2 months later

Katara

With two babies sleep these days is hard to come by I thought as I slid out of bed as I heard the cries of one of my sons. No doubt he would wake his twin soon enough. Past royals left the care of royal children to nurses which meant that the original nursery was at the other end of the hall. However being raised in the Southern Watertribe not only did mothers keep newborns close to them for warmth, houses are also much smaller and families were so close knit and important that to allow another to care for your child when you were in good health was shameful. So the room next to ours was converted into a nursery. I reasoned that once they were a bit older and not so dependent they could be moved to the other nursery but I still wouldn't let a nurse be their primary caretaker. Zuko had to reason with me on that issue. But after a few fights and a lot of patience on his part I came to realize that managing a palace and two boys would be difficult to manage on my own. So I hired two nurses one from the Southern Watertribe and one from the Fire Nation. If Zuko and I couldn't be with them all the time I wanted people with our same values and cultural background to be with them.

The crier was Kuzon his blue eyes filled with tears. It was a wonder Koda hadn't woken yet. I walked over to his crib and almost dropped Kuzon when I saw he wasn't there.

"ZUKO!" I yelled.

"Looking for this?" No, I thought. Not her.

There she was, Azula, holding Koda in the corner of the room. I clutched Kuzon tighter to me.

"Put him down now Azula!" I growled.

"Or what you peasant? What's a lone little mommy going to do with no daddy to protect her?" As she said she words I heard Zuko bang against the door.

"KATARA! What's going on?" His voice was frantic.

"Azula is here, she has Koda." I said keeping my voice calm. I sat Kuzon down in is crib and moved it behind me.

"Azula put my son down, now."

"Now now we wouldn't want little baby, what was his name? Koda? Well we'll have to change that won't we? Can't have a filthy Watertribe name tainting you now can we?" She said speaking to Koda with disdain. "Now we wouldn't want to do anything rash now would we Katara? Wouldn't want your son here to get hurt would you?"

"What do you want? He is just a babe! What could you possibly want with him?"

"To cause you pain!" She said as she set Koda down in a basket behind her. She moved into a bending stance as did I. "Now peasant let's see how fast I can make these two motherless.

I used every ounce of water I could find. I took from the pitchers in the room, the plants air and even my own sweat as I had once done so many years ago. I took from the ponds below and the grass and trees. Water streamed in through the windows but I could not win. While Azula threw fire I was protecting Kuzon, Koda and I all while trying to attack the woman trying to steal my child. I could feel myself weaken; hear Zuko's shouts on the other side of the door, him and half the palace by now trying desperately to get in. I could feel Yue only half full giving me all the strength she could and finally I began to gain some ground against her. Everything seemed to slow down, the door burst open, lightning came and then all was still. The dust settled and she was gone. Koda was gone. I fell to my knees tears streaming down my face. Zuko's arms came around me ordering guards servants everyone out to find them. But I already knew it was hopeless. My son was gone; I would not see him again.