As we all knew, it took years to even lay down the foundations of the city, which became known as Republic City after we all finally agreed upon a name. It was a place dedicated to all nations, and already there were many people moving here in order to live and build new lives together, mixed families of different nations particularly wanting to stay. Five years had passed already in the blink of an eye, and a great deal had happened in that time. Most importantly, Aang and Katara got married and now, Katara was in the early stages of pregnancy with their first child.

Aang was totally all over the place, panicking about how to be a father and terrified that he wouldn't be able to be around much due to his Avatar duties calling him away so often, but we eventually managed to talk him down and promised that when he couldn't be there, someone else would be so that Katara and the baby would never be alone. I mean, between Sokka, myself, Toph and Zuko, that kid is not going to have any lack for uncles and aunts.

My parents moved to the city with me where my dad helped with a lot of the building, enjoying being able to use his hands and work each day whilst my mom helped me with administrations, which basically meant a lot of reading and stamping approvals. It was a lot of work, but it was all coming together. Aang even built himself a new temple on a nearby island facing the city where the Air Acolytes could come to live, he and Katara making it their home for the time being where she could rest plenty. I was so excited for them to be starting a family together, and I couldn't wait to meet the little guy and I often gave Katara healing sessions and check ups to make sure everything was okay.

Everything was coming together so well in life, I felt like everything before it, including all the struggles and the fighting against the war, had all been worth it. I even reached the point where I could finally forgive Zuko for everything, even apologising to him for being so harsh on him and we rekindled our friendship with the same level of intimacy and affection as before, but with the both of us leading such different lives, him in the Fire Nation and me in Republic City, there never seemed to be time for 'us'. I decided to try and move on from that, even dating a couple of guys to try and help myself try and find someone new I could fall in love with and maybe marry one day, but it never really worked out.

It either felt too stale or they complained I worked too much, they didn't like some of my habits like my excessive sleeping and great love of food. Sokka didn't like the guy who complained I ate too much and promptly smacked him on the head with his boomerang. He left the same day, but I wasn't all that choked up about it. Another guy actually told me he hated my friends which they accidentally overheard as I gaped at him and he went on, saying that they were all arrogant and full of themselves just because they'd saved the world and were building a city. I kicked that guy out myself, after grabbing Sokka's boomerang and hitting him with it. Basically, boomerang became a boyfriend whacking tool.

Although I preferred to avoid violence, no one disrespects my friends. They were my family, and that's final. So all in all, the dating scene didn't really work out for me, which made my dad happy because he never approved of any of them, even when they were just simple, nice guys. He felt like they needed to be worthy of me, and if they didn't have a backbone then he couldn't' trust them to take care of me if there was trouble or to stick around if things were getting tough. Knowing that my parents only wanted the best for me, and usually could see things I couldn't because they were looking from a different perspective, I usually followed their instincts and to be honest, I usually felt glad when they'd tell me they didn't like the guy I was seeing.

The city's foundations were nearing completion, including the town hall and council offices, as well as forming streets, houses, and Toph's favourite, the police station. She had brought metal bending to a whole new level, training her students to be officers of the law as we all stipulated what those laws would be. With the other council members, we were still debating on those and we were waiting for the other leaders to arrive before we could finalise them, as we needed to discuss things that would affect the outside world such as tax revenue, importing and exporting, the rise of large scale corporations and numerous other things. It was a real headache.

Now twenty six years old, I was in the prime of my life and doing something I felt passionate about. I'd returned to wearing my hair in a similar style to how Katara used to do it years ago, opting for a more tribal look with predominantly red clothing with blue accessories as a nod to both of my heritages. All of us being adults now, it was crazy to think that ten years had passed since Aang had first been released from the iceberg and nine years since the end of the war. Bumi was already crawling and toddling around, the giddiest little baby I'd ever seen, though much to everyone's surprise, he was born a non-bender.

Aang worried for a while after Bumi was born as we could tell he'd been resting his hopes that he and Katara would have air bender children so that his nation wouldn't die out entirely, so it took a while for him to come around. In the end I think Toph was actually the one to smack him over the head and tell him that bender or not, Bumi was his son and that he should love him unconditionally. That got Aang's head straight, much to our relief. I could understand how much pressure it was being the last of an entire nation, but it wasn't Bumi's fault he wasn't a bender. Even Katara worried for a while, thinking that maybe something was wrong when she brought him to me in order to take a look.

Over the years, we'd both become master healers, but I had a talent for reading chi in the body so when Katara lay little Bumi down on the table and opened up his blanket, I'd immediately beamed and leaned over him. "Hey there Bumi, I'm your Aunty Kayo. Aren't you the cutest little thing? Look at these tiny toes!" I fussed over him with a giggle, tickling his feet and Bumi squealed and gargled cutely before I then began to study his energy flow with a spiralling orb of glowing water.

"Is he okay? I checked him myself and couldn't see anything wrong but I just wanted a second opinion." Katara worried so I calmed her down with reassurance.

"He's strong and healthy Katara, you don't have to worry about that. I know he's your first baby but if you worry too much then you're going to end up driving yourself crazy." I said to her as I followed the flow of energy in his small body. "Hm…"

"What? What is it?!"

"I've never come across this before. It's like…I don't even know how to explain it." I frowned, delving a little deeper as Bumi tried to play with the water curiously. "It's like he's lacking in spiritual energy, I can feel something like a gap where the energy to bend should be. I've never seen anything like it. Non-benders don't even have something like that. It's almost as if he was meant to be a bender but he's not." Pulling the water away I dressed Bumi once more then wrapped him up to keep him warm, lifting him off the table to cuddle him for a while as he started to tug and pull at my hair.

"So he might develop the ability later?" Katara asked me, clutching her hands together with worry as she gazed at her son.

"Possibly, but there's an equal chance that he won't. If he does manage to develop a spiritual capability which we require to bend, there's also still a chance he'll be a water bender and not an air bender. In all likelihood, it won't happen. Even if Aang were to bend the energy within him, you can't add something that's not already there, not like when he took something away from Ozai, and in any case he's far too young and small to undergo such stress. It could irreparably hurt him." I theorised, thinking it through carefully as to try and understand what was going on with baby Bumi. "My guess is this is how it was meant to be. Bumi can't bend, but that just means he was meant for something else other than rebuilding the Air Nation. Isn't that right Bumi? You can be anything you want to be, and you'll be wonderful no matter what." I coddled him as Katara began to smile in relief.

"So long as he's healthy, that's all that matters. I was just worried that maybe something got twisted up during his development, since it's so rare that a child born between two benders doesn't inherit the ability." She said, reaching out and Bumi instantly went towards her, recognising his mother and making happy baby noises to be in her arms as she hugged him. "Can I ask you a favour? Please don't tell Aang that Bumi might be able to bend one day. He'll just get his hopes up and I don't want to put that kind of pressure on Bumi. It won't be fair on him."

"Of course, you don't even need to ask." I promised her, tickling Bumi's neck lightly with a smile. "He really is beautiful."

"Sokka said he looked like a baby seal pup because he was so fat and squishy when he was born." I laughed, thinking just how like Sokka that was. Katara stayed with me for a while in order to have tea and talk, asking me how my parents were doing and if I'd been to see Uncle Iroh recently. It was easy to waste hours just talking and making a fuss over Bumi, who had quickly become the most precious thing in the world to all of us.

"So do you think you'll have more children? How long will you wait to have another?"

"I'd like to have a couple more, maybe one or two. Aang hasn't mentioned anything about numbers, he just said he's happy that we're a family and however many kids decide to come along, he'll be just as happy and excited as with Bumi. I'd prefer to wait a while before having anymore, I just want to spend time with Bumi and enjoy the feeling of being a mother for the first time." Understanding with a nod, I placed my hand on Katara's shoulder to smile at one another before we then returned to admiring Bumi, who'd fallen asleep. "What about you? You and Erik have been dating for a few months now, how's that going."

"Oh we broke up weeks ago."

"What?! What happened? I was so sure this time looked good. Did he do something?"

"Actually he broke up with me. He said that we couldn't be together if I was already married to my job." I rubbed my head bashfully with a grin. "He was right, we hardly saw each other and more often than not, we wouldn't really know what to talk about other than work. We only slept together once in our entire relationship, and it wasn't all that enjoyable if I'm honest."

"That's too bad Kayo, I'm sorry to hear that." Being married and having her first child, Katara seemed to think that everybody else needed to be as happy as she was, which was why she often set up blind dates for me and Toph. We'd go to a few of them just to make her happy, and sometimes she was actually right on the mark with our preferred type of guy, but none of them ever stuck around long enough to make a real go of it.

Sokka didn't have to worry about his sister's matchmaking since he had Suki, and Zuko was too far out of Katara's reach to be worried about her trying to pair us all off with the love of our life. I loved Katara, but sometimes I just wanted to be without a partner, because then I didn't have to worry about the work hours I was putting in or thinking about getting home in time to make dinner for them which they never really appreciated, but complained when it was either too plain or simple since they were used to my usual standards. After that long talk, Katara took Bumi home so I walked her to the door of my house which my dad and Toph had helped me build from scratch. It was close to the city hall so it was conveniently situated.

We continued talking as we went to city hall together where Aang, Sokka and Toph were already discussing more work, though Aang brightened when he saw his wife and son. He now had a neatly trimmed beard lining his jaw and chin, all boyish looks completely gone now that he was twenty two years old. He sprung towards them on a stream of air before lightly landing in order to nuzzle Katara and kissed her hello before holding Bumi for a while as I passed. "Hey Aang."

"Hey Kayo." Utterly focused on his family, Aang barely even saw me walk passed as I laughed. He was just so cute, as besotted now as he was when he and Katara first met. Another long day of work ensued, leaving me drained and wanting to put my feet up somewhere comfortable for a while. Zuko would be coming tomorrow and other leaders after that. I couldn't help but feel a little giddy with anticipation at seeing Zuko again, though I wasn't looking forward to the inspection tour we had to give. That was going to be a real pain, but hopefully things will go smoothly and I won't have to worry about a single darn thing.