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Chapter Text

“After reviewing the money that is being put into different budgets around the nation, the military budget will be cut in half. I’ve made the decision to take a quarter of the budget and transfer it to rebuilding schools and training teachers to give a more inclusive and objective education to their students. The other quarter will go to rebuilding hospitals and providing better health insurance to the lower income families,” Katara presented, her Fire Lady crown catching the flickering flames that her husband kept just high enough to cover their shoulders.

            There was murmuring at the proposal and Katara could tell that not everyone at the budget hearing was pleased with her plan. She oversaw education and the health of the Fire Nation citizens, along with other things concerning general wellbeing, as every Fire Lady had in the past, but her husband was in charge of the military. She cast her blue eyes at the noble people who were whispering to their scribes to write down certain points of the meeting.

            Chan, one of three representatives of the Earth Kingdom, cleared his throat. “Fire Lady Katara, when you say a more inclusive education, could you give an example of what that means?”

            “Of course,” she replied with a smile. Fire Nation nobles turned down their mouths at that; for a Fire Lady, she smiled entirely too much. “Before making my decision, I sat in on classrooms around the nation and they were still teaching children the war propaganda of the Fire Nation being superior to other nations. The children are learning that it is their job to grow up and civilize the other nations. As someone who was travelled around the world on multiple occasions, I can tell you that other nations do not need our help to ‘civilize’ them. That is a colonizers way of thinking. That is the way of thinking that will lead us directly into another war.”

            Katara saw Zuko nod from the corner of her eye. No one, not even the Fire Nation nobles, wanted another war. Since the weapons had mostly been made in the Earth Kingdom, they were the ones who gotten rich but the Fire Nation had been expected to pay reparations for all that they had destroyed. There was no way around it, the Fire Nation was in debt. That debt was also the reason why every noble made their trek to the royal palace to hear exactly what was being done with their money semi-annually.

            “Fire Lord Zuko,” Gazion, the admiral of the Fire Nation navy, spoke, “you have approved the cutting of the military budget?”

            “I have,” Zuko affirmed, “I agree with my wife. We must shift our focus away from the military and towards rebuilding our nation. We must give off a better image to the rest of the world.”

            “By keeping the military budget as the highest budget, we are sending the message that we can attack at any moment. If we show the world that we are instead changing our tactics to teach our children and take care of our sick, they will see that, ten years after the war, we are finally no longer a threat.”

            Gazion’s nostrils flared. “You would have us appear weak, waterbender?”

            Katara quirked an eyebrow at the clear disrespect but the effect was lost when Zuko’s fire surged and hid her face. “Admiral Gazion, you are out of line. She is your Fire Lady and you will address her as such.”

            Katara stood and Zuko lowered the flames so that she could be seen. “I would never have the Fire Nation, my nation, appear weak, Admiral. That is exactly why I am cutting the budget to the military. By keeping our children learning false information, we weaken their minds and the minds of the future generation that will lead this fine nation. By letting our sick die, we are keeping our population weak. We are showing the world that are we too weak to thin out our military to do what is right and keep our people safe and informed. By couniting to train our military as if they could go to war at any moment, we are telling the world that have no skills other than combat. I know this is wrong and I am trying to show that we are strong. That we are versatile.”

            Every ambassador from the other nations clapped and some of the Fire Nation nobles nodded their heads at her words. Admiral Gazion on the other hand, stood as well and pointed a finger at Katara.

            “You are an outsider and you always will be,” he seethed.

Katara held her chin higher to hide the hurt that his words caused her, she already knew that what he was saying held fact. She had spent the entire first year of her marriage grappling with said fact. When she had her first child and there were more whispers than cheers, she had cried for months about how she and her children would never be accepted. Two children, seven years and a whole lot of work later, she was beginning to crack the xenophobia that was nestled deep within the Fire Nation. It was obvious that she still had a long way to go.

“You will never understand the greatness of the Fire Nation. You won’t understand how we rise from ashes to assert our dominance over the world. By taking away our military power you are bowing us to kneel with the other nations. We are above them,” Gazion raged and many nobles covertly nodded as well.

“You say I will never understand the greatness of the Fire Nation but I have seen it. I have seen it in the passion of the people and in their willingness to forgive. I have seen it in their hearts and their minds and compassion. War does not make a nation great. It makes it bloody.”

“We are strong and as a waterbender, you will not understand the strength of fire, Fire Lady.” This time, when Gazion used her title, it was even more a curse than if he had called her the dirtiest name in the world. “If you were a firebender I would challenge you to an Agni Kai.”

“I accept,” Katara said without a moment’s hesitation.

A deep silence fell over the room. The only sound was the crackle of flames that Zuko kept going but even they seemed to still. Gazion seemed shocked but simply narrowed his eyes at the waterbending Fire Lady once he recovered himself.

“This meeting is officially on recess until further notice,” Zuko boomed.

It seemed as if those in attendance couldn’t get out of the now too hot room fast enough. Gazion gave one final look at Katara then followed the stream of people out the doors. When only the guards remained and the heavy wooden doors had been closed, Zuko was at Katara’s side in an instant. She hadn’t expected him to be comforting but she hadn’t expected to see lightning in his golden eyes either.

“Are you out of your mind, Katara?” Zuko roared, his flames reaching the ceiling.

“Were you at this meeting?” Katara shot back, her anger meeting his but bringing a chill to the room instead of heat. “What would you have had me do? He disrespected me time and time again and insulted every other nation.”

“You don’t need to prove yourself in this way.” Zuko’s voice lost the anger in an instant and turned pleading. “This is insane. We were going to announce that you’re holding our third child tomorrow and now you’re entering the deadliest duel in the Fire Nation, possibly in the entire world.”

“The South Pole has a duel, we fight with knives, hands and teeth. We fight to the death, in the artic and in the dead of night. This is not the deadliest duel.”

“That wasn’t my point and you know it. It wasn’t an official challenge, you can still back out.”

Katara glared at her husband. “I will not.”

“Katara, I never changed the law of the Agni Kai after I took the crown because I assumed that under my rule there would be no more. Ozai’s rule of fighting to the death is still in effect.” At that Katara began to feel fear creep into her bones and her hands fluttered to her womb. Zuko laid his forehead to hers. “I can’t lose you, Katara. Izumi and Kya can’t lose their mother.”

Katara held Zuko’s face in her hands and tried not to shake. “Then I won’t lose. You have to trust me, Zuko. I’ve been in many fights before and I made it out alive.”

“You’re going to go through with this no matter what I say, aren’t you?” Zuko asked, his shoulders sagging.

“Have I ever backed down from anything?”

Zuko breathed out a plume of fire before grabbing her hands. “Fine, you’re going to tell the children that their mother is off to fight in some outdated ritual.”

Katara allowed him to pull her. She kept her chin high as they walked through the hall; it was obvious that news had already spread from the way the servants whispered as they walked past. Her daughters sat in Izumi’s room, playing with dolls that Sokka had sent them a year ago. Before Zuko could say anything, Katara scooped the girls in her arms and hugged them close to her chest. She breathed in the scent of their hair, memorized the way their tiny hands felt on her back and shoulders.

“Mom?” Izumi said with her five-year-old voice shaking. “Are you really going to fight in an Agni Kai today?”

Kya squirmed out of the hug and into her mother’s lap. “What’s an Agni Kai?” She popped her hands, still pudgy thanks to being only three years old, in her mouth.

For the first time since accepting the duel in a flash of impulsive anger, Katara wanted to take it back. “Something that you’ll never have to know about. I want you two to stay in your room with Aunt Toph. Your nanny is going to get her now.” The woman rushed out of the room at the indirect command. “I’ll be back in time to read you a story for bed.”

Izumi let her tears run freely. “Are you going to be back? Really?”

It was Zuko’s turn to kneel. “Do you really think I’d let anything happen to Mommy?”

Their oldest daughter shook her head but didn’t seem convinced. Zuko fixed his wife with an even gaze that told her losing wasn’t an option. She nodded and steadied her nerves. With one last kiss, she stood and dusted herself off. She needed to change.

Toph stood outside the door, her signature smile gone. “You’ve really done it this time, Sugar Queen.”

“I know,” was all Katara said before going to the royal bedroom.

Zuko was close on her heels but said nothing. He helped her underdress then pull on a pair of simple pants that he tied with a rope. She put on something akin to her traditional water tribe bindings but it was smaller and allowed for easier movement and breathing. It was meant to compress her breasts so they wouldn’t get in the way of heavy activity but was lightweight enough for her to almost forget that it was there. Without her top, it was easy to see that beginning of a baby bump. As she walked she felt every eye hone in on the next heir growing within her; at least there was no need for a formal announcement any longer.

The Fire Sages went to the royal couple as soon as they appeared in the area designated for Agni Kai’s; their eyes also went to Katara’s small bump. “It wasn’t an official challenge, Fire Lady Katara, you can call this off.”

“It has been too long,” she said, snapping her arm bands in place, “I can’t call it off now.”

“Fire Lord Zuko can fight for you. It would go better with tradition since he is a firebender. He is the strongest firebender in the world and would surely win in an instant,” another offered, frantically.

“I have never let a man fight my battles and I won’t start now.”

Zuko held up a hand as another Fire Sage opened his mouth to offer something else, anything else to keep Katara from fighting. “My wife has made up her mind.” Zuko turned so that he was only speaking to Katara. “I trust her to come back to me.”

Katara touched his hand to her womb before donning the traditional wear that would only be shucked once the gong rang. “We both will.”

Zuko took a breath that got caught in his throat before following the Fire Sages to the landing that would allow him to watch for any off the table moves. However, he doubted that under Ozai’s rules there would be any. He cursed himself silently for not getting rid of Agni Kais as his first order of business.

Katara met Gazion in the middle of the clearing that was lined on all sides by spectators. She held her chin up high as they turned their backs to each other and walked to their starting positions.

“The Agni Kai will begin at sundown and it will be… to the death,” a Fire Sage cried out, regret clear in his voice. Not only would they lose the Fire Lady tonight, they would lose the third heir to the throne and a sane Fire Lord. There was no telling who Zuko would become as he watched Katara die.

Chapter Text

The gong sounded and Katara threw the traditional robe to the side. Those closest to her gasped and murmurs immediately filled the air. She had the time to hear about her pregnancy, her temper and her stupidity before she had to dodge a blast of fire. She blew it out with icy breath, having seen stronger flames from Zuko when they spared when the full moon was at her highest point.

With a flurry of motion, Katara was shooting columns of water that sharpened themselves into deadly points as they flew through the air. She saw the people around her wisely back away. Their Fire Lady had mastered waterbending at the age of fourteen and had only gotten stronger since then. Gazion, after seeing that Katara wasn’t going to be an easy opponent, roared with his face to the sky. Katara didn’t care for the pointless display of testosterone and sent a wave of water to him. He turned it to steam that Katara bent out of the air with a spin on her bare heel and sent whips at him. Her breath was even as she struck his bare rib and the gong rang again.

She had drawn first blood.

Gazion, determined not to be bested by a woman, and a waterbending woman who was with child at that, struck out with fury. Burst after burst exploded in front of Katara, making her jump back. The smell of smoke was heavy in the air and it stung her eyes. When one blast got too close to her feet, she felt back on her hands, using a move she’d adapted from Zuko, and sent ice shards at her opponent. He turned them to steam, like she’d wanted, giving her not only cover but her element thick in the air. Katara used the steam to ride over to him, forming ice as she went. When she was above the admiral, she took the ice that she’d formed and struck out. After years of fighting she knew how to channel her adrenaline into her attacks and this match was no different. He shot blue fire, the sheer heat knocking her out the air. Katara softened her fall using a trough of water near her to catch herself. She had to protect the baby; she wouldn’t fall too hard and risk hurting her child.

With that thought, Katara bent from inside her orb, drawing water from near and far, wrapping Gazion in with her arms never moving. Her breath came harder now and she felt her heart slamming against the inside of chest. Katara’s movements were calculated to make sure that there was no escaping the orb she was creating around Gazion. What was mere moments felt like hours of motion and bending. She made the ice thick and with splayed fingers, she made spikes appear inside the orb. Gasps rang out once more as the inside of the ice was splattered with red but Katara knew she hadn’t killed him. She hoped that if she drew enough blood he would surrender.

Katara sent the water that protected her away once she reached her starting point once more. The ice that she trapped Gazion in began to melt and after three frantic heartbeats, it shattered. Katara used her bending to shield those who watched from the shards and heard grateful sighs. Her chest heaved as Gazion stood in the center of an inferno. Blood fell from gashes that went along his face and exposed torso. His pants were almost in shreds but fire blazed from his knuckles. The admiral swayed on his feet for a second before viciously wiping blood from his face and flicking it on those who stood nearest him.

“Is that all you have, Fire Lady?” Gazion taunted, fire blazing on his knuckles. “An Agni Kai is fought to the death and I will not show mercy. The Fire Nation does not show mercy. Allow me to show you how the Fire Nation fights.”

Daylight was fading quickly and Gazion was determined to kill the Fire Lady before it slipped into night, the time for a waterbender to shine. He sent burst after burst of fire, both blue and red. The explosions rocked the ground, causing Katara to lose her footing again and again. The spectators fell over themselves as they struggle to keep their eyes on the battle. Fear tinged the air and mixed with the sickening scent of blood and sweat. Katara was entirely on the defensive, not expecting him to want to go on with the fight after having been cut by her ice so many times. She teetered on the edge of the battle area as a blast struck her in her shoulder. The pain was white hot and seemed to stop time. All she could feel was agony of her skin burning and popping with the heat. Katara’s knees buckled and caught herself on her hands. Her injured shoulder couldn’t support her weight and she held herself on one arm. Katara cried out, tears streaming down her face, and heard the answering cry of Izumi and Zuko’s roar that made hairs stand on the back of her neck. Damn Toph for never following instructions.

Katara reached for water to heal her sizzling skin but as soon as she lifted it with a shaking arm, Gazion sent a fire whip at the stream before she could infuse it with her glow. Katara cursed by steeled herself against the pain, standing. No longer could she play it safe and hope that Gazion’s sense of self-preservation would kick in.

Another blast of fire licked at her ankle and began to crawl. This pain was no less than that in her shoulder but the fire was going much slower. Katara realized that Gazion was going to try to burn her alive. He wanted to make her suffer. Flashes of the battles she’d fought in her past went through her mind. She was not going to let this be her last. Doing everything in her power to ignore the fire that was creeping up her leg, filling the air with the stench of her burning flesh, Katara stood.

“Mommy!” Kya sobbed as the fire grew and tears slipped from Katara’s eyes.

Katara was now the one who roared as she bent every drop of water that she could feel. She first put out the fire that scorched her skin then moved to attack. Her heart slammed in her body, filling her with its beat, reminding her that she wasn’t dead yet. Every step was agony and every move of her shoulder took her closer to the Spirit World. As Katara bent, beating back the flames, she felt a touch on the back of her neck.

Looking to the sky, she saw the sun dip beneath horizon and watched as Yue took its place. Power zinged through Katara’s blood. She drew water around her legs, both encasing them in ice and lending her power to healing the worst of the burn. She couldn’t bask in the cool relief of her element because she saw Gazion moving with intense purpose. His fire was much weaker thanks to the appearance of the moon but Katara knew that he was trying to muster up as much flame as he could. Every sound boomed in her eyes but she focused on the sobs of her daughters as they watched their mother struggle to regain her composure. Katara’s hair was plastered to her sweaty skin and her chest binding was drenched but if she had anything, she had fight left in her.

Katara moved with deadly movements that made those who watched the Agni Kai start to talk again. Before, Katara had clearly been holding back but now there was murder in her eyes. They were going to witness a true ending on an Agni Kai.

“The Fire Nation doesn’t show mercy?” Katara asked, repeated Gazion’s words as she met him blow for blow. The sound of water boiling was deafening but Katara relished in it. Her element was the element of life, but as if gave life, it could take it away. “Let me remind you that Fire Nation of the past tried to wipe out my tribe. Let me remind you that we survived the Hundred Year War with nothing but our grit and our strength. Let me remind you of how a woman from the Southern Water Tribe has changed your nation for the better. Allow me to show you how the Southern Water Tribe fights.”

Katara changed her stance from the Northern and hybrid fighting to adopt the Southern style that she had learned solely from scrolls that had been left over from the Fire Nation raiding her home. The Southern Water Tribe was a tribe of tooth and nail fighters and it showed in their bending.

Katara whipped her body back and forth, using her arms, her neck and every limb that she had control of. The water that Katara bent was an extension the limbs she used. The South was not afraid to turn to the artic wolves for guidance. The first Northern waterbenders had been taught by the ocean but the first Southern benders had been taught by their wolves that used the ice to catch their prey. The moves were wild, they were deadly and bloodthirsty. Katara was a hunter and Gazion was her prey.

 Katara’s teeth were barred as she faced Gazion, who was no weak bender. He was determined to live but Katara carried generations worth of fighters in her blood. She held on to the images of her children, crying out to her and Zuko, now silent as he watched his wife fighting with moves he’d never seen. Once again Zuko was reminded of how far she had come since she had faced him the very first time. Zuko thanked Agni that she had not known the style of her people when he faced her because he surely would have died. Katara could feel her and fought to get back to them. Katara felt a snarl come from her throat as she shot her arm with a damaged shoulder out in front of her and her uninjured one behind her. Two things happened in half the time it took for her to take a breath.

One column of ice shot up from the ground but it was a diversion and Gazion easily dodged it. Katara pulled the sweat from everyone in attendance and the blood that Gazion had spilled on the ground. Cries were heard as the spectators realized that they were dry and their Fire Lady was using their fluids as a weapon. With this sweat and with her eyes only focused on her opponent, Katara sent an icicle through Gazion’s heart.

Blood splattered the pavement in front of him and Katara stood in her final stance for another heartbeat. The quick rise and fall of Katara’s chest was the only movement displayed in the battle area. The stench of fire and sweat mingled with the smell of blood, Gazion’s body losing control of its basic functions and her own burned flesh made Katara’s head swim. She quickly bent water to her shoulder and moved so that she was standing in the leftover water to heal herself.

“The Agni Kai has concluded, Fire Lady Katara is the clear victor,” a Fire Sage announced and the gong sounded.

Zuko rushed to Katara, carefully pulling her to his chest. “Never again.”

“Trust me, I know,” she agreed.

Toph bent herself and Katara’s girls down to the ground. “See, she’s alright. Your mom just likes to be dramatic.”

“Toph, how could you bring them?” Zuko snapped, “This was no place for children.”

“Their mother was fighting to the death and you expected them to stay in the palace? You should be happy that I stayed with them instead of letting them sneak out and be near the action.”

Katara hugged her daughters to her chest. “I’ll yell at you tomorrow. Right now, I’m still in shock.”

Katara saw a team of palace physicians rush to her. “Your Highness, I think we should check you immediately. We can get a poultice on your wounds and check to make sure that the child is okay.”

Katara nodded and followed them. The audience parted as she walked forward and she worried that all of her work to get the Fire Nation to see her in a positive light was destroyed.

Chapter Text

When their third child was born, Zuko and Katara had no choice but to name him Kai. The people would call him nothing other than “the heir that Fire Lady Katara was carrying when she won the first ever mixed bending Agni Kai” or “the Agni Kai heir” for short. The people had also taken to throwing large parties on his birthday, believing that it would bring strength to their own children. Surely a child that survived the most notorious Agni Kai while still in the womb had to have been blessed by the gods. Katara agreed to a fault. Whenever Zuko asked where her final burst of bending came from, she would always shrug and point to the moon—to Yue.
“Why do we always have to come to the South on my birthday?” Kai whined, falling in the snow yet again as Kya and Izumi spared with water and fire respectively.
Izumi, now seventeen, put her hands on her hips, looking almost too much like her mother. “Mom and Dad don’t want you to get a big head seeing everyone throwing wild parties on your birthday.”
“Nah uh,” Aiko, the youngest of the four and the only non-bender, protested, “Mommy and Daddy said it’s not safe for us to be in the Fire Nation when everyone starts partying.”
Kya rubbed her sister’s head affectionally. “That’s what they want you to think, kid. It’s fine because there are still parties here, Kai. Mom beat that guy using Southern style bending and that has to be the highest praise.” Kya fell back into the snow with a sigh. “Not only is she the strongest woman in the world, she showed that the South is strong too.”
Izumi folded her legs beneath her regally and pulled Aiko into her lap as Kai laid near Kya. “We have the best mom in the world.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Katara laughed, bending snow over their heads. “Why are you admiring me this time? Did Uncle Sokka tell you of how I sewed his pants almost every night? Or maybe your father told you about how I oversaw the building of the largest hospital in Fire Nation history. C’mon, tell dear old mom what it is.”
“Kai’s Agni Kai,” Kya told and Katara pulled her mouth to the side.
“I can’t believe people are still talking about that.”
“Really?” Zuko asked, walking over to the gathering, “You can’t? You agreed to an Agni Kai in the middle of a meeting, used waterbending during said Agni Kai and won all while pregnant. I can’t believe people are still talking about it either. It happens every day.”
Katara rolled her eyes but kissed her husband lovingly as their children pulled faces at the sight. “I’ve done many other great things while pregnant. But I can see your point. I’d still have to say that some of the best things I’ve ever done is have the best family in the entire world.”
Katara kissed all her children, even the ones that tried to squirm away, before turning to Zuko. She kissed the scar around his eye and he pressed his lips to the shoulder of her parka, knowing the Agni Kai scar that she held was beneath it.