Zuko's Bride: Book 2, Life as Refugees

Zuko's PoV

"Are you sure we should trust this?" (Y/N) asks as I pack our stuff. I turn to her, stunned.

"What do you mean? Dad wants us home, you should be excited. We can finally get married properly and settle down." I watch as she just nods and refolds her stuff for the third time.

"She has a right to be skeptical, and you should be too. This is Azula we are talking about." Iroh turns to Zuko.

"You know what I think. I think you two are just used to taking it easy and playing around. Fine, stay here and relax all you want. I'm going home in the morning." I finish packing and pull the curtain around my bed to sleep.

"It may be suspicious, cause my brother isn't the forgiving type usually, but maybe there is SOME truth. There is much unrest, so maybe he does want his family home." I hear (Y/N) hum thoughtfully.

"Maybe. Well, I guess we should at least go with him in case something goes sideways. I don't trust them, but I swore to be with Zuko for the rest of my life. That is the role a wife should play. Let's get packing." I smile and close my eyes, listening to them rustle around. After a while, I hear the curtain open then shut and feel my beautiful wife lay beside me.

"Thank you." I whisper to her, feeling her start. I wrap my arms around her and she nuzzles into my arms.

"In sickness and health, until death do us part." The next morning we all head towards the beach, seeing the fire nation ship docked there.

"Hello everyone. Glorious day, we will all be returning home." Azula stands there, a bunch of guards on either side of the gangplank.

"Ready the engines! We are taking the prisoners home!"

"I knew it!!" (Y/N) shouts, instantly starting to fight the guards that try to come up behind her and restrain her hands. Bending flames into a whip she knocks a couple of the soldiers off the port and we dart into the forest. After running for a while, we stop by a stream.

"I'm sorry." I stare at my reflection in the water. "I should have never trusted Azula." (Y/N) wraps her arms around my shoulders and smiles gently.

"Not gonna lie, I was hoping maybe what Azula said was true too, but we'll get to that point in life I'm sure." I smile at her optimism, then pull the knife out of my belt.

"Thanks, dear." Using the knife, I reach up and slice my ponytail off, throwing it into the water. Uncle takes it and slices off his top knot, then (Y/N) is next and she follows suit with her ponytail.

After running around in Earth Kingdom territory, fighting off rogue soldiers, and fighting to survive for almost 2 weeks, we make our way to Ba Sing Sei. Uncle flirts our way in and we get on the train.

"Awe, what an adorable baby!" My princess coos over the infant in the woman's arms next to her. "Look Lee, isn't he precious?" Unable to use our real names, Lee was the first one I thought of. I look over and find my heart melting slightly. Then the woman startles us.

"Would you like to hold him?" (Y/N) starts shaking.

"Um... Well I uhhh..." she stammers. I nudge her shoulder and she swallows hard. "Sure." The kind older woman gently passes the sleeping child over and I watch my wife's face light up, and her eyes soften.

"You act as though you've lost a child, young lady. Am I right?" I shake my head when (Y/N) doesn't reply.

"No, we haven't even started trying for one yet." The lady looks at me, then giggles.

"Oh, will you be now that you are coming to Ba Sing Sei?" My eyes go big and I feel my cheeks heat, and I look at (Y/N). She doesn't seem to hear anything around her. She is set on the baby.

"Maybe. We'll have to see how everything goes." I lean over her shoulder, and she hands the baby back to its mom.

"Well, a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man like you two, I see some very stunning children in your future." (Y/N)'s face turns red, catching the end of that conversation.

"Wait, what now?" The woman and I both laugh at her flustered babbling about not being ready for kids, and after a while of chatting with the other passengers, we finally arrive inside the walls. We get a housing document and head toward our apartment.

"What is that?" I look over and (Y/N) has a potted flower of some kind.

"I wanted our apartment to have a feminine touch. This place is nice. I think we could be happy here." She says as we enter the small two-room apartment.

"We don't need to get comfortable. Once we catch the avatar, we will be back where we belong." I grumble, lounging in the hammock in the front room.

"Well, while you two get unpacked and settled, I'm going to take a look around and maybe find us a small job to get some money coming in so we can buy food and clothes." Uncle states as he sets his bag down. Before leaving though, he turns to us with a teasing grin. "Oh, and just in case you decide to start on my great niece or nephew while we are here, you two can share the bedroom."

"Uncle!" He shuts the door and we are left with those awkward last words. I turn to (Y/N) and find her blushing slightly as she pulls the small number of items out of her bag, and I can feel my cheeks heating as I think about a time back on the boat, the day before the pirates attacked.