I don't own anyone but Zahira and the babies, enjoy! Also who's excited for the live action reboot of AtLA? I know I am!

Junior had always loved stargazing.

As a child, his father had taught her to look for the North Star, the brightest star in the sky. "When building a city, you must always look to nature for balance," he had said while laying in the grass of their estate. "The North Star is the physical representation of our guiding principles." Whenever his mother joined them, she would tell him the stories behind the constellations, laughing as she recalled her time taking astronomy classes from a group of Water Tribe nomads.

Bataar Jr. wasn't sure what to make of this trip. He was used to his parents pulling him out of school for spontaneous family vacations, but this didn't seem like one of those times. Every time he looked over to his Uncle Tenzin the man was staring stonily into the distance, his jaw clenched. His cousin Korra was sound asleep on Naga's chest, and Auntie Lin was cradling the infants and trying desperately to stay awake.

Something was up, but what?

Gently he sidled over to sit behind his Aunt Kya, who was directing her air bison Amak. "Aunt Kya, are we going to see the stars tonight?"

Kya nearly jumped out her skin at the sound of her nephew's voice. She had been worrying about her mother so intensely that she hadn't even noticed the boy had woken up, much less moved directly behind her. She turned around to find him resting his arms on the edge of the saddle, owlish eyes peering over. "We'll try," she said, faking a lightness in her voice so as to not worry the boy. "But if we're being honest, I think we were a little ambitious in dragging everyone out at this time of night. Especially your Aunt Lin and the triplets. I know it's in their honor, but it's a lot to go on this trip after you've just had babies."

Junior nodded seriously. "Was Mama tired after she had me?"

Kya laughed. She had been Suyin's midwife for all of her children, and had lived through Junior's "terrible twos" in all their glory. She knew very well how Suyin took care of the boy in his early days, because she had been there for all of it. "She was, turtleduck," she said, flashing a calming smile at the boy. "But she and your father couldn't take their eyes off of you. They were so excited that you had finally arrived, and they couldn't wait to show you off to everyone. That's why come morning we'll be in Zaofu. Your Aunt Lin and Uncle Tenzin knew how badly your dad wanted to meet the babies, so they decided to bring the babies to him!"

The boy brightened up immensely, and hugged his Aunt Kya's neck before lying down to watch the constellations above, eagerly looking forward to returning home. When his breathing slowed into that of sound sleep, Kya let out a sigh of relief. She had been able to keep the truth hidden for now, but she wasn't sure how long that facade was going to last.

Not three hours later the air bison landed at the landing dock at Suyin's estate. Bataar, Suyin's bespectacled husband, was already waiting for the group. Suyin had radioed her husband after securing the prisoners about the incident and her family's impending arrival; immediately Bataar had undertaken preparations. Upon feeling the air bison land, Junior's head popped up to find that they had somehow made it all the way to his home while he was asleep. "Dad!" He cried out, scrambling out of Amak to get close to his father. "I missed you!"

The elder Bataar returned his son's hug and affectionately ruffled his hair. "It's good to see you too kid. Did you and your mom have a fun trip over?"

"I did, but Mom's helping Grandma Toph back at her house so she'll be back later!"

"Oh she is? Well we'll just have to have a welcome back dinner when she returns, won't we?" Upon seeing the adults' haggard expressions he knew there was something they weren't telling him. "Why don't you all go get breakfast in the meantime while I catch up with your aunts and uncle, hmm?"

After all the children dispersed, he turned to Zahira, Kya, Tenzin, and Lin. "Let's talk in my office. We won't be overheard there."

Fifteen minutes later Bataar was cradling a sleeping Rinchen while walking around his office. Spirits, he looks just like Aang. At everyone's insistence, Tenzin and Lin were in their usual guesthouse catching up on desperately needed sleep. Kya and Zahira were drinking copious amounts of strong black tea while holding Sonam and Tashi, respectively.

"If I may ask, what exactly happened yesterday? I feel like 'a lot' would be an understatement."

Kya's mouth quirked into a smile as she gently rocked a fussing Sonam to sleep. "Well, the day started off normal until we casually found out that Lin had been in labor since the night before. So your lovely wife, my mother, and I helped bring these three souls into the world. As you can tell, we're heads over heels in love with them already."

"She didn't say anything? No yelling, nothing?" Bataar asked disbelievingly. His children had made their imminent presence known rather theatrically, and he still remembered hearing Suyin's yelling about her water breaking with their eldest from halfway across Zaofu.

"Nothing. She actually didn't realize her back pain was labor pains until her water broke—that's when the real fun began," Kya noted humorously. "All said and done, I think she was in labor for an entire day. Lin's a warrior."

Bataar nodded, gently stroking Rinchen's cheek. "That she is. But where do the attackers come in?"

Zahira grew serious. "Suyin was carrying Korra to bed when her seismic sense picked up on four people outside Toph's property. She had originally thought they were teenagers, but upon closer inspection it was four benders that had banded together in an effort to kidnap the Avatar. While Suyin phoned you I roused all the kids awake so that we could go on a 'field trip.' We were able to leave while the attackers were momentarily knocked unconscious, so I'm not sure how much the kids saw. I'm assuming that by this point the group has been apprehended, but I don't know."

"No, the group has been apprehended," Bataar confirmed. The two women sagged in relief. "Suyin called once things had died down over there. All the prisoners were taken to Republic City Police HQ for processing and interrogation. After that, they'll be in the custody of the White Lotus. She said she hopes to be back soon, but not to hold my breath."

Zahira blinked confusedly as she absentmindedly rocked Tashi. "What makes you say that?"

Bataar sighed. "Because Suyin called me from her airship. She's taking the Metal Clan into battle. The last words she said were 'in case I don't come back, I love you, and tell the kids I love them so very much.'"

Kya and Zahira tensed with fear. What on earth was going on in Republic City?

Suyin never felt more comfortable than when she was surrounded by earth. But metal? Metal made her feel strong. And now, directing the largest airship of her Metal Clan, she finally felt in control.

Her current patrol hadn't shown much. Toph had declared a mandatory lockdown after bringing the criminals to police headquarters; as such, the streets and sidewalks were completely empty. Her ground troops had helped evacuate families in high-risk zones, but as of yet they hadn't detected any group entering the city. Bumi, who had rejoined his repaired fleet in the blockade, echoed Suyin's observation. The ships outside Air Temple Island hadn't moved towards the fleet, and there was no one at the docks either. She was about to turn her airship towards another sector of Republic City when sensed movement out of the corner of her eye. Suyin steered the ship closer towards the source of the movement, the docks.

Nothing appeared out of the ordinary at first. The United Republic Forces had blockaded the ports, leaving a wide berth of the bay between themselves and the docks. However, upon closer observation Suyin noticed that some sort of machine was rolling towards the dock and stopping on the stone embankments, not getting any closer to the water. "Call for nearby ground troops to investigate," she said to her officers. Quickly she reached for her radio. "Bumi, are you and Azula seeing this?

"Affirmative. Watching and waiting."

More and more machines were rolling up to the stone embankments, but none touched the wooden docks. Bumi squinted at the increasing forces against him and turned to Azula. "We're being trapped. But how?"

Azula scanned the scene before her. The only other time this had happened to her involved pirates off the coast of Kyoshi Island. But there were no other ships, just these odd humanoid machines. The other shoe was going to drop; it was just a question of how and when. "I don't know, but sooner or later we're going to find out. I'm not your commanding officer anymore Bumi; it's your choice what we do next."

Not five seconds later an ominous whine filled the air.

Bumi sprinted to the bow of his ship to find unmarked airships headed towards his fleet. Before he could command his earth- and firebenders to their stations, he found himself being torpedoed from above. He dove quickly for cover, and scrambled to the command center of his ship. "Officers, head towards Air Temple Island, I repeat, head towards Air Temple Island!" He steered his ship towards his childhood home when he felt his ship violently rock. The Lieutenant Commander, ducking and weaving, ran outside to find that his ships had run into a marine minefield. For the first time in his life, he cursed his lack of bending and radioed Suyin. "Su, darling, I know we had a dinner date but I'm a little caught up in something. Rain check?"

Suyin was used to her brother-in-law's ceaseless jokes and flirtatious manner, but she knew this time his cavalier facade was masking fear. "No worries dear, I'll just bring the fun to you," she replied smoothly. Gracefully she steered her fleet to face the other airships, her metalbenders at the ready. "Ready, aim, FIRE!" Within seconds her metalbenders were hurling sharp metal knives at the airships, taking down as many as they possibly could. Three airships were sunk and the other two were mangled, forcing them to retreat from wherever they came from. Suyin directed half of her fleet to follow the other airships while she took out the humanoid machines from above. With a hiss, she realized that the machines were titanium-difficult and time-consuming to destroy. Using a bit of finesse, her ground troops overpowered the machines and took their drivers into custody. Satisfied, she radioed Bumi. "Looks like dinner's back on dear, I'll see you then?"

Much to her consternation, the other end of the radio was silent.