A/N: Nila's daddy will remain ambiguous for the purposes of this fic. I wanted to see Korra tackle single-motherhood on top of her Avatar duties, and frankly, I think it's an idea that has a lot of potential. For now, though, these one shots will be centered around Nila's baby/toddler years. Enjoy!
"Korra! What's the meaning of this?"
Opening her eyes, Korra rolled her stiff neck with a few noisy pops and glanced first at the (blessedly still sleeping) infant at her right before turning to scowl at Tenzin. "Could you keep it down?" She grumbled, "You're the one constantly badgering me to continue practicing my meditation. I'd think you'd be happy I'm doing that even with all that's on my plate now."
Tenzin sighed through his nose. The afternoon's warm, bright sunshine was muted into a peaceful glow here in the meditation pavilion, and the late springtime temperatures were thankfully warm enough for Nila to be outside with Korra whenever the young Avatar was about her business. Lately, Korra had been taking the one month old everywhere, and when Nila took a nap a half an hour ago, Korra decided to brush up on her mediation instead of pursuing a nap herself. Tenzin's agitation pretty much blew the peace she had recently achieved right out of the water, though.
"This, Korra." He repeated a bit more calmly, though Korra could tell her former mentor was still irked by the flaring of his nose as he waved a newspaper at her.
Apparently, this was an article slapped right on the front page, complete with an incriminating photo. Tenzin crossed his arms and waited for her to finish reading before speaking again. "This says that you deliberately firebent a man's eyebrows clean off his head for asking questions about Nila. Why would you do that?"
Okay, the peace was totally gone now. Enraged, Korra crumpled the entire newspaper in her fist, growling low in her throat and setting it ablaze with firebending. "That stupid moron!" She hissed, anger making her forget herself as her tone climbed higher with every word. "He went ahead and published this even when I told him not to?!"
On instinct, both turned in fearful anticipation of Nila waking up from Korra's outburst, but thankfully, the baby slept on. Leting out a breath, the young Avatar glared at the pile of ashes that was once the newspaper. "They left out that the man I firebent at was the reporter himself, Tenzin. He was stalking us around even when I told him to get lost. And when I stopped to feed Nila on the way home from Asami's... well, I guess I got mad enough to show him I meant what I said before."
Tenzin's face was capable of a great deal of the most amusing emotions, and this time his face morphed from mounting disbelief to outright horror. "So you did firebend at a man! Korra, how could you?"
Korra stood, feeling her stress mount. "He wasn't giving us our space! And Nila wasn't going to wait until we got back to Air Temple Island for feeding, so I swung by the park to get a quiet bench so we wouldn't be stared at." Her eyes flashed with renewed anger. "And this chump wouldn't go away, even when I told him that I had nothing to say about Nila and myself. And the pervert goes ahead and snaps a picture of me as I'm getting ready to breast feed! What did you expect me to do?"
"I expected better of you." The airbending master sighed. "You're the Avatar, and your actions are always going to be more publicized than anyone else. What you did could warrant your arrest, if you were someone other than the Avatar. You know that."
Korra sucked in a breath, trying to calm herself down. The way it fed the fire in her belly instead wasn't a good sign. "Well, Lin knows that I am not in the habit of breaking laws willy-nilly anymore. I seriously think that this isn't even going to be an issue with her. Frankly, I'm surprised that you're the one all up in arms about this. I thought you were on my side!"
The flinch that Tenzin tried to stifle made Korra pause, and a moment later she realized her tone had returned to a shout loud enough to wake the baby. Unfortunately it was too late, and Nila's little fists curled and a tiny, reedy cry erupted from within the swaddling blanket. Bending down to gently scoop up the tiny bundle of rage, Korra murmured soothing words as she swayed in a slow, rocking motion that didn't seem to do much good for the moment. She didn't notice that Tenzin hadn't left until the airbending master cleared his throat, holding out his arms. "May I?" He asked, much more gently than Korra had expected.
The man's grey eyes had softened considerably in the few moments of watching her interact with her child, and when she reluctantly passed Nila over and watched him hold her as he had once held Rohan, she couldn't find it in her to be truly upset with him. After all, he was a staunch traditionalist, and always would be when it came to laws and social convention. Her former anger had simmered down to a manageable irritation by the time Nila had been sufficiently calmed, and it seemed that Tenzin had calmed down as well. "I'm sorry Korra. Sometimes I forget what it's like to be a new parent, and I had forgotten about how... persistent the media can be when it comes to children of famous people. Even I had done something that was vaguely inappropriate when the press found out about Jinora's airbending abilities."
Taking her daughter back, Korra snorted, a grin working it's way over her features as they started back down towards the courtyard. "Let me guess, you airbent their clothes up over the cameras?"
"I-" Tenzin's eyebrows shot up, and he pinned her with an astonished glare. "How did you know?"
Her grin grew wider. "Let's just say that Pema tells the greatest stories about you."