The door slid open with a little grating of the panels, and Aang slumped inside. It was late, but there had been so much to do – getting Yakone locked away, paperwork.
Spirits, paperwork. Why did there have to be paperwork? Aang really wasn't the type to sit still and pore over parchment for so long at a time. Shouldn't he be the one out there, hands-on taking care of the problems? He distinctly remembered that when he was fighting the Fire Nation (it was sad how much he missed those days, when it was the four of them on Appa, traveling the world…) it was far more simple.
The kids would be asleep by now, and Katara would be waiting up for him, and they'd be able to go asleep and this day would be over.
He grinned a little at the prospect, and walked into the kitchen, where she would assuredly be.
"Hi, sweetie." To his surprise, Tenzin was seated at the table, looking distinctly shaken. Katara was across from him, distractedly staring into her soup.
"Aang." She breathed in relief, getting up to hug him. "It's been hours. What happened?"
"Oh, you know," he said quickly, evasively. "Paperwork, the trial."
"That's not true." Aang looked down at his son, who looked violated. "I…I saw you," he blurted quickly. "You…" he whispered, horrified. "You took his bending away."
Aang sat, holding his head in his hand. "Yes, Tenzin."
"How?"
As the son of the Avatar, Tenzin had been exposed to things that no child should be – mentions of things that Aang had done in the war. They had tried to shelter him as best as possible, but some things were unavoidable.
Such as seeing one's gentle father turn into something so full of destructive energy that his eyes and tattoos glowed with the force of a thousand lives and he committed an almost unspeakable act to someone's soul.
"The Avatar's duty is to keep balance in the world – and Yakone was disturbing that balance. I did what I had to do, which in his case, was remove his bending so he can never hurt or control anyone ever again." Aang looked down.
Tenzin's eyes were wide.
"It deals with energy, and spirits. It's an ancient art that came even before the Avatar…"
"That was scary," Tenzin admitted, looking down. "Even though you didn't know I was there, it felt like nothing I could do could protect me from….you." Aang sighed. He could tell : Tenzin found it hard to address that otherworldly creature as Father.
He sighed again. "Sometimes…" Katara reached out to touch him. "I feel that way myself."