1. katara and roku
The boy stood before her, his face rubbed red, his dark blue eyes burning, a bag slung over his shoulder, and his lip was trembling a little, but he still met her gaze unflinchingly.
He reminded her of both his father and aunt a lot right this moment.
Lu Ten babbled nonsense into her ear.
"I will leave with Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki", he said firmly, "to live at the South Pole, where I belong. Goodbye forever, Mom."
He tried to turn away.
She grabbed his shoulder.
Kya would've just snuck onto Sokka's ship without a word and they would've been worried sick before a hawk'd arrived, carrying a very annoyed message by the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.
Not Roku, though.
Roku announced his running away.
"You belong here, my little fish."
He took a step back.
"I don't! And don't call me that! You have Lu Ten now, right? You don't need me anymore - or Kya! You have a firebending son now!"
Roku had adored his little brother from the moment he first held him to the moment the baby had accidentily set Zuko on fire - after that, he had become very withdrawn.
It broke her heart more than a little that he thought he was so easily replaced - that he could be replaced at all.
"Roku ..."
He pulled away when she tried touching him again.
"I know the Council wants Dad to make him his heir. We're still good as spares, though, I heard them say that. I'm not a spare. Kya's not, either. So I will be living at the South Pole, where I can bend without being glared at by stupid old men!"
"And your sister will be coming with you?"
"She doesn't want to", he muttered and crossed his arms over his chest. "She doesn't like the cold. I do, though."
He didn't.
She knew that.
"Roku", she sighed and kneeled before him to look him in the eye better, "nobody can ever replace you. Your father won't make your brother his heir just because he's a firebender."
"But it makes sense, doesn't it? A waterbending Fire Lord doesn't."
He rubbed his eyes.
"Well, none of you will be Fire Lord any time soon. And if the time comes for your father to choose an heir, he will choose the one of you best suited. Until then, you are his heir by default."
Lu Ten pulled on her collar.
"Do you even want to be Fire Lord?"
"No. It's not about what I want to do, it's about what they don't want me to do."
Katara couldn't help but smile.
"You are very much your fahter's son, I see."