Hello everyone! Like many people, the Avatar bug has caught me once again, and I was driven to revisit my own addition to the story. The story of Birthright is a follow-up to Synergy that explores some very significant plot and character moments I never dealt with in the original narrative. I hope readers new and old enjoy this new story of Avatar Sen and his closest friends!

"So, in summation, the failure of the Earth Kingdom government to address the Yellow Neck rebels and Fifth Nation pirate fleets laid the groundwork for Chin the Conqueror to be seen as a feasible alternative to the current government," Sen said. "So while Kyoshi allowing his conquest might seem overly passive from our modern point of view, it was actually a very complicated situation to step into at the time."

Sen gestured to the blackboard behind him, and the diagram of the ancient Earth Kingdom he'd drawn and labelled. Some of the students in the lecture hall nodded, others simply continued to stare starstruck at the Avatar. He folded his hands behind his back. He'd never expected anything else. His invitation to be a guest lecturer at Zhu Li Moon College was as much about the prestige of having the Avatar visit as it was about his expertise in the history of warfare. Sen folded his hands behind his back.

"Are there any questions?"

Half the hands in the hall went up. Sen did a quick scan of the room and furrowed his brow.

"Any questions about the lecture, not the Energybender Crisis?"

Almost all of the hands went down. Sen sighed.

"You're looking sullen, Sen," Detective Zas noted. It didn't take any detective work to notice that. Sen shrugged and walked down the steps of the institute with his mentor.

"I spent a week preparing my notes and I got asked for autographs more than I got asked about Pirate Queen Tagaka."

"Really? Tagaka was such a character," Zas said. "But I suppose it's to be expected. It's only been a year, Sen."

While it felt like a lifetime to Sen, it had only been twelve months since Sarin's defeat. With his lifelong nemesis gone, Sen had embraced the feeling of freedom, and the ability to pursue anything he wanted -his scholarly pursuits, his spiritual duties, and especially his relationship with Miyani. The war against the Energybender was a distant memory to Sen, but the rest of the world hadn't moved on quite so fast. When most people thought of Sen, they still thought of the Avatar-General he'd been, not the scholar he was trying to become.

"Little steps, Avatar Sen," Zas noted. "Every day, the war becomes less and less a part of your life. Some day, it will seem like nothing at all."

"Thanks, Zas," Sen said. A smile found its way to his face, if only for a moment.

While Sen was eager to leave his wartime life behind, the instincts he'd honed during combat would never leave him. He could feel pounding footsteps through the ground nearby -someone approaching, rapidly. Sen turned sharply to the side and held his hands out, combat ready. Sure enough, a bedraggled looking man was dashing in their direction. While Sen had expected violence, the look on the man's face was one of desperation, not anger. Sen relaxed his stance, but still held up a hand.

"Stop right there," Sen commanded. The man nearly tripped over himself as he obeyed. He was a stocky man, but looked withered, as if he hadn't eaten well in days. His hair and thick beard were unkempt and tangled, revealing only a pair of bright green eyes that stared at Sen with a kind of desire Sen didn't recognize. He took a few cautious steps forward towards the stranger.

"What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you," the man said, practically begging. "Please."

Sen's eyes narrowed. Something about the man's voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Zas cautiously stood his ground as Sen stepped closer and closer to the desperate stranger. He was exhausted, and breathless, as if he'd been sprinting for hours to catch up with Sen.

"Who are you?"

Sen was now practically face to face with the stranger. Beyond the voice, there was a sense of familiarity that Sen didn't understand. He had seen this man before, somewhere, at some time.

"My name is Hao," he said. "And I know it's a fools hope, but I have to ask..."

The voice trailed off. His words echoed in Sen's ears as they faded out. Something about the sound of Hao's words suddenly sparked a connection in Sen's mind. He knew where he had heard that voice before. It had been faint, whispered, and resounding off the walls of the Halka Ice Caves, as the Hssk had taunted Sen with the family he'd never known. Sen grabbed Hao by the shoulders and pulled him close, looking into the green eyes that so closely matched Sen's own.

"Are you...my dad?"

Tears began to flow from Hao's bright green eyes as his legs gave out from under him. He practically collapsed, weeping for joy, as Sen stared blankly forward.

Sen poured the tea, glad to have something to focus on other than his apparent father. Hao had fainted from exhaustion shortly after their introduction. Without any other idea of what to do, Sen had brought him home, to the estate he'd inherited from Korra. After recovering his strength, Hao had woken, and shaved off the tangled beard he'd grown. Without the thick layer of fuzz on his face, the resemblance to Sen was more apparent, though age, and stress, had left deep, severe lines on Hao's face.

Hao took his first sip of the tea, as did Sen.

"That's very good," Hao noted.

"Thanks. I have a friend who works in a tea shop. She sells some good stuff."

Hao nodded and clutched his cup. Sen stared at the steam rising from his own glass. The silence persisted for a too-long moment.

"I suppose I should explain where I've been," Hao said. "How, uh, we got separated, that is."

"I suppose that would be a good place to start," Sen said. "At the beginning."

"The beginning. Right. You should know -well, I suppose it doesn't matter now, but when you were born, the name we gave you was Takaya."

"Right," Sen said. He couldn't imagine going by another name now, so it seemed like a tertiary detail at best, but an interesting one. "And by we, I assume you mean you and my mother. Where is she?"

Hao's grip on his cup became so tight Sen nearly heard the porcelain crack.

"I haven't seen her in years. She is- She's the reason we were separated," Hao spat. The anger faded as he continued, and his voice started to tremble. "When everything happened with the Energybender, she was so terrified -I wanted to keep you, I swear it, but she took you in the middle of the night and I- I didn't-"

"Hey, it's alright," Sen assured him. "It's okay."

With his myriad senses, Sen could easily tell Hao was telling the truth -and sense his despair. For Sen, a family had never been a factor. He had grown up without one, and spent his entire life with only vague suspicions and whispered secrets about an actual family. Hao had been betrayed by his wife, and lost a son. The pain he'd felt every day, for more than two decades, was more than Sen could imagine.

"I spent every day for years looking for you," Hao said. "I crossed the Republic and the Earth Kingdom, I went as far as the Spirit World, I even journeyed to the North Pole to seek out Witches."

Sen bit his lip. He had suddenly connected the dots between Hao's life story and a story he'd once heard from the Witches of Winter. A story about Warmth's father, a man desperately looking for a son that had been taken from him. Warmth was his half-sister. A Witch of Winter was the Avatar's half-sister. That was a lot to take in. He decided to discuss that with Hao at another time. One long-lost child at a time. Sen sipped at his tea to try and disguise the look of realization on his face as Hao continued.

"I spent all those years looking...and I gave up just when it might've mattered. A few years before your war started I was lost in the furthest reaches of the Earth Kingdom, just on the outskirts of the desert. Some sandbenders found me nearly starving, trying to make my way between two outposts. I barely survived, and I...I lost the strength to go on. I recovered, and I stayed with them, helping them build their settlements, thinking I would never get to see you again. It was only by chance a trader brought a newspaper with your picture on it. As soon as I saw you, I knew, I knew it had to be you, and I came running."

"Quite literally, it seems," Sen said. The attempted joke fell flat.

"Yes, I suppose," Hao said, with a feigned chuckle. He tried to pretend it was funny.

With the story concluded, Hao and Sen both took another silent sip from their glasses. Sen looked around the room and failed to find inspiration for conversation.

"So. I'd tell you where I'd been, but I assume you know."

"I do. Good job saving the world, by the way. Excellently done."

"Thank you."

Silence reigned once again. The realization was gradually sinking in that Sen had no idea how to have a father, and Hao had no idea how to have a son. It was a mutually stunted dynamic that promised a great deal of awkwardness. Sen was all too glad for the stampeding approach of footsteps towards his front door. He knew that frantic, light-footed pace by heart.

Whistler slammed the front door open and practically vaulted into the living room. By coincidence, she had been lurking in her old Republic City haunts, making her the closest of Sen's old team to his home. Sen had asked Zas to gather his old teammates, and Whistler was the first to answer the call.

"Sen! Came running as soon as I heard!"

The rogue airbender alighted on the couch, and her eyes darted between Sen and Hao. The resemblance was impossible to miss.

"Oh man, he really is your dad," Whistler said. She had been suspicious at first, thinking it might have been some kind of Ko Rin contingency plan or just an opportunist trying to claim to be the Avatar's dad. It looked like the real deal even to her, though.

Hao stood, straightened out his ruffled shirt, and extended a hand to Whistler.

"You must be Whistler, Ta- Sen's airbending master. I'm Hao. Pleasure to meet you."

Whistler stiffly extended her hand and shook Hao's. It seemed uncomfortable for her.

"Nice to meet you too," Whistler said. She forced herself to mind her manners for the sake of Sen's dad. She quickly pulled away from Hao and hopped over to Sen's side.

"So, Sen, how's it feel to have a dad all of a sudden?"

"It's certainly...interesting."

"So you were a construction worker, huh? Probably explains why Sen wanted to be one," Ada said.

"I told you it wasn't a lame dream," Sen said, as he elbowed Hanjo.

"It's still a lame dream," Hanjo said. "No offense, Mr. Hao."

"None taken," Hao said. "It put food on the table."

While the first day had passed in awkward silence, by the second day, more of Sen's old friends had arrived, and so conversation was flowing much more naturally. Suda had brought Hana along, and whenever conversation lulled he could simply bring up something cute that his baby had done recently, and that gave them something to talk about. Everybody loved to talk about babies. There was some bittersweetness to it for Hao, but he powered through.

"I will say it would've made very poor starting lessons for Sen," Hao said. He looked over at Suda's massive frame. "Better that you learned how to attack from a former bandit than how to build a coffee shop wall, I think."

"Hey, the fundamentals are all the same," Suda said. "You would've done great."

"I could still stand to learn a few things," Sen said. "I'm not too sure about construction techniques. Might be fun to take a few lessons."

A warm smile spread across Hao's face.

"I'd be happy to teach you," he said.

"That could be a very useful skill," Ariak noted. "I think Miyani would appreciate a little more insight into how to make her bricks better."

"Yeah! Speaking of Big Bang, when's she getting here?"

"She was at their new factory in the Fire nation, so not until tomorrow," Sen said. While Zas had gathered the rest of Sen's teammates, Sen had called Miyani personally. "She has a private plane to fly around for business, though, so it shouldn't be long...before..."

Sen's voice trailed off as he looked to the west, towards the setting sun. He had a curious look on his face.

"Something the matter, Sen?" Hao asked.

"No, just a funny feeling. It's nothing."

Despite his assurance, the conversation lulled. Sen looked troubled by something. He stared blankly forward into space as his friends and recently-found family eyed him with concern. Eventually he caught on to their stares.

"I think I'm going to take an early night," Sen said. "Sorry. Just not feeling well."

Without waiting for any feedback, Sen got up and wandered off to his room. He managed to find some respite in his private sanctum. It was as much a library as a bedroom, covered wall to wall in shelves coated with books Sen wanted to read. A single massive desk, the same one he'd used to coordinate troop movements as leader of the Coalition, occupied one corner of the room. It stood bare, except for a photo of Sen and his team. He stared at it silently for a moment before lying down in bed to try and rest.

Sen found his way to wakefulness eventually. He wandered in the direction of the kitchen and sat down at the dining room table. Somebody was cooking something that smelled delicious, and all of his teammates -minus Miyani, who had yet to appear- were gathered around the table expectantly. The source of the delicious smell revealed itself as Hao walked in from the kitchen, with a stacked plate of steamed buns in one hand and a massive bowl in the other.

"Good morning," he said. "You're just in time. I made steamed pork buns and congee, just like your grandmother used to make."

He served Sen first, and the Avatar looked intensely at his plate. Hao nodded at his appraisal.

"This used to be your favorite when you were a toddler," Hao said. "You were a picky eater, so we made it a lot."

Sen picked up a bun and took a bite. He could certainly see why this had been his favorite once. Ariak, meanwhile, scoffed at the very notion of Sen's past pickiness.

"Sen? A picky eater? He had fried puffer-eel for lunch last time he visited the North."

"Isn't that poisonous?" Hao asked with a frown.

"Only if you prepare it wrong," Sen said. "Once you remove the poison glands and devein it, it's edible. Just kind of gross."

"Sen and Miyani ate an iguanadile once and now they have a taste for the exotic," Ada said. "They'd eat a dragon if you let them."

"I would not," Sen protested.

"And yet after all those crazy meals he still can't cook," Whistler said. She wolfed down a few more spoonfuls of congee and then turned to Hao. "Maybe once you're done teaching him construction you can teach him cooking."

"Perhaps, but let's handle one lesson at a time."

Sen ate his meal in silence and then excused himself to get ready for the construction lessons. Hao, who had been awake and preparing nervously for several hours now, was now alone in the kitchen without his one reason for being here, Hao found himself in an awkward position. More awkward than before, even. He decided to spark a conversation going off the last thing he'd heard.

"So, about this Miyani," Hao said. "She is apparently Sen's, uh, betrothed?"

"Oh no, no," Ada said. "Not yet. They're just dating."

"If only because they know Ada would stab them if they get married before she does," Hanjo said. Ada bonked him on the head, which didn't bother Hanjo at all.

"Don't take it out on me, lady," Hanjo said. "Either propose yourself or lay down the law for Canto."

"I just want him to take a little initiative," Ada said. She'd hoped that her attitude after Suda and Yoki's engagement would paint a picture for Canto, but her long-time lover apparently still had cold feet.

"Well at this rate the Shorewatcher's going to get hitched before you, so maybe take some initiative yourself," Whistler said.

"Why am I the example?"

"I've never even heard you talk about being into someone," Whistler said.

"You don't date either," Ariak protested.

"I've dated like seven people in the past year," Whistler said. All eyes turned to her. "What? Nothing worth mentioning, I dumped them all in a few weeks. I ever find somebody serious you guys will know."

"Anyway, to get back on topic, Miyani's great, and as long as you don't freak out about her explodey forehead bit, she'll like you," Suda assured Hao. "And it shouldn't freak you out at all. She's actually one of the nicest people you'll ever meet."

"Unless you're a bad guy, in which case she'll pick you up and use you as a club to hit another bad guy," Whistler said. "I saw that once back in the war. Best day ever."

"She sounds like quite a character," Hao said. "I'm glad Sen found someone so kind. And strong, apparently."

"They're a good pair," Ada said with a smile. She'd had her suspicions about the depth of their connection since the day Sen and Miyani had parted ways at Hayao's island, and she'd been overjoyed to see her suspicions proven correct. Sen and Miyani had both been through so much, and Ada was glad to see their shared pain become the building blocks of something so much better.

Putting an end to the line of conversation, Sen reappeared in the kitchen, looking refreshed and ready to train. With a nod to Hao, the two headed out into the yard.

"Now, when striking with earth you need to put all the weight at the top of the boulder, to strengthen the impact," Hao explained. "But to build something that lasts, you need to start from the bottom. Focus the weight of the stone towards the point it connects to the earth."

Sen nodded, and followed his father's advice. Gun's head lolled to the side as a massive wall of earth struck from below ground. The badgermole was making a rare appearance above ground, as he appraised this new earthbender who smelled like Sen. Gun seemed to approve. While the father and son duo trained under Gun's watchful eye, Ariak and Ada kept an eye on the training from the porch. While most of Sen's team had retired from combat, the two of them still led lives focused on battle, and they made a point to learn about different bending techniques, even non-combat ones.

"How has your school been going?" Ariak asked. Though it was a learning experience, there was a slim chance Hao's construction techniques were going to affect his Shorewatcher career, so he split his focus with a conversation.

"Slowly," Ada said. "With the war over, it seems there's less interest in swordplay. A lot of people think it's obsolete."

"Maybe so," Ariak said. The Shorewatchers were working closely with several engineers who were proposing innovative new forms of weapons. There had been a surge of innovation and invention after the end of the war, though nobody but Sen and Miyani knew it was due to the destruction of the Hssk.

"I can't say I entirely disagree," Ada said. "But it needs to be preserved. There's too much history to just be lost."

"You'd be surprised how easily things can get lost," Whistler said. Having lost interest in Hana's baby antics, she rolled into the courtyard to see if the benders were doing anything interesting. A minute of watchful judgment told her that no, they were not.

"Hey, if you guys build a bunch of stuff can Miyani blow it up later?"

"No," Sen said. He disregarded her words and focused on the lesson. Hao had constructed a fairly sturdy shelter, but it lacked a roof.

"Now, roofing is actually one of the trickier parts," Hao explained.

"Actually, making a roof was one of the first things I ever did with earthbending," Sen said. "It was a roof for a hogmonkey shack, but still."

"Well, that's...something," Hao said. "Was it a good roof?"

"I think so? I got chased out of town by an angry mob the next day. I never really got a chance to check on it."

Sen put a hand on his chin. He'd never checked in with the city of Zang. He should probably swing by at some point. For now, he had a more important piece of his past to reconnect with -and a piece of his present fast approaching. He could feel footsteps approaching his home. He paused his earthbending for a moment to see if her recognized the pace. He had the feeling it was someone familiar, but their hurried pace made it hard to tell.

"Whistler, could you go get the door? Somebody's running this way."

Glad to leave the boring construction work behind, Whistler vaulted back to the living room. She stopped long enough to airbend one of Hana's baby toys at Hanjo's head, and then got the door. As always, Sen's seismic sense proved reliable. Zas was sprinting towards the door at an unusually frantic pace.

"What's up, detective, you here to arrest me?"

While Whistler had been formally pardoned for her crimes, and had no intention of committing more, she still liked to play the role of a criminal now and then. Zas usually played along for the sake of humor, which made it all the more baffling when he pushed right past Whistler without so much as a snide comment. She was initially offended, until she felt her hands start to tremble. Something was wrong.

Zas's charge continued through the living room, as he nearly barreled directly into Hanjo, who narrowly stepped aside as Zas continued to the yard. His frantic stampede caught the attention of all of Sen's team members, who gathered in the courtyard as Zas leaned against a post and desperately tried to catch his breath.

"Sen, it's Miyani," he gasped. "Her plane-"

The world came to a halt for a breathless second as Zas' words caught in his throat.

"It...crashed."

Usually, Sen was the one to sense the changes in mood of everyone around him. Now, everyone else could clearly feel Sen's blood run cold.