The solace of the bird calls and the few rays of sunlight illuminating the wooden planks grounded Zuko as he isolated himself in his morning meditation on the porch of the family beach house.

He hadn't been here since before Sozin's Comet, training Aang in the art of firebending as fast as he could before he had to face Ozai alone.

Now Aang was as happy as he could be, raising Bumi and Kya with Katara within the safety of Air Temple Island while Zuko was stuck with the ever-growing anxiety wondering if Izumi would ever be able to feel safe in her own home.

Mai had sent a few people here to clean it up before their impromptu vacation so it wasn't coated in the imprints of the abuse he suffered from for years and now Izumi would never know how this place had looked when he had been sent away on his own forced vacation with Mai, Ty Lee and Azula all those years ago.

Zuko had burnt most of the pictures the last time he had been here, but Katara had still found the one of Ozai as a baby when they had arrived so there was a high chance that he had missed more than the one.

Despite the emotional turmoil he had been in on that vacation, he couldn't help but wonder if the stuff Lo and Li had said back then about how Ember Island was magical and smoothed out even the most ragged of edges was true.

He had seen Aang do otherworldly things, but that had to do with the spirit world; if any part of the Fire Nation had a connection to the spirits after the war, even if it was the seemingly peaceful Ember Island, he wouldn't be surprised if they were still holding a grudge despite the progress he had made since taking the throne.

Or, if they knew that something was going to be his breaking point and would set him on the same path that his father had once walked upon himself.

Zuko's pondering was interrupted by the soft 'pitter patter' of six-year-old feet as they grew closer and closer to the front porch before finally stopping on his right side, followed by the quiet sound of someone sitting down and pulling in a deep breath.

He opened one golden eye, unsurprised to see Izumi sitting beside him, mimicking his position with her eyes squeezed shut.

Zuko couldn't help but smile and shut his eye again, pulling in a deep breath just to hear her pulling in a smaller, higher-pitched version shortly after; like him, Izumi had always risen with the sun, giving him the chance to bond with her while Mai slept.

He had a strong feeling that she would find her inner fire just like he had, but he also knew that if she did, it would only lead to more chaos within the walls of the palace.

Until he knew for sure, Zuko was more than happy to have his morning meditation interrupted by his own ray of sunshine.

"Good morning, daddy!" She smiled as soon as he opened his eyes and rested his palm on her shoulder to let him know that he was done.

"Good morning, turtle duckling," he smiled as she climbed onto his lap, pushing a few strands of hair out of her face, "you do know we're on vacation and you can sleep in, right?"

"I wanna go to the beach."

Even with her pleading golden eyes that matched his own, he had to turn her down for now, "it's still too dark outside, Izumi. How about we make some breakfast first?"

She pondered his suggestion for a few minutes, allowing him to grab the hair tie out of the pocket of his robe and pull her hair back in a low bun so she didn't get it tangled.

"Okay," she finally agreed, getting off of his lap so he could stand, "can I have mango juice?"

"Of course, Izumi," Zuko nodded, getting a cheer in response as he stepped into the small kitchen to start the kettle for the tea, "while I work on this," he started as he grabbed the bag of oats from the pantry, "can you go wake your mom?"

"Okay, daddy!" Her wide grin as she raced down the hall had him yelling out, "gently!" behind her, but he knew that Mai was not going to be happy regardless.

Sure enough, by the time the gruel had started bubbling and he had two filled tea cups and a glass of mango juice on the counter, he was met with Mai walking in while rubbing her eyes that were fixed into a good-natured glare.

"Good morning, my love." He offered, trying to soften any sort of malice for disturbing her sleep.

"I can't believe that I married someone who rises with the sun and gave birth to a fire ferret who jumps on me every morning."

"I did tell her "gently "."

"I have no idea how Aang and Katara handle two kids."

"I'm sure we could handle two," Zuko offered as he passed her one of the teacups, only to be met with a real glare this time, "if we wanted two, that is."

"I have two. Fire Ferret over there," Mai paused to point at their daughter who was oblivious to their conversation as she sat at the table, swinging her feet under it, before returning her attention to him, the glare having been replaced with a smirk, "and her identical clone of a father."

"You wound me, Mai." Zuko placed a hand over his heart with a smile on his face for a few moments, waiting until she pressed her lips on his for a brief moment before letting go of his act and turning to grab the spices for the gruel.

…

"Are you okay?"

Zuko peered past his fingers covering his eyes from the sunlight as Mai sat back down beside him while looping her fingers around his other hand.

Izumi was only a few feet in front of them, waving every few minutes to Zuko, as she constructed her sandcastle with expertise and a small patch of her tongue sticking out in concentration.

"Why do you ask?" Zuko asked, wondering if she could indeed read his mind or if she could tell that the stress from the assassination attempt was still crawling under his skin.

It seemed like Izumi heard her mother's voice but not the words as she looked up and waved while shouting, "hi, mommy! Isn't it great?!"

"It looks amazing, keep it up!" Mai shouted back, a rare smile dancing on her lips for a few moments before she turned back to Zuko as soon as Izumi turned away, "you seem…distant. Like you were before you left."

Neither of them liked talking about the eclipse when it came to their relationship, no matter how many years distanced them from it; while it was the beginning of Zuko finally stepping up to claim his crown, it seemed to spell out the end of their love.

He knew that if she was the one bringing it up, then he really wasn't hiding his inner turmoil as well as he could have and that the mask of happiness that Izumi had received ever since they arrived wasn't big enough to fool someone who had known him for over twenty years.

"I've just had a lot on my mind." He admitted, pulling his knees to his chest and looking down at individual grains of sand that creeped out from the towel he was sitting on.

"We had "no more secrets" in our wedding vows for a reason," Mai stopped to push back a few strands of hair from his eyes, "but, if you need more time to process things-"

"No, no, you're right. I promised not to keep things from you any more, I just…I don't know how to say this." Zuko sighed, his fingers wrapping around the edge of the towel as he inhaled the smell of salt lingering in the air and thankful that the three of them were the only inhabitants for miles on the sprawling beach.

'How do you tell the person that you love the most in this world that you might be turning into a monster?'

"The day of the assassination attempt, I spared his life. I knew he needed to go to trial, that he could give us information about the New Ozai Society to finally get one step ahead of them. He didn't hurt Izumi, he didn't hurt anyone but…" Zuko swallowed, refusing to make contact with the light gray eyes that knew him better than he knew himself, "but I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him hurt for trying to hurt someone I loved."

"But you didn't."

"He got on his hands and knees and begged for his life," Zuko spat with a wet bitterness as tears started to build in his eyes, "I begged for my father's forgiveness on my hands and knees and was punished for it, I couldn't do the same."

Mai's lips were pressed tightly together when he finally found it in him to look up, but her silence with a gentle squeeze around his bicep allowed him to continue bearing his soul for her to see.

"But when the guards arrived to take him away, I still threatened to end his life. I told him that if he looked at my guards the wrong way, I would go back on my word."

The subtle catch of his breath, the one sign that the dam was going to burst, and Mai instantly pulled him into her shoulder; it was a system they had developed over the years on the off chance that someone would catch the Fire Lord, or their dad, in a moment of weakness that he wasn't ready to divulge the details of.

Zuko wasn't sure how long he spent against her chest, tears continuing to flow down his face and dampening her swim top along with the sand, but when he finally emerged with red eyes and pink, damp cheeks, the sympathetic glance he got accompanied by a "feeling better?" almost made him feel like himself for the first time in a week.

He nodded, allowing her to lean against his shoulder as Izumi put the finishing touches on her sand castle.

"You're never going to be like him."

"You don't know that," Zuko shook his head, forcing her to lift her head, "my father wasn't always the way he turned out to be."

"Ozai," she started, putting enough emphasis on his name that made him realize that he had reverted to calling him "father" like he was a teenager again, "forced your mother to marry him, focused on overthrowing your uncle as soon as word that your cousin had been killed reached the palace, abused you and your sister for years and continued an era of fear and destruction. If there ever was a speck of good in that man, it was crushed as soon as he put on that crown."

Mai stopped for a moment to wave at Izumi yet again before pushing her hair out of her eyes, returning her gaze to him with a soft smile.

"But you helped end the war, you ushered in an era of peace and kindness and I noticed that even the oldest members of your staff haven't cowered at the mention of the "Fire Lord" since Izumi was born," she returned her hand to his, resting her head against his, "you might have Ozai's DNA, but that is all you inherited from that sorry excuse for a father. I know it's going to take time for you to realize that, but you need to understand that."

He wordlessly pulled her into another hug, resting his head on her shoulder for longer than he intended until he felt a crushing force against his right side and turned to see Izumi hugging him.

"Are you alright, Izumi?" He questioned, partially expecting to tilt her chin upwards and see a gash across her forehead, but she just shook her head and held on tighter.

"You looked like you needed a hug."

Zuko chuckled and scooted away from Mai just enough so Izumi could weasel her way in between them.

Even if the moment of tenderness was broken a few moments later by Izumi breaking out of the hug and grabbing Zuko's hand, dragging him away from Mai to marvel at her impressive sand castle, he could have sworn he heard Mai whisper something about "maybe we could handle two" but she would admittedly deny it while they made out behind a closed door long after Izumi had fallen asleep.

And as he drifted off that night with Mai curled up against his bare chest, he found himself starting to believe in the alleged magic that existed within the confines of Ember Island.