko heard a twinge of emotion in her voice, but it was her face that truly betrayed her feelings.

"They've made it a law," Zuko sighed, "the heir must be either a male or a firebender."

"I know," Katara said. She closed her blue eyes, as if shutting out the world.

"Katara," Zuko said, he paused, "I'm sorry, for all of this." He had apologized… For something he had no control over no less… To her… The waterbender glanced up at him for a moment, wondering if she was dreaming.

---

Katara wished she had been dreaming that night. After their conversation, even though it would be their third time coming together, she had never felt the tenseness escalate to such heights. The awkwardness had faded since Tala's conception, yet as she sat on the bed holding her newest child, the memories darted in and out of her mind; it probably did not help since she was sitting on the same bed as that night. The child slept soundly in her arms, wrapped in a red blanket, as were her two others. The baby had opened its eyes yesterday for a moment, revealing a flash of gold. Katara smiled; the Fire Nation would have an heir that looked like his father, aside from the scar. Zuko and her had named him Tsun, hoping he'd have the ability to bend unlike his sisters.

The child was silent in her arms until his golden eyes, not a harsh gold like Zuko's, but a more washed out gold, opened. It was as if the color was diluted, but it was only noticeable to Katara since she knew Zuko's eyes so well. His mouth opened in a premature yawn, then closed slowly. The woman who had delivered him had told her that he was a very healthy baby. She told Zuko she would expect him to start crawling and walking sooner than his sisters had. Katara smiled and offered her finger to the baby as he squirmed and freed his hands. He gripped her long finger to his body and closed his gold eyes to sleep.

Ok, that one's done now… A piece of one of the scenes is an allusion (maybe that's the word) to a book I've just read. Virtual cookies for anyone who can guess what book the specific scene is from :) . Remember to Review! I love reviews! Please!