UPDATED A/N: So I wrote this story like about 7 years ago? I was literally 13 years old and my writing skills were... not the best, for lack of better words. There was too much dialogue and not enough to really paint the scene. So 7 years later with much more writing experience under my belt, I added a lot more detail. Honestly, the story is still quite short; I didn't want to go into too many boring details. We know what Air Temple Island looks like by now. This is just a one shot, and is meant to be quick.

This actually was based off a picture that I came across on instagram. Young Bumi holding little Kya, tears were running down her face, and her one shoe was missing. It wont let me paste the link of the picture here, otherwise I'd drop it here for you to reference, if you don't know what I'm talking about. If you really want to see it, send me a message for the link.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ATLA OR LOK!

The Missing Shoe

Even after being completely built and furnished, Air Temple Island had acres of open land. The large courtyard was about a hundred yards long and almost equally as wide. It was a chilly afternoon; summer was coming to an end and autumn was just around the corner. All of the trees on the island were beginning to change color. Autumn was the peak season for air nomads and the creatures linked to the culture. The various breeds of lemurs were more commonly found outside, in or around the courtyard, to play.

Kya and Bumi were outside playing with the lemurs. They were running wildly around the courtyard grounds, trying to catch the lemurs. The lemurs were generally quite patient in the presence of children, until they'd get too touchy. Lemurs are not found of constantly being grabbed, or worse, having their tails yanked. The frantic group of 3 wing tailed lemurs were were trying to scatter away from the two children, while also not straying too far from the courtyard.

The 3 year old screamed with joy as she ran along her brother's side. The lemurs flew higher to get out of the kids' reaches. Kya jumped up, attempting to grab their tails, but she didn't make the jump. A rock was in her way, and her foot was caught on it when she leaped up. Her whole world stopped. Her shoe was knocked off by the impact of her foot getting caught on the rock. She tumbled down the front of the rock, landing hands then face first into the dirt. There was a very small pause, as the abrupt interruption everything had suddenly registered in her brain. She immediately started crying.

The sound of her screeching wail stopped Bumi in his tracks. He looked off his right shoulder, where Kya had been struggling to keep up with her brother's speed, her little legs running as fast as they would allow. Once he noticed his little sister was no longer running next to him, Bumi spun around on his heel to see where she went.

"Bumi!" She cried.

Bumi sprinted over to where the toddler was sitting on the ground. Her tiny legs were sprawled out into a straddle. Her long brown hair had been ruffled about from the fall. She had a scrape on her knee and both of her little hands. She held out her hands to show him. Bumi bent down and lifted her up under her armpits. He bounced her up and supported her by linking his arms and placing them under her bottom to hold her up.

"I'll bring you to mommy and daddy," Bumi reassured her.

But after the first few steps, he realized how heavy she was for his small arms. Thinking he was one of the strongest little boys alive, he continued to carry her despite how heavy she was. After a couple of steps, she progressively began to slide down. Bumi's grip was now on her back, making her feel even heavier, since he didn't have something to stably support her.

"My shoe!" Kya cried, but it was hard to understand her words. Her face was muffled into her arm, which was wrapped around Bumi's neck.

Bumi was going to say something about how he didn't understand what she said, but when he opened his mouth the only sound that came out was a grunt. He was really struggling to carry her. But he knew if he stopped, it would be even harder to carry her again. But, he made it to the house eventually. Bumi entered through the side door of the kitchen. He was happy to see that Katara was already there. However, Katara was very preoccupied with their baby brother, Tenzin. The infant was screaming, crying, and squirming around in his mother's arms. Bumi's eyes frantically danced around the kitchen, scanning the room for his father to help. Unfortunately, Aang was no where in sight.

"Mommy!" Bumi shouted.

"What?" Katara asked, already irritated with the fussy baby, "I'm busy with your brother, what do you need, sweetie?"

"Kya got hurt or something," Bumi announced.

Katara was suddenly aware of Kya's whimpering cries.

"What happened?" Katara asked, rushing over to her oldest son who was still holding Kya in his arms.

"I don't know! I just saw her on the ground crying so I brought her back," Bumi said.

"Give me a second to put Tenzin down and I'll get right back to you," Katara said before she quickly rushed out of the kitchen carrying her needy and helpless 4 month old baby. She wandered down the extensive hallway from the kitchen.

"Aang!" Katara called down the hall.

"In here!" His voice echoed from their bedroom.

She sped-walked into their bedroom, abruptly bursting through the door. Aang was sitting at his desk, reading over some file out of a manilla folder. He looked up at her, his eyebrow cocked inquisitively. Katara's hair was lazily pulled back into a sloppy bun, but she had a few stray hairs sticking out and the bun had drooped down to the nape of her neck throughout the day. Saying she looked frazzled was an understatement. She entered the room and walked over to Aang's desk, pausing only for a second to catch her breath.

"Can you take care of Tenzin while I go see what's wrong with Kya?" Katara asked.

"Give me just a second," Aang said, organizing the papers together into a neat pile.

"Please?" Katara pleaded frantically.

Aang dropped the case file down on the desk, and quickly scooted his chair back to stand. He stretched out his back for a second, twisting from side to side. Then, he rolled out his neck. He let out a little grunt as he stretched out his limbs. Katara was already impatient from Tenzin's behavior, and Aang was certainly pushing it.

"Take him please," Katara ordered in an annoyed tone.

Aang took their infant son from his wife's arms and cradled Tenzin in his own. He bounced the fussy infant and babbled some nonsense about whatever was going on.

"Thanks, sweetie!" Katara chirped as she swiftly left the room.

Aang paused for a moment before quietly following behind her. Katara returned to the kitchen and saw Kya, sitting in a kitchen table chair and was still crying. Bumi was sitting in the chair beside her, patiently tapping his feet on the ground, waiting for his mother to come back and fix Kya up.

"Okay," Katara huffed out airily, "What happened?"

"I fell," Kya explained, "Over a big big rock."

Then, the little girl pointed to her bare foot. The first two toes were bruised and bleeding, but the other ones were fine. He knee was scraped with raw pink skin underneath, but no blood. Her scraped hands were a little bloody and dirty, but nothing major. But for the little girl, it was earth shattering.

"We were chasing the lemurs!" Bumi excitedly explained. "They were determined to get away, but we were practically on their tails. But then they were faster and flew up higher than us..."

Katara eyed the little boy cautiously. If she had a yuan for every time she told Kya and Bumi not to chase the lemurs, she'd be a millionaire. She knelt down in front of the toddler to take a closer look at her injuries. Her cheeks were coated in a layer of dirt, with tear marks clearing a clean line down her dirty cheeks.

"And then I jump up and fell over the big rock," Kya explained, wiping her last few tears. "And I lost my shoe!"

Katara bended water from her canteen and placed it over Kya's scrapes and bruises. After the blue glow had disappeared from the water, the bruises and scrapes had completely vanished. She kissed the crown of Kya's head.

"There, mommy made it all better," Katara chirped, as she readjusted her daughter's ruffled hair.

"Yay!" Kya exclaimed, "Thank you mommy!"

"No problem, sweetie," Katara said with a warm smile.

"C'mon Kya," Bumi commanded, grabbing her wrist, "let's go find those lemurs!"

"Wait!" Katara ordered. Bumi froze. "Kya isn't going anywhere until she puts her other shoe on."

"Oh..." Bumi said, looking around the room to see if the shoe was on the ground.

"Honey, where is your other shoe?" Katara asked.

"I think I lost it outside," Kya said with a slight shrug.

Katara sighed and shook her head. Aang walked over to the rest of his family, standing over his two older children. He looked down upon them, unaware how intimidating her looked in their eyes.

"But you two know better than to chase the lemurs," Aang reminded them sternly, "don't we now?"

Bumi and Kya glanced up at their father. From their height, he was towering over them. They looked at them with deep, guilty, puppy-eyes. They both nodded their heads slowly.

"And what do we always say?" Aang asked the two children.

"Lemurs are our friends," Bumi started, "not our toys." They finished in unison.

"Thats right," Aang agreed, reaching down and ruffling his oldest son's wild mane of hair. The boy giggled and gleamed up at his father with a cheeky grin from ear to ear.

"With that said," Katara started, "Get your brother to help you find your shoe. No playing with any lemurs until you find your shoe!"

"Okay mommy!" Bumi exclaimed, grabbing Kya by the wrist again as he ran outside with her.

The end.