Fic: The reign of fluff [Avatar: the Last Airbender] [5/5]
Author: girlupnorth
Title: The reign of fluff
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Spoilers: Post-series
Rating: NC-17 for porn
Length: ~5,000 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 and TINY TINY ZUTARAI BABIES
Author’s notes: This is for novin_ha (♥), for reasons obvious.
For more detailed notes, please check chapter one
Chapters:
01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 :: 05
The reign of fluff
Chapter Five
Halfway into the third trimester of the pregnancy Katara decided that perhaps the time was ripe to consider Mai and her to be huge. While she was steadily gaining weight and size for the last months, Mai’s figure finally evened out, and no longer did her belly appear to be transplanted from another woman’s body.
Obviously, they spent inordinate amounts of time observing their bodies, and the changes occurring in them, both when on their own, and with Zuko, who was invariably delighted by their pregnant bellies, or enlarged breasts and asses.
“You know, my nipples are now exactly the same shade like this candy your uncle brought us the last time,” Katara mused one evening, lying on the bed with both Mai and Zuko. “Do you think it’s to cultivate the association with food in the baby?”
“I know I should find this disgusting, but it’s strangely adorable,” Zuko reflected. Katara and Mai exchanged fond looks; upon finding out that indeed, they were quite intent on breast-feeding the babies themselves, Zuko initially froze, only to burst into noises of admiration after giving the subject some thought.
“I’m still not sure that I’m convinced,” Mai said. “It’s cute and all, but isn’t it also supposed to hurt and be all unpleasant at the beginning?”
“Master water healer over here,” Katara reminded her.
“The thing is, you adore babies,” Mai remarked, sounding a little sad. “I’m not sure that I even like them very much.”
“You don’t have to like babies at large,” Katara replied. “Just these two. And, well, their possible future siblings.”
“How many do you have planned?” Zuko asked, amused.
“I won’t tell you. You’re going to laugh.”
“Dear spirits.”
“I definitely wouldn’t like to stop at heir and spare.”
“Could we focus on the babies that are already on board for the time being?” Mai pleaded, holding onto Zuko’s hand. He closed his fingers around hers, and then raised her hand to his lips to kiss her. Mai snuggled closer to him.
“Sure,” Katara said, joining the two of them. After a moment she sighed. “I think that the baby is having a dance party on my liver.”
Mai nodded her head in sympathy.
“I haven’t seen my feet for more than a week,” she complained. “I probably won’t again, until we give birth.”
“They’re still very pretty,” Zuko hastened to say. Mai attempted to raise one leg into the air, and then gave up.
“It’s good that at least we don’t have swelling problems,” Katara reflected, getting a look at her wife’s still rather shapely calves.
“It does come in handy to have a waterbending wife,” Mai agreed. “It would be nice to have Ty Lee’s agility, though.”
“Yeah. Getting horny and having your joints refuse to cooperate? Worst thing ever.”
“I know it should be you in the centre of the attention right now,” Zuko interceded. “But could we please spend a moment acknowledging my contributions to your well-being? I know that my joints have discovered some quite interesting ways in which to bend during these past few weeks.”
“Oh Zuko, you’re so amazing,” Mai said at once. “Whatever would we do without you?”
“You’re being ironic, right?” he asked suspiciously.
Mai kissed his jaw, a playful glimmer in her eye.
“Only a little bit.”
“No appreciation for my hard work,” Zuko grumbled. “Should have known. Always the undergod. Even when I’m the Fire Lord.”
“Underdog,” Mai corrected.
Zuko fumed.
“That’s what I said.”
Mai laughed and kissed him again, this time closer to his ear.
“By the way, is it true that the Fire Lord is supposed to be a descendant of gods?” Katara asked with sudden curiosity.
Zuko paused.
“Technically.”
“Just the Fire Lord, or his children as well?”
“I’d say so, but you should probably ask the sages,” Zuko offered finally. “Mai?”
“Judging from Azula’s musings on her divine propensity for holding and exerting power, I’d say it’s the Fire Lord and all his descendants,” Mai replied after a moment’s thought. “But Azulon went for a more secular reign, and I’m not sure if we need people going insane about Zuko’s divinity even more than they do now.”
“It was just something I ran into while looking through the paperwork for my hospital,” Katara explained, and smiled. “I’d never thought I’d carry a divine child.”
“You’re making me blush,” Zuko said, though both his expression and the tone of his voice suggested an approaching panic attack.
The Fire Ladies didn’t fail to notice their husband’s change of mood.
“What’s wrong?” Mai asked, touching Zuko tenderly. When he frowned, she kissed his jaw again. “Come on, Zuko, you know you can tell us.”
“It’s nothing,” he replied gloomily. “I’m just approaching the freaking out phase of waiting for you to give birth.”
Mai and Katara exchanged looks. Katara raised her eyebrows.
“I’m actually kinda surprised it took you that long,” she revealed.
“It didn’t,” Zuko sighed. “I just didn’t want to unduly stress you out beyond what you must feel already.”
“That’s really thoughtful of you,” Mai deadpanned, not unkindly. “But I have to say I really feel calmer since Katara suggested using waterbending to prod my baby out in due time.”
Zuko scowled.
“You’re not doubting my skills, are you?” Katara asked, an unveiled threat ringing in her voice.
“Of course not,” Zuko asserted immediately. “I’m less sure about the babies’ willingness to cooperate, though.”
Mai made a snorting noise.
“They’ll be perfectly well-behaved, of course,” she declared. “Both before and after birth. Why shouldn’t they?”
Zuko wisely decided to abstain from further complaining, coming to a conclusion that annoying his almost eight-months-pregnant wife would not be the wisest course of action.
*
The crisis arrived unexpectedly, in the form of a letter from Azula’s concerned nurse to Zuko. Upon hearing of this occurrence, Mai immediately decided to fire the nurse for going over her head, and only then focused on the problem at hand.
The problem at hand concerned Azula getting it on with Toph.
“She is fucking kidding me,” Zuko exclaimed furiously. “Right?”
Mai considered the spy reports she’d been receiving from the Ember Island, and thought that they might have been overly vague in the word choices.
“I don’t think she would,” she replied. “I doubt she’d dare to risk your anger.”
The thought appeared to mollify Zuko a little, but only for a short moment.
“What is Azula thinking?” he asked dramatically. Then it dawned on him. “She’s trying to get on my bad side again, isn’t she? And she knows that if she tried anything here, my people would fall on her like a ton of bricks.”
“Yeah, but Toph wouldn’t allow a ton of bricks to fall on Azula,” Katara remarked. “Or any earth-based stuff, at this point.”
“You don’t believe this relationship is for real, do you?” Zuko demanded.
Katara shrugged.
“Toph has something of a penchant for dangerous women,” she said. “And Azula has improved of late.”
Zuko glared towards Mai.
“When did you talk her over to your side?”
Mai sighed.
The conversation - and Zuko’s anger - ran throughout the day, and then resumed anew at bedtime, when Zuko started to complain with fresh energy about Azula’s match.
By that time Mai was feeling quite fed up with the subject.
“Well, at least Toph’s safe from the Earth King,” she pointed out. “Isn’t that what we wanted?”
At that remark, Katara perked up.
“Do you think Toph and Azula could get married, to drive the point home?” she asked excitedly.
Zuko raised his hand and massaged the peak of his nose.
“Yes, this is exactly what we need. My crazy sister marrying… well, anyone.”
“You could spin it to your advantage,” Katara advised. “Azula falling for a beautiful blind girl? The public will eat it. And Azula could use some good publicity.”
Zuko scowled.
“Oh come on, Toph would be a great fit for a princess,” Mai said. “Nobility, a lot of money…”
“I’m not concerned for the suitability of Azula’s marriage here,” Zuko said. “Or, well, for Azula.”
“Well, maybe you should be,” Mai replied haughtily. “Because if Toph decides to dump her? Bye-bye sanity, welcome back crazy Azula.”
“You know, Toph’s not exactly a helpless little girl,” Katara said, and, apparently going for a Sokka-style joke, added, “She can probably keep Azula pretty well grounded.”
“Or they could actually have fun together,” Mai said, sounding somewhat tired.
“Fun?” Zuko snorted. “Azula’s idea of fun is setting dolls of fire.”
“I have a feeling that that was a few good years back,” Mai remarked.
“My point still stands.”
“I don’t know why this is such a big deal,” Mai stated calmly. “No, they don’t need to get married. They might have a nice winter fling. I doubt anyone’s using anyone there, and Azula could make use a proper hug or two.”
“You’re about the only sane person I know who likes Azula without being paid to,” Zuko declared.
Somehow, this comment tipped the scale. Mai slowly sat up, and shot her husband a glare of death.
“Do not talk to me in this tone,” she said icily.
“You do not talk to me in this tone,” Zuko spat at once, causing Katara to cover her face with her hands.
Mai was quiet for a short moment, going over the situation in her brain.
“I don’t have the energy to deal with this,” she announced coolly, and cut Zuko off before he managed to say another word. “No, really. You can go and sleep in the Fire Lord bedroom tonight. I need my peace and quiet.”
Zuko seemed to be somewhat cooled down by this, and he moved towards Mai for an apology, but she shook her head.
“Zuko, please. I’m exhausted, and I want to go to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
Zuko stood for a moment looking at Mai with a forlorn expression, but then turned to take his leave without another sound of protest.
“Should I go too?” Katara asked a few minutes after Zuko had left the room. Mai sighed, and allowed her wife to kiss and stroke her.
“You might want to go and talk to Zuko,” she said. “But you don’t have to.”
“I was going to spend some time outside tonight, actually,” Katara explained. “It’s the full moon. But maybe I shouldn’t leave you alone?”
“It’s alright,” Mai replied, and lay a small kiss on the corner of Katara’s lips. “I’m already half-asleep.”
She was aware of her wife staying in the room for a while longer, while she tucked herself snugly under the cover; she couldn’t tell exactly when Katara left.
Mai woke some time later to the sound of wind howling outside the palace. The royal bedchamber, though warm, was dark and empty.
She stirred for a while in bed, before sliding out from the under the covers. She put on the warm bathrobe - a gift from the Southern Water Tribe in-laws - and left the room.
She went to what they called the Fire Lord set of rooms first, despite not really expecting to find Zuko there; he never much enjoyed spending time in that part of the palace. The bedchamber was, indeed, empty, although the linens were visibly tussled, suggesting that Zuko did at least attempt to fall asleep there.
Next, she headed for Katara’s rooms, where her wife might have been expected to be found after finishing her waterbending practice, and where Zuko might have headed as well. Approaching the small bedchamber, Mai realized that she could, indeed, hear her spouses’ voices sounding from within the room. Quite instinctively, she slowed down, softened her step, and tiptoed to the half-open door.
She saw Katara sitting on the bed, her legs stretched out. Zuko was kneeling in front of her, and stroking her feet, apparently warming them up.
“It’s not that cold,” Katara said.
“It’s the windy season,” Zuko replied, a note of concern in his voice. “I told you. The temperatures may drop very rapidly. You shouldn’t risk your health.”
“Zuko, in case you don’t remember, I come from the South Pole. This weather doesn’t even begin to come close to the frosts I am used to.”
Zuko said something under his breath, and Katara kicked him playfully in the chest.
“Why were you up wandering around the palace anyway?” she asked, when his hands returned to her feet. “When I was leaving, you were fuming in the bed.”
“I wasn’t fuming,” Zuko protested.
“Of course you were.”
“I wasn’t. Anyway, I was going to check on Mai when I heard you come in. You know how she hates the winds.”
It was high time to make an entrance.
“Hey,” Mai said, making a few steps into the room. Katara raised her head; Zuko turned around. They both smiled.
“Mai,” he said, getting up. He came to her, and kissed her gently; feeling warmed up after overhearing her spouses’ conversation, she didn’t hesitate to reciprocate. “Are you okay? Did we wake you?”
“The winds did,” she replied. She snuggled into his warm arms for a moment, before turning to the bed and crawling under the covers. “Come here. Warm me up.”
They joined her on the bed, Zuko embracing her from the behind, and Katara attempting to fit in from the front. Their bellies brushed against one another. This bed was definitely not designed for three persons plus: even before they got pregnant, it would have felt overcrowded. Finally, Katara gave up, and lay with her back to Mai, muttering something about small beds, only calming down when Mai embraced her and kissed her neck.
“I love you,” Zuko said into Mai’s ear, his hand warm on her belly. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Let’s not argue anymore.”
“Alright,” Mai agreed. “Since you admit you’ve been wrong.” Zuko snorted, and she snuggled even closer to him. “I love you too.”
Mai woke up early in the morning - far too early for her tastes, in fact - feeling Zuko’s warmth as he was still lying very snugly behind her back, his erection resting against her ass. She spent a minute wondering if he was awake, only to have him finally kiss her neck with a small sigh.
She reached out behind her, twisting her hand so as to lay it on the small of Zuko’s back, and pressed him closer to herself. He seemed to pause for a moment, and then proceeded to uncover Mai’s ear off her hair, and kissed her earlobe. They moved languidly against one another, Zuko stroking Mai’s sides and breasts, before he moved back a little and raised her nightgown to expose her buttocks. She gasped upon feeling his fingers trace her cleft.
“You are so unbelievably gorgeous,” Zuko murmured into her ear, reaching to her pussy, making a content sound on discovering her wetness. Mai ground against his hand, wordlessly encouraging him to go on. It was only several minutes later, when Mai almost reached the brink of her climax when Zuko finally entered her, trying for slow, but almost immediately getting impatient in his moves. Moments after, Mai came against his fingers; Zuko followed her very soon, as usual delightfully easy in the morning.
The thought of getting out of bed abhorrent, Mai snuggled into Zuko’s embrace, muttering something vaguely incoherent about the temperature in the palace being low and the hour much too early.
“No getting up yet,” Zuko agreed, sounding almost as drowsy as she did.
Katara made a small noise on the other side of Mai.
“You’re right. Let’s sleep,” Mai said into her wife’s ear.
They slept.
*
The last month of the pregnancy seemed to stretch into infinity. Katara was irritable and insomniac; Mai, on the other hand, constantly felt sleepy, and very mellow. They both ate enormous amounts of food, and complained of having to go to the bathroom every half an hour.
Zuko managed to keep his dramatics mostly in check: at the end of the eighth month of his wives’ pregnancies, he demanded only that two midwives be permanently installed in the palace, to be available at any hour, and promised to abstain from trying to employ further healthcare personnel until he was given a sign from Katara or Mai.
“And don’t try to smuggle them in here under false pretences,” Mai warned. “I’ll find them out and fire anyway.”
Zuko glared at her, but, much to their surprise, didn’t even protest.
That evening went on much as usual; after the sex, made increasingly difficult by Mai and Katara’s big bellies and lack of agility, Mai and Zuko fell asleep almost immediately. Katara, meanwhile, lay on her side of the bed, listening as the breathing of her spouses grew steadier and deeper, looking to the ceiling, and getting more and more annoyed by her sleeplessness. Eventually, she sat up on the bed, and peered at her beloveds.
Mai slept on her back, one of her hands on her belly, the other on the pillow by the side of her head. Zuko, as always, took up almost half of the bed, sprawling his limbs in the most unbelievable directions, on occasion turning to stretch himself even further. Katara watched him for a long while with amused tenderness, before throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She wasn’t quite sure what she should devote her time to, at this hour of the night, especially since she didn’t really feel like going out for a waterbending session.
She must have made some kind of a sound, because Zuko suddenly stirred under the covers, mumbled something, and then rose on his elbows, looking quite confused. As Katara turned to glance at him, she saw Zuko raise his hand from under the cover.
There was a flicker of white flame on his palm, which he slowly brought towards the nightstand to light one of the candles. It caught the fire with a hiss. Zuko sat up on the bed, and rubbed his eyes.
“Katara,” Zuko said, quietly, so as not to wake Mai up, his good eye half-open, the other one barely a slit. “What’s wrong? It’s the middle of the night, isn’t it?”
Katara shrugged, and made a face.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just can’t sleep,” she replied.
Zuko made his way to the edge of the bed, and sat next to Katara. He pulled a woolly blanket off the floor, and covered them both, carefully. Katara smiled. In the colder months - which she obstinately refused to call “winter” - Zuko’s nightwear was long-sleeved, as if the two women sleeping on his both sides didn’t provide him with enough warmth. They teased him that it would be easier for him to bend fire and warm up the bedchamber than to stock it up with blankets and furs, but to no avail.
Zuko yawned warm air into Katara’s ear, and then wrapped her in his arms, laying one hand on her stomach. The baby, so far fluttering in what seemed to be its favourite spot on the left side of Katara’s stomach, flipped around a few times, pushed at the exact place Zuko’s hand lay, and rested there.
“I think it likes you,” Katara remarked in a whisper. Zuko laughed quietly into her neck.
“It seemed to quite enjoy being wrapped in fire, too,” he said, referring to the ceremony earlier that day. Katara snorted.
“It just likes warmth, like its daddy and the baby sibling,” she explained, pulling the blanket off Zuko’s knee, only to have him make a tiny yelp, and replace it instantly. “They both do.”
“You know what?”
“Hmm?”
“It’ll be nice not to talk of them as ‘it’s anymore when they are born,” Zuko said softly, stroking her belly.
Katara craned her neck to kiss the underside of Zuko’s jaw.
“That’s true,” she admitted, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Mai. If their wife got up at this hour because of them, they would need to evacuate to another city to escape her fury.
The thought made Katara smile. Zuko gently drew her face, up and they kissed for a long while.
“You should be getting your sleep before they are born,” he suggested when they finally pulled apart. “Since you don’t want to rely on the nurses and nannies entirely, I mean.”
Katara sighed deeply, resting her head on his arm. “I know, I know,” she said. “No more sleep. No more peace and quiet. No more time for ourselves.” She made an unhappy noise. “No more sex.”
“Are you complaining about the babies?” Zuko asked, surprised.
“It’s not just you who’s stressing out, you know,” she replied, pouting. “I’m just being less vocal about it.”
Zuko cradled her tenderly in his arms.
“I know you’ll be an excellent mother,” he declared. “Both of you will be great mums. But if we require any help, we’ll just get an army of nannies and get through it.”
Katara nodded.
“You’re very cute when you’re all supportive,” she murmured. “You’ll make a good dad, too, you know.”
“I’ve decided that I can’t be worse than Ozai,” Zuko shrugged. “It’s a comforting thought.”
Katara chuckled; she was feeling herself grow quite sleepy in the warmth of Zuko’s embrace.
“I love you,” she said. Zuko yawned. “Back to sleep?”
They climbed back under the covers and laid down together, Zuko snuggling behind Katara’s back.
“Goodnight,” he murmured into her ear.
This time, she drifted off with no problems at all.
*
In the weeks preceding the expected double birth, the palace was swarmed by the best midwives and physicians of the Fire Nation, as well as healers from the Northern Water Tribe. Every single movement of Mai and Katara was being watched; a simple hesitant step during a walk led to questions about their well being and whether they could feel the babies pushing to see the light of the day.
It was a chilly spring day when Mai and Katara decided that it was high time for Mai’s baby to be born. In order to start the labour process, Katara employed her finest waterbending skills, and then didn’t leave Mai’s side throughout the delivery. It took several long hours - long enough for the drugs that Katara had fed Zuko to wear off, and for him to begin pacing outside the chamber - but in the end of the day Mai gave birth to a baby girl.
The new Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was pretty and tiny, and seemed unsure if she should welcome the new world with a series of dramatic cries, or with a stoical gaze of her small eyes. She spent the first minutes of her life whimpering quietly, and finally settled down only when all the medical staff left the chamber, leaving her alone with her parents.
Mai, holding her newborn daughter in her arms, examined her carefully.
“She looks like you,” she deemed finally, turning to look at Zuko, who was embracing her tightly, a slightly silly, blissed out expression of utmost tenderness on his face. He smiled, and kissed her.
“She really kinda does,” Katara said, stroking the little girl’s nose with her finger. “She has that adorable sleepy turtle look to her face.” She kissed Mai, and smiled as well. “She’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“You both are,” Zuko said. “Well - all three of you,” he added hastily.
Katara put her hand on his. “It’s okay. It’s Mai’s day, all the way.”
Mai attempted a weak smile. “I’m really tired,” she said.
“No wonder,” Katara replied. “It was terribly exhausting, and you were so brave and focused.”
“You were incredible,” Zuko asserted.
Katara nodded, and carefully took the baby girl out of Mai’s arms to put her beside her mother. “You deserve proper rest. And look, she’s fallen asleep already.”
“We should name her,” Mai murmured drowsily.
“This can wait,” Zuko replied, and kissed her again. “Sleep well, Mai. We won’t let anyone disturb you.”
The second Fire Princess, born three days later, appeared about as cute and small, although slightly plumper than her sister. Her skin was also a little darker, though their hair appeared to be of exactly the same shade.
Mai demanded to be allowed to stay with Katara during her labour, and supportively managed to fall asleep only a few times. This delivery seemed, however, much more peaceful, as the North Pole healers were fairly experienced with assisting their fellow waterbenders during the labour.
Later that evening, when Katara managed to catch some sleep, the happy trio of new parents gathered in the bedchamber to discuss names for their daughters. With the newborn girls fast asleep in the middle of the bed, Mai, Katara and Zuko talked in soft voices, occasionally pausing to pet or kiss one of the babies.
“I thought about what you said when we talked about names, about ignoring you,” Katara started. “And, well, what would you say to Keiko?”
“Kei-ko,” Zuko repeated, with some considerable difficulty stopping stroking the tiny hand of their older daughter. “Oh. It’s nice.”
Mai smiled. “I see what you did there.”
While settling on Keiko as the name for the baby girl born by Katara was easy, naming her older sister turned out to be something of a problem. Finally, after a long discussion, they decided to call her Mitsuko, a word which meant light. The baby girls themselves, of course, completely ignored the momentous occasion, sleeping soundly throughout the length of the conversation.
Some two weeks later they were all sitting on the couch in one of the living rooms, and going through the letters and packages that they received through the friends and family channel of the palace post. Mitsuko had fallen asleep while being held by Katara, and so when Keiko woke up with a startled whimper, Mai took her in her arms and, after a quick check-up, started to nurse the baby girl.
“I could hold Mitsuko,” Zuko suggested in a soft tone. Mai looked towards him to make sure that it wasn’t a complaint regarding their lack of attention for him, but apparently, Zuko, deeply enthralled by his fatherhood and enamoured of his daughters, was genuinely offering help.
“She seems so comfortable with Katara,” she replied, smiling towards him. “And I don’t think Keiko minds.” The baby was suckling greedily, her eyes half closed.
“You are all so beautiful,” Zuko said, looking as if he were halfway towards crying. “I can’t believe my own luck.”
Katara playfully patted him on the shoulder.
“Well, you can start by unwrapping the rest of these gifts,” she proposed. “Given that we’re both all busy and immobilized.”
Zuko nodded, and reached for the first of the parcels. He undid them meticulously, one after another, putting the gifts in one pile on the table, and the letters on another. Katara and Mai watched him with amused fascination.
“Can you tell which one is from whom?” Mai asked at last.
Zuko frowned, and then looked from one pile to the other.
“I guess so,” he said. “The teas and the wind chimes are of course from Uncle Iroh. The collection of baby animals is Sokka’s own production.”
“As you can tell,” Katara snorted.
Zuko continued to enumerate other gifts, which included a selection of smaller and bigger baby clothes, some baby accessories, and assorted various and sundry. Since Mai was a little distracted with the feeding, Katara listened to him especially attentively.
“So that leaves Mai’s parents, Toph with Azula, and...?”
Zuko leafed through the letters.
“No, that’s it. Nobody else.”
“But there is one more gift,” Mai said. “There, at the bottom. Under the red and black clothy things?”
Zuko reached for the items indicated by Mai, putting aside small shirts and dresses (“Oh, these will be perfect for the warmer weather,” Katara remarked at once) sent by Mai’s own family.
“It looks like more clothes,” he said, showing a neatly folded pile of fabric to his wives. “In the royal family colours.”
Something fell out of the material, and jangled lightly on the floor, causing Katara to make a shushing sound. Zuko leant down, and raised two tiny ring-like items. He turned them around in his hands, trying to figure out their purpose.
“It’s two headpieces,” he exclaimed at last. “For top knots. Baby-sized. And these are-“ He spread the fabric, revealing two adult-sized dresses.
“I think these are for Katara and me,” Mai decided.
“That’s really very thoughtful,” Katara said, a note of surprise to her voice. “Who sent it?”
“Must be from Azula,” Zuko said.
“No, she and Toph got us the baby bathing set, as I suggested,” Mai insisted. “I knew it would be fairly easy to complete on the Ember Island, and besides, it will surely come in handy, sooner or later.”
“Well, that’s it. There are no more letters,” Zuko declared, sounding slightly impatient. “Someone added it in an afterthought, probably Uncle. Big deal.”
“It doesn’t seem like your Uncle’s kind of gift, though,” Katara said thoughtfully, only to be interrupted when Mitsuko whimpered quietly in her embrace.
“So there’s a mysterious benefactor,” Zuko said.
“With an access to the private channel?”
At that moment, Mitsuko decided to start to cry in earnest, causing both Zuko and Katara to abandon their argument, and check up on the state of her nappies, and the fullness of her stomach.
“That’s not fair,” Zuko murmured eventually, when Mitsuko calmed down. “My own child prohibits me to complain. I did not bargain for that.”
Mai laughed quietly.
“Oh, that’s more like you,” she exclaimed, leaning carefully over to him, and kissing his temple. “The Zuko we know and love.”
“I love you too,” Zuko said, still seeming somewhat grumpy.
“We know,” Katara replied with a smile, and snuggled closer to her spouses, offering kisses to both of them. “These coming months are going to be fun, aren’t they?”
And that they undeniably were.
Title: The reign of fluff
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Spoilers: Post-series
Rating: NC-17 for porn
Length: ~5,000 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 and TINY TINY ZUTARAI BABIES
Author’s notes: This is for novin_ha (♥), for reasons obvious.
For more detailed notes, please check chapter one
Chapters:
01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 :: 05
The reign of fluff
Chapter Five
Halfway into the third trimester of the pregnancy Katara decided that perhaps the time was ripe to consider Mai and her to be huge. While she was steadily gaining weight and size for the last months, Mai’s figure finally evened out, and no longer did her belly appear to be transplanted from another woman’s body.
Obviously, they spent inordinate amounts of time observing their bodies, and the changes occurring in them, both when on their own, and with Zuko, who was invariably delighted by their pregnant bellies, or enlarged breasts and asses.
“You know, my nipples are now exactly the same shade like this candy your uncle brought us the last time,” Katara mused one evening, lying on the bed with both Mai and Zuko. “Do you think it’s to cultivate the association with food in the baby?”
“I know I should find this disgusting, but it’s strangely adorable,” Zuko reflected. Katara and Mai exchanged fond looks; upon finding out that indeed, they were quite intent on breast-feeding the babies themselves, Zuko initially froze, only to burst into noises of admiration after giving the subject some thought.
“I’m still not sure that I’m convinced,” Mai said. “It’s cute and all, but isn’t it also supposed to hurt and be all unpleasant at the beginning?”
“Master water healer over here,” Katara reminded her.
“The thing is, you adore babies,” Mai remarked, sounding a little sad. “I’m not sure that I even like them very much.”
“You don’t have to like babies at large,” Katara replied. “Just these two. And, well, their possible future siblings.”
“How many do you have planned?” Zuko asked, amused.
“I won’t tell you. You’re going to laugh.”
“Dear spirits.”
“I definitely wouldn’t like to stop at heir and spare.”
“Could we focus on the babies that are already on board for the time being?” Mai pleaded, holding onto Zuko’s hand. He closed his fingers around hers, and then raised her hand to his lips to kiss her. Mai snuggled closer to him.
“Sure,” Katara said, joining the two of them. After a moment she sighed. “I think that the baby is having a dance party on my liver.”
Mai nodded her head in sympathy.
“I haven’t seen my feet for more than a week,” she complained. “I probably won’t again, until we give birth.”
“They’re still very pretty,” Zuko hastened to say. Mai attempted to raise one leg into the air, and then gave up.
“It’s good that at least we don’t have swelling problems,” Katara reflected, getting a look at her wife’s still rather shapely calves.
“It does come in handy to have a waterbending wife,” Mai agreed. “It would be nice to have Ty Lee’s agility, though.”
“Yeah. Getting horny and having your joints refuse to cooperate? Worst thing ever.”
“I know it should be you in the centre of the attention right now,” Zuko interceded. “But could we please spend a moment acknowledging my contributions to your well-being? I know that my joints have discovered some quite interesting ways in which to bend during these past few weeks.”
“Oh Zuko, you’re so amazing,” Mai said at once. “Whatever would we do without you?”
“You’re being ironic, right?” he asked suspiciously.
Mai kissed his jaw, a playful glimmer in her eye.
“Only a little bit.”
“No appreciation for my hard work,” Zuko grumbled. “Should have known. Always the undergod. Even when I’m the Fire Lord.”
“Underdog,” Mai corrected.
Zuko fumed.
“That’s what I said.”
Mai laughed and kissed him again, this time closer to his ear.
“By the way, is it true that the Fire Lord is supposed to be a descendant of gods?” Katara asked with sudden curiosity.
Zuko paused.
“Technically.”
“Just the Fire Lord, or his children as well?”
“I’d say so, but you should probably ask the sages,” Zuko offered finally. “Mai?”
“Judging from Azula’s musings on her divine propensity for holding and exerting power, I’d say it’s the Fire Lord and all his descendants,” Mai replied after a moment’s thought. “But Azulon went for a more secular reign, and I’m not sure if we need people going insane about Zuko’s divinity even more than they do now.”
“It was just something I ran into while looking through the paperwork for my hospital,” Katara explained, and smiled. “I’d never thought I’d carry a divine child.”
“You’re making me blush,” Zuko said, though both his expression and the tone of his voice suggested an approaching panic attack.
The Fire Ladies didn’t fail to notice their husband’s change of mood.
“What’s wrong?” Mai asked, touching Zuko tenderly. When he frowned, she kissed his jaw again. “Come on, Zuko, you know you can tell us.”
“It’s nothing,” he replied gloomily. “I’m just approaching the freaking out phase of waiting for you to give birth.”
Mai and Katara exchanged looks. Katara raised her eyebrows.
“I’m actually kinda surprised it took you that long,” she revealed.
“It didn’t,” Zuko sighed. “I just didn’t want to unduly stress you out beyond what you must feel already.”
“That’s really thoughtful of you,” Mai deadpanned, not unkindly. “But I have to say I really feel calmer since Katara suggested using waterbending to prod my baby out in due time.”
Zuko scowled.
“You’re not doubting my skills, are you?” Katara asked, an unveiled threat ringing in her voice.
“Of course not,” Zuko asserted immediately. “I’m less sure about the babies’ willingness to cooperate, though.”
Mai made a snorting noise.
“They’ll be perfectly well-behaved, of course,” she declared. “Both before and after birth. Why shouldn’t they?”
Zuko wisely decided to abstain from further complaining, coming to a conclusion that annoying his almost eight-months-pregnant wife would not be the wisest course of action.
*
The crisis arrived unexpectedly, in the form of a letter from Azula’s concerned nurse to Zuko. Upon hearing of this occurrence, Mai immediately decided to fire the nurse for going over her head, and only then focused on the problem at hand.
The problem at hand concerned Azula getting it on with Toph.
“She is fucking kidding me,” Zuko exclaimed furiously. “Right?”
Mai considered the spy reports she’d been receiving from the Ember Island, and thought that they might have been overly vague in the word choices.
“I don’t think she would,” she replied. “I doubt she’d dare to risk your anger.”
The thought appeared to mollify Zuko a little, but only for a short moment.
“What is Azula thinking?” he asked dramatically. Then it dawned on him. “She’s trying to get on my bad side again, isn’t she? And she knows that if she tried anything here, my people would fall on her like a ton of bricks.”
“Yeah, but Toph wouldn’t allow a ton of bricks to fall on Azula,” Katara remarked. “Or any earth-based stuff, at this point.”
“You don’t believe this relationship is for real, do you?” Zuko demanded.
Katara shrugged.
“Toph has something of a penchant for dangerous women,” she said. “And Azula has improved of late.”
Zuko glared towards Mai.
“When did you talk her over to your side?”
Mai sighed.
The conversation - and Zuko’s anger - ran throughout the day, and then resumed anew at bedtime, when Zuko started to complain with fresh energy about Azula’s match.
By that time Mai was feeling quite fed up with the subject.
“Well, at least Toph’s safe from the Earth King,” she pointed out. “Isn’t that what we wanted?”
At that remark, Katara perked up.
“Do you think Toph and Azula could get married, to drive the point home?” she asked excitedly.
Zuko raised his hand and massaged the peak of his nose.
“Yes, this is exactly what we need. My crazy sister marrying… well, anyone.”
“You could spin it to your advantage,” Katara advised. “Azula falling for a beautiful blind girl? The public will eat it. And Azula could use some good publicity.”
Zuko scowled.
“Oh come on, Toph would be a great fit for a princess,” Mai said. “Nobility, a lot of money…”
“I’m not concerned for the suitability of Azula’s marriage here,” Zuko said. “Or, well, for Azula.”
“Well, maybe you should be,” Mai replied haughtily. “Because if Toph decides to dump her? Bye-bye sanity, welcome back crazy Azula.”
“You know, Toph’s not exactly a helpless little girl,” Katara said, and, apparently going for a Sokka-style joke, added, “She can probably keep Azula pretty well grounded.”
“Or they could actually have fun together,” Mai said, sounding somewhat tired.
“Fun?” Zuko snorted. “Azula’s idea of fun is setting dolls of fire.”
“I have a feeling that that was a few good years back,” Mai remarked.
“My point still stands.”
“I don’t know why this is such a big deal,” Mai stated calmly. “No, they don’t need to get married. They might have a nice winter fling. I doubt anyone’s using anyone there, and Azula could make use a proper hug or two.”
“You’re about the only sane person I know who likes Azula without being paid to,” Zuko declared.
Somehow, this comment tipped the scale. Mai slowly sat up, and shot her husband a glare of death.
“Do not talk to me in this tone,” she said icily.
“You do not talk to me in this tone,” Zuko spat at once, causing Katara to cover her face with her hands.
Mai was quiet for a short moment, going over the situation in her brain.
“I don’t have the energy to deal with this,” she announced coolly, and cut Zuko off before he managed to say another word. “No, really. You can go and sleep in the Fire Lord bedroom tonight. I need my peace and quiet.”
Zuko seemed to be somewhat cooled down by this, and he moved towards Mai for an apology, but she shook her head.
“Zuko, please. I’m exhausted, and I want to go to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
Zuko stood for a moment looking at Mai with a forlorn expression, but then turned to take his leave without another sound of protest.
“Should I go too?” Katara asked a few minutes after Zuko had left the room. Mai sighed, and allowed her wife to kiss and stroke her.
“You might want to go and talk to Zuko,” she said. “But you don’t have to.”
“I was going to spend some time outside tonight, actually,” Katara explained. “It’s the full moon. But maybe I shouldn’t leave you alone?”
“It’s alright,” Mai replied, and lay a small kiss on the corner of Katara’s lips. “I’m already half-asleep.”
She was aware of her wife staying in the room for a while longer, while she tucked herself snugly under the cover; she couldn’t tell exactly when Katara left.
Mai woke some time later to the sound of wind howling outside the palace. The royal bedchamber, though warm, was dark and empty.
She stirred for a while in bed, before sliding out from the under the covers. She put on the warm bathrobe - a gift from the Southern Water Tribe in-laws - and left the room.
She went to what they called the Fire Lord set of rooms first, despite not really expecting to find Zuko there; he never much enjoyed spending time in that part of the palace. The bedchamber was, indeed, empty, although the linens were visibly tussled, suggesting that Zuko did at least attempt to fall asleep there.
Next, she headed for Katara’s rooms, where her wife might have been expected to be found after finishing her waterbending practice, and where Zuko might have headed as well. Approaching the small bedchamber, Mai realized that she could, indeed, hear her spouses’ voices sounding from within the room. Quite instinctively, she slowed down, softened her step, and tiptoed to the half-open door.
She saw Katara sitting on the bed, her legs stretched out. Zuko was kneeling in front of her, and stroking her feet, apparently warming them up.
“It’s not that cold,” Katara said.
“It’s the windy season,” Zuko replied, a note of concern in his voice. “I told you. The temperatures may drop very rapidly. You shouldn’t risk your health.”
“Zuko, in case you don’t remember, I come from the South Pole. This weather doesn’t even begin to come close to the frosts I am used to.”
Zuko said something under his breath, and Katara kicked him playfully in the chest.
“Why were you up wandering around the palace anyway?” she asked, when his hands returned to her feet. “When I was leaving, you were fuming in the bed.”
“I wasn’t fuming,” Zuko protested.
“Of course you were.”
“I wasn’t. Anyway, I was going to check on Mai when I heard you come in. You know how she hates the winds.”
It was high time to make an entrance.
“Hey,” Mai said, making a few steps into the room. Katara raised her head; Zuko turned around. They both smiled.
“Mai,” he said, getting up. He came to her, and kissed her gently; feeling warmed up after overhearing her spouses’ conversation, she didn’t hesitate to reciprocate. “Are you okay? Did we wake you?”
“The winds did,” she replied. She snuggled into his warm arms for a moment, before turning to the bed and crawling under the covers. “Come here. Warm me up.”
They joined her on the bed, Zuko embracing her from the behind, and Katara attempting to fit in from the front. Their bellies brushed against one another. This bed was definitely not designed for three persons plus: even before they got pregnant, it would have felt overcrowded. Finally, Katara gave up, and lay with her back to Mai, muttering something about small beds, only calming down when Mai embraced her and kissed her neck.
“I love you,” Zuko said into Mai’s ear, his hand warm on her belly. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Let’s not argue anymore.”
“Alright,” Mai agreed. “Since you admit you’ve been wrong.” Zuko snorted, and she snuggled even closer to him. “I love you too.”
Mai woke up early in the morning - far too early for her tastes, in fact - feeling Zuko’s warmth as he was still lying very snugly behind her back, his erection resting against her ass. She spent a minute wondering if he was awake, only to have him finally kiss her neck with a small sigh.
She reached out behind her, twisting her hand so as to lay it on the small of Zuko’s back, and pressed him closer to herself. He seemed to pause for a moment, and then proceeded to uncover Mai’s ear off her hair, and kissed her earlobe. They moved languidly against one another, Zuko stroking Mai’s sides and breasts, before he moved back a little and raised her nightgown to expose her buttocks. She gasped upon feeling his fingers trace her cleft.
“You are so unbelievably gorgeous,” Zuko murmured into her ear, reaching to her pussy, making a content sound on discovering her wetness. Mai ground against his hand, wordlessly encouraging him to go on. It was only several minutes later, when Mai almost reached the brink of her climax when Zuko finally entered her, trying for slow, but almost immediately getting impatient in his moves. Moments after, Mai came against his fingers; Zuko followed her very soon, as usual delightfully easy in the morning.
The thought of getting out of bed abhorrent, Mai snuggled into Zuko’s embrace, muttering something vaguely incoherent about the temperature in the palace being low and the hour much too early.
“No getting up yet,” Zuko agreed, sounding almost as drowsy as she did.
Katara made a small noise on the other side of Mai.
“You’re right. Let’s sleep,” Mai said into her wife’s ear.
They slept.
*
The last month of the pregnancy seemed to stretch into infinity. Katara was irritable and insomniac; Mai, on the other hand, constantly felt sleepy, and very mellow. They both ate enormous amounts of food, and complained of having to go to the bathroom every half an hour.
Zuko managed to keep his dramatics mostly in check: at the end of the eighth month of his wives’ pregnancies, he demanded only that two midwives be permanently installed in the palace, to be available at any hour, and promised to abstain from trying to employ further healthcare personnel until he was given a sign from Katara or Mai.
“And don’t try to smuggle them in here under false pretences,” Mai warned. “I’ll find them out and fire anyway.”
Zuko glared at her, but, much to their surprise, didn’t even protest.
That evening went on much as usual; after the sex, made increasingly difficult by Mai and Katara’s big bellies and lack of agility, Mai and Zuko fell asleep almost immediately. Katara, meanwhile, lay on her side of the bed, listening as the breathing of her spouses grew steadier and deeper, looking to the ceiling, and getting more and more annoyed by her sleeplessness. Eventually, she sat up on the bed, and peered at her beloveds.
Mai slept on her back, one of her hands on her belly, the other on the pillow by the side of her head. Zuko, as always, took up almost half of the bed, sprawling his limbs in the most unbelievable directions, on occasion turning to stretch himself even further. Katara watched him for a long while with amused tenderness, before throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She wasn’t quite sure what she should devote her time to, at this hour of the night, especially since she didn’t really feel like going out for a waterbending session.
She must have made some kind of a sound, because Zuko suddenly stirred under the covers, mumbled something, and then rose on his elbows, looking quite confused. As Katara turned to glance at him, she saw Zuko raise his hand from under the cover.
There was a flicker of white flame on his palm, which he slowly brought towards the nightstand to light one of the candles. It caught the fire with a hiss. Zuko sat up on the bed, and rubbed his eyes.
“Katara,” Zuko said, quietly, so as not to wake Mai up, his good eye half-open, the other one barely a slit. “What’s wrong? It’s the middle of the night, isn’t it?”
Katara shrugged, and made a face.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just can’t sleep,” she replied.
Zuko made his way to the edge of the bed, and sat next to Katara. He pulled a woolly blanket off the floor, and covered them both, carefully. Katara smiled. In the colder months - which she obstinately refused to call “winter” - Zuko’s nightwear was long-sleeved, as if the two women sleeping on his both sides didn’t provide him with enough warmth. They teased him that it would be easier for him to bend fire and warm up the bedchamber than to stock it up with blankets and furs, but to no avail.
Zuko yawned warm air into Katara’s ear, and then wrapped her in his arms, laying one hand on her stomach. The baby, so far fluttering in what seemed to be its favourite spot on the left side of Katara’s stomach, flipped around a few times, pushed at the exact place Zuko’s hand lay, and rested there.
“I think it likes you,” Katara remarked in a whisper. Zuko laughed quietly into her neck.
“It seemed to quite enjoy being wrapped in fire, too,” he said, referring to the ceremony earlier that day. Katara snorted.
“It just likes warmth, like its daddy and the baby sibling,” she explained, pulling the blanket off Zuko’s knee, only to have him make a tiny yelp, and replace it instantly. “They both do.”
“You know what?”
“Hmm?”
“It’ll be nice not to talk of them as ‘it’s anymore when they are born,” Zuko said softly, stroking her belly.
Katara craned her neck to kiss the underside of Zuko’s jaw.
“That’s true,” she admitted, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Mai. If their wife got up at this hour because of them, they would need to evacuate to another city to escape her fury.
The thought made Katara smile. Zuko gently drew her face, up and they kissed for a long while.
“You should be getting your sleep before they are born,” he suggested when they finally pulled apart. “Since you don’t want to rely on the nurses and nannies entirely, I mean.”
Katara sighed deeply, resting her head on his arm. “I know, I know,” she said. “No more sleep. No more peace and quiet. No more time for ourselves.” She made an unhappy noise. “No more sex.”
“Are you complaining about the babies?” Zuko asked, surprised.
“It’s not just you who’s stressing out, you know,” she replied, pouting. “I’m just being less vocal about it.”
Zuko cradled her tenderly in his arms.
“I know you’ll be an excellent mother,” he declared. “Both of you will be great mums. But if we require any help, we’ll just get an army of nannies and get through it.”
Katara nodded.
“You’re very cute when you’re all supportive,” she murmured. “You’ll make a good dad, too, you know.”
“I’ve decided that I can’t be worse than Ozai,” Zuko shrugged. “It’s a comforting thought.”
Katara chuckled; she was feeling herself grow quite sleepy in the warmth of Zuko’s embrace.
“I love you,” she said. Zuko yawned. “Back to sleep?”
They climbed back under the covers and laid down together, Zuko snuggling behind Katara’s back.
“Goodnight,” he murmured into her ear.
This time, she drifted off with no problems at all.
*
In the weeks preceding the expected double birth, the palace was swarmed by the best midwives and physicians of the Fire Nation, as well as healers from the Northern Water Tribe. Every single movement of Mai and Katara was being watched; a simple hesitant step during a walk led to questions about their well being and whether they could feel the babies pushing to see the light of the day.
It was a chilly spring day when Mai and Katara decided that it was high time for Mai’s baby to be born. In order to start the labour process, Katara employed her finest waterbending skills, and then didn’t leave Mai’s side throughout the delivery. It took several long hours - long enough for the drugs that Katara had fed Zuko to wear off, and for him to begin pacing outside the chamber - but in the end of the day Mai gave birth to a baby girl.
The new Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was pretty and tiny, and seemed unsure if she should welcome the new world with a series of dramatic cries, or with a stoical gaze of her small eyes. She spent the first minutes of her life whimpering quietly, and finally settled down only when all the medical staff left the chamber, leaving her alone with her parents.
Mai, holding her newborn daughter in her arms, examined her carefully.
“She looks like you,” she deemed finally, turning to look at Zuko, who was embracing her tightly, a slightly silly, blissed out expression of utmost tenderness on his face. He smiled, and kissed her.
“She really kinda does,” Katara said, stroking the little girl’s nose with her finger. “She has that adorable sleepy turtle look to her face.” She kissed Mai, and smiled as well. “She’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“You both are,” Zuko said. “Well - all three of you,” he added hastily.
Katara put her hand on his. “It’s okay. It’s Mai’s day, all the way.”
Mai attempted a weak smile. “I’m really tired,” she said.
“No wonder,” Katara replied. “It was terribly exhausting, and you were so brave and focused.”
“You were incredible,” Zuko asserted.
Katara nodded, and carefully took the baby girl out of Mai’s arms to put her beside her mother. “You deserve proper rest. And look, she’s fallen asleep already.”
“We should name her,” Mai murmured drowsily.
“This can wait,” Zuko replied, and kissed her again. “Sleep well, Mai. We won’t let anyone disturb you.”
The second Fire Princess, born three days later, appeared about as cute and small, although slightly plumper than her sister. Her skin was also a little darker, though their hair appeared to be of exactly the same shade.
Mai demanded to be allowed to stay with Katara during her labour, and supportively managed to fall asleep only a few times. This delivery seemed, however, much more peaceful, as the North Pole healers were fairly experienced with assisting their fellow waterbenders during the labour.
Later that evening, when Katara managed to catch some sleep, the happy trio of new parents gathered in the bedchamber to discuss names for their daughters. With the newborn girls fast asleep in the middle of the bed, Mai, Katara and Zuko talked in soft voices, occasionally pausing to pet or kiss one of the babies.
“I thought about what you said when we talked about names, about ignoring you,” Katara started. “And, well, what would you say to Keiko?”
“Kei-ko,” Zuko repeated, with some considerable difficulty stopping stroking the tiny hand of their older daughter. “Oh. It’s nice.”
Mai smiled. “I see what you did there.”
While settling on Keiko as the name for the baby girl born by Katara was easy, naming her older sister turned out to be something of a problem. Finally, after a long discussion, they decided to call her Mitsuko, a word which meant light. The baby girls themselves, of course, completely ignored the momentous occasion, sleeping soundly throughout the length of the conversation.
Some two weeks later they were all sitting on the couch in one of the living rooms, and going through the letters and packages that they received through the friends and family channel of the palace post. Mitsuko had fallen asleep while being held by Katara, and so when Keiko woke up with a startled whimper, Mai took her in her arms and, after a quick check-up, started to nurse the baby girl.
“I could hold Mitsuko,” Zuko suggested in a soft tone. Mai looked towards him to make sure that it wasn’t a complaint regarding their lack of attention for him, but apparently, Zuko, deeply enthralled by his fatherhood and enamoured of his daughters, was genuinely offering help.
“She seems so comfortable with Katara,” she replied, smiling towards him. “And I don’t think Keiko minds.” The baby was suckling greedily, her eyes half closed.
“You are all so beautiful,” Zuko said, looking as if he were halfway towards crying. “I can’t believe my own luck.”
Katara playfully patted him on the shoulder.
“Well, you can start by unwrapping the rest of these gifts,” she proposed. “Given that we’re both all busy and immobilized.”
Zuko nodded, and reached for the first of the parcels. He undid them meticulously, one after another, putting the gifts in one pile on the table, and the letters on another. Katara and Mai watched him with amused fascination.
“Can you tell which one is from whom?” Mai asked at last.
Zuko frowned, and then looked from one pile to the other.
“I guess so,” he said. “The teas and the wind chimes are of course from Uncle Iroh. The collection of baby animals is Sokka’s own production.”
“As you can tell,” Katara snorted.
Zuko continued to enumerate other gifts, which included a selection of smaller and bigger baby clothes, some baby accessories, and assorted various and sundry. Since Mai was a little distracted with the feeding, Katara listened to him especially attentively.
“So that leaves Mai’s parents, Toph with Azula, and...?”
Zuko leafed through the letters.
“No, that’s it. Nobody else.”
“But there is one more gift,” Mai said. “There, at the bottom. Under the red and black clothy things?”
Zuko reached for the items indicated by Mai, putting aside small shirts and dresses (“Oh, these will be perfect for the warmer weather,” Katara remarked at once) sent by Mai’s own family.
“It looks like more clothes,” he said, showing a neatly folded pile of fabric to his wives. “In the royal family colours.”
Something fell out of the material, and jangled lightly on the floor, causing Katara to make a shushing sound. Zuko leant down, and raised two tiny ring-like items. He turned them around in his hands, trying to figure out their purpose.
“It’s two headpieces,” he exclaimed at last. “For top knots. Baby-sized. And these are-“ He spread the fabric, revealing two adult-sized dresses.
“I think these are for Katara and me,” Mai decided.
“That’s really very thoughtful,” Katara said, a note of surprise to her voice. “Who sent it?”
“Must be from Azula,” Zuko said.
“No, she and Toph got us the baby bathing set, as I suggested,” Mai insisted. “I knew it would be fairly easy to complete on the Ember Island, and besides, it will surely come in handy, sooner or later.”
“Well, that’s it. There are no more letters,” Zuko declared, sounding slightly impatient. “Someone added it in an afterthought, probably Uncle. Big deal.”
“It doesn’t seem like your Uncle’s kind of gift, though,” Katara said thoughtfully, only to be interrupted when Mitsuko whimpered quietly in her embrace.
“So there’s a mysterious benefactor,” Zuko said.
“With an access to the private channel?”
At that moment, Mitsuko decided to start to cry in earnest, causing both Zuko and Katara to abandon their argument, and check up on the state of her nappies, and the fullness of her stomach.
“That’s not fair,” Zuko murmured eventually, when Mitsuko calmed down. “My own child prohibits me to complain. I did not bargain for that.”
Mai laughed quietly.
“Oh, that’s more like you,” she exclaimed, leaning carefully over to him, and kissing his temple. “The Zuko we know and love.”
“I love you too,” Zuko said, still seeming somewhat grumpy.
“We know,” Katara replied with a smile, and snuggled closer to her spouses, offering kisses to both of them. “These coming months are going to be fun, aren’t they?”
And that they undeniably were.