iv. lilac
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When Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara announce the impending birth of their fourth child, the councilmen are politely pleased. The public of Caldera takes it as an excuse for a celebration that makes extra work for the capital's sanitation workers the next morning. Hawky arrives from Kyoshi Island with Suki's congratulations and Sokka's, "Man, is this a conspiracy to make me spend all my money on birthday presents so that I don't have any left to bet decently against you when we play pai sho? Because it will fail; I will still bet that I can beat you and I will win and I will win enough money from you to buy presents for the small village you're raising, so you will actually be buying them birthday presents twice," scrawled as a post-script on the bottom. (He sends along another child-sized boomerang, despite his protests.)
It's only when they tell Iroh in person, when he visits from Ba Sing Se shortly after they make the news public, that they receive sincere joy from their announcement. "This is wonderful news!" Iroh says with a wide smile, folding his hands over his stomach and shaking his head in delight. "Your three older ones must be very happy to have another sibling on the way."
"The girls are," Zuko admits, "but they're old enough to remember when their brother was born."
"He'll have a playmate close to his age," Iroh nods as if this decides the goodness of the matter. "And the baby will be born—" he pauses for a moment, moves his hands and glances at the ceiling as he figures the dates, "—close to your eighth wedding anniversary! Two numbers of good fortune converging—a fourth child on an eighth anniversary—yes, this child will be blessed."
"More than our others?" Katara asks mildly, raising an eyebrow and smiling at Iroh over her teacup.
Iroh shakes his head and returns the smile, although his eyes look a little watery. "No more than the others, my dear. They are all good fortune, and I am so pleased to see my nephew happy and with a growing family."
Katara reaches out and places her hand over Iroh's, squeezing gently. "We think so, too."
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Months later, when the morning sun has risen just enough to paint the cityscape with orange light, sprawling like a broken egg yolk, it slats through the screens in front of the door to the balcony. Katara squints at the intruding light with something like anger, but she's too tired to actually feel the full extent of that emotion. Or to roll over so that her back faces the light.
She almost jumps when Zuko puts his arm around her and scoots up behind her.
"You're still here," she mumbles sleepily.
She feels the movement of his shrug before he leans in to kiss the back of her head. "It's our anniversary. Missing one morning of meditation won't kill me."
"Mmmm, you're sweet." She reaches up to pat his hand.
"Don't tell anyone; it might ruin my reputation."
"I thought it was already ruined. You married a Water Tribe woman, after all."
Zuko snorts and pulls her closer. "Best decision of my life."
"Right." Katara is awake enough now to use her arms to maneuver herself over to face him. The baby is due any day now, and that makes the movement something like a five-step process.
Her ensuing sigh is tinged with hints of bitterness, but Zuko only takes advantage of her change in position to kiss her, and she's distracted enough that she almost forgets that her womb has swollen to the size of a giant melon and every other part of her body feels swollen, too, and she almost looks forward to going through labor just because she knows the feeling of relief that will come afterwards.
It's not an absolute wish for the baby to come that day, but it's almost one.
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The contractions start a few hours later, and Katara walks into Zuko's office and sits down with a sigh.
He looks up from his paperwork with a look that softens when he realizes it's her. "What?"
"Iroh is going to be so smug," she says, by way of letting him know.
Even though they've done this before, he looks a little panicky. "We should call the midwife, huh?"
"Before too long," Katara agrees.
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The baby isn't born until the next day—"Late," Zuko pronounces, his tone at odds with the soft awe that paints his face, after their new daughter is safely nestled, calmed from her new-to-the-world squalling, in her mother's arms, and Katara pushes his shoulder in gentle protest—but Iroh still calls her "little lucky one" when he croons over his new grand-niece for the first time a few weeks later.
He brings her a swaddling wrap of soft lilac material—"wonderful for a princess, to help her sleep, something new that her sisters didn't have first,"—and Katara laughs because of course Iroh would find the exact shade of blue and red that seems best suited for a fragile baby girl.
"It's perfect, Uncle," she says. "Thank you."
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tbc.
