Izumi had already had her own child; Iroh.

You supposed you hadn't really made it clear about how to avoid the situation that you and her father and apparently her great-uncle had all now fallen into. But nevertheless, Izumi was a fantastic mother and you adored her child; your grandson. You only wished that Iroh himself was here to meet him. And to meet another little person.

"Zu..." You sat next to him that night. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh? Again? I had thought we were using that new contraception device that is getting so popular..." He pushed his reading glasses up. Having just passed his mid-thirties, he now needed some assistance with the tiny print of the newsletters that were printed for him from other territories.

"I'm gonna keep this one." You decided. "Fun for Iroh, I think. I dunno, just wanna."

The newsletter burned up in his hand.

That's how Tahno came to be. Presenting himself as a waterbender early on, you were surprised at just how much he resembled both Zuko and your mother. It was almost disconcerting.

But what was disconcerting to Zuko was your next declaration.

"Imma gonna raise 'im in the Swamp more. He ain't gonna be part'a the royal family."

"What? Why not?" He gave you a shocked look.

"I feel like Izumi ain't know nothin' 'bout the Swamp. We done raised her 100% Fire Nation. Can't this baby, this waterbender, at least learn 'bout his kin? He gotta learn water bendin' from them." You told Zuko.

He sighed. Zuko never wanted you to leave, but you did occasionally, to return home.

"Let's compromise. You won't take him until he's older. And then, you'll still bring him back here for at least a few months of the year. Perhaps for formal schooling?" He offered.

"Sold." You nodded.

And sold you were. Tahno grew up part time in the Swamp and part time in the Fire Nation. He held no claim to the throne, but held all of his father and mother and sister's love. And he was happy with that. He even found a delightful Swamp girl that he dragged along with him to and from the Fire Nation, to his mother's delight and his father's anxiety.

That is, until he turned twenty and created a bending team, because now people would have fights for entertainment, called the White Falls Wolfbats. Then, suddenly and seemingly with little reason, some switch got turned on in his body and he was more and more distant from you.

"Tahno, are ya comin' back to the Swamp?" You asked him.

"NO!" He yelled. "Stop asking me! I hate it there. It's uncivilized and uncouth and downright embarrassing! Just like you! You're the whore of the Fire Lord, doesn't that bother you just a little?"

That had been the first time you had ever blood bent one of your children out of anger. Tahno moved to Republic City soon after.

You were old now and you didn't like to move back and forth between the Swamp and the Fire Nation any more. Instead, you chose to stay where you felt was home. Right by Zuko.

You missed your son and hoped that the girl he had dragged along would help him come to his senses. But he was an angry young man. Not unlike someone else you had known.

And that very thought is what gave you faith that you would see Tahno again; happy and healthy.