Okay, got a SUPER important PSA for all of you! According to the admin of a forum that I'm a member of, the names of Tenzin's siblings have been revealed! Well, not exactly revealed by Bryke, but it's completely official, I assure you. *Ahem* Drumroll, please.
AND THE NAMES OF AANG AND KATARA'S FIRST TWO CHILDREN ARE...
Kya and Bumi.
You heard right.
Kya and Bumi.
Is that not AMAZING or what? :D Anyways, in light of this incredible news, I have decided to bring you this little story. Do with it what you will, but I immensely enjoyed writing it. Please enjoy and review! :)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show and its characters belong to Mike and Bryan, the brillant geniuses behind one of the greatest cartoon shows in the history of cartoons. Their work is legendary, and I salute them for it.
Reborn Love
The wails and shrieks of a newborn child sounded muffled in Katara's ears, her vision foggy and hazed over with blinding pain, soothing relief, and runny sweat. "It's a girl!" happily announced Kanna, Katara's Gran Gran, from the foot of the bed, holding up her new great-granddaughter in her arms as she began to clean the screaming infant. Katara managed a tired, teary-eyed smile as she heard the announcement of her child's gender, sending her into airy chuckles of absolute joy.
"You did it, Katara," proudly said her husband, Aang, from the side of the bed, both of his hands clasping hers and his stormy eyes also filled with streaming tears. Katara looked over at him, warmly smiling at him as her tears filled the veil of sweat that covered her exhausted, disheveled face. He brought her fingers up to his lips, gently kissing her hand and resting it against his chin in reverence as he lovingly whispered, "I…I'm so proud of you, sweetie." He could feel his voice about to break, and he tried to stay strong despite his overwhelming happiness that ate away at every part of his heart and soul, threatening to send him into uncontrolled bouts of estatic sobbing. "You were amazing," he managed to say through his clogged emotions, feeling his lips quiver so slightly as he tried to compose himself.
Katara wearily sighed, her body aching with unbelievable pain, pulling his hands towards the bed as she placed her free hand on his, softly smiling as she gratefully said in a hoarse, ragged voice, "Thank you, Aang, for being here for me." Resting her head back against the wall of pillows behind her, she quietly said, "You have no idea how much you've helped me today."
"All I did was sit here and comfort you during the labor," humbly admitted Aang, sniffling as more rebellious tears streaked down his face. Katara sweetly smiled at him, touched that his emotions were just as wonderfully mixed up as hers.
Katara shook her head. "No, Aang; that's where you're wrong. You helped me just by being here with me. Just the fact that you're here with me in this important moment in both of our lives, in this moment where we get to see the birth of our daughter…it means to me more than you could ever imagine."
"I wish I could imagine how much it means to you," said Aang with a witty smirk, eliciting a soft and agreeable chuckle from his wife.
"Then why don't you two find out together?" suggested Kanna, swaddling the now-clean-and-quiet infant girl in a light blue swaddle, gaining the attention of the two new parents. "Here she is," said Kanna, walking over to the side of the bed opposite Aang, handing Katara the bundle as the Master Waterbender let go of Aang's hands in order to receive the precious load.
Katara propped the bundle into her lap, feeling her smile grow even wider and more tears leak like a torrential rain as she gazed down at her daughter for the first time. She was a small thing, and only her head was visible through the bundle, but she had tan skin like her mother's and black hair like her father's. Seeing the infant's eyes crack open ever so slightly, Katara could see that her tiny eyes were a startling blue as deep and vast as the endless sea. "Hello, little one…" whispered Katara, bringing up the infant for her to lightly kiss on the forehead, eliciting a small coo from the baby that melted Katara's heart to its very core.
"Spirits, she's beautiful…" breathlessly remarked Aang, reaching over with his hand and tenderly stroking his daughter's cheek with one finger, finding it hard to contain his raging and turbulent emotions. His gaze was entirely fixated on this little life that his beloved Forever Girl now held in her arms, a fact that was still so shocking and yet so real that it left him constantly reeling.
"Is it safe to come in yet?" timidly asked a voice from the ajar door. Aang, Katara, and Kanna all looked over to see Sokka peeking his head in, his eyes being the only thing visible as he used the door as a possible shield. He remembered how much his sister had been screaming and yelling during the birthing process, and it quite frankly scared him even more than anything else in the entire world. He didn't know how Aang had managed to deal with it all, but he immensely respected his brother-in-law for adapting so readily to the new situation.
"Yes, Sokka," chuckled Kanna, "it's safe to come in now. The child's already here."
"Oh good," Sokka sighed with relief, slipping in through the door with his father close behind. "So the kid's okay? No problems or anything?"
"Come take a look for yourself, Sokka," replied Katara, motioning for her brother to walk to the bedside. "You too, Dad," she added with a smile towards her father. Hakoda likewise smiled as he and his son walked over to Katara's left, the side opposite of where Aang sat, and looked down at the sleeping infant. As her family examined the newborn, Katara asked, "So what do you think?"
"Hmm…" pondered Sokka, poking a cautious finger into the baby's cheek, being careful to be extremely gentle, and eliciting a bubbly coo from the infant as she slightly stirred. "She's certainly squishy," joked Sokka, looking over at his sister and brother-in-law with a teasing smirk.
"Sokka," playfully chided Hakoda, "is that really the first thing you're going to say about your new niece? That's my granddaughter you're calling 'squishy'!" Sokka merely shrugged his shoulders, leading Hakoda to laugh as he ruffled his son's hair out of good humor.
"Trust me, Hakoda," said Aang as he rolled his eyes, "knowing Sokka, how could it not be the first thing he says about my- err, our new daughter?" Drying off his tears, he glanced over at Katara, who was chuckling at his slight error.
"So have you thought of a name for her yet?" asked Sokka, getting down to one of the most important parts of a newborn's first moments of life: the name that they would carry for the rest of their life; the identity that would be given for them to shape their entire destiny around.
Katara looked down at her sleeping daughter, brightly smiling as she truthfully said, "I've had a name all picked out for a very long time." Kissing her daughter on her tiny head again, she proudly said with great fondness and love, "Welcome to the world, Kya." A thick silence blanketed all of them like a heavy snowfall, each of them taking in the new name of Aang and Katara's first-born child.
"You're naming our daughter after your mother?" asked Aang, surprised by Katara's choice. In the months before the actual birth, he and Katara had discussed countless names that they could use for their child. He had never considered using the name of Katara's deceased mother as the name of their new daughter.
"Of course," earnestly said Katara as she looked over at Aang, Kya's coos sounding so purely melodious in her ears. "My mother was a huge part of my life, even after she died." Looking down at Kya, she smiled and added, "This way, her memory will not only live in our hearts, but also in our daughter." Remembering who else was in the room, she looked up at the others and asked, "What do you all think?"
"I think it's a very honorable thing to do," commendably said Aang, smiling as he reached over to stroke Kya's cheek again. "And I know your mother would certainly approve."
"Same goes for me," joined in Sokka, putting a hand on Katara's shoulder. Supportively smiling down at his sister, she added, "It's what Mom would want."
"My thoughts exactly," nodded Kanna, looking over towards her son, who was staring down at Kya with tear-filled eyes and a sorrowful expression.
Katara looked up at her father, worried that her choice had irrevocably hurt her father's feelings. "Dad?" she quietly called out, hoping to get him to say something, anything, to relieve the tension in her heart.
Hakoda stared down at baby Kya for a bit longer, tears streaking his hardened warrior face, before taking in a shaky breath, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand as he heavily said, "Yes…Sokka's right." Looking over at Katara with an incredibly proud but also mournful smile, he added, "It's what she would want." Katara smiled as more tears filled her eyes, overjoyed that her father approved.
"So it's decided, then," perked up Aang with a cheery smile. Leaning over Katara, his kissed his daughter's head for the first time, resting his forehead against Kya's as he said, "Your name will be Kya, in honor of the grandmother who came before you." Getting up from the floor, he sat next to Katara, wrapping an arm around his smiling wife and looking down at Kya as he said, "I wonder what her story will be."
"Whatever it is," decided Katara, leaning up to kiss Aang's cheek, "we'll find out together." She rested her head on Aang's shoulder, feeling him lean his head against hers as they both stared down at their sleeping daughter. "We love you, Kya," quietly said Katara, kissing Kya's head again before settling the bundle in her lap for all to see.
"And we always will," assuredly added Aang, meaning each and every word with all the power that a father could have. The whole family smiled down at little Kya, thinking of a dozen ways her life would unfold before their eyes. In the end, they decided that it was better if they waited to see how Kya's life would play out; after all, one of the greatest joys of life was raising the next generation.
And the whole world rejoiced at the birth of Kya, daughter of Avatar Aang and Master Katara, but only the newborn's small family would truly know the deeply-rooted significance of her name or of the brave and courageous woman for which she was named.