Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Bryke and Nickelodeon, not me.
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The wind whipped limply through the branches of the trees. Poppy leaned back in her chaise and gathered her blanket around her shoulders. The tiny white rose tree flipflopped back and forth in its new bed. Poppy sighed heavily. It cost a fortune to import just a packet of wild rose seeds, much less a seedling. But it eased her grief to look at something to remember her child.
Her eyes glanced dully over the row. The first tree stood tall, twining over the arbor with richly tangled vines. The second was half as tall, the third nearly the same. The fourth was newly planted.
Four wild rose trees. Four lost children.
Three baby boys and one baby girl were remembered by these rose trees. All four had been lost before the sixth month.
Poppy buried her face in her hands. She'd been married for two years, and she had yet to give her husband a child. Her last attempt ended only three weeks ago.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered. "I don't know what to do." The roses bushes blurred. "Please…all I want is a baby. Please let me have a baby. A real, live, healthy, living baby." The tears welled up and spilled over her pale cheeks. She balled her hands into fists. "I just want a baby!"
She didn't know how long she sat in the garden weeping, but she hastily swiped at her cheeks as footsteps crunched on the cold path behind her. "Are you all right?" Lao ventured. He stood behind her, shifting his weight awkwardly from foot to foot.
"As well as could be expected," Poppy said, trying to smile.
Lao cleared his throat. "The white rose trees are beautiful," he commented.
"They are," Poppy agreed.
They fell silent. Lao sighed. "Perhaps…perhaps we should stop trying-"
"No," Poppy interrupted, turning around in her chair and gripping the back. She stared into her husband's unsure face. "No, I…I want to give you a child." Her heart thudded. A noble needed a child to carry on his name, and many a noble's wife had been sent back to her father's house with a barren womb.
"But if you can't-"
"I can," Poppy said. She gazed into her husband's face. "I am going to give you a child."
Lao rubbed his forehead. "One last try," he said. "And if this doesn't work, we need to think of all of our other options."
"We won't need to think of other options," Poppy said resolutely.
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"I'm sure it's going to go well this time." This time, Sakura held the toddler and Mei was hugely pregnant. "You're going to be fine."
"I hope so," Poppy said. She adjusted the blanket over the soft rounding of her belly. At five months, she was barely starting to show, but she had dropped so much weight from her thin frame that the bump was painfully obvious. "I tried bed rest last time, and I did carry that baby a bit longer." She couldn't help the note of bitterness that crept into her voice.
"Oh, Poppy," Mei said softly. She placed her hand on her sister's arm. "I don't know why this has happened to you."
Poppy jerked her hand away and stared over her sister's shoulder out the window. "I don't know either." Sakura's toddler crowed and tried to crawl onto the bed; she pulled him back. Poppy's shoulders sagged. "Don't push him away. Let me hold him," she entreated. Sakura let go. Poppy drew her small nephew to her side. He was soft and warm; his small hands waved as he bounced up and down.
"You'll be a good mother," Sakura said.
"If I ever have a child," Poppy said.
Mei reached into her drawstring purse. "I forgot, I got this for you," she said. She handed a small paper-wrapped packet to her sister. Poppy unfolded it gingerly. A round clay amulet on a fine gold chain spilled into her hand. "I went to the abbey last week, and asked the sisters for a blessing for you."
Poppy stared at the minuscule whorls and spirals raised onto the clay. "Thank you," she said.
Mei took the amulet and fastened it around her sister's neck. "Now the earth spirits will protect your baby," she said.
"I'm not sure if that will do any good," Poppy said, but she fingered the clay disc.
Her sisters kept her company for much of the afternoon, until Poppy was too tired to even sit upright. She slept fitfully, tossing and turning as much as her rounded stomach would allow her. When she finally awoke, she lay on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling. At long last she remembered dully that she needed to eat. She rang the bell on the night table.
"Are you all right, madam?" Wei asked.
"I'm fine," Poppy said, pushing herself into a sitting position. "I'd like something to eat, please. Something plain." Wei nodded and hurried away.
Poppy stared out her bedroom window. After her second miscarriage, Lao had set aside a separate room just for her. He said she wouldn't get enough rest if they shared a bed. Her new room was on the east wing of the house, far from the main part- so that she wouldn't be disturbed by noise, he said- and faced a large but rarely visited garden. She stared at the bare branches of the cherry trees, arcing their naked arms over the sky. Funny, she'd never even noticed them before.
Her belly suddenly tightened with familiar, dreaded pain. "No," Poppy whispered. "No, not again." She clutched her stomach. "No, no!"
Wei walked in and dropped the tray. "Madam!"
"Get the doctor," Poppy gasped, doubled over. "I will not lose this child!"
The pain blinded her. Gasping desperately, she stared, unfocused, out the window. The lawns, unearthly green despite the winter chill, stretched out in front of her vision. Muddy patches left from the heavy rains dotted the view. And above it all the bare cherry branches stretched serenely. Poppy's breathing slowed, despite the gripping rain.
"Madam, the physician is here," Wei said. Poppy allowed her maid and the doctor to lie her down, but she kept her eyes trained on the garden.
The doctor examined her closely. "Lady Bei Fong," he said at long last. "Your child is safe."
Poppy's head snapped towards him. "What?" she breathed.
The doctor smiled. "For all intents and purposes, it seems as if you were preparing to miscarry again, but the child within you is safe and healthy. If you continue to rest, I feel…well, I don't want to give you undue hope, but it seems that this baby has a better chance of surviving."
Poppy settled against the pillows, smiling. But a sudden sharp pain made her heart pound in her chest. "Doctor, the baby-"
Concerned, he placed his hands against her stomach. The pain thudded against her, this time in a different spot. The doctor smiled. "Lady Bei Fong, your baby is kicking."
"Kicking?" Poppy repeated. "But none of the others kicked this hard…"
"The others didn't have the strength of will that this one apparently has." The doctor patted Poppy's shoulder. "Lady Bei Fong, I believe that you will deliver a healthy, living child."
Poppy smiled, wincing slightly as the baby kicked again. Her hand closed around the earth amulet. "I hope so."
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Author's Note:
A short update, but I haven't had time to write lately, so I wanted to post something already written. I'm graduating from college today, woohoo!
Let me know what you think of this. This is the first story in a collection about the various Avatar parents. Judging by the poll results so far, I think Ursa's going to be next.