Timeline: 11 years after the end of the war
For the first time in my life my intuition actually did not end up being completely correct.
While our lives had indeed gained another wonderful experience through Jin's birth, the resulting family life was not how Ty Lee and I had expected it to be at all.
During my travels and in many pieces of writing I had learned that while a child would be the most beautiful experience of any couple, it would also bring lots of new and especially exhausting kinds of work.
But to my surprise the negative aspects mostly did not hit us and our lives remained as nice and pleasant as they had been in the time before.
Jin turned out to be an almost remarkably quiet baby, he cried or whimpered only very rarely, which is why Ty Lee and I almost never had to suffer from insomnia and the likes.
In the first months after the birth we took care of our son almost around the clock, the Kyoshi Warriors fulfilled their missions with their current abilities.
A good year after Jin's birth, Ty Lee and I eventually began to resume our duties.
While we were busy, we gave Jin into the care of Zheyi who always looked after him until we had finished our tasks and picked him up again in the evening.
In the summer of that year, my training of the Kyoshi Warriors ended, I had taught them everything in my power and they had mastered everything, some parts even better than I had expected.
With a small ceremony I appointed all the girls to the rank of Master and tattooed the Assassin seal onto their ring fingers, as well as their personal creeds onto their weapon arms; Ty Lee decided for ''I protect those I love'', which I considered a great choice.
From that moment on, the warriors carried out missions more and more often while I had basically nothing to do anymore, which is why I, while Ty Lee was away on a mission, tried to spend every spare minute with Jin.
Whenever I played or just spent time with him, I almost always felt that the connection between us was truly very strong, exactly how it should be between father and son.
I also realized quite early that Jin's soul emitted the same glow my own soul did, apparently my son was also destined to learn the ability to bend fire, a fact that made me very happy.
Thus, my son would have the best premises to succeed me and become an Assassin as well.
In the year 104 AG, four years after the end of the war, Ty Lee and I married in the Fire Nation capital, it was a nice little private wedding with only our friends as guests.
After Jin's birth, this was the happiest moment of my life, the love of my life was now also officially a part of me.
After our kiss to seal the vow, Ty Lee whispered in my ear: ''Promise me that you will always love me.''
''To the last breath.'', was my answer, I saw the joy in Ty Lee's eyes and I knew that our lives would continue to be as wonderful as they already were.
And as fate willed, the wedding night turned out to be a very special night for us, because Ty Lee became pregnant a second time and eventually gave birth to a healthy girl nine months later.
We named her Miya, the ''beautiful flower'', because she was an almost spitting image of Ty Lee and I had given the latter the nickname ''my pretty flower'' at one point in the past.
So now we had two children and one might think that this would now start the terror, but our lives actually continued as calm and nice as before, because even though Miya was also very similar to her mother in character and therefore sometimes acted like a little whirlwind, during the first months of her life she had been as calm and quiet as her brother had been as well, a trait they both most likely had inherited from me, which made me quite proud.
Time passed, our children grew bigger and we older, of course.
As soon as Jin had reached the age when he began to actively perceive his environment and to properly understand words and information, I told him all sorts of stories, about my adventures, about the Assassins, just about everything he could use later in his life.
He was very excited and happy every time, I felt that he wanted to emulate me and also become an Assassin once he was older.
Although I was glad that my son was thinking about continuing the family tradition this early, I still wanted to let him enjoy the pleasant years of his childhood before the serious side of life would begin.
Miya on the other hand was an entirely different deal; she was always very close to her mother which was probably due to their almost identical personalities.
I had already sensed quite early in her life that Miya most likely did not possess any bending abilities, another aspect she shared with her mother.
Jin on the other hand already showed a certain fascination for fire at an early age, ever since then I was sure that my son would almost certainly become an Assassin.
When he was ten years old, he eventually expressed the wish for the first time, he came to me and said:
''Dad?''
''What is it, Jin?''
''Can I talk to you about something?''
''Of course, my son.''
I saw that Jin struggled to find the right words, but eventually he said:
''I want to become like you!''
At first I was a little unsure what exactly he meant by that, but then it came to me.
I asked him: ''You mean you want to become an Assassin?''
My boy's face was radiant with joy when he replied: ''Yes! I want to be as big and strong as you and have a cool sword!''
I laughed and said: ''Easy, Jin. You will grow big by yourself over time and you're still too young for a real sword like mine. But we might be able to do something regarding your strength. What do you say? Would you like me to make you stronger and show you how to become a true Assassin?''
''Yes!''
I ruffled through my son's hair and said: ''OK, then go to bed early today so that you're fit and ready when we start tomorrow.''
Thereupon Jin stormed into his room even though it was only late in the afternoon yet.
Ty Lee came into the room and asked me: ''Huh? What's up with him? He normally doesn't even want to go to bed late at night and we always have to carry him to his room when he falls asleep somewhere else in the house.''
I laughed and said: ''Oh well, he's excited because I promised him that we'll start his training tomorrow. He told that he wants to become an Assassin just like me, isn't that great?''
Ty Lee seemed worried: ''At his age? Isn't that a little too early and too dangerous?''
I shook my head slightly, kissed Ty Lee on the cheek and said: ''Remember: I'm not only his father, but also one of the best Assassins the world has ever known. I'll make sure that nothing happens to him.''
''All right, I trust you.''
I smiled and added: ''If this continues, then sooner or later Miya is going to ask you to take her with you to the Kyoshi Warriors.''
Ty Lee smiled as well and said: ''Maybe, but there's still more than enough time for that. She's a bright girl, she will find her path when the time is right.''
I nodded while my thoughts were already focused on tomorrow's training.
Jin was still too young to officially enter the Order, the minimum age for recruits was twelve years, but if he really wanted to become an Assassin some prior knowledge couldn't hurt.
The next morning we all woke up with individual goals in mind.
Ty Lee had promised Miya to take her along to the village and the harbor for grocery shopping and Jin could not wait for his training to start.
After a rather hasty breakfast we all set off individually, Jin practically pulled me out of the house, he really wanted to begin the training.
I laughed as we left the house, he definitely already had the necessary determination.
But as sorry as I was to curb his enthusiasm, the first steps of the training consisted almost entirely of theoretical explanations and the like while he of course had expected us to go all in immediately, he probably had thought that he could immediately grab a sword and start fighting.
I explained to Jin the basic Assassin knowledge which he had to know and also could understand at his young age.
Although he seemed a bit disgruntled at first because of the lack of practical activities he was still very eager to learn and absorbed my narrations well and with interest; I was satisfied with him, he was a good and fast learner.
Eventually, after a good hour of explanations, I said: ''Alright, are you ready to receive your first weapon?''
''I am ready.'', Jin replied with the tranquility of an old master, I was visibly impressed by this.
I brought out a light wooden sword from behind my back and handed it to Jin.
While he was already waving it through the air experimentally, I said: ''This should be enough for the beginning. I mean, you're not going to go and slay demons immediately after all.''
We both laughed, then we walked over the meadow on which our house was located, straight towards my personal training area which I had set up a few years ago to stay in shape and the likes.
It held targets for archery and knife throwing, obstacle courses and many straw dummies which one could use to practice close combat.
I now drew my own katana and said: ''Alright, Jin, your first exercise is to learn and then perform this movement without any faults or problems.''
I showed him the movement, it was a normal smooth swinging of the sword that ended with a powerful strike to the dummy.
When I had finished the movement, which I had done very slowly so that Jin could see and understand every single aspect, I asked: ''So, do you think you can do this?''
Jin nodded, I said: ''Well then, let's go!''
I stepped aside and left the dummy to my son.
And this is how things continued for the next couple of hours. I had Jin perform the exercise over and over again, corrected his mistakes and encouraged him again and again to never give up.
When it was around noon and Jin was knocked down once again by the force of the strike against the dummy, I walked over to him and said: ''Wrong again. Did you forget? Your legs must be parallel to each other and stay on the ground firmly the entire time while you're lunging out for the strike, otherwise you won't be able to cushion the strike's recoil.''
Jin said: ''Yes, I know, I just forgot.''
I smiled, patted my son on the back and said: ''Chin up. The path to become an Assassin is long and difficult, not something you can learn in one day.''
''How long did you train to become this good, dad?''
''Well, my basic training took me four years, after that I traveled through the world and continued to improve my skills. I can tell you from my own experience, my son, and you should remember that for the rest of your life: Learning never stops, there is always room for improvement.''
Jin nodded, I smiled and said: ''Come on, continue, I know you can do it.''
Jin turned to the dummy again and continued to try his luck, I walked over to the wooden fence, crossed my arms and looked out at the sea.
''Oh yes, this is a father's life.'', I thought to myself.
Only a few moments later I was suddenly roused from my thoughts again when I heard a loud well-known voice:
''Daddy!''
I turned around and saw that Ty Lee and Miya had returned.
I jumped over the fence, got on my knees and spread my arms as Miya came running towards me.
I caught her in a wild embrace, lifted her up and whirled her around, she exulted loudly.
When she had calmed down a little again, I said: ''Hey there, my little princess. How was your day, shopping with Mommy?''
Miya immediately started to talk a mile a minute, telling me all sorts of things she had seen during the day; while she was still babbling, I approached Ty Lee who was carrying a small basket filled with all kinds of groceries.
I said to Miya: ''Why don't you go into the house already? I need to talk with Mommy for a second.''
She rejoiced once more, jumped off my arms and ran straight through the door into the house.
I kissed Ty Lee, she asked: ''So, how's the training among men going?''
I laughed and said: ''Pretty good thus far, Jin is a very attentive student, he learns well and fast.''
''Good to hear. I think I should go and take care of our little monster in there now.'', she said as we heard Miya calling for her from inside the house.
I smiled, kissed her again and then went back to Jin.
The moment I arrived back at the training area, Jin managed to perform the movement and the strike to the dummy for the first time while also staying on his feet!
He could hardly believe it at the first moment: ''I ... I did it!''
I walked up to him and said: ''Very good. See, you can do it.''
''Only because you showed me how to do it! Thank you, dad, you're the best!''
Jin dropped the sword and hugged me tightly.
This hug and his words were beautiful balm on my soul, I felt nothing but joy in this moment.
I now truly had a perfect life, a wife I loved like nothing else in the world and two children who were my everything, it could not be any better.
At that moment I swore to myself: My life should never change again, this was heaven on earth, I didn't want to live any other way anymore!
And indeed: This wish should come true...
Next chapter: A great master steps down
