A.N. Right where we left off. I've been busy and my writing has really suffered because of it. So hopefully this is doable.

"I'll take the bags, you get her into the car."

At Katara's voice, Suyin looked to the woman walking to the trunk with the suitcases in hand.

"Thanks." Suyin leaned down to pick Kuvira up.

"No." Kuvira fought, pulling at the hands around her jacket; her legs kicking the air as she was lifted from the ground.

"Fine." Suyin set her down. "Go get into the car."

Kuvira took off, running to the open door, grabbing the dark blue cushion of the back seat, pinching it in her grasp to lift herself up.

Three times the girl tried and failed to get onto the seat; her snowy boots slipping against the vehicle's metal edge.

Walking over, Suyin placed her hand underneath Kuvira, giving her a quick boost. Pulling the seatbelts over Kuvira's chest, she clipped them in the center, adjusting and tightening them until she spotted a twisted look of discomfort on Kuvira's face. "You'll thank me later." Suyin rubbed the girl's shoulder.

Kuvira groaned with a pout.

With her throat growing dry, Suyin opened the passenger door and slid onto the frigid leather seat, being jolted with a chill before she buckled her belt and gave it an extra tug.

"How was the trip?"

The car jerked forward before Suyin could fully close the door.

"Oh, still trying to get used to these pedals. I've only had this thing a few weeks, and boy does it fly."

Suyin gave a nervous chuckle, faking a smile as she looked out the passenger window; the smile fading to a worried look of anxiety.

"Ok, let's get out of here." Katara floored the gas pedal and Suyin's back slammed into the leather seat.

"So? The trip? You still haven't told me."

'We're moving' Suyin's hand gripped the locked door handle out of instinct as Katara peeled from the parking lot and onto the main road, nearly cutting off another driver. Her heart raced as the car sped to a sharp one way turn. 'She's gonna slow down. She's gonna slow down. She's totally going to slow down.' Suyin stared at the "20 mph" speed limit sign ahead, watching it rapidly get closer, until it was gone in a flash. 'She's not slowing down!'

Through the passenger window, Suyin stared out at the blurred landscape, thrown into the door as the tires squeaked and burned rubber beneath them; the car drifting around the turn.

"Huh? Suyin?"

Suyin tried to catch her breath, swearing that every hair on her body was standing on end.

"The trip?"

"…Oh…" Suyin swallowed her growing nausea, fear constricting her throat. "…It was good, went smoothly, just as planned." Her response was quick and short, only because her anxious mind could hardly make up a coherent sentence given the present life or death situation.

The car careened towards a red traffic light suspended on a wire in the air, hanging tethered to two metal poles.

Suyin's eyes widened as she stared out the windshield at the blocked intersection ahead, seeing a wall of cars sitting bumper to bumper, inching to the opposite side. Her body stiffened, waiting for Katara to step on the brake.

*SCREECH*

Suyin threw her hands out to the dashboard with a smack, saving her face from colliding into it; her hair thrown out of place.

"Sorry, that one was a little rough."

Suyin panted lightly, tossing her hair into place as she sat back once more and looked out the windshield, relieved they weren't moving.

Indeed they had stopped, just yards from the blocked intersection. She glanced out her window, spotting the cause of the traffic back up. In front of the line of vehicles stomped two polarbear dog riders, and to make matters worse, the narrow, icy road wouldn't allow anyone to pass them.

"Looks like we could be sitting here for a while. Welcome to the Water Tribe." Katara looked over with a smile.

Down and down the passenger window rolled; Suyin leaning over to catch some fresh air, even if it was cold.

The stop light for the opposite direction turned red, and those cars unlucky enough to miss the light were left stranded behind the white line as the vehicles before them gradually cleared the intersection.

"The miracle of technology." Katara chuckled. "It took us all awhile to get used to these green and red lights. But everything is much safer." Katara made a quick gesture to the antlered animal and its rider waiting beside the window. "Now even they have to wait." She glanced over to Suyin; the woman practically hanging out the window. "I'm still surprised it's you I'm seeing first in all these years. I thought it would be Lin."

Suyin turned to Katara with a challenge in her eyes. "Why?"

"You never were into the whole family thing." Katara pushed the gas gentler this time as the light turned green. "You wanted to be independent, and showed us that with all the mischief you got into."

Suyin looked down into her lap, remembering how she used to run away from home, causing everyone grief. "Mom stop", she used to say, wedging out of Toph's relieved embrace, typically after Lin brought her back. She always felt a little bad for that but never once looked back, not wanting to be guilted by the disappointed, hurt look on her mother's face.

Bored and curious, all she wanted to do was escape the suffocating city and explore. And she did, abandoning her family for a traveling circus, where she found true happiness for the first time.

Five years later, she ended up back in Republic City, on the doorstep of her former home. Her body tingled, shaking a little as she knocked on that door riddled with nerves. After flying high in the air, performing dangerous stunts in front of crowds and audiences, seeing her mother's face again was the one thing that scared her the most.

She was prepared for a lashing of angry words or maybe the door slammed in her face. But none of that happened.

"What?"

Suyin stared silent at Toph's worn eyes, catching a little grey starting in her hair.

"Quit wasting my time-"

Suyin caught the door before her mother could close it. "…Mom, i-it's me." She saw the tears beginning to well in her mother's eyes right after she said mom.

"…Well get in here." With a furrow in her brow and sharpness to her words, Toph turned away, leaving the door open for Suyin to follow her in.

The car jerked to the right, jolting Suyin from her memories.

"Just a few more miles and we'll be home."

'Why does that sound so far away?' Suyin looked out the passenger window, to the car's side mirror. In the reflection, she saw the little girl in the seat behind her happily flutter-kicking her legs back and forth. Obviously, Kuvira was faring better than her, enjoying the jerking turns and whiplash stops with a giggly smile.

A few more jerks went by before they were driving in the snow, to a ranch-style house on the outskirts of the city that Suyin recognized well. An iced over pond lay beyond the confines of the house, down a gentle sloping hill. She and Lin would try to skate on that ice. It usually turned into a shoving match, and who could make the other fall the hardest was the game. Of course, they ended up falling in when the ice broke, or correction, Lin fell first and dragged her down with her, yelling something along the lines of "You stupid idiot."

Aang usually waterbended them out with the same old displeased look on his face, asking "When do you two learn?" Toph came out behind him, and that's when the punishment started.

"I don't know what to do with you two anymore?"

The constant fights between her and her sister stressed her mom out, Suyin knew. But her once irrepressible enmity for Lin overpowered any rationality, and any semblance of a heartfelt apology.

No one could pin down exactly why the fights never stopped. Katara, Aang, everyone—they all couldn't understand why she and Lin seemed to hate each other. Finally, Katara told Toph, "They're just very different, I'm sure they'll grow out of it with age."

"I hope so." Those were the worn out, exhausted words she heard her mother say the night she snuck out of bed and caught the end of that conversation coming from the kitchen.

Over a decade later and she still hadn't spoken to Lin, not since the day she tore those scars into her sister's face. She sent a letter to the Republic City police department just a year ago, but Lin never responded.

After what felt like the longest car ride, the car came to its final lurching stop in front of the house.

Suyin released the death grip she had on the inner door handle that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Kuvira?" She called out for a response, checking out of habit to make sure the girl was still conscious.

"What?"

Suyin let out an exhale of relief. "We're here." She smiled, melting into the seat.

"I wanna play in the snow!"

Suyin pulled her door handle and slid out; her moment of solace trampled.

"Snow!...err, err."

Opening Kuvira's door, Suyin watched the restless little girl struggle and pull against the seat belt, trying to make her escape. Using her bending, Suyin unclasped the belt, skillfully catching the tumbling girl. As soon as she set Kuvira on her feet, the girl took off into the fresh, smooth white blanket. And it wasn't long before she found herself waist deep, hardly able to move, twisting to try and wrench herself from the snow's grasp.

Suyin watched Kuvira try to stomp her way out before tripping in face first, landing with a splat in the snow. She smiled.

"Is this her first time seeing a lot of snow?" Katara rounded the car, stopping at the young woman's side.

"Yeah." Suyin paused. "Zaofu may be in the mountains, but, we just don't get a lot of snow."

"Well it's much warmer where you are." Katara shrugged. "I think you have a wonderful climate…We're due for another snow storm soon."

"How do you know?"

"Water bender's intuition."

Suyin smiled. "Of course." Her eyes set on the snow fort already being dug out by Kuvira; the girl patting globs of thick snow into a wall.

"Let's have a little fun." Katara sat back into a water bending stance. Lifting her arms, a blob of snow grew from nothing into a monster with a jagged mouth and holes for eyes that towered over Kuvira's fort.

Flying out and destroying a piece of the fort's wall in the process, Kuvira ran from the monster, tripping into the snow again. She scrambled to stand, eyes wide as saucers.

Suyin crossed her arms. "Yeah, terrifying her…great first impression."

"I'm "breaking the ice"." Katara laughed, glancing to Suyin's ashamed head shake then to Kuvira throwing snowballs and a flurry of punches at the snow monster's belly. "Look, she's already got the hang of it."

"That's desperation."

The monster evaporated into the ground as Katara straightened up and dropped her arms.

"DEEFEAAAT!" Kuvira yelled and stomped on the little mountain of snow in front of her.

"Oh she's something isn't she?" Katara watched the girl give a last stomp with a grimace on her face before she looked around and sat on the snow pile.

"She is."

"How old is she?"

"Four and should be turning five soon."

The pair watched Kuvira start to feverishly dig into the deep snow, burrowing into the cold flakes to eliminate her boredom.

"Has she shown any signs of bending?"

Suyin stayed silent and looked to the ground. "…No."

Katara turned to the woman next to her. She instantly recognized the disappointment in Suyin's voice, and knew the rarely spoken truth, that if a child didn't show any characteristics or signs of bending by the age of five, the odds of that child being a non-bender were very high. But, over the years, many kids had proven that truth wrong. "Well, she's still young. I'm sure she'll come around."

Suyin looked over to Katara then back to the little girl, whose butt stuck out of the snow.

"She's so much like an earth bender already." Katara smiled and dropped her gaze. "Well come on, I made something to eat." Leaving Suyin's side, she started towards the house.

Thinking of the bland, mushy taste of traditional Water Tribe food served to her in her childhood, Suyin grimaced.

"Don't worry, it's not the food you remember." Katara knowingly called out. "I made something a little more…commercialized this time."

Suyin felt a mental sigh of relief. "Kuvira." She started toward the snow burrow, watching a snow-covered head pop out, bright emerald eyes finding hers.

Quickly gathering as much snow as she could into her arms, Kuvira went to fortify the wall around the burrow's entrance, hiding away from the meandering invader.

"I can still see you you know." Suyin moved closer, her hands in her coat pockets as she watched Kuvira move even quicker to build and pat down the snow fort wall. She took a few more steps closer…then the attacks started.

Two snowballs were launched over the wall, hitting the front of her coat.

Seeing the girl's exposed back, Suyin smirked and took a wide detour around the fort, knowing Kuvira was too focused on making more snowballs to ever notice someone approaching from behind.

Quietly kneeling, Suyin scooped a handful of snow into her gloved hand. Clearing her throat, she watched the little girl whip around and look at her with wide eyes. "You made one mistake. You left your most vulnerable area open to attack." She smiled and threw the snow ball at Kuvira's face; the girl feigning an over dramatic death as she fell back over the fort, the wall collapsing beneath her.

Standing, Suyin dusted off her gloved hands and hovered over Kuvira, looking down at the girl's limp face and closed eyes with raised eyebrows. "You're hungry right?"

An eye popped open.

"Come on then." Suyin held out her hand, only to be pelted in the face with a surprise attack from the girl below. She wiped the snow from her face and watched Kuvira get up on her own. "You better be happy I'm not a water bender." Suyin turned and walked towards the woman waiting for them by the front door with a smirk.

"You're just as much of a kid as her." Katara called out.

With a gentle shrug, Suyin stuck her hands in her pockets. "Old habits die hard." She stepped into the embracing warmth of the house and turned back to see Kuvira running to catch up; the thick clothes and clunky snow boots restricting her movement. Yet she stomped and ran as best as she could. "Come on." Suyin waited at the door watching a hard gust of wind blow back the girl's hood, exposing her fuzzy ear muffs.

The snow fall thickened as the cloudy sky slowly darkened.

Kuvira rushed in past the threshold, escaping the gusty winds, warm and comforted in the safe confines of the house.

Closing the door behind her, Suyin knelt, gently taking the girl into her hands as she pulled off the ear muffs. "I guess your intuition is right." She called out to Katara, who turned back to her from the end of the hallway.

"What was that?"

"The storm. The weather's getting worse, you were right."

"Told you." Katara smiled and disappeared into one of the rooms.

Suyin focused back on Kuvira. "Let's just hope it gets better before the conference." She mumbled to herself…

"What's a comferrnce?"

…and unexpectedly, she got a reply.

Pulling off Kuvira's mittens, Suyin tried to come up with a simplified answer a four-year old would be able to comprehend. "Hm…it's like a big meeting where grown-ups sit around and talk about grown-up things."

"You just sit?"

Suyin looked up to Kuvira's confused face. "Yup…and talk…and listen to people talk."

The girl's brow furrowed. "That's boring."

"…It can be."

Taking off her own gloves, Suyin set them behind her against the baseboard, only to turn back and find Kuvira starting to wander away as her curiosity for the house she'd never seen distracted her.

Kuvira peeked around a corner into a dim room; an orange glow emanating from the warming fireplace. Spotting a tall, polished wooden box, the little girl's eyes widened with awe. It didn't look like Suyin's, but she knew it was a radio. 'Metal man.'

"Nope, come here." Suyin pulled Kuvira back to her and unbuttoned the girl's suffocating coat, slipping it from her arms and laying it to the floor as Kuvira tried to drift away again, urged to look at that beautiful, towering box once more.

"Nope." Suyin grabbed her, then held out her hand. "Come on shoes first, then you can walk around. Give me your foot."

Kuvira lifted her foot and reached out, grabbing Suyin's shoulder with her hand for support; her head turning from side to side, up and down; her eyes dancing around the big, yet cozy house in wonderment. She lifted her nose to the ceiling, flaring her nostrils as a crispy, salty smell floating in the air made her mouth water. It smelled like the fried meat buns sold by street vendors in Ba Sing Se. She'd stolen one on several occasions when the smell was just too good to pass up.

"Other foot."

Kuvira switched feet, tugging on Suyin's other shoulder.

"She's a lot smaller without the coat."

Suyin looked up to see Katara moving back into view; the older woman now freed of her heavy winter coat, wearing her traditional Water Tribe clothing.

"What are you doing? Starving her?" Katara smiled as a warm cup of tea simmered in her hand.

Suyin turned back to Kuvira and smiled; her hands undoing the suspender clasps that held up the girl's snow pants.

"Has she even had a piece of candy Su?"

Suyin sat patient as the girl, excited with anticipation, latched onto both her shoulders and looked down, quickly trying to high step out of the pants, yanking them from Suyin's hands as she stomped and pounded her feet into the ground one after the other with a wide grin.

Freed from her pants, Kuvira took off in her long sleeve shirt and long johns tucked into her crew socks; her feet gliding across the hardwood floor as she slid down the hall.

Suyin sighed and turned to Katara with a passive face, meeting the water bender's raised eyebrow. "That's her favorite part. She gets excited towards the end."

A grin stretched across Katara's face and she gave a short laugh. "Kids."

"Yeah." Suyin stood with Kuvira's green coat and pants in hand, hanging them on the coat rack before she took off her own jacket and hung it up too. Then both turned, watching the girl slide back down the hall towards them before she ran into Suyin leg and looked up.

"Psst..."

Suyin raised an eyebrow when Kuvira glanced to Katara and didn't continue. "What?"

"…I have to go potty." The girl whispered.

Suyin looked up to Katara and smiled with a slight tilt of her head.

"Down the hall to the left." Katara smiled. "Don't you remember?"

"…I guess not."

"Well it hasn't moved." Katara watched Suyin take Kuvira's hand and lead her down the hallway. "Wash up for dinner while you're down there."

"Will do." Suyin called out.

7:50 p.m.

"Fried fish." Suyin tossed her head back and groaned. "You would give me the one thing I can't have."

"Oh please." Katara rolled her eyes. "What are you, 25? The weight'll fall off." She chuckled.

"No, now that I've had a kid."

Katara averted her eyes and mumbled. "Well yeah…"

Suyin scoffed with wide eyes. "You're not supposed to agree." Looking down, she put an elbow on the table and the side of her face into her hand, losing interest in the food. "The doctor told me my body will never be the same."

Katara looked over. "That's a little…extreme, but somewhat true—yet, some women bounce right back. And by the looks of things, you haven't changed."

Suyin smirked at that.

Their dinner started late and the girl sitting at the head of the table squirmed in her seat, watching the hands on the wooden clock slowly tick as the next hour approached.

"How's that husband of yours doing?"

Suyin looked up from her food. "Huh—Oh, He's doing fine, why?"

"Is he still working on that project…um…what was it, electro-force…something?"

"Electromagnetic movement, yes. Him and a team are working on creating a faster form of travel around Zaofu." A proud smile stretched across Suyin's face. "It looks promising."

"A team?"

"Yeah, two engineers, a scientist, another architect…and…his brother." Suyin grumbled out the last part.

"His brother?"

The roll in Suyin's eyes and her groaning sigh didn't go unnoticed. "Yes, his brother…an electrical engineer…" Her eyes narrowed. "…as well as a misogynistic know-it-all who walks around with his chest puffed out like an animal."

"I take it you two don't get along..." Katara trailed off.

"No. I avoid him, he avoids me. Bataar knows it's best to keep us apart." Suyin stabbed a piece of fish with her fork. "Every time we're in the same room we get into a fight. And it all starts with his smug, haughty grin." Suyin looked up, taken back by the frozen wide eyes blinking at her. She looked to her plate with a gentle sigh. "Sorry…should I change the subject?" With a smile she met Katara's eyes.

"I didn't know Bataar had any siblings."

"Mhm." Suyin swallowed the food in her mouth. "He comes from a decent-sized family. He's the second youngest of four, one brother and two sisters."

A tiny burp interrupted them, all eyes going to the little girl who looked from person to person.

"What do you say?"

Kuvira stared at Suyin; the table almost at her chin; two pillows beneath her just to get her arms over the top. "'cuse me."

Suyin smiled.

"Well at least she liked it." Katara looked at the little bits of cut up fish and veggies still on the girl's plate.

"Yeah, Kuvira will eat anything…just about."

Katara raised a suspecting eyebrow. "Sounds like an insult…" She messed with Suyin.

"What—O-Oh o-of course not." A nervous grin spread across Suyin's face.

"Psst..."

A poke on her hand turned her attention to Kuvira.

"Yes?"

"Can I go listen to the radio? Pleeeease? "

"After you finish eating." Suyin turned away, finishing the last bite on her plate, hearing a fork rap and clink against the plate next to hers with haste. "And don't-" Suyin shot her gaze to the little girl who stopped, staring back with a mouthful of food stuffed into her tiny cheeks. She sighed. "...shove the food into your mouth."

She watched Kuvira carefully take a few large chews before swallowing everything and looking back at her with a guilty grin.

"Ok. What are you going to listen to?"

"Metal Man." Kuvira shot up from the pillow with her fist in the air.

"And what station is that?"

"99.6"

"Fine, but I better not hear anything else, got it?" Suyin looked into the girl's eyes watching her quickly nod. "Alright, go on then." Suyin turned back to Katara, but the older woman's gaze was focused beside her as she smiled at the girl.

Instead of leaving, Kuvira moved closer to Suyin, staring at her, tugging on her shirt for attention.

"Yes?"

"Are you gonna listen to it with me?"

"Kuvira I—" Suyin looked over at Kuvira's face slowly pulling into a pout; the girl manipulating her with trembling lips. Turning to Katara, Suyin found the woman sitting with a gentle smile.

"Go on Suyin. I'll clean things up. "

"You sure?"

"Yes, very."

"…Alright." Suyin stood, watching a wide smile stretch across the little girl's face as she started to bounce on her toes, taking three of Suyin's fingers into her own small hand.

Kuvira dragged Suyin to where the glistening radio sat in the family room. Letting go she reached and reached until her index finger flipped the on switch; a mass of static emerging from the speakers.

Laying down on her stomach behind Kuvira, Suyin rested her head onto her arms and closed her eyes, listening to the crackle of the radio switching from station to station. The fireplace warmed her skin and moments later she heard the heroic opening of trumpets blasting with booming timpani drums in the background, before the announcer came on in his robust voice saying, "These are the Adventures of Metal Man" over the sounds of the accompanying orchestra.

Suyin smiled to herself thinking of what Kuvira's face looked like staring mesmerized at a wooden box. But her solace only lasted so long before she was jarred from her thoughts by a tiny butt plopping onto her back.

"Kuvira—"

"Shh...This is the cool part."

Suyin sighed.

"Last Friday we left off with Metal Man and his arch nemesis Fire Moth."

The announcer took over the radio; a timpani softly rolling its beats like quiet thunder in the background.

"But things didn't look good for Metal Man, as he had no way out of Moth's secret trap. Stripping Metal Man of his powers, he left him struggling to escape the building he engulfed in flames. But can Metal Man still save Republic City from the absolute destruction of Fire Moth's Laser ray, which will soon lay siege to hundreds? Or, will he perish...leaving the peaceful city to burn at his demise? CAN Metal Man regain his powers? The answers are sure to come...so stay tuned."

Kuvira bounced up and down out of excitement on the makeshift seat that was the Matriarch's back. But Suyin just groaned, burying her face into her arms knowing Kuvira would eventually stop.

9:00 p.m.

"Bedtime." Suyin sat on one of the two twin beds with a hop, opening the children's book in her lap. 'The little bender that could', she loved reading it to Kuvira, but looking over, she saw the little girl staring up at her with a frown from the bedside; her green footy pajamas a touch too big. "What?"

"That one's boring?"

Suyin's mouth pulled into a line as she looked away, giving up with a hunch to her shoulders and gentle sigh through her nose. "Alright get the other one."

Taking off with a bright toothy grin, Kuvira turned back and ran to the open suitcase beside the dresser, rummaging through until she whipped out a comic and rushed back, climbing on the bed to plop into Suyin's lap with a little bounce. She wiggled her shoulders, sinking her back into Suyin's embrace as she patiently waited for the story to start.

Setting the less exciting beige covered book aside, Suyin lifted the comic from Kuvira's hands; the girl's eyes alert, watching the pages being flipped, as Suyin re-checked the content. "The point is for you to go to sleep, not get riled up again." Suyin mumbled, turning the comic to the cover. 'Earth Man huh?' Suyin stared at the dark cover, a hulking shirtless muscled man shown ripping a chasm into the ground with his bare hands; over worked veins bulging from his forehead, neck, and arms. 'O.K. then. Probably something Bataar bought.'

9:25 p.m.

"Earth man save us t—" Reading the dialogue in character, Suyin stopped, feeling a shift at her abdomen. Looking down she spotted the little girl's closed eyes; Kuvira's cheek smushed against her stomach. Taking a hand away from the comic, Suyin stroked the top of the girl's head and looked back to the comic, finishing the page silently before she closed it and set it on the nightstand.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head to the headboard. In and out she let her breaths flow with ease, silently counting each. Her body filled with warmth, relaxing into the pillow behind her back as everything faded.

Her eyes shot open.

'I can't fall asleep yet.' She carefully scooped Kuvira into her arms and slid off the bed. For one last moment, Suyin held the girl, shifting the weight over her shoulder, as she aimlessly walked circles around the dim, lamp-lit room; a light hum flowing from her throat. She walked and walked, rubbing the girl's back, hardly able to let go.

Moving to the bed, Suyin pulled back the hand made quilt and leaned over, softly placing the girl beneath the covers and the pillow under her head. "Goodnight." She whispered, kissing Kuvira's forehead and stroking her dark braided hair a few more times. Her softened eyes rested a while on the girl's limp face as she smiled at the mouth that was opened ajar, and the cuteness of her little button nose. 'I would be proud to be your mother.' Suyin tried to sneak another kiss but pulled back with a cocked eyebrow as the girl rolled away and onto her stomach.

Standing up, Suyin walked to the doorway, running her fingers through her hair with a weary sigh.

"Finally asleep?"

Leaning against the door frame, watching the little hump of Kuvira's blanket rise and fall, Suyin's worn eyes looked over to Katara approaching. "Mhm." She smiled and turned back to Kuvira. "Now hopefully she doesn't decide to get up and wander around."

"She does that?"

Suyin nodded. "Bataar's spotted her quite a few times wandering the estate at night, stealing cookies from the kitchen…" She gave a quick chuckle, but it died as she reached her next thought. "…and coming to find me." She paused. "She has a lot of energy, so I try to tire her out before bed. But most of the time she still gets up."

"She's not yours is she?"

With a quick turn of her head Suyin looked at Katara, opening her mouth only to be cut off.

"The more I looked at her, the more I could tell she didn't have any of your features. That, and you said you had had A kid, not kids. I'm assuming that kid is Junior."

Suyin hung her head.

"Whose child did you steal?" Katara smirked.

Suyin's head sprang up; the look on her face aghast at Katara's accusation. "I-I did not steal her." She averted her eyes and relented. "And I don't know who her parents are…probably never will." Suyin looked back. "I found her in Ba Sing Se." A smile came to her face and stretched into a grin. "She ripped a few coins out of my pocket and took off."

Katara's brow tensed. "Was she on the street alone?"

"Mhm." Suyin gently nodded, her face turning grim. "I don't like to think about it."

"Did something happen?"

"No, I…I just don't understand…" Suyin trailed off, looking back into the room. "I don't understand how someone could leave a small child on their own."

Katara watched Suyin, knowing exactly why the young woman didn't understand. Her eyes drifted to the floor then up to the little girl in the bed. "Unfortunately, that does happen. Not everyone is as privileged as you and your sister."

"I don't know what made me do it though…something in me wanted to make sure she was okay." With a tender chuckle to break the tension, Suyin turned to Katara and smiled. "I don't know what's happening to me."

Katara returned the smile. "Neither do I…you've surprised us all over the years. Maybe you're more compassionate than you think." Katara turned her gaze to the room for a moment. "Toph was so worried about you, she didn't know if you'd be able to handle the real world." She turned away from the door and headed down the hall as Suyin snuck a last look into the room before pushing off the door frame and following Katara into the small kitchen. "When we traveled with Aang many years ago, she was always the troublemaker, rough, rowdy, and loud." Katara chuckled. "So we knew where you got your rebellious side from..."

Dishes clang as Katara finished washing away dinner's remnants in a large sink.

"When both you and your sister were born, the first thing Toph asked me was "Is she blind?""

Suyin sat on a stool in the corner, watching Katara's back with curious eyes as her mind absorbed information she'd never heard.

"Your eyes were so light I couldn't tell…So I lied."

"You lied…"

"Yes, and I was right. When the doctor came to do a vision check you were just fine…a little cross-eyed, but fine—"

"Cross-eyed?"

"Apparently you were fascinated with looking at your nose." Katara's smile softened as she reached for the dish towel hanging on a small rack beside her. "Toph didn't want you two to be like her. I think that paranoid her most."

"How can a blind mother raise a blind child?"

Katara heard Toph's frustrations in her mind. It was one of the few doubts to ever come from the over confident bender. "You're doing good. I know Toph is proud."

"Too bad she hasn't met Kuvira or Junior." The bitterness in Suyin's voice was hard to miss.

"Give her time Su, she'll come back. You disappeared for awhile too, remember?" Katara smirked, setting aside dried dishes.

With her brow furrowed, Suyin groaned and averted her eyes. "Sure, but I was only gone a few years—"

"Suyin…"

Forgetting the conversation, they both turned around to see the little girl with fuzzy, sleep tousled hair rubbing her eye, standing right in the doorway.

"What is it? Come here."

Kuvira dragged her feet forward and took Suyin's hand, waiting for Suyin to lift her up.

And Suyin did, standing with Kuvira against her shoulder as she had before, gently bouncing and swaying the girl back to sleep.

"How many nights a week does she wake up like this?" Katara kept her voice hushed.

"...3 or 4 maybe."

Katara's face grimmed. "That's not good." She looked into Suyin's eyes. "She may have some separation anxiety and coddling her will make it worse."

Suyin sighed and sat down on the stool with Kuvira. "I know. But I can't help it. I feel I owe her this."

"…Why?" Katara watched Suyin's hand gingerly glide up and down Kuvira's back.

"She's not a bad kid…" Suyin looked down to Kuvira, lightening the mood with a smile. "Plus, she's too cute to say no to."

"The baby face doesn't last long."

"I know." Suyin stood. "She'll sleep with me tonight—"

"Su…"

"What?" The young woman feigned confusion and Katara just silently stared at her. Then a sigh came bursting through Suyin's lips. "Fine. I just thought it'd be easier for her." Suyin turned to the doorway.

"Maybe easy isn't what she needs." Katara took Suyin's nod as acknowledgement.

"I'll sleep in the other bed. As long as I'm in the room she shouldn't get up."

"That's a start." Katara let the woman slip around the corner without another word.