Author's Note: Okay this one is pretty much a filler just telling about Kaya as she grows up. This is ten years of childhood put into a chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight: Growing Up

Sokka's Point of View

She grew fast, Kaya did. It seemed so easy to take care of her without Katara. So much easier than it had been with us without our mother. Aang says it is becasue she never knew her mother, like we had. But we all knew that wasn't totally true. She had seen her once, before she died, she had gotten a look of her.

Sometimes, she told us that she saw a face. It swam through her mind and burst into her dreams. When we asked her what it looked like, she always became quiet and then very quickly said it was too blurry to make out. The way she ran from us with some excuse told us that she knew exactly what the face looked like.

I didn't know if it was Katara or not, because she wouldn't tell. I wondered why too. For our Kaya hated being confused, or not being in on some secret. I personally thought that she for once wanted her own secret. Not that she didn't ask questions at times, usually we were caught off guard. She wasn't as nosy as Katara had been, but not as accepting as Aang. She was pushy, but knew limits.

A few times, she had been desperate for information on her mother. One I remembered in particular. Once, when she was seven a few of the village children had teased her because she had no mother, just an uncle, an aunt, a godmother, and a family friend...Zuko. They had not believed her when she said she had a father, Avatar Aang. For once, she came home, in tears.

Suki, who was a whole lot better with the "mother thing" than I was (go figure), had gone and calmed her down. She had the whole thing figured out before I had even grasped the meaning of my niece's tears. She had also learned the names of her tormentors, which she would not confide in me saying, "I had teh tendancy to over react and especially with this certain topic, she would handle it." Though I never did find what she did or said, those kids never again bothered our Kaya.

Though afterwards, I had not blamed them for not thinking she was telling the truth abbout Aang. He had hardly shown up in those years, claiming he was busy, though we all, except for Kaya, knew he was still raw with pain. He still blamed himself. We could still see the tear tracks he always tried to hide after visiting her grave. We still saw the pain flare in his eyes when he looked at his daughter, who looked so much like her, even now.

Though we kept him up to date with everything she did, and always recieved letters saying how proud he was of her. He had been there for some things. Like when she finally let go of his hands and took her first few stumbling steps before she fell ito the snow. He witnessed her look of pride, even more so then the one gleaming on his.

He had not been there when she said her first word. Though I remember it perfectly. We had been trying to coax it out of her for months. Suki had taken her out to do the laundry, and Toph and I had stolen her and taken her to the icy edge. She pointed one short fingers to the rippling surface, her face scrunched with the cutest concentration I had ever seen. Then in a clear voice, that sounded like a whoosh of wind and the drip drip of rain at the same time said "water".

"Did she just talk?" Suki asked, instanly by me and gazing down at the little girl with adoration.

I nodded and smiled, realizing her first word would have pleased Katara greatly. Toph had a smirk on her face but "saw" us looking at her and faked a pout.

"What Toph, did you expect her first word to be your name?" I asked.

"Well yes, but if it had to be an element why couldn't she have picked the good one?" She said, with a loud tsk.

"What fire?" I responded, and recieved a face full of snow in return.

He also hadn't been there when she learned how to swim. I taught her that, because Suki, Toph, and Zuko decided they would watch instead of taking an icy swim. Though that didn't stop us from splashing them. I showed her the arm movements, how to kick you feet, and several different strokes, then put her in the water. She shivered and then dove in, swimming like a natural. I turned around, pleased. It must have shown on my face because, again I got a chunk of snow in my face.

Aang was there though when Kaya first "flied". We were in my house, talking about process in the fire nation when her voice rang out in the chilly air.

"Daddy! Daddy, come see!" She yelled, quite loudly.

We ran outside, expecting a pile of snow or soemthing, but no, we found the nine year old on the top of the house.

"Kaya, what exactly are you doing up there?" Aang said slowly, sounding a little worried.

"I am going to fly daddy, just like you do!" She said, brightly, teetering towards the edge. Before we had time to say anything, she had jumped. Looking back on it, it was quite a sight. Her face pulled up in a smile, her hair floating above her. Aang quickly went into action as he sent a cushion of air out as she landed in the snow, unharmed with a poof.

But he did miss her first snowball, her first fish, her first painting (though he has seen it), her first time sledding, her first time reading, and the whole Kyoshi fan fiasco.

He missed the bad things too. The first time she bled because of a cut, the first time she really cried, the first time she broke a bone, and the first time she almost drown.

He all of a sudden, showed up about the time when she turned ten. Stating that it was a powerful bending age. We all were excited to see what sort of bender she was. Not that I would know, of course, but I think bets have been placed.