Misery Loves…
Katara was genuinely concerned for Azula. Obviously, the princess was having a much more difficult pregnancy than she was.
With the coming of the baby, her mothering instincts were now magnified ten-fold, so she did what came naturally to her and sought out her sister-in-law.
"Azula?" She knocked on the door to her suite. "Princess, are you in there?"
"Go. Away."
"Oh, come on. You can't stay in there forever…" She remembered what the princess had told her weeks ago about stuffy rooms. "You don't want to smell like feet, do you?"
She heard slippered footsteps shuffling towards the door. It cracked open.
Katara frowned at the pale face poking through the door. "Azula…" And then she caught a whiff. "AUGGGHHH, you smell like feet!"
"It's that tea Uncle keeps feeding me," the princess moaned, her face turning an unbecoming shade of green. "I can't seem to hold anything else down. Nothing I want to hold down, anyhow."
"Well, that's about to change. Come with me. We're going to gorge ourselves on pregnant lady food."
"I wouldn't recommend it," Azula warned. "I tried to order some watermelon, and Cook sent up a big steaming bowl of pigs' feet."
Katara tilted her head. "I thought you liked pigs' feet?" Katara liked pigs' feet. Just thinking about it made her crave them.
"But I wanted watermelon." Azula pouted. "Normally I'd fry the cook alive for disobeying me, but I don't want to upset the baby…" She rubbed her hands over her stomach, and a strange look of motherly concern lined her normally wrinkle-free face. "I guess he means well, but I love watermelon…"
"Then watermelon you shall have!" The Waterbender clasped her hands and pulled her through the door. "Come on!"
She dragged her sister-in-law through the palace, weaving through the vast corridors until they came to a smaller chamber—one of the rarely used sitting rooms in the north wing.
When they got inside, Toph awaited them…as did a buffet of the most sumptuous foods either of the women had ever laid eyes on.
"Watermelon!" Azula salivated at the perfect slices of ruby-red fruit dripping with fragrant juice. Her eyes grew huge at the sight of other things that, for the first time in days, actually tempted her palate. "Roast hog-rat…spiced hairy jellyfish…pickled sea prunes…" She didn't even know she liked sea prunes until that moment.
Toph grinned. "All for my two favorite ladies," she said. "Consider this my gift to you."
"But…how?"
"Turns out this room is directly over the royal pantry," the Earthbender said. She opened up a small spyhole in the ground so they could have a look and sure enough, a waft of cold air and the barrels and shelves of produce they saw proved her correct.
"That's not all," Katara added, leading Azula to the opposite corner of the room. "I talked with Iroh, and he mentioned you'd been looking for a companion…" She swept a curtain away to reveal of basket of newborn…
"KITTIES!" Azula fell to her knees, nausea forgotten, and buried her face in the soft abundance of wispy fur frolicking and mewling around the giant wicker cat bed.
Katara and Toph smiled. Though Azula's new spectrum of moods and emotions was somewhat unnerving, even the stoutest heart would melt at the sight of the mercurial princess buried in kittens. She'd climbed into the basket with them, letting them nip at her ears, claw at her flesh and tug on her normally perfect hair. Laughter bubbled up from deep down in her withered soul, the sound harsh and metallic.
"Ooh, you two really are the best friends a girl could have!" And her smile dimmed then. "Mai and Ty Lee never did anything like this for me…"
"That's because they were evil," Toph said offhand. "I mean, under your influence and all…"
Azula's eyes watered. Her lips trembled. A noisy sob came up as a hiccup.
"Oh…ohhh…" Huge tears flowed down her cheeks. "It's true! I am a monster!" Her bawling began in earnest. "No wonder they deserted me! Oh, Spirits, how am I ever going to make a good mother?!"
Just then, one of the kittens, a lean, long-limbed, blue-gray creature, stepped out from the corner from where he'd been observing his playful brethren and the pregnant ladies. Serene and serious, with the most disapproving scowl on his feline face and an almost human look of pity in his dark eyes, the cat—for it was far too mature and world-weary to be anything other than a young cat with an old soul—placed himself in front of the princess and gazed up inquisitively into her face.
With eerily human compassion, the cat lifted a paw and gently patted her knee, as if to say, "There, there, princess, it'll be all right."
The girls watched this play out, fascinated.
Azula stared at the cat in wonder. Then she scooped him up and crushed him to her breast.
"This is the one!" she cried triumphantly, tears drying. "He's perfect! Absolutely perfect!"
Katara feared for the cat's life. He was squirming, clawing ineffectually at the princess's bosom, his muzzle buried somewhere…in there.
Ugh.
"Uh…Azula…breathing is important to all animals…"
"Kisu!" she said, holding the cat away to gaze lovingly at him. "Your name is Kisu."
Kisu meowed despondently when she kissed him on the nose, and he swiped at his muzzle in disdain.
"You'll be my baby until my other baby comes," she cooed, tickling his tummy. "I'm going to practice all my mothering skills on you!"
Kisu looked to Katara and Toph for help, but they grinned uselessly at him.
"Aw, wookit im! He's sooooo cute!" Katara burbled.
"And he sounds like a happy kitty," Toph said. "His heart is pitter-pattering like crazy! He must really like you."
"You are my specialist, weshalist wittle kitty-bum," Azula gleefully cuddled him. "I will love you and squeeze you and hug you and stroke your furry wittle nosie…"
Kisu let out a defeated meow.
This, the cat thought unhappily, is not what I signed up for.