Southern Water Tribe

Katara held her new born son tightly in her arms and kissed his forehead. "Oh, Aang", she smiled up at him, "Look at him, he's perfect". Tears of joy began streaming down Katara's face.

"He's beautiful" Aang agreed, kneeling down to be closer to his wife and son. "I'll go let Bumi and Kya know that they can come in and meet their new baby brother".

"Kids", Aang called, "Would you like to meet your brother Tenzin?"

"Ew! What's that slimy looking thing?" Bumi yelled upon entering the room.

"Well," Katara began, "This is your new baby brother".

"He looks weird momma" Kya followed.

Katara couldn't help but chuckle, "This what you both looked like when you were born"

"No I didn't!" Bumi looked horrified at the thought.

Aang didn't bother to stifle the laugh as he lifted both children onto his lap. He looked around at his beautiful family, but why do I still feel empty? Aang shrugged of the thought and put his children back down on the ground, "Well, I need to go teach the acolytes" he stated placing a kiss on Katara's forehead.

Katara's face dropped, "You're leaving already?" She wanted to yell, to fling water at him. But her children were in the room, she wouldn't let her children see her that angry.

"I have to Katara, it's my job". Without further explanation, Aang left the room.

Katara forced a smile to her face, "you kids can go play" she spoke softly, "but Bumi, before you play would you bring me the mail?"

"But mooooom" Bumi whined

"That's an order solider!"

That brightened the little boy's face "Yes sir!" He saluted his mother, "Right away sir! I will not fail this mission!" And with that Bumi ran out of the room, and quickly returned with the mail.

Katara lifter herself from her bed and put her newborn son in a crib that was covered in air bender colors, with a soft orange blanket. Aang was desperately hoping that this child would be an air bender, she hoped that, for his sake, Tenzin would be an air bender. Perhaps that was what was making her husband uneasy and unhappy. Being the last air bender, and having no person to be able to share the joy of air bending with must have been tough. Katara loved being a Master and teaching her students the art of waterbending, not being able to do that would make her sad too.

She lifted up the red envelope from the pile of mail on her bed. Zuko, she thought. Just thinking his name made her heart race just a little. He was her best friend, but she hadn't heard from him since the birth of his daughter. She supposed he was just busy, but that didn't make her miss him any less. She gently opened the letter and sat down on the bad, to read it. She pulled out her own paper and began to respond.

Zuko,

I am so sorry to hear about Rashmi. That's just awful, I can't believe she would do that. Sorry, I'm sure you don't want to talk about it anymore. I would love to help you with Izumi, but I just gave birth to another son. We've named him Tenzin because Aang is desperately hoping that he will finally have an air bender son. If you ask me, I'm just happy he is healthy, be he a water bender, air bender, or isn't a bender at all. Maybe you could steal away from the palace for a week and come down this way? Tell everyone it's a political trip or something?

-Love,

Katara

As she put the pen down she heard footsteps coming into her room.

"What's that wrinkly thing in the crib over there? I thought you were having a baby not an alien!"

"Sokka!" She raced off the bed as best she could and gave her brother a hug, "I've missed you so much! How was Kyoshi Island?"

"It was good, I missed Suki more than I realized. I mean.." He took a deep breathe, "missed her so much that I brought her back with me" He flashed Katara a sheepish smile.

"Sokka!" Katara yelled, sounding more like she did at thirteen than she did now at twenty-four. "Does that mean you two are finally going to get married?"

"Well I haven't asked her yet" Sokka told her, "But I plan to".

Air Acolyte Academy-One Month Later

"To begin today's lesson, I am going to tell you all the story of Monk Tang Xu, who fasted for many days" As he told the story he noticed on student in particular, who showed great enthusiasm for his story while many of the others simply tuned out, or even fell asleep.

Mi Kwan, Aang knew she was beautiful and smart. She stayed late almost every day to learn even more from the Avatar. Aang considered her more of a friend at this point than a student. He let his mind wander in his thoughts about Mi. She looked even more beautiful as she sat on the corner of his desk, dressed in air nomad robes as opposed to the Earth Nation clothes she had worn upon her arrival. He loved that she embraced so much of the air nomad culture, something that he wished Katara would do more of. Why would she never wear any air nomad clothing? She always wore blues, traditionally worn by the members of the Southern Water Tribe. His eyes wandered back to Mi who was smiling looking into her book, Aang blushed struck by her beauty and spirit.

He looked away from Mi only when he heard a knock on his office door, "Come in" he stated as he put some paper work in front of him.

"Aang!" Katara yelled happily rushing into his office with Tenzin in her arms, her smile faltered for a brief moment when she noticed the twenty-year-old on the corner of Aang's desk. "Mi" she smiled with forced pleasantry. "Aang! Tenzin! He's an air bender. I was walking out side with him when he sneezed and pushed the two of us back almost ten feet!"

"Amazing!" Aang jumped to his feet. "My son is an air bender!" He pulled Katara and Tenzin in close to his chest.

If anyone had been looking, they would have seen Mi Kwan step out of the office, with a concerning, dark look in her eyes.

"This is great!" Aang continued to yell in excitement, "I can't wait to tell Zuko when he and Izumi come to visit".

Fire Nation

Zuko had woken up early that morning, not that waking up early was unusual for him, fire benders rose with the sun.

"Alright, Izumi" He said talking to the infant that was peering out at him from her crib, "Today is the day that I finally start packing so that we can go visit Katara and Aang at the South Pole". Zuko grabbed a small bag and put a few necessary items in it. After being banished from the Fire Nation as a child and dedicating most of his time to chasing the Avatar, he was used to traveling pretty light.

"See, look at that, all packed!" He glanced back over at Izumi, "Oh yeah, I need stuff for you too. What a few diapers, a change of clothes? That will work right?" Izumi continued to simple look at her father.

"You're right" He smiled at Izumi, "You're going to need more than that".

He walked across his room over to the large golden doors on the east side of his room where he rung the bell. Almost immediately a servant dressed in plain, red, robes entered his room. "Yes, Fire Lord?" She asked him.

He looked at his servant a little sheepishly, "I don't know what to pack Izumi for our journey".

She looked at the floor and smiled, she had worked in the palace for fifty years, since she was a small girl of ten, she still had a tendency to hide any emotion from the royal family. Even if this new fire lord had much more compassion than his brother and sister.

"I know what to do Fire Lord Zuko" she looked back up at him "I will get Izumi and her things ready for the voyage".

Zuko nodded at the old woman, "Thank you" he said to her, "I am going to go find my uncle".

Zuko headed out of his room, and before he could even begin to wonder where his Uncle was, an overwhelming aroma of tea invaded his senses. He followed the smell down the west wing of the palace, past the kitchen and past the training rooms, where he found his uncle sitting on the ground in the sun room looking out over the gardens.

"What kind of tea is it today uncle?" The Fire Lord asked as he sat down next to the aging former general.

"Ahh" Uncle sighed taking a long sip of tea "It's ginger, mixed with mint" He smiled "A very old brew, one your mother used to love".

Zuko smiled at the thought of his mother, "Uncle," he started "I have a favor I need to ask of you. You are the only one I can trust with this".

"What is it nephew?"

"I need you to take control of things here in the Fire Nation while I visit the Southern Water Tribe. I need Katara's help to figure out how to help Izumi." He sighed, "I know running the nation is important, but I-, I'm-," He took a deep breathe, "I just don't want to end up like my father, I need to be a good father to Izumi. I love her more than I could ever have imagined, and her tears hurt me in a way I never imagined I could feel"

"Of course Zuko" Iroh smiled, "You are a father now, it is important that you do everything you can to protect and care for your daughter. And not to worry Zuko, you are nothing like your father"

Absent mindedly Zuko brought a hand up to touch the scar on his cheek, "Thank you Uncle. I would appreciate if you would pay special attention to the Fire Nation colonies that are still in the Earth Kingdom. There have been uprisings in the area, especially when any inter racial marriages takes place. Uniting the people has been much harder than I thought, and there are still many who believe that the Fire Nation is better than the rest and that Fire Nation should not marry anyone outside of the Fire Nation".

"In time Zuko, things will work out" Iroh took another sip of his tea, "You must hae patience nephew, and you must guide your people into peace".

Zuko stood up and bowed to his uncle before heading back down to his room. Once he arrived he saw that the servants had packed his bags and dressed Izumi warmly to begin their travels. As he stepped into the room he could see his sister's old hand maid Tazia playing with Izumi, he stopped in the doorway enjoying the smile on his daughter's face.

Tazia glanced up, sensing the gaze from Zuko, "Fire Lord," she bowed her head in respect, "I know this is out of place, I have no place playing with the princess." She began to place Izumi back into the crimson crib laced with gold trim.

"No," Zuko said stopping her, "I am happy to see Izumi smile. You have been here for many years Tazia. You raised me and Azula as if we were your children, with love. I would be grateful if you would do the same for Izumi".

Tazia smiled, "Of course Fire Lord Zuko", she brought Izumi back to the ground and continued to play.

Author's Note: Okay just one more chapter until some real drama happens! Just stick with me here!