Katara's Point-of-View
They had an usually warm autumn that year. Because of the balmy weather, there were still blue hydrangeas available in Republic City's flower markets when Katara's baby boy arrived. Knowing they were Katara's favorite flower, Aang brought her a bouquet of blue hydrangeas when he came to see her and her son.
The full force of maternal love overcame Katara so quickly that it frightened her. When the midwife placed this helpless scrap of humanity in her arms, Katara understood why her mother had given up her life for her.
Aang insisted they name the boy Bumi after the ancient king of Omashu, the only friend from his previous life who still lived. Katara was too tired to suggest otherwise.
She thought this was a sweet gesture, but, Tui and La, why did it have to be such a dreadful name as Bumi?
Aang was every bit as infatuated with Bumi as Katara. So, it never occurred to him to question the boy's paternity. A few days after Bumi's birth, he brought a book of blank pages to show Katara. The words "Bumi's first year" were inscribed on the inside front cover. Aang had painted a picture on the front page of a tired-looking Katara holding a sleeping Bumi to her breast. Blue hydrangeas framed this image and the baby's date and time of birth had been written in the corner.
Katara kissed Aang's cheek. "It's beautiful," she said.
"I only painted what I saw." Aang stroked the fluffy brown hair on Bumi's head.
Katara was right about Aang being a good father. He was the first person to make Bumi smile and laugh (moments which were duly recorded in the book) and had an almost supernatural ability to soothe him whenever he cried or fussed. These few months they had Bumi, Katara came the closest she ever did to loving Aang.
As Bumi grew, Katara softened toward his name. It suited him. Bumi was a chubby baby with fat cheeks and a Buddha belly who always had a cheeky grin or a deep belly laugh for his visitors. His curiosity and mischievousness were evident from the beginning. He would pull on the trailing beards of visiting nobles and officials, whose annoyance would soon be disarmed by the baby's adorable smiles and laughter. When Bumi started crawling, he had to be constantly watched or else there'd be some sort of misadventure.
Of course, his doting parents wrote down or sketched his most memorable antics in their book and in their letters to Zuko.
Zuko's letters in response were friendly but brief and addressed to both Katara and Aang. Katara read them with a wan smile. Zuko was too busy to keep up one, let alone two extensive correspondences. What with the constant rebellions to quell and assassination attempts to foil, the new Fire Lord had more important things to think about than a discarded lover and bastard child.
Katara was lucky to have even this much.
Writing and receiving letters from Zuko, caring for Bumi and watching him grow were the only things that made Katara's life bearable. Before Bumi's birth, she would have given up everything and gone running if Zuko called for her. But, he never did . He just left her with an anchor to keep her where she was.
One night, around the time that Bumi turned one and the last blank page in the book was filled, Katara couldn't sleep. When she tried to close her eyes, they flickered open a few moments later. She tossed and turned but couldn't find a comfortable position.
Bumi was crying in the other room and Katara thanked the spirits that she had an excuse to get up.
"I'll take care of it," she whispered to Aang, who lay in bed beside her.
Aang was dead to the world and didn't hear her.
Katara lit an oil lamp and went down the hall to Bumi's nursery. She scooped the wailing Bumi out of his cot and placed him against her shoulder.
"There, there, little man." Katara patted her son on his back. "What's the matter?"
She went through the checklist of everything that could be wrong. He wasn't hungry. His diaper didn't need changing. So, maybe he'd had a bad dream?
Katara smiled. Whatever did babies dream about?
She kissed Bumi's head "It's alright, Mama's here." Humming a Water Tribe lullaby, she rocked Bumi until he fell asleep.
Every day, Katara thanked the spirits that Bumi, with his dark-brown hair, coppery skin, and blue eyes, took after her. It wasn't suspicious for a child to look like their mother. But, when Bumi's face lost the unformed chubbiness of infancy, would his features have Zuko's chiseled perfection?