The Lilac Horizon Between a Blue Sky and a Red Earth

Luck and Fertility

The Fire Lord and Lady are tired from the day's excitement. Their daughter, however, is not.
She is crawling up and down the length of Zuko's body, grabbing at his ankles, then at his fingers, then his hair. He lifts her and bounces her slightly, trying to lull her to sleep, but she only squeals in joy.
Katara loves to watch the two play together. The whole scene makes her feel intense gratitude toward her husband. They could not have made an any more perfect mistake.
"Can you believe that this is the product of our very first time together?" she asks him.
"I know. Can you imagine if we could go back in time and tell our past selves what would have happened? Me standing outside that bedroom, listening to you cry, completely unaware of what we were about to create."
"I wouldn't have believed it."
"But here we are. Here she is. And there's another on the way."
Katara smiles to herself. "Remember when I asked you if you wanted another child after Kyza?"
"Yes, I do."
"Would you want another after this one?"
Zuko sighs wistfully. "Are you going to ask me this every time?"
"If I remember correctly, you said if it went well you would want ten kids."
He grins, amused. "I think maybe I want less now."
"How about three?" she asks.
"That sounds like a perfect number."
"I'm so happy to hear you say that."
"Why? You want three also?"
"Yes, but that's not why."
"Let me guess. You'll only have to have to endure three pregnancies instead of ten?"
"Not even that many. Just two."
Zuko squints pensively. "But..."
Katara tries to hold her anticipation. Her husband props himself up on his elbow to look into her face. He looks hard at her for a long moment.
"Twins?"
"Twins."
Zuko's hand comes to his forehead, incredulous.
"Are you sure?"
"Toph said there were two tiny heartbeats."
"Agni," he mutters, pulling Katara against his chest, sandwiching their daughter between them. He's quiet for quite awhile, realizing for the millionth time just how soft fatherhood has made him. "Maybe Water Tribe Women are magic."
"I warned you."
"This is...such amazing news," he continues.
At the risk of putting a damper on his joy, she asks what Toph warned her of earlier.
"You aren't stressed about which of the three will take the throne?"
"Katara," he says softly. "I just discovered that I am about to be a father of three. I could not care any less about my throne right now."
"Good. Because I already know their genders."
"Are you going to be wrong about it like last time?"
"Any guess I make is probably more accurate than yours."
"Okay. Let's hear it, magical Water Tribe woman."
She smirks, smoothing her robe over her middle. "They're both boys, and they're wrestling again."
"Again?"
"It's been nonstop, all day. I think maybe they're both Waterbenders, too. Are we going to have to do that whole ceremony again? Clearly it didn't work last time."
"It's customary," Zuko tells her, scooping Kyza and nuzzling her forehead. "Now we know why it didn't work last time. You were just bending the wrong element, weren't you, little one?"
"I wonder if Aang can hear us," Katara muses. "Or if he knows we miss him."
Kyza jerks her head to one side, focusing intently on the other side of the room. She observes silently for a moment, giggles unprovoked, then ogles, all at something her parents can't see.
"Aang," she says loosely, almost incomprehensibly.
A pause. "Aang?" Zuko whispers back, gripping his daughter around the lower back. "You and Kyza already bonding?"
"Yes," she coos, her syllables jumbled but her message clear. He chuckles slightly, squeezing her tiny shoulders. Then, with the biggest grin he's ever seen, "Hotman."
Zuko's slight jocular attitude fades instantly. Katara watches them together as her husband attempts to make peace with this, all of this. He can feel his chest go hollow at his nickname, and after a long moment, he returns in his best vindictive growl, "Avatar."
Kyza melts into her giggles again, toppling over onto the bed as if absolutely nothing in the world had ever been wrong. He takes her fully into his arms and holds her, and she simply allows this despite the restriction.
"I completely failed you, Aang," he says, "but still I have never felt safer knowing that you're with my daughter. I won't be able to thank you properly for a while— until we see each other again."
"Until then," Kyza's little voice chimes out, accompanied by the same optimism and conviction Aang always had when he spoke. Zuko and Katara come together in the center of the bed, pretending their eyes aren't pricked with salty, remorseful tears.
"Until then," Katara echoes, and they settle beside each other, a tangle of arms and messy thoughts.