Book II - The Red Lotus

Swift sat on a wicker bench out on one of the open patios, her swollen belly limiting her movement. She and Sokka had been married over six years, now, and seven months ago she'd realised that she'd missed her last moon time. The man in question swept into the room, with a tray of tea and biscuits.

"Who wanted jasmine?!" he said in a sing song voice.

She grinned at him, "Iroh'dnt say no!"

He stopped short, raising an eyebrow. "I think I'm a bad influence on you."

His wife giggled, accepting the cup of hot leaf juice.

Seven years ago, with the help of the Swift, Sokka, Katara, their earthbending companion Toph and various other allies, Aang had defeated the Fire Lord and reclaimed the world into an era of peace. Sokka had married and moved in with Swift. They were located at the Southern Air Temple at present, though Sokka had indulged in more than the basic Airbending living style. They were conveniently close to the Southern Water Tribe, so they could visit his tribe often.

While her twin lived on an island near the new city built for the integration of the nations, Swift had agreed to take on some thirty acolytes who wanted to be taught in the way of the nomad. The temple was filled with people again, it was cleaned up and refurbished, gardens were resown and wells fixed. For all intents and purposes, the temple was fully functioning, they'd even taken on more than one orphan over the years. Many thought it a preferable alternative than to live on the streets.

Sokka had essentially adopted a vegetarian diet simply due to the lack of available meat; the meals were more often than not salads, vegetables, nuts and other grains and oats. He had to admit that some of the food was very well prepared, and he didn't find himself missing meat as much as he'd imagined, but when the opportunity arose, he could still scoff down an entire hind leg. He actually still had half a bag of dried jerky tucked away from when Toph last visited and took pity on him.

There was a rumbling, and all of the acolytes stopped what they were doing, looking around, alarmed. A small boy ran and grasped at Swift's leg, whimpering. She stroked his head, rolling her eyes. "I think Toph's almost here." She smiled.

Sokka grinned, running to the edge of the temple and looking down. Just as quickly, he leapt back, avoiding a collision with the earth bender only just. She was projected up in a blur of green and landed heavily, panting and grinning. "What's up, Snoozles? Twinklett?"

Sokka gathered her up in a crushing embrace, and Swift laughed, shouting out her greeting.

Toph walked up to Swift, giving her a light punch in the arm, and Swift stood and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for coming, Toph. I know you're busy, being a chief and all."

Toph's expression softened, she had an inexplicable soft spot for the girl. "Sure, Swifty. I was planning on taking some time off from the force soon, anyway."

"Why is that?" Sokka piped in.

Toph blushed. The couple weren't sure if they'd seen that right. Toph was not the blushing type. Silently, the woman lifted her loose tunic slightly to reveal a belly that was starting to swell in a deliberate way.

They both gasped. Toph was pregnant!

"Oh- my! This is unexpected, I didn't even know you were seeing anyone!"

She shrugged, though Swift thought she saw something behind those sightless eyes. "I'm not. But let's face it, I'm more than enough man for both parental figures." She winked wickedly.

They both knew when to stop pushing. Moving questions of paternity aside, Swift gushed, "When is your due date?"

"Next spring, sometime, I guess."

Swift threw her arms around her again, squealing.

They were talking around a fresh pot of raspberry tea, catching up on the last year of adventures. It was a fairly light conversation until Toph sat down her cup and clasped her hands together, leaning forward.

"Look, guys. There's another reason why I came." The two looked at her, perplexed. "We've heard talk in Republic City. There's an organisation at large, one unlike anything we've seen. Nobody really knows who is in it, or what their aim is. Pretty much the only thing we know is that they have called themselves "The Red Lotus" and they're very interested in the Avatar and the people close to him. I wanted to be here in case they decided to make an appearance here."

There was silence. Swift was shocked. What did they want? What on earth would they gain by coming to them?

Finally, Sokka spoke. "They'll regret it if they do." His voice contained a barely restrained fury. His wife and best friend were both in delicate positions, and he'd die before he allowed either of them to be harmed.

The acolytes had been forewarned, and Toph established some basic escape routes for everybody to familiarise themselves with. Currently, Swift was down in the bison pen, feeding the calves. They had come across a herd a few years back, flourishing in the mountains. Swift felt a pang as she wished that her people had done the same. She stroked one of the babies, Oogi thinking about her own child and the bison it would one day love. Ivy suddenly landed next to her. She had been flying a lot since her latest calf was born, the stress of motherhood, she supposed. Despite her kind nature, Swift and Aang were the only ones who could get close to Ivy's babies when they were young. She was incredibly protective, and Swift hoped she would be able to defend her child with as much ferocity.

On her way back up the winding path, she heard a screech and looked up to see a familiar red bird. She smiled, a letter arrived from Lord Zuko. Swift went to her room where it was perched on the window sill and detached the tube, giving the hawk a scratch on the head. She opened the letter, eager to read it's contents. She and Zuko had a close friendship, brought on by similar tragedies. They had met in extraordinary circumstances, but when he joined the group against Ozai, she was the first to welcome him. Now a days, they more often than no compared married life; Zuko had long since broken up with Mai and married a sweet earth nation woman from Ba Sing Se. They had a two year old daughter called Ursa who it seemed was already exhibiting fire bending signs.

His letter addressed the Red Lotus, asking for her to keep herself and the baby safe. After Zuko switched sides, he was almost over protective of Swift. It came to the point where Sokka was concerned that he had a crush on her, before he coming to the conclusion that his concern came from a place kinsman-ship, not desire. Quite like his own friendship with Toph.

Zuko wrote about family life, about the tedious politics he was forced to endure, he was excited to mention that Katara and Aang had visited, and were expecting their third child. Katara would no doubt be upset that she wouldn't get to break the news herself when she next visited. Swift resolved to keep her mouth shut and act surprised when she came out with it. There were babies all around, it seemed. Swift worried about this Lotus group. They had three pregnant women. It wasn't like during the war, when all they had to worry about was their own backs, they were parents and parents to be. Children were vulnerable and it made her anxious to think about the dangerous life they'd been born in to.

Swift wrote a long reply, attaching it to the hawk after feeding and petting him. She watched him take flight and felt the urge to do the same. Before she could think better of it, she grabbed her glider, taking to the sky.

She hadn't flown for over two moons, concerned about the weight of the baby, and her awkward movements that resulted. She shouldn't have been. In the sky, there was no waddling, no wobbling. Her bending automatically accepted her weight distribution and alternated to adjust for it. She flew stretched like a bird, feeling wonderfully free and at one with the sky. She could see everything from her vantage point. From so far away, she could even imagine for a second that the temple was filled with actual air benders. She sighed heavily.

Looking down upon the earth she saw a rare sight, an airship. While she was returning she saw it land at the end of the airbending path and felt an odd knot of fear, thinking of the Lotus group, but was relieved to see air nomads exit, they must be some new additions to the temple. A few watched her as she landed as softly as she could, concious of her belly. She smiled warmly at them. There were three women and two men, with ages that ranged from teenagers to their thirties. A young man stuck out his hand toward her.

"I can't tell you what an honour it is to meet the Avatar's twin sister!" He pushed up his glasses with the remaining hand.

She shook his outstretched hand, "Namaste. What brings you to the temple?"

"Avatar Aang asked if there were any volunteers to move here. It is getting a bit crowded on Airbending island, you see."

She shrugged, "Well, you're welcome here. Come inside, please." Usually Aang would send her a letter. It must have slipped his mind, what with the pregnancy and everything. She shook her head, none the less pleased with the new additions, and led them up toward the temple to their new rooms.

AU/ Hi guys! Sorry for the long delay, I thought I was finished with this story, but something drew me back to it and I thought it would be nice to continue with Swift's story. I hope you enjoy, please tell me what you might like to see in the future!