Regret

Expectations

Katara age 21, The Present, seven years after the War ended.

I didn't know how much longer I could hide my pregnancy from Zuko. I had been at Ember Island for a little over a week, and my suspicions already had been confirmed. I was already late, felt all the usual symptoms, and a little kick in the uterus was a good clue. I wasn't exactly sure how far along I was, but I had a pretty good guess. I had already gained some weight, but that was expected after being pampered as a queen. However at some point I'd get really big and I'm not sure how soon that would be, so it would be better if came clean now. I sighed. I was dangling my feet over the peer staring into the ocean, just trying to get some clarity.

     There were a lot of expectations for me to be carying his baby. For centuries the wife of the firelord had been carefully chosen. Thankfully Zuko was nothing like the old firelord, he didn't choose me because of my ancestry, he was simply a kind person. In the past, all the women had to be of fire nation decent. If there was anything this baby had to be, it was a fire bender. In the past women were chosen on many things, first being preferably that they were non-bendor. It was always seen that the man had to be more powerful, so it only made sense that woman we're non-benders, only princesses could be benders. In fact if a princess wasn't a bender that's where the problems would start. The reason for that being that a non being child wouldn't suffice.

       There had only been a few instances where a non bending child was born, and way-way back they were sent to treason, but thankfully during Sozin's reign, it simply meant that they couldn't be heir to the throne. That's what I mean by women being picked to be wives based off ancestry, the perfect ideal wife was a non bender who came from a long line of powerful fire benders. The last fire lady Ursa had been chosen perfectly , a beautiful non bender who was a direct descendant of the powerful avatar Roku. Maybe that's why she was forced into her marriage, there were no other candidates who met the requirements.

    Me and Zuko had never even talked about having a baby, but I knew he would outlaw these silly and stupid laws. After all, they were incredibly sexist, and anyone who knew me knew I wouldn't put up with that. But yet I was pregnant. These stupid expectations and pressures didn't scare me. I knew this baby wasn't going to be a fire bender anyways. Even with Zuko having had fire bending blood for centuries, it wouldn't have any impact on this baby. This baby that wasn't his.