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Chapter Text

Kya

She was the first born child of Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara. Her wavy brown hair and large round eyes strikingly resemble her mother, but the golden coloring of her eyes and her sharp facial features are distinctly her father’s. Her warm ivory skin is the perfect mixture of both.

The Fire Sages predicted that she was a firebender, but the tests to show her capabilities were all fruitless. This didn’t bother Zuko and Karata, who only wanted their baby to be happy and healthy.

Four years later on Kya’s birthday, her bending finally showed itself. The cooks had just presented her with her cake as everyone in the palace began to sing her their well wishes. With her father on her left and her mother holding her baby sister on her right, Kya was filled with such joy that the candles on her cake began to flicker and rise with her laughter.

Ursa

The second child born to the Fire Nation Royal Family. Her straight, jet black hair serves as a stark contrast to her light porcelain skin. Her sharp almond eyes are a beautiful blue surrounded by a golden ring of color circling the edge of her pupils.

The Fire Sages received no indication that Ursa would be a firebender, so Katara and Zuko began to look for any waterbending potential in their daughter. None was found.

One day as Ursa poured over books in the Fire Palace’s library she stumbled upon a story of the famous Yuyan Archers, an elite group who never missed their target. She was immediately hooked on the story and gathered any information she could about the famous group. Seeing her passion, Zuko and Katara gifted her with archery lessons.

Mihran

The third child and only son of Zuko and Katara. His almond shaped eyes house a warm amber color that complements his softer facial structure. His hair is the same black color as his father’s with the waving, curly texture of his mother.

The Fire Sages received strong visions early on into Katara’s pregnancy that Mihran would be a firebender. A few days after his birth the Sages tested him by placing a small ball of tinder under his nose and it immediately caught on fire.

By the time he was thirteen Mihran had already mastered the art of generating and redirecting lightning. A natural born prodigy, the techniques came as naturally to him as breathing and so, unbeknownst to his teachers or parents, he began to work on something new: creating blue flames.

Nakita

The third daughter and final child of the Fire Nation Royal Family. Her honey colored skin, round eyes, and wild brown hair are the spitting image of her mother. The only trace of her father are the subtle accents of gold in her otherwise perfectly blue eyes.

Like her sister before her, the Fire Sages received no signs that Nakita was a firebender. Katara and Zuko worked with her at the Palace to see if she could possibly be a waterbender, but none of their attempts brought out any potential.

On her first birthday, Nakita’s family traveled to the Southern Water Tribe to celebrate. While they were there Hakoda piled Kya, Ursa, and Mihran into his canoe for a ride while Katara and Zuko waited with baby Nakita back in the village. Upset that she was being left out, Nakita began to cry, causing icy waves of water to crash through the ocean.

Lin

The eldest child of Avatar Aang and Toph Beifong. She has her father’s round eyes, but with the traditional Earth Kingdom color of green. Like both of her parents her skin is light and fair and her hair is black like her mother’s.

From the moment Toph realized she was pregnant up until the moment she gave birth she would insist that her daughter was going to be a powerful earthbender. She would allow baby Lin to freely crawl around outside, much to Aang’s dismay, stating that it would help her get a feel for the earth.

Lin began to successfully bend small rocks and pebbles off the ground when she was just a few months shy of her third birthday. Due to her idolized ideals of her mother, she began to work hard from that moment on. When she was old enough to start school she continuously ranked at the top of her class in both bending prowess and overall academic achievement, a title she would keep throughout her educational career.

Tenzin

The second child and eldest son of Aang and Toph. The spitting image of his father, he has light skin, gray eyes, and black hair that he’s constantly shaving off.

Toph didn’t have the same confidence that Tenzin would be an earthbender as he lacked “the stuff” as she put it. Regardless, he was loved just the same and Aang began to hope that his son might be an airbender. One day, Aang took baby Tenzin outside and began to make a feather float just above the palm of his hand. Tenzin cooed at the sight and Aang slowly bent the feather towards his son. Aang shed tears of joy when a small gust of wind appeared between Tenzin’s hands as he reached out for the feather.

An eight year old Tenzin carefully watched as his father performed yet another airbending move. His brother was a lost cause, so Tenzin knew it was imperative that he master any and all techniques that his father showed him. Centering himself, Tenzin swept through the motions and created a near exact replica of what he had just seen.

Hiro

The youngest child of Aang and Toph. Like the rest of his family, his skin is light and fair and he has big, round eyes. His eye color is a combination of his father’s gray eyes and the traditional green on his mother’s side, giving him a beautiful light hazel color.

Just like his brother before him, Toph didn’t sense any earthbending potential in Hiro and Aang got to work testing whether or not he was an airbender. After laying him down in his crib, Aang used his bending to move the overhead baby mobile in circles. Hiro laughed gleefully and the mobile began to pick up speed as Hiro created a large gust of wind.

Hiro sped past the Air Temple halls on his air scooter after successfully escaping one of his father’s mandatory meditation sessions. In his opinion, exploring was a far better use of time than sitting around quietly. He ended up finding where the Air Acolytes kept the sky bison and, despite his father saying that he wasn’t ready for a bison of his own, he reached into his pocket to give one of the calves an apple. As she devoured it in one bite, Hiro named the bison Ember and stroked her soft fur.

Chapter Text

Ursa could sense her siblings practicing in the sparring grounds. The temperature throughout the Palace rose and fell steadily as they rushed to attack each other with their respective elements and their competitive chatter mixed together into an incomprehensible mush by the time it reached her ears in the archery range.

Sighing, Ursa picked up her bow and focused on two of the many targets in the room. The two arrows in her hand felt electric as her fingers practically begged her to launch them. If they hit their target she’d feel more confident joining her siblings in their elementally boosted fun.

Notching the arrows, she kept a keen eye on the targets as she took aim and fired. The arrows made a whirring sound as they slashed through the air and landed right on both bullseyes.

Taking a centering breath, Ursa brought two more arrows up to her bow and notched them. She could see a vivid picture in her head of these new arrows piercing straight through the originals on the targets. All she had to do was turn her mental image into reality.

Letting go of the arrows, she groaned they both landed just shy of their targets. This failed attempt was just the latest of hundreds. At this rate she wouldn’t be surprised if she spent the rest of her life mastering this move.

Her calloused fingers reached for yet another pair of arrows.

“Come on, come on,” she chanted as she aimed and fired. “Ugh!”

Once again, she just barely missed. Setting her bow aside, Ursa made a loud show of cracking her knuckles. Her patience was wearing thin, but if there was one thing her father taught her it was to never give up, even if she failed countless times.

Picking her weapon up off the floor, she gave the targets another determined look. Her muscle memory took over as she readied her arrows without thinking. She felt her heartbeat once, twice, and a third time before her hand released the bowstring.

There was a satisfying sigh of wood as the arrows pierced through the original two and sliced them in half.

Surely he just wasn’t focusing hard enough. This came to his father with such ease; he had to be doing something wrong. He’d stay out here all night figuring it out if he had to.

Tenzin was hungry, thirsty, and more than a little exhausted, which was ironic considering he hadn’t moved in what surely had been hours. Meditation was supposed to bring him relaxation and clarity, not irritation and a lack of self worth.

No matter how controlled he kept his breathing or how clear he kept his mind, he just couldn’t seem to access the spirit world. He, the son of the Avatar, the bridge between humans and spirits, couldn’t even get a glimpse of the place the spirits called home. It was a humiliating act of cruel irony.

Exhaling sharply through his nose, Tenzin’s brow creased together. He could almost picture the elusive destination in his mind from the countless times his father had described it. Perhaps if he visualized just a bit harder he’d be able to cross over....

He felt the air around him change as someone sat on the patch of grass to his left. Opening his eyes, Tenzin saw his father watching him patiently.

“Sorry for the interruption, but dinner’s ready,” he said. Unable to meet his father’s gaze, Tenzin looked away.

“I’d like to fast until dawn.” The effect of his curt answer was short lived as his stomach let out an agonized growl.

His father laughed. “I’m glad you take the monk’s traditions seriously, but they shouldn’t come at the expense of your health. Besides, children aren’t required to fast.”

Tenzin’s once perfect posture came slumping down. He couldn’t even make it through a full day of fasting. He was an absolute disgrace to the Air Nomad legacy.

“Tenzin, what’s been troubling you?” For the first time ever, Tenzin saw uncertainty pass through the Avatar’s gaze. “I know you’ve been distant these past few days and your mother and I agreed to give you space until you were ready to speak with us, but I can’t stand seeing you like this for a moment longer. Please, if it’s something either of us did you can---”

“You two haven’t done anything!” He blurted his answer out in a panic. He had no idea his parents had been blaming themselves for his ineptitude. “It’s me. I’m the problem.”

There was a mixture of shock and sadness in his father’s expression. “What are you talking about? You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Tears welled up in Tenzin’s eyes. He had been fully prepared to spend the rest of his life keeping his inability to access the spirit world a secret, but now that he was looking at his heartbroken father he just couldn’t do it.

“I---” he swallowed down the lump in his throat, “I know how important it is to you to keep the legacy of the Air Nomads alive, so I’ve tried so hard to keep up with all the traditions and bending forms.” He gasped for breath as his voice cut off. “I want you to be proud of me and I want to help preserve and rebuild our culture, but no matter what I do or how hard I try I can’t meditate into the spirit world.”

He took two more ragged breaths. “I’m not good enough to keep the legacy of our people alive. I don’t know why, I’m just not.”

His father was silent for a second, which grew into two and three. His expression was unreadable and Tenzin braced himself for the verbal lashing he was sure to get for being such a failure.

Instead, he felt his father’s arms wrap around him and tears fall onto his head.

“I’m so sorry,” his father said in a broken whisper. “I never realized how much pressure I was putting you through.” His hug tightened. “The legacy of the Air Nomads is my burden to bear. I never wanted you to take on the responsibility.”

Tenzin felt himself choke up. “I hear you sometimes, talking with mother about how much you want to fix what the war caused. I thought that I could help if I worked harder.”

Pulling away from the hug, Aang looked at his son. “The preservation and rebuilding of our culture is something that will always be important to me, but never forget that you, your siblings, and your mother are the most important things to me. You don’t need to work harder and you don’t have to feel pressured to be perfect. All I want is for you to be Tenzin.”

And so, for the first time since he was a baby, Aang saw his son cry.

Chapter Text

Nighttime had long fallen over Ember Island as Zuko and Katara sat next to each other in the wet sand on the shallow end of the beach. As much as they hated to admit it, Iroh had been right about them needing a vacation. It had been nine months since the end of the war and neither Fire Lord Zuko nor Water Tribe Ambassador Katara had gotten a single day of rest. They had practically been dragged out of the Palace by Iroh, who was temporarily covering as Fire Lord, and Bato, who would be taking over as Water Tribe Ambassador for the coming months.

Months, Katara thought to herself. She’d been traveling the world for a year and had been stationed in the Fire Nation for nearly that long. She hadn’t been home in ages and now she’d be heading back in a few days. Although she was excited it was a strange thing to wrap her head around.

“You alright?” Zuko asked as he looked at her intently.

“I’m fine,” Katara answered while lazily dragging her fingers through the shallow water. “Just thinking.”

“About going home?”

She looked at him. “How did you know?”

“It wasn’t that hard to figure out. You’re going back in a few days, right?”

“Right.”

They stared at each other in an awkward silence. These days it was unusual for them to have nothing to say to each other because there was so much to talk about; reparation plans, ideas for reforming the Fire Nation’s education system, defunding the excessive military and spreading out government spending into different programs. The list was endless and Zuko was always available whenever Katara wanted to run ideas by him.

He was very available in fact. He never seemed to mind when she would summon him for a late night meeting, or when she’d offer suggestions for which officials to put on the council over breakfast. He was always there to listen and bounce ideas off of.

“You know, it’s nice that our idea to use the excess warships as trade ships has gone so well,” Katara said offhandedly. She’d rather discuss something familiar than her imminent departure. “The Poles are so far removed from the rest of the world and our canoes aren’t exactly speedy. We finally have reliable access to goods from other nations.”

Zuko smiled. “I’ve read a few letters from your father about that. He said everyone gets so excited when a ship reaches the port. After so many years of a Fire Nation ship bringing fear it's amazing to think that now they bring joy.”

It was her turn to smile. She could feel the moon’s soft rays reflecting off the water and into her eyes. “The world is changing, and it’s changing for the better. If we keep working then we’ll get to the point where the wounds of the war will be healed.”

She could feel the passion building up inside her as Zuko’s eyes widened.

“Your eyes,” Zuko rasped, “they’re like...like---”

“I know, I know,” Katara waved him off with a small laugh. “They’re like the ocean.”

It was a compliment she had heard her whole life, but it still managed to make her lips turn up in a small smile. Her father, Gran Gran, and even Sokka would offhandedly compare the blue of her irises to the deep, vast blue of the ocean surrounding their home, but none of them could ever make it sound as poetic as her mother.

Katara could remember it vividly; she would sit on one of the various animal furs lining the floor of their little hut while her mother sat behind her and gently brushed her hair with a whale tooth comb. The comb’s soft strokes were always so calming and her mother’s voice was transcendental.

“Your eyes hold the sustainability of our culture and traditions,” Kya told her daughter. “It’s the ocean that gives us the fish we eat and what safely carries us during our travels. The water we drink from the melted snow sustains us and rejuvenates our bodies so that we may live. The ocean in you is nurturing and kind.

Your eyes also hold strength. The ocean’s waves whip violently during tsunamis, unbiasedly crashing against the land. Roaring floods will wash away anything in their path and when a draught withholds its water from the people it can bring civilizations to their knees. The ocean in you is fierce and powerful.

Like the ocean, you know how to temper your might with your heart. Your eyes hold a swirling pool of balance between kindness and strength. Remember to use it well.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

His words snapped Katara out of her memory. Her brows knitted together as she stared at him. “What were you going to say?”

“That your eyes are like fire,” he breathed out the word. “They’re fierce and full of drive, passionate and bright. They can scorch through anyone who wrongs you or they can warm those in need. They’re,” he swallowed, “you’re amazing.”

Katara could feel her heartbeat grow stronger. She had never been compared to fire before. Why would she be? She was from the Southern Water Tribe and a waterbender to boot.

But were fire and water really all that different? Both could devastate with their power and both could fuel life. They were the elements of masculinity and femininity, of the sun and the moon, of summer and winter.

They balanced each other.

Small waves lapped around them as Katara grew lost in her thoughts. In just a few days she’d be heading back to the Southern Water Tribe and wouldn’t be back in the Fire Nation for months. It suddenly hit her just how much she’d be missing out on: the upcoming summer festivals, the local cuisine, meetings with Fire Nation officials.

Long talks with Zuko.

Her heart sped up again as she realized she’d miss him. Not in the way she missed Aang, Toph, Suki, or even Sokka once they had all left the Fire Nation, but in a manner that was more intense and melancholic.

She was no idiot, especially not when it came to her heart. In that moment Katara knew exactly what her feelings for Zuko had become over the past several months.

But there was still too much work to be done in the world, which was perfectly fine. She could wait, both for the world to slowly come back together and for him.

Yes, definitely for him, she thought. She wouldn’t give up on that pursuit so easily.

After all, blue flames burned the brightest.

Chapter Text

Nakita

There were so many hidden walls and passages to explore within the palace and Nakita had made it her personal mission to find them all. They made her a master of stealth, an undefeated champion of hide and seek, and an excellent spy. It was one of her favorite games, one of espionage where she was a sneaky hero of the shadows on the verge of uncovering mind boggling mysteries and dangerous schemes to take over the world.

Slowly, she crept through a passage as she decided which wing of the palace she should enter. Most days she'd make her way down to the war room and listen in on what was discussed, but it was mostly boring political jargon she couldn't quite wrap her head around. The library was equally as dull with the only inhabitants usually being Kya and Ursa who did nothing but go through book after book in silence. The sparring room in the training grounds was where the most excitement happened. Mihran was an exteremly talented firebender and watching him perfect his techniques was always a fun treat, but Nakita had already spent a good portion of the week watching him.

No, today she wanted to do something new. There was a room, somewhat deep within the palace, where her father's council worked nearly round the clock drafting bills to present during official meetings. Surely something interesting was happening in there.

It took her a few minutes to navigate her way, but sure enough Nakita soon found herself spying on two male government officials. She didn't know their names, but they were certainly high ranking as she had often seen them in her mother and father's entourage. In their presence, these men never really stuck out as anything extraordinary, but today there was an air of superiority about them. A confidence they could only let shine through behind closed doors.

"She will make a decent enough Fire Lord one day," the older official said as his lips curled. "She's a firebender at the very least."

Kya. The way this man was speaking about her made Nakita's heart race and her blood run cold. There was a hint of thinly veiled disgust to his words.

"Yes, and the boy will surely become a great general and war strategist. He certainly has the power for it," the second man added. "It really is a shame about his heritage."

Mihran. Nakita's body tensed. What was shameful about their heritage?

The men quickly scribbled a few characters onto their parchment papers before the second man continued where he left off.

"On second thought, it might not be a complete loss. That peasant's blood did give us the second girl. If it weren't for her eyes she'd be perfect."

"She has a promising future in the brothels," the first official laughed. "It's not as if anyone could truly love a mixed blood."

Ursa. The dark, unnerving glint in the men's eyes was nearly enough to make Nakita sick. Chills ran down her body as her mind screamed at her to leave, but the next thing out of their mouths stopped her.

"And what do you think of the youngest?"

Her breathing stopped. Slowly, her gaze filtered over to the older man as she awaited his response.

"The waterbender?" The word sounded dirty coming from his lips. "She's clearly her mother's daughter. She's nothing, worse than that even. She'll never amount to a thing."

Bile rose up from her throat. Swallowing it down, Nakita ran away as quickly as she could.

Hiro

Hiro sat at the edge of the turtle duck pond with his arms crossed and a pout on his face. His parents had been in the Fire Palace for nearly an hour, which meant he’d been giving his entire family the silent treatment for a full six hours. None of them had even bothered to check on him. He doubted they cared.

Next to him, Nakita did her best to cheer him up.

“Come on, whatever they did I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. I know you’re upset, but can’t we go play with Tenzin and Mihran? If you want we can tag-team against Tenzin!”

Hiro huffed, causing his cheeks to puff out. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

Nakita sighed. "I know, that's all you've been saying since you got here. Can't you at least tell me what happened?"

“We’re going to the Eastern Air Temple once the meeting’s over and dad told Tenzin he could pick out a flying bison.” The reply was curt and pointed.

“Really?” The young waterbender’s face lit up. “That’s so cool! I wish I had a flying bison. I’d name her Ember.”

Her enthusiasm only upset Hiro more. “Yeah, I want one too so I asked dad if I could pick one out and he said that I’m not ready for a bison yet.”

Nakita’s face dropped. “Wait, why?”

“It’s not fair!” Ripping out a clump of grass, Hiro tossed it into the pond. “Tenzin has always been dad’s favorite because he’s such a goody two shoes. He even told me the same thing dad did: that I need to learn responsibility and restraint.” Hiro's voice was mocking as he repeated his brother and father's words.

A brief silence passed between them.

“Did your mom say anything,” Nakita asked.

Hiro rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that two flying bison in the family is plenty.”

Another silence filled the space as Hiro looked out over the pond. He was never going to be good enough for anything. Tenzin was their father’s favorite, Lin was exactly like their mother, and he was just there.

Almost as if she had read his mind, Nakita spoke.

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re my favorite.”

Taking a moment to let her words sink in, Hiro blasted her with a small gust of air.

“Hey!”

He grinned wickedly at her annoyed face. “Don’t tell me you’re going soft on me.”

Flicking her wrist, she doused him in water. “You wish!”