AN: I thought about whether or not Rei's age made sense, and she had been older when I started writing it, but then I realized my timeline wasn't canon anymore so I changed it and absentmindedly, I never went going back and made her act younger. I won't be re-editing the beginning, but I will be mindful of her age going forward and hopefully she won't change too much but will seem more age-appropriate.

Decisions Decisions

Over the summer, Azula started to get a baby bump. She still wasn't sure what to do now. She couldn't just go to the palace and say I accuse Zuko of trying to murder me. She needed to catch him red handed.

Ty Lee tried to convince her to talk to her family members, sans Zuko.

"They'll never believe that he tried to kill me."

"Maybe not, but they will protect you and your children. He won't be able to try again."

Azula wasn't sure of that, but she decided to at least try to give Iroh a chance. She was surprised to learn that he had tried to get to know her children.

When Iroh got the invitation to come to the cottage in the fall, Ty Lee outside met him. "I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone what you see inside."

"I promise, but what is it?"

Iroh went inside and was surprised to see Azula holding one baby and pregnant with another. Before he could say anything to her, Hiro jumped in his arms. "Uncle Iroh!"

"Hiro. You're so big."

"Daddy's been teaching me earthbending!"

"Isn't that something? How about you go play with your big sister while I talk to your Mom?"

"Rei, play with me!"

The kids ran outside. "You're it," Rei yelled as she got out the door first.

"No fair!"

"I must say this is a shock." Iroh turned to his niece.

"I guess I didn't like being dead," Azula tried to joke.

Iroh was furious. "What on Earth possessed you to fake your death? Do you have any idea how devastated everyone was?"

"I didn't believe Ty Lee when she told me, but this wasn't a prank. Someone tried to kill me, twice. Both of them were close calls, and I thought my kids were safer if whomever was targeting me thought he succeeded, so I played dead."

"And what about Haru?"

"I was pregnant. He didn't want me trying to chase failed hitmen and hiding alone, so he faked his death to join me, and we've been living underground ever since. We keep looking, but we haven't been able to conclusively prove anything."

"But you have suspicions."

"I do, but I can't do anything without either evidence or catching him in the act and most people aren't seen when they try to hire hit men."

"This is why Ty Lee came to see me," he realized.

"She was hoping to come up with a motive. Clearly it's someone who wants me gone who isn't willing to do the dirty work himself. We tried looking into Kuei's people, Long Feng, various resistance groups from the war, but no one was talking about me before "I died." My death got everyone talking, so I have to assume whoever thinks that he killed me wouldn't be in a position to brag about it."

"Which means?"

"This is about our bloodline and not about revenge for the war. If it is about Fire Nation politics, then whomever did this would be facing treason charges."

"What are you going to do?"

"Ty Lee wants me to come home. She thinks we can head off any threat from the palace, but I don't know if I feel safe there now. I can't hide forever, but when do I go back. How do I just say, yeah I'm not dead?"

"You have to tell your mother. She has been beside herself for a year."

Before Azula could respond, Haru came home. "I brought you that peach jam you like."

Her pregnancy cravings always involved moon peach products of some kind.

"Iroh, you're here."

"I am. How are you holding up?"

"Okay. My dad's been a big help, as have Ty Lee and Sokka."

"Sokka?"

"Oops."

"He's been a sleuth for us while we were in hiding, going to bars, chasing leads. He didn't find too much physical evidence, but we're starting to get an idea of why I might have been targeted." Azula explained.

"How did that happen?"

"He has some kind of relationship with Ty Lee. I didn't ask for the details."

"Are they gonna get married?" Hiro asked his mother. The children followed Haru back into the house.

"I don't know yet. Why don't you ask them the next time you see them together?"

"Okay!"

Iroh shook his head. "Now that's mean."

"I can't be too nice to them. What would people say?"

Iroh sent a letter to Ursa from Omashu, encouraging her to come meet her grandchildren. "I think now's the time for us all to bury the hatchet."

She came alone, Mai deciding to stay with Ursa II and Zuko said he was too busy this time but maybe next time.

When she got to the cottage, he warned her that Azula and Haru were still alive.

"What?"

She went into the cottage to see her daughter for the first time in seven years, clearly pregnant, and her children napping in the back of the home.

"How? What?" She hugged her little girl for the first time in over a decade.

Before Azula could explain anything, her baby started to cry. "Hold on, I need to get Ta Min."

"You named her Ta Min?"

She brought out the youngest princess. She was almost nine months old now, and she reached out for her grandmother. "Do you want to hold her?"

Ursa scooped the baby in her arms. She had her father's eyes, but her mother's nose and mouth. "She's perfect."

"She's an earthbender or she will be. I hope she's a bit cleaner than Hiro."

They sat down and Azula explained the attempts on her life and how she and Haru hid to protect their children and try to eliminate the threat.

"Why didn't you just come home?" She knew things weren't good between Azula and the family, but were they that bad?

"I wasn't sure if I would be followed there," or if Zuko had hired the hit men. "As long as the Avatar was looking for me, it was too easy to find me. All people would need to do was find him. I needed him to abandon the search so I gave him a reason to quit. I did almost die when the boat exploded, but when I survived, I decided to just sneak away. When Haru started screaming, everyone looked at him. No one noticed me walking down the beach and away from the fire."

"When did your kids find out?"

"In April. I left a clue with Hiro's birthday present so Ty Lee would come find us. We knew no one was looking for us anymore, and I thought it was better if we stayed together."

"You've been hiding in this little cottage for over a year?"

"It's been a humble life, but I was pretty busy. Ta Min was born in the end of December and I was taking care of her while Haru chased leads. She was born in the bathtub. I thought Haru was going to faint."

"I can't believe it." Ursa was looking at her daughter, now a mother of three and soon to be four and holding her third granddaughter.

Haru came home, and he met his mother in law for the first time. "I didn't know you would get here so quickly."

"I took a sky ship. Oh he's so handsome."

"Down Mother."

"Oh hush Azula."

Azula wanted to wait until her baby was born before she went back to the palace. She wanted to be able to at least fight somewhat before she possibly confronted her brother. Her baby was due in early January. Ursa thought she should come back to the palace and have the baby there. "What if it's complicated?"

Eventually, Azula agreed to go to Omashu, so she could have the baby in a hospice, but not be where anyone would likely recognize her.

She had planned on going to Omashu in the beginning of December and waiting until the delivery, but her baby decided he wanted out along the way.

"I'm having a baby," she told her husband.

"I know Honey, one more month."

"No you idiot! My water just broke."

"Oh crap!"

They had been in a carriage that Ty Lee had rented for them. He had to take her straight to the hospital.

When they got her there, she was yelling, cursing and flailing like only a woman about to give birth can.

They got her to the delivery wing and she had to wait. This is the worst part.

Haru registered them under a fake name, hoping no one would recognize them.

He sent a message to his father the messenger hawk has landed. The grandfather had gotten the house ready while Ty Lee had been at the cottage with the children. He went into the hospital to make sure they had everything they needed and then he went to the cottage to get Ty Lee. She and the kids were so excited. "You're getting a new sibling today!" she told them.

They all got to the grandfather's house ,and Ty Lee went to go check on the baby. At 1AM, after a labor that went on for 12 hours, Prince Lu Ten II was born.

"He's a firebender," the doctor told them.

They wrote undecided for his name on his birth certificate, so no one would know Lu Ten was a Prince. They figured they'd get him a new certificate in the Fire Nation.

It was a couple of days before Azula could make it to her father in law's house. When she did, everyone was excited to meet the baby Prince.

Hiro was glad that he had a brother. Rei was glad she had a firebending brother. Now it was even.

Spring 109AG

Zuko was not happy to learn that Azula's death had only encouraged the group trying to oust him. Apparently the loyalists and the "democracy" group had been at odds over the unstable princess. The loyalists insisted someone from the line of Sozin rule and the democracy group afraid to include her in their plans. With her death and the discovery of her firebending daughter, there were now talks of trying to put her on the throne with a regent, giving the loyalists the bloodline they require and the democracy group a chance for change.

Zuko went to visit his father. "Your advice sucked. Now the people are rallying after Azula's death."

"Now what are you going to do, kill a child? Wait until she grows up and hope she doesn't get in your way?"

"I don't know what to do about her. I haven't even seen her since Azula's funeral."

"The acrobat got her. You couldn't even hold onto the heir."

Zuko scowled. "I will hold onto my Crown. I am not you father."

"I know. I never faced a peasant revolt or whoever is up against you. At least I got taken down by the best bender alive, even if he was a 12 year old little shit."

Zuko needed to strike down these groups, but so far all they did was muse. It wasn't enough to bring charges, and without Azula as a scapegoat, it would be hard to get the Avatar to act. He needed to give him a reason. First, he needed to come up with one.

While Zuko was working, Mai was in her daughter's room playing with her. She remembered when this room was Azula's. It was a whole lifetime ago.

Ty Lee came to the palace and found Mai. "I need to talk to you. It's important."

"Of course." She took her daughter to an attendant to watch her and followed Ty Lee to the tearoom.

"First I must apologize from hiding the truth from you. I didn't want to, but it wasn't my secret to tell, and I couldn't risk any trouble from my big mouth."

"What did you keep from me and why?"

"It's not a what. It's a whom."

Azula came out holding a two-month-old boy. "Hello Mai."

Mai almost fainted. Then she got enraged. "What the fuck is this? Did you think playing dead was a game? A way of getting back at your brother? Of putting me through hell!"

"No. I sincerely mean it when I say I wouldn't have done this to my children or anyone else if it could have been avoided. There were two attempts on my life and both were very close calls. I survived by luck, and not skill and I couldn't risk being around my children, so I pretended not to survive the explosion, hoping that whoever was targeting me would stop.

When they did, I left clues so Ty Lee could bring my kids to me. She did and I explained why I did it and what we had been doing. Haru and I tried to find the source but we couldn't get any proof. We could only eliminate suspects. Ty Lee went to investigate on our behalf along with Sokka and they were able to eliminate more suspects, but we still had no conclusive proof.

I can't prove who tried to kill me by myself, but I'm sure I know who it was and I think I can prove it with your help. I know you don't owe me anything, far from it, but my kids shouldn't have to live in fear, hoping that I won't get blown up or shot by an arrow. I should be able to take them out in public again and try to give them a normal life."

"What can I do?" Mai was frustrated that the truth had been hidden from her, but she'd rather be in the know than outside of it and it seemed like yet again, she would be playing Azula's game.

"First, you can answer some questions for me that will help me figure out what exactly is going on. Can little Ursa bend?"

"Not yet, but she's only five."

"What color eyes does she have?"

"Brown like mine."

A sign she's a nonbender. "This is personal, but have you and Zuko tried to have another child."

Mai frowned. "Nothing happened. I thought I was infertile, but the doctors couldn't find a reason for it. They said sometimes it's not always visible."

Azula had an idea. "Would you mind if I took a look at your medical history? I think there's more to the story."

Mai wasn't sure what Azula hoped to find, but she let her into the doctor's office anyway. She was surprised when Azula took two charts and not just one.

"I need them both. Together, they will tell a story. Also, you should hold your nephew. His name is Lu Ten II."

Mai picked him up. He had his mother's eyes and his father's hair. "He's a sweetie."

"He loves to sleep. He actually reminds me of Iroh, but I liked the name Lu Ten better, so there it is."

Mai snorted. "So you have three kids?"

"Four."

Mai's eyes got huge. "How do you keep getting pregnant?"

"I blame Haru."

Azula's next visit was to Boiling Rock. She of course, couldn't go as herself, so she disguised herself as Ursa. She was amazed the guards fell for it so easily, but they were new.

"Why would Ursa come to see me?" Ozai wondered.

His eyes got big when he saw it wasn't his ex-wife.

"Azula, back from the dead."

"I think you can help me take back what's mine."

"I always knew you were my favorite child."

They discussed her plan, and she left. She knew Ozai was trouble, but she was hoping, just this once, the trouble would be good.

Zuko was surprised to see his niece and nephew in the palace.

"Ty Lee wrote to me. She said the kids wanted to see Ursa II, and I said they should come visit. I didn't mean this second, but you know her."

"Well, I'm glad to have them, and I'm sure we'll all have fun."

Two days later, Zuko visited his father. "How many accidental fires have happened in the palace?"

"Do you want to set one?"

"How suspicious do you think it would be?"

"Well, if a child were practicing in her room when she's not supposed to and accidentally caught her bed on fire, not that suspicious. It happens more often than you think. Maybe they should stop giving kids bed sheets."

"You think I would kill a child to protect my bloodline."

"You killed a pregnant mother. What's the difference?"

"I'm not you."

"I know. I wouldn't kill an unborn baby. Even the average assassin has more honor than you."

"My legacy will be about the peace I brought to the world. Yours will be about your defeat at trying to ruin it."

"Keep telling yourself that." Ozai smiled. What a moron!

After playing cops and robbers with Ursa II and Hiro, Rei was ready for bed.

"Will you read me a story Aunt Mai?"

"Of course."

She took her niece to bed and read to her, Goodnight Moon.

Mai kissed her head. "Good night."

Rei pulled the sheet over her head and rolled to her side. The beds here were too big, but they were comfortable. She felt like she was in a sea of silks.

It was about a half hour later when smoke filled the room.

Zuko waited about 15 minutes before he sounded the alarm. The guards came rushing to see what was a nightgown on fire, they scrambled to subdue the flames, but all they saw was ash.

"My Lord! It was the Princess!"

They ran to him in a panic, alerting him of Rei's unfortunate demise.

"What? It can't be."

"It was her nightgown. It caught fire. She must have had a fire sneeze in her sleep or something."

Zuko rushed to his room to alert his wife, but was surprised to see a different woman in her place.

"Hello Brother."

Zuko stammered. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Do you mean alive or on your bed where you expected Mai?"

"I mean I can't believe you survived the crash," he feigned happiness. "Why didn't you just tell us you were alive?"

"I would have if you hadn't been the one trying to kill me in the first place."

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it my Lord?" Venom oozed from her voice. "How about I tell a little story? There was a boy who became Fire Lord married his Fire Lady. He was popular, and all was good.

But, then his popularity started to dwindle, and people started talking about replacing him. He decided to make an heir to solidify his bloodline only to find out she was a nonbender and attempts to have another heir failed. He could only have his daughter take the throne if the other firebending heirs were dead. It was the only way the sages would change the law.

To make it worse, talks of his sister's return scared him and he wanted to make sure she was out of the way, so he made up a conspiracy to attract the Avatar, hired a hit man to follow the Avatar and kill his sister before she could produce any heirs. He killed her or he thought he had, just to find out that she already had an heir. He couldn't kill the heir too quickly, so he waited for an opportune time, like this visit and then set her room on fire hoping to kill her. Unfortunately, his sister knew what he would try to do and made sure her daughter didn't sleep alone.

You didn't see Ty Lee hiding in the corner, watching you set the fire and taking Rei out through the secret passageway, leaving the child's nightgown to catch fire to throw you off track. The game is up Zuko. You failed at both turns and now you can look forward to going to jail for arson and two counts of attempted murder."

"This is all conjecture. No one will take Ty Lee's word over mine, seeing in the dark. How would she know who it was?"

"Perhaps you're right, but there is more. Mai isn't the sterile one. If she was, you could have just had a child with another woman to protect your bloodline, but you tried and you failed. When Suki got pregnant, you and she were both sure the child was yours.

You wanted her to keep the baby, lie and say it was some guard's so that you would have a spare heir. By the time Mai learned the truth, it would be long passed and she'd either forget about it or you would divorce her, but the baby was Sokka's who Suki was barely sleeping with. That only makes sense if your seed is useless. You can't produce a firebending heir. You are the only one who needed Rei and me dead.

To make matters even worse, you got all of your ideas from Ozai. He was glad to give them to you, but he was also glad to confess them to me. What do you think Mai will do when she learns that you kept meeting him behind her back, conspiring to kill your own family becoming the man she risked everything to make sure wouldn't rule the nation."

"She won't find out," Zuko hissed. He moved to strike lightening at her but before he could, he felt a knife go into his shoulder. It hurt like hell and he could barely feel his fingers anymore.

"You bastard," Mai said. Silent as the night, she had been there the whole time. She couldn't believe it when Azula told her it was Zuko all along, but now she heard everything.

"Mai, you can't believe this nonsense."

"I believed all of the bullshit you fed me through out our marriage." This is much more logical. "I gave you everything and you abused it in every possible way. You lied to me. You cheated on me and when I mourned your sister's death, you ignored me knowing you were the cause of my suffering. You tried to kill a child tonight and for what, to make sure Azula's kid didn't get the Crown that you wanted for our daughter? Ursa's a great girl. So what if she will never bend or won't be Fire Lord. There is so much more to life than your stupid crown. I can't believe you couldn't see it."

The guards came and took Zuko to the hospice and then to jail.

Mai couldn't believe it. When did the man she loved become the man she hated?

"How did this happen?"

"The power got to his head," Azula said. "It had gotten to mine too once and it took me a long time to see the light. I never apologized for what I did to you, and I know I can't just make that pain go away, but I can try to be your friend now. We're family. You're my kids' aunt and I'm Ursa's aunt. I think it's time our kids get to know each other, and maybe we can start again."

"I would like that."