A/N: The opening scene was inspired by a Tumblr post by a user named swan2swan.
If Eska had thought that being home would put an end to being woken up by loud, intrusive noises, she was sadly mistaken. The next morning, she heard a congregation of angry voices just down the hall.
She groaned and forced herself out of bed and into her bathroom. After taking care of the usual things, she applied healing waterbending to her eyes to get rid of the puffiness from all the crying she'd done last night. Satisfied that she looked like at least slightly less of a wreck, she put on her bathrobe and went to see what all the fuss was about.
A small crowd of consternated men were huddled around Desna's door. Imnek was among them.
"There she is!" Imnek exclaimed when they saw Eska looking at them.
"We're so glad you're awake!" he went on. "Here, you go talk some sense into him…he'll listen to you. He can't stay in there forever!"
Eska tried the door. It was locked.
"Desna?" she asked. "It's me. What is going on here?"
She heard a click as the lock turned, and Desna opened the door.
"I have refused to leave my room unless they agree to crown you along with me," he explained. "I retrieved nonperishable food items and water from the kitchen last night, so while they are correct that I cannot stay in here forever, I will be able to barricade myself for a very long time."
"Ah," Eska said. Truth be told, she had never given any thought to the possibility of joint rule. She'd assumed Desna would rule and she would assist him behind the scenes, but it had never occurred to her that they could share actual power.
"If he abdicates, then we have no eligible immediate family left to take his place!" another of the men said.
"And as I have already explained to you, that is not my concern," Desna answered coolly.
"Hmmm," Eska said as she thought. Then she turned to the men and asked, "And why can we not have a joint rule, exactly?"
The men looked as if she had asked them why one shouldn't go skinny-dipping in the middle of winter.
"It's…it's never been done!" Imnek sputtered.
"Is there a law against it?"
"Well, no, but…the Northern Water Tribe settled here thousands of years ago, and in all of recorded history, we have never had a female ruler. The very idea is preposterous!"
Eska stood quietly for another few seconds, then turned to join her brother in his room.
"What are you doing?!" the men asked, almost in unison.
"I shall keep my brother company until you change your minds," she informed them. It was only fair, after all. She knew how to rule as well as her brother did. As children, they'd both followed Father around as he went about his day, since there was usually nothing better to do. In addition, Father had been grooming Desna for this role almost as soon as Desna was old enough to comprehend his words (presumably in preparation for when Father thought he'd be off doing Dark Avatar things), and Eska had often been allowed to sit in on the lessons.
As soon as Eska was fully in the room, Desna slammed the door, then both relocked it and drew the bolt across. They sat calmly on his bed, ignoring the pounding and outraged yells.
"How long do you think it will take them to give in?" Eska asked.
"I have no idea," Desna answered.
"Well, there is a small issue. I have not yet brushed my teeth or my hair, and the necessary supplies are still in my own bathroom."
"Do not worry. I procured extras, since I expected you would decide to accompany me."
Eska stared at him in wonderment.
"Brother, you are truly a master tactician," she said.
"I know," Desna answered.
Father's advisors caved after only two days. Eska was a bit disappointed. She had been hoping for a real challenge from them. A defeated Imnek knocked on their door and informed them that the double coronation would take place in a week. It could have happened sooner, but the craftsmen needed the time to replace the single throne in the audience chamber with two new ones. The twins spent most of that week in the library, brushing up on their knowledge of the laws of the land, so Father's advisors wouldn't be able to use their ignorance to pull a fast one on them.
The coronation itself was long, solemn, and very boring. Eska tried to focus on every word, but all she could think about was how uncomfortable this throne was, and how badly she had to urinate (despite being careful to take care of that before the ceremony). Still, she felt a deal of satisfaction once the whole ritual was over, and she and Desna were officially co-chieftains. Now Mother would never be able to tell her what to do ever again! In fact, no-one would, really.
Sadly, things did not get much more interesting once they actually started doing their job. Eska threw up before their first morning audience, which she assumed was due to nerves, but she needn't have worried. The petitioners had all been pre-screened by their staff, and mostly it was a matter of giving their approval to decisions that had already been made. And when they weren't doing that, they were trying to not fall asleep in boring council meetings. And when they weren't doing that, they were sitting on their thrones not doing much of anything.
But they did get some new freedoms. Finally, Eska could read whatever books she wanted in the library! Before, she was only allowed to check out one book at a time, and she had to have a chaperone with her to make sure it was approved reading material. But now she could read all the most scandalous books and no one could stop her. She especially liked the books about Princess Azula of the Fire Nation; she found that she identified quite strongly with her. But soon she had read all the books on Azula that the library had to offer…she'd have to look into fixing that soon.
One day she also found a stack of magazines buried in the library's storage room. They were from the Earth Kingdom, and aimed at girls Eska's age. Among their contents were beauty tips, information about the latest fashions, and, most relevantly, advice about romantic relationships. From these magazines, Eska gleaned that young people participated in something called "dating," which was like courtship but did not necessarily end in marriage. This was where Bolin had gotten the word "boyfriend" from. And sometimes people had sex when they were "dating" even if they weren't married, so it wasn't just a Southern Water Tribe thing like she'd been told. She really wished she had known about this before she had met Bolin…it would have made things much more clear.
On an afternoon a few weeks after they were sworn in, Eska and Desna were slouched in the empty audience chamber (these thrones were not easy on their backs) when they received visitors…their uncle and the former Fire Lord Zuko. (Wait…he was still alive?)
"Lord Zuko…Uncle…this is a surprise," Desna said.
"Finally, something interesting happens. Ruling the tribe is so tedious," Eska added. More importantly, it might distract her from the nausea that continued to plague her a good portion of the time.
Zuko, too, had become a ruler at a young age, so he seemed to understand their pain.
"Then you should enjoy this," he told them. "We need to check on a secret ice prison in the western tundra."
There were not many things that could make the twins smile, but this was one of them. Not only a prison, but a secret one? Count them in!
They got to ride over on Zuko's dragon. Obviously, this was a great honor, since there were still so few dragons in the world, but the ride sent Eska's stomach into a lurch anew.
"Why didn't anyone tell us we have a secret prison we could have been throwing people in?" she griped as they walked in.
"I'd like to put my tailor in here. He never gets my cuffs right; they're so…creasy," Desna added. Indeed, Eska had seen him fixing the cuffs himself many a time, while muttering darkly under his breath. He probably didn't even need a tailor at all, but they had been convinced to keep on all of the palace's old staff because it would help the economy…or something like that.
They all got into an elevator that seemed to descend forever. Eska was concentrating very hard on not vomiting in this elevator, since that would make things extremely awkward.
"We built this place secretly with your father to hold a very…special prisoner," Zuko explained. He said he had hired a person with powers similar to this prisoner's to kill the Avatar. There was a pause.
"Didn't work," he added, presumably just in case anyone was confused.
"Don't feel bad. I tried to kill Korra after she ruined my wedding. It happens," Eska said. Uncle Tonraq looked at her like her words had the power to retroactively murder his daughter.
As she spoke, the elevator stopped, which settled the nausea somewhat.
"Let's just focus on keeping this woman in prison," Tonraq said. Apparently, this meant they all had to stay down here and personally keep the prisoner from escaping. Except Zuko, who flew off on his dragon to get a better view.
After a while, they went back up to the surface (which meant another trip in the elevator…uggggh) to await Zuko's return.
"Did you see Zaheer?" Tonraq asked him when he came back.
"The only thing I saw was a snowstorm heading our way," Zuko replied. But it soon turned out that he was mistaken, and the "snowstorm" was actually the man they were looking for. Eska thought that maybe it had been a bad idea to send an 87-year-old man out to do reconnaissance.
Despite their best efforts, the prisoner escaped. Eska worried that she may have partially been to blame for that. Since she was feeling off, her bending was not quite as powerful as it should have been. Later, Desna would assure her that it wasn't her fault, but she was just so tired of this!
After that momentary excitement, it was back to their boring old lives. Korra saved the world (again), which was good, Eska supposed. After this, her cousin fell ill and had to go to the South to recuperate. Eska, however, got no such privilege.
She could not show any sign of weakness in public; she had worked too hard to attain recognition from the men. In fact, a lot of these men were still complaining about her being co-chieftain, and would love any excuse to oust her. She didn't even discuss it with Desna, although surely he noticed something was amiss.
It was all due to the stress of her new position, she told herself. She was sure that if she just ignored the nausea, it would eventually go away on its own…and, after a couple of months, it did for the most part. She thought the same about the constant urges to void her bladder (thankfully, she hadn't had any accidents, but there were a few close calls involving large decorative urns in deserted corridors; she was always careful to bend the evidence out the nearest window), the sore breasts, and (perhaps most embarrassing of all) her struggles with her bowels.
It took her an absurdly long time to put all the pieces together. One night, about three months after she and Desna ascended the throne, she noticed that her sleeping pants were getting tight around the waist. They had used to be quite baggy even when the drawstring was pulled out as far as it could go, but now the waistline was taut against her skin. She had been eating more now that the nausea had subsided…perhaps she had put on more weight than she had intended?
She walked over to her full-length mirror to check it out. At first she didn't see much, but then she turned to the side, saw her reflection in profile…and froze.
No. It couldn't be!
In desperation, her hands flew to her stomach, and sure enough, she could detect the fluid within…as well as what was floating inside it.
By now, Eska was in a near-total panic. She dashed over to her brother's room and pounded on the door with all her strength. Desna opened the door right away.
"What is it? Are you all right? Are you ailing?" he asked as Eska dashed into his room. He was used to helping her through anxiety attacks, but this was an entirely different matter.
When the door was safely closed again, Eska wordlessly put her brother's hands on her abdomen. At first Desna looked confused, but then his eyes widened.
"How long have you known of this?" he asked with a note of accusation in his voice.
"About two minutes," Eska answered flatly. Desna looked consoled that she hadn't been keeping secrets from him.
"I suppose now you will inform everyone of my shame," she added.
Desna shook his head.
"Why would you think that?" he asked. "I would never betray you…especially not after you've kept my secret. Like you said-now and always."
Eska almost wept with relief.
"I take it you did want to keep it a secret between us?" Desna inquired.
"That is correct."
"But they will find out eventually…unless you…"
Eska recoiled.
"I would never do that!" she insisted. " I just see no reason to let them know until it's absolutely necessary. Besides, we do need an heir. This way, neither of us will ever have to marry. And it would do our line some good to get fresh blood into it...we're rather inbred."
"I take it the father is who I think it is?" Desna ventured.
"Who else?" Eska said with a hint of a smile.
They spent some time talking how they'd go about concealing this. Obviously, her tunic would only hide it for so long, so she'd be forced to wear her outer robe even indoors. Desna volunteered to wear his as well, so it wouldn't stand out as much.
"Oh, and we'll need diapers," Eska pointed out. "And baby clothes…do you know how to make those?"
"I've never made any before, but I'm sure I can find patterns somewhere."
"We have a lot of research to do…very carefully, of course."
By the time Eska went back to her own room to sleep, she felt less panicky. She sunk down on her bed to think.
She'd never even considered that she might be pregnant, because she had been so convinced that she and Bolin had performed the act incorrectly. And as for her cycle…yes, it had occurred to her once or twice that she hadn't bled for a while, but it was not uncommon for her to skip a month or even two. She'd just assumed it would come eventually, and then promptly forgot about it again.
Not to mention, she hadn't even been clear about what the symptoms of pregnancy actually were. Mother had never encouraged talk about it.
She looked over at the telephone on her desk. Did she dare? She walked over, and, after a few failed attempts because her hands were shaking so much, dialed the number for Air Temple Island.
The phone was picked up on the second ring.
"Hello, Air Temple Island, Opal speaking. Who is this, please?" a female voice asked.
Wait. What was she thinking? She had promised to let Bolin go, and she was going to keep that promise! It had been her idea to commit the act that led to this pregnancy, so it was her burden to bear.
"Hello? Are you there?" the voice asked. Eska slammed the phone back on the receiver and buried her face in her hands.