All day he had to put up with Kya and Bumi's teasing, first two choices on anything the three of them were offered, and of course: their love of their parents' attention. All day Tenzin had to study bending while his siblings slacked off and played games without him. All day he got to watch them make friends so easily while he discovered how much of a loner he felt as a child. All day he had to wait, wait, and wait.
But all evening her attention was his. Katara would ask his father to put Kya and Bumi to bed before the smaller child. She would lay down next to her son and snuggle him close no matter if he pretended he was 'too much of a big boy' to be. She would let her hair loose to tickle his cheeks as she pulled multiple blankets to cocoon around them, bringing warmth to his little toes all the way to his shoulders. She would give him the larger portion of the feather pillow even though his head was considerably smaller. She would wait until the room was dark enough to give her voice center stage when she leaped into her stories.
With every story she began the same way. Katara never forgot how to start off her bedtime stories, not once. Tenzin, in turn, would never forget the first time she took the child aside from his free-spirited siblings to begin their nightly ritual.
He remembers that she hadn't said anything to dad about putting the others to bed, they had just smiled softly and nodded to each other. Like they had planned it all along, and, looking back, they probably had. Then she fussed over the blankets and the lighting, blue orb-like eyes worrying over small details as she only did when she truly had something to say. Tenzin knew his mother's behavior well enough to begin to feel extremely curious but also to feel nervous himself. Was he in trouble? Did something happen?
He touched a hand to the water bender's face and pouted.
"Impatient, are we?" Her words were huffed a little but she smiled against her son's palm. "Well I guess we can get on with it, you do have to be up for training early tomorrow."
He knew better than to respond with any sass, as she was finally taking a deep breath to begin. The woman's voice escaped her lungs like music notes, almost visibly dancing around Tenzin's ears:
"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and the Fire Nation was nearing victory in the War. Years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believed that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle was broken. But I hadn't lost hope. I still believed that somehow, the Avatar would return to save the world."
Admittedly, he only listened to half of whatever she continued on with. He was far too caught up in watching the way she looked when she spoke- eyes lidded, broad smile on her lips despite the terrible time she talked about, and the rosy coloring her cheeks took up when she mentioned 'the Avatar.' Tenzin hadn't seen his mother so happy before then that first bedtime story.
But it did have some competition to how she looked from that night onward.
Every night she added more and more gestures to her recitings, using her bending to describe an action sequence she encountered on the adventures her and his uncle and father had been on. Every night the boy would giggle at her eye rolls when gossiping about Uncle Sokka and his goofy jokes, at the weird creatures they met up with. Every night he was left with more and more questions she refused to answer until the following bedtime. Katara would laugh at his put-out expression and re-tuck him into bed, kiss his forehead, and secretly watch him drift off to sleep from the doorway. His father would join her after having tucked the others in and wrap his arms around her shoulders from behind her.
"I was wrong," She whispered that first night.
"About what?" Her husband would murmur in her ear. "Wait, when have you ever been wrong?" He teased.
"Heh. Shut up," Katara smiled into the darkness. "I was wrong about you changing the world. Changing the world is for the future avatar. You saved it, Aang. Whoever steps into the duty next- they'll be responsible for changing it for the better, right?"
"You could always look at it like that, I suppose. But I think he's going to help with that. Well, I believe he will anyway…" Without another word, they continued to watch their son dream peacefully, drool trickling down his chin.