Black snow receded as the raiders of the Fire Nation neared the horizon. Hakoda, chief of the Southern Water Tribe, stared narrow-eyed with his spear clutched in his fist. Finally, the flakes falling from the sky changed back to white and the chief turned with his soldiers to fetch the elderly, women, and children from the underground shelter.

"Daddy!" The Water Tribe boy squirmed in his grandmother's arms as he gave a toothy grin. Kana slowly climbed the wooden steps and handed her grandson off to his father. "He's getting quite strong."

Hakoda chuckled and hugged his son to his chest. "Sokka is a tough one. He will be a great warrior. Where's Kya?"

"Here. It's kind of hard to climb steps when you're eight months pregnant, you know." Kya and her balloon of a stomach appeared out of the cellar with a helpful warrior at her side. "Did they take anything important?"

The chief looked at his wife and then looked down sorrowfully. "Two dead. One a bender."

Kya closed her eyes and looked down. Sighing heavily, she waddled over to her husband and put her hand on his forearm. "Who was it?"

"….Eita and Akari."

She gasped and tears sprang into her eyes. Hakoda put his arm around her as she hid her face in his chest. "Tui and La protect them. They were so brave…And Akari was such a beautiful bender. Her family must be devastated."

"I know." He held her closer to his body. "…I'm sick of funerals." The chief and his family walked to their home as wails were heard throughout the village. Hakoda winced as the mother of Akari sobbed over her daughter's body.

Coming to their tent, Kya plopped into the furs in the corner as she quietly cried for the loss of more people. Hakoda sat next to her with Sokka chewing on his toy in his lap. "I'm so sorry, honey."

She wiped away her tears and grabbed his hand. "I'm just…relieved that it wasn't you along with them."

He stared into her eyes and nodded. They embraced each other, praying for the ones who were taken.

Hakoda sat in his office at the Northern Water Tribe with a blank look on his face as he stared into nothingness. Today was his anniversary. Twenty-three years ago he had kissed his wife at the altar and they claimed each other as theirs. For years he had "celebrated" their union alone. Years he would sit as he did now and think of everything they had gone through from the day they had met to the day of her demise. He smiled as he thought of a certain night that always seemed to nag him.

"Ugh! You did this to me, you idiot!" Hakoda looked up from his scroll to find his wife with a pale face as she came from outside.

"Kya, sweetheart. Are you alright?" he said with concern in his voice as he helped her sit. He went to fetch a rag and dipped it into the boiling water on the fire.

"Oh just peachy! I went to go get some jerky from Aya because of course we don't have any and I puked my guts out because you just had to get me pregnant again!" Kya fell back into the furs as she swatted his hands away from her face.

Hakoda chuckled and lay next to her. "At the time I don't think you minded."

She glared in his direction and tried but failed to hit him in the shoulder. "You're going to wake Sokka up if you keep complaining, Then I'll have to listen to two people whine." He grinned as her scowl deepened and kissed her temple.

"Blah, blah, blah. Shut up." Kya smiled a little though as he nuzzled her neck. "Oh! I almost forgot! I had the weirdest dream last night."

"What happened in your dream?" Hakoda said as he kissed her neck.

"Well everything turned to chocolate and stuff. Like the ice and water. Then, the snow was sugar. It was weird. And then…I guess you could say it was our daughter but she was in her teens and she was introducing us to this man."

Her husband lifted his head. "Interesting dream. But how do you know it's going to be a girl? It could be another boy."

"Because I have this feeling it will be a girl. Now, what was really weird was that the boy was in Water Tribe garb but he was shivering and…" Kya stopped and bit her lip.

"And what? He turned into a platypus-bear?"

"No…He had gold eyes."

Hakoda rolled his azure eyes. "That's ridiculous. And besides, it was just a dream."

She turned her head to look him straight in the face. "What if that actually happened?"

"What? My son or daughter being with someone from the Fire Nation? I know for a fact that wouldn't happen."

"Awh. Katara would be very upset with you."

"Katara?" Hakoda's eyes held a lighter blue as he smiled warmly at his wife. "That's a nice name…Well the Fire Nation has made our lives hell. The only time my son or daughter would be near those vermin was if they were about to stab them in the heart."

"We'll see." She patted her stomach softly. "She should be coming any day now."

"Hmm." He lay down next to his wife and gathered her into his arms. "She'll be perfectly fine and live a good but hard life with a waterbender as she helps the village during this damn war."

"Whatever you say. But, I stand by my word even if it's close to impossible."

"Um, dad?"

Hakoda came out of his reverie to see his beautiful daughter come into his office. "Hello, Katara. What do you need?" He slowly got up and walked over to hug her.

"Well one, I wanted to see how you were doing. I know today is hard for all of us." She snuggled more into his embrace. "And two…I wanted to tell you something. I really didn't want you to learn about it from someone else."

Hakoda raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his daughter. "What is it?"

"Um…Well…" Katara looked away and bit her lip. "Hey, I need some water. Do you have any?" She broke their embrace and went to pick up the glass of water at his desk.

"Katara…"

"So, when are you going back home? You've been here for a while. I bet the village wonders where you are, right?"

"I'll be going back soon. Now...What is it that you wanted to tell me?" He came to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me anything. You know that."

Katara nodded and tooked a deep breath. "Okay so…I just wanted you to know that…" she swallowed. "I'm um, with Zuko now." Hakoda's eyebrows went to his hairline and Katara rushed to explain. "It's just, things happened at the last battle with Azula and so…yeah."

He was stunned at her confession and for a second or two he seemed frozen, but, then he looked away and cursed softly.

Katara looked up in surprise. "Dad! Why did you just say that!"

Hakoda stared out the window of his office, smiling softly. "I just lost another bet to your mother."

#39, Dreams