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The fireplace crackled with life, casting the darkness of night out of the room.
"Hah, imagine that, a waterbender as the mother of all airbenders." The ancient earthbender woman chuckled thoughtfully.
"Isn't it strange?" asked the earthbender's young Fire Nation friend.
They sat lazily on pillows drinking tea.
"I don't think it's strange at all." The old woman said after taking a long sip of tea and rubbing her bare feet on the warm stone floor.
Then the young man asked a question rather tentatively, "The airbenders didn't um… y'know, marry each other to have more airbenders… did they?"
The old woman almost choked on her tea. "Of course not!" she spurted, "They wouldn't inbreed like that! Don't ask such dumb questions."
"Well, then, how did the airbenders manage to repopulate so quickly?"
The old woman turned her sightless eyes to the ceiling and smiled faintly. "Well, it's very simple really. The last airbender married a waterbender and had many airbender children. Those children had airbender children and those airbender children had more airbender children. And all with other nations and benders. No nasty inbreeding."
"Well, how come there were so many? Isn't that unusual? I mean, shouldn't there have been more of a fifty fifty chance of whether the child of an airbender was going to be an airbender or not? It seems like it's a sure thing that if an airbender is pregnant, the child will be an airbender also." The Fire Nation man fidgeted with his cup of tea.
The old blind woman nodded slowly. "You're right, it is an unusual success rate." She took another sip of tea, "But I like to think that it is the work of the great spirits, it will probably fade as balance is regained. Either that or it was a part of some weird Avatar power stuff. But I don't think so."
The man blinked, "Oh yes. Avatar Aang is the father of all airbenders."
"Hah. Marrying her really did help to restore balance to the world…" The old woman spoke softly, as if more to herself than to him.
"You knew them, right?"
"Oh yes. They are very good friends of mine."
"Well, you didn't seem very sad at the funeral today. Neither did Avatar Aang for that matter."
"Well," she said rubbing her aching leg with an old gnarled hand, "why should we be? She lived a very full life. And now, she has passed on to the other side. Aang saw her off as a matter of fact. He wanted it to be that way. He wanted to guide her. And I'm sure he'll join her soon."
The Fire Nation man nodded. "It's just, she must have been very loved. I've never seen so many Air Nomads in one place before."
"I don't think anyone ever has. And yes, she was very loved, especially by Aang."
The young man leaned back on his palms, "She should have a proper title. How does Katara, the Great Airbender Ancestor sound?"
The woman gave a wise laugh. "She deserves such a title, but I doubt she would like it. She wasn't one for those kinds of things. She'd be flattered though, I'm sure."
Silence settled on the pair like the early morning dew.
The old woman set her empty cup down, smiling softy. "You know, I'm very glad you make good tea like your Great Great Great Great Uncle Iroh."
"Thank you Master Bei Fong."