Toph sensed the women descending the staircase before anyone else noticed. The children had already gone to sleep in their rooms (Korra was adamant that she stay up to meet her siblings, but had fallen sound asleep in Toph's arms). The adults were now raptly paying attention to Bumi's game of Pai Sho against Zuko. Zuko had originally restrained himself from laughing in his nephew's face; after all, his beloved uncle and noted master Uncle Iroh had been his teacher. But Bumi was proving a surprisingly worthy adversary, and everyone was curious to see how this game would end. Since Toph and Korra were on the edge of the crowd watching, they slipped away unnoticed to meet the women in the stairwell.

"You better be bringing me good news, Sugar Queen," Toph said tartly, gently bouncing Korra. "Lin has been in there for way too long for this to be normal."

"It's Lin's first time giving birth, and to triplets no less," Kya said as she took her niece from Toph's arms. "It's bound to take longer than normal." Facing Toph, Katara enveloped her lifelong friend in a deep hug. "We're grandmothers again," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "They're all here, safe and sound."

Toph took a deep breath to steady her breathing. Though she had seemed her normal self throughout the day, in reality it was a masterfully constructed veneer; she had been worried out of her mind the entire day. Lin may be the Chief of Police, invincibility personified, but to Toph she would always be the little girl who tried copying her every move. She was so relieved she could cry.

Kya gently placed Korra in Toph's arms. "Go to Lin," she said, gently placing her hand on her aunt's shoulder. "You two should get some time alone with them. As soon as we announce the birth, they're going to be swarming her."

Toph nodded and ascended the stairs toward her daughter. Even though she had been the one to discover the pregnancy all that time ago, it still felt surreal that she was going to meet her grandchildren. Sheesh, I'm getting old, she thought as she opened the door to the bedroom. There, she found her daughter sweetly tracing the faces of her newborn children. Tenzin looked at his wife as if she was beauty incarnate, his arms still draped around her. Toph quietly cleared her throat. Lin looked up, and tears began to stream down her face.

"Mom!" She called out. Toph gently handed Korra off to Tenzin and gave her eldest daughter a hug, remaining there for a few minutes before breaking apart. "Welcome to motherhood, kiddo," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. Gently she traced her own daughter's face. How on earth had Linny, her Linny, become old enough to have children? "Now who are my newest grandchildren?"

"Our sons are Rinchen and Sonam Beifong, and our girl is Tashi Beifong," Lin replied with a huge grin.

Toph smiled wickedly. "So they aren't going to be named Guru Laghima? Thank the spirits indeed! And that last name too, I say you all made excellent naming choices." She turned towards Tenzin's general direction, who cradled a sleeping Korra. "You should wake her up, Junior. She needs to see this."

Tenzin gently shook Korra awake. The young girl blinked a few times, acclimating to the bright lamp next to where she and her father were sitting. "Hi daddy," she drowsily mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Where's mama?"

"I'm right here sweetheart," Lin cooed. Korra brightened at the sound of her mother's voice and turned to climb into her lap, but stopped when she saw her mother and grandmother cradling her younger siblings. Lin gently handed Sonam off to her mother and situated Korra in her lap. Korra was wide-eyed as she met her younger sister face-to-face for the first time. Hesitantly, she stroked her finger against her sister's cheek like she had seen her father do to her mother so many times. Lin and Tenzin looked at each other, tears of joy threatening to spill over. They were introducing their daughter to their children. If she could live a single moment forever, she would absolutely choose this one. Korra looked up at her mother in sheer delight, and gently crawled over to her grandmother to place kisses on each of her brothers' foreheads before crawling back into her mother's arms. "I'm an older sister now, mama!" she said, beaming.

"That you are, and it comes with responsibilities," Lin said. "You have to watch out for them, and set a good example. Are you up for doing that?" Korra solemnly nodded. "Good, water lily. But another thing-having little siblings is a lot of fun, and soon you'll be able to play with them all day! Won't that be exciting?" Korra grinned and nodded her head. From downstairs, yelling could be heard.

"I guess Suyin and Kya finally told them the good news?" Tenzin asked.

"Could be," Toph said. "But it could also be that that blasted game of Pai Sho Bumi challenged Zuko to is finally over."

Tenzin raised an eyebrow. "He does know that Uncle Iroh taught Zuko, right?"

"Of course! Has that stopped him any? Absolutely not."


Suyin and Kya had excited the stairwell to find the adults crowded over Bumi and Zuko's Pai Sho game. Suyin moved forward, but Kya held her back. "Wait, wait," she said. "I want to see how this ends." In one fluid move, Bumi swept up all of Zuko's remaining tiles for an unprecedented victory. Zuko started laughing as Bumi strutted a victory lap across the living room. Half room yelled that the move was illegal, the other half groaned trying to find the yuan pieces they had bet with. It wasn't until Bumi took his place on the 'victory podium (the chair that he had been sitting in)' that he noticed Suyin and Kya. Jumping off the chair, he swaggered over to his unamused sister. "Good grief, we're never going to hear the end of this," she muttered to Suyin.

"Well, well, well, sister, you are in the presence of Pai Sho royalty," he gloated.

"I know, I can see Uncle Zuko behind you," she said sarcastically. Bumi rolled his eyes and huffed while the other adults laughed.

Suki approached her niece worriedly. "Are Lin and the babies okay?" she asked, reaching out to hug a clearly exhausted Kya.

At that moment, Katara materialized in the living room. Everyone stilled and stood up, anxiously awaiting news. The master waterbender's stern face gave way to a broad smile. "Lin is in good spirits thanks to the safe arrival of the newest members of our family. The first born is a boy named Rinchen, the second a boy named Sonam, and the last a girl named Tashi. They all carry the Beifong name, and are as every bit beautiful as their parents."

The group immediately broke into raucous whoops and cheers. Zuko and Bumi embraced Katara, and Sokka twirled Suki around before enveloping her in a hug. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with glasses and celebratory rice wine. After toasting to Lin, Tenzin, and the newborns, the group made their way to the bedroom. There they found Toph recounting her life story to Korra and her new grandchildren. Tenzin had his arm draped around an exhausted Lin, who immediately perked up upon seeing her family. Sokka beamed and pushed Zuko out of the way to be the first one to hug Lin. Sokka had been there for Lin's birth-they all had, save for the Fire Nation nobles-but Sokka had stepped up to the plate to fulfill his role as Lin's surrogate father. He considered Lin and Suyin to be his just as much as his children with Suki. Seeing Lin with her own children was a rather full circle moment.

"Look at you!" Sokka exclaimed, sliding easily into a hug with his eldest surrogate daughter. "You just had three kids and you look amazing!"

"She looks better than you ever have, Boomerang Boy!" Toph called out. Lin threw her head back and laughed, even though it caused her incredibly sore and tender stomach to ache. Soon the women swooped in to talk to Lin and meet the children, while the men coopted Tenzin to give him fatherly advice.

Toph and Katara soon began fighting over which side their grandchildren would take after (a rather hilarious conversation to Toph, but a serious line of questioning to Katara). Suyin looked over and noticed Korra's eyes drooping. Discreetly she checked her watch; it was half past midnight and well after Korra's bedtime. Gently weaving her way through the throng of women, she gently gathered Korra into her arms. Korra, noticing movement, wrapped her arms tightly around her aunt's neck. Suyin had been shocked initially at Lin's uncharacteristically maternal decision to take in Korra; now, she couldn't imagine life without the young girl's clear peals of laughter or her sugar-sweet smile. She loved her just as much as her own children, and took every moment she could to remind Korra of this. "C'mon, sweetheart," she whispered, pressing a kiss to Korra's forehead. "It's time to go to bed."

"No go," Korra mumbled. "Wanna stay with babies."

"I know you do sweetheart, but we can wake up tomorrow morning and see the babies. And if you want, I can stay with you tonight so you don't feel alone. Does that sound good?"

Korra sighed and nodded contentedly. Suyin had just entered her bedroom when she heard Naga barking. That's odd, she thought. She gently tapped into the vibrations of the earth to check the grounds of her childhood home. There was a lot of activity in Lin's room, which was to be expected; the children were all asleep in their rooms; Oogi and Druk, Uncle Zuko's dragon, were outside with Naga; and there were four extra unknown heartbeats. Who on earth-? Oh. OH GOD.

The four benders they were trying so desperately to protect Korra from had finally shown themselves.