The reunion in Ba Sing Se was enough to make the hardest of hearts melt. Kuei was finally given the opportunity to meet his newborn son. After hugging Fei Yen and holding Mizu, Kuei turned to Aang and Katara and thanked them profusely for everything they had done for his family and told them how he could never repay them.
The couple left their charges in the palace and exited post haste. After all, the family was newly together and needed time to bond just by themselves. Besides that, Aang and Katara had their own plans and were trying to get to Ember Island as fast as they could to avoid any other "urgent matters" that may come up and interrupt their time together.
It was only one more day before they arrived at Ember Island. The workers at Zuko's house didn't know the exact day Aang and Katara would arrive, but the teens could tell that they were definitely ready for their arrival.
"Welcome Avatar Aang and Master Katara. My name is Umi and I will be responsible for making sure your every need is met during your stay. If you need anything, just come find me," a man said as they neared the front door.
"Thank you, Umi. You have no idea how much we've been looking forward to this visit," replied Aang.
Umi walked away as Aang and Katara climbed back onto Appa's back and took their possessions into the house.
"Hold on a second," said Aang. "Umi! Is there a place for Appa to stay?"
"Of course. I would be happy to personally show him to the stables. Fire Lord Zuko mentioned that if you ever visited, we would need to make room for your sky bison," said Umi. "An area has been prepared for him."
"Thanks!" replied Aang, who then rejoined Katara.
They dropped their things off in the room they would be staying in.
"So, what do you want to do first?" asked Katara.
"Honestly? The beach!" said Aang. "We've been up north for a while now. I'm ready for some sun and ocean."
"You got it," replied Katara.
They put on some suitable swimming clothes and made their way to the warm sand right down the path outside the house. They spent the entire day lounging around, swimming, surfing, and making sand sculptures. Aang decided to try his hand at sandbending remembering the fantastic Ba Sing Se Toph had once bended right near this very spot almost two years ago. Unfortunately for him, he never quite got it right, but he sure did have fun trying.
Evening soon set in and the husband and wife remained on the beach. Umi approached them to make sure everything was still ok. He brought along a blanket with him in case they were getting cold as the sun set.
"Oh sure," said Aang to Umi. "Everything's fine here. We're just enjoying our time together."
Once Umi left, Aang gathered up some driftwood and built a small fire. Aang and Katara cuddled under the blanket and watched nighttime slowly emerge as the western sky turned from yellow to orange to pink to purple, and finally to a deep black sprinkled with bright white spots.
"It's been a good day," remarked Katara out of nowhere.
"It's nice not having anywhere to be," said Aang, who then leaned over to Katara and started kissing the back of her neck.
Katara giggled as the hair started standing up from the shivers Aang's kisses were sending down her spine. She turned her head and gave him a deep kiss.
The fire cracked and Aang turned to look at it for just a second.
Katara smiled at him. "Have I told you lately that I love you?" she asked.
"Hmmm….no," replied Aang, who again, started nibbling at her neck.
"I love you," she said and caught his mouth with hers yet again for the next kiss.
"I love you, too," Aang replied as soon as their kiss broke.
OlOlOlOlOlO
Katara and Aang finally got to enjoy the honeymoon they wanted. Not much happened in the next week and a half on Ember Island. Lots of food, sleep, sun, and sex ensued. Umi catered to their every wish. They even took in a show by the Ember Island Players – both agreed that it was a much better one than "The Boy in the Iceberg".
Katara was sure to take the time to write a message to Zuko and Mai thanking them for the offer to use their house. Aang wrote a message to the Haruko letting her know that they would be back at the Eastern Air Temple in the next few days.
Nine days after arriving, the couple left their favorite honeymoon spot and headed back to the Eastern Air Temple. Along the way, they stopped at Gaoling. Toph's parents provided excellent hospitality. Unfortunately, Toph was not there. She was still off with Pipsqueak and The Duke somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. Her parents reported that she was having a great time, but still regretted that she was not around nearly as much as they wished.
OlOlOlOlOlO
19 Months ASC
Aang and Katara arrived back in the Eastern Air Temple in the mid-afternoon of an early spring day. The residents who were out and about at the temple came over to greet them.
Later that evening, dinner was served in the dining area. A lot of catching up was done as Aang and Katara told their first-hand accounts of their wedding and honeymoon adventures. Although Haruko had received all of Aang's messages, there was nothing like hearing it from the sources themselves. The Eastern Air Temple residents also caught Aang and Katara up on any new things that had gone on since they left months ago.
"Kotori came to visit," said Deshi.
"Kotori came here?" asked Aang. "I knew she said she wanted to visit, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. I'm sorry I missed her."
"She was a bit sorry, too, but when she heard that you had gotten married and were on your honeymoon with Katara, she more than understood," said Deshi.
Haruko leaned over. "….and the best part is what she brought with her."
"You mean 'who' she brought with her, don't you?" corrected Deshi.
"Who?" asked Aang.
"One more family from Qi Cun decided to relocate to the Eastern Air Temple," said Deshi. "It's a mother, father and their two children, a daughter age 7 and a son, age 3."
"They are not airbenders, but what they told me was that they felt a pull to come here. The pull was the strongest after the initial people had left. That's when they made the decision to relocate," said Deshi.
"That's great," said Aang. "They may not be airbenders, but they do have airbender blood in them. That just makes our success in future generations that much more secure."
"Avatar Aang!" A new voice was heard off to the right interrupting the conversation. "May I speak with you?" It was Suwan, one of Aang's airbending students.
"Excuse me," Aang said and bowed to his friends.
He and Suwan walked slowly outside of the temple.
"Avatar Aang, it has been quite a while since we've seen you," said Suwan.
"Yes, it has," he acknowledged. Interesting intro. What's her point?
"Umm….I have to tell you something," said Suwan.
Is she quitting the training?
"I'm…uh….pregnant again," she said.
Aang took a moment to gather his thoughts since this wasn't exactly the news he was expecting. In his own personal experience, most of the airbender training was done when the pupil was young. By the time the airbender started having children, he or she was usually a master or close to it. This was another example of how things would be changing in the new airbending society.
"Oh," Aang finally mustered. "How far along are you?"
"About 4 months. I'm due in early fall," replied Suwan.
Aang didn't say much else at first. He continued to think. As long as she is careful, there is no reason she can't continue to train.
"Aang?" Suwan tried to get his attention by waving her hand in front of his face.
"Oh sorry," Aang responded. "I guess I hadn't prepared for this…situation. Have you been training while I've been gone?"
"I sure have. I can't wait until we all get to show you how far we've come since you left," said Suwan.
"I'm going to leave the intensity of your training up to you. The health of your baby is the most important thing right now, so don't overdo it. Most of the forms shouldn't be a problem. But if you are ever not feeling well, don't push it."
Suwan bowed to her master in agreement.
"Oh, and Katara and I will be checking on you and the baby from time-to-time," Aang mentioned as an aside. "Just so you know."
"Why would you check on me?" asked Suwan, not yet hearing for herself what Aang and Katara have been doing the last few months.
"Katara has started to train me in healing," answered Aang. "The interesting thing is, we were in the middle of helping to deliver a baby when she told me I should stay and learn. She brought up this situation exactly - that babies were bound to be born at the Eastern Air Temple and I should know 'my way around' since it would be only her and I here to help out."
"Ah, I see," said Suwan.
"Aang, is everything alright?" said a voice behind the pair. It was Katara wondering what was taking him so long.
"Oh, everything's fine," he answered.
Suwan bowed again. "Goodnight, Avatar Aang." Aang bowed back and she walked back into the temple.
Katara walked up to her husband. "What's going on?" she asked.
"You're not going to believe this, but Suwan is pregnant," he answered.
"Really?" Katara replied. "So what are you going to do? She's a sixth of your students."
"I think she's fine to do most everything. It's not like we're at a very high level yet. I just told her to be careful and not push herself too hard," said Aang.
"Sounds like good advice to me," said Katara. "I'm a Master Waterbender and I plan on training throughout my pregnancy. I can't imagine Suwan would be doing anything to hurt the baby. Speaking of babies….," said Katara.
"Yes?" said Aang.
"Wanna go practice?" she asked.
"You know I do," he replied.
Katara grabbed Aang's hand and led them back to their room for yet another night full of passion.
OlOlOlOlOlO
Aang called his first airbender training session the next morning.
"Good morning, students," he joyfully called out to his six trainees.
"Good morning, Avatar Aang," they replied in unison.
"I've been told that you all have mastered all that I've shown you already. I'd like to spend the first hour or two going over what you've been working on and see where you currently are with your training," said Aang.
One by one, the students showed the Avatar what they had been working on these past few months. What Aang had heard was correct – all had mastered their current airbending levels.
"Great job everyone!" Aang praised. "I will briefly show you the next set of moves for you to work on. Youfeng and Meifeng will learn up through level 13 and the rest of you through level 8. After that, I'd like to show you a game I used to play - kind of a reward for all your hard work."
The students, especially the young ones, were excited at the notion of learning their first airbending game. Aang showed the four lower level students their new moves followed by Youfeng and Meifeng with their higher level moves.
"The small air suction and mini-tornado are simply the beginning steps before the more advanced versions. They can always be used, but I have found they are not as useful as their full-blown counterparts. As far as the light walk is concerned, Meifeng is aware of my need to 'step lightly' back in Qi Cun, right Mefieng?"
"Oh, I remember that night very clearly," Meifeng replied with a grin on her face.
"What night?" asked Youfeng.
"There was a night when I snuck into Meifeng's room when she was the next chosen keeper. I took her to try my glider and meet Appa, trying to convince her to help me expose the airbenders in Qi Cun so Kotori would allow me to train you," said Aang.
"Is that right?" said Youfeng as he put his hands on his hips and addressed Meifeng. "We'll have to talk about that this evening…"
"Sorry, Meifeng. I didn't mean to get you in trouble with your Dad. Go easy on her, Youfeng. If she hadn't stuck her neck out, we probably wouldn't be here right now," said Aang.
"Good point," replied Youfeng.
"Master Aang, have you used all these moves before?" asked Meifeng. "Some of them seem so….unusable in everyday life."
"Hmmm….I guess I've never really thought of it before. I'm sure there are some forms I've never used beyond my training, but I can tell you that I've used the ones I'm teaching you today. For example, the mini-tornado – I used it to cool off someone's soup once. Actually, it was more to impress her parents than to cool her soup. And moving objects that you are riding to make them go faster? That one was a ton of fun in Omashu when I rode the stone carts of the mail system with the King."
Meifeng really liked Aang's real world examples. "That sounds really cool!" she said.
"Believe me, everything we are taught, no matter how insignificant it may seem, can be used at some point," said Aang.
OlOlOlOlOlO
Life was back to normal at the Eastern Air Temple. Both Aang and Katara were very happy to be back, roots firmly planted - at least for the time being. They had nowhere to be until Sokka and Suki's wedding in mid-summer and that was a good three months away.
Aang looked forward to reacquainting himself with the residents of the temple and getting to know the new family who had recently moved here. He was in absolute heaven when, one morning at breakfast, Tengfei came up to him and asked him about his time with Monk Gyatso.
"How do you know about Monk Gyatso?" Aang asked the airbender.
"Min taught us," said Tengfei. "She said he was your guardian when you were an airbending student. Y'know, before you got your arrow."
"Yes, that's right," said Aang whose mind started wandering a bit back to the times he spent with Gyatso…Pai Sho, baking fruit pies, playing with the lemurs. "He was like a father to me." Aang heart filled with pride at the realization that the kids were learning about how the Air Nomad nation used to be. Maybe it will be that way again someday.
OlOlOlOlOlO
That evening, Aang and Katara lied in bed talking about their respective days, as they always did. Aang talked about how Tengfei asked about Monk Gyatso and how his students were doing. He also talked about his own practice session, which happened to be mostly waterbending this particular day, which he was sure would draw Katara's attention. But Katara wasn't saying much back to Aang on this particular evening. Her near-silence finally spurred him to start prompting her for a little discussion.
"Is everything ok?" Aang asked her. "You're not being very talkative tonight."
"I'm fine. I just have a lot on mind right now. That's all," said Katara.
"I live with you. What on earth could be going on in your life that I don't already know about?" Aang asked.
"Well….," she started, but her reaction gave it away. Her cheeks got a little pinker and a small smile appeared.
"No, really?" said Aang, obviously getting excited. "When?"
"I've known for a couple of days, but I wanted to be absolutely sure," Katara replied. "It's extremely early – only about a week now – but I can tell what's going on since I'm so in-tune with my own chi paths."
"Can I….see?" asked Aang.
"Sure," she replied.
He got up and retrieved Katara's water pouch and bended the water onto his hands. He placed his hands gingerly onto her abdomen, just below her belly button, and closed his eyes.
"So tiny," he commented. "You can barely notice anything is there."
"I told you it was early," Katara replied. "Let's just keep it between us – for now."
Aang nodded in agreement. "Katara, we're going to be parents," said aloud, almost so he could hear it for his own benefit. He grabbed her and held her tightly for what seemed like a very long time.
"Aunt Wu was right," said Katara. "I always thought she knew what she was talking about."
Aang broke the embrace and grabbed Katara with both hands on either side of her head. He gently kissed her on the lips. Then they lay down in a spooning position enjoying the silence as thoughts of the next nine months raced through each of their heads.