Bumi tiptoed into the kitchen where Aang was putting breakfast together. "Daddy? When are Mama and Kya comin' back from their holiday? I really miss them."

Aang stopped midway through slicing a bread, his body going rigid. He closed his eyes and sighed to calm himself, then finished slicing with a little more force than necessary.

"I'm afraid they won't be back for a while, son."

The six-year-old scowled. "You said they went away to see Grandpa. Why didn't she take me?! I wanna see Grandpa and Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki!"

Aang counted to ten in his head. He was sure Bumi was never this whiny or demanding before. How had Katara coped, day in and day out?

"I don't know," he replied simply, placing the plate of sliced bread on the table where his son sat and pulled himself a chair opposite him.

"Kya won't even like the snow and the ice and the penguins. I do. Mama should've taken me, not her!"

Aang impulsively squeezed his chopsticks, before he let out a breath and dove into his breakfast. "Just eat your food, Bumi."

"No!" Bumi pushed his plate of dumplings away. "I wanna play with boomerangs with Uncle Sokka and hunt wolves and be a warrior like him!"

Aang's built-up anger got the better of him and he slammed his fists onto the table. "I said shut up and eat your food!"

It wasn't until Bumi let out a frightened whimper, staring at him with wide, wet eyes, that Aang realized his fists were clenched and he was scowling. And he'd just yelled. At his six-year-old son. Simply for wanting to spend time with his family.

His furious expression instantly softened. He got up from his chair to embrace his son, but Bumi jumped down from his own chair and ran out of the room, crying.

"Bumi! Wait! I'm sorry!" Aang shouted after him, but Bumi was already out in the hallway, running up the stairs, presumably to his room.

Aang went after him, but only got halfway up the stairs before a thundering knock sounded on the front door.

"Open up, Twinkle Toes, I know you're in there!"

"Toph?" he questioned out loud. What was she doing here on Air Temple Island, so far away from her home?

"Yes, it's me!" she yelled, apparently having heard his bewilderment all the way from outside. "Now open the door! It's raining cats and dogs out here!"

Aang looked up at the top of the stairs, at the closed door of Bumi's bedroom, then down where Toph continued banging on the front door. Knowing his son wouldn't be coming out of his room any time soon, Aang walked down the stairs and opened the door. There Toph was standing with her arms wrapped around herself for warmth, sheltered from the rain by the roof of the porch.

"Ugh! Finally!" Toph grumbled, barging past him into the house and shaking her hair like a wet dog. "No wonder why Sugar Queen's the one that always answers the door around here, baldy- you've gotten slower with age."

Aang barely noticed her splashing water on all the furniture or her jest at him: the mere mention of Katara had set his blood boiling.

"Where's she anyway?" Toph asked, walking into the living room and plopping down on the sofa, "I can't feel her anywhere on this island." Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted. "Huh. I can't feel Kya either and Bumi's upstairs, sobbing into his pillow. Everything alright with you lot?"

Aang shut his eyes. He couldn't lie to a living, breathing lie detector.

So, instead, he changed the subject. "What're you doing here, Toph?"

She shrugged. "Just scouting out new recruits for the metalbending academy, and your little island happened to be on my path. Now quit ducking my questions. Where's Sweetness and Mini-Sweetness?"

Aang folded his arms and leaned on the doorway of the living room, his eyes cast down at his feet. "They're away together."

Telling half the truth technically wasn't lying.

"Okay, but why? And why does your house smell like rotten cheese? When was the last time you actually did some cleaning around here, Twinkle Toes?"

Disregarding her comments on the shabby state of his home, Aang gulped. "Katara and I, uh… We had a fight, so she took Kya and left."

Toph's brows furrowed. "Why would she leave you and Bumi behind?"

The rage and hurt bubbled up again and he turned away, clenching his teeth. "Toph, if I say I don't want to talk about it, will you drop it?"

"Ha! Of course not!"

He'd figured as much.

"Toph-"

She cut him off. "Lemme stop you right there, baldy. I don't want some half-assed excuse. I want the truth. You're tense as a statue, your son's crying, your house is a wreck, and your wife and daughter are missing. You're gonna tell me exactly what's going on."

Aang pushed himself off the doorway and collapsed on a chair beside his friend, putting his head in his hands. "It's... really messed up."

"Aw, come on, whatever you did can't be that bad. You know Sugar Queen will forgive you for anything."

He let out a bitter laugh. "Funny how you assume it's me that screwed up."

"Wait- Sweetness did something bad? Oh man, I gotta hear this."

Seeing no way to escape her questioning, Aang shut his eyes.

"You've seen Kya, right?"

"Uh, let me think. No!" Toph waved her hand before her sightless eyes.

"Right. Sorry." He sighed, sagging even lower into the chair. "But I just need to know. Did you ever suspect that... maybe she isn't my child?"

For a moment, it seemed like Toph's body froze entirely. The amused smirk on her face, the light-heartedness in her glassy eyes, even the steady rise and fall of her chest had completely stilled.

Then, she blinked and started breathing again.

"What."

"Kya..." Aang continued, his voice strained with anguish, "She's not mine."

Toph's gleeful expression dropped immediately. "What do you mean she's not yours."

"What I said." He nearly spat the words now.

"But..." she trailed off, clearly as shocked as he'd been when he'd found out, "Katara... She wouldn't."

Tears prickled behind his closed eyelids. "Apparently, she would." He looked down at the dirty floor. "I only found out just over a week ago, when Kya decided to show me that she could firebend. Katara... She slept with someone else, then lied to me. For over three years. She made me believe another man's daughter was mine for three years."

Toph's face was ashen, and for once, she seemed to be at a loss for words.

Eventually, she stammered, "So... they left? She and Kya alone? Where are they?"

"I don't know, and I don't know if I care!" Aang seethed.

"W-what have you told Bumi?"

Aang sniffled and wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. "That they went on a holiday in the Southern Water Tribe. I didn't know what else to say."

She groaned. Loudly. "And just how long do you think that excuse is gonna work? Bumi's six, not stupid."

"I don't know! What else could I tell him? The truth?!"

Toph slumped back onto the sofa and lifted her chin to stare at the ceiling, even if she couldn't actually see anything. "You weren't kidding when you said things were messed up."

Aang snorted ruefully. "No. I wish I was."

Both stayed silent for a brief moment before Toph sat up in her seat and turned her head in his direction.

"So what happens now? Are you gonna look for them?"

"I don't know."

"...You've just been wallowing, haven't you?"

He folded his arms and scowled. "Maybe."

"Well, that ends right now, Twinkle Toes. I'll stay for a bit and be supportive or whatever, so you can straighten out and clean this place up. Cause I don't know how to break it to you, but it stinks. And even if you don't care what kind of hovel you're living in, Bumi deserves better."

The corners of Aang's lips twitched upward into a sad smile. "Thank you, Toph."

"Don't thank me yet." She stood up abruptly. "Get up. You're gonna take us to Republic City, and we'll find you a housekeeper and Bumi a nanny. I'll send a messenger hawk to my assistant at the academy that I won't be coming back for some time. And you can make up with Bumi on Appa."

Aang took a shaky breath, so tempted to hug her right now- though, he knew she'd beat him up if he even attempted such a thing.

"Toph... thanks. Really. It means a lot."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, whatever. That's what friends are for. Nothing personal. Now go get your son and tell him he's gonna ride Appa so he can stop crying."

Relieved to have some of the enormous pressure he'd felt in caring for Bumi alone off his shoulders, Aang managed a tiny grin and hurried to do as she said.