Toph stood at the stovetop preparing breakfast for her daughters while Suyin sat behind her at the kitchen island and faced her mother's back.
Toph yawned and scratched at her bun, then placed her left hand in the pocket of her white bathrobe.
"Hey, Mama?" Suyin asked while nibbling on an apple wedge.
"Mm?" Toph poured the pancake batter from her green bowl to the pan. "Ssssss", she imitated the sound the batter made upon touching the heat.
"Where do babies come from?"
Toph's eyes widened.
Lin came down the stairs still in her pajamas. She joined Su at the island and snatched an apple slice.
Toph smiled, "hey, Lin! You're eighteen, you totally know the answer to this question! Why don't you educate your baby sister…"
Lin laughed out loud, "you're her mother! I'm staying out of this one."
"Fine," Toph surrendered, "Okay, Su. Lay it on me one more time?" She pressed her spatula into the first pancake.
Su took a sip of her banana juice, "where do babies come from."
"Well," Toph began, shifting her weight to her left leg, "that's a hard question and I'll tell you why."
Lin smiled and rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going.
Su listened intently.
"It's a hard question because though I've been pregnant before, I didn't have the average experience…"
Su leaned forward with interest.
Lin shook her head.
"You see, I didn't conceive like most people, Su. My experience was special." she whispered.
"Why was it special?" Su whispered, going along with whatever was happening.
Toph smiled to herself, "Well, most people have sex to get pregnant, but I didn't do that."
"Mom, you promised you'd never tell us a lie." Lin challenged her mother with a sneaky grin.
Toph internally kicked herself for making such promises, "when did I say that!?"
"Do you seriously not remember!? It was such an intimate moment, Mom!"
Su drank her juice while looking back and forth at her mother and big sister.
"I'm sorry! I have a lot on my mind. When did I say that!?"
"I was like, five and I did something bad and you yelled at me, then I asked if you still loved me and you said yeah and I asked if you were lying and you said you'd never ever tell me a lie!"
Toph's eyes widened once more and she pursed her lips, "wow, guess I really did say that…but I said I'd never tell you a lie. Su didn't exist then, so I'm fine." she placed her left hand on her hip, "look at me, covering all of my bases!"
Su didn't understand, "Mama, keep going with the story."
"Okay," Toph continued, ignoring what had just happened between her and her eldest daughter, "okay so, to get right to it, one day I was walking alone in the park."
"Mhm." Su nodded.
"And I felt the most gorgeous rock. It was strong, yet light. I thought, "oh man, if this rock was a person, it would make a great daughter.'"
Su laughed.
"So I named it Lin, and I took it home with me. And I slept with it next to me on my bed, and the next day the rock was gone and I felt so sick. I felt like I was dying, but when you're pregnant, everyday feels like you're dying anyway. So then after like...a month of feeling like death, I took a visit to your Aunt Katara and she did that spirit water magic on my belly and she said there was a baby inside of it. I was like, "woah! No way!'" She placed two pancakes on a plate and poured more batter into the pan.
"So a rock made a baby for you?"
"No, the rock turned into my baby. Lin, to be more specific. Su, your rock was much different from Lin Rock."
Lin was amused by this story, "do you regret finding the Lin Rock?"
"Pfsht, are you kidding me? I live for my Rock Babies."
"I hope I can have a Rock Baby someday…" Su looked out the kitchen window and admired the beautiful fall morning, "I'm gonna name it...Rocky."
Toph furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "Um, no? Su, Rock Babies are only reserved for the Greatest Earthbender of All Time, a.k.a, me. Not you."
Su bit the inside of her cheek and hunched her back, "but what if I want babies?"
Toph shrugged, "I don't know. I have no experience with the normal way...maybe if you went to school you'd find out."
Su laughed, "are you serious? Funny joke, Mama."
Lin looked over at her sister and rested her head on her left fist. She poked Su's arm, "but you actually learn about this stuff in school. You know, health class?"
Su nodded, "yeah, I know. But I just wanted my-" she cut her eyes over to her mother, "beloved mother whom I love with all of my heart to tell me where babies come from."
Toph's heart melted and she laid her left hand across her chest, "Su, did you really mean all that?"
"Yep." She nodded.
"Aw, I love you too, my sweet baby badgermole!"
Lin gagged.
"Fine, I guess I'll tell you the truth…"
Su grinned wide and bounced up and down in her chair.
Toph placed the remaining four pancakes on the plate and doused them in syrup. She stabbed three forks into the stack and carried the plate to the kitchen island where her kids were sitting, then turned off the stove.
Lin grabbed a fork and started eating.
Toph sat down across from them and grabbed a fork as well. "One day, someone with a dick is going to approach you. They're not gonna be that attractive, but they'll have a charming personality. They're gonna take you on a few dates, buy you nice rocks, call you beautiful, then you're going to have the most disappointing two-and-a-half minutes of your life, and then you'll find out that he left a baby inside of you. Then when you go to tell him about it, he'll act like he never met you and he'll leave you alone to balance a full time job, and your new family." She angrily shoved some pancake into her mouth.
Su was silent.
Lin looked at her mother, then back at Su, "actually, Su...It doesn't have to be disappointing or only two minutes...Tenzin and I use-"
"Oh, dear gosh, spare me! Spare me the gruesome details, Lin! I've heard enough!" Su covered her ears in horror and directed her eyes towards the stack of pancakes.
Toph swallowed, "hun, I think your best bet is learning from school…your sister and I kind of suck at explaining things like this." She raised the right corner of her lips and shrugged in a "sorry about that" fashion.
Su nodded, "I'll go on Monday…"
"Yay!" Toph shimmied her shoulders in a tiny dance.
Lin cut her eyes over to Su, "you should always be going to school. Your education is important-"
"Blah, blah, blahdy blah blah!" Su reached over to Lin's mouth and pinched her lips shut, giggling.
Lin swatted her arm away, "you're obnoxious. I'm just looking out for you, but if you don't care then fine. Be a failure."
"Oh, please, Lin! I have the same education that Su has now and I turned out extremely successful."
"Mom, that's because you're a legend. Su and I aren't."
Toph's arms got chills, "wooo…." she twitched her shoulders and rubbed her left arm, "I was hoping you'd say that," she laughed.
"Mom, what the hell- you know what? Nevermind! I graduated, I shouldn't even care...I have total freedom!"
Toph pointed her fork at Lin, "if I recall correctly, I always gave you total freedom. You chose to go to school everyday. I never made you." She licked the syrup from her fork.
Lin rolled her eyes, "I wanted to give myself options in life...times are changing, Mom. People want to hire educated people."
"Lin," Toph leaned on the granite with her elbows, "you have a high school education...you think you can be a scholar or something with that?" she spoke with inflection, "nooooo!"
"No, I know that but-" Lin sighed, "this is the only family I've ever seen where a kid can get shamed for taking pride in their education…"
Toph shook her head, "I'm not shaming you! I'm really proud of you. I know how hard you worked. I'm just saying, you didn't have to go to school to be successful. Su is smart and capable and I'm sure she'll do just fine whether she goes to school everyday or not."
Su pounded on her chest and pointed her right fist out towards her mother, then nodded in agreeance.
Toph laughed into the back of her right hand, then directed her attention back to Lin.
Lin glared at Su and hopped down from her seat. She stepped over to her sister's left ear. In great detail, she described the "gruesome" aspects of her and Tenzin's relationship.
"Ahh! Mom, save me!" Su pretend screamed for dramatic effect.
Lin patted Su on the head then returned to her seat. She smiled at her sister, "what do you think? That's the real deal...I told you everything."
Su stared at Lin in the eyes, "you're an animal." She shook her head disapprovingly, "a filthy animal."
Lin snickered and shrugged, going back to the pancakes.
"Geez, what did you tell her?" Toph grimaced.
Lin grabbed Su's glass of juice and took a long sip before looking back at her mother, "I'll tell you when you're older."