Fic: The reign of fluff [Avatar: the Last Airbender] [3/5]
Author: girlupnorth
Title: The reign of fluff
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Spoilers: Post-series
Rating: NC-17 for porn
Length: ~6.030 words in this part
Contains: pregnancies. Fluff. Crack. Marital sexuashun of f/f, m/f, and m/f/f variety. Marital sexuashun while (very) pregnant. Threesome(s). (Veiled) allusions to incest. More fluff. Inappropriate jokes. Zuko being dramatic. Even more fluff (no, really).
Ships: Zuko/Mai/Katara (with side dishes of Mai/Katara, Zuko/Mai and Zuko/Katara); Sokka/Suki/Ty Lee, Azula/Toph, Hakoda/Bato
Characters making appearances: Katara, Mai, Zuko, Hakoda, Bato
Author’s notes: This is for novin_ha (♥), for reasons obvious.
This chapter might be less dynamic (and more schmoopy) than the previous two ones. Beware.
For more detailed notes, please check chapter one
Chapters:
01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 :: 05
The reign of fluff
Chapter Three
Soon after Toph had left for the beach house it became apparent that none of Zuko’s long-postponed official trips could be put off any longer. There were matters to attend all over the Fire Nation, not to mention a number of noblemen and women inviting the Fire Lord for a visit. Zuko was particularly unenthusiastic about the latter, and even less so about the fact that he was to visit his in-laws, Mai’s parents.
“My mother likes you,” Mai pointed out when he complained for the umpteenth time. “She dotes on you. And she’ll love having you over.”
“Especially when she doesn’t have to bear having me around,” Katara said, and then trailed off for a moment, appearing to have thought of something else. “Hey, how does she treat your brother?”
Mai shrugged.
“Pretty well, considering he was this enormous embarrassment to her,” she replied, and, upon their surprised gazes, explained, “You know, his coming did reveal that they were still having sex.”
“That must have been terrible for her,” Katara said.
“You have no idea.”
“Are you sure you will be fine without me?” Zuko asked, sounding extremely impatient. “Because if you’re not, I can stay for the sake of your well-being.”
“We will miss you in every waking hour,” Mai promised solemnly, without even batting an eye. Arguing with Zuko on such matters didn’t make much sense; she just took it in stride.
“Either way, you must write me every day,” Zuko said. “And send for me if anything happens. I’ll just come straight back.”
“Of course we will,” Mai replied, still perfectly calm.
“Anything at all.”
“You know we will,” Katara said. “Not that anything will happen.”
“You never know!”
“Shh,” Mai said, and lay a small kiss on Zuko’s lips. “Everything will be fine. We won’t forget about you.”
Zuko scowled.
“You’re saying that now,” he said. “And when the babies are born, you won’t give me a second thought.”
“Is it about what happens when the babies are born or about what happens in your absence?” Katara inquired, a small smirk upon her lips. “Because I’m getting a little confused.”
“It’s about everything,” Zuko said, and then caught himself. “I’m sorry. I’m just feeling a little insecure.”
Katara and Mai stared at him blankly for a long minute.
“I think that the first you’ve apologised,” Mai exclaimed, surprised.
“Oh Zuko,” Katara added, hugging him close. “You know we love you the most.”
“We do think about you all the time. And when the babies are born, nothing will change,” Mai said, kissing him again. “I mean, why would it? Your awesomeness is not going anywhere, is it?”
Zuko allowed himself to be somewhat placated, although the scowl did not entirely disappear from his face.
Later that day, they all went to take care of their respective duties. After two and a half hours of going after espionage reports, Mai decided that she’d had enough and she left her study to check on her spouses. On her way to Zuko’s office, she intercepted a handful of papers from one of the servants.
Zuko was so engrossed in his reading that he did not seem to notice her entrance. She glided towards him as gracefully as her messed up sense of balance allowed, the belly pulling her weight in the direction of the ground.
“Your Grace, these are the documents you requested,” she said in a polite tone.
He lifted his head in surprise.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” he said and rose to kiss Mai, before pulling her to sit in his lap.
“We’ll break the chair,” she said, quite breathlessly. Zuko slid his fingers through her hair.
“You’re not that heavy yet,” he replied, kissing her again. “Besides, Uncle Iroh used to sit in this chair, and nothing ever happened.”
Mai laughed. “How are you, Your Fire-Lordness?” she asked. “Making your way through the backlog, I see?”
“I can’t leave it to you, can I,” Zuko said. “You both have enough duties as it is.”
“I like how you look after us,” Mai remarked. “We are really going to miss you, you know.”
Zuko nodded. “So am I.”
“It’s better to get these visits out of the way now, though,” Mai continued, stroking his ear. “And be home when we give birth.”
Zuko’s face went white for a moment.
“That’s true, it’s becoming a closer and closer eventuality,” he said, his voice sounding somewhat weak. Mai looked at him thoughtfully.
“You’re not going to freak out, are you?” she inquired matter-of-factly.
“No!” Zuko asserted with force. “Maybe?” he added in a far less certain manner.
Mai sighed.
“Since it’s not an immediate threat, I’d say for now we focus on more pressing matters,” she said in her best official voice, making a mental note to raise the subject later when talking to Katara.
Zuko attempted to glare at her for a moment, and then gave up, and inclined his head to kiss Mai again.
Two days later they spent a good hour saying their goodbyes, Zuko’s counsellors grinning politely while silently praying that the Fire Lord would not decide to cancel the trip at the last possible moment.
“Remember to write,” Zuko said one last time, and they kissed once more, before he got onto the ostrich horse and slowly rode away.
Mai and Katara linked their hands, and went back to the palace, tightly embraced.
*
Katara’s baby was the first to actually start kicking.
It happened when Katara and Mai were fitting and discussing new clothes with their dressmaker. The beautiful Earth Kingdom fabrics brought over by Zuko’s Uncle Iroh were finally being put to use, cut and shaped around the Fire Ladies’ expanding figures. Since Mai had suggested that instead of regular dresses, they should go for kimonos, whose tightness could be adjusted as their bellies grew, the dressmaker was trying her considerable skills with that design.
Katara allowed the maids to wrap her in a layer of sea blue fabric, her arms outstretched, when she felt it: a kind of knocking on the inner side of her belly, quite gentle at first, and then much more decisive.
“It’s kicking!” she exclaimed, causing the maids to drop pins. “Mai, you must feel it - my baby’s kicking!”
Mai put her hand to Katara’s belly, and a moment later they were cooing together in delight. Then, Katara stroked Mai’s bump.
“And how about you, hmm?” she asked, leaning over towards her wife, to the great exasperation of the maids and the dressmaker. “Aren’t you tired of just fluttering around?”
“It’s much better composed than yours, obviously,” Mai said lightly. “I can already bet that your baby’s dramatizing will exceed Zuko’s.”
“Now that’s a scary thought,” Katara remarked. Mai smiled, and they kissed; the dressmaker just sighed.
Later that day, they sat together in the study to read the latest letter from Zuko. The epistle was fastidiously and elegantly sealed in order to protect the text from the eyes of unwanted readers. Since the body of the letters usually consisted of a few short paragraphs updating the Fire Ladies on Zuko’s latest endeavours, followed by a much longer part in which Zuko described - fairly graphically - how he missed and fantasised about his wives, this precaution was probably for the best.
“In some two, three hundred years Fire Nation school kids will be storming the libraries for Fire Lord Zuko’s porn letters,” Mai reflected fondly, unrolling the letter on the desk. “I have to admit though, our husband’s got talent in that matter.”
“So it’s not something they teach you in Fire Nation schools?” Katara joked.
“Not really. Besides, Zuko was palace-schooled.”
“Oh right. Princes,” Katara said, rolling her eyes.
“He hated all his tutors, if I remember correctly,” Mai added. “I suppose they followed Ozai’s school of tough love, and didn’t appreciate Zuko enough.”
“Must have worked out wonderfully,” Katara remarked. “We should be grateful he learnt to read at all.”
“I guess so. Of course, it was Azula who told me about that, and she probably exaggerated a lot,” Mai said. “And at some point General Iroh got involved into Zuko’s education, so that may explain how he did manage to learn some things.”
“You know, I actually wouldn’t put it past Iroh to teach Zuko to read on pornography,” Katara said in a slightly horrified tone. Mai froze.
“Now that you mention it…”
“He’d probably decide Zuko would be more interested in porn than in poetry,” Katara suggested. They shared a horror-struck look.
“This family,” Mai exclaimed finally.
Katara nodded.
“Are we sure we want our babies to be raised here? I’m quite sure my Dad wouldn’t mind us quietly moving to the South Pole.”
“We should be fine,” Mai replied feebly. “If anyone attempts anything stupid, I will just threaten them with my knives.”
This caused Katara to smile, and kiss Mai’s neck.
“You’re so adorable,” she said. “Alright, back on topic. Think we should reply Zuko in a similar vein?”
“Oh, of course,” Mai said, brightening up. “He should know we’re thinking about him.”
Beloved husband, they began. We miss you. We keep thinking about your sexy, sexy body.
*
It was a few days later that Mai entered the bedchamber in order to change before dinner, only to find Katara sprawled on the bed, surrounded by a plethora of scrolls and books. For a moment she stood in the doorway, savouring the view; the pregnancy weight only made Katara look more beautiful, and Mai was more than appreciative of her wife’s gorgeous body.
Only when Katara turned to glance at her did Mai make a move towards the bed.
“I thought you were out waterbending in the gardens,” she exclaimed, climbing the bed with a little less ease than she would five months ago, and leaning to kiss Katara. “What are you doing here?”
“I did some waterbending, but it tired me out,” Katara said, putting down the volume she was currently reading. “It’s weird, but I feel like I have all this awesome potential for waterbending right now - maybe because of the additional liquids inside me - but I get exhausted so soon if I try anything more complicated.”
“Have you tried finding out if this is normal?” Mai lay right next to Katara, resting on one elbow. “Did you write to your Master Pakku or anything?”
“Well, until eight years ago the Northern Water Tribe had only trained girls into healers, not waterbending fighters, so they wouldn’t know anything,” Katara sighed. “I guess I could ask Gran-Gran if she remembers anything from back when there were waterbenders in the South Pole.”
“You do that,” Mai said. “I want to be sure nothing will happen to you or the baby.”
Katara smiled, and they kissed for a good long while. “I love you,” she murmured into Mai’s neck, and kissed her wife’s collarbone as Mai reciprocated the statement.
“So, what are all these scrolls and volumes you’re pouring over about anyway?” Mai asked after a moment, gesturing towards the pile of papers which covered the bed on Katara’s other side. Before replying, Katara glanced towards them uneasily.
“I’m reading all I can find about midwifery,” she explained eventually. “For when we go into labour.”
“Why?” Mai asked, her cheek pressed to Katara’s shoulder. “We’re both going to get the best physicians and midwives in the Fire Nation. And they’d be fools to screw anything up and risk Zuko’s wrath.”
Katara snuggled to Mai.
“It’s funny that ‘wrath’ is so appropriate in this context,” she said.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Mai pointed out, a slight frown on her face.
“Well.”
“Well?”
“Well. After a careful consideration, I’ve decided that your mother may be right,” Katara said, and when Mai didn’t reply, she went on, “Your baby should be born first and become Zuko’s heir to the throne.”
“I hate it when someone says that,” Mai sighed. “I really do.”
“What?”
“ ‘Your mother is right’. Ugh.” Mai scowled in a way that could have put Zuko’s worst facial impressions to shame. “Why does my baby need to be the Fire Lord?”
“Well, first, you come from nobility. Your child’s claim to the throne should be less contested than that of a fisher girl’s kid.” Katara sat up, and looked at Mai seriously. “Second, there’s a much bigger chance that your baby will be a firebender. And even Iroh says that nobody will let a non-bender become the Fire Lord. And third, unfortunately, here Fire Nation trumps Water Tribe.”
Mai took the tirade in with a small nod.
“So what do you want to do?” she asked. “Babies don’t exactly come out when you’d like them to. Tom-Tom was born on the eve of my parents’ most important official party of the century. My mother was devastated.”
“I think that it would be possible to suggest your baby that it’s time to be born, if I used an appropriate waterbending technique,” Katara explained, and eyed Mai carefully. “I wouldn’t do anything too early, of course. We’d try waiting until the due time, and then I’d try to cause the labour. What do you think?”
Mai stared at her impassively for a few seconds, and then suddenly embraced Katara tightly.
“I don’t know. If you think you can do it, do,” she said into Katara’s neck. “I trust you. But I want you to be there with me throughout. Not to deliver the baby. Just to hold my hand.”
“Of course I’ll be there,” Katara promised, and kissed Mai gently. “I wouldn’t leave you alone.”
Mai nodded. “Alright then. Find out more about this... waterbending thing.”
“So it’s settled?”
“I told you, I trust you.” Mai curled up with her head on Katara’s breasts, and sighed. “We should think what to do with Zuko, though.”
Katara stroked her hair.
“You mean, we shouldn’t tell him we’re setting this up?”
“I suppose we could tell him about that,” Mai replied slowly. “It could actually calm him down, since he’s been freaking out about the ascendancy thing so much. But we need to think where to put him when either of us goes into labour.”
“I wish there was a way to tell for sure he wouldn’t dramatise too much, or faint,” Katara said, her fingers combing gently through the strands of Mai’s hair. “Because I don’t think I’ll be able to put up with that, and the midwives probably shouldn’t see me chase him out of the room with a waterfall.”
“That could seriously damage the image of our Fire Lord,” Mai agreed. “And so could dramatic fits.”
“I actually thought we could try giving him some of that calming tea brew,” Katara said. “Though... in a slightly increased dosage?”
Mai sat back, and looked at her curiously.
“You’re suggesting that we drug our husband, the father of our children, and the supreme ruler of the Fire Nation,” she said.
“I didn’t realize there would be so many people involved,” Katara joked.
“It’s a great idea,” Mai said. “Do you want to tell Zuko beforehand, or should it be a surprise?”
“Well, he will throw a fit if we tell him, so I guess we’d better not,” Katara replied.
“I’m quite sure we’re discussing high treason,” Mai reflected lightly. “It typically results in capital punishment for all conspiring parties, you know.”
“We’re wicked, wicked wives,” Katara murmured, pulling her wife closer, and starting to stroke her nape. “We deserve severe punishment.”
“I miss spanking you,” Mai said, and made a small sound when Katara’s fingers run down the length of her spine. “That’s the one thing I wish we could we doing that we can’t.”
Zuko had declared a moratorium on spanking pretty early on, arguing that it could hurt the babies, and after some back-and-forth they decided to oblige him in this one small detail, only to regret it just a day later. Still, a promise was a promise, and they were resolved to keep it, if only for the peace of Zuko’s mind.
Mai cupped Katara’s buttocks, and muttered something appreciatively. They kissed again, their breasts rubbing together.
“My beautiful,” Katara said, kissing Mai’s ear. “My beloved.”
Mai inhaled sharply. “We don’t have a lot of time before dinner,” she pointed out, her hands running over Katara’s back.
“I’m sure they will wait for the Fire Ladies,” Katara replied, gently touching Mai’s breast through the fabric of her kimono. “But if you want to, we can make this quick.”
When Mai nodded, Katara smiled, and slid her hands under her wife’s clothes. She began by removing Mai’s holsters, a gesture that after the years of marriage still felt as intimate as snuggling in between her naked thighs. She then opened the kimono and returned her attentions to Mai’s breasts, marvelling at their size and newfound softness. She circled Mai’s nipples with her fingers, and then stroked them slowly, delicately, until Mai closed her eyes and moaned.
“What do you want me to do?” Katara asked, rising to kiss Mai’s neck, and then mouth. “Tongue? Fingers? Water?”
Mai pulled her closer and kissed for a long while, and only then said, in a shaky voice,
“Fingers.”
Katara nodded, her hand already sliding past Mai’s belly, and into her undergarments. Although she found Mai’s pussy already slick with wetness, it wasn’t until a good few minutes later when she felt Mai start to shiver and finally come, with a loud moan, burying her face in the crook of Katara’s neck. Katara rested her hand on Mai’s pubic hair, and gathered her wife closer, covering her arms, neck, and ears with dozens of kisses.
“I like having you just to myself sometimes,” she said into Mai’s ear, stroking her back. “I could sit here, and kiss you for hours and hours.”
Mai let out a small sigh, snuggling against Katara. “I know,” she murmured.
“You’ll take care of me in the bath later, won’t you?” Katara asked, kissing Mai’s ear again. “A nice, relaxing bath, my wife’s tongue on my pussy...”
“Oh,” Mai said, still quite breathlessly. “If you sit on the brink of the tub, and spread your legs out nice and wide, we should be able to do it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Katara said.
They snuggled for some time longer, until finally deciding that it might do to have that dinner, for the benefit of their babies if not their own.
The servants didn’t as much as bat an eye on their coming late and dishevelled. Then again, they had had more than enough time to get used to the habits of the royal threesome.
“A piece of chicken, Your Grace?” one of the serving maids inquired, stone-faced. Katara nodded.
They ate in silence, occasionally touching each other’s hands and bellies.
*
Neither of the Fire Ladies was particularly surprised when the servants brought them news of Water Tribe ships being spotted off the coast. Katara’s father was wont to pay his visits unannounced, and with Zuko away, the probability even increased.
Katara and Mai called for a royal carriage to take them outside the city, and greeted Hakoda - and Bato - as soon as the ships took anchor in the harbour.
“You seem to become more beautiful every time I see you,” Hakoda said, looking with pride from his daughter to his daughter-in-law. “And still more beautiful now. How do you feel?”
“Fine, thank you,” Mai replied, smiling. The coats and shawls they had put on to protect themselves from the chilly air did not mask their figures at this point in the pregnancy, and the passer-bys glanced towards them with curiosity and liking. “How was your journey?”
“It was very calm and pleasant,” Bato told her, before giving her a gentle hug. “The sea is very quiet at this time of the year.”
“We visited Sokka and his family on our way here,” Hakoda added. “The girls gave us some things to pass on to you.”
“How are they?” Katara asked. “I wrote to Suki a few weeks ago, and she hasn’t replied yet. I was starting to worry.”
“Everything’s all right,” Bato said soothingly. “Their youngest’s teeth are coming out just now, so it’s been pretty frantic over there.”
“It’s always pretty frantic over there,” Mai remarked with a small smile. “Please, take seats in the carriage. I’ll have it arranged for your crew and all things to be safely taken to the palace.”
“We have a crate of baby things for you from your grandmother,” Hakoda said when they were all comfortably seated.
“It would be three or more, but we managed to convince her that as Fire Ladies, you probably don’t particularly lack any stuff,” Bato added. “So she cut it down to the most essential items.”
“You’d think she’d have more faith in me than in Sokka,” Katara sighed.
“Thank the spirits that we persuaded her not to include walrus skins for baby hammocks,” Bato said. “She almost disinherited your father over that one.”
“Baby hammocks?” Mai mouthed towards Katara.
“I’ll tell you later,” Katara mouthed back, squeezing her wife’s hand. “And how’s Master Pakku? Did he say anything about what Gran-Gran’s was packing?”
“He wisely chose to stay out of the way,” Hakoda replied gravely. “He sends you a letter.”
“So I understand that you’re getting along well,” Mai said pleasantly. “And the work on developing the South Pole community are progressing nicely?”
Hakoda launched into a long diatribe on the recent developments of the Southern Water Tribe village, aided by Bato. Katara zoned out after the first few sentences, full of gratitude and admiration for Mai’s politeness, which made her appear interested in the things she was well familiar with from the political reports if not Katara’s own remarks.
Her father, as always, seemed to enjoy the conversation with his daughter-in-law, a fact which filled Katara with a mixture of amusement and mild exasperation. For some reason, Hakoda remained permanently suspicious of Zuko, but enjoyed Mai’s company very much. As Katara repeatedly pointed out to him, it didn’t make much sense: Zuko was, typically, fluffy like a baby rabbaroo, while Mai could - and would - cut people up for crossing her path.
“And if you dislike him on principle for being Fire Nation, well, you should dislike them both,” she had once said, only to be thoroughly ignored.
“We’re not going to stay too long,” Bato said when they almost reached the palace. “It will be whaling season soon, and we’re having guests from the Northern Water Tribe coming to visit this year. But your father decided he wanted to see you before you give birth and no longer have time for others.”
“I’m not sure we’re really under the threat of losing all our time,” Mai reflected. “We are going to employ at least a few nurses and nannies.”
“Yeah, we’re definitely taking our cues from observing Suki and Ty Lee’s experiences, you know,” Katara added. She remembered well the mayhem brought into her brother’s marriage when Ty Lee gave birth to her twin nephews; at that time, Suki and Ty Lee had insisted that they could deal with the children themselves. Very soon they were disavowed of this illusion, and wrote to Katara and Mai to ask for help in finding at least one nanny. Don’t judge, please. Sleep is good, we like sleeping together, and the boys seem to only be asleep one at a given time, they claimed.
“It’s all very fine, but you’ll see how the things look like in reality,” Hakoda replied. “We’d offer all the help we could, but I suppose you will get more than enough.”
Katara glanced at Mai, and then at Bato, who shrugged.
“Dad, have you run into Zuko on your way here?” Katara inquired. “Because you sound like you have.”
Hakoda curtly shook his head.
“Was Ty Lee sharing any thoughts on the potential political complications regarding ascendancy?” Mai asked calmly. “Because one, any and all problems have already been taken care of, and two, Ty Lee is not really that familiar with the protocol or all recent political developments.”
“Are you sure?” Hakoda sounded, and appeared, deeply concerned; Katara wondered briefly what exactly Ty Lee could have said to him.
“Neither Zuko nor I would allow anyone to hurt Katara or any of our children,” Mai declared empathically. “You really don’t have anything to fear.”
“He really thought about whisking you out back to the South Pole,” Bato told Katara in an undertone a little later on. “It’s a good thing that Mai’s got such a firm hold on these affairs.”
“I know,” Katara said, thinking about her wife with fondness. “She’s a treasure.”
Her father and Bato did, indeed, only spend a few days in the Fire Nation Capital. Once Hakoda was satisfied that his daughter was fine, he remembered his vehement dislike of the Fire Nation climate, and set on his way back to the Southern Water Tribe, inviting Katara and Mai for a visit in the summer, with the babies.
“Zuko will have a fit thinking about his newborn children travelling to the South Pole,” Mai remarked, as they were both waving their goodbyes towards Hakoda and Bato’s fleet. “You do realize that, don’t you?”
“He will have to man up,” Katara said decisively. “It’s not that bad there, especially in the summer. And my family won’t allow anything to happen to our children, either.”
Mai smiled, and kissed Katara’s cheek.
“I know they won’t,” she said. “We might need to convince Zuko about the benefits of ice and snow, though.”
Katara mock-sighed.
“Not again.”
As the carriage got on its way, they were still discussing how to best persuade Zuko to undergo the trip with them.
*
When Zuko finally returned to the palace, he almost burst into tears upon seeing his wives and their enlarged stomachs, emphasised by the cut of their new clothing.
“You look so beautiful,” he said. “So stunning and gorgeous. I am so blessed to have found you.”
“And I thought that we were supposed to be moody and tear up at any occasion,” Katara observed, but she allowed Zuko to gather her alongside Mai into his arms.
“How do you feel?” Zuko asked. “I brought you some gifts, but they are still with the servants.”
“Some gifts? I’m starting to feel worried,” Mai joked, kissing his neck. “How many carts are there?”
Zuko blushed slightly, and mumbled something incoherently. His wives exchanged amused glances.
“Are you hungry? Tired? Would you care for a bath?” Katara asked mercifully.
“Only if you go in there with me,” Zuko replied, and kissed one and then the other. “I really missed you.”
“So did we,” Mai said, refraining from adding that Zuko’s missing them could probably be felt by all the members of his delegation. It wasn’t by chance that towards the end of his trips he was rarely made to listen to really serious cases; his counsellors waited with these until he returned to the capital, spent some time with his wives, and became less cranky. Performing Zuko-oriented damage control could be an art in and of itself, and Mai and Katara were probably its primary masters.
“I wouldn’t mind just sitting down with you and resting for a while,” Zuko said in an afterthought. “Maybe having something warm to drink.”
“Something light to eat or nibble on? Some fruit? Maybe almonds?” Katara suggested.
Mai was already calling for the servants.
“You should probably change,” she said, looking at Zuko’s heavy travelling clothes. “It’s quite warm in here.”
There were already two servants appearing in the doorway.
“Bring some more comfortable indoor clothes for the Fire Lord to the front room,” Mai ordered. “Send to the kitchen for tea and a light snack. And be quick about it.”
They made their way towards the front room, never once breaking their embrace.
They settled on the couch, Zuko between the two of them; Mai paused only to remove the upholsters filled with daggers from her hips and calves. Zuko looked at her adoringly.
“I swear, you’re both getting more beautiful by the day,” he said. “How do you feel?”
“Pretty well, thank you,” Mai replied. “As we wrote you, both our babies are now kicking and moving around.”
“You’ll probably see after the dinner,” Katara added. “They get quite active at that hour.”
“It looks very funny, really,” Mai said, making a move to help Zuko take off his travelling clothes. “Two shaking bellies.”
“Dancing bellies,” Katara remarked warmly, and they kissed over Zuko’s head.
Having broken the kiss, Mai began to undo the clasps of Zuko’s coat; at the same time, Katara did away with his crown piece, letting his hair fall freely to the sides.
“How are you?” Mai asked, looking with pleasure at their handsome husband. “You look tired.”
“I’m starting to reconsider the whole hands-on ruling thing,” Zuko said, performing the movements necessary for removing the coat, outer tunic, and then the vest, which he wore as the inner layer of his clothing. Once Zuko was half-undressed, they sat back on the couch; Mai put her hand on Zuko’s torso, stroking lightly his warm skin. Katara, meanwhile, put her head on their husband’s shoulder, snuggling close to him like a pretty, lazy lizardcat.
“What’s wrong with hands-on ruling?” she inquired.
“The days spent on travelling, having to put up with strange bedrooms and stranger food, and being apart from you,” Zuko explained. “When I could spend my time sitting in the throne room, and having all the problems brought to my attention there.”
“You’d go crazy from boredom in a week, two at the most,” Katara pointed out. Mai laughed.
“I wouldn’t have to leave you for weeks at a time,” Zuko protested. “And worry about you and miss you! When you are pregnant!”
“Yeah, but you’d join Azula in her hospital anyway,” Mai said, leaning in to kiss him. Zuko reciprocated quite enthusiastically; they kissed for a while, before turning to draw Katara in, trying - as they did, and failed, about once per day - to work out the logistics of a three-people kiss.
They were interrupted by the servants, finally coming in with the ordered food and drinks, and a change of clothes for Zuko. Two maids put the snacks on the small table in front of the couch, while another carefully put the clothing items on another table before, unblinkingly, proceeding to gather the discarded clothes.
“Should we stay to help, Your Grace?” the maid asked. She glanced at the royal threesome, but instead of fixing her stare on Zuko’s naked chest - as women usually did - almost immediately turned to look at Mai.
“Thank you, we’re good,” Mai said. All three of the maids bowed, and moved towards the door.
“Lesbians, huh?” Zuko remarked absently as the maids left the chamber. He reached for the cup of tea, and drank a sip or two. “Even the tea’s better here.”
“That’s because it’s made with love,” Katara declared. Zuko smiled, and followed the tea with a tangerine and a handful of almonds. All the while, his wives wouldn’t let go of him even for a moment, stroking his arms and torso, marvelling at his beauty.
“Have you lost weight?” Mai asked, moving her hand across the hollow of Zuko’s stomach. The lower line of his ribs seemed more pronounced to her than it had been when he was leaving.
“I don’t eat well when I’m away from the two of you,” he explained, eating a few more almonds.
“Oh, poor love,” Katara said tenderly, touching Zuko’s stomach as well. “We do like you lean, but you shouldn’t starve yourself, you know.”
“I think what our dear husband is saying is that he missed eating pussy,” Mai explained with a glimmer in her eye. “Don’t worry, darling, we’ll give you plenty of chances for that.”
“I wish I didn’t have a meeting to attend soon,” Zuko replied, leaning back on the couch, a honest note of regret in his voice. “But I must be debriefed on the goings-on in the capital when I was away.”
“Well then, you will need to change for that,” Katara pointed out, her hand sliding downwards to the line of Zuko’s pants. “Here, let us help you with that.”
They undressed him quickly, and, in unspoken agreement, pushed him gently back onto the couch when he attempted to make a move towards the new clothes. Katara immediately went back to stroking Zuko’s chest, while Mai, regretting a little that she had no easy access to Zuko’s buttocks, reached to touch his cock.
Zuko inhaled sharply.
“I really-“ he began, but didn’t protest when he was interrupted by a kiss from Katara. Soon enough, Mai could feel him grow hard under her fingers, and buckle his hips a little, so that she would touch him more intently.
She smiled, and leant closer to Zuko’s ear. Katara, breaking the kiss, looked at them curiously.
“We really did miss you,” Mai murmured, brushing her breasts against Zuko’s arm. “We thought about you when in bed,” she added, and licked the underside of his ear, making Zuko catch his breath. “But you know that, don’t you? You did read our letters.”
Zuko gasped as she stroked his cock, and nodded, his eyes wide.
“They were - ah - quite explicit,” he managed.
“We tried our best to excite your imagination,” Mai said. “And you did get off to them, didn’t you? To the thought of Katara and me in our bed, naked, touching each other?”
Zuko couldn’t but breathe shallowly, and nod again; Mai smiled. She could feel Katara’s hand joining hers on Zuko’s cock; at the same moment their wife tilted her head to Zuko’s other ear, starting to kiss and nibble gently upon it.
“Well, good,” Mai murmured. “Because we quite enjoyed reading your letters before the bedtime. Reading about how you wanted to stroke us and please us-” She deliberately paused, before continuing, in a lowered voice, “-and fuck us.”
At this, Zuko moaned openly, and arched his hips. Mai glanced over his head, knowing it wouldn’t take long at this point, and nodded at Katara, both of them increasing the pressure, and the rhythm of their strokes.
“Tonight in bed, I want you to do us really good and proper,” she went on. “We’re still very horny, both of us” - Zuko gasped for breath - “and I have to tell you, Katara’s ass is to die for right now.”
Zuko let out a deep, guttural moan, and came over their fingers. Mai kissed his ear, and then his jaw, and the corner of his mouth, before snuggling to him even closer, linking hands with Katara over his stomach as their husband strove to breathe regularly.
“I love you both so much,” he said after a couple of minutes, his voice still a little shaky. “So very much. And you are so absolutely beautiful.”
“So, it’s going to be one of these days when you attend the meetings all dazed and grinning?” Katara asked, kissing him. “Just making sure.”
Zuko attempted assuming a dignified expression, but the daze was still the most noticeable part of it. Mai giggled, and tickled his ribs, until Zuko caught her hand, and drew her in for another open-mouthed kiss.
“Probably. But only if I manage to get dressed,” he admitted eventually, turning to kiss Katara again.
“Should I call the maids for help after all?” Mai suggested. “They shouldn’t feel compelled to molest you.”
Katara laughed.
“See? We told you that the lesbian thing could come in handy.”
Zuko smirked, and began to slowly get to his feet.
“The Fire Lord won’t be thwarted by the need to put on clothes,” he announced, making his way towards the neatly folded pile on the table.
Mai slid down on the couch, laying her head down on the armrest, and her legs in Katara’s lap.
“But only because the Fire Ladies won’t fight for him to stay naked,” she said languidly. “This time.”
She felt a surge of tenderness and love upon seeing Zuko’s amusement at her words.
Truly, they did miss each other a lot.
Title: The reign of fluff
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Spoilers: Post-series
Rating: NC-17 for porn
Length: ~6.030 words in this part
Contains: pregnancies. Fluff. Crack. Marital sexuashun of f/f, m/f, and m/f/f variety. Marital sexuashun while (very) pregnant. Threesome(s). (Veiled) allusions to incest. More fluff. Inappropriate jokes. Zuko being dramatic. Even more fluff (no, really).
Ships: Zuko/Mai/Katara (with side dishes of Mai/Katara, Zuko/Mai and Zuko/Katara); Sokka/Suki/Ty Lee, Azula/Toph, Hakoda/Bato
Characters making appearances: Katara, Mai, Zuko, Hakoda, Bato
Author’s notes: This is for novin_ha (♥), for reasons obvious.
This chapter might be less dynamic (and more schmoopy) than the previous two ones. Beware.
For more detailed notes, please check chapter one
Chapters:
01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 :: 05
The reign of fluff
Chapter Three
Soon after Toph had left for the beach house it became apparent that none of Zuko’s long-postponed official trips could be put off any longer. There were matters to attend all over the Fire Nation, not to mention a number of noblemen and women inviting the Fire Lord for a visit. Zuko was particularly unenthusiastic about the latter, and even less so about the fact that he was to visit his in-laws, Mai’s parents.
“My mother likes you,” Mai pointed out when he complained for the umpteenth time. “She dotes on you. And she’ll love having you over.”
“Especially when she doesn’t have to bear having me around,” Katara said, and then trailed off for a moment, appearing to have thought of something else. “Hey, how does she treat your brother?”
Mai shrugged.
“Pretty well, considering he was this enormous embarrassment to her,” she replied, and, upon their surprised gazes, explained, “You know, his coming did reveal that they were still having sex.”
“That must have been terrible for her,” Katara said.
“You have no idea.”
“Are you sure you will be fine without me?” Zuko asked, sounding extremely impatient. “Because if you’re not, I can stay for the sake of your well-being.”
“We will miss you in every waking hour,” Mai promised solemnly, without even batting an eye. Arguing with Zuko on such matters didn’t make much sense; she just took it in stride.
“Either way, you must write me every day,” Zuko said. “And send for me if anything happens. I’ll just come straight back.”
“Of course we will,” Mai replied, still perfectly calm.
“Anything at all.”
“You know we will,” Katara said. “Not that anything will happen.”
“You never know!”
“Shh,” Mai said, and lay a small kiss on Zuko’s lips. “Everything will be fine. We won’t forget about you.”
Zuko scowled.
“You’re saying that now,” he said. “And when the babies are born, you won’t give me a second thought.”
“Is it about what happens when the babies are born or about what happens in your absence?” Katara inquired, a small smirk upon her lips. “Because I’m getting a little confused.”
“It’s about everything,” Zuko said, and then caught himself. “I’m sorry. I’m just feeling a little insecure.”
Katara and Mai stared at him blankly for a long minute.
“I think that the first you’ve apologised,” Mai exclaimed, surprised.
“Oh Zuko,” Katara added, hugging him close. “You know we love you the most.”
“We do think about you all the time. And when the babies are born, nothing will change,” Mai said, kissing him again. “I mean, why would it? Your awesomeness is not going anywhere, is it?”
Zuko allowed himself to be somewhat placated, although the scowl did not entirely disappear from his face.
Later that day, they all went to take care of their respective duties. After two and a half hours of going after espionage reports, Mai decided that she’d had enough and she left her study to check on her spouses. On her way to Zuko’s office, she intercepted a handful of papers from one of the servants.
Zuko was so engrossed in his reading that he did not seem to notice her entrance. She glided towards him as gracefully as her messed up sense of balance allowed, the belly pulling her weight in the direction of the ground.
“Your Grace, these are the documents you requested,” she said in a polite tone.
He lifted his head in surprise.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” he said and rose to kiss Mai, before pulling her to sit in his lap.
“We’ll break the chair,” she said, quite breathlessly. Zuko slid his fingers through her hair.
“You’re not that heavy yet,” he replied, kissing her again. “Besides, Uncle Iroh used to sit in this chair, and nothing ever happened.”
Mai laughed. “How are you, Your Fire-Lordness?” she asked. “Making your way through the backlog, I see?”
“I can’t leave it to you, can I,” Zuko said. “You both have enough duties as it is.”
“I like how you look after us,” Mai remarked. “We are really going to miss you, you know.”
Zuko nodded. “So am I.”
“It’s better to get these visits out of the way now, though,” Mai continued, stroking his ear. “And be home when we give birth.”
Zuko’s face went white for a moment.
“That’s true, it’s becoming a closer and closer eventuality,” he said, his voice sounding somewhat weak. Mai looked at him thoughtfully.
“You’re not going to freak out, are you?” she inquired matter-of-factly.
“No!” Zuko asserted with force. “Maybe?” he added in a far less certain manner.
Mai sighed.
“Since it’s not an immediate threat, I’d say for now we focus on more pressing matters,” she said in her best official voice, making a mental note to raise the subject later when talking to Katara.
Zuko attempted to glare at her for a moment, and then gave up, and inclined his head to kiss Mai again.
Two days later they spent a good hour saying their goodbyes, Zuko’s counsellors grinning politely while silently praying that the Fire Lord would not decide to cancel the trip at the last possible moment.
“Remember to write,” Zuko said one last time, and they kissed once more, before he got onto the ostrich horse and slowly rode away.
Mai and Katara linked their hands, and went back to the palace, tightly embraced.
*
Katara’s baby was the first to actually start kicking.
It happened when Katara and Mai were fitting and discussing new clothes with their dressmaker. The beautiful Earth Kingdom fabrics brought over by Zuko’s Uncle Iroh were finally being put to use, cut and shaped around the Fire Ladies’ expanding figures. Since Mai had suggested that instead of regular dresses, they should go for kimonos, whose tightness could be adjusted as their bellies grew, the dressmaker was trying her considerable skills with that design.
Katara allowed the maids to wrap her in a layer of sea blue fabric, her arms outstretched, when she felt it: a kind of knocking on the inner side of her belly, quite gentle at first, and then much more decisive.
“It’s kicking!” she exclaimed, causing the maids to drop pins. “Mai, you must feel it - my baby’s kicking!”
Mai put her hand to Katara’s belly, and a moment later they were cooing together in delight. Then, Katara stroked Mai’s bump.
“And how about you, hmm?” she asked, leaning over towards her wife, to the great exasperation of the maids and the dressmaker. “Aren’t you tired of just fluttering around?”
“It’s much better composed than yours, obviously,” Mai said lightly. “I can already bet that your baby’s dramatizing will exceed Zuko’s.”
“Now that’s a scary thought,” Katara remarked. Mai smiled, and they kissed; the dressmaker just sighed.
Later that day, they sat together in the study to read the latest letter from Zuko. The epistle was fastidiously and elegantly sealed in order to protect the text from the eyes of unwanted readers. Since the body of the letters usually consisted of a few short paragraphs updating the Fire Ladies on Zuko’s latest endeavours, followed by a much longer part in which Zuko described - fairly graphically - how he missed and fantasised about his wives, this precaution was probably for the best.
“In some two, three hundred years Fire Nation school kids will be storming the libraries for Fire Lord Zuko’s porn letters,” Mai reflected fondly, unrolling the letter on the desk. “I have to admit though, our husband’s got talent in that matter.”
“So it’s not something they teach you in Fire Nation schools?” Katara joked.
“Not really. Besides, Zuko was palace-schooled.”
“Oh right. Princes,” Katara said, rolling her eyes.
“He hated all his tutors, if I remember correctly,” Mai added. “I suppose they followed Ozai’s school of tough love, and didn’t appreciate Zuko enough.”
“Must have worked out wonderfully,” Katara remarked. “We should be grateful he learnt to read at all.”
“I guess so. Of course, it was Azula who told me about that, and she probably exaggerated a lot,” Mai said. “And at some point General Iroh got involved into Zuko’s education, so that may explain how he did manage to learn some things.”
“You know, I actually wouldn’t put it past Iroh to teach Zuko to read on pornography,” Katara said in a slightly horrified tone. Mai froze.
“Now that you mention it…”
“He’d probably decide Zuko would be more interested in porn than in poetry,” Katara suggested. They shared a horror-struck look.
“This family,” Mai exclaimed finally.
Katara nodded.
“Are we sure we want our babies to be raised here? I’m quite sure my Dad wouldn’t mind us quietly moving to the South Pole.”
“We should be fine,” Mai replied feebly. “If anyone attempts anything stupid, I will just threaten them with my knives.”
This caused Katara to smile, and kiss Mai’s neck.
“You’re so adorable,” she said. “Alright, back on topic. Think we should reply Zuko in a similar vein?”
“Oh, of course,” Mai said, brightening up. “He should know we’re thinking about him.”
Beloved husband, they began. We miss you. We keep thinking about your sexy, sexy body.
*
It was a few days later that Mai entered the bedchamber in order to change before dinner, only to find Katara sprawled on the bed, surrounded by a plethora of scrolls and books. For a moment she stood in the doorway, savouring the view; the pregnancy weight only made Katara look more beautiful, and Mai was more than appreciative of her wife’s gorgeous body.
Only when Katara turned to glance at her did Mai make a move towards the bed.
“I thought you were out waterbending in the gardens,” she exclaimed, climbing the bed with a little less ease than she would five months ago, and leaning to kiss Katara. “What are you doing here?”
“I did some waterbending, but it tired me out,” Katara said, putting down the volume she was currently reading. “It’s weird, but I feel like I have all this awesome potential for waterbending right now - maybe because of the additional liquids inside me - but I get exhausted so soon if I try anything more complicated.”
“Have you tried finding out if this is normal?” Mai lay right next to Katara, resting on one elbow. “Did you write to your Master Pakku or anything?”
“Well, until eight years ago the Northern Water Tribe had only trained girls into healers, not waterbending fighters, so they wouldn’t know anything,” Katara sighed. “I guess I could ask Gran-Gran if she remembers anything from back when there were waterbenders in the South Pole.”
“You do that,” Mai said. “I want to be sure nothing will happen to you or the baby.”
Katara smiled, and they kissed for a good long while. “I love you,” she murmured into Mai’s neck, and kissed her wife’s collarbone as Mai reciprocated the statement.
“So, what are all these scrolls and volumes you’re pouring over about anyway?” Mai asked after a moment, gesturing towards the pile of papers which covered the bed on Katara’s other side. Before replying, Katara glanced towards them uneasily.
“I’m reading all I can find about midwifery,” she explained eventually. “For when we go into labour.”
“Why?” Mai asked, her cheek pressed to Katara’s shoulder. “We’re both going to get the best physicians and midwives in the Fire Nation. And they’d be fools to screw anything up and risk Zuko’s wrath.”
Katara snuggled to Mai.
“It’s funny that ‘wrath’ is so appropriate in this context,” she said.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Mai pointed out, a slight frown on her face.
“Well.”
“Well?”
“Well. After a careful consideration, I’ve decided that your mother may be right,” Katara said, and when Mai didn’t reply, she went on, “Your baby should be born first and become Zuko’s heir to the throne.”
“I hate it when someone says that,” Mai sighed. “I really do.”
“What?”
“ ‘Your mother is right’. Ugh.” Mai scowled in a way that could have put Zuko’s worst facial impressions to shame. “Why does my baby need to be the Fire Lord?”
“Well, first, you come from nobility. Your child’s claim to the throne should be less contested than that of a fisher girl’s kid.” Katara sat up, and looked at Mai seriously. “Second, there’s a much bigger chance that your baby will be a firebender. And even Iroh says that nobody will let a non-bender become the Fire Lord. And third, unfortunately, here Fire Nation trumps Water Tribe.”
Mai took the tirade in with a small nod.
“So what do you want to do?” she asked. “Babies don’t exactly come out when you’d like them to. Tom-Tom was born on the eve of my parents’ most important official party of the century. My mother was devastated.”
“I think that it would be possible to suggest your baby that it’s time to be born, if I used an appropriate waterbending technique,” Katara explained, and eyed Mai carefully. “I wouldn’t do anything too early, of course. We’d try waiting until the due time, and then I’d try to cause the labour. What do you think?”
Mai stared at her impassively for a few seconds, and then suddenly embraced Katara tightly.
“I don’t know. If you think you can do it, do,” she said into Katara’s neck. “I trust you. But I want you to be there with me throughout. Not to deliver the baby. Just to hold my hand.”
“Of course I’ll be there,” Katara promised, and kissed Mai gently. “I wouldn’t leave you alone.”
Mai nodded. “Alright then. Find out more about this... waterbending thing.”
“So it’s settled?”
“I told you, I trust you.” Mai curled up with her head on Katara’s breasts, and sighed. “We should think what to do with Zuko, though.”
Katara stroked her hair.
“You mean, we shouldn’t tell him we’re setting this up?”
“I suppose we could tell him about that,” Mai replied slowly. “It could actually calm him down, since he’s been freaking out about the ascendancy thing so much. But we need to think where to put him when either of us goes into labour.”
“I wish there was a way to tell for sure he wouldn’t dramatise too much, or faint,” Katara said, her fingers combing gently through the strands of Mai’s hair. “Because I don’t think I’ll be able to put up with that, and the midwives probably shouldn’t see me chase him out of the room with a waterfall.”
“That could seriously damage the image of our Fire Lord,” Mai agreed. “And so could dramatic fits.”
“I actually thought we could try giving him some of that calming tea brew,” Katara said. “Though... in a slightly increased dosage?”
Mai sat back, and looked at her curiously.
“You’re suggesting that we drug our husband, the father of our children, and the supreme ruler of the Fire Nation,” she said.
“I didn’t realize there would be so many people involved,” Katara joked.
“It’s a great idea,” Mai said. “Do you want to tell Zuko beforehand, or should it be a surprise?”
“Well, he will throw a fit if we tell him, so I guess we’d better not,” Katara replied.
“I’m quite sure we’re discussing high treason,” Mai reflected lightly. “It typically results in capital punishment for all conspiring parties, you know.”
“We’re wicked, wicked wives,” Katara murmured, pulling her wife closer, and starting to stroke her nape. “We deserve severe punishment.”
“I miss spanking you,” Mai said, and made a small sound when Katara’s fingers run down the length of her spine. “That’s the one thing I wish we could we doing that we can’t.”
Zuko had declared a moratorium on spanking pretty early on, arguing that it could hurt the babies, and after some back-and-forth they decided to oblige him in this one small detail, only to regret it just a day later. Still, a promise was a promise, and they were resolved to keep it, if only for the peace of Zuko’s mind.
Mai cupped Katara’s buttocks, and muttered something appreciatively. They kissed again, their breasts rubbing together.
“My beautiful,” Katara said, kissing Mai’s ear. “My beloved.”
Mai inhaled sharply. “We don’t have a lot of time before dinner,” she pointed out, her hands running over Katara’s back.
“I’m sure they will wait for the Fire Ladies,” Katara replied, gently touching Mai’s breast through the fabric of her kimono. “But if you want to, we can make this quick.”
When Mai nodded, Katara smiled, and slid her hands under her wife’s clothes. She began by removing Mai’s holsters, a gesture that after the years of marriage still felt as intimate as snuggling in between her naked thighs. She then opened the kimono and returned her attentions to Mai’s breasts, marvelling at their size and newfound softness. She circled Mai’s nipples with her fingers, and then stroked them slowly, delicately, until Mai closed her eyes and moaned.
“What do you want me to do?” Katara asked, rising to kiss Mai’s neck, and then mouth. “Tongue? Fingers? Water?”
Mai pulled her closer and kissed for a long while, and only then said, in a shaky voice,
“Fingers.”
Katara nodded, her hand already sliding past Mai’s belly, and into her undergarments. Although she found Mai’s pussy already slick with wetness, it wasn’t until a good few minutes later when she felt Mai start to shiver and finally come, with a loud moan, burying her face in the crook of Katara’s neck. Katara rested her hand on Mai’s pubic hair, and gathered her wife closer, covering her arms, neck, and ears with dozens of kisses.
“I like having you just to myself sometimes,” she said into Mai’s ear, stroking her back. “I could sit here, and kiss you for hours and hours.”
Mai let out a small sigh, snuggling against Katara. “I know,” she murmured.
“You’ll take care of me in the bath later, won’t you?” Katara asked, kissing Mai’s ear again. “A nice, relaxing bath, my wife’s tongue on my pussy...”
“Oh,” Mai said, still quite breathlessly. “If you sit on the brink of the tub, and spread your legs out nice and wide, we should be able to do it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Katara said.
They snuggled for some time longer, until finally deciding that it might do to have that dinner, for the benefit of their babies if not their own.
The servants didn’t as much as bat an eye on their coming late and dishevelled. Then again, they had had more than enough time to get used to the habits of the royal threesome.
“A piece of chicken, Your Grace?” one of the serving maids inquired, stone-faced. Katara nodded.
They ate in silence, occasionally touching each other’s hands and bellies.
*
Neither of the Fire Ladies was particularly surprised when the servants brought them news of Water Tribe ships being spotted off the coast. Katara’s father was wont to pay his visits unannounced, and with Zuko away, the probability even increased.
Katara and Mai called for a royal carriage to take them outside the city, and greeted Hakoda - and Bato - as soon as the ships took anchor in the harbour.
“You seem to become more beautiful every time I see you,” Hakoda said, looking with pride from his daughter to his daughter-in-law. “And still more beautiful now. How do you feel?”
“Fine, thank you,” Mai replied, smiling. The coats and shawls they had put on to protect themselves from the chilly air did not mask their figures at this point in the pregnancy, and the passer-bys glanced towards them with curiosity and liking. “How was your journey?”
“It was very calm and pleasant,” Bato told her, before giving her a gentle hug. “The sea is very quiet at this time of the year.”
“We visited Sokka and his family on our way here,” Hakoda added. “The girls gave us some things to pass on to you.”
“How are they?” Katara asked. “I wrote to Suki a few weeks ago, and she hasn’t replied yet. I was starting to worry.”
“Everything’s all right,” Bato said soothingly. “Their youngest’s teeth are coming out just now, so it’s been pretty frantic over there.”
“It’s always pretty frantic over there,” Mai remarked with a small smile. “Please, take seats in the carriage. I’ll have it arranged for your crew and all things to be safely taken to the palace.”
“We have a crate of baby things for you from your grandmother,” Hakoda said when they were all comfortably seated.
“It would be three or more, but we managed to convince her that as Fire Ladies, you probably don’t particularly lack any stuff,” Bato added. “So she cut it down to the most essential items.”
“You’d think she’d have more faith in me than in Sokka,” Katara sighed.
“Thank the spirits that we persuaded her not to include walrus skins for baby hammocks,” Bato said. “She almost disinherited your father over that one.”
“Baby hammocks?” Mai mouthed towards Katara.
“I’ll tell you later,” Katara mouthed back, squeezing her wife’s hand. “And how’s Master Pakku? Did he say anything about what Gran-Gran’s was packing?”
“He wisely chose to stay out of the way,” Hakoda replied gravely. “He sends you a letter.”
“So I understand that you’re getting along well,” Mai said pleasantly. “And the work on developing the South Pole community are progressing nicely?”
Hakoda launched into a long diatribe on the recent developments of the Southern Water Tribe village, aided by Bato. Katara zoned out after the first few sentences, full of gratitude and admiration for Mai’s politeness, which made her appear interested in the things she was well familiar with from the political reports if not Katara’s own remarks.
Her father, as always, seemed to enjoy the conversation with his daughter-in-law, a fact which filled Katara with a mixture of amusement and mild exasperation. For some reason, Hakoda remained permanently suspicious of Zuko, but enjoyed Mai’s company very much. As Katara repeatedly pointed out to him, it didn’t make much sense: Zuko was, typically, fluffy like a baby rabbaroo, while Mai could - and would - cut people up for crossing her path.
“And if you dislike him on principle for being Fire Nation, well, you should dislike them both,” she had once said, only to be thoroughly ignored.
“We’re not going to stay too long,” Bato said when they almost reached the palace. “It will be whaling season soon, and we’re having guests from the Northern Water Tribe coming to visit this year. But your father decided he wanted to see you before you give birth and no longer have time for others.”
“I’m not sure we’re really under the threat of losing all our time,” Mai reflected. “We are going to employ at least a few nurses and nannies.”
“Yeah, we’re definitely taking our cues from observing Suki and Ty Lee’s experiences, you know,” Katara added. She remembered well the mayhem brought into her brother’s marriage when Ty Lee gave birth to her twin nephews; at that time, Suki and Ty Lee had insisted that they could deal with the children themselves. Very soon they were disavowed of this illusion, and wrote to Katara and Mai to ask for help in finding at least one nanny. Don’t judge, please. Sleep is good, we like sleeping together, and the boys seem to only be asleep one at a given time, they claimed.
“It’s all very fine, but you’ll see how the things look like in reality,” Hakoda replied. “We’d offer all the help we could, but I suppose you will get more than enough.”
Katara glanced at Mai, and then at Bato, who shrugged.
“Dad, have you run into Zuko on your way here?” Katara inquired. “Because you sound like you have.”
Hakoda curtly shook his head.
“Was Ty Lee sharing any thoughts on the potential political complications regarding ascendancy?” Mai asked calmly. “Because one, any and all problems have already been taken care of, and two, Ty Lee is not really that familiar with the protocol or all recent political developments.”
“Are you sure?” Hakoda sounded, and appeared, deeply concerned; Katara wondered briefly what exactly Ty Lee could have said to him.
“Neither Zuko nor I would allow anyone to hurt Katara or any of our children,” Mai declared empathically. “You really don’t have anything to fear.”
“He really thought about whisking you out back to the South Pole,” Bato told Katara in an undertone a little later on. “It’s a good thing that Mai’s got such a firm hold on these affairs.”
“I know,” Katara said, thinking about her wife with fondness. “She’s a treasure.”
Her father and Bato did, indeed, only spend a few days in the Fire Nation Capital. Once Hakoda was satisfied that his daughter was fine, he remembered his vehement dislike of the Fire Nation climate, and set on his way back to the Southern Water Tribe, inviting Katara and Mai for a visit in the summer, with the babies.
“Zuko will have a fit thinking about his newborn children travelling to the South Pole,” Mai remarked, as they were both waving their goodbyes towards Hakoda and Bato’s fleet. “You do realize that, don’t you?”
“He will have to man up,” Katara said decisively. “It’s not that bad there, especially in the summer. And my family won’t allow anything to happen to our children, either.”
Mai smiled, and kissed Katara’s cheek.
“I know they won’t,” she said. “We might need to convince Zuko about the benefits of ice and snow, though.”
Katara mock-sighed.
“Not again.”
As the carriage got on its way, they were still discussing how to best persuade Zuko to undergo the trip with them.
*
When Zuko finally returned to the palace, he almost burst into tears upon seeing his wives and their enlarged stomachs, emphasised by the cut of their new clothing.
“You look so beautiful,” he said. “So stunning and gorgeous. I am so blessed to have found you.”
“And I thought that we were supposed to be moody and tear up at any occasion,” Katara observed, but she allowed Zuko to gather her alongside Mai into his arms.
“How do you feel?” Zuko asked. “I brought you some gifts, but they are still with the servants.”
“Some gifts? I’m starting to feel worried,” Mai joked, kissing his neck. “How many carts are there?”
Zuko blushed slightly, and mumbled something incoherently. His wives exchanged amused glances.
“Are you hungry? Tired? Would you care for a bath?” Katara asked mercifully.
“Only if you go in there with me,” Zuko replied, and kissed one and then the other. “I really missed you.”
“So did we,” Mai said, refraining from adding that Zuko’s missing them could probably be felt by all the members of his delegation. It wasn’t by chance that towards the end of his trips he was rarely made to listen to really serious cases; his counsellors waited with these until he returned to the capital, spent some time with his wives, and became less cranky. Performing Zuko-oriented damage control could be an art in and of itself, and Mai and Katara were probably its primary masters.
“I wouldn’t mind just sitting down with you and resting for a while,” Zuko said in an afterthought. “Maybe having something warm to drink.”
“Something light to eat or nibble on? Some fruit? Maybe almonds?” Katara suggested.
Mai was already calling for the servants.
“You should probably change,” she said, looking at Zuko’s heavy travelling clothes. “It’s quite warm in here.”
There were already two servants appearing in the doorway.
“Bring some more comfortable indoor clothes for the Fire Lord to the front room,” Mai ordered. “Send to the kitchen for tea and a light snack. And be quick about it.”
They made their way towards the front room, never once breaking their embrace.
They settled on the couch, Zuko between the two of them; Mai paused only to remove the upholsters filled with daggers from her hips and calves. Zuko looked at her adoringly.
“I swear, you’re both getting more beautiful by the day,” he said. “How do you feel?”
“Pretty well, thank you,” Mai replied. “As we wrote you, both our babies are now kicking and moving around.”
“You’ll probably see after the dinner,” Katara added. “They get quite active at that hour.”
“It looks very funny, really,” Mai said, making a move to help Zuko take off his travelling clothes. “Two shaking bellies.”
“Dancing bellies,” Katara remarked warmly, and they kissed over Zuko’s head.
Having broken the kiss, Mai began to undo the clasps of Zuko’s coat; at the same time, Katara did away with his crown piece, letting his hair fall freely to the sides.
“How are you?” Mai asked, looking with pleasure at their handsome husband. “You look tired.”
“I’m starting to reconsider the whole hands-on ruling thing,” Zuko said, performing the movements necessary for removing the coat, outer tunic, and then the vest, which he wore as the inner layer of his clothing. Once Zuko was half-undressed, they sat back on the couch; Mai put her hand on Zuko’s torso, stroking lightly his warm skin. Katara, meanwhile, put her head on their husband’s shoulder, snuggling close to him like a pretty, lazy lizardcat.
“What’s wrong with hands-on ruling?” she inquired.
“The days spent on travelling, having to put up with strange bedrooms and stranger food, and being apart from you,” Zuko explained. “When I could spend my time sitting in the throne room, and having all the problems brought to my attention there.”
“You’d go crazy from boredom in a week, two at the most,” Katara pointed out. Mai laughed.
“I wouldn’t have to leave you for weeks at a time,” Zuko protested. “And worry about you and miss you! When you are pregnant!”
“Yeah, but you’d join Azula in her hospital anyway,” Mai said, leaning in to kiss him. Zuko reciprocated quite enthusiastically; they kissed for a while, before turning to draw Katara in, trying - as they did, and failed, about once per day - to work out the logistics of a three-people kiss.
They were interrupted by the servants, finally coming in with the ordered food and drinks, and a change of clothes for Zuko. Two maids put the snacks on the small table in front of the couch, while another carefully put the clothing items on another table before, unblinkingly, proceeding to gather the discarded clothes.
“Should we stay to help, Your Grace?” the maid asked. She glanced at the royal threesome, but instead of fixing her stare on Zuko’s naked chest - as women usually did - almost immediately turned to look at Mai.
“Thank you, we’re good,” Mai said. All three of the maids bowed, and moved towards the door.
“Lesbians, huh?” Zuko remarked absently as the maids left the chamber. He reached for the cup of tea, and drank a sip or two. “Even the tea’s better here.”
“That’s because it’s made with love,” Katara declared. Zuko smiled, and followed the tea with a tangerine and a handful of almonds. All the while, his wives wouldn’t let go of him even for a moment, stroking his arms and torso, marvelling at his beauty.
“Have you lost weight?” Mai asked, moving her hand across the hollow of Zuko’s stomach. The lower line of his ribs seemed more pronounced to her than it had been when he was leaving.
“I don’t eat well when I’m away from the two of you,” he explained, eating a few more almonds.
“Oh, poor love,” Katara said tenderly, touching Zuko’s stomach as well. “We do like you lean, but you shouldn’t starve yourself, you know.”
“I think what our dear husband is saying is that he missed eating pussy,” Mai explained with a glimmer in her eye. “Don’t worry, darling, we’ll give you plenty of chances for that.”
“I wish I didn’t have a meeting to attend soon,” Zuko replied, leaning back on the couch, a honest note of regret in his voice. “But I must be debriefed on the goings-on in the capital when I was away.”
“Well then, you will need to change for that,” Katara pointed out, her hand sliding downwards to the line of Zuko’s pants. “Here, let us help you with that.”
They undressed him quickly, and, in unspoken agreement, pushed him gently back onto the couch when he attempted to make a move towards the new clothes. Katara immediately went back to stroking Zuko’s chest, while Mai, regretting a little that she had no easy access to Zuko’s buttocks, reached to touch his cock.
Zuko inhaled sharply.
“I really-“ he began, but didn’t protest when he was interrupted by a kiss from Katara. Soon enough, Mai could feel him grow hard under her fingers, and buckle his hips a little, so that she would touch him more intently.
She smiled, and leant closer to Zuko’s ear. Katara, breaking the kiss, looked at them curiously.
“We really did miss you,” Mai murmured, brushing her breasts against Zuko’s arm. “We thought about you when in bed,” she added, and licked the underside of his ear, making Zuko catch his breath. “But you know that, don’t you? You did read our letters.”
Zuko gasped as she stroked his cock, and nodded, his eyes wide.
“They were - ah - quite explicit,” he managed.
“We tried our best to excite your imagination,” Mai said. “And you did get off to them, didn’t you? To the thought of Katara and me in our bed, naked, touching each other?”
Zuko couldn’t but breathe shallowly, and nod again; Mai smiled. She could feel Katara’s hand joining hers on Zuko’s cock; at the same moment their wife tilted her head to Zuko’s other ear, starting to kiss and nibble gently upon it.
“Well, good,” Mai murmured. “Because we quite enjoyed reading your letters before the bedtime. Reading about how you wanted to stroke us and please us-” She deliberately paused, before continuing, in a lowered voice, “-and fuck us.”
At this, Zuko moaned openly, and arched his hips. Mai glanced over his head, knowing it wouldn’t take long at this point, and nodded at Katara, both of them increasing the pressure, and the rhythm of their strokes.
“Tonight in bed, I want you to do us really good and proper,” she went on. “We’re still very horny, both of us” - Zuko gasped for breath - “and I have to tell you, Katara’s ass is to die for right now.”
Zuko let out a deep, guttural moan, and came over their fingers. Mai kissed his ear, and then his jaw, and the corner of his mouth, before snuggling to him even closer, linking hands with Katara over his stomach as their husband strove to breathe regularly.
“I love you both so much,” he said after a couple of minutes, his voice still a little shaky. “So very much. And you are so absolutely beautiful.”
“So, it’s going to be one of these days when you attend the meetings all dazed and grinning?” Katara asked, kissing him. “Just making sure.”
Zuko attempted assuming a dignified expression, but the daze was still the most noticeable part of it. Mai giggled, and tickled his ribs, until Zuko caught her hand, and drew her in for another open-mouthed kiss.
“Probably. But only if I manage to get dressed,” he admitted eventually, turning to kiss Katara again.
“Should I call the maids for help after all?” Mai suggested. “They shouldn’t feel compelled to molest you.”
Katara laughed.
“See? We told you that the lesbian thing could come in handy.”
Zuko smirked, and began to slowly get to his feet.
“The Fire Lord won’t be thwarted by the need to put on clothes,” he announced, making his way towards the neatly folded pile on the table.
Mai slid down on the couch, laying her head down on the armrest, and her legs in Katara’s lap.
“But only because the Fire Ladies won’t fight for him to stay naked,” she said languidly. “This time.”
She felt a surge of tenderness and love upon seeing Zuko’s amusement at her words.
Truly, they did miss each other a lot.