"Do it again but with more confidence. If you don't believe you can do it then it won't happen," Azula corrected, watching Akari with care. The young girl set her feet back into the proper stance and with a look of sheer concentration let her arms flow with the desired movement. Her flame was stronger this time, steady, more certain, and far brighter than before. "Good. Just like that."
"It's hard to remember to breathe," Akari huffed, letting her arms fall.
"Oh lord," Kiyi snorted. She'd been watching the little girl out of curiosity, and her training was going well.
"Well, it's important. Both so you don't faint or die, and because it makes this happen," Azula produced a small flame from her finger tip. "Without it you have nothing but smoke."
"I know, I know," Akari sighed, waving aside the comment. It'd been nearly two years since Azula had integrated back into the real world, and Akari's training was going well. But as excited as Azula was by her daughter's progress she refused to push Akari's limits. There was no need to, and she wasn't about to do what her father had done. Akari still needed to be a kid, still needed time to play, and certainly needed time to sleep or rest.
"Don't worry on it," Kiyi encouraged. "When Zuko trained me I held my breath all the time. Looked like a fire squirrel."
Akari laughed as Kiyi puffed her cheeks up with air. "You make a cute squirrel."
"Thank you," Kiyi smiled.
"Mom if you were an animal you'd be a....a dragon!" Akari decided, setting her hands on her hips. "And I would be a little armadillo."
"Why an armadillo?" Azula asked, arching a brow.
"Because I can do this." Akari dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball. Trying to stifle her giggles, she did a quick somersault and sprang back up to her feet. "Ta-da!"
"She's totally Ty's kid," Kiyi mumbled, earning a playful jab of the elbow from Azula.
"I can teach Izumi how to roll!" Akari gasped, bouncing up and down with excitement at the idea.
"She's still little. I don't think somersault's are in her wheelhouse yet," Azula warned.
"Well that's just dumb. Babies are chubby. They should be good at rolling," Akari scoffed, kicking lightly at the ground. "I guess I'll go find something to do."
"Make friends," Kiyi smiled, "it's fun I promise."
"I talk too much. No one likes a talker. Geez!" Akari glowered, mirroring her mother's frown perfectly. With slumped shoulders she stomped off into the palace.
"Doesn't she have friends from school?" Kiyi wondered.
"Unfortunately, no."
"It isn't going well for her is it?" Kiyi asked, a bit of a sad look on her face.
"No," Azula sighed, crossing her arms. "It's not that she's not smart, she's brilliant, naturally, but she gets into trouble. I've tried finding out why but she won't say anything."
"I could talk to her," Kiyi suggested.
"You can try but she won't snitch. She'll probably think I put you up to it," Azula smirked slightly. "I don't blame her. I tried having Mai talk to her and even that didn't work."
— — —
"I hate school!" Akari growled, kicking her shoes off the next evening and tumbling over the arm of a chair to groan dramatically into a pillow. Her words were nothing but infuriated muffled noise.
"Baba scgule." Izumi squealed none sense and clapped her hands. The sound of baby gibberish got Akari's attention and she looked over to see baby Izumi sitting on the floor watching her with drool in her mouth.
"What are you looking at?" Akari demanded.
"Be nice." Akari was given a faint whack on the rear by a pillow.
"Sorry," She apologized, before sitting up properly and watching her mom collect Izumi from the floor. "Did she escape her little play pin again?"
"Yep," Ty Lee nodded, "she's an escape artist alright. Kind of like you when you learned how to get out of your crib."
"I was smart," Akari smiled, giving a bashful shrug.
"Then why does little smarty pants hate school?" Ty Lee asked, giving her daughter the side eye.
"Because."
"Just because?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think 'Zumi?" Ty Lee asked, sharing a look with the fist chewing baby. "She says you're lying."
"She can't even talk!" Akari protested.
"Bnfjr!" Izumi sputtered, eyebrows furrowing.
"And now you're arguing with a baby. Oh boy," the acrobat sighed. "Some things never change."
"I've never argued with a baby before," Akari snorted.
"No, but your mother has and you argued right on back."
Akari rolled her eyes and watched her mom leave the room with Izumi to make sure the little roll of a baby didn't escape again. She stayed in the chair for some time not moving or doing much of anything besides breathing.
"Homework," Azula reminded, tapping her on the head. Akari jumped ever so slightly and spun about to eye her mother with a deep frown on her face.
"Don't do that! And I'm not doing my homework anyways because I'm not going to school tomorrow," Akari insisted.
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not and you can't make me!" Akari yelled, crossing her arms in spite.
"First of all, you don't get to yell at me like that. Second of all, school is important. Missing a day makes it hard to catch up on work," Azula replied, her voice even and calculated. She'd learned a long time ago raising her voice just made Akari cry. "And if you don't want to go I won't make you but you have to tell me why."
"Because I don't want to."
"That doesn't count and you know it."
"Whatever," Akari sighed, sliding out of her seat and walking quickly down the hallway before Azula could say anything else.
Giving a small groan of defeat, the princess collected her daughter's papers and placed them neatly in a pile. She had some idea of what Akari was learning but the curriculum had changed since she was in school and she hadn't bothered to figure out what lesson corresponded to which topic.
Deciding it was probably a good thing to know, and figuring it might explain Akari's apprehension to school if the lesson was hard, Azula began to read. She got a decent way into the stack of work before stumbling upon a series of papers that made her stomach sink.
Reading them with care, she went in search of her acrobat. It didn't take long to find Ty Lee sitting pleasantly outside in the sun working away at a series of her own documents. She'd recently been appointed to an ambassador's position for Republic City as it got into its infancy stages.
"I believe I finally know why Akari's been so upset lately," Azula huffed, holding out the papers. Pausing in her work, Ty Lee took them with care and glanced through the stack. As she read her frown only worsened.
"I'd say you're right, but there's not much we can do. If that's what the school is teaching then that's not anything we can change," Ty Lee chewed worriedly at her bottom lip.
"No, but we at least need to talk to her and try to help," Azula decided, but her expression gave something else away.
"Hey, it's not your fault. Don't feel guilty," The acrobat smiled faintly, giving Azula's hand a light squeeze. "Come on. Let's see her before she falls asleep. She has a tendency to nap."
"Just because I was at sea for a few weeks doesn't mean I forgot how she works," Azula snorted.
"I know, but let's not ignore the fact that you forgot she hates having socks in the top drawer of her dresser," Ty Lee smirked.
"Who gets dressed from the top down?" Azula frowned. "I don't. You don't."
"She has a system."
"Yes, but...ugh. You're right," Azula sighed, conceding the point.
Once outside Akari's room, Ty Lee gave a gentle knock. There wasn't an answer at first but after a moment the door hesitantly swung open. "What is it?"
"We're here to talk. Nothing more nothing less," Ty Lee promised. Akari nodded, and stepped aside to let them in before hesitantly easing her door shut. She clambered into bed and sprawled out on her back to stare at the ceiling.
"I was trying to catch up on what you were learning to see if you were stuck on something...and to see if I could help," Azula explained, "but I noticed some things in the readings they assigned-"
"They're just dumb papers," Akari interrupted.
"Maybe, but what they say is something different," Ty Lee sighed, gently brushing loose strands of hair out of Akari's face. The room was full of silence for some time until tears welled in the little fire bender's eyes and she began to cry.
"I just don't understand how those authors can be so mean. And-and I'm there in class and everyone looks at me when we read. I hate it. I hate how they look at me. They don't understand how things are here," Akari cried, wiping fervently at her eyes. "Mom's not a bad person! She's not! She's better now and no one believes me. They talk like I'm not there and I get mad because they don't know Mom. When I try to say that Mom's nice, and caring, and that she loves me they laugh!"
Azula wasn't too sure what to do, she was never good at comforting people who cried, but she felt a pang of guilt again. It certainly didn't help, she assumed, that Akari looked exactly like her. Hell, that probably made things worse. But as Azula sat there relatively stunned, Ty Lee managed to pull Akari into her lap.
"And if they don't think Mom's crazy then they talk about you. They say you're stupid and that you're nasty for having me because you're not married. That you're some dumb circus freak who got lucky and the only reason you kept me was because Mom would kill you if you didn't." Akari was beside herself by now. Her words grew jumbled and all anyone could really do was let her cry until she was calm enough to breath normally.
"Hey," Ty Lee coaxed gently, "look at me. Don't let those other kids control how you feel. Don't let them ruin your day. Don't give them that power, it's not worth it. You're smart and you know your Mom and I better than anyone. You don't have to defend me. My name's been through enough it doesn't hurt me anymore. Okay? You just focus on school and make them feel dumb when you get better grades."
"Okay," Akari nodded, but her eyes settled on Azula. The princess still looked relatively lost until Akari left her mother's lap and sat across from the princess. "Mom? Mom, it's not your fault. It's okay. I-I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to feel bad. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"
"Shhh," Azula hushed as Akari hugged her tightly. "I want you to tell me things. I'm glad you did, and as much as I want to destroy all of those children I'm not going to."
Akari couldn't help but laugh, "Mom!"
"Listen to me okay?" Azula asked, pulling back from the hug to study her daughter's face. She talked so quietly only Akari could hear. "There will always be people who judge us. Always. And it will hurt, I'm not going to pretend it won't, but there will always be people who love you. When I was little I was like you. Everyone looked at me funny because of my dad, and my uncle, and my mom, and my brother. I was an outcast and I was royalty for God's sake. But, I happened to have two very kind people take care of me. Both were a little nuts. One wore pink all the time. It was gross. The other never talked and made spikes out of pencils. They were good to me though, and you'll have friends like that too. I promise. Just be patient okay?"
"Okay," Akari nodded, giving her mom another hug. "You're the best."
"I know," Azula grinned sending Akari into a fit of rambunctious laughter.
"You're so weird!" She giggled. "I love weird."
"We know," Ty Lee snorted.
— — —
"That went well," Ty Lee noted later that evening. She lay curled up against Azula's side, head resting on her shoulder, drawing little lines on the princess's bare stomach.
"Aside from the crying? Yes," Azula snorted, settling her cheek against Ty Lee's head. "She's just so..."
"Sensitive?"
"Tenderhearted," Azula decided. "What others do and say mean a lot to her but no matter how many times people hurt her she wouldn't wish bad upon them. I don't think I'll ever understand that."
"'Zula," Ty Lee sighed, "give yourself more credit. You're like that too."
"How?"
"You love your mother don't you? Your brother? Mai? Your uncle?" Ty Lee listed off as many people as she could, "and me. We all hurt you one way or another but here you are. A little bit warm and a little bit kind and a little bit loving. All those little bits make one whole you."
"You're impossibly cheesy," Azula's nose wrinkled with mild distaste, "but it's oddly adorable."
"Hmm," Ty Lee hummed. "Well, deal with it."
"Oh I will I suppose," Azula snorted, shifting so she could properly lay down. Ty Lee gave a small whine at the cold air suddenly creeping in between them before nestling snuggly against the princess once more. "Do not put your cold feet on me."
"Why?" The acrobat whined.
"Wear socks or something, it's like the water tribe invaded my bed!" Azula hissed, as Ty Lee nudged her with cold toes.
"That's stupid," Ty Lee frowned, "why would I put clothes on that I just took off half an hour ago?"
"Listen, I'll wrap your feet up in a blanket if I have to," Azula warned.
"I'm not listening," the acrobat grinned, practically climbing atop the princess.
"Watch your knees," Azula winced narrowly avoiding a shot to the groin. Giving Ty Lee a mildly infuriated look as she made herself at home and nestled her cold feet between Azula's calves, the princess blew a puff of air in the acrobat's face. "You test my patience."
"I know," Ty Lee yawned, smiling sleepily. She was more than pleased with herself that much Azula knew. However, the princess couldn't stay mad. Not when she had the naked, slumbering form of her lover to remind her just how perfect the acrobat truly was.
— — —
"Mom, you can't do that! That's breaking the rules of the game," Akari protested.
"Who told you how to play?" Azula asked.
"Iron did," Akari smirked.
"Well what if I told you he's a cheat?"
"Oh come now, just because I know how to bend the rules does not make me a cheat," Iroh chastised his niece though his eyes were warm and kind.
"Your arguments are beginning to sound like mine," Azula replied.
"Well, I may have learned how to argue after being stuck with your brother for all those years," Iroh teased, shooting Zuko a playful look as he bounced Izumi on one knee.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Akari cheered.
"How about no," Zuko decided.
"Buzzkill." Akari mumbled, earning a wink from Azula.
"Tell me tiny armadillo," Azula whispered, moving her piece, "have you seen mommy lately?"
"She said she had an errand to run but that's all I know. She has been gone for a while though. Maybe she found something cool?" Akari tilted her head as she pondered her next move.
"Alright, have Iroh finish up the game with you. I'm going to go make sure she's alive and not drowned by paperwork," Azula decided.
"Sounds like a plan!" Akari gave two thumbs. Rolling her eyes, Azula left the rambunctious kid to her game. She supposed Iroh would be equally as fun to play with as herself, but that would be giving him too much credit. She was far more entertaining.
Humming a soft tune, Azula wandered about the halls of the palace in search of a familiar pink. She wasn't in a rush, but it did take longer to locate the acrobat than expected.
"I've been looking all over for you," Azula laughed, finding Ty Lee back in the place Akari and Iroh were playing.
"I was looking for you!" Ty Lee protested.
"Oh yeah," Akari glanced up, " I found her."
"Wow, thank you for your stunning observations and prowess," Azula snorted, earning a tiny smirk from her daughter.
"Some help," Iroh chuckled.
"Perfect, now that you're here I can do what I intended to," Ty Lee sighed, taking Azula by the hand and dragging her off towards their room. "This place is so big sometimes it's like you can never find anyone or anything. I bet we ended up in the same place seconds after the other already left."
"You're rambling," Azula noted, as she followed the acrobat inside the room.
"So?"
"So, you ramble when you're nervous. What's wrong?" Azula asked, head tilted slightly to the side.
"Nothing's wrong. At least I don't think so," Ty Lee touched her index finger to her chin in thought.
"Okay, now I am worried."
"No! No! Hush, don't be. Okay. So you know how about four weeks? Three? Akari was all out of whack?" Ty Lee asked.
"Yes."
"And then we-"
"Yes."
"Well because we did that-"
"No," Azula smiled faintly. "No-"
"Yes."
"No!"
"Yes," the acrobat grinned, "I'm pregnant."
"No! That's-that's wonderful. I mean, I didn't expect-we weren't even trying-" For once Azula was speechless. Her words came in broken sentence fragments and the only reason she shut up was because a little acrobat kissed her.
"Don't tell anyone yet, okay?" Ty Lee asked. "I want to break the news to Akari in private first. You know, she doesn't do well with big surprises or change-"
"And if you tell everyone at once she might not react the best," Azula nodded, finally gaining clarity in her thoughts.
"Exactly."
"Exactly," Azula smiled. "Perfect even."
"What is?"
"You. All of this. I find it quite perfect," Azula decided, "And I haven't had anything perfect in a long time."
"Who's cheesy now?" Ty Lee smirked, punching Azula lightly in the shoulder.
"You may have rubbed off on me."
"Oh, sure." Ty Lee snorted, "but you're okay with this right? Two kids not just one?"
"Of course," the princess nodded. "I don't mind. Besides, Akari might get bored with just the two of us. I mean, there's Izumi but who know how they'll get along."
"They'll be fine. Promise," Ty Lee smiled, "they have the same tendency to cause mischief. "
"So I've heard."