No Longer the Last
Outside, Bumi was screaming. Katara could hear the wail inside all the way from the courtyard. A battle cry, Katara presumed, something the little boy almost certainly picked up from his Uncle Sokka. After a moment, Kya's high-pitched shriek made Katara cringe, and then the elated shouts of her husband met her ears. She leaned back so she could see out the open window to the courtyard on Air Temple Island.
Bumi and Aang ran full-tilt towards some lumpy "soldiers" Aang had earthbended. Kya sat on her father's shoulders, pointing enthusiastically to the other end of the courtyard, where Bibi, her stuffed sky bison, was held prisoner in a cage made out of mud. Bumi and Aang swung wooden play-swords at the soldiers, yelling and laughing.
Katara smiled and turned her attention back inside. She leaned forward and kissed baby Tenzin on the head. "They're so loud," she complained. "It's much better in here, isn't it, Tenzin? Just you and Mommy playing with blocks."
"Ba ba ba!" Tenzin replied. He grabbed a block in his chubby hands and hit it against another. "Ba ba ba!"
"That's right, baby," Katara murmured lovingly. She built a small tower with the blocks nearest her and then picked up a book. She skimmed a couple paragraphs about using waterbending to help with fevers. Tenzin wriggled forward and knocked over her tower.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Aang shouted.
Katara leaned back again. The warriors had made their way through the soldiers, and they were about to rescue Bibi. But right before they reached the stuffed animal, Aang bent his knees and raised a huge shape out of the ground. Bumi yelped and tumbled backwards.
"Oh no!" Aang exclaimed. "It's the evil swamp monster!"
Kya leaned over her father's bald head, tugging on his ears for balance. "Daddy! There's no such thing as swamp monsters!"
"Yeah, there are!" Bumi retorted. "Dad fought one, didn't you, Dad?"
"Sure did! And I bet we can beat this one the same way."
"So we'll save Bibi?"
"Of course, sweetheart."
Katara stretched back further to watch her husband kneel down and draw out a plan of attack in the ground. Bumi interrupted him partway through and started scribbling out his own plan while Kya bounced up and down excitedly. Days like this made Katara's heart swell. She loved when Aang could spend the day playing with their children.
A breeze rustled her hair.
Her body figured it out before her brain did. Katara placed a hand on her chest, turned, and watched Tenzin happily clapping blocks together as she tried to figure out the reason for the sudden surge of adrenaline flooding through her.
The realization washed over her. The breeze hadn't come from the open window.
"Ba ba ba!" Tenzin gurgled.
Katara sat forward. "Come on, baby," she murmured. "Do it again. Do it again for Mommy."
She barely dared to breathe. It felt like an eternity as she watched Tenzin hit blocks together. And then, suddenly, a puff of air burst from his hands and hit her in the face, blowing her hair-loopies back.
"Aang!"
The door opened in a blast of wind, and her husband exploded into the living room with both children hanging from his arms.
"Katara?!" he exclaimed. Aang's eyes flicked rapidly around the room, assessing the safety of his wife and child. He blinked at the normalcy of the scene, and his shoulders dropped. Aang disengaged himself from Bumi and Kya and knelt by Katara on the floor.
"Are you okay?" he asked gently.
Katara was still staring at the baby, and Aang followed her gaze.
His face brightened. "Did he say his first word?"
Katara shook her head as she looked up into Aang's face, and her gaze was drawn to the pale blue arrow on his forehead. She turned back to her son and tried to imagine the same pattern tattooed onto his soft skin.
"Katara, what is it?"
She opened her mouth, tried to frame the sentence, but her vocal cords were overwhelmed with the emotion of it all. Suddenly, Tenzin shrieked and sent a block zooming towards them on a burst of air. It hit Aang's arm and tumbled to the floor.
The baby might as well have floored him with a tornado.
"Tenzin can airbend!" Bumi shouted.
Kya crawled across the floor to the baby. "That was cool! Do it again, do it again!" She and Bumi started grabbing blocks and waving them in front of the baby's face, trying to prompt him to bend again. After a few moments of his siblings' frantic motions and raised voices, Tenzin scrunched his face up and started bawling.
Katara blinked and snapped back into action. "Ooh," she cooed as she scooped the baby into her arms, "someone needs a nap, huh?" She strode quickly into the nursery, humming soothingly. It wasn't until she calmed Tenzin and tucked him under his yellow blanket that she realized Aang had followed her.
She felt his warmth against her back, and his hand covered hers as she adjusted the stuffed fire ferret by their son's head. His fingers suddenly clutched hers, and when she turned, he enveloped her in a tight hug, hiding his face in the curve of her neck.
Katara returned the embrace, trailing her hands up and down his back comfortingly. Aang still sometimes made pilgrimages to the Air Temples, ostensibly to check on the Air Acolytes, but Katara knew better. He mourned his people, and he always would. In her arms, Aang shook a little, and Katara clutched him tightly.
Finally, Aang whispered in her ear, his voice choked, "Katara . . . I'm not the last."