It ended up being an inauspicious moment for a birth, but Azula didn't really care; she had a niece, and she even got to pick the name.

As we round out Zutara Week 2016, it's time for one last warning: A bit of adult language ahead, and some adult themes, too, I guess? Who cares. Let's do this!

Candles

SATO ASAMI COULDN'T HELP BUT FEEL A LITTLE LOST. It wasn't her first visit to the Palace; being friends with Her Royal Highness the Princess Azula had its perks, after all. But never before had she been abroad in the Palace at such an hour. It was late autumn, winter was just around the corner, and dawn was still a good two hours away. In Asami's mind, the Palace always hummed with activity, even at night. Instead, a strange hush hung in the air. When a servant did go by, they seemed to creep, moving up and down the hall in their stockings, shoes dangling from their fingers, and only every third wall sconce had a candle burning in it, while the lanterns that dangled high up in various corners seemed to be burning at half strength.

"Is it always this quiet at night?" Asami asked, couching her voice in a low whisper.

"Not really, no," Azula replied, though her tone was rather distant and distracted. Most of her attention was focused on the paper she had sent a servant to Asami's house to ask Asami to bring direct to the Palace. "If you go to another part of the Palace," Azula continued, turning the paper first one way, then the other, as she tried to get as much light from the candles as possible, "like, where the government offices are, over on the other side, it's pretty much a circus round-the-clock."

"Well," Asami said, looking around for somewhere to sit, without success, "what gives?"

Azula tossed her head in the direction of a firmly closed door, from which came a sound of happy voices and the occasional squeal and giggle of a newborn baby. "My brand-new niece was just born a few hours ago; anyone who makes the slightest bit of noise will face Yumiko-san's wrath."

"Yumiko-san?"

Azula cracked the first smile Asami had seen since she had arrived in this quiet hallway to deliver her paper. "Katara's lady's maid, and even I hesitate to take her on. She was one step from chasing Uncle away with a broom not an hour ago."

Asami tried to picture His Majesty the Fire Lord fleeing before a lady's maid, and couldn't quite make the image work. "That must've been…quite the sight."

Azula giggled. "It was; I'd pay good money to see it daily." She opened the paper up in a rustle and snap, turning a page and folding the paper back to see a new section.

"How did the birth go?" Asami asked, trying hard to not sound petulant. She had desperately wanted to attend, after all, Ty Lee got to come, and her father isn't one of the richest men in the Fire Nation, her father just owns a circus, but the Princess Katara had strictly limited the number of people who were allowed to pace outside her door, and the price of crossing the new Princess was well known in Miyako.

Azula shrugged, holding the paper in one hand as she dug her cigarette case from out of her cleavage and snapped it open. "Very smoothly, actually, which was nice, considering Katara was miserable for most of the pregnancy. Water broke yesterday morning, then six hours of smooth labor, and bam, now I have a niece." She stuck a cigarette in her mouth, stuffed the case back into her cleavage, lit the cigarette with a snap of her fingers. "Ty Lee passed out when we heard the baby start crying; I think she was more worked up than my brother."

Asami didn't have any problems believing that. "I can imagine; is she okay?"

"Yeah," Azula said, taking a deep drag of her cigarette as she flipped the paper over, the better to read below the fold, "Mai took Ty back to her rooms."

Asami tried not to focus on the idea of Mai's rooms; Mai was one of Asami's friends, but it was hard, sometimes, to be reminded of how Asami was Asami-san, granddaughter of a butcher, while Mai got to be the Lady Mai, whose clan has had rooms at court for as long as there's been a court to have rooms at. "Mai carried Ty back to her rooms?"

Azula scoffed. "Please. Two of Mai's servants carried Ty back to her rooms; Mai doesn't love Ty that much. And since you didn't ask, Asami, my sister-in-law is doing just fine, too. Those waterbending midwives are fantastic; if I ever have a kid, I'm going to ask for a few."

Asami shot her friend the Princess a glare. "Her Highness's health was going to be my next question, I'll have you know."

Azula giggled. "I know; I'm just needling you."

"Don't you have enough on your plate, teasing your brother?"

"Gods forbid. As soon as I got to this very hallway, Yumiko-san came out and informed me, in no uncertain terms, that Katara had specifically ordered me to be nice to everyone, and Mother gave me one of those looks as she headed into the room, you know, the one even I won't mess with."

"That must've been a trial."

"Right?! It's been murder, so, sorry, I've got, like, a day's worth of messing with people to make up for."

Asami groaned. "Lucky me. How's Zuko taking everything?"

"Pretty well, all things considered. He had a bit of a panic attack when Katara's water broke, was white as a sheet for a bit, but once Kya decided to ignore Water Tribe tradition and let him in the room, he became pretty chill."

Once more, Asami didn't have any problem believing what she was being told. She knew Zuko well enough to understand that he didn't handle aimless waiting very well; once he was given something to do, he probably started to feel a lot better. "Good for him. So, what's in the paper? Something big?"

Azula frowned as she again opened the paper, turned it over, folded it, and started reading the other side, all while puffing on the cigarette as it dangled precariously from her lips. "You didn't read it?"

"I didn't get the chance; the servant you sent was very clear on how I was to bring a paper to you immediately upon it being brought to my house, and thanks for that, by the way."

"Thanks for what?" Azula asked, in a tone that all but screamed, I really couldn't care less, but you're my friend and you did me a solid, so, you know, fine.

"Sending a pushy servant to hurry me along; my poor mother's probably having a panic attack right now, since I don't at all look Royal Palace Presentable."

"Trust me, tonight? No one's going to care, especially not here. And it's not like I ever really care, either."

"Well," Asami said, looking for small miracles, "at least Mai's not here to scoff at my hair."

"She only does that because she's envious of your natural curls, you know."

"Seriously?"

"You bet. Ever since my dope of a brother lucked into marrying Katara, Water Tribe curls have been all the rage, but Mai's hair won't hold curls no matter how long her maids work at it with irons."

"Huh…really?"

"Really. Feel free to tell her I told you that."

"I won't, because I have more tact than you. Now," Asami said, reaching out to tap the paper, "spill. I should be reading the damn thing right now, instead of standing here in the dark watching you read it."

"What," Azula drawled, one of her trademark mischievous grins curling across her face, "don't you feel honored to stand in the precise of royalty as said royalty reads the newspaper you delivered?"

Asami rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm not twelve anymore, Zula. It's not our first year at the Royal Ladies' Academy, I'm no longer star-struck to find myself standing in the presence of a Princess or three, and might I remind you that my father owns the newspaper you're holding, hence why you're reading it an hour before the city reads it."

Azula let out a wistful sigh. "Oh, those were the days…you'd stare at Cousin Aiko and I as we chatted about the latest family gossip, Ty Lee would braid your hair in the lunch room, and you and Mai hated each other…" She sighed one more time, took a deep drag from her cigarette, and then the smiles and the sighs were gone. "How reliable is the information in this paper?"

Asami did her best not to sound offended. "My father owns the paper, and my father also has offices in every major city in the world." Except for Ba Sing Se, but what can one do? "If it's in that paper, it's reliable."

Azula made a face. "I was afraid of that. The Avatar's dead."

Asami wished she had been surprised. The Avatar, gods rest his soul, had fallen into a coma a month before, and the world had been waiting for the final news ever since with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Asami nodded, clenching her right hand into a fist from which her thumb stuck out, a thumb she touched first to her forehead, then to her lips, and finally to her heart. "May Holy Mother Raava guide him to ever-lasting peace."

Azula freed a hand just long enough to perform the same gesture while muttering the ritual words. Normally, when someone died, the traditional words were, may the gods guide them to their eternal reward, but, naturally, the fate of the soul of an Avatar was a slightly different business. "Do you have any idea when your father caught word?"

Asami shook her head. "Sorry. When did the Avatar die?"

"Two days ago, it seems. The Order of the White Lotus is already fanning out through the Water Tribes, trying to find the next one, though…"

Asami couldn't help but feel a prick of despair at the sudden shift in her friend's tone. "Though…"

Azula made a face and looked up at Asami through a cloud of smoke, the flickering of the dim, widely spaced candles making the Princess's face look drawn and haggard. "It seems that the Committee of Public Safety in Ba Sing Se has forbidden the Order from entering the Foggy Swamp. Apparently, the Avatar is a symbol of a corrupt and morally bankrupt order that must be cleansed from the face of the Earth, the better so that peace may finally reign from one corner of the planet to the other." Azula scoffed and turned her attention back to the paper. "A rather long-winded way to say, My name is Long Feng, prepare to bow down, if you ask me, but there it is."

Asami's eyes began to burn, though why, she wasn't sure. She was an only child, and none of her male cousins were currently in the military, so why should I worry? But…but… "So, it'll be war, then?"

Azula sighed. "I don't see any way around it. Ten yen says that word's already reached the city that Earth Kingdom troops are massing against Goryeo and Omashu, which would explain why the other side of the Palace is overrun with half-dressed officers." A pause, and then Azula closed the paper with a snap and let it fall to the ground. "How do you feel about all of this?"

Asami frowned as she turned away, the better to wipe at her eyes. "About what?"

"You know, revolution, overturning the established order, that stuff. It might turn out well for you."

Asami scoffed. "Maybe if your grandfather was still on the throne, or, gods forbid, your father-"

"If my father was Fire Lord, I'd lead a revolution myself."

"I have no doubt…still…things aren't perfect here, but His Majesty has…he's fixed a lot of the problems, or, at least, started to fix them…" Asami took a deep breath, forced it down past the mysterious lump in her throat. "Besides, I'm a daughter of Fire; I feel duty-bound to oppose any revolution born of Ba Sing Se on general principle."

"Well," Azula said with a sigh, dropping her cigarette into a convenient vase and extracting her cigarette case for a new one, "that makes this princess feel better…"

"I can imagine, though…" Asami gave herself a shake, pushed her thoughts aside. "Enough about war and dead Avatars; it'll be all the city's talking about in the morning. You still haven't told me what your new niece's name is. Didn't you get to pick the name for a girl?"

Azula lit her cigarette with a flourish and struck a regal pose, making no attempt to conceal her pride. "You're damn right I did."

There was a pause, and Asami had to try hard not to huff, I'm trying to not think about bad things, let me focus on a beautiful Princess from the bottom of the world, a handsome Prince from the top of the hill, and how perfect they are for each other, and how kind of gross they act around each other. "Well? Don't hold out on me!"

"Well…it took a while to pick a name, but I'm glad with what I came up with."

"…and…?"

"Korra. That's her name, my niece's name, the name I picked, thank you very much. Her name is Korra, and maybe I'm just a silly, obscenely proud aunt, but I can't help but feel that our newest Princess is going to change the world."

Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUN! See? I told you a twist would be turned. Now, am I saying that Zuko and Katara just gave birth to the best Avatar of either series (because, let's face it, Aang would make the world's best little brother, but as an Avatar, he was meh at best)? Maybe. I'd recommend that you tune in sometime in the future, because I am far from done with this AU, and with grad school starting in a week, I'm going to need something fun to break up the monotony.

Not too terribly much to say about this; it pretty much speaks for itself. It was fun to finally do my good ole' Zutara Stuff without Direct Zutara, which I made a little game during Zutara Month last year, and that was so much fun that I decided to do it again. It was also fun to bring back the version of Asami that I wrote in Romance of the Four Nations, which you should totally read because I'm so not above plugging my own stuff.

By the way, Asami's explanation for why the Fire Nation, as unequal and class-obsessed as it is, is probably immune to the revolution flowing out of Ba Sing Se, I actually have historical bullshit to back me up. This AU is based on the Napoleonic Era, and the Fire Nation is going to kind of be Britain in this context. Britain was one of the most unequal nations in Europe at the time, ripe for revolution on the surface, but the British people distrusted anything born of France, so they were pretty much like, Yeah, fuck it, screw the French. Sadly, judging from the recent Brexit debacle, British people still seem to think like that.

What else, what else...oh, right! I do have to issue an apology to anyone who actually knows about how geisha houses work and was feeling irritated about the bit involving geisha yesterday. My wife is kind of fascinated by the subject, and she bent my ear when we talked the dog yesterday evening about how clients don't actually go to the geisha house, but rather to a tea house affiliated with the geisha, which I knew but didn't feel like explaining in-story, so my wife decided that I would be allowed to slide if I apologized. Thus: I'm sorry babe, and I love you!

Moving on...um...you know, that's really it. At this point, I'm just rambling because I enjoyed the shit out of this AU, I really like how it came together, and I'm always bummed with a Zutara event ends. Alas, all good things come to an end, and you know what? We'll definitely be seeing this AU again. After all, we gotta carry out Ozai's execution, talk about Toph, see how Suki and Kyoshi Island are going to handle things, maybe have a King Bumi cameo...oh, and there's the whole war thing to handle. So, until next time:

Thank you for reading, I love you all very much, you guys are the best, and we will definitely be seeing each other again. And, of course, thank you to my lovely wife, who is tapping her phone because it's time to go get some adulting done. See you guys later!