It had been six months since the defeat of the Fire Lord, six months and the war that ravaged the world for over a century had finally ended. There was so much to be done, so much to do in the world to right the wrongs that his father had continued and staring him in the face was a report that quite frankly terrified the new Fire Lord.
"I need to speak with everyone," Zuko sighed, knowing that the Kyoshi Warriors would know who to go and collect. His friends.
It was only a day or so later when everyone had been assembled, that they would surround a large table in the former war room used by his father. "I'm glad that you all came so quickly, I… I really wish this was less urgent." Zuko sighed knowing that what he would say would likely start a fight.
"What is it? Did your dad leave something behind in case he was stopped?" Sokka questioned.
Zuko shook his head. "No, that would be simple, this is… about the Avatar." Looking up from the table to see Aang seated across from him.
"Me? What's wrong Zuko?" Aang asked out of concern for how stern his firebending friend looked.
"What happens when you die Aang?" Zuko finally spoke up after a minute of contemplation.
"Um okay uh wow that's. Well I die," Aang rubbed the back of his head nervously because that was kind of an odd question to start with and quite a deep one as well.
"No you die but the next Avatar is born," Zuko sighed and stood up, slowly pacing back and forth. "It'll be a water bender next, then an earth bender, fire and then…"
"An airbender?" Aang guessed since he knew the cycle and thought Zuko did as well.
"Will it?" Zuko questioned his friend. "I mean, what happens if you die, before you have a chance to… make more airbenders?"
"Well…" Aang stalled looking at his friends to see if they had any idea where Zuko was going with his train of thought only to see uncertainty on their faces. "I guess, no more Avatar?" he shrugged not knowing what would happen in the case of there being no more benders of a type for the Avatar to reincarnate into.
"And that's the problem." Zuko turned and pinched his brow. "I'm not… look this is really hard to say but you are the last airbender Aang, if something happened to you, then the world might very well be doomed."
Katara had been sitting quietly before she realized what Zuko was implying. "Are you saying that me and Aang need to get busy making kids. That's pretty presumptuous of you to rush our relationship."
Zuko looked ready to speak before Sokka spoke up first. "No, that's not what he's saying at all." Being more strategically minded he was able to see the underlying reason behind Zuko's words. "He's saying that Aang needs to make as many children as possible. That with just you it won't be enough to make a stable population of airbenders should misfortune happen."
"What?!" Katara gasped. "He wants Aang to, to?" She was horrified at what the person she thought was friend was implying.
"Go forth and multiply." Toph snorted out a laugh. "Twinkletoes needs to get busy, not you."
Aang leapt to his feet in anger. He wasn't that well versed in relationships and some kissing with Katara was the most they had done, the other topic of… intimacy wasn't even something he was considering broaching since he was pretty nervous about it. But from what he could tell Zuko wanted him to cheat on his girlfriend. "Are you insane? I mean it, have you actually lost your mind?!"
"No, I wouldn't even have thought of this if I hadn't seen the reports. With me pulling back the Fire Nation from wherever I can, there's a void left behind. One that it is taking the Earth Kingdom too long to fill with their own authority. Pirates, thieves, thugs and other forms of criminals are taking over territory and ruling their own little fiefdoms. There's issues all throughout the nation of famine, disease and crime that are leaving impressive body counts. I know you are on the frontline of all this trying to keep the peace but…" Zuko breathed deeply before producing a scroll with a familiar face on it.
"Haru?" Katara gasped seeing that this was a death certificate.
"Someone is also going around hunting your allies Aang. I don't know if it's defectors of the Fire Nation, the Dai Li, random chance or some other yet unknown threat that is looming on the horizon." Zuko sat back down heavily. "As your friend I don't want to discuss this because you and Katara are… you're good for each other. But as Fire Lord I have a responsibility to create a stable nation for my people. The potential chance of you meeting an early demise would only leave chaos in its wake. There might be total panic to know that the Avatar cycle is ending, especially so soon after you saved the world."
"But that doesn't mean I have to you know…" Aang blushed because the idea was definitely one he could comprehend.
"Well is there any other way to make kids, because if you know of one then please share with the rest of us?" Sokka laughed before he shut up when his sister shot him a glare.
"I'm not trying to force you into anything but, please think about this," Zuko sighed before waving his hand so that Aang had an excuse to leave without just walking away from the table.
"I can't believe he had the nerve to even talk about something like this," Katara shouted angrily in her room she shared with Aang. She had been furious that Zuko would bring up such a ridiculous and sensitive topic, even thinking it should have made him realize he was going crazy.
Aang meanwhile had just sat cross legged on the floor trying to think, he didn't want to just outright dismiss the point Zuko was making even if he disagreed, Zuko wasn't one to be too off the mark when he thought about things. "I mean, I kind of understand," Aang sighed heavily.
"If something happened, even by random chance I die before I uh… you know, then I don't know what will happen to the avatar cycle. It's not something I had ever considered before. I knew I was the last airbender but I didn't think about what that really meant."
"But that doesn't mean you need to go around," letting out a frustrated grunt Katara waved her arms around while trying to think of a way to talk about this without talking about it.
"Doesn't it? Katara what if we… have children but they're waterbenders?" Aang asked nervously.
"Would that be a problem?" Katara glared harshly at Aang for the presumed sleight against her and her people.
Aang quickly waved his arms in front of him while shaking his head. "No of course not, but also yes. I'd love our kids no matter what but if they all ended up as water benders then it comes to them to have airbender children and the longer that goes the less likely it will be and if I'm… gone by then those future airbenders won't have anyone to teach them, they'll be starting from nothing."
"So you could leave air bending scrolls for future generations, we can gather up what the fire nation had taken and keep it safe in case that happens," Katara offered as a solution.
"But then they aren't learning about what it means to be an airbender, just the bending," Aang said sadly knowing that his entire culture might be gone when he is. "And… I don't want that."
"Is it really that important?" Katara questioned.
"Is your culture important to you? The stories your Gram Gram told you, what you learned from your village, the things your father and mother passed down to you and what you want to pass down to our children?"
"Of course, but if I don't then Sokka or the other water tribe members are there."
"But I don't have that luxury Katara," Aang shouted in frustration as these thoughts were clawing their way into his mind. "I don't know if this is something I never thought of before or if I just ignored it all together but being the last airbender is really scary, it might be worse than Firelord Ozai because at least if he had won the war then everything become Fire Nation, but now there's a real chance that when I die all that my people are dies with me."
"And that the next Avatar can only ever master three elements, what's going to happen to the world if there's no more airbenders, would someone like Ozai come into power knowing that no one could stop them since the Avatar isn't strong enough? I… I don't know what to do Katara?"
"Neither do I Aang, this is all Zuko's fault for even bringing this up and messing with your head and our relationship."
"Yeah but what if we… what if we don't work out? What if you can't have children, I know it's rare but… Katara I don't know." Aang's body shuddered while he thought about how he'd have to weigh his love for Katara against his duty to keep the Avatar cycle safe and the continuation of the airbenders.
Aang couldn't be in the same room with Katara while the maelstrom of thoughts raged in his head, grabbing his glider he opened a window and flew off in the hopes of finding some peace of mind.
Katara watched her boyfriend soar into the distance in stunned silence before she turned and wrenched open the door, shocking the Kyoshi Warriors who had been assigned to watch the room. Stomping her way through the palace she found Zuko sitting in the throne room delegating something that wasn't important enough for her to pay attention to.
"I'm going to have to call a short recess," Zuko quickly stated and motioned for the guards to have the people he was mediating for escorted out of the throne room, which was good as the second the doors closed Katara began to lay into him.
"How dare you bring that up! Do you know what you've done to Aang?!" Katara shouted up at Zuko.
"I don't want to upset him, you know that Katara," Zuko responded calmly. "But when I saw the reports coming in of the people dying, I thought about what was happening in the world. We might have stopped my father and his invasion and as much as I hate to say it, this war isn't over. Everything didn't just go back to how it was a hundred years ago when I took the throne."
"So you thought you'd mess with Aang's head for fun then?" Katara scoffed indignantly.
"No, I thought about this for a few days and I even talked with my uncle and the Kyoshi Warriors before I brought it up with you all, they didn't have an answer either. This isn't a situation the world's ever been in before. And I can't just think about what's best for my friends if that means putting the world on a knife's edge."
"It's not that big of a deal Zuko."
"Isn't it? Even if Aang managed to get you pregnant tonight, it would still be nine months before the child came, then at least two years before we had any indication of if they were an airbender or not. That's almost three years before we have confirmation that there is a second airbender, that doesn't even account for how long it would take before Aang could even start teaching his child airbending. But if it wasn't an airbender, would we wait another three years for the next child or would you just be constantly with child in a mad race to produce as many children as possible. Would you do that, could you do that, handle the burden of siring child after child in the hopes we get enough airbenders that if a tragedy befalls us in the future, that there is still at least one more airbender for us to try again?"
"Katara we are talking about you and Aang trying to repopulate an entire people, even if you spent the next thirty years how many children do you think you could have, ten, twenty before your body simply couldn't anymore. And if only half of them were airbenders, that wouldn't leave us with more than ten."
"I hate that I have to be the one to bring this up but you simply cannot do that. You love him and he loves you but love isn't going to fix this problem and he has to be the one to solve it because you cannot, not alone."
The waterbending hero just stared slack jawed at her friend as he finished his rant before she looked more furious than ever before. Zuko worried that it would come to blows which would not help the situation in the slightest but he was somewhat thankful when instead of attacking him she just ran out of the throne room.
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown Firelord Zuko," the voice of General Iroh spoke as he came from around the throne.
Zuko just put his face in his hands and exhaled deeply. "How long have you been there uncle?"
"Oh long enough, it's not an easy topic to discuss because we are talking about fighting the heart with the brain and those two are more at odds than anything in this world," Iroh chuckled. "Come my nephew, let us sit and have some tea."
"Tea… would be lovely right now," Zuko relented as his first instinct had been to reject the offer as he normally did but with how exhausting that conversation had been just taking a moment to sit down and taken a moment away from the world it all started to come together as to why his uncle loved his tea so much.