Author's Note: After that last episode of Legend of Korra (Civil Wars, Part 1) I just had to write this. Hearing Kya and Bumi talk about Aang was like a punch in the gut. It's not much, but I had to get this out of my system.
It was nearly midnight when Appa landed just outside the bison stables on Air Temple Island. Shortly after his feet touched the ground, his exhausted rider slid off the top of his head, landing on the ground beside him in a heap. Aang wondered if he shouldn't just fall asleep right there. The cool night air felt nice after spending the day cooped up in the hot, dusty confines of the council chamber with a bunch of bickering politicians. But he longed to be with his wife, whom he had barely seen over the last week. He wanted to crawl into bed with her and hold her in his arms; a reminder of why he nearly worked himself to death each day, one of the few things that made being the Avatar worthwhile.
And so, Aang eventually managed to pull himself up; patting his faithful bison on the head and picking up his staff before dragging himself to the front door. No sooner had he crossed the threshold of his home and close the door behind him did he collapse, yet again, against the the wooden doorframe. Someone had obviously heard him return, as he heard a familiar voice call his name from above...
"Aang? Is that you?"
He heard muffled footsteps on the upper floor, than coming down the steps; and sure enough, there she was. His beloved wife stood at the foot of the stairs, clad in a simple blue nightrobe and with her hair down, a mixture of fatigue and concern evident in her blue eyes. It seemed she'd gone to bed without him, for once. Usually she waited up for him.
"Aang..." she called, rushing over to his side. "...are you okay?"
"I'm fine, it's just... ", he took a deep breath. "...it's been a long day."
"I'll bet. You look terrible," she noted. Aang didn't need her to tell him that. No doubt he looked as bad as he felt. He didn't resist as Katara helped him to his feet and over to the couch in the middle of their sitting room. She sat down beside him and proceeded to stroke the top of his head, gazing at him with a look of pity.
"Anything happen today?" Katara dared to ask. She had a sneaking suspicion of what had Aang so exhausted this particular; when he came home like this, it was usually because the politicians had pried into Aang's personal life again. She knew what they were thinking; out of their three children, only one of them -their youngest son, Tenzin- was an airbender. Most people had gotten it into their thick skulls that it was Aang's sole duty to 'repopulate' the airbenders by taking more wives. The issue had come up repeatedly in the years following their marriage and the birth of their first son Bumi, who (much to the dismay of the public) had turned out to be a non-bender.
"It's getting worse," Aang finally replied. "Now their asking me about Tenzin. They wanted to know if he's interested in girls yet".
Oh no, Katara thought. "Please tell me you didn't tell them anything," she begged. Aang had an unfortunate tendency to forget when to bite his tongue.
Aang twiddled his thumbs nervously, and Katara knew she wasn't going to like the answer.
"I may have let slip that he was friends with Lin..." he finally answered. Katara facepalmed; Lin was Toph's daughter, and an earthbender like her mother. She knew Tenzin and Lin were close. It wasn't insane to consider that the two of them might end up together one day. Even though Lin was very much like her mother, she and Tenzin couldn't help but remind Katara of herself and Aang when they were kids.
"...and I'm guessing they don't approve of Lin?" Katara probed. Aang shook his head.
"Of course not. They said I should 'encourage' Tenzin to affiliate more with the Air Acolytes. I tried to tell them it doesn't matter if he grows up to have airbending children or not, but they just don't listen."
This problem in particular stressed Aang out more than anything else; the world was afraid that if there were no Airbenders left when the Avatar cycle came full-circle, the cycle would break. Aang and Katara knew better; bending was a spiritual trait, not a genetic one. The cycle would continue whether there were Airbenders or not, but the rest of the world was not so easily convinced. Some argued that future Avatars would need airbenders in order to master all four elements; one could hardly learn airbending if there was no one teach them. Aang had faith that the Air Acolytes knew enough of the principals of airbending to aid future Avatars, but this wasn't enough for the world.
As a result, Aang was afraid that Tenzin would inherit all of Aang's burdens one day. Because of this, Aang had paid Tenzin special attention over his other two children; he would take Tenzin on trips to the Air Temples to teach him more about his heritage, or even mini-vacations to Ember Island just to bond with his son. Aang wanted to make sure that Tenzin's childhood would be as happy as possible, so that when things got tough, he would have some fond memories to look back on.
Unfortunately, he didn't have nearly enough time to spend with his other two children. In the past, he'd made time when he could; but now he was giving most of his fatherly attention to Tenzin, and Kya and Bumi were beginning to resent him for it. Worse, they were starting to take out their frustrations on Tenzin, and bullied him relentlessly.
"I've been thinking of taking a few days off. Maybe taking Tenzin on one of our little field trips," Aang suggested. "You know, I wouldn't mind if you would come along with us, for once," he added.
"Tenzin would mind. How are you going to take his mind off things when Kya and Bumi won't leave him alone?" Katara inquired.
"Did they do anything today?" He asked in response.
"I had to tell Bumi off for teasing him this morning at breakfast," she answered. "And Kya seemed to think it would be really funny to knock him off his air scooter earlier this afternoon."
"She knocked him down? Is he okay?" Aang asked with concern.
"It was nothing I couldn't fix. But I honestly cannot believe the way she behaves!" Katara declared. Katara had been shocked by Kya's violent tendencies towards her little brother; if she wasn't trying to knock him off his air scooter, she would smack him in the back of the head with a water-whip, trip him in the halls, and in one case she'd pummeled him with her bare hands; Katara was still trying to figure out what caused that particular incident.
"This is why I want you to come along," Aang asserted. "Kya and Bumi think I'm playing favorites; I want to show them that I care about them, too. I want us to go out together; as a family."
Katara sighed. "I know, seperating Tenzin from his brother and sister isn't going to help them to become any closer," she responded. "But all the same, I think he needs some alone time with his father more."
"Are you sure?" Aang inquired, doubt evident in his voice.
Katara pondered the situation a moment before answering. "Not entirely... but I want you to go out and have some fun with Tenzin. I think you both need it." She affirmed. She stood up off the couch, knelt down in front of him, and placed a hand on his cheek. "While you're out, I'll sit down and have a talk with Kya and Bumi. Okay?"
Aang nodded in agreement. "Alright."
Katara gave him a tired smile. "C'mon. Let's go up to bed."
About a half an hour later, Aang had had a hot shower and changed out of his robes, and was ready to spend the rest of the night curled up beside the love of his life. Katara was waiting for him, sitting up in the bed while scribbling in her private journal, the bedside lamp the only source of light in the room.
"Sweetie?" Katara had looked up from her writing to see Aang strolling towards the bedroom door rather than the bed. "Aren't you coming to bed?"
"In a minute, sweetie," he answered. "I just want to check on the kids first, is all."
Katara smiled. "Okay. I'll wait up for you, alright?" Aang nodded, and proceeded out the door.
Each of his children had their own bedroom; there was plenty of room in the temple, so there was no reason they couldn't have their own rooms. Katara had first made Bumi share his room with Tenzin for about a year in hopes that he would bond with his little brother... it wasn't until they decided that Bumi's juvenile pranks were getting out of hand did they finally agree to give Tenzin his own room. It pained them to know that his children didn't get along; Katara had occasionally fought with Sokka when they were kids, but Aang had never once suspected that they might hate each other. Kya and Bumi got along fine; but Tenzin was often the victim of Bumi's practical jokes and Kya's bullying. Obviously they were jealous of him because of all the attention he got. Not just from his parents, but from the world; he was the first airbender born in a generation, a beacon of hope for the world that the airbenders might return.
If only they would understand, Aang thought. It's not really something to be jealous of.
Aang stopped by the door to Kya's room; of his three children, he thought Kya showed the most resentment towards him. She'd once broken down in front of him, asked why he was never around, if he actually cared about her at all... he'd told her that he didn't love her any less than he loved Tenzin, but he wasn't so sure she believed him. Just the thought of it broke his heart.
He pushed open the door to her room; Kya was fast asleep, her hair loose and messy, clad in her nightrobe, the blankets pulled up to her chest. Aang sat down on the bed beside her, the mattress creaking under his weight. On the bedside table was a framed photograph of their family. Aang picked it up, and raised and eyebrow; the part of the photo featuring a 9-year old Tenzin had been torn away, so that it was only himself, Katara, Kya, and Bumi. Aang stared at the photograph, his heart breaking at the thought that Kya could be so callous towards her little brother.
He set the picture back down on the table, and turned to Kya. He brushed a few strands of brunette hair from her face, and pulled the blankets up to her shoulders.
"I know I haven't been there as often as I should've been," he spoke in the dark. "I've spent my whole life trying to make this a better world for you and your brothers... but it doesn't excuse the fact that you needed me here."
"I try to make as much time for you -for all of you- as possibly can. But Tenzin needs me more; there will come a day when he'll have to carry all my burdens. I just want to make sure that he has some good times to look back on when that day comes."
Aang paused, looking down at his daughter to see if he had woken her. But she slept on, seemingly oblivious to her father's presence.
"No matter how things may seem, I want you to know that I love you. You, your brothers, and your mom are my entire world... and don't ever assume that I love you any less than I do Tenzin." And with that, he leaned down and kissed his daughter on the side of head. He stood up, and as he reached the door, he turned around to look on his slumbering daughter once more.
"Sweet dreams, my little panda-lily," he said. Finally, he stepped out and shut the door; heading back down the hall to where his beloved wife was waiting for him.
It wasn't long after Aang left that Kya gave up feigning sleep. She sat up in the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest, and stared at the door. For a while, she just sat there, her father's words ringing in her ears.
No matter how things may seem, I want you to know that I love you. You, your brothers, and your mom are my entire world... and don't ever assume that I love you any less than I do Tenzin.
A single tear slipped down Kya's cheek, and she turned to bury her head in her pillow as to muffle her sobs; all the while wishing it were so easy to believe him.
AN: There you go. I know it's not much... but I wanted to write my own take on Aang's relationship with his children. I can't help but think Kya and Bumi were being just a little bit unfair towards Aang and Tenzin. To top it off, I made the mistake of reading an extremely OOC story about Aang being a horrible father and husband earlier that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Anyway, I wouldn't label Aang as a 'bad father'; I firmly believe he did the best he could with the weight of the world on his shoulders... and I'm sure he loved all his children equally, even if he did give Tenzin some special attention. Anything less doesn't sound like Aang at all. I hope we get to see some real flashbacks of Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin's childhood in future episodes.