Chapter Text
Sometimes, Fire Lord Zuko shows up to his meetings with the council with an assortment of bows in a variety of colors in his hair. Occasionally, he shows up with nail polish on his fingers too.
When it first happened, he was in the middle of going over some new legislation when he noticed that the room was eerily quiet, and everyone was staring at him.
Zuko worked diligently towards not being like his forefathers and the legacy that was left behind them. He remembers the way the servants approached him apprehensively when he first took the throne – afraid to upset him out of fear that they would be banished, fired, or challenged to an Agni Kai. He quickly made it clear that not only could they talk to him – but they could also question him and voice their opinions, so when his advisory board just sat in silence staring at him, he didn’t take it as a sign of disrespect.
Setting the manuscript he was reading from down, he asked “Is something wrong?”
A short pause followed before one of his most trusted advisors spoke – he was an aging man who served under Ozai but was actually a friend of his Uncle.
“My Lord...your hair.”
Zuko blinked in confusion. “My hair?”
He motioned for one of the nursemaids to bring him a mirror and when she did, he couldn’t stop the laughter that spilled out of his mouth. There, surrounding his crown, was a bunch of tiny bows that his daughter put in his hair.
The 4-year-old was obsessed with them thanks to his wife, Fire Lady Katara, and loved playing in his hair, fascinated by the long, straight locks - he was secretly ecstatic about this for he was afraid of looking too much like his father. That meant that during midday recess, he could often be found with Kya, as a client at her “Beauty Parlor”. Sometimes, his oldest, Izumi, who was '6 going on 13', joined them and insisted on painting his nails with the kit Auntie Azula got her. Together, the two of them had the ever imposing, sometimes intimidating, Fire Lord, wrapped around all of their little fingers so he couldn’t deny them of anything.
Which lead to situations like this.
He ended up losing track of time and didn’t have time to take them out before the meeting when he was woken up by Katara who found them curled up together, sound asleep on a daybed in the family living area. Pregnant with their 3rd child, she just smiles and says that for his sake – she hopes this next one is a boy.
Stilling his laughter, he just shakes his head and grins “Blame Kya.”
The council members chuckle (and breathe a sigh of relief that their majesty hasn't gone crazy) at the mention of the 2nd Princess of the Fire Nation Royal Family and from that day forward, no one bats an eye when the Fire Lord walks around with a bunch of hair bows in his hair, or a fresh set of manicured nails.
And yes, for his sake, their 3rd child is a boy – but no one says anything when he pulls himself up using Zuko’s robes and sits atop of his shoulders in meetings either.