Sometimes when life throws something in the way, it is not a reason to throw that something away.

Katara had always had a need to get out. Sometimes she had a real reason and sometimes she did not. But any time she took a walk, Katara always had a way of coming up with good reason. Every single time.

But this time, her reason was not quite as legitimate as it probably should have been.

Katara decided that she had a reason to go to the market that day. It was the time of year that seaprunes would actually be available. There would always be some things she would miss about her home at the South Pole, but Zuko alone was more than enough of a reason to make Katara want and need to stay in the Fire Nation. She knew that no matter where they were, being with Zuko would always be Katara home.

But Katara never made it to the market that day. She had taken an empty basket with her, but that basket did not come back carrying seaprunes. It came back carrying an infinitely more precious cargo.

With Zuko's efforts to rebuild the Fire Nation, he had commissioned new structures to be built to house those Fire Nation citizens that formerly lived in the Earth Kingdom colonies, so long as they wished to leave to be citizens of the Fire Nation and not to become citizens of the Earth Kingdom.

That day Katara passed by a building that was still under construction. There was a splay of broken beams and splay of broken tools on the ground. But there was also a splay of feathers.

It was that kind of day when Katara's innate sense of curiosity was at a high point. After seeing those feathers, she gave into her urge to walk into the construction area. When she heard a quiet chirping sound, she definitely felt that she had a good reason to dig around in the wreckage to find its source.

The source of that chirping was a collection of six eggs that were housed in a nest that had since fallen apart. Katara took more time than reason would suggest as being necessary to look for the mother of those eggs. But that mother was nowhere to be seen. Katara was sure that mother had her reasons. She was either forced to leave or she died protecting her yet to be born babies. Katara was sure of that.

But Katara also knew that there was not enough time for those eggs to be left alone until their mother came back. So she stocked her basket with eggs instead of seaprunes and returned to the palace. Katara had always possessed a kind and generous heart and that was reason enough for her to bring those eggs back with her.

Katara knew all of the secret routes into the palace well enough by now to get to her room without being noticed. It probably would not look good to anyone who saw her, no matter what reasons she gave to them for having a basket full of chirping eggs.

She dashed into her room, assured that she had not been seen by anyone. Or at least not seen by someone who would bother to notice what she was carrying.

Now what? I have a basket of eggs that are clearly about to hatch and no idea what to do with them.

Katara recalled the words her brother had said so many years ago, reminding her that going "to the library" might just be her best bet for some answers. Having lived at the palace for more than two years meant she knew her way around the Fire Nation's Palace library as well as any person who used it, if not more so. With so many books to read available at any time she wanted, what avid reader could resist?

She found the section on Fire Nation wildlife almost immediately. The Palace Librarian was asleep, as usual, so Katara chose to take out some books without signing them out. She pulled two books from the same shelf, both of which were about the avian wildlife of the Fire Nation, and calmly took her leave. Everyone knew how often Katara frequented the library by now and some even knew how often she somehow "forgot" to sign her books out.

When she got back to her rooms, Katara quickly flipped through the first book. It mostly discussed the glories of the avian wildlife and how they so gloriously adorned the glorious Fire Nation with their glorious plumage. Katara knew it had to be from the glory days of Fire Lord Sozin. But the second book was entirely informational and included images that could identify each species by their eggs. Katara flipped through it, looking back and forth between the eggs and the drawings she saw. She started to get concerned when she was more than halfway through the alphabetical listing, but when she got to the "t" section, she found a precise match.

Turtleducks. These are turtleduck eggs.

Katara grinned and quickly read all that the book had about turtleducks. The information was sparse, but it was enough to know how to care for them, at least initially. It was clearly not written for a human being who had decided to take on the role of hatching and raising turtleducks, but it was logical enough to suggest that these eggs, like any other kind of egg, had to be warmed by their mother sitting on their nest. That was something Katara obviously could not do. But the idea of incubation was simple enough. She simply had to wait for nightfall to go through the halls and snatch some of those glass-contained wall sconces that were lit through firebending every evening.

Katara learned the ways of stealth a long time ago when she and Zuko went searching for her mother's killer, so it was easy enough for her to snatch three of the globes from the wall without being noticed. Of course their absence would be obvious, but that kind of thing would never be pinned on her. She knew not to worry about the possibility of some innocent being pursued and prosecuted for stealing all the globe lights, so to do so for a very worthy cause did not concern her in the slightest.

Katara pulled open the drawer that contained her now virtually useless Water Tribe winter weather clothing. All those furs and heavy fabrics seemed to be the ideal place to incubate the turtleduck eggs. She wrapped the eggs in an old parka and evenly spaced the three globe lights in the drawer before closing it.

Katara would now have to seem to be too sick to have dinner tonight. It would not be just her and Zuko tonight anyway. He was supposed to entertain some Fire Nation nobility, all of whom clearly thought themselves too good to be in her company. Katara never let that sort of thing bother her, but Zuko would not be suspicious if she did not show up. He hated those dinners too.

But Katara did have to dispel any suspicions that the servant might have when the woman would inevitably come by to offer to dress her. Katara always turned her down, but the proprieties of palace life must be preserved at all times.

When Katara heard that familiar soft knock on her door, she had already prepared her good reason.

"Ambassador Katara, would you like any assistance getting dressed for dinner this evening?"

The servant, Anju, was nothing but an utter sweetheart in Katara's eyes. Anju knew Katara well enough by now to know that the offer would be refused. But the servant did not expect her charge to answer the door with a pallid face and bloodshot eyes.

"Thank you, Anju, but I won't be attending dinner tonight. I feel very ill."

Anju knew to mask both her shock and her concern when neither were said to be appropriate for a servant to feel in such a situation.

"Should I fetch you the palace physician?"

"No, I'm sure going to bed early and getting some rest will be the best medicine I can get."

"Should I bring you something to eat instead?"

"No, I'm fine. To be honest, I'd probably throw it up anyway."

The servant only slightly blanched. She was used to Katara's way of speaking by now. Even if it was not what she was used to, Anju found Katara's style of conversation to be refreshingly honest.

"Then I will not disturb you for the rest of the evening. Please let me know if you need anything at all, Ambassador Katara."

"Sure."

Katara perhaps closed the door a little too harshly, but her eyes were burning from the perfume she had dabbed in them.

Cosmetics do have their uses after all.

Katara quickly washed her eyes and rubbed the too pale make up off her face. Of course the Fire Nation did not have anything for her skin color, but she did not care and neither did Zuko.

You always look beautiful with nothing on your face, Katara. Or on your body.

Katara laughed when she remembered the time Zuko had said that. He had turned so red that his face was almost as dark as his scar. He quickly learned that comments like that would never be something for him to feel embarrassed about.

I wish I could see you tonight, Zuko. But I want to be here when they hatch. I have to.

Katara had already decided that she would raise the turtleducklings in secret as a surprise for Zuko. She knew he was not particularly fond of surprises, but this one would be just for the two of them.

Katara sat of the edge of her bed and stared at the closed drawer. She could not exactly will them to hatch, but she would not let herself miss it when it happened, and from the sound of the muffled chirping she heard, it had to be soon.

Katara managed to stay up until it was nearly dawn before she finally fell asleep. But as the sunlight broke the horizon, the chirping became loud enough to wake her up.

Typical. Turtleducks rise with the sun. Just like everything else in this nation.

Katara surprised herself by leaping up and rushing to her dresser. But she restrained herself enough to slowly open the drawer.

She saw five little turtleducklings staring at her. It ought to have been six, but one little turtleduckling was clearly refusing to stick its head out its already cracked shell to look at her.

"Oh you have some serious attitude, little turtleducky. I can tell already that you will never do what I ask you to do."

At that, the tiny turtleduckling popped its head out and gave her the closest thing to a glare that a newborn turtleduckling could imaginably muster.

"We will get along just fine, I assure you. Once you learn to listen to your Mama Ducky."

The little turtleduckling promptly tucked its head back into its shell.

Katara almost snorted but instead chose to switch her attention to the other five turtleducklings, all of which needed her care as much as the turtleduckling that was born with a fierce attitude.

Now what? I need to feed them and watch them and take care of them and I have no idea about how to do it.

Katara quickly grabbed the book she had used before and quickly found the same entry she saw about turtleducks earlier in the evening. The entry was two pages long.

"Shit."

Katara looked back up at the turtleducklings.

"No. Mama Ducky did not curse just now. Not like you can speak. But pretend that never happened, okay?"

The one stubborn turtleduckling popped its head out again as if to judge Katara.

"You and I are going to have a lot of fun, little turtleducky."

Clearly I have to go back to the library. There has to be something more specific about turtleducks than this two-page blurb.

Suddenly Katara heard that familiar knock on the door.

"Ambassador Katara? Are you awake?"

"Be quiet, turtleduckies."

The already infamous turtleduckling promptly chirped as loud as the little thing could muster.

Damn it all.

"Ambassador Katara, I do not wish to intrude, but I think I can be of some service to you with your present situation."

"You heard that, didn't you?"

"I may have heard the sound of a newly hatched turtleduckling, yes."

Katara quickly went to the door and opened it.

"How can you possibly know that by just the sound, Anju?"

Anju smiled before quickly bowing her head.

"I was raised in the countryside, Ambassador Katara. The sound that I may have heard is a familiar one to me. Might I come in?"

"Yeah sure. Please do. I have no idea what I am doing and if you have any kind of clue about this it would be much more helpful than any book."

This time, Anju did not bother to bow her head when she smiled. Katara smiled back at her and held the door open just enough for the servant to slip into the room.

The servant quickly walked towards the drawer.

"It appears I have found where the three missing wall sconces have disappeared to when they were noticed as missing last evening."

"Yeah. That was me."

"Ambassador Katara, I can honestly say that your intuition here was perfectly correct."

"Anju, can you please just start calling me Katara? Or do I have to make that an order?"

"No, you do not, Ambassa… Katara."

"Good first attempt. But please work on that so I don't feel like some stuffy old noblewoman."

"I will do my best."

"Good. But now you need to please tell me everything you know about turtleducks."

"They are very voracious eaters from the moment they hatch."

"So what do they eat?"

"Ideally any kind of grain that is regurgitated by their mother. But I do not mean to suggest that you perform the same function that a mother turtleduckling would do."

"Okay good. Because that is kind of gross."

Anju let herself quietly laugh.

"I suppose that any kind of grain mashed with a small amount of water will do just as well."

"Can you get that for me?"

"Of course. I am at your service."

"So what else do I need to do?"

"Well they will make waste after you feed them."

"Well that's obvious, Anju."

"I am glad you know so. I would recommend confining them to one room and laying the floor with spare linens. I will bring some to you."

"Just make sure they are already ruined because I am not about to ruin nice linens just to have turtleducklings mess them up."

"You are very gracious."

"No. I'm just rational. Don't waste nice sheets if they are going to get covered in bird grossness."

Anju did not quiet her laugher this time.

"But what I really need to know is how to take care of them as they grow. Things like how fast that happens and how to tell whether they are a boy or a girl and when they need to start learning how to swim. Do you know all of that stuff too?"

"Yes. But do you mean to care for them on your own?"

"I do. I don't want to turn them into some menagerie or anything. I found an abandoned nest yesterday so I just grabbed the eggs and brought them back with me and pretended to be sick, which by the way I am sorry I lied about that to you, and I want to take care of them myself."

"May I ask why, Amb…Katara?"

Katara could not help herself from giving Anju a look, but she forced herself to restrain that critical glare as much as possible. Katara knew how difficult it was for Anju to stop using her title when addressing her and knew not to diminish the other woman's palpable effort to do so. Anju detected the gentle reprimand, but it only forced her to restrain a smile.

"Just hear me out, Anju. The reason I don't want to let anyone else take care of them is because I want to raise them up myself and get them to swim in the little lake in the Royal Family Palace Garden to surprise Zuko. He has told me about how there used to be turtleducks in there…and why they left. So I thought this would be a nice little something I could do for him."

"You are as gracious and thoughtful as ever."

"Please stop with all the highbrow language, Anju. You just said you're a countryside girl. And I am one too, even though the Southern Water Tribe doesn't exactly have green pastures and a wide variety of wildlife."

"Rest assured that I do appreciate hearing your more colloquial use of language, but I cannot let myself speak in the way I formerly did when I serve the members of the royal family."

"Okay. That's reason enough for me. But speaking of 'serving' the members of the royal family, I hope you do not 'serve' the Fire Lord Zuko with such sensitive information."

"I swear on my honor that I will not breathe a single word of this to anyone. But there may be others who discover your current charges by accident."

"Yeah, I thought that might happen. But really the most important thing is that Zuko doesn't know."

"I will do all that I can to make sure the Fire Lord does not know. And where I fail, I am confident that your specialized powers of persuasion can succeed."

"Was that a bit of a joke about my tendency to 'persuade' people with my waterbending?"

"Perhaps."

Katara grinned at the other young woman.

"Good one, Anju. It's about time you loosened up a little bit."

Anju returned the smile. Serving this friendly and kind young woman had been the best position Anju had ever been given. It was also a position she dared to hope she would never lose. She smiled a little wider knowing that there was a good chance that she would never be need to wait on any other lady again.

"So you'll help me with all my questions and help keep this quiet then, Anju?"

"It will be my pleasure, Katara."

Katara hugged the servant without a second thought. Anju somehow managed to pat her mistress's back twice.

At least that's a start.

Katara pulled away and gently held the other young woman by the shoulders.

"Okay. So I am still very ill and I won't be able to leave my room for the next few hours."

"During which I will check in on you to see how you are feeling and bring with me a few parcels of things, all of which will be discreetly covered so as to hide their contents."

"I'm glad we understand each other."

Katara was bubbling with so much energy that she nearly pushed Anju out the door. She paused before opening it and quietly whispered to the servant.

"Did you not say that they are 'voracious' eaters? I would also not wish to have their 'waste' on the carpet."

Anju stopped trying to fight the grin that curled her lips.

"Good. Now run along, Anju. I want to be conveniently feeling well again in time to have breakfast with Zuko."

The tiny woman gave Katara a tiny nod and slipped out the door, floating away with those nearly silent footsteps that all the Royal Household servants seemed to have.

Katara closed the door behind her and walked back towards the quiet little chirping of her new roommates. She knew next to nothing about the little birds she had decided to take on, but the sounds of giggling and babbling that came out of her mouth were a natural enough instinct for her.

Worth it. So worth it.

Katara had a little over three hours until Zuko would have expected her traditionally late riser self to amble down to join him for breakfast, but Anju managed to bring everything Katara needed in less than one. They took the table and floor cushions out of the small room Katara was meant to have tea in and laid the floor with the old linens. The little turtleducklings were almost alarmed when Katara took them from the drawer, so she carried them into the side room still wrapped up in the Water Tribe parka they had been swaddled in when they had finally hatched.

Well it isn't like I really need it now anyway.

"Turtleducks do not have a great sense of smell, but they will always remember the way you smell."

"Because they think I am their mother, right?"

"Precisely."

Anju held out a bowl of finely ground grain and a carafe of fresh water to Katara. Katara bent tiny amounts of water into the bowl and mashed it with the water until the mixture reached the right consistency, which Anju had indicated to Katara with a small nod. Luckily there was enough water in the mixture for Katara to bend it into tiny little servings for each of the six turtleducklings. She laughed as they tried to take the portions of each other even with their own portion hovering immediately above their heads.

"Not nearly as messy as that 'regurgitation' thing, is it Anju?"

"Indeed."

Katara kept feeding them until the bowl was empty, but the little birds were still looking at her expectantly. She turned to look and Anju and saw the young woman already holding another full bowl in front of her.

Katara frowned slightly and repeated the same process. She paused and spoke.

"Anju, is there such a thing as feeding them too much?"

"The newly hatched turtleduck will and should eat all that it wants in its first few days. They will eventually stop and rest when they are full."

"You mean they have to eat until they pass out?"

"I suppose so."

Katara repeated the same process three more times before the six turtleducklings quieted down and nestled themselves all in the same parka.

Katara sat still as she watched them fall asleep.

"I have to go now, don't I?"

"You have about seven minutes until the Fire Lord will expect you to join him. But I am sure he is willing to wait for your company."

"No, I can go. They'll be fine, I'm sure."

Katara stood up and brushed her hands off on her dress only after she realized she had already changed it when Anju had left the room. She only shrugged and brushed her dress a bit more thoroughly. Katara slid her waterskin on over her shoulder and walked slowly to the door, looking back at the turtleducklings every few steps. Anju only began to stand up when Katara reached for the door's handle.

"You can stay as long as you would like, you know. You are their Auntie Anju after all."

"I will stay as long as my schedule permits."

"Don't bother picking up my room today. You have more important duties to take care of and my sheets really don't need to be washed every day."

"Thank you, Katara."

"You're more than welcome, Anju. I'm sure I'll see you later."

Katara gave the sleeping turtleducklings a tiny wave before stepping out into the hall.

Katara tried to walk as calmly as possible to the Royal Family dining room, but she could not resist a few little skips whenever she turned into an empty hall.

When Katara walked into the room, Zuko immediately got up and rushed over to her, feeling her forehead while a crease of concern crossed his own.

"Katara, are you okay?"

"What do you mean, Zuko? I'm fine."

Oh wait. I was terribly ill last night. I forgot about that part of the plan.

"I mean. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure? You look like you haven't slept at all."

"Yes, Zuko. You fall apart over every little thing all the time. Stop worrying."

"Do you know what happened?"

Katara hesitated for a moment, scrambling to come up with a believable explanation.

"I think I maybe just ate something bad."

"What did you eat, Katara? Did you eat it in the palace? Do I need to have a talk with the kitchen?"

"Zuko, stop. I went down to the market yesterday to find some seaprunes. It just didn't really turn out the way I really expected."

And I'm not even lying. Technically.

"So then I don't have to worry about getting sick if I kiss you?"

Katara kissed Zuko instead of answering his question.

"Good."

Zuko brushed the hair off Katara's forehead and kissed her back with a tiny bit more force.

"Very good."

The next kiss was stopped by a soft knock, followed by a man carrying in a large bowl of soup and few baskets of steamed vegetables and roasted meats. He carefully placed them on the table where the calmly seated Fire Lord and Water Tribe Ambassador were already waiting.

When the door closed again, Katara sputtered with laughter.

"What?"

"Zuko, please. If you really want to pretend like nothing is going on the moment before someone else enters the room, you need to realize that staring at me like an idiot defeats the entire purpose."

"I thought I did pretty well this time."

"Well, perhaps. I have to admit that you are getting better at it."

"Really?"

"Really. Only being slightly transparent instead of being completely readable is still an improvement."

Zuko folded his arms and almost pouted in a very Fire Lord like way.

Katara reached out to his chin so Zuko could see her smile and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. She pulled away from him, relishing in the fact that she could still get that perfect dumbstruck look to appear on his face. When Zuko leaned over the table in order to kiss her again, his mouth met with a pair of chopsticks instead of Katara's lips.

"The food is going to get cold, Zuko."

"The food can turn into ice for all I care, Katara."

The second time he leaned over, his lips were met with a splash of soup broth.

"Katara. You did not."

"I did not what?"

Zuko picked up a clump of rice and tried to flick it at Katara's face but watched it miss and fall down her dress instead. He looked up at her with what could only be called a gentlemanly leer.

"No, Zuko. I am actually hungry right now. We are not about to do either of those things."

Zuko glowered at the table. When he resumed the dignified pout and folded arms posture of a truly noble Fire Lord, he heard an oddly muffled giggle. He looked up and saw Katara holding back laughter with a mouthful of food.

"How very dignified, Ambassador Katara."

Katara quickly swallowed and laughed with him.

"Now shut up and eat your stupid food, Fire Lord Zuko."

They giggled their way through the rest of the meal, managing to throw only a few small pieces of food at each other for the next hour.

But this time, it was not all truly thrown away.