Birth

She was a young girl again, and she and Aang were penguin sledding just like they used to do. They laughed and hollered for joy as they raced through icy caverns and tunnels and flew over the snowy hills!.

Suddenly, everything changed and she was back in the ruins of the Southern Air Temple sanctuary, gazing at the statues of all the millions of past Avatars…

Then, to her astonishment, it was not statues she was looking at, but all the past Avatars themselves!. Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Roku, and a joyous smile spread across her face as she recognized the newest Avatar!.

"Aang," she cried, shedding tears of happiness. She rushed to embrace her husband and threw her arms around his neck.

This wouldn't be like the time she had thought she'd seen her mother in The Swamp and had been cruelly disappointed when it had turned out to be only an illusion. This was really Aang and he was really and truly here!.

"Aang! I've missed you so much!. I can't believe you've come back!."

To her surprise, her husband withdrew from the embrace and held her gently at arms length, a calm, warm smile on her face as he gazed at her lovingly.

Tears of joy continued to stream down Kataras face.

"Aang," she smiled back. Why did he not reply?. "Aang, I love you so much!. I can't wait until we have our baby!. I can't wait for us to be parents!."

In response, Avatar Aang lovingly placed a hand to his wifes abdomen where his unborn child was growing inside… Then he drew Katara closer to him and placed a soft kiss on her lips…

Slowly, Kataras eyes fluttered open, and she became aware of her surroundings… She was in her families igloo, comfortable in her bed of warm, soft bear fur and sealskins, and several familiar, beloved faces were watching over her…

"Katara," Chief Sokka exclaimed in relief, taking his little sisters hand. "How are you feeling?." She had gone into labor earlier then expected and everyone had been anxious and worried, him most of all.

The young cheiftess squeezed her big brothers hand warmly.

"I'm alright." She gave him a reassuring smile as she recalled her dream about Aang. Then her hand went to her abdomen which now ached with a dull, empty feeling… "The baby?…"

Sokka and the group of healers looked at eachother and smiled.

"Congratulations, sis. You've got a daughter!."

Kataras blue eyes lit up!.

"I have a daughter," she exclaimed with excitement.

"Mmm hmm, you've made me an uncle before my time," her brother joked affectionately.

"That's right, Miss Waterbending Master," came a familiar, friendly voice nearby. "And there's someone I think you should meet."

Kneeling on the other side of Kataras bed was one of their oldest friends, General Toph Bei Fong. Though born blind, she was now one of the wealthiest, most powerful Earthbending masters of the Earth Kingdom. In her arms she held a tiny bundle wrapped in warm soft polar bear furs.

Katara reached out and gingerly took her new baby daughter into her arms.

A delicate, pale face with a tuft of silky brown hair peered out at her from beneath the fur blankets and Katara breathed in awe when those tiny eyes opened… They were Aangs eyes, gray and clear as rain…

"Nutaralak," she whispered. "Pitsiark nutaralak niviasar."(1)

The baby girl cooed and moved her tiny arms upon hearing her mothers' voice.

Katara offered her new daughter her finger and the baby grasped it tightly.

'Oh yes, Anernerk,"(2) the new mother crooned, leaning down to kiss the babies forehead. "You know your anana,(3) don't you?."

In response, the new baby cooed again and giggled, and everybody laughed.

The cooing and giggling soon turned to cries of hunger however, and Katara brought her daughter to her breast to nurse while Sokka, Toph and the healer midwives watched in awe.

The young cheiftess gazed down lovingly at the baby girl who was now nursing contently.

"This is incredible," she beamed, a single tear of joy running down her cheek. "I can't believe Mom actually did this twice!."

"Oh, come on," her older brother scoffed good-naturdly. "That didn't seem like anything so special. Women do it all the time."

That earned him a sharp thwack to the back of the head from Toph!.

"Hah! Yeah right, Mister Macho," General Bei Fong shot back with a cynical grin. "When you men start giving birth then you can talk!."

Sheepishly, Atanerk Sokka, leader of the Southern Water Tribe rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he muttered with a rueful smile. "So, what are you going to name her, Katara?."

The new mother looked down lovingly at her baby, who by now had finished nursing and had drifted off soundly to sleep.

"Akasha,"(4) she answered decisively. "I've been thinking about it, and I decided I wanted my child to be reminded that she's the daughter of Avatar Aang."

Sokka nodded thoughtfully. Hard to believe, in the beginning when he'd first met Aang he didn't trust the guy as far as he could throw him. Now, he was proud and honored to be Avatar Aangs brother-in-law and baby Akashas uncle.

"Do you think there's a chance little Akasha might be the next Avatar," asked one of the younger healers who was now making a warm medicinal tea for Katara.

At this, the other healers were silent and Sokka and Toph turned to eachother worriedly…

The young cheiftess frowned and closed her eyes for a minute…

"I don't know," she finally answered quietly as she cradled Akasha a little closer to her "but I hope not."

Poor Aangs life had never been the same once the monks of the Southern Air Temple had told him he was the Avatar, four years before he was supposed to find out because of the impending war. His friends had excluded him from their play and his teachers had constantly pressured him to study and train, denying him a normal youth. Then, a century later, after he had met Sokka and Katara his life had been anything but normal or safe with the Fire Nation hunting him down like he was some kind of prize and the weight of the entire world on his young shoulders. Katara didn't want that for their daughter.

"It would be a great honor," the elder healer said as she arranged the young cheiftess' pillows and blankets so mother and baby would be more comfortable, "And with the Fire Nation at war with itself, the world may need the Avatars help again."

"Let the Ikkuma(5) handle their own disputes," Atanerk Sokka stated firmly, placing a protective hand on his little sisters shoulder.

"Yes," Katara added with an assertive nod. "Whatever problems Fire Lord Zuko has with his sister, he hasn't involved the other Nations in it so far. Please, let's not involve my newborn daughter."

The elderly woman healer sighed. She understood a mothers love for their children and their need to protect them, but Imiq(6) sages and healers were taught that each person had a destiny and that they could not deny or avoid it, especially if that persons destiny was to maintain balance between the four elements that kept the very world together.

"But according to the cycle the next Avatar will be of the Water Tribes. The Atanerk of the Northern Imiq has ordered the sages to perform the test on each child of our Nation born after Avatar Aangs death. If it is proved that Akasha is the next Avatar, you must try to accept it."

Katara once again gazed down at her soundly sleeping baby… She hated being reminded of her husbands death, she hated the thought of the Fire Nation hunting precious little Akasha down as they had hunted her father, and she couldn't imagine her nutaralak, someday having the power to control all four elements, her eyes glowing eerily, and wiping out entire Fire Nation fleets as Aang had once done…

But perhaps there was really nothing to fear... Perhaps Akasha was not the next Avatar and someone else would have the burden of keeping the balance of the world, while her daughter was allowed to live a normal, happy life here at the South Pole…

"If it comes to that… If it does, then I'll try to accept it…" she finally said, praying silently that she would not come to regret those words…

Still, it would be a few years before she had to worry about the possibility that she may have to share her child with the rest of the world, Katara reassured herself. For now, Akasha belonged only to her, her and the Southern Imiq.

Still now and hear my singing
Sleep through the night my darling.
We have a tiny daughter,
Thanks be to God who sent her.
Though she as yet knows nothing,
She is so sweet, I am singing.

(Inuit Lullaby)