A/N Steam Baby Week: Part 1

"Play something for me, Izzy," Father said.
They were sitting under the giant cherry tree in the garden. Izumi had been laying on a blanket and twirling a sprig of blossoms between her fingers. She picked up her shamisen and strummed the Earth Kingdom folk song, "Secret Tunnel," which had become popular after appearing in the opera The Tragedy of Oma and Shu or The Cave of the Two Lovers.

"Two lovers, forbidden from one another.
A war divides their people,
And a mountain divides them apart.
They'll build a path to be together."
Father, face pale and eyes tired, leaned back in his cushioned lawn chair and placed his hands on his chest. "You play as well as your mother," he said.
Izumi smiled and continued singing.
"Secret tunnel, secret tunnel,
Through the mountain,
Secret, secret, secret tunnel."
Mother taught Izumi how to play the shamisen, considered a somewhat vulgar instrument because of its association with geishas and wandering minstrels. A proper lady should have learned to play something more refined like the koto, but Mother had always liked to be unconventional.

Father always said that he fell in love with Mother either when he heard her play Leaves from the Vine or when he tasted her sakura mochi.

"The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach," Mother had told her. "But his ears are a good second choice."
Izumi lowered her eyes. She'd tried to learn how to bake egg custard tarts but failed so miserably that burning them to cinders actually improved their taste. So, she taught herself some Air Nomad ballads instead.
Ro came running and blowing into a small wooden toy shaped like bison. The only noise it made was the flatulent sound of air leaving Ro's puffed-out cheeks.
"What on earth is that?" Izumi wrinkled her nose.
"My new sky bison whistle," Iroh said.
"If it's supposed to be a whistle, then it's broken."

"Speaking of sky bison..." Ro put the whistle in his pocket. "...Maybe Avatar Aang will take us for ride on Appa during his visit."
Izumi blushed. Sitting next to Avatar Aang flying on Appa was a dream come true. Maybe afterward, she could play him the Air Nomad ballads on her shamisen.
"You'd like that?" Ro nudged Izumi in the arm. "Wouldn't you, Izzy?"
Izumi put down her shamisen. "Shut up!" She shoved her brother away. "Flying on sky bison is for babies like you." She would give up the pleasure of spending time with Avatar Aang if it meant not getting teased by her little brother.
Father folded his arms and laughed.

Aunt Suki always had her neck covered by something. A scarf. A high collar or necktie. A wide choker when she had to wear an evening dress. When Izumi and her brother, Lu, were younger, Aunt Suki would tell them she was a rokurokubi, a blood-sucking demon who could detach her head at night and stretch out her neck to hunt unsuspecting victims. Lu and Izumi used to hide in her room at night whenever she came to visit, hoping to see her head detach and snake its way out the window or spot the stretch marks on her throat. But they always fell asleep before they could get conclusive proof that Aunt Suki was a rokurokubi.
Eventually, they stopped believing her ghost stories.
"I'll explain when you're older," Aunt Suki had said when Izumi asked her the real reason she always kept her neck covered.
Izumi pouted and crossed her arms. Why did adults always say this?
Today, Aunt Suki wore a white silk scarf tied in a large bow underneath her chin. It added a touch of femininity to her somewhat masculine tailored suit. She was sitting across from Izumi in the carriage and leaning cozily against Uncle Sokka's shoulder. The plumes on her hat tickled his nose when he tried to talk to Mother.

"Relax, Katara," Uncle Sokka said. He pushed the feathers away from his face. "I'm sure Zuko is fine. He's probably just tired after yesterday."
Izumi folded her hands in her lap. She hadn't been the only one to notice that Father looked pale and exhausted. Mother had tried to convince him to stay home and rest instead of going to the gallery opening today, especially after the toll the anniversary celebrations took on him. But Father refused. In the fifteen years he had been Fire Lord, he'd never missed a public appearance and wasn't about to start now. If his ill health became public, it would weaken him.
The Fire Nation was finally at peace, but Father couldn't afford to be vulnerable. He and Mother had to appear today as a strong, united front. She wore a dark blue and white nautical-inspired dress to compliment his naval uniform. 

Master Beifong clapped Mother on the shoulder. "You need to keep it together for Sparky. It won't do him any good if you work yourself up."
"If something happened to Zuko, what would happen to me?" Mother rubbed her temples.
"What'll I have left?"
Aunt Suki squeezed Mother's hand. "You'll still have your children and Izumi will need you most of all."
Izumi turned away from the grown-ups. A city decked in colorful flags and banners and jammed with cheering crowds rolled past her. "Long live Lord Zuko," they shouted. "Good health to the Fire Lord." With all these well-wishes, Father should live a thousand years.
The carriage stopped in front of the palatial Caldera Museum of Art.
"Good afternoon, Princess." The open, smiling face of Avatar Aang greeted Izumi when she stepped out of the carriage.
Izumi smiled back at him. Blood rushed to her head when Aang took her gloved hand and helped her down. She smoothed the white ruffles on her skirt and waited for him to offer his arm and escort her into the museum.

But he never did. He ended up escorting Lady On-Ji, one of Mother's ladies in waiting.

The painting, entitled "Water Lilies," and attributed as an early work of the celebrated Master Piando, depicted a petite, doll-like girl standing at the edge of a lotus pond. Her back was to the audience, and her blue kimono slid off her shoulders as if she were taking it off to go swimming. She had her head turned toward the viewer with her eyes lowered away demurely.

The exhibition's guidebook described hints about the bathing beauty's identity: her Water Tribe blue eyes; a white ribbon tied in her hair, signifying her allegiance to the White Lotus clan; a jade pendant shaped like the dragon and phoenix of the royal household.
But the guidebook didn't come right out and name her. It would be scandalous to publically say that the Fire Lady had posed nude in her youth.
Izumi blushed. "Mamma, that can't be you," she said. Mother couldn't have done something so shameless as take off her clothes for an artist, even a renowned one like Master Piando.
"Of course its me, Love," Mother said. Her blue eyes twinkled with mischief. "Wasn't I a babe?"
The features were definitely Mother's, though softer and more youthful. The strong nose and cheekbones. The intelligent brow and confident chin. But Master Piando had given her lighter skin to conform to the Fire Nation's ideal of beauty. As a result, she didn't stand out among the other pin-up girls Master Piando painted early in his career.

Desiring to end this conversation, Izumi went to look at something else across the gallery, an old poster for a dance performance. A woman with a painted face and an elaborate hairdo twirled flaming fans. Her rippling orange and gold kimono looked to be made of fire.
Aunt Suki stood next to Izumi. "That's June," she said. "A legend of Caldera's entertainment district."
"And all around badass," Master Beifong cut in. She was standing on the opposite side of Aunt Suki.
Izumi bit her lip. She loved Master Beifong, but her coarseness could be too much sometimes.
They passed a pleasant afternoon admiring art and artifacts from the war. Izumi eventually put her guidebook away because she learned much more from listening to her parents and their friends reminisce.
"We're all now old junk in a museum," Uncle Sokka said.
Aunt Suki rolled her eyes. "Speak for yourself."
Father got through the day by leaning on Mother's shoulder. From a distance, no one could tell that anything was wrong. They just looked like the affectionate couple they were. Only Izumi caught Mother detaching a vial of smelling salts from her silver chatelaine and holding it under Father's nose.