I know this is long overdue, but better late than never, right? All credit for this one goes to Sylvanna (thanks for the idea^^). This particular oneshot is set in between ATLA and TLOK and so, there are probably some (if not lots) of discrepancies. And since there's not much info on Katara and Aang's older two children, I purposely left their descriptions vague. Still, I hope it doesn't detract from the story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


LIII. Mischief

"What is a home without children?

Quiet."

~ Henry Youngman

Katara's headache was just beginning to alleviate when the sound of shrieks and cries picked up in the courtyard just below her window. She didn't have to look outside to know what was going on. The noise itself was an indication that children were hard at work, inventing imaginary evils to fight and nonexistent people to save. Ever since she and Aang had cleared the courtyard and fixed the broken fountain, their children had spent most of their time playing there. Katara loved her children, but that didn't mean they didn't drive her up the wall sometimes. And as much as she her headache was bothering her, Katara found she didn't have the heart to tell her children to stop playing when they were having so much fun.

"Hey Kya," she heard Tenzin ask after their mock battle had ceased. "How come I'm always the bad guy?"

"Because you're good at it," was the little waterbender's reply. "And besides, you're better at being the bad guy than I am at being the good guy."

"But how come Gyatso never has to be the bad guy?" Tenzin demanded. "Why can't I ever be the good guy?"

"I'm older," Gyatso said proudly. "So I don't have to be the bad guy if I don't want to."

"No fair," Tenzin grumbled. "I want to be a good guy!"

"Well, you can be the good guy when we play pirates," Kya promised.

"But he always messes up," Gyatso protested. "And I never have the awesome swordfight with him. The evil pirate always has the swordfight with the good guy before he loses."

"It's okay," Kya said. "It's just a game."

"But he always does things wrong," Gyatso huffed. "He's not supposed to use his airbending to fight the evil pirate."

"But I'm the littlest," Tenzin protested. "How else am I supposed to fight?"

"Without your bending, airhead." Gyatso replied.

"I'm not an airhead!"

"Gyatso!" Kya cried, suddenly sounding very much like her mother. "Don't call him that."

"Well Mama called Dad an airhead once. And Tenzin's just like him. So he's an airhead too." Gyatso laughed.

"Am not."

"Are too. You always mess things up when we play pirates."

"He doesn't mean that, Tenzin," Kya said, glaring at her younger brother.

But the little airbender didn't look too convinced. "Fine, then have fun playing pirates without me," Tenzin cried, storming off.

Kya watched him go before turning on Gyatso. "You happy now? How are we supposed to play pirates now?"

"He'll come back soon."

"Yeah, but still. You shouldn't have said that."

"How come you're always on his side?" Gyatso demanded.

"Because you keep picking on him," Kya retorted.

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"He keeps messing up."

"It's a game," Kya cried. "For spirit's sake, only an imaginary game. He can't mess up."

Gyatso groaned. "Alright, I get it. Let's just find him before he tells Mama so I can apologize. Mama might send me to bed without dinner."

Kya just rolled her eyes. "Mama would never do that."

"She sent herself to bed without dinner once," the little waterbender mentioned, following his sister in search of their missing brother.

"I think she wasn't hungry, genius," Kya chuckled. "You don't punish yourself for being bad. Besides, Mama and Dad never get in trouble."

Gyatso just shrugged and continued looking for Tenzin. In the Southern Air Temple, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. There were thousands of places he could hide and it was well past dinner time when the two siblings reported their missing brother to their parents.

"Mama, we can't find Tenzin," Kya said, sliding into her seat at the dinner table.

Katara gazed out the window and bit her lip. The light was slowly receding from the mountains and once it was dark, finding the little airbender would be next to impossible. She had half a mind to ask Aang, who had just entered the room, to go look for him but at that moment, the front door was thrown open and Tenzin walked in holding a squirming object in a tight grip while smiling hugely at his parents.

"Look what I found," he exclaimed, releasing his grip on the object. At first, it looked like a shapeless bundle of fur, but it was evident it was a winged lemur. "I found a conoly of lemur monkeys."

"I think you mean colony," Aang laughed, handing his son his plate of food. "And they're winged lemurs, Tenzin, not lemur monkeys."

"But I still found it," he said, proudly. "So can we keep him?"

"I think it's a she," Katara chuckled, watching the way Momo acted around the newcomer. "Looks like he's trying to impress her."

"Can we keep her, Mama?" Tenzin pleaded. "Please?"

"But we already have Momo," Katara pointed out.

"But another one would be nice," Gyatso chimed in with Kya nodding vigorously in support.

Katara just looked at Aang and he shrugged.

"Please?" Kya begged. "I'll work extra hard at my waterbending."

"I'll do the dishes," Gyatso promised, forgetting that he wasn't tall enough to do that.

"I'll do the cleaning," Tenzin added.

"And I'll sew my own clothes," Kya promised. "And if you teach me, I'll do all the cooking."

Aang and Katara just exchanged glances.

"We should have gotten another lemur sooner," Aang said, smiling at Katara.

She nodded. "I can't believe we didn't think of that sooner."

"And we'll take care of it," all three chorused. "So can we keep it?"

Katara just laughed. "You don't need to wash the dishes, cook, clean, or sew."

"So can we keep it?"

"We'll see."

"But I think we should," Kya said, rolling a sea prune around on her plate.

"Kya, don't play with your food."

"But I don't like stewed sea prunes," she said, causing her mother to shoot a sideways glare at her father.

"You and your stupid genes," she whispered to Aang. "Does anyone in this family like stewed sea prunes?"

"I do," Gyatso offered as Tenzin just made a face.

Aang grinned. "I might not like it, but I still eat it."

"Why? No one's forcing you," Katara said.

"I know, but somehow, your sea prunes are tastier than the ones I had before."

"I'm sure they are." Katara laughed, noticing Kya hand hers off to the lemur. Momo looked a little disappointed until Tenzin so generously offered his up too.

Admittedly, having another lemur around probably wasn't such a bad idea, but Katara wasn't sure if they could handle two lemurs. Momo hadn't needed any training or anything when he had joined their group but this new lemur looked almost feral. And she certainly didn't want it biting any of her kids. Thankfully, it never did, but it made more mischief than all three of her kids combined. Within a few hours, the pantry, the fruit garden, and the vegetable patch they kept in one of the many courtyards had been raided and a rather bloated lemur was lounging lazily on the kitchen table. The following morning, a letter from Suki was found in shreds and one of Gyatso's books was found torn and tattered. The lemur also seemed to have a passion for apricots, because the old tree in the fruit garden was stripped of its fruit within two days. As the three children watched their newest member of the family gorge herself on the sweet fruits, they all agreed that Anzu would be a perfect name for her.

Perhaps having two winged lemurs wasn't the best idea as Anzu and Momo often fought, but even Katara couldn't bring herself to get rid of Anzu. True, Anzu had caused more trouble than her kids, but she was also fiercely protective of the young mother, even though Katara was usually the one who spent the least amount of time with her. At first, Aang hadn't even been able to have a normal conversation without Anzu chirping at him in a rather annoyed tone as she sat on Katara's shoulder, but gradually, she got used to everyone. At the end of the first week, it seemed hard to believe she hadn't always been with them because it felt like she had always been a part of their family.

Still, in spite of how much everyone liked her, Anzu had her faults. She was a playful, mischievous lemur who often took things to her secluded alcove when no one was looking. She never did much with anything she took, but Aang likened her to a miser the way she horded things. Anzu had all sorts of objects stowed away in that alcove, everything from thread to rocks. And she wouldn't let anyone come within five feet of the alcove, lest they take her things. For a while, no one seemed to mind, but when a letter to Aang from an important Fire Nation official and Gyatso and Kya's waterbending scroll were added to Anzu's collection, Katara started thinking that maybe the little lemur might be too much to handle. The two little waterbenders didn't really need the scroll to practice, but Aang did need the letter to write a reply back, but Anzu wouldn't let him have it. It was only through sheer luck that Momo managed to get it for Aang. And when Anzu took Katara's mother's necklace, the waterbender thought that was the final straw.

"That lemur needs to go," she muttered, eyeing Anzu warily.

"Good luck getting her to leave," Aang replied, hastily writing his reply to the Fire Nation official before Anzu could take that as well.

Anzu stretched lazily before coming to sit on Katara's shoulder. The waterbender literally had to pry her off, but not before Anzu managed to steal the engagement necklace Aang had made for her.

"Give it back," Katara demanded. Anzu just chirped happily before landing on a dresser. Katara tried to snatch the necklace back, but the little lemur was quicker. She was out the door before Katara could even blink. Suppressing the urge to scream, Katara darted after the winged creature.

Kya, Gyatso, and Tenzin all watched in surprise. There was something comical about their mother chasing the lemur about the house. The harder they laughed, the more excited Anzu got and pretty soon, she forgot all about that necklace. She was so focused on flying away from Katara that she hardly noticed when she dropped the necklace. Luckily, Tenzin managed to airbend it to himself just before it hit the ground and shattered into pieces.

"I saved it, Mama," he said, proudly handing the necklace back to Katara.

"Thanks, Tenzin. As for you," she said, turning to Anzu who flattened her ears and cowered down. "You're…" Anzu blinked sadly and Katara groaned, burying her face in her hands. "I give up." She really didn't have the heart to get rid of that lemur. And perhaps it was a good thing because after a few weeks, Anzu tired of her mischief and became just like Momo. She was calm, obedient, and helpful. She even returned everything she had taken, including Katara's mother's necklace. And so, one late evening, just as the sun's rays were receding from the mountain, Tenzin led Gyatso and Kya to the hidden colony and showed them all the lemurs he had found.

"They're so cute," Kya squealed rushing to pick on up.

"You think they'll play with us?" Gyatso wondered.

"Only one way to find out," Tenzin replied. He made a move to go after one, but Gyatso stopped him.

"Hey, Tenzin, I'm sorry I called you an airhead the other day. I was being mean. Sorry."

"It's okay. That was a long time ago," the little airbender replied.

"Well better late than never," was Gyatso's response.

Now let's go play with some lemurs," Tenzin cried, using his airbending to chase a particularly fat one.

That evening, as that Avatar's three children trooped into the house, Katara noticed they were hiding something.

"What are you three hiding?" she demanded. Aang had a feeling he knew what was about to come.

Kya giggled and the three proudly presented their parents with three new winged lemurs.

As Aang and Katara exchanged glances and wondered what they were going to do, the three children used their sweetest voices and asked them one thing.

"Can we please keep them?"


Thanks for all the reviews I've gotten so far. :)

~ Cassie