The Pirate Empress

15

As I lay awake that night, I try to stop the drugs from getting into my head again. We're keeping each other awake - it seems that the side effects of whatever sleeping drug they used is we feel the urge to pass out, but if we do that, Spirits know how long we'll be asleep.

Another one is that it makes my brain all fuzzy. If I keep thinking about the people who put us in here, I'm going to break the chains, platinum or not. So I go deeper into my memories, focusing on my family.

-

Zari and I were married on a wonderful spring day in the Earth Kingdom. As we were the granddaughter of one of the richest families in the Earth Kingdom and the Prince of the Fire Nation, everyone expected a huge celebration. We were going to do one, too, before realizing that it would be to stressful. We ended up with only our family and friends.

Bumi was the best man, with one of Zari's friends Kaizoku, who was on Wen's original crew. Lin, of course, was my maid of honor, with my giggly BFFs behind her. The boys wore suits with light blue ties, and the girls were wearing silver dresses, as the wedding colors were blue for the tribe and silver because.. well, it looked good with blue, and as Shi pointed out, "How typical of a pirate to want precious metals in his wedding."

My wedding dress was long and flowy, with only a few layers and a sleeveless top. Lace trimmed the neckline and hem, and the sleeves were made entirely of it, which complimented the pearl necklace that rested evenly on my collarbones. My hair, which had grown to my waist, had been straightened and then braided into a crown, and Kya had helped we loop flowers through it. The little kid in me thought I looked like a fairy queen.

Even more perfect was Zari, who went for simplicity. He was dressed in a light blue suit, silver tie, hair swept to the side, beautiful amber eyes shining as he smiled at me. The entire world seemed to fade as I stepped onto the platform, left my father's side, and took Zari's hand. "You look beautiful," he whispered. I blushed.

Then I said two magic words: "I do." And the best thing that ever happened to me was true in that moment: I married Zari.

-

Sokka was born first, two years after we were married. He was a healthy baby with my skin and blue eyes, and right away we thought of our fathers - mine, who was getting sicker with something that Katara couldn't identify; and his, who was probably watching somewhere proudly. We named him after both: Prince Sokka Wen.

"I don't know how to mother," I said after the initial giggly-ness wore off.

"I don't know how to father," Zari said, "but I know we'll work it out."

"What if I'm too strict and he ends up being like Lin, not knowing how to show emotions and thinking every little rule is a law? Or what if I give him to much freedom and he ends up in a gang when he's 12?" I wondered aloud, heart sinking.

"It's okay. We'll work it out, we always do," Zari said, wrapping his arms around me.

I wanted to point out that we'd never been parents before, but instead I just leaned into him and bit my lip. Eventually, I said, "I'm scared."

"With every right to be," Zari said. "I am, too. But we have people to base ourselves on, I had my mother and you had Katara and Aang. If nothing else, our parents taught us how to not raise our kids. Stay with them, and give them choice within reason."

"Okay," I said, calmed down. Zari just had that effect on me.

I fell asleep holding our son in my arms, wrapped in Zari's.

-

Two years passed, and then we had the craziest day of our lives.

It started off normal, of course. We ate breakfast together, our giggly two-year-old saying "Gross!" when Zari kissed the top of my head. Both boys had an abnormal amount of my chocolate chip waffles, and I devoured at least three-fourths of the smoothie Zari had made. And we all ate a bit of the fruit salad that Sokka had helped made my mixing the fruit, complimenting him on how wonderful of a chef he was.